我好開心呀 開心的想要大叫 哈哈哈哈~

我找到新工作了,在新竹, 是我最愛的行銷, 而且是行銷數位相機,

我很愛攝影,能把工作和興趣結合,簡直太perfect了!

老天爺真的很保祐我,也很照顧我,我覺得好幸福也好知足哦!

我要好好珍惜我目前擁有的幸福

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While my American roommate said, "You're gonna be a gourmet cook," two weeks ago,  yesterday, one of my American friends gave me a very special and thoughtful present before I leave for Taiwan.   ha ha!  I really love it!  That is such a cool gift I've had!  Elissa said when I read the English recipe at home, the mesearing system is different from Taiwan and the measuring cups we bought in Taiwan is different from the English receipe for sure.  It seems like more and more people are endorsing my cooking skills.  The day becoming a gourmet cook is not far away for me.
A picture taken in my bedroom.   Thanks Elissa! xoxo
The dinner I cooked with Diana. 

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The Harvard's teaching method was very impressive.  In Taiwan, the English course is usually divided into a few types of classes based on functions, such as grammar, conversation, writing, listening, vocabulary...etc, and that's the way we were so comfortable with. Here at Harvard, it integrated four skills together: listening, speaking, reading and writing.  In other words, the course was designed to be content-oriented.  The biggest difference of English classes between Taiwan and Harvard was we had tons and tons of assignment here.   We were required to read a lot of assignment or do research before we went to class.  Besides reading, we had to look up the vocabularies on our own, to annotate, and to come up with a few questions.  Everybody was so stressed out.  I stayed up late and got up early to catch up with my homework but still couldn't finish all of them.  At first, I was kind of disappointed, thinking that "Is this the English program I want?"  I would really like to work on listening and speaking skills instead of spending most of my time doing research and studying.   I would like to learn something more practical like TV news or newspaper or something.
I just finished my stressful graduate study at Brandeis.  I desperatedly wanted to have a relaxed summer vacation to enjoy learning English language, not jumped into another even more challenging program.  Oh no!  I complained a lot.  I felt depressed Sometimes.  A lot of times, I just didn't want to do my homework until the last minute.  When time went on, I gradually found the classes were so valuable, and started to appreciate the hard work and the great efforts the educators and instructors had put into in our classes.  We had visiting activities once a week and lectures twice a week.  With regard to visiting activities, we went to Treedom Trail, JFK museum, The Science Senter and The Peabody museum..etc, during which we were required to do research and class discussion before and after our visiting. 
In terms of lectures, we had Harvard's professors giving speeches twice a week. We had different topics each week. The lectures the speaker gave were related to each week's learning topic, such as human rights, education, politics, environment and gender.  Again, we had to do research before the lecture and discussed what we learned, what we were confused about and what questions we might have had after each lecture.   All of the learning experiences were combinded together, so we would start to question about what relations between the papers we read and the speeches we listen.  Was the speaker right?  Was there something debatable?  That was a whole NEW experience for me.  No matter in formal education or private language studies in Taiwan, I've never, ever had any classes teaching in this way.  Critical thinking is the most valuable lesson I learned at Harvard, as there is no absolute truth!  We have to keep in mind all the time.   
When I still feel painful, struggling with my never-ending assignment, I can't belive that the eight-week program is over.  Time flies.  I bought a Harvard's yearly planner and a flag to constantly remind me of the Harvard spirit, critical thinking, in my lifetime.
One of our speakers, the right, whose speech was about globalization.

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Am I passionate about English? Sometimes I am confused about the reason why I’ve been studying English so hard. Do I consider English language as a tool which might give a boost to my future career, or do I treat English as an entertaining value, loving it with all my heart? I really don’t know. I only know that when I feel upset, stressed or depressed, studying English at a café can comfort my anxiety and sadness, making me forget all my sorrows. I only know that if I have a laid-back afternoon when I don’t have to work or to suffer from the heavy burden of schoolwork, I’d love to go to a coffee shop to enjoy my time there, studying English with a great cup of coffee and with soft music. That is my favorite thing to do. Learning English makes me feel fulfilled and delighted.
Most importantly, the most valuable lesson I learned at Harvard was to have exceeded the English language itself. The greatest benefit that will last my lifetime will be the attitude to approach knowledge. We’re required to do research: to read, to annotate, and to listen to the materials online and then come to class to discuss the work. This Top-Down learning method at Harvard is vastly different from the way I learned in Taiwan, where students are used to coming to class and waiting for the teacher to feed his or her knowledge to them. “Whatever you can do yourselves, you have to do it on your own,” said Liane Jeschull, my workshop instructor. I have learned how to absorb knowledge proactively, instead of passively. It is significantly important, and it will be a great influence for the rest of my life. Be prepared and come to discuss!
In addition, the way of thinking at Harvard has had a great impact. We are encouraged to debate, to throw out our ideas, and to think critically. “There is no absolute truth,” Liane said, which impressed me deeply as well. I am extremely surprised to discover that I have been developing a strong curiosity about the knowledge that I don’t know. One day, for instance, we were required to prepare for the debate on Obama and McCain’s economic policies. Doing research, I found that there was a term called “subprime mortgage crises” which I heard about frequently in Taiwan, but I had no desire to know it or to learn why it so heavily affected the U.S. economy. During the preparation for the debate, I immersed myself into the pleasure of exploring this newfound knowledge. Now I have more interests in the things I don’t know, such as cloning or stem cell research, over the fields I’ve been very familiar with.
Learning language in this summer was not my plan initially, but now I am so thrilled that I did it! The courses are greatly valuable! Taking English classes at Harvard might have been the most correct decision in my time of the US.

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My research paper at Harvard University

Introduction

The recent news that shocked Taiwan’s society and has stirred up fierce debates in this island is that the university admission rate has hit a record high of over 100%, which means any student can be admitted into one of the universities even if they get zero score during the examination (The China Post, “University admission rate hits record high of over 100%”). An increasing number of people have harshly criticized the admission committee and have called for a reform for the Taiwan’s higher education, arguing that an excessive number of universities are the root cause of the low quality of college students. Having experienced graduate studies in both Taiwan and the US, I believe that high admission rate is just one of the numerous factors that lead to low quality of the higher education. Except for admission, we should look into causes deeply in a social and cultural context. This study will scrutinize three major differences between the US and Taiwan’s higher education: time to choose a college major, the teaching and learning styles, and the students’ learning attitudes. By means of comparison of the higher education systems between these two countries, the objectives of the study aim to make suggestions to Taiwan’s college students and to Taiwan’s higher education reform.
The Time to choose an academic major

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Argument Essay
There is a tricky yet interesting news that when asked, “Which candidate will you vote for if tomorrow will be the vote date?” more than a half of the American would say they will vote for Barack Obama. However, CNN confirmed in its nationwide survey in June, 2008 that when continually asked, “Which candidate do you think has a greater chance of winning the election?” most people might say John McCain. This fact indicates that most people like Obama more than McCain, but people do not think Obama will win, which means Obama needs to increase his trustworthiness and reliability. Nevertheless, while many people may argue that Obama is inexperienced, and that race has still been an issue for him, there is some strong evidence showing that Obama has a better chance of winning the election due to three reasons: the latest polls, his personal characteristics, and the recent media coverage.  
First of all, most of the latest polls all claimed that Barack Obama’s support has been ahead of that of John McCain, although the margin between them is very tiny. In addition, Obama has won considerable support from the Latino group. A new poll released on Thursday by the nationwide Pew Hispanic Center exhibited overwhelming support from Latinos for Barack Obama, showing that Obama’s approval rate with registered Latino voters is at 66 percent, versus 23 percent who favored McCain. Moreover, Gallop Poll represented a similar result. Gallop Poll Daily tracking of national registered voters’ presidential election preferences claimed, “Barack Obama has a slight advantage over John McCain, 45% to 43%.” Likewise, CNN’s latest poll also demonstrated the same result as well, saying that Barack Obama holds a 4-point lead over John McCain. “The Illinois senator is at 47 percent with McCain standing at 43 percent. About 10 percent say they are undecided,” CNN reported. All of this evidence shows that if the cut-throat competition continues, and if the support between McCain and Obama stays the same until November, it is clear that Obama has a better chance of winning the campaign, albeit by a slim margin.
Second, character matters. It is no doubt that both McCain and Obama are brilliant leaders. Both of them demonstrate successful leadership to catch people’s attention, to believe them and then to follow them. However, Obama has an inherently unique characteristic which is missing in McCain. That is charisma. The hot-selling of campaign merchandise can be deemed a clear indication of a candidate’s charisma. No matter which kind of elections, from as small as a congress election to a huge presidential election, the candidates will usually produce a number of campaign products, such as T-shirts, badges, baseball caps, backpacks and other peripheral products, for their supporters to collect, on the other hand, to raise election funds and to promote themselves simultaneously. Nowadays, the sales of campaign merchandise can somehow be a popularity indicator to show the preference of candidates in the public. If people are willing to spend time waiting in a line to buy a candidate’s product, that could mean something. If people regard the candidate’s product as an honor icon, and would like to wear it, proudly displaying it on the road, that could mean something. “We sell about 70 percent Obama stuff – way more than McCain,” a sidewalk vender said in Washington, “In the plain black T-shirt with the candidate’s photo, I’ve sold 8,700 for Obama since June 15, but the same garb with McCain’s picture just has sold 650 units.” Some might dispute that McCain’s supporters probably don’t wear T-shirts. This is not true. Everybody more or less wears T-shirts. It is nothing to do with clothes, but with how much they support the candidate they believe in.
Furthermore, the media’s coverage has an enormous influence on the election. Mass media shapes the way we see the world. Journalists and mass media are information gatekeepers. They determine what we should know, and what we shouldn’t know. They also lead people how to think. An individual, for instance, doesn’t have the opportunity to go to Iraq to see how terrible the war is, so he or she has to heavily rely on the mass media, including TV, newspapers, magazines or news websites, to gain the knowledge about the world. If a journalist hides the positives, presenting it in a negative way, it will lead people to think negatively. Not only is how the news gets presented crucial, but how often the media’s attention to a topic also raises individual’s awareness. With powerful agenda setting and agenda building capabilities, the mass media builds the audience’s worldview about what issues are the most important issues to them. For example, if the media constantly reports the war in Iraq, it guides the public to think that the war is the top issue for America, which will obviously benefit Barack Obama, as the majority of American is against the war. On the contrary, if the mass media incessantly focuses on how many people can’t afford to pay for housing, how many people don’t have money to let their children go to school, and how many people are losing their jobs now, it will lead the public to think that economy is the top issue to tackle, which is said to be beneficial to John McCain, while Obama is considered relatively inexperienced in governance compared with McCain.

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Compare and Contrast Essay
Why did Martin Luther King Jr. win the Nobel Peace Prize? Why not Malcolm X? Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are both essential and well-known black heroes in the history of the American Civil Rights Movement.  Both of them grew up in the same period of time, 1920-1960, and both were tragically assassinated. Although Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X have some parallels, they exhibit essential and intense differences in the way that they preach about the equal rights between blacks and whites. While Malcolm X long believed that it is impossible to achieve full equality with whites without fierce force and revolution, Martin Luther King Jr., for most of his life, promoted non-violent integration, urging that blacks and whites should be united and live together in peace. Why do these two powerful leaders display considerable discrepancies where it concerns the promotion of black rights?
First of all, the family backgrounds of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X have great influences on their responses to American racism. Martin Luther King Jr., born in Atlanta in 1929, was raised in a middle-class family where his parents gave him all the love they could, and protected him from fear, although blacks suffered considerable injustice at that time.  In addition, with significant economic support from family, King’s home was almost dream-like to many people. “King paraded his graduation present in a new green Chevrolet before his fellow graduates,” the example from the book Reflecting Black gives us a rough idea about his carefree childhood.
Malcolm X, on the other hand, born in Nebraska in 1925, grew up in an insecure and underprivileged family. The burning of his house resulted in the murder of his father. His mother later suffered a nervous breakdown, so his family was forced to be split up. As a result, Malcolm X was sent to a foster house and haunted by this early nightmare for most of his life. From that time, he was driven by hatred and a desire for revenge.  Malcolm X’s despair about life was fully reflected in his furious and hostile speech to his followers, saying that whites had no moral conscience; therefore, they needed to rise up to protest against their white enemies. 
Besides vast discrepancies in their family backgrounds, King and Malcolm X’s educational backgrounds also prepared them to develop distinct philosophies about promoting the black civil rights. King was a smart student, skipping two grades before entering Morehouse College at the age of fifteen. According to “Biographical Outline of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” King graduated from Morehouse in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Crozer Theological Seminary with a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951. He received his Ph. D. in Systematic Theology in 1955 at Boston University. Apparently, King was given the best education by going to Ivy League schools early in his life.

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I am the person who doesn't like to say negative things.  I'd rather wait until everything has positive come out and then share with my friends.  It's about the time to tell you guys what really happened to me in the past two weeks.   It was really a horrible period of time in my life.   I used to love my job and enjoy what I was doing.  I like sales job as well, but NOT door to door sales.  Where is the strategy?  Althought I've known this was a sales position since my second-round interview, it turned out to be totally different from what I initially thought.  I had to go to my territory visiting each single business store by store, floor by floor, and street by street during the terribly hot summer.   Due to the fierce competition in the  US telephone service market, Verizon, the client I was working for, has more than one outsourced sales and marketing parter in an area, and due to the fast turnover in my company, they kept sending people out to the same territory.  All of these reasons resulted in Verizon people coming in all the time, at least twice a month, according to one customer.  People hate soliciting.  "I just can't figure out what's wrong with Verizon?  We have Verizon people come in every week.  Please take me off of your list.  I don't even need this(handed a brochure mailed by Verizon)."   "I am sure I have the lowest rate. I don't need any chages."  "I am all set.  I am not interested.  This is not about the right time.  I am busy.   The person in charge is not in....."  These were the words I heard every day for the past two weeks.  I was so sick of hearing this.   It was really really a big waste of my time. The things I was thinking about were why I need to do a job that makes everyone dislike me, and act  rude to me.  Why do I need to do a job that makes me so miserable?   Even though people in my company always said, "Don't take it personally, don't take it seriously, just have fun!"  It was not fun at all.  I don't want to walk all day for nothing, and for free.

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I've always been positive in my life, but right now I feel so helpless.  I don't like my job.  Althought another company called me for an interview today, I just don't wanna work any more in my last precious two months in the US.  I 'd rather work on the things I really enjoy, that is language learning.  I asked my supervisior yesterday if I could take a leave of absence for language training and then came back afterward.  She said she doesn't think it would be a problem, but she needed to ask the manager and let me know the result the next day.  Unfortuntely, I got her message today.  It didn't work out.   ~><~ What am I gonna to do?  I NEVER, EVER feel so helpless in my lifetime, partly because i am in a county where my parents and all friends are all far away from me.  I just couldn't help but cry.  Everytime when I feel helpless, i miss my friends, boyfriend and family in Taiwan so much.  In the past, whenever I felt upset, frustrated or depressed, I always knew who was the person I could call, and who would support me no matter anytime anywhere.  I wanna go home and meet them as soon as possible.  Especially thank my boy friend's endless and unconditional support emotionally and finacially.  No matter how tough the life here is and how big difficulties I am facing, I believe that I can resolve it by my wisdom and courage.  I won't be beaten.    Have some favorite snacks and cheer up!  Hope things will work out eventually.

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When I first went to the school here, we were taught that there are three stages of culture shock. It’s like a bell curve, starting from the honey moon, following by the tough time and then going back to the regular life. You’re gonna get used to the environment around you, no more thrills, excitements, and discomfort. I think I’ve entering the final stage. In the past few months, I was more like a tourist trying to catch everything. I always had a camera with me all the time. I was desperate to grasp every minute in my time of the US.
This week, no school assignments, no work, it’s a totally stress-free week for me, but I am kind of out of place. I think I am a person who is used to getting very busy, no matter meeting friends, going to classes, studying, or working. Staying at home all day has almost been driving my crazy. Right now I am studying in a coffee shop nearby my house.  I am so lonely.  I miss my friends and family in Taiwan so much.  I can’t wait to go home! I knew my parents need me.  I wish I could do more help for our new house decoration thing, but I just can’t.
But this is the life I choose. I have to be TOUGH and brave. I am gonna start to work tomorrow for the very first day. Honestly, I am getting nervous right now.  Working in a whole new country with an unfamiliar language - it’s all new for me! I don’t know if I can survive well. I don’t know if my English is capable to handle everything coming to me. The answer is coming very soon – tomorrow!
Hope I will be less nervous after tomorrow. Hope everything would just be fine!

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As lucky as usual, I found out a new apartment just in time, right before the deadline I got to move out of the dorm, so i won't be worried about where I am gonna to live tomorrow, and my travel plan didn't be spoiled.
I've moved into my new house in Boston, which is much bigger and prettier than my previous place.  I love it.  It was so messy before I moved in.  As you know, I am a person who loves cleaness, so I cleaned it and rearranged the furniture a little bit.  That's how it looks like right now.
See more pictures at http://www.pixnet.net/album/eileenlin1219/13883563

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It's been five days since I got back to Boston from LA with a wonderful trip with my boy friend.  This was one and half fantastic yet busy month for me.  First of all, two of my best friends, 秋樺 and 怡鈴 came to visit me in mid-April.  We went to Florida, Disney land, Miami beach and US southest sinking island - Key West.  Three of us had experienced sooooo much, which couldn't be forgotten forever, I believe. Beginning from a careless mistake, I missed them in the NWR airport and ended up spending a night in the nearest hotel.  I remembered I was so helpless crying in the airport.  In order to wait for them, I missed my flight, and what's even worse was there were NO any other flights flying to Florida at that night, which meant I got to find a hotel to sleepover in New Jercy.  That was so horrible!  Fortuntely, I succefully met them the next day.  We rent a car but made it exchanged everyday, so we had a different car to drive everyday, from a compact to a SUV and then to a compact again.  Our car got towed, so we paid extremely expensive $200 dollars to take it back.  We didn't know how to pay the toll on the highway so we just slowly drove through it.  We were so worried about getting the ticket as we didn't know how huge money we were gonna pay?  The most scary thing was putting the diesel into gas tank which damaged the engine terribly   We got stuck in a huge parking lot at 2:00 in the morning where nobody was there.  You can't imagine how terrified of us.  It's so late.  We were dared not to get out of the car.  Hopefully, a patrol police car passed by so they came for help.  Thanks godness!  We bought a full coverage insurance, otherwise we got to pay $300 to tow the car.  It's gonna cost us as mush as a thousand US dollars to fix it.  We were so lucky, otherwise we got to stay in America, washing dishes for years and years to pay the debt. Follow by my friends' visit, my boyfriend came to visit me for three weeks in May.  It's so

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