Hello everyone!

It has been almost a YEAR since I've last made a blog post - I've missed blogging so much and needed to write another post before the end of the year.

So many major life changes have occurred in 2018: I moved for the first time in my life, I've been living on my own, and have began new projects/work that I never thought I'd take on so soon!

Without further ado, let's review the year together, in photos.

Beverly Hills - Jan 7

Not going to lie, I hardly remember visiting Rodeo during last winter. At this time, I had just finished writing my college apps (the last one was for UPenn I believe). College app season was definitely one of the most unenjoyable times of my life - I adopted a very unhealthy obsession with college and literally could not think of anything else but getting into a prestigious college. While writing essays for 16 colleges was bad, the waiting period was even worse.

BJ's - Jan 19

When I lived at home, one of my favorite things to do was to hang out with my mom on Fridays. We'd always go out for a girls' day, shopping and eating while spending time together. It's one thing I miss a lot now that I've moved.

Pasadena - Feb 3

Henceforth began the dreadful waiting period before college decisions. I took this photo outside of the location I had one of my college interviews. I remember this one not going too well - my interviewer and I did not really click. Afterwards, my parents and I had a nice lunch together, a great way to take my mind off of the failed interview. It wouldn't matter too much anyway; I highly doubt a good interview would've helped my chances at Harvard.

Hacienda Heights - Feb 16

I'll always remember 2018 Chinese New Year as a great day - I received my very first college acceptance that day. I cannot describe how relieving it felt to be college bound. I remember screaming when I opened the already-opened (thanks, parents) letter.

San Diego - Feb 18

I don't quite remember what sparked this impromptu trip to San Diego. But aren't those the best kinds of trips? I loved spending the weekend with my parents out and about.


On February 19th we visited Santa Barbara, the school to which I had received my first acceptance. As you can see from the pictures, the campus was lovely, right next to a beautiful ocean, extremely quiet and quite a ways away from the city!

I'd also like to add that it was during these few weeks that I had become OBSESSED with figure skating after watching Evgenia Medvedeva's short program in the team event during the 2018 Winter Olympics. I went on a figure skating binge, watching every single one of Medvedeva's performances. Since then, I've become an avid figure skating fan - I've even learned to identify almost all of the jumps. :)

Pasadena & Arcadia - Feb 25

I can't quite remember why we went on a hike this day - all I can remember is that my sister was here with us and that we ate the best stinky tofu ever in this awesome little Asian food court. It was divine.

Dripp - Mar 23

Here's another picture from one of my mom and I's dates. At this point in time I had received my second acceptance letter (along with one rejection and one waitlist). A week before, I had been anxiously refreshing the decision portal (how fortunate that it was down that day). In a mall restroom's stall, I opened my decision to see that I had been accepted to UCLA! I couldn't scream (as I was in a restroom) but I sure felt like it.

That day had been pretty upsetting - I had gotten into a big argument with my family after getting rejected by Johns Hopkins. But to see that acceptance letter from UCLA, the dream schools of all dream schools (for us CA kids), my day was completely flipped around. It just goes to show how that cliche saying is so true: rainbows come after rain!

Grand Canyon & Las Vegas - Mar 31 - Apr 1

Then comes spring break. As happy as I was to get to see the natural wonder, Grand Canyon, and experience the man-made luxury of Las Vegas, this point in time was not the happiest for me. On the way to the Grand Canyon, I received my final decision - I had been rejected from my dream school Stanford. A few days earlier, I had been waitlisted at Berkeley (which, as conceited as this sounds, came as a bit of a surprise).

I had been rejected from a grand total of 11 schools, waitlisted at 3, and accepted to 2. I tried my hardest to remain positive and thankful for my acceptance to LA, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed in myself. The "what-ifs" began to plague me: if only I had tried harder in high school, spent more time on essays, taken on more extracurriculars. My parents, likewise, weren't very happy with the slew of rejection letters I had accumulated. Disappointing my parents was one of the most upsetting parts of the entire process - I had so desperately wanted to see them proud.

Balboa Park - Apr 15

Time naturally brought acceptance. I continued to live my life, and guess what? I realized that, hey, you've got SO much to be grateful for. I didn't expect to see so many rejections, but life is never predictable. I'll admit, it did take me a long time to get over the college decisions - college has always been an incredibly important part of my life. My parents had always stressed to me the importance of getting into a top college, perhaps because of their own culture. This idea had been so deeply ingrained in me that when the time came for me to attend college, I experienced so much anxiety around the matter.

At the end of the day, getting rejected didn't take away anything from my life - I still had everything I'd ever had, just one less opportunity that was never guaranteed to be mine anyways. I recognize the weaknesses in my application and had to learn that you are never entitled to anything in life!

I visited the LA campus and absolutely fell in love - the college seemed particularly beautiful that day. I could, in fact, vividly imagine my life there for the next four years.


As it turned out, the college decisions weren't settled as I had thought - I was accepted off the waitlist to UC Berkeley in early May. My immediate reactions was, rather than joy, a sense of worry: the choice was no longer clear. Which school would be right for me? I convinced my parents that I needed to pay a visit to the school (though I had visited many times before as it is my sister's alma mater).

After visiting the college, I came to this conclusion: there was no right decision. I could imagine myself succeeding at either university - neither of these schools would be unsuitable to me.

In the end, I chose to attend Berkeley; even typing this now, I have a smile creeping on my face. I feel so much pride for my school and, as you'll see in the next post, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself last semester. I have fulfilled (almost) every goal that I set for myself before entering college.

Anaheim - May 19

Next came what I'll call the "festivities". My future was set, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I was completely, utterly worry-free. I've never felt so free from stress during those months and the coming summer. I guess you could say it was the calm after the storm. :)

After graduation, I would immediately fly to Australia with my parents where we'd explore for three weeks. To prevent this blog post from running for miles, I'll end this portion of my year review here. The next post will pick up from after my Australia trip, as I'd like to summarize my trip in its own series of blog posts.

If you've made it this far, thank you so much for keeping with me and my life rambles - I'll see you in the next post.


♡
Mel