Published on 2024-02-23 14:32 by Sam Wu

Charlotte Cheung

I started a really long time ago. Three years old, I think. So it’s really been a constant in my life. I’m really grateful that I get to play it because violin takes a lot of technical skills that take a really long time to master. That requires patience and also the ability of my family to pay for it. So I’m grateful for that because when I play the violin it’s so different from reading books or the academic life that I’m used to. It just taps into a different purpose.

But even though I’m from an Asian family, and I know a lot of Asian parents have expectations and their kids feel a lot of stress from those expectations, my family is not like that. When it came to university applications, they were like, go whatever you want. So I didn’t have that kind of stress growing up.

They were supportive of me as well. I’m more carefree because of it. Maybe a bit too carefree…But it’s not a bad thing! I’ve seen a lot of my classmates feeling really stressed directly and indirectly from that kind of pressure.

Written by Sam Wu