The (school) year ends on a Sunday

It's been one (school) year since I've set foot on Harvard's campus. 

This (school) year had me going from New York to Alabama, Assistant Directing for Model UN to performing on stage, gaining 15 pounds to losing 6 of that to gaining it again (I've been avoiding the scales like facebook during finals week). 

I've had painful reunions, awkward flings, and a caring boyfriend (with whom I've managed to break my previous 3 month maximum streak). My grades suck, the food sucked, and my work ethic improved but now is teetering once again on the verge of sucking. But what sucks doesn't nearly outweigh what has been amazing about this year.

My friends - whoever said that Harvard students are arrogant and awkward hasn't been hanging out with the same group of people I've been hanging out with. This year I have meet some of the most admirable and awesome people ever. 

There's A who, in many ways is so similar to me yet still so different, if she's the red rose I'm the white, if she has a "heavy" communication style (aka flirting style) I have "light". Heck, if we were oppositely gendered we could be soul mates, but as it is now we're settling for roommates. One step at a time. 

There's J and JJ, both homeslices from the Bay. Even though together they can be sarcastic and biting, alone they actually become caring human beings (when not playing blockles/tetris/anything of that nature). I've enjoyed talking to both of them the most this year. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up some time in California along with my "best friend R" (yes, there's a backstory, but all you need to know is he's one cool cat). 

A (male) is a man of passions. He's quick to laughter, quick to anger, quick to judge, and always speaks his mind. Yet at times he'll show a side that cares about the safety and well being of his friends more than anything, and for those times and all the other times I'm glad to have him as a friend.

There are so many other people who have affected me in some way that I can't possibly do them all justice and keep this post under 10,000 words. Everyone I've met this year, no matter for how brief or long has changed me in some way. Hopefully it all has been for the better.

Breakers - who knew that any organization could ever be so close and so much like family to me. Sure we get into spats some times but what family doesn't. We even have the people who could be labeled as the rebellious kid, the annoying grandparent, the caring mother, the father of few words. Yet these aren't set roles for people, we're not nearly that boring. Rather any breaker can take on any role at any given time. For someone like me who has just entered the dance world this is a very safe and friendly environment to experiment and grow up in. I truly hope things will be like this forever, that even on a day ten years from now we'll all gather together in someone's house (for a surprise birthday party or something of that sort), lose sobriety and clothing, take pictures, play with a hamster, and then go get late night Chinese food. 

Classes - believe it or not I've actually enjoyed (almost) all of my classes this year. Who knew after a year at Harvard 我的中文会有这么大的进步！真的很高兴。Out of all my classes Expository Writing would have to be the best one - with Chinese as a close second. 

Dancing - even though this is pretty strongly related to the Breakers it gets its own category. Dancing has evolved. At the beginning of the year my dancing was used to attract attention at parties. It worked, but not the way I wanted it to. I had times when guys would lick me. Gross. Soon after that dance became so much more than party fodder. I was introduced to freestyling and musicality, sessions and performances. All fun. Immediately I realized that 1) it's not just about dance, it's expressing yourself through dance... and 2) I needed to get better. Hopefully my trip to Japan will allow me to achieve 2 thus making me better at 1. 

Trips - to NYC, Alabama, NYC, NYC, California, around Boston. 

All in all, it has been one helluva (school) year. Why does the (school) year end on a Sunday? Because that's the day I wake up early in my friend's house in NYC when no one else is up and so I have time to blog about it. 

Cheers to that.

Au Bon Pain - Cambridge

If you want to experience different cultures visit different cafes. 

Starbucks - businessmen, large groups of students who swarm in and swarm out, students studying for SATs. I was the latter (two).

Au Bon Pain - students and tourists in the main seating of the cafe, quiety eating or studying. The inner regions, where the workers don't see, consist of chatty adolescents and the homeless. While I'm sitting here attempting to study for Chinese those sitting behind me are discussing boys who text them and they brush off but secretly enjoyed the attention from (discussing as in exchanging words about for all of five minutes before going off to the next topic of... hair dye), while those sitting in front of me are discussing whether food is more important or movies with one homeless claiming that some people do prefer movies to food but he gets into movies for free through the back entrance.  

"Hey, why are you guys yelling? Can't you see there are people trying to study?" The homeless man in the corner proclaims.  I look up in surprise. The homeless woman laughs. "What are you laughing at? People have their laptops out and... " the rest is unintelligible. I can't tell if some of these people have Boston accents or just have a speech impediment. These are some of the most interesting, though difficult to understand conversations I've listened in on in a while. 

Why am I in the homeless corner? Well, I didn't actually buy anything - I guess I'm more of a cheapskate than the homeless man who gets into ten dollar movies for free. At least he has an Au Bon Pain cup by his right hand. 

Meeting halfway

Today I went on a shopping date with Y, a petite asian girl who is very open with herself and those around her. I admire her a lot. As we parted ways I almost felt that there was an "awkward-parting-on-a-first-date" feel to the whole scenario. If we were differently gendered or just interested in exploration this would have been the proper time to make a move or stake our claim. Then would come the bumbling around trying to figure out what to do after the first move was made and lots of sheepish grins to go around. However, as it was, she mentioned that she "had a great time today" and responded that "I did too!" and we parted ways. 

Reading period has begun. I either have two weeks to bum around or get some hardcore studying done. I should read the books I haven't read all semester. The time is now. 

But I'm pretty tired so I'll get some sleep instead. Reading period = sleeping in = juicy awesomeness.