Boston College, my playground for the past four years, in all its New England autumn glory. Am I excited to graduate? Yes. Yes I am. College is supposed to be the best four years of your life—isn’t that what everyone says? Four years down and well, I hope it’s not. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t shed a tear or two when I think back to both good and bad times I’ve had here (mostly good). Without you, BC, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. And the person I am today? I’m pretty pleased.
I ain’t no Hemingway, and I ain’t no Einstein either. But I do still feel the intellectual wavelengths that pulse through little cool cafes such as The Smile, originally recommended by a blog I follow. Cities like Manhattan amaze me for this reason—well, for many reasons but this in particular: there will never be a shortage of inspiration.
Five Moments in Time:
- Shopping for trinkets with Dad at Chenghuang Garden, which usually involves me ogling at something, and Dad helping me barter for it.
- A serendipitous afternoon along Nanjing Road, during which I stumbled upon Eileen Chang’s L’s Book Cafe and was fortunate to have met the woman herself.
- A beautiful sunset near Tianmen Mountain on our last day of the Hunan tour.
- The cutest souvenir ever: crème brûlée from Lillian Bakery at Shanghai’s First Foodhall (720 E. Nanjing Road) came in an adorable mini mug.
- The beautiful exterior decor of a little shop in Fenghuang, Hunan.
You know that feeling that you get sometimes somewhere in your chest cavity when you see so much pure, untainted, and green (so green!) nature around you and you start taking deep gulps of air, as if you’ve never seen/never will again feel oxygen flowing through your lungs? That’s what seeing the above was like.
Photos: Baofeng Lake [top]; countryside outside the Yellow Dragon Cave [bottom], both taken during last week’s spring break trip to Zhangjiajie, China.
It’s the last first day of my last semester at Boston College, and all I could think about this morning (wide awake in bed long before my first class) was the above photograph I took late last semester of the sun setting on Gasson Hall. It was 4:20 p.m. on either a Monday or Wednesday. I was walking out from my FAST II class, going through the usual motions of petty complaining about how difficult the class was with a friend. And then right outside Fulton Hall, I saw that, stopping me for a good couple of minutes.
“The world is flat.” Shrewsbury, Mass. against an exceptionally blue sky. Dec. 28, 2012. Medium: Instagram.
Marcel Broodthaers, Musée de l’Art Moderne, Départment des Aigles (Museum of Modern Art, Department of Eagles), 1968. MoMa, New York.
Washington Square Park 12/21/12. Gearing up for the holidays; even the ESB is on board!
At a Christmas house party I attended recently, the hosts had tacked a huge piece of paper on the wall with a “Dear Santa” Wish List that guests could sign. Also to be noted: “Voices from the Dustbowl” questions from old Heights issues also tacked up on the same wall with lined paper for guests’ to fill it out. I love it.
Barbara, whose wise words and fun life anecdotes often fill The Dairly Candy, during brunch over the weekend at Bullfinches.
Famous kisses, @ High Line Park last weekend.
