Spring Quarter Update

I mark these weeks of limbo by episodes of Westworld. Every Sunday (or Monday or Tuesday or even the next Saturday… the weeks have been getting long), I turn on HBO and cling to the edge of my seat through another thrilling episode. The series questions the nature of reality, asking over and over again…

Writing From Home

In these times of uncertainty and infinite shift, there is something unspeakably comforting about putting pen to paper. At the beginning of winter quarter, it was just a whisper in the news, amplified by my parents’ forwarding of posts from China. Wash your hands. We’re not coming for Parents Weekend. Don’t come home for Spring…

Coronavirus

Sooooo coronavirus!!! When I said I wanted to live more in the present, this isn’t exactly what I meant. This constant pressure of confusion and uncertainty dispels any hope of proper focus for finals or classes. I don’t know. I don’t know when I’m going home, I don’t know how summer is going to fall…

Marking the Halfway Point

As I sit in the East Asia Library, listening to the carrillon ring through the post-all-nighter fog, I can’t help but want to reflect on my time here. As of today, I’m exactly halfway through freshman year. Unfortunately, it’s midterm and application season, so writing and reflection are going to have to wait. I just…

Protected: The End of a Decade

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A Love Letter to My Freshman Dorm

What. Just. Happened. Time has blown by, taking with it the golden sunshine and bringing in clouds and rain. Some say that Stanford’s campus shines best in the sunlight – I like it best when the sky is gray and wet, which it has been since Thanksgiving break. The glow of the streetlamps reflects on…

Freshman Fall Mid-Quarter Reflection

Written Week 6, Freshman Fall Stanford is on its own time zone. Not just because the campus is huge or that there’s a particle accelerator nearby—time here simultaneously moves faster and slower than anything I’ve ever experienced before. A minute stretches into an hour, but a week passes like a day. It’s hard to believe…

Welcome to Stanford

Written Week 1, Freshman Fall “WELCOME TO STANFORD, JESSICA!” As soon as I stepped foot on the entrance of my would-be home, the staff members yelled and cheered to welcome me on campus, identifying me by name without me having to say anything. Before I could get used to the palm-lined driveways and summer camp…

Pre-University Jitters

Nervous? Excited? Terrified? Thrilled? Run away and go home? Go to school as soon as humanly possible? YES. The emotional cocktail I’ve got going on right now is as inscrutable as it is strong. Tomorrow is the first day of NSO, or New Student Orientation. I meet my roommate, I move in, I say goodbye…

My Model UN Experience

As promised, I’m finally writing a blog post about my experiences with Model UN at Beijing 80. My experience with MUN here taught me more about Chinese culture than anything else so far. The club is a direct reflection of the differences between my United States-based habits and my newfound life in China. It was…