Day 1: NYC to SEA, home for a night!

Posted on by cathywu

We got to NYC and then JFK swiftly, and there are no photos of JFK even though the airport was so shiny because photography isn’t allowed there.  My inner asian tourist had to pause a bit for that part of the journey.  On the other hand, there were little birds in at the JFK airport and, as Josh pointed out, these birds would make excellent spies because they get to skip through security.

Anyway, below is the plane to Narita that was too full for us (we’re flying standby, and yes, we stood around until the plane left), followed by the next flight we couldn’t get on.  The result of all this plane-missing is that we were starved by the time we got out of the airport, and we devoured every last bite of our Szechuan dinner, and we were joined by my friend Jason (friends in Seattle, yay!) and my family.  The dinner quickly turned into a Chinese lesson too, when we crammed to learn the names of Chinese dishes.

And the upside of all this, of course, was that I did get to see my family, albeit for just a few hours, during winter break.  Plus, a small amount of Geometry Wars and this new racing game.  I also read 1 of 120 papers.. an OK start!

Tomorrow, we try again!

Day 0: Flu shots, shopping, bus to NYC

Posted on by cathywu

About to embark on our trip to Asia!  I’ll be taking lots of photos and hopefully writing a bunch.  Nancy, Josh, and Julian may be writing too!  There’s this Ninja Coder toy that may be following us through our journeys, starting with posing with my EeePC and all my Facebook swag. Also, thanks to Jenelle for letting me borrow her camera on this journey!

Apparently, Facebook and Google swag make awesome gifts.  It’s stuff that we don’t spend money on (as starving college students, we’re not supposed to spend money on gifts), these are hot companies in Asia, and swag is actually pretty hard for them to acquire.

Another untested pro-tip is to wear MIT t-shirts/sweatshirts to the manufacturing plants so the plant people can take pictures with us and have “MIT” all over it.

I went to CVS for a last-minute flu shot and it turned out to be a mess through my health insurance.  Note to future self: always get the flu shot though the free and fast flu clinic that MIT offers every year.  Otherwise, you might be spending $30 and a few precious hours before leaving the country at a pharmacy.

Anyway, leaving Boston in about 1.5 hours!

Chinese Visa

Posted on by cathywu

Image of National Flag

So, I’m leaving for a grand trip to China/Taiwan/Japan in about 5 days.  A few friends and I decided to journey out east for ~3 weeks to visit hackerspaces and manufacturing plants.  And there are so many things to experience culturally, crazy things to see, and delicious things to eat!

Even though I’m asian, asia seems pretty distant, and I look forward to closing that gap a bit.  It’ll be really great to meet people out there, learn some things, see a bit more of the world.  I want to know what life is like, what is the norm.  I want to know what computer science means over there, what their engineers are like.  Chinese class, though extremely time-consuming, has actually taught me a lot about China’s recent history, and really makes me want to see the real thing — complete with real people and real problems.

How to get a Chinese Visa
That said, though China has come a long way, Chinese websites are still difficult to navigate.  Here’s a blurb on how to get yourself a Chinese Visa, quickly and easily.  If you’re planning a similar trip, one of the first things you’ll want to do is apply for a visa to China.  (Taiwan and Japan each allow visits from US citizens for up to 30 days without a visa.)

Pull the official Q1 form off of the Chinese Embassy website. The application must be filled out electronically.  You will need your passport and a 2”x2” passport photo.  If you’re a first-time applicant, you can only apply for double-entry at most (though they were generous and granted me multiple entry anyway).  If you are a tourist, a random (-ahem- carefully selected) Holiday Inn in downtown Beijing will suffice for the fields asking for where you’ll be staying.

Unless you live in Washington DC, NYC, Chicago, SF, LA, or Houston, and can go directly to the consulate (where the fee is $130), you’ll want an agency to process your visa paperwork for you.  I would avoid using mail-in visa agents, though they are probably legitimate, because they are expensive and/or slow.  The cheapest option is $200 for 15 business days, whereas an expedited option puts you at $300 for “as soon as possible,” not counting the time it takes for you to mail your paperwork to them.  Luckily, local travel agencies often process visas.  If you are local to Boston, I went to Cross Culture Travel, where they got me my visa in just over a week for $175.

Hello again!

Posted on by cathywu

It’s been a pretty long time since I last really blogged.  It’s hard to imagine that I blogged ridiculously personal yet mundane things for some 6 years about my pre-college life.  And then was so embarrassed that I shut up for a long time.

Anyway.

This is an interesting way to apply for an internship at Khan Academy (or any job, for that matter).  It is very well formulated and concise, clean with minimal external links.  The only downside is that it is a bit over-the-top for my liking, but perhaps that is just legitimately “selling yourself.”