Farewell Sunny Days

Almost the entire east China is dominated by the monsoon climate, with high temperature, humidity, heavy rain or even typhoons in summer, and with cold and dry wind from Siberia in winter. Simply put, winter brings cold but sunny days. Today, Hong Kong witnesses the rain. The drizzle is estimated to continue for three days, marking the end of winter and the beginning of months of rain. Farewell sunny days! We are not going to see you often until December.

With the rain comes my regular life—to write everyday. Obviously I am not able to achieve this idealized daily routine, as all forms of entertainment always make my life deviate from its path-should-be. Yet the invisible countdown clock never ceases to walk. There will be one day when I have to say goodbye to the campus, find myself another job, and seek another financial sponsership in the form of salary instead of scholarship in order to cover up my expenses, and that day will come in a year or two. The writing of my graduation thesis should have been restarted as soon as possible, since the Spring Festival has already come to an end and I therefore lose all excuses.

Prof. Stone Sweet made a great metaphor in today’s afternoon class, and I think it is worth to be recorded. He said that students should start writing as soon as possible and not waste time on endless reading, because we have to actually take the trip instead of packing for that trip for the whole time. I wholeheartedly concur with him, because I feel that once I stop writing to take a rest or for a holiday, it becomes extremly difficult for me to restart the journey. The penance of doing PhD research is better to be done without temporal intervals, otherwise daily indulgence and hedonism would quickly conquer my mind and make me a slow-boiling frog.

Prof. Sun got me a surprise today. He summoned me to his office and gave me some gifts for the past Spring Festival: a box of dessert from Japan, a pen, and a notebook. I shared the dessert and joy with colleagues. At night we went to a burger store for on-discount steak and fries. The food was served with beer, and I don’t feel good as I am typhing this sentence. I don’t think my stomach is ready for alcohol so far. I guess my alcohol prohibition should continue, for the sake of my health—and my writing of course. But if Real Madrid secured their second game against Manchester City at Santiago Bernabéu, I would love to celebrate it with a drink. After all, the dedication of players was forged into another exciting last-minute victory—¿cómo no te voy a querer?

Xiaoyu ZHOU

February 13, 2025