Then and Now

Then: March 29, 1999
Now: May 31, 2012

I renewed my U.S. passport today and compared it to my Taiwan passport issued 13 years ago. I always forget how small I looked with that innocent baby face. Since then, I've matured to the photo on the right taken just a few weeks ago. Do I look like the baby me from when I was seven years old?

Every ten years I'll have to renew my passport and I can compare myself with my old passports. Time to start stashing my expired passports in a safe place so I can dig it out in the future.

With my renewed passport, I'm all set for my trip in two weeks!

City Tour

It's been a while since I've done touristy things in New York City. Today I took my cousin on a day tour of the city and its main attractions.

We started our day early, at 7:15 to beat the Memorial Day weekend crowd, and caught the 8:50 ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Liberty Island is much smaller than I remembered and there's really not much to do there besides taking photos and shopping for souvenirs. Ellis Island, however, has a much more interesting history than the Statue of Liberty. It's fascinating how the immigration system and process worked back then. After we got back to Battery Park, we walked to the Charging Bull, New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street and Trinity Church. I realized that today was the second time I've seen the Bull...

We ate lunch at Cha Chan Ting at Chinatown and walked through Little Italy. Then we took the train to Highline Park and walked from 14th Street to 30th Street. Although the architecture and views were pretty, the heat was unbearable. It reached up to 90 degrees and walking on the shade-less elevated park did not help. We finally reached 34th Street and wandered into Macy's for some air conditioning. Lastly, we walked to Rockefeller Center and then headed home for dinner.

Tonight was also a relaxing night, catching up with a friend by Fort Totten and capture the night view of the Throgs Neck Bridge. This is how summer nights should be.

Barbecue Weekend

It's been a long time since I stayed home for Memorial Day Weekend rather than going camping with the crew. Instead, I had barbecues on Saturday and on Sunday, where I ate until I was bloated and now I feel a need to exercise even more. This means from now on I will start eating healthily despite all the delicious food so readily available in New York City. I shall return to my healthy lifestyle before finals, including good eating habits, cardio every day or at least every other day, and working out every night. 

This week will be packed with city tours with my cousin, dragonboat practices, and a dragonboat race in Philly on Saturday. Perhaps I can even hang out with people I hope to see before I leave for Taiwan. Hopefully the weather will be nicer and less humid than last week.

Cupcakes

Today was a nice and relaxing day catching up with the usual Stuy hang-out group. Cassy, Vinny and I baked cupcakes and decorated them with milk chocolate frosting, purple icing, and blueberries and blackberries. We attempted to be artistic and made fancy designs with the icing, but it's harder than it looks. Some came out nice while other came out to be a bit disappointing, but it tasted good nevertheless.

22 Days Until San Francisco

This morning I finalized my flight route and booked my tickets. I will be flying out of JFK on June 13 at around 10:00 AM, landing in SFO the same day at around 2:00 PM. I have nearly six full days at San Francisco to explore the city and enjoy the west coast. Then in the early hours of June 20, I will fly from SFO to TPE, landing in Taoyuan Airport on the morning June 21. With just three days at home in Taipei and to meet with friends who are also in Taiwan, I will head to my orientation meeting location on June 24 and start my internship afterwards. After my internship banquet ends on August 18, I will have one day before before I fly from TPE to JFK on August 20. I will land in JFK at around 1:00 PM on August 20, unpack my suitcases and pack for Cornell,  then drive up to Ithaca on August 21. It will be a tight schedule and I'll return to campus pretty late, but it will be worth it.

Now that my flight is booked, I shall start planning my visit to San Francisco.

The Beginning

After hours spent chilling with the handful of people still left on campus and bittersweet goodbyes, I am finally back home in New York City. Just like that, sophomore year is over and I am halfway done with my college career. It does not feel like I have been at Cornell and have known the new friends that I made for two years already. With just two more years of college remaining, and one more summer before I enter the "real" world, I want to take advantage of every travel opportunity I can. I am very excited to visit San Francisco, CA and then researching at National Taiwan Ocean University where I can fully explore both of these cities. Traveling has always been something I look forward to because of the rewarding experience and new insights I gain.

Since I will be traveling to cities I have never been to before, I want to fully document my journey through my Nikon D40 lenses. Starting from when I am still in New York City, I will try to bring my D40 with me everywhere and capture any memorable sights I encounter. Furthermore, I will challenge myself with several photography projects this summer. Under the header of this blog, I have links to the photography projects I am working on. Here's a list of projects I have so far:

• Color Theme - purple or yellow
• Objects - things in pairs, breakable objects, time, solitude, peace/tranquility
• 50 50 Challenge - 50 photos with a fixed 50 mm lens
• A-Z - photos of objects/scenes/actions that resemble each letter of the alphabet
• Strangers - ask strangers to strike a pose and make a collage with the photos
• Natural Frames - photos with natural frames
• Negative Space - photos with negative space

I will update this blog with written entries and photographs of my journey.

Let the adventures begin.