Dear Dad and Mom,
I've been back from my road trip for a few days now. In just seven days, we managed to hit quite a few places: the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, the Great Salt Lake, and Yellowstone National Park. The whole loop was over 4,000 miles, nearly 7,000 kilometers! There were three of us, and because we took turns driving, we covered a lot of ground in a short time without getting too tired. Out of the three, only one had a few years of driving experience—he was the leader of the pack. When it was my turn behind the wheel, I focused on staying in the middle of the lane and was grateful there weren't many cars on the road. As hours went by, I became more and more confident.
Our first stop was the Painted Desert, which looks as though someone had painted it with broad strokes of red, pink, orange, and even lavender. The colorful layers have formed over millions of years by mineral deposits and weathering. The nearby Petrified Forest, despite what its name suggests, doesn't actually have any standing trees. The ancient trees have long since turned to fossils and lie scattered across the ground. Such an interesting sight!
We arrived in Las Vegas after 1:00 in the morning and spent a couple of hours wandering through the casinos, right when the Strip was at its liveliest. You have to be at least 21 to gamble over here, and they can never seem to guess the age of Asian people. An elderly lady working at the cashier counter—the place where you exchange cash for gambling chips—asked how old I was. When I told her I was 27, she just laughed and told me I was lying!
The Grand Canyon was breathtaking. We camped out there and spent an entire day exploring. The Great Salt Lake was next: a massive saltwater lake with beaches and seagulls. If you weren't paying attention, you'd swear you were looking at the ocean, except there are no waves and the air carries a bit of a strange odor.
Yellowstone was our final destination. The park is so vast that at one point we nearly ran out of gas, which gave us quite a scare. We camped there as well and spent a day checking out the sights, mostly geysers and waterfalls. Honestly, it wasn't quite as spectacular as I had imagined, but all in all, it was a fantastic trip and a great introduction to the American West.
On the way back from Yellowstone, we drove for twenty-four hours straight, taking turns at the wheel and sleeping in the back seat. I'm not sure I'd want to do that again! But by the time it was over, I finally had some solid long-distance driving experience under my belt—great preparation for my upcoming drive to New Jersey.
1
My work authorization finally arrived, which is a weight off my shoulders since it's the most important document I've been waiting for. I also picked up my diploma after our road trip—we missed commencement. It turned out to be nothing more than a large sheet of paper with a few words on it, not even a photograph attached.
2
Morgan Stanley wrote to me asking for my undergraduate and graduate transcripts. Luckily, I still had copies of my Chinese university transcripts on hand, so I mailed those off along with my UT ones. I pulled off straight A's again this semester, which means my final cumulative GPA for the two years is a perfect 4.0.
This year, Morgan Stanley hired about 240 associates from thirty-one universities and divided us among nine different divisions. I've been assigned to Information Technology, while most of the other divisions are finance-related and recruit primarily from business schools. We have an orientation scheduled from August 11th through the 15th at a hotel right on Broadway—coincidentally, the very same hotel I stayed at during my interview. The orientation is mainly intended to give us an overview of the firm's operations and allow us to get to know each other.
I'm going to hang out in Austin for another month or so, mostly to wait for Xun so we can drive up north together. Besides, there's really no point in heading up there too early. My rent at my current place is only $160 a month, which is a bargain, though the place is a bit messy because everyone living here is pretty laid-back. Lately, I've just been relaxing, watching TV, and reading. The TV setup here is fantastic—we get nine different movie channels that play movies around the clock.
Among the Chinese classmates graduating with me this semester, two are moving to Washington D.C., two are off to California, two are moving to Houston, and then there's me, heading to New York.
Tong
06/03/97