(Li Laiyin graduated from Shenzhen Middle School and is now studying at Princeton University in the United States.)

    Dear Readers,

    I’m now into the third week of the second semester of my junior year. It’s around this time of the school year that all of Princeton experiences a rush of “beginnings.”

    To name a few, for seniors, this is their last semester and, being the reminiscent beings that we all are, their favorite activities on campus are the study breaks and small get-togethers that they familiarized themselves with back in freshman year.

    For us juniors, we have to conduct research and analyze data for our junior papers (shorter theses on any topic of interest relating to one’s major), which may sound very manageable but is actually quite time-consuming and rarely at the top of one’s list of priorities.

    For sophomores and freshmen, elections for board positions in student organizations are finishing up and they are undoubtedly taking this time to adjust to their new roles and responsibilities.

    They say that junior year is the most hectic and hardest to survive in Princeton. I only partially agree.

    On the one hand, yes, we have more work, take harder courses and cannot escape the inevitable junior papers, as we all the while apply and interview for summer internships and lead initiatives in one student group or another.

    However, on the other hand, shouldn’t our first two years at Princeton have equipped us to take on any additional challenges as they arise? On a different note, we are all the more busy and productive, which can never be a bad way to spend time and develop soft skills, in my opinion.

    For me, I have been able to take away quite a lot from each and every one of my experiences, be it a nerve-wracking interview or advanced economics discussion. So, I have found junior year to be very merry and fulfilling.

    More updates on Princeton later, but for now, all the best to you!

    Sincerely, Laiyin