Where I Love

Why I love Boston:

1. The people here seem to love their lives. Whether it's the hustling, black-suited commuters heading towards the Pru, or the early morning runners, or the sarcastic homeless people asking for your money to save the 'Hipster Apocalypse,' there's a spunk to everyone here.

2. There is a charm in the air. Every corner I turn, there's character in this town. I love the tiny stores and cafes that rip you off and the brick paths that make my bike jingle up and down.

3. Every brownstone looks so pretty. The doors look so elegant and each balcony, window, rooftop has its own touch.

4. It's small. If you look at a map of Boston, everything is close to one another. You could technically take a bike and travel around all of Boston in one day if you wanted to. And yet, there's so many obscure and beautiful places you will overlook and these take years to discover :)

5. I feel energetic here. I go on morning runs because it seems like the whole city is up and running at 7am in the morning. Fenway is a single, collectively boisterous human fort before and after a Red Sox game. There are always street bands and singers jamming on the weekends. It's a great place to grow.

6. People are friendly. When you're running, sometimes people greet you as they pass by you. When I'm on the T towards South Station with a bunch of luggage, people let me have their seats. There's a lot of random places where people will strike up conversation with you. And these conversations aren't usually awkward, because Boston kind of brings people together and you end up discovering you have something in common with them.

7. It is a wander-friendly zone. You know how I like to wander and explore and get lost. Well, Boston is perfect for the nomad in me. Once I walked from Mass Ave to Park Street and found some awesome stores. Once I ran to the North End and found a new zen spot. I wouldn't have known where the Christian Science Church was and the awesome fountain by it if I hadn't decided to one day run past Berklee.

8. People are fashionable. There are so many creative people here, and I always pick up some inspiration on my runs.

9. There's always people visiting Boston. Whether it be for a history class field trip, visiting colleges, or seeing the sights and visiting family, I love that I can sit down somewhere and know there's someone there who's seeing the place for the first time. There are constantly people appreciating what Boston has to offer.

10. Boston is an intersection point, a crossroad if you will. People come here to become better people. They leave to pursue their dreams. It's a place to grow. People don't seem to settle down in Boston as much as live here for a few years and then depart. Yet everyone looks back fondly at their time in Boston :)

**
This is something I've been compiling and editing since I stayed in a brownstone in Back Bay Boston over the past summer. I love Boston. A lot. I'm going to miss it next year!

Happy Valentine's Day!

To the Future Me: If You're Feeling Down...

When I go to Cam, I'm sure there will times when I want to regret my decision. It's not that going there would actually be regrettable, but because I'm a inherently paranoid decision maker. Here are a few things that I want the future me to remember so that I make the most of my time there :)

- After deciding to participate in CME, I've already stopped taking for granted what MIT offers us. There are so many opportunities MIT offers to help us kickstart our careers, whether in research, industry, grad school, or entrepreneurship. Some classes I want to take when I get back are 6.115 (Microcomputer Project Laboratory hopefully with Steve Leeb), Founders Journey, Engineering Innovation and Design (GEL 1), and New Enterprises (Sloan E&I). MIT may be hard, but you get a lot more application and experience here than any other engineering school (in my opinion)!
- At Cam, we have more control over our time. Therefore, I want to take time to build my portfolio, software-wise and engineering-wise. I want to join competitions there and student clubs, and get active early. I want to be self-directed and find motivation in working because I understand how important hands-on experiences are.
- Time is precious. I will only have one year abroad to do all the amazing things I've imagined. Travel, learn, meet people, try new things, and challenge myself in every aspect!

To the future me: When I have a real hard time abroad, remember that I knew and felt that this was the right decision. I am happy about this decision and feel the joy of breaking free. I've impressed my parents with how mature I was about considering my academic and professional paths while making the decision and how motivated I was to capitalize on the opportunity and fulfill a lot of dreams while challenging myself.

So there. If you're feeling down, think about how rough some of the times were back at MIT. YEAH. So keep your head up and smile. You're at an incredible place filled with amazing people and an ocean of possibilities. So go have fun and live your life!

Why I'm Going to Cambridge.

This is one of the surest things I've done in a while. Which is sad, because even on this decision, I wavered a bit.
But it's one of the first occasions that I feel like I'm doing something for me. And I feel like my mind and my heart agree. I feel free. For once, I've broken past any expectations of me or the pressure I feel from comparing myself to my peers.
I am doing this one for me. In my first few semesters at MIT, I developed a four-year plan without even giving thought to what or why I wanted something in the first place.
I have a Word Document (typing that made me feel archaic for some reason...) that contains all of the most interesting or inspiring words I have ever read online. Today I pull one out from Steve Jobs at the 2005 Stanford Commencement. It's one that I remind myself of often and quoted around the sides of one of my paintings:

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

 

I know my education is important. But what makes education more valuable is what you put into it - your ambitions, dreams, and confidence. Currently, I lack the latter two, and it terrifies me. Hopefully, by making myself realize that I can do something very different from my peers for a year and survive and feel phenomenal, I can believe that life can be lived without a dictated roadmap. Well, being the paranoid individual I am, I will still at least have a loosely designed plan for everything :)

I'm young. So I shouldn't live life scared of whether I'll fail. I should do things that interest, inspire, and intrigue me. And I am.

Mutual Admiration?

As I was walking down Memorial Drive today after a class at the Tang Center, I looked out across the river at the Boston skyline. I realized that none of these buildings existed more than 300 years ago. 

And yet in Europe, they have buildings that are well over 1500 years old that have such great intricacies (e.g. St. Peter's Basilica). 

I know our generation treasures the architectural innovation and beauty of these long-standing structures, but would the architects and commissioners from back then appreciate our modern architecture? Would they find it too simplistic or austere for the amount of money they take? Or would they be dazzled by the shininess and space each of our buildings shapes? 

Just a thought...

(Photo from The Mathematical Tourist)

Capture the Rapture.

It's amazing how some artists can capture the scenery in a beautiful city with watercolor and pen:

from BBC's Tim Baynes

from SketchAway by Suhita

from David Hohn's Blogspot

from Miki De Goodaboom

and this high-speed sketching - very efficient:

from SilverMere by Barbara Philip

Not exactly a scenery, but I'm going to do something like this for my trip to England

(it'll be a good incentive to not bring too many items if I'm drawing everything I bring!):

from Drawing+Hand

W.O.W.

W.O.W. = What. Obvious. Wonders.

It's crazy how blessed I've been these past few months. 

Two big (I know - kind of cliche) things I'm very very thankful for:

- I am interning with Google this summer! (And had the problem of deciding between that and GE, a company I've wanted to work with for a long time!) 

- I am studying abroad at the University of Cambridge for my junior year! 

This is one of those opportunities I never dreamt taking, and now that it is becoming a reality, I am in awe. My heart literally starts freaking out every time I think about it, and I'm pretty sure I'm banned from the topic around my friends because I've exhausted it into annoyance. 

So now I've just been compiling a Google Doc Bucket List based on places I want to go to and activities/foods I want to try!

Now allow me to freak out about this on my blog for a while (betches, it's my online space!): 

holy carp*, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, 

 holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp,

 holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp, holy carp ♥

I deserve neither of these opportunities, and yet they're happening. I feel like the luckiest most blessed person in the whole world. 

I feel like Ron here. Ooh, or Cam. Better yet, this winner here. (I still love SNL.)

But in all seriousness, I am so grateful and undeserving of the blessings around me and I hope I can remind myself of how good my life is as the semester rolls in.

*see this blog post

And just for kicks:

Journ•all: The Ultimate Travel Journal

Check out this shiny BABY.

 

This is two of my friend's and my MIT 6.470 Website Competition entry for this year! I'd never made a website before, so this was a great experience.

Is it sad that the thing I'm proudest about is the name? Just kidding, I'm pretty happy with the outcome considering we didn't spend too much time on it. We should have, but it's IAP, and we decided to also explore the town and be normal college students every once in a while :)