Caroline Muses

dust dust

2010-11-29T03:08:00.001-08:00

it has been a long time since any entry was entered here. testing out the androblog app on my phone. test test.

The Countdown Begins

2010-06-28T11:52:00.001-07:00

The end of june is approaching real fast. Unknowingly, I have graduated for 2 months already. It has been a great 2 months traveling and enjoying life with my SLV family here in Buffalo, eating and meeting up to watch korean variety shows. As june approached, we lost many of our SLV family members. Now, SLV family gathering consists a grand total of 3 members. ):

The last few weeks consist of packing, packing and more packing. Packing not only my stuff, but everything else in the house. Taking down photos/bulletins from the walls and fridge make the house feel weird. Everytime I glance up and catch a glimpse of the bare fridge, the feeling just isn't right. (Cassie Unni! The fridge is white again. HAHA. No longer covered in SLV notes!) I'll miss my time here in Buffalo, i'll miss my little apartment that we made into something that was ours.

아! 어떻게!

A year of my life now packed into 2 luggages and many garbage bags and boxes. Ready to be moved with me or be thrown/given away.

小绵羊头！

2010-06-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

我的小绵羊头！哈哈！

Merci Beaucoup!

2010-05-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

Back from a wonderful trip with the family! It was nice to be traveling together again. (: Had great fun during the trip and did amazing things including a helicopter ride up and down the Grand Canyon! Many videos of my flight. Hee.

Updates about the trip will come later when I've sorted through my photos. This is a post to thank some people.

1. My Parents - for the wonderful trip for the family and of course, for my year in Buffalo. Thank you! I really enjoyed myself.

2. My cousins and siblings - for my pretty 21st present! I'm loving my new bag from Kate Spade! Tada!

3. Gwen! Thanks for the pretty bookmark! It's currently being put to good use. Hee. It was nice to hear from you again. (:

(That's my current read.)

I don't feel like I've graduated. Haha. Living on south lake still makes it seem like I'm still going to take the red line to the academic spine for my classes. The last 2 days have been filled with a little packing, lots of dramas and slacking, filing all the forms I have to file and a little job hunting. May I find my job soon!

Family Fun

2010-05-09T17:52:00.001-07:00

Wore the robes, put in the cap, walked across the stage and did not fall on my face! I graduated and is officially unemployed. Heh. But I'm having such a grand time with my family that I'm not really bothered with that now. It has been a few real busy days - outlet shopping with lots, I mean, LOTS of loots, niagara falls with some crazy snow in the morning in the middle of may. So much fun! My parents have always been spoiling me so much buying me so much stuff and food that I wouldn't buy on my own.

Am loving my loots from shopping on Saturday! Thank you cousins, bro and sis for my birthday gift! I will post pictures soon! Many new bags to carry out! Yippee!

In the hotel now, leaving for LA early in the morning. Going to see my brother soon! Much excited.

Till I get back! (:

P.S. Congratulations to the class of 2010! To all my dear friends, congratulations!

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Be Present

2010-05-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

"Don't speed through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention. Be present."

Last Exam

2010-05-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

All I have left now is one last exam in my undergraduate career - French. It's amazing how quickly time has passed. Certainly didn't feel like a long time ago when I first stepped into SIM for my first day of orientation. Now, here I am sitting in my apartment in Buffalo, down to my last 3 days as an undergraduate.

Feeling: Scared. Uncertain about what's to come, feeling that I did not achieve enough.

Happy Side: My family is on their way to visit me! Then it's a nice long holiday with them to the West Coast! (: Their plane should have just taken off at this time. So excited to see them again.

To end off, I would like to dedicate this to my avid reader:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 生日快乐！

P.S. 你又老了！ Once again, welcome to the club! (:

Il n'est pas à cause de la joie

2010-04-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

Headache, aching neck and not thinking clearly leads to excessive laughing in instant messaging conversations. :/ Not good.

Cure: a hot shower and an early night's rest. Mmhmm.

P.S. Je pense que je faisais des progrès dans la français. Je suis heureuse! Mais, maintenant, il est difficile et ma classe n'est pas amusant. Il faut que je réussisse mon examen!

I like that I am now able to write mini paragraphs in french without having to look up words or the structure of the sentences. I like how I remember that definite articles have to be used all the time, where most of the accents go or know that different tenses (indicative or subjunctive) have to be used for different situations. I find it funny how sometimes randomly, I find myself looking at something and thinking about it in french (either because of new vocabulary I learnt or wondering if I would know how to say it in french). Even though it's not a lot, like what my french teacher always say, use words you know instead of looking for words you don't know. Coming from a native, I would like to think that's how we make progress.

Big White Clouds in the Clear Blue Sky

2010-04-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

2 more weeks of classes as an undergraduate, 1 more week of being a "child". Scary scary scary. Have been pondering about life this past week and wondering how my life is going to play out.

Anyway, I'm supposed to be memorizing my music for performance tonight. Instead, I'm doing everything else but that. I did flip through all 5 songs at least once already though. Lalala~ Tonight's performance will mark the end of chorus class. ): Hope tonight's rehearsal is good, seeing as I didn't think last week's rehearsal was great. The week before, I thought was amazing though! *fingers crossed*

Herbal chicken steaming in the pot now. I am so excited about the broth that I can use to make delicious porridge. I keep thinking if it's possible to make yummy herbal chicken broth without actually steaming the chicken seeing how time consuming the steaming process is (grand total of 2hours or more. Longest I have steamed for was 3 hours. Turned out amazing though!).

As the last semester draws nearer to an end, I find myself enjoying undergraduate life more and more. Have I started enjoying much too late? I don't regret working though. Maybe it's partly because I am staying on campus and am in Buffalo. After all the pretty snow, yucky slush, Buffalo is becoming so pretty these days! The grass are sprouting quickly, flowers are blooming, the sky is an amazing blue with big white clouds hanging so low in the sky. Whenever I stare at the sky, I get lost in it. It seems so unbelievable that the sky can be so pretty. Nights these days have been filled with walks and sitting by the lake. Cycled/walked in the afternoon that lasted till night. Much fun. (:

J'ai une mauvaise grippe. Ce n'est pas bonne!

2010-03-31T18:22:00.000-07:00

真糟糕！我生病了。）：为何天气变好的时候才生病哪?

Have been ill for 2 days now. Temperature has been hoovering at the low 37 range which means my body is obviously fighting something. Temperature rose slightly just now to 37 .6degreesC. 4 painkillers yesterday obviously didn't help much. Going to classes today was such a torture and for the whole of today I keep doing stupid things. O.O

Fun stuff for today: I walked past a protest rally outside Capen library and joined in the chanting! "Hey hey Ho ho, budget cuts have got to go!". We had a dinner picnic behind our apartments at the lake and watched the sun set.

Just had applesauce! Yums. Made me feel happier. I finally finished my work! Off to bed now.

Life of a college student

2010-03-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

Here I am in my last semester and finally experiencing what I guess is the life of a college student. University before my last semester has been stressful at times but not quite like what I am experiencing right now. Not that I'm extremely stressed now, but the feeling is just different. More camping in the library, COFFEE (tsk!) etc. I guess I have only myself to blame or thank for this experience. After all, I'm taking all the 400-level finance courses on my own accord since I don't need it to graduate.

Just got back from the library where I have camped the whole afternoon studying theories which my brain really does not want to absorb but still needs too for the exam tomorrow. Got quite a scarwe when I got back to find the main door of my apartment closed but both locks not locked! Then I tried calling out to my room mate but she didn't respond and her door was closed. I opened her door slightly to check and it's dark but i think she's sleeping if I'm not wrong. Couldn't really see in the darkness. Hope she's feeling okay! Anyway, so I just got back from the library and showered immediately. So here I am now, at 10pm eating my delicious char siew rice. A trip to toronto for the rest results in delicious food for me! Yums. Food and show then it's back to studying.

I WILL CONQUER TOMORROW'S EXAM!

Harvard Dream

2010-03-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

I've been having extremely weird dreams recently. Then again, I always seem to be having weird dreams so I suppose this is one of my many weird dreams. Anyway, in this dream, I dreamt I got accepted into Harvard! I didn't actually dream of the application part, so it was really random. It started off with me waiting in a room with many other people and then a few people walked in with stacks of envelopes each and we had to go to a certain someone according to our last name I think. You report your name, the person searches and if you were accepted, you get an envelope. So I was waiting in line, really nervous and then it was my turn! I went up, reported my name and was just thinking "Please let me have an envelope, please let me have an envelope!" while the person search through the pile. Then! I got an envelope and I was jumping all around screaming "I GOT AN ENVELOPE!"

So that was my Harvard dream. What reminded me of it is my upcoming MGF407 derivatives exam. The material is so difficult and my attempts to read through the textbook today proved rather futile. I just don't understand all the theories. So there, I guess my Harvard dream is really just a dream. I know I'm not smart enough. Not that I have plans to apply for Harvard though. It was nice dreaming I got accepted though. Hee.

Back to Wiener Process and Ito's Lemma. The people who comes up with such stuff, crazy brilliant though I slightly resent them for doing so. Still got to admire their brilliance though!

J'ai mal à la tête!

2010-03-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

Owie. My head hurts terribly. Must be all the stress from the fine dining dinner. It was so stressful okay! Having to eat properly and all. Not to mention they purposely choose all the menu to include all the food that are difficult to eat. For everyone out there, DO NOT order long, stringy pasta of any kind, any meat with bone in it or a dessert with a rock hard piece of chocolate or anything you can't cut with a fork on top.

Anyway, here's a shout out to my sister! Thanks for sacrificing one full month's pay in order to come to the US to look for me and attend my commencement! I'm super touch. And shout out to my parents! Thanks for coming over and bringing my two siblings along too! I know it's super expensive. I'm super touched and excited to be meeting all of you soon. (:

Job hunting and application is not going good. At least I tried/am trying. It's tough not to get discouraged at times. I feel so stupid, not even knowing how to start looking for a job properly and all, and so inadequate when I see the requirements of needing previous experience. I know there's a job for me out there. I just need to find it. God, help me!

In need of serious rest now. Feeling horrible because of the funny feeling in my head.

My 3 happy things for today:

1. French exam was horrible for everyone even my teacher said so, especially the oral section. But I somehow managed to scrap a decent grade though. Thank God! It's a bit of a miracle that I managed to get such a grade. Just need to work harder for my remaining 2 quizzes and last final exam to pull my grade up a bit. No B in my last semester! I refuse!

2. I managed to catch the shuttle though it came early and I had to run for it! It wasn't a short run. Okay, this sounds like a bad thing but it's a good thing because the shuttle driver waited for me and I managed to catch it. If I had missed it, I wouldn't have been able to make it to class this morning.

3. Fine dining dinner tonight! Food was yummy though I couldn't really enjoy it as much as I normally would have.

4. Finally made it to the gym after a loooooooong time and watched spongebob squarepants while on the machine.

I know it says 3 things, but what harm will an additional happy thing do?

Bonne nuit tout le monde!

Retail Therapy

2010-03-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

Have been buying clothes, probably too much (Sorry mum and dad! And Hi! I know you guys read this. HAHA.) . But I don't normally buy much clothes or anything else for that matter apart from food so I guess it's not that bad. After all, I need clothes right? Trip to the mall on Saturday landed me with a new pair of jeans (urgent necessity!), a new jacket (buy of the century! Super clearance and it was only 3.99 before tax), and a pair of sandals to get ready for the Spring season! Another cardigan and 2 blouses coming in the mail. Weee! Upcoming trip to Walden mall to look at F21 and other stores. Need to buy shorts and more basic tees to replace all my old tee shirts. Excited.

Retail Therapy Retail Therapy Retail Therapy
Feel Better Feel Better Feel Better

Life recently consists of Taiwan dramas, school work and exams. My french exam was disastrous which included me answering stuff like "Non, he does not like the film" to question like "Did he watch the film?" *heads desk* I totally did not catch what my teacher was saying and instead of leaving blank, I decided to try my luck with the few elements I caught. It was so bad! I don't want a B in my last semester. It would ruin my transcript. ): So worried and scared now.

My family is coming over for my commencement which is real soon! Only 4 more weeks as an undergraduate. Scary scary. I can't wait to see them though. It has been a long time. (:

I once read a book that started out with the character saying that whenever you're sad, think of 3 reasons to be happy for that day. I guess it's supposed to make people happy because they realize that their day was not that horrible after all. While it hasn't been sad or horrible (okay, actually it has considering how badly my french exam went and I still haven't won anything from Tim Hortons) the past few days, I've been feeling rather down for some reason. Whatever it is, it's probably a good way to be positive. My 3 reasons for today are:

1. I got back my MGF402 exam 2 paper today and I did well. Yay! Considering how rush and how late I had to stay up till to study, and not really understanding the questions and all, the result was very satisfying. I still don't understand the theory/reasoning behind the answers by the way.

2. I had time to watch Down with Love today! Yay to dramas!

3. Placed Charlotte Russe order. Yay to new clothes!

I totally forgot abt my MGF exam paper till I did this. Guess it's a good thing I decided to try. It's quite difficult thinking of 3 things though.

Cardboard Testimonies

2010-03-14T16:57:00.000-07:00

Video Link

It's such a wonderful video. So touching and amazing. (:

Je suis fatiguée

2010-02-19T18:07:00.000-08:00

This week has been a week of catching up on sleep debt. I'm still terribly, to the core, kind of tired though. Have been sleeping so much and find myself still wanting to sleep. However, some nights just find me tossing and turning. Hmmpf. Not feeling well at all.

Snowboarding tomorrow! A little excited yet more scared at the same time. Hope it goes well!

Along Our Journey

2010-02-18T16:25:00.001-08:00

*sings* along our jourrrrrr-neyyyy!

Sitting in music class now. We just finished this insanely difficult piece. Hope we don't have to sing it for the concert!

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UB Gunmen

2010-02-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

UB Gun Sighting

There were reports of a possible gunmen at Lockwood Library yesterday afternoon. The entire library was on lockdown by the police and everyone had to evacuate the building while the police comb the 6 story building for any weapons/gunman. Twitter and emails were frantic with updates. Classes were then canceled for the rest of the evening and everyone had to stay home. :/ I was safe and sound sleeping at home when it happened so I was not too affected. I was thinking how lucky I was not to be at the scene considering how Lockwood Library was where I camped out for the entire week last week till this Monday, most of the time for the entire day going from 9am to 9plus in the night. It must have been scary to be told to evacuate.

The school was so empty this morning! When my classes started, we had 6 students and 2 came later. I wonder if some people are staying away because of the incident which might not be impossible considering how we are just in the next building attached to that particular library.

The reports stated that police acted when they received a call about a suspicious person and the surveillance camera showed footage of a guy that matched the description. I would really love to see that footage from the surveillance camera! Though I wonder how people laid their hands on the footage above of the police searching the Cybrary. Now that I think about it, how scary was it! I guess it probably was a false alarm, but if the suspect knew that it was him who caused this incident since we know the time and location and what he was wearing, why won't he just come out to clarify it instead of leaving everybody apprehensive? Hmm. Something exciting to add to my UB experience.

Les verbes irregulier!

2010-02-11T20:46:00.000-08:00

French exam tomorrow. A little freaked after that terrible practice quiz the other day. I wrote out a list of verbs I think I need to know and I am not having fun conjugating french verbs, especially irregular verbs.

Je déteste les verbes irregulier. J'ai mon examen de français demain et j'ai très peur! Ce semestre, le français est très difficile et les leçons ne sont pas amusant ou intéressant. ): Mais, je dois obtenir une bonne note pour le français ce semestre parce qu'il est ma deuxième langue.

Je dois étudier beaucoup!

Test

2010-02-08T08:34:00.001-08:00

Testing!

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Hide and Seek

2010-02-01T18:56:00.000-08:00

Love this song! I remember that there was an incredible dance to this song but can't find it now.

The Spider

2010-01-31T18:17:00.001-08:00

The other day, I spotted a spider in the bathtub as I wanted to get ready to shower. My initial reaction, and usual reaction, is to turn on the shower head and kill the spider. I did initially, but somehow, this time I was so overwhlemed with guilt for trying to end the spider's innocent life. With "Spider murder" ringing in my head, I turned off the shower head and waited patiently for the spider to move out of the danger zone. Surely after being attacked by droplets of water enough to drown it, it will run right? Wrong. The spider stubbornly remained where it was and so being very patient and kind and brave, I manually moved the spider to a safe zone and proceeded with my shower. However, the stubborn (or maybe stupid) spider, insisted on crawling back into the tub and towards the water. It could not make up its mind on whether it wanted to go towards the water or away from it and any escape attempt was halfhearted. I did move it a second time, but it drowned in the end and died.

I tried to save it. But the spider was stubborn and insisted on moving into the "danger" zone. What could I have done? I waited. But the spider did not bug or made any attempt in rectifying its situation. What could I have done? I tried not to end its life journey. It seemed to want the opposite. What more could I have done? I can't wait forever.

And so the spider's life ended. Rest in peace stubborn spider. I tried. ）：

Then it got me thinking (what a lot of work a spider made me go through), sometimes no matter how much I want something to go on, it has to come to an end. As much as I tried to save the spider's life, the end was here for it. For everything else that all might think to last, just like the sudden end to a spider's life, maybe the end is here.

It reminded me of how small I am, and how much stuff is not within my control. There's nothing that I can do now, except lift my hands up and surrender, and watch how things unfold according to the perfect script for my life.

Ill

2010-01-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

What a way to start the semester. I am ill with heavy head, blocked and runny nose and weird throat. I was also nearly late for my very first class of the semester and later, I realized my UB card dropped from the cardholder when I was at my apartment block. Thank God my roommate was home and Cassie kindly opened the door for me. Retraced my route after to try and look for my card in the cold as I need it to enter my apartment block. Thankfully though, I received a call from the apartment office saying that my card was there. So all's good at the end.

Just took a panadol and drank hot tea. Nap time now!

2010 - Big Year Ahead

2010-01-11T06:20:00.000-08:00

First day of my last semester started today and the first class of my last semester has just ended. So while waiting to pass my french textbook over, I decided to camp out in Lockwood Library to escape for the torturous cold that is biting on the skin of those brave souls out there, attempt to start out the semester by being a studious student and print all my notes in advance and do something productive such as updating this badly outdated blog.

Much has passed since my dad's visit. I have been to Boston and back, passed my driving test and became a certified New York State driver, passed the winter holidays in absolute fun and silliness at times filled with lots of impromptu baking, movies, food and camping overs completed with a good trip to New York City and Philadelphia. How am I supposed to do a complete update on all these events, I have no idea now. I am determined to do so though, maybe in small posts and let's hope that determination does not die off halfway though I am very much afraid it most likely will.

During my very first class today, French, we had to ask our partner when is their graduation date. Saying it out loud today that I graduate in May really made me realize how soon it is till I am done with University. Needless to say, I'm naturally a little apprehensive and nervous about it. Here I am, at 20 years old, about to graduate in 4 months. What am I going to do after that? Studying has always been what I am supposed to do, my "job" from when I started school till now. To stop studying is scary. And of course I can't believe that my University phase just passed over in a flash. It has been too fast, too fun and maybe not what I really expected University to be. I suppose in a way I don't feel like I have learned enough or know enough to say I have graduated from University. Anyway, regardless of how I feel, the job hunt starts now. Attended the Network New York while I was in New York City and was slapped with facts of how difficult to the point of being impossible for international students to land themselves a job for reasons of being too expensive especially in today's economy. Obviously I am still going to try for anything I can get, even if it's only an internship for 3 months. But on the other hand, I have to be realistic and give myself a time period to look for a job, after that I will probably just return to Singapore for good and begin my job hunt there.

It's a big, maybe exciting year ahead, turning 21, graduating, starting work. May God bless me through it!

The other posts will come soon. For now, I leave you guys these rants. (:

Dad's Visit!

2009-11-23T11:54:00.001-08:00

On Saturday, Dad arrived in Buffalo for a visit! It was really nice seeing him in Buffalo. (: He brought along with him so much stuff for me! All the things I asked for, and so many others that I did not ask for. Feel the love from home..

Didn't really do a lot of touristy things while he was here. Only watched a concert, went to Jasmine for lunch, went Hoowa for grocery shopping and bought dinner for the peeps from Duffs so Dad could try the Buffalo wings. On the second day, we went for a walk in the morning then proceeded to the Outlets where we shopped so much! Dad bought me so many things. It's always so nice to have family around. Really missed Dad when he left.

Recession Over!

2009-11-18T20:08:00.001-08:00

Singapore declares its recession over
Thu, Nov 19, 2009
AFP

SINGAPORE - Singapore on Thursday declared a severe recession over as data showed its economy grew for the second straight quarter in the three months to September.

Official data released Thursday showed gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 14.2 per cent in the July-September period on a quarter-on-quarter annualised basis following a 21.7 per cent surge in the previous quarter.

'Effectively, the recession in Singapore is over,' Ravi Menon, the permanent secretary with the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), said at a media briefing.

Year-on-year, Singapore's GDP grew 0.6 per cent in the third quarter compared with a 3.3 per cent contraction in the April-June period, the MTI said in its third quarter economic survey.

In its outlook for 2010, the ministry forecasted economic growth of 3.0-5.0 per cent while maintaining its existing projection of a contraction of 2.0-2.5 per cent this year.

Singapore's trade-reliant economy was the first in Asia to sink into a recession last year as the global downturn hit demand for its exports, especially from the United States.

From http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/Story/A1Story20091119-180894.html

I know I know.. I've been missing for so long on this blog and the next new post is on a news article. :/ But I just had to post this! Great news for people who are graduating soon!

I'm still surviving.. workload is currently really heavy with me trying to finish all my research papers/projects yada yada before the thanksgiving break which is next week! Dad's arriving this Saturday which is très très très exciting!

Oh, and flobble died again. >.<

Letchworth State Park

2009-10-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

It's time for an update!

School has been crazy busy for the past 2 weeks. Next week is a nice break with only a paper due, which of course I have not started on. I am terribly exhausted. Especially with the super late nights for at least the past 3 consecutive nights, staying up till 3am to finish my work and all the eventful and draining days.

Went to Letchworth State Park today with Prof. Natalie Simpson and the rest. It is so beautiful with all the trees in autumn colors, waterfalls and rainbows. It's a nice place to visit but it's a 2 hour drive out, so not a convenient place to go. Pictures will be up when I find enough motivation to upload them.

The last few days has certainly taken its toll on me. All I want to do all the time is curl up in bed and just not do anything. I've also been doing the weirdest things ever like wanting to move every single item out of my room and repacking everything at midnight and when I have to do my french homework, sitting on the floor and sew my socks then proceeding to sew a pair of jeans which didn't need any mending. :/ I'm still holding up but as soon as the laundry is done (50 more minutes), I'm jumping into bed. I have a huge sleep debt to clear. Haven't been able to fall asleep easily as well even though I am really tired.

Things to look forward to next month besides all the assignments, research papers and projects:
- Dad's visit!
- Boston trip during Thanksgiving. (:

October Snow

2009-10-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

The weather has been getting so cold and it's only mid October. The forecast shows rain/snow showers for tonight, tomorrow and Saturday. Snowing in mid october! O.o

EDIT: My ipod touch forecast shows that it's snowing now!

Steamboat on a cold windy night!

2009-09-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

we had steamboat the other night. It felt good having steamboat on a cold, windy night. There was tons of food and lots of meat for only 4 of us! Not cheap having steamboat here though. But really nice. Peektures! Notice how much food we had plus using the rice cooker as our steamboat pot. (:

Washer Queue

2009-09-27T14:43:00.000-07:00

Ridiculous! I walked down to the laundry 4 times lugging my laundry in my hands, detergent in the other and key around my neck and each time the washer was taken. I even timed when the cycle will be done so I can "snatch" the washer. But it didn't work out! I have to wash my sheets or I can't sleep tonight. Finally got it on my 5th trip down.

Some kind of laundry day today huh.

6 weeks!

2009-09-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

How time is passing so quick. I've been in America for 6 whole weeks, in school for 4 entire weeks. That is freaking me out a bit seeing as I am still in the holiday-i-just-got-here mood. :/ Lots has happened with lots of American experiences.

I'm slowly starting to settle into the routine of school though. How do I know that? When I start waking up later every morning and have to run like mad to the shuttle stop to catch the bus.

Events that I've been up to.. American football match, Kofi Annan talk and I've got tickets to hear Tony Blair speak! I'm also exploring Buffalo more and am more comfortable with taking the buses and stuff. But the bus timings are terrible! You really have to know the schedule and the exact time the bus will be arriving or else it's an hour or half an hour's wait between buses. That's if you're lucky. I took bus 34 to Burlington Coat Factory the other day and waited a grand total of 1 hour and 40 minutes in the sun for the bus home!

Have been pampering myself a little. Bought two cans of Yeo's soy milk from Wegmans (can't believe yeo's made it all the way here) and 1 box of instant sesame paste from the Asian market. Not cheap but at least there's something for me to buy once in a while if I really want it.

Picture time! The football game! The Americans really love their football game and the atmosphere for that game was something that is not seen in Singapore ever. All those for just a college football game. Imagine their NFL.

Us in UB colors! True Blue/ UB Believers? Haha.

Beautiful sunset over the lake and a lone duck. Taken by Joel!

Busy busy bee!

2009-09-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

School is starting to get real busy! My inertia is toooo great that I still can't get into studying mode. Just got back from a group meeting just now which went pretty well!

We had a long weekend the last week because of Labor Day on Monday. Weekend was spent lazing around. We had picnic on Saturday with Prof. Natalie Simpson who treated us to pizza, pretzels and tasty citrus green tea. The pizza slices were huge that I had to stuff the entire slice down my throat. Salute to some of them who could eat 2 slices in the time I took to finish 1! It was Fall fest at night and we went to camp outside the community building to catch the fireworks that they were launching in school. It was rather impressive! They were launching it only a few hundred meters from me so it was really loud! Here's a video of the last few minutes of it. I love the ending.

Had the rest over on Monday and Cassie and I cooked chicken rice for them and Kenneth fried the egg. Reminded us so much of home! I really should have bought more of those mixes here. YUM YUM.

I build a bear in school today! It's still has no name as of now. I really wanted a monkey but they were out of monkey so I got a white bear instead. It is wearing a UB shirt! I stuffed it myself with the stuffings and made it real fat. Hee.

My bear!

The birth certificate table!

Stuffing their animals!

Woke up late this morning after snoozing for a grand total of an hour. While I was rushing around trying to get ready in the shortest time possible, I suddenly missed home where my mum will make sure I get up on time for school. Then today when I collected and was packing away my laundry, I saw that there was a hole in my socks. Kinda miss home again where there will be people to mend my clothes for me. Not complaining though. I'm actually rather glad of all the things I have to do on my own because I feel I am learning a lot.

It's amazing the things one can manage to do when one has to. I have, in the 3 weeks I have been here, cooked my own food, do my own laundry, clean the house (vacuum, mop, wash the toilet/bath tub etc), iron my own clothes... Who would have thought. While ironing my clothes this afternoon, I suddenly thought how different life is now for me. No longer pampered at home, I now have to handle and do a lot more things on my own. Just a while ago, all I had to do was focus completely on my studies. Food was always ready when I wanted to eat, the house was always cleaned, bed was always made, my clothes washed, dried, ironed and pack into my cupboard for me. Now, while doing my work, I have to run out to check on the boiling water, take the laundry down then remember to put the laundry into the dryer and finally take it up. While reading my things, I have to then put it aside to cook food if I wanted to eat. After having guests over at my house, I can't just retreat into my room to get back to my work. Instead, I have to wash up and clean the house. It just amazes me how much I have changed. I like it (at least for now) because I know I can finally grow up and learn how to take care of myself. (:

First week of school and multiple seasons in a day!

2009-09-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

The first week of school is over. It has been relaxed so far with classes ending early and not going much into the syllabus. The workload for the rest of the semester certain;y don't seem light though. Lots of writing assignments, group projects and multiple research/response papers.

The temperature change here is so volatile and crazy! I feel as though I am experiencing multiple seasons in a day instead of in a year. Winter/Fall in the morning, Summer in the afternoon and then back to winter/fall again. Even more amusing is the feeling of two seasons at the same moment in time. While it's cold, the sun is really strong due to clear skies. So when one is walking in the sun, it's warm. Step into the shade and it's cold!

Cooking is becoming rather fun. Throw things together and see what turns out. It has been quite satisfying so far. Grocery shopping has become my favourite past time. Gosh.

Picnic, carnival and Fall fest tomorrow!

School and the Pretty Sky!

2009-09-01T15:34:00.001-07:00

School has started. It's interesting yet intimidating. French class was conducted entirely in French, lots of writings/research papers/responses to write this semester.

Free things given out just makes me so happy! Free book (Kite Runner), free breakfast and 100feet long of banana split to welcome the students back!

The sky was so pretty and picturesque today that it makes me so happy! Someone commented that it looked so nice that it looked abit unreal with the sky so blue and the clouds hanging so low.

Pictures of the sky and the lake at the back of my apartment! Love the reflection in the water. (:

Niagara Falls

2009-09-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

Popped down to Niagara Falls over the weekend for 2 days in a row, both days camping on the Observation tower till late into the night, freezing ourselves off even with scarves and gloves (second night). It was pretty crazy of us considering that we went down for that, just to be able to watch the fireworks. Niagara Falls is really pretty and majestic!

Snaps!

2009-08-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

16th August 2009, at the airport:

Lovely people who came down to send me off even though it was such an unearthly hour! Thank you so much (:

South Lake Village where my apartment is!

Finally arriving on campus at a late late hour after a long long journey. All tired and just wanting to get to our apartments.

Apartment O! It's a lakeside cottage and we've got an apartment at the back with an awesome view. (:

The top 3 windows belong to my apartment! The big window is the window in the living room. The one next to it is my bedroom and the next is my housemate's room.

The view at the back of our apartment! This is what our windows look out too. Our apartment is the last one of the entire row of apartments.

Trying to get the entire lake and rows of apartments. The lake of South Lake Village!

One of the many wildlife on the lake. The quackerjacks! Or what people normally call ducks. Managed to get this close up shot when I tried to feed them and got them to swim near me and then using telescopic zoom.

People fishing at the lake.

The front entrances of the lakeside cottages.

The other apartments of South Lake Village. I forgot what they are called. The Greens?

North Campus of my University where my classes are held. It's HUGE! This is just a small radius near my apartment.

Center for the Arts!

Stretch to many of the different halls/buildings.

Part of the North campus

Baird Point which is this 3 pillar monument along the lake.

Shuttle stop near the apartment for the Red Line shuttle! One that I'll be taking to my classes when it becomes too cold to walk.

Sports hall with basketball courts/seatings etc in the Alumni Arena. It's HUGEEEE!

More pictures up soon! I know I will soon resort to collages to make it easier to upload. (:

Orientation

2009-08-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

It's the International Student Orientation for the whole of this week. Nothing terribly exciting except attending selected and some mandatory talks. It has been very tiring though with some talks as early as 8.15am. It's a good preview for school which starts next week! O.o

Things should start feeling different when lessons begin. Right up till now, it has all felt like a long break. Especially with all the going out and buying things. Exploring new malls, supermarket and food places seem to be our main past time since we have arrived. I'm getting quite tired of American food!

Things are all almost settled now. Started my bank account (They lost my application! Thank God I went down to the bank along with Terrie and decided to try and make my initial deposit which I didn't want to initially.), got my mobile line, bought a printer etc. Now all I need are my textbooks.

The weather is turning rather cold too and it has been raining! Fall should be really pretty though. Some of the trees are starting to change colors already. (:

Virgin post from Buffalo!

2009-08-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

I am finally getting started on my blog which I said I would keep with updates and pictures from Buffalo. I am however, terrible at blogging and can only hope I will keep this alive!

Time is passing so quick and it's already the 4th day since we arrived. The past few days have been filled with shopping and trying to settle in.

Sunday, 16th August 2009:
Arrived at the airport at such unearthly hours and found my relatives waiting for me there which was a really sweet sight. Checked in and my luggages did not exceed the limit! Cell group/church peeps appeared shortly after.

The horrendous, crazily long flight turned out to be not so bad. Novomin is truly my savior! I slept almost all the time (practically concussed) all the way from HK to Chicago which is a really amazing feat for me considering I never ever sleep on flights, much less a 14hour flight. I also did not feel nauseous at all. I slept so well that I didn't even know when the flight attendants served instant noodles for snack and so I missed my instant noodles. Everything was all good until we arrived at Chicago. The flight was delayed multiple times from the original departure time of 4.47pm to 5.35pm to 6pm to 7.20pm to 8.20pm and finally brought forward to 8.14pm. We were sitting near the gate on the floor, all really tired, plus food at airports are horrendously expensive so it was quite a sad time. Finally the aircraft arrived and we boarded, reached Buffalo and checked in and got to the apartment. Wanted to rest but couldn't sleep so stayed up till morning and at 7.20am, we decided to go for a walk and locked ourselves out of our apartment building by forgetting to bring our access card. :/

Monday, 17th August 2009:
Walked to The Commons to get our UB card made, collected Jesmund's rental car and went to Walmart to buy lots of things for the apartment! The apartment is furnished but terrible inadequate to live in. We had no lamps, no pillows, no comforter, no utensils etc. and so for the first night, my room was shrouded in darkness and I could only lie on my bed which only has a sheet on it (sheets that I brought!). Anyway, taxi is crazily expensive here. The meter jumps like anything and each jump is half a dollar USD. The starting price was $2.30 and even before we exited the Campus (and we were near the exit), the meter jumped a dollar or more already.

Met Raymond and his friends who just arrived for buffalo wings. The wings were really good! The shop is called Duffs and it's supposedly famous. We took the least spicy one and it was still wayyyyy spicy. I remember watching a documentary on Travel and Living about Buffalo's buffalo wings festival and saw the Blue Cheese sauce. It really exists! And i never thought I would say this but I liked the blue cheese sauce! It was nice. Didn't taste like blue cheese at all. I think they added a lot of stuff. The wings were full of vinegar and started to hurt the lips after a while.

Tuesday, 18th August 2009:
Went back to Walmart to get more stuff. The amount spent settling in and buying things for the apartment is crazy. Finally got some fresh groceries from Wegmans so now there's food in the fridge! Cleaned fridge, moped the floors and washed the toilet bowl. Arranged the furniture. The apartment is finally starting to take form! I also finally finally unpacked my luggage, turned my bed around and tidied my room. Room is looking neater now.

Cooked our first meal today. However, at that time we didn't have any fresh groceries yet. So all we could have was Campbell Soup with potato and bacon bits with rice that we cook using the rice cooker. People told me that says sad and pathetic. Haha.

Wednesday, 19th August 2009:
FASHION CITY! It's where all the outlet stores are and we spent the entire day there. So many brands and sales there and we practiced self restrain. The girls did better than the guys! Bought some things, restrained from a lot and am quite happy. I bought a GAP hoodie, ON slippers, ON top and a Rue21 blouse. Applebees for dinner and I am so sick of eating out and eating Western food.

Thursday, 20th August 2009:
Went to Waldan Galleria Mall in the morning. This mall had all the American brands such as F21, Gap, Old Navy, Coach, Hugo Boss, Aeropostle, A&F, American Eagle, Wetseal, Delia's, Sears and many more. I only bought a pair of shorts from Wetseal. Oh, and a toaster from Best Buy and a book from Borders. Came back to the apartment and we decided to cook and have dinner together. The guys can cook! We had BBQ honey pork and fried chicken wings from Jesmund, Stir fry veggie and mushroom from Joel, Campbell Soup and rice (by FX, Terrie, Cassie and me). So basically all the dishes were provided by the guys. It was yummmmy. Played Bonanza after dinner (fun game!) and just got home.

Thunderstorm tonight and the wind was so strong that an umbrella was basically useless. The lightning was scary. It's forecasted to rain again tmr which will be bad for our plans.

Alright, what a long post. Pictures will be up soon, hopefully!