philadelphia
i'm starting to backdate now.. since i have really not been udpating abt my life over here.. so on the 4th week that i'm over here in NYC, we visited phily, the place which houses the best business school in the world :) fortunately for my brother who had a great fren over there, i sort of got myself a guide to the place..
i loved wharton and U Penn! i think it's coz it was quite different from the city campus over here at NYU.. it has a campus feeling.. where u could sit on the grass and seek inspiration from the ancient buildings of beautiful architecture.. felt like hogwarts or something haha.. and at that point in time i really wondered why i didn't choose to go overseas to study for my university career.. the amount of global banks and big names trying to court the students over there is HUGE.. as compared to back home i guess.. but then again it may also be coz of the difference in school fees we pay and hence the reputation we get..
well after campus tour we went to have phily cheese steak! super fattening! but it was good stuff really hahaha.. then we went shopping at south street which is the "bugis" of phily.. there were actually 8 of us together.. so the speed in which we were moving was kinda slow.. as i felt bad abt making my bro's fren feel like a tour guide and trying to make sure everyone was fine with everything, i sort of felt obliged and responsible in some way.. oh well i foresaw that coming actually, but no doubt we did have fun.. there are many things left undone over there though, like old city and the "orchard road" of phily.. so i most probably make another trip back there again.. ahhhh no time!
we met up with bobby and nadiah in the evening and i managed to vist the phily museum! which was among one of the things i wanted to do.. and i was brought into a very cultural world of art and history which interests me a lot.. we didn't manage to finish looking at everything in the museum coz of the lack of time and the abundance in space and information within, but i believe i enjoyed my time in there.. it totally reminded me that i have not visited a single musuem in NYC! what a failure man... haha i'll try to find time to do all that.. sigh..
dinner was great over there too.. and i totally didn't want to leave the place.. but the crowd was too huge and i guess everyone was tired.. we only managed to take the last bus back in the end though.. so we reached back only at around 1am the next morning.. i actually still had the energy to visit a party which was held in the residence hall organised by a fellow exchange student.. and then we moved up to the lounge and continued drinking till late.. quite late actually.. haha yea we do have random beer drinking sessions just among the 3 of us singaporeans :)
the time of my life
i believe i owe this to everyone.. because i want to share this whole exciting experience with those who would listen.. though once again i suffer from inertia and have neglected my blog.. thanks to those who urge me to continue writing and updating :)
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the long anticipated day finally arrived, 9th of September 2007.. i think i'll never forgot this day because it marked the time of my life.. telling people that I have tickets to US Open LIVE for the men's singles finals was something which made everyone envious.. and as i dutifully watched every match paving towards the finals at madison square park sitting on the grass with a crowd of audience, it was already something which i would not have opportunity to do back home.. and the thought that i were to watch the world's best tennis player LIVE in action.. i could never imagine the excitment in me before it truly unfolds..
traveling to flushing meadows was no extraordinary feat, since we sort of mastered our way around by subway.. it was understanding and controlling my own anticipation and apprehension that was the challenge.. i made sure i had my camera with full battery and memory space for the big day.. and seemingly only taking photos seem to be the only way to show the excitment.. to make sure we had the time for shopping and immersing in the atmosphere then watching the match, we set out in the morning..
alighting from the subway station brought the long bridge leading to the stadium before my eyes.. with the patriotic american flags and the little US Open ones in between, the place was transformed into the route towards the big match..
the craze or MY craze began once we walk past the entrance and i saw the first federer image.. and subsequently my camera got really busy because there were so many of his posters and adverts around yet i couldn't bear to give any of them a miss from my memory.. anyway i've paid 185 bucks for the ticket to enter into the tennis centre as well :)
we realised that half an hour of shopping was terribly insufficient.. luckily due to our oversight on the schedule of woman's doubles finals first before the men's singles finals, we did have enough time in the end.. turned out that we managed to sit at court side for the first match.. and the view was fantastic! too bad we didn't get to sit there for the men's finals.. oh well i didn't exactly have thousands of dollars to spare on the tickets.. we went out after the first set of the woman's doubles finals to have lunch and shop around some more.. and of course more adrenaline build up when the time to the match of the year drew closer..
i bought a polo ralph t shirt which says US Open 2007, a very classic design for this year's US Open series.. and while i was looking for a cap on this very sunny day, i chanced upon a cap which says RF.. no prizes for guessing what it stands for.. but it is unique in that it is not sold elsewhere and it represents some sort of support the the great Roger Federer.. it's a guy's cap though but it didn't deter me from buying it hahaha.. so for the whole day i was so happy wearing that cap feeling empowered and supportive :) of course the match had to start but there was this whole program for the opening ceremony of the final match of the season.. there was a march displaying the US Flag while the US national anthem was being sung live by a great singer, there was air display and i was there sitting in the crowd waiting for the world's best tennis player to appear.. with A LOT of anticipation..
camera's snapped incessantly as he walked out, all in black, with his huge tennis bag slinged over his shoulder.. he was small enough to be insignificant from my view, but his impact on me was amazingly and surprisingly great.. i nearly cried when i saw him before my eyes.. i recalled miah's words on the subway trip there, that we used to be miles away from each other till this day, when our paths converge.. watching him play was a spetacular view, as he does it with lots of grace and confidence and composure.. even as he was on the losing end at the start of the first 2 sets, his consistency and experience gave him an edge over the younger opponent.. i was so worried and fidgity when he was on the down side that i was talking to him.. the encouraging words.. miah prob thot i was obsessed or something.. was he lucky? perhaps.. but in this game, luck plays some role as well i guess.. at the end of 3 sets, he claimed the title for the 4th time.. i was half hoping the game would extend into a forth set to see him play some more great tennis, but i was glad it ended in this way as well..
as he held up the cup to show off the result of his works, i felt immense pride as well.. how long will he stay the king of tennis? i don't really know.. but at least i have seen him LIVE in action, the legend of my time.. as we stand to take the last photo in an almost empty stadium, i think abt the last view i saw him being interviewed by the media and swarmed with fans.. well, i took my fair share of excitment in the wilson shop, wearing his cap, taking his racket with his signature on it, and a picture of him which is now happily stuck on my wall.. perhaps i am slightly obsessed.. just slightly ;)
of strange people and gay encounters
frankly i was disappointed when I first set foot on this city.. because i thot this place to be one with excitement and happening moments all day and night.. perhaps it is the liberal state of mind and impression I hold about this country and city.. my conclusion is, however, that strange people do exist over here.. in fact it holds a substantial amount of them over here..
walking from school to china town that day, we stopped by when we spotted a japanese restaurant coz we were on the lookout for food as usual.. and we decided to start reading the name of the restaurant in jap.. happily figuring it out, we continued on our way.. behind us were 2 young punks who started to make funny noises and speak weirdly in jap.. and it was a tone that gave me the goosebumps really.. i could guess what it was all about.. but fortunately I couldn't understand a word he was saying.. the problem was that I didn't dare do anything at all but I was quite scared really.. and it actually went on for a couple of streets before they decided that we were no fun at all.. after that we had a good look at the guy's faces and I was appalled to see an asian face.. oh well.. that wasn't excatly my idea of excitement..
well another incident was one which was a little sad yet funny yet upsetting.. it was dinner at a seafood place with supposedly good cod fish and we realised that we were all in need of some good food.. there was apparently some sort of communication breakdown because the people there somehow cannot understand english.. (not coz we speak singlish k) so when the restaurant manager took a wrong order for us, he sort of insisted that we were in the wrong and not him.. when we were all so sure that we made another order he went in a sacarstic tone "eat, eat".. so we couldn't be bothered with him.. a couple of times he walked past our table he did that.. then the next time he walked to our table he was very nice and he asked how are things and all.. so we concluded that he was drunk.. coz he was obviously drinking.. then something interesting happened.. a bird flew into the restaurant.. alright.. i overeacted before knowing it was a bird.. i thought it was a flying rat hahaha.. and the manager started clapping and saying bravo.. then he told us that his father passed away the week before and it was probably his spirit here to say goodbye.. and then we concluded that he was not high on alcohol but more like down in depression.. i forgave him for everything else.. even when he tried to charge us for the wrong order.. but they waived it in the end :)
and while we were dining, we saw many guy pairs around.. well to me, the less observant person, i didn't think that it was a big deal and i thot that thinking them gay was being too sensitive.. but i realised when they started walking together that they were indeed of a different sexual orientation.. and then there was a revelation that we were actually dining in a gay town.. along the streets and in pubs and bars, it was quite evident.. and we actually went into a gay shop.. ok i was hesistating so much at the door but in the end curiosity won.. coz we'll never get stuff like that back home.. i was wondering if we would be beaten up while in the shop coz i couldn't help my state of shock and my frens couldn't help the exclamations and the laughter.. the fact of we were girls prob meant that we didn't have any business in there.. it was an overdose of adult material to me yet eye opening in terms of the word 'liberal'.. i couldn't help looking at the people who were looking at the people who enter the shop and look at the things on the shelf.. so much for gay encounters..
walking the streets of NYC
while I reside for the next half a year in a place almost half the way around the globe from Singapore, it becomes so impt to keep in contact.. to keep updating.. to keep blogging.. maybe i've been guilty because this is the 5th day i'm here in NYC.. and only now have I started to overcome inertia to let people around me know about my life over here..
don't blame me.. though I perhaps blame myself that little bit.. settling in is no easy task.. esp for someone who brought over 51kg worth of luggage.. haha moving from the airport to the hostel was something I could not have accomplished without the help of my great fren traveling with me.. luckily he had much less luggage than me.. airport was a rather traumatic expereince when after paying 3 bucks for a trolley, you realise that the elevator is spoilt and when 2 people start taking your luggage for you, you realise that they start walking separate directions! it doesn't help when u're not sure whether the front desk of your residence can check you in at 9pm on a Sunday, and surely it's tiring when you realise that you have lost your temp residence card is the short span of 2 hours..
but reaching the hostel was a great relief, because after 19 hrs in the air, you somehow feel happy that you have landed safely and you've got a bed to sleep in and a bathroom to shower in.. even though sleeping without a blanket is still extremely cold for me.. haha so settling in and unpacking successfully was a great feeling for me.. food here is quite expensive.. so we often go for budget meals in china town which is my favourite place haha.. gotta start our cooking schedule soon of course!
my memory of NYC was not fantastic as i never quite saw the wonders of the city within the short 2 days i was here the last time.. but time square is fantastic! I love time square and I finally understand why the craze over this particular part of the city.. it's where all the colours and billboards and musicals and shops and wonders are.. almost everything you want you can find there.. fifth avenue is definitely a place to vist if u're rich and you wanna spend money haha.. but also a place for poor students like me to go wow around.. because the boutiques are all so unique in their own way, occupying at least 3 stories of a particular building..
of course we visited wall street, financial district.. we spent ages looking for the bull which we realised isn't of many people's interest in the place itself.. but finally seeing the bull is a happy thing.. something accomplished for us.. we also visited ground zero which was a saddening experience for me..
i've been walking soooo much that I ended up limping towards the nights.. because sometimes we try to see as many things as we can on foot.. and of course coz subways are not cheap either.. other than making sure that we don't end up going the wrong direction, going the wrong direction mentions paying again.. so we always try to make sense of our confusing subway lines before we embark on our journey..
let the pictures say the unsaid words..
Stern School of Business! It's a fabulous building and NYU actually stretches across many streets.. it's everywhere! haha with purple flags.. oh and i'm soooo amazed with the NYU library.. it's so grand it's beautiful..
the famed bull at wall street.. fortunately we found it after our relentless efforts..
my favourite picture of time square.. what I call a hua hua shi jie..
walls of M&M chocolates!!! and i really mean WALLS... haha
pooh and tigger with me!! haha don't be mistaken.. i wasn't in orlando or disneyland.. i was on fifth avenue.. in a disney shop of course.. an amazing place i doubt children will wanna go out of as soon as they come in..
