my guide to america II

after almost a year or two since 29th july 2024, I start writing this blog, my guide to america II. since then, a lot of things have happened to me, and these losses add a new layer of depth into my writing since then.

we say goodbye to my beloved camera, kafka karamazov, on the fourth of july, 2025 in new haven, CT after I lost it on a lyft and would never see it again.

we also say hello to my new camera, alpha cam, on the 10th of july, 2025 in bryn mawr, PA.

the loss of a camera also means that I take less photos these days, and I experience things more to the senses: taste, smell, sound, touch, futile devices beyond just looks.

between the two blogs (america I and this one), I also had occasions where I was suicidal because of academic stress, heartbreaks, and things that happened to my family, whether it's my mom's failing health or just economic stress as we just moved to the us.

this blog is written when I realized that I need to be doing something instead of grieving 24/7.

I chose to keep going, and I hope you would too.

I think it's also loss that turns my eyes to look at people more. if you look at my past blogs, most of them are of landscapes and things, but now, I feel like in a way, my blogs have become more human since I take less photos.

blog started 16th december 2025

blog ended

✅ IL, MI, DE, CT, RI, MD, WA, OR, ME, NH, VT

chapter 1. midwest journey, illinois and michigan

with molly and emma. we visited illinois and michigan over fall break in sophomore year. we visited molly's home, went on trails, visited fields museum, chicago institute of art where I saw edward hopper's nighthawks and hokusai's the great wave off kanagawa. I remember pregaming this trip with two shots, flu and covid 19, so I felt like a sickly victorian child (verbatim from lily describing her own illness) for most of the time. after our chicagoan days, we had a road trip to manistee, michigan to visit molly's beach house. we had the most amazing time that still fills my heart with gratitude upon looking back at the photos.

american diners. sunset by the lake. moments that make you fall in love again and again. everything is romantic. charli xcx was right.

emma fucking loves dinosaurs, I guess you can tell

the cover for america II, the concept is simple: objects in mirror are closer than they appear

chapter 2. delaware

with saniya to visit nemours estate one random weekend in sophomore year. visiting delaware from bryn mawr is pretty simple, just take the septa and transfer at 30th street station. nemous estate is home to alfred i. du pont, whose grandpa is éleuthère irénée du pont, whose PI (principal investigator) was antoine-laurent lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry. technically I'm 2 or 3 handshakes away from him after this visit, as I shook du pont's spiritual hands when I was there.

my favorite thing about this place is its slogan, aimer et connaître, or to love and to know.

nemours estate is also where I picked up my first garden passport. one among many.

portrait of alfred i. du pont

me and saniya

imagine being so rich you have your own film developing room. this is peak gilded age.

english gates

russian gates

chapter 3. conneticut and rhode island

with purity this summer. new haven was where I lost my camera so there's no photos of yale taken with it. the rest are taken with my phone and purity's phone. I don't remember much from the trip except for new haven pizza and rough point at rhode island. I remember tight hugs that purity gave me as I grieve for the loss of my camera outside the politce station. we missed the fourth of july fireworks, we lost my camera, the one that my mom got me after graduating high school, the one that accompanied me to the us, to vietnam, to mexico, to korea, etc. despite calls that we made to the driver, someone stole it, and I'd never see it again. it still hurts till this date, but I have no other choice than accepting the loss. new haven is also a sketchy area, as my professor also told me his car got broken into during his years of grad school.

the body is dead, but the soul is still here, in photos you see in this blog.

adieux, kafka karamazov.

the second time I went to rhode island was with tanu and keito over junior year fall break. we came to providence, then explored local area and brown university and rhode island school of design. we also came to rough point once more, as I love this place. we visited the breakers and it was really depressing with rude tourists. I highly advise against the breakers and other mansions ran by the same company. rough point is by a different association, so it has different values and the feeling is also different. the staff helps me find a spotify playlist that I saw during my previous visit, as well as helped me practice my french. I forgot her name, but I will never forget the patience she had teaching me how to say boyfriend in french (mon petit ami.) rough point is home to doris duke, a wonderful woman that makes it really worth visiting twice!

I have a special love for rhode island, probably because it was the shooting place for wes anderson's moonrise kingdom. there's something about that movie that's deeply nostalgic and I don't know how to explain why.

doris duke's obsession with all things pearl, yellow, and purple

I mean look at this

me and tanu, taken by keito

chapter 4. maryland

with tanu, my beloved roommate this summer. technically, I've gone past maryland a million times on my way to my aunt's house near d.c. however, I only count states that I've stayed in as visited. my first time officially staying in dc was this summer, where I went to a camping philosophy conference, aka philosophy in the wild 2025. I know about this conference as one of the hosts was my philosophy professor in freshman year at bryn mawr (shout out to prof g!) kudos to alex for driving us to the conference from the maryland amtrak station!

here we go, the first few photos taken by alpha cam on this blog. the majority of photos had participants' faces in it, which I tried to limit.

my favorite memory of this trip is the campfire singing part. there's something so healing about leaving the world behind and just disconnect from reality by going camping and touching grass with other people.

I hear her voice in the mornin' hour, she calls me

the radio reminds me of my home far away

drivin' down the road, I get a feelin'

that I should've been home yesterday, yesterday

country roads, take me home

to the place I belong

west virginia, mountain mama

take me home, country roads

horse fat we had at the conference as a part of a paper being read

chapter 5. washington and oregon

me and tanu visited washington and oregon during spring break. we met up with luke in washington and fáith in oregon. washington and oregon were gorgeous with blooming magnolia and cherry blossoms. we went to visit most tourist attractions like space needle, pomo, and chihuly garden and glass. we spent the second day mostly hiking with fáith in international rose test garden and forest park before heading back to washington. on our last day, luke took us on a tour of uwash campus, which we were off by a week before the cherry blossoms.

pioneer square, seattle

weird zebra crossing only seen in seattle

hiking with fáith in forest park

chapter 6. maine, new hampshire, vermont

on a random weekend, I went to maine to meet up with landon, someone that helped me tremendously with college applications, especially with my college essays. this is also the first time I had the long uber experience where I booked an uber trans state from portland, maine to dartmouth, new hampshire and then to montshire museum of science in vermont (only to get stranded there as uber was not available. I hitchhiked back to dartmouth and landon had to help me book buses back.) most of my time in maine were spent sleeping and enjoying the amazing food that landon prepared. I also went to vermont with a ben and jerry's ice cream pint to return it to the homeland.

bite into maine lobster roll

egg soup with pork fu prepared by landon

sticky rice prepared by landon

epilogue

that was the end of another 11 states added to my journey! I'm grateful for all the rides that I've been on and the amazing people that I've met that made this journey possible. and you too, thank you for joining the ride by reading up until here! bon voyage!