Hi! After nearly a month of no contact, I'm back... but not at memento--mori.org. I have no idea where Kathie's domain went, and I have not heard from her in a really long time. If this is you, Kathie, please e-mail me (you know the address).

A lot of things have happened lately, but I haven't had time to recap it all. All right, here goes. Since I'm a dork like that, for easy reference, you can click on the following words to read about a section since this blog entry is like, fifty in one. Or you can just read and skip around! (Duke) (Connecticut) (UPenn) (Vermont) (Harvard) (Yale) (Miscellaneous)

My family and I went to Vermont and the New England area from the end of June to mid-July. Why? College Tours Summer 2005, of course! I'm about to be a senior in high school, and I'm really excited about the year, even though I'm taking four APs and doing marching band/band, too. This trip gave me a long get-away from home and some memories of beautiful campuses. Getting in ______ , however, is another issue.

Our first college was Duke, and in addition to being greeted by humid/hot weather, I got to see one of my good friends Howard, who I haven't seen in awhile :) (since we went to Duke a second time on the way back, I'll write about my experiences there, too). He showed us around campus, noting buildings, etc. Some people don't like it, but I thought the Gothic architecture was elegant, especially the famous chapel. The gardens there are really pretty and big; we only walked a little portion before we had to go because we were parked "illegally," ie without a ticket. I thought it was funny how the admissions and other office buildings were originally people's houses. Anyway, I think I will apply to Duke because I hear they are really good for pre-med/med, but I have no idea if I will get in. I didn't realize how selective they were until quite recently (yeah, I've been living in a cave), and I don't exactly have the best SAT scores (to us Asians, it's like, > 1500), or that great of involvement in extracirriculars, besides flute.

Traffic was really bad up in the New York area around July 4th. Argh. On a turnpike, it took us two hours to go from point A to point B one mile away. Sigh. A funny thing happened in Connecticut... since the North doesn't seem to have many restrooms, we stopped by in this random plaza searching for the bathroom. We finally spotted a McDonald's, and as we were walking towards it, I heard someone yell my name. Turns out to be my friend David's voice, and with it, his parents and a friend. Hey, what are the odds of meeting up with someone in the middle of nowhere? Yes, he goes to Yale, but we weren't quite that near New Haven yet. I think in a couple of months, David and I will still laugh at that. :D

We also visited UPenn in Philadelphia ("Philly"). The campus has this historical feel to it and lots of foliage! The main walk, Locust Walk, is really pretty, with buildings lining it (like the Wharton School!) and trees. I saw the giant broken in front of the library. If you haven't seen this thing, it's huge - Probably 10 feet across (I can't judge distances). The story is quite random, how the students say that the button is from the nearby Ben Franklin statue and, he got too fat so a button popped off. Anyway :) I hear their Wharton business school for both undergrad and grad is phenomenal, and I was pleased to see that UPenn offers dual/joint degree programs, which is awesome because of all the different courses you can take towards your degrees :) If I actually got in UPenn, I'd probably do dual/joint. Eek, but I hate how all these Ivies and private schools are 40k/year!

Vermont is a really spectacular place. I want to go there for the summer since Georgia summers are almost unbearable. We lived in this small but cozy resort nestled in the mountains. I could stand outside and appreciate a lot of green. Actually, we were so removed from civilization that I heard a bear regularly comes to the dumpster in the back... wow, can you imagine dumping the trash only to find a bear staring in your face? :D The mountain roads are scary at night because it's so windy and twisting, and the mountaineers zoom past you at 75 MPH with no effort while I can barely stand my dad going 50 MPH on those roads. It gets foggy at night, and there aren't many streetlights; I bet with the snow, it's even more dangerous. The towns here are small; the biggest one we went to was Brattleboro, and it had everything so that people could live comfortable lives there. There's a cute downtown there, with tons of shops you can't find anywhere else and good food. Felt like a big, comfy bubble!

Harvard. One of the two schools we all hear about in education and where all these people in politics came from. Well, I didn't know that Harvard is nestled in a bustling city, around the Boston area. Talk about traffic! We had a little difficulty finding parking and walking to the campus because of so many cars and people! A real city, huh (this is from a girl who's lived in the suburbs almost all her life). :) I like all the coffee joints and cute restaurants everywhere. The weather is pretty chilly out there, too! I actually bought a Harvard hoodie (biggest splurge on clothing) and used it because it was so chilly! Anyway. Harvard's campus just felt...old. I can't really remember much of the campus since our tour guide talked way too much and didn't do enough showing, but we did see that John Harvard (?) statue. I didn't know that at a lot of schools, rubbing the foot of a statue equals good luck, so I was a little disgusted to see the feet of many campus statues so tarnished... you know how many people touch that everyday?! Yes, I did touch the one at UPenn, although hesitantly. Anyway, I'm not sure what people major in at Harvard - philosophy? Economics? Pre-med? I know they're ranked highly all the time, but what do people at Harvard (not grad, undergrad) do?

Yale's fun. :) New Haven is this small city. Sure, there's traffic, but not as crazy as Harvard's. There's a downtown with all the great shops but half the hectic air that other bigger cities have. Of course, there are lots of trees (there aren't many trees where I live anywmore since people seem to love building more and more shops and homes that make the area even more crowded. But I digress) and what is that I spot, SIDEWALKS? :) If I remember correctly, the buildings are scattered this way and that (or am I getting that confused with UPenn?). Their acceptance rate is unusally low; last year it was 9.7%. I mean, should I even waste my money/time applying? ...

Well, I will write more about the instate schools I went to later on. I think this is a big enough entry that I can afford to write in another entry. I miss all of you that I haven't seen/read your blogs in awhile! Summer is ending very quickly for us; we start school August 3rd (those stupid people at the Board of Education), so I need to start doing something productive.