After suing his mentor and receiving an opportunity to participate in a high-energy physics experiment at the European Atomic Energy Agency, Xu Chuan called his home to report his safety and information before embarking on a new journey.
As for other people, there is no need to say goodbye specifically.
Several good friends had already dined together and said goodbye in the middle of the month, so there was no need to do it again.
As for the luggage and so on, he had already packed it and could just take it away.
.......
Starting from Jinling, we took the high-speed train to Shanghai, then took an international flight to Philadelphia. After more than ten hours of flight, a Boeing passenger plane landed at the Philadelphia Airport.
After the plane landed, Xu Chuan dragged his black suitcase out of the airport, hailed a taxi and went straight to Princeton.
Although he knew many people in the United States, they all happened in a previous life.
In this life, he has known several mathematics professors at Princeton, oh, and his mentor's disciple Lin Feng.
But this is not the first time I've been to the United States. It's not good to bother others and ask them to pick me up. I can just take a taxi there myself.
What surprised Xu Chuan was that the taxi driver he hailed was a Chinese.
"Which province is this young man from?"
Seeing Xu Chuan, the driver's uncle asked in fluent Chinese.
Xu Chuan asked curiously: "How do you know that I am from China? Maybe I am from Korea or Xiaodao?"
The uncle driver chuckled: "Hey, if I can't tell the difference, my life will be in vain. Although the Koreans and the Japanese are both separated from our country, after all, they have been separated for so long, so there must be some differences in appearance."
"In the eyes of white people, there may not be much difference, but if the three East Asian countries recognize each other casually, how could they get it wrong?"
Regarding the driver's statement, Xu Chuan smiled noncommittally.
As the saying goes, one place's water and soil nurture one's people, and different regional environments nurture people with different temperaments. Even in China, there are obvious differences between northerners and southerners.
A person's temperament hides his life, education, and environment. These things subtly affect the way a person behaves.
So when three people from China, a small island country, and a Korean stand together, you can almost tell which country they are from at a glance.
However, it is said that it is difficult for Westerners to distinguish people from the three East Asian countries with only their eyes. In their eyes, people from China, Korea, and small island countries look almost exactly the same.
Xu Chuan didn't know why they couldn't tell the difference. Maybe there was a cell missing in the eye hole? So they couldn't distinguish the details?
...
Perhaps it was a rare encounter with compatriots in a foreign country. On the way to Princeton, the uncle driver seemed particularly excited and quite talkative along the way, ranging from how to live safely in the United States where everyone has a gun, to the international situation, to China and the United States.
Comparison of life...
From the driver's words, Xu Chuan could tell that he still missed his hometown, so he couldn't help but ask.
"Why don't you choose to return to your country?"
Hearing this question, the middle-aged driver was silent for a moment, sighed, shook his head, and said, "I can't go back."
Xu Chuan: "?"
"It's difficult to go back..." The uncle driver shook his head and continued: "On the one hand, my child grew up here and went to school here. He is used to the life here and doesn't even speak Chinese.
You are so eloquent, but your academic performance will definitely not be able to keep up after you return to China."
"On the other hand, I have also applied to return to China in recent years, but my applications have all come to nothing and I have never received a reply."
Hearing this, Xu Chuan was silent for a moment.
Once you have left the country and immigrated, it is not that easy to go back.
...
The drive of more than an hour passed quickly. The uncle driver took Xu Chuan all the way to the gate of Princeton University and handed Xu Chuan a business card before he got off the bus.
"This is my contact number. If you need a car, you can call me anytime."
Xu Chuan took the business card and put it into his pocket, smiled and nodded.
The driver gave him a warning. He might have to live in Princeton for at least two or three years. There would definitely be many places where he would need a car. He would have to find time to get a driver's license and buy a car.
Anyway, it is easy for him to take the driver's license test, and the driver's license test in the United States is much easier than in China.
For example, there are more than 40 questions in New Jersey's traffic rules, and you can basically pass if you make less than 6 wrong questions, while in China, there are 100 questions, and you can't make more than 10 wrong questions.
Dragging his luggage, Xu Chuan walked on the Princeton campus.
This is not the first time for him to come to this campus. He is very familiar with this place.
There is a saying: No school with a train is simple. There was Hogwarts before it and Princeton after it.
Princeton is the real-life Hogwarts.
When it was founded, the United States was still under colonial rule.
Therefore, various architectural styles have a strong British style. The ancient Gothic architectural design is so exquisite that the students inside have the illusion of entering Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Coupled with the purely academic atmosphere here, it is very similar to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
If there is something missing, it is probably the owl holding the admission invitation letter in its mouth.
.......
Dragging his suitcase, Xu Chuan arrived at the administrative building of Princeton University, preparing to go through the admission procedures and enter this world's top college.
As of 2016, Princeton has been ranked first in the U.S. News rankings in the United States for seven consecutive years. Princeton has 69 alumni and faculty who have won the Nobel Prize, ranking tenth in the world.
There are also 15 Fields Medal winners (third in the world) and 14 Turing Award winners (fourth in the world) who have worked or studied at Princeton University.
More than 20 of the previous Nobel Prize winners in physics are professors at this school.
More importantly, there is also the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, an academic mecca for mathematics and physics.
This is the real goal of Xu Chuan's trip.
In Princeton, in addition to Princeton University, there is also the Institute for Advanced Study.
The two are right next to each other.
In ordinary people's perception, these two are the same university, but in fact they are not.
Although the two have a deep relationship, they are not actually the same institution, and the Princeton Institute is not part of Princeton University.
The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton is a world-renowned theoretical research institution that gathers the best scholars in various fields of mathematics, physics, history, and social sciences to conduct the purest cutting-edge research.
But it is not a research institution subject to any teaching mission, research funding or sponsor pressure.
It has the purest academic environment. Einstein, von Neumann, Kurt Gödel, Robert Oppenheimer, Yang Zhenning and other scholars all worked and even retired at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
It is these best people in the world who systematically organize divergent knowledge and continuously improve unproven theories. They even take small steps back to the campus of Princeton University to teach students and solve their doubts, and they have achieved great success. This place is known as the Holy Land of Mathematics and Physics.
Xu Chuan hopes to use the capabilities of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton to break through and achieve his own mathematics, and then complete a breakthrough in physics.
........
Along the corridor full of history, Xu Chuan found the office where he remembered the enrollment registration.
After handing some materials prepared in advance and the special invitation mailed to him by Professor Deligne to the staff, his admission procedures were successfully completed in less than two minutes.
“Is the admission process to Princeton that simple?”
The extremely simple procedures made Xu Chuan a little curious. In his memory, although the admission procedures were not complicated, they were not so simple that they could be completed by just sketching two names.
Hearing this, the staff member sitting in front of the office smiled and said: "Your admission procedures and student status have already been registered by Professor Deligne. Now all you need to do is sign your name on the admission information. It’s just his name.”
Xu Chuan suddenly realized that Professor Deligne had greeted him in advance, and even if it was not admission time, there would be no problem with his admission procedures.
After completing the admission procedures, the staff handed Xu Chuan a copy of the freshman handbook and admission handbook, along with his student ID card and dormitory key.
"This is the admission handbook, student ID card and key to your dormitory. The dormitory room is Room 306 on the third floor of Rockefeller Residential College. The specific location is marked in the freshman handbook. You can find it by following the map."
"In addition, Professor Deligne asked me to tell you that he asked you to go to his office after completing the admission procedures. The professor's office is in Room 401 of the McCos Teaching Building."
"I wish you a happy study and life."
Xu Chuan nodded and said, "Thank you for your message."
........
After coming out of the administration building, Xu Chuan stuffed his luggage into his dormitory and found Professor Deligne's office.
"Dongdong~"
After knocking on the door, a voice soon came from inside.
"Please come in."
Xu Chuan opened the door and walked in. In the office, an old man with sparse hair that was all gray was sitting at the table, studying and calculating something.
"Professor Deligne." Xu Chuan respectfully greeted the old man in the office.
Hearing the sound, the old man stopped the pen in his hand, turned around and looked over. When he saw Xu Chuan, a smile appeared on his face.
"You're here, Xu. Have you completed the admission procedures?"
Xu Chuan nodded and said: "It has been taken care of."
"Then welcome to Princeton. I hope you can spend a pleasant few years here and learn more knowledge." Deligne smiled and continued: "After enrolling in Princeton, you need to choose a professor as your mentor.
, do you have a favorite candidate?"
"Or, can you tell me your next study and research direction? Maybe I can give you a recommendation."
Xu Chuan asked: "Of course, but before that, I would like to ask, in addition to mathematics, can I also design an interdisciplinary major to major in the course?"
Although many colleges and universities across the United States, such as Harvard and Yale, support double majors, unfortunately, Princeton does not support it.
Princeton does not support double majors, and bachelor's degrees are limited to one department.
In other words, you can only get a diploma from the Department of Mathematics or a diploma from the Department of Physics, but not both at the same time.
In fact, in China, NTU did not support double majors, but at that time, in order to grab him, the top scorer in the college entrance examination, and double gold medals, NTU made an exception and gave him the achievement of double majors.
But at Princeton, Xu Chuan didn't know, but there was a high probability that no exception would be made for him, even if he had already proved a world-class mathematical conjecture before enrolling.
Of course, what he wants is not a double major degree from Princeton. He just wants to win the right to double major in physics and mathematics, or courses, so that he can make subsequent achievements in physics and apply for the resources and contacts of Princeton.