In June the team will spend three weeks preparing for the competition at the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program offered by the Mathematical Association of America on the campus of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. In August they will travel to Zhongshan, in Guangdong Province near Hong King, where the competition will be held. They will also have some time before and after the competition to travel and sightsee in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

We are grateful to our generous partners in this project, whose financial support has made the trip possible: Intel, Akamai Foundation, Mathematical Association of America, Shiing-Shen Chern Foundation for Mathematical Research, and Sunlin and Priscilla Chou Foundation.

The members of the USA team are Wendy Mu, Colleen Lee, Jennifer Iglesias, Carolyn Kim, Jenny Jin, Joy Zheng, Lynnelle Ye, and Inyoung Cho. The coaches traveling with them are, Zuming Feng, Alison Miller and Maria Monks.

The girls and their coaches will be sending regular messages and photos that we will post here. We invite you to check this page regularly and follow along on this wonderful adventure.

Team Member Messages & Photos

--Jenny Iglesias

So right now we have all just gotten settled on our plane to San Francisco. Six of us are on this flight: me (Wendy), Colleeen, Joy, Lynnelle, Carolyn, and Alison. I miss Jenny, Maria, In Young, and the other Jenny already. I had a really amazing time this summer, from our nine-mile hike (now known as "THE hike") to the competition and watching the Olympic soccer game. I'm really thankful to our sponsors for being so generous and making this all possible as well as our coaches for being so awesome and supportive. Since I graduated from high school this year, I won't be back next summer (*sniff*) but I hope future teams have as great an experience as I had and I hope everyone can keep in touch. :)

--Wendy Mu

Woah... I'm on the plane flight back to San Francisco (and then Seattle) already. :( I miss all the people who aren't on our flight (Jenny, Jenny, Maria, and In Young) but I'll see In Young again in another two weeks. Some of the highlights of this trip were THE IMPROMPTU 9-MILE HIKE, In Young, Jenny I., and I searching for dinner on the first night in Hong Kong, the competition, and being able to watch the Olympic soccer game. (Not to mention my 11 or 12 mosquito bites.) Thanks to everyone -- sponsors, coaches, and CGMOers -- for making this time awesome! I hope that I'll be able to come back next year.

--Joy Zheng

Assuming our plane trip continues as planned, we are expected to arrive at the San Francisco airport in less than 2 hours. This means my second and last CGMO trip is finally coming to a close. As a second-year CGMOer, I could respond to my trip to China with a "been there, done that"; doing so, however, would be a lie. As I compare the journal entries made last year with my experiences this year, I find that the trips made last year and this year could not have been more different.

MOP instead of AwesomeMath. Southeastern China (Hong Kong, Zhongshan, Shanghai) instead of further north (Beijing, Wuhan, Xian). And a whole new group of fellow GMOers and friends.

Given that only three of the seven non-seniors on last year's team returned this year, I am extremely thankful to have been allowed to compete again this year and indeed, that our sponsors have seen fit to help make this experience possible again.

Since I will be attending college next year, this is also my last CGMO. There are a lot of things from the trip I'll miss, most of all the team camaraderie and the team members and their quirks.

All in all, the trip was an amazing one that I'll never forget. Conspiring to get Lynnelle to watch Star Wars on our plane flight. The notorious nine-mile hike. The sweaty afternoon aerobics sessions, and the student who put up with our clumsiness to help us improve. The nights Joy and I spent reading each other's fanfic. Carolyn's misinterpretation of a "pair" of people as a "pear" and the running joke that has continued ever since. My elation in finding I had won a medal (I had been sure they meant Carolyn Kim and not me when they announced "Carolyn Lee"), and the pride we felt when we found that EVERYONE on our team had medaled (Lynnelle, stop saying you're bad at math). And, last but not least, getting to see the Olympics in person (although watching both the men's team finals and women's team finals on television in a single night was great, too).

There are a few things I regret on this trip (the silly mistakes that cost me 15 or so points in total, not being able to properly say good-bye to In Young, leaving everyone in general) but my overall impression of the trip was a great one.

So this is good-bye. I'm happy that Wendy and I will be able to see each other in college, and that Lynnelle's not too far away. But for all the other non-seniors on the team (*hint hint nudge nudge*) come and join Wendy and me at Stanford.

To everyone who has helped to make this trip as fun as it was: thank you.

--Colleen Lee

Hmm. I have to say... Colleen has really good handwriting.

The trip is finally ending. :-( This has been an amazing experience for me. The intense touring of China, taking a math test, watching the Olympics, and learning random Chinese phrases.

I am severely unhappy at the thought of returning to school where normal life will resume. I will definitely miss all the people from CGMO; I feel lucky to have known them and spent so much time with them.

My one disappointment is my failure to write on only the front side of answer sheets and to write my answer on top.

However, the overall experience was wonderful and I am grateful for everyone who made this possible.

Good bye to all of you and I hope to see you again!

--Carolyn Kim

After the almond cake factory, we went to an art museum. We got to see some paintings and a couple theaters, but no shows. Then we climbed a hill to see a statue of Sun Yat-sen, a founder of ZhongShan.

We then went to a museum that showed how ZhongShan started up. It had fake stalls set up depicting which ones had a big start in ZhongShan.

We then went to lunch. Lunch was tasty. We got to watch an Olympic wrestling match.

After lunch we went to a Chinese garden. There were lots of Bonsai trees. All the buildings had pretty architecture. Then they had a magic show. Some of the tricks were really cool.

We then got to pack. There's nothing interesting to say about that.

We then went to dinner. We listened to speeches in Chinese. Well, actually we just guessed at what they were saying. During dinner, we made a centerpiece out of chicken and duck heads.

Since we are leaving tomorrow before the awards ceremony, we found out the awards and scores tonight:

Carolyn with a score of 45 got a bronze
Jenny Jin with a score of 39 got a bronze
In Young with a score of 54 got a bronze
Colleen with a score of 48 got a bronze
Joy with a score of 48 got a bronze
Wendy with a score of 63 got a silver!
Jenny I. (Me) with a score of 81 got a GOLD!!
Lynnelle with a score of 87 got a GOLD!!!

So our day ended well. (With a graceful fall from me down a couple of stairs.)

-Jenny Iglesias

In China, we've made for more memories than I had by rolling about the house for a month during summer vacation. The hike, the sights, Ocean Park, the seafood, the names, ah the names, the aerobics, and of course, the competition.

I guess I have the disease of thinking I could've gotten a higher score, but I know it's not the most important thing. What I'll remember is the aerobics, with the initial dislike, sweat, and excitement and our eternal dislike of hikes.

And when we all go home in 3 days, I'll miss you all... Lazy, Clumsy, Booky, Sketchy, Spacey, Fanaticky, Walky-Talky, Too-energeticky, Mooey... Yeah, thanks for everything.

-In Young Cho

-Lynnelle Ye

Photos from the competition
Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3, Photo 4, Photo 5, Photo 6

-Joy Zheng

Lynnelle and I also voluntarily climbed up over 30 flights of stairs, despite our own complaints about the number of stairs we had to climb on our trip. In the process of searching for the staircase, we got a good tour of the hotel, and had a few interesting run-ins with hotel employees, none of which seemed to understand why we didn't want to go up the elevator. In the end, we took the elevator up to the 15th floor, took the stairs down to the 3rd floor (where we saw a sign warning us to be prepared to show our construction permits), then took them up to the 36th floor (which was roped off and had a security lady sitting at the top of the stairs). Then, we arrived at the team meeting, hot and sweaty from our epic quest.

Wednesday was travel day. After a buffet breakfast, the team rode the bus to ZhongShan, where we would stay in the school dorms. Admittedly, the change in living conditions between a 4-star hotel and dorms with plank beds and hole-in-the-floor toilets was a bit disconcerting, but we are slowly getting used to it.

The opening ceremony is today, and the math competition proper begins tomorrow.
I hope we're ready to do well!

-Colleen Lee

We first took the subway to Wan Chai station, where we had dim sum at a nice Chinese restaurant. Zuming and his family did most of the ordering, as they were the most fluent in the language. The discussion at the table ranged from the Olympics to the CGMO to word games and tongue twisters.

We then ventured back to the hotel, walked through Hong Kong park to the Peak tram station, and took the tram up to Victoria's peak, which had spectacular views of Hong Kong. (More pictures will be coming shortly!) After exploring the shops in the skyscraper on the top of the hill and taking countless pictures, we took the bus back down to our hotel, had dinner in the mall, and had another team meeting. We went over Day II of the Mock CGMO and did some practice problems to get the girls in a good mindset for the contest.

Tomorrow we'll head to ZhongShan for the competition!

-Maria

Today we visited Ocean Park, which is an amusement park built on a mountain. It was raining, but we still had fun. Some people went on rides, and we saw some giant pandas which I thought was really cool. But my favorite part of the visit was our ride in the cable cars down the mountain. The view was beautiful.

Carolyn will finish writing about today because today was a long day.

-Wendy Mu

After Ocean Park, we had the option to go to a nearby mall to eat dinner. I was originally not going to go, but at the last minute I changed my mind. Wendy, In Young, Colleen, Lynnelle, and Alison were in the group that went there. After some confusion and indecisiveness about where to eat (there were plenty of restaurants at the mall), we went to a Japanese restaurant called Wasabisabi. The food was delicious, but after we were done eating, we realized we would probably be late to the team meeting. When we got to the meeting, we were surprised to find that everyone else was also late except Maria. At the team meeting, we decided that since most of us are tired, tomorrow's trip would be a short one. After we discussed some mock CGMO problems (as Wendy wrote), Zuming mentioned that he had obtained Olympic tickets.
(!!)

-Carolyn Kim

So, some people have been teasing me about the incident which got me writing this first post-MOP entry. Specifically, some friends of my family, on their way from Japan to their home in Hong Kong, just happened to bump into us as we left the airport for the hote. What I remember most clearly about them just happens to be the scratches and bruises I suffered at the hands of the older boy (who is about 7). So I talked to them a little and... yeah, that's it. You know, this story isn't actually very interesting. I don't understand why everyone's on my case about it. On the other hand, being in Hong Kong is interesting. We're on the 30th floor of the hotel with an amazing view, and the money is pretty. That's all for now. Bye!

Lynnelle Ye

I will definitely miss all of this excitement when we all have to leave on Thursday! MOP was a great experience and I am really glad I got to meet all the cool, amazing people here and I will miss everyone when I go back home.

I really learned a lot at MOP and I am excited for the CGMO later this summer!

-Wendy Mu!

I find it interesting that there are so many entries clustered near the end - I guess everyone just wanted to get their chance to write.

It's pretty sad that we're all leaving so soon. It's sort of tougher for me because I'm not actually one of the ones going to the GMO. Almost everybody is going to reunite in a few months but I'll be *gasp* going back to school. Oh, well. There's always next year - and you can bet I'm going to work SOO hard to be there.

I can't believe how much I've grown these three weeks - adapting to life on my own, a rigorous schedule of ALL math, reveling in associating with people who are as nerdy as I am! In a way, it seems like there was never a time when I didn't know Fermat's Little Theorem, the Euclidean Algorithm, or Muirhead's Inequality - yet all of these things I learned at MOP.

Hey, I came here pronouncing it 'emm - oh - pee'- I even learned the correct pronunciation! ("mop")

I really miss my family - every day they're doing normal summer things like going to the pool or a lake, and I'm missing it. But when I get home I won't have nearly as much math to do or nearly as cool people surrounding me. I can't wait to leave and sleep in my own bed again, but when I leave there won't be people around asking me to play games with them all the time; frisbee, set, the convoluted chinese card game.

In short: I'm going to love and hate leaving, and love and hate coming home. MOP is one of those things that you can't wait for it to start - and then can't wait for it to end... sort of.

I just lost the game.

(I know how to say (but not write) that in chinese!) It sounds like woah-shoe-luh. I'm really bad at the tones/pitches/whatevere. I guess if my goal is to go to China next year I'd better get learnin'.

Sounds like there's a party in the hall - better go! Grrrrrrr

-Kate

As Lynnelle said, we had our last real MOP test today (although we do have the Useless Math Olympiad tomorrow). In a way, this test has really brought things full circle. One problem involved number theory techniques, which we have learned through camp, while another problem was in fact relatively easy when coordinate bashed, something I've done from before MOP.

The journey won't be over after MOP, though. After MOP, we'll have a few last weeks of preparation... and then China!

-Colleen Lee

-Lynnelle Ye

-InYoung Cho

-Jenny Jin

-Elizabeth

-Carolyn

-Joy

After lunch we had our first team contest. It didn't go so well for our team, but so it goes. After the team round we had dinner and began another game of contact.

We played card games and watched/played chess. (Chess is a spectator sport at MOSP). We got to see the solutions to the test we took on Friday. And now I think I'm going to sleep.

Goodnight, Jenny (Iglesias)

Thus far, MOP has been super exciting; meeting a group of kids with common interests, whether we're doing math or just hanging out, always involves tons of fun. There's like a constant buzz of joy hanging in the air which is easily ignited by a sudden realization and which causes a whirl of discussion and questioning. This is what solving problems at MOP is like; so different from your average high school group of students. I don't want to sound pessimistic, but I know I'll definitely be missing this experience later on.

Also, I must mention how wonderful the classes have been. Once again, there's that great environment topped off with an instructor who is enthusiastic in teaching other students. I really have enjoyed these parts of my MOP experience so far!!!

-Iris