PODCAST · society
Hello, {Real} World!
by Carol and Emily
Hello, {real} world! We're Carol and Emily, two 22 year olds navigating tech, school, relationships, and everything in between. Between lectures, interviews, and meltdowns, these talks began in our 16x16 ft first year dorm at the University of Waterloo. We’ll be letting you in on our thoughts about hustle culture, forming relationships in university, and growing up Asian-Canadian. We hope that we can provide a unique yet relatable perspective that brings you comfort in not knowing what’s ahead. Follow us as we say hello to the {real} world!
Episodes
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43. Catching up | The Realities of Moving to NYC
Goodbye, SF 🌉 Hello, NYC 🗽 While moving to New York is top of mind for many, it wasn’t an easy decision for Emily — especially after just getting settled into San Francisco. In this episode, she shares her experience making big life choices and the pressure that can come with having more…
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42. Catching up | Recovering from Burnout
Life happens… and sometimes, you burn out. This podcast never had a hard deadline, but it’s been on our minds (for a while) to come back and catch up! In this episode, Carol shares her winter arc in Pittsburgh — how she hit a wall, and more importantly, what it took to find a way out. If you’ve...
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41. 36 Questions to Fall (Back) in Love with Tech
Remember the excitement of sending an MSN nudge, uploading your first IG post, or browsing Tumblr? When every interaction on the internet felt so magical, and simple? Now that tech has become so embedded in our livelihoods, our feelings around tech and the industry we work in have become a lot…
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40. Aging Anxiety
For most of lives so far, we’ve looked forward to getting older and becoming an adult. Now that we’re ‘here’, that anticipation seems to be quickly replaced by anxiety and the fear of growing old (aka “FOGO”). In this episode, we chat through some of the pressures of growing up — Feelings of...
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39. Adjusting to Life, One Year Post Grad
Hey, it’s been a minute! 2024 has flown by and we can’t believe it’s already been a year since we graduated. Now that we’re technically no longer ‘new grads’ (*sniffle*), we talk about the process of settling into new cities, developing new hobbies, and how our new environment (and friends) has...
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38. Advice to our College Selves | Mental Health, Career, and Friendships (Ft. Olivia Wang and Jackie Fung)
We often wish we had older siblings to help us navigate university as it’s a time filled with change, pressure, and expectations. In this special episode, we’re joined by Olivia and Jackie, two sophomores in college, to have a conversation about the challenges they’re currently dealing with. We...
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37. Habits for Building a Healthy and Productive Life
Setting goals are important, but developing habits are often overlooked. While it’s hard to see the impacts of our everyday actions, building and preserving small habits can compound to have powerful long-term effects. In this episode, we reflect on the habits that were instrumental in getting us...
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36. Reflecting on 2023 | Graduation, New Grad, and Changes
Happy belated new year ✨ 2023 was a year full of important milestones, travel, and big life transitions for us. As an end of year ritual, we took some time to pause and reflect on all the experiences, feelings and challenges that shaped us over the past year. We reflect on everything from the...
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35. Navigating Long Distance Relationships
Does distance really make the heart grow fonder? 💖 While not ideal, long-distance relationships have become common in this post-grad stage of our lives. In this episode, we’re joined by @filmwcolleen to talk about our experiences in LDRs. What are the most challenging parts? How have we been…
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34. Let's Talk About Social Media
It’s hard to imagine a life without social media. In many ways, it serves as an important avenue for inspiration, content sharing, and staying connected. But at the same time, it can be anxiety-inducing, addicting, and leave us feel even lonelier than without. In this episode, we talk about our...
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33. Unpacking New Grad | Moving to a New City, Starting Full-Time, and Adulting
It’s been a hectic past few months as we’ve moved to new cities and started our first full time jobs. Big life transitions and changes often come with a mix of emotions, new experiences and unexpected challenges. Tune in to hear us talk about navigating ambiguity as a new grad, making friends in…
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32. A Guide to New-Grad Tech Recruiting (Ft. Lynn Kim)
As new grads, we know first-hand how stressful and challenging recruiting can be. This episode is meant to be a comprehensive guide to help those recruiting in tech for their first full-time jobs 👩💻! We’ll be sharing our experiences recruiting for software engineering (thanks to our friend…
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31. Our Last Summer Break | Travelling, Convocation, and Getting Ready to Move
In this episode, we catch up on what we’ve been up to in our *last* summer break before full-time. We talk about our eye-opening grad trip in Southeast Asia, what it was like backpacking and traveling with a big group of friends. We also chat about convocation, more travels, Emily’s summer job as…
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30. How Childhood Impacts Love and Dating | Attachment Styles
Our romantic relationships as adults are heavily influenced by our childhoods. We talk about attachment theory and how we repeat the relationship dynamics and patterns we experienced growing up. What are our attachment styles? Do we date people that remind us of our parents? What have our…
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29. Family | Childhood, Parents and Siblings
Family is a foundational and important component of our lives. In this episode, we reflect and analyze how our upbringings and childhoods have shaped our personalities, perspectives, and core values today. How have our relationships with our parents evolved as we’ve gotten older? Does birth order...
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28. A Recap of our University Experience
The university/college experience…some say are the best, worst, or “peak” years of your life. As (soon-to-be) new grads, we recap what it was like studying Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. From first year imposter syndrome and navigating school during COVID, to figuring…
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27. "So, how do you feel about graduating?"
“So, how do you feel about graduating?” is a question we’ve been asked countless times in our final term of university - and it’s become really hard to answer in a few sentences. Lately, life feels like it’s been hurtling towards the finish line of graduation, and so we wanted to pause and talk...
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26. Realities of Being a Medical School Student (Ft. Sonya Batth)
What is life like as a medical school student? From surviving a competitive undergrad to finding the right specialty, our friend Sonya Batth joins us in this episode to share her journey in becoming a doctor. As two people in the tech bubble, we found it fascinating to learn about what her…
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25. Navigating Intimacy vs Isolation in our 20s
“Will I find love or will I end up alone?” According to psychology, our 20s is a defining period where we may learn to form some of most intimate relationships or experience some of the greatest feelings of isolation and loneliness. In episode 25, we discuss this theory in-depth and reflect on…
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24. How Our Failures Shaped Us (Ft. Justin Zhang and Chris Nguyen)
We’re great at sharing and celebrating successes, but how often do we talk about failure? In this episode, we sit down with our friends Chris Nguyen and Justin Zhang to discuss the personal failures we’ve faced, how we’ve learned to cope with it, and how we’ve been able to use it as a tool for...
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23. Our Asian Canadian Identity
In today’s episode, we talk about how our Asian Canadian identity has shaped us. We reflect on feelings of being different, share our “lunchbox” stories, and talk about how our relationship with our culture has evolved over time. Did we ever feel ashamed of being Asian? When did we start to...
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22. A Look Ahead at 2023
Happy New Year 🥂! The start of a new year is always a hopeful time full of anticipation for what’s to come and goals/resolution setting. We talk about both what we’re excited about and what we’re dreading in 2023 - From our last term as students to grad trips to moving to new cities. We’ve...
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21. A Look Back on 2022
How is it already the end of the year 😩!? From traveling & studying abroad to summer internships to fourth year in Waterloo - this year was filled with new experiences, learnings and realizations. We reflect on the people, places, and themes that made 2022 the (best and worst - Emily) or…
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20. How It All Started | Our Friendship and this Podcast
To celebrate our 20th episode, we share the story of how we met, the ups & downs in our friendship, and what ultimately led us to this podcast. We share our first impressions of each other, when we knew the other person was a good friend, and how our relationship has evolved along the way. We'll...
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19. The One About Friendships
While discussion on romantic relationships is often more popular in media, we often overlook and take for granted relationships that have just as much influence and impact on our lives: friendships. What are red and green flags for a friend? Can you continue to be friends after feelings have been...
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18. Getting Over a Breakup
Heartbreak 💔 is never easy yet is a reality that most people will experience at least once in their lives. Fortunately, you can come out of it stronger and better. In this episode, Emily shares how she was able to process, heal, and ultimately move on after experiencing the loss of a 3 year...
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17. The American vs Canadian College Experience (Ft. Michael and Larry)
This summer, we were fascinated by the stories about college from our American 🇺🇸 friends and how much that differed from the Canadian 🇨🇦 university experience. So we decided to invite two of them, Michael (from Rice University) and Larry (from Duke University) onto the podcast to give us a...
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16. Hot Intern Summer
Hellooo it's been a hot minute since our last episode, so we wanted to do more of a catch-up on what’s been going on in our lives this summer ☀️! We talk what it's like working at Meta, living in Seattle and the Bay area, tech bro parties, new friendships, and breakups. We reflect on all the ups...
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15. A Candid Chat on Physical Appearance
Sit down with us as we dive into something we've never talked with each other about before: physical appearance. In this episode, we talk about some of the insecurities we grew up with, how our relationship with body image and self esteem changed over time, as well as how we were able to become...
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14. Finding Work-Life Balance
As we get into the swing of our summer internships (this time returning to the office), finding work-life balance has been on our minds. What does having a work-life balance look like? How do you achieve it? We share our thoughts on work-life balance, and how the meaning of it has evolved over…
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13. Carol's in a relationship!!?
It’s tea spilling time on this week’s episode 🍵 After many first dates and ninth wheel situations, Carol shares her past hesitancy towards dating and what made this different. Listen to the story behind a relationship that grew from the pandemic (and how Emily helped to move things along 👀)....
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12. Working and Studying Abroad | Pt. II Life in Europe (Ft. Vanessa Seto)
In this episode, Emily and our friend Vanessa share what it was like adjusting to life in Europe while they were studying in Madrid 🇪🇸 and working in Berlin 🇩🇪. From following strangers to techno raves under a bridge to getting yelled at for jaywalking, they share the cultural differences…
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11. Working and Studying Abroad | Pt. I Things to Know Beforehand (Ft. Vanessa Seto)
Hello from Europe! As work and study abroad opportunities open up again, we wanted to make an episode to help anyone thinking/planning on going abroad (or if you just want to hear interesting stories about the process) 🌎! We’re joined by our friend Vanessa, who did an internship in Berlin…
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10. Expectations vs. Realities of Working in Tech
There’s a lot of perceptions about what it’s like working in tech: you have to be a programmer, there’s free food and offices with bean bag chairs, everyone is trying to start the next Facebook, etc. After working various internships from start-ups to big tech as a SWE, designer and PM, we debunk...
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9. Forming and Shaping Identity
“Who am I?”, the age old question and the focus of countless coming-of-age stories. In this episode, we tackle the concept of identity – what does it mean to us, how has it been shaped, and do we have a good grasp on our identity today? ___________________________________________________ Music:...
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8. We're Not Really Strangers
Hi there, don’t be a stranger 👋! Sit down with us as we play the card game, “WE’RE NOT REALLY STRANGERS” to see how well we really know each other (and for you to get to know us better too 😳). This card game aims to deepen existing relationships and create new ones through a series of prompts,...
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7. Catching Up | Studying Abroad, Travelling, and Returning In-Person
Hi, how’ve you been? In this more laid-back and tangent-filled episode, Emily talks about her first month studying abroad in Spain and Carol shares what it’s been like going back to in-person school at Waterloo as well as her recent trip to NYC! ___________________________________________________...
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6. Landing Internships in Tech
Internships are an invaluable way to learn, explore, and gain experience in specific roles and industries. However, we know (very well) how stressful it can be looking for an internship. After having done it many times, we wanted to share some of our knowledge recruiting for roles in software...
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5. Getting Serious About Relationships (Ft. Kat Inglis and Lynn Kim)
Dedicated to the month of love, in this episode we get serious about relationships. Joined by some special guests, our lovely friends (and roomies) Kat and Lynn, we share our experiences with dating, from looking for a partner to maintaining a healthy relationship. How do you know when you’re…
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4. Teens vs Twenties, What's the Difference? | Pt. II Independence, Personal Growth, and Changing Perspectives
Teens vs. twenties, what's the difference? In media, a lot of people talk about the differences between twenties and thirties. But as 21 year olds, we’ve also recognized the many changes that happened comparing our teen years to our twenties. In part II of this series, we talk about how we...
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3. Teens vs Twenties, What's the Difference? | Pt. I Friendships, Relationships, and Family
Teens vs. twenties, what’s the difference? In media, a lot of people talk about the differences between twenties and thirties. But as 21 year olds, we’ve also recognized the many changes that happened comparing our teen years to our twenties. In part 1 of this series, we talk about the changes in...
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2. A Look Back on 2021
Some people say that 2020 was the year for absorbing, consuming, and planning, while 2021 was the year for doing. In this episode, we take some time to look back on the highlights (and lowlights) that shaped our year 💌 ___________________________________________________ Music: Tape Star by Shane...
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1. How We Got Started in Tech
As 20-something year olds, school and career play a big role in our identities. In today’s episode, we’ll be talking about why we chose to study engineering, our journey in the tech industry so far, and our current roles as a designer and product manager....
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Trailer: Hello, {Real} World!
Hello, {real} world! We're Carol and Emily. In this podcast, we talk about our journey as two 22 year olds navigating tech, school, relationships, and everything in between.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Hello, {real} world! We're Carol and Emily, two 22 year olds navigating tech, school, relationships, and everything in between. Between lectures, interviews, and meltdowns, these talks began in our 16x16 ft first year dorm at the University of Waterloo. We’ll be letting you in on our thoughts about hustle culture, forming relationships in university, and growing up Asian-Canadian. We hope that we can provide a unique yet relatable perspective that brings you comfort in not knowing what’s ahead. Follow us as we say hello to the {real} world!
HOSTED BY
Carol and Emily
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Hello, {Real} World! have?
Hello, {Real} World! currently has 44 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Hello, {Real} World! about?
Hello, {real} world! We're Carol and Emily, two 22 year olds navigating tech, school, relationships, and everything in between. Between lectures, interviews, and meltdowns, these talks began in our 16x16 ft first year dorm at the University of Waterloo. We’ll be letting you in on our thoughts about...
How often does Hello, {Real} World! release new episodes?
Hello, {Real} World! has 44 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Hello, {Real} World!?
You can listen to Hello, {Real} World! on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Hello, {Real} World!?
Hello, {Real} World! is created and hosted by Carol and Emily.
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