Contented

Well, i'm feeling rather contented now because I actually ran today. As in, really ran out on the streets instead of jumping up and down on the boring, depressing threadmill. And it felt soooo good... I ran a good 45 minutes, from my dorm all the way down to school and back up (got lost on the way and discovered the nearest shopping area to my place!)... and it felt way less tiring than the usual 30 minutes at the gym.

I feel like I never want to step on a threadmill ever again, but the weather forecast says it'll be colder over the coming week. :(

When you are poor, hate fastfood and missing food at home (I think there's something wrong with the grammar there, but I'm too lazy to think), anything you cooked on a stove by yourself can taste good. Last night, I had Campbell Golden Mushroom soup with bread... which was so yummy that I just bought another 3 cans of soup. While preparing my lunch just now, I discovered that vegetables can be cooked in practically any way. I couldn't even find the oil, so I just threw in ketchup, hot sauce and whatever spices there were around... no rice? Oatmeal will do.

I don't think I can ever study again. I've been watching TV on www.alluc.org for the past 2 weeks... I resolved to start on some readings last night, but I discovered that the web has loads of movies and watched Material Girls instead.

Worst still, I think I might just start on online shopping soon; it's all so tempting when I've a US address. I still can't believe I spent 4 hours looking at DKNY watches online yesterday!

Guess what?

Yes, guess what, I finished my first piece of homework here. Well, first piece of homework that requires me to use my brains a little. After procrastinating for the past 3 days (When everything is pass/fail, I find myself incredibly uninspired to get any work done)... I just did it. Well, technically not because I went over the page limit, but I don't care. There's this thing about how it actually takes more effort to write more, than less sometimes.

Anyway, we were assigned to answer some questions on a Starbucks Case study. I must say, it was an enjoyable read in spite of the fact that it was 20 pages long. Well, reading about coffee is fun.

And now I can relax tomorrow- spend more time in the gym, PACK my room and probably hide here all day because its so cold. I hear the wind howling outside my window all day.

I think I said my day at Central Park was the coldest I've ever been in my life. Last night was worse- Coldest and scariest coldest day of my life, by far. We decided to check out some party organized by the Korean Student Association at a club along Spring Street and it was bad. No, it wasn't the party that was bad, because we didn't even get in. I was on the guestlist, but we still spent more than an hour queueing outside... and last night was supposedly the coldest day in New York. Most of us ended up taking shelter by hanging out in a Chinese restaurant (I think their staff gave up chasing people out) while the guys took turns to queue. We eventually went out when we thought we were about to get in... but no, they were letting about 2 people in every 5 minutes. The wind against my face left me feeling so sick that I gave up and left in a cab. And I threw up the moment I got out. Scary.

I heard from the rest that they gave up after another hour of queueing and that fights broke out because people were unhappy about having to wait. Gosh.

Oh, did I mention, the girls in front of us were in mini skirts and open toe heels. How does anyone manage survive -12 degrees wearing that?!

Slack

If I were back home right now, tutorials would have started this week... but I don't have tutorials over here. Yesterday, I got back to my room before sunset, and then I realized how slack school is-

My classes start at 11am everyday, I get a long boring break from 12:15 to 2pm, and they end at 3:15pm. Well, except for Thursdays, when I get an even longer break from 3:15pm to 4:55pm, and end at 6:55pm... when it's freezing outside. And Stern has no classes on Fridays.
Oh, and one of my classes will end by Spring break, which means I'll start class at 2pm on Mondays and Wednesdays.

I've so much extra time on hand that I can't think of what to do besides torture myself on the threadmill in between classes. And I don't even feel compelled to do my assignments because there's until 11am the next day!

I really miss stepping into class and seeing familiar faces. Oh well, maybe it'll get better with project groups (ugh!)

Feeling nice

Estelle brought me to this Malaysian Restaurant (over here, Malaysian = Singaporean) opened by a Singaporean guy last night and the food was so good. I can't believe I had fishball Kuay Teow last night; I thought I wasn't going to slurp kuay teow for half a year! It was so unbelievably satisfying...such a pity that I was too full to finish my food. I definitely must bring Taitong, Cat and Erwin to try the food there sometime.

It snowed after dinner, brrr. We took a walk back to Estelle's place and she showed me the walkway along the entrance of Columbia University (the school she attends)...

...my goodness, it's so pretty.

I bunked over at Estelle's for the night and her bed was so much more comfortable that I slept more than I ever have since I got to the states. This morning, we had a nice brunch made of coffee and french toast before she showed me more of Columbia as it is in the day. It's really so different from NYU... much more typical of an American University with it's own campus and all the Gothic architecture. It has an old, ancient feel to it, with all the statues, pillars and famous names carved out on the buildings, which I actually like better. And the common room at her dorm even had a piano... it's been a long time since I've touched those keys, but my fingers were too numb to play.

In the afternoon, I took the subway down to 59th Lexington to meet up with the rest at Central Park. I got a little lost and had to detour, but at least I can somewhat get around on the sub on my own now. We didn't see very much of it because it was way too cold, but it was lovely, especially all the trees. If only it was summer... I can see myself sitting there alone in the afternoon, reading a book, or just jogging.

But the wind was so strong today, and I've never been as cold as I was today in my whole life. In spite of wearing 4 layers, I was so cold that my feet, ears, fingers, cheeks, everything was numb. And I kept wondering whether my toes would drop off without me knowing. We took shelter in an eatery for awhile, but Taitong and I were still so cold that we couldn't speak properly. The wind just kept blowing and blowing... I think we all reached the limit of how much cold we could possibly bear... and decided to spend the next hour just browsing the shops at the Metropolitan Museum of Art even though we had no plans to view the exhibits. I think I would have been contented standing there until tomorrow morning. The Met looks interesting though, really can't wait to check it out. The store really had a very interesting colletion of books...and those on sale were really cheap. I was so tempted to get this one about advertisements of the 1960s, just that I don't know how I'm ever to carry such heavy things back. (And Chris, I got you a nice birthday present from there!)

Anyway, I think this is a pretty cool shot we took at Central Park!

The next time I visit Central Park, I'm wearing 2 jackets, 2 trench coats, 2 gloves, 2 pairs of long johns and 4 pairs of socks (I wore 2 today).

The rest were meeting some other Singaporeans for dinner, but Estelle was coming over to my place, so I left the Met early and walked all the way from 82nd to 59th street because that's the only subway I remember... so cold I didn't really care how ridiculous I looked with a hood on my head and my lips covered with the collar of my jacket. Or how I was walking behind a very tall lady all the time to shield myself from the wind.

But... I found my first ZARA in New York! The sales are pretty good... thank goodness size 36 is too small and 38 is too big, or I probably would have bought another 3 pairs of pants. Besides, whatever shirts I like from Zara, I probably would have bought them even before they're on sale. Nevertheless, just walking into the store made me a happy girl... picked up their directory, and I discovered, the nearest Zara is just 8 streets away from where I live! Yay, I can probably walk there whenever I'm depressed from now on.

I'm feeling really nice, warm and happy now, nicer than I've had in a long time. For one, I walked into Bath and Body Works when I got out of the subway on the way back... and the sales were really good... (there're just too many sales over here, help.) Picked up a pumpkin and cinammon shower gel... except that I'm feeling incredibly stupid right now... why didn't I buy enough toiletries for the next 5 months?! It's good soap and shampoo which come in various wonderful frangrances... and it's even cheaper than the crappy soap I bought from the discount store which I don't even trust not to give me rashes. It's the last day of sales tomorrow, maybe I should just walk over again.

And I had some time after Estelle left, so I finally managed to organize the stuff in my room a little. Found a makeshift toiletry bag, figured out where to place various stuff... I'm not a partiularly tidy person, but at the very least, I need an organized mess. Whenever I get back, I expect to know where to put my things and actually put them there before I can even relax... and get showered and changed into slacking clothes before I can even think of enjoying my dinner...

So tonight, my life finally had some semblence of normality. (And I finally had some time to put on face mask too, haha.) It's funny how small things can make one so contented now and then. =)

Whinings

I know I sound like I'm having fun all the time, but trust me, life over here is not all that fun. Being the Singaporean that I am, I've a long list of complains right now...

Starting with the weather. Winter is definitely not fun at all.

(1) Going anywhere is really troublesome. On top of piling on so much clothes, I've to carry so many things - gloves, hats, scarves... can barely fit into my bag.
(2) Speaking of bag, it's so difficult to carry my bag because I can barely feel it above all the layers of clothes. And, it keeps slipping off because the coat makes my arms 3 times fatter.
(3) I can't find anything in my bag among all the the scarves and gloves... and I need to flash my NYU card whenever I enter any building or take the bus, so I'm always clumsily searching for it. I probably can't hear my hp if it rings under everything too.
(4) Imagine carrying a fat bag plus a thick coat walking around school. I bought my textbooks and groceries today... all added together, I felt like a garang guni man lumbering around school.
(5) Whenever I pay for something at a shop, I've to remove my gloves, feel about for my wallet, figure out how much to pay (still not familiar with all the coins), put on my gloves before going out...
(6) Everything is so heavy. My shoulders ache from all the coats hanging over my shoulder everyday and it's difficult to move quickly. Today, Cat and I were running for the bus... besides looking like a duck about to fall over its short feet (well, I know I've long legs, but they felt short then), I was carrying so many bags and my only thought was, 'If I fall forward now, I'm going to dislocate so many bones.'
(7) Continuing from (6), when the wind blows too strongly, it makes it even more difficult to move forward.

More complaints...
(8) My hostel has implemented the most ridiculous system. Initially, we had to flash our cards at the guard before he opens the door for you. Then, we had to flash our cards, and then swipe our cards to activate the turnstile to get in. As of today, we have to flash our cards for the door to open, then key in our birthdate at this device on the turnstile, then swipe our cards... I know it's security and all, but surely there's no need for this! It's not as if my identity would change from the 1 second I take to walk from the guard to the turnstile. There were so many people jamming up at the small space between the guard and the turnstile today because it just takes so long to get through.
(9) Now I truly appreciate the A1/A2 bus service at NUS. They're packed, but they come frequently, and there are bus stops... over here, the shuttles come once in 15 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes...so once you miss it (and I seem to miss it all the time), you're left freezing in the open until the next one finally comes. And they're not exactly on schedule because of the traffic around New York City. For now, I can only take the bus from the last stop because there are no bus stops and I've no idea where else it stops.
(10) I've to pay for RECEIVING smses. And the mobile service provider sends you sms-es with advertisments sometimes.
(11) Textbooks are so expensive. I'm trying my best not to buy any... but the professors compile notes into course packs we have to buy and they're ridiculously priced.

If you can see it, that thin pack of thing that contains papers printined in black and white costs 40 + USD. The used textbook I ordered from Amazon costs 40+ USD... in the bookstore, textbooks range from 120-160 USD, each.

(12) It takes forever to get anywhere. Walk, wait for bus, walk, wait for bus...

(13) I tried the coffee at school today. It cost me $1.45 and it wasn't even hot.

(14) I'm so deprived of vegetables. I love this grilled vegetables at the deli nearby... but it's $3 for a tiny pack of cucumber, zucchini and brocoli.

(15) Everything here is just fastfood and beef. Fastfood is GROSS, don't even know what parts of the cow/pig/chicken go in... I avoid it as much as possible.

(16) Even going to the washroom is troublesome... figure out why.

(17) The accounting standards/terms are quite different here, so I'm quite lost during my managerial accounting class.

(18) Even files and folders are expensive. It'll cost me at least $4 USD for a ring folder... and I can't even use them when I'm back because they're letter sized. I'm keeping all my notes in 5 stacks in my drawer to save on files and a 3-hole puncher, how pathetic.


I'm sure I thought of many more complains while waiting for the bus in the cold today, but they've slipped my mind.



Well, just to make this post a bit more positive...





(1) I found my Vitasoy Malt at Chinatown today! It's so hard to find it in Singapore, but they actually have it here! Anyway the shops at Chinatown have quite a lot of stuff, like rabbit sweets, Khong Guan biscuits, instant noodles (okay, not relevant to me because I refuse to eat them too.), instant udon (only 60 cents...my dinner tomorrow!), tofu... and, I've pork floss bun for breakfast tomorrow!

(2) I made a trip to the bookstore today and it's unbelievably easy. You scan your NYU card at this station and you immediately receive a printout with the textbooks for all your courses, their prices, and where to locate them. And textbooks are arranged according to courses... so you look for the course along the aisle, and tadaa, all the books for the course are waiting for you.

(3) There are so many kinds of bread here. It's a bread heaven... everytime I go to the supermarket, I've to keep reminding myself that I'll be here for a few months and to take my time to try everything. And I love bagels with cream cheese... they're cheap, big and yummy.

(4) The laundry here is fantastic. Expensive, but all the machines work, and the dryers actually dry your clothes. In Pgp, half the machines don't work, clothes come out more dirty than they were to begin with at times, and the dryers don't dry your clothes.


Look at what just came in my NYU E-mail!

'Mix it Up!

Are you interested in living with someone of the opposite sex next year?
Residential Education offers you the opportunity to do so through the Mixed-
Sex Housing program!
Come find out about the program and meet other potential roommates at an
information session.

The Mixed-Sex Housing program Information Session will be held:
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 at 9:00 PM in the Palladium Multipurpose Room (3rd
Floor).

The application will be available on-line from February 1-14, 2007.'

Mixed sexed housing programme? Why do you need a programme for that?!

I've been quite amused by some things here... for example, the Washington Square News, which is the NYU daily student paper... I was reading it that day and there was an article about students complaining that their examination results take too long to be released... I read on and I realized... it's 'too long' because they expect it within 72 hours! omg, I think the local students will just faint if they hear that NUS takes 1 month at least.

Oh, Americans say 'Hi how are you' all the time. And they told us during the orientation that the only reply to it is 'fine how are you?'. Even if you're not fine at all. I haven't really gotten used to saying that, but I think it's quite a nice habit. Everywhere I go, there're people saying 'how are you' or 'have a nice day'. Today, at the supermarket, the cashier told me to 'have the absolute best day'. He probably doesn't mean it, but well, it's nice to hear anyway.

First Day of Classees

I've been walking so much! I walked to the gym early this morning and it was already packed at 7:30am... got chased off the threadmill after 30 minutes. Walked back, missed the shuttle bus... so I decided to walk all the way to school... from 26th Street all the way to 4th Street, another 30 minutes. I think I'm getting used to the weather though. I'm still cold, but I can actually bear the wind blowing against my face even without something to cover my head.

Well, I can't say I had a great start to school. I forgot it was a Tuesday, so I walked into the classroom for my Monday class... only discovered I was at the wrong place 15 minutes later, quickly excused myself and dashed up to find the right class. I was late, so I was pretty lost without any notes.

Anyway, I just finished my New Product Development Class. The professor is from Singapore, what a coincidencce. He asked us to guess where his accent was from and well, it was clearly Singaporean. Classes here are really so different... in fact, it felt pretty intimidating. We had to do 15 minute introductions... and every single person seem to either own a company, have a new product, be doing an intership, working at some company... and I mean, everyone. I think having jobs and attachments are probably the normal thing over here. This girl was saying she was a model, and has worked with Vogue and all the other fashion magazines... the prof asked her how many times she watched The Devil Wears Prada and her reply was, 'twice. And that's basically my job...it sux.' Wow. Most people are taking the class because they have their own companies, have new product ideas, already have products etcetcetc. Scary.

It never occurred to me that studying here could be that different. It's not just about understanding... but all the examples given in class are American ones, so the prof was mentioning all kinds of brands I've never heard off or know very little about. Or, he'll mention products that are going out here, which are still rather in back home, and vice versa. So I'm like... lost, nothing to say. I think I'll get used to it though. The class looks rather interesting.

I'm actually in the computer lab now... came here to print my notes for free. It's amazing, everyone at Stern can print their notes for free!

And I've got to run off now to call Estelle (no reception here) so that we can meet for dinner! More about classes soon.

Woodburys

We took a train down to New Jersey today to visit Woodburys...
...I think it's pretty lovely, looks like a town out of Desperate Housewives or something! I would have liked to spend more time just walking about and taking pictures of the trees (well, they're barely trees in winter), but there was just no time at all...

... Woodburys is like, one big Factory Outlet town! It was just HUGE, with 200 + outlet stores of so many brands, Guess, Coach, Liz Claiborne... well, everything you can think of (except Zara =s) And they were selling everything at discounted prices...thank goodness it's pretty far away, or I'll just go broke in a month. I got (yet another) pair of jeans from Guess (see that pretty black thing up there?) and it wasn't even 20 dollars! Now I really have to make sure I don't put on weight, or I won't be able to fit into all the jeans I've bought. Besides that, I threw money into a Polo Ralph Lauren Blanket (it's the cheapest blanket I've seen in NYC so far...), track pants to sleep in, one more sweater (7 dollars!)... The Nike store had so so so so so many shoes going at $29.90, which really makes me wonder why I rushed to get a new pair of track shoes just before coming. And there were just so many things to see... I don't think we even covered a quarter of the shops! (Mum: I defnitely must bring you to Woodburys if you come up to visit me...) It's a good thing American sizes are huge (yes, even I can't wear most things beyond a size S), or I would probably have ended up with more clothes than ever...

On another note, it's great to have guys around when you're shopping... to help hold all our bags, and especially during winter, hold all the coats while we're trying on clothes... And anyone who knows me would also know that I'm totally clueless when it comes to maps, subways and directions, so I just follow the guys...haha. And they've been fixing up the lamps in our rooms (lousy K-mart thing keeps spoiling) almost everyday as well... well, they'll be trained technicians by the time we leave! Tomorrow, I'm going to ask Taitong if he can help me set up the microphone for my laptop.

Tomorrow would have been the first day of classes, but thankfully, it's Martin Luther King day, a public holiday! We'll be heading to the gym in the morning (yay) before checking out the free ice-skating at Bryant Park... hopefully, we'll manage some rest before school on Tuesday... sigh, I'm not really looking forward to classes now, especially since I've been feeling like I'm on a vacation the past week. I finally checked out my schedule and I'm basically lost with all the venues and stuff... don't even know when, where or how I'm going to print my lecture notes before Tuesday. Help.

I think my typing sounds really incoherent and random today! I'm just really, really tired... what I really need is another good run at the gym to recharge. Doesn't help that I couldn't really sleep last night...

I shall just turn in right now before I drop dead. Goodnight world.

More pictures

Taitong and I in a costume store along Broadway. It was really awesome. I've never seen so many costumes in a store before. They've everything from Starwars to Superman to Batman... 2 whole storeys filled with all these party stuff!
The NYU shuttle bus, isn't it cute? (and it's purple!)
Hi Raymond!

Times Square

Times Square is seriously the most amazing place I've ever been to. Stepping into 42nd Street it is like being transformed into a whole new world. I remember being so captivated by all the life and lights in Shanghai, but omg, this beats it hands down. It's not even my first time at Times Square, and I can't believe I forgot how absolutely amazing it is until we went there yesterday! All the humongous billboards with the lights and advertisements... it's like, the absolute epitome of consumerism. I Actually, it's almost disgusting if you think of it... how much money and electricity actually goes into all these. It's as if every single company and shop located there is trying to outdo each other... Morgan Stanley, Ernst and Young etc... all the big companies have humongous buildings with humongous billboards advertising their big names. But...ahh, I love Times Square, need to go there at least 5 more times before I leave. And the stores there are huge as well... didn't see much, but we walked into Toys R Us..

...if I were a kid, this would be my paradise! I'm pretty sure this is the biggest Toys R Us on earth... 3 whole storeys of endless Toys. They've everything arranged according to magic tricks, barbie dolls, board games, different movies like Toy Story, Pirates etc. That's Cat looking gleeful among all the stuffed toys.

And a 2 storey Barbie House. Serene, if you're reading this, they have a HILARY DUFF Barbie Doll, I'll send you the picture next time.

And Times Square is where the theatres for all the musicals are. Each Broadway Show has its own theatre... and I think I'm going to go broke watching all of them. I was so pleased when I saw that they were showing Les Miserables! I've watched it twice, but I'm definitely catching that one... along with Mama Mia, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Chicago... and I can't believe they're having a LEGALLY BLONDE musical coming in April. Taitong says he doesn't mind catching it, haha... for me, I just want to watch every single thing... it means getting to go to Times Square! We had dinner at some Italian Restaurant yesterday. The green stuff on my plate is some kind of fettucine with cream sauce... and it's the most amazing pasta I've ever tried in my life. The texture was just nice and chewy, and the cream was simply yummy... and it was damn filling, luckily there were guys to help us out.

Singapore's pretty infamous around here, I think. Just the other day, this Taiwanese lady who's here to study English Teaching asked Cat and I, 'What langauge are you speaking?', to which we replied, 'English.' And then, to our amazement, she said, 'Oh the famous SINGLISH? Is that it? Everyone who studies English have heard of it!' Oh my goodness, our English is indeed that horrendous.

That's not all. Yesterday, we met a Korean guy at the laundry and when he heard that we were from Singapore, the first thing he said was, 'Is it really true you can't chew gum there?'

I'm feeling really contented right now. For one, we went to check out the gym at Palladium this morning. It was totally awesome. I've never stepped into such an amazing gym in my entire life. It was 2 storeys with an indoor pool, basketball courts, huge shower facilities... and a lot of equipment. It's at least 8 times the size of the NUS gym and I'm pretty sure it's comparable (if not better) than California Fitness. And it's only a university gym! Each threadmill has an individual LCD TV screen, with remote controls for you to select from various channels... I think sports and exercise are really big over here. I wish I took pictures of the gym, but anyway, check it out at http://www.nyu.edu/palladiumathleticfacility.

Yea, and I managed a 45 minute run on the threadmill. Such a torture staring at the mirror since I didn't bring my own earphones to watch television, but it really felt great to be moving and running after close to a week. Hopefully I can go there often... it's about 12 streets away, so a 15 minute walk just to go there!

Besides gymming, the weather today is fabulous. It's not too cold, just nice for us to all walk about comfortably in about 2 layers with long pants. I'll be a really happy girl if it stays like that everyday. And we found this store called Trader Joe's next to the gym... which sells really cheap groceries. And there's so many kinds of cereals and bagels that I think I could just live on all those... think I'll walk over to gym and buy all my food from now on.

There's so much more to say, like how I found humongous bagels for just 70cents for lunch, but the guys want to go out and Erwin's bugging me, so I need to go get changed...

Damn damn damn tired

I'm so tired that I need to hit the sack, right now. But before that, I need to say that TIMES SQUARE IS THE MOST AMAZING PLACE ON EARTH. (See above: MnM billboard infront of MnM Store...the boards are amazingly clear, like lcd TVs.) Shall post up a million pictures of all the lights tomorrow.

Anyway, I just got off the phone with Qiuyun!!! We discovered that we were both using the same mobile service provider, so we can call each other, for free! When I heard her voice just now, we were practically squealing into the phone, 'ohmygodohmygodohmygod'. Man, I thought we wouldn't talk to each other for half a year...

More tomorrow morning if I managed to wake up early. Going to the gym... ahh, so tired. (I really don't understand why I'm so tired every single day!)

Maybe I wouldn't be that deprived after all

We found Chinatown yesterday evening and it was amazing! You can't really see it very clearly in the picture...but those are century egg porridge (mmm), charsiew wanton noodles and fried rice! I couldn't ask for a better meal after walking from school to Chinatown in the terrible cold. And there're stores after stores in Chinatown selling these things...I think I'll hang around there often. The bakeries there sell pork floss buns, tau sar piah, the kind of bread you use to make kaya toast... all at inflated prices relative to what we're used to, but I'm learning to ignore it because it's already so much cheaper than all the western food which are essentially cheese, cheese and more cheese. I must say, there are barely any veggies, but when there are, they're really yummy... all the grilled carrots, zucchinis, potatoes etc... the potatoes here are really different, very sweet and all.
Look, roasted pork and duck! (not that I eat duck though) I wonder if there's steamboat...


Found this in a pharmacy. I don't believe it, low carb sneakers, protein sneakers... and they have other assortments of completely ironic health products, like no-fat chocolates, diet chocolates, diet chocolate muffins... basically, all the chocolates masquerading as health food. Are chocolates really such a must-have? Thank goodness I don't eat chocolates at all, and it wasn't even that hard to give up chocolates. So many other yummy things to eat...like ban mien, I need a hot steaming bowl of ban mien, right now!
I've been meaning to take a picture of this- that's Washinton Square Park. I think that's the kind of 'central area' around the NYU campus. Quite pretty and I'll probably pass it everyday on the way to Stern.

Anyway, we spent the greater part of our day at the Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS) Orientation. It was great because of the free breakfast and free lunch, haha. Well, they just spent time telling us about how to socialize the American way, safety, health services, academic culture blah blah blah... but I must say, the OISS really put in a lot of effort into these things, with the free food, snacks and all... and they even had a lucky draw, someone won an iPod Shuffle, wow.

The day's programme was supposed to end with a trip to Brooklyn Bridge, but the 4 of us decided to take a walk down to Chinatown instead and got pretty distracted by the shops along Broadway on the way. Really, can you imagine passing by humongous Swatch, Gap, Guess, Espirit, Levis... stores on the way to school and in between classes? Like...

...this! I saw parts of NYC that I remembered from my last trip here... like HnM, Old Navy... all along the same stretch. It was really hard to resist walking into every store, but we wanted to actually get to Chinatown and save shopping for today. Well, I got a new pair of Levis Jeans at USD 19 though... it's practically a sin not to buy it, haha. (Honestly, I just needed more pants) I wish I was here in summer... all the thick clothing kind of kills the joy of shopping. I'm almost too lazy to try clothes half the time. It'd take at least 15 minutes to remove all the layers of clothes, thermal wear and all. :S

Besides, I wouldn't be so miserable in summer. If I didn't like New York City, I'll probably be sobbing and dying to go home right now. It seems to get cold, colder and even colder everyday. And there's so much walking in the streets to be done... we waled from the Subway back to 26th Street yesterday (that's where I live)... just 2 streets and I couldn't really take the wind already, sigh. I feel like hiding in my room everyday... but there're still so many things we haven't ventured out to see- times square, the statues of liberty, wall street etc. I saw pictures of Times Sqaure on Christian's camera yesterday... WHOA.

Now I'm even cold in my room, bleah. :(

More pictures from today

This is the cutest (and thinnest) dog I've ever seen! I really wonder whether the coat is meant to keep it any warmer or for pure aesthetic purposes. We went to Citibank to collect our bank accounts today and this little thing was just wandering around. I'm sure no bank in Singapore allows dogs, except those huge police dogs.
Most expensive Granny Smith I've ever tasted, but it's already the cheapest I've seen around- 75 US cents. At least I was very happy eating fruits, really wonder if I can get enough fruits/vegetables over the next few months... really can't imagine life without fruits after every single meal. This eateries the nearest to Stern, so I'll probably be grabbing an apple everyday from now on. They sell bagels for 75 cents, I should just eat those everyday.

I thought I would never wear anything as ugly as ear muffs, but today was the coldest day in New York City so far this winter, and I finally bought a pair (it's the thing sticking out about my hat) from K-mart today. I must say, it's really a good buy for less than 2 dollars, helps keep my ears much warmer and when I decide not to look stupid, I put it around my neck and it keeps my neck warm.

The weather was terrible today. The first drops of snow came in the morning, but we couldn't get a picture because it lasted for less than 5 minutes... more like a drizzle. Frankly, I don't care much about how pretty it could get if it snows... I HOPE IT DOESN'T SNOW ANYMORE this winter. I've never felt as cold as today in my entire life... the number of layers I managed to squeeze into my jacket doesn't quite matter. It's the cold and pain when the wind blows across your face... the wind was so strong today that all I wanted to do was go into every nearest building. Normally, we start taking out all our coats because it gets pretty stuffy indoors, but not today. As Erwin put it, 'I'm not going to complain that it's warm when I step into the next building... I figured the longer I feel stuffy inside, the longer I'll keep warm outside.' While waiting for our shuttle bus back, Cat and I were so cold that we just stood inside a phone booth. Probably looked very ridiculous. There're still some girls walking around in mini skirts and jogging around the park... which is plain crazy as far as I am concerned.

A very short mayor of NYC.

In the shuttle bus. The girl's Geecha (pronounced geisha). She's German, but studies in Hongkong... lived in Singapore for 3 years too!

I haven't ran for a few days already and it makes me feel like there's something abnormal about my life. I hope the weather starts to get warmer, so that I can attempt to run about on the streets... it must be pretty cool to run along the streets and avenues around here. Otherwise, I'll have to use the gym at Palladium, but that's about 20 minutes away from where I live, and I hate running on the threadmill (absolutely boring).

I forgot to mention that people around here are really taller and bigger. On the plane from Frankfurt to NYC, I already noticed that the passengers around were significantly taller... well, probably around my height for the ladies, but they're just a lot bigger. I actually felt puny and scrawny compared to them, which is pretty amazing for someone my size. And I keep seeing really tall and big people around over here... which is pretty good because they help block the wind.

We got more furniture and stuff today, including a tall lamp. At least my room looks more presentable now... and I guess we've sufficient things to survive for now. That means... we can start looking at the sights and SHOPPING soon instead of running about buying boring and expensive things! 50% off storewide at United Colours of Benetton now... guess what I'm doing tomorrow?

Well, and I'll have time to start e-mailing back and writing to people. Linda, I'll send you a postcard when I can find one! =)

I had/have so much to say...

Forgot his name, but he's very nice. Taken outside Stern Business School... I think it's the nicest NYU building I've seen so far.

...but stupid Blogger ate up my post last night! Sigh, and I'm really too lazy to retype.



I was saying that it feels pretty unreal to be here, and even more unreal that I'm going to be living at this place for the next few months. For now, I feel like I'm a suagu tourist wherever I go... everything feels so different! It's like I'm on a two week vacation or something, and life will return back to normal once it's over... but no!



There's just so much to do to settle in- buy lamps (can you believe it, my room has NO lightings at all, water heater, toaster, bulbs... was shopping at K Mart and some budget store yesterday, almost died carrying everything around. Everything's really more troublesome than I expected. In PGP, when I lack something-

(1) I call home and ask my mum to bring it.

(2) I know where to buy it.

(3) I probably can easily borrow.

Over here-

(1) I don't know where to get it.

(2) My heart aches because it's so expensive.

My goodness, I'm seriously going to go broke within a month... even toilet rolls are expensive. Taitong and I spent $4 USD for 4 rolls (makes me want to starve for the next half of the year so that I don't go to the loo too much)... and then realized the hostel gives them for free. I had vegetables and mashed potatos for dinner last night and that was about $6USD...



Maybe it's the novelty of being somewhere new... but I must say, despite being really tired walking around, I love this place. I love it as much as I remember loving it from the last time I was here... the NYU campus is really unlike the NUS one. Or rather, it isn't even a campus... just different buildings scattered all around the Greenwich area, as if someone couldn't find a big enough piece of land to rent and rented whatever little spaces were available everywhere... so when you walk from one building to another, you pass by all the other shops like GAP/Sisley (no, I haven't started shopping...too busy to even think of it.) And it stretches across the Broadway area too... very interesting.



I've a major problem over here, I've got a new hairstyle- The air is so much drier that whenever I wake up every morning, the layers of my hair STANDS. And I just look like Cruella Devil in 101 Dalmations. And it just doesn't go down. I had to take a picture for my NYU ID yesterday, and it looked awful.



We've met some of the other exchange students too. Many of them are from Hongkong, one guy from Korea (I shall put up his picture above), some from Australia, China, Mexico...



Oh, and I was saying yesterday. I didn't have time to feel any reluctance/cry on the plane. The moment my neighbour arrived, he said, 'Hi I'm your neighbour' and started talking to me and asking questions. I even know when, how and where his gf broke up with him... and he gave me loads of tips on NYC because he's so familiar with the area.



Gotta go out now!

ARRIVED

I've arrived and I've loads to say even though it's just about 1.5 days since I left, but there's no time... just a few pictures!

Family @ Changi Airport

Somewhere in the area where I live (I'm not as happy as I look, it's damn cold.)

Don't think I've ever been so happy to see Taitong before (met him at the airport)

Anyway, I was pretty lucky to meet someone who travels to NYC all the time, so he could take me shopping around the airport at Frankfurt and help me find my way back... or I probably would have stood at the Boarding gate for 2 hours for fear of getting lost.

I've to run now!

If you're wondering where Cheng Wei is...