Alaskan student hates loose socks
Utah Statesman: What brings you to Utah State from Alaska?
Jani Ma: I got a scholarship here – an academic scholarship, and also, my brother goes to the Y, so I wanted to go kind of close to him, but not at the same school.
US: Do you guys travel together when you go back to Alaska?
Ma: [BYU’s] schedule of vacations or breaks is different than ours, so basically whenever we can get cheap tickets together, we try to go back home.
US: What are your plans for Thanksgiving?
Ma: We are going to go up to Oregon. [My brother’s] best friend’s family is up there.
US: What are some of your hobbies and interests?
Ma: I love playing basketball and softball, and that’s basically it, or just chilling with friends or whatever, kicking it.
US: What are your favorite and least favorite things about USU?
Ma: I guess my favorite would be that I met some of my really close friends here, and their sports programs – at least that they offer football and basketball, all of that. It’s good that they offer those kinds of sports. My least favorite is that it is just different – like Utah in general is just different than Alaska. People here are different, that could be a little bit of it.
US: If you could choose five words to describe yourself, what would they be?
Ma: Pretty much the coolest person ever.
US: Do you have any weird quirks or something funny that you do?
Ma: Not really. Well, I don’t like wearing loose socks, I guess. When I sleep, I can’t have my knees or my ankles touching. That’s really uncomfortable.
US: If you had an unlimited supply of monkeys, what would you do with them?
Ma: Umm … let them run free, I guess. I don’t know, I mean what kind of a question is that?
US: Which class, so far, has been your favorite at Utah State and why?
Ma: I guess the Tops class that they offer for the multicultural students, basically because all of my friends were in there and it was really interesting – everything that they were teaching. There was another leadership class that was taught by a former adviser here. He went to Idaho, but he taught that class, so it was a pretty fun class.
US: What is the first thing you do when you wake up?
Ma: Tell myself to get up. There’s always a battle to get up in the morning. I go to the bathroom, I guess.
US: How well do you remember important dates, like birthdays and things like that?
Ma: It depends on how long I have known them, actually. I know if I’m just meeting them I not going to be like, ‘Oh, let me remember your birthday so I can get you a present.’ But if it is my boyfriend I am going to remember it, or if it’s like my family. But for other people, it might be a little bit of a struggle. I might look on MySpace – that kind of thing to remind me. I don’t have the best memory.
US: Since you’re from Alaska, and you are here at school in Utah, plus you’re going to Oregon for Thanksgiving, how good is your sense of direction? Do you have to stop and ask for directions sometimes?
Ma: No – there is MapQuest. That is about it, since we are driving. We drove from Alaska to get down here.
US: How long did that take you?
Ma: We have a really old car. Not really old, but the fastest it can go is like 85, so it took us about a week. But basically, it was because we stayed in Canada for a couple of days to check out their mall because it is a lot bigger than America’s.