Halfway Through the Whirlwind

Hello friends, coming to your live from TOKYYYOOO. Lol what, last post Italy, this post Japan, when did I get so international? Oh yeah that's right, when I forgot to blog about my actual life. That's why I've decided to catch up at 4:30 am before my Japan adventures start for real! (Aka I passed out too early and woke up D:)

The second half of spring semester was actually fantabulous once I made the life changing decision to drop studio. I'd like to say that I spent that extra time focussing on other school work like I was supposed to be doing...but much of it went to extracurriculars and actually spending some time with friends. Soon it was time for ring delivery! We threw on our fancy wear and took an Uber downtown to the financial district. Honestly it wasn't very eventful.  You mainly just walk around enthusiastically (obsessively?) taking pictures with every single person you can recognize.  But damn, receiving this brass rat. It makes it so real - that we are bound to this institution.  Some people were ecstatic to be receiving theirs, proudly showing off MIT on their fingers, but for me it was definitely mixed emotions. Happy to reach the halfway milestone, but also worried that I won't live up to this thing. Maybe a little apprehensive about this heavy hunk of metal restricting me for the rest of my life - a constant symbol of both motivation and oppression. You might look at me and come to the conclusion that I hate it here. But on the contrary, I don't. Maybe I don't have that blind admiration (that many freshman have), but I think I've learned valuable lessons here so far, and I am looking forward to learning much more over the next two years. Now I'm just rambling, damn.

The end of the semester was drawing to a close super quickly.  Before long, both the ADT showcase and the DT shows were upon us, along with their respective prod weeks (yay!) I was so proud and happy to watch my Bad Females killin' it all through the week. All of their handwork paid off! My first time choreographing was really a p awesome experience. I mean, it had it's ups and downs, but it makes me really look forward to next semester! I'm also really going to miss the seniors who I've become quite attached to this semester :(

Last but not least, my final 4.302 project. Cecile and I ended up doing a project titled "Sometimes I Think..." and people could use this tumblr to submit their thoughts. Afterwards we made an installation to display all of the submissions, handwriting them on 250 colored cards.  It was pretty emotional having to read through them all one by one and writing down other people's words of pain, worry, happiness, regret, and hope. Due to response bias, more than half were definitely negative thoughts, but they were thoughts that a lot of people could really connect with.  They're things we all think about some time or another but are too scared to tell anyone else. Fleeting thoughts questioning our self worth, ability, and image.  Thoughts that people think make them weaker than others. Thoughts that I thought made me weak.  We then attached four little tags on each card to allow people to comment and strung up the whole thing in Lobby 10. Watching the installation was such a crazy moment for us. Students, tourists, little children, and the elderly all crowded around, reading and commenting on the tags, their faces changing with each post they came across. Random passerbys bending down to scribble their thoughts on a complete stranger's thoughts. My view of the MIT community became one of hope, and although my professor was not ecstatic about our final project, in the end I didn't even care. I wonder if that's a good or bad thing. During our review, I was touched as all of our classmates vehemently defended our project. The support and feedback we received from the MIT community meant much more to me than the words of one professional. Will I ever make it in the art world with a mentality like that? Haha I guess we'll wait and see :)

I can't believe I am halfway through college! It feels so unreal. T- two years until I have to become a real person, which is admittedly very scary, but trying my best to make the most of the rest of my college life! I'm really looking forward to next semester ^_^

Anyway, time to caption this collage-spam and take a quick nap before I wake up for our flight to HOKKAIDOOOO. I'll try my best to fill this thing with live-updates all summer!

Went drawing with Michael in the Esplanade! Nature shots from our walk there. Catching up with Chan over brunch at Cafe Luna. Random juggler at a party. ALL YOU CAN EAT SUSHI with ADT people. Sitting underneath a stairwell. About to ride a zipline in the middle of the night!

FOOOD. Clearly a lot of ramen as you can see- an Hmart opened near us with some p good food options (Sapporo Ramen and GoGoCurry!) so I went with Eunice and Dabin. Melon soda, mmm. More ramen with Sophie as we talked about our upcoming Japan trip! Lunch with Yuta as he quizzed me on vocab. Sushi pizza (damn it was good) with Matt and Nolan when he came up to visit us. 

$20 taped to a table. Minerva appearing while I was sunbathing and taking pictures of a tree. Me with the cutest golden retriever in the world.  Weiwei lifting while studying...Giant chalk propaganda for ADT show. Dead roses in an MIT Architecture water bottle....(accurate). Me and Dobs in classy black ties. Pool under the influence of alcohol. Minerva being a parasite. Poor Tanya. 

Ring delivery with friends! <3 also lol they gave us flasks (as modeled by Kevin)

Yay more pictures lol. Botton one with ADT people!

Ahaha more pictures. Check out my new high-lo. I bought it for the event but it's definitely gonna get a lot more wear out of it! (plus the back has a cute cut-out...you're just gonna have to take my word for it)

SHOW PICTURES. All ADT except for the one that says DT on my shirt lol.

Yay post-show and pre-show pictures! Me and minerva. Yellow Fever dance w/ our lovely choreographers for who we bought cute animal suits. My beautiful Bad (Fe)males in all of their black and gold glory. All the friends we convinced to join ADT this semester lol. Dabin so sexy~

Writing writing writing, building building building!

Cecile and I looking surprisingly untired after our all-nighter to finish the project! 

Across the World and Back in Time

Welp, it's almost been two months since I last blogged. WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE? Well, you are about to find out. (Haha so funny.) Pre spring break I was working my ass off and worrying my brains out over studio work. Then I went to Italia with my dad for a week! Being the ignorant tourists we were, we didn't know a drop of Italian, but it all went without incident (probably because we only went to mega tourist attractions..). Italy is beautiful, or at least old Italy is beautiful - new Italy is just like any other modernized place. But then again, I suppose that is true for almost any place you travel to- we romanticize the past, find the present utterly mundane, and idealize the future. Am I being deep or just plain wrong? Maybe a bit of both. Or maybe I'm not being deep at all. Regardless, yes, Italy was great. I had planned to blog each day so I wouldn't forget details, but that clearly didn't happen lol, so here is the abridged version! The first part of which is an excerpt from a postcard I sent Eunice: 

"Okay now I'm sitting at the Florence (Firenze!) train station waiting to go to ROME. I can't believe  that my trip is already halfway through! We started out in Venice, which was absolutely gorgeous. As soon as we exited the airport, all we had to do was round the corner and walk a bit to reach the water. We took a ride on the Vaporetti (ferry) to get to San Marco's! The thing practically crawled across the water, but we finally made the short distance after an hour and a half.  The shore was lined with water-taxis, private boats, and gondolas - and on land, an endless row of merchant stalls stocked with crazy Venetian masks, glassworks, jewelry, etc. It was super lively and bustling! The square was absolutely packed with tourists, venders, and pigeons. We went inside the Basilica and saw the famous four stolen horse statues. My Dad was obsessed with them.  The inside was decorated with giant finely detailed mosaics, and unless you are a few feet away, they look like paintings! Afterwards, we went looking for some famous bridge but got completely lost.  It was alright though because Venice is such a beautiful place to get lost in.  The old, colorful architecture, the tiny rivulets snaking through the city, and the cute little footbridges and shops - topped with the occasional boat and the completely absence of cars, makes you feel like you have been transported back through time. 

We spent three days in Florence, mainly visiting historical places (Santa Maria church, Piti Palace, Academia, and Uffizi) and eating good food.  Even though I don't have a good grasp on religion, I was absolutely awestruck by the shear magnitude of the Church.  Granted it did take ~700 years to complete, it's hard to believe that humans built something like that.  We also got to see Michael Angelo's David. It's huge - 14 ft. tall, and it's housed in a large room filled with people standing around gaping at its beauty.  BTW, you see the bridge on the front of this post card? Back in the day it used to be a meat market.  The royal Medici family didn't want to be associated with it, so they had their own private overpass built above it, but they could still smell it, so they got rid of the market all together.  What snobs! Now it is lined with jewelry shops crammed with gold (my dad likens it to Chinatown)"

...and that is when I ran out of room on the postcard. Impressive that I crammed that much onto it in the first place, no? But getting back to it, we then traveled to Rrrrooommaa! After checking into Hotel Sonya (I'm not kidding) we spent our first day walking across the city to the Galleria Borghese. We actually got lost (again) looking for it, but wandering around a gigantic park wasn't half-bad. Everywhere we looked was scenic and postcard-worthy. The museum was pretty cool, but at that point in the trip I had already looked at so many paintings and sculptures that I was getting jaded...a real shame honestly, since all of the art was fantastic. I wonder what it would be like to have my art visited by thousands of people daily. Damn. I don't really remember what else happened that day - I think we just walked a lot more and ate some gelato lol. On the second day we went to the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Square and Cathedral, Trevi Fountain, and a slew of other places that appeared in Dan Brown's books (my dad was super excited to be at all the places mentioned in his stories - he spent a lot of the trip saying things like "oh this is where Langdon [fill in blank]" etc. I even read the book on the train, and to be honest, it is quite exciting to be able to stand exactly where the characters in the book stood and see the things that they saw). On the last day we toured ancient Rome- the Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon, and the surrounding grounds. It was actually one of my favorite days: Wandering the ruins amidst practically perfect weather was really a time-shock.  For a moment I forgot that I was in modern Rome - if it weren't for the swarms of tourists noisily chattering and snapping photos, I could've closed my eyes and been transported back to when these ruins were once standing in their former glory. I could almost picture a time when the Forum was packed with commerce and lively activity.  There's so much history etched into the marble, it's quite mind numbing.  But then again, many things are once you think about them for too long. 

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Before long, spring break was over and I was back at MIT.  I'd never been so bitter to come back to this place. I was so behind in studio that catching up felt like an impossible dream. But at the same time, I was still confused, still doubting my major and most of my choices. Still guilty, and stressed. It was almost as if the break hadn't happened.  After pulling a few all-nighters desperately trying to catch up - I stopped to take a look in the mirror and realized that I was bending over backwards for a class I didn't actually need. So I checked in my obnoxious pride, and after one too many talks with my parents and friends, decided to drop the class. My professor was upset and tried to convince me otherwise. She cited that I was behind, yes, but I was not weak. I admit that she has been pretty satisfied with all of my work thus far, and it did feel like a shame to throw all of that away, but I knew that it was something I needed to do. I'm not really quite sure what I learned from this experience but in addition to all my guilt and shame, I also feel a little stronger. It's kind of strange. 

More good things came my way when I found that out they will be able to send me to Japan this summer after all! I just got the project details today, and it seems that I will be working on implementing plywood structures that are stable and easily assembled as a response to natural disasters. At the end of my internship, I may even travel to the Philippines to help construct the houses. TALK ABOUT PUMPED. Damn I am excited. In addition, my studio professor contacted me, asking if I'd like to join his lab this summer. Unfortunately I had to decline, but there is some promise that I might be able to join in the fall :) Haha man I'm excited.  But at the same time, I am quite happy with how my life is going on a day-to-day basis. I feel a lot more motivated and ambitious lately regarding projects. Last week I make a video project that I legitimately stayed up all night working on nonstop.  After presenting and receiving positive reviews, I was glowing for the rest of the day.  There really is something amazing and fulfilling about giving your all on a project and be able to proudly present it to other people.  I think it's really important to have pride in your own work,  a feeling I had been lacking recently.   

Okay, now it's almost 5 am, I still have an essay to write, and I haven't even done the photo captions.... I guess some things never change.

Beautiful beautiful Florence. See that bridge in the first picture? That's the place I described in my postcard excerpt. The second was taken from the top of the Santa Maria church after climbing almost 500 steps...(my poor legs) The third is the ceiling of the octagonal chapel next to the Basilica. A lot of places in old Italy seem to really put emphasis on beautiful and intricate ceilings. Where ever you go, you can see people standing and gaping at the ceiling.

Travel and arrival in Venice! The middle pic is NYC from the plane - it's so beautiful no matter how many times I see it.  Along the edges are pics of the cute waterways, artists, vendors, express trains, and a cool colorful walkway in the airport in Germany (transfer flight).

San Marco's square during the day and during the night. It's amazing how the same place looks completely different at night. Venice comes alive after the sunset - every light that comes on is doubled by it's reflection in the waterways. Restaurants open up their outdoor sitting areas, and both locals and tourists take to the streets. Many people say that Venice is sinking underneath all the weight of the people that walk its streets daily. I don't doubt that.  

Arrival in Florence! The David in all his glory. The beautiful various-marbled facade of Santa Maria's Basilica. A sculpture of person walking off the bridge into the water...it was lighthearted, but also kind of morbid at the same time. I loved it. A marble statue of two men wrestling (the upside down one is grabbing the other's nuts).  A sliver of Florence as viewed from a tiny gap in the wall as we climbed up the church. Nighttime leather market - I ended up buying a super comfy jacket and some cool african pants :)

Gorgeous ceilings at the church and at the Hall of 500.  A small portion of the golden "Door of Paradise".  Me and my dad at the top of the church! I also graffitied a bit (literally the place was covered in writing) and got told off by a bunch of old women. Watching this girl draw a perfect sketch of the David. Me and my Dad drinking beers at an Irish Pub! Lol so excited I managed to convince him to go out. 

Hellloo Rooommaaa. St. Peter's Basilica, random stone angel with a pigeon, postcard we sent my mom and kaykay from the special post office at St. Peter's Square.  Giant bronze thing in the church that is apparently recycled from the metal dome that used to be on top of the Pantheon. In fact a lot of ancient bronze artifacts in Rome have been melted down and reused throughout the ages (something that pissed of Michael Angelo.) Random selfie my dad took while he was waiting for me (something he had to do a lot throughout the trip.) Giant marble toe...it was in the Vatican museum... I was really taken by it for some reason.   

My dad is a fountain outside the Pantheon. At Hotel Sonya! Trevi fountain selfies. THE COLOSSEUM. 

Panoramic fun! Honestly those ones in St. Peter's Square took countless tries to get right... I think we attracted a few amused onlookers. 

At the Colosseum and Forum! Damn I took a really epic picture of my dad - isn't it so inspirational?  

Genius selfie-extendo-device. Beautiful flowers at the Forum. Ceiling of the Pantheon - I have a feeling that the dome of MIT took it's design from the Pantheon. Looking at my dad take his 130985th picture at the Colosseum.  Religious magic and spray paint magic. 

The amazing Trevi fountain at night. Sculpture and stairs at the Vatican.  Awesome marble sculpture at the church. and cool Swiss guards!

Passed out at the hotel. Cool plants. Nice scenery. Street of (kick-ass and super talented) artists. Freaking awesome bench. Interesting sculptures at the Vatican. Postcard to send home!

Was a huge fan of this public art. Whenever I saw one I stopped to take a picture haha - I think the locals probably thought I was crazy. But just look at them! Genius. 

Haha YES starting off the food pics...GELATO. We ate much. It was very delicious, but honestly I didn't notice much of a difference between it and ice cream. 

Moar fooooodddddd. This collage is a mess of different food. Fancy (and super delicious) breakfasts, good spaghetti carbonara, chicken Alfredo, cupcake from Crumbs bakery, the fanciest McDonalds in the world (like actually, I'm not making this shit up), Gelateria, dumplings from before I went to Italy (lol), and a bag of chips I brought onto the airplane that look like they are on the verge of exploding.     

Pictures of us with our food lol. Deliciousness and peace-signs abound. 

Some of the highlights! Fettuccine with creamy truffle sauce and sautéed olive oil spinach.  Spaghetti with pesto sauce. Meat sampler plate (lamb, chicken, beef, and sausage) with rosemary potatoes. And lol Korean food - Bulgolgi and Soondobu.   

Annnnnnd back at MIT - Paper field project, Fisac inspired project, cupcake Eunice sent me <3, all-nighter froyo and studio PARTY with randi plus a guest appearance by Orangina. Fancy chocolate mousse at Top of the Hub for restaurant week + the amazing view. Running with Eunice to the docks! 4 ATS care packages I received from my lovely friends @_@,  and last but not least, Eunice's sneaker-clad foot artistically hovering over MIT. 

YES I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED.... and it's not even 6 yet! Time to start that essay before the sun is completely up. Ha.   

Sparks Fly

Damn, I can't believe February is over already! Time sure flies by. While I was slacking off school work this past month, I actually did quite a bit of stuff. I'm in four ADT dances and three DT dances this semester! I have rehearsal everyday except for tuesdays which really breaks up the monotony around here.  Being a choreographer is really fun! Although, I realized that dancing and counting out loud is extremely tiring. By the end of a rep, I'm gasping for breath...or maybe I'm just mega out of shape.  Also, IM billiards should be starting soon and I am very much looking forward to it! I seriously gotta get some practice in cuz I want our team to win this year >:). There was a guy I played last year, who destroyed me the first round, led like mad the second round before losing on purpose just so he could play a third game with me. He was such a jerk and I swear to god I will get better and destroy him this year. 

Also I've decided to apply to a few animation studios in Japan for the summer! Ha, crazy I know, but it's worth a try.  I got accepted to an architecture studio in Shibuya, Tokyo, but unfortunately can't go because they refuse to cover any expenses regarding travel/housing/stipend and the program I'm applying through for funding can't cover all of my costs this year. So sad. 

Hehe whoops, I should probably do my work and then go to sleep.  I pulled an all-nighter in studio the other day, and now I'm borderline sick.  Obsessively intaking vitamin C in hopes of it performing some sort of magic.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures :)

Picture with Gene Shinozaki, this awesome beatboxer that performed at the CSC banquet.  How do all those sounds come from one person? Crazy. Yuta planking on a pingpong table because he lost a game. Selfies at adt retreat and at CSC banquet! On the bridge enroute to Pinkberry for free froyo day! Minerva making a disgusting face at Pinkberry. 

Food pix, how could I not? Notice the decline in quality since January (aka meal plan started). CSC banquet food, chicken teriyaki, Massaman curry (!!!!), Viet curry (with guest appearance by Eunice), Tokyo Banana (a sort of banana-flavored Japanese Twinkie that my Japanese teacher gave me), and...Big Tom with a Big Whooper.

Walking to Blick's with Eunice in the snow (got a free sketchbook),  Jen and her big Snookie hair, shot glass of weird squishy gel things (Oh my god Jennifer was obsessed with them. She brought a bunch of them home with her and even ordered more online hahaha), ADT retreat, ADT auditions, and a postcard I received from Brazil!! (from Eunice)

Dressed up for ZBT soiree (aka was super antisocial and just stuffed my face with delicious desserts), Valentine's day chocolate! Birthday present from my ATS big, Sally <3 It's this awesome doodle book since she knows I like to draw (also how awesome is that self-drawn card?) Made a mold of my hand in plaster and casted a wax replica.  Dabin performing at ATS Lunar Banquet with the Taekwondo club! We cheered very loudly for her...I think she was embarrassed. Random picture of me and Jenn laughing at something. Watching a metal-working demonstration- check out those sparks!! And the middle picture is Jenn rejoicing in a field of snow at 2 am. 

Dreamer

When I was younger, I would always dream up crazy futures for myself.  I was convinced I could become anything I wanted to be.  I will be a famous artist.  I will travel the world.  I will make a difference.  I will only do what I love and not settle for anything less.  My friends would laugh and jokingly tell me to get my head out of the clouds.  My parents tolerated my naive outlook, but lightly pulled me back to reality.  But as I got older, things changed.  I realized that becoming an artist was impractical and financially unstable.  I convinced myself I wasn't good enough anyway.  I didn't apply to art school. I was conflicted, but in the end I decided that the best thing I could do for myself and for my parents was to enter a prestigious school (hello stereotypes).  So I spent less time drawing and more time cramming for SATs, APs, and worrying about my GPA.  For my major, we compromised with architecture.  I don't want to make it seem like my parents chose it for me, but it was strongly encouraged, and eventually I reasoned with myself that it was a pretty cool field.  It was close enough to art right? There was also minimal physics involved.  Perfect, two things I excelled at in high school, and together they'd land me a solid degree and a stable job upon graduation.  What more could I want?  But at the same time, I can't help but wonder what would've happened if I hadn't worried so much about everything and threw myself whole heartedly into my art instead of half-assing things like I always do.  Maybe I would've broken my parents hearts.  Maybe I'd be in art school right now, regretting everything and wishing I had gone to a different school.  Maybe I'd end up leeching off my parents until I got married.  Maybe I'd have to work weird part-time jobs and hate myself for fucking everything up.  Or maybe I'd be happier.  Maybe I could've really made it.  I guess it's impossible to know for sure, but what I do know is that I spend way too much time questioning everything I do in my life right now.  How much of this is actually going to matter to me after I graduate? What will I take away from these experiences? Am I really just trading in 4 years of my life and hundred of thousands of my parents hard earned money for a measly piece of paper that might land me a nice paying job? What if I don't even like the job? What if I don't even get a job and it was all for nothing....

I know I'm greedy. I want happiness and success and love and fulfillment without the pain or failure or doubt or loneliness.  I look at the people around me who are so full of motivation and life; who look so sure of themselves, and I am envious of them.  But at the same time I'm not stupid; I know that on the inside they are probably just like me to some degree.  And then I think of the facade I put on for everyone else.  My friends probably think I love architecture, that I'm excelling in my classes, and although slightly sleep deprived, and quite lazy, I'm happy. And to be fair, on some days those are all true, but on many other days I just want to sleep until everything goes away.  On those days I feel inferior, frustrated, confused, and so full of self-doubt.  I know I can do better.  I used to be extremely stubborn about the quality of work I created.  I would spend hours making my visions come to life, never taking short cuts to save time.  It was a trait that drove my parents mad, but it was something I was proud of. But these days I feel like I've lost that part of me.  I constantly bullshit my projects, my diagrams, my work, everything.  Sure, my professors give me A's, but I know I'm cheating myself and I have the ability do so much better.  My friend told me my expectations for myself are just too high. My parents tell me if it bothers me, then I should just fix it.  But how do I fix it- I don't understand.  Can someone tell me? Somehow I feel so lost right now.

Twenty Lanterns for Twenty Years

TWENTY.  Damn that's a big number.  When I was a little kid, twenty felt like such a long way to go. I thought that by the time I reached it, I'd be cool, tall, and mature, but honestly I still feel like a little kid (and don't exactly look that much older either -_-).  Nonetheless, I had a blast celebrating with friends and family over the weekend! I was only home for less than two days, but it was definitely worth it. As soon as I got home, my sister excitedly directed me to my room where my family had made and strung twenty lanterns across my room with "Happy 20th Birthday" written on them.  It was so cute I almost cried lol.  For Chinese New Year we did our traditional dumpling making from scratch.  My dad is very proud of his dumpling making skills. Apparently when you self-make the peels, you're supposed to leave a thicker patch in the middle called the "heart" of the peel.  When they're made by machines, they're completely even.  Somehow I thought that it was so deep that human made ones have hearts and machine-made ones don't.... my dad told me I was stupid. After stuffing our faces, we watched Despicable Me 2 together! My mom kept falling asleep during it, but my sister would nudge her awake every time lol....poor mom.  When we had sufficiently digested, it was CAKE TIME. While blowing out the candles, it soon became clear that there was something wrong.  The candles would relight themselves brighter and brighter, and there were sparks going off everywhere.  The whole kitchen was filled with smoke lmao.  Turns out that my mom bought me prank candles....by accident hahahaha.  My dad turn on the fan and my whole family was gathered around the cake huffing our brains out and choking on smoke.  It was kind of awesome. The next morning we went out for sum delicious dim sum (ha I never get tired of that joke), and before long I was en route to the bus station!

Freaking BoltBus is a fucking tank and I got to Boston in less than 4 hours! Record time. That night we went out for some quality karaoke~ We sang songs we knew.  We sang songs we didn't know. We didn't give a shit and it was great. I practically sounded like Celine Dion.  One of my friends was particularly outgoing that night, which was pretty awesome until she suddenly got really bad. It was kind of scary actually and she had to spend the night at the hospital, but thank god she's okay.  Randi is happy to supply all the parts she doesn't remember...^^;

Last night we went out to Wagamama for dinner! I got chicken katsu curry...mmmmm.  Honestly they could have given me shit curry and I would've loved it just because it's curry.  When we got back, my friends brought out a very pretty asian cake (with 24 candles cuz they wanted to use the whole pack) and a very nice card (a Valentine's day card with a giant trumpet on it that said "I want to blow your horn"). I loved both.  When I got back to my dorm, my other friend gave me a plate of fruit tarts that he'd made! They were beautifully delicious. I'm so lucky to have such loving friends and family <3 Now I'm going to stop before I burst into tears in the student center....

Today marked the first day of the spring semester- I only had one class so far, but I'm already excited for this semester.  In my one class (intro to visual arts for arch majors) we spent a long time discussing performance art and watched some freaky videos.  There was one with a naked woman who continuously ran into a pillar, one with a woman who plastered her leg into a bucket and spent the whole time trying to free herself with a hammer, and one with a woman who wore super long finger extensions and walked back and forth scraping the walls. It was.....fascinating (terrifying?). Then I grabbed come Micky D's with Eunice and settled down at the student center to bang out this blogpost while drinking bubble tea (except now it's been 3 hours and I keep getting distracted).  Wooo!

Delicious dinner, dumpling making, posing with cake, posing with dough, laughing and choking on smoke, beautiful cake <3, and LANTERNS.

Wagamama, en route to karaoke, at karaoke!

Looking at cake, looking at card, 24 melted candles, cutting cake, and fruit tarts <3

Year of the Unicorn

Whoops, get ready for another picture-heavy post!  

So IAP (our winter session)  is officially over- it was actually quite busy between meeting new people, playing a lot of pool and badminton, eating out, going places, and occasionally attempting to work. I ended up dropping both Java and Python - which I sort of hate myself for giving up on, but felt a lot better when I didn't have to worry about it.  I also participated in a web programming competition with Minerva, Weiwei, and Kevin this past month. Also didn't try nearly hard enough, also sort of hate myself for that (wow, so much self hatred.) Weiwei basically ended up coding the majority of the website, and I felt prettttty guilty about that (sorry weiwei!!). But I'm also very impressed that he was able to do that on his own! He has some pretty amazing self-motivation.

Anyway, this past weekend I went home for Chinese New Year! I basically spent the last couple days stuffing my face with delicious food and reveling in the wonderful feeling of being home. (More details in next post when I upload pics to go along) I'm currently sitting in a bus bound for Boston - and looking forward to karaoke tonight! On to the pictures~ 

I call this the Ed Collage. "Why?" you ask? Because he is in every single damn picture. A couple weeks ago, Ed came up to Boston to visit! We ate lots of good food, played some pool (he won and I had to pay for his brunch T_T), and went to Jay Z's Magna Carter World Tour! I wasn't very familiar with his lyrics, but still had a blast. Near the end, he does this thing where he just walks around the stage and calls out random audience members. He told this one guy he liked his salmon shirt and khaki pants. lol. 

Young Forever! At first the whole stadium was dark, and then slowly it completely lit up with people's phone lights.  It was AMAZING.  From up on the balcony I felt like I was surrounded by stars. At the end, the music dropped out and the whole crowd sang together- also pretty amazing haha

Of course, here's the food post. Korean BBQ chicken and side dishes courtesy of a new friend (I beat her in pingpong so she bought me dinner lmao) Sushi buffet with ADT,  home-cooked goodness, cozy pizza lunch at Cosi (ha.), delicious sandwich from Cafe Luna (but I forget what was in it), came home one night to find a plate of spring rolls in my room! eggplant in chinatown, and Japanese curry with friends~

At an ATS food event! We had a contest to see who could make the best Dabin onigiri haha.  Jenn officially moved into my room and we decided to paint the walls this beautiful shade of blue! It makes me happy to stare at it sometimes lol. Watched my friends play couple badminton...cute. Also kevin doing a handstand on the pool table. Sometimes I just don't understand.

There was a disgusting amount of snacks and trash on that table, but it's kind of hard to see in the picture lol. The silk pavilion at the media lab, bubble tea in chinatown <3, the most delicious quesadillas I've ever consumed, LIFE, making rice balls, Ed's beautiful 3D masterpiece of a bear eating chicken, JAYZ, No Assing Through.

Surprise candy in my mailbox (thanks Sally ^^), learning how to body roll (?), Spent forever peeling those chestnuts, PF Chang's, Year of the Unicorn oh my god, table piled with deliciousness @_@, plate piled with deliciousness @_@, and some Pinkberry even though it was freezing outside.

In other news, today as I was packing to go back to school, my sister unearthed the key to my old diary! It has entries from 2001-2009...and I laughed my ass off reading it. I re-lived my first crush, my first sleepover, and many other memories I had all but forgotten about. It also made me feel mad old, especially since I'm turning 20 in less than 6 hours! Damn.

Anyway, my bus is about to arrive, better pack up and get ready! I'll post all about my birthday weekend in a few days :) 

Standing on Stars

Wowowow it's been so long I'm not even going to bother trying to write about everything. Skipping straight to the pics ----

End of semester rush- late night take out, Logs concert(!!), cold weather with Daaabbbinn, practicing for coffeehouse performance, my Japanese class <3 , Weiwei stuck on a tree, awesome CD christmas tree,  preparing for that all nighter :'), kresge in snow!

ADT showcase! 

Final studio models :) Got to laser cut these from chipboard! Not going to bother writing about it here, but if you're curious, you can read about it in my portfolio!

Final project for my computing design class! Made detachable roller-skates. Rhino file --> milled from foam --> mold out of rubber --> cast in plastic. It took foreveeerr, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - Especially since my sister had a lot of fun with them ^^

Family time over Christmas break <3 Went to see Frozen which was AWESOME (also, I got in with children's admission. Do I actually look younger than 12??) Went to see Big Apple Circus in NYC! I had fun at my first circus lol. Hot pot, candles, and coffee with mom!

New Years trip to LAKE PLACID! It was unbelievably cold, holy balls. As soon as you walked outside, your nostrils would freeze = pretty bad feeling- but I had a blast on the trip! We ice skated, snowboarded (or at least tried to lol), and went snow tubing! The winter Olympics were held at Lake Placid a while ago, so we got to see the Olympic speed ski slope and stand on the podium! Also the view was absolutely gorgeous.

Did I mention that we got to stay at Nolan's aunt's condo? It was super homey and warm, and we all cooked together and played board games, drank hot chocolate, and ate fudge in front of the fireplace. Ahhhh so nice~

Of course this post wouldn't be complete without a food pic. Spoiler, there's another one right after this one lol. Vegetable tofu omelette, first IHOP experience (it was really good), qdoba, some weird-ass eggplant thing that tasted ehhh but was pretty photogenic nonetheless, DIMSUM (A new place opened in town!), HOTPOT, Thai curry, chipotle chicken sandwich, tomato sausage stuff and veggie stir fry by chef Thomas and chef Nolan. 

HA. more food. Deliciously delicious ravioli and Bruschetta from some fancy Italian place we went to for Jenn's birthday, fried rice & tomato and egg soup, obligatory asian food, and Fire & Ice! 

Back at school! Fun times with friends/ eating out/ eating in/ eating sweet potatoes/ cuddling with Minerva's new boyfriend body pillow lmao.

Jenn's Birthday! Went out for Italian at Harvard Square and yes they posed with trash/recycling bins...

Found this awesome dead carnation in a bottle...check out that mold....standing on top of stars (it was actually a Holocaust monument), dinner with Matt at the North End (yay get to check that off the list!), went bowling with strangers and made some new friends - then grabbed gigantic froyos which were delicious, but I was close to puking by the end. Chinatown dim sum selfies, THE DOOR WAS OPEN, photobombing a snapchat, and hipster reflection selfies in the tunnels.

Damn I can't believe I put that off for so long, and honestly a lot more has happened since I made these collages haha....will blog very soon hopefully! Also, it's 5 am and I'm not even remotely tired right now.  My sleep schedule is so screwed up, especially since I slept from 12 - 7:30 pm today. Literally nocturnal. Anyway, at least I will attempt to sleep - Goooood night!