Tadaima!
haven't blogged for quite some time heez... it's already my 3rd day back in singapore.. have already overcome jetlag so it's time to update haha:
Moving outpacking and moving out of dorm was just INSANE. i had been dreading this day for a long time; i used to just glance around the room at all my belongings and think it was IMPOSSIBLE to move out of my room. i packed for hours and hours. it's only under such a circumstance when i am forced to realize: 1) how much stuff i am capable of buying within 9mth(i arrived with 2 luggages and a backpack but left with 2 luggages + backpack + 2 large cardboard boxes+ 1 plastic storage box + lots and lots of large plastic bags) 2) how much junk i have been keeping and nver got to dump them. but it's not just me who have lotsa stuff lor, everyone, girls and guys, has this much stuff! can u imagine moving
everyone's stuff over to our seniors' place for storage, this is honestly the biggest 'project' of the year la! tks to the guys who help move all the stuff and tks to the seniors who generously allow us to convert their homes into 'war zones', else i would never have been able to move out!
moving out of dorm marks the end of freshmen year, and there were moments when i experienced sudden flood of emotions and memories. it really feels not long ago when i entered this empty room with 2 luggages and then i am leaving with the room looking as empty as before. No net change in the state of the room, but attitude, habits, state of maturity... etc have changed irreversibly. Christina and i agree that even though we are not graduating, we still feel as though we have concluded a significant stage in our lives. this is why i feel i have chosen the right time to return home and show my parents what i have 'achieved' in this stage of my life. haha. really, till now i still don't regret not going home in dec despite all the homesickness i have felt; if i had gone home then barely after 3 mth away from home, i probably would not have become that much tougher...
The journey homeThe day i left was really cold for a summer day in ithaca. Took a domestic flight from ithaca aiport to new york city airport on a ridiculously small propeller jet that can only carry 30 ppl hahaha. the overhead storage compartments are too small to even store a normal-sized backpack! (fyi, this plane ticket costs US$270) It was a really bumpy flight, but it still beats a 5 hr coach ride to nyc still in my opinion haha.
Yingyi and i got a free lift from my senior and her bf from the airport to Soho, becuz yingyi helped deliver my senior's air tickets which she had left behind in ithaca haha. Thus instead of sianning for 9hr at Newark airport waiting for our flight back to spore, we spent our afternoon eating not-very-expensive italian pasta at a more-than-decent italian restaurant in Little Italy and shopping at Soho! whee satisfying afternoon for us girls! It suddenly occured to me, after touring ard NYC twice and bypassing NYC numerous times on my way out or back to ithaca, nyc has become not so big a deal to me anymore! i walked ard Soho as though i was walking ard the all-too-familiar orchard road, the billboards at Times Square no longer emote fascination and awe anymore. it amazes me that this big city which sooo many people are dying to visit, including me in the past, has become a place which i
kind of taken for granted alr, within a span of 9mth!
in any case, the traffic at nyc at more insane than usual so we underestimated the time that we needed for our senior's bf to drive us from Soho to Port Authority, and the airport shuttle bus, which runs every 15 min, was 40min late! i nearly broke the world record of missing two flights within 2 months and topped my personal record of waiting at the aiport for 16hr (it would be 24hr if i missed this flight). thank goodness we made it in time.
HomeI was again very emotional when i saw the first glimpse of night lights emitting from singapore island after a 19hr flight and at the instant the plane just touched down on the ground. Ever since i had the intention of studying abroad, i was met with my mother's objections. She kept emphasizing the difficulties that come with studying abroad, i was well aware of them when i chose this path, but i never really understood what they mean and would amount to. i may not be conscious of it all the time but every day i am learning how to survive on my own and adjust to a new life in a new country. i had to learn every nitty-gritty detail from scratch, including operating the washer and dryer (i would always rmb yx's classic shocked-cum-aghast look when i saw him scrapping away the lint and asked him what the hell was he doing lol :P) living 9mth away from home is by no means a small feat for a pampered girl like me, and fine call me egoistical as u wish, i am proud of myself for surviving the past 9 mths! :)
but i must confess, once back home, i am treated like a pampered princess all over again! my mum again takes care of every little thing at home for me, my dad fetches me to wherever i want to eat or buy any stuff. oh well, let me indulge a bit just for these 3 mth la.... hopefully, "independence" is not a skill that would degrade if u don't practise it for 3 mth :P
Food!The only that 'sells' in Singapore is its food, tt's the same conclusion most of us living abroad arrive.
Haha my parents really took the "to-eat list" that i made very seriously: they are close to memorizing all 30 items on my list and have been doing their best to treat me to as many of the items for every meal since i got back. after my third morning in spore, i have already eaten 10 items on the list - beach road prawn mee, katong laksa, chilli crabs, kway chap, sugar cane drink, yakun kaya toast, old chang kee curry puff, roti prata, tau huay and you tiao!!! and going for dim sum lunch soon! SHIOK ah! hehe my parents rock! :D in the past, the non-aircon and wet hawker centres weren't exactly my faves; now i can't wait to go to hawker centres to eat!
And for all the good food i have been eating, i don't feel that i am getting fatter! isn't that amazing? ok let's hope i am not misjudging my own figure... :P
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11:37 PM
