Mai dong xi Chi dong xi

I realize that I really need to blog everyday because there's just so much to share, and i always assume I can skip blogging since tomorrow will just be a normal boring day.

This entry is for yesterday's shopping outing at Crossgates in Albany. It is a BIG shopping center with 3 levels, almost as big or even bigger than suntec city. We shopped there for 7 hours!


The first I saw was a candy stall in the middle of the mall that had a WIDE variety of candies. They had chocolates and sweets and gums......I just had to grab me some!








Since I don't usually shop and seldom have the mood to really try out clothes, I really spent a good 5 out of the 7 hours walking around, browsing around and just move on to the next store, and of course got quite bored. Then I came across this toy machine where you insert a coin aand turn and you get a toy. But this machine had plastic balls of the different sports that costed 25c per try. I got a sotball first, then a basketball, the Issey came along and I offered him a coin to try. He just had to get a cheapo metal ring that he threw away in the end. Well at least he redeemed himself by getting me a soccer ball.

There was this sports departmental store called Dick's. I know what kind of joke you are trying to make of it......It was huge, like a 2 storeyed Walmart of sporting goods. EVERYTHING about sports was there! They even have canoes! Ok i realize I should have taken photos of them. Don't worry I have photos of shopping......Oh but the shoes come in shelves! Rows and rows of shoes in different categories from women's running shoes to men's soccer boots. If I had all the money in the world, I would buy all the softball equipment and a basketball goal!





















When we took a break for lunch at the foodcourt, yes they do have an eating area that resembles a foodcourt, while a few of us girls were excitedly sharing their buys, I sat down at the table with Issey, the only guy. And he gave me that look. The look that a guy would give to a guy that means "what's with girls and shopping? Is it really THAT exciting?" I rejected the welcome to his side by shooting back "what's with that look, i'm a girl also ok! I'm not on your side lor!" Then he made another face that means "yah right". And, for the rest of the day he reminding me that girls=shopping which makes my something short of a girl. Frankly I'm happy to say that I can resist the temptation of shopping, which can help me save more money! BUT.....the money goes to food in the end!

I went into an Old Navy store that my aunt recommended me to visit. It was nice and some of the clothes were really cheap. I found a blouse with the design that I have been looking for. Yiping and yulian if you are reading this, remember the time we went shopping? I wanted to buy this blouse at 39.90? This one i bought is something like that,but more fitting. I finally got it! Oh and I also bought a t-shirt at 10 bucks and a pair of shoes at 6.99.




































Ok I'll just skip to the highlight of the day! At the last 2 hours of shopping, we went back to a store that Daphne recommended where she bought a nice dress for 3 dollars. Well I just tagged along, and just bear with it a little longer before we headed home for DINNER! The shop was a mix of hula and co and topshop. We went to this area with circular racks that says "50% of already discounted price". Okay......another sale, more clothes, it didn't really impressed me. So i jsut walked around and looked through the clothes and i saw this topshop christmas-party kind of dress that was priced at 6.99 BEFORE the 50% discount! So it's actually about 3.50!!!! Ok something's got me interested now! Before I know it, I was trying out 12 sets of clothing ranging form 3.99 to 12.99 all before 50% discount! And mind you, they are all good quality clothes, not top-notched but worth say 20, 30 plus in Singapore? I am now going to list the price i paid then the original price of the item beside, in the order of the photos.

Item 1: White working blouse (6.5/21.99), Item 2: Long sleeve stripe blouse (3.75/7.50), Item 3: Red checked top (6.50/19.99), Item 4: Grey sleeveless long cardigan (5/22.99) and finally the star buy item 5: Purple winter coat ( 9.99/45.00)































































In total, I spent Singapore dollar 107 on goods that would have cost me at least 200 in Singapore! It's not that I don't shop ok! But I shop wisely!

A little about RPI

Today's the 2nd day of school, and I for the past 2 days, I have been observing how things work in RPI and taking down notes so I have something to tell you guys. So for today I'll tell you abit about school in the US, first hand ok! But sorry that this entry does not have any photos since I have consistently been leaving my camera at home. No worries! I'll bring my dear camera out tomorrow.

It was a real pity I couldn't take any photos of the light snow today. I think it's going to sound weird, but the snow today was soooooo cute! Because it was kind of like light drizzle of snow, the flakes were like little cotton balls floating in the air, sometimes carried along by the light breeze. I hope you guys can imagine it like how I saw it, cause it was BEAUTIFUL! Coupled with all the chubby, fluffy squirrels running around the school, it almost felt like a fantasy RPI land......although "RPI" don't sound very fantasy-like.

Back to some of my observations of the school. First, since this is an engineering school, 98% are guys! Yes 98%! I won't say I'm afraid of guys but for the first time in my life, I felt overwhelm by the sheer number of guys in my immediate surroudnings. It's almost like they really emit a "yang qi" that is conflicting with my "yin qi". But the interesting thing is that, the guys are split mainly into 2 types: the sporty athletes that wear their atheletic jerseys like it's their uniform, and the nerds. The girls are also mainly split into 2 types, the more fashionable ones with a light air of attitude, and the more nerdy, nice ones. Sounds like typical high school? You got that right! I remember a wiseman saying: "High school never ends......here we go again!"(PS: it was actually lyrics to a rock song......but if..you didn't get it, it's ok you know......cause IT's OVER already! yeah it's amazing, but some high school culture seems to spill over into college life as well. Unfortunately, despite the disparity between the jocks & babes, and the nicer nerdier ones, they seem to be in unison when it comes to minority races-like us. The good things is that they do not resort to teasing or bullying like in American movies, though I'm sure that really happens in high school, but they still seem to avoid contact with us. At least the "nice ones" are friendlIER if we approach them, maybe because they know what it feels like to be "special". Well i may have put it abit more bluntly, but in reality all these exclusiveness and groupings are really much more subtle than what we can imagine, still observable though! Wow, what a long paragraph on this! It only serves to show my displeasure with the high school, immature, superficial kind of school culture......Ooops!

But then again, there some admirable qualities that the local students here possess. For one, they are really punctual. 10 minutes into class time and the whole class of usually full. However, i'm not sure it is a result of the school's emphasis on punctuality (because in some classes, accumulated lateness can cause a letter grade) or is it a general social contempt for lateness. Also, everyone seem to rush off hastily to the next class as soon as their are dismissed. It almost felt like primary school when the the bell rings and all the little kids dash out of the classroom into freedom. From what I've observed, RPI students are really punctual as compared to us. hm...... don't try to act blur ok! When I say "us", YOU are included! (Oh my God, that is if anyone if reading this)

The second good quality I've discovered, is that there is high respect for the lecturer speaking in class. The student pay full attention to the speaker. No messaging. No talking, not even whispering. No ringing cell phones (handphones). But student with laptops are sometimes doing notes on SOMETHING else other than what's being taught in class. But generally, there is great effort not to cause distraction in class and the student are very attentive. Plus, you must have heard also, the local students are very outspoken in the sense that they would voice their opinions whenever they have something they would like to say. they are really not afraid to speak their minds and disagree with the professor, another trait that is admirable about them. I do not seem to lack confidence and do not even sound like they are unsure of their opinion. They simply voice out when they feel like it. But again, they are very polite towards the lecturer and ALWAYS raise their hands and speak only when asked my the lecturer. In essence, they may not appear to be the conscientious busy note-taking kind of students, but they pay attention and actively engage in class discussions, something that I feel we Singaporean students have to work on!

Ok one last note for today, about the structure of the school. Basically, the building here, in Troy at least, are mostly made of wood, and not cement like in Singapore. So the floorings and walls, steps of stairways are made of wood. Naturally, they create alot of noise when we walk on them, just like how the floor under my feet would tremble while i am bathing when my house mate walks past the toilet form the kitchen to the living room. Thump thump thump, all day long, everywhere, even in school. Well I guess that is why the building around here are mostly 2-storeyed.

Another thing, RPI being one of the oldest university in the english speaking world, some of the school facilities really haven't changed much. Classrooms still have the dark brown woody walls, dark green blackboard with white chalk and a cramped layout of the tables. Oh, and one interesting thing is that the tables over here are one entity with the chairs, so people don't pull a chair out over here, they simply slip into a seat at their desk.

Stay tune for the next entry (even I know maybe no one is in tune actually)as I will include photos of the school structure I just described. I just felt that I should get down with this entry before I start procrastinating again......

Eve of school

School's going to start tomorrow, and i'm really quite looking forward to it.

Let's see, what's happen so far after my prev entry....Oh! I went running around the neighbourhood already! First was with Issey, Daphne and Valerie (who are my housemates), and once myself yesterday. Running in the cold was really a brand new experience. You don't get tired, but it gets harder to breath because the cold temperature makes it abit more uncomfortable.

Shuqi told me on msn that my blog is boring because it has no photos. Ok i'll try to add more photos......it's just that it takes a long time to upload them and for the past few times errors always pop up. I guess i should put more effort in making my blog more reader friendly since this is really for you people.For you who are still patiently and forgivingly reading my blog, thanks! I'll try to add in more photos.

Today the few of us are planning to go play basketball in a nearby court. Well, since none of us brought a ball, we are going to borrow it from our rocker neighbours upstairs. Hope they are at home......

Oh I haven't told you about my neighbours. They are locals and 2 of them also study at RPI. Robert opened the door for us when Valerie and I just arrived on Sun. He had tattoos on his arm and look like he works out often. Although he look like a typical rock band member, he was really friendly. Mike can down one day to give us his number and told us to give him a call if their playing of instruments got too noisy for us. He explained that they had a recording studio upstairs and will be playing music quite often. How cool is that?! A recording studio, musicians as neighbours! Some of my fellow RPI girls are excited to meet them, after hearing from us that they are quite cute.

Well that's for all now, wish me luck for school tomorrow!

It's 817am now at Troy. Today is the latest time that I have woken up at since i first came here 6 days ago. It's getting colder these few days and yesterday night was nuts!It was about -7 deg c WITH wind. And wind is the factor that makes the cold go straight into your bones.

Black guys encounter
You know how the blacks in US movies like to tease some girls on the streets? Valerie and I experienced it yesterday! We were walking back to our apartment, the two of us, in broad daylight, along a quiet street though. Nearing our aparment, we saw 2 black men, about 20 plus walking towards our direction on the same side of the street. Valerie told me she felt scared, so i suggested to cross and walk on the other side of the street instead. But it seem to make things worse as Valerie heard one of them say aloud

Black guy : "So now they walk on the other side of the street!"

I didn't pay attention as i thought they were just talking to each other, you know how loud Americans speak even when they are so close to each other.

We just continued walking about 3 metres when we heard the same guy shout "Hey! You go to RPI?"

I figured that if i ignored them, they may come after us and get our attention of something, so i turned around and said "what?" and made a face like I don't know what he was talking about and jsut shake my head.

Then he asked, "Hey are you 21?" I continued to act even more puzzled although i very well understood him.

He continued, "Are you 18?" I just looked confused and shook my head and shouted across "why?"

Then he said: " Cos I like you" with that annoying, teasing grin.

I was surprise that I felt calm and unafraid, which i thought i would be, and said with a can't-be-bothered tone "Sorry", and continued walking.

Luckily they did not follow us back or something. Valerie and I guessed that they may sense that we were avoiding them by crossing the street, thus inviting them to tease us. So the key is not to appear afraid, but still keep a distance from them!
I think Valerie and I handled it well, but I guess we better be more careful from now on.

Ice Hockey game!





The whole group of us were invited to watch an ice hockey match between RPI and Dartmouth, at RPI home ground. It was an eye-opener! I was surprised at how united and organized the RPI fans were in jeering at the opponent team. At the beginning of the game where they introduced the 5 main players of each team, the RPI fans shouted in unison " You suck" after each opponent player. When they introduced the rest of the team as a group, the fans shouted "you suck too!" While for our RPI team players, there were only loud random cheers and applauses, no organized cheers though.
Every time a player was penalized, they were put in the penalty box for a range of 2 to 5 mins depending on the type of offense they commited, and it will be reported by the commentator over the speakers. Whenever our player was sent to the penalty box, the corwd would go " suck" and would countdown "3, 2 ,1" when the player would resume playing and the commentator would go " RPI is back to full strength"
Dartmouth seems so be superior in their passes and receives, and also appeared more aggressive in their attack for the 1st period. Their effort paid off as they scored a goal in the first period. We were told that ice hockey has 3 20min periods with 15 min breaks in between. During the third period when RPI scored a goal then a second, the fans were standing up and pointing at the opponent goal keeper " It's your fault! It's your fault!", in unison!
The climax of the game was at the last minute of the game where they were just taking random shots and everyone seem to just CHIONG! And RPI almost scored a 3rd goal at the final 30 seconds.

It was crazy cold when we left for our apartment. I was jogging half the way back attempting to generate more body heat. It was so cold, I had to force myself to get out of the shower, only to scramble back into my room!

Life over here has been fun so far, with all the new discoveries about the US culture, and learning to take charge of an apartment together with fellow school mates. There'll be so much more to find out, and I'm really excited about school!

Day 1-supposedly 1st entry

17^th Jan ,Singapore – Flight day

Leaving everyone

I’m really thankful for the people who went to send me! I really felt very loved and treasured. Even though I told myself not to cry and to leave Singapore jolly and enthusiastic to set the mood for the exchange, my mum just HAD to hugged me and tear again, forcing my tears out for the second time that day.

Despite the tears and the goodbyes at the departure gate, the repeated turning back to wave more goodbyes, I had not felt the full magnitude of what it meant to leave the people I cared for. It was until I cleared the self-service custom gate and could no longer see them did the full force of reality crashed on me. It felt really lonely, like I could no longer do the many things that I enjoyed doing with the people I left behind, or that I may never see then again….ever! What was lacking was just some melancholic music to accompany the dramatic emotion I felt. Eye-opening experience, but really kinda scary! Maybe people who know that they’re dying would feel something like this, just to a greater extent. More tears…

Transit at Qatar

So far, security checks required me to take off my boots, which was a hassle! A small advice, when travelling between airports, don’t wear long boots! If you have to, wear one that has some kind of side zipper or Velcro that make it easy to remove.

Everything still did’t seem very USy yet along the journey from the airplane to the customs. Passengers were mostly middle eastern, from DOHA where we transited from, and a couple of Asians.

It was a surprise that there weren’t any security checks when we entered JFK airport, well….thank God there wasn’t! 15 hours of flight time-cum-waiting time was already draining our energy and enthusiasm. The cycle of eating, watching movies then sleeping may sound enticing but not when you’re stuck in a plane, and I really mean butt-stuck to the seat for hours and hours!

At the customs where they chop your passports, the tall, strong-built Caucasian officer at the counter I went to looked stern and intimidating when he said “ how are you?”. I wasn’t too intimidated really…… but was trying not to show any sign of anxiety when I replied “21 years old”. He then raised his voice “ I said HOW ARE YOU”. “Oh, I’m fine”, I just forced a quick smile. I seriously thought I heard wrongly, because hwy would a custom officer ask how am I? I could totally sense the other passengers behind me turning their attention to me....

It was raining instead of the forecasted snow. It was 4 degree Celsius outside the airport, but it felt ok. In fact, more bearable than the 9 degrees when I was in Hongkong! I guess my HORSE JOCKEY-christmas tree suit did a great job keeping me warm! As soon as we exited the arrival hall into the public area at JFK airport, there was an black american man who approached us saying “Taxi? Go school? Where?”. It felt like he was a devil in disguise trying to lure us innocent kids into a trap….scary…

Valerie and I loved our apartment. I has a cottage, homey feel to it, that greatly consoled us who are now miles away from home. First plus point was that the living room was really spacious, furnished with big comfy sofas and a 60 inch LCD TV!!!! How great is that?! Kitchen was very American, with cooking stove, baking oven (YEAH YEAH!), dish washer, huge fridge and more than enough compartments. The toilet was nice too, abit cramped though, but definitely above average!

Entry one- Not so much of an introduction

Hi guys!
It's 5 am in the morning here.......I'm still experiencing the effects of jet lag but it's not so bad, I start to feel sleepy at about 9 plus yesterday, and after 6 hours of sleep I'm not wide awake and ready to go. Jac and Weming knows very wel how much I need my sleep and will not hesitate to. And......to my Guan yin mah gang in hall 12, it's sad I can't chen yun over here, because it's really quiet outside on the street. Oh yah, over here in Troy, we are 13 hours behind Singapore time.

If this is the first time you are reading my blog and wondering if you're on the wrong page, don't worry......this IS the first entry to my blog. And Jac I'm sure you've guessed it right, I kinda procrastinated doing up my first entry of my blog. Actually, I did take pictures and did up a fairly exciting-sounding introduction to my journey in US, but I was just being my usual inflexible self, and insist that I NEED to include a video of my aparment, which starts with me going form the outside of the apartment and introducing each corner inside the hosue, which I haven yet to do. Plus whenever I i remember to take the video, the sun's already set and you can't really see anything from the outside.

Well, honestly, those are really excuses......the truth is, I really find blogging a hassle. My friends , especially Jac who's still waiting for me to read her blog sometime and show some interest and enthusiasm about her blog, would know that I don't even read people's blogs. But what's keeping me from forgoing this blog altogether is that I've promised some people to leave a record of my life during this exchange program. It's my way of connecting to the people I care for and my way of showing that I want to include them in my life. It's also my way of saying thanks to the people around me, my family, my friends in jc, hall, ntu, that have nothing but nice and tolerant towards me.
This entry is getting abit too lengthy, and boring with no photos or VIDEO OF MY APARTMENT. I'll just finish off with abit more of my heartfelt thoughts about coming to US and start off with the more exciting snippets of life here in the next entry. So if you are not really interested in my thoughts about coming to the US, please skip to the next entry. (PS: please be patient if i you do not see a NEXT ENTRY because that would mean I haven't done it...heh heh.... I know you have already read like so much and feel like killing me for only telling you to skip to the next blog to avoid the boring, wordy reflections-style of this entry, I'm sorry to do so. Not so sorry actually, because you can't do anything to me since i'm miles away :P Seet and lua and Daniel if you are reading this....too bad!!!

I decided to embark on this exchange trip mainly as a recee to find out if I would do my Masters degree over here. But as the days neared the day of my flight and when I touched down in JFK airport, it became clearer to me that I came here not solely for educational purposes, I came here to really learn more about myself and to look into what's wrong with me and change for the better. Looking back, life in Singapore just seem to pass by and I felt like I was simply going with the country's flow and pace. I really I haven't reflected much which I sooooo know i should. Jac and Weiming, I know you would be like nodding your head and saying "HELL YEAH!" to the next few sentenced. You two know best about of how I totally leave everything and everyone aside when i'm engrossed in doing something......be it studying or ....hall games. Sometimes I just prioritise things that should not be the most important in my life, making people I care for feel neglected and resentful. I'm sorry guys......sometimes I just so want to give my best in something, regardless of whether is it worthwhile or not, that I just forget about eveyrthing else, even if they are more important. That's something I wanna look into when i'm here, discovering more about myself.

Maybe you guys may think i'm a goody-two-shoes, but what most excites me about this trip is really not the fact that I get to travel over the weekends to different parts of America, going to school without worrying about my grades, or FINDING an ANG MOH BOYFRIEND! I'm really more excited about really immersing in the school life over here, learning about the culture, joining a sports team (hopefully), and forming meaningful friendships both with fellow GIP students and also with the locals. I've always have a passion for learning about different cultures, and what makes them who they are and what they do. Well maybe that's precisely why I took psychology.

Well, in conclusion, this blog is mainly done for YOU, while this trip is for me to search my soul and find myself again. Hopefully, in through the blogs, you can see me grow, alongside all the embarrassing stuff that I seem to be a magnet for. So while I'm here finding myself and enjoying a stressfree life (I hope so), at the back of my mind I still remember you guys and want to share my life and thoughts with you all!