Classes have started and you can already see people going crazy with study groups popping up and people complaining about the work load.
I'm one of them too.
I've got a good bit of homework up for Mecheng 211 and Math 215, and a ton of reading that needs to be done for Engin 101. Thank god my last class won't be that insane. I was up till 2 yesterday doing my ME reading and almost missed my Math lab class. I've got programming for Math. Wtf. But I'd be lying if I said that I thought my classes are boring. The 2 engineering classes are amazingly interesting and the Math one is kindda fun. Tamil is going to be absolutely side-splitting if what Hari, Bharat and Haines say is true.
As far as other activities go, I've got Ultimate Frisbee tryouts on Monday. Went for a long run today to check my fitness level because the Americans are insanely fit. My ankle is still giving me trouble though. I'd really like to get into the team. I've also signed up for ICMD, Autonomous Vehicles Engineering, and SSA. Don't know how taxing its going to be. But I think I'll be fine.
There's this funny emotion I experience every morning. I wake up, and expect to be back in my own room. And I grope around for my spectacles in the place I'd expect them to be back home, and then it strikes me that I'm not home. And I feel like crap. For just a short while.
And then I get on with my life.
December 26th couldn't get its ass over here fast enough.
Cheerios.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Welcome week
Welcome week has been insane!
Hmm, lets list some of the stupid stuff I've done. After all the crazy CTF games, last week we had the Freshman Convocation ceremony which was freaking brilliant. The amount of school pride that they have here is insane. It made me very proud to be a Wolverine that day. After that was Artscapade and Escapade where in true Singaporean fashion, we hit the place looking for free shit. I managed to win myself a shirt and loads of other rubbish.
The next day had an insane number of things to do. Maize craze was crazy and so was the pep talk for the Football game which was to happen the next day. The first chance to see the cheerleaders and dancers. :D Oh and once again, free stuff ahoy!!! After that was, (believe it or not) BUBBLE TEA PARTY. hahaha. Americans love bubble tea! But it's crazily expensive. Like 4-5 bucks a cup. But they were giving out free bubble tea that day so wooooots.
Later that night was MEIJER MADNESS. Meijers is this insanely gigantic shopping market here and that event was where they were giving out free stuff, and also quite atrocious discounts. I bought a 12 pack root beer for 1.50!
The next day was Michigan's first American Football game. The whole place went crazy with the buses to central being retardedly packed. Us Singaporeans went to play soccer from about 2 to 3.30 and after that we camped in one of the lounges in Couzens Hall to watch the game on TV. It was quite awesome to see the crowd and the fanatical support that they have for the Wolverines. OH. MICHIGAN STADIUM (THE BIG HOUSE) IS BIGGER THAN ALL THE EUROPEAN AND ENGLISH SOCCER STADIUMS. The Big House can seat at 110,000 people. Even Nou Camp is smaller.
Nothing much happened after that, apart from the fact that I've signed up to try out for the Ultimate Frisbee club team.
Cheers peeps.
Hmm, lets list some of the stupid stuff I've done. After all the crazy CTF games, last week we had the Freshman Convocation ceremony which was freaking brilliant. The amount of school pride that they have here is insane. It made me very proud to be a Wolverine that day. After that was Artscapade and Escapade where in true Singaporean fashion, we hit the place looking for free shit. I managed to win myself a shirt and loads of other rubbish.
The next day had an insane number of things to do. Maize craze was crazy and so was the pep talk for the Football game which was to happen the next day. The first chance to see the cheerleaders and dancers. :D Oh and once again, free stuff ahoy!!! After that was, (believe it or not) BUBBLE TEA PARTY. hahaha. Americans love bubble tea! But it's crazily expensive. Like 4-5 bucks a cup. But they were giving out free bubble tea that day so wooooots.
Later that night was MEIJER MADNESS. Meijers is this insanely gigantic shopping market here and that event was where they were giving out free stuff, and also quite atrocious discounts. I bought a 12 pack root beer for 1.50!
The next day was Michigan's first American Football game. The whole place went crazy with the buses to central being retardedly packed. Us Singaporeans went to play soccer from about 2 to 3.30 and after that we camped in one of the lounges in Couzens Hall to watch the game on TV. It was quite awesome to see the crowd and the fanatical support that they have for the Wolverines. OH. MICHIGAN STADIUM (THE BIG HOUSE) IS BIGGER THAN ALL THE EUROPEAN AND ENGLISH SOCCER STADIUMS. The Big House can seat at 110,000 people. Even Nou Camp is smaller.
Nothing much happened after that, apart from the fact that I've signed up to try out for the Ultimate Frisbee club team.
Cheers peeps.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Capture the flag!
The list of countries from which I've met people has expanded! It now includes: A Colombian, a South African, a Brazilian, an Iranian, an Israelite and a Turkish girl!
Anyhoo, yesterday was the day where we International engineering students register for classes. It was quite an annoying process because we guys are signing up for classes the latest (the American students have already signed up for classes in Summer) and we had all the last choice classes. So trying to fit them into our time-tables was quite a messy process. Listening to the swearing going on in the room in a multitude of languages was amusing though.
I finally met more people from Bursley hall yesterday! After meeting and talking to them for a while, we ended up going down to the Diag (Diagonal) to play capture the flag. It was INSANE. There were about 100 students there and we split into North Campus vs. Central Campus (North comprises of the Engineering, Music, Theater and Architecture schools while Central is mainly the Arts schools). We then played Capture the flag till 1030pm in the night. Quite a sight to see for everyone walking through the Diag yesterday. And it was about 12 degrees Celsius when we were playing, and everyone was in shorts! WTF! I was in jeans and it was still cold. Need to adjust quickly! Everyone is really nice and its quite easy to fit in. Might be going back to play again today. :D
Cheers!
Anyhoo, yesterday was the day where we International engineering students register for classes. It was quite an annoying process because we guys are signing up for classes the latest (the American students have already signed up for classes in Summer) and we had all the last choice classes. So trying to fit them into our time-tables was quite a messy process. Listening to the swearing going on in the room in a multitude of languages was amusing though.
I finally met more people from Bursley hall yesterday! After meeting and talking to them for a while, we ended up going down to the Diag (Diagonal) to play capture the flag. It was INSANE. There were about 100 students there and we split into North Campus vs. Central Campus (North comprises of the Engineering, Music, Theater and Architecture schools while Central is mainly the Arts schools). We then played Capture the flag till 1030pm in the night. Quite a sight to see for everyone walking through the Diag yesterday. And it was about 12 degrees Celsius when we were playing, and everyone was in shorts! WTF! I was in jeans and it was still cold. Need to adjust quickly! Everyone is really nice and its quite easy to fit in. Might be going back to play again today. :D
Cheers!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Orientation
Just finished the first two day of orientation!!!!!!!!!!!
Nah, it didn't deserve so many exclamation marks. It was mostly talks and formalities on both days. But it was still fun. Learning the Michigan Fight song was hilarious and the play they put up to describe the “life of an undergraduate student” was entertaining. Getting to meet all the other international students from an AMAZING spread of countries was quite cool too. I met, (in no particular order) a Mexican, an Australian, a Spaniard, a New Jersey native (why she’s international I don’t know) two people from Hong Kong, an English girl and a BOATLOAD of Indians. Oh how could I forget? Out of about 500++ international students, one third or more are Chinese. And special mention goes to this guy living on my floor in my residence hall who’s from Kazakhstan. Cool eh??
Day one comprised of introductions, formal Homeland Department check-in (yea one of those American governmental things) and a campus tour. Everything was alright except the last one. The tour. Not that it was boring. IT WAS IN THE SODDING RAIN. The weather on day one sucked bad. It has been raining incessantly making everything soggy, wet and COLD. Stupid tropical storm Danny (yea that’s what the current hurricane system off the east coast is called) is messing everything up. I was drenched like a dog and we still kept walking. Thank god I didn’t get foot rot or something. But today (Day 2) was just brilliant. It’s nice and sunny, but there’s still a cool breeze flowing non-stop. Day 2 was a bit retarded because all we did was to sit down and listen to stupid talks. The first one was supposed to be designed for us to learn how to properly use the Wolverine Portal system at UofM, but it turned out to be a talk where an old lady was lecturing us on how to use the internet. Pretty much EVERYONE zoned out and went to sleep. The student panel question and answer session was more interesting though.
A couple of days back me and my dad decided to be adventurous and drove all the way down to a place called Auburn hills to meet his friend (mentioned 2 posts ago). Although we did have directions, it was still a bit scary considering that one missed turn and you can end up anywhere. And it was raining. Like hell. Sense a pattern?
Despite all the fun I’m having out here, I’d have to admit that I’m still missing home a bit I guess. It’s just the general Singapore-ness that I’m missing. Anyone who’s lived there and then moved out will know what I’m talking about.
Cheers friends.
Nah, it didn't deserve so many exclamation marks. It was mostly talks and formalities on both days. But it was still fun. Learning the Michigan Fight song was hilarious and the play they put up to describe the “life of an undergraduate student” was entertaining. Getting to meet all the other international students from an AMAZING spread of countries was quite cool too. I met, (in no particular order) a Mexican, an Australian, a Spaniard, a New Jersey native (why she’s international I don’t know) two people from Hong Kong, an English girl and a BOATLOAD of Indians. Oh how could I forget? Out of about 500++ international students, one third or more are Chinese. And special mention goes to this guy living on my floor in my residence hall who’s from Kazakhstan. Cool eh??
Day one comprised of introductions, formal Homeland Department check-in (yea one of those American governmental things) and a campus tour. Everything was alright except the last one. The tour. Not that it was boring. IT WAS IN THE SODDING RAIN. The weather on day one sucked bad. It has been raining incessantly making everything soggy, wet and COLD. Stupid tropical storm Danny (yea that’s what the current hurricane system off the east coast is called) is messing everything up. I was drenched like a dog and we still kept walking. Thank god I didn’t get foot rot or something. But today (Day 2) was just brilliant. It’s nice and sunny, but there’s still a cool breeze flowing non-stop. Day 2 was a bit retarded because all we did was to sit down and listen to stupid talks. The first one was supposed to be designed for us to learn how to properly use the Wolverine Portal system at UofM, but it turned out to be a talk where an old lady was lecturing us on how to use the internet. Pretty much EVERYONE zoned out and went to sleep. The student panel question and answer session was more interesting though.
A couple of days back me and my dad decided to be adventurous and drove all the way down to a place called Auburn hills to meet his friend (mentioned 2 posts ago). Although we did have directions, it was still a bit scary considering that one missed turn and you can end up anywhere. And it was raining. Like hell. Sense a pattern?
Despite all the fun I’m having out here, I’d have to admit that I’m still missing home a bit I guess. It’s just the general Singapore-ness that I’m missing. Anyone who’s lived there and then moved out will know what I’m talking about.
Cheers friends.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Home and Time
Its 6.00am in the morning when I’m writing this so I apologize early for any bad grammar and spelling that might crop up.
I’ve been in Michigan for about 3 days now. And I guess the realization is slowly dawning on me that this is going to be “home” for me for the next 4 years. And as I type that sentence, I wonder, what is home? The place you were born? Or the place where you grew up? Home must surely feel like the place where most of your memories are found right? Homesickness I already gnawing slowly at the outsides of the strong front that I’m trying to put up for the people I meet. What’s made this all worse is the fact that I haven’t been able to get an Internet connection at the place that I’m staying and that’s made talking to and emailing the people I care slightly more vexing. So even though Joan has been an amazing Innkeeper and all, I’m going to be really happy to move out to the Days Inn where a “high-speed internet” (as advertised) connection is available. (EDIT: Yea I’m here now, and the internet is awesome)
Monday was a fun day (I’m going to refrain from using words like yesterday because that could lead to confusion.). After breakfast we walked down to the student services office to get my MCard and my bank account opened. We actually expected it to take a lot longer than what it did, so we ended up with lots of time on our hands. We walked all the way to North Campus (distance close to 7km I think) without even knowing that we walked that far. The weather is one thing that I have really fallen in love with. At least, I’m going to say that until the winter comes around to bite me in the ass. But yesterday it was about 21 degrees Celsius (warm by Michigan fall standards) and it made walking that far amazingly easy. Almost zero perspiration too. Bursley Hall (my dorm) seems to be situated in the middle of some kind of forest! The engineering campus is also spectacular. Another thing that only came to my realization yesterday is that this is a 192 year old university, and many of the original buildings are still standing. I’ll put up the photos when I post this so you can see what I’m talking about.
The only question that seems to be on my mind is “where the hell did 9 months go?” I realize that I’ve left a lot unsaid and undone back home. And that makes me a little frustrated because things might have changed drastically by the time I get back this December in a hope of fulfilling some of these things. I now understand what Kenneth meant by, “Time’s stopped for me. It’s like the world kept moving while I was still stuck in the past.” Granted those aren’t the exact words but the meaning is still the same. I just hope I won’t be too late.
And I’ll keep hoping.
Cheers.
I’ve been in Michigan for about 3 days now. And I guess the realization is slowly dawning on me that this is going to be “home” for me for the next 4 years. And as I type that sentence, I wonder, what is home? The place you were born? Or the place where you grew up? Home must surely feel like the place where most of your memories are found right? Homesickness I already gnawing slowly at the outsides of the strong front that I’m trying to put up for the people I meet. What’s made this all worse is the fact that I haven’t been able to get an Internet connection at the place that I’m staying and that’s made talking to and emailing the people I care slightly more vexing. So even though Joan has been an amazing Innkeeper and all, I’m going to be really happy to move out to the Days Inn where a “high-speed internet” (as advertised) connection is available. (EDIT: Yea I’m here now, and the internet is awesome)
Monday was a fun day (I’m going to refrain from using words like yesterday because that could lead to confusion.). After breakfast we walked down to the student services office to get my MCard and my bank account opened. We actually expected it to take a lot longer than what it did, so we ended up with lots of time on our hands. We walked all the way to North Campus (distance close to 7km I think) without even knowing that we walked that far. The weather is one thing that I have really fallen in love with. At least, I’m going to say that until the winter comes around to bite me in the ass. But yesterday it was about 21 degrees Celsius (warm by Michigan fall standards) and it made walking that far amazingly easy. Almost zero perspiration too. Bursley Hall (my dorm) seems to be situated in the middle of some kind of forest! The engineering campus is also spectacular. Another thing that only came to my realization yesterday is that this is a 192 year old university, and many of the original buildings are still standing. I’ll put up the photos when I post this so you can see what I’m talking about.
The only question that seems to be on my mind is “where the hell did 9 months go?” I realize that I’ve left a lot unsaid and undone back home. And that makes me a little frustrated because things might have changed drastically by the time I get back this December in a hope of fulfilling some of these things. I now understand what Kenneth meant by, “Time’s stopped for me. It’s like the world kept moving while I was still stuck in the past.” Granted those aren’t the exact words but the meaning is still the same. I just hope I won’t be too late.
And I’ll keep hoping.
Cheers.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Land of the Free
Right. So this is a bit late.
(A little warning, this post will jump all over the place and will not follow any set chronological order)
The excuse first. The Inn that I’m staying in for now doesn’t have an internet connection for one reason or the other. So even though I typed this in the morning here, I’m only uploading it from a nearby Starbucks. But this problem will be remedied from Monday evening (local time, erm Tuesday morning for you guys) when I move into Days Inn. Ok, excuse done.
So I’m here. Believe it or not, it still hasn’t really sunk in that I’m in America yet, and this is where I’m going to be for the next 4 months at a minimum. It still feels like it’s a momentary break, like I’ll wake up one morning back in Singapore. I’m pretty sure the loneliness will really bite down when my dad leaves 2 weeks from now.
A little add on to the last post. I realized that I didn’t really explain anything in detail or properly when I was sitting at Narita. It’s simple saying that you only realize what you’ve got when it’s gone. Or in this case, when you’re gone. My last few days in Singapore led me to the realization that I have fantastic friends. And the surprise at the airport really affirms that and makes me want to say that again but in caps.
I HAVE FANTASTIC FRIENDS.
Yea, there. That’s done. Let me be honest. I was pretty bummed about the fact that my flight was at some ungodly hour that would make any expectation of people to show up almost inhumane. But the fact that 9 guys stayed over in the airport from 11pm the previous night was just so amazing. The cheesecake, the photo album, the letter, and the gay passport pouch (I love you Gavin :D) was even more astonishing. And everything just added up to making leaving so much harder. But seriously and sincerely, thanks one and all.
Now for my experiences once I landed here. First, I realized that they’re really serious about immigration and security. But thankfully everything went along without a hitch. Met Rajkumar uncle who was going to drive us up to Ann Arbor for Detroit. Here’s a little back story. Rajkumar uncle is my Dad’s college mate from about 25 years back. They haven’t been in touch for almost the same period of time. Imagine my surprise when I find out that he, despite all his other commitments that day (which were quite substantial trust me), came all the way down to pick us up. Awesome eh? Right back to the original story. So we reached the Library Inn at about 6pm and we met the most awesome inn keeper around. The inn is great too. Pictures will be up on FB at about the same time this blog post goes up. Went for a walk with my dad to explore Ann Arbor, ate at a vegetarian restaurant called Seva where the food was great and I was introduced to a very important lesson. AMERICAN SERVING SIZES ARE VASTLY DIFFERENT. Actually, that’s something I realized for many things. Everything here is bigger. The Roads. The concept of size and distance is radically different in comparison to Singapore. Heh. I stop myself from typing “back home” and I type Singapore instead. I shall start using “back home” from now on. Haha. Walked back and fell asleep.
Woke up today (23rd for me, 24th for you guys) got breakfast and went down to Meijers, the local 24hr supermarket. And when Americans say super, they mean super. The ones back in Singapore are just trusty sidekicks in comparison. Walked around, bought some stuff. Haven’t done much after that today though. Rajkumar uncle took us to a BestBuy to get my dad a prepaid phone for him to get some office work done. Will be walking down to the North Campus where my dorm is later.
Right then. That’s it for now. Photos on FB!
Cheers people.
(A little warning, this post will jump all over the place and will not follow any set chronological order)
The excuse first. The Inn that I’m staying in for now doesn’t have an internet connection for one reason or the other. So even though I typed this in the morning here, I’m only uploading it from a nearby Starbucks. But this problem will be remedied from Monday evening (local time, erm Tuesday morning for you guys) when I move into Days Inn. Ok, excuse done.
So I’m here. Believe it or not, it still hasn’t really sunk in that I’m in America yet, and this is where I’m going to be for the next 4 months at a minimum. It still feels like it’s a momentary break, like I’ll wake up one morning back in Singapore. I’m pretty sure the loneliness will really bite down when my dad leaves 2 weeks from now.
A little add on to the last post. I realized that I didn’t really explain anything in detail or properly when I was sitting at Narita. It’s simple saying that you only realize what you’ve got when it’s gone. Or in this case, when you’re gone. My last few days in Singapore led me to the realization that I have fantastic friends. And the surprise at the airport really affirms that and makes me want to say that again but in caps.
I HAVE FANTASTIC FRIENDS.
Yea, there. That’s done. Let me be honest. I was pretty bummed about the fact that my flight was at some ungodly hour that would make any expectation of people to show up almost inhumane. But the fact that 9 guys stayed over in the airport from 11pm the previous night was just so amazing. The cheesecake, the photo album, the letter, and the gay passport pouch (I love you Gavin :D) was even more astonishing. And everything just added up to making leaving so much harder. But seriously and sincerely, thanks one and all.
Now for my experiences once I landed here. First, I realized that they’re really serious about immigration and security. But thankfully everything went along without a hitch. Met Rajkumar uncle who was going to drive us up to Ann Arbor for Detroit. Here’s a little back story. Rajkumar uncle is my Dad’s college mate from about 25 years back. They haven’t been in touch for almost the same period of time. Imagine my surprise when I find out that he, despite all his other commitments that day (which were quite substantial trust me), came all the way down to pick us up. Awesome eh? Right back to the original story. So we reached the Library Inn at about 6pm and we met the most awesome inn keeper around. The inn is great too. Pictures will be up on FB at about the same time this blog post goes up. Went for a walk with my dad to explore Ann Arbor, ate at a vegetarian restaurant called Seva where the food was great and I was introduced to a very important lesson. AMERICAN SERVING SIZES ARE VASTLY DIFFERENT. Actually, that’s something I realized for many things. Everything here is bigger. The Roads. The concept of size and distance is radically different in comparison to Singapore. Heh. I stop myself from typing “back home” and I type Singapore instead. I shall start using “back home” from now on. Haha. Walked back and fell asleep.
Woke up today (23rd for me, 24th for you guys) got breakfast and went down to Meijers, the local 24hr supermarket. And when Americans say super, they mean super. The ones back in Singapore are just trusty sidekicks in comparison. Walked around, bought some stuff. Haven’t done much after that today though. Rajkumar uncle took us to a BestBuy to get my dad a prepaid phone for him to get some office work done. Will be walking down to the North Campus where my dorm is later.
Right then. That’s it for now. Photos on FB!
Cheers people.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
LIVE FROM NARITA
Sup people.
This is me live from Narita! Using some funny internet called BOINGO. haha. Nuff said. I've walked around for a while checking out all the awesome Japanese stuff. Got some shut eye on the flight so I feel pretty fresh right now. :D
Anyhoo, I had an AWESOME surprise this morning from the gang of guys I feel so honoured to call my friends. (yea and in 4 months I'll be spelling it as honOred.) The cake, the photo album, the passport pouch from Gavin, everything was amazing. YES I DID CRY. But only after I went out of sight. :D The photo album in my opinion is going to be used a lot to get over home sickness. haha. And the calls from Firdaus who's in camp and Bernice who was probably medicated were great too.
THANK YOU JONATHAN
THANK YOU EUGENE
THANK YOU KENNETH
THANK YOU BALAJI
THANK YOU GAVIN
THANK YOU ZHONG TING
THANK YOU KAI JIE
THANK YOU MARCUS
THANK YOU VARUN
Cheers!
This is me live from Narita! Using some funny internet called BOINGO. haha. Nuff said. I've walked around for a while checking out all the awesome Japanese stuff. Got some shut eye on the flight so I feel pretty fresh right now. :D
Anyhoo, I had an AWESOME surprise this morning from the gang of guys I feel so honoured to call my friends. (yea and in 4 months I'll be spelling it as honOred.) The cake, the photo album, the passport pouch from Gavin, everything was amazing. YES I DID CRY. But only after I went out of sight. :D The photo album in my opinion is going to be used a lot to get over home sickness. haha. And the calls from Firdaus who's in camp and Bernice who was probably medicated were great too.
THANK YOU JONATHAN
THANK YOU EUGENE
THANK YOU KENNETH
THANK YOU BALAJI
THANK YOU GAVIN
THANK YOU ZHONG TING
THANK YOU KAI JIE
THANK YOU MARCUS
THANK YOU VARUN
Cheers!
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