@ Julie's Place

time really flies..~
I have been living in Julie's place for a week le..
it was very sweet of her to welcome me into her home..
it was such a cosy homely apartment near Boston..

Now that Julie's back from campus she cooks dinner at home..
haha..
and of course I was helping her lah~
okies.. I was playing in the kitchen and probably making it more comfusing to cook with me nose-ing around..
haha~ but we had fun cooking hor..

Absolutely LOVED the fish can..
I haven't had a whole steam fish in donkeys..
I don't even remember having steam fish at home in a long time le..
the americans here eat filet-ed fish only.. haha

i had this fish almost everyday the past week..
yet.. it doesn't feel bored..
I just love steam fish.. hoho

Me and Julie..
going out shopping..

There was some mini Carnival in Boston Common..
whipped out the camera for pretty pictures..
It was a nice sunny day lo~

Me and the T station Signboard..
i'm soo going to miss this lao-pok train lo..
u hardly can find lao-pok trains anymore..

This is me outside Coolidge Corner..
a very less urban shopping district with your local village shops and family restaurants..

That evening..
we went to "Finale~"
a nice italian dessert place..
has the baker's inn feel..
oh man.. suddenly I miss the marcoons..
(europe wait for me...)

Then we went to Natick Mall..
looking for clothes for Julie's Graduation..
uber big shopping mall lo..
i dun think we even covered 1/5 of it.. haha

me and Natick
it's a very easy, relaxing environment for shopping..

we went to get a mini tramisu cake for Ng mama..
it was Mother's Day..

I miss the mega mother's day celebration at Uncle Ray's place..
I sent this super mega card that pops up with glither and everything..
but apparently mummy didn't get it..
-_-"

Yesh.. it's spring le..
Some random flowers along the way back to Julie's apartment..
pretty tulips..

today's my last day at her place le..
I'm going to miss this place~

Dad and Mum should be on the plane le..
anticpation~

A detailed account of my Last Week @ Bentley..

It's a long entry.. but I'm still pretty overwhelmed by all the events happening..
just let me rattle away~

It has been a messy week... straight after my 2nd last paper on Saturday... the whole issue of “last week in Bentley” became all the more inevitable...


3rd May, Saturday night..
the Asian Internationals brought all the HKU and NTU exchangers out for dinner at Emperor’s Restaurant at Chinatown...
It is one of those really restaurant, restaurant....
the mar chaim can hold wedding there kind...
but no choice lo.. so many of us leh..
needed to find a place to fit..

and we must owe it to William’s effort to gather so many Chinese students together...
the food was so so, but the great company made up for it..
it’s just always so hard to get big groups of ppl out..
after dinner half went sing K and halfwatch movie..
K too ex lah... so i watched Iron Man instead..
Good movie... haha.. (i shall not do spoilers..)

Later that evening we had out last alcoholic gathering at at Ivy's room..
something with that Boylston Attic..
apparently it always ends up as the gathering place..
the drinking.. laughing.. blowing and stupid games..
I'll miss those times...


4th May, Sunday night...
Me and YY brought Ivy out for lobster...
She missed out the last time we went to “No Name”
We decided to try McCormick and Shimicks at Quincy market..
Jimmy’s 2 friends came along too..
Wah.. the lobster is better and cheaper lo..
But different feel lo.. “No Name” got the pier, fishy, “Ah Huat Seafood” feel
McCormick is the classy, cosy, “Huat Des Chauteax Seafood” feel

When I got back from lobster.. it was sooo late...
Then began my mad rush to settle Monday’s ID211 paper..
It was a No. 3 – Take Home Final
Oh let me tell you the many different ways the Americans here can have an examination..

1) Half Price Offer - Let say a textbook has 12 chapters... 6 chapters tested for Mid Term.. Therefore ONLY 6 Chapters for the final exam... (Back in SG our final is all 12 chapters lo..)

2) Choice of weightage - just before your final you can decide what your final grade should be made up of.. the prof will let u choose, let’s say option A: mid term 40%, class participation 20% and final 40% or Option B: Mid term 20%, class participation 40% and final 40%, etc...

3) Take Home Final- they give u an essay topic.. write it at home and hand in the deadline..

4) Choice of exam dates and time– the professor will have a few exam dates for you to choose from... so if you need more time to study u can take the one on a later date.. if you prefer afternoon paper u can choose the afternoon timing one..

5) Common Exam – only very few selected final year modules have common exams.. and they have those on Saturday Afternoons... (the Americans actually use sat afternoons..)

6) Guess correctly.. NO exam – the professor will ask u to guess your overall grade.. if it is equal or less than his estimation, you will get that grade you guessed and would NOT need to take the final exam... if your guess is higher than his estimation then u need to go for the Final Exam... (exciting sia)


5th May, Monday
After (RUNNING up to campus) handing in the paper.. it was time to send YY off..
She, Ivy and Doris were leaving onTuesday morning to LA..
Spent the evening packing with her..

Today’s the official day I started packing too...
(notice it took me almost 4 days to EVER finish packing)

Me and YY had to sit and jump on her bag in order to close it..
Too many things.. too much rubbish.. but too little space..
Jimmy was good help..


6th May, Tuesday morning
the group of us woke up super early for breakfast at Seasons..
(I called for the gathering.. but due to oversleeping issues... hee.. I was last to arrive)
It was the last seasons episode for Ivy, YY and Doris..

They we walked out to the "Bentley College" sign board to take funny pictures..
It was facing the main road...
imagine the look of the drivers..
seeing us pose and do funny actions with the Bentley College logo.. haha

Then i spent the afternoon, printing travel documents and planning my "life after Bentley" trips... in the LIBRARY.... haha
It was nice to have a slow and careful look at the campus that I have been in for the last 5 mths..
To think that at some point , i thought about whether i would survive an exchange for an entire semester...
I even deliberated about whether i should even go to Bentley..
In a blink of an eye... i’m here for 5 mths le..

That evening.. i had dinner with Thomas at YanJing a Beijing place at Harvard Square..
Probably my last time at that Restaurant too..
Love the staff there.. always soo friendly de.. haha
And the complimentary pork rib peanut soup.. feels like home.. haha

Then i ran over to Waverley Square to Willa and Elyse’s place...
(They were leaving on Wednesday Morning to LA too...)
Their roommates cooked a spread of food to bid them farewell..
They can really cook lo.. *feeling embarrassed*

7th May, Wednesday...
This when I started to feel sick le.. *sobs*
Woke up.. had a mad run all around school..
settling all the school stuff.. returning books..
Collecting money.. paying money..

Collected my pretty iPhone from the Mail Room..
*Hee*
It was out of stock.. so they had to send it to me.. Waited 10 days can..

Then I when out for a late lunch with Daniela, Birgit, Jessica and Jeff..
Jessica and Jeff are a pair of super nice American couple .. (Birgit’s Buddy)

Then in the Evening.. Andrew Innocent gathered all the exchange students from the Spring 2008 to Cheesecake Factory for a Farewell dinner..
I was the only Asian person who went for the dinner lo..

Just my personal evaluation: sometimes i think NTU made a good choice to send only 2 students to Bentley.. because there are only 2 of us.. we cannot just hang around with each other..
And we are kinda forced to make other friends..
All the “Guan Xi” skills.. fully applied in these instances..
That evening there was 4 French, 5 Austrians, 2 Moroccans, 2 Spaniards, 1 Australian and 2 Americans.. and 1 very proud SINGAPOREAN.. *haha*
I was sooo thankful for Daniela, Birgit and Delphine for sitting with me and speaking to me in a Non-Latin Lauguage ---- English

Language is a very funny thing...
Truth is.. We are all university students.. nobody has real problems speaking or writing in proper English... yet each of us like to fall back to a common (sometimes more personal) language..
There were soooooo many times throughout this exchange i had the.. “if only i could speak fluent German and Cantonese.. that would be great..” thought

I’m not an angel either... i know there was once... i made Daniela feel terrible when a group of us just started sprouting in Chinese in front of her..

haha.. but in any case the dinner was fun.. alot of photo taking..
but unfortunately i couldn't eat anything..
my sore throat was very bad that evening le..
had problems swallowing lo..
haix..
so I had 3 glasses of white wine..

which...
I found out much later was probably a bad choice too..
that evening i was down with fever..
Meredith even had to pass me her "zhong yao"..

It was a long night..
I didn't join the other exchange students to clubbing..
The mind really wanted to but the phyiscal body was giving way le..

when i got back..
i went over to Daniela's room to say farewell to Shantanu..
The indian guy from our gender class..
He got each of us dried food from India..
And we kind of had a mini gift exchange..


8th May, Thursday
Me, sophie, daniela and birgit got up at 8am to have our last breakfast together..
by that time i was almost a dead duck le..
Me, Eric, Daniela and Sophie were supposed to go to the Boston Outlet today...
but i gave it a miss..
cannot lah.. really sick le lo..

I didn't go.. Daniela decided to give it a miss..
Then Sophie missed the Shuttle bus..
Soooo.. Eric ended up alone..
He's probably going to hate me for that..
I hate being sick~

Today's kinda my last day at Bentley le..
Had to move my things out..
because dad & mum will only arrive next week, both Julie and Thomas offered to take me in..
And my vote went to Julie.. *claps*

That afternoon... Kelvin So helped me and Julie move out of campus..
Julie graduates this semester too..
so her moving out of campus was a humogous effort.. haha
totally reminds me of how i struggled to move out of hall..
the number of plastic bags.. books.. files.. tibits.. soft toys.. etc..
I think I had almost double of what she had when I move out of Hall 7..
*haha*

That evening.. 7 of us met for dinner at Union Oyster House..
Kelvin, Julie, Eric, Sophie, Meredith, Cherie and Me..
Finally got to try my oysters lo..
The 4 of them are leaving on Friday morning le..
sobs sniffs..
finally the last batch of HKU people also leaving le..


overwhelming hor..
I'm abt to start my wanderer life..
for the first time last night I felt like I don't have a home le..
the next 2 months is going to be exciting..
my graduation trip starts today...
wooosh..

packing up my dreams

the heart's heavy..

the lugguage's heavy too..

finished my last exam ytd

This it for my 3 yrs in the Uni

3 yrs le wor.. long also not say long

i'm actually graduating

what happens next

..the heart is heavy (..and excited too)

Exams starting, Exchange ending

random pics of me around school..
it seems like only ytd that i was frantically pack my things to leave for Boston...
frantically eating all i can eat in SG before coming..

Lobster Feast - 27th April Sun

Lobster is one thing that defines Boston..
like you must have black pepper crab in SG..
(shit.. I do miss those crabs.. I need to go to Geylang for my proper dose of seafood when I get back!!)

anyway..
I decided to troop down to Fish Pier (No Name Restaurant) for cheap lobster..
(for some weird reason it seems that to call your seafood restaurant "No Name" is a common phenomenon.. the "No Name" in SG also no bad de wor..)
However, I heard the nicer ones at Legal Seafood but it is like US$50++

13 of us went to eat..
for the first time in the whole semester..
soo many of the exchange students managed to come together..
(well, I was the one who organised... *blow horn*)
but... yups.. it was nice having sooooo many people..

This is my table of 5...
Elyse, YY, Thomas, Eric and MEEeeeeee
The waiter puts on this plastic bib around us..
all ready for the Lobster Feast.. hoho

This is the "Lead Actor"..
it was good...
hoho.. the table mat below even had instructions on how to settle the lobster..
we were like fighting a mini war with the lobster..
so unglam..

haha..
"I came I saw I conquered.."

The exchange's coming to an end le..
probably less than 10 days left and all of us will each go our way..
and eventually each of us will move back into routine life back in our home country..
*sobs* *sniffs*

Clubbing at Mantra - 24th April Thurs

brought the girls out clubbing...
was introduced to the guy who organised the v day bash..
gave him a call and he managed to get all 9 of us in through the VIP line
and at $5 off the usual cover..
sweet~

plus he offered to pay for my cover.. haha
*winks*

it's a new top I got in Chicago.. haha..
$17 nia.. from forever 21..
(yes don't remind me that i'm 22 this yr le..)

me, daniela, willa & yy
Eva and me

Birgit, me and yy

Bentley Spring Day (25-27Apr)

Spring Day is one big event in Bentley..
yes.. it's a celebration of the coming of spring..
haha.. then again the school's rich and they can afford mega celebrations like these..

the actual thing's on Sat.. but ppl were having mini BBQ parties before that..
and the drinking and partying starting on Fri night..
so when u attend Spring Day on Sat (which starts at 12n btw) you would be sufficiently drunk by then..
that is the underlying message of Spring Day.. "get drunk"


The school sets up an American Style Pasar Malam..
with the big tentage and food and games..
oh.. there was a huge buffet spread too..


so I went to eat... then pop-ed by at Daniela's apartment to have wine..
and even went to an unknown person's room for a party..

That's the set up for the games..
our lovely inflatables..
my first comment was.. "wah soo childish leh"
but when everyone get abit tipsy..
it's actually rather fun to play..

the rest of the day went by..
just lying on the field..
and getting more and more tipsy..

and in the evening there was a concert thingy..
they invited "Common" and "Pepper" to perform..
I have not idea who they are...
then again went your are tipsy...
who cares what they actually sings..


we ended the day with a mega drinking games session..
the Asian way at Bolyston's attic.. (Hui Yi!! your old room..)

what is love?

my cousin sent me this email the other day...

what does love mean to a 4 yr old kid...

1) Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK

2) I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones

3) Love is what makes you smile when you're tired

Tips from a former Bentley student who went to NTU for exchange

I went to an NTU Bentley talk today..
met up with the 2 guys who have choosen NTU for exchange next semester..
The guy who went last sem left this for them..

1) Locals are somewhat reserved, it can be difficult to meet them. They are very polite though.

2) Schedules are kind of confusing, try to get it sorted out early. Go to the Student Services Center and talk to them in person. Then go again 4 days later because they may have forgotten about your request.

3) Bring clothes for really warm, really humid weather

4) Although everyone speaks English, they speak "Singlish" which is different and there still exist a slight language barrier

5) Arrival is easy, get someone to meet you at the airport or take a taxi and hopefully find the International Student Center.

Weekend Trip 5: Chicago

chicago..
this is my longest weekend trip ever.. 5 days
my last one too..
exams are around the corner le..

chicago is known as the windy city
yes.. the weather is indeed very windy..
but the city got it's nickname when the mayor
and his representatives went down to washington to bid for the opportunity to host the world fair 1893 in chicago..
they were soooo long winded in their proposal that they managed to secure the bid eventually..
and thus earning the nickname "windy" city

another interesting thing about the city is the great fire in 1871..
yesh.. it burnt the entire city down..

but on one hand the debris from the fire got pushed into Lake Michigan, which eventually served as land reclamation for the city..

and on the other hand, a whole swam of architects from ard the world came into the city..
each architect with his own school of thought knew that the fire meant tht chicago was an empty canvas and they could try whatever they wanted on it..

modern architecture designs such as steel beams, steal facades, elevators were tried out for the first time in the world at chicago..

pretty rights..
another unique thing about their buildings is that there is regulation for it to be set back from the city street, thus creating pockets of space for natural sunlight to come in..

also, their first mayor strongly encouraged making art available to the public..
so every corner u will see some public art erected..
on whether they are all relevantly placed..
i'm not to comment.. haha

When I travel..
food hunting is not unusual..
haha..
here are my good yummy finds
1) Chicago Deep Pan Pizza

the crust is different from the normal kind..
the fillings mar chiam free de..

2) Chicago's draft beer -Miller

Min ah's studying in UIUC so she came down to see me while I was in Chicago..
Haha.. *poor bin*
I was drinking Chicago's Miller and She was drinking Boston's Sam Adam...
a good exchange experience sia.. haha

3) A group of pretty girls and the PIZZA

yups.. this is the 7 of us who were in Chicago..
*winks

4) Dim Sum

thanks to Min Ah's reccommendations
we actually found dim sum in chicago..
it was good stuff..
although i still think i need to get my dose of crystal jade when i get back... haha

5) Abercombie & Fitch guy

wouldn't u agree that this was yummy too..
one more reason why I like shopping at AF..
he was just standing at the store front for customers to take photo with him..

whee wheet~

6) Chicago Hot Dog

Vienna Beef with everything on it except Ketchup..
it is considered rude to ask for Ketchup with this dog..

7) Ghihradeli Chocolate's ice cream

Chicago or rather the state of Illinois is such a goood place for chocolate..
If you go further north to Winsconsin.. where the moo-s are..
the chocolate is even better..

8) Jambalaya

we went to a sounthern style restuarant called "Heaven on Seven" where they served Cajun food..
Jambalaya is probably one of the more famous southern dishes available..
It's abit char-pa-lan.. like how our SG fried rice came about..
just that the texture abit like "mui fan"

interesting.. but i miss my mum's overnight fried rice with her sambal more... *winks*

next up.. navy pier..
one of the prettier places in chicago
and it's famous ferris wheel..


me and elyse were trying to do the "huan huan ai" scene..
corny la~
but had to try to romanticise things abit mah.. haha


on the ferris wheel..
with the chicago skyline framing me from behind..
awwww....

Then I went Museum hopping..

This is the skull of a graffic..
i never knew those feelers thingy was actually bone part of the skull..
(yesh.. bimbo moment..)

Yuck..

Pretty..

Prettier..

This was the view outside the museums..
blue skies, green grass, beautiful skyline..
I complete the picture.. *wahaha*

How do i bring it across that the view was breaktaking...
It was simply awww..

btw the tallest building there is the Sears Tower..
also the Tallest skyscraper in the US...




I mentioned about public art in Chicago..
this was probably my favourite..

it's called the "cloud gate" by Anish Kapoor
it kinda looks like a metallic bean with a highly reflective surface capturing and transforming the skyline and the downtown cityscape..


That evening..
I went up the John Hancock Observatory..
4th tallest in the US..
i was on the 94th floor..

it's doesn't look that bright while walking on the streets..
but from that view..
it's amazing how every little bit of street light fits nicely to light up the skyline...

That's all folks..