Accepted!

Today has been a roller coaster ride indeed. I've been tutoring a boy and a girl and I meet them 4 days a week. It's so ironic because after I tutored them this morning, the mother tells me today that she only wants me to meet them 1 day a week since their English is improving and it's too much stress on their performance for other activities. Although I was losing good money, I was fine with it since I was tired running around and stressing from tutoring and working at my job. I knew I would have more time on my hands but then I didn't know if that would be good since I would worry about whether or not I got into grad school.

Tonight I skyped with my sister and my mother and unfortunately my webcam wasn't working so they couldn't see me but they could hear me so we just chatted with out the video. The first thing she tells me is "Lilly, you received a letter from the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) and you got accepted." It didn't hit me right away. I just kept saying "oh my god" over and over again. I didn't get into any grad schools last year and I applied to 6 total this year and I have been rejected to 4 so far (I still have to hear from Minnesota State Univ. since the deadline is May 1st). I was in shock but of course I was also super relieved and happy. The nicest thing my sister said was she said that her and my mom are happy I got in so I can come home. She knew that if I didn't get in, then I would most likely stay another year in Taipei since my mom was okay with it and I wouldn't have mind staying here for just one more year.

I haven't accepted the offer just yet because I want to make sure to tell my sister and Mom that I'm for sure doing it. It's such a crazy thing how one thing can really change everything! I had no idea what I was going to do for next year and I've been stressing out about it the past couple of months. When I accept this school, I can say that I will be coming home in early Aug. and that I will only have about 3 full months left in Taipei. Wow! Also, I can finally say that I FINALLY got into a grad school. I'm really excited about UIS because one of the professors currently working there has written a book on Amy Tan (I wrote my senior honors thesis on Tan). Now I just need to start planning for next year which means registering for classes, finding an apartment, booking my ticket back home, and many other countless things. I mentioned in the beginning of this blog that it's ironic I'm not tutoring as much because now I will have more time to do all these things for this upcoming Fall semester!!

-Chihchat

P.S. HAPPY EASTER everyone! :)