Sweet :)

Received something sweet in my mailbox :)







Taken during the WDC Tzu Ching Camp.
Who are we? We're the Team Leaders and Camp Leaders!
Background : Capitol, in case you don't know :P



gtg, tomorrow is my D-date! Jia you! Jia you! Jia you!

D-date

One more day to go...

Add oil! Add oil! Add oil! Gambateh :)

...

So, 2 more days, school will start. Kinda weird, coz in study mood though still in break.
maybe decision to the test right on the first day of class might not wise. But, too lazy I am to revise it earlier that I can only take it on the first day of class. Will still study hard for the next 2 days for the sake of my so-called future, which myself still ambiguous about it. Life is still full of question marks ????

was so close yet so far. was right there yet there was no way to grab hold of it. maybe is a sign to let go and regain for freedom. Never like to be tied, and will fly for sure :) A better sky is for the one who aims for it.

is hard to read this post because all subjects are removed :P

back to work. bye bye!

End and beginning

Finally, I've settled down for real since I came back from Ohio. August have been quite a hectic, fun-filled and lighting fast month. Everything happened in a flash that it's already 27th, almost 28th, now.

I spent the first 9 days at my last few days in Dr. Finer's lab. Moved in my new place on the same day I flew back to New Jersey. Stayed at home for 3 days, trying to study. Then, I left again. This time to Washington DC for Tzu Ching camp. It was my first Tzu Ching that I've ever attended. The whole camp was very relaxing and full of laughters. Met a lot of new friends there, which is a boon :) And, I was asked to become a team leader few weeks before the camp began. Kind of nervous in the beginning, but team members were really good and friendly, no issues occured, except for the two little teenage boys that rarely spoke... Ah, that phase! I totally can understand that :) After four days in the nice and cozy camp, I went back to New Jersey, not for long...

After staying a day there, I left again, this time for my short and kinda spontaneous (not really... but I wasn't that ready for it) trip to Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, and San Franscisco. Las Vegas...The best description I could find for it is --- Adult Disneyland.. It kinda like a fantasy land. You could find building replicas from all over the world from Venice, Rome, France, NY, Sahara... Everything was so not real there... but, it does no harm to escape from reality once in a while, right? So, 4 days was spent in LV, with 1 day for Grand Canyon Tour. Took lotz of pictures in Grand Canyon though we only made 2 stops for sightseeing :'( Hopefully can do a camping trip there next time! On the other 3 days, we went shopping in the LV Premium Outlet and walked down the Strip --> the most happening place at LV. At the Outlet, I was so tempted to buy $100 Coach Purse. I'm glad that I managed to get out from the store without buying it coz I knew I would definitely regret if I did ... Luckily, I'm still conscious, also thanks to my shopping buddy, Eileen :) For the last 2 days, we took many pictures on the Strip, watched some free shows, and I went to Cirque du Soleil "O" show in Bellagio. That cost me a fortune but totally worth it coz it's the only place on Earth (as for now) that I could watch it! So, that is a brief account of my Las Vegas trip.

On the 4th day, we took an hour (40minutes??) flight to San Franscisco. It was so cold when we exited the airport.Eileen and I was expecting warm weather. But, the truth is San Frans has a Mediterrannean weather, which stays around 64F or 15C throughout the year -.-" So, we basically flew from 113F (48C) to 64F (15C) in less than an hour! It's freezing cold!

First night in SF, we had some Thai food in a downtown restaurant. Tasted yummy, sorta like eating "tuo pan" but slightly sour (tou pan in Jawa mee sauce?). Downtown was very happening that night coz it's Friday. People was drinking and clubbing at the bar right below our hotel. But, we're too tired for those... So, we went to bed right after the supper.. zzzzzzzzz

The next morning, we went shopping for clothes in H&M and Forever 21. Eileen needed it since she only bought sleeveless shirt and shorts (cold....). Spent 2 hrs there while waiting for another friend to join us. Then, the rest of the afternoon was complete chaos as we tried to find the place to claim our Visitor Cards. It's all the car's fault. Shoudn't have rent it at the first place. Right after I got our cards, we went straight to Sonoma County for some wine tasting.... bought a bottle of white wine with lychee flavor. yes, I can buy legally now! After the short session, we went back to San Francisco to get some yummy fresh seafood. Did I say that we pass by Golden Gate Bridge on the way to Sonoma County and back? Yes, we did :) I tried to take pictures... but they weren't that good... So, at the Crab Stands, we had seafood for dinner. Eileen and I shared a plate of Crabs, prawns, raw clams, and raw mussels. I tried raw mussels for the first time and it tasted quite nice :) But, I decided not to try raw clams coz Eillen said it's kinda smelly.. ewww.... After the hearty meal, we went to the Crookedest Street and Japan Center. Took plenty of pictures there... Another observation --> there are manu Asians in SF, even more than NY! Also my Eurasian babies :P So, that was the 2nd nite in SF.....

2nd day, I decided to do some biking. Though the idea did not appeal to Eileen and her friends, I decided to do anyway... on my own. So, I boarded the F bus to Fisherman's Wharf (took the wrong one to Castro's "Rainbow Town" and had to retake another F bus), claimed my ticket for my cruise, took my 1-hr sightseeing cruise, rent a bike, and started my journey toward the Golden Gate Bridge at 1.30pm. I managed to get on the Bridge at 2pm ish, strolling on the Bright Orange bridge, took more pictures, spots a few sea lion playing in the sea water :) ... At 3.30pm, I finally made it to the end of the 2-mile (?) long bridge and headed to Sausalito, another beautiful town, to take the ferry back to SF. Though I spent 2 and a half hour, the bike shopkeeper said that could actually be done in 1 and a half hour and it totally worth it! So, what did I do in Sausalito? Something totally unwise --> wine tasting, since it's already included in my Visitor Pass... I felt terribly drizzy when I was at my third glass. Luckily, I took a ferry back or else I'll definitely bumped on somebosy, which definitely not a good situation.... I slept for half an hour in the ferrt and chatted with an lady from Philedalphia. She was trying to capture the Alcaltraz Prison and sent it to her husband back home. How sweet...

Once I'm back to SF, I biked around the Embarcadero and returned the bike at 8pm. Then, I took the Historical Cable Car back to where I lived. I was quite lucky that day because the line for Cable Car was so short that I only have to wait for around 10minutes. Maybe, it was dinner time and not many was interested in riding the car :) During other times of the day, you might have to wait for more than 1hr... Lucky! Lucky!

3rd day was a short, checked out at 11am, we headed to Castro. Had the most fabulous, delicious breakfast there called Crab Florentine.. SO GOOD! Then, more sightseeing there before we went to Fisherman's Whaft again because Eileen and friends were boarding the sighseeing cruise. I, on the othe hand, hop on a downtown sightseeing tour. It was a very informative and insightful tour that told you untold story of the neighborhood.. Very neat indeed. After that, I went to Chinatown to take some pictures and have dinner.... And the dinner was the end of my 7-day trip in Las Vegas and San Francisco...

Now, I'm back to reality. GRE in 4 days, and schools will start in 4 days.....
加油!加油!

hiatus

will be out of town for 10 days :)

: - )

Never expected to meet on the very second day I came back, but somehow we bumped into each other on the street. Is it so called serendipity?

now, I'm in cloud nine :-)

:( ---> (:

So, I came back to New Brunswick finally...

Yesterday was my last day in "farm-filled" Wooster. We made the second attempt to Berlin, an Amish towns. It was our second visit because we went there 2 Sunday ago, overlooking the fact that Amishs go to church on Sundays. So, we basically arrived to a died town that time with all the shops closed. My supervisor, Carlos, kind of felt bad for that because I personally requested him to bring me there. So, he decided to bring there again (Now, I felt bad). The streets were much more lively yesterday compared to the last visit. We actually saw Amish people. They were selling fresh produces, grilled chicken, crafts, etc etc... We went in and out many store, and I ended up buying some neat crafts. After that, we went to a Amish cheese factory. I tasted many kinds of yummy cheese, like cheddar, white (swiss?) , jalapenos cheese, cheese with bacon, pungent garlic cheese, chocolate cheese, blueberry cheese, goat cheese (eww!), and lotzz more. Also bought some yummy cheese back home :) I love cheese! After the flavorful trip to the cheese factory, we went to a small ranch to see some farm animals. Carlos and Brenda were not coming with us because they just went there at the beginning of the summer. I felt kind of bad for having them waiting for us for an hour.... But, farm animals were cute and, we got to feed time :) So, we went at 5pm though we expected to be home at 2pm. Everyone was starving by that time, and we grilled some chicken and vege at Carlos house for the dinner, my last dinner in Wooster and with Carlos and his family....

So, today, woke up super early, as early as 6am, did some packing, and off I was to the airport. It was Carlos who sent me. In the hour journey, we chatted a lot, esp about professors in OARDC and graduate schools. The whole trip was full of laughter. And at 8am, we reached Cleveland Airport. I checked in my big luggage and found out that it was overweight -.-'' S***, for the extra 13 Ibs, I have to pay additional $50, but, nothing could be done.... So, after the fuss, it's time to bid farewell to Carlos, my dearest mentor for the past 10-weeks. I gave him a nice big firm good-bye hug and promised that we would keep in touch in the future. Then, I walked toward to the Gate 10, not daring to look back at all... So, Good Bye Ohio, the land of aviation!

The 1 and a half hour journey from Cleveland to Philadelphia was going well. The day was sunny in Cleveland, but it turned cloudy at the City of Brotherly Love. The trip from Philly to New Brunswick was only 1hours by car. But due to the cheap ticket I bought, I have to wait another 2 hours before boarding the next flight. The gate was open at 1.15pm, and every passenger settled down at his/her seat at 1.30pm. Just when all of us thought we're about to taxi, the pilot announced that the airport in Newark has 'low ceiling'. I overheard from the lady next to me that it means the air pressure was too high for the plane to fly. So, all of us were stuck in the super small propeller plane that didn't even have a lavatory for another bloody hour, which was then shortened to half an hour. The stewardess tried to appease us with ice cold water, which caused a huge problem to me later on. Why? As I said that is not toilet in that tiny plane, and unwisely, the hungry and thirstily me glutted down the whole glass of water before the plane left the Philly Airport. So, what I thought the whole journey was, "bathroom, bathroom, and bathroom....". And, you can never imagine how fast I rush to the airport once we're freed from the propeller!
So, that's my journey back to Rutgers that was protracted from 5 to 7 hours... And because of that, I finally finished "The Harmony Silk Factory", which I've abandoned for 2 weeks. It was a really nice book to read, will talk about it in my next post :)

And now, I'm in my new place, blogging. I no longer stayed in my old place, but officially moved into this bigger double-storey apartment today. It belongs to a Church group, and so, it was rented at a lower than market-price. The room was not as bad as I first saw it 10 weeks ago. I ranted a lot about this room because I was supposed to get the biggest master room in the house, which I didn't get it because of my hesitant. But, everything turned out well. The wall was repainted wall, the floor was redone, and the molds in the bathroom was exterminated. In fact, I even have fan in my room, a luxury in US room. In overall, it was a better house if compared to my previous tiny cubicle in Suydam St, except that it's further away from bus stop and student center. But, I think I can do with it once I get my third bike in US :P

离别总是伤心的

So, here it came, my last day as an intern in Finer's Lab. Never expect it to be so soon. Kinda of sad for leaving the lab... In fact, I'm very sad. The thought of not seeing the people I've been working with in the past 10 weeks anymore makes me nauseous. Now, only time and busy coursework can ease me from the sad feeling of separation...

Recently, have been pondering a lot about my future. What I did in the past three years have been specially planned and executed so that I could get into grad school (including the internship I'm doing now)... But, now, I really don't know what I want.. Going home? Staying for another few years to further studies? If latter was chosen, what kind of studies I'm going to pursue? The vast courses offered in the many universities simply daunted me. Even though there are few particular courses that I'm interested, the requirements are simply too high that I doubted I can secure a seat with my terrible GRE preparation.

How I wish I could find my old self who never wished for the star in the sky, who was simply satisfied when she got accepted in Rutgers University.............

Tuesday

Here comes Tuesday...
Four more days working in the lab.
I really don't feel like leaving and hope I that can stay in the Finer's lab longer.
Actually, it's never been my first choice to do my internship here. I was hoping to do get a position in a more prestigious university, but somehow I was not qualified enough to be accepted. So, since I have no where to go, and I didn't wanna stay in Rutgers again this summer, and was desperately in need of an internship, I decided to come here, just for the sake of leaving Rutgers.

At the beginning, I imagined this place will be another boring lab where I would be stuck with PCR, gel, DNA, soybeans for 10 weeks. I came here with little notions what were coming up for me and completely unprepared for my project (I didn't even read the papers sent to me before I flew here :P). But, after a mere 10 weeks, I've gained more than I could ever imagine.

Now, I'm more confident in operating the devices like PCR machine, running gels, and performing other lab techniques, which I never got a chance to learn in my food science lab. The second thing I cherish is the people I met during the internship. Everyone in the lab is so nice. Carlos has been very helpful. A good mentor, he definitely is. Dr. Finer is so friendly. I've never met such a amicable professor. Not even Dr. Schaffner, whom I've worked with for 3 years can change the fact. It was so fun to work with funny, talkative Clay, who is my partner in my project, and Cristian, who invites me to party every weekend. Besides people in the lab, I also had a chance to meet people from other departments through the social events. There were people from all around the world and of different backgrounds. Hopefully, we can keep in touch after I leave.

Another person whom I'll never forget is Chun Xue, my housemate in ATI. Ever since I moved here, we cook and eat dinner together almost everyday. It's fun and comforting to actually have somebody eat with you. I wonder whether I can still do that once I go back to Rutgers... I'll also never forget the hours we spent together watching many many TVB, Taiwanese, and Korean dramas until way pass midnight. In these brief 7 weeks we stayed together, we have watched 2 HK, 4 Korean and 1 Taiwanese dramas. Huh! There were also evenings when we unwind at the swings in the playground nearby, talking about our past, our dreams (dream guys to be exact), and her love story. And also, the weekend when both of us turned into a complete shopaholic in the uptown after weeks of abstinence from shopping. Lastly, I'll always remember the 1-hour walk we take just to get the best pizza in Wooster (or the world)!! It's really sad of leaving.... coz I really have no idea when I'll come here again or if there are any chances I'll come back here at all and meet with them.... :'(

So, I came here with nothing and expecting nothing. But after these 10 weeks, I'm bringing home with research experience, $2K, a bag full of fond memories with wonderful people and place, and also a possibility of published paper.... It's really a rewardful experience that I'll never erase from my memories

p/s: I also bring home some deep regret for not studying enough for GRE .... which makes me really sad....

End of summer ...

Like what Shin Hwei said 暑假就快结束了, next week will be the last week of my 10-week internship in Finer's Lab. Then, I'll be flying back to NJ and moving into the new house with new roommate.

It'll be another 3 weeks before school starts. Before that, I'll be taking the GRE, which I am totally not prepared for. In fact, I'm going for a short vacation 1 week before the test. I'm totally out of my mind. Even before my vacation, I'm going to a camp for 4 days. In conclusion, the whole vacation and camp will attenuate my study days to around 15 days in the August. And now, it's already August the 1st. I'm totally pushing myself off the cliff.... The situation is so dejecting yet I'm still not motivated to study hard. Maybe, I have long forgotten how to study for this kind of standarized test after 3 years of college....

Fall term will start on the 1st. I'm taking 7 courses next semester in order to squeeze all my major requirement. 2 of the courses give only 1 credit but I know 7 courses in 1 semester is a really really bad idea. But, what can I do? I screwed up in my junior year... I'll keep my finger crossed and hope that I'll be fine.................

But, since it'll be my last fall term in Rutgers, I think I should try my best to enjoy it to my best coz we will only be university students for once in a life time. So, to every "senior citizens" out there and me, do your best but also remember to enjoy yourselves! There are no points of having stressful university life for 4 years. It's just not worth your life :)