Graduation!

Hi Everyone,

This past weekend, I finally graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Right now it feels so weird, to know that I'll probably never be back here in the capacity as a student in the future ever again, and to know that 4 years have passed already since I came in as a freshman.

On Thursday, my sister and my parents came over from Taiwan. Their plan was to spend 5 days in the US, including 3 days in Chicago and 2 days in Champaign. It didn't go off to a good start - I went up on Wednesday night, intending to just sleep overnight at O'Hare and meet them when they arrived on the early morning flight on Thursday. At O'Hare I found out that: the airport terminal closes from midnight until 5am, and that their flight was delayed from Wednesday night until Thursday afternoon because of the bad weather that was plaguing Chicago (I was really hoping for a tornado, as a parting souvenir gift from the American Midwest, but it never manifested itself. Boo). Thanks to the quick response of EE at midnight (Thank god she responded to my text message), I was able to crash at her place for the night.

The whirlwind tour of Chicago started on Thursday and went until Saturday. In the middle, we saw Grant Park, Millenium Park, an architectural boat cruise, and the Field Museum. I planned on doing more with my parents, but due to jet lag they were not up for doing all that was possible. Overall it was good. I took them to Giordanos, where they finally tried Chicago's stuffed crust pizzas (and loved it).

Hanging out with my parents definitely stressed me out, however. They are somewhat racist and conservative (my dad more so than my mom), which made it uncomfortable to have quality conversations with them. I swear, my dad is like the Taiwanese version of a Republican. I even had to convince my dad that Obama isn't a Muslim. Ugh. Sometimes I can't believe that I am actually their son.

On the first day they arrived, I was so happy at first to see them. Things started to go downhill as soon as my mom asked me if I had a girlfriend yet. I basically told her to stop living under the delusion that it was going to happen. And then she started to beg me to get a girlfriend. I almost lost it right there. It was hard to restrain myself, to keep myself from being disrespectful to my parents. If not for the fact that they were on their vacation, and the fact that I was trying my best to give back to them as a show of my thanks, I would have flipped out right there. She dropped it and it was never brought back up again for the rest of the trip, of which I am thankful.

I found graduation (both the campus and engineering ones) to be somewhat dull. I was yawning throughout and found my eyes wandering the crowd. In my opinion Bill Daley was a much better commencement speaker than the guy they had for the engineering commencement. I also had a lot of fun listening to the catcalls and whistles and other cheers that the audience had for different people....I'm pretty sure I heard a vuvuzuela at more than one point as well. I cheered for my friends when their names were called. It felt so weird walking across that stage, to shake both professors' hands, and to know that now it's officially over.

The last day in Chicago that I spent with my family was the best time I had with them. The weather was great, I took them to Sears Tower, and we ate Giordanos. It was a great way to cap off their trip. I tried my best to show them a great time here, so I am hoping that they had a great time here.

I took a couple of days break in the middle of writing this blog entry and my mood now is a lot better than when I had to say goodbye to all my friends. I know it will be hard to rebuild friendships and connections, but it is simply a process of life.

Next post about the trip to Mammoth Caves that I took.

-FCDH