.::Wednesday, February 28, 2007::.
when u eat chinese food here (take out or in-house), there's always a fortune cookie that comes with the meal. here are some "cheem" chinese sayings from all the fortune cookies that i've eaten.
You will enjoy good health.
- ok, this sounds reasonable...
Smile when you are ready.
- erm...smile!
Be smart, be intelligent, and be informed.
- asking me to be kaypo
One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.
- wah...macham cheem...
and my favourite...
There are coincidences.
.: ru rambled on 2/28/2007 01:00:00 PM:.
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projects and working with americans
the thing about comms school classes here is that we all have to do projects. of cos this is no different from in smu, but after experiencing 2 classes with the lecture-tutorial system, i'm definitely beginning to miss the flexibility of it.
maybe im just so tired of all the projects that i've done over the last 4 yrs of school. jaded.
yes, i think the small classes and project-based work are more interactive and u definitely learn more, but it's very tiring and stressful.
i have decided to take a backseat for my projects this time around. i will not be a free-loader, but i will not do more than required.
working with the caucasians is a new experience altogether. i have 2 project groups (cos i have 2 commerce classes) the first one is a grp w 4 angmos. 2 of them are super garang-type. they are the ones driving the team, in part because the project idea was theirs, and in part cos they are accountancy students! haha... not that i want to stereotype, but i think accountancy students are more hardworking. the other 2 team mates are pretty slack. one of them is always off someplace skiing, and the other is forever late for meetings and leaving early because he has to work. the only downside is that as a grp, they are not very receptive to bh's and my ideas. sometimes when i inject a new opinion, they would sound as though they like it, but in the end ignore it. so idiotic. ive given up trying to improve on things..no point right? since they dont want to accept a different perspective. even if i think its doomed for failure, i cant be bothered.
as for the other group, everyone is so slack! nobody really wants to lead the team. some of them are pretty opinionated and unwilling to compromise and change their minds, but i guess, i am more participative cos it is afterall a mktg project, sometime i have a bit bit more interest in. (and dont wanna flunk)
to be honest, from what i see now, the standard of work here is not fantastic. i think i see better quality back in sg. but they are definitely more creative.
i suppose i'll leave my final judgment to later when we actually do submit the final reports.
.: ru rambled on 2/28/2007 12:34:00 PM:.
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.::Wednesday, February 21, 2007::.
my psyc professor has a facebook account...and after that was revealed during lecture today, i bet he'll start to receive loads of friend requests from the class...haha...for the record i did add him as a friend...just for the kick of it.. *grinz*
school's starting to be freaky...people here really mug...and i mean they do mug like every night kinda thing...eek...thankfully my grades are technically not so important, so i can afford to slack... speaking of which im like 8 chapters behind...eekk...thou shall not think too much ru... enjoy life...
oh cny came and left (ok maybe not yet cos it's 15 days and all) pretty quitely...there's no public holiday or whatever...no CNY decorations that im used to seeing, no bai-nian on the first day, no reunion dinner...i got 1 ang pao (from prof reynold's SG wife)...insufficient cny goodies!! sob sob sob....
well, we did have a singaporean party at prof reynold's house to make us feel a little more at home on sunday night...it was sort of a pot luck thingy...and each person/grp of people brings a sg dish and we share share...some of the more notable ones are pineapple tarts made by eze, mee goreng from cecil, sardine puff from LK, hainanese chicken rice etc. seems like the better chefs here are all guys...haha...well it was fun getting to know singaporeans from all over, including some guys from virginia tech, who drove 2 hrs just for the dinner thingy...and some working adults from i-dunno-where...
but i think the highlight of the night was the gambling session at LK's hse...he was kind enuff to open his apartment to a bunch of us and we watched god of gamblers (the chow yun fatt one that was made eons ago) while playing texas poker and ban luck...and LK has bak kwa!!! omg...i was so craving for bak kwa..but i too paiseh to eat too much...haha...at the end of a the night, i lost money...but it was good CNY fun... =) makes me miss the ban luck sessions at gramp's back in sg...*sigh*
perhaps we'll do another get together for the UVA pple on 15th! hehe...
.: ru rambled on 2/21/2007 06:39:00 AM:.
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.::Sunday, February 18, 2007::.
my poor bh is on crutches now. he just woke up one day with a problem w his knee that results in him being unable to bend it w/o feeling pain.
our day of touring at richmond probably aggravated the condition and the next day it was pretty bad, so much so that he cant really walk. so LK, a kind soul with a car decided to drive us to the university hospital A&E (cos it's sat and the clinic is closed).
our experience with the A&E department was most certainly not very good consindering we spent like 8 hours there!!! from 5pm to 1am!! ridiculous right? and then all they technically did was to draw some fluid from his knee cap (owww) and run some tests on it, just to ensure there's no infection which could lead to complications.
so for the whole time, we were just waiting and waiting and waiting...fortunately we asked LK to go off first cos it would really spoil his evening plans, and we'd feel really bad.
BH was housed in this little cubicle with a bed and chair along with other patients in the cubicles beside his. i suppose one reason they didn see a need to hurry on his case was cos it was not an emergency compared to this guy who broke his teeth, another woman who twisted her wrist, some old man in a wheelchair, and a lady who looks deathly pale as though she was gonna die on drugs.
he was visited by a total of 5 people - a nurse, an intern doc (who didnt know anything), pregnant doc (who's the most pro one here), a junior doc (or maybe an intern), and the night intern doc (cos they switched shifts).
the fluid drawing process looked really painful!!! i mean it's like sticking a needle into the bone to draw some stuff...eeek...and the one doing it is the junior doc who was guided by the pregnant one. she didnt like the needle he chose (it was the needle u insert into the spine) and asked him to change the needle just after he poked it in cos it was too long and flimsy...of cos she was experienced and the shorter needle did the trick..
overall, i learnt something new during that whole procedure: if u let the patient squeeze ur hand, make sure u give only 2 fingers, not the entire hand, cos 2 fingers provides the assurance that u're there and no matter how hard they squeeze, ur hand/fingers wont break...
later we had to wait 2 hours for the test results to come out. fortunately, the nurse (the nicest one) transferred us to a cubicle with a tv set!! THANKFULLY!! o/w another few hrs of waiting would have surely driven us out of our minds...and guess what was on tv? the NBA all stars challenge or something. it wasn the match, it was the players pitting skills against each other in shooting, dunking etc. pretty cool to watch.
it was already super late and we had no dinner or anything to drink. so i went to the cafeteria and bought krispy kreme donuts...yum! the sugar content in those things are deadly...but i guess that's why is sinfully good!
and so after 8 hrs, the results showed that he didn have an infection and nothing else. we still didn know the cause of his pain nor how to treat it besides letting it take its time to heal. like super "what the heck". the night doc prescribed some painkillers, but get this: you have to go to the pharmacy downtown to get them!!! so ridiculous right? i mean, this is a hospital and u ask ur patients (who are not very mobile at this point) to head to down to buy the painkillers? geez....
we didnt bother with those anymore cos all we wanted to do was to go home...what a way to spend CNY eve huh?
.: ru rambled on 2/18/2007 03:00:00 AM:.
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.::Wednesday, February 14, 2007::.
ok...i had my first psyc exam today...and it was quite screwed up....haha..40 multiple choice questions and i think i didnt know 10...oops...that's the result of not studying hard enuff i guess... but no biggie...i only need to pass!! hehehehe...and that's the BEST PART of taking subjects on exchange...
work is piling in but i still feel that im ultra slack...no need to worry abt having sucky group mates.. no need to worry abt not making the gpa cut... no need to worry abt low class participation score...hahahaha...speaking of which, the level of crap some pple can say in class is amazing...it's like rephrasing what others have said....and they just wont shuddup... like back in smu...when u raise a point, u keep it short and concise, but here they say something and go on to elaborate tons of other irrelevant stuff as though once u're given an opportunity to speak u have to say everything u know...BUT...while the level of crap is higher, the quality of some comments are higher too...students here are definitely more creative in giving their ideas and they are more assertive and willing to challenge what the prof has said...in that sense class discuss is really class discussion....
u know, i have only 2 classes with projects here at UVA and they are commerce classes (duh)... the other 2 classes are lecture / tutorial style with no projects! i realised how much i would really rather just have exams than work in project groups...at least there's more flexibility, u dont have to depend on sucky project mates, and the result is entire based on ur own effort... oh well, too bad real life isnt so...
.: ru rambled on 2/14/2007 06:24:00 AM:.
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.::Monday, February 12, 2007::.
Ski Trip @ Wintergreen (2 Feb)
i went skiing!! haha...it's my 2nd time but i was still pretty hopeless on the skis...
ok, wintergreen is this ski resort abt 40 mins drive from charlottesville...the grp of us decided to go for an afternoon/evening trip on one of the weekends...
to be honest, i was totally unprepared for the steepness of the BEGINNER slopes here...i mean in korea, the beginner slopes were really nice and gentle...but here...it's like being thrown into the deep end and being unable to survive...i mean that literally! i think i took 2 hrs to reach the bottom of the beginner slope...the majority of the time, i just kept screaming and falling and screaming and falling...gah...so embarrassing...
and halfway through i was already close to tears cos i was just hurting so bad from the tumbles...i kid u not, the snow is man-made snow (cos it wasn snowing enuff in virginia) and it's hard!!! =(
i really wanted to give up but BH was just so nice and patient (he really really tried very hard not to kill me...haha...) and i told him to go one round and look for me later...that time alone was bitter sweet....for one i wanted to cry so bad...cos it was cold, i was tired and hungry and in pain... and i COULD NOT will myself to ski further for fear of the speed that the skis went...im not afraid of heights... im afraid of losing control... (control freak that i am)
so i took that time to take shots of the slopes...which were really quite beautiful...
i like this pic a lot...for some reason i am drawn to the 2 skiers resting on the slopes like i was..
here's the journey down...i was FREAKED OUT
here's what i had already completed...
and meanwhile, i built myself a little snowman to make me happy...hehe...
when i finally got to the bottom after 2 long long hours and lots of pain, we had to take the ski lift up...and it was scary!!! there's no rail to come over ur head to secure u to the lift...just ur feet dangling many metres above ground...and the wind blasting at ur face...brrr...
and when i got off..i FELL and cos the lift was still in motion, it HIT MY HEAD!!! it hurt so bad and i actually did cry this time... the stupid attendant still asked " are u ok" when he didnt even stop the darn lift in time when i fell...ass... >_<
anyway, after that daunting experience, i cant believe i actually TRUSTED ROBIN to try a different slope!! but thankfully this was shorter..but no less steep!!! so the screaming continued... only this time a nice gentleman guided me down slowly...cos he saw my pathetic condition.. haha...
well, overall im glad i made it in one piece, though the lift ticket is completely wasted on me cos i took it only 2 times!!! =( nonetheless, it was certainly memorable...
oh..here's a view of the resort at night..
.: ru rambled on 2/12/2007 11:52:00 AM:.
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Weekend Trip to Washington DC (Jan 26 - 28)
it was a rather rushed trip to DC, because we didn't really plan for it till the last minute...and even then, we were scrambling to book a hotel room for 2 nights that we were there...cos all the budget hotels and student inns or whatever were fully booked for the wkend...thankfully, at the eleventh hour, we managed to find suitable lodging at Braxton Hotel...which is kinda dodgy cos it's popular with "families, couples, and gay friends"...eek....
anyways, the DC trip wasnt exactly fun-filled, but it was definitely informative and eventful... some highlights:
1. we went to the US capitol...which faces the reflection pool...
2. it so happened that there was an outdoor protest thingy going on near the US capitol...so we joined in the fun of course! haha..half the people there were tourists holding cameras and have a great load of fun posing as protesters...the other half looked like they were having fun too..the whole atmosphere was like a carnival...with a stage and music blasting etc...wonder who funds those...
3. museums...we visited 3 in all....the national museum of natural history which has lots of stuff on animals, minerals, gems, space, blah blah....the holocaust memorial, which is SUPERBLY informative abt the holocaust...it's shocking and it really makes u wonder how racism can really take millions of lives away...the last museum we visited was the national archives, which contained the declaration of independence, seen here in the picture...
4. the washington monument
5. the thomas jefferson memorial
6. lincoln memorial, with a huge statue of him sitting on his chair (see the white spot there in the centre?)
7. the white house!
8. last but not least, we ate FRESHLY MADE DONUTS from krispy kreme!!! it's DELICIOUS man!!
.: ru rambled on 2/12/2007 10:53:00 AM:.
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ok still to come in the next few posts:
- one friday exploring downtown
- school life at UVA
- meeting with other singaporeans in UVA
- smu peeps cookout nights
- trip to dc
- skiing @ wintergreen
wah...im super far behind ya? it's already been almost a month since i left!
.: ru rambled on 2/12/2007 01:16:00 AM:.
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.::Thursday, February 08, 2007::.
it snowed 2 inches yesterday night and this morning the whole ground was covered in a nice blanket of pure white snow... =)
it was not like the pathetic 1 -2 hour snowfalls i saw in the last couple of weeks...(ok ok, i did enjoy those then)..the snow this time was thicker, softer and just longer-lasting...
and the guys went mad last night...they ran out in their coats but with SHORTS and SLIPPERS for a snowball fight...and of course couldn feel their toes afterwards...
today we just could not resist making our very own snowman!!!! this guy is pretty tall...about 1m maybe and we literally froze our hands and toes off putting him together...
but isn he the most adorable thing ever?? *grinz*
.: ru rambled on 2/08/2007 02:50:00 PM:.
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19 Jan 07
we took a free trolley ride downtown today...to explore how the "orchard road" of charlottesville will be like...and boy were we surprised...perhaps cos it was a friday afternoon, the whole area seems relatively deserted...as in...there were hardly are people walking down the streets...
this is about as busy as it gets... (that's us btw walking down the streets)
surprisingly, we found a cinema! and 4 of us decided to buy tix to watch letters from iwo jima which is a darn nice show...did i mention i really think ken watanabe is COOL?
we ate dumplings and noodles for lunch, cos we chanced upon this store opened by a Chinese guy, who married a Bosnian wife and their really beautiful story about how they started a life here in the states together...unfortunately i have no pix...but the dumplings were definitely yummy...shall go back another day...and it's cheap too!! $2 for 6... =)
and we also ate home made ice-cream even though we were freezing...haha...
yep..thats abt it to our trip downtown...nothing much, but it was interesting to see how things are in sleepy charlottesville...i heard it's more crowded during weekends though...
.: ru rambled on 2/08/2007 07:37:00 AM:.
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.::Tuesday, February 06, 2007::.
ok, not that i've completed my narrative of my pre-virginia trip to NY, it's time to talk about my life in UVA thus far...
14 Jan 07
when i first got to virginia, i was kinda surprised...the train station wasnt really a station at all.. it was more of like a little stop along the tracks for passengers to get off...taxis are few cos everyone here drives, but thankfully, they all know to wait at the station for travellers/newbies like us...
we arrived at budget inn (yes, that's what it's called) and being the cheapo singaporeans that we are, decided to use 1 room instead of 2...cos it was 2 double beds anyway, and there were 4 of us...haha...the lady at the front desk wasnt so pleased cos we originally reserved 2 rooms, but she was kind enough to allow a refund...
i had my first meal in virginia at 11pm that night at this little restaurant across the road from the inn...didnt feel like eating too much so i ordered pancakes...3 pancakes and they were HUGE!!! each prob the size of my face (which isn small i tell u)...which brings me to another point...i cannot ever finish a whole meal on my own ever since i came to US...either i share with BH or i'd have to waste the food...2 reasons for this...1, obviously the portions are too large... 2 if i do try to squeeze everything in, i'd definitely grow fatter at a faster rate (note: i didn say i wont grow fat being here, i've already accepted that sad fact, i just wanna prolong the fattening process)...
15 Jan 07
we had our breakfast and moved out of the inn and to our dorms (on foot!) it was a horrid process, having to lug 6 mths worth of stuff up-slope especially when my large suitcase has only 2 wheels! =( thankfully LH came to help us navigate our way...
thing is, we have not gotten our keys to the rooms, and we were already at the dorms...and the stupid system is such that we would need to walk a darn bloody far distance to get to the housing department...(how silly is that?)
we got lost walking ard campus, cos it was a large large place and we didnt know all the shortcuts and stuff...but we got there eventually...
then we had to attend a talk by the mcintire sch of commerce...the study coordinator was really nice and she was pretty...the dean was nice too..everyone's on a first name basis here...more or less...so it kinda feels like smu but more personal/homey/comfortable?!? i duno how to put it... but yea there was a free sandwich lunch that was absolutely yummy! the sandwiches here are like full of delicious, juicy meat and they taste fresh...nothing like the yucky subway we get at the smu campus...haha...and i noticed one thing though, there's a "chip-eating-culture" during mealtimes...i mean chips as in potato chips and not fries...
after lunch we went to make our student id...as usual, i look like crap on these "official" photos... bah....thankfully it's only for 1 semester...
when we got back and into the rooms, it was definitely a shock...the rooms are SPARTAN i tell u...basically it's just a closet, a bed, 1 set of drawers, 1 study table, 1 bin...so for a 2 person room, these are mirror reflections of each other, one on each side as u step thru the door...there was no bedsheet, no pillow, no blanket whatsoever...the office (this tiny office with 1 person handling all affairs) was closed, so we could not request for free bedding stuff (prob left behind by other students who moved out)
i didnt wanna sleep unconfortably, afterall, i'd be here for like 1 sem right? so we went to bed, bath and beyond down the street to purchase some necessities...bought a pillow, a set of sheets and i felt happier... =) some of them wanted to save money and wait for free sheets and whatever which we could get the next day, but bah...suan le...if there are any left for me, they can be spare ones...
we had dinner at this little mexican outlet chipotle...and i had a buritto which was wayyyy huge and not very nice...the black paste thingy just didnt suit me... *ugh* should have ordered the tacos like what kel ordered...
oh yea...the toilets are thankfully clean and dry...and everyone has this little cubicle thingy where they can place their toiletries...i think girls generally have amore "integrity" in this aspect...from what i heard, the guys dont leave their stuff there cos more likely than not, other guys would use it...haha...had a nice warm shower before going to bed...so yep...i felt comfortable already... =)
16 Jan 07
went for a talk which was so overloaded by info that i got super duper bored...and hungry... was just waiting for the opportunity to head down to Target (a supermart) to purchase necessities and groceries...(oh yea...we all have a communal kitchen on each floor...with stove, over, microwave...the 2 fridges are gross though cos everyone's got so much food in it...)
oh i realised i didnt really talk abt the dorm...well basically i live in this residential area called the IRC = international residential college, which consists of 4 blocks of housing dorms...mine's called gwathmey and it's joined to this other one called munford...gatherings and stuff are always held at munford cos they have a big tv room, a huge kitchen, lots of tables where we can eat breakfast (every weds morn) and tea (every thurs afternoon)...
so gwathmey has 3 levels - 1st floor for guys, 2nd floor for girls and 3rd floor for guys...5 out of 6 of us from smu are living at gwathmey...each floor has a kitchen and a toilet with different passcodes given to occupants...but after a while u realise everyone knows the passcodes anyway cos pple just move around...haha...my floor has a tv room, which makes it convenient when we do wanna watch tv to slack or while eating dinner... =)
back to the point about the briefing i was having...after that long session, we got to have free lunch (yay) and meet our "buddies"...these buddies are part of a buddy program that we signed up for...mine's this french guy called pierre...he's cute...haha...but unfortunately i have little to talk to him about face to face... =( BH's german buddy (whose name i forgot) seemed like a nicer guy and i somehow found it more confortable conversing with him...the guy's also an exchange student, but for 1 yr...so technically he's been here at UVA for half a yr now...
i find that having to meet new people and making small talk somewhat stressful and tiring...and it doesn come to me easily...everything sounds kinda fake if u get what i mean...but then i do like to make new friends...it's quite interesting to learn abt other people's lifestyles and stuff...but i guess that what im here for, to overcome the fear of having to meet new people...at the same time see the world beyond SG, leave behind the lifestyle that i've been living all my life...
to keep the remainder of this post short, let's just say we went shopping, bought food (lots of instant which is UNHEALTHY) and went back to prepare for sch which will start the next day...
.: ru rambled on 2/06/2007 12:26:00 AM:.
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.::Sunday, February 04, 2007::.
13 Jan 2007 - NY Trip Day 3
On the 3rd day, we took a leisurely walk to visit NY University, which has a city campus like ours. When we got to the Washington Sq Park, we asked a lady (who was there feeding squirrels) where NYU was and she said everything surrounding the park belonged to NYU. so.....you can imagine how large their city campus was compared to ours...we spent some time playing with the squirrels, which were INCREDIBLY CUTE! kinda reminded me of the cartoon chip and dale...haha...
subsequently, we went towards the direction of the empire state..along the way, we passed the farmer's market, where there were lots of fresh foods...
we saw this unique triangular building along the way..
and we visited the museum of sex...here's the sign they posted at the door...
then towards night time we headed down to the empire state building, to mark the end of our trip in NY... =)
view of NY from the empire state building
.: ru rambled on 2/04/2007 05:30:00 AM:.
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Weekend Trip to Washington DC (Jan 26 - 28)
ok still to come in the next few posts:
