The bottom entry on this page is from August 9, 2005
Compared to some people, I don't often write in this LiveJournal, though granted my entries tend to be longer. Lately, it seems as though I update roughly once a month. I update at such a slow pace that if you look at the bottom of this page, you will see an entry from before I left for college. No, I didn't read it, nor do I intend to, but it surprises me that right on this page is an entry from almost a year ago. How so much has changed since then!
My last day of class was April 24, almost exactly month ago (already!?). We then got a week off to study, called Reading Period/Week, and then exams started on May 2. I had four exams (linguistics, econ, Chinese history, and astronomy, in that order); the last one finished on May 5, which was a Friday. I then left Yale on May 9. I leave for China on June 15 and return on August 14. School starts on September 6; I will probably leave around September 1. Since many people here will be starting in the middle of August, that gives me a chance to visit people in situ, which I look forward to.
One question for all of you who read this: how can anyone spend hours on Facebook? In the past few months, all I've done is login and browse around for maybe five minutes at most. Right now I'm actually spending a significant amount of time, around an hour, looking at profiles and updating my own. I'm surprised at how many people I knew that I'd forgotten about. I remember that one consideration I had back while I was still in high school (which seems so long ago) was wondering how I could just leave all my friends behind, that is, whether it would be easy or difficult to leave everyone behind. I've discovered that it is extremely easy. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like it took no effort, gave me no anxiety, to just pack up and go eight hundred miles east to start over. Perhaps it's because I see it as merely putting things on hold.
I've already been wondering what it will be like to leave Yale and leave all my friends at Yale. This time, I can't just go back to New Haven to see everyone in the same way I can go back to Saginaw; everyone will have gone his or her own way to study or work. In this situation, the goodbyes will be real. I don't worry, though.
On a different note, a common plea last year from people was "to keep in touch." Even though only one or two people actually did it, I find the idea of writing letters totally romantic. Since we don't even IM or email people, and hence we lose touch with them, even though it's instantaneous and hardly takes any effort -- a "how are you doing?" would suffice -- I would like to ask of everyone to think about writing me a letter. I'll write you one in return. It need not be long; as I said, a "how are you doing?" would suffice.
For anyone who is curious, this will be my address in China:
100089 中国北京首都市范大学
海淀区西三环北路83号，国际文化学院
杜克大学留华学习班
欧天宁
Tony Au
Duke China Program
Capital Normal University
83 Xi San Huan Bei Lu
Haidian District
Beijing, 100089
CHINA
(I think the English address will work, but it would probably be better if you used the Chinese address.)
As for the letter-writing, I mean in general, as in when we're back at college, but if you write me a letter while I'm in China, maybe I'll get you something while I'm there.
And now, this entry is already too long.
My last day of class was April 24, almost exactly month ago (already!?). We then got a week off to study, called Reading Period/Week, and then exams started on May 2. I had four exams (linguistics, econ, Chinese history, and astronomy, in that order); the last one finished on May 5, which was a Friday. I then left Yale on May 9. I leave for China on June 15 and return on August 14. School starts on September 6; I will probably leave around September 1. Since many people here will be starting in the middle of August, that gives me a chance to visit people in situ, which I look forward to.
One question for all of you who read this: how can anyone spend hours on Facebook? In the past few months, all I've done is login and browse around for maybe five minutes at most. Right now I'm actually spending a significant amount of time, around an hour, looking at profiles and updating my own. I'm surprised at how many people I knew that I'd forgotten about. I remember that one consideration I had back while I was still in high school (which seems so long ago) was wondering how I could just leave all my friends behind, that is, whether it would be easy or difficult to leave everyone behind. I've discovered that it is extremely easy. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like it took no effort, gave me no anxiety, to just pack up and go eight hundred miles east to start over. Perhaps it's because I see it as merely putting things on hold.
I've already been wondering what it will be like to leave Yale and leave all my friends at Yale. This time, I can't just go back to New Haven to see everyone in the same way I can go back to Saginaw; everyone will have gone his or her own way to study or work. In this situation, the goodbyes will be real. I don't worry, though.
On a different note, a common plea last year from people was "to keep in touch." Even though only one or two people actually did it, I find the idea of writing letters totally romantic. Since we don't even IM or email people, and hence we lose touch with them, even though it's instantaneous and hardly takes any effort -- a "how are you doing?" would suffice -- I would like to ask of everyone to think about writing me a letter. I'll write you one in return. It need not be long; as I said, a "how are you doing?" would suffice.
For anyone who is curious, this will be my address in China:
100089 中国北京首都市范大学
海淀区西三环北路83号，国际文化学院
杜克大学留华学习班
欧天宁
Tony Au
Duke China Program
Capital Normal University
83 Xi San Huan Bei Lu
Haidian District
Beijing, 100089
CHINA
(I think the English address will work, but it would probably be better if you used the Chinese address.)
As for the letter-writing, I mean in general, as in when we're back at college, but if you write me a letter while I'm in China, maybe I'll get you something while I'm there.
And now, this entry is already too long.