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......