En français: Les ponts de Paris, selon Gautier, Roubaud, et Apollinaire

Two Septembers ago, I began studying the French language, eventually reaching proficiency. I self studied two more semesters' worth of French grammar over the summer so that I could take a literature course when I returned in the fall. The first essay I ever wrote there was filled with grammatical errors, but made sense. The …

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Live, Live: Small Reasons to Survive in 2018

In 2017, I ditched the resolutions, which was a wise move. Here I quote myself, from less than a year ago: "I'm going to allow myself to make mistakes. Instead of being so pressured and focused on making a perfect year, because there's no such thing, I'm going to make 'next year's words await another …

One Day More: A Brief Reflection on the Past Year

I'm sorry that I'm crying, it's just that I'm so happy to be here right now. Tomorrow is orientation at Wellesley College. I think it's important to pause once in a while to look back, as cliche as the premise of this post is. Roughly a year ago, I picked up The Lord of the …

When Jet Lag Can Be a Good Thing

For nearly a week, I have been making up five hours of time zone differences in my bed, on the couch, in the fridge, and with my digital bookshelf. Just when I thought this lack of routine might have been over, I woke up at 2am this morning and sighed regretfully when sleep seemed impossible. …

One Perfect Week in Italy: Milan, Verona, Venice, Siena, Florence, Rome

This is part 2 of my series on our summer vacation this year in Greece and Italy. Read the first post here: One Perfect Week in Greece: Athens, Santorini, Crete! And thanks for sticking with me all this time if you have. Pictures are uploading really really slowly so I will revisit this post and put the …

One Perfect Week in Greece: Athens, Santorini, Crete

Before we start conjoining our first week of our two-week Greece and Italy trip, allow me to have a brief fangirl moment celebrating my 51st post: Alexander joins forces with James Madison and John Jay to write a series of essays defending the new United States Constitution, entitled The Federalist Papers. The plan was to write …

Summer Planning in Progress: 2 Weeks in Greece & Italy

About three days ago, the parents announced that the Sun family would be taking a trip to Greece and Italy this summer (loud cheering), and that I would be responsible for most of the planning. My sister, Joyce, and I created a Pinterest board within minutes and began grabbing pins from all over the web in a frenzy. But that …

Always Too Early for a Stagnant Retirement

It's heartbreaking when someone has given up on life. To me, it is the equivalent of being dead before you have stopped living. As part of a family who is contemplating a move to the United States, there are certain items of discussion on the table. One of them is getting a citizenship for my …

Slam Poem: Eight Hours of Traveling

Arise, and shine! You potential energies - And give to the world what you can give. As every particle has as much right to exist as the next But you, surely you can become more than a cluster of atoms: We are more than mountains, We are life!