(post) New Year Update
New-Year’s day 2014 began with an early-morning surf session
with Kate (my sister), Sara (my mom), and Uncle Dan. A good way to start off a
good year. January saw the beginning of my second quarter at UC San Diego’s
International Relations and Pacific Studies master’s program, where I study
international economics and political science. The end of 2013 and most of 2014
were devoted to study, though I managed to have some fun along the way. In
January, February and March I took classes on data analysis, game theory,
finance and accounting, Chinese, and Chinese politics. I returned to Colorado
for spring break and found some deep powder at Eisman Hut near Vail, and then
at Silverton—all with great friends from Lakewood HS and Whitman College.
During my spring quarter I took classes in international
economics, advanced data analysis, policymaking processes, international law,
Chinese, and a seminar on PhD research projects. I also worked as a teaching
assistant for a sociology class, and while grading papers about sociology isn’t
my favorite pastime, it paid my tuition. In the spring I found out that I had
received a Boren Fellowship to study Chinese and research environmental issues
in China from September 2014 to September 2015. I also was the recipient of a
summer research fellowship that paid me to work with a professor on research
about pollution from rural cookstoves—an interesting combination of chemistry,
data analysis, environmental science, and international law. Hopefully I’ll get
a paper about this topic accepted into a journal in 2015.
Aside from a river trip in CO with my mom and a few other
short trips outside CA I spent most of the summer in San Diego doing research,
surfing (nearly every morning) teaching an intro class about economics to new
masters students, and playing tennis. I also decided towards the end of the
summer that I would be applying for PhDs in political science this fall, with
the fallback option of returning to UCSD to finish my masters after the end of
my fellowship. At the end of September I moved back to Chengdu (the big city
that I lived nearby from 2011-2013 when I was an English teacher) and started
taking Chinese classes at Sichuan University and helping with language editing
at the Journal of Mountain Science—part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. My
Chinese has improved a lot since I got here. I’ve learned to read and write
over 1000 new characters, and just started a novel in Chinese at the end of
December. I submitted 9 PhD applications in December, but I won’t hear back
until mid-February at the earliest. Among the potential places to get a PhD,
UCSD looks like a great choice with great weather, the ocean, friends and
family, and a short and often cheap flight back to CO.
In December 2014 XiaoMin and I celebrated out 3-year
anniversary, and I’ll be going back to her parents’ house for the Chinese New
Year in February. We have a solid relationship, and we enjoy playing sports,
cooking, and practicing language together. We’ll be traveling to Cambodia and
Thailand in 2015 during our winter holiday—this will be XiaoMin’s second trip
outside of China and my 31st country. I she will be able to come
with me back to the US this September, but we are still trying to figure out
the best way to make that happen.
Where I will be at the end of 2015 remains a mystery for now,
but most likely I’ll be heading back to the US once in the late spring, and
then permanently in September 2015. 2015 looks like it will be an important
year with a lot of big decisions, so wish me luck…
If you find yourself with spare time and money during the
summer of 2015, think about visiting China. Chengdu has great food, pandas, and
easy access to the mountains that mark the edge of the Himalayan Plateau. I’d
love to show you around.
Best wishes to you in the
New Year,
Luke
