7012 miles

How far is 7012 miles? A flight at 500mph would take me 14 hours; a drive at 70mph would take me 100 hours; a ride at 14mph would take me 500 hours; a walk at 3.5mph would take me 2000 hours. If I could travel with light, it would only take me 0.038 seconds; even the sun needs 13 hours. A better choice than light is my mind.

My 2003

The year of 2003 has been a fabulous year in my life. I graduated after four-year college life and started a new four-year study abroad. In January I studied for my last finals at Tsinghua in the smaller study room of the old library. Winter vacation came in February; I visited my grandmothers who live in the northern cities and celebrated the Chinese New Year with my family. In March I devoted my hard work to a part-time job instead of my dissertation in the expense of my health. I received the offer letters in April and I decided to be a Dukie. My application for the U.S. visa was approved in May. I started two websites using Frontpage, one for my class and one for myself. June is the season of graduation, everything was beautiful and touching. All the good memories came up when I was trying to leave. Graduated with a B.S.E.E. degree in July, I left Tsinghua University and Beijing, the place where I spent four colorful years. Six huge boxes were all things I had to send home. ThuClimbing Team achieved a huge success that summer. After returning to Dalian, my hometown, I spent a week with my mother's mother. I hope she could visit U.S. one day. In August I left my home country and arrived at Duke after a twenty-hour flight. Everything was new to me. I still remember clearly that I sniffed at the two month cultural shock period printed on one of I-house's handouts. Less than two month later I discovered that the cultural differences are very likely to follow me, a foreigner, for my whole life. At the beginning of September I was assigned the TA of a course taught by my advisor. The first steps are always the most difficult, especially for a foreigner, especially for one who had very limited work experience. In October I bought a used car and learnt driving. The first day I practiced driving in a parking lot; the second day around the campus; the third day on a highway; and the fourth day from Durham to Wilmington. I finally got my driver's license on the last day of that month. Later on, I paid a weekend-long visit to Boston in November. At the end of that month, I had a better understanding of the relationship between living and safe driving. My first winter vacation in North America came in December. From Monterey to Quebec, I enjoyed the sunshine, the snow and the reunion with old friends.

What is coming up in 2004? Before I could plan for my new year, three month have already passed. How time flies and how old I am! Past, present, and future; memory, gift, and dream. I had it all and I want it all.

Re: respect说特别想大家

发信人: tammyr (恨不得在有生之年把地球绕50圈), 信区: BraveHeart

标 题: Re: respect说特别想大家

发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Mon Mar 15 09:45:58 2004), 转信

我也好想好想樊jj. 捧朋你叫她发张照片给我呀刚收到小p发来的协会活动的照片, 真的好高兴, 协会越来越好了...怀念那段闪亮的日子~~~想念大家~~

【 在 gafy (阿飞~~~深深的海底) 的大作中提到: 】

: 标 题

: Re: respect说特别想大家

: 发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Mon Mar 15 06:30:01 2004), 转信:

: 俺们也想她！

: : 【 在 kingofwang (捧朋笨鸟先飞) 的大作中提到: 】

: : 在听了我说了今晚的故事会后

--

No mountain's too high for you to reach.

No rain's too wild for you to cross.

No evil's too strong for you to defeat.

No danger's too hard for you to survive.

Cause it's you, with your faithful love, and your brave heart.

On the wheels I'm heading for the ocean

Together with a sweet couple, Meg and Marty, a cute mechanist and cyclist, Eammon, and other seven students from Duke and UNC, I had fun both on and off my bike during the three days' ride.

Day #1
from UNC Chapel Hill to Campbell University, 55.5 miles, 10:30am~3:40pm
First day on the bike and my legs got fully stretched. I took Farrington Rd wrongly for Farrington Mill Rd and got lost at the very beginning. As a result, I was almost alone for the whole day's ride. We stayed in the dorm hallway of Campbell University. Eamonn checked everyone's bike while we were playing games. My expectations for this trip are mostly met because people are fun and the ride is well organized, exactly what I wanted.

Day #2
from Campbell University to White Lake, 72.8 miles, 9:25am~4:50pm
Second day on the bike and my bottom got really sore. I had to change the position or stand up frequently. I did not stop for lunch since my speed is not fast. It was really nice to have the van support and I ate lots of oranges at every cookie-stop. Victoria finally made it and I felt happy for her. Long distance and unfriendly wind conditions were somehow not worth to mention when this beautiful White Lake came into my sight. I spent most of my time on the lake and I enjoyed it.

Day #3
from White Lake UNC Wilmington, 63.7 miles, 9:15am~1:55pm, 3:10pm~4:15pm
Last day on the bike and there were seldom hilly roads. I fell off my bike on a bridge, with my right hand holding the camera trying to take pictures, and my left hand on the front brake trying to stop the bike. Fortunately the speed was slow and nothing was seriously hurt. There were black stripe "bumpers" occurring approximately every meter on the road and because of them my hands got totally numb at the end of the day. I even had difficulty to push my conditioner out from the bottle when taking the shower. Then I found that for three days I forgot to take a picture of myself and my bike. UNCW's recreation center has a big indoor climbing wall and they have the book "Mountaineering" and a box of ropes for exercising knots. How I wish we had this in Tsinghua. Jam took me to a dancing club that night and it was interesting.

Day #4
In the morning I discovered that my right-side face and the upper region of my ears got sun burn. We went to the beach at noon and Victoria got very excited because it was her first time to see the ocean. For me this was the worst day of the trip. The beach did not change but the water was too cold. I was not brave enough to jump into it and swim, like the guys did, although I had my swimming suit on. The worst part is that my Optio S4 was dropped down to the sand with its lens open and sand got into its lens system. It is now blind and accidental damage is not covered in the manufacture warranty. This nice cute camera has only been with me for one week and I loved it. However, I tend to break anything brand new :( Fortunately, it broke at the last but not the first day of the trip and at least I got all the pictures.

Spring rhythm

On the second day of our ten-day-long spring break, there was a light shower in the afternoon. It becomes clear towards the evening, and I am caught by this interesting birds' music hitting my ear as well as my heart from the outside of my window. These small birds with orange feathers on their front side are either sitting in the tree, or wandering around on the lawn in front of my apartment. A dozen of them singing and burbling produces a wonderful rhythm, yielding to me: "Hey, it is spring!" The birds seem to be too happy to stop their symphony, and I can hardly focus on my study. Yes, spring is coming, bringing along exciting events and joyful sunshine. So what are we waiting for?