Journey in Chattanooga

The field trip to Chattanooga was such a big success. l learned the history of Chattanooga while I was having fun and enjoying my field trip with my friends. On Friday morning, I woke up really early in order to prepare for the field trip. All of us were extremely excited about it. After the brunch, we were good to go. Our first stop was the Tennessee Aquarium. The Tennessee Aquarium is a public aquarium that is located in Chattanooga, and it was actually the largest fresh-water aquarium when it opened in 1992. The Chattanooga River is behind the aquarium, so I could clearly see the river. There is a large variety of marine animals in the Aquarium. I walked slowly through the first exhibition which was the Appalachian Cove Forest. It created a realistic atmosphere for tourists. When I walked in, I felt that I was in a real jungle with different animals all over me. The trees were filled with birds and reptiles laid on the beach. It was such a beautiful view. After that, we entered the second exhibition which was the Discovery Hall. There,we could explore an underwater world where lots of underwater species were exhibited. I saw jellyfish, sharks, and salamanders. In addition to these two exhibits, we also went to the Mississippi Delta, River Giants, Rivers of the World, and The Tennessee River Gallery. The Journey at the aquarium was an amazing experience that helped me learn a lot of information about marine species. After the aquarium, we went to take the duck boat on the Chattanooga River. The word "Chattanooga" derives from the Muskogean word which means "Rock". During the American Civil War, Chattanooga was a center of the battle. After the war ended, the city became a major manufacturing center. The history of the Chattanooga River was really appealing. The driver of the boat told us some history about the river and the city. We went to eat ice-cream before we went back. This was a meaningful field trip in which I learned the history of Chattanooga, and I also had a lot of fun.

My Best Weekend

How to spend our weekends? It is a simple question, but sometimes it can be really confusing when we have nothing to do during weekends. I certainly had a same problem before. Nevertheless, my weekend was well spent this time because I got to see my parents this weekend.

            During spring break, I met my parents in L.A., and we stayed there for three days. After that, we went to Vegas and Salt Lake City, and all the way through Denver. As many of you know, I love travelling and taking road trips. Time always passes fast. Nine days of spring break passed by so quickly. It was sad when I realized it was time to say goodbye. Surprisingly, my parents told me they were going to stay with me for one more weekend in Tennessee. I was so cheerful when I heard what they had said. I met them again the following weekend which was fantastic. On Friday, we went out to have dinner at Fulin. The food there was delicious, and my parents really liked it. After dinner, I went back to the hotel where my parents were staying. I was going to spend two more nights with them. On Saturday, we went to Walmart and had Korean food at Seoul Garden. We picked Corrina up from school to have lunch with us. Corrina had mentioned that she wanted to go out with us, so I thought it would be nice to invite her to have lunch. We got back to the hotel at 8 p.m. My father suggested that we should have a family talk. My topic was about how school was going on. My parents also gave me some of advice about my performance in school. Overall, I could see they were satisfied and happy with me.
              I was really glad to see my parents again at school, and, of course, I had a wonderful weekend. I am sure I will miss them a lot.

Bunny Judy

I can't believe that I just met the Easter Bunny a couple of days ago. Soon, I am amazed by how special she was.

She told me her name was Judy, so I started calling her Judy. To me, she didn’t seem like a baby bunny because she was so smart. She was good at hacking computers. She was definitely a master of technology. However, I found out that she has more magical abilities than I thought. She carried a mini spacecraft and rocket at all times so she could travel whenever she wanted. I asked Judy why she had such a incredible powers, and she told me she had come from another world outside of the earth. The reason she came here was that she had a fight with her mother. She told me that she wanted to be independent, so this was why she came to earth. As soon as I knew the reason, I told her that she should go back even though I didn’t really want her to leave me. Judy certainly knew that leaving her mother alone at home was not a right thing. Thus, she decided to go home as soon as possible. I remembered that I was extremely upset about Judy’s leaving. I felt I was going to loose one of my most special friends. Judy was no longer just a friend to me, she was more like a member of my family who always took care of me. Although I considered Judy a baby, she was not treated as a baby bunny at all when she was at home. On her planet, Judy was already 12 years old. I guessed that was the reason why Judy was so intelligent and even smarter than humans. Since Judy was going to leave soon, she invited me to have a ride with her by using her magical abilities. We took a ride to another city where we had an unforgettable experience that both of us would never forget.

I gave Judy a warm hug and a sweet kiss at the day Judy left. She gave me a magical wand as a gift. Perhaps, we will meet each other someday. I am looking forward to it! 

SSAT Essay

It is universally acknowledged that independent ideas can be considered more creative, vivid and talented. Independent ideas always reflect individual’s realistic opinions. Although some people believe that accepting the opinions of others is a better way to avoid mistakes, I personally have a different point of view. I believe that developing our own opinions is more important than accept others’ ideas.

Mark Zuckerberg is one of the persuasive examples, which makes my point more clear. Mark Zuckerberg is an American computer program and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known as one of the most influential social-networking website Facebook. By the time he began classes at Harvard, Zuckerberg had already gained the reputation as one of the smartest students in Harvard. Nevertheless, there are only a few of people know that Zurkerberg actually did not complete his university years. The reason behind that was he wrote his own program, which allowed users to make class selection decisions online. Later on, his website became more well known, and his new idea came out, which was the social networking Facebook. It turns out that he didn’t follow other students’ step to finish collage; instead, he developed his own business. The example of Zuckerberg demonstrates the importance to cultivate our independent opinions without accept to others’ opinions.

Moreover, listening to others’ opinions sometimes will bring us negative effects. Anna, one of my best friends, had a similar experience. When she took her English test two days ago, she couldn’t figure out the answer for one of the questions. She spent lots of time on it but she still didn’t know the answer of that question. Because that she really wanted to get good grades, she asked Jack, who sat behind her. Surprisingly, Jack knew the answer so he told her. She completely trusted him and wrote down the answer. However, when the test result came out yesterday, she found out the answer which Jack told her was wrong. Therefore, listening to others’ ideas is not a good choice. We should trust ourselves and develop our own opinions. Such as my friend Anna, who listened to others and therefore got a terrible outcome.

In conclusion, based on the above discussion, it’s not difficult to notice that developing our own independent ideas is more significant than accepting the opinions of others. We are not supposed to oversimplify this statement and disregard its complexity.

Randy Pausch

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch 

Photo of Randy Pausch

The inspiring video that I watched last week was called “The Last Lecture."The speaker, Randy Pausch, was an American professor of computer science and human-computer interaction. It is kind of hard for me to believe that Randy Pausch actually died at age of 47 from pancreatic cancer. Indeed, it is also hard to imagine his death because he was such a great professor, who had brought us all kinds of different types contributions. Especially, I have learned different life lessons and experiences from his lecture.

The beginning of the lecture first impressed me when he talked about his childhood dreams. For instance, one of his childhood dreams was to be in zero in gravity. It seems sort of like nonsense and funny, does’t it? I really think that everybody has had those naïve opinions when they were little. Even though our dreams that we had in our childhoods were out of track or a little bit full of fantasy, they were definitely a good start in setting up some goals as Randy did. What I learned from this part was to keep chasing our dreams no matter how hard they are, and to never give up. 

Moreover, Dr. Pausch’s makes a significant point: we should be valued and proud of ourselves.  This reminded me of my father. My father once told me that I should be proud of what I will be doing in the future even if my job is a street cleaner. I did not understand what my father actually meant until now. As I am getting older, I am also getting more mature, and some of my immature and ridiculous ideas have disappeared as time was passed on. I kind of get why my father told me this. We are all successful people as long as we are valuable to society and no matter how embarrassing or shameful our jobs are. I am glad that Dr. Pausch proved this truth again which made me more certain and clear of my future job orientation. 

The last question was how to get people to help you. Here is an example from my life experience: I used to have lots of struggles in studying math when I was in elementary school. After I had a conversation with my math teacher, I got to know that getting help from teachers or parents was really important. In fact, there was nothing I could do without help from others at this point. Since then, I have gotten more used to asking questions that I had always been struggling with. Although Randy Pausch is gone, he has left precious lessons from his 47 years experiences. 

Resolutions for 2015

At the beginning of 2015, I am going to make three goals for myself. One of the most important reasons is that I would like to challenge myself and become a better person in the future. I certainly know it is hard to accomplish all of them by the end of year; however, difficulties and challenges will wake me up and push me further.

            First of all, I want to be more active and talkative during school days, especially during class. In fact, being an active person can help me to understand teachers’ teaching points much better. For instance, if I don’t express any of my opinions or give any eye contact to teachers, they probably think that I do not understand what they are talking about. Certainly, this was one of my weaknesses for the whole year in 2014, and I did not make it better which I am kind of regretful about it. Thus, I eagerly want to start a new beginning for a brand new year. Even though it is a bit harder to achieve it, I will not give up till I am successful.

            Secondly, I really want to go to Tibet this year if I have a chance. I have been thinking about traveling there with my family for such a long time. Traveling to Tibet seems not a big deal because it’s such a simple thing to do. Nevertheless, we hardly have got time to do it. We have spent lots of time on our personal stuff and barely go traveling during vacations. This time, I am eager to travel along with my parents no matter what; I even made some plans about this trip yesterday. I had never known how attractive that Tibet was before. But this time, my wish is getting stronger and stronger.

            My last goal, which is the hardest to achieve, is getting better grades in all my subjects. Honestly, A’s are what I want the most for all my subjects. Perhaps, the hardest subject is Chemistry. For the last three months, I have absolutely put lots of efforts in it, but I feel like I still have a long way to go. I have considered that I’d better find another path or strategy to improve my Chemistry grades, such as go to extra help more often or pay more attention during class. The Chemistry exam set off an alarm, and I have realized its real time to prove myself. As long as I have enough confidence, I will achieve it, eventually. I hope all of my goals will come true in the future. I am looking forward to starting a new beginning.

             

           

Always believe in yourself: Thanks giving is coming soon

  It’s hard to imagine that I did my oration last week. I can’t believe that I made it eventually! I have to say that I put lots of effort on it because it’s my fist time to make a speech in front of a large amount of people in English. Especially, it will be harder for non-English speakers. It’s a big success for only standing there on the stage. I think this is what we called “courage”. I still remember what I felt when I was on the stage and was ready to give my oration to other. I was nervous, obviously. However, while I was looking around, I saw people’s faces with all kinds of emotions. Familiar faces and unfamiliar faces; exciting faces and boring faces. At that moment, I found back my confident. I told myself that don’t be afraid and show my confidence to them. As soon as I started my oration, anxiety suddenly disappeared.  I was able to see people’s reaction when I finished my oration. I thought, pretty much, they were satisfied with my performance. Nothing could be more exciting than that moment. Applause surrounded me. I felt great, like a real winner. In addition, I realized it’s actually pretty easy to accomplish something that we wouldn’t’ t even think that we can do it. I am sure there are tons of people who have the similar feelings as I do. We once all thought we could not achieve the goal, but eventually, we challenged ourselves and made it.

  Thanksgiving is coming soon; therefore, I want to say “thank you” for all of my teachers who helped me went through each of difficulties no matter during classes or in the daily life. Thank you for always being patient and nice to me. I will continue work harder and reach higher.