Taking The Long Way Around

Friday, October 26, 2007

Halloween!

It's my first Halloween in America! Technically, it's not really Halloween yet, but we had littles kids trick-or-treating in our dorms and they were all so cute! They kind of reminded me of myself when I was young too. Kids simply can't resist the lure of candies eh? They just went around shoving their bags in our faces for candies without even saying thanks to us! Lol. But kids are just kids, aren't they?

Me and Moira, my roomie! ... She's a cat =D

I know... I'm kind of underdressed....

Banana lady? That's my neighbour Patricia!

And then I was off to play Cranium and Charades with friends at the Hawk Rock. Godddddddd.... my arm hurts now. I've never gesticulated/ mimed/ waved/ motioned/ signalled/ acted so much in my whole life! Jeremy, Amanda, Miguel and a few others went a step further by rolling on the floor! But my actions worked anyways. Sometimes we've got to THINK OUT OF THE BOX, u see? and not do the actions literally.

Alright folks, stop looking for me. The photographer can't be in the picture, can she?

Now, I'm finally in the pictures!

I was so tempted to photoshop myself into the group picture... Anyways, me & Jo again =)

It was a fun day indeed! Best friday night I've had so far :)

Monday, October 15, 2007

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.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

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!