I'm not too stressed out about finals, but I still have a lot of learning to do. I'm really looking forward to spending next week in California. Looking forward to dim sum, sushi, golf, sunshine, karaoke, shopping, and of course, seeing friends and family!
I'm so excited! I just found SingShot! No wonder I wasn't as productive tonight.
Karaoke is really the only thing that keeps me awake at 3 in the morning. Please forgive the yucky singing! This song brings back many happy memories of my sister and me singing while sitting in the back seat of our family van.
Hi everyone! Sorry that it's been a long while since I've updated. If you haven't heard, I'm in Ann Arbor getting my MBA at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business! =) The school is filled with tremendous energy since we recently got ranked #1 by the WSJ! I'm incredibly excited and looking forward to seeing how this adventure will unfold over these next two years. So far, life has been awesome. I hope to tell you more about it when I choose to procrasinate some more for finals next week.
I've been here since August 1st. Over the summer, I took a road trip down to San Diego and visited Hong Kong, the Philippines, Belize, and Guatemala.
Soaking in the California sunshine
Pan planned out a fun and spontaneous road trip down to San Diego. We drove down the gorgeous Highway 1. After being away from California for two years, seeing the beautful Pacific Ocean warmed my heart. I miss the west coast!
The beautiful California coast
Sunset at Roy's Restaurant at Spanish Bay (Hopefully, one day I'll be able to play golf here...)
Another great view of the coast
La Jolla, San Diego
Pan took some other silly pictures because he was happy to play around with his new camera:
Having Fun in Hong Kong
My mom and I visited Wendy in HK for a week. She landed an awesome internship with the WSJ Asian Bureau. It was my first trip to HK and I'd love to go back. There were a lot of things to see and plenty of shopping!
View from the ferry travelling to Lan Tao Island
My mom and me admiring the largest outdoor bronze seated Buddha
Admiring the view from the top
Couldn't believe this rice patty chicken sandwich from HK McDonald's!
Cebu City, Philippines Directly from HK, I flew with my mom to Cebu to visit relatives. I saw my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmother. My mom is one of eight kids, so there was plenty of family to see. Overall, it was great to catch up with everyone. I'm always amazed whenever I travel to the Philippines because it's such a different and special place. Everytime I travel there, I come away with new thoughts. It's my eighth or ninth visit and I'm looking forward to my next trip. I always go seashell necklace shopping. At $1-3 per necklace, who could possibly complain?
Yummy traditional Filipino dishes
At the back of Lapu Lapu, hero of Mactan Island, who killed Ferdinand Magellan. He stopped the Europeans from taking over the Philippines.
Hanging out with my favorite cousins over pizza
With Vincent and Kristine exploring one of the beach resorts. They're both single and looking! ;)
Belize It Or Not! Before school started, I took an adventure trek with 9 other fellow MBA students and Pat to Belize and Guatemala. The business school sponsors these cool and crazy trips all over the world (China, Thailand, Iceland, Costa Rica to name a few) to foster bonding among Ross MBA students.
Despite the cost, I'm so glad I went. What an amazing experience! It was a week filled with endless fun zip-lining atop the jungle, jet skiing, lying on the beach, hiking up Mayan ruins, cave tubing, canoeing, snorkeling, dancing, Mafia, and karaoke (What week wouldn't be fun without karaoke?). Here was our detailed itinerary.
We spent a few days in Abergris Caye. I walked around the island at sunset to take some pictures.
Another awesome sunset
Enjoying the beach
Does this Tikal ruin look familiar? It was featured in Star Wars.
Our Jungle Lodge... The many memorable nights playing Mafia
Hiking around the Tikal ruins
Ziplining through the jungle!
There are many more photos/videos from my MTrek, but I have yet to upload them.
I went with Eva and Pat down to Washington DC to see cherry blossoms, visit museums, and visit old friends. Here are some of the photos for you all to enjoy:
Pat and Eva
Me and Eva
Hanging out in front of the Jefferson Memorial and posing in front of the Washington Monument
Silly pic looking up at the blossoms
Overall, there were not too many cherry blossoms in full bloom. I'm hoping when I go there again this Thursday, I'll have more luck. Stay tuned for more pictures!
On Saturday, my friends planned a spontaneous trip out to Elk Mountain,
PA. The weather was perfect. It snowed on Thursday, Friday, and a
little
bit on Saturday morning - just in time for sunshine and some awesome
snowboarding! We woke up around 5:20 a.m. to get an early start.
The resort was about 2 hours away. Here were are half awake at Dunkin'
Donuts:
(from l to r): Pat, Rachel, me, Drew
Drew
picked up snowboarding for the first time and he did so well. I
can't believe he trusted us to teach him. By the middle of the day, he
was doing S-curves on the blue trails.
It was my first time down black diamonds! Overall, we had a lot of fun and I can't wait to snowboard back at home
in Tahoe. Hopefully there is still some time left in the season
to snowboard.
