<p>Wow. I admire you so much for all you get done, vegangirl. No matter what the decisions are for TASP, I'm so in love with our little pro-TASP family. :]</p>
<p>I am too! I really want us all to get in, because everyone here is so cool. plus, i'd love to meet you all!</p>
<p>wow, you guys are busy. I could say that im too busy to even think about TASP....but that would be a dirty lie. i think about it all.the.time. i hope we all get in.</p>
<p>I think most of you guys are much busier than I am! I'm basically gonna spend all of April studying for my APs and SAT IIs. And doing some community service and other extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>lol, chariot, I also think about TASP a lot! And I hate waiting for them to let us know whether or not we got in (which I hope we all will!). Waiting for the interview notification was hard enough (for me anyway), but now that we've gotten this far it's much worse!!</p>
<p>Ah, well I guess we can just hope for the best and do something else during the summer if it doesn't work out :D</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm working on a documentary about Japanese-American internment in Colorado during WWII. I just finished the initial version for a competition this Saturday, but there's a ton of work left to do to prepare for the statewide competition at the end of the month.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Wow, that's awesome. You really are a history nut! Good luck with the competition :]</p>
<p>That really is all fairly amazing, vegangirl. Very cool. About your doubts: I definitely feel the same way you do, but I think with a lot more of a reason to. Just your last post alone is indicative of how involved and presumably how curious you are-- I'd honestly be so surprised if you weren't accepted.</p>
<p>Out of curiousity-- I've always been fascinated with Russia-- what was Moscow like? And, if you don't mind sharing, what exactly is this Day of Silence? (I googled it and found the website, but couldn't really gather much on what exactly the day entails.) Have you ever heard of the Positive Space Campaign? It's something run at several Canadian universities that encourages, as the name implies, a positive and open atmosphere on the campus for LGBTQ individuals. Perhaps it's of interest to you and your group.</p>
<p>
NOTHING knocks TASP out of the water or even gets into the water lol...even RSI. Anyway, I might go to JSA this summer if I unfortunately don't get into TASP or I might have to give in to America's mass commercialization and attend one of those expensive college summer schools <em>sigh</em>.</p>
<p>Stupid and selfish question, but are you guys going to put down "TASP Finalist" on your college apps if you don't make it past the interview stage??? I think I just realized how close we juniors actually are to college applications time lol.;)</p>
<p>Yeah, back to a college program for me, too, probably-- UChicago, yay. Still, though, TASP is on a whole higher level. Smart kids, lots of learning, and it's free! Unbeatable, really.</p>
<p>About 'TASP Finalist'-- haha, yeaaah, almost tempting, isn't it? I wouldn't, though: I'd be finalist, perhaps, but not actually a TASPer, and that's what really counts. It's getting crazy close, though, yeah? Scary.</p>
<p>Kelsi, I love how you say "yeahh" a lot lol. It used to be my favorite word when I lived in Australia back in the day when I heard it spoken that way so often.:) Hmmph, I guess that's just how you New Yorkers roll heh.;)</p>
<p>Ahh, "TASP finalist." I never thought that it could feel that great (well, minus the pre-interview rush of reviewing every single thing going on in the world), but it does. While it means a lot to me personally, I don't think colleges would go "YAY let's admit that finalist who almost made it in!" as opposed to "HEY there's someone who actually went to TASP" if they were comparing just the two statistics.</p>
<p>What JSA are you possibly going to, evil<em>asian</em>dictator?</p>
<p>And kelsiface, are you talking about UChicago's writing program (or do I have it confused with another college)?</p>
<p>Heh, thanks, I think... :) It suits so many purposes, though-- such a great word and so simple. I picked it up in Canada, personally (I live pretty close to the border)-- Commonwealth countries rock, yeah? I can't blame all of my dashes on Canada, though.</p>
<p>Okay, the sad thing? Totally unintentional 'yeah' up there; I only noticed it when rereading.</p>
<p>Chillaxin-- indeed I am. More specifically, the collegiate writing program, but if it came down to it, I'd gladly attend the creative writing one instead. Really, I just love to write, and I'm pretty seriously considering UChicago. That's the greatest boon of any college's summer program, I think: you get to learn, of course, but you also get to experience the campus. Given I come from a radically different environment than Hyde Park, I think the opportunity would be a really good one for me.</p>
<p>
YEAHH!;)</p>
<p>
I want to go to the Economics one which I think is being held at Stanford this year.</p>
<p>Wow, that's awesome. You really are a history nut!</p>
<p>Indeed I am, with an emphasis on the nut part.</p>
<p>kelsiface- Moscow is incredible (how's that for the worst descriptive word of all time). It's very western and european in some ways, but it also has these distinctively asian bits of culture that make it totally unique. it's also very old looking (my descriptive skill grows...). I mean, US cities, even the oldest of them, go back only a few hundred years, but there are monasteries in moscow built in the 1300s. and almost all the (non hammer and sickle adorned) buildings are at least a couple hundred years old. it's beautiful. plus, piracy is legal in Russia, so you can buy movies that haven't even come out on video yet here for like $4. and that too, is a beautiful thing.</p>
<p>Day of Silence is basically just a nationwide protest of the various "silences" forced upon GLBT high school students- inability to come out of the closet, be vocal about their sexuality, be proud of their sexuality, etc. The day itself is pretty simple. You just don't talk, from the beginning to the end of school. We get people who are silent to carry around papers explaining what the day means and why they're not talking. I go to an arts school, so a lot of people participate (though I have to say, kids in the performing arts are not so spectacular at being quiet). It's pretty cool. You should do it :)</p>
<p>Wow, that sounds amazing vegangirl. It's when I hear about things like that that I feel like I really need to travel the world one day (hopefully someday soon). :] I'm incredibly jealous, but you totally deserve everything. Let me know how the documentary goes! I don't suppose that there's a way that I could get a copy of it could I? It sounds really interesting and I've always had a penchant for documentaries.</p>
<p>And evil<em>asian</em>dictator, in the 0.000000001% chance that you don't go to TASP, I'll be seeing you at Stanford. :]</p>
<p>HAHA chillaxin, yeah I can't wait as I'm very curious to discover what people on CC look like/act like lol. Is your name Caterina by any chance??? I have to put to rest a hunch here.;)</p>
<p>So, I hope I either see you at Stanford/TASP this summer or hopefully at one of those amazing selective colleges that we're all headed off too next year.:)</p>
<p>chillaxin- thanks! It was super lucky that I got to go to Russia at all. It just happens that my best friend is Russian, so we were able to go and stay with some of her family. of course, my bank account took a pretty big hit buying the ticket and all that, but it was very worth it. kind of makes me want to spend every bit of money i have traveling. :)</p>
<p>about the documentary, i'm going to try to put it online once I'm totally finished. But if I don't do that, I'll definitely be willing to send you a copy. Remind me come the end of April, if you're not too preoccupied thinking about TASP, that is. lol.</p>
<p>Yeah, I understand the impulse to put everything towards travel-- perhaps a bit too much, really. I personally think it's worth it, though. Travel is so enlightening and so inspiring. It really helps one grow as a person, especially when one takes the initiative to actually truly interact with the communities one visits.</p>
<p>Moscow sounds (to join the super descriptive fest) really amazing. Those sorts of contradictions are so interesting to me, whether it's the juxtaposition of East meets West, new and old, or simply poverty and wealth, corruption and good intentions. As far as just plain history goes, I know what you mean a bit-- that's one of the things I like so much about Europe. There's such a solid past that we lack on this side of the Atlantic. Old architecture is so cool, too. I'm not a religious person, but all of the old churches and other places of worship that abound in cities and old settlements are some of my very favorite buildings. People put so much of themselves into these monuments of faith. It's pretty neat to see.</p>
<p>That Day of Silence really does seem pretty cool-- important, anyway. Thank you for telling me about it.</p>
<p>a bunch of us did DayofSilence at our high school (my frosh year). The foreign language teachers freaked out and said we'd lose 'participation points' for not speaking for a day (how that helps anything, i dont know) but we did it anyway.</p>
<p>That's so insensitive. I understand their worries about kids not practicing their speaking skills, but one would hope they'd find it within themselves to excuse one day, especially for something like this.</p>