Fallbreak - Philly & New York!

Fallbreak was fun, especially when Nina flew all the way to Philly to see me! Haha. Nah. actually she came to see U Penn and parts of Philly and me as well! Highlight of the week was our "backpacking" experience to New York together with JoAnn. Considering this trip as my first budget holiday, I'm so proud of myself for accomplishing so much in 3 days =)

Let me start with Saturday... Cleanup at Chinatown, Philly while waiting for Nina to arrive at Philly...

"CSI CRIME SCENE". look at the rubbish. GROSS.

Look. We even found a HUGE bone.

GASP. yellow tape! Maybe it was CSI crime scene after all. Lol.

Compare the"After" and "Before" picture. Vast difference eh? I'm so proud of ourselves.

Let's talk about Nina's arrival in Philly! Siang-ee, fellow RJ schoomate, brought us (myself, Nina and Jo) around U Penn and we met Yiyan (also from RJ) along the way. What a small small world. Everywhere we go, we see familiar faces!

The RJC gang - Yiyan, Siang-ee, myself and Nina.

LOVE sign in U penn =)

Glimpse of Wharton School of Business.... Posh eh?

Alrighty, enough of U penn! As I've said, highlight of our Fallbreak was New York! We took a bus from Chinatown, Philly to Chinatown New York on the 2nd day :) Took some interesting pictures in Chinatown, New York itself...

Chinatown roadside stalls...

Wet market in New York?!?! Hmm...

Vietnam words in Chinatown? How interesting...


Jo, Nina and I gasped at the price of Longan in Chinatown, New York. US$4 for 2 pounds. That means it costs S$6/7 OR RM13/14 for less than a KG. And guess what. It says here US$0.25 for one small longan. But we saw another stall selling for US$0.50 for one!!!! I'm not kidding. Come to New York and see for yourself.

On the Brooklyn Bridge which connects New York and Brooklyn.

Hmm... I wonder what that means.... No salt??

Welcome to Broadway! OK... maybe it's not that glamorous after all with the construction sign behind me... :p

Ground Zero... aka the New World Trade Center Site!

While the sign says....

I see this guy beside it... How ironic can it get?Me and Jo sharing chicken Kebabs bought from this stall (below)

DUNKIN DONUTS! yummy :D They're not found in Singapore, aren't they? YES. Aren't you jealous of us.


New York Stock Exchange. Uh huh... I'll be working here in future! (Hopefully :P)

Times Square

At Times Square with Mary Poppins in the background :D

More pictures on the third day! We explored more of mid-town New York and I was super excited to see the Trump Tower featured in "The Apprentice".

Rockefeller Center where the big Christmas tree is supposed to be every year in Dec...

And the NBC News center is there as well! It reads: "Three people were killed when...." in the background.

NBC logo filled with M&Ms chocolates.

When we were there,NBC News was hosting a TV show event outdoor. Too bad we didn't manage to get a spot behind the cameras, otherwise we would have waved frantically at the cameras so that friends from home can see us live on TV!

And a picture of me with NBC news reporter - Natalie Morales! She's so pretty, isn't she?

Next up, Disney World store! Lol. How childish can we get?

Picture with Aladdin in Disney World :D This made our day!

But our trip to F.A.O SCHWARZ was the best of all :)

"H" for "Ho"! Haha.

Both of us playing "DO RE MI FA SO" on the huge keyboard. This keyboard was actually featured in one of Tom Hanks' movies "Big", produced in 1999. Remember the toy shop he used to work at?

Proud "mother" of 2 babies...

Next up, UN headquarters in New YorkU.N.O

UN Secretary - General Ban Ki-Moon

Last but not least, our last stop in New York: The Empire State Building.

FIND conference @ Virginia Tech

FIND's my first "roadtrip" to other states with ASA (Asian Students Association) people! 16 hrs in total on the road. Phew! Thank goodness I wasn't the one driving :P

FIND was interesting. Apparently, it's a conference for the Phillipinos in America. Now, what was I doing there? Lol. Good question. Seriously, I have no idea. I just signed up cos I wanted to find out more about them! And yes, I was a minority at the conference. There were like African Americans and angmohs and a few Chinese there though, so I wasn't alone!

There you go! Picture taken at Virginia Tech with Chris, Miguel and Kathrina :)

St Joe's ASA people in front of Virginia Tech's mascot... The Hokies!

Now, conference was only part of the program! Highlight of the night was none other than our trip to Sonic (one of the drive-thru fast-food restaurants in America). A typical American would think that I'm simply over-reacting. But rmb, I'm a Malaysian! We don't get drive-throughs like this back home. Wish there were waitresses on roller-blades though. That would have made our night there perfect!

Chris behind the wheels...

See those spaces? Yeap.. lots for cars to park at. Further illustration below...

Car parked in front of the menu.

Deep in thought over what to order...

And then we're supposed to press on that red button to order...

Like this.

And like this... order through the speaker!

Ok... pardon me! I was just too excited when I saw the menu!

And finally, after the long wait, we get to savour the foodstuff back in our Hotel room! Yea... at 12 midnight. How sinful is that?! :P

College Day at Parkway! ~ Central Philly :)

It's Saturday again! I've been looking forward to this weekend so badly... can't help it though. cos it was college day at parkway! most of the musuems were free and there were so many other free goodies to collect along the way as well. how cool is that?!

start of the day! picture taken with jo and amanda (below...) while we were waiting for the shuttle! the bus took 0.5 hours to come though.

That's the greenman! Or rather the mintman...His main mission of the day: convince people like me to save the earth!

We could have gone into this box and grabbed one of those green slips for a prize, but nah... we were simply too embarassed!

I don't mean to be offensive, but Americans queue up for free stuff as well! Looks like the kiasu-ism culture is not exclusive to Singaporeans only eh?

Me trying to act cute again... Sorry folks, bear with it!

Lame attempt to suntann at the fountain. HAHA.

chesspiece as big as me!

The Holocaust statue...

I'm stuck!

Quote Dave again: Me and my long-lost family. Well, I'll say at least my family members are cute! >.<

Ending the day with a goodbye kiss! Lol.

Boston Trip!

Alright folks, I'm gonna admit it. It's only been my 4th Saturday in America and I've been to Boston! How amazing is that?!?! It was awesome..... but simply too tiring. Imagine dragging yourself out of bed at 5am in the morning, only to arrive back at school at 3am.... But it was a well-spent day at Boston!

Well... I started my day in Boston with a REAL AMERICAN FOOTBALL game. Nope, not the soccer kind of football, but football where no feet are involved at all. LOL.

Boston College vs. Army @ Boston College

One of the players being tackled. Ouch!

A guy with his shirt removed. I have expected crazier stuff from people there, but yeah... this game has no hardcore fans except for those people in orange shirts in the background.

Boston College Military Band. I couldnt hear a single tune though.

Lori and I=)

Lori and I with Sarah this time!

Next up! Boston city =) I hate to admit it, but I like Boston better than Philly. The city's cleaner, safe, has convenient transportation system, and has more Asians in the city! Made me feel so at home when I was there :P

Faneuil Hall... There was a street performance going on at the side. Faneuil Hall has served as a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742.

City Hall

Boston Common

Excerpt from http://www.cityofboston.gov/: The Boston Common is known to be one of the oldest public parks in the country. The park is almost 50 acres in size. Today, Boston Common is the anchor for the Emerald Necklace, a system of connected parks that winds through many of Boston's neighborhoods. And until 1817, public hangings took place here.

King's Chapel. King's Chapel Burying Ground is the oldest burying place in Boston proper.

Limousines outside church. I wonder who uses the limousines from church?

Paul Revere Memorial near Paul Revere House. This house is the oldest building in downtown Boston, and served as the home of Paul Revere and his family from 1770 to 1800.

Last but not least. Quincy Market!

Cultural stuff at Quincy Market

See the ladies wearing a 2ft tall paper hat complete with a humorous slogan? Catch this at the Dick's last resort restaurant!! How funny is that?!

My oh my.... So many foodstuff to choose from!

Imagine a stretch of stalls with sinful temptations such as this!

And this! Girly stuff for you to shop for :) That is why I love Boston.

I swear I would have changed my name to Emily :P

International Student Party!

It's friday night! woohoo! haha. guess it's partying time for most students in St Joe's =)

Well, at least I've went to one last week and another one today! It was awesome cos it was a non-alcoholic event (I drank so many cups of fruit juice and punch! And I highly suspect that they secretly added liquor into the drinks cos I was so high even when I wasnt drinking! :P)

Anyways, it was amazing cos I met a RJ girl there! That is simply so cooooooooooooooooooooooooool. I wasnt expecting anyone from RJ to appear at that party. NOT THAT PARTY. cos it was a combined party for international students from small schools around my area.


And I met a Malaysian guy from Kedah, which is another miracle! Given the fact that I'm the only Malaysian in my school, I didnt really expect to see Malaysians around so..... his presence surprised me!

Oh and did I mention I met a guy from HongKong whose best friend is from KL, Malaysia and he's studying in Philly as well! And and and..... another girl from Poland who happens to be my roomie's best friend's neighbour at Villanova. Simply too awesome! Lol....I'm glad that I went for that party =)


Well, I didnt really take a lot of pics with my camera. But here's 2 of them to show my fellow friends back home that I DO HAVE FRIENDS HERE. lol.

Fellow international friends from St Joes

That's Andrew from Poland and Miguel from Phillipines =)

Gift Certificate

Look at this.

A gift certificate from Hawks of India!

How ironic can it get?

Joann, who was genuinely interested in signing up for Hawks of India at the activities fair did not get it.

But I got it.

Yeap. And I'm going to be kind to Joann and spend the 12 dollars on her =)

Meaningful words...

Disclaimer: This post contains images from other resources.