My Home by Chris S. '11
Warning: Graphics Intensive.
Welcome to 2008!
2008. In equivalent terms, Class of 2012. Congratulations to all of you that pressed the submit button yesterday and others that have already received the invitation to join us here at Cambridge next fall. Regardless of whether you applied early, most of you should be finished with the vast majority of your college applications within the next couple of days, and it’s time to take a break.
As you wrap up your remaining applications and send in those missing pieces of paperwork, start taking the time to enjoy your last semester in high school. I don’t know about you, but I remembered the first half of my senior year flew by in no time – consumed by drafting my college application essays and turning in a pile of transcript/recommendation request forms to the Counseling Center. Before I knew it, my last semester in high school had begun.
Take the time in the last months of your high school life to appreciate the people around you. Thank the teachers that had helped you get so far (and perhaps who you harangued for your recommendations), and let your friends and classmates know your appreciation of their support and love throughout the years. For me, that’s what made my last semester of high school so memorable – it was a time of reminiscing, a time of thanksgiving. When you walk down the red carpet on your graduation day, have no regrets – you have made your mark in high school, and it’s time to move on.
Alright, so that’s my little “sermon” to you =p.
Now, for some more-amusing matters.
I think it’s about time that I introduced Taiwan, my home, to you all. I took advantage of this winter break to hopefully capture some of the essence of Taiwan (one thing I regret not taking pictures of is the New Year’s fireworks in Taipei 101 – currently still the world’s tallest building! – because I wasn’t in Taipei. But you can look at it on Youtube here!).
I’ll let the pictures take it from here. :)
On the MIT side of things…
Before we all parted our separate ways during break, Steven Mo ’10, organized a little Taiwanese gathering.
(there are four ’11s in the picture. Can you guess who? =D Hint: girls + white. haha)
I just got to Boston three hours ago, and I will be heading off to Madrid for the next month (basically all of IAP) tomorrow night. I won’t be back on campus until spring term starts in February, but this January should be an excellent experience in living in a foreign country and experiencing another culture. So hasta luego my friends, I’ll try to blog in Spain! :)
ps. This has got to be the most interesting blog that I ever composed. I started the entry in Taiwan, edited most of the pictures during my layovers in Tokyo and Chicago, and posted the entry in Boston. Truly an “international” blog. Ha.
Wow! Taiwan sure looks beautiful Chris! Hope you have a great holiday ahead! …Goodness knows you deserve it after experiencing the firehose
Good Luck for IAP!
p.s. Which photo-editing software have you used for these pics?..Just curious..
Do keep us blog addicts posted on how you find Madrid!
Cheerio..
I LOVE TAIWAN!!
awesome pics! i went to taiwan this past april (kaoshiung, taipei, and kenting) and saw many of the places you mentioned. ding tai fung is indeed one of the best dumpling places i’ve ever been to
so did they lose any of your luggage during all those layovers?
Thankfully, no! I always get freaked out about having a lot of layovers because there’s generally a tendency to lose luggage. I was fortunate enough to not lose any luggages this time (although I panicked a little in Chicago, because there were only like 10 people left around the carousel when my luggage finally came out).
thanks for the blog! very informative
have fun in spain!
i’m curious because i’m in hong kong and interested in the airline industry: was it cheaper to do all those stopovers? my trip to boston years ago was similar in time, but i only had one stopover in SF. two stopovers seem weird..
Ahh, I miss Taiwan so much! Thank you for this entry =)
(I hope that I will have the opportunity to be a part of your Taiwanese gathering next year!)
Wow, Taiwan is really gorgeous. And O’Hare always makes me nervous with the luggage, we’ve lost things more than once but they’re generally pretty decent.
I’m really excited to hear about your month in Spain! I’m definitely most looking forward to all of the opportunities for MIT students if I’m admitted.
And, on a final note… SENIORS ’08!!!!
nice!
i love the pictures!
have a great IAP
oh and what you said about last semester of high school. i agree. i’ve been doing just that. thanking people and whatnot and as much as i’m looking forward to college (andidesperatelyhopeitwillbeMIT
) i’m really going to miss school…
i wish i could take a break now that the whole application doodah is over…but no. i have exams. and i’ll probably get the decisions during the exams in march. :/
Ahhh! Taiwan! Yay!
Brings back so many memories about my GAP YEAR (ahem, freshmen)
*prefrosh, not freshmen
Taiwan seems like a very nice country. If I ever make my theoretical planned trip to Asia, I will definitely try to visit the island.
Enjoy Spain!
~Donald
@Chris: How fascinating your life is in Taiwan ! I wish I could be there to enjoy all the scenes, food and the Taiwanese culture.
@donaldGuy’12: Taiwan is not a country.
I’m in one of the pics!!
haha but very unclear
But Taiwan is a country!
How can it not be? The elections are this March, and it’s going to be quite exciting!
Great entry, Chris! My sis is doing some traveling this summer on her way home from Kyrgyzstan – I’ll tell her to stop by Taiwan. =)
@donaldguy: brush up on chinese current affairs or w/e
@HappilyNerdy88 and Anon
Though it may be the official position of numerous governments and the UN that Taiwan isn’t a country, I don’t think it’s a very nice thing to say when Chris is from Taiwan and probably … (hopefully
) loves his country as much as any one of us.
Just saying.
Hey, whether or not it’s a country, it’s still a place, a very important state with a sweet economy at the very least.
Yeah, Taiwan = Stationary capital of the world
Hey! I think I see the Organic Chemistry teacher from Splash in the last pic! ^^
yeahhh TAIWAN!! I love the pics. I love the food.
OMG….so lovely!!!!!! As a proud Taiwanese descendant (a.k.a. ABT), I am glad that MIT rocks at this Taiwanese culture and pride
I’m so wanting to get into MIT now…thank you, Chris!!!!
Taiwan is cute. If I get accepted for MIT, I’d have a longer flight home, I live all the way over in Malaysia
wow it’s like you color-coordinated, except grace didn’t get the memo to wear white!
Ahh I am in Spain now and look at all the comments since I have been gone!
Nihar – I use Adobe Photoshop.
Kenny – I realized I never took a picture with you…
And for everyone else – I leave you to your own opinions on whether Taiwan is a country or not. I definitely have my own
No I wasn’ being sarcastic lol
I was refering to the picture u took from my back when I was buying bubble tea haha.
I miss Taiwan so much, even though it’s been only six months ago.
I think I see Grace in there.
Looks like you guys are having fun!