Monday, January 29, 2007

roughin' it out

First week first 2 days of school was really rough...having to sit through classes totally being so unprepared with no textbooks in the bag and no having idea what the hell the teacher was rambling about because I hadn't bother to gear myself up for school over my last winter break weekend. By Tuesday, I was already so exhausted from all the adjustments, early classes and late nights trying to scour for textbooks online that it felt like I had gone through half a semester when it was only a ridiculously short 2 days long start to school. Thankfully things got alot better by mid-week, after dropping classes from my crazy schedule and getting my jap teacher to switch my omfg-early 8am class to an afternoon one.

And then the weekends came really quickly this time to salvage the shaky start to school. It was really cold and I think we really went mad organizing a snowfight at 11pm when it was -17 degree celsius outside. Friday was another day of snow which was a good thing as it meant that we didn't have to snowboard on (so much) artificial snow. Snowboarding is hellava scary (not to mention painful) and I wonder whether I did the right thing by signing up for both snowboarding + ballet which would be extremely detrimental to my already problematic back. I was kinda scared at first (and still probably am) about having to board down steep slopes where I would inevitably and unfortunately always lend on either my knees or my butt and even my head. My neck was sore throughout the weekend because of the whiplash and all the tumbles that I had to experience on the slopes. Bah.

Then it was a night of party one after another to celebrate the January babies' birthdays and before we know it, school's right in your face again on Monday. That marks the start of the school and the end of holidaying period. To think a week ago I was still enjoying the sunshine and sleeping in my Queen-sized bed. A week later, it seems like I've been here for a long time reading through those papers and having to microsnooze in between classes because of physical exhaustion. Poof.

ilovetotwirl at 5:14 PM

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Sunday, January 21, 2007

...and i've made it.

48 hours of travelling across 4 different cities with endless hours of waiting in dodgy airports and desolated bus stations, I'm finally back (at my 2nd) home! Its nice to be back in my little room chillin' (indoors AND outdoors), seeing all the familiar faces that I missed at dining hall and slipping back into Pseudo-ABC mode again.

ilovetotwirl at 6:41 AM

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Wednesday, January 17, 2007

as prata remains a universe away..

for the best people in the world

I'll miss everyone. Really. A whole shitload.

xoxo

ilovetotwirl at 7:09 AM

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Thursday, January 11, 2007

home is where the heart is

Life's almost perfect for now, but sadly it wouldn't last forever.

***

Over the past week, I've received enough snide comments about how my jawline is slowing disappearing into my neck, that I have 2 chins too many and that my hair (horrors of all horrors) has lost its sheen. Whatever it is, I've braved all these insecurities and criticism to come home. I've learnt to appreciate the smell of acid rain, sleeping with a noisy fan and to stop complaining about homecook food.

Its so hard to be straddling between two very different cultures. I remember how it seemed so surreal that one moment I had to slur my speech in LA and than 24 hours later I was in Chinatown happily eating Popiah and spouting Singlish while being stuck in all the different time zones.

Today visiting NUS made me realize what I had chose to sacrifice when I made the decision to go overseas. Somehow, it meant giving up on camaderie and doing things my way. Sure I've made a bunch of good friends in school over there, but everything feels different; having to screen my Singlish thoughts before slang-ing them off the tip of my tongue so that I wouldn't sound so *erm* British. And then the need to pepper my speech with The O.C variants like sweet, awesome and cool so that I wouldn't seem so much like a PRC scholar to them.

But then again, it was my conscious decision to be thrown into an unfamiliar environment thousands of miles away so that I could achieve the most out from my young adult life. Somehow the world here seems to small for me and I would feel stifled by the rote learning in the education system and the competitive learning environment. A classic example of how the thoughts of the heart and head diverge.

For the next week or so, I'll be sorting out my little thoughts and prepping myself back to school. I'll make the best of my remaining retreat and starting putting down the excess baggage that has been plaguing me. Next semester is gonna be exciting: Sociology, Asian Studies, German Studies, Japanese, Econs, Ballet and Skiing. And in the words of an American, it would be awesome. So there's no time for regret and I'll live for the moment while it lasts :)

ilovetotwirl at 7:21 AM

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