I was initially inspired to start the blog by a post “Become a Writer 30-Day Challenge”. Though I journal from time to time, I want to develop the habit of writing consistently. Putting it out to the public will hold me accountable. I named it “500 words” because I want to keep the posts short and concise, as Mark Twain once said “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”. 500 words seem to be a good goal for the blog length, but don’t take the count too literally.

In terms of content, I have two focuses – first, to give my friends around the world a glimpse of my life with more than facebook statuses; second, to share advice with students, especially international college students. Most international students go through the struggle of landing a job in the US due to visa constraints, which I could completely relate to because I once was. After college graduation, as an alumna I tried my best in attending on-campus workshops and networking events to meet with as many students as possible. However, my attendance has never been scalable and my move to Houston made it difficult. Thus, I am hoping the blog could be the keeper of my learning lessons, going beyond my current network and covering broader range of topics.

I am excited and at the same time scared to kick-off the blog. I am excited that my ideas and thoughts will reach beyond friends and help international students that I have not met before. I am scared that my ideas and writing will no longer be kept to myself, but subject to the unease of “what would the readers think?”. Nevertheless, I have been encouraged by the quote “What would you do if you weren’t afraid” in Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In. Writing the blog is my way to get over the fear and the sometimes overbearing self-criticism. To start with, I plan to blog for a year, when I will publish one post every other Sunday evening.