As of today, I've been in America for exactly 2 months. Exactly 2 months ago, I touched down at SFO (the airport in San Francisco), and walked out into the cold air, amazed and intrigued at how it could be so chilly outdoors. It's a totally different and new sensation... the closest I can describe it is standing in an airconditioned glasshouse in Singapore, with the sun shining in.
The first two weeks were probably the most eventful 2 weeks of my time here (possibly even of the year). You can check out my series of blogs by selecting the '
Adventures in USA' category, to see what I did. After that, I came to Boston, and school began. And well, school is school, even if I'm on exchange, it's going to be somewhat a grind.
I guess I will try to organize my thoughts more coherently with section headings.
FriendsLooking at how one of my friends is now, I wish I was a girl. It's a long story but basically if I was a girl I would be surrounded with a larger circle of Christian friends. Now, I recently stopped going for the 'cell group' which I had gone for several weeks, because I didn't like how it was run. It was far too basic and felt pointless, the questions were straightforward and merely primary school comprehension. The people seemed fake (they are probably genuine) and it made me cringe when they say some things.
One of the key friends I made was M. (Not even the first letter of his name. I'll reveal his identity when I leave la k abit paisei haha) He is just a nice, friendly guy who I had the luck of befriending and it led to
an enjoyable birthday and further friends being made. Hope to hang out more with him and his friends. Have been doing that already.
My roommate is pretty cool too. Though his waking habits annoy the crap out of me (he's Muslim, so he wakes up at 5AM to pray and consequently wakes me up with his alarm) (he likes to snooze his alarms a lot in the morning when he wakes up after that 5AM prayer), he is a genuine nice and friendly guy overall. Apart from the waking part, he's pretty considerate and nice to talk to. Maybe talks abit too much for my hermit nature (HAHA oops) but it's more my fault than his - sometimes I just want to be alone and shut down you know. Turn off all stimuli. Just be alone. And do my thaaang.
A friend that I was close to at the start, C, is now off in her own world, with her newfound American friends. Good for her I guess, it's what she always wanted. She is rather unreliable (e.g. doesn't reply texts, cancels last minute, etc) so I guess it's good that I don't depend on her for my social support. She's let me down before. Once bitten, twice shy.
WeatherLooking back, I am really thankful for my caring and supportive aunty and mom back home. They pushed me to bring warm clothes, such as the thick sweater that I wear out now. I have NO IDEA what I would be doing if I only had my, as my gf calls it, 'Harry Potter' jacket.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="346"]
This one[/caption]
This jacket is REALLY thin, and does close to nothing to keep me warm apart from being another layer. The thick one that I have keeps me reasonably warm. Oh, and the scarf, long johns, sweater vest, were all my mum/aunt's ideas too. THANK GOD I BROUGHT THEM.
Because, well, the weather is pretty crazy here. For perspective, in Singapore, the
LOWEST temperature we typically have is like,
24-25 degrees Celsius. So for 23 years of my life, the lowest temperature that I'm accustomed to having is 25 degrees outdoors. Indoors, the air-conditioners typically stop at 18 degrees, so perhaps some random places are indeed colder.
In Boston, at least in the past weeks, the
HIGHEST temperature we have is
18 degrees Celsius. That means in the day, it normally averages at about 10-15, depending on the day, and dips below 10 at night. Right now it's 8 degrees out.
And even when it rises 'high' during the day to about 15-18 degrees, it's usually pretty windy, perhaps due to it being Autumn/Fall. When I say pretty windy, I mean trees swaying kind of windy. I mean wind that makes you squint and maybe even look away because it's smashing your face kind of windy. I mean... ok you get the point. Not the light breezes that we get in Singapore.
I don't think I'll be used to the hot Singapore weather when I get back - I won't be used to not having a fan indoors and still feeling cold (My room windows are all closed and it's still pretty cold that I'm wearing a sweater (the HP one))
And I heard it's going to get colder.
Accomplishment FactorI know many people have the mindset that 'I'm going to do XYZ in exchange! I'm going to have so much fun! Wheee!'
For me, I never really fantasized much before I came here, and just took it as another phase of life. I didn't have much concrete expectations, like 'oh I must see this and that' or 'oh I must make 189314 American friends'. I just came with the mindset 'ok, this is the SEP phase of my life. Let's see what happens'.
This is both good and bad I suppose. Good because I don't aim to do too many things that I can't complete. Bad because I have nothing much to do LOL.
I mean, I don't want to regret any part of my time spent here. I don't want to look back when I'm back in Singapore and think 'man, I should have done this, then'. I want to have no regrets. Accomplish all the things!
I guess that's why today, I spontaneously decided to go watch a movie. (Looper, was pretty good! Check it out if you haven't) Check THAT off my list. What else do I have on it?
- Watch a Boston Celtics game (NBA season hasn't begun)
- Look at leaves changing color (not yet... though some have begun to change). Experience autumn!
- See and touch snow (not within my control)
- See the statue of liberty, go up the empire state building (after my semester)
- Go to a party? (yes, shocker, I haven't been to one. Mainly because I don't exactly want to. But... we'll see if this gets done)
- Watch a Red Sox game (may have missed my chance, season may be over. not sure)
- I'm getting tired of thinking of items
Okayyy. I never know how to end my entries nowadays. Bazinga.
The plan was to play Texas Hold'Em! I bought this set of chips off Amazon[/caption]
That last line made me crack up seriously lol. 'It's for my homework' HAHAHA.[/caption]
AND HE TURNS UP WITH A WHOLE CHEESECAKE FROM CHEESECAKE FACTORY[/caption]
Me explaining the game to them. I actually won quite a bit, then some people began to run out of money (chips) so I kept sponsoring them, then end up I wasn't the biggest winner lol.[/caption]
We switched to Banana Scrabble after poker. It was really fun! It's something like speed Scrabble, you have to race to finish up your tiles.[/caption]
awww[/caption]
Don't ask me why they wanted to carry me[/caption]
:D It was a fun night with awesome company. Thank God for how everything worked out after the initial hiccups :}[/caption]