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 <3  

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 <3 

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!