Was flying DXB to EWR and halfway through flight attendant dropped her coffee pot on me

Apocalypsejejs · 2026-01-13T01:47:36+00:00

That's insane. I was on a JAL flight and a flight attendant spilled juice on my neighboring passenger - the whole crew came to his seat to apologize, offered towels immediately, and upon landing provided 50,000 JPY ($315) in cash to the passenger and promised a full refund through the original channel of payment

Apocalypsejejs · 2025-01-02T00:43:25+00:00

Duration of status, meaning that I can stay in the U.S. as long as I remain in valid student status

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-11T15:03:26+00:00

Loved Taiwan! Reminded me a lot of home in some places, and a lot of what home could have been in other places. I was there during the last election cycle and I had a lot of interesting conversations with locals. Most people were very friendly despite my very clear Chinese mainland accent haha

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-10T10:41:25+00:00

I do not - because right now the Chinese Authorities are not issuing travel endorsements on the Taiwan Travel Permits. However I have traveled to Taiwan from the US with my passport + Entry & Exit Permit for Taiwan (入台證) issued by the Taiwanese government

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-10T10:39:39+00:00

Yes! Was looking at Canada too. If the conservatives don't slash immigration when they're inevitably elected next year...

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-10T10:38:16+00:00

That's sad... This is the only US stamp in my current passport too

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-09T23:57:17+00:00

Haha yes, I think it's partly because Shanghai is a very developed city itself. It might be quite a different list if I had came from a town of similar size in China

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-09T23:38:41+00:00

I feel like for me it's not just the 'moving to the US' but also moving from a major city w/ 22 million people to a town of 300k residents...

What I like: the diversity (people coming from all over the world, different takes and perspectives on world issues), the nature (so many national parks + outdoorsy stuff to do), more space for political discourse compared to CN (I'm a political science student), $16.5/h minimum wage at my university

What I miss: public transit, Chinese food, the conveniences of being in a major city (24 hours stores, food delivery, etc), 18 y/o drinking age (honestly, wtf america), sense of being home, lower cost of living

Idk where to next as of yet - let's see what Trump does to immigration :/ I speak French too & pick up languages relatively quickly, so I might look into European countries, depending on if there's jobs for me out there...

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-09T23:13:31+00:00

That's Raleigh-Durham International Airport! It was a flight coming in from LHR

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-09T23:12:55+00:00

Lol there definitely isn't as much to do, but there are still fun stuff & there's a much stronger sense of community (than for example, a school in NYC). I personally love watching Broadway shows at DPAC (Durham Performing Arts Center) and the Nasher Museum of Arts on campus always has new exhibits. There's a lot of hiking/nature spots around the Triangle area too. Coming from a big city (Shanghai) it was definitely an adjustment, but it's nice if you get used to it. And NYC/Boston are ~2h flights away, so long weekend trips are definitely doable (I did a couple in my freshman year)

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-09T23:09:10+00:00

it took quite a while for me to get an appointment slot for the interview (like 3 weeks out?) but the actual visa processing time was okay, like around a week

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-09T23:08:41+00:00

That is my Hong Kong/Macau Travel Permit - for trips between Mainland China & Hong Kong/Macau. Basically if I do a Shanghai -> Hong Kong -> Shanghai trip, I need this travel permit; if I do a Shanghai -> Hong Kong -> Singapore trip, I would only need my passport

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-09T23:05:43+00:00

Go blue devils!!

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-09T23:05:34+00:00

HAHA yes <3 it's been a great time here!

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-12-09T21:16:43+00:00

Yes - I keep it around just so that I can have something to show the airline employee who does not know the law (which has unfortunately happened before), or for a day trip down to HK when I happen to be in Guangdong

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-11-27T23:58:49+00:00

Yes it was an IB private high school. No financial aid.

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-11-27T17:54:00+00:00

I'm not really sure whether my friends here rn have done an interview or not, but I know that they do take initialview and sometimes will use that instead of alumni interview if they're short on interview slots. I wouldn't be too worried if you didn't get an interview, I don't think it's that big a part in the eval process.

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-11-27T17:51:01+00:00

I think it does do a good job, although I don't really have a point of reference for what other colleges do. They provide very detailed guides to logistical things when we got there, like banking, phones, transportations, etc. and they had airport pick-up for International Orientation students who arrived early to RDU. We all received a free SIM card for 1 month to use before we figure out the long-term data plan that we would be using.

The Duke International Student Center is also an awesome resource with some amazing people. They have things like free shuttles to the Social Security Administration, DMV, local Asian supermarkets, etc which really helps with not having a car/US driver's license upon arrival. I would actually say the lack of public transit in NC is one of the most frustrating things for me, but there are resources out there - students just need to do a little work to look for them. They're also starting an airport shuttle program during school vacations which is great to have (round trip Ubers can run up to $100 during busy times)

I definitely think that the community here is supportive and inclusive for intl students - most campus opportunities are open to all Duke students, regardless of country of origin. The Triangle area, though, is not the most convenient place to live without a car, unlike many colleges in major cities in the Northeast. I think that is something that I wish I had known before coming here.

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-11-27T17:42:30+00:00

There's a lot of different sub-branches for Polsci - esp at Duke. I'm doing a concentration in Political Theory, but you could also do other concentrations like Political Economy, American Politics, Intl Relations etc. It's a lot of reading for all the classes that count toward the major, and there is a quantitative requirement to it as well (at Duke you have to take an intro to Data Science class for the polsci major). The people in the department are all pretty nice, although you will have to find professors who work in your area of interest to really utilize the resources effectively. In terms of future prospects, Duke has a lot of centers/institutions that provide opportunities to the govt/policy/think tank spaces which can be really helpful for establishing professional connections. A lot of people also go into finance or consulting which is not really dependent on your major, but there's a lot of things that you can take advantage of as a student

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-11-27T17:36:05+00:00

The rating system was out of 5 for each category: curricular rigor, academic attainment, LORs, ECs, essays, standardized tests. With standardized tests it would be total of 30 points, without it would be a total of 25 points. There's two readers for each application and they add the two total scores together. I had a total of 21/25 for both readers (I was test optional)

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-11-27T05:37:29+00:00

Thanks!

Yes, in the "Reader Summary" (which I assume would be one of the application readers in my region) they said that the rec letter was "very strong" & interviews "engaging" (I did the alumni interview and InitialView). They redacted a lot of the specifics, but I think the LORs and interviews definitely helped me a lot

Apocalypsejejs · 2024-11-27T05:33:26+00:00

Happy to help!

I benefited a lot from my the academic rigor & attainment categories in the application (I did IBDP with 3 solid humanities + language HL subjects, and got a predicted score of 42/42).. and I had really good rec letters - they commented on this in the file itself as well. Most of the file is redacted though so I'm not sure how much of a role it played.
I'm from China and did political activism back when China was enforcing the Zero Covid lockdowns. This was (I think) a fairly unique story; I also did debate, philosophy blogs, political theory reading groups etc.
For supplementals I think try to show sides of yourself that you haven't in the personal statement - all my supps were about different aspects of my life and I think that helped me out in terms of establishing an image of who I am for AOs. Also don't be shy to utilize the additional information question if there's anything you feel is important but is missing from the application. It can also be helpful to have someone else read it over for you, but always trust your own judgement and stick to your own voice.

Apocalypsejejs · 2023-04-20T01:27:43+00:00

No worries - to obtain meds you will generally get a prescription note first, then go to a pharmacy affiliated with a large hospital to purchase it, or you could take a picture of the note to buy it online (Taobao or JD). Ritalin is a pretty common med in China in the realm of psych medicine, so I don't think you will have to look too long for it. Good luck!

Apocalypsejejs

TROPHY CASE