My Story (a mini version):

I was born in Shanghai, the biggest city in China.  After spending a few years away from Shanghai together with my parents, my family finally moved back to Shanghai.  I went to schools in Shanghai from kindergarten all the way through my first semester in College.  The 6 years in GeZhi high school was the most wonderful and memorable time for me.  I got to hang out with friends, have fun parties, and be a bad girl once a while, :-).  But I did study hard.  I went to Russia for a math competition in my senior year (representing my country).  That was great fun.  Then after half a semester in College (Fudan University) in Shanghai (can people guess what major was I in?), I caught a flight to US to reunite with my parents.  I landed at the JFK airport in NY in Jan, 1995.  Then I re-entered college again the fall of 95.  Counting the year in transition, I'm actually one year behind most people.  But everything worked out all right, graduating in year 99 is way too cool than 98.  I like it.

I spent 4 years at the University of Maryland at College Park.  During that time, I got really interested in Computer Science, particularly theory, thanks to the encouragement and help from my advisor Samir Khuller.  So I decided to apply for graduate school.  I almost almost didn't apply for Stanford since I thought I was going to miss the deadline.  But I did anyway.  And at the end, I really liked Stanford when I visited (or the other side of the story is that I just made a random decision.  Nah, I don't want to get into the philosophical issues).  So here I am!

After 5 years wandering around at Stanford, I graduated. What lies ahead, I do not know. Currently, I found myself working happily at Google, where the good food is always abandant and work is always challenging and exciting.
 

I like reading books, music, tennis, piano, swimming and also drawing.

I got to buy some Chinese novels and classics while visiting Shanghai this winter break.  The trip was great, every simple thing is a wonderful experience for me--walking down the old streets, winding around in traffic, seeing all the old and new buildings, visiting old friends and high school teachers--everything there is to make up the one city I grew up from, Shanghai.  There has been a long time since I bought a book in Shanghai.  Now I just have to find some time to read them.

I like both Chinese music and western music.  My favorite singer is Andy Lau (from Hong Kong), he has some really really great songs, not to mention tons of great movies as well.  So of course, I brought back some more Andy's CD's and movies after my trip to Shanghai.  There are also other great songs by other singers.  Right now I'll post this song (by Chen YiXun)--十年(Ten Years).   Since 2000, I also started to take piano lessons.  I really like piano.  Just as reading books, I wish that I have more time.   Recently I also took a drawing class, that was great fun. More recently, I've started learning about ceramics, and so now I have quite a lot of nice pots etc. lying around.

I always liked sports.  Playing tennis is fun.  I happily announce that now I'm an intermediate level tennis player (as my friend and I sometimes joke: beware of my aces!).  Last year, I also started to learn swimming.  It took me a while to get into the over populated class.  But hey, persistence paid off, :-).

Recently, I'm enjoying more outdoor adventures. I picked up rocking climbing. That is just wonderful. I'm a regular member at the Planet Granite gym, where I enjoy a lot of top-rope climbing. I can climb the 5.11 rated routes now, hence the quote: "5.11: Difficult without exceptional strength, talent, and grace." I'm also a pretty good backpacker. My last two "heroine-ic" trips includes hiking Mount Shasta (backpacking) and Mount Whitney (day trip, 22 miles round trip, summit elevation 14,491). I also finished the San Francisco marathon in 07. I might rate that run as the most mentally and physically challenging.