My 3 weeks with AIESEC

Ever since Sunday, Feb 24th, my life has been full of AIESEC.  It started with a 2.5 hour long elections.  Looking back on that day, at that moment, I had no idea that I was going to have one of the most fun and fulfilling 3 weeks of my college career.

After elections the old execs all headed to Cozy Noodles to begin our "exec fuck up night."  I ofcourse, had to run back to my apartment and hand out quartersheets for the upcoming recruitment drive.  And that was also the beginning of me running around for aiesec for the next 3 weeks.  Dinner was great, and I had "the time of my life" at karaoke.  I think i picked up alcohol that day... But it wasn't even the alcohol, it was just pure fun, comfort, and seriously great memories with these guys while we all sang our lungs out.  It's like we had hundo all to ourselves, and we did not care what the few rest of the people were thinking at all.  It was one of my best nights at northwestern--I can't believe I had a year of exec with these people and never realized until the end just how awesome they are.

The next coming week was all work:  Monday IE meeting, tuesday & wednesday info sessions.  Ale and I had our last IE info sessions--and what better way to leave than going out with a blast -- 133 people, two lecture rooms packed on both days.  It was seriously the best recruitment I've ever had here with AIESEC Northwestern.  Thursday night was Chicago restaurant week.  Time to dress up and have a little fun after 3 days of intensive work.  And Friday was our little trip to UIUC.  I met up with Jason Jennifer and Ran downtown and took them to Naperville! Where my mom made an awesome homemade dinner for us.  It was kind of weird, seeing Northwesterners in my Naperville world, haha AIESEC is bridging gap everywhere.  And u know what, I managed to have dinner with AIESECERS on Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday this week.

Then spent my entire weekend with my 3 favorite @ers at UIUC.  It was unofficial St. Patrick's day, and my first weekend at UIUC not hanging out with the Naperville gang haha.  Great weekend - such fond memories of walking around the campus and having random snowball fights, waiting 45 minutes for a deeelicious pepperoni pizza, sharing a narrow-as-hell couch or just sitting on a one-person sofa as our sleeping resorts, pregaming in the car and frantically chugging down a bottle of champagne, and having some great chinese food & bubble tea to end our journey.  It was one trip that I will always remember.  Oh of course, the 2 hour and 15 minute drive also made the trip much more enjoyable :D  Sunday night snapped my dinner streak though, as I had to go home and return the car.

My dinner streak continues for next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (whew!).  It was our first old & new exec meeting on Monday and we went to Celtic knot cause I was hungry and Ale needed beer lol, what a perfect combo (did I mention it was 10pm? I rushed back from work to interviews then to exec).  Tuesday through thursday were interviews and Dean Jain.  Again, I didn't eat anything until after the interviews - with my favortest ppl that I couldn't get enough of on each of those days.  It was probably my most unhealthy week that week, as all I ate were burgers and american food >.<  Friday night was Italian dinner and hookah, I went home early from alll the exaustion of this past week (less than 5 hrs of sleep every day), thinking that I could get some rest.  But somehow, my mini meeting with my IE buddy Eric lasted 2 hours until 2am on Friday....  Seriously, who sends out work-related emails on 2am on Friday night?  You have to either be an Ibanker or an AIESECer.  Rushing home, i collapsed on my bed.  I was done for the week -- headaches, lightheadedness rushed over me as I hurried myself into some much needed slumber - as I had to wake up in just 6 hours, again, for AIESEC.

Ohhh but it was SO worth it waking up at 8am for MICHIGAN!  Nobody else sums it up better than Alex:  Crick Crack, bad margaritas, and no cabs.  Just may I add soy milk please?  It was still a memorable night though, especially how everyone (well minus Bart) returned at the end of the night as they all failed to hunt down any fishes :P  I met some really cool @ers from Madison though.  Road trip to Madison I hear? :D  Aaaand we had to rush back to Evanston by 6pm for supper.  Went to another unhealthy american dinner with the ppl I couldn't get enough of instead of going home, and I finally got home at 11pm.  Sooo freaking tired that I just dropped my bags, went up to my room and collapsed - somebody has work at 8am the next day...

Orientation week!  Resume workshop on Monday, orientation session on Tuesday and Wednesday, and o.O!  I didn't see any @ers on Thursday!  I was just telling Nandita that as I met up with her at Watertower (my first free day since xmas break, I decided to reward myself a bit ).  "So I'm not an @er?" Nandita asks.  Hahaha... crap....  I spent 3 hours cooking on Friday to thank everyone who helped with the successful IE recruitment drive, was supposed to go downtown later on Friday but ended up just again, hanging out with @ers instead.  Then comes St. Patty's...

Before I talk about St. Patty's, I also had my first AIESEC weakness this week.  The whole past 3 weeks, my life has been wake up, study frantically, then class (or work), then stopping home to change or grab something, then rushing to AIESEC.  Home had literally been a stop-by hotel for me.  The momentum was so high that I was riding on air -- kind of like a relationship, when it's all flowers and chocolates and wonderful dates in the beginning.  Tuesday's Orientation was... almost a failure.  It was disorganized, chaotic, and we left many EPs that we have spent so much time recruiting half way finished with the process and going home wondering what the heck is AIESEC.  I also kind of realized that the IE newbies still have yet so much to learn.  Walking home, thinking about the next 2 hours of aiesec working & emailing, I wanted to talk about this to someone, but everyone was busy... For a few minutes, I felt like I was the only one in this-- In the end, it was me, the graduating senior, who went home and checked everyone's requirements, typed up an instruction document, organized everyone on excel, and sent out instruction/apology emails.   I guess it was my first fight with AIESEC.  But it ended as one very smiley AIESECer came and (probably wasn't his purpose, but ) cheered me up :D

Ooookay so back to St. Patty's.  Waking up at 9:30 and heading to 606 Lake, I was nowhere aware of what I was getting myself into.  The parade was mleh, the food was ewww, but it was the company that was priceless.  In about 4 hours we went to 3 bars and I had my first ever straight shot!  Some people left along the way but it was the 4 senior troopers that stayed.  I had, SO MUCH FUN just barhopping, walking around in the streets, loitering in grocery stores, and just laughing and making a fool of myself with these people.  10am to 11pm.  We had a great closure to our night at JK.   I couldn't get enough of @ people so I went upstairs to Asim and Zeshan's and just chilled there until 3am.  I just had one of my best nights @ NU 3 weeks ago, this one, hands down, is on the top of my list of best days at NU.

Thhhen came sunday when I had @ withdrawal, so I decided to call up Mike and Nandita to go ice skating.  Finally, I had to settle down with the fact that everyone has finals and the fact that I won't be seeing all these amazing people for a while.  But hey!  Spring quarter!  I see sunshine, beaches, more roadtrips, and 100x more fun with @.  :D

心乱

I've... been creating kind of a mess lately... I really don't know how it all started

记得四年前，18岁的我，情人节约会看了2个小时的电影却没有勇气向他靠近，而现在...

I really need to clear up everything right now.  So please, please don't even try to play with me.

天之游记

Found this slip of paper in my purse... I... actually wrote this a year and a half ago on the airplane from Shanghai to Chicago...

飞机从上海起飞。那时上海正在下着阵雨，天还是灰蒙蒙的一片。但起飞后不多久，我们就穿过了云层，来到了蓝天与白云之间。从窗外向后望去，可以看到身后耸立于云海的一大片“蘑菇云”，被最后的一点夕阳染上了一片红与橙色。那大概就是笼罩与上海上空的那一大片乌云吧... 但赚了一个角度看，它却变得那样地迷人。 不多久，红色变成了深蓝色，又变成了紫色。飞机来到了太平洋上空。天空中又浮现了一轮明月，在天上看月亮，第一次看到它是那么的洁白，明亮。它陪了我半个多小时后，便悄悄地离去了。

下次往窗外看去，是5-6个小时以后。飞机正在往东飞，黑夜也因此变得不再漫长。此时窗外已是一片深紫色，不再是漆黑一片。稍微抬头望去，你能看到满天的繁星... 星星在海平面的天空之上山腰，远前的东方，天空正在发绿...那时，感觉好像自己正是在宇宙中漂浮这，一切是那么地宁静，美丽。

渐渐的，天空由深紫色变成了淡紫色。飞机下放也慢慢的路出了一片紫色的云海。这时，东方已是一片红色，而再那一朵朵淡紫色的云之下方，却隐隐约约地露出一片红光，仿佛大海正在燃烧一样。在不远的某一个角落，也许有人正在观赏着一个鲜红美丽的日出。

有过了不到市分钟，机翼，白云都又被染上了一片金色。是白天了。云海上漂浮着一层层轻云。像波浪一样，他们一阵又一阵地起伏着。突然间，云廊散去，眼下则是一片咖啡色的山脉。被雪覆盖的山头被云海包围着，天空一下子变得那么广阔...

Day 15 (12/29): Went SHOPPING with my sister today!! Went to a supercheap 9price and quality heh) market where I bought a coat for $9 and another one for $16!! muahaha.  Also bought some really fobby sweaters and hats/pants, etc.  Ohh I got a 泡泡裙... have yet to wear it in public...  Afterwards we got dinner at a food court and I went to get my hair cut and highlighted!!! Now it's black, red, and copper... heh, 3 colors, I actually really like it!! The cut is a little bit short, but it look REALLY cute w/hats and my newly-bought pink piggy earmuff muahaha

Day 16 (12/30): Went to visit some rich relatives in the morning.  They bought an apartment in Pudong, farrr from downtown, and it was 5,000,000rmb!!!! Dude that's like... $700,000... insaneness, but it was a NICE apt though, fully furnished and EVERY ROOM has a bathroom.  Some sick regrigerator that looks like a cabinet.  It was fun visiting and playing with the kids (sooo spoiled though).  Later on was reunion with my jr high friends!!  We went to eat mini hot pot and mannn it was good seeing everyone again.  Mmmm some of my really good jr high friends are suuuper cute now, man haha... jealous ~~  Anyways, some of us wanted to go out for about an hr but found out the cover was 50rmb so we didn't go hahaha... and that was the end of my night!  I went home early for once hehe

Day 17 (12/31):  New years eve!!! Haha what an interesting turn of events... I was supposed to send my sister to someone's house but we got into an argument in the subway so we headed separate ways.  It was a GORGEOUS day in Shanghai so I decided to walk around.  I think this was the first time that I saw the Bund, People's Square, Nanjing Road, and the Pudong financial district under suuuch gorgeous sunlight (u don't get blue skies in China that often), and I snapped a gazillion of pictures hahaha, but it was GORGEOUS!!! Oh yeah, and since it was NYE, EEEVERY street was full of Chinese flags!!!  Go 五星红旗！Haha, take that u Taiwan bitches:D 

   
Mannn I can still imagine it in front of my eyes now...  Well, so my plans for new years eve was to have dinner with some friends and watch a outdoor countdown show afterwards.  Around 5, my friend texted me and said she was sick and wouldn't be able to come out.  Another friend said that he had to take care of something with his ex so he couldn't come out w/me either.  I didn't know the other people so I decided to go watch countdown with my sister instead.  We went to Nanjing road and it was CROWDED AS HELL cause there was a performance there.  I took out my camera wanting to snap a picture, suddenly, we felt a push from behind and we were pushed along a sea of people.  We finally found breathing room and decided to stand around for a bit.  And the next second, I realized that my camera is gone DAMN IT!! Thhhen, my sister started getting a headache and started coughing really badly so she decided to go home.  So it was ME BY MYSELF CAMERALESS ON NEW YEARS EVE!!  Another friend then called me and said that she was with a bunch of friends @ the Bund.  I was like, ohhh cool!  Countdown @ the bund!  So I ran there, it was 11:30.  She then texted me and said that they were going to go countdown at a bar instead.  I thought... I paid over $1000 for the planeride, and big part of that was because I want to see Shanghai's new year's eve countdown--I'm gonna stay at the bund.  So again, it was myself again, but it's okay, I got Shanghai, my loooove :)  I actually saw fireworks, at the Bund, on New Years Eve, something that everyone said there wouldn't be.  Althought there wasn't a countdown screen, and the clocktower did not strike 12, I got to see 外滩的焰火, and that was all I needed.   AAAAnyways, got in a cab afterwards and met up with my friend in da club!!  Turns out 2 of her friends studied abroad in the US before, one of them went to high school with one of my chinese friends and knew one of my american friends @ berkeley, WOW what a small world... So... this CUUUUTE FOBBY guy came up to me and we started flirting, and he asked me to go to his table, and I was like, okay!  But alll the girls that I went with (they're all native) was like, NOOOOO.  Then he suggested going to the dancefloor instead, and I thought, "oh no problem! no harm hahaha."  But as I was leaving, one of the girls literally grabbed my arms and stopped me :(  I didn't want to act like a slut so I didn't go.. sad :(  Hahaha, that will be one of my biggest regrets this trip (bigger than losing my camera) hahaha.  But ya, clubbing was funness :)  Ate some 羊肉串afterwards, CHINA STYLE!!

Day 18 (1/1):  New years day!!! I went to visit 好好嗯娜 in the afternoon morning.  I slept so little and ate breakfast really late so I was falling asleep and didn't eat a lot @ lunch hahaha, I feel bad!!! But mannn their food was AMAZING.  I wish I could cook like that.  Next time I go to China Imma learn how to cook w/all the grandmas!!  After that, i went to 徐家汇 to buy the exact same camera that I lost cause it's my family friend's.  Then snapped tons of night picture!! 徐家汇，淮海路，人民广场... waaaaaa I love shanghai

Day 19 (1/2):  So I found this great restaurant next to the bund when I was exploring on new years eve.  It has a GREAT view of the classic buildings on the west side and the lunch menu is only 88rmb ($12)!!  So I scheduled a lunch date with Jennifer :)  I LOVE that place.  It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon, there is no better feeling than sitting at a table with a white tablecloth, a glass of water, a little pink flower, some deelicious icecream, soaking the sunlight, and watching the buildings sitting by the shimmering river.  Okay this sounds kinda cliche, but it was a magical moment >.< 

After lunch, I met up with a friend from HK, and then went to Cloud 9 with 王涵 afterwards.  Great view of Pudong and the bund from the 88th floor of Grand Hyatt.. sigh, takes my breath away...  Went back to 滨江大道 after dinner.  A year and a half ago, I wrote an essay about Shanghai and won first place in a essay & speech contest at Tsinghua.  It ended like this:

身后是耸立于陆家嘴的摩天高楼排出的绚丽夜景，眼前是被霓虹探照灯光覆盖的灿烂夜空。黄浦江前 –– 看着对面19世纪的建筑与迷人的灯火，听着从钟楼发出的那儿时一直期盼的钟声，吹着黄浦江的风—上海的风，发现自己已经永远永远地爱上了这片土地。

As I was leaving the riverwalk, I suddenly heard the striking of the clock tower.  I look in front of me, it is the beautifully lit Pearl Tower, I look back, and I see the golden lights of the 1920s European-styled building and that... that sound of the clock tower that just makes you know that you are at exactly where you belong.  Sighhh, so many magical moment today....

Day 20 (1/3):  It's my last full day in Shanghai, and I have so much unfinished business!  I grabbed lunch with another jr high classmates and we took a short walk afterwards.  It was like one of those lazy sunday afternoons--the weather was in the 40s or 50s, and the sun was again shining.  Just a nice, slow relaxing walk, chatting with an old friend, bathing in the sun, seeing old peopel exercise in the park... I miss those sweet shanghai mornings.  After lunch, I went with my grandpa to get my heel fixed.  Then I went with my sister to get my old computer's screen fixed (done for $50).  Afterwards, we went to get my new glasses :D  Still fobby, but brown and more professional suited haha.  Then we went to 文庙 where we bought SOOOO much cute stuff and saw the cutest store ever.  After that, I took my last walk on Nanjing Road at night with my sister, sipping some bubble tea.  Oh, so I saw those people selling clip on roller skates.  I was like, hey, I could use that @ NU!  But then it was 50rmb.  I was like, too expenseive (I was running low on cash since it was my last day in Shanghai and I spent it all at 文庙).  She lowered it to 25rmb ($3.50) and I still thought it was too expensive and didn't buy it!!! MANNNN SOOOO MUCH REGRET!!! Every time I walk out in the frigid cold in Evanston I think of the cliip on rollerblades that I could have bought to make my walk so much shorter... Definitely not gonna be cheap in China next time.  I went home, and... I decided to go out with my hong kong friend for my last night out in shanghai!! hahaha... We ended up in babyface after going to a few clubs/bars... funnything I went to babyface last summer in Shanghai during my last days in Shanghai as well... I guess that's just... my place to go to say goodbye to shanghai?  Anyways it was thursday and a local DJ was there.  I asked him to "The Way I Are" and "Stronger" and he didn't know either of the songs!!! mannn.... and u call urself a dj... Got home around 3am, and it was fun times :D

Day 21 (1/4):  My last day in Shanghai!!  No lingering goodbyes like last time (I went to ppl's square in the morning).  I stayed home and packed and got in a taxi.  Surprisingly, everything went so smoothly--I thought I would be tearing at this point, but everything was so calm.  Grandpa took me to the bus station where I got on the bus.  I said bye to him.  The bus left shortly, through the window, I saw my grandpa looking at the bus, standing with both his hands crossed behind his slightly hunched back.  I waved to him, but he musn't have seen me probably because the windows tinted.  As the bus started to pick up speed, he turned around, and all I could see was his 背影。不知道是不是因为曾经读过朱自清的《背影》还是因为有别的理由，我又流泪了--还以为这次不会流泪呢。外公的背影，看起来有一点沧桑。记得小时候他每天都送我去上学，以前一直觉得外公是世界上最强壮的外公。现在他的头发没有记忆中的那么黑了，各自没有记忆中的那么高了，背没有记忆中的那么挺直了。。。这次回来我没有好好地培外公外婆。我的眼眶一热，思绪也被扰乱了，脑子里只能想着外公的笑，外公的背影...
Anyways, I got my last glimpse of Shanghai on the bus... I'm really gonna miss this place--really.  I got to the airport, saw Jennifer!! And you go figure, the plane was delayed again.  So Jennifer's dad decided to take us out to dinner after we checked in our luggage!!! And here I thought I had my last gimpse hahaha.  We ended up having some 小吃.  锅贴，阳春面，鹌鹑蛋.  I should have stuffffed myself, cause that was the last time that I would be able to eat some decent Chinese food in a looong time (I woke up a day later in Naperville CRAVING chinese food but getting none :( ).  Night falls, I finally said goodbye to Shanghai, and began my journey back to Chicago.  It was an amazing trip despite some disappointments and some *cough* loss of cameras.  I've made up my mind:   I want a shanghai husband.   Muahahahaha :D

Kaidi's Shanghai adventure!! -cont

Day 8 (12/22): Was going to take my grandparents for a walk around our old neighborhood but was too tired since I stayed up late last night, so I spent my morning/afternoon @ home instead.  Grabbed dinner with my elementary school friend 吕超.  No boyfriends in college just like me!! haha... at least that's conforting.. -_- .  Thhhen, met up with Lai, her friend, and James Shih to go pre-game at a... hey what?? AIESEC party!!! haha, it was pretty cool, i heart @ hahaha.  Then went to Paramount Partyroom cause Beyonce's DJ was there and met up with Lisa, Jason, Jing, and one of my middle school friends (haha... kinda weird).  And it was sooo much fun :)  Left around 2:30 to go KARAOKE and went home @ around 6:30.  What a night!

Day 9 (12/23):  Slept over @ Lai's and went shopping with her and her friends @ people's square area afterwards.  Then met up with lucy and had dinner with some family friends.  The restaurant was sooo pretty but I couldn't take pictures cause my camera was out of battery :(

Day 10 (12/24): Ahhh Xmas eve.  I had it allll planned out.  Went ice skating with 王涵 and his friends, then met up with Lisa, Jennifer and Jing for our awesome Xmas dinner!!!  Xept my camera got stolen on the elevator up to the restaurant -_-  Then we spent about an hour looking for it and I saw the security tape ( I watched my camera got stolen right in front of my eyes!!!).  Dinner plan was busted cause they wouldn't seat us unless all of us were there :(  Felt so bad :(  Ended up around 徐家汇 and had a fast dinner @ around 9:30, walked for a bit outside in the rains, then went home.  Lesson learned:  Check ur pocket/purse ever minute when you're in China.  And next time you lose something, don't go out of your way to find it, just enjoy your day (cause you're most likely not gonna find it).

Day 11 (12/25): Xmas day and heading to HARBIN!!  The friend who was supposed to show me around ended up coming back to Shanghai for some important family business, so he got one of his friends to show me around instead, and she was SO NICE!!!  Lucy and I were actually glad that my friend had to leave haha.  Anyways, we got settled into our hotel (3 stars for just $20/night!!!), ate a suuuper cheap but delicious dinner (7 courses for $6!!), and toured the campus a little bit, and went to sleep.

Day 12 (12/26): Had lunch with one of the girl's friends and we all went to downtown Harbin together.  Lunch was interesting... we ate pig blood wrapped with pig intestine... and some of us (cough not me) sucked the marrow out of huuuge pieces of bones.  We then visited St. Sophia Church, left my hat in the cab, hahaha (o well i got the exact same one afterwards), ate some really good snacks (ice cream, sour milk that tasted like it has gone bad, and octupus on a stick! ha what an awesome combination), and then we arrived at 松花江.  We all went on a huuuge slide that was made of ice (it's like sledding on ice! haha, pretty rocky and thrilling), then took a horse carriage around the frozen river, and the best part of the night was, 戴着厚厚的帽子和手套，在被冰灯点缀下的松花江上吃冰糖葫芦, wow, I feel like I'm a kid again back in the 80s, 好有感觉 >.<  It was an amazing night.  We had some time to kill so we went to watch 投名状starring Jet Li, Andy Lau (hotness), and Takeshi Kaneshiro (suuuper hotness, he's half japanese).  Man... Chinese dudes.... Imma marry a FOB!!

Day 13 (12/27):  Today was the coldest day in my life.  -10 to -20 degrees Celcius, and ummm... 8 hours outdoor.  Lucy and I went to the snow sculpture show in the afternoon (amazing), and met up with the girl and her friend for the Ice & snow world!! Duuuude, that place is OUT OF THIS WORLD.  They had Forbidden City, the Parthenon, the Great Wall, and alll sorts of landmark carved out in ICE!!!  Of course there's ice slides as well :)  Since words cannot describe how amazing that place was, i'll post a picture:

Day 14 (12/28): Last day in Harbin and Lucy and I did some shopping.  We went to bought some Russian (and communist) souvenir and had a last lunch.  The girl lost her phone in a cab... I felt superbad :(  I think  I'm probably like the un-lucky star or something... blehhh...  Anyways it started snowing in the afternoon, lucy and I missed the bus to the airport, so we ended up cabbing instead.  But now with the snow and the traffic, we were almost sure that we were gonna miss our flight (and the ticket we bought was non-refundable/exchangable!).  We got there 35 minutes before the flight, 5 minutes before the check-in deadline.  The cab driver was driving 50mph on a snowy highway, phew!! what a exciting ride haha... But it ends up, that our flight was delayed for 4 hours since they need to clear the runway MANUALLY @ the airport.  We didn't get home until 2am that night, but we were sooo glad that we were home, in our warm beds :)

Getting too tired of this typing, haha, to be continued :)