By: Ayman Siraj ‘18

The other day a friend and I broke into conversation regarding how our eating habits had changed suddenly in junior year. I personally used to cook most of my meals my sophomore year but that all changed this year. I had no clue how to cook, I used to watch YouTube videos and cook my favorite dishes. In the beginning they were bland and probably only palatable to my taste buds because my conscious would beg me to do justice to the hard work I had put into cooking my meal. I steadily improved my cooking to a point where I have friends come over for meals sometimes. Let me define sometimes at the rare weekend where I wake up on a Saturday morning and don’t have a panic attack on all the work I have to get done.

By: Ayman Siraj ‘18

USC Taiwanese American is an organization on campus geared towards promoting the awareness and exploration of Taiwanese culture on the USC Campus. Trojans 360 sat down with the executive board members of USC TAO, Ivy Yang (VP External) and Marissa Di (VP Internal) to learn more about the organization and its activities.

By: Ayman Siraj ‘18

Peaks and Professors is an organization on campus geared towards connecting students with professors through outdoor trips. Trojans 360 sat down with the co-presidents of Peaks and Professors, Thomas Donovan and Peter Bergmann to get some deeper insights into Peaks and Professors!

By: Ayman Siraj ‘18

This past Monday the 26th of September the USC Careers Center in partnership with the Viterbi Career Connections office hosted ‘Investigate Industries and Internships (i3): Engineering and Technology.’

By: Ayman Siraj ‘18

Last weekend, I and a few friends headed up North to the San Francisco Bay Area to what is the annual pilgrimage for many USC students – The Weekender. This year it was Stanford’s turn to host the USC Trojans for a PAC-12 footballing showdown.

By: Ayman Siraj ‘18

The Young Turks, a progressive left-leaning political commentary web show filmed live on campus this last Monday, the 12th of September. Filming occurred at the new Annenberg building atrium. The show has erupted online over the years as they address issues not given airtime by the mainstream news media. The panel featured Cenk Uygur (the founder of TYT), Nando Vila (Vice President of Programming of Fusion TV). The show was hosted by Ana Kasparian along John Iadarola.

By: Ayman Siraj ‘18

There are many services you can avail for free or at a student discount while being a student here at USC. From free transportation, access to software and discounted tickets to amusement parks!

By: Ayman Siraj ‘18

You’ll here it from everyone once you start classes. The best way to make the most of your university experience is to join clubs & organizations. The USC office of campus activities lists more than 800 registered student groups you can be a part of. The full list can be found here.

By: Ayman Siraj ‘18

The biggest fear for any international student coming to the U.S. for the first time is not being able to adapt to U.S. culture. It’s true that cultures are different as you transgress borders. When I was learning English, I was at a British School in Saudi Arabia and it led to a few funny encounters with my friends here in America. One such instance: My friend Tim and I went grocery shopping and I was like, ‘Tim, should I grab a trolley?’ Tim burst out laughing, and I didn’t understand why. He responded that it’s called a shopping cart here. While I wasn’t wrong, Tim and I at that moment realized that even though we speak the same language, there are subtle differences in word usage between different countries.

By: Ayman Siraj ‘18

USC has the largest international student population on the West Coast. As college decision day approached on May 1st for many of you, I congratulate you if you committed to USC! You’re joining the best family on earth - The Trojan Family (the hype is real). Many of you like me will never have even toured the colleges you applied to from halfway across the world. Naturally many questions arise when you get here, and I’ve put down the answers to a few.

By: Ayman Siraj ‘18

It’s funny that in my native mother tongue of Bangla there is no word for ‘Hello!’ When I’m writing in English, my brain is thinking in Bangla while my hands translate to English. On that note, Hello! My name is Ayman and I’m a sophomore majoring in Chemical Engineering with a Nanotechnology emphasis and Cyber Security specialization (I know that is a mouthful). I’m stoked to be blogging for Trojans 360 and would like to thank Andrea & Felicia for giving me the opportunity to do so.