A New Week~

School has already started for 3 weeks. Nothing much happened here with me. Life back to school is quite normal, but it's already mid-term. Time really flies fast~

This weekend was quite plain. I didn't go out on Saturday because I was lazy. I stayed at home, tried to clean my room, and talked to friends on my computer. Later that night, I talked to my mom and my brother and aunts, they were all at my house in Taipei. We used the web camera and microphone so that we could see and talk to each other. It was fun, but because of the difference of the time zone, I stayed up so late till 2am that I couldn't get up early on Sunday morning. When I woke up, it's already 11am....

Then, the painting party started... 3 out of 4 of my roommates(including me) were doing the painting. What's the painting for?? Well, just something to make our living environment better. The hallway and the kitchen has been painted just before I moved in. Therefore, it's time for the tenants to be responsible on our own room doors. We ordered some pizza to share for lunch while waiting for the first coat to get dry. And we also watched an episode of "The West Wing" during lunch. I really have to say that this show is getting great in Season 2. Everything becomes very interesting. Although I'm not that kind of person who's enthusiastic about the politics, it's still a great story to watch and learn something from it. (Well, I still only understand 70% of it, that's why sometimes I have to pause it and ask my roommates to explain to me)

After the painting was done, I was already tired.(God, I've only painted one door!!!) I went to sleep on my couch and then I got Richard's SMS, telling me that he got back to Munich safely and was already in bed. So I got up and tried to finish the assignment due on Monday. When I finished my assignment, I watched another 2 episodes of The West Wing with my roommate and then studied for the quiz for Monday class.

I have a mid-term open-book exam on Tuesday evening. Still don't know what it will be like and have no idea how to prepare for that. Maybe I should just pray to God for having it be easy. Haha~~

I didn't sleep well last night because I was too nervous about the quiz. Now I felt tired and need to take a nap. The weather is shitty these days but it looks fine outside now. I hope I'll get a chance to go jogging later after my quick nap. Really need to do some exercise or my belly is getting bigger and rounder everyday.....>__<

慕尼黑大冒險之一

行李送來了，我的心頭大石也就此落下。好好的洗了個澡，想說可以睡個好覺，結果又是一早又醒了，八成是在火車上睡太多。不想吵醒Richard，就自己偷偷摸摸跑到客廳，在靠窗的大沙發上往外看著早晨慕尼黑的街道。好安靜的感覺。Angela已經起床了，她看到我一個人在客廳，問我會不會無聊，她有一些英文雜誌，可以借我。真是個好人。20分鐘後，Richard也起來了，他起床在房間沒看見我，就走出來客廳找我，問我起來多久了。今天他要上班，等他沖好澡，他弄了水果優格當早餐，還幫我泡了茶，他自己泡了咖啡。看到這個早餐，我不禁笑了出來，他問我想什麼這麼好笑，我說，在波士頓，我們第一次一起吃早餐的時候，也是他做了水果優格，泡了茶還有咖啡，所以現在想起來很懷念囉！

送他出門後，我的大冒險顧問Axel也起來了。我拿了我的旅遊書給他看，他給我指了幾個點，還有中午可以吃飯的餐廳，還有說明地圖路線，就這樣，我全副武裝，帶著我的相機和旅遊書出門探險啦！

慕尼黑小巷子真的很多，彎來彎去的，很容易從一條街變成另一條路，非常詭異。就算我方向感還不錯，結果還是迷路了一下。不過最後我還是有找到目的地，就是第一站：Marienplatz。
Marienplatz--Neues Rathaus

這是巴伐利亞邦的心臟，算是很中心點的地方，因為聖誕節快到了，所以有聖誕節市集，裝飾精美的小攤賣著各式各樣的聖誕節裝飾品，吃的，喝的，還有玩的，人潮洶湧可以媲美台北SOGO的週年慶啊！
Christmas Market


11點的時候，Marienplatz 的招牌大音樂鐘就會開始表演，很可愛的呢！
Carillon at Marienplatz

但是，站在外面等它表演和看它表演真的是太冷啦，我實在是凍的手腳發麻，覺得耳朵都快要掉了，等它一表演完，我就趕緊快速走開，看到旁邊有一些服飾店，就衝進去讓我的手腳回溫一下，順便看看有沒有便宜貨可以撿，雖然我此行完全沒打算血拼，還是想要知道一下行情，說不定有便宜的折扣貨可以下手。但是冬天試衣服實在不是一件容易的事情，要把身上穿的帶的都脫掉換上新的，再把新的換下把原本穿戴的再穿回去，太費工夫啦！我試了兩家店就放棄了，所以我什麼都沒買，雖然在櫃台等候結帳的人是大排長龍，但是很抱歉，賺不到我的錢啦！！

接著走著走著就到了Frauenkirche，我不知道中文翻譯是啥，但是英文是Cathedral Church of Our Dear Lady，兩個長的像大洋蔥的綠屋頂是慕尼黑的地標，進去晃了一圈，就出來了，因為很冷啊！裡面也沒暖氣，我對教堂內部沒有甚麼特別的感覺，跟我不是教徒有差吧！走來走去發現慕尼黑到處都是教堂啊～真的是非常天主教的一個城市。

逛了這麼久，飢寒交迫，決定去吃午餐。Axel推薦的一家餐廳，有巴伐利亞特有的白香腸，要我一定要嘗嘗。
白香腸: white sausage

一開始去餐廳，人好多，讓我有想打退堂鼓的念頭。我自己一個人來，不會講德文，又是東方臉孔，怎麼看怎麼突兀。後來想想，既來之，則安之，而且反正每間餐廳都有人吸菸，也沒分區，我去哪間都躲不掉，就跟侍者說請給我一個位置。好不容易在裡面坐定後，點菜又是一個大問題：我哪知道哪個菜是哪個啊......請小姐跟我解釋一下後，我點了一個白香腸，一份烤香腸配馬鈴薯泥。坐在我旁邊的一位老先生，開始跟我攀談，問我從哪裡來，來多久了之類的。他還教我白香腸要怎麼吃，要把外面的皮去掉，真是感謝他！但是我的馬鈴薯泥並沒有吃完，因為加了太多奶油跟起士，我覺得實在是太膩了，吃不下口，所以也沒打包。結了帳，吃飽就有力氣面對外面寒冷的天氣啦！繼續往皇宮前進！
皇宮 Residenz

皇宮一整個太大，我從外牆走到裡面，又從裡面繞到外面，腿都要斷了。幸運的是還好有陽光，感覺沒有這麼冷，要是沒有陽光，我應該就直接凍死了。但是在外面走走停停拍照，除了吃飯坐下來的一小時，我一共在這種冷空氣中獨自晃了六小時，又冷又累的結果，我決定要回家休息了。可是又小迷路，在路上抓了一個人來問，是帥哥！回家的路上，我又繞去早上看到的超市買點做早餐的材料，所以四點左右，我終於回到溫暖的家，沒過多久，Richard也回來了。六七點又出門去跟他朋友一起吃飯，一個是他的同事兼好友Hanno，另一個是好朋友Julia，他們人都好可愛喔！雖然他們後來又開始不自主的講德文，我又開始想睡覺，可是他們有很努力的在講英文讓我理解，只是講到工作的事情的時候，就會換回德文，比較好溝通吧！但是我會知道他們在講工作的事情，儘管我不清楚細節是什麼，沒那麼厲害都聽得懂，可是有時候可以猜得到。Richard覺得我真的很神奇，竟然知道他們在講什麼。他笑說，很快他就不能背著我用德文講祕密了。

前進慕尼黑

經過一晚的休息，算是養足了精神。不過因為時差的緣故，其實並沒有睡多少，反而很早就醒了。早餐是九點，跟男友媽媽一起吃，她還很認真的拿出地理字典查詢台灣的相關歷史，還問我書上說的是不是真的。真的覺得她很可愛，非常想要了解我的樣子，心裡真的高興又感動。早餐桌上有一種果醬非常好吃，我試了之後簡直不能停止，和小牛角麵包真的是絕配，男友說這是一種德國特產的果子，他們家後院就有種，這就是自家後院摘下來的果子，媽媽自製成果醬保存，所以是新鮮天然又不含防腐劑的手工果醬。男友媽媽看我這麼喜歡，就拿了一罐給我讓我可以帶回美國，天哪！真是太感動了。來這邊還有吃又有拿，真是謝謝招待～

吃過早餐，跟男友到後院走走看看。因為是冬天，所以是一片光禿禿的，沒有結實纍纍的果樹和爭奇鬥艷的花朵。但是根據男友的說詞，春天跟夏天，後院是非常迷人漂亮的，他們自己架了個小溫室，裡面有不少花；院子裡有蘋果樹和李樹，還有做果醬的那種水果樹（我依舊不知道那叫什麼名字...）。院子裡還有兩個小池塘，裡面有小魚，夏天有小青蛙，只是冬天水面都結了薄薄的冰，水裡的小生物都不見蹤影了。突然覺得住在這種四季非常分明的地方，有著自己的房子和庭院，裡頭的一花一草一水一木都瞭若指掌，生活愜意閒散，一切都讓人安心，非常舒服。平凡的幸福，也不過就是如此吧！
Richard父母家庭院

回到房間整理行李（雖然我沒有行李好整理....），和男友爸媽一起吃過午餐後，男友爸爸就送我們去車站搭火車，準備返回慕尼黑了。

六七個小時的火車旅程，或者看雜誌，或者聽音樂，或者睡覺，或者跟男友聊天講話，感覺很久，其實也沒有這麼久。男友說，現在我就瞭解他老是在火車上的感覺了。其實也沒有很糟，座椅也還算舒服，空間也比飛機上大，又有桌子可以用，也有插座，所以如果有電腦可以看電影，時間也是可以過很快的。（驗證：後來我帶給他的Macbook pro就發揮作用啦，三個小時電影不用插電，讚！）

回到慕尼黑車站，已經是傍晚七八點。下車第一個感覺：冷！！開放式的月台冷風颼颼，趕緊跟著男友往車站裡衝。回家前先在車站的商店街買點食物還有吹風機，接著搭上地鐵，20分鐘後，我們終於到家了。

慕尼黑的家一整個大，雖然是公寓，可是還是好大！！是豪華公寓啊！！客廳大概比我台北的家還大，每個房間都跟我台北家的客廳一樣大，男友有兩個房間，一間書房起居室，一間臥室。另外還有一套半衛浴，浴室真是夠大，淋浴間跟浴缸還是分開的，浴缸還是大到我整個人可以躺在裡面腳伸直的那種尺寸，泡澡的絕佳配備啊！

男友的室友是一對可愛的情侶，男的Axel自己開了餐廳，就在家裡附近，女生Angela是個金髮美女，人超可愛，是學藝術之類的。Axel是當地人，於是成為我日後在慕尼黑大冒險的顧問。

我們放好東西，男友就帶我先上街逛逛，認識環境。天已經全黑，路上商店也幾乎都打烊，男友住的這條街是慕尼黑最有名的名店街：Maximilianstraße，媲美紐約第五大道的頂級名店街。放眼望去，都是歐洲名牌，一間接著一間，因為已經打烊，只剩下櫥窗的燈光，映著穿著像是奧斯卡晚禮服的模型模特兒，不敢想像這樣一件衣服到底要價多少。我們走到了德國最有名的啤酒吧Hofbräuhaus.
Hofbräuhaus

進去看看，裡面真的就像旅遊書上那樣，女服務生穿著傳統巴伐利亞式的服裝，送麵包還有啤酒，人非常多而且非常熱鬧，男友問我要不要喝東西，但是因為很多人在裡面吸菸（德國的餐廳酒吧是可以吸菸的，但是2008一月一號開始全面禁止），我就沒有很想要留下來，所以我們就決定離開了。到門口，看到有兩個希臘人被門房擋了下來，不給進去，跟門房快要吵起來，男友就上前幫忙，結果最後幫他們從後面的門繞進去了，這兩人很感激，就說要請我們喝一杯，於是我們就還是留下來了。坐下來喝酒聊天的結果（呃～我因為頭痛所以沒敢喝酒，所以只有他點，我偷喝一小口而已），男友就得到了去希臘的邀請。回到家，發現我的行李已經送來了，開心的都要尖叫了！！

總結：真是妙不可言的慕尼黑第一晚。
Hofbräuhaus的啤酒

第一天，第一晚

真的很久沒有用中文寫文章了，感覺都生疏了，果然一種語言的使用頻率對於該語言文字的應用是有很大的影響的。

今年的寒假我去了德國，目的顯而易見的是為了與男友相見，共度耶誕及新年佳期，當然也是順道造訪我老早就想去的歐洲。這趟旅行，是我極度沒有規劃，完全自由行動的一次，卻是最最開心滿足的一次。我除了訂了機票，買了德國高鐵週遊券，買了一本關於慕尼黑的旅遊書，其他什麼都沒計劃，因為不能確定男友的休假時間。於是在出發時，我對於在德國到底要做些什麼，看些什麼，玩些什麼，買些什麼，完全沒概念，心裡只想著：我可以依賴男友吧！

經過14個小時長途飛行加轉機，我抵達慕尼黑機場第一件驚嚇的事情就是我的行李沒跟我一起來！白話文就是：我的行李掉啦！我急得快哭了，一個人在機場，又不知道那個該死的公共電話要怎麼用，手機也不能用，本想趕快先跟男友說「我到了」的好心情早已完全被破壞了，加上這趟飛機不是很平穩，我在飛機上頭痛想吐，百般痛苦，食物又超級難以下嚥，導致我幾乎是兩餐沒吃，這種狀況下要是打給男友，我一定會當場嚎啕大哭！當下決定不要這麼做，自己把事情解決了再說吧！很鬱悶沮喪的去服務台，不只我一人掉了行李，還好幫我處理的那位先生人很好，他說應該可以找到，八成是還卡在轉機的費城機場，所以隔天就可以送來。我留下了男友的電話跟住址給他，自己又繼續去另個航廈等待下一般國內線飛機。國內飛機稍微延遲了半小時，不過因為飛行時間很短，抵達時間並沒有延後很久，走出機場，看到男友拿著花在出口處等我，除了大大的微笑，當然是緊緊的擁抱。感覺就像昨天一樣，一點都沒有變，好似我們從來沒有分開過半年這麼久一樣。

問他有沒有覺得我的行李少的過份，他才瞪大眼睛問我行李是不是掉了。我這才笑著說：「不然我哪可能這麼快就從機場出來？」當然，我告訴他我已經去過服務台了，送行李的人明天會打電話給他。如果沒找到的話，我麻煩就大了！

他開了他爸爸的車來接我，一台幾乎年紀跟我一樣大的老賓士，在德國沒有速限的高速公路上以時速160公里的高速狂奔著。我看著窗外逐漸黯沉的景色，真的好有歐洲的感覺。路邊竟然就有羊和馬在滿是綠草的土地上閒晃，問男友，他說是有人養的，很平常啊，我大驚小怪像沒看過馬一樣，我只是不認為牠們可以離馬路這麼近啊.....

將近一個小時車程後，我們從漢堡開到了男友爸媽住的城鎮，終於到家了。男友的媽媽是個很親切的長輩，他爸爸也是既親切又開朗健談，家裡客廳及餐廳布置的既溫暖又溫馨，非常雅緻，配上昏黃的燈光，讓人非常有時光錯置的錯覺。我相信他們對我這個東方來的女子肯定也覺得很新鮮有趣吧！

在樓上房間稍微休息一下後，頭痛稍稍緩解了一些，下樓和兩個老人家一起晚餐。他們知道我會講一點點德文後，好像很開心似的，還誇我講得很好。早知道我去之前就多用功點啦！不過大部分時間還是需要男友充當翻譯，真是辛苦他了，呵呵～

晚餐後稍微休息一下，男友帶我去拜訪他的一個朋友，他們小時候是同學，他朋友已經結婚，有兩個小孩，最近在創業中。他做了些小點心讓我們邊聊天邊吃，一開始他們講德文，我很認真聽，字裡行句間我突然覺得我聽得懂一些，我跟我男友說我知道他們在說什麼時，他可是驚訝到不行！不過當然到最後，我因為時差很累，他們一罐啤酒下肚，又開始講德文，聽得我昏昏欲睡，而且他朋友兩夫妻隔天都是要上班，我們也不好打擾太久，11點我們就告辭離開了。

回到家，很快的沖個澡，就準備就寢了。還好我有自備一件T-shirt和睡褲及一組盥洗用具放在手提行李，不然這個沒有行李的第一晚，真不知道該怎麼過啊～但是，看到睡在身旁的男友，臉上依舊是停不了的微笑，經過了半年分隔，終於，我又見到你了。真真實實的觸摸，擁抱，親吻著你。我真的感謝上天讓我遇到了這麼好的你，只要有你在我身邊，我什麼都好。滿。足。

這是記憶深刻的第一天，第一晚。

First Week of School

Yes, I'm back from Germany. It was a great and wonderful trip. I could not find a proper word to describe my feelings of being there. I could only say that I did enjoyed the time there, really enjoyed. Being with my beloved boyfriend, meeting his lovely parents, hanging out with his friends, going to the museums, exhibitions, attending the New Year's Eve concert of Berlin Philharmonic, eating good food, watching movies.....I love the way we live our lives together. Everyday, I prepared a sandwich as breakfast for him, and he made the fruit salad and coffee and tea for both of us. When we went out, I could always find my hand in his hand. I felt extremely happy and satisfied when I looked into his eyes and found myself in his eyes and mind.....I should stop talking these things because it could be endless when everyone knows I'm in love. :p

I've been lazy these days that I don't want to update my blog. But I did update my album. Everyone who's interested in seeing the pictures from Germany can go to my album and take a look.

First week back to school was nothing in particular. Same classroom, same classmates, almost same professors. Well, we do have one new teacher for the first-half semester, teaching computer modeling and risk management. He actually now works in the bank, Wells Fargo, as the risk management manager. The teacher is from China, and I have to say, I have problem understanding his English......not only me, but lots of other classmates have this problem....I guess those American students must be painful.... But he's a good guy, especially he's willing to give opinions to students' resumes or CVs, and even written recommendation letters for students if they're doing good with the team project of the class. I think I'll try to seek for his help of my resume and maybe ask for the recommendation letter from him.

This semester will be a tough one, especially when it comes to the second half of it. Also I have to deal with the CFA exam again..... Need more efforts for this semester!! GoGoGO!!

Finished~~~

Oh yeah~~~Finally, after the 2-week final exams torture, this semester has finished yesterday. Felt relieved and happy that I completed the courses as I expected. Although the final grades haven't come out yet, I have the feeling that I'm doing good with all the courses. This will benefit myself when I need to look for a job next year. Yeah~~~^___^

My flight to Germany departs in tomorrow morning. I'm very excited now. I talked with Richard this morning and he said he'll come to the airport and pick me up. It's been a long time since we parted. So good that I can see him soon in 2 days. I'm super happy right now.

Last day here today is very busy: going to the bank, doing lots of laundry, and packing. I should take a shower now and go to bed earlier!!

So Sick.....>_<

It has been almost 1 week!! I'm still coughing, having a running nose, and sore throat!!! I couldn't sleep well at night because the god damn cough always woke me up during the night. Didn't I take any medicine? Of course I did. But all of them were just useless and my cold was so strong that it doesn't seem to like going away. So, I went to our school clinic today to see the doctor. Really need some useful prescription to get me out of this shit as soon as possible. Come on~~ the finals are coming and I need to be well to finish the exam, and also be well to meet Richard and his parents.(Oh yes, my first stop in Germany is at his parents' place~~ how nice~~~ ^__^)

The Thanksgiving Holiday

Time flies so fast that you can never imagine, especially for happy hours, it flies even faster!! 6-day Thanksgiving holiday just passed by and I found that I couldn't focus on my study back to school!! I'm getting too excited about the forthcoming winter break and my trip to Germany!! God~~the finals are waiting for me on the road!!! >_<

I was partying too much for the past 1 week!! Last Saturday(11/17) I went clubbing with several friends, it was a crazy night! Dancing within the crowds and had fun with my classmates. It was my first time to a club since I arrived here! Last Monday(11/19) was the last class before the holiday. After the morning class, I went home first to have lunch and then met my friends at BestBuy to see if there were good deals for shopping. Of course, I didn't buy anything. I have no money~~T__T After BestBuy, Lin, Juan, and me went to Costco together and bought some food for Wednesday's party. It was for Juan's birthday! We finished shopping and went to Jessie's place to have dinner. Because we were all too full, we decided to take a walk back to Lin's place(5 blocks away~) Then, party again......till 2am....

Wednesday, we went to school at noon, attending a resume workshop. After the workshop, I went home to prepare for some food. Then I asked Lin to pick me up and went to his place for partying~~another night filled with alcohol and dance...(I didn't drink at all~~)

Thursday was the Thanksgiving Day, I woke up late and did some study. But most of the time I was reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." It was so good that I couldn't stop reading it~~ In the evening, I went out with my roommate, Paul, to his friend's house for the Thanksgiving dinner. I really had to say, I didn't know that the turkey stuffing was so tasty!! That is very impressive! However, the people are BORING! They are just so boring that I almost fell asleep!!! Paul was mad of them because they didn't talk to me at all!! Well, I didn't care that much, but it was really boring, the only thing was nice was the food!! We left early and back to our apartment, we would rather watch the West Wing!! It was more fun! Hahaha~~

I went to my friend, Genny's place in San Jose on Friday evening, and came back on Saturday evening. They took me to nice Chinese restaurants and her boyfriend helped me fix my laptop. Well, although there are still some problems within my laptop, but as long as I can get online and do the things I need to do, I'll be fine with it. Thank God, I don't have to buy a new one, or my parents will kill me!!!

Happy partying also brought some bad news. Since I went to bed too late these day, I got a cold....>__< Sore throat, coughing, running nose...

Got to go back to study~~>_<

Shopping Season Begins~~

Thanksgiving is around the corner. Next week, Thursday, Turkey and Mashed Potatoes!!! Well, got to be careful not to gain weight!!!>__<

The weather is getting crazy here. Not as cold as the East Coast of course, but 2 days were relatively cold and following 2 days relatively warm for the past 2 weeks, it's very easy to get a cold!! One of my roommates, Paul, and my German tutor, Christian, were both getting quite sick since the Halloween!! I'm lucky that I didn't get a cold from any of them, maybe it's the jogging that works out!! I went to the German Consulate here in SF and applied for my German visa last week. And oh yes, I got the German visa and also received the German railroad pass this week. I bought the 6-days pass, which cost me $256 including shipping fee. God!! It' just too expensive!! Richard and I really have to figure out how to use this pass efficiently. I want to see Frankfurt (maybe also Heidelberg...), Berlin (for sure, because of the New Year Eve's concert of Berlin Philharmonic...), and maybe go to his parents' place (near Hamburg). But I think I'll spend most of the time in Munich since Richard still has to work during the weekdays. So, my trip will all depend on his working schedule. I'll be fine traveling alone in the city or some closer spots (like Neuschwanstein Castle) during he works. Hope the weather will not be too bad when I go there. Richard just told me that Munich has already been snowing this week and the weather is shitty bad....I don't want to be cold to death...>__<

School works are so far so good, still lots of assignments and quizzes to deal with. But I can handle them and I'm getting used to it. Studying has become a routine and I feel fine with doing it on a day-to-day basis. I hope I can keep my grades as good as last half quarter...

Last Saturday, I went to a movie, "American Gangster" with Ben. We were planning to see another one, "Into the Wild," but we didn't see it just because the show time was not match....The movie, ""American Gangster"(by Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe) was really good. It's not a traditional gangsters movies with so much violence, but is a movie talking about the twisted perspective of value and the decayed police system in the U.S. I like the way Denzel shows in the movie in a very low key. It's easy to being exaggerated when acting, but being in a low tone and still amazed the audience is the real actor!! It's worthy of spending 6 dollars in the movie theater!! However, it was raining when we walked out of the theater. The sky was gray and the weather was chill. Not a good day though...

I went home and took a rest, and then I watched 2 DVDs at home with my roommates, Paul and Noel, later that night. One was "The Bourne Supremacy" by Matt Damon (Jason Bourne), the other one was the "Runaway Jury" by John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman and Rachel Weisz. Both of them are good. The Bourne movie was shot at Berlin. I saw the Berlin train station in the movie, it looks very nice, and the plaza in front of the station is beautiful. I said to my roommates that I'll be there in 1 month, trying to show off to them and make them jealous of me about my forthcoming exciting tour there. Hahahaha~~

2 more classes for this week and next week, then I'll have 6 day-offs for the Thanksgiving!! Yeah~~~~^___^

Super Busy v.s Super Lazy

Haven't updated my blog for a long time. Of course, I was rather busy these days. And when I had time to rest, I just want to lie down and sleep. Who wants to spend one hour just to update the blog when one only has one hour to rest.....?? Anyway, this is just an excuse. I admit that I'm lazy, especially when my school workload become heavier. Let me update some news for the past week...

Last weekend was ok. I went jogging on Saturday, later I watched the baseball game. Sunday, I studied a little bit and watched the final baseball game. Oh yes, it is the Red Sox won the World Series again, after their last championship in 2004.

Monday night, I watched a movie DVD with my roommate, Matt. "Dummy" is the name of the movie. It's really interesting. It talks about a Jewish family and the son is eager to be a ventriloquist. Then there are a tons of things happened to him, to his family. Here is the link if anyone is interested in it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246592/

Later that night, my stomach hurt and I got diarrhea after the midnight, feeling very uncomfortable. But I was fine the other day. I studied for the whole day on Tuesday and tried hard to finish the assignment. Well, I have to admit that the courses of this half quarter are harder than the ones of last half quarter. I really have to spend more time on them.

Wednesday was the Halloween. I went shopping after class with 2 friends, and bought things for my aunts. They've sent their orders to me and ask me to get those things for them. I myself only bought a very cheap sleeveless dress....
Halloween Bags from Galleria Department Store and the Halloween coupons.

Halloween Decorations in my neighborhood

Later that night, I went to a friend's place for the Halloween party. There are so many people. Some of them have dressed up for Halloween. It was really funny!!
Happy Halloween~~~

Annie and Jason: Beauty and the Pirate(or the Beast??)


This is the very first time I had Halloween here in the U.S. Everything is new to me anyway. I left the party at 10pm with my friend, Lin, and we decided to go to Castro Street to see the crowds. Usually there is a big parade for Halloween every year, but last year there was a gun shot event so they canceled the parade this year. However, there were still quite a lot of people dressed like crazy on the streets. We only drove through the streets and then he dropped me home. (we were already too tired... :-p)

Did not sleep well for the past few days. My eyes are getting red and hurt recently. And I also had a nightmare Wednesday night: Richard sent me a text message, saying that he's getting married because a girl is pregnant and his the baby's father!!!!!!That really woke me up at 5 am and I checked my phone immediately and found no message was there....it's just a nightmare....I think I was just too stressful and nervous about the new half quarter of study. Also it may be that I miss him too much.

This weekend, I spent almost all my time with my dad. He arrived on Thursday evening and I went to the airport to pick up him and his colleagues. I called the cab and went to the hotel with them, helped them checked in, and then I went home and tried to study for the quiz and finished my homework. Friday morning, I met them at the hotel at 9am, waiting for one of their colleagues' sister who lives in San Jose to take us for a sightseeing. The weather was not too good because it was all foggy, we could not see the Golden Gate Bridge very clearly.
The Golden Gate Bridge: Only can see the top, others were in the fog.


We also went to Sausalito, a small peaceful town across the Bridge, to take a short walk.
Sausalito: by the sea


Then we came back to downtown SF, went to Union Square for lunch at The Cheese Cake Factory. Since it was the first day they've arrived, they had jet lag so they went back to the hotel for rest and I went to my class for quiz and lecture. After the lecture, I went to the hotel and took them out for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Saturday, I took them to the Fisherman's Wharf in the morning and to the Golden Gate Park in the afternoon. It was a very nice day and was totally good for walking. They had dinner at my place that evening and then I walked them to the bus stop and they took the bus back to the hotel. After they left, I watched 2 movies at home with my roommates. One is very old and short, but funny, called ""The Dark Army"; the other is the famous "American Beauty." I've always wanted to see this movie but never got chance. I like this movie a lot. The pace, the story line, and the characters in it. It's really a good one.

Sunday, I met up with them at the hotel, the colleague's sister came to pick us up to Palo Alto. We had lunch at an nice Italian restaurant on the street and then went to Stanford University to take a look. Wow!!! It is huge!!!(compared to USF......) and it's beautiful~~ We went through the front gate and got into the famous church on campus.
Stanford University: Front Gate at the end of the road

Stanford University: the Church

Stanford University


After taking some pictures here, we went to a nice shopping center to do some "window shopping," then we headed to the airport. I helped them checked in and said goodbye to my dad. I went home by taking the BART, alone again...

I was so tired that I fell asleep on the BART. After I got home, I started to study and do my assignment. It cost me a few hours to figure out just one graph...Macroeconomics is confusing.....compared to Microeconomics....anyway, I can't complain about this, it's my own choice to get into this field....I'll do my best to get through this program and the CFA exam in June.

Need to rest now, I'm tired...... for more pictures, please find my album link under my favorite links. I've already uploaded all of them. Enjoy them!!