2020 Jan-Jun in review 🌎
Table of content
January: Fresh Start
February: Coffee, Friends and Work
March: Quarantine birthday
April & May: Taiwan is (almost) covid-free
June: Ending and beginning
January: Fresh Start
Taiwan 🎆
Emotional things happened at the beginning of January 2020. Taiwanese people elected the president. The first batch of Minerva students was coming to Taipei for the first time. I spent quality time with family and friends. Everything was fresh and hopeful.
San Francisco 🛩
I soon moved to San Francisco for my 4th semester at Minerva. Unlike most of my cohort, I didn’t go to India. I decided to take one out-of-rotation semester in SF for health consideration. Getting to SF gets me really excited, as I feel the city was full of opportunities and sparkle ideas.
Netlify All-hands 🔥
Back in Jan, I was still a Data Analyst at Netlify (Aug’19-Jun’20). I have a unique chance to attend the company all-hands — for the first time in my life. Given ~50% of my co-coworker are remote, it was super to have this chance to meet them in person. After the all-hands, I feel super excited and empowered, as Netlify is getting series C funding.
Quality time with Friends 💮
I hung out with friends both in Taiwan and in SF. I learned moving to a the city I have been to was really comfortable. I got to re-connect with people and chat about the past, present, and future of our life. Some highlights were Shan-Shan’s CNY hotpot(thanks for the invite!), Nelson’s ride around SF (felt so happy), and lots of fun time with my roommates Oliver and Manny.
February: Coffee, Friends, and Work
I handled a 6-to-9 schedule 👨🏻💻
In semester #4, I do part-time at Netlify while being a full-time student at Minerva. That means on Monday and Wednesday, I would get up for two 6:30 am for classes. Then, I bike to the Netlify office at Dogpatch and spend a whole day at work. I really miss being able to work at Netlify office. After work is done (6:00 pm), I got back and prepare for another class at 7 pm.
Other weekdays are less busy, so I invest time in quality work and preparing for my classes. It looks like a crazy intense schedule, but I did manage to operate well in managing my time. It was really the most productive time in my 2020.
Meeting new Minerva friends from another class 🚲
At Minerva, taking an off-rotation is hard ( I miss many friends from the cohort), but it also means I get to know some new friends outside of my class. Naturally, Feb was a “socially-active” month for me.
I recognized many new faces in res hall, able to go out with some people. One memory I feel really grateful for was taking a day trip bike down to Stanford with Gorden and Tung-Ling. The bay area view was truly gorgeous and it touched me every time I saw pictures from that trip.
Went to NYC with YF 🍎
Meanwhile, some chemistry emerged at the end of February. YF and I started dating and we realized both of us had a dream of visiting New York City. We plan and went there spontaneously, and spent 9 days in NYC. It was a costy and risky decision, but also the best one I have made in 2020.
March: Quarantine birthday
Covid 🦠
In retrospect, there were many signs that the pandemic storm was coming. A week after the NYC trip, we started to received school emails about the ongoing covid outbreak. The suggestion was: go home if you can.
I debated with myself on whether to stay in SF or not. Given my original plan for the summer was to do an internship in SF, I considered not going out a lot and just live a cautious life. The consideration was about assessing the risks of staying in SF. Eventually, I made my mind and flight back home. To reflect on it, I was happy about the decision of going home.
2020 learning theme #1: make a complicated decision that has many complex factors to consider.
Birthday 🎂
I spent my birthday in quarantine, pondering about life. Something I glad I did was calling some close friends. I felt very grateful about things at the moment of turning 21.
April & May: Taiwan is (almost) covid-free
Those life segments that just feel like moving 🚋
These two months in Taiwan are fast and light like a wind. New routines were settled in and I completed my 2nd year at Minerva (I took DS and Algorithm, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Linear Algebra).
I keep working work remotely with Netlify. I go to cafes/library to do deep work.
I was thinking about a summer internship, but not really putting effort into it.
At the moment, I wish I had been more productive, delicate to a certain project, do anything that takes advantage of that free time. But overall, I was relaxing and only focus on work and life.
The questions I ask myself in April: What ideas do I want to pursue? How do I design a learning roadmap for myself, and implement such an independent learning process in life?
Family trip 🌊
Got another chance to spend quality time with the family, and I did go on two family trips. I got to explore Tainan again and staying in the rural mountain for a weekend. This was also a great decision I have made last year.
June: Ending and beginning
Wrap up my time at Netlify ❤️
Netlify means so much to me, as my first job in the US. My co-workers are fun, wholesome, and characteristic. The company mission was inspiring. I have tremendous appreciation for Hui, my manager, who is really smart and supportive. The role shifted my understanding to a lot of things, including software business and startup team. It worth another blog post to reflect on the journey, but overall, lots of learning and gratitude.
Military Service 📿
In mid-June, I finished military service, an obligation of Taiwanese man. In the camp, I follow a disciplined routine and was away from any digital device or chaos in the world. It’s a mandatory digital detox and I got to read some books in the spare time.
And the last day, an unexpected terrible event happened. A young and healthy fellow passed away in our room and the cause was sudden cardiac death. At his funeral, I thought about how transient life can be. I feel terribly sorry for the family and hope this respected fellow rest in peace.
From July to December, I went to China and England. Kicked off my third semester, struggled with things but also learn some lessons. The part of the annual review is still in my draft! Looking forward to completing it.
A side note to 黃岳涵｜Yueh Han Huang from the future: thanks for reading your own memories! You’re the main audience of this article was I was writing it down. Please let me know how you think— did you find answers to life questions from 2020? Has your mind changed since I wrote this down? Hope this reflection brings you some joy.
Thanks to Yun-Te Sung for amazing writing together sessions!
Thanks to Cheng-Wei Hu | 胡程維 for letting me know writing this in Feb 2021 is not too late (lol).
