Reflections and Images

This summer, I have stayed at home for most of the time. In the beginning of the summer, I carefully looked at my bookshelf and asked myself which books did I not read yet. This observation sparked me to finish as many books as I can this summer that are in my house. What motivated me to take on this challenge was that I couldn't go to the library anymore because of COVID-19. Also, I felt kind of bad for wasting money on books I bought but didn't read. One of these books that I didn't read yet despite being on my shelf was Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. What stopped me from finishing the book a year ago was probably because I didn't give myself enough free time only for reading. This year, I decided to give it another shot with the hopes that I could finish this book. Before I started reading this book the second time, I had this impression that magic or fantasy books weren't suited for me. Also, I thought I was too old to read children books....

A few weeks ago, I asked my mom what special memories she had of me as a young child (2-6 years old). I was brainstorming what to write in my Common App. I wanted to start out my essay with some anecdote or childhood experience that was essential to my background, but my recollections were fuzzy. My mom's first answer was that I used to enjoy playing with jigsaw puzzles ever since I was 2 years old. I still have this picture in the photo album that features me playing with a 100 piece puzzle. After she said that, memories flooded in.  The memories I have of puzzles aren't clear but there is something special about puzzles. I remember the peace and solitude that I experienced when I did puzzles. I was focused on building puzzles in the moment and I didn't let my thoughts distract me. Ok, I was in elementary school and my world was simpler but still there was something unique about my mind when I did puzzles. The word I can think of is that I entered a flow state. If you do...

Before I start, I am not saying a pandemic is good for humanity. It is horrible that a lot of people are dying and the world is not functioning properly. However, it is important to not always focus on the negative side of everything. The problem with the media like Twitter or news sources is that they love talking about bad news. How often does the news report good things happening during these times? I started to try thinking about how I made the best out of these hard times because I felt quite sad when I was reminded on July 4th that if it weren't for this Coronavirus, I would have boarded a plane on July 5th to go to Boston for a 6-week research summer program. It is hard to start your day in your bedroom by reminding yourself of the parallel universe where you are doing research with a professor. To counter these thoughts, I tried to come up of things that wouldn't happen if there wasn't COVID-19. First of all, I wouldn't have started exercising on a daily bas...

Although I can go outside more because COVID-19 isn't as serious, I still stay at home for most of the time. As a result, I tend to get more bored easily so I go to the office room and look through books that my mom bought in Taiwan but never read. Some of these are travel books in Taiwan that range from eateries to sight seeing. When I looked at the pictures in the tour book and read some of the Chinese words, I started to miss the simple things in Taiwan. A lot of the simple things that I missed in Taiwan was the food. When I read about 便當(bian dang), 燒餅(shao bing), 豆花 (tofu pudding), 仙草 (grass jelly) and many more foods, memories started to flood back. I am pretty upset I took things for granted in Taiwan because at that time I thought that I would visit Taiwan a year or two after I moved to California. I think the food has some childhood memory that I wouldn't find here. I remember waking up on a Sunday morning, walking to the local breakfast store that sold soy milk and ...