Sunshine and Bagels -- The Little Miss Thinks

Hello everybody!!! It's been so long since my last update, my greatest apologies! Since my last update, after my trip to Las Vegas, I was able to visit friends in the Los Angeles region before returning home to Berkeley. After one last adventure in Berkeley, I packed all my belongings and spent 3 days in San Jose before I had to pack up there too, in order to leave for Paris. As a recipient of the Gilman Scholarship, one of the aspects of my follow-up activity is to maintain a blog while studying abroad. In a somewhat attempt to separate my personal home life with my study abroad life (if that makes much sense), I will be maintaining a separate blog during the duration of my study abroad period. I will periodically make updates to this blog; however, if you are interested in following along during my (mis)adventures in Paris, please follow or bookmark my Paris blog: cleanandsunnyinparis.blogspot.com Haha, pretty clever if I must say so myself. With much love and well w...

It's ironic that I'm blogging right now, just a tad funny I suppose since I'm about to embark on another adventure without updating about my last adventures... In any case, I'm about to board a plane to Vegas. Thats right Baby, vivaaaaa las vegassss. My first but hopefully not my last trip here. As I'm getting used to traveling, I feel that I become less and less anxious... Packing doesn't take me as long and anxiety doesn't hurt me as much.... But then again im only talking about traveling domestically. No amount of domestic traveling can possible prepare me for traveling to Paris, Seoul, or Kathmandu. Speaking of anxiety, I took my French final today. A few weeks ago I decided to take the class pass no pass (meaning I had to have a 75% or greater for a pass, I believe) and although I doubted my decision, I sure didn't today. I've been studying for this exam several hours a day and yet I still could not come to grips with it and FEEL prepared. ...

My French professors weren't kidding when they said weeks 8 and 9 of the summer are the worse. Each day, we went through half if not an entire chapter. We will be finishing our last chapter on Monday! Crazy, it feels just like yesterday that I started learning French. I'm barely starting to absorb chapter 10... we are on chapter 24!!! >headshake< Here's to hoping that I fully absorb before I leave and that I don't lose much before I leave. Anyhow, I've been running on a rather full load of duties and rather a bordering-empty (read: low) level of sleep. Ah, the things one must sacrifice in order to be able to order a meal in Paris, haha. Can't leave too much of a thorough post, so I will be brief: -The coming week is the last week of French. Crazy how fast the summer went. -I'm moving out on the 10th! Same day as my French final. -I'm flying out on the 19th! So many things to do, not enough time to do it all. *** My first attempt at typin...

Climb a mountain so that you can see the world, not so the world can see you.  I learned about this graduation speech from my dear friend Laura, and I could not NOT re-post it. "You are not special" Graduation Speech. Pretty beautiful and inspiring.  

I'm not saying that everyone should live their lives searching for affirmation and positive feedback and energy from other people, because you really need to be able to affirm yourself and give your own self positive reinforcement... But I'd be lying too, if I said that affirmations don't do much. Because it does. One of my professors pulled me aside to say that he thought I did a really excellent job on our group presentation, that he thought I was really quiet and laid-back, but that I really shined while we presented. This is probably one of the greatest compliments I've ever gotten while at Berkeley. At any large university, you can really start to feel like just a number, just a student among thousands, and forget about what makes you special, what makes you, you. And in one small comment, my professor did that for me. He made me remember that I am not a grade. I am not my GPA. I am not an SAT score or potential GRE or LSAT score. I am not any digit or n...

trans: That's life My French is coming along, don't you think? It's been a while since I last updated, but I still don't have much to say. This week is finals week so I look towards it in anticipation and fear. Hwaiting! Also, I have my visa appointment with the French Consulate on Friday! Ahhh, scary. Uhh... Any suggestions? Like clothes... what does one wear? In any case, I can officially say this: It seems to me that the French are much better at writing/ making meaningful movies than Americans. Perhaps it is because my teachers are showing us only really good films... but in either case, they are much better than the American movies I've watched recently... The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain (2001) was quite a hit success in France and has a huge cult following. It was released in America under the title "Amelie." Definitely give it a watch. It's pretty hilarious and gave me great insight about French culture and humor. It made m...

There's often a tradeoff between quantity and quality in life, and lately, I've really felt this tradeoff. Balancing two 4-unit classes with my 10-unit French class, coupled with my GRE prep class, and let's just say, I don't have much rest or sleep. I'm running out of batteries and as a result of this balancing act, I'm a jack of all trades but master of none. There's no use thinking about the what-if's and if-only's, all I can do is keep on chugging, chugging, chugging, chugging. I was looking through my backpack the other day and found this fortune cookie fortune shoved in somewhere between tens of crushed receipts and papers: Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos. Here's to hoping that that is true. On the bright side, I'm starting to prioritize better though my procrastination skills are as horrible as ever. No time yet for a true update, just stay posted!

I went home to San Jose this previous weekend with Xuemin and though we didn't do much, except a small barbeque at the house, it was definitely nice just getting away from Berkeley. We tried a new pho restaurant, Pho Que Huoung, oh so disappointing. We also tried Hiro Sushi, also another disappointment (read Xuemin's yelp review for more details). But again, it takes tasting something not so stellar, to know what you consider delicious. We finished moving on to the new summer sublet on Wednesday and though it was a hassle, we have now settled in. At the time, I wasn't really thinking about the distance from campus but as I walked by at 9PM after my class ended, I definitely was conscious of everything -- the darkness, the shadiness, the distance... I miss our old studio :( Classes are going pretty good. I'm enjoying both the Antebellum U.S. history class and the Racism in U.S. Law course. In both courses, we have just finished discussing Andrew Jackson's pre...

Not to mention the stress of WHAT TO WEAR?! Sure, we all look like shapeless, giant globs, but you gotta have nice shoes and you know, a cute outfit for after. And so, in the midst of dead week and finals, we had a shopping outing wherein the single goal was a pair of heels for me. CHECK! and then I bought some other stuff I quite liked too! And while I am at it... some other quick updates. Haha.  Janice and her strange "bang bang" motion... Violence is NOT cool Janice. A mini girl's night out... An eventful mini bar-hopping adventure that started at Wing Fiesta's Beat the Clock (BTC) followed by Beta Lounge and ended at Wing Stop. What can I say, I love my chicken wings! Some ginger snaps from Berkeley Bowl.. must say, I think I'm over my ginger snaps phase. A headband for the princess :) By far, the worst tasting coconut water I have had since I began my explorations. Some cute flats that I could traipse around Paris in :D ...

With my first graduation commencement ceremony this Saturday, I'm starting to get quite worked up. All the details of tickets and parking and dinner and calls and... man. It's complicated business. In light of that, I've been reading a lot. Fell upon this article the other day and it was pretty interesting. It's a list of ten things you aren't told at graduation... a few of my favorites (with bold red font and red font self-added for emphasis): 2. Some of your worst days lie ahead. Graduation is a happy day. But my job is to tell you that if you are going to do anything worthwhile, you will face periods of grinding self-doubt and failure. Be prepared to work through them. I'll spare you my personal details, other than to say that one year after college graduation I had no job, less than $500 in assets, and I was living with an elderly retired couple. The only difference between when I graduated and today is that now no one can afford to retire. ...

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.  -Wiki Seriously need to reconsider how I analyze myself in order to change the perceptions of others. The most necessary change starts from within.

I'm currently in the middle of my last RRR week (basically a class of no lectures for students to study) and face my last set of official finals at Berkeley. Whew, craziness. I've been really consumed with spoken word lately and I must have watched Suheir Hammad's performance at least a dozen times already. And every time, it gets me. Maybe I'll finally work up the nerve to write and perform my own piece someday :) I have been on a few food adventures, but unfortunately don't have the ability to upload the pictures just yet. Until next time!

I read this the other day and I knew I had to re-post it . For all of you who are twenty-somethings consumed with fear and rush and panic to find a job... breathe. and read: Being in your twenties is all about discovering which things hurt you and what makes you feel good. You go in blindly, practically pricking yourself with a dull blade, and then you walk out with tougher skin. One day you’ll stop pricking yourself altogether. Maybe. I don’t know. How would I? I’m just a twentysomething, remember? This is what your twenties are for — to feel and see as much as you can, to take advantage of not being tied down to anything and anyone and to go balls to the wall with everything that you do. You’re a raw nerve. You hate getting upset over little things, about being constantly unraveled by ignored text messages, parents, grades, and friends, but you have to remember something: you don’t know yourself entirely yet. Before the age of 20, you were mostly under your parents care, a reflectio...

I was struck by a thought today of creating an additional blog where I would focus on my political philosophical thoughts - my feminist, decolonial ramblings. But then I caught myself -- there is no need for a separation of self and politics. I am inherently a political being. This blog is inherently a political act. And yeah my interests are multifaceted and I'm multifaceted and this blog is a testimony to the different aspects and interests I have and love. But I do realize that my readers are multifaceted as well and I appreciate and understand that people have a different interest in visiting my blog and so I decided that I will add tabs to my page to simplify the reading and also because I wanted to play around with the blog page. Also, I played around with the overall layout as you can see... Love it? Hate it? Let me know :)

Yesterday: Had a pretty rad dinner at Kirala on Shattuck in Berkeley. It was pricey and a bit of a wait, but definitely worth it. Probably some of the best sashimi I have had in my life, no joke. We tried two robatas (basically skewered appetizers)-- baby squid and chicken meatball, a deluxe sashimi platter, the california roll, the caterpillar roll, the rainbow, and a large sake. The waiter was so nice, he even gave us an extra sake on the house! And a free mochi on our green tea. All in all, a lovely end to a great weekend. Today: Class, gym, class, soy vanilla latte, meeting. Worked on posters for Senior Weekend which will occupy the entirety of my weekend. I'm actually quite excited! Yay!!! After the volunteer training and the general meeting, we had extra pizza and so I took a box, but as I was walking home, I realized that I didn't necessarily need it and so when I saw some folks in front of the church near my apartment, I offered it to them. There was one partic...

When I was back in Seoul, a yelp deal came on for tandem skydiving -- when you fly harnessed to an instructor. My friends bought it, but unfortunately, due to medical issues, one of my friends couldn't go, and so I took her place. We drove to Skydance Skydiving early this morning in Davis, CA. This was of course after a short tour and visit to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield -- more info on this next time. After registering, filling a few waiver forms, and a short 45 minute lesson, we were ready. We then waited for about 2 hours before our names were finally called. This is when it hit Laura and she started to freak out. My instructor was Rob -- he was awesome. He was definitely professional and reassuring, making my first skydiving experience (and potentially not my last) incredible. I opted to pay extra for video and pictures and man, I don't regret it at all. By the way, if you ever want to watch it, just let me know :) I can't express in words how crazy, wo...

I've decided to switch back or rather add some more easily obtainable goals. One of which is to try every single Group-X exercise class offered by the RSF (the campus gym) at least once by the end of the semester or at the very least, this summer -- although I must say, the caveat might be the aqua classes given I don't have swimwear here and classes in Hearst Gym.... In the past, I have tried: Bollywood -- quite fun but the steps can get complicated Cardio Kickboxing -- whew, what a work out, I couldn't even make it through the whole session Some yoga class but I can't remember which one -- it was so slow, I almost fell asleep This semester, I have tried: Nia -- quite fun, the instructor was super nice and it was a lot about grounding yourself and finding yourself Toning Express -- quite intense and quick too, only 30 minutes! This week alone, I have tried: Power Yoga -- Not bad, not too rigorous either -- there was a focus on aligning your breath with you...

I received a comment that I stopped making personal updates, and so here it is Neha, pictures of my lovely lovely face and personal adventures-- by the way, I love that you still check up on me, haha Had to add this picture :) As I always do, let's do this backwards. Haha. Today (4/12/12): Had an alright day -- gym, shower, classes, followed by a delicious bacon burger from Bongo Burger with young Laura and young Janice. Always a delicious adventure. Also also, I received my awesome birthday presents from Laura!!!! Yeeee, I love them! A book of sites, a book of important french words and sentences, and a lovely lovely journal and an even lovelier card -- kekekeke, love love love. Thanks Laura!!!!! Couple this with the other awesome birthday present I received a while back from Lisa, I am all set!!!! It's even annotated with TIPS!!!!! YEEEEEEEE! Thanks Lisa!!!! Oh and of course, Laura introduced us to the video trailer that made her fall in love with the movie Ted...

Still much that I need to catch up on but this news piece caught my eye today and I had to share. It's powerful when a woman calls out patriarchy for what it is, but even more so, when she is a celebrity figure. Ashley Judd has recently had much media discuss the potential of her having plastic surgery because she appeared to have a much puffier face and in response to the media and public frenzy of critiques and gossip, she posted a response: Judd writes: If this conversation about me is going to be had, I will do my part to insist that it is a feminist one, because it has been misogynistic from the start. I choose to address it because the conversation was pointedly nasty, gendered, and misogynistic and embodies what all girls and women in our culture, to a greater or lesser degree, endure every day, in ways both outrageous and subtle. The assault on our body image, the hypersexualization of girls and women and subsequent degradation of our sexuality as we walk through the...

Had a nice lunch with Laura consisting of a Top Dog hot link, tater tots with nacho cheese, and a cold coke. Perfect. Came back and lazed about with my roommates. Xuemin wanted to watch a documentary about illuminati which led us to this clip: And all I could think was dang... Tupac was legit. And well spoken. A true revolutionary. And I could empathize with his thinkings. And then we talked for a little bit about how he came from a house of revolutionary thinkers (a family with ties to the Black Panthers and the Civil Rights movement), and was influenced by such thinkers like Sun Tzu and Niccolo Machiavelli. And although I'm not going to discuss how I feel about whether or not Illuminati exists, one thing is definitely true: The media of the day (and one could argue that it still does) cast Tupac as some sort of gang-affiliated, crime committing thug. And did not appreciate the value of his revolutionary and color and class transcending thoughts. And I wonder if that is wha...

Have lots of news and updates to say, but still overwhelmed with assignments. But here's an interesting clip. I was introduced to the 1491's today in class when my professor played one of the videos. He mentioned one of their other videos and I just had to watch and share. According to their website, The 1491s is a sketch comedy group, based in the wooded ghettos of Minnesota and buffalo grass of Oklahoma. They are a gaggle of Indians chock full of cynicism and splashed with a good dose of indigeneous satire. They coined the term All My Relations, and are still waiting for the royalties. They were at the Custer’s Last Stand. They mooned Chris Columbus when he landed. They invented bubble gum. The 1491s teach young women how to be strong. And… teach young men how to seduce these strong women. Here's one of their comedy bits about opening a casino in New York during the Occupy movement. There's a couple concepts I found rather interesting and rather hilarious.

Had lunch with a friend today, received a present, yayyy! Translated, it means, large wafer with goat milk caramel... I'll let you know how it goes! Off to write a 4-5 page paper due tomorrow :)

Through mulling about online as I always do, I came across this article, that I found extremely thought-provoking. I identified with his story: Some excerpts: The following day, I attended a workshop about preventing gender violence, facilitated by Katz. There, he posed a question to all of the men in the room: "Men, what things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?" Not one man, including myself, could quickly answer the question. Finally, one man raised his hand and said, "Nothing." Then Katz asked the women, "What things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?" Nearly all of the women in the room raised their hand. One by one, each woman testified: "I don't make eye contact with men when I walk down the street," said one. "I don't put my drink down at parties," said another. "I use the buddy system when I go to parties." "I cross the stree...

I apologize for the incompleteness of my last post. I was quite upset when it happened suddenly. Sigh. Oh well, life goes on. Word of warning, most likely, I don't have your (or anyone's) phone number. Please text/call me sometime :) ___ Regarding: It Gets Better We had a discussion on Chela Sandoval's differential consciousness in class on Thursday. In the most simplest terms, differential consciousness refers to the "practitioner’s ability to read the current situation of power and self-consciously choosing and adopting the ideological stand best suited to push against its configurations, a survival skill well known to oppressed peoples." It is the ability to think and operate in different gears because of the limitations inherent in a singular mode of thinking. My professor then proceeded to briefly discuss the "It Gets Better" Project that derived out of the suicides of teenagers who had been bullied because of their sexual orientation a...

I haven't blogged in quite a while, sorry young readers! I've been caught up in exams and homework, etc. Not much to update about except that I applied for and am waiting for the Gilman Scholarship. Since embarking on my healthy adventure, I've started exercising too! I'm down almost 10 pounds! Whooot! What else is new? Ummm, I splurged on some clothes the other day... I also said goodbye to some dear friends. We celebrated Young Janice's birthday this weekend. It was hilarious. This is ridiculous. I tried to sync my phone to my laptop and it erased everything. WTEFFFFFFFFFF? This is ridiculous. I'm too upset for words.

Currently working on the construction of a second blog -- this second one will be more of a collection of my ramblings... of course, when it is completed, I will post a link here. The latest song on repeat: My past week: -Had an alright week, did okay on a midterm -Decided to drop my International Rural Development class in lieu of Global Change Biology -Tried Phil's coffee and Phil's Sliders -- both were delish -Assisted in a high school tour -- I had forgotten how young and eager you are when you are still in high school and it was interesting to see my younger self in these high school students -Celebrated Laura's birthday :) My ramblings (philosophical and whatnot): *I never want to be apathetic to the world or to the struggles and plights of the people around me, be they loved ones or strangers. *It's not about the appearance of being "nice" or about being "good" -- although giving is not an obligation, to care for fellow human bei...

Hope everyone had an awesome Valentine's Day! Janice was my valentine this year and we had lunch at Celia's -- ehhhh, you call that a CHIMICHANGA?!!! Ridiculous. Anyways, I learned about the concept of double consciousness in class on Tuesday and revisited the topic today. "It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity." -- W.E.B. Du Bois The relevancy of it, you might ask? On Valentine's day, Xuemin received a beautiful bouquet and the delivery guy was extremely nice and so on, joking that she had another secret admirer other than him, haha. When Xuemin was surprised that the bouquet came with a vase and commented on it, he said that yes, it came with a vase, and that what with the vase being red and all, didn't it represent good luck in the Chinese culture? He then wished ...

I've been completely overwhelmed this week by the amount of work I have to catch up on. It's just constant build-up of work... Midterm on Wednesday, you can do it Hang, fighting! ___ In other news, took a break and went to watch the Vow with Janice and Xuemin. Meh. I've seen better. End of story. It was fun going to the movies though -- movie food fun! Also, during this past weekend, my sister and I went to upgrade our phone plan. My lovely sister decided to gift me with a smartphone but of course, with many options I'm always so confused. I decided on the Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket... which is cool and all -- nice graphics, fast, sim card, etc. but it's also huge! it barely fits in my hand... and I'm having difficulties finding covers... I may just end up returning it for the Iphone 4s... I'll let you know. ____ In additional news... Some of you might have known this, but before I returned for the semester from South Korea, I had my heart set ...

I'm always searching for something else. It's a quest and a hindrance. Even when I've tasted something amazing, when I've completed a task that I know is noteworthy for me, when I've had an adventure, I'm constantly on the move for the next big, even more amazing experience. By no means, am I unappreciative, but I'm just constantly thinking about what could be. And honestly, maybe there is nothing "better", no ice cream flavor or dessert more delicious than the one that I have had today, no other blog that is more enriching and enlightening than the one I read today, but with every exploration, I become a little more different, a little more wise, a little more knowledgeable, a little more liberated. I'm constantly on the search to become a better person than I am today. Which kind of brings me to my next point... As graduation nears, I have started to realize more and more, the importance of office hours and of getting to know your p...

Highlights of the week: Friday : Brutal night for young Xuemin. We tried to make ourselves feel better with some pie. We had a slice of Coconut Cream and a slice of Lemon Meringue. None of them are the best I've ever had at Nation's, but I much preferred the Lemon Meringue over the Coconut Cream... only because it was less overwhelmingly sweet. Saturday: Not too much of eventful day. Sunday: Kyongsun, one of my language exchange buddies from Seoul, who is currently studying abroad at UC Davis, came up for a short visit with her friends. We toured campus for a little and then went to the Berkeley Art Museum to look at the Andy Warhol exhibit. Unbeknownst to me, Berkeley students get free admission and one free guest admission! Whoot! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of us together X_X. Oh wells, it was good to see her and hopefully I can see her again soon. Brutal day for my young roommate young Jay and so we followed it up with some Ici Ice Cream. I had a ...

The young roommates and I have long been contemplating a trip to New York and today we spent some day cataloguing our wishlist. Wishlist of must-do: Times Square Statue of Liberty People "vogueing" Broadway and a broadway show New York style pizza White Castle Magnolia and Crumbs Grand Central Upper Eastside CLUBBBBBBBBBING! Central Park Go to a class! If we have time: Coney Island Brooklyn Serendipity 5th Avenue Rockefeller Center Ground Zero Union Square Harvard, Yale, and colleges Chinatown Wall Street

It's crazy how stressful and difficult every decision is for me. In the time that it takes me to make a single decision, other people can make 2 or 3. Or as Xuemin would say, "10". It's jsut every little decision I make, I waver back and forth, and I debate over constantly, looking towards others for advice because I fear that the decisions I make will be the wrong decisions. But ultimately, each decision I must make, must be made of my own free will, of my own choice. Because, as Ngoc says, I will live with the results of them. And so, I had another moment of panic and that resulted in a hour or so long chat with my older sister regarding my future, my plans, and how my plans tie in with my future goals. And although I was pretty whiny and sad during this second reality check, it was a necessary talk. As of late, I am constantly making decisions based on whims or short-term desires, with moderate regards towards how it is related to or will affect my future. ...

Had an in-depth conversation last night with my roommates about the future. Anyways, the gist of it is that I need to have goals and plans. Start small, dream big. My end goal in life is to be happy, so clearly there is a lot of flexibility in that. But yes, I'll broadcast some of my little and large goals in life, so that both myself and others can keep me accountable and so I will remember and not lose sight of what I want. This weekend's goals *Have read and be ready for discussions this upcoming week -- hopefully I can catch up fully, but that would take a little more time *Apply for at least 3 jobs Small, achievable, short-term goals to be achieved by the time this semester ends in May: *130 is the ideal goal but not entirely realistically achievable, so losing 5 pounds per month EDIT (2.3.12) When (not if) I reach this goal, Janice has promised that she will purchase me a whole meal from WINGSTOP! YEEE! And I have promised that I will purchase a (as in a singl...