EF Internship 2014

Alright, this is the first blog post after I got back to Taiwan.

After all, there are too many things to do and work on during summer such as internship and SAT preparation.

Now I finally got the time to work on my blog post once again… (OOWHOO~~~)

First of all, I was very lucky to have the participate in the internship in Taipei during my summer vacation.

Honestly I didn’t really expect that I was going to be able to being a part of this,

but guess what???

I made it: with a really “not-that-good” cv and a pretty successful interview wit the officials, I got to spent the first few weeks of my summer to get to see how a business looks in real life.

Well, I think it is really a great opportunity, after all, internship is a very rare experience for a seventeen-year-old teen because usually this is also for college/university students only.

During the internship I’ve got the chance to understand more details about EF, and I was able to do some marketing by social medias and joining inform meetings to attract potential customers.

Even though the internship only lasts for ten working days due to my SAT courses that starts in the beginning of July, I still learned a lot. Now I know that going to school is a pretty good thing; at least, A LOT BETTER than getting locked in a space and can’t leave until you finish your work.

At the same time, I also understand more about how hard it can be when you’re at work: For example, you’ll get a lot of phone calls with customer’s requests or even complaints; at the same time, you also need to complete the tasks that they are assigned with. But most importantly, I see that everyone in the office is working hard to achieve their goal, and I felt really glad that I got the chance to work besides and interact with them.

In the end, I am really glad that I was able to participate, especially when I was able to be a part of this in my hometown and have a really unique experience during summer. My superiors: Angel & Shirley, are both very nice and they really taught me a lot. And I would really recommend other students in EF Academy can consider about spending the first few weeks of summer on this program. After all it is a really unique experience; most important of all, if you haven’t bought the ticket back home yet, you really should consider about doing it in another country; so at the same time you will be able to learn about marketing and promoting; you will also be able to learn the culture of the country too.

Just wanna say thank you to the ones who were with me during the internship: Angel, Annie, and Shirley. You guys have been great partners and friends and I hope that we will be seeing each other soon.

Alright, I’ll just leave it here for a while, gonna work on my Extended Essay right now. IT’S NOW OR NEVER…

吼吼，這是回台灣過暑假之後第一篇文 （而且從七月拖到八月才寫完）

畢竟這個暑假實在是有太多事情要做了

實習＋SAT+寫論文還有一堆書面報告要做

現在好不容易找到時間可以悠閒的寫個文章放到BLOG上

首先，我必須要說我真的很開心能夠參加EF這次的實習機會

畢竟以一個十七歲的青少年來說真的是個很不同的體驗 加上說我寫的履歷好像也寫的不怎麼樣（我想這次能參加都要歸功于我超成功的interview）

我能夠被錄取也真的是幸運

於是我的暑假的前幾個禮拜就是過著像是上班族的生活

在這個實習中我想我更了解EF，而且我還有機會去接觸到市場與行銷的部分

不過我覺得印象最深刻的還是Inform Meeting吧

要在家長面前介紹在國外的生活這樣

雖然說第一場有稍微暴走一下基本上我覺得這是我speech裡面最成功的一次

而且能把觀眾的目光牢牢緊握在自己身上真是一件很爽事啊！！！

第二場說明會則是在新竹科學園區附近舉行

不過可惜結束的時候時間已經有點晚

所以很遺憾沒辦法去逛城隍廟夜市或著是在外面野餐之類的

我想我在這次實習到最大的事應該就是工作這件事吧

花錢容易賺錢難這件事真的不是假的

難怪有一堆人年輕人喊說做得要死還是只有22K可以拿

還有上學真的是很幸福的事

上課的時候基本上只要坐在座位上

看著老師在前方口沫橫飛

只要確保手有在抄筆記 耳朵開關有打開

腦袋有在處理課本和老師講解的資訊 還有不要上課時間去找周公就好了

也許學習到的東西有可能會在未來受用無窮，但是也有可能一輩子都沒有用上

但是至少這是一個訓練

不論是功課 報告 甚至是考試，這些煩人的東西都是為了未來而準備

確保我們在進入職場之前擁有對於自己的領域擁有一定程度的認知及了解 並懂得將其發揮在現實上。

坦白說，這次的實習因為時間比較短

能學到的實在是有限，但是這些獨特的經驗，讓我今年的暑假更精彩了一些。

首先先感謝Angel，從我進EF到現在真的幫過我很多，而且也是個很好的CPM + 上司和朋友，希望你在離開EF之後，可以好好休息和陪伴家人，期待以後再見面囉 (畢業典禮記得來紐約也誒）

然後要感謝Annie，讓我在實習的期間有位超級HIGH的朋友在一旁和一起主持Inform Meeting，明年暑假等我考完大學再見面吧哈哈

最後感謝Shirley，給我很多在工作上的一些技巧也帶來很多歡樂 (跟Annie根本就超HIGH的），千萬不能走啊，不然到時候我來EF Office沒有人可以欺負啊…（喂

先寫到這邊，我要回去趕我的論文了…. 最後附上照片～～～

[手札文] End of Junior Year 的純感想 :p

我知道...我大概有三四個月沒碰我的blog了...

來寫文章的時候有一股來到北非大沙漠的fu
其實原本是有一篇在Manhattan一日遊的美食文要在四五月刊出來

不過學校的事情是在是太多了... (這一切的suffering都要歸功于本校的IB課程：Internatioal Baccaluerate Program)

無止盡的論文＋報告＋deadlines…

都讓我只好把預計日期一直postpone （我會儘量在六七月趕出來

所以趁今天沒有段考的下午寫篇小小的日記文來發發牢騷

順便提醒各位這個blog還沒有變成沙漠XDD


再過幾天就要回台灣了

很快的一年又過去

記得去年的這個時候一直在抱怨說

十一年級上了IB就要下地獄了啊之類的

其實現在回想起來感覺也還好

可能是因為有些事情已經熬過去了

不過主要原因大概還是因為現在才知道

Junior Year只是開始，好戲在今年的九月～十二月

到時候有更多的Deadlines＋最後兩次SAT＋College Applications+ Group Four Project之類的東西迎接我的Senior Year

說實話，今年跟去年比起來，十年級的生活根本就是度假

當時除了英文老師出了很多可怕的作業加上一堆書要讀之外

真的輕鬆到現在無法想像（想當年還可以躺著等放假哎




雖然十年級真的過得很輕鬆

但是我真心覺得這十一年級才算是真的沒有白過。

這一年，認識了很多新的人

難得結交到知心的摯友

參加很多的課外活動

花更多的時間在戶外

在Tarrytown散散心 或著是去Manhattan走走

探索這傳說中的大蘋果

當然也有歷經更多的困難和挫折

一大票的功課（樹都被砍光了還印考卷...） 成績瘋狂的往下跌，跟我原本交情不錯的朋友鬧翻，還有其他不愉快的事之類的。

不過更重要的還是記得愉快的事囉

今年讓我真的體會到

生活就是要像心電圖一樣，會有起伏也會有落下的時候

這樣才是沒有白活。

今年暑假也沒辦法像去年那樣輕鬆了

Internship和補習已經站滿不少時間

不過相信這一切都會值得

說實話

我已經在期待明年的這一刻了啊！！！

考完大學後一定要瘋狂的玩＋瘋狂的吃 ＋瘋狂的去旅行（如果有錢的話


最後，再見紐約，哈囉臺北！暫別我的Second home，準備收拾行李回家囉！

LUNAR NEW YEAR 2014 在紐約過的農曆新年

原本以為這次的新年會跟去年一樣

很冷清 很冷淡 很心酸的度過。

雖然這次的心難也是在國外過

不過出乎意料的是：今年的新年卻過得特別開心！

My high-school is an international boarding school. As Asian students wouldn't be able to go to their home countries to celebrate; so each year, students from over fifty countries come to Spellman auditorium to join our lunar new year celebration. 

我讀的高中是國際學校。我們學校的學生來自于超過五十個不同的國家，由於大部份的亞洲學生沒有辦法回家過年（ 唉唉唉人家在放假我們在上課啊！），所以每一年的農曆新年，我們都會有農曆新年的活動在spellman舉行，

As always, students from China, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam prepared performances; though this year Indonesian and Malaysian couldn't participate, we also have Thailand join us to celebrate this great event.

有慶祝農曆新年的習俗的國家，像是台灣 越南 韓國 中國，這次都有準備活動;可惜的是馬來西亞汗印尼這次無法參加，不過這次也有泰國的表演加入！

Oh okay, and now let's talk about the performance.

好啦廢話不多說，我們來看看這次的節目吧！！！

The first show is a dance performance by Taiwanese students. As we're the first ones to go on stage, everyone decked out with black suits, white shirt/T-shirt and black top hats; dancing in mixture unison of Taiwanese and Mandarin songs.  Though the show didn't really have anything to do with traditional stuff... we DID create an really exciting atmosphere for this celebration!!!

由於台灣今年是負責開場，所以今年的服裝特別以西裝外套加上白色襯衫/T-shirt搭配黑頂帽，配上台味破表的“一級棒” “姊姊”加上搖滾曲風的“東區東區”，將全場的氣氛炒到最高點！

 China had the second performance with singing and dancing, but in a more traditional way. The dance was elegant, with Yuchen's voice, the dance was great.

( I didn't upload the picture because there weren't taken very well so I'll just leave it blank until I found better pictures on our school's Facebook page...)

第二個表演則是由中國人演出的傳統舞蹈，不過由於相機拍的效果沒有很好，照片我會另外想辦法補充...

And the next performance is a Cantonese song, performed by students from Hong Kong and other area in China that spoke Cantonese.

下一個表演則是粵語歌，是由來自香港及其他會說廣東話的同學表演。

Vietnamese have two performances. One is traditional dance and the other is a song about their capital city, Hanoi. 

越南這次則是有兩個表演，傳統舞蹈＋男子合唱團（其中一位還是我室友XD，跟去年比起來...已經有進步了。精神可嘉～～～

The following is traditional fan dance and K-Pop dance by South Korea. They're my favorite of all performances during the show. Koreans showed both traditional and modern culture of their country during their performances, which is really impressive. 

韓國這次的表演融合傳統的扇子舞和現代流行舞，整體而言比去年的Gangnam Style好了很多。雖然說他們練習的時候霸佔了場地一兩次，但是我不能否認我真的蠻喜歡他們這次的表演的。

And we also have Thailand's performance: dancing with both traditional/modern Thai music and.... REAL candles (I thought it was LED until I saw smoke coming out from the flame...)
除此之外我們還有泰國的表演，跟許多表演一樣也是結合當地傳統和現代的元素，而且他們跳的“蠟燭舞”還是用真的蠟燭...(在我看到火焰上的煙之前我還真以為是LED的）

And the last show was Chinese chorus. In the beginning Joyce and Yifan came on stage, then further other Chinese performers joined them and chorus "Shi Jian Zhu Yu", the main theme of the movie "Tiny Times".
最後的表演則是中國表演的合唱，首先由Joyce和“大姐”開場，然後由其他中國同學加入，一起合唱電影“小時代”的主題曲“時間煮雨”。

大姐的歌聲實在是太美了！唱得不輸給原唱！

Nice Face lol...

”你曾說過不分離　要一直一直在一起現在我想問問你　是否只是童言無忌？“

In the end, the performance with MCs and all performers on stage, wishing the audience have a wonderful and unforgettable lunar new year.

在表演的尾聲，所有主持人和演出人上台，祝福大家都有個美好 難忘的農曆新年。

After the performance, everyone was busy taking pictures of playing around. Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Koreans used their budget to order and have their new year dinner in Rita 2. And Taiwanese students ordered Coco's bubble tea for everyone in the campus.  Spread out our Taiwanese spirit toward the campus.

表演完後，大家忙著拍照 玩耍，來自中國 越南 南韓 泰國的同學去了Rita二樓聚餐，而我們台灣人則是用剩下的預算訂了CoCo珍珠奶茶，請全校的同學享用; 將台灣的文化和熱情散播到海外。

After I got back to my room, I uploaded the photos to my laptop and posted them on Facebook. Then we went to a Chinese restaurant in White Plains to have our new year dinner.

回到房間後，我立刻將相機的照片上傳到電腦上，然後po到Facebook，大約一小時後，我們台灣人去了一家位於White Plains的中國餐廳吃年夜飯。

Honestly we have already occupied the whole restaurant at that day...
坦白說我們已經幾乎包下整間餐廳了XD

And that's all about my Lunar new year in New York.

在一連串的打鬧和笑聲中，今年的農曆新年也悄悄地劃下句點。

Honestly, now I have a completely different feelings about spending Lunar New Year abroad. Though we can't get home and celebrate it with our families, we're not alone at all. We've got our friends here to celebrate this event together. Also, somehow I feel proud for what we did during the performances. We only have one dancing performance, but it was great enough to impress the audience. Though we sacrificed a lot of studying time to prepare for it; the moment when we're done with our performance and see our friends and teachers clap and encore, we felt proud and gratified. It was worth it for sure.

雖然今年的農曆新年跟去年一樣，無法在臺灣和家人一起度過，但是我卻不會感到寂寞。我們在這裡有許多朋友和我們一起慶祝這個節日。而且，這次我對於我們這次的表演感到非常的驕傲。我有朋友跟我說台灣人非常的團結，其實台灣人並沒有團結到哪裡去，只是說在這個能讓自己的國家被世界看見的機會，我們都會團結起來，告訴大家：“我們是台灣人！” 雖然這次只有一個跳舞表演，但是整體而言比去年進步很多，也足夠讓大家看到台灣人在舞台上發光 發亮。雖然我們犧牲了不少時間不斷的練習，但到最後大家在替我們掌聲的那一刻，一切的辛苦都值得了。

台灣是寶島，是個國家，只是常常一天到晚被打壓。不只是在國際上，連在我的學校，要讓台灣上台表演都是一件很難的事。我有位老師（我就不說是誰了大家都清楚明白）每年都要阻擾台灣上台，因為他認為台灣就是中國，所以要表演就得乖乖的跟中國一起。其實這個問題在理史上已經爭論了好一段時間了，而事實其實大家都很清楚，所以我們華人都不會特別去計較，只是說就是會有人想要挑撥離間罷了。我很感謝我的中文老師願意保證讓台灣上台，不然的話大概兩岸關係又要因為有人搞鬼而被搞砸了。

In the end, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Lunar New Year; no matter where you are from; I hope that you'll have a wonderful year in 2014.

最後，附上這次大家的表演的影片和表演後的合照。我想祝各位新年快樂，不論是你來自於哪裡，都希望你有個美好的新年，並期望今年會過得比去年更好。

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcGd6YZvV1U&feature=youtu.be

We're Taiwanese and we're the best!!! Happy Lunar New Year Everyone!!!

[心得] The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 白日夢冒險王

"Life is about courage, and going into the unknown."

Only one word is enough to describe my feeling when the movie ended: "Bravo."
全劇終燈光亮後，我只能用一個字形容這部電影：“Bravo"

I went to watch this movie a few days before I went back to US.
這部電影是我在回美國的前幾天看的。

It was a very touching and encouraging film; even though the plot was pretty exaggerated in some way (how could a normal person just begin a romantic and exciting adventure so suddenly from his draggy daily life...?);
這是一步非常開懷而且感人的電影，雖然說劇情真的蠻誇張的...(誰會沒事為了一張底片飛到冰島並爬了喜馬拉雅山啊！！！）

Still, we can't deny that the movie...it's just FABULOUS!!!
不過，我還是不能否認這部電影拍的非常成功。

So, "The secret life of Walter Mitty" is based on the novel of the same name in 1939, written by James Thurber. It was made into movies once in 1947; but due to the gap of age between the original novel and now, the movie is more like the "modern version" of the story than the original ones.
這部電影是改編自1939年的同名小說，作者是Jaomer Thurber。曾在1947被改編成電影。˙ˊˋ由於原著的時代和現在有一長段的距離，所以劇情上也是有一些落差。

The story begins with our main character- Walter Mitty's normal daily life in New York City: Nothing challenge, exciting, expect for sending a wink to his crush on online-website.
故事從我們的主角：華特米提的日常生活開始。就跟一般紐約上班族的生活一樣，日子非常的無趣，而華特的生活中唯一的挑戰大概只有在約會網站”傳送扎眼“給他喜歡的女生而已。

As E-books are replacing the place of normal paper-magazine, LIFE magazine (the company where Mitty worked) decided to transfers its production as an online-status.
當大部份的刊物都已經轉想電子化時，主角上班的公司：LIFE mgazine也決定將其產業電子化。

Sean O'Connell, a photographer who works closely with Mitty, sent him a package of his negatives. The package contains the negative twenty five: the photo journalist's favorite work. And he hoped that the picture would be used as the cover for the final-print of the life magazine.
而知名攝影家Sean O'Connell決定送給米提他的底片，並且希望最後一期的LIFE magazine的封面使用25號底片-他多年來攝影生涯中最滿意的作品。

But negative 25 wasn't there, at least: wasn't in the package.
不過就跟大部份電影一樣，故事總要有轉折點：於是意外發生了：25號底片不在包裹裡！！！

In order to find out where it is, Mitty decided to fly to Greenland to find O'Connell; and this is where his adventure began.
於是為了逃離被炒魷魚的命運，米提踏上了一場熱血程度勝於”那些年，我們一起追的女孩“的跨國歷險。

  The movie's successful shall give its credits to Mitty. He's not a super solider wielding shield like Captain America; not a god from Norwegian tales wielding a hammer like Thor: He's a just normal person, like me, like you, and like all of us. A person that looks normal, but has a complete different place in his mind.
  這部電影的成功，我認為全都給歸功於我們的主角：米提。 雖然他只是個平凡人，不像美國隊長會丟盾牌，不像索爾會召喚閃電;不過也因為如此，這種平凡英雄的角色更能與我們有共鳴。 這種看似平凡，但是內心卻有個完全不同的世界的人是不是跟你我有非常相似的地方呢？

Walter Mitty
本故事的主角：華特。米提

Walter Mitty "zoning out"
米提“出神中”

The little place Mitty has in his head...
米提在做白日夢中的畫面

  Thurber successfully created the story with his Mitty- a normal man that everyone can makes connection with. 

  Also, Mitty's crush- Cheryl, also plays a very important role.
  此外，Cheryl，米提暗戀的對象，也在電影中扮演非常重要的角色。

"You should follow that up. Grab the case!"-Cheryl

"Ground Control to Major Tom~~~"-Cheryl (Imagination)

Besides Mitty's imagination of Sean telling him to come to him in the picture, Cheryl's encourage to Mitty also make Mitty decide to go on the "journey impossible" to look for the mysterious negative 25. When she was singing "Space Oddity" to Mitty in his imagination, she gave him the courage to jump on the helicopter to the ship, continue his adventure looking for O'Connell.
米提之所以會踏上它的冒險旅程，除了看到Sean在照片裡跟他招手以外，Cheryl給他的鼓勵也是原因的其中之一。當她出現在米提的幻想中：彈唱著"Ground Control to Major Tom~~~"，讓米提有了勇氣跑出酒店，跳上直升機，繼續他的”不可能的旅程“。




 Also, the music from the movie was terrific. And my favorite one is "Step Out' by Jose Gonzalez: The main theme of the movie and trailer. The song really gives me the energy to go out and do something great.
  我也非常喜歡電影中的配樂。尤其是主題曲：Jose Gonzalez的"Step Out"，這首歌總是給我一種想要立刻沖出去追夢的能量。

"Time to step outside; time tostep outside, time to step outside you...."

lyrics/歌詞: Step Out lyrics

  The ending theme "Stay Alive" also really connected with the end, the lyrics and rhythm gave hope to Mitty, though in the future will be hard; we know that he'll make it.
  片尾曲"Stay Alive"也與結局相當的有關聯。歌詞和旋律雖然沒有Step Out那麼熱血，但是卻給予了結局希望。

"Dawn is coming.

Open your eyes.

Look into the sun as the new days rise."

"Beautiful things don't ask for attention"-Sean O'Connell

  One of my favorites scenes from the movie is when Sean was taking picture of the snow leopard:
  我相當喜歡米提和Sean正在拍攝雪豹的片段：

Sean: They call the snow leopard "ghost cat". Never let itself been seen.

Mitty: Ghost cat.

Sean: Beautiful things don't ask for attention.

Mitty: So when are you going to take the picture?

Sean: Sometimes I don't. If I like a moment, for me, personally. I don't want to have the distraction of the camera, I just want to stay in it.

Mitty: STAY IN IT?

Sean: Yeah. Right there. Right here.

  I also love the part when Walter came back to the office and gave Hendricks negative 25 for the cover.

  以及米提終於找到25號底片並將其交給Hendricks作為封面的橋段。

Mitty: Hey, do you know our motto?

Hendricks: Life, I'm loving it?

Mitty: That's not it. That's McDonalds'. The thing that you do, Ted, where you come into a place and push people out, you should know these people work really hard to build this magazine. They believe in the Motto. And I get it, you've got your marching orders and you have to do what you have to do. but you don't have to be such a dick. Put that on a plague and hang it at your next job.

  In the end, Walter Mitty finally found negative 25, and the last print of LIFE magazine is successfully printed with it. 

  最後，米提終於找到以底片25，而LIFE magazine的最後一期也成功的刊出。

  

  After his experience and adventure, he's no longer the Mitty who zones out all the time. Now he becomes more brave confident. Though he still couldn't escape from being laid off from LIFE magazine, we know that he'll make it.

  經過一切的冒險和經歷後，米提成長了很多：他已經不再是無時無刻都在做白日夢的小人物，成為了會把夢想實踐在現實的凡人。雖然他最後還是逃不了被裁員的命運（唉），不過我們都知道他會成功的。

  The Mitty with ABC- Adventurous, Brave, Creativity, no longer exists in Walter Mitty's fantasy, but in the real world. And he'll continue his life with them.

  ABC米提（Adventurous , Brave, Creativity)，不再存在於在哈林火車站做的白日夢，而在真實的世界裡，而他也會伴著這個精神，繼續勇敢面對人生的挑戰。

  

  In the end, I want to talk about my feeling about the movie.

  寫了這麼多，最後我想談談我對這部電影的想法。

  I saw a lot of comments for the movie is about "going int the unknown and chase your dreams."

  我在網路上看到很多心得都是說這部電影想要表達的是”勇敢追夢“。

  

  But to me, that's only the surface of what the movie wanted to show us.

  不過對我來說，這只是電影的表面而已，並不是作者或電影想要表達的。

  We might not be able to go to Greenland and Afghanistan, but we can simply just leave our frustrations and daydreams, then go out: 

  我們不太可能有跟米提一樣誇張的冒險，但是我們可以放下我們在生活中的挫折或是幻想，出去看看這個世界。

  The place doesn't have to be as great as Himalayas or Iceland,; we can simply go to a park. Watching trees' leaves, seeing people's laugher, and feeling the tender of the wind; or maybe teach a kid how to play skateboard like Mitty did. 

  我們不必像米提去爬喜馬拉雅山或是冰島;但是我們可以去單純一點的地方，比如說：去家裡附近的公園，看看松樹的綠葉，看看人們的笑容，感受微風的溫柔;或是像米提在電影中一樣，教小孩溜滑板之類的。

  Think about yourself and those aspirations in the past, then think about now;

  看看過去的自己，並反省現在的自己。

  Think about whether your life is having value or not; think about whether you really did enjoy your life, enjoy the moment.

  回想自己的生命是否有價值，回想在過去這段日子是否有好好的享受生命，活在當下。

  The essence of life is to treat our life well, and spend everyday of our life like it's the last day.

  生命的精華，就是要認真的過每一天，就像是自已的生命最後一天那樣。要好好地過活，並能在未來的某天告訴自己，我已不虛此生。