Last night, I had a last minute get together with some friends on campus. We sat around, drinking beers, reminiscing on our days as grad students, talking about future plans, and just enjoying a random Monday evening together. Thank you friends for coming out one last time.
officially finito
I had not one, but two graduations this weekend. The first was the school wide one, for both undergrad and grad students. As you can see from the photo, I decided to be a little rebel and stand on the chairs in the middle of the ceremony. It was an amazing experience to sit among mostly Taiwanese students and enjoy an entire graduation ceremony in Chinese. It was a truly memorable experience.
Then on Sunday, we had our own special MBA ceremony. Here I am accepting my diploma with the dean and associate dean of our program. Good times.
Then, we went to take a few pictures by the library. SO happy we stole the balloons...makes the picture 100X better, don't you think?
Then, in the 100 degree weather, we scooted to 101 to take some pictures with the iconic building of Taipei. Can you tell how sweaty I am? Sweaty and happy. :)
And last, but not least, with my favorite boy and my amazing photographer for the weekend. So thankful that he took so many amazing pictures of me. It was a great weekend. And now, this chapter is officially DONEZO...wooo!
us five
We had an MBA Christmas Ball on Friday night, filled with delicious food and bottomless drinks. I am so happy that I forked up the money and decided to splurge on this event because I was able to be with my four best friends in Taipei. Now that I've pretty much graduated, and Tania (on right) has also finished her thesis and is just waiting for her defense, I'm starting to realize that we only have 2-3 months left together. Honestly, I want to cry when I think about not having them in my daily life. We've made promises that we'll get together in the years to come, but these kinds of promises are hard to keep as our lives will get busier and busier. However, in the meantime, I'm trying really hard to just enjoy them while I have them. I'm so lucky to have made such amazing friends here.
Scrapped HERE
november first
Hello November first. Two months left in 2010. And hopefully the last month that I will work on my thesis.
I'm sitting in Starbucks, attempting to get to work, but finding myself surfing the net and taking Photobooth pictures instead. I'm drinking a Creme Brule macchiato that is not only creamy and delcious, but also guaranteed to give me at least two dimples on my ass. Man this shit is fatty and wonderful, but today, I definitely need this sinful pleasure.
My thesis has been frustrating the crap out of me. My thesis advisor sucks. I can't seem to decide on a direction. And my motivation is nowhere to be found. I think the problem has been my routine and starting today I'm going to change it. If not, then I'm going to find myself bitching about my thesis one month from now and that is the LAST thing I want.
So hopefully the coffee will kick in soon and productivity will follow. Let's do this!
too tired to show my eyes, so i will show you my peacock headband instead
Here again. Nearly 1am, and still in the study lounge. Finished a paper today. Now working on finance. Tired out of my mind. Red, blood-shot eyes. Frizzy hair from the horrible humidity. And just ready for this semester to hurry up and end on Thursday.
Today was a day full of tears. Tears of frustrations mostly. With some sadness tears mixed in there too. And some "if i do one more finance problem i am going to jump from taipei 101" tears. Luckily, a good friend took me out for a nice steak dinner and talked me down from the proverbial ledge. If I haven't said it enough, if it weren't for my friends here in Taipei, I would have been long gone from this place months ago.
don't judge me
It's Friday night. 10pm. Just finished watching the Germany-Serbia game. But now I'm back in our MBA study lounge. All alone. Ready to get some work done. I figured, if I can watch soccer until 430am (like I did last night with the amazing Mexico game!), then I should be able to do homework and papers until that late too. Logically, that makes sense. Let's see how long I last here.
And yes, I'm wearing the same exact outfit from yesterday. Same necklace too. But I did change my underwear. Don't judge me. It's been a looooong few days.
graduation + 2 year anniversary
Saturday, I woke up bright and early, put a dress on, grabbed the Nikon, and went to take picture of Clare and Manuel's graduation. Afterward, we went to Gordon Biersch to celebrate, and in part, I was also celebrating my two year anniversary of arriving in Taipei. I seriously cannot believe it's been TWO years. Two years of living far away from my home, my comforts, my parents, my siblings, my friends, and my world.
I am a completely different person now than I was two years ago. I feel more confident, smarter, wiser, braver, quirkier, and stronger. I appreciate the things I have so much more than I did when I lived back in the States. I have a few more wrinkles, and a few more gray hairs, but I also have this amazing and invaluable experience that I know will open new doors for me in the future. Its been tough at times, but lets face it, life is hard regardless of where you may live. The important thing is to always keep moving forward, and I think I have done that to the best of my ability.
I have no clue how much longer I'll be living in Taiwan. My plan is to go home for summer and then come back and quickly finish up my thesis and graduate. I probably won't attend a ceremony like the one above, because I hope to be somewhere else by next June, but then again, you never know. I guess only time will tell. For now, I'm just happy I've survived this long.
