H‧E‧P‧

Time really flies. It has been nearly a year since working in the HEP lab at Penn last year.

Emailed the 2 bosses at Penn this week and got their replies these 2 days. The 2 bosses, one used to be my direct supervisors, are really nice seniors. They taught well; they were patient, tolerant to mistakes and ideas (though often it was, to them, obviously pointing to the wrong direction), and supportive. It is a pity that Anton, the Russian guy I worked with at HEP, is going to CERN in Switzerland in the summer and we cannot be roomate again. Though, it's surely a great chance for him :)

Sometimes, I would wish I did transfer to Penn as an undergraduate, which was said to be "not too difficult" at my time there. Maybe it is my own perceptions, that the physics students there are not as competitive as in Hong Kong; my "condition" was far better when I was studying at Penn too.

The best thing to be there is the chances provided by the HEP lab.... TRUE! Everyone starts low there - we examined and repaired boards, we did solderings, we ran already-written computer programs to simulate signals...or we could just sit and joke around. However, every student were granted good chances and recommendations. THEY TRULLY WANT TO ADD TO OUR KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERERIENCES, not only try to get things done. They would scrifice their efficiency for us to try our proposals.

One fresh graduate wished to work at CERN for a year before graduate study, and he was given the chance, with $13 / hour stipends and a single apartment in Switzerland. Anton, within just a year, was assigned to a variety of tasks and will be going to CERN this summer, with an implementation project. They were even willing to hire me, as an exchange student, in the lab last year. If I were a student there, chances are more than abundant.

Inspite of the wishes, I know that God plans different paths for our lives. In His hand, there will be chances to our carreer and future; but the most important is He shapes my life. I know how I would have been if I stayed. There could be no more "study"; the growth that I have come through, if not impossible, would have been much more difficult.

Thank God for the nice people I have met. Thank God for laying the path ahead. Thank God for using the pain and struggles to shape my life, despite of my often falls and disobedience.