A little spring in my step

I opened my computer this morning and had a message from Julianna. When I first returned to the States last summer and began grad school in the fall, I was "homesick" for Taiwan. As I got more comfortable with my life in Bloomington that feeling gradually went away, but I've found myself occupied with thoughts of Taiwan for the past month or so. I realized that it probably had to do with the fact that it was once again Chinese New Year and one year since my friend Jenni had come to visit me in Taiwan. I had also received an earlier message from Peiwen and we finally found time to Skype just as the lunar new year was about to begin. I looked into flights to Taiwan, but tickets for the weeks I thought I might be able to go were outrageously expensive. So I turned to my trusty method of browsing a hungry girl's guide to taipei to ease my sadness of missing dear friends and some of my favorite spots.

Back to this morning. For some reason or another I started thinking about my blog and remembered that the last post I wrote was a bit negative and not really reflective of my current thoughts and feelings. Last semester was difficult just because it was all new, but I also realized that I was taking a number of basic classes that I was interested in, but weren't really helping me figure out my exact niche in my studies. This semester's classes mostly focus on Chinese linguistics and pedagogy, so I'm starting to delve into the heart of what I wanted to do. I feel like I'm really starting to define who I want to be as an academic and my classes are giving me the information I feel like I need to set me in the right direction.

In other good news, I had begun looking for a part-time job late last semester as I realized that I'd really need to supplement my income to get through the holidays. As anyone who knows me well already knows, I've dreamed about working as a florist since middle school. The closest I got to the action was the summer I interned at The Carter Center and worked part-time for an ice cream shop that shared space with a florist and a cupcake shop. It was pretty much my favorite place in the world. Then in Taiwan, I met Sonia, a self-taught floral designer. I went to the flower market with her and watched her and her partner arrange beautiful bouquets of dark red roses interspersed with little bright red flowers that looked like prickly mini strawberries.   A few months ago I had contacted the owner of a local florist with really stunning creative, contemporary designs. She wasn't hiring at the time but did recently contact me for an interview and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll finally get the opportunity to be a part of something so inspired.

By this time next week I'll be home, having just begun my spring break. I am so excited to have another spring break at home-- it's been three years since spring break of my senior year at Lawrence. My brother Phillip and I also have the same break, which would never have happened while I was at Lawrence, so it's really great to know that we'll be at home together.

Well, that's all for now. It's time for a little brunch!