█ The Turkish professor and I.（土耳其籍教授與我合影）。

中文簡介：故事起源於「機械人簡介」這門課的作業，在系上教授的鼓勵和指導下，我做了一個關於咖啡拉花的專題。先是在國內比賽中獲勝，代表臺灣到美國參賽，又拔得頭籌，經歷了一段不可思議的旅程。

Inspiration — the course “Introduction to Robotics”
I have always been fascinated by robots. To get to know more about them, I took the course “Introduction to Robotics” last semester. Aside from having to do the heavy computation behind the construction of robots, we were required to do a term project.I worked very hard on it. Much to my surprise and delight, my project brought me to a dreamlike journey.

First Place in Taiwan
Without Prof. Pei-Chun Lin, I'd have no idea that my project could go this far.  With his encouragement, I started to upgrade my project and practically applied it to the creation of Latte Art. On March eighth, I won first place in the ASME Old Guard Oral Presentation in Taiwan, and was qualified to represent Taiwan to challenge the regional competition. However, the momentary happiness of winning plunged me into chaos the following month— improving on the project, booking flights and hotels, contacting the ASME committees, and sharpening my English speaking skills.
A lot of times I was thrilled and intimidated by the thought that I would represent my country and compete with the native speakers of English. Such worries were compounded by a heavy workload of schoolwork. Prof. Pei-Chun Lin was the best adviser during the course of my preparation for the competitions.

█ My project.（機械手臂模擬咖啡拉花）。

First Place in ERAU (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Florida, U.S.A.)
This was the first time I traveled alone. After over 25 hours of flight, four flight transfers, I finally arrived at Daytona Beach International Airport. I chose Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as a venue simply because the date for the competition falls on a weeklong spring break. This university is best known for aeronautical science and aerospace engineering.
I was an early bird on the registration day. The sun was bright as if it were heartily welcoming a nervous visitor from a faraway land. I got to the venue too early, so I had plenty of time to roam around the campus. It was a beautiful campus, small but neat.  When I was resting under the sun, a young Turkish “girl” came to me, and offered her friendly welcome for my participation. We had a very pleasant chat. My jaw dropped as soon as I found that she was a professor in Embry-Riddle! When I revealed my worries and nervousness, she kept encouraging me.  As a foreigner as well, she could relate to my worry about my Taiwanese accent. I was so lucky to meet her in this competition and even become friends with her. On that night, all the contestants gathered in the Instruction Center after the dinner buffet. That was a fantastic night! I spent time with hundreds of mechanical engineering students from the southeast of America. We chatted and shared our lives. Surprisingly, even though we live thousands of miles away, we have a lot in common. I made a lot of friends that night, who later on became my best companions during my trip. 

█ Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.（安柏瑞德航空大學）。

The next day was the competition. I was the last to present my project. The performances of the contestants before me were impeccable. I was stunned by their well-prepared project and their clear and effective presentation, which made me even more unsettled and edgy. However, I gathered the courage and calmed my nerves, trying to look as poised as possible. Shortly afterward, I was on the stage, trying to enthusiastically share my project with the audience just like how I had shared it with my friends back in Taiwan. My favorite Turkish professor was in the audience seat, constantly nodding and giving me an encouraging look during my performance. Her nonverbal gesture was like a tranquilizer, which instantly reassured me. Before long, I heard sporadic laughter and wows from the audience. In the Q&A section, I received the most questions and feedback from the audience and judges. I was so happy that people were interested in my project. One of the judges showed enthusiasm for my project and even asked me if I had any interest in participating in other competitions.
At the prize-awarding ceremony, upon hearing “The first-place award of 2015 ASME Old Guard Oral Presentation goes to Pin-Yi Chen, National Taiwan University,” I burst into tears of joy. It was a memorable moment.

Reflections
I was so lucky to be able to go on this remarkable journey alone. As a coffee addict, I'm proud that I can apply what I've learned in class to what I love. Without a doubt, I've learned a lot from the entire adventure. I've come to realize the importance of self-study after the painful process of working alone and writing programming codes turns out to be rewarding and fulfilling. In a word, “toil, feel, think, and hope,” part of a famous quote by John Sterling, can best illustrate how I spent those tough and harsh March days of 2015. 
I owe considerable thanks to those who helped me get through the hard times. Without Prof. Lin's recommendation, I would have never seen my project as promising and worthy of time and energy. Brainstorming crazy ideas with Prof. Lin was one of the happiest moments in the process of preparation. In addition, without the financial support from the school, I wouldn't have been able to travel this far and reach out to the world. Without the support of my adviser Prof. Jia-Yang Juang of “Special Project for Bachelor Degrees Student” and my beloved Multiscale Systems Lab members, I would have had no strength to face this challenge!

█ My best friends there. （一起度過比賽的夥伴們）。