No regrets.

No regrets. That's how I choose to view my life (on good days, at least. Everyone has off days sometimes!). As I approach the potential end of my schooling (who needs a PhD anyways?), it hit me that I wouldn't be here unless it was the specific circumstances that I have gone through: the good, the bad, everything combined has allowed me to be who I really am today. So with that said, I did some deep thinking (WHAT?! who does that?!) and this is how I got here:

5 yr- old Grace, from the very beginning, always said that she wanted to be a teacher in Taiwan. The End. haha just kidding! The story is much longer than that.. read on if you wish.

Skip ahead a few years....

Second semester, senior year of high school. I was going through a transition (breakups are hard!), and I started working part-time at Quiznos (ya-yah sandwich-makers!). My parents strongly advised against it, they just didn't want me to start working so young. I loved every minute that I was there though, it was the tiniest of stores, most of the time it was just the owner, the manager, and me. For a first job, I got pretty lucky. :)

I graduated and moved to college, where I decided to work on my Chinese by majoring in it. During my time there, I also used my past job experience to snag a lovely position at the community center area I lived in. From there, I learned a lot (yay, housing and diversity!) but I also met a wonderful boy who I dated for the majority of my college years. While we have since decided to remain good friends, he was the one who really started pushing me out of my comfort zone and into new, sometimes scary, areas of darkness. One of those being: studying abroad in Taiwan for a year. Seriously, Taiwan was (and still is) amazing, and one of the best 9 months of my life. I always agree when people say that studying abroad/moving away/being on your own really does change a person. I've grown so much, and met amazing friends who I love, one of whom JUST got engaged! (Congrats Steph and Rick!) <33

After Taiwan, I literally came back 2 days before UCI's graduation, walked, and had nothing to do with my life. Having realized too late, for the first time in my life, I hadn't planned for the future, I bummed around my house for about 6 months before something fell down from the sky. A dual-language Mandarin/English elementary school was hiring for a T.A. :O Up until this point, I wasn't sure where my life was headed, and bumming around was definitely not my thing (although I later realized how relaxing and awesome it was).

But being in Taiwan for a year started that darn "travel bug" in me, and after moving back home for a year, I decided it was time to pick up again. Destination this time: New York City! Not going to lie, moving to a brand new city where you don't know anybody is scary as heck! Starting over again, especially in a big city like this, was not easy. But I was still going after my dream of being a teacher, and NYU's dual Mandarin/TESOL program seemed perfect. Not surprisingly, but if you wanted to teach a foreign language, you would need to have majored in it. Um, perfect, much? (Yay Chinese major/Education minor!) and I think that having worked in a dual program also significantly helped. There were definitely its ups and downs, being the only ABC in my year sometimes made me feel a bit lonely and I've continually questioned my own language abilities, but that's a discussion for another time.

Almost 2 years later, thanks to lovely advisors and NYU, this one has now worked at a couple after school programs, China Institute, gone through 2 semesters of student teaching, and grown in not only my knowledge, but everything (physically too, I'm so much fatter now!).

(Although as a disclaimer, I highly don't recommend working 2 jobs while student teaching and full-time student-status, it can get really stressful).

As cliche as this sounds though, I truly believe that everything in my life led me to this exact point. From the heartbreaks, to the exact people in my life, to every experience, it's made me who I am. and who I am is now: Grace Wang, M.A.!!!!

So thanks for all the love and support these past couple of years, this is for you guys!!

PICTURE TIME!

the fam <3

Radio City!

Grace + Radio City! 

The official cap and gown.

My lovely advisors.

Janet and Susie! :)

Yuqi!

The well-dressed Andrew.

Me.

Graduation dinner at Chelsea Market- we like to take pictures with food. Don't judge.

Blurry pic :( But cutie pies!

I liked both. I <3 you, Nicole!

So proud of this girl!

Chrissie, and the "Dance Educators!" One of the best performances I've seen!

At the end of it all, she's one of the strongest women I know. Love you, sister!

My family! They're so cute.

Parents are love.

Due to a very hectic schedule lately, this post is long over-due. Better late than never!

I was so blessed to have an amazing spring break; one that included a short-trip home to LA, 24 hours in Vegas, and back to NY with 2 amazing people: the parentals. What's special about this trip was that 1) my parents had never both visited me at the same time, and this was because 2) it was my mom's first trip EVER to NYC (and the East Coast, for that matter). I know they don't like being splattered all over the internet, but oh well!

Unfortunately, I feel like asking other people to take pics always comes out to blurry pictures :(

 It doesn't count as a NY trip unless we be tourists and head to Times Square. Their lovely daughter treated them to two shows: Newsies and Breakfast at Tiffanys. Man, she's so great.

Yes, we even took a mid-week trip to see Obama. Washington, D.C!

Grand Central. I dont know why, maybe I like backs more than fronts. hahaha

My parents are too cute. @Lombardi's, the "first pizza place in the U.S." That's what their sign tells me anyway.

And of course, they came to see me at my new habitat, also known as NYU. Such proud parents!

It snowed when we went uptown for the day. Us Californians got very excited to see snow actually falling!

Lastly, my favorite secret spot. 

I found this treasure when I actually took the time to flip through all the photos, and I was very surprised to find this one. It's a keeper. I'm so lucky to have such awesome parents. <33