As I fell into the rhythm of Princeton life and the trees bloomed, so did my love for photography.

Aunque la vida en un doble no es sin sus peculiaridades, ya aprecio mucho más la experiencia de tener un compañero de cuarto.

I realized that on this blog, I've talked about many, many fun extracurricular things I've experienced since starting college. And I realized that for all the blog-reading world knows, Aliisa might as well just be over at Princeton having a party all the day. Well, I'm here to let you know that in fact, Aliisa goes to class! As Spring 2015 charges forward, I thought I'd give you a little rundown this semester's courses.

For the rest of the year, I’ll be keeping you updated on the items that I’m crossing off my bucket list! 

Less than half a mile south of Princeton’s campus lies the Delaware and Raritan Canal. Stretching dozens of miles through central New Jersey, it serves as an area of respite from the bustle of everyday life.

I have fond memories of my first adventures on the D&R Canal. On my first day at Princeton, I ran 800 meter repeats alongside the canal enclosed between Washington Road and South Harrison Street. Unbeknownst to me, there existed even greater adventures beyond this superficial boundary. The forested pathways that wind alongside Carnegie Lake and end at Kingston Road soon became familiar running trails. And beyond Kingston Road, the canal stretches even farther north, snaking east of Montgomery and ending who knows where.

Princeton is known for its beautiful campus, but it cannot match the natural beauty of the D&R Canal. Gentle waterways accompany the adventurer, as do the ever-changing leaves that sway in the spring and crunch in the autumn. And if one desires company, there is bound to be a fellow nature-lover walking the trails to the north or south.

To me, the D&R Canal represents freedom and calm. It’s both a training ground and a refuge, not to mention a place where serendipity is no stranger.

Every year, since before I can remember, my parents obsessively watch the Chinese New Year Gala (春节联欢晚会). As a child, I welcomed it, as it gave me an excuse to sit on the couch and watch TV for hours, without having my parents yell at me. Rather, we would all sit together and watch dance routines, laugh at skits, and marvel over stunts and acrobatics. When I was little and my grandfather lived with us in the United States, he would tell me stories about celebrations in China—how the whole country seemed to erupt in activity this month, how trains would overflow with people going home, and how when he was little, this would be the only day of the year the family could afford to eat dumplings.

Celebrating Lunar New Year has become a ritual for my family here in the United States. Even though New Years usually falls on a weekday, my parents wake up early to call our family back in China, go to work, and come home to cook a New Year's dinner. Growing up, we would have dinner parties on the weekend and invite other Chinese families in the area. Everyone would bring their own dishes, and since we came from all over China, our dinner table would feature cuisine from Sichuan, to Shanghai, to Henan (my family’s home), and even pizza (for the kids).

However, celebrating Lunar New Year in the United States can also be difficult. While we celebrate the biggest holiday in Chinese culture, most Americans have no regard for the holiday. It’s hard to find a lot of Asian food, and we don’t get the vacation time that most do in China. My mother used to drive over an hour to buy Asian groceries. As a kid, I remember thinking how unfair it was that we would have vacation for Jewish and Christian holidays, but that I still had to go to school, take exams, and write papers on New Years. But now that I no longer live with my parents, and that I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate Chinese New Year more and more, and specifically, our special American version of Lunar New Year.

Here at Princeton, while students complete their schoolwork and continue to write their theses, I have the chance to take a break from studying, go home, eat good food, and spend time with my family. It’s an opportunity that many students don’t have. Over time, more of my family is able to travel from China to the United States, and more of my family comes to celebrate New Years with us in our home. We invite other Chinese immigrants and exchange students who don’t have family in the United States. We spend time with other Chinese families in the area. We eat dumplings and pizza, watch CCTV (China Central Television) and American movies, and speak "Chinglish." Over time, our Chinese New Year celebrations have grown from small family gatherings, to large celebrations of Chinese-American culture.

I share a double in Pyne Hall with my wonderful roommate Colleen.

Every fall, Colleen and I go crazy decorating our new room. Every wall gets its own poster, or photo, or pirate-themed nutcracker. Some of our decorations end up being pretty generic.

But some of them are downright strange. Today, I'm counting down the eight weirdest decorations currently displayed on our dorm room walls.

8. Posters for bands we don't know

Last year, on National Record Store Day, Colleen and I visited the Princeton Record Exchange. The line to get inside the store was insane, so instead we looked through a pile of free posters outside the store and ended up taking close to 20! We hadn't heard of any of the bands but that didn't stop us from putting the posters all over our room.

7. 1969 laundry advertisement

Colleen spent the summer after her freshman year doing research for a book about co-education at Princeton, so this decoration comes from her. When Princeton first went coed, the girls lived in Pyne Hall. This advertisement for a Pyne Hall laundry service encourages Princeton boys to bring their laundry to Pyne because "you may meet a coed using our service too." Come visit us, boys!

6. JOKES

I write for the student-run talk show All-Nighter. Last year, one writer wrote a sketch in which it was revealed that the then-host, David Drew, took all of his jokes from a joke bucket. (Seth Meyers later did a similar bit. WE'RE ONTO YOU SETH MEYERS.) I suggested that instead of filling the bucket with sheets of paper, we should fill the bucket with jelly, because who knows what jokes are made of? (The answer is jelly.) As a reward for my suggestion, I got to keep the label from the bucket.

5. Portraits of Colleen and me

Colleen and I are members of Tower, one of Princeton's eating clubs. Tower is a bicker club, meaning prospective members apply to get in. Tower's bicker process is quick, easy, and fun; current members get matched up with bickerees, chat with them, and sometimes make them do silly little tasks. This fall, Colleen and I had our bickerees draw portraits of us. Our room is now covered with our portraits, all of them in different styles and with different interpretations of my hairstyle.

4. Selfies of our friend Nick shaving his face

I'm a member of Quipfire! improv comedy, along with a friend of mine named Nick. At one of our recent shows, Nick's friends held up silly pictures of him to show their support. One of them was a triptych of sorts: a series of photos of Nick in different stages of shaving off the beard and mustache that he grew on Outdoor Action, Princeton's outdoor education and leadership development program. We asked them if we could keep it, and it now adorns our mantel.

3. Orange foods

Freshman year, the week that Colleen and I decided that we would room together the next year, we were at the U-Store and saw a section of room decorations. The oddest piece of that collection was a poster of only orange foods, which we found hidden in the back. We bought it on an impulse, deciding that it would be our shared room's first decoration. And we've had it up ever since!

2. "Welcome to Montana" poster

There's not much to this one. Our friend Jake thinks Colleen's from Montana. She's not. But she bought this poster.

1. Tempura Paintings: An Exhibition

Colleen and I took ART 101 last year. Some of the paintings we studied were painted with egg tempera, and Colleen accidentally misspelled tempera "tempura" in her notes. We wondered... what if these paintings really were made from tempura? And from that, our collection of tempura paintings was born. (Follow us on Instagram @tempurapaintings.) There are nine famous tempera paintings hanging on our wall, each with all figures replaced with tempura shrimp. It's pretty weird. But hey, so are we.

As we venture into the third week of the spring semester, students have finally settled on their classes, their weekly routines, and the most efficient shortcuts through the cold winter weather. Some things, though, were settled long before now. When most people were constructing their New Year's resolutions, we were a bit preoccupied with other things.

But like each new year, each new semester brings the opportunity to improve upon the previous one (or two, or few). It's not rare, in fact, to start declaring your resolutions for next semester while still navigating the trenches of another. Personally, I tend to land on my resolutions in this exact way—applying the lessons I learn in the middle of one semester to the start of the next in order to avoid similar "woes."

For me, this semester is all about finding ways to better manage my stress and curb it before it overwhelms me. To this end, I've made a handful of mini-resolutions.

First, I plan to embrace creativity as an outlet, namely by experimenting with my DSLR camera more often. I also want to commit to exercising regularly (realistically, once a week). I resolve to work more consistently on weekdays, doing a few hours each weeknight rather than concentrating it on the weekends. Last, I want to finish three books by the end of the semester. It's not often that I find time to read for fun, but it's very relaxing when I do.

With that said, no two resolutions are alike. So instead of simply detailing my personal goals, I thought I would reach out to my fellow bloggers and ask about their plans for this semester. Below are the resolutions they shared with me!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much to my amazing fellow bloggers for contributing to this post!

Before coming to Princeton, I received an unassuming message asking me to consider a so-called Intergrated Science Curriculum (ISC). The program offered to teach physics, chemistry, biology and computer ccience together, and included a very heavy experimental component. I had recently started considering exploring the sciences, and after looking at length over the syllabus, I signed up.

Now, the first part of ISC is an intensive one-year four-course sequence that covers the typical first-year physics and chemistry curriculum, and one semester each of molecular biology and computer science. That's the equivalent of six courses in four, which should give you an idea of the expected intensity of the course.

It was one of the most academically challenging endeavors I have ever undertaken, but at the same time, it was extremely rewarding. It was also an experience unique to Princeton, made possible by the heavy focus on undergraduates, and the large amount of resources dedicated to underclassmen. We had over 20 instructors teaching the course, including a Nobel Prize winner, several members of the National Academy of Sciences, Princeton's dean of research and winners of Princeton's Distinguished Teaching Award. We even had a fully equipped laboratory exclusively for us. All for a class of about 30 people.

I am often asked if the intensity and rigor of the course was worth it, and I have always responded in the affirmative. Apart from a strong theoretical basis in all the sciences, the heavy experimental component exposed me to scientific investigation beyond the textbook. In our labs, we built our own solar cell and photometer, and even designed and executed our own experiment independently with guidance from our instructors.

Also, much of the course was focused on studying the intersection of the individual sciences, where most emerging modern research is happening. We were applying physics to biology, computation to chemistry and so on, breaking traditional boundaries followed by most freshman textbooks. In fall semester of sophomore year, I took a course on biophysics, taught by one of my instructors from ISC, to continue exploring these frontier areas, and I remain fascinated by life ever since. I may not end up studying more of biological physics, but it has redefined how I look at physics, not just as the formulation of a set of laws governing the universe, but as theories for explaining natural phenomena happening around us every day.

This semester, I have taken to running outside a lot. And I have found that the Princeton area offers many gorgeous paths that both inspire you to run and also pause to let the breathtaking beauty set in. I have selected four of my favorite paths around campus and describe why I return to them time and again.

1. Princeton Battlefield and Institute Woods

When I am looking for a bit of inspiration and a break from Princeton's Collegiate Gothic buildings (yes, I do need breaks from Gothic Castles), I head west. First I pass by the gorgeous Princeton Theological Seminary, and then take a left on Mercer Road. I pass by the house Albert Einstein lived in, hoping to imbibe his genius ahead of my physics problem set, and soon reach the famed Princeton battlefield where George Washington was victorious over the British in a crucial battle in the Revolutionary War. I relish the soft ground and brave the wind until I reach the tall trees behind the Institute of Advanced Study (IAS). I try not to get lost in the dense woods before reaching the IAS, the institute where Einstein and mathematician Kurt Gödel, among many others, conducted researched. By this time I am inspired enough for the final stretch, passing by the Princeton Graduate School and its entryway, before collapsing into my own bed.

2. The Princeton 5K

Numerous 5Ks take place around the calendar year in Princeton, mostly on Saturdays. And almost all take the same path, starting from south campus under Bloomberg Arch (the only arch I know that isn't always occupied by a cappella groups), before passing by Icahn Laboratory, the Peretzman-Scully Building, Streicker Bridge and Frick Laboratory, all swanky glass buildings that offer a contrast to the Collegiate Gothic buildings typical of Princeton's North Campus. I also pass my favorite feline statue pair on campus (there are enough for me to have a favorite), a pair of winged lions lost in the woods behind Frick. After touring Princeton's athletic facilities (including the impressive Powers Stadium), I go back across Streicker Bridge and past the glass south façade of Frist Campus Center, which appears in the opening shot of the television series House M.D. Soon, I enter Gothic territory and take a round around North Campus before sprinting downhill back to South Campus.

3. The Tow Path

Ask anybody at Princeton for a running path, and they will almost definitely mention the tow path along Lake Carnegie. This is probably my favorite path as well, mostly due to the soft earth. But this also means that the path is not safe for running for most of the winter. The tow path is a thin strip running next to the Delaware Raritan Canal, and is flanked by the canal on one side and Lake Carnegie on the other. Trees on the banks of the path create a constant green arch. This is also a great path for biking, though one must be aware of the puddles.

4. Princeton Town

North of the University, the town of Princeton offers a great suburban setting for running. You can see many different types of houses, often with their own little quirks. You also run into institutions such as the Aquinas Institute and several churches. If you run in May close to the time of reunions, you will see class banners hanging on several houses, some adorned with several banners, telling the tale of a thriving Princeton legacy. Try not to get distracted by the eateries though!