it will never be the same...

Steph left this morning. For good. She's moving on to better science and a new stage of her life. Ping is totally happy for her that everything worked out fine despite the hard start she had. But it also means that Ping will have to get use to not having Steph around.

Being an international student, trying to find a friend whom you can get really close and call her/him your best friend was never easy for Ping. You always feel that they are superior to you because you're in their country living within their culture. It was pretty adventurous for Ping to adapt to their culture but it is impossible to lose your own culture within theirs. What does that mean? That means that to be your true self, the friend does not only have to be willing to share their culture with you, but also be able to accept your own culture. Steph is the 2nd person whom Ping totally clicked with here in the States. It took some time but when Ping felt comfortable enough, Ping knew that she's someone Ping will always be friends with, and not someone whom you meet, hang around for a while and then never contact at all. She patiently taught Ping a lot about what and why they do some stuff here, about all the fun stuff, about stuff that is a no-no, about words and terms they use, and all the little things...she was also caring enough to ask about Ping's life in M'sia, how Ping maintain Ping's own culture and she's curious about other cultures.

Being in science, it is also not easy to find a friend who is willing to listen to your 'hit-the-wall-moments', a friend whom you feel comfortable discussing with and not feel like you're being judge, someone whom it's okay to ask a stupid question that you should have known but did not, someone whom you could tell your ideas to, someone who could be a mentor. But with Steph, that was all possible. Grad school was much harder than Ping had expected. It wasn't just like undergrad research, it was not just research, it was also learning to deal with times when research does not work. There were times when the thought of quitting and going home to get a job crossed Ping's mind. But because of Steph's encouragement, Ping had gone through her pre-lim and is now having a pretty cool project to work with. Okay, that's also thanks to the boss but without Steph, grad school would be much much harder than this.

Daniel Powter - Bad Day. It was Steph who introduced this song to Ping. Steph, there can never be enough thanks for all that you've done for me - both in and out of lab. You've been a great friend and mentor to me. You totally fit into the 'hard-to-come-by' category. I will be missing you!!! Not only when I'm having a bad day (and having to get yogurt parfait or bubble tea all by myself) but also when I'm having a great time (and getting weird glares for my excitement)....I'll make sure it'll transmit over to the land of Tattoine (I wonder if they are much more environmentally friendly there? Don't forget to recycle the papers!).