Summer 2011

I'm in Taiwan right now because I had to show up for the opening of an exhibit which involves my mom's family at the national 228 museum. I've only been here for a week, and I've realized that I desperately need to relearn (really, learn) Chinese. If my department will allow it and not frown upon it, I am going to take a class in it at UCLA. Hopefully it's not too late for my brain to learn something linguistic.

In Taiwan, I feel really at ease. It's probably because I am not working here and I don't have to pay rent or cook for myself in the kitchen and take out the trash when the trash trucks come playing Fur Elise or really worry about life stuff while I'm here with my mom's extended family, but I really like it here. Assuming my Chinese is passable by the time I enter the job market, I will consider searching for a job here. A UCLA alum from last year apparently got placed at National Taiwan University, which is pretty cool and indicates that it is possible if I work really hard.

I passed both of my second-year fields so things are looking pretty good on the grad school front. Right now, I'm preparing for my advancement to candidacy (ATC) presentation that I need to give when I go back to UCLA to formally transition to being a Ph.D. candidate. Thankfully, VPN will allow me to access all the journals I need access to so I can hopefully get it done in the next few days.

In July, I moved to a new apartment with a friend in my program, Allen. Moving everything from our apartments using a U-Haul truck to the new one was quite tiring, but it worked out in the end.