About Me


Me and Liza (Quite a Novel Idea)!

I am a twenty-year-old student who is currently in her third year of undergraduate studies. I have loved reading since I learned how to read (but I think many of us can say that!). I am slightly crazy, definitely OCD, and I abhor wrinkled paper.

Fantasy is my favorite genre. Like, high fantasy. Or epic fantasy. I made up a subgenre - medieval fantasy. You know Kristin Cashore's books? Or Alexandra Bracken's Brightly Woven? That kind of fantasy. I love that kind of fantasy. Fire by Kristin Cashore is like, my all-time favorite book. Recently, I've been fangirling over The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. Book two, please!


I am of Indian descent (Indian, as in INDIA, not Native American). Pet peeves related to that:

- Indian DOES NOT EQUAL Native Americans. You cannot say you are Indian, and mean you are Native American. You are either Native American, as in the native tribes of America (U.S., I suppose), or you are Indian, as in from India (unless you are of mixed heritage, and therefore, both. But that's a different story)

- India is IN ASIA, and therefore, I AM ASIAN. NO, do NOT look at me to see if I'm Chinese, or Japanese, or Korean. Those countries are Asian countries, and they are also called Far Eastern, or Oriental. India, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Butaan, and so on, are ALL PART OF ASIA (and of course, there are more Asian countries. I'm just giving examples).

Do you see my point? Indian and Native American are NOT synonymous. I am Asian and NOT Chinese. You stick with those two "rules", and you're fine with me :)

*end rant*

I've lived in Maryland my entire life. I was born in Baltimore (City), grew up in the County, and now live in the City again. I attend Johns Hopkins University - my freshman year began in August 2013. This university has been my dream school since I was little, and I am thrilled to have the dream of attending the school come true.

My favorite color is purple (surprise, surprise!). I love watching tennis (go Serena Williams! Go Roger Federer!), soccer (¡Hala Madrid!), football (go Ravens!), and ice hockey (big sweaty dudes slamming into each other while chasing a tiny object? Sure thing!).


In the past, I've had a whole section devoted to my high school academics, which I was very proud of. But given that I'm three years out of high school, high school seems insignificant. Those achievements feel so irrelevant. But what I will say, to all of you in high school:


- I took 13 AP classes. And 13 AP tests. And four subject SAT tests.
- I was President of at least four clubs, captain of one sport, and officer in two other clubs.
- I had as close to a 4.0 (out of 4.0) as you could get without actually having a 4.0. ;)
- I've never missed a day of school, since I started attending school (Pre-K). This extends to this very day, as a junior undergraduate.


Here at Hopkins, I'm double-majoring in environmental engineering and Spanish, minoring in Earth & Planetary Science. I also have a job and work ~13 hours/week. It's not easy - check out my post on time management and scheduling - but it can and will be done. 

Hard work, y'all, it pays off. I love it here at Hopkins, but I'm also in a never-ending state of stress. I feel bad/anxious when I'm not working. But never feel bad when you work hard and it doesn't pay off, okay? This is the story of my life. Remember, life IS hard, no matter how hard you work. Take a step back and appreciate what you have, enjoy what you have.

I really didn't think I would get into Hopkins, for various reasons... but apparently, they thought I was good enough. Dream do come true, kids. Dream do come true. And don't forget that academics are not everything. I can promise you that.


I'll leave you with that ;)



P.S. - Don't fall for you best friend. Also? Don't fall for the guy who is too popular, too good-looking, too cocky, too self-absorbed to see past the superficial. We book nerds deserve better... because we are so much more. Seriously, my personal life, for the first two years of university, was a cliche, nerd-girl YA contemporary story. 

27 comments:

  1. Wahaha! Loved reading this. The second point is a pet peeve with me too =/ I am an Asian too!!

    But when people refer to Asians they assume south-east asia. While as I would be considered South-Asian, which is still comes under the Asian category, thank you very much!

    Ending my short rant, hope to see more of your blog! =)

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    1. LOL!

      Thank you, Madiha. I am glad someone understands :)

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  2. i get that some time i am irish and have temper to point they ask what i do next i say pay back i love books and love to read and blog up it 4 week

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    1. Awww, I'm sorry! It sucks about prejudices, but they happen. Just tell 'em like it is! :D

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  3. Dude omg I totally agree with the whole Indian-Asian thing. If I say I'm Asian people go "you're not Asian, you're Indian." And I'm like "India is IN ASIA, dipshit."
    Lol but I had no idea you're Indian! Since your name isn't Indian at all :P

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    1. EXACTLY! But me last name is Indian. My first and middle name (what you see) are not. My middle is for my mother, and my first, well, my mother liked it. I liked Alyssa, too! ^_^

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  4. Wow talk about high achiever...that's awesome! Congrats getting into Hopkins! Hope you enjoy your college career. As for my ethnicity rant, some people ask me, "Do you speak Mexican?" I may be Mexican but I do not speak Mexican, I speak Spanish. That ticks me off when people can be so ignorant.

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    1. Awww, thank you! And OMG that is so ridiculous! My Spanish-speaking friends complain about that. They also complain about when people generalize ALL Spanish speakers as "Spanish" or "Mexican". There are other countries that speak Spanish! I am so sorry you have to deal with that O_O

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  5. Ohhh mahh gooshhh I have the same pet peeve too! Enough said. It's sooo annoying when people are not open minded and they're not even a kid anymore -__- like how can you not know India is in Asia? smh

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    1. Right?! People are so ignorant sometimes. I mean, I suppose some people legitimately DON'T KNOW, but it's basic geography. It's not like I'm talking about the Vanuatu islands or something. I'm talking about an entire COUNTRY, and CONTINENT.

      lol

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  6. My favorite color is purple too! :D You have a great blog by the way! Keep up the great work :))

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    1. That's so awesome! Purple is fabulous ^_^ THANK YOU SO MUCH! You are a rockstar <3

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  7. Your achievements are truly TRULY incredible!! I admire people like you more than you could know:) I'm just starting high school and hope to have that kind of dedication in my life. I loved your talk about ethnicity! I'm Korean and I'll have people tell me I'm the only Asian person in the room when there are four Indian people standing right there. It's so irritating! Don't take crap from people luv, tell 'em how it is!:) Also, keep up the good work on your blog, it's lovely.

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    1. Oo, thank you, Casey! GOOD LUCK IN HIGH SCHOOL! Enjoy your time there, but work really hard, because it WILL pay off when you get to college. And oh, the ignorance is terrible sometimes, right? I want to shake people.

      Thank you for the kind words! Rock on :)

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  8. Thanks for your recommendations on amazon yesterday! I have found several on the list I want to read, starting with Dissonance. Love the blog, I am so impressed!
    -aaj

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    1. Aww, you are so sweet! And you're very welcome! I hope you really love Dissonance! And the rest :) Thank you so much, aaj!!

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  9. OMG!!Okay I totally get the Asian/Indian thing. Except I'm Bengali even if my name (Balie) doesn't sound like it. Theycall me Indian. Adn I'm like "NO IM NOT INDIAN!!! IM BENGALI LEARN THE FRIKIN DIFFERENCE!!!" I also say I'm asian, but people are like "ur not chinese though" And I'm like *face palm*

    Anyway lovely blog :)

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    1. oh my blog is here: Balie @ http://floralpatternbooks.blogspot.com/

      I know #shamelessselfpromotion

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    2. You understand! It's so aggravating! But then, I try not to fault people for their ignorance... sometimes it's hard not to want to throw things though. -_-

      No worries! Nice to "meet" you!

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  10. Excuse me while I understand all this.... I'm literally looking at my phone then away with a huge O on my lips and back at my phone. JHU!! WHAT?! Omg girl congrats (I'm so late, I know haha)! I feel so.. Not accomplished hahaha and Spanish!!! You may talk to me in Spanish all you want. My first language is Spanish and I talk Spanish everyday since PR is a Spanish-speaking island.
    And I totally feel you on college being like a YA (in my case, very NA *winks*) story. My friends all tell me I should write a book on everything that has happened because it's insane on how close to a NA novel it could be lol anyway, I wish you luck in this semester almost ending and your following years studying (finishing bachelor's and maybe graduate school?). You're amazing and I seriously look up to you now :) <3

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    1. Awww! Thank you, Genesis! It's a lot of work but I love this school.

      I should amend that to say "NA", but I hate NA novels, so I hesitate to use the comparison. ;)

      Thank you!!!! <333

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  11. OMG! I didn't know you were Indian! So yay nice meeting you! I love your rant about Asians because I am Asian and I HATE that people automatically think that being Asian = Chinese! I don't have anything against Chinese (I am a quarter Chinese, my grandfather is Cantonese) but I just hate that people think Asian = Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. I am from the Philippines and don't really look the part since I am a mixture of different races. Plus I also HATE that they call Filipinos Pacific Islander...because WE ARE NOT! Don't get me started on this rant. urrrgghh!!

    Anyway, I am so happy to get to know you better! I know we keep lurking/commenting on each others' blogs but I think this is our official introduction! Plus...both of us are Avon Addicts!

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    1. I feel like I could rant about these injustices all day! I've met so many people that look at me like I've gone insane when I say I'm Asian or when I check off "Asian" on forms. *kicks over tables*

      It is lovely to formally "meet" you, Zee! *high fives fellow AA member* :D

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  12. Alyssa!! I'm so sorry I never saw you 'About me' page before! This is wonderful! Yay for the Indian connect AND I TOTALLY GET YOUR PET PEEVE OMG! You know even pinterest doesn't get that? I needed inspiration for characters in my story so I type in "Indian characters" on Pinterest and all I got were Native American people in the pictures!!! IDK why people keep confusing the two!! Like guys INDIA is a country in ASIA! How hard is it to remember that?? And yay for all the classes and papers you take! I agree the hard work pays <33 So happy to know you better :)

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    1. Don't apologize! It's there for reference, not the most exciting post I've got. :D Yaaasss! We are like-minded indeed! In terms of usage, I think the lines have gotten too blurred, between "Indian" and "Native American". Which is confusing for some and definitely adds to the general ignorance of people. -_- Thank you for taking the time to read this page, Uma! <3333

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  13. Oh my god. Your rant was like on point. I am also of Indian descent and everyone is like do u speak Indian and im just like bro wth. Indian is not a language peeps and im not NATIVE AMERICAN for the last time. *sighs*. Ok while that is out there, I LOVE your blog and I really liked this page. Congrats on all your accomplishments in HS like even though im super young compared to you, ya know think like middle school, i can really relate to your rants and i really look up to u so yeah thx so much!!!
    <333-Ayushi
    P.S I know im super late in reading this but meh i just found ur page

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  14. Hi Alyssa,

    I thought I´ll let you know, that I´ve tagged you in my new post. Maybe you wanna join in *smile*
    Mystery Blogger Award

    Best wishes and have a great new week!
    Vi @Inkvotary

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I love comments! I will always try and reply to your comments, as well as leave some comment love on your blog! :)

Also, this an award and tag free blog. While I am flattered that you would think of me, I really do not have the time to follow up. Thank you!