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.