Danni Yu

Information

Name = Danni Yu
Chinese = 余丹妮
Pinyin = Yú Dān Nī
Nicknames = 赛赛, Nini, Niz, RainGal

Occupation = Student
Horoscope = Libra
Blood Type = A RH+
Origin = Suzhou,China

My Name

Danni (丹妮) is my given name. In Chinese, "Dan" means rosy and "Ni" means young girl. The two "N"s should both be pronounced in my name, but unfortunately, most people (if not all the people) in Dickinson College read it as "Danny", which sounds a little bit naughty for a girl's name in Chinese.

In 10th Grade, my friends gave me another nickname "RainGal" because it rains every time I go on a trip.

Once I thought things would change when I came to the States. But it didn't. On the night of August 21st, I walked out of Harrisburg International Airport only to find it was pouring outside. And on my first trip in college with Astronomy Club, there was the storm.

Background and Childhood

I grew up in a classic Chinese water town Suzhou which is about 45 minutes' drive to Shanghai and famous for its silk and private gardens. Before Elementary School, I liked to visit the Classic Gardens and take a lot of pictures.

My mom tried to make me behave as a classic lady when I was young, though part of her wished I could be a cute boy. So things ended up twisted. Sometimes I dressed like a boy, but walked like a girl; and sometimes the other way around. My dress were either totally tomboyish or overly feminine.

At the age of 4, one day I had a dream that I was playing the piano, so my mom sent me to learn it. Sadly, when I was 8, dancing looked more attractive and I quited the piano to take dancing classes. Still sadly, my best friend in elementary school went to learn drawing and I followed. Then in 7th Grade, I took a semester of guitar classes; 8th Grade flute classes, 9th Grade the graphic designing... Now I definitely agree that to some extent, dipping into everything equals to into nothing at all, though it did satisfy my goal of trying as much as I could in childhood.

My Family

As China has adopted the one-child policy since 1980s, I have no sibling. My dad is a businessman dealing with digital products and my mom is an accountant. While many Chinese parents tend to be too strict with their child's grade and too tolerant with their child's bad habits, my parents let me make decisions on my own,and thus I tried everything I liked during my childhood.

Having no sibling makes me really close to my cousins. My first cousin is aggresive and confident, while my second little cousin is very urbane and amicable.

Family History

The origination of my surname

Public Record of My aunt who has immigrated to the United States several years ago

My Education

Education Record

Dickinson College,Carlisle,PA
Suzhou High School,China
Passport Language School,Oxford,England
Lida Middle School,China
Pingjiang Experimental School,China

Elementary School,Middle School and High School

Elementary School is from 1st Grade to 6th Grade in my hometown. Something must have happened in the 3rd Grade because I was too quiet before and too talkative after. But I cannot remember what made me change. What I can remember is our classroom had all kinds of insect specimen and something like human brain soaking in water(which looked disgusting and didn't help my Biology at all).

Middle school begins from 7th Grade. In 8th Grade a car hit me on my way to school on the day Spider ManI was shown in China and helped me escape a whole semester's P.E. classes which was a boon since P.E. was never my dominance. Our graduation from middle school ended with bottles of Champagne and a trip to a nasty city.

High school is from 10th Grade to 12th Grade. I took 3 years of Math, Chinese, English, Physics and Chemistry, 2 years of History, Information Technology and Arts, 1 year of Biology and Geography. I worked for the Student Council as a videographer, so back at my home there are tons of video clips that recorded my high school days, most of which I was too lazy to edit and export.