Free Write

     OMG!!! I can’t believe what I see. Do you know what happen? It can be the most important moment in my life. I get into UC Irvine. It is definitely big news for me because UC Irvine has been my dream school since last year. One year ago, I really want to go to this school though I didn’t have a strong reason. I get more information about this school this year. I heard that UC Irvine is not too big, but the lifestyle is simple. That is the college life I want. I don’t care about whether this school provides enough party for me. To me, I prefer a simple place to study. Actually, I felt sad and even depressed yesterday because I was denied by UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara. In addition, I was in waitlist for UC Davis. I only applied four UC schools. These three results totally affected me a lot. I even felt that I didn’t have chance to get into any UC schools. I told my mother that I might not get into my dream school, and I couldn’t go to California. OMG!!! It is so unbelievable. I got into UC Irvine. Finally!!! My dream school.

 

Journal 38: What Next?

     I was admitted by three schools. At the beginning, my dream school was University of California Irvine. I don’t know why I want to go to this school, I just feel like this probably is a school which can fit me. I don’t like to go to big school because it makes me feel not safety. However, I heard more than two people told me that it is better to go to east coast. Their first reason is that you can feel the “real” United States in east coast. There are too money immigrants at west coast that is not a real United States. Their second reason is that UC’s government is poor now, so I might not have chance to take as many classes as I want. UC schools are unable to provide enough courses. It is the time for me to think about where I should go. If I choose to go to east coast, I might choose to go to Pennsylvania. I applied two schools at this state. One is University of Pittsburgh and the other one is Penn State University Park. I already got into University of Pittsburgh, but I haven’t received the admission from the other one. The only thing which makes me fear is my admission. I really don’t know which school I will go.

 

Journal 37: Almost There

      I am almost finished 3/4 with my senior year of high school. I can’t wait for the date of our graduation because I supposed to graduate last year. After my middle school graduation, I transferred from a Taiwanese local school to Pacific American School. Because I came to Pacific American School with limited English, I stayed in ESL classes for both my sophomore and junior years. I finally had a chance to access mainstream classes during my senior year, and I worked extremely hard to earn a good GPA. Unfortunately, I still couldn’t get higher scores on standardized tests. With all of the anxiety, I still had to make this critical decision. I was torn between these two options-continuing my college application or staying in high school for one more year. I locked myself in my room and imagined different possibilities. After a long discussion with my parents, I chose to stay in high school for one more year. I have no regret for my decision because I did improve a lot during this year. The most important is that I make lots of friends who I didn’t know a year ago. However, I also worry about my future. I don’t know what challenges I will face in the future. No matter will happen, I would still try my best to face those challenges.

Journal 36: What's a Book?

     I was unable to get the meaning when I first saw this quotation. After I heard the explanation of it, I suddenly realized the deeper meaning of it. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quotation, he means that a book is everything for you if you know what is in it; a book is nothing for you if you don’t know anything from it. As the example we discussed during the class, a Korean book might not mean anything to anyone in our class because no one in this class understand Korean. Although it is a good book, it does mean nothing to people who don’t understand Korean. To me, there is another explanation to explain this quotation. There is a book written in English and you understand English very well, but you won’t get anything if you are not interested in it. For example, I have a book which teaches us how to make Italian food, but I am not interested in cooking at all. Therefore, this book is nothing though I am able to read each word of it. There are many things in our lives, some are meant a lot to us but some are not, figuring our which is your “real book” is very important.

 

Journal 35: By Writing We Think

     According to Henri Frederic Amiel’s quotation, we can notice that looking, writing, and thinking relate to each other. “It is by teaching that we teach ourselves”, this quotation means that we learn experience from ourselves. For example, you finally have an experience to live without your parents, and you have to take care of yourself. At this point, you might suddenly realize that how time management and self-control are important. This is a chance for you to learn from yourself. “By relating that we observe”, this means that the way you behave relates to what you believe and observe. For example, compare to lover and friends, you think that family is the most important to you. Your life is definitely focusing on your family. “By writing that we think”, I think that this part of the quotation has the deepest meaning. Many people would think that they already have ideas in their heads, so they think that it is not necessary to write down what they think. However, it is possible to find that the things you write down might be different from what you think. “By pumping that we draw water into the well”, it is the process how you get water, and also using as a metaphor.

Journal 34: What I Think

     According to the famous English novelist’s quotation “How do I know what I think until I see what I say”, I think that I agree with it. For example, you might think that you know the definition of a particular word, but you probably can’t say its definition out when someone ask you to say it. I did have this kind of experience before. Last summer vacation, I took SAT class in August. One of our major homework is to memorize around 100 vocabularies per class. It is a heavy work because we have to write down the exact same definitions which are on the vocabulary list. I spent almost more than five hours to memorize them. I would think that I already memorized them, but when I covered those definitions I was unable to write the correct definitions. Therefore, I agree that writing can help me clarify and understand my thoughts. The other example is very common to everyone. Many people do use skype, a type of online chat system, and they can talk to others though they are at different places. I prefer to use face-to-face contact because it makes me feel more realistic. Writing things down also can help me to think deeper.