Saturday, October 17, 2009

yafoo

Heading off to Japan tomorrow for a good whole month! I've been waiting wayyy too long for my visa to get approved and finally I'm all set to leave. I've been psyching myself up for this over the last 2 months....can't wait to practise my 3 year old kiddish Japanese on all the people there.

And the greatest milestone would be me travelling alone! I never got the guts to do that before...but since ck (aka the favorite travelling companion) has already started work and everyone else is busy with their own lives, I'll be embarking on the adventure on my own. It's also another milestone for me being in East Asia for the very first time.

Much of my trip is still in the planning phase; but at least I have some idea for now where I'm headed to for the first 2 weeks. But heck, crossing my fingers and hoping everything will turn out fine.

Ciao for now! :)

ilovetotwirl at 11:53 AM

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Thursday, October 08, 2009

revival

I almost gave up on this blog a few weeks ago. That thought struck me when I felt that there was no point in penning down my monotonous thoughts since there I couldn't offer anymore novelty to the person who is reading it. After all, I'm just almost like everyone else out there, stuck in sweltering hot Singapore and the most exciting phase of my life (of being a college student) in fancy NY state has come to an end after 3 years. But something drew me back here while I was browsing through my archived entries. I'm so amazed by all the little adventures that I experienced (and wrote down to share with you guys), those flitting bursts of excitement that I expressed in my writing, and the big dreams which I had (opening TWO bakeries?) once upon a time. Haha. And how I constantly complained about being I'm so omfg busy and feeling so sleep-deprived throughout my college career.

Even though I'm going to turn into a boring office worker soon, I still hope that I'll be able to pen my thoughts once in awhile so that I'll have something to look back on and smile. (Like me reading my 2006 entries can really make me soo amused by how I was before going to the states).

And its fun how so few people know about the existence of this blog so I'm never worried about revealing too much about the thoughts that are swirling in my head. Even my boyfriend never got a chance to read this because I thought it'll be too embarrassing for me to let him read my personal writings on cyberspace.

Going to end this abruptly and head for bed now, I hope my application tomorrow will be a success! :D

ilovetotwirl at 9:45 AM

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Thursday, August 27, 2009

retreat

I was looking through pictures of my friends' photo albums and had this strong gush of emotions while scrolling through. School starts for people at Cornell 2 days ago and for a moment I really really wished I was there once again, back to the state where life seemed to be so simple and there were no worries (the headache from course selection doesn't count). I would probably be strolling down the Commons, cooking my own simple dinner fare, shopping back at Target and Wegmans, and heading for school everyday in my Singapore summer clothing.

It's hard to imagine that I have moved on with that stage of my life and now I'm almost a working adult. The only problem is that I don't officially start work until January which leaves me alot of time to wonder about my life and start thinking about what I'm supposed to do.

I've been bumming around for the past 6 weeks since I got back from Europe. My days merely consist of unlimited usage of the internet, re-learning tennis, and mindless 7pm korean dramas. I'm supposed to go on a 'retreat' mode in Japan for the next 6 weeks coming Sunday. Will be working in a farm far away from the city, doing manual labor in exchange of free food and accommodation.

Not sure whether this is the thing I want to do for the next few months but I think it beats waking up late and drifting around aimlessly in Singapore. I just don't want to have any regrets.

ilovetotwirl at 8:09 PM

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Monday, July 13, 2009

return

Seems like a long long time ago when I wrote my last entry about feelings of sadness about closing another chapter in my life from being done with school for now. And so much things have happened in between; its been such a whirl. I vaguely remember taking my last ever finals, flying off to Alaska, coming back to graduate. Being fussed over in the gown and tassel outfit, packing my belongings and vacating my beloved room, enjoying the peace and quiet in Ithaca for the very last time and saying goodbye to New York for good.

Today its goodbye to Europe. Over the past 6 weeks, I've moved from city from city; starting west from Portugal and heading all the way to inland to Switzerland where I will be flying home from Zurich tomorrow morning. Spent the first half of my holiday tanning by the beaches and the last half walking around very old cities and staring at monuments/churches/statues which have been quite an overkill.

For the past 6 weeks, I've been dreaming about good food and the affordable Singapore lifestyle. I think my trip/life overseas has really come to an end and its time for me to stop gallivanting around the world and return home to assume some responsibilities. At first it seemed okay to leave Ithaca because there would be this whole extended Eurotrip to look forward to instead of having to uproot myself immediately back to the place of crazy humidity and exhausting crowds. And today as we walked around the streets of Zurich, it dawned on me that this is it and I am going home to embark on another phase of my life.

Good things do come to an end, ain't it so?

ilovetotwirl at 12:09 PM

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Thursday, April 30, 2009

salut

Its the 2nd last day of classes in Spring'09 semester, Cornell, of undergrad, and possibly my entire life. While the professor toasted us graduating seniors in Wines class (yes, I do take drinking as a subject)yesterday, rose champagne and in my flushed stupor, I felt a sudden rush of emotions; a mixed feeling of sadness and nostalgia.

So dear college life, I'm officially saying goodbye to you in this blog.

I remember every little bit about you. How you first greeted me when I checked my email on 1st April 2006, excited about being excepted and thinking "oh well at least I have one more option". Turns out that you were my best option and over the next few months before departing, I braced myself for a new life away from home. Armed with my exploding luggages and overly-concerned mum I was introduced to you.

All those tough nights in freshman year, feeling homesick and the irresistible urge to buy a plane ticket home during holidays. Slowly, this feeling started to fade away as I got acquainted with the snow, prelims and my dorm mates in Balch. I remember all those awkward times when we were such wannabes, always trying to find a party to crash or a fraternity party to attend. How silly it seems walking back home in the dark (and cold) and braving drunk drivers around blind spots just to get a taste of what's known as greek life, fun and keystone light. And of course, having a boyfriend in Spring and getting to explore all the hidden gorges around campus together on evenings.

Moving out of campus in Sophomore gave me more time to think about how I wanted my Cornell life to be. Yes, there were now less incidents of parties and girly hangouts but I definitely gained freedom and the chance to explore Ithaca and all its little secrets. Tapas, downtown Ithaca commons, and even Syracuse for the occasional shopping fix. And of course, I got used to the never-ending stream of work and understood that it was only part and parcel of college life to be sleeping at 2am everyday.

Then Senior year came along, and it took me quite awhile to figure out what I had to do with my life. I'm sorry to say that I resented you for awhile for having too many bright and privileged kids on-campus which made my recruiting so tough. But then again, I'm thankful that you eventually drew me out of my shell and taught me how to stand out and stand up for myself.

I know when you are gone, I will definitely miss you in more than many ways. The nurturing side of you, the academic side of you, the sociable side of you, and all the little things that you imparted to me which opened my eyes to a new world and made me a better person.

So thank you for all the memories, and the good times over the past 3 years.

I think I wanted to say goodbye to you, but I eventually figured this out. The only way to say goodbye: don't.

I guess that's going to be it for awhile. You have been one of the most wonderful things in my life and I promise that sometime in the future, we will meet again.
:)

ilovetotwirl at 11:15 AM

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Thursday, April 16, 2009

zen

I'm bored with nothing to do for the first time in weeks (or is it months?). The onslaught of prelims came fast and furious and ever since I finished my last bout of tests on Tuesday, I find myself checking out facebook/STOnline/WSJ more often than I should be. I was so bored to the extent that I played tennis twice today and the bright sunny weather gave me another excuse to be outdoors rather than being cooped up in my room.

I'm going down to NYC tomorrow to get my fix of urban life, good food and shopping for spring, of course. I was desperately searching for clothes to bring to NYC and I realized that all I had were old outfits from months and semesters ago. I'd say I have been pretty discipline this whole semester about shopping; having kept my spending spree to a minimum. Tomorrow also marks the day that I'm going to get my long hair snipped off. I think I had enough of being the long-haired asian girl and I'm ready to do something different at the risk of looking like a RV school girl over again.

Going to head back to my anthropology readings about primates. Wish me luck with the haircut. (:

ilovetotwirl at 9:40 PM

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Sunday, April 05, 2009

almost

I've procrastinated too much over the past few months which results in this being my first proper blog entry since school started in January. What have I been up to the past few months? The same old hurried schedule that I've been used to from freshman year which comprises of lots of homework, all-nighters, expensive travelling getaways and of course the privilege of being unruffled by all the work as a senior who is already accustomed to life in Cornell. But really, I've just been busy trying to live my life in Ithaca to the fullest over the past 12 weeks.

My time in college is really ticking as thinking about it made me realized that I'm going to be done with school (almost) forever come May. I have been struck with a mild case of senioritis in the meanwhile and I find it hard to feel motivated about going for office hours or studying in advance for my prelims. Not that I really care about grades anymore (good example of senioritis), but I guess I really deserve a good final semester where grades and exams don't have to be the foci of school life.

I've stopped complaining about how my busy my school life has been or how I really don't get enough sleep. The week before spring break was really intense and I was doing 3/4am nights everyday and was so busy to the extent that I didn't have time to plan my Greece trip at all.

Arh...speaking about Greece, I digress. I somehow still feel like I'm living in my little Spring Break bubble drinking lots of wine and chasing sunsets all over the island. Occasionally I go check out weather.com to see if there is going to be plentiful sunshine on Santorini and whether it would be a good day for sightseeing around the island. I guess what's made this trip memorable is that it'll help me remember how great life would be when we are together again.

So here's my grand plan for graduation and post-graduation: a family trip at Alaska before commencement, 6 weeks in Europe after commencement, back home to Singapore from mid-July to Sept, and 3 months of non-profit work somewhere less-travelled in the world before starting work in January.

In the meanwhile, I'm going to start preparing for my Japanese exam now. Hopefully I'll stop being such of a lazy ass and blog more. Heh.

ilovetotwirl at 4:30 PM

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