Two

"It's beautiful here and we're still unhappy." - Ian McEwan, Enduring Love

In the spirit of Chinese New Year that happened this past Friday, I've decided to post some other pictures from my trip to China back in June/July. I've been meaning to blog about my summer trips to China and Europe for a while now, but I could never bring myself to. So here's a collection of unedited (can't be bothered to edit them, ha) photos from China. These were taken on my trip to Qiandaohu and Hangzhou, both beautiful, beautiful places to be. Unfortunately, I went during rainy season, but fortunately, the fog is also beautiful.

The scariest monkeys ever.

At one point, it was raining so hard that the path to get back on the boat was drenched in water. We had to take off our shoes and go barefoot to prevent our already soaking wet sneakers from getting even more destroyed. Thankfully all of the rain meant that it wasn't as humid as it usually was in China! There wasn't a single sunny day though during this part of our trip, and towards the end, I wished that we didn't have to take our umbrellas literally everywhere.

I definitely loved this part of my China trip the most though. If any of you have the chance, you should definitely consider going to Qiandaohu or Hangzhou! But anyway, 新年快乐 to all of you! Hope February's been treating you well so far.

And on that note, I should go back to studying physics and organic chemistry. Sigh. Happy Groundhog Day and Happy Super Bowl Sunday!! I can't wait to watch soon. (Anyone have any ideas for who will win?)

Until next time!

China ( i )

It's been a while. I left for China right before I last posted and came back on July 9th, three weeks ago. I'm so bad at this blogging thing now, but I promise to get better. So here's part 1 of my trip to China!! I'm sorry if everything's a little jumbled (it was so long ago), but I wanted to show you all that I'm still alive before I disappear for a little bit. Because well...I'm heading off to EUROPE! I'm so unbelievably excited, and I can't wait to blog for you guys when I come back!

Going to China was more like a family visit than a vacation. I first went to visit my dad's side of the family and took a day trip to Suzhou. I always visit Suzhou just because I love the atmosphere and all of the small stores where I can buy random things for my friends haha. I stumbled upon this bubble tea place (chain restaurant) called Coco while in Suzhou, and let's just say...I didn't stop drinking it for the rest of the 2.5 weeks I was in China. Definitely recommend going there for any avid bubble tea drinkers like me. It was only 7 yuan, too, which is roughly a little over $1 here in America. Can you say love. It was insanely humid when I went, and it also happened to rain a TON. I've never been so drenched in my life before. But I loved the food (and the prices for the food).

But I have to go now! My flight to Europe is calling my name. Hope you've all been doing well! See you in August when I come back. :)

Disney World, Orlando, Florida

"Childhood memories were like airplane luggage; no matter how far you were traveling or how long you needed them to last, you were only ever allowed two bags. And while those bags might hold a few hazy recollections--a diner with a jukebox at the table, being pushed on a swing set, the way it felt to be picked up and spun around--it didn't seem to last a whole lifetime." - Jennifer E. Smith

On Tuesday night, I came home from an amazing amazing four days in...DISNEY WORLD. For our senior class trip, we got the opportunity to go to Disney to make the best of memories. It was exhausting, don't get me wrong, but it was absolutely wonderful, and I just want to go back already because school is monotonous now.

I woke up on Saturday morning at 2:45AM to make it to the school by 3:50AM. We drove to the airport and after a bunch of traveling, we landed in Orlando at around 10AM. We got bused over to Magic Kingdom where we spent the entire day! It was so much fun. So much fun. I hung out with Andrea, Eddy, Emily, Michael, and Nick, and we went on Space Mountain, the Buzz Lightyear game (3 times might I add haha), Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Monster's Inc, and Stitch's ride thing haha. It was so much fun even though we didn't make it to a lot of the other things. Then after scarfing down our dinner, we rushed over to in front of Cinderella's castle to watch the electrical parade, the show, and the fireworks. It was all so beautiful.

On Sunday, we first went to Hollywood Studios. I was with Eddy, Emily, Jason, John, and Michael. We first went to the Tower of Terror which dramatically changed since the last time I went (10 years ago haha). We went in with all these other kids from our school so the entire "elevator" was filled with people from my class which was pretty awesome haha. Then we went on the Rock n Roller Coaster which was amazing, too. We ended up also going to Star Tours and then saw the Indiana Jones show and American Idol!

After we came out of American Idol, it started pouring rain. It was okay though because we hit everything we could and were leaving for Epcot momentarily. So yeah then we took the buses over to Epcot! We actually ended up not doing much in Epcot which was kind of disappointing. I was mainly with Eddy, Iris, and Michael the entire time. Because it was pouring, we barely got to stroll around because we were busy powerwalking to get out of the rain haha. We ended up getting drenched and hid out in a gift shop for quite a while where we bought some souvenirs! Afterwards a bit of drama happened, but Iris, Michael, and I went on Test Track and accidentally went in the single riders lane which was awkward lol. I ended up being in the car with this entire family so I was pretty much just awkwardly sitting there. Then we went on Soarin' with Eddy and Emily which was such a cool and relaxing ride! Afterwards, we hurried over to watch the Laser Light Illuminations show which was amazing, too. (I liked the Magic Kingdom one better though!)

On Monday, we first went to Animal Kingdom! I spent the entire time with Eddy and Michael which was actually really really fun. We first went on the rapids ride and got absolutely drenched haha. Probably wasn't smart to all sit on the same side... Then we went on Expedition Everest and afterwards the safari! I freaked out over seeing the giraffes haha. But Everest was such a good ride oh my goodness. Then we ate some lunch in the Asia section and had some decent Americanized Chinese food haha. After we went to the Dinosaur ride where we got the most hilarious picture taken on the ride omg. Every time I look at it, I start laughing haha. It was such a scary ride though. I had tears in my eyes in the end from laughing so hard/from screaming so much. Then we walked around and went on Everest again haha. And after that we went on It's Tough to Be a Bug which was pretty scary because it was 4D haha. But then we left to go back to the hotel!

One of my favorite pictures from the entire trip. :)

We got back to the hotel and chilled in the guys' room for a while before getting ready to go out to dinner with the entire class! We drove over to Universal Studios to eat dinner at the Nascar Cafe. It wasn't that great, but after that we went over to see the Blue Man Group! There were parts which I thought were horrible, but overall it was such a cool show! People from our school got chosen for some of the things so that was fun to cheer for haha. After that we went back over to the Nascar Cafe to have our "DJ/Dance Party" lolol. It was pretty bad and all the arcade games weren't that great either/were super crowded. But I got a light-up cup which was pretty much the highlight of it all hahaha.

And then on Tuesday, we went to Blizzard Beach! I don't have any pictures from there because it's a water park so I didn't want my camera to get destroyed. But I'm not a big fan of water parks to begin with so it wasn't as fun overall. We first went in the lazy river. Then I waited for other people to go on this crazy 120-foot slide for like an hour because I didn't want to hurt my back by going on it. After, we went to eat lunch. All I ate was a pretzel, but it cost me $4.25 lol most expensive pretzel in the world omg. It was in the shape of Mickey Mouse though so it was half acceptable. Then I went on some slides with Andrea and Iris before getting changed and going to the gift shop! After that we left for the airport!! Our airplane ended up getting delayed by like 40 minutes because we had too much fuel... But I essentially was asleep the entire time haha.

And yes! That was the essence of my trip to Disney World. :) It was such an amazing opportunity to have even though it was pretty pricey. (Not to mention how each meal dropped me like $15...) I'm so glad I got to spend four days in the most magical place on earth with some of my closest friends. Ending high school with a bang!

Four Corners

"Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others." - Virginia Woolf

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, USA.

I've decided to dig out some old pictures back from August 2011 and sneak them into some of my upcoming and current posts. I realized I never did blog about my trip to the western half of America which is quite tragic seeing as it was absolutely beautiful there. I went to six national parks, each just as gorgeous as the last. And I also went to Las Vegas. (Pictures of Las Vegas were already posted.) This post only has a few of the pictures from the various national parks I visited, but I'm positive there will be more uploaded in the future. All of the text in blue will be about my trip while all of the text in gray will be an update on my life.

The Delicate Arch was one of my favorite spots that we visited. We gathered around the arch waiting for the sunset, only to realize that we wouldn't be able to see it after all, resulting in our mad dash to a spot where we could see it. I got a picture under the arch, and I'm so tiny that it's hilarious. And what I loved the most about all of the places we visited were definitely the colors. There were all of these reds, browns, and other warm hues that contrasted so nicely against the bright blue sky.

Anyhow, in an attempt to blog about my life, I guess some things have happened since I last wrote on here. As of this past Wednesday, I am officially going to junior prom. I'm not actually sure I want to go, to be completely honest here, but there's nothing I can really do about it anymore. A lot of drama, heartbreak, and excitement has gone on these past few weeks because of junior prom, and I'm glad to say that it's finally all over.

Grand Canyon National Park, Tusayan, Arizona, USA.

Grand Canyon, the most famous out of the national parks I visited, was the biggest letdown. It was the only day of our trip that got rained on, but it also wasn't as spectacular as everyone seemed to make it. I feel like people have praised it so much that this image of something absolutely breathtaking developed in my mind, only to feel disappointment when I actually got there. The other national parks, however, were all pleasantly surprising, and I fell in love particularly with Bryce Canyon National Park.

Okay, I guess I'm done with the prom talk for awhile now. Thursday after school, I ran to French club after a chemistry lab with my friend. And then we, along with two other friends, embarked on a scavenger hunt throughout the school. It was so crazy and so much fun at the same time, I just wish we had come in first. Hahaha. We did get king-sized Hershey bars for coming in second, however, so I guess it wasn't too bad in the end.

Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce, Utah, USA.

We visited Bryce second on our trip. None of my family had expected to see so much amazing scenery or to have so many difficult yet enjoyable hiking trips that all of us adored Bryce by the end of our stay there. Every little trail brought a new perspective of the rocks to life, and I felt as if my camera couldn't even capture all of the beauty it offered.

And today happened to be science fair! I do science fair every year, and this year had to be the worst preparation-wise. I literally made my slides last night. I got to my room which was in the ecology field and went 3rd because I needed to get to talent search (basically an interview juniors in high school can take to hopefully get letters of recommendations to colleges). The two people who went before me both went over the time limit, while I didn't even make it to 8 minutes. After every person, the judges would spent 5-10 minutes questioning them and another 5 minutes tallying up scores. So by the time I finished, one hour had passed already. The good news is that they barely questioned my experiment, and overlooked my poor sample size. (Haha.) I then got to the waiting room to see a bunch of my friends standing there. And so I signed my name up for talent search. I ended up waiting over an hour to get called up to get my interview (and it was actually snowing so heavily in that hour). I finally got there and spent roughly 5 minutes doing my interview which wasn't horrible, but I'm not sure how well it went, and then I got to go home. I had some pho for the very first time, and I'm not exactly sure why I've waited so long to have it. It's amazing. After I got home from eating and shopping at around 3PM, I found out that I got a first at science fair today and will be going to states again. :)


(I'm really sorry for that huge block of text.) And now I think I'll go do some homework along with possibly baking cupcakes if I'm up for the challenge.


Hopefully all of you have an amazing remainder of the weekend!


Love, Amber

This is from NYC. The one on the left is on 10.30.10 (right before Halloween). It was such a nice and sunny day and there were all of these people dressed up in costumes for the spirit of Halloween. :) We went to the Empire State Building; that view was spectacular. The one on the right is on 12.26.10 (right after Christmas). It was blizzarding that day, LOL. I literally couldn't see anything in front of me, and the snow was being blown in directly into my face. We went to see Lion King on Broadway though. :) It was good, so everything worked on in the end.

Hopefully I can go back again soon. Maybe during break or something?