Young love at the Princeton Summer Journalism Program

By Jimmy Tang (Alhambra, CA)

People often say that the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. If this is true, then the Princeton Summer Journalism Program has officially become my soul mate. I came here to learn how to become a better writer, but I never expected to experience so many different types of foods from across the globe. From what I can remember, we’ve eaten food from Italy, China, Korea, and as of today, India.

I can admit, with the support of my fellow SJPers, that I have been well fed ever since the first day I arrived. Tonight’s dinner is one that I will always remember, because it was my first time eating Indian food. There aren’t many Indian restaurants in my community, so I was very anxious when I found out what we would be eating.

The food surprised me because the only item that was recognizable to me was the curry. Since I’m not a picky eater, I decided to get a little bit of everything. I took my first bite. It was amazing.

Each dish had its own distinct flavor, but they all blended amazingly well together. As a matter of fact, I thought it was so good that I went back for seconds, then thirds, then I went back for fourths, but there was no more food by then. Everything after that is pretty much a blur.

In other news, tomorrow is going to be the last full day in the program. I try my best to keep my mind off of this, but since I spend more than 17 hours a day with my new family, forgetting them is obviously not going to work. It is hard to believe that I met everyone a little over a week ago, because we’ve all become so close. Surprisingly, the sadness has not kicked in yet. There are two possible reasons as to why. I either have no soul or I am just in denial (kind of like Christopher Plummer’s character, Hal, from The Beginners.)