Dear Readers,

    Tonight is Princetoween, Princeton’s very own method of celebrating Halloween, complete with crazy costumes, dramatic make-up and a night partied away on the Street. At this late hour, I can hear the cheers and chants just beginning to echo across the courtyard below my windows; the fun won’t stop until the wee hours of the morning.

    “What about classes tomorrow and school work?” you might ask. Well, there are two things you should know about this. One — and I speak only on behalf of Princeton as I am not familiar with the academic systems of other universities — there are only a handful of classes held on Friday; thus, most Princetonians have, essentially, a three-day weekend that starts Thursday night.

    Second, our midterm examinations have finally ended and Princeton gets next week off for Fall Break! The timing seems impeccable, doesn’t it?

    I, too, just finished this afternoon after taking four midterms over the course of the past three days. Some of my friends had fewer midterms this past week, but are expected to hand in papers or assignments after Fall Break, so I much prefer how my schedule ended up. Though it was stressful, it was manageable with lots of hard work and determination.

    My plan is to try to spend my Fall Break wisely and focus on my Junior Paper. At Princeton, unlike most other universities, we have a mandatory 30-page paper to write in our penultimate year.

    In our senior years, we have a 100-page thesis to write as well. The writing never seems to end, ever since the writing seminars we had to take as freshmen.

    Apart from that, I think a large cup of hot jasmine tea and a good Chinese book will do for relaxation and alleviate my nostalgia. I do miss Shenzhen a lot; have extra fun and work hard for me!

    Sincerely, Laiyin