Toronto 2015

April, 2015, Toronto. With dresses and high heels in my suitcase, I had to wear the long jacket during my entire stay in the city which was boldly colder than Buffalo. You thought it would be a perfect season for some lady look...but NO! You were being naive.

For three days, we had to run quickly between two buildings which were connected by a long bridge and eight escalators. The schedule for the convention was so tight that there was only 15 minutes for us to shuttle between sessions. I felt like a journalist, trying to dig as deep as I could in the shortest period of time. Computer, iPad, iPhone, notepad... I used everything that I could fit into my backpack to record, take notes and make the most of the session time.

The convention was impressive in two ways. First, at the speech by the end of the Master Students' Forum, some student asked Dr. Nieto how she managed to balance her life and work, she said that she didn't have a personal life to balance with. She didn't like night clubs or parties, and she worked like a dog. I suddenly realized that for all the days I had been struggling, I wasted my time by neglecting one simple truth: we choose our own life, and the result will always be "win some and lose some". I had been going back and forth on whether I should go on and spend another 4 or 5 years in academia, and I had so many concerns, family, money and friends. I tried to find the best path to solve all problems once and for all. But it was not the way that life was supposed to be. Life is like, make the choice and take all the consequences. If I really want to do something, I should be strong enough to take all the shadow parts of it. During the convention, I saw so many scholars enjoying every session: it was their choice for life. Maybe they had their own problems back home, but at the convention, they made everything worth it. We don't have to balance; we just need to make the choice and take everything that comes along with it.

The convention taught me a lot for my professional development. Equally importantly, I learned a lot from the academic sessions. There were so many sessions everyday, and we got to choose whichever interested us personally. I was attracted to sessions concerning writing and technology. I was extremely amazed by how technology was being used in writing teaching, like MOOC and some other tools that teachers introduced, e.g. Crocodoc. They were both eye-opening tools. Writing is being taught to students in a totally new way. Teachers and students are interacting with a variety of online tools and making writing a fun job. Teachers may find technology extremely helpful in giving feedback and even pre and after writing. I am totally confident that I may be able to establish my own online writing center some day.

Teaching is becoming not only a career but also a life to me. I am really glad that I made the decision. I will move ahead until the day when students don't need me any more. Toronto is my starting point.

Good night, Toronto. Tomorrow is gonna be great!