Outside of work, I’m probably …
- Spending time with my wonderful family and friends.
- Playing piano at the Music Department.
- Searching for the perfect taco at various taquerias in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Frequented establishments include El Gran Burrito in Hollywood and Los Altos Taqueria in Mountain View.
- Trying to maintain and develop foreign language skills through individual study and organized meet-ups.
- Locksmithing. I worked in a lock and key shop in Westwood, CA after finishing undergrad and I’m slowly renewing my locksmith license.
- Dreaming up travel plans for my next trip.
Me and my grampy. Christmas 2010.
My Grandpa Bill is my hero.
It is hard to do him justice in description. To me he embodies so much of what I consider a successful, meaningful life. He had a deep love of family, of learning, of building. His curiosity was endless. He showed a basic respect and admiration for all people. He strove to make others happy. At his core, he was a simple, good-hearted man who loved life with a force and honesty that made him exceptional. He did so much – all of it well, all of it with joy. I miss him every day.
About Timelines
My academic path is a little nontraditional and perhaps deserves a word of explanation. I didn’t go to high school. Instead, I started taking classes at a local college while still in middle school and then began attending full-time. After a year and a half, I had completed my general education requirements and transferred to university as a junior. I switched majors once (from biochemistry to math, thank goodness!) and took my time in finishing up courses. I started graduate school. In between, I’ve taken a few breaks to follow through on interesting opportunities: training as a locksmith, working as a research assistant at CERN, traveling. All of these have helped clarify my focus and goals.
A Year in Budapest
Between September 2010 and mid-May 2011, I lived in Budapest, Hungary studying math and computational linguistics on a Fulbright Fellowship. Without a doubt, it was one of the best years of my life.
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Encounters with Chinese Media
While working at Baidu, I was asked to give an interview on my experience as one of the first batch of foreigners to intern at the company. What I thought would be an informal chat over lunch, turned into a mini press conference – with hours of prep, 10 reporters, a handful of official spokespeople, and translators. It was a fitting end to a crazy summer. Links to the articles are through different Chinese media like Xinhua, qq, China Radio International, and various other places on the internet.
Notre Dame de Paris En Concert in Kiev, Ukraine. Dec. 2010
Of Childhood Dreams and French Rock Opera
Starting from when I was a little girl enamored with anything and everything France, I fell in love with French rock opera. In one sense it’s of questionable quality … in another sense, it’s a direct link to my childhood and simply wonderful. :) Youtube provides a few examples (not limited to French).
- Notre Dame de Paris (French)
- Romeo et Juliette; De la haine a l’amour. (French)
- Les Dix Commandements (French)
- MOZART! (Hungarian)
- István, a Király (Hungarian)
On December 8, 2010 I fulfilled a lifelong dream and saw the original Parisian cast of Notre Dame de Paris perform live in Kiev, Ukraine. I’m convinced I will never see a better show.