you're young until you're not

SO my problems with the bank account and school fees are still unsettled. It's a long story, and I don't feel like repeating it here. But I'm ok. I think. Haha oh well. Everything can be solved. No use getting worried and panicky. I say that now, but I'll probably freak out in a few days over these same issues haha.

Anyway, life has been pretty normal. Which is why I don't blog so often. Cuz I don't really have anything worth blogging about. Haha yes, my life is very boring. School is boring. And I have a flu :( Thanks to the crazy weather.

Oh yeah, Austin was FUN. Except for Sixth Street and the drinking. THat was gross. Sixth Street was crazy, and full of drunks falling all over the place. We couldn't get into any of the places there! Which sucked. Not because I wanted to go in anywhere, but because it was freezing, and I didn't want to walk 15 mins in the freezing cold just to stand around in the middle of a street full of crazy people, in the freezing cold. And the night after, we were smart enough to stay in the hotel room, only to deal with a drunk Aori who came back ranting and dancing. But that was quite hilarious so it was ok haha.

We visited the State Capitol also, which is like the main governmental building in Texas (Austin is the capital of Texas after all). And we went to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, which was pretty boring I must say haha. It's mostly all Texan propaganda, which a full-blooded Singaporean like me will never understand haha.

Oh so now, we're in the process of planning for Spring Break. It's so exciting! Except when you calculate the potential costs involved. At first we were thinking of flying to Philadelphia, then driving up to New York and Boston, before returning home. But after looking at our projected costs comprising of tickets, car rental and accommodation, we decided to drive up to New York haha. It's cheaper, and we can get to visit more places. Like we can stop over at Memphis, Atlanta and Washington DC, in addition to just the New York area. The only thing is we'd be spending 24 hours in a car, and we'd have to rush from place to place in order to maximise our 1 week. But who cares, it's cheap! Yes we're a bunch of cheap Singaporeans who'd trade comfort for low costs anytime hahah.

So I'm really looking forward to it :) I just wish February could "poof!" and disappear so I can zoom straight into March haha. Yeah, and because all my midterms are in February :((((

Anyway, I'm off to read my textbooks! Oh, speaking of which, I've received them already! THanks Qinyao (and JJ and Kaishi, and whoever's involved)!! And Mummy! (Though I doubt she'd see this.) I promise I'll treat you guys to lunch or something when I'm back haha. Btw, about the LHC elections, I don't know what's going on so I can't vote or anything, so you all should just treat me as a neutral party and leave me out of your campaigning and stuff haha. But all the best to both parties anyhow!

Weather update: Freaky as usual. 3 deg one day, and 16 deg the next. Welcome to Texas haha.

This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't

freezing

Oh man, it's freezing here!! The temperature dropped overnight and now it's about 0 deg outside? Plus it's raining. I even had to wear my big coat just to run out to throw my rubbish ahha. So scary. Thank goodness I didn't have lessons today (Fri's my free day yay), so I stayed in my room most of the time. It's nice to lie on your bed all wrapped up in blankets, just doing nothing except stare at the TV haha. Yes, I'm just lazy. (Oh btw, the roommate and I covered up the aircon vent in our room with cardboard haha. It's just too cold at night.)

Ok so apart from the weird weather, everything's been fine so far. School is boring, and I don't like 8am classes. Oh and I'm running out of $$ haha. Citibank sucks!! Apparently they were supposed to clear my bank drafts by last Wed, so I paid for my school fees on Fri. But now I just received notice that my payment was rejected and I even have to pay for the returned fee penalty!? WHAT'S WRONG. Argh, I'll have to call the bank tmr.

Speaking of tmr, we're going to Austin again! Like this super big group of us (5 Singaporeans, 3 Spanish, 1 Jap and 1 Texan). Cuz the guys wanna visit Sixth Street, which is this street of pubs/bars -.- We're renting a 7 seater, and hopefully we can squeeze ourselves in for the 2 hour ride. But apparently, there's nothing much to do at Austin except for Sixth Street, which is sad. We should go to San Antonio or Houston sometime!

Oh and my textbooks. I've calculated the cost - I'll spend US$400 if I buy textbooks here, and S$300+ if my mum sends them over from Singapore haha. I just hope nothing will happen to delay the postage. Oh and thanks QY, for helping me check out the books in Singapore!! You're a lifesaver hah. The courses here are quite heavy also, maybe cuz they're level 3 (eeks) haha. There're about 3-5 tests per course?? And each course is twice a week. THe good thing is there are no tutorials haha. But ya, there are projects of course. Sigh.

Ok I'm going to sleep now. Hopefully the weather will improve the next few days, and there won't be an icestorm or something. I heard that if there's too much ice, classes will be cancelled. But I don't want that to happen cuz I want my semester to end early haha. So I can go for my holiday sooner!

Until next time :)

Funny how long
A moment can seem
When you're trying to hold on

activities

Sorry for the long delay haha. Been very busy trying to settle various admin stuff for school. And woot, alot happened the past week! I kinda dunno where to start haha.

So I'll just let the pictures talk:

Texas A&M is huge! We spent the first morning in school getting lost haha. Point A to B on campus is usually a 15 min walk away, unless you drive or cycle. I considered getting a bike, but then I don't think I'll get one cuz I'll only need it for 5 months, plus there are quite a few bicycle rules to obey which is quite troublesome haha. So I'll just have to walk sigh.


Some random squirrel we saw. The squirrels we have here and fearless creatures. They don't run away from humans haha.


Anyway so we had orientation on Mon and Tues. Their orientation is different from those 'onz' kind in Singapore. Here, it's mainly just listening to briefing after briefing on topics from immigration issues to taxation (yes, we have to file taxes). Quite boring. We also had to settle our health insurance, and get a post box and bank account. So it was quite mad cuz I can't register for classes until I pay my fees (dorm fees and insurance), and I can't pay my fees without a bank account, and I need a PO box to get a bank account. Oh and I need a local SIM card too. But thank goodness we managed to settle everything by Tues haha.

My teeny PO box. OH ya, my address is: PO Box 6025, College Station, TX 77844-6025. On the way to Wal-Mart. We seriously need a car. We took a shuttle bus to the nearest Wal-Mart, but we had to take a cab back cuz of all the stuff we were carting around, and cabs are bloody expensive here. Btw I bought lots of water (tap water is unsafe and we couldn't boil water), toilet paper, bedsheets, blankets, food. Domestic nonsense la, in other words haha.
A part of school. College Station is known as Aggieland by the way. A&M students are called Aggies, probably cuz of its agricultural background.

The railroad track that runs through school. It's near my hall, so I can hear the train everyday. I have to cross this track to go to the Business School also. School is about 15 min walk away. Schuhmacher Hall. And the view from my room:


I didn't choose Schuhmacher initially but now I'm glad they gave this hall to me instead. The location is pretty good. It's near my school, and most importantly, it's right opposite Northgate, which is the pub/food street in College Station. So you can always find something to eat if you live here haha. The only bad thing is that because of all the pubs, it can get quite noisy at night.

We went pub-hopping last night with this bunch of Spanish and French guys, but it was quite boring cuz you weren't allowed to drink if you're under 21. So the small group of us could only sit there while the rest drank. And the scene at the pubs can get quite rowdy. A fight almost erupted outside one of the clubs. Quite scary. So I doubt I'll ever visit Northgate at night again haha. But most of the guys go there almost every night after dinner, while the rest of us just go back to our dorms haha.

My room. It's awfully small. And very filthy. I had to buy wipes to clean the drawers before I could move my stuff in. My roommate (who hasn't moved in yet) has a microwave and fridge too, which was good cuz I can store milk and fruit. We shared a toilet with the room next door. But you couldnt lock your side of the toilet door from the inside, so anyone could walk in while you were doing your business haha.

And it's bloody COLD. Crap. I have NO IDEA why they switch on the aircon at night when it's already so cold! And the stupid heater is in the toilet? My first few nights were quite a nightmare cuz I only had a pathetic blanket (which I thought was sufficient so I didn't buy more), so I basically froze to death in my sleep. But it's warmer when I open my toilet door to let in some heat from the heater. Then later during the week, I went to Target to get a new comforter, so now my life is slightly better haha.

Anyway, later in the week, we met up with this Singaporean American girl, Kirsten, in College Station. I had been corresponding with her through emails after I found her address on the Singapore Society website at TAMU (it's now defunct haha), and she offered to show us around even though she has already graduated and moved out of College Station. She drove us around and brought us to many places to eat, esp those places only accessible by car haha.

Then on Wed, we went to Austin, which was a 2hour drive away. 5 of us were squished in her car throughout the journey haha. We stayed over at her place in Austin, and on Thursday, she brought us to Round Rock, which had a gigantic factory outlet mall haha. They had brands like Coach, Polo, Tommy Hilfiger etc, going at insane prices. And we spent 4 hours shopping. I bought quite alot of stuff also haha.

The landmark of Austin. Can't remember the name though haha.
The main building at the University of Texas, Austin.

We met up for dinner with the other Singaporeans on exchange at UT also, that night. Which was quite cool. Got to meet many other Singaporeans and Malaysians haa.
At this ice cream place in Austin. You chose the flavour of ice cream you wanted, plus some other ingredient (eg. Oreo cookies,brownies, Reese's cups etc), and the guy just mashed them up together to come up with this sinful combination of ice cream.
On the road. We saw cows and farmhouses on the way haha.
That's Kirsten driving, and Alex bothering her.

I spent my Friday packing my room, and cleaning my floor (but it's still dirty, and I dunno why haha). And today, Sat, we went for a basketball game in school! TAMU vs. Colorado. TAMU basketball is good man. And games here are a BIG deal. Students will dress up in the school colours (maroon and white) to go down for games. There are many traditions also, like standing up instead of sitting down during the game, all the weird cheers, and distracting the opponent by making lots of noise during free throws haha.

Well anyway, the game was quite exciting in the first half. But it got kinda boring (I almost fell asleep) during the 2nd half. Maybe cuz we knew we were winning haha. What was cool was that the games are almost identical to those NBA ones you see on TV. Like the whole atmosphere, esp the halftime and timeout entertainment available. They had games and dances haha. Oh and I really liked the suspended scoreboard haha.

Aori, me, Yessy and Frisca. Aori is this Jap exchange student, and Yessy and Frisca are from NUS also.

Anyway we've been hanging out with this group of 3 Spanish guys also, but I don't have their pictures (sorry Simin and Nina haha). They're seriously a bunch of jokers with accents haha. Full of crap. They tried teaching us Spanish also. I know a few phrases! Like vamos (let's go!), buenas noches (goodnight), neputa mara (f-ing good). Quite fun. The 2 Indonesian girls (Yessy and Frisca) are obsessed with them man. They're reduced to fits of giggles whenever they're around the guys haha. Sometimes it's quite funny to see, but sometimes it can get quite irritating grr. I must find a balance!

Ok, I'm going to sleep! Until the next time :)

OH btw, I got my local number already! +19794226034. Pls try not to call me or sms me on this no. haha. It's $0.69/min for calls both in and out, and $0.15/sms coming in, and $0.30/sms going out, in addition to the prepaid rates, which is not cheap. Contact me if it's an emergency or don't expect a reply hahah. Just joking.

college station

Ok, let's ignore my previous entry. In the wee hours of the morning, your thoughts tend to run amok and you become a little suicidal haha. Let me start over:

So my wonderful Boran gave me a farewell dinner:


They surprised me with a birthday cake! To celebrate my 21st birthday ahha.
Stalkers in the background. Ok I admit, this picture really is kinda lame haha.

At the airport. T3 leh! Cool ah. Alot of people came to send me off, which I'm really grateful for :) My dear wwf, church buddies, and Boran haha. But I'm still waiting for the other photos.

Pris came straight to the airport after arriving from KL to send me off!

The departure gate at Terminal 3, with mixed feelings. It's the only picture I took when I was travelling. Was either too busy trying to get to the correct terminals or too tired to care about anything else haha.

So after arriving at the airport at College Station, I checked into my hotel and went to zzzz immediately. Woke up at night and went out for dinner with Lip Tong (he's one of the other NUS students on exchange at A&M). We went to this sandwich place. Omg their sandwiches are huge and expensive! Mine costs US$5? And I couldn't finish it (even a zhu has her limits haha). So it's actually not so worth it to eat in the US. Cuz the food is expensive and the portions are so big you can't finish them, so you're effectively wasting your money haha.

Anyway that night, I fell asleep at 8.30pm (RECORD), and woke up at 4am (DOUBLE RECORD)! Yeah, then I couldn't sleep anymore. This jet lag is crazy. It's resetting my body clock. My mum thinks it's good cuz I can finally start cultivating healthy sleeping habits hahah. Cuz last night, I went to sleep at 12.30am and woke up at 6am haha. But anyway it's better for me to wake up early cuz it's the time when everyone's online haha. But WHY DOESN'T ANYONE TALK TO ME. Eh you all automatic abit can haha.

Anyway, so yesterday we walked around the area near our hotel. This place is boring can. Cuz every place is so far away from each other. Plus we have to walk, while everyone else drives. So we couldn't really explore alot of places. The weather was quite good yesterday. Quite warm and sunny haha. I think the most interesting place we went to was the supermarket hah. Coke over here is almost dirt cheap haha.

I like the sky.
The view across the hotel.
Obscenely cheap Hershey's and Reese's bars. But I didn't buy anything. The meals are fattening enough by themselves haha. I can resist temptation!

My hotel room. THe wonderful TV set haha. They have over 90 channels here?? So most of the time I'm just channel surfing, cuz everytime I change the channel, I can't go back to the previous show I was watching cuz I can't remember which channel it was haha.

Toilet! I bathe really early here cuz the water is freezing. Brr.

Oh and last night we went to this Chinese restaurant for dinner. All-you-can-eat for $6.99 haha. THe food was not bad, but of course incomparable to Singaporean food. I miss my laksa, chicken rice and or jian!!

Anyway later we're checking in to the halls. Argh I hate moving cuz I have to pack everything and lug my monster luggage around. Plus this place is huge. Walking is impossible. I think I've said before that the school is practically the whole town. It's true man. Almost every store we visited sells some form of A&M memoribilia. Like tshirts, slippers, mugs etc. And almost everyone here is somehow related to the Uni. Which is quite cool la haha.

Ok I'm off to rot for 2 hours! Watch more tv hah. The coverage on the elections is pretty interesting.

This better be the best thing I ever felt

My days, they better be sunny

It better be nothing but all that I want

touchdown

Shit it's 4 am now and I'm wide awake?? Must have slept too much just now haha.

Well, so I made it here alive and in one piece, albeit after hours of flying/waiting. It's been an ordeal man. Especially cuz I'm doing all of this alone. When you look at all the other people at the airport, with their family and friends with them, it kinda reminds you of your own family and of how much you miss them. I really really miss my family so much. I never knew it'd be so hard. I think it's true when they say you only miss what you have when it's gone. Everytime I hear my parents' voices on the phone, I have to fight very hard to keep my tears in. I can't stop thinking about what they're doing at home, and how much I wish I could be there with them :(

I've been praying very hard too, but it all takes time I guess. ARGH! Help me.... I feel like flying all the way back home now. Sigh. I'm finding it damn hard to be positive and hopeful.

Anyway, College Station is huge! The university is like an entire town on it's own! But it's damn ulu here, maybe cuz school hasn't started yet. Hmmm hope to walk around tmr (or rather today). It's quite cold though, especially when the wind blows haha.

Ok I'm going to try to sleep somemore. Continue to pray for me yup? I need all your prayers right now.

leaving

I can't believe I'm leaving already. It's too... soon. I feel a bit taken by surprise haha. On one hand, I'm kinda looking forward to the new experiences. On the other hand, I feel overwhelmed with worry and anxiety. I keep imagining bad things happening to me. And I'm extremely terrified of loneliness. I really wished my mum had agreed to go with me :( Being alone makes things so much harder.

Anyway, it's the new year already! Wow, I wonder where 2007 went to haha. It's been a great year for me :) I've had so many wonderful experiences. And I probably wouldn't have come so far if not for the grace of God, and of course, my friends :) You people are one of the best things to happen to me!

Although I've had my share of disappointments, regrets, and misunderstandings, I'm glad I came through all of it stronger and better. I've learnt so much. Things like using my brain to think before saying anything stupid, controlling my emotions (and temper), and the pointlessness of envy and anger. I've done and said hurtful things to those around me, and I regret everything. I'm also very thankful that everything has been forgiven and friendships have not been lost.

In the coming year, I really hope for a smooth semester ahead during my exchange. That I'll have a safe trip there, and back. That I'll cherish all the experiences, whether good or bad. That I'll make lots of friends. And of course, that I'll grow closer to God. I need to remember to have faith in His promises. He is the God of my past, present and future, and He will watch my coming and going like He has the past years of my life.

I'll be turning 21 also, and entering adulthood, a new phase in my life. It's quite scary if you think about it haha. But I guess it also means new experiences.

Ok, I'm off to pack again. Somehow I keep getting the feeling that I've forgotten something. Eeks. I'll really miss all of my friends! Especially Boran, you guys have made my past 1 and a half year in NUS so much better :) And the surprise cake I received last night only makes me realise how much I'm leaving behind.

Thanks for a wonderful December :) Remember to keep in touch! I'll try to update as much as possible haha.

And pray for me yup?