Happy Walentine's Day

Happy Walentine's Day!  This is how Alex says Valentine's Day since she sometimes forgets if it's a W or V sound as in German they are interchangeable.  I really love her!  She's great!  For the big Love Day we were doing homework all day as both of us are incredibly bogged down with presentations, group work (Singaporeans LOOOOOVE group work...I think because they don't work well in groups--very independent workers really), and papers.  I have four presentations, two papers, and a group work this week--all from Mon-Wed.  ARRRGGHHH!!  This is how we study...

After our homework was done though, we got dinner and went to see a movie--New In Town which I'm sure is like two months old in the states, but it was nice to watch a little romantic comedy.  The couples were disgusting though..blah.  Alex was my Valentine.  Roman came along as our third wheel..ha.  We also went on a "Boogie Bus Pub Crawl" all over Singapore this weekend. We went out for Sabrina's 21st birthday on Wednesday and had dinner at this place called Highland Village where we got some nice Italian food for a little change.  It was a really good time.  

Saly, Rafael and I are counting down the days to Wednesday when we leave for the Philippines (Borcay Island), Hong Kong, and Macau.  We are sooo excited and ready to get out and explore some more!  This will be a ten day trip.  While I'm there, Mom is having surgery, so keep her in your thoughts and prayers.  I really hate it that I can't be there with her, but she's tough.  

I listen to country music every day as it is one of the things that I'm really starting to miss from home.  I have it on my iPod, but it's not the same as having it in your car on a mini-road trip to get a soda from Sonic.  Wow, I'm losing it.  But Alex has even requested some country tonight.  We were sitting at our computers facebooking and she said to me, "Would you put on some of your country music please?"  I was so proud!  She's a doll and I hope by the end of our exchange we travel together, but it seems like she's been everywhere I want to go!  Maybe Laos?  We'll see.  

I'm very slowly but surely getting over my sickness.  I've also started applying for internships...can't I just be lazy for a summer?  I have applied in some ad agencies in kansas city, pr firms all over, and a teach for america position in phoenix which I got an interview for.   I'd really like to get an internship in KC if possible, but I'll take whatever is paid.  Wish me luck!

Until next time.

Nothing makes me miss home quite like country music. I can barely listen to it anymore.

A nice relaxing weekend at home

Traveling four weekends in a row took it's toll on me last Wednesday evening and caused me to be sick that night as well as all of Thursday. I was worn out, plain and simple, not to mention my bed is not the comfiest.  However, by Friday, I was feeling much better.  

Friday afternoon my roommate Alex called me from the Vietnam embassy where she was getting her visa for spring break and invited me to go with her and Roman to Orchard Road.  It was a nice shopping/dining trip, and was really just a good chance to get off campus and see a part of Singapore I hadn't seen before.  Orchard road is the most popular shopping area in Singapore, comparable to Michigan Avenue in Chicago.  It was nice to see familiar brands, even if I couldn't afford them.  We walked around, bought Roman some jeans, and dined at one of the New York Times Top Ten Places to Eat.  

  There we got Chinese steamed dumplings--Roman and I got ginger pork, Alex got vegetable pork, vegetarian salad, beef stock noodle soup, jasmine green tea, and tau sar pau (red bean paste bun) for dessert.  Tau sar pau is one of my favorite snacks here!  It was so nice to eat a great meal that was actually hot, made with quality produce and meat, and not thrown on your plate like in the canteens on campus.  I am beginning to hate canteen food, but Alex assures me that it gets easier to like.  

After a long day on Orchard, we came home and watched a movie.  Alex and I watch movies before bed at least two nights a week.  We're running out of movies!  Her friend from last semester, Karin, showed up late Friday night from her journey through Australia.  She had been storing her suitcase in our room while she was away, and couldn't find a hostel to stay in on Friday or Saturday night as apparently Singapore hostels rent out hostels to couples.  The taxi driver was telling her that it is not acceptable in Singapore to have an affair, even less than in other countries, so illegitimate couples are confined to cheap hostels for their meetings.  Of course they often don't stay the entire night, so the hostel owners are able to rent to two maybe three couples per night at full price each.  This is more profitable for them than one lowly traveler like Karin, so they say there are no vacancies.  In the end, Karin ended up waking us up at 2AM to stay with us on our floor.  In return, she gave us the things that she couldn't fit in her suitcase home.  Not a bad deal.  

On Saturday Alex was a hero.  She swam for our hall, Hall 15, in the Interhall games.  We ended up getting 3rd in the tournament of 16 halls, and it was only because she stepped up and filled the girls team.  If it wouldn't have been for her, the girls team would have been incomplete and Hall 15 would have been forced to forfeit.  Thanks Alex for saving the day!  Karin and I went to watch her in the finals and cheer her on.  I was so proud!  Here is a picture of Alex with the Hall 15 Swim Team and a picture of her with her biggest fans.

   Sunday many of our guy friends were playing "football" (soccer) in the International Games.  They represented The Union (this is like the melting pot for all of the countries that don't have enough people to make up an entire team--most if not all are exchange students).  We lost the first game to China and won the second game against Indonesia.  Alex and I went as the proud soccer moms to both games.  

In between we went to the pool to hang out, study a bit, and work on our tans.  Little did we know that the Singapore sun was more intense than usual, and we fried ourselves despite the many applications of SPF.  The games, going to the pool, and just getting outside and hanging out with friends was really nice. 

 

It really made me feel a little more at home here.  I was doing something here in Singapore that, while it may not have been extravagant by any means, was fun, exciting, and allowed me to get to know the people here better.  This weekend was really good for me in terms of realizing that this isn't vacation, and that staying here in Singapore is part of this experience too.  

School is going well.  I really like most of my professors (in particular my Advance Advertising professor May Lwin), although my Marketing prof is a complete drag.  Most of them really like me, and find it refreshing that someone speaks up in class as it is Asian culture to not speak up.  I am in for a hellish week next week as I have three presentations, one project progress report, and one paper due all Monday-Wednesday.  I am going to literally live at the library this weekend, but Alex has a similar week ahead, so we'll be there together.  My grades here are pretty much based on a couple of projects and the final so I am kind of freaking out about these projects even if I am on a pass/fail grading scale.  

Until next time!

Kuala Lumpur: A weekend to learn from

Last weekend was nothing less than a stressful weekend to say the very least.  A few friends (Marc, Sunita, Sabrina, and Lukas) and I decided that we would meet up with some other friends (Kush and Jeff) coming home from Thailand in Kuala Lumpur, the lovely capital of Malaysia.  It started out a bit stressful as we were rushed to get on the earliest bus possible by Lukas--this attitude that he thought we had somewhere to be ASAP continued throughout the trip and caused us to feel rushed even when simply walking to find a place for dinner.  We got on the bus at 2:30PM and were promised by the driver that we were leaving at 3.  That being said, the bus set off on our four-hour journey to KL at around 4:30PM.  We arrived in the middle of the city--literally the bus dropped us off at a random corner in downtown KL--at around 9PM after a thirty minute dinner break for the driver.  Time clearly means nothing in Malaysian culture as we would also find out on the way home when our 12PM bus left promptly at 2PM.  

We then got a cab with a driver who drove us around for another thirty minutes looking for our hostel when in the end, we told him where to go!  After checking in, we went to look for food and a cold drink.  We sat around talking until the wee hours of the morning at a hawker center near our hostel, and went to bed with plans of waking up at 7AM to get in line for tickets to go up into the famous Patronas Towers of KL.  Needless to say we didn't wake up until 11AM, so settled for a coffee from Starbucks, and a trip to the Menara Tower--the fourth tallest tower in the world.  The Patronas towers are actually taller, but you can see them from the Menara Tower.  When we got there, practically jogging there no doubt, we found that it was better to view at night, so we set out for the Batu Caves.

Catching a bus in KL is completely random.  You don't really know what bus to get on, and there is not really a station, more like a general area where busses tend to stop, so you had better be on your toes.  Just as we were leaving Menara, it began to rain, and I don't just mean rain, I mean downpour.  Despite the unnerving weather, we caught a bus at the City Centre to the Batu Caves.  

  

The Batu Caves are a series of caves and cave temples which happen to be one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside of India.  It is the place where the Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia is held.  We got to see a glimpse of this festival while we were there! 

       

To get into the caves and temples in the caves you pass a giant statue of Lord Murugan and climb 272 steep stairs!

  

After the Batu Caves we rushed back on a 45 minute bus ride to downtown to go shopping for a bit in Chinatown.  There we saw every brand of knock-off you can imagine, and ate some fried food as nothing else is too safe.  After Chinatown we went back to the Menara Tower for our night viewing of the Patronas Towers.  It seemed absurd to me to pay to go into one tower only to see another, not to mention that once you've seen one skyscraper, they all look alike.  Regardless, we went, we saw, and it was less than incredible.  The Patronas Towers actually looked more exciting to me from the ground looking up.  However, they are a landmark and a must-see of Kuala Lumpur, so I can say, "I've seen it."

After the towers, we were finally able to meet up with Kush and Jeff after trying to get in touch with them all day.  We went out for dinner, and basically called it a night.  By that point we were all at each other's throats and ready to fall over because we were so tired of running around everywhere.  I needed to relax.  The next morning Marc and Lukas got up to actually go inside the Patronas towers.  I passed on that deal as I was pretty sure another outing with them would not be in either of our best interests.  The girls all hung out and got ready to go home.  As I said before, the bus ride that we rushed to catch at noon did not leave until 2PM, so we got even more frustrated, not to mention we had to look all over downtown for our bus as it didn't stop in the station.  When we finally found it, it was packed full with only the worst five seats left on the bus--the very back seats.  

To say the least, it was a long four hour bus ride home.  You can see how cramped we were.  We were so hungry when we got to the rest stop that we all got off to grab a bite.  This would have been fine if the others would have let us know they were getting back on the bus with the bus driver, but instead they left Sabrina and I at the rest stop.  We came out after eating our dinners to find no bus, no Marc, no Lukas, and no Sunita.  "They wouldn't" we said to each other, but they had.  Just as we said that we see a bus reversing and see Lukas' head pop out of the back window yelling at us to come on.  This was a perfect summary to our weekend getaway to KL I'm pretty sure.  Crappy.  

While I realize that you can't win them all, this was an awful trip.  I didn't care too much for KL, not to mention it really taught me the kinds of people I can and cannot travel with.  I like seeing as much as we can, and getting the most out of a visit, but I also believe that in order to experience a city, you can't literally run through without stopping to look around a bit and learn the culture of the city/people.  I was glad that I was traveling with Lukas and Marc on a short trip to a not so exiting place, otherwise, I think I would have been really disappointed.  Instead, I was just pissed.  

We just booked our trip for recess week.  I am traveling with Rafael (from Finland), Saly (from IL) and Sabrina (NY) to the Philippines, then to Hong Kong and Macau.  This is over the span of 11 days.  I am really excited about it even though I at first had my heart set on Vietnam and Cambodia, but I will do those countries later I suppose.  I think this will be a nice group to travel with, wanting to get the same things out of their trip as I do--a nice mix of relaxation and exploration.  

Until next time!

Chinese New Year Break in Thailand!

Last week was the Chinese New Year Break.  Chinese New Year here is a lot like Thanksgiving in the states.  Since there wasn't a whole lot going on here in Singapore (most of the locals are spending time with their families--they have big "reunion" dinners over the weekend and Monday/Tuesday) we decided to take a trip to Phuket, Thailand.  We arrived there Wednesday night and checked into a hostel there called the Dive Den.  It was pretty decent, and even had a heated shower! (hard to come by when you're paying about USD$5 per night.)  I stayed with my friend Sabrina--she is from New York City but goes to school at Penn State. 

The next day we walked around just exploring the city and shops.  Sabrina and I were bored with walking so decided that we wanted to see the city and sites on motor bike.  We were the only two girls in a group of about 6, and none of the 4 boys were brave enough to get on a bike.  So...Sabrina and I rented them ourselves.

For only 100 baht (USD$3) we rented motor bikes for the entire day.  We then spent the day going all over the city.  We saw a giant Buddha statue on a hill (really amazing), baby elephants, lady boys (men pretending to be women..) beautiful beaches, great shopping, and even got to see the sunset over the beach and mountains while we were driving.   It was a really incredible feeling to just drive around and see so much in just a day.  

It was also nice to just be in a smaller group.  We were able to do so much more, and really got along well.  We got Thai massages on our way back home.  They stretched and prodded like we've never been stretched or prodded before.  My body has never popped in so many places.  It was a little painful during the massage, but afterwards, we felt great.  The two of us only had a couple of mishaps with driving on the left side of the road, and I didn't crash.  Sabrina made it the entire day without so much as a scratch, until we were parking the bikes in front of our hostel for the night.  She accidentally hit the gas instead of the break and rolled off her bike.  Luckily, she got up laughing and with only a few bruises.  We got a good laugh out of it.  That night we all went out on the beach to hang out.

    

The next day a group of about ten of us got up at 6AM (very little sleep--pretty standard for this entire trip) to go to Similan islands off the coast of Thailand.  We took a ferry there with a tour group, and upon arrival we went snorkeling.  These beaches were honestly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  

They were so serene, and almost untouched it seemed.  It was like looking at a photograph.  A truly unreal experience. 

Underwater was just as incredible as the beaches.  I had never snorkeled before, so had my doubts regarding my water-sport ability (or disability).  When I got in the water though, I found snorkeling to be very easy, and SO amazing!  The Similan islands are one of the top ten places in the world for snorkeling and scuba diving!  I saw some outrageous marine life including brightly colored coral, fish, and stingrays.  I got stung by jellyfish several times, and really freaked out the first time.  haha.  I thought I had brushed up against some poisonous coral or something.  The sting/burn went away though after a couple of minutes, and I was back in the water.   

After snorkeling we just relaxed on the beach, had dinner, and headed back to Phuket.  The hostel we stayed in that night was ridiculous.  We walked in so ready to take a shower after a long day on the beach and there was no water in the entire place.  We complained, and the owner of course swore they were working on it.  An hour and a half later, there was water...dark brown water.  It was disgusting.  We had to let it run for close to thirty minutes before it ran clear.  Other than that, the place was nice, but needless to say we were brushing our teeth with bottled water from then on.  I guess that's what you get for $5 a night.  Each hostel we stayed in we usually crammed at least five people in one room--some on the bed, some on the cots, and some usually on the floor.  We're a cheap crowd.

The next day, we took a ferry to Ko Phi Phi Island where we had heard from other exchange students was really amazing...and it was!  There were beautiful beaches, unbelievably hot weather, good nightlife and great shopping.  The first afternoon there we all got on a long-tail boat and rode out to Maya Bay.  This is the island that the movie The Beach was filmed on.  The boat dropped us off at the opposite side of the island as the beach, so we had to climb over a bunch of rocks and coral to get to the shore.  

This was the most painful part of the trip and we all got pretty banged up.  Then we trekked through small caves and a short jungle while it was pouring down rain to get to the other side of the island.  It was incredible!  We were walking barefoot through the thick trees during a torrential downpour--it was so peaceful.  By the time we got to the beach, the sun had come out and we were swimming again.  

We relaxed there for a while, watched the sunset, then jumped back into the long-tail boat for a little cliff-diving.  By the time we headed back it was dark, the waves were rocky, and our small boat was being thrown around the ocean.  We made it back fine, but it was a little scary for a while.  

The only weird thing about Thailand was how incredibly touristic it was.  There were awkward, trashy tourists everywhere it seemed.  Phuket was the worst.  Old nasty men everywhere looking for young local girls.  It was really disappointing.  Luckily Ko Phi Phi was better.  It was a lot younger crowd with a lot more backpackers making for a great time.  

 

I had a really amazing trip to Thailand.  As the semester rolls on, I am getting to know the other exchange students better and better as real people and not just their name and where they're from.  The food is tasting better to me, I am getting used to cold showers, the heat doesn't seem so hot, and taking my shoes off before entering a room is second nature now.  The newness is definitely wearing off, and I am feeling pretty settled in.  One month down, three and a half more ahead.