Past phases, new battles

The first week of March has ended. This week was extraordinary for me; I experienced a lot and grew a lot.

For many students, this week is the second week of the official start of the semester, a week of adjustment and gradual adaptation to the new term. But for me, this week feels like the last few weeks of the semester. I took a week off to do my final GRE essay review, taking 3-5 practice tests almost every day and writing nearly 3,000 words in English. It was during this week that my essay writing improved dramatically. To be honest, my expectations for the GRE essays aren't high; a 3 or higher on the ISSUE section and a 5 on the ARGUMENT section would be great.

I boarded the train on Wednesday afternoon. It was my first time in a sleeper car and my first time traveling such a long distance. I wasn't used to it at all, probably because of the train's jolting or the pre-exam jitters. That night, I barely slept. Thursday, I arrived in Beijing in a daze, drank a can of Red Bull, and went into battle.
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Thursday afternoon's exam felt like a miracle. I'm not a superstitious person, but between belief and disbelief, I chose to believe. Entering the first exam room, I received a locker key, number 23—my lucky number. Then, I lined up for my exam, and was number thirteen—also my lucky number. With these two things helping, my confidence soared, and my fatigue vanished. The magic continued into the exam. I drew two frequently asked questions (I17, A53), one of which I had just seen on the train. I wrote nearly 1200 words (700 + 500) and handed in my paper.

After my exams on Thursday, I went to Peking University. Accompanied by a senior student, I strolled around the campus. I didn't feel that I was inferior to the students at Peking University; it's just that I didn't do well enough in some aspects. The gap between us is visible, which is why I still have the motivation to improve. If I couldn't find the gap between us, or if I didn't recognize my shortcomings, then I would have lost the conditions to catch up.

On the train back, I chatted with a Taiwanese man, a businessman who had traveled to many countries. His face bore the marks of time, and his stories gave me a glimpse into a different world. I realize that I too will be traveling in the near future, following in the footsteps of those who came before me and forging my own path. The Taiwanese man told me about his own experiences with ghosts and spirits. There are still many things in the world we cannot explain, yet faith is almost nonexistent in our country. The lack of faith is a terrible thing. We cannot deny the unknown entirely. Our science has not yet reached a very high level, and the exploration of the intangible world will require a long time. Humans are still very small. Faced with the darkness ahead, will we choose to bravely move forward or retreat?

The battle of writing essays is over, but the next three months will be another new battle. I just came up with a plan, which has three stages. There are still many difficulties, but we'll overcome them one by one.

By the way, both of our Challenge Cup projects have passed the college-level assessment and are now officially moving towards the university-level assessment. After being put on hold for a week, this project is about to start again. I hope I won't be too exhausted, haha.

I forgot to share this shady secret: please, please avoid taking trains T281 and T282. They're never on time, and are usually delayed by a lot. The train attendants said they set the arrival times this way hoping that one day they'll stop being delayed. Anyway, I won't say more; just be careful.