The Rains' Melody

after graduation

2009-07-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

The world is just so different from school. I think I got too spoiled in Wellesley.

I am lucky because of the unconditional love I have. I am really grateful.

sigh

2009-05-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

i am just feeling really sad and stressed...what to do...

thesis

2009-04-27T20:11:00.001-07:00

done with thesis. finally.

what a long journey...

change

2009-04-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

I should stop eating too much.

Must exercise liao. Really.

2009-04-01T15:45:00.001-07:00

Somebody is asking me to update my blog.

I don't know what to write so I shall just write about the person sitting next to me. She has a huge colored biochem textbook ---- the hugest textbook that i have seen for a long long time. well I have been sitting in that biochem class for so long but i have never realized our biochem book look so huge...

and if you don't know by now, she is actually the busiest person in this college.

so is this april fool's joke? i don't know either.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2009-01-25T01:02:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year to all! I hope everybody will have a fantastic year ahead!

Singapore

2009-01-19T16:42:00.000-08:00

I went to Singapore and I'm back now.

It's great to meet up with so many friends, including Qian, whom I have lost touch with since she left RJ, and Serene, who is always so busy that her appointments need to be booked 4 months in advance (because she's in medical sch:p). I am just so lucky that I get to go for a meal with them:)

People hardly changed, and I guess I might be the most unchanged person. QiaoQiao was telling me that seeing me feels like back to the past -- because I never changed.

Now I shall get back to work again. I was way too slack before I go to Singapore, so I shall work really really hard now.

good luck to Hoi See

2009-01-10T05:28:00.001-08:00

GOOD LUCK TO OUR DEAREST HEAD OF SOME POWERFUL ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT !!!
actually you don't need the luck. You will do well anyway:)

Home

2009-01-06T02:00:00.000-08:00

Home is really nice.

Mummy has been cooking a lot of good food and I have been eating a lot. I dare not to go onto the weighing balance already. Hope my weight is not exponentially growing.

But I really need to get more productive. I have been slacking too much and not much work has been done. Somehow I just keep feeling sleepy. Maybe because I am constantly eating.

My younger brother's final exams are coming but he doesn't seem to be preparing of the exams. Last week he had a history test, and there was a question about how long the YangTse River (Chang Jiang) is, he put down 3600km ... the actual answer is 6300km. This kind of mistakes is so typical of him...

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T05:09:00.000-08:00

I'm home:)

Happy New Year to everybody!

flight

2008-12-25T06:16:00.001-08:00

My flight from Boston to NYC was canceled because "there's no crew to fly the flight". So bizarre, right?

Merry Christmas!

exam

2008-12-19T19:24:00.001-08:00

yay exams are over!

but somehow I stayed up till 530am last night to finish making my L matrix for my research...

too slack

2008-12-16T16:27:00.001-08:00

All the finals are going on...
but I am really too slack.
must stop slacking.

piano evaluation

2008-12-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

I am done with my piano evaluation for this semester! Now I am really looking forward to play new songs:)

I think I am actually more looking forward to finishing the exams. But I shall be steady, and do well in the exams first. Let me get more productive (not like these two days... slack too much liao).

reading period...

2008-12-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

Classes ended and reading period just started. But I am so inefficient today:( I took a nap at noon but never woke up so I slept for 1.5 hrs :(

Yesterday during math class prof. chang actually brought two hot pots into the classroom ------ he and some members of his fan club were cooking dumplings for the whole class. That was just spectacular! I guess only prof. chang can have such crazy idea...

work hard

2008-12-06T23:27:00.000-08:00

I should know what is really important and what really matters.

I shouldn't think about all the doesn't-matter kind of things and think they matter a lot.

Just work hard on what I care about for those whom I care about. I don't need many dreams to come true; I just need to focus on those few dreams that I really care about.

Professor Lannert

2008-12-04T16:13:00.000-08:00

Professor Lannert got her tenure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so happy for her (and maybe for myself as well). In these two and a half years in Wellesley, she has been such an important person who has left a mark in my life. Having met her is a sufficient reason for me to not regret choosing Wellesley (of course there are a lot more reasons).

And Prof. Flynn (who teaches me analytical chem) has also got tenured:) Prof. Chris A (the chair of chem department) is making so much noise as usual. In his e-mail he said that there are going to be rolling celebration and Prof. Flynn is going to give speeches at all events without repeating any single phrase :D

after thanksgiving

2008-12-02T17:43:00.001-08:00

Life is filled with work after thanksgiving. But it is gratifying to see things settled one after another:)

Don't stress:)

thanksgiving

2008-11-29T20:31:00.001-08:00

Though I have been sick, this is a nice thanksgiving:) For now I just hope that my cough will go away soon...
Everyone seems to have a lot of work now. Good luck and all the work will be (or will have to be) done soon:)

working

2008-11-24T17:50:00.000-08:00

everything suddenly starts working today in lab:)
but i am not feeling well...

lab

2008-11-23T19:20:00.000-08:00

i still can't get my cluster algorithm working...
why is it not working?
:(

holiday mode

2008-11-22T17:54:00.000-08:00

shall start to do work. seriously. i cannot let myself be in this thanksgiving mode before the thanksgiving holiday actually comes.

future

2008-11-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

we're working so hard and so cautiously for a better future... ...
but nobody really knows what is going to happen in the future, so maybe we shall not be too anxious.
maybe it is just wrong to be upset about what MAY HAPPEN in the future.

revive

2008-11-20T15:55:00.001-08:00

my chatterbox has actually died. this shows how dead my blog is.
ok now i am trying to revive it...I actually make an effort to revive it so this is really impressive...

thanksgiving..........is not here yet

------ quote from Prof. Chang, at the beginning of our abstract algebra class...

fall break

2008-10-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

It is fall break now, but it doesn't feel like a break at all. I allowed myself to oversleep today, only to realize how much work I have after I woke up.

I just seemed that all of a sudden I have to tell people that I am a senior. My last flower sunday has passed, and my last autumn in this beautiful campus is right in front of me. It is quite sad that I have already started to feel nostalgic about wellesley way before my graduation. Maybe I really don't want to graduate after all.

I haven't been getting enough sleep in the past two weeks, and it seems that I won't be able to get much sleep in the next two weeks too... there is work that needs to be done, and there are dreams that requires every little effort to realize.

I am happy and contented.

Glory

2008-09-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

It has been a year since Glory left. I really miss her.

Let me treasure every moment of my life and work hard. That's one of the things that Glory taught me. I have been too lay back recently and I shall change.

the start of senior year

2008-09-06T22:07:00.000-07:00

The new semester has started for a semester, but I still haven't got into the rhythm that I should get into yet. For the whole week, I didn't feel like starting to do homework. But I finally did today, and I realized that doing homework is not that bad after all. I guess it is just a matter of getting started, for there is always a high activation barrier.

And it is interesting to realize how the experience in Germany has become a part of me. To be frank, I miss Germany, although I have tons of work to do now such that I have not much time to think about the lovely people and lovely places there. The three months there has taught me not to afraid of research and not to afraid of learning, and I have to thank Daniel for that. He tells lots of jokes. He does not appear serious most of the time. But he is a good teacher who teach you the most serious things that you need to learn.

After I came back I tried to spend more time in Professor Lannert's lab to concentrate on my thesis. However, due to the temperature in the lab, I have got a cold because I stayed there for too long. And because of the cold I haven't been productive these days. --- Sometimes, we may be better off if we don't work too hard.

updates

2008-07-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Some one is using the piano in the lecture hall so I can't practice now. Since I have nothing better to do at the moment, I shall just scribble something down on this much deserted blog.

My work is going much better now. A guy from Egypt joined our group recently. He is very familiar with the stuff so he has really been a great help:) But I am still as careless as usual; as a result, I have wasted quite a lot of my time and the computer power. But anyway, as long as we have found out the mistakes and keep things going, we shall not feel too sorry for all the mistakes.

And practicing piano after work has become my regular activity everyday. It is just so lucky that the research institute has a piano on its own! I started trying Chopin's Nocturne op.9.2, and it is slowly turning out:) Before this, I always stay away from Chopin because they all sound so hard; but now, as my playing of the nocturne develops some sort of shape, I am really really happy about it.

updates

2008-07-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have been lazy for a while again... I am really sorry to those who came to my blog and always see no updates...

I am doing well these days. Research are going better as things are really working at the moment :) So that's probably enough to keep me cheered up.

I went to Heidelberg for that RISE meeting two weeks ago and I finally saw how well-behaved American guys are (hmm I was so sheltered in Wellesley that I actually never see how guys behave ...ok MIT guys are probably a different breed.) In a foreign country, some people actually bothered to get drunk and jump onto the roof during the night ... and of course the hostel people were quite mad about it. And during one dinner, the restaurant waiters had to take out color pencils and papers for some guys to fill in colors for a little kitten ....

Education

2008-07-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

"An Elite education contains for false sense of self-worth."

Indeed. It is so true.
and I shall try not to commit this mistake.

A (Relatively) Long Trip

2008-06-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

From Thursday morning to Monday morning, I went on a (relatively) long trip along the Southern Germany border. For the first two days of the trip, it was the first time for me to travel alone. I came back very exhausted yesterday morning, and found that found that my boss had sent me so many e-mails while I am not around. (Somehow when I am around I don't get such e-mails...) He asked me to "try" turn on dual 2 and "no harm trying". Since there is "no harm trying", I really went to the computer cluster to try-- and I switched off the whole server instead...

Anyway, here's a map of where I went (double click the map if you really want to see the route):

And here are some pretty photos!

Offenburg:

Konstanz:

And I accidentally went into Switzerland in Konstanz:

Schloss Neuschwanstein in Füssen: It was a dream castle built by Ludwig II and it became the standard model for Disney's castles.

Marienplatz in Munich:

Berchtesgaden, where the Bravarian Alps is really beautiful:

And Lake Konigsee in Berchtesgaden:

And I forgot to bring photos of Salzburg, Austria.

football

2008-06-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went out to watch football. Euro 2008 Germany against Portugal. I don't have a TV cable in my room (that equals to I don't have a TV) ; so it actually took some effort because I needed to go out to watch and spent 1.6 euro on a cup of coca cola.

I am not that much of a football fan. I went to watch because the German people told me that Germany is going to lose. So I thought it was the last chance for me to see how crazy people are in this football country.

But Germany won. They won beautifully with a 3-2. Although everybody thinks they are losing.

The Germany players were very calm yesterday. They are using their brains and they cooperate. The goalkeeper was exceptionally steady and cool. In contrast, the Portugal players were getting a bit rush and agitated after Germany got in two goals at the beginning.

yeah it is always good to stay steady and calm as best as we can:)

scenery

2008-06-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I got off the bus at a wrong stop. So I walked a bit to work. When I walked up to the bike lane, which is only about 2.5 meters higher than where I usually is, the view completely changed:

The real scenery is better than the ones in these pictures because a picture is just too small. It is just so vast and open, and so captivating.

This is the kind of scenery that I always love, but I don't have much chance to see this. However, when it is just outside the institute, I took me so much time to discover it. Every morning, I was turning right at the traffic junction. To discover this, all I had to do is to turn left and walk 20 steps. The problem was there was no motivation to turn left, so I turned right all the time, missing the great scenery.

Sometimes maybe we should just do the opposite of what we intend to do. We might discover something great that way.

2008-06-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

After hibernating for one and a half week, I should really write something down now before this blog goes dead again...

So today is quite a bad day. Enid and I were planning to go to Paris but then the train reservation turned out to be really complicated. sigh. thank goodness Enid found that out. or else we will be stranded in Paris with no other plan.

So this weekend is for somewhere Germany again.

And my work is total crashing. none of the input file is working so I can't even build on something that is already working. and the computer keeps telling me mistakes that i didn't commit. even the default values are not working so I really have nothing to say......

But life is good. I am really enjoying germany and I really like the rhythm of life here. The food here tastes nice too, except that I don't understand all those german and i have been eating just whatever I got...sometimes it can be a really wrong choice. hmm I really regret that I have returned all I learnt from GER101 to Frau Meder :( Last sunday Enid brought me to ice-cream. I got a mango one. oh my gosh it tastes soooooooooooooooooo good. that was the best ice-cream that I have even had!

hillary clinton

2008-06-04T23:35:00.000-07:00

I feel relieved for Hillary that she is withdrawing from the campaign.

She must have been very tired already. She deserves a good rest. After all, politics and power are not what matter the most to her. Those are men's games.

Still, it is very inspiring to see a Wellesley alum who loves, cares and dedicates herself to children and the less fortunate in the world.

to andrea

2008-06-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

To Andrea:

Don't worry :) I am much less stressed now. For the past two days I have already had lots of fun. Things are going really well and I have become happier. I am sorry if my gloomy mood made you worried last week.

And I really haven't learnt Perl properly. For the past one semester I have been looking at your code when I try to write my code... Today I don't have your codes and things become so hard to figure out... :(

first day

2008-06-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

After spending my first day in Max-Planck Institute, I really feel that A*STAR still has a long long way to go... ... ... ... ... ...

best wishes

2008-05-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

I just don't know what is happening to me right now. Somehow I am getting really emotional. I feel so sad to see so many friends graduating. The thought that I won't see them around next semester just makes me feel really upset, for they are the ones who have hugged me so tightly whenever I am upset, and offer me advices and encouragements whenever I am unsure.

But their lives have to move on, and I should be happy for them. Shouldn't feel sad because of all those selfish reasons.

I wish all my graduating friends many many happy years ahead as wellesley alums. I am indeed grateful to have spent a part of my life with them.

end of semester

2008-05-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

So it has been a really really really hectic semester. Going to MIT everyday definitely trains my physical and mental strength. Now I can sprint through the whole MIT infinite corridor in 2 minutes with my schoolbag and every thing. and I become very experienced in chionging from my class in science center to the bus. should claim some PE credit for that.

It has not been easy. There were setbacks and tears and don't-know-what-I-am-doing. But in the end I did well.

For one of the classes I did really well, partly because I didn't to well for my first midterm. I was so upset at that time and was crying so hard, but now that little setback has forced me to learn the subject more thoroughly. Sometimes setbacks are there to help us to learn better, isn't it?

I feel a little sad that some friends are leaving because they are graduating. Some of them have hugged me so tightly when I was upset, and cheered me on. I am really grateful to them. I wish them all the best, and hope to see them some point in the future.

And I am going to Germany this Saturday, for three months of research. I am very nervous about that now.

a random update

2008-03-23T16:42:00.001-07:00

Spring break. Finally.

Though so much needs to be done during this little week which is called a break, at least I get to sleep enough without feeling too guilty. I am already quite burnt out after half a semester, yet I have to push myself through the next half. This semester is the craziest of all so far; I need enough energy and confidence to keep myself going.

I still love physics. I know I am not that smart, but I just hope that physics loves me too.

2008-01-16T13:38:00.000-08:00

in lab now. working hard during winter break.

slack for a moment. i am not supposed to come up to the blog here.

happy new year to all.

shall upload photos of the trip soon.

2007-12-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

my solo went reasonably ok today. I am not completely happy about it but i think i did a good job, considering this is final exams period.

Charmaine came for my performance and I got really touched by that. Everyone is busy with their exams now so it was really nice of her that she came:)

I just find myself too tired to do any work now. My brain just feels so tense. I have been worrying a lot about the solo since yesterday after my p-chem exam. Now the solo is over and i guess my brain just need a little time to relax.

2007-12-13T18:46:00.000-08:00

Just now Pan Laoshi called to check whether I have transportation to MIT this Saturday for the performance. After that call I suddenly feel very nervous.

Calm down. Must calm down.

P-chem final exam tomorrow morning. I shall worry about the performance after tomorrow's exam.

2007-12-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

It turned out that it was not my wisdom tooth that was hurting...it was because i got an ulcer and my wisdom tooth is biting on that ulcer everytime...thank goodness i don't have to go and remove that tooth during my final period...

but MIT has moved the performance to next Saturday so it is now right in the MIDDLE of my finals...crazy...that means I have to practice the pipa for another week...

2007-11-28T18:07:00.001-08:00

oh man life is getting stressful nowadays...... so much needs to be done...

and my wisdom tooth is hurting me. that little thing has been growing for almost a year (i think) and only half of it has come out. and now it starts to hurt me. I can't bite properly or talk properly or yawn properly... ... sigh

to NUS friends: happy finals!

2007-11-25T10:50:00.000-08:00

so sad that thanksgiving break is coming to an end...haiz...nothing much has been done over the break.

cooking a dinner for my friends tonight! yay!

2007-11-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving break has arrived. finally.

I really need a break. Today I have slept so much that I am having a headache. oh well. shall not sleep so much today.

These days I am telling my friends that sophomore year feels so different from first year. I am still enjoying my life, but there are just a lot of things that I need to spend some time on. Things are going reasonably well, except that I really don't like my women studies class. That class forever talks about some problems that I'm not interested in or don't think it is a problem at all. Whenever I write something like "I think having a wife in charge of housework contributes to the stability of a marriage"， I get a very low grade for my paper. whatever.

then I was fining myself some time to practice the pipa, to prepare for a solo performance is MIT. 2.5 weeks left. I shall work harder on it. and pray for me...

2007-11-17T22:09:00.000-08:00

深中建校六十年。

记得深中建校五十年的时候我们还在罗芳小学稀里哗啦的在参观深圳中学。当时深中还是我的向往。

后来进的那校门。两年后又匆匆地离开。

真的很怀念那段时光。怀念那里的同学们那里的老师们。

祝福深中。也祝福我的老师们同学们。

2007-11-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

Just came back from a little workshop at my piano teacher's house. I practiced the pipa before I went to her house and my left hand was quite tense... anyway i managed to finish the Mendelssohn piece throughout without making apparent mistake.

Weekend is coming. tons of work. Quantum mechanics exam on Tuesday.

Wednesday is Thanksgiving holiday. yay!

Happy birthday to my younger brother:)

2007-11-12T15:13:00.001-08:00

I slept at 3 am on saturday night and 2am on sunday night.

This is not good. Time for sleeping should not be compromised.

2007-11-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

people around are telling me that they really like my tanner presentation:) prof. mala sent me an e-mail telling me that she's really impressed. darrah sunita and ying told me that they actually understood my presentation! I am happy about that, and many thanks to everyone's support, especially professor lannert's:) If not because of professor lannert's suggestion and encouragement, i wouldn't even try to put all those crazy math onto the powerpoint slides... (but my roommate seems to remember all the jokes only...)

there're a lot of work these two days... I have been working till quite late. i am little bit stressed, but I am telling myself to relax and get things done one after another.

relax. have some peace in mind. and work.

2007-11-06T19:03:00.000-08:00

Ok Tanner Conference is done.

I freaked out two hours before the presentation when I found that my slides looked very ugly in the presentation room. I quickly came back to my room, wanting to change it to pdf file...but the animation doesn't work. So I had to change all the font.

I should say that I did a good job at the presentation today. I managed to make people laugh with all those maths. That's nice:)

Thanks for everybody who came and who thought about coming! Thanks for all the smiles and words of encouragements!

Now back to work. Tons of chemistry to do.

2007-11-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

i started reading lame physics jokes half way through my chem report.

it rains like cats and dogs today plus the wind is kind of strong. most people are sad that they can't really go out. I am happy that I can't go for chinese ensemble so I have an extra afternoon to do my work. But then I didn't do much. I started reading lame physics jokes half way through the afternoon.

oh well. must focus.

2007-11-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

After dinner, when I was walking to Jewett to practice the piano, the sky was gorgeous. I can't even describe how gorgeous it was. With the green hall tower in front, it was really amazing.

I went back to my room to get my camera. When I came out after less than 5 minutes, it was all gone.

I shall bring along my camera with me everyday.

Beautiful scenes won't wait for you. You have to wait for it, always be prepared.

2007-10-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

Professor Smith passed away last week, and his wife from Boston University came in to finish teaching the course that he taught.

I was truly touched when I hear this. At such a difficult time for the family they are still thinking about the interest of the students. And how emotionally difficult it is go come to teach a course that her husband taught!

My deepest condolences go to Prof. Smith family and friends. And I wish those who know both Glory and Prof. Smith be strong.

Wish everybody well.

2007-10-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hillary Clinton is coming to Wellesley on Thursday.
My Women's Studies professor says that we can skip her class to go for Hilliary's speech.
I think I am going to skip class
but not for Hillary's talk...
I just don't like the topic that will be discussed in class this Thursday...

.back to ising model now.

2007-10-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why there have been so many disturbing things happening. But they happened.

I really wish this world can be a safer and more peaceful place.

And I shall try to revive my blog. Sorry friends I have been too lazy.

pipa

2007-03-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

nice photo here:) to show off a bit :p

3.14

2007-03-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

The effect of having classes from 830am all the way till 430pm is that by the end of the day you forgot pi=3.14. Like today in lab.

I always find it a challenge to go through friday, when I have to sit through a full day of classes without even lunch break.

But anyway. It is Friday.

birthday

2007-02-19T19:14:00.000-08:00

today, i just thought of our rj batch song. all of a sudden. out of nowhere.

yesterday has passed
it's time to write a new beginning
so let's get going now
for another brand new start

things won't be the same
...(i can't remember) go joy and laughter
life is full of choices
it's up to you to write your story

take every day in your stride
cos life is only a bumpy ride
take a step back now and you'll see
it's gonna be alright

......well..yeah...take every day in my stride
thanks for all the birthday wishes:) i'm really happy

working hard

2007-02-10T08:45:00.000-08:00

This blog is going to be updated much less frequently this semester (or even not at all), because I am essentially working non-stop. I'm really sorry.

Don't worry about me. I'm still very happy (actually I feel that I'm happier than last semester). It is just that I have to work very hard.

Maybe I shall still update. Just using shorter sentences.

Happy Chinese New Year!

new year

2007-01-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

So I'm back from Chicago and Indianapolis... doing German in Wellesley now...

I don't like German. Seriously. It's giving me lots of trouble.

Never take intensive language course again. It's not fun...It's really really boring to work on German ONLY from the moment i wake up till the moment i sleep...

And I have to stay up late studying German...I don't have to do this at all for physics and chemistry lor. I miss physics. And I'm loving physics more than ever:p

*******************
Providence

I flew from Providence instead of Boston because the air-ticket was much much cheaper. Providence is quite a neat place. It is just that it is a bit too small. I arrived at Providence at about lunch time on my first day of the trip, and my flight was in the evening, so I went to Brown University. Gerald brought me around. Brown University is actually quite a nice place. It looks pretty much like Harvard. The buildings are pretty delicate. And I can't believe that they have a don't-know-how-many-storeys science Library.

After lunch I requested Gerald to play the guitar. He talked about guitar all the time, but I never got the chance listened to him playing. It sounded pretty good. Can't believe that he learnt all that on his own...If he cared to add some dynamics it would be really great.

*******************
Chicago

For people like me who come from the countryside, Chicago is really a CITY! The buildings are really nice. There are lots of nice architectual designs, unlike all the cylinders in Guangzhou (sorry i'm offending people from Guangzhou..)

Lake Michigan is pretty. It is just that it doesn't look like a lake. It is more like an Ocean. It is just too big. When we went to the lake, (which is just next to Yexin's dorm...and she told me that she hadn't been to lake Michigan..) the wind was really strong, so it gives me a feeling that I'm just a little insignificant human being compared to the hugeness of the lake.

I had lots of fun at Yexin's place. Leiyu was there too.(so you know when girls got together there's always lots of chit-chat including gossip.) ha. Then Cicy and Gorrilla, who's a member of the UChicago gang, was entertaining us too...So it was really very re4 nao4.

UChicago is quite pretty. It's buildings are quite grand and delicate. There are lots of sulptures on the building. And I personally think that it is the nice combination of all the lines and curves that make the buildings look grand .I can also feel that it is a mugger-place. (for those who are not from Singapore, mugger actually means hard-working people). The campus is beautiful and we were taking pictures around. Gao Shan suggested that there was a little lake that looked really romantic and we should go and take pictures there, but when we got there, it turned out to be a tiny little pond, which is as small as a quarter of a basketball court. doink. (Nevertheless the photo turned out to be nice)

One sad thing that I come across in Chicago is that the African Americans are viewed as "dangerous objects". I feel quite bad about this. People become alert when there is an African American come nearby, and this is unfair to those nice African Americans. But this is the way things are. I was told that during the warmer seasons, you can hear an ambulance and/or a police car zooming pass every half an hour, and there're quite a number of robbing, even stabbing cases just outside UChicago. On Christmas Eve, the evening that I arrived, I saw many African Americans begging for money. One of them walked towards us with one hand inside the pocket of his jacket and the other hand outside. I was really scared when I saw that. Who knows whether there's any dangerous thing inside that pocket?

Professor Kodera once told us that when he picked up Japanese scholars from the airport, the first thing that 9 out of 10 asked is where the blacks live. It seems that most parts of the world think that all blacks are dangerous. This is really sad, because it is definitely not true. But what can we do about that?

*******************
Indianapolis

I visited Liu Cong there. It is just so nice to meet up with an old friend.

On the way from Chicago to Indianapolis, I saw US farms for the first time. They are huge. And there's so much flat land. How nice it would be if China had so much flat land as well?

Compared to Chicago, it is much smaller. But it is quite peaceful.

Things are really cheap there.

And I visited Indianapolis Museum of Art with Liu Cong. It has lots and lots of Asian things inside, more than the National Art Gallery in Washington DC. There are many Chinese things that I don't even see in China. There's even things left over from the Stone Age.

wow.

*******************
Back to Wellesley

When I was at Brown, I thought Brown is really pretty. When I was at Butler, I thought Butler is really scenic. When I was at UChicago, I thought UChicago is beautiful. But then, when I got back to Wellesley, I suddenly felt that Wellesley was the most beautiful of all. As I was walking on a path between Munger Hall and Science Center, which I had never walked on before, I discovered an even more beautiful place on campus, where the grass is still bright green (in winter) and there are little bridges and streams. I just felt that Wellesley was such a heavenly place.

happy new year!

2006-12-23T07:20:00.000-08:00

Exams are over. Now I am supposed to enjoy my holiday. But the campus is sooooo quiet now. Really boring.

Flying to Chicago to see Yexin tomorrow! Then going to Indianapolis to see Liu Cong on 26th! Haha I'm pretty excited:)

I won't be back to Wellesley until 2nd Jan. So this will be my last post before the New Year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my friends!
(Merry Christmas if you celebrate Christmas)

*******************
Wellesley exam period...

People were crazy. My roommate didn't sleep for one whole night. And she was not the only one. Don't know how people do their exams without sleep.

One day during dinner time I was asking my friend to go for dinner together. Then this friend was asking another friend, who was studying at the same table:" Are you PLANNING to have dinner?" Since when dinner has to go into a "plan"...faint. Even dinner is optional during exam period.

Anyway way my exams went pretty well, so I should have no problem satisfying a*star this semester:)

And Wellesley's final exams are self-scheduled!!! That is really nice since we can just go for exam whenever we like during the exam week (of course not during midnight). There's an honor code so people don't spread test questions around. The honor code actually works; I guess people think that it's shameful to violate it. I really love this kind of trust.

*******************
Dye Laser

After exam I spent a morning with my lab instructor Lauri setting up the dye laser and playing with it. She actually demonstrated the set-up during the lab session two weeks ago. Before the session, she told me that it would be a demostration. I went like "ahhhh" so she let me try it. I tried that after the lab session two weeks ago but I didn't manage to get it. So after the exam, I went to try again and the lab instructor came to help me:) She's so nice.

We actually got the set up working. Basically we use HeNe laser and shined it onto an organic dye and make it lase. Using grating and half transparent filter we can actually make it lase at different wavelengths, so the dye laser is tunable.

We didn't manage get one nice spot, but having two spots was good enough. The laser light changed from red to bright green and it looked really really nice.

But optical alignment is really tedious. You move a tiny little bit and the light is going don't-know-where. Whoever don't have the patience shall get training in that. It's gonna be helpful.

*******************
Seeing class dean

After the exam I was a bit too bored so I logged on to Banner self-service (it is a wellesley portal for registration of classes, account statements, ect) And I found that Organic Chemistry II had vacancy! (Two months ago during the registration period I didn't got registered because the class was full...In wellesley, seniors do the registration first and then juniors and then sophomore and finally freshwomen...That organic chem II was filled even before my registration has started..) Thanks for the nice lady who gave up that class:) So I happily got myself registered.

Then two hours later I received an e-mail from my class dean (a very very nice lady who looks after all the first-years):"Dear Bilin, I noticed that you are again planning to take 3 science courses next semester. Were you advised to do so by your academic advisor or another faculty member?" and asked me to go and see her...

So I did. She's trying make sure I'm not neglecting other things (of course I am not)...and we were talking about what I gonna take for my distribution requirement...I mentioned women studies or econ. then she said:"don't take econ. econ is boring. you have enough science and math here and please go and do other things." when she said that she was really really cute. And then we talked about grades as well. when I told her that I need to get 3.8, she got a real real shock...

other very funny things happened during the conversation as well...but I shall not talk so much about them here because this blog is a public place.

I really love my dean:)

*******************
Boston's Lobster

Xiaoyang, Ding Ding and Ching Hua were in Boston so I went out I meet them. I managed to get free tickets to the science museum from wellesley. But when we reached there it was too late to see anything real (mostly ding ding's fault).

And then we went to eat Lobster! (Of course we don't just eat lobster.) We went to a restaurant called Peach Farm and the food was really really nice! And it was pretty cheap! Thanks Shireen for the recommendation:) If anybody come to Boston next time I'll bring you there:)

After dinner we walked across downtown crossing to Qincy market. Ding Ding and Ching Hua's stomach was half-empty so they had teriyaki chicken there.

Then we get back to Xiaoyang's relative's apartment to get the luggage. While xiaoyang was doing some last-minute packing, his relative (i think he called her grand aunt) asked us to play the piano. So I played. I played my favourite maiden's prayer. And then she asked me to go to her place often to play the piano...She's so nice. (she even gave each of us a hong bao...so bu hao yi si)

After that we went to North Station at 9pm. We were supposed to meet Ruijie there. But the president scholar was apparently too busy and he was stuck at some ulu place, so he couldn't come. After the three guys talked to ruijie on the phone, we just sat down at North Station to talk cock and wait for dingding's friend to come to bring them to New Hamshire for SKIING!!!!! (so fun)

It Snows!

2006-12-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

Finally, I saw snow for the first time in my life!(well. my friends are telling me that I have already missed the making-snow-ball age...too bad.)

Also for the first time, I saw real ice floating on the surface of a pond, after doing so many question about why fishes manage to survive in winter.

But it was just a tiny little bit of snow. Not enough to make snow ball anyway.

Of course I went out to take pictures:)

Final exam will start in a week's time. Many people are really stressed. But I don't really feel very stressed (see I still have time to write blog.) This is the nice thing about the US system: final exam is not the only thing that counts, so if you're consistently doing well, you won't be so stressed before the finals (this applies to subjects that don't involve memorization only, i suppose.)

But the US system also means that there are lots of mid-term exams. I just had a organic chemistry mid-term (the 3rd one) on Wednesday. Next week is the end of the term and this week is still called mid-term. I guess any thing between the first day and the last day are all called mid-term.

The existence of mid-terms means you can't take your own sweet time to learn your stuff...what you learn today can be tested in tomorrow's exam. that's how it works.

Some people started their terms later than I do and they have already finished their finals! This is not very fair. But I guess I have a better life than those who have their exams right after their holiday. To friends who have the capability to slack now, enjoy your holiday:)

To my Wellesley sisters, Happy Studying!

Updates

2006-12-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

I have been too lazy to write anything on the blog recently. Now I've realized that probably I shouldn't be so lazy. So I'm back writing my little blog.

About Physics...
Physics is getting really fun recently, with all the quantum physics stuff that I can't completely understand. The wave-particle is just out there; it is everywhere and nowhere. And you just have to believe and accept that this is the ways things behave, no matter how strange they are:p
But I'm also wondering whether I'm smart enough to do physics:p Maybe I can only do layman science, after all.

About Chemistry...
Too many reactions are going on. Today Prof Haines said that he could now give us 1 bottle of cyclohexane and ask us to create 100 different substances and then we can react backwards and give him back the bottle of cyclohexane. oh well.
The good thing about organic chemistry at Wellesley is that we don't have to memorize much; but this is also the bad thing about organic chem----we'll have to sit down and think. I can still handle this class at the moment, but things are getting complicated now. All the best to me and other souls who are doing organic chemistry.

About 3.8...
Now I realise that this noble number set by A*STAR does have some effects on our university life. For me, I'm avoiding some of the humanities classes that I'm interested in because I won't get an A for that.
Probably this is why Singaporeans are unwilling to take risk (I am not saying that I'm a Singaporean). The Cost of failure is just too high.

About Stress...
Surprisingly I don't feel much stress this week, though I have lots of work to do because I didn't to much during Thankgiving break. Maybe I'm becoming more wellesley......

The fun part...Washington DC!
During thanksgiving holiday, I went to Washington DC with some A*STAR friends. It was really fun. (Sidenote: We actually brought along work to do. DingDing brought along Putnam; Gerald brought along his history reading; I brought along my problem sets...We are just so A*STAR)

Day 1:
We took overnight bus and arrived at Washington DC at 530am in the morning. Then we were badly treated at the hostel because we arrived too early...anyway. It was raining that day, and the wind made it bitterly cold. Apparently Ding Ding and Gerald was shivering, but somehow kangyi survived with a short-sleeved t-shirt and a not so think jacket.

We went to the spy museum in the afternoon. It was interesting, but I didn't like it that much. It was kind of commercialized. And I personally feel that the USA have been over-emphasizing the problem of espionage. They imagined it to be a big problem. But actually it is not a big problem at all.

Then we went to the National Archive, which housed the original declaration of independence, magna carta, and the Constitution of the United States. It is a grand place. And I makes me start to respect the US history.

The documents were all written by hand! And yet they looked so neat and tidy...I was actually wondering whether US had a printer 2 or 3 hundred years ago, but when I clearly examined the letters, i concluded that they are hand written.

In the evening we went to a Malaysian/Singaporean resterant to have dinner. Xiaoyang and Wen Yu went together with us. Haha it was a super nice dinner, though it was pretty ex.

Day 2
We went to more museums. In the morning we spent two hours in the National Gallery of Arts. Many of the pictures were really great, though I am a dummy in art who can't really appreciate the beauty of the art work. They have Qing Dynasty vases from China as well, which are really delicate. It's insteresting to see Chinese thingy in American museum---I actually spent a long time looking at those vases; if I were looking at it in China, I wounldn't have spent so much time on those.
Then we went to the NASA museum, which was a boring place with nothing much to see. But after that we went to my favourite destination of the whole trip: Museum of Natural History! There's the hope diamond there, which is a big blue bright 42 carat diamond! And there is a whole collection of pretty gems of all sorts of colour there, I love them!

And the following is dedicated to QiQi! It's beryl!

Day 3
It was our first sunny day in Washington DC, so we started to have very pretty photos of the DC. In the morning we woke up early to queue up for Capitol Hill, and we got the 10am tickets and went in:) But food and drink were not allowed in the Capitol Hill...so we had to throw away all the chewy bars, wala bars and don't-know-what bars.

It is grand inside the Capitol. The huge drawings on the wall were great. There were lots of sulptures around, but they meant nothing to me. But I love the dome.
Apparently the dome was well shaped. When you and your friend are standing on two spots symmetrical about the center of the room, you can hear each other.

Then after lunch, we went to the Pentagon, which is an absolutely boring place. Immediately after we came out from the subway station, we were told the photographs were not allowed. And the pentagon actually looked like a dull building when you were near it.

We stayed around Pentagon for less than one minute, and we were off to Arlington National Cemetery, which houses thousands of tombstones of US war heros. More than 300,000 people are buried there. Its atmosphere made me feel really depressed. I've seen pictures of Arlington Cemetery before, but pictures only show a corner of the cemetery. Until I was there, I didn't know that it was actually such a huge place. When I stood inside, I only saw miles of tomestones, and the empty sky.

Then we went to the White House. The White House is actually not very impressive compared to many other grand buildings in Washington DC. I shall just treat it as a normal place. It has housed many intelligent people whom I respect and admire a lot (Hillary Clinton Rocks!), but it has also housed, or still is housing some cannot-make-it people.

The World War II memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the reflection pool are all near the white house. They are super beautiful:)
This place is beautiful. But unfortunately my photos are all a bit dark. Shall wait for ding ding to unload his photos.

Day 4
Kangyi went to a Holocaust Museum. But I thought that place would be too sad for me, so I chose not to go there. Ding Ding, Gerald and I decided to go somewhere else. We went to National Geographic exhibition center in the morning. Cool place. The photographs were no fabulous. They made Ding Ding feel really guilty because he had not been putting enough effort on photography (emmm...due to his "minimal packing" policy, he didn't bring tripot for his own trip. He even forgot about his memory card, so he actually needed to buy one on the first day of hour trip)...After that, we went to Washington Post headquarter, but there was nothing much to see.

Then in the afternoo, we went to the zoo to see Pandas! my favourite:) See the cute pandas:

After the zoo, we went to Pentagon City, which is a huge shopping center, in a attempt to find guitar string for Ding Ding. But there's no guitar shop there. Since we had gone all the way to Pentagon City, we decided to have a look at its surroundings. Surprisingly the place looked very Singapore. The buildings were like HDB. And the shopping center was like J8. And there was actually a bus stop and a subway station around the shopping center. How Singapore is that!

That ended our trip...We leave Washington DC with an overnight bus in the evening...I reached Wellesley at noon the next day...and I finished my 7-page paper for my Asian American Studies class within an afternoon and an evening. Amazing:)

After thanksgiving, I feel that I actually have more energy to work...and it seems that I worry less about deadlines now:) mmmm...maybe sometimes we really need a break, even if we don't feel the need.

happy

2006-11-03T18:49:00.000-08:00

There are always some little sparks of moments that make me really happy during this stressful time...I just finished my Asian American Studies paper a minute ago! And yesterday I felt so accomplished that I managed to figure out what the unknown compound was from all sorts of lab data (It took me quite a while because the mass spectrum doesn't show the molecular peak--------I worked with the wrong molecular weight for a long long long long time and came out with some weird looking compound, and then I found that the compound I had come up with was nowhere in the huge list of 200 possible unknown given out by the lab instructor-----so i had to go back to work it through again.)em...is there any mass spectrometer that leaves the molecular ion intact?

Haha this is my first time working with real mass spectra...not the 2 cl gives 9:6:1 peaks in A-levels...it's quite fun solving the puzzle. And infra-red spectra are great:) But I need to wait till next semester to use the NMR...

And thank Glory so much for the mooncake! You're a superb big sister!

It was halloween on Monday...we went to the president's house. It is a wellesley tradidion again. but personally i'm not a halloween fan.

the pumpkins

this was outside the president's house

we took a photo with our president

and i think this looks like our president...

something random

2006-10-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry to all that I really don't have much time to update my blog. If you have come for many times and still see the same entries, I apologise for that.

This is a nice week for me because there's no Chinese Music Ensemble (finally...) and no Chem lab (haha that saves me lots of work) In fact I was not going to have physics lab this week as well, but in the end i did.

I had a nice physics lab yesterday. We built our own spectrometer and it was really cool! The colour of the rainbow look really nice. And I actually see the 2nd and 3rd order spectrum overlap (well we calculated so much of that in A-levels and I finally see it) The mercury light spectrum looks cool too. It is just that when I read the vernier scale for the angle of rotation of the grating, I went cross eyed often---it was so hard to read.

Emmm...I went to some kopitiam dry run thingy at MIT with Andrea and Lindsay and I met Charmaine and Wenxian there. It's nice to see Charmaine so often---it gives me a nice feeling of the good old days in RJ. Wenxian is as crappy as usual, and he still teases people a lot.

And a second wave of mid-terms have started. All the best to those who are studying hard for the test. (May you rock the tests, Andrea!)

I shall go back to do my paper and read my book.

5th anniversary

2006-10-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

This is a day that I will always remember. 5 years ago, I left my comfortable home on this day and landed on a little island called Singapore.

Lots and lots of things happened in the past 5 years, and I was forced to grow up when these lots and lots of things were happening. I can't claim that I have grown up, because some of my friends are still asserting that I am too young to be mature. But I know that I have, at least, become stronger and more independent.

It was really really tough at the beginning. I remember that I cried almost everyday when I first arrived there, and vomited twice on the very first day. I felt lonely and unhappy, so I actually studied very hard in order to forget about all the unhappy feelings... Now, as I look back, I am still wondering how I managed to get through all those at the age of 14.

Things got better and better as time passed by. Thanks to the fellow RGS PRC scholars especially. We quarreled, we fought, we cried, we did stupid things, but we gave one another help, support and more understanding, so we survived. Thanks for all the lame jokes as well:)

Singapore has really changed me a lot. If I didn't go to Singapore a few years ago, probably I'm a Chinese or Sociology major now...And now I actually have to make myself a science researcher and work in singapore in the future, which was something that I couldn't imagine a few years back. (Though I still feel a bit weird when people are reminding me that you are going to become a Singaporean.)

And I really need to thank all the friends that I have met in Singapore. You are the ones who have made my life so palatable. Thanks to the kind souls in RGS 406 and Chinese debate team who always ask me to take care of myself (hey Serene! I still keep the bottle of that cough medicine that you gave me:p and shuk in, i kept that medicine that you gave me as well:) And Pemela! I've brought your hair clips to Wellesley... still remember Pui Man always playing with my hair during Chinese debate, and saying that i should use so-and-so whitening lotion. Thanks to all the nerdy/mad/weird guys and the lovely and hardworking girls in S01A. So far, the two years in RJC have been my BEST. And I really miss S01A, the days that we tried to finish our tutorials in record breaking time, and listen to the lame jokes made my mr. Kadir. Not to forget RJCO, which I tremendously enjoyed (As I am playing with the Chinese Ensemble in Boston now, I just can't tell how much I miss the fun days in RJCO.) and thanks to the group of sisters in "8+1", who made the RIB days bright and happy. Also thanks to friends in A*STAR (Ghandi Rocks!)! You all are so fun and caring and crazy (with one particular person abnormal) that I will never regret choosing A*STAR.

To my fellow RGS PRC friends who landed in Singapore with me on Oct 15, 2001, Happy 5th Anniversary and take care!

Fall

2006-10-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

The trees are turning colour so rapidly on the campus now, and the campus has become very colourful indeed. After I finished my physics exam today, I went to walk/run around the lake. I brought my camera around, so here are some of the photos that I have taken. I even saw two beautiful swams in the lake:)

chemistry

2006-10-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

Haha here's some questions from my earlier homework and exams...some people may find it fun:)

Name the following compounds:

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Answers:
Question 1:
1-(1-(2-ethyl-3-methylbutyl)cyclopentyl)-5-
(1,2,2-trichloro-1-methylethyl)cyclodecane

Question 2:
1-(1-cyclopropylethyl)-4-(2,2-dibromo-1-
ethyl-1-methylpropyl)cyclohexane

Quesiton 3:
1-(4-bromo-2-(1-bromoethyl)-3-methylbutyl)-4-
(1-butyl-3-(cyclobutylmethyl)pentyl)cyclohexane

Shall say something about my Organic Chem professor here. He is just soooooooooo amazing! We've done some o chem in A-level, but I am still learning so much from him. He makes everything common sense to us, so organic chem is really really fun!

And one more amazing thing about him: he never asks "what's your name" and never takes attendance in class. so when he called my name the other day, i was kind of shocked. and when he was distributing our exam papers last friday, he was about to distribute all the papers to the correct people without calling any of our names. Scary--he must have memorised all our names from photo directory.

lake photos

2006-10-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

I'm actually doing homework now, but I'm a bit tired, so I decide to take a break. Since I have nothing much to do for the break, I shall upload some beautiful photos, which I didn't have time to upload before.

I took these photos one morning when I walked/ran around Lake Waban of the school. That was at the first week of classes (when life was not that hectic yet). All the photos have not been edited because I don't have time to do so.

Lake Day

2006-09-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

To those friends who have been visiting my blog, I'm really really very sorry for not updating. I have been really really busy as all the subjects are going a full pace now...but nevertheless, I shall try my best to update once in a while.

LAKE DAY

When I went out for class this morning (freezingly cold!), I saw "Happy Lake Day" written by chalk on the floor. It was all over the place on my way to the Science Centre, but I guessed it was probably some unknown US holiday, so I didn't think much about it.

But then before my Physics lesson started, the classmates were talking about Lake Day, and then all of a sudden Prof Lannert said: "Ok. Today's Lesson's Cancelled." I was really puzzled. "What's Lake Day?!?" "Oh...It's a Wellesley tradition. It is supposed to come all of a sudden on a nice and beautiful day in Fall. Back in the early 1900s, classes were cancelled and students are going out to enjoy themselves. But now not all the classes are canceled. It is supposed to be a GIFT from nowhere for you to enjoy yourself and to get out of the academic work."

Of course I didn't get all my classes canceled...but my math prof ended 20 min early. Then at noon, my friends and I went to Severance Green for the Lake Day thingy. It was really fun. Nice things to eat and to play with!

It is really a nice day today. And it is really a good day for Lake Day:) I didn't get much work done during the weekend..em...I spent my Saturday on Chinese Music Ensemble, and on Sunday, I went to Boston to have lunch with the A*STAR friends and then DingDing Gerald Kangyi and PhinPeng came to visit Wellesley. It was really really nice to have them visiting Wellesley (and some of them are photog pros!), though I got a bit behind in work. After working really really hard on Monday and Tuesday, I finally got most of my work done. So I am out to enjoy Lake Day today!!!

Here are some photos!

I went for lunch after going for lake day, and the french fries there were smiley faces!

And I've received my new pipa on Monday!!! It was shipped from Beijing and it was unhurt! Thank god for protecting my new pipa:)

Flower Sunday

2006-09-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

My sister. My Star.
--Wellesley College Flower Sunday

roses from big sister

It is the Flower Sunday today, a day for celebrating sisterhood and friendship in Wellesley. It is one of Wellesley's loggest celebrated tradition which started since the second year after the school founded.

My big sister Amy gave me a bunch of pink purple roses in the morning. I love the roses so much, and she picked my favourite colour! I didn't know what made her chose the colour; this morning was the first time that we met so I definitely hadn't told her my favourite colour before. We chatted during the brunch, and she's really an adorable big sister.

Then we went for the ceremony and the Chapel. There were people from different religious groups speaking, and lots of singing. I felt truly touched as I was sitting (and singing) through the ceremony. It had reminded me of all the wonderful moments that I have spent with all my friends, and all the help from my friends in times of difficulties.

I'd like to say thank you very much to all my dear friends. As I was thinking about you all at the Chapel just now, I was really touched by all the little and big things that you've done for me. I'm really greatful to know you all and have friends in you all. Thanks for making my life more palatable and colourful. All the best to you all, wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

Here's a little familiar song that we sang since we were kids, but I never thought that I could be so meaningful until we sang it at the Chapel just now. Here it is for all my friends: