Wow. This post marks my 200th post on this blog.
I'm sure this is not an awesome figure compared to some of you who are avid bloggers. I 'm really more like the "fair weather" blogger--> only when the sun gets out and makes me happy or when i have time, i would blog. But nonetheless, looking back on the posts that I had since J1 ( damn that's like 3 years ago) I sense a marked change in almost everything about me. Certainly hope thats for the better!
I have been wanting to do this for a long time. To send out an email and blog post to update all you friends/ people on how my 3rd semester at UofM has been getting along. Just that those silly time consuming assignments , mind boggling midterms, as well as SSA events, social life has been getting in my way. Here we go!
House:Well, I moved into an apartment this year from Stockwell Girls Dorm. The apartments which I'm staying at is called WillowTree apartment and it is indeed a pretty apt name for that because there is a huge pond right outside my apartment and there are dozens of willow trees surrounding the pond. Me and my fellow sophomores staying in Willow Tree did this pretty fun outdoor BBQ before the cold streaks starting hitting Michigan and ~voila about 60-70 people turned up!
Whenever I tell people i am from LS&A (literature science and arts) faculty and I stay in WillowTree( which is nearer to North where the engineering fac) is, people throw back horrified looks as if I made the greatest mistake in 5000 years of China history haha. But the fact is I really appreciate my spacious living conditions now, for the amount of rent i am paying. And the fact that I am so near north ( not a engineer wanna-be of course), simply forces me to keep heading back to the serene north campus to burn more midnight oil!
And of course.. next point,
Car:Yes i got my car finally after days and nights of head scratching and trying to learn the car jargon. Start talking to me about Hondas Toyotas and Nissans I might just be able to keep up a conversation with you. So I got a pretty Honda LX Accord 2001 coupe, which is a pretty sweet deal, by KBB (Kelly Blue Book) standards. My car drives awesome and it has moved up to one of happiest things in my life right now: mobility, anytime and anywhere.
Academics:This semester Im starting to move away from acad classes and focus more on research. Courses wise, which wouldn't make any sense to you btw and im just listing them for the sake of listing, are MCDB 427, 411 and HIST 132. I really enjoy MCDB 411 Protein Structure and Function and HIST 132, People of the middle East. You know all those cool colourful crystal structures you see in your biology textbook? Thats what im creating now for MCDB 411. Its a course that really deals with the most up to state bioinformatics stuff and with so much applicability in the real world, how can i not possibly feel excited about the course! Hist 132 is also another course which I really enjoy. Never knew why the hell the Sunnis and Shi'i are in two separate factions and what the Quran says. But now I learnt theres a wealth of knowledge about the modern Middle East out there waiting for me to devour, coupled with freshly acquired knowledge on the ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia etc.
Research:So the last missing piece of the previous paragraph is research. I'm doing MCDB 300, Independent Research. This basically means I am an undergraduate who gets to do cool experiments at my own pace, from designing the experiment, to doing the experiment and writing regular reports. This, I must say, is the coolest thing is have ever done! I am currently working on cloning 2 fly gene called, Hid and Reaper. (Apparently Drosophila fly geneticists get to name their fly whatever names they want to. Theres a fly gene that is called A-go-go the dance, because the mutation in that gene causes the fly to twitch like its doing an A-go-go!) So anyway, Hid and Rpr are two inhibitors of cell apoptosis (cell death) and I am investigating the mechanism of the phosphorylation ( some jargon you don't have to know) with the inhibitors. My job scope includes designing PCR Primers, doing PCR, making and running tons of gel electrophoresis, restriction enzyme and ligase (that we learnt in high school during those boring stern Bio lectures), transformation, cell culture, agar plating, protein column chromatgraphy, Western blotting...... and the jargon goes on. I shall spare you from the specifics. You really get the idea, this research means a lot to me.
i am really fortunate to have great mentors and fellow lab mates who joke and talk with me (the only undergrad in the lab) with almost anything under the sun. From religion to food to journal papers, I certainly don't feel an age gap between all these PhD candidates ( who are mostly married or..gasp..already divorced) and I even have the privilege of having a whole lab bench to myself! That part is really wondrous b/c I don't think any undergrad has that=)
Non-academic stuff:So I ve been part of the exco for UMSSA ( singaporeans in Umich) and we plan dozens of activities like Fall GM, MAF, Halloween, Midwest Games, SEA Games, Singapore Food Fest just to raise a few. And these events are piling up every weekend like crazy. I am so glad that fa-cai, what my exco calls ourselves and even names our group email after, has grown so much stronger and more capable through these 8 mths that we've together. Our events are getting so professional sometimes, that I feel so proud of it. I feel proud to invite my friends to the events and show them what Singapore is about. And to truly live up to our name fa-cai, we have been generating (quite a bit) of income for the SSA, and so indeed it has been a prosperous year for fa-cai!
As for my position for the Southeast Asian Representative, I stepped down as the President of SEA-Network this semester but took over as V-President instead. This certainly takes quite a bit of work load off my shoulders. I am most happy to say that the SEA-network has become much more structured this semester, with new initiatives like SEA SA Exco Retreat, Internal Showcase for SEA-N, fresh ideas and much better friendship. Friendship from friends Alda, Fareza, Pat, Dan who inspires me to embrace my Southeast Asian roots more strongly and friends where there is no need to put on a pseudo-American accent.
SEA Games 07 is coming up this Fri and Sat. And i certainly hope it goes smoothly. SEA Cultural Night which I did last winter semester was probably one the most challenging leadership experience in my life thus far.
Breaks and holidays:Over Fall break I did hit Toronto and Niagara Falls in Canada over 2 days. It was a truncated trip for me because i was bound by guilt with the impending midterms and returned to Ann Arbor earlier than my travel mates. Niagara Falls was pretty much a disappointment to me, with all that commercialization while Toronto really reminded of Singapore in some ways. It was a short and sweet trip nonetheless, I must say.
Upcoming breaks are Thanksgiving, which I'm gonna stay in Ann Arbor because I am bound by my monetary concerns and Lala is coming to visit me anyway!
For Winter Break I am planning to visit both my parents who are in Beijing, China and gorge myself with some real good chinse food before returning the great land of America for fries, burgers, quesadillas and their fellow high-calories accomplices.
For Martin Luther King weekend in Jan, I am really looking forward to the annual skiing trip and for Spring Break, I am hoping to do some volunteer experience with ASB ( Alternate Spring Break) around Detroit or Midwest region.
Bank accounts and gifts:Bank account figure is running low, with all the rent, food, hefty car insurance and of course fuel price hikes which simply doesnt seem like it would stop heading north anytime soon. Would appreciate it if anyone of you sends a check/ sponsorship for Liyu or simply send me some food/gifts from motherland Singapore. The latter is not optional, by the way.
Finally, i congratulate you for having read through this rambling stuff that I wrote. And please please do write me an email to tell me how you have been getting along! liyutan@Umich.edu or liyutan_87@hotmail.com . If you like to make international calls to hear my voice, buzz me at 1-734-709-4044 to catch up (its really not that expensive) or even better, I would be expecting that gift at my doorstep. 1845 Lake Lila Lane, Apt #C2, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.
Thanks for reading this b/c I know that only those who are genuinely concerned about my life will read on till here. Hope all is well and stay in touch!!=)
