It's good to be home. I really like Oakland's Chinatown. You can find everything you ever need and want. I went out there for lunch these past two days. On Monday, I met up with some friends from middle school. We got pho and chatted for a long time while looking at all the phone charms in Chinatown. We went into 3 or 4 trinket shops. Seriously, you can get everything you could possibly want. We managed to bump into another friend on the street. It's interesting how we're all at this uncertain point in our lives. What are you going to do next year?
On Tuesday, I went to Chinatown again, this time with a friend who's at Stanford. We went to this cheap cafe place. We got the 2 specials of the day and the bill was $8.70. The special even came with milk tea.
On Wednesday, I did some massive cooking. My mom was thinking about where to go out for lunch when I pointed out we have a ton of food in the house. I stuck a frozen lasagna in the oven and some hot pockets in the microwave. Victor really liked those hot pockets and ate 3 that day. And then I decided to attack the pumpkin the grandma brought over. She grew it herself. It's huge. Apparently that's just one of three. Family didn't know what to do with pumpkins. I had my brother carve it apart. He carved a face into one side. I steamed parts of it and we salvaged the seeds. Then I tried to make pumpkin puree with a hand mixer but it didn't break everything up since it doesn't have any blades. I made soup with this goop but it wasn't very popular. So then I pureed the rest of them in a blender and made a pie and some muffins. The muffins were terrible. Must've skipoed a step.
Later on Wednesday, I went to dinner with my high school math club teacher and three girls who were on the team as freshman when I was a senior. So all three just graduated and is starting college. They were in math club for 4 years. We went to a sushi place. Seriously going to get fat eating like this everyday.
I did some packing for Sierra Leone yesterday. My brother was packing for his Yosemite trip so I started digging through the house for stuff too. We have a lot of junk. Wayy too much junk. I found everything I was hoping to find so I feel better about this whole thing now. Can't believe I'll be going there in less than 2 weeks. I feel a lot more travel savvy now than when I went to Germany but still, this is different. We're supposed to be going in there and helping people. Seriously, these people who we're trying to help know so much more than we do, are so much wiser. We're going to show up with our gadgets and they're not going to believe us, a bunch of kids.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
And there goes another semester...
Wow, I can't believe this semester is over. I did an unbelievable amount of stuff. 5 classes, one of which is D-Lab and 2 CI-Hs, worked part time, and applied to grad school. Some people take 3 classes when they apply to grad school. But I guess those people are applying to PhD programs and it's a little more serious.
I feel like I've learned a lot though. My two HASS classes were very rewarding. 500 years worth of East Asian history. Ability to understand basic linguistics stuff. Granted we didn't go into anything in detail but I think I got enough background now to do some self-studying. I think I understand the world a lot better now that I've taken this East Asian history class. And linguistics is so useful. I'm glad the American university system is not like England's. I don't think it's healthy to specialize so much.
In a little more than 2 weeks, I'll be leaving for Sierra Leone. We have to transfer twice and make 3 stops before we get there. It will not be a fun flight. My flight home was delayed an hour and then we had to make a stop in Utah to refuel. At some point, I got so tired, I just slept. I got back home at 2am Pacific time. I was totally out of it by the time I got back. And I was coming home where I knew my parents would take care of stuff. I can just see the 7 of us being extremely tired by the time we get there and have to deal with getting from the Lungi airport to wherever it is we're going.
Anyway, we're so not ready. I feel like there are a lot of little details we haven't taken care of yet. Luggage, who's bringing what, how much cash to bring, gifts, etc. And then there are bigger things like learning Krio and Temne. And rammed earth project wise, we need a packing list, some more calculations, specs of the test structure, and some surveying skills. Woah, better get started soon...
At some point, I need to think more seriously about this summer. I think ideally, I would want to get an internship in either geotech or environmental consulting. I talked to the course 1 internship coordinator the other day and he gave me some good contacts, including someone working in consulting for creating constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. That would be awesome to work on. On the other hand, there are things like the Kawamura Fellowship where they basically pay you to visit Japan. It sounds like a really cool opportunity to do company visits, see the country, do homestays, and such. I think I'm even qualify to do this since I can show "genuine interest in Japan."
Of course, this all depends on what I'm doing next year in terms of grad school. Now that I'm back in the Bay Area, I should really try to meet professors at Berkeley and Stanford. I should get moving on that too...
Anyhow, home is good. Snowball is still as fat as ever. Brother is playing basketball now that flag football is over. The house is stocked with plenty of food. Friends want to meet up. My two weeks home is starting to fill up with appointments. I've been home for a day and all I wanted to do is sleep and mope around. Sigh...
I feel like I've learned a lot though. My two HASS classes were very rewarding. 500 years worth of East Asian history. Ability to understand basic linguistics stuff. Granted we didn't go into anything in detail but I think I got enough background now to do some self-studying. I think I understand the world a lot better now that I've taken this East Asian history class. And linguistics is so useful. I'm glad the American university system is not like England's. I don't think it's healthy to specialize so much.
In a little more than 2 weeks, I'll be leaving for Sierra Leone. We have to transfer twice and make 3 stops before we get there. It will not be a fun flight. My flight home was delayed an hour and then we had to make a stop in Utah to refuel. At some point, I got so tired, I just slept. I got back home at 2am Pacific time. I was totally out of it by the time I got back. And I was coming home where I knew my parents would take care of stuff. I can just see the 7 of us being extremely tired by the time we get there and have to deal with getting from the Lungi airport to wherever it is we're going.
Anyway, we're so not ready. I feel like there are a lot of little details we haven't taken care of yet. Luggage, who's bringing what, how much cash to bring, gifts, etc. And then there are bigger things like learning Krio and Temne. And rammed earth project wise, we need a packing list, some more calculations, specs of the test structure, and some surveying skills. Woah, better get started soon...
At some point, I need to think more seriously about this summer. I think ideally, I would want to get an internship in either geotech or environmental consulting. I talked to the course 1 internship coordinator the other day and he gave me some good contacts, including someone working in consulting for creating constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. That would be awesome to work on. On the other hand, there are things like the Kawamura Fellowship where they basically pay you to visit Japan. It sounds like a really cool opportunity to do company visits, see the country, do homestays, and such. I think I'm even qualify to do this since I can show "genuine interest in Japan."
Of course, this all depends on what I'm doing next year in terms of grad school. Now that I'm back in the Bay Area, I should really try to meet professors at Berkeley and Stanford. I should get moving on that too...
Anyhow, home is good. Snowball is still as fat as ever. Brother is playing basketball now that flag football is over. The house is stocked with plenty of food. Friends want to meet up. My two weeks home is starting to fill up with appointments. I've been home for a day and all I wanted to do is sleep and mope around. Sigh...
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Grad school apps... Done!
I'm finally done with applying to grad schools. Can you believe it? I submitted all 4 applications today. I feel sooo accomplished. Now I need to look for fellowships and scholarships. It never ends...
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Reflections on this past week
For those who care, I will be submitting my grad school apps for Berkeley, Stanford, and MIT Sunday morning!! Cornell will come shortly after. Too much pressure...
Last week was possibly the most stressful week ever. I had 2 psets, 2 presentations, and 2 10-page research papers. I stayed up wayy pass my bedtime every night. Took naps during the day. And still managed to attend a 2 hour ESP elections meeting, work for 3 hours, and do a bunch of D-Lab stuff. But it's over. I think I managed to do decently on all the stuff above. I think clicking "play" on my entire music collection helped. Now I'm just waiting for grades to start popping up. I have one final on Wednesday and then I go home.
Part of me can't wait to go home. Just to take a break from all this craziness. But part of me wishes I had booked a flight for later so I can work on D-Lab stuff. We're leaving for Sierra Leone in 20 days!! Yalu and I started packing. But I don't think the reality of it all has hit us yet.
I feel like a lot of things this year has been like "I can't believe I'm going to ... tomorrow!" I remember being pretty dazed after taking the GRE and the next thing I know I was on a plane to MIT. And then D-Lab happened. That class went from me not sure if I want to take it, to getting into the class, to finding out about going to Africa, to working on school construction, and now going to Africa. Grad school stuff sort of happened in between all this.
Anyway, this crazy semester is almost over. I think I learned a lot. Possibly the most I've ever learned in one semester. I hope I managed to get some decent grades...
Last week was possibly the most stressful week ever. I had 2 psets, 2 presentations, and 2 10-page research papers. I stayed up wayy pass my bedtime every night. Took naps during the day. And still managed to attend a 2 hour ESP elections meeting, work for 3 hours, and do a bunch of D-Lab stuff. But it's over. I think I managed to do decently on all the stuff above. I think clicking "play" on my entire music collection helped. Now I'm just waiting for grades to start popping up. I have one final on Wednesday and then I go home.
Part of me can't wait to go home. Just to take a break from all this craziness. But part of me wishes I had booked a flight for later so I can work on D-Lab stuff. We're leaving for Sierra Leone in 20 days!! Yalu and I started packing. But I don't think the reality of it all has hit us yet.
I feel like a lot of things this year has been like "I can't believe I'm going to ... tomorrow!" I remember being pretty dazed after taking the GRE and the next thing I know I was on a plane to MIT. And then D-Lab happened. That class went from me not sure if I want to take it, to getting into the class, to finding out about going to Africa, to working on school construction, and now going to Africa. Grad school stuff sort of happened in between all this.
Anyway, this crazy semester is almost over. I think I learned a lot. Possibly the most I've ever learned in one semester. I hope I managed to get some decent grades...
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Another 4 day weekend....
This time I MUST apply to grad school. It's do or die. But I'm sooo swamped with homework and D-Lab. I feel really stressed this week. Probably because I spent 30 hours volunteering for ESP last weekend. 2,000 middle and high school students and their parents invaded the campus! Also, taking 2 CI-H classes at the same time is not a good idea. Now I have two 10-page papers due very, very soon. They're both worth a big part of my grade and I need to do a ton of work for them. Good thing I only have one final this semester. I plan to do well on this final.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
4 Day Weekend!!
I can't believe it is already November! Where did September and October go? These past two weeks were just crazy. I had a ton of work and not much sleep. So besides sleeping, I have big plans for this weekend. It includes applying to grad schools.
As far as grad schools apps go, I pretty much have everything in place except my essays. And they are the biggest part, of course. I'm dedicating all of Saturday for grad school applications. I'm not even going to look at any other work. Hopefully, I'll get them done, send it off to a few people to look over, and then submit next weekend. That's the plan.
Also, this rammed earth project is coming along pretty well. We went to Home Depot earlier tonight, got wood, and will be building our form on Sunday.
Here's a website that has a lot of rammed earth projects:
http://rammedearth.blogspot.com/
Here's a website that was a part of a Masters of Architecture thesis written by someone at MIT. He built the Great Wall of MIT with rammed earth. We met with him the other day. Very cool guy.
http://web.mit.edu/masonry/Rammed/
As far as grad schools apps go, I pretty much have everything in place except my essays. And they are the biggest part, of course. I'm dedicating all of Saturday for grad school applications. I'm not even going to look at any other work. Hopefully, I'll get them done, send it off to a few people to look over, and then submit next weekend. That's the plan.
Also, this rammed earth project is coming along pretty well. We went to Home Depot earlier tonight, got wood, and will be building our form on Sunday.
Here's a website that has a lot of rammed earth projects:
http://rammedearth.blogspot.com/
Here's a website that was a part of a Masters of Architecture thesis written by someone at MIT. He built the Great Wall of MIT with rammed earth. We met with him the other day. Very cool guy.
http://web.mit.edu/masonry/Rammed/
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