decided to take a break from describing my trip.
anyways.
felt the need to get a girlfriend again. tired of elaborating. but yeah.
damn sad.
sigh.
oh i met a pri school friend of mine today. she's going to japan for some study exchange program for a year. and i prob wont be here by the time she gets back.
double sigh.
u know i've been wondering lately? how life overseas would be like. i mean, i spent 2 weeks alone out there and it was fun, but for 4 years? i dun know.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Alright I've finally found the xin qin to write again.
Gonna write about my trip.
Well, as you know, I went to the US to 'look at' some universities, as well as to the interview conducted at Duke.
I tell ya, Duke is a nice place. Somehow, dun ask me why, once I stepped inside, this. familiar feeling sorta overcame me. i jus felt, Chinese High!
I'm serious. It's like... I dunno, Duke feels just like Chinese High. ok its a Lot bigger and is co-ed, but Still. Same feeling. Dunno y.
Anyways. About the trip proper. Shall give a brief day-by-day description of my trip.
16th Aug : Reached Durham at around 930pm. damn tired. slept.
17th Aug : Decided to try out the public transportation system. woke up at 8, had a free breakfast (which sucked, only redeeming thing was the coffee) and walked to the bus-stop outside. it didnt have any label so i assumed it wasn't functional. met two indians (couple? or couple-to-be?), one of them gave me directions to a bus-stop near his work-place. Long walk. told me not having a car sucked. big time. after walking 20 mins to the bus-stop, and waiting 20 more for the only bus that served the route, I decided it Really did.
Bus ride took almost an hour. Reached Durham downtown terminal when I had wanted to go to Chapel Hill. oh the two of them are different 'cities', by the way. distance between them is like woodlands and jurong, if i'm living downtown. magnified a few times, of course.
anyways. since i landed up in the right place at the wrong time (had planned to visit Durham only later) I decided to go aexploring. Got the bus driver to take me to the Visitors Centre. Very helpful stuff gave me lots of directions and maps. But. I still got lost for quite a bit before getting back to the terminal. they have jus too many intersections and street names i tell ya. too many.
had lunch at this little shop. first taste of a big american buger. i tell u, the patty was like a half-pounder at macs if ever they decide to have one. (oh i have a double quarter-pounder at macs there. didnt try though) And their fries. Damn big too.
after that huge meal, decided to head back to the hotel. to Really sort out how to get to Chapel Hill, where I had scheduled a campus tour the next day. took the same bus back, and found that it stopped at this Huge shopping mall. huge in the fact that it covered quite a large area. perhaps that of taka, wisma, orchard station, far east, tangs, borders and lido together. with the road in between. but didnt seem so big on the inside, as there were only Two stories. waste of space, if u ask me. but then again there's So much space to waste.
nothing much came out of my detailed scouring of the maps leading to Chapel Hill. decided to take a taxi there.
18th Aug : Taxi reached Chapel Hill in half an hour. was two hours early for the tour so registered, took a map and went looking around on my own. had breakfast at this pancake shop, and picked up yet more maps at a visitors centre. tour of chapel hill was quite alright, in fact, it looked quite alright. several old buildings, and very approacheable people. lecture rooms were Very impressive (3 overhead projectors!) and the campus was wireless. woohoo.
After the tour, had this information session. was directed to the bio building finally, but couldnt meet the professor as he seemed Damn busy. got his email. and Finally knew how to get back to the hotel from Chapel Hill. had to walk quite a long distance though. like from serene centre to chinese high. and oh met the indian couple(-to-be) again. they directed me back to the hotel, interestingly.
19th Aug: Visited Duke. went for the campus tour. and managed to see the professor after getting lost and entering a graduate students' lab building. not to mention cutting across the Duke hospital. anyways. he seemed genuinely impressed and a tad amused (yes, amused, i wonder why) to see me and gave me his old textbook. jus changed to a new version so he didnt have any use for it, he said. and oh there was this taiwanese graduate student who was listening to our conversation instead of being at the matriculation ceremony.
oh i finally found the bus that served the bus-stop jus outside my hotel. apparently bus-stop = Some bus stops there.
20th Aug : Interview. didn't seem like an interview at all. i mean, it was more like an informal interview. she asked me some questions, i answered, she seemed quite impressed, I asked some questions, she answered, end of interview. can't really remember the contents of the interview, to be honest.
and one thing, i'm beginning to think its standard to appear impressed there. u dun really know wat they Really feel underneath. its like... they're quite fake. to put it simply. and they look jus like me when im pretending to be interested in some obscure topic when all im doing is concentrating on looking interested.
scary.
tired now, will continue later.
Gonna write about my trip.
Well, as you know, I went to the US to 'look at' some universities, as well as to the interview conducted at Duke.
I tell ya, Duke is a nice place. Somehow, dun ask me why, once I stepped inside, this. familiar feeling sorta overcame me. i jus felt, Chinese High!
I'm serious. It's like... I dunno, Duke feels just like Chinese High. ok its a Lot bigger and is co-ed, but Still. Same feeling. Dunno y.
Anyways. About the trip proper. Shall give a brief day-by-day description of my trip.
16th Aug : Reached Durham at around 930pm. damn tired. slept.
17th Aug : Decided to try out the public transportation system. woke up at 8, had a free breakfast (which sucked, only redeeming thing was the coffee) and walked to the bus-stop outside. it didnt have any label so i assumed it wasn't functional. met two indians (couple? or couple-to-be?), one of them gave me directions to a bus-stop near his work-place. Long walk. told me not having a car sucked. big time. after walking 20 mins to the bus-stop, and waiting 20 more for the only bus that served the route, I decided it Really did.
Bus ride took almost an hour. Reached Durham downtown terminal when I had wanted to go to Chapel Hill. oh the two of them are different 'cities', by the way. distance between them is like woodlands and jurong, if i'm living downtown. magnified a few times, of course.
anyways. since i landed up in the right place at the wrong time (had planned to visit Durham only later) I decided to go aexploring. Got the bus driver to take me to the Visitors Centre. Very helpful stuff gave me lots of directions and maps. But. I still got lost for quite a bit before getting back to the terminal. they have jus too many intersections and street names i tell ya. too many.
had lunch at this little shop. first taste of a big american buger. i tell u, the patty was like a half-pounder at macs if ever they decide to have one. (oh i have a double quarter-pounder at macs there. didnt try though) And their fries. Damn big too.
after that huge meal, decided to head back to the hotel. to Really sort out how to get to Chapel Hill, where I had scheduled a campus tour the next day. took the same bus back, and found that it stopped at this Huge shopping mall. huge in the fact that it covered quite a large area. perhaps that of taka, wisma, orchard station, far east, tangs, borders and lido together. with the road in between. but didnt seem so big on the inside, as there were only Two stories. waste of space, if u ask me. but then again there's So much space to waste.
nothing much came out of my detailed scouring of the maps leading to Chapel Hill. decided to take a taxi there.
18th Aug : Taxi reached Chapel Hill in half an hour. was two hours early for the tour so registered, took a map and went looking around on my own. had breakfast at this pancake shop, and picked up yet more maps at a visitors centre. tour of chapel hill was quite alright, in fact, it looked quite alright. several old buildings, and very approacheable people. lecture rooms were Very impressive (3 overhead projectors!) and the campus was wireless. woohoo.
After the tour, had this information session. was directed to the bio building finally, but couldnt meet the professor as he seemed Damn busy. got his email. and Finally knew how to get back to the hotel from Chapel Hill. had to walk quite a long distance though. like from serene centre to chinese high. and oh met the indian couple(-to-be) again. they directed me back to the hotel, interestingly.
19th Aug: Visited Duke. went for the campus tour. and managed to see the professor after getting lost and entering a graduate students' lab building. not to mention cutting across the Duke hospital. anyways. he seemed genuinely impressed and a tad amused (yes, amused, i wonder why) to see me and gave me his old textbook. jus changed to a new version so he didnt have any use for it, he said. and oh there was this taiwanese graduate student who was listening to our conversation instead of being at the matriculation ceremony.
oh i finally found the bus that served the bus-stop jus outside my hotel. apparently bus-stop = Some bus stops there.
20th Aug : Interview. didn't seem like an interview at all. i mean, it was more like an informal interview. she asked me some questions, i answered, she seemed quite impressed, I asked some questions, she answered, end of interview. can't really remember the contents of the interview, to be honest.
and one thing, i'm beginning to think its standard to appear impressed there. u dun really know wat they Really feel underneath. its like... they're quite fake. to put it simply. and they look jus like me when im pretending to be interested in some obscure topic when all im doing is concentrating on looking interested.
scary.
tired now, will continue later.
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