I am terribly sorry for the lack of updates recently; I am trying to get back into this, but now with school starting up again, it may be a bit difficult. In any case, my past winter vacation was filled with quite some traveling — I returned to Taipei, Taiwan once again for about 10 days to visit family and actually met up with quite a few of my Berkeley friends in Taiwan! The latter half of my break included my visit to New York City.

So it has always been a dream of mine to live and work in NYC after I graduate. Honestly, I think it’s the fact that it’s a large city, and with large cities comes the romanticized view of what life is supposed to be like in a huge city. Anyhow, I hadn’t been back to NYC since fifth grade, which was the first time I visited the east coast. My sister and I went to New York during early January, which is supposedly one of the worst/coldest times to visit, apparently. It was freeeezing cold and I literally felt like I was in a refrigerator whenever I was outside. I wouldn’t say that my visit will deter me from searching for a job there post-graduation, but I think it isn’t a “priority” to find a job and live in NYC after I graduate. Perhaps it’s the freezing weather that is a bit scary for me (seeing as I am a West-Coaster, after all). But, after much reflection, it’s also the fact that NYC may not be the optimal place to find a job in the social entrepreneurship / social enterprise field. SF one of the major hubs for social ventures nowadays, and while I am sure NYC houses some great social enterprises as well, there are just more options in SF. But honestly, who really knows until I start looking for jobs (which will not be until next year anyways) whether or not NYC may or may not be a potential place after all?!

To speak of my future travel plans, I will actually be traveling with two of my best friends to Europe this summer! I am beyond ecstatic, as I have never had a chance to travel with friends (it has always been with family and family-friends, which has also been amazing to have the opportunity to have traveled with them). We will be going to London, Amsterdam, Athens, and Greek islands Ios, Mykonos, and Santorini. I will then be leaving the trip early, and my friends will be journeying onto Rome, which I am terribly jealous that I will be missing but am nevertheless happy beyond belief to have the chance to travel to Europe this summer!

If you have been to any of those places and would like to make suggestions as to what is fun, interesting, and amazing to do, please let me know!

So I haven’t updated in quite a while now… but in the meantime, I visited Taiwan to see some family, went to Guangxi and Yunnan in China, and visited Hong Kong for the first time as well. All in all I had a good trip. Nothing *too* much to say…I could post photos and comment on them, but honestly I’m a bit lazy.

I do want to say though, that for the 1.5 days I was in Hong Kong, I fell in love with it. I realized that I LOVE the “big city” feeling; not just that, but I loved how metropolitan it was, without all the smoggy air, horrible traffic, etc. Hong Kong was densely crowded, but it was just.. nice. I don’t know, I really liked it. I did ONLY spend 1.5 days there,  though, so I can’t quite make any judgments just yet. I want to try and go back..soon, if time/money permits.

Right after my trip to Asia, I flew straight back for summer school. I’m taking three courses: The Social, Political and Ethical Environment of Business, Business Communication, and Marketing. They’re..alright, I suppose. Not absolutely fascinating or anything, but not useless either. I’m halfway done as of the end of this week, thank goooodness.

I’m also interning at World of Good this summer as a marketing intern. I really have only been interning there for about two weeks, so I’m still dipping my feet in the water… But I do hope I learn a lot. We’ll see.

Anyhow, I kind of blogged just to update. I don’t have anything substantial I quite want to say, and I really don’t like updating when I have nothing to say (i.e. this post). When I have something better to say, I shall update again.

Until then…

As much as I love being on vacation and not having to do schoolwork and living at home, I must say I am quite ready to go back to school. The familiarity of home is nice to be  around once in a while, and honestly, who can hate how nice Orange County is? Regardless, I’ve also grown accustomed to the unique, local colors of Berkeley and the Bay Area, but more importantly, the people and friends I have at school. Somehow – not that surprisingly, I suppose – friendships from high school have slowly faded, which I know is partially my own doing. But I can’t say that I’m not happy with the friends I’ve made at Berkeley over the past year and a half, and at how much I can confide in my friends there, and how different everything has become. So for that, I am quite thankful for those in Berkeley that I have in my life and for putting up with me.

On another note, I’ve been working on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) [two things I was completely unaware that they existed as some "science"! until recently]  in regards to a company’s website…and if anyone has tips or effective websites or references, please let me know via a comment or email (cacutie[at]gmail.com)! So far, I’ve used Google’s business solutions, including: Google Base, Google Analytics, and Google Webmaster Tools. Thank you in advance!