Since 1960 Volume 85, Issue 47
Wednesday December 9, 2009
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
INSIDE DT
Program SoCal resident traverses sponsors 48 states student travels A special report for the Daily Titan By Melissa Hoon
By Maureen Fox
Daily Titan Staff Writer news@dailytitan.com
FEATURES:
Life as a dancer at CSUF can be hectic, Page 4
OPINION:
Abortion ban may become part of health care reform, Page 5
SPORTS:
Artest fitting in just right with Lakers, Page 8
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At an elevation of 14,500 feet, Andrew Fu had made it to the top of Mount Whitney. As he gazed over the Sierra Nevadas, the 26-year-old software engineer thought, “Why can’t I do this more often and follow my dreams?” Fu, a Riverside native, graduated from University of California, San Diego in 2005 with a degree in computer science. He then became a software engineer in Milpitas but soon became restless working his nine-to-five job since he had always been interested in exploring other cultures and lifestyles. “It’s always been a dream of mine to hit the road,” Fu said. About a year after his life-changing epiphany atop Mount Whitney, he did just that. In February of this year, Fu quit his job, sold most of his belongings and set out on a 21,801-mile adventure across the lower 48 states for fourand-a-half months. Fu said his parents tried everything in the books to keep him from going on his trip. His mother was worried about his safety, and his father didn’t understand why he wanted to be homeless. With the recession on their minds, Fu’s friends had mixed reactions about his journey. “My friends would tell me, ‘You have a great job, Andrew, so why do you want to leave?’” Fu said. Fu’s free will and sense of adventure prevailed, and his parents and friends soon understood his yearning to gain worldly experience as long as he kept in contact daily. So Fu created a blog, WhereIsTheFu.com, and his trip began to gain national media attention. With the support of his parents, Fu packed his 2005 Honda Element with camping supplies, a daypack, a week’s worth of clothes and pepper spray (and later a knife) and hit the road in late March. Fu asked his friends what books had changed their lives – “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac, “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau, “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller, “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck – and kept his inspiration on the road ignited by reading them. Fu kept his trip relatively inexpensive at under $4,000. When he wasn’t staying with people he met at places along the way, like a fire station and a homeless shelter, he slept in his sleeping bag in the back of his Element on two pieces of foam taped together. “It wouldn’t have been the same trip if I had stayed in hotels,” Fu said. His trip wasn’t meticulously planned. On the contrary, adrenaPHOTOS Courtesy of Andrew Fu “The most serene place in Yellowstone. It has only one tree stump for sitting. (I) found it by line pumped through his accident.” -Andrew Fu
v a g a bond mind when he awoke each morning, pointing to a destination on his map then driving there. Fu’s adventures happened by sheer serendipity, he said. A fisherman in Florida taught him how to fish for crabs; a Kansas farmer put him to work; the founding father of the Baltimore graffiti scene showed him around town; he became friends with the homeless and New Orleans missionaries; and broke a world record with a group in San Francisco by helping make 80,000 pancakes in eight hours. “I met people across the entire spectrum,” Fu said. “I learned something new from everyone.” Fu also faced some problems among his positive experiences on the road. In West Virginia, his Element was totaled when it flipped three times. He miraculously walked out uninjured and rented a car before purchasing a new Element to finish the trip. Fu discovered his strengths and limitations on the road. He found that his carefree attitude, gratefulness and perkiness helped him build rapport when meeting new people. “When you’re on the road, you know no one and no one knows you,” Fu said. “There are no consequences, and you’re free to do whatever you want. You get to the point where you stop caring what you look like and what people think about you.” Despite his glaringly open mind, positive personality and humbleness, Fu said that by experiencing parts of society he’d only read about, he learned that he doesn’t have a terrible amount of patience and has room for a bigger heart. His trip ended in late July, and he immediately began classes as a full-time graduate student at University of North Carolina. He said he’ll most likely become an entrepreneur after graduation so he can help “advance mankind,” probably by starting a non-profit organization. He enjoyed being a software engineer because he was always solving real-world problems and helping make life better for others. Fu thinks everyone should have a similar experience to gain a broader perspective on cultures and life in general. “If you really want to be carefree, don’t expect anything, don’t plan much and stay away from the tourist mentality,” Fu said. “You’ll learn a lot about life if you keep an open mind.”
The Fullerton Sunrise Rotary Club will sponsor one student to study abroad for the 2011-12 academic year with a scholarship, known as the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships for up to $26,000. Carolyn E. Johnson, president of the Fullerton Sunrise Rotary Club, stated in a press release, “The program hopes these students’ experiences with other cultures and people around the world will inspire them to dedicate their personal and professional lives to improving the quality of life for the people in their home communities and countries.” According to Johnson, the Rotary Club has given an estimated $500 million to roughly 38,000 men and women from 100 nations to study in more than 70 countries since 1947. Of the more than 800 ambassadorial scholarships to be awarded for the 2011-12 academic year, the Fullerton Sunrise Rotary Club will sponsor one of three scholarships offered in the rotary district serving Orange and Southern Los Angeles counties. Johnson said the scholarship can be received either for one year at a maximum of $26,000 or for multiple years at a maximum of $13,000 per year. Johnson said she believes studying abroad is a great experience for students to have. “It’s really an eye-opener to how other people live,” she said. “You can read all the textbooks and hear all the lectures, but there’s nothing like being there.” According to the Rotary’s Web site, the organization consists “of more than 1.2 million business, professional and community leaders (who) provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world.” While studying abroad, rotary scholars serve as goodwill ambassadors, where they participate in the host city’s local rotary club and complete community service. When they return home, the scholars share their experiences through presentations to rotary clubs and other small groups. In order to qualify for the scholarship, prospective applicants must meet several requirements. Students must have completed two years of college or university study by the time the scholarship begins, and they cannot be a rotarian member or be a direct descendant of a rotarian member. Students also cannot use the scholarship for full-time employment, internships or unsupervised research in another country. Students who study in a nonEnglish speaking country must pass a language test for that country. Some institutions also offer extensive language-learning courses before their programs begin. Johnson said that students can use this scholarship to study in almost any field. The Fullerton Sunrise Rotary Club has successfully sponsored students before, several who are continuing their studies and travels abroad. Amy Henslin, an alumna from University University, Santa Barbara, is one of their scholarship winners. She is using her $25,000 scholarship to work on her master’s degree at Maastricht University in the Netherlands for the 2010-11 academic year. Henslin, who studied abroad in Germany as an undergraduate, recently moved to Germany, where she will be teaching English as a second foreign language until her scholarship begins in September. She thinks the scholarship will give her more insight into working for a non-profit organization and into different world issues. She is excited about the opportunity to gain experience in her field and to explore her host country. See SCHOLARSHIP, Page 2