I am back
I haven't seen snow for almost 3 weeks already. The cold temperature makes me feel sluggish all over again. i've been telling myself to do laundy before everything else but no, they are still lying in my laundry basket. heez. okay, right after this post, really.
the nicest thing about coming back is i feel that i am coming back home. :) it feels good to be back at a familiar place again, although nothing would be more familiar than home in singapore la.
i took 300 over photos, i wonder how long it will be before i finish uploading and captioning all the fotos onto shutterfly! hmm... For now, i'll just post a few due to popular demand hahaha. Not very easy to pick and choose which few to show, but Picasa's collage function saves the day!
Lindy and I on NYC subway, NYC's chinatown, NY stock exchange at wall street, (pathetic view of) Statue of Liberty
Me at Times Square at night, Christmas tree outside Rockefeller Centre, Ground Zero, just finished watching a broadway musical The Producers at theatre district (with my new bag :) )
Skyline of NYC at the top of Empire State Building, greek exhibits inside Museum of Metropolitan Art, a street outside the museum, Columbia University
New year's countdown at Times Square (look at the crowd!), 2 crazy girls standing in the cold for 5 hours, we were only at 50th street (8 streets away,SADLY), a beach at Long Islands (the first beach i see in 5 mth)
Inside Grand Central Terminal, outside Grand Central Terminal, NY public library, the library and Bryant Park
Partial skyline of San Francisco, Alcatraz Island (used to be a jail), Seals at Pier 39, Singapore's Coffee Bean in California (rare sight!)
City hall, Japantown, nice street with nice houses, San francisco's chinatown
Stanford looks like a chalet, Juline Lindy and I love stanford campus (see, i don't need my jacket!), lake at stanford with mountains in the background, aerial view of UC Berkeley campus
Golden gate bridge, Union Square, biking across golden gate bridge, Sausalito
I've spent thousand over US dollars in all, but i must say it was a good trip. Well i could have saved all this money and stayed in ithaca all alone throughout the entire winter break and rot away and could still view other people's photos of these same places meanwhile, but nothing beats seeing the world for yourself and hanging out with friends. Although i am living in the US and new york city and San francisco are also in US, every city is unique in their own ways, not just the sights but also the people, the 'culture', and how things work. There are many subtle things that are learnt through travelling, i can't even pinpoint exactly what i have learnt and how i have changed but i know deep down i have certainly grown up a fair bit in some way or other, very subtly of course. And i would have missed this process if i had chosen to go home straight during winter break. So yep, 2 weeks of loneliness in ithaca, deprivation of comforts of home in spore, and US$1100 are all worthwhile for this wonderful amazing travel experience!
Of course, not forgetting, my wonderful travel buddy during this trip:
LINDY, who gets things right (like cooking) and also gets things wrong (like mixing up airport terminals). For all the fun and adventure and drama, for welcoming me into your 'family' during those
FANTASTIC (with british accent) few days at Long Islands, thanks for everything! 30 years down the road, i bet we will still remember fleeing the flasher at central park together! :)
And the house of wonderful people who generously housed us and made our stay at california much much more enjoyable:
The Elmo family! I can never thank them enough.
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6:54 AM
