When the sky is rinsed in that cathartic, faint blue hue; when the soothing pools of raindrops cleanse the dryness of this land; when the only sounds that echo around our ears are the gentle “drips drops” that flow and grow over time…
That shall be when, perhaps, those words will come back to me. I shall gather the faded memories from an earlier chapter of my life, and smile at the effor...
At its core, the European Union (EU) is a multilateral establishment rooted in members’ common interests and consent. For this reason, Europeans oftentimes identify with ideas that correspond with their ideals, as exemplified by four key European allies’ (the U.K., Germany, France, and Italy) agreement to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), an instance in which t...
Time flies. It’s been almost seven years since I started my very first blog. It was rather a childish endeavor, a pastime which I hoped would capture fleeting moments that I might forget about otherwise (even the younger me recognised my nostalgic nature). Thanks to the Spring Break, I had some time to reflect on the fundamental motives and incentives behind my blogging activities.
Some of...
Greece, the birthplace of democracy, has always been known for its rich cultural heritage, breathtaking natural beauty, and delicious gastronomy. For centuries, invading armies of tourists have trekked to Greece to enjoy its unique attributes. In fact, the Greek tourism industry accounts for nearly 17% of the country’s GDP. Since the Greek leftist party Syriza came to power on January 25th of th...
America talks too much about race. America also talks too little about race. This is a line from award-winning Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s latest novel Americanah that echoes in my head. I read Adichie’s book last summer, since it was the my college summer reading assignment. As I read, I jolted down some questions, which I hoped to ask the author (who was to give a talk at our c...
“ZZzz…z-i-ao Yeee?”
“Here. Please call me April.”
And here we go again. Admittedly, my given name is difficult for Westerners to pronounce. While most Chinese names are badly pronounced in terms of their tones, my name usually causes a even greater struggle, to such an extent that some of my course instructors, on the first day of class, would hold their breadth for a second, an...
Slowly, the dark sky is gently rinsed by hints of blue. Dark blue, light blue, lighter… And gold wash. So emerges the silhouettes of pink coloured clouds, rejoicing at the dawn of a new day.
One of my very first blog entries after I started college was on nostalgia. It was an overwhelming emotion that accompanied that first-year curiosity in everything around me in my new home. When I got ...
Before we explore what transitioning from secondary school to university is like, let me briefly present myself to you through this virtual platform. Some interesting (okay, perhaps weird too) facades of my personality:
The little black dress. The simple turtleneck. The elegant ballet flats… Audrey Hepburn’s iconic image has long been associated with timeless grace, simplicity and style. At the start of Hepburn’s career, however, she was far from being perceived as a “classic beauty” by Hollywood’s aesthetic standards (Studlar 203) and was instead regarded a “counter-model” to the popular “voluptuous, ...
刚刚完成了大学第一个学期的学业，我有许多美好的回忆，也学到了很多。这些回忆绝不仅限于我的宏观经济学、微积分、中级西班牙语以及人类学的研讨课堂。作为美国顶尖文理学院，我的大学提供给学生充分的学术资源及与教授密切交流的机会。综合图书馆资料全面、不同学术领域的小图书馆提供温馨的学习空间、敬业的教授主动每周二晚上九点到十点半（有时会持续到深夜）组织额外的经济学“学习小组”，听取学生讨论课上所学的知识，同...
“Mind The Gap, Please.”
It is another busy day. Commuters take the stairs up, line up, receive an expressionless nod from the immigration officers, and walk across the yellow line, indicating that they have crossed the border. Again.
“Please mind the gap.” The broadcast echoes over and over again, first in English, followed closely by Cantonese, and finally Mandarin Chines...
Transformations in Audrey Hepburn’s Iconic Image and Beyond
The little black dress. The simple turtleneck. The elegant ballet flats… Audrey Hepburn was, and still remains, an all-time classic who transformed Hollywood’s sense of fashion and style. As a young woman who grew up suffering malnutrition from post-war Europe, Hepburn was considered “flat-chested”, “wide eyed”, “big n...
This freedom that college offers also comes with a price. After all, nothing is entirely free. Even Daylight Saving Time (a brand new concept for me), which gives the illusion that we get a free extra hour,...
Almost a century ago, a dark and skinny girl of illegitimate birth dreamed about becoming an actress in her country’s capital, Buenos Aires. Her name was María Eva Duarte (later “Eva Perón”). Not only did Eva Perón realize this childhood dream by achieving nationwide fame as a successful actress in her early youth, she also dramatically turned into a major player on the world’s stage as th...
"You actually say 'maths' instead of 'math'?"
Colour. *Color.
"So... I hope you don't mind if I ask you a personal question. Did you live in the U.K. earlier? No? Australia? No? Then where does the British accent come from?"
Realise. *Realize.
"Is this in real life?"
Favourite. *Favorite.
...
Classmates, professors, and strangers alike have been asking me similar questions. Since thi...
*本文为乐成教育集团内刊的内容。我在五月接受了该杂志的采访。
《乐成》 ：你是何时来到国际学校就读的？与之前的国内学校相比，你觉得都有哪些不同？
许筱艺 (April Xiaoyi Xu)：我是九年级来国际学校就读的，那时我刚刚上完八年级。之前就读于北京市重点中学二中的数学实验班，分数被视作最为重要的，所以功课特别紧，我每天回家都要面对做不完的试卷。
我觉得国际学校的不同之处在于：鼓励学生从参加各种课外活...
Of all the items in my walk-in closet, my favourite is a plain DIY T-Shirt from Greece. It has Plato’s quote, ‘Thinking: the Talking of the Soul with Itself.’ and my name in Greek.
I wore it to our Orientation Adventure at Sequoia National Park, a four-day hiking-and-camping trip that marked the start of real college life: as my parents returned to China during my time at Sequoia, I was ...
It started with the Tower of Babel from the biblical Book of Genesis…
There I was, sitting in my IB Business and Management class, wondering why on earth in this era of globalisation we still see language differences as a significant barrier for businesses expanding into new markets.
The biblical story enlightened me with an answer that extends beyond the realm of business: collaboration.
...从今天开始，我将会解答读者在美国大学申请过程中的问题及疑虑。欢迎大家留言。
今天解答的问题：
1. 除了成绩EC什么才能让一个candidate脱颖而出呢？比如是不是EC能体现一条主线比较好？就是能和你填在commonapp上的intended major联系起来？
2. 如果double major的话workload会不会很大?
3. 我比较担心学一个social science学科毕业后好不好找工作的问题...学校有没有那种fair之类的，像sociology psychology这...
Friends,
It has been three years since the birth of Roots & Shoots at our school. We have conquered the originally rock-filled soil next to the football patch, planted the seeds, fostered them, and spread them in the new rooftop garden.
I believe that this process has been a metaphorical one as well. Together as a community, we have voted for our favourite fruits and vegetable...
