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!

Underclassmen at Princeton live in one of six residential colleges, each with its own distinct identity. Yet perhaps no other college prompts as immediate a reaction as Forbes. It’s a name that inspires both sympathy and curiosity—the former sentiment because of its location, and the latter because of its uncommonly effective ability to foster community.

Housed in an early 20th-century hotel bookended by more modern additions, Forbes is situated just behind the train station, perhaps a three-minute walk from the edge of central campus. As with many things, though, the additional distance has taken on a hyperbolism of almost mythical proportions, and for many campus residents, Forbes seems impossibly remote. Prospective students hope not to live there, fellow Princetonians invariably express sympathy that you do, and a surprising number of your peers will never venture there once during their four years at the University. Yet strangely, ‘Forbesians’ as they are affectionately known, seem perpetually content—uniformly happy with their residence, despite the perception of their peers. What gives?

As I enter the final months of my time as an underclassman (and a Forbesian), I wanted to offer a few words of wisdom about this building and community that I’ve called home for two years. If you’re reading this post as an incoming freshman or as a recent admit, perhaps dreading the fact that you’ve drawn into a room at Forbes (or hoping that you won’t), I understand the feeling; I’ve been there, too. But I hope to convince you that things are likely far better than you think, and that should you end up here, you may very well come to appreciate Forbes as the most important feature of your first two years at Princeton.

While it is true that Forbes is less central than its five other peer colleges, its location off-campus offers a variety of unforeseen but rather pleasant benefits. Perhaps most prominent among these is a sense of real detachedness, an impression that Forbes is at once well-integrated yet uniquely distinct from the rest of the University. Princeton can be a hectic place, and after long days filled with classes and activities, coming home to a building physically separate from everything else can be wonderfully refreshing. For me at least, there was always something grounding about having home and high school as discrete entities, and if you appreciate that feeling, then Forbes fits the bill.

In much the same way, the walk to and from your classes offers something of a decompression zone, a space separating your life at Princeton from your life at Forbes. As strange as it might sound, the few minutes of solitude afforded by this trek have proven endlessly valuable, and as you cross Alexander Street each day, you are reminded that there’s more to your time at Princeton than the academic grind.

There’s something to be said, too, about a sense of community. Forbes is contained in a single, sprawling building, and the other end of the complex is never more than a five-minute walk away. Self-confined as it is, the faces of your neighbors become quickly familiar, and by the end of your sophomore year you will have the distinct feeling that you recognize nearly everyone. In a campus that can sometimes feel overwhelmingly large, it’s a comforting feeling.

Speaking more practically, Forbes’ proximity to the train station means you’ll be the envy of many when you return from holidays. Instead of lugging your baggage across campus, the Dinky is mere steps away from your room. Near the train station is also the newly renovated but historically famous Wawa, a campus fixture for decades, recently rebuilt in sleek black aluminium. Inside, you’ll find all the trappings of college cuisine, including warm hoagies, steaming coffee and greasy pretzels, all available 24 hours a day.

All told, Forbes is a wonderful place to spend two years, the common myths notwithstanding. So whether you end up in Forbes now, in a few months, or perhaps even in a few years, you’re in for a treat.

 

 

 

I've written in the past about leaving the "Orange Bubble," which, for those of you who haven't heard the term before, refers to the insular, world-unto-itself atmosphere that tends to muffle anything outside of Princeton's campus.

Last spring semester, I attended an information session put on by Princeton’s Fellowship Advising about the Rhodes Scholarship. The session described Oxford as a good place for postgraduate study, the Rhodes as a good and prestigious way of supporting that study, and urged attendees not to underestimate their chances of winning. A lab near Oxford is home to some exciting fusion research, so I thought the fellowship might be a good fit for me, and decided to apply.

In early November, I received an email telling me that I had been selected as one of 12 finalists in the Boston region for the scholarship and inviting me to a dinner with the other finalists and the Rhodes committee members on a Friday night, followed by a Saturday interview, after which the winners would be announced. I was thrilled to be invited, and immediately began preparing for the interview and travel to Boston. The Rhodes Trust does not arrange or reimburse travel to the interview, which I found frustrating (last-minute transportation to Boston, plus two nights of accommodations at a hotel close enough to the interview site to arrive at 8 a.m. on Saturday without getting up ridiculously early, plus two sets of business formal clothes for the dinner and interview equal around $700 for a one-sixth chance at the scholarship). However, when I met the other candidates, I realized it could have been a lot worse; at least two of them had flown in from Africa specifically for the interview.

The dinner and the interviews took place at the Beacon Hill mansion of Bruns Grayson, a venture capitalist who is the secretary of the Boston Rhodes committee. Since I was unfamiliar with the neighborhood, I arrived about half an hour early, and waited about 20 minutes in the cold before finally going in. I was still the first to arrive, and was the first to meet the committee members who would interview me the next day. I developed a reputation for being early, which my friends know does not typically describe me.

I wasn’t sure how to behave during the dinner; it isn’t often that I have to eat food with people who are directly competing with me and people who are assessing me. So I set my expectations low: I decided to try not to spill any food. Unfortunately, I failed there, dropping a piece of asparagus that was nearly eaten by the Graysons’ dog. At the dinner, we drew slips of paper to select interview times for the next morning. I was unsuccessful there as well, selecting the earliest interview time, 8 a.m. 

I arrived around 7:40 the next morning, and after a short period of nervous waiting, Bruns Grayson led me to the interview room. About half my questions were relatively easy queries about my background (“Can you give us an overview of fusion research as a whole as you see it?”; “What makes you a good physicist?”; “Can you describe what your role in your co-op is?”) and half were weird philosophical physics questions (“Do you think God rolls dice?”; “Does the field of physics as a whole evolve towards a central goal, or on an ad-hoc basis?”; “Define beauty in physics and in Latin American Studies, then compare the two.”). I am earning a certificate, by the way, in Latin American Studies.

Before the interview, I had been worried about getting quiz-like questions that I couldn’t answer (something like “Who is the American ambassador to Argentina?”), and since I was able to answer all of my interview questions without hesitation, I felt good immediately afterwards. In retrospect, however, I’m not sure what the committee wanted from many of its questions, and thus how well I did; I, for one, have no idea if God rolls dice. Albert Einstein, who was not a believer in the inherent disorder of the universe predicted by quantum mechanics, once famously answered this question in the negative.

After the interviews, all the candidates waited together in the basement of Bruns Grayson’s house while the committee deliberated. This time was in fact one of the most interesting parts of the entire experience, because it revealed the different ways that people deal with stress. Some of the candidates sat alone, others nervously chatted over an Apples to Apples game, and one in particular told a lot of jokes. I was especially grateful for this last candidate, since he helped us all feel more at ease.

After a few hours of increasingly antsy waiting, Bruns Grayson came down to the basement and took us all upstairs, where the committee members named the winners. Those who had lost shook hands with the committee, then exited the house at remarkable speed. I had barely gotten my coat when I realized everyone was already gone.

I was disappointed after learning the committee didn’t select me, in part because of the unique opportunities that the fellowship would have offered me, and in part because of the effort I put into writing my essay, arranging the eight (!) recommendations Princeton’s Fellowship Advising suggests you should get, and preparing for the interview, especially at a time when I could have worked on my thesis or my graduate school applications.

Some people say that the most valuable part of the fellowship application process is what you learn about yourself while writing your essay and coordinating with recommenders, but I don’t think I learned much while I was preparing my application. So I was initially left feeling that I’d put in a lot of work and money for absolutely nothing.

I have been surprised, however, by the many things I have learned (or been reminded of) by losing. One is how random applications like this one can be, a lesson that is perhaps useful for those who are waiting to hear about their college admission applications. I didn’t feel like the committee members knew me well when they made their decision, and I didn’t see a clear reason why they picked the two winners over the many other talented candidates I had met. Who knows what they were looking for in our applications, and what they noticed. 

Other lessons are more personal. In the past few months, I have realized I became too wrapped up in the excitement and prestige of winning the fellowship, and neglected to adequately consider and prepare for the intriguing possibilities available in the United States. I’m now looking forward to deepening my command of physics in graduate school and refocusing myself on science—I think I can actually have a more beneficial and productive experience without the additional networking and dinners that the Rhodes might have entailed. And I have still applied to Oxford as a normal graduate student, so there is still a chance I will get the exposure to UK fusion research that in part inspired me to apply.