一恍七年啦。付费空间要到期啦。新生活要开始啦。这边也不会再写啦。

我也不知道这地方儿如今还有多少人记着。Feedburner说我有12个subscribers，可到底都是谁我还真不能全对不上号儿。

———

其实我只是想说，谢谢大家长久以来的陪伴。七年来，因为你们，我不曾孤单。

接下来的旅程会是怎样的我不知道。But I think I am an exceptionally lucky girl. Stay humble and grateful.

———

With this I bid you farewell. Best of luck!

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相遇是缘分。然而能携手一路走下去，依赖的却是信念。“爱”包含信念，高于信念。

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（Written in early May.）

36街的木兰花又开了，Fairmount Park里，樱花瓣铺成地毯一片。我们终于又去了Philadelphia Museum of Art，去看Durer和Cezanne。回忆四年前，新生招待会时，学校租下整座博物馆。穿燕尾服的服务生端来的果汁，Asian Gallery外的chocolate fondue。DJ在音乐喷泉前，放那首当年正流行的Hollaback Girl，穿短裙的女生在跳舞，一手搭着穿polo衫的男生的肩。我们第一次见到David，他正与Jimmy为一幅中世纪铠甲激烈争论。随后我们坐在博物馆前的阶梯上，你指着不远处的左边说，那里是Rodin Museum，我指着更远一点的前边说，那里是City Hall，她指的地方最遥远，说，从这里去纽约只要10块钱。这时天色暗下来，音乐变成50 Cents的In da Club，disco ball在旋转。我们的身后，光彩绚烂。

In psychology there is a concept called cognitive dissonance. As humans, we like it when our actions and thoughts are consistent, and feel disgruntled otherwise. Unfortunately, most things in life do not always unfold according to our anticipations. But the actions are already taken, and there is little we can do in reverting them. Our thoughts, on the other hand, can be easily manipulated, so as to minimize the discrepancy between the thought-so and the did-so. For instance, you have wanted this pair of ballet flats for a really long time. Finally one day they are on sale. But then you find out that your size is already sold out. Of course you are pissed; you curse and you stump your feet. But later that night you read in a fashion magazine that gladiator sandals are the new thing for this summer, and suddenly you feel lucky again: “Oh well, ballet flats are last-season anyway.” This is cognitive dissonance at work.

这学校秋天刮风，冬天太冷，春天虽美丽，却太短暂；在这里，life is like a one-way street，individualism has a price；你总被反复提醒，世事艰难，现实与理想多遥远，自己多微小，可得努力快些成长……

但谢天谢地这学校足够大。Not so big that you feel your education is a product of mass production. But with close to 10,000 students, you are bound to find a group of people that you like and likes you back. “就像我们？”对，就像我们。可能你会说我这也是cognitive dissonance，但近来我忽然开始感激这所学校，以及过去的四年。在这里我遇见你们；谢谢你们曾带给我温暖，给我历练让我成长。

Leges Sine Moribus Vanae. 那么我向你致敬，本杰明·富兰克林先生，and your big, fat belly, and the many statues of yours on campus, and your autobiography that we had to read the summer before freshman year (Did you purposely invent it as a cure for insomnia? ‘Cause it worked on me like magic.), and the button that you dropped on College Green, and your city—the City of Brotherly Love. I salute you, because you were one of the greatest and most cherished inventors, social entrepreneurs, and politicians in this country’s history. I salute you, because you were the founder of my alma mater—The University of Pennsylvania.

Once a Pennsylvanian, always a Pennsylvanian. Hurray, the red and blue!!!

With this I bid you farewell. May God’s blessings be always with you.

Jem - “Flying High”

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1 Corinthians 13:1-8a,13 

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails.

……

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

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