I must apologize for this being such a late post. I chatted with my reader/mentor (I'll just say "mentor" from now on), Mr. Hamel, on Tuesday (1/28). I told him about my initial research project in during homeroom. Since I wasn't too sure of what I wanted to pursue within my theme of rivers (as my initial idea of establishing new docks on Boston Harbor and building an outdoor classroom to educate the public on the pollution of rivers would take about five years to complete in the BEST possible case scenario), he asked me a couple of basic questions in an effort to inspire me, such as "what aspect of rivers do you want to focus on?" I told him pollution. He then told me that Dr. Gibson and Ms. Dannenberg would be good contacts to have. After our conversation, we agreed that we should meet in the beginning of E. However, later that night, I just started to feel extremely nervous. After two years preparing to do a CAPStone with a theme of rivers, I felt obligated to stick to my initial topic. I even advertised my proposal to my college interviewers, all of whom seemed pretty interested in what I planned to due for my project. And then I had an epiphany. What if rivers isn't the way to go? What if changing my topic is the best route for me? Well, I thought of another idea that I'd be interested in pursuing: the psychology of the Chinese buyer in the U.S. real estate market. Although this is a HUGE change in plan, I feel that I can get a lot out of this topic. This project will (potentially) have a lot of historical content along with marketing analyses and social studies. With all these things considered, I thought to myself, "Hey, maybe this can work." With my mom being an amazing real estate broker who has several Chinese clients, I have many resources to dig into. I've gotta say, even though I feel lethargic about leaving my rivers project behind, I feel like a huge load of weight has just been lifted from my shoulders. I really do think that this project has a lot of potential.