Best Buds

In this episode, we're joined by one of our loyal fans, Tesia! We reflect on our sophomore year, discussing what we learned, how we grew, and some of our best memories. As always, feel free to send us your thoughts and remember to follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds!

Welcome back to a very exciting episode! June 15th marked our podcast's one-year anniversary (but Isha, being the incompetent editor that she is, did not upload it until one whole week later hahaha). Anyways, it's still the 50th episode, so I still call it a win. Tune in as we recap our year together, reminisce on past episodes, and talk about where we want this podcast to go in the future. Thank you to everyone who has listened to us so far!

This week, we bring on TWO very special guests- Sruthi and Kavya! Both are members of the South Asian Student Association (SASA) at UMD, and after hearing Kavya's workshop on the caste system in the fall, we wanted to bring them on to learn even more! Definitely a very insightful conversation, and spreading awareness is just the first step! EDIT: Clarification from Kavya- in regards to the Syrian Christians, we say the "history goes" about Brahmin families converting. However, this is a story that is perpetuated by the community, but isn't necessarily the true origin of the community.

In this not-so-minisode, Callie brings on Sarah! again! to just chat and catch up on life. We really just recorded one of our FaceTime calls essentially, and we're uploading past midnight so it's not a Tuesday anymore, but at least school is over and it's summer time!

In yet another minisode, this week Clarissa rereads an essay that she wrote the day she moved home from college and reflects on how her feelings have changed since then. We hope everyone's finals season is going well! Go follow @pod.bestbuds for updates and beautiful graphics.

Welcome back! In true finals fashion we have a very short (but hopefully enjoyable) minisode where Isha talks about Omakase and other things. Remember to follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds and we'll see you in the next one!

In this episode, we missed IB English so much that we decided to give an oral commentary on Margaret Atwood's poem, "Variations on the Word Love." Listen to hear our analysis of the poem and some of our thoughts on love in general. Also, a special shoutout to all our IB English teachers for inspiring our appreciation for poetry! Be sure to go follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds, and let us know what your interpretation of the poem is.

This week, we (again) did not plan and instead just talked about our lives! Nothing has changed super dramatically, but things are starting to look up again- we're getting vaccinated, school is coming to a close, and things are happening! This week's episode is chill, so we hope you all are having a great week and enjoying this beautiful weather :)

For today's (long) episode, we sat down with Maggie Zhu, a language advocate and founder of The Language Project, a non-profit organization focused on expanding language learning by nurturing initiatives at the intersection of language and technology. Tune in to hear us talk about The Language Project, language equity and our own experiences with multilingualism (and listen to Callie exposing herself from her Chinese school days LOL). Of course you should give @pod.bestbuds a follow, but also make sure to check our The Language Project's website (in our linktree) and their instagram @the.language.project to learn more about the organization and all of their cool projects. Thanks for listening!

In this episode, Callie and Clarissa reflect on the Mr. Wiffleball event and how it could be improved for next year. They're joined by a SURPRISE GUEST who spills some spicy tea on their experiences with one of the contestants. Can Mr. Wiffleball help you find love? Find out by listening to this episode of Best Buds! As always, remember to follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds for updates (like when episodes contain tea) and feel free to reach out to us or our surprise guest with your comments.

Hello friends! This week, we're starting something new- minisodes! This is definitely just a way for us to release new content consistently, even when school gets busy and we forget to plan and record a full episode. But it's still fun, and hopefully you guys enjoy these bite-sized episodes! This week, we bring on a special guest who is often mentioned on this podcast. While we recorded a full episode for next week about our reflections on this annual TASA event, we wanted to hear from Mr. Wiffleball 2021 himself and his experience with the event. As always, follow our IG @pod.bestbuds and stay tuned for another special guest (and some spicy tea!) next week

What is political correctness? Why is it villainized by certain political ideations? And is cancel culture really a productive form of remediation? In today's short but packed episode, we tackle these questions through a discussion about Dr. Suess' recently banned books and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's sexual assault allegations (TW) among other things. Let us know what you think, and as always, give us a follow on our instagram @pod.bestbuds!

Hi guys! In honor of Clarissa's CSA big being auctioned off on SAD, we wanted to make (fake) auction posts for each other in case any of us ever wanted to find a boo ;) We got a little bit too real in our descriptions, but we've also posted our profiles on our Instagram @pod.bestbuds! Check it out and hit us up if you're interested

We know there has been a lot of confusion about the COVID-19 vaccines and the distribution, so in this episode our resident public health expert, Isha Yardi educates us! Listen to this episode to hear us discuss the types of vaccines, the virus variants, our personal experiences getting vaccinated, or just because you think it's hot when Isha talks about public health (no judgement). As always, follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds to see Callie's amazing graphic design skills and feel free to message us about your own experiences with the vaccine system.

In this week's episode, we're breaking down (and not out hopefully) our experiences with makeup, skincare, and haircare while Clarissa educates us about the iconic 7-step Korean Skincare Routine. Tune in to learn from a true beauty guru, get some product recommendations, or just to make fun of Callie using a St. Ive's cleanser. As usual, make sure to follow @pod.bestbuds for the updates and aesthetic instagram feed! Hope you enjoy the episode!

Welcome back! It was just Lunar New Year when we recorded this, so we wanted to talk about our experiences with our cultures, holidays, traditions, food, and everything in between! We talk about wearing qipaos at our wedding (thanks for the idea, ABG!), weird superstitions (don't wear green hats), and fun traditions (you have to gift $51 for good luck!) Also, if anyone knows why we're not allowed to sit on rice, please let us know because that has been confusing us for years now. Hope you enjoy this episode, and follow us on IG @pod.bestbuds for more!

In yet another unplanned chaotic episode, we decided to take some time to provide life updates and chat! We've definitely all been struggling with our workload a bit so we wanted to take the time to destress. Hopefully, you enjoy listening to our ~organic~ conversation. Feel free to send us any comments you have and be sure to follow our Instagram @pod.bestbuds.

Welcome back everyone! In light of the Game Stop fiasco that rattled the stock market, this week we brought in the finance queens themselves (Isha's mom and sister) to unpack what really happened that Wednesday, talk about investing as college students, and discuss money management. Anika is a senior at Princeton majoring in Operations Research and Financial Engineering (basically applied math), and Isha's mom trades options on the daily. We definitely learned a lot about personal finance through this conversation, and hope this episode will give you the confidence to start investing and managing your money (TLDR: save)! *Disclaimer: This advice is ALL based on personal experience and is offered as a suggestion by us and our guests. Make sure you consult other trusted sources to understand the financial risks involved in investing and other personal finance management. That being said, enjoy the episode!

In this week's episode, we talk about confidence (and our lack thereof). It's been on our minds quite frequently lately, and we're all trying to figure out how to become more confident in ourselves and our abilities in the new year. Confidence is kind of tricky because it's so abstract and vague, but in this conversation, we start by figuring out the sources of our insecurities-- awareness is the first step to developing confidence aha! Let us know if you find any of this relatable, (and if you're super confident, PLEASE drop some tips). Follow our Insta @pod.bestbuds, and see yall next time!

Welcome back! We feel like we talk about ~sadness~ a lot in this podcast, so this week we decided to focus on something (a little) more upbeat: happiness! We did week's worth of wellness activities, talked about our experiences with this experiment, and generally just had a conversation about happiness and what it means to us. OF COURSE...make sure to follow our instagram for updates (what's new?). Love you all!

In this episode, we're joined by a special guest, Sruthi Ganesh! We were originally going to spend this week talking about k-pop and all of its many implications, but given the events on January 6th, we decided to address the acts of domestic terrorism instead. Listen to us rant about, as Isha puts it, the desecration of our democracy and feel free to send in your own thoughts. Don't forget to follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds to keep up with our updates, like when we'll release the real k-pop episode!

Happy New Years! It's not a Tuesday, but we wanted to release this episode earlier, just in time for the best day of this wretched year-- the last day! In this episode, we reflect on the roller coaster that was 2020. We all know how crazy and tumultuous it was, but in the end, we were still able to learn a lot about ourselves and find some glimmer of gratitude for this time in our lives. We also talk about our hopes and dreams for next year, like hugging our friends again and hopefully staying awake in lecture once we go back to in person classes. Thank you all for sticking along with us throughout this year! We hope everyone stays safe and warm this holiday season, and see you guys in 2021!

In this week's episode, we review the anonymous responses submitted to our "How Well Do You Know Us" Google Form! Special thank you to everyone who submitted responses and gave us a whopping 1.5 hours worth of content! As usual, remember to follow our Instagram @pod.bestbuds (we promise this is our last chaotic episode...of the year LOL). Much love

In yet another unplanned chaotic episode in the midst of finals season, this week we make tier lists with a few different categories. Listen to hear our thoughts on fast food restaurants, romance novel tropes, and Disney movies! Feel free to send us your thoughts on what we're right (or wrong) about. Be sure to follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds if you want to see our final tier lists as well as for updates!

This week, we begin with our Spotify Wrapped playlists (or as Isha likes to call it, Spotify UNwrapped aha), and take a deep dive into all things music, from Callie's favorite orchestra memories (and trashy boy stories) to Clarissa's not-so-secret Wattpad obsession and Isha's literary analysis of Mac Miller. Make sure to check out the playlist we've compiled with all our favorite songs mentioned in this episode! You can find it at the LinkTree in our Instagram bio (@pod.bestbuds). Love you guys, and have a great week!

Update: This is a re-upload (the last 10 minutes of the episode got cut off in the initial upload process)! So sorry for the inconvenience, but we still hope you enjoy the episode. Much love! We're back! With ANOTHER chaotic episode where we're high key winging it. But hey, that's finals szn for ya! Today we're talking about relationship style tests (and taking them) to see where we fall when it comes to love languages, attachment styles, and a couple lesser-known tests developed by renowned anthropologist Helen Fisher. Spoiler alert: we have some anxious and avoidant beans in this mix oop. Thanks for tuning in!

In this chaotic and unplanned episode, we play a modified version of the game We're Not Really Strangers to get to know each other better! We're Not Really Strangers is a question based game dedicated to creating ~meaningful relationships~. We hope this helps you learn more about your favorite podcast hosts ;). Feel free to message us with your own answers or your general comments. As always, remember to follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds for updates.

Hello, and welcome back to another chaotic episode! We've been pretty stressed thinking about majors, internships, and overall career choices, so we wanted to have a little ranting session about it. There's so much to talk about, from honors programs to parental expectations, but talking about this was pretty cathartic for us! Let us know if you relate to anything we said, and as always, follow our Instagram @pod.bestbuds!

Hi guys, and hope everyone's doing well despite the post-election stress! We wanted to do another episode recapping the election, our thoughts and anxieties going through the process, and our outlook on the next four years. (Disclaimer: We recorded this literally 4 hours before Biden was announced as the winner so we were still in the dark about the outcome). We've also been very ~curious~ about conservative views and trying to figure out why we think so differently, so Callie stalked a bunch of right-wing accounts on Tiktok (ah yes most reputable source) to learn more. As always, follow our IG @pod.bestbuds, and please take care of yourself

In this week's episode, we revisit our thoughts on a completely remote semester, angst about missing out on the college experience, and rant about the illustrious zoom university! As usual go give our insta a follow and feel free to let us know whether you're dying (or thriving!) in the online environment! Love y'all!

Happy Election Day everyone! If you haven't already (and it's not too late) don't forget to go out and vote. In this episode, we talk about our thoughts on the 2020 election: how we've been feeling, our thoughts on the candidates, the problems with our democratic system, and more. As a disclaimer, we recorded this a week before Election Day so there may have been updates since then. Also, we recognize that our opinions are limited in range. Feel free to reach out if you want to angst about your election anxiety with us, and as always follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds for updates.

In this second segment of our discussion on all things relationships, we talk about a good variety of cute topics (how to ask people out, cute "how we met" stories), weird topics (first kiss stories??!), and deeper topics (expectations and pressures, red flags, ~breaking up~, and lessons we learn). Let us know your thoughts on any of these! Thanks for listening, and as always, follow our Instagram @pod.bestbuds

We brought on a ~special guest~ (hi Sarah Yang!) for this extra juicy two-part discussion. Listen in as we spill allll the tea on boys, relationships, insecurities, the pros and cons of singledom, and most importantly, knowing yourself and your values. We had a lot to say, so we decided to split this into two episodes-- tune back in next week to hear more!

In this week's episode, we wanted to honor the life and work of former SCJ Ruth Bader Ginsberg as a champion for gender equality by discussing our thoughts on gender dynamics. Tune in for intersectional feminism, gender roles in the workplace, cultural expectations, and maybe us high-key roasting our guy friends (LOL sorry boys). **Disclaimer: We are limited in our experiences with gender since we all identify as cisgender females and our experiences shouldn't be generalized to all females! ANDDDD our instagram. Follow us @pod.bestbuds (if we get to 100,000,000,000 followers Callie *might* quit Tik Tok).

We initially wanted to make an episode about AAPI media representation and thought that the live action Mulan would be a good starting point. However, after watching the movie, this episode turned into a series of passionate rants about Mulan 2020. Listen to hear about our thoughts on Mulan 2020's portrayal of culture, gender, and the male lead's forehead. As always, don't forget to follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds for updates!

Hi guys, and welcome back to another episode! This one is a little bit... different... and quite chaotic. We tried to take Buzzfeed quizzes on behalf of each other, and Buzzfeed really helped us reveal some deep truths that we honestly didn't even know about ourselves, like which Disney character Clarissa would be best friends with, whether Isha is more like Dixie or Charli D'Amelio, and how many people are secretly in love with Callie. We tried our best to narrate the quizzes as we went along, but this entire episode is pure chaos-- and a much needed stress-reliever for us, as Isha and Clarissa stress over their orgo exam this week :)

In the wise words of Mac Miller: “self care, I'm treatin' me right, yeah.” This week's episode is all about taking care of your physical and mental health to alleviate stress and stay motivated! We discuss self care vs. self destruction, productivity, and our own self care routines (honestly do we really even have one?). And of course, the obligatory instagram plug: follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds for more spicy content. Enjoy!

In this episode, we're joined by Clarissa's best friend, Sydney Sun, to talk about the ~magic of friendship~! Listen to this episode to learn about what we value in our friends, how our friendships have changed over time, and most importantly, to hear Clarissa and Sydney flex their friendship. Be sure to follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds to admire Callie's amazing graphic design skills! (also, listen to the end for a special surprise)

We bring on a long-awaited special guest in this episode (!!!) and talk about our experiences growing up as second-gen Asian Americans. We talk about our relationship with our parents, pressure to succeed, our thoughts about Chinese school, our perception of identity, and Clarissa's dad's cucumber counter. These are our personal stories, as the second-generation Asian American immigrant experience varies widely, but we want to hear yours, too! Check out our Instagram @pod.bestbuds. Thanks for listening!

In this week's episode, we discuss “The Age of Instagram Face”, an article published last year in The New Yorker by Jia Tolentino (in our linktree!), that explores the monolithic beauty standards that pervade both social media culture and our lives away from the screen. Tune in to hear our thoughts on influencers, plastic surgery, feminism and more! We also wanted to thank everyone for all of the love and support we've gotten for this project so far! Our fall semester is now in full swing, so it may be difficult for us to post consistently. But we'll try our best (buds) to post as much as possible, and hope you stick around for the ride. As always, be sure to check out our instagram (@pod.bestbuds) and stay tuned for Episode 13 dropping next week!

Since we've been in quarantine, we've been spending even more time than usual trying to entertain ourselves with various forms of media. In this episode of Best Buds, we talk about some of our favorite books, movies, and TV shows. If you've been looking to fight your own quarantine boredom, listen to hear our recommendations for some new things to read and watch! As always, feel free to send us any of your thoughts and be sure to follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds for updates.

We decided to take a little break as Isha travels to the great Mountains of Smoky, so we split this episode into two parts. In this segment, we talk about cultivating our relationships with others and ourselves as we transitioned into college, covering topics like living with a roommate, (the party scene), and chicken tendies in the dining halls!

We've talked about transitioning into college before, but this time we wanted to give more practical advice on different parts of college life (but with COVID changing how campus is going to look, is this advice even applicable anymore?? It's here anyway!) In this episode, we cover dorms, academics, and extracurriculars- stay tuned to hear more next week!

In this episode, we discuss what prestige culture is, how it has shaped us, and how we're resolving these toxic mindsets in hopes of growing into better people. Be sure to give us some love on our instagram (@pod.bestbuds) and share you're experiences and encounters with prestige culture—we'd love to hear what you think!

This episode, we answer a selection of questions from the 36 Questions That Lead to Love, published in the New York Times. These questions are said to deepen emotional intimacy, so we wanted to try them out with each other, along with our special guest, Jakobi Deslouches! Listen to this episode to learn about our hopes, dreams, and Callie's love for chopping lettuce. Be sure to follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds for updates :)

In honor of our two-part freshman year recap, we asked our friends (both at UMD and schools across the country) to send us memories of their freshman year of college! The product: a wonderful and heartwarming collection of moments that made our friends' freshman experiences memorable. Hope you enjoy this bonus episode--we certainly enjoyed editing it! And, of course, stay tuned for Episode 7 dropping next week. Special thanks to everyone who took the time to share their stories!

Welcome back! This week, we talk about our freshman spring semester-- definitely a lot busier as we got more integrated into campus life, but thankfully a LOT less angsty as we started figuring things out. This episode was quite bittersweet to record, reminiscing on the good times and reflecting on how much we had grown since the fall, but also wondering what memories we could have made in the latter half of the semester. Regardless, we were all thriving and blossoming in spring semester like the little plant buds we are :)

We dig deep and conduct a post-mortem on our freshman year (cut painfully short) in this two-part series! This week we revisit our fall semesters and discuss everything from adjusting to college, making friends, and finding our place on campus. Freshman fall was painful, naive, and a bit angsty, but in the end things turned out pretty okay. Thanks for tuning in!

This is the second episode in our two part series on COVID-19 and how it relates to us. While the last episode focused on the effects of coronavirus on a societal level, in this episode, we explore how the virus has impacted our personal lives. We discuss our academics, hobbies, friendships, and maybe even spill the tea on some romance ;). As always, feel free to reach out with any thoughts and make sure to follow our instagram @pod.bestbuds to stay updated!

Welcome to a two-part special about everyone's favorite topic: the coronavirus pandemic :( In this episode, we're focusing on the bigger social implications of the virus. We talk about anti-Asian American racism, healthcare disparities, and America's response to the pandemic, and Avatar the Last Airbender (yipyip!) Lettuce know what you think, and make sure you follow our Instagram (@pod.bestbuds) to be updated when the next episode drops!

In this episode we sit down with Dr. Terry Park, a professor in the University of Maryland's Asian American Studies Program, to chat about the intersection of the Asian American experience and Black Lives Matter. We also made an instagram (@pod.bestbuds) so check us out there for frequent updates on episodes and our favorite plant puns. We'll also have a linktree in our instagram bios with resource documents from our previous episodes, including one with people, readings and videos mentioned by Dr. Park throughout Episode 2. Thanks for listening!