saturday night feverrr

school has finally started officially for UCLA, and although i've only had two classes so far, i'm really liking my classes (for now). the classes here are conducted with rather primitive technology; no powerpoint, proper mikes, projectors.. just the trusty old whiteboard and a marker pen to impart deep knowledge and wisdom. as a result, things are a little more slow-paced, relative to the racing speedometers in NUS lecture halls; alot more is required of students to pay attention and ask questions because of the lack of spoonfeeding materials, which may actually be a gd thing!

academics aside, home life @ Rieber Terrace has been pretty awesome. despite my room being one of the barest of the floor (because both my roommate and i are exchange students so we didnt bother to buy a radio, TV, or any durables), activities have greatly made up for the lack of room entertainment.

a) Party @ Daniel's last weekend: was a rather mild party with whisky shots and stupid party games, which attendees blew outta proportion for a short while because one person told another person about the party, and that person told yet another, and so on. caleb drove me to malibu beach at night to check it out, and it was beautiful even at night; the sand was super cold and the waves super strong.

b) Party @ Coop on friday: we had bible study + dinner at ingrid's place on landfair ave right before the party; the irony. but anyway, dinner was REALLY awesome because melanie cooked us curry and rice; GOOD curry rice, not like the crappy american rice they serve in dining halls. i was so pleased for the rest of the night. then it was back to chris' for drinking and horror movies



c) Dance party @ sproul + drinking games at tiverton: it was a superr fun night; sproul had their own dance party in the middle of the courtyard, and it was sorta like an outdoor dance party. the fog came in too so it was really cold, which rly worked out cuz you didnt feel that hot in the dancing crowd.



then we decided to get a drink, and went to ralph's to buy alcohol, and then to johnathan's apartment at tiverton to play drinking games (which were hilarious btw thanks to miles' drama games)




funny enough, it was the guys who couldnt hold their liquor, and did really stupid (but hilarious) things like climbing on top of the bruin bear at like 2am for a photo (the bruin bear is not easy to scale - i tried)

more drinking occured back at brandon's room, where we opened a bottle of wine and watched "silence of the lambs". i ended up crashing out on the floor for tt night; thank god for carpets!

today i went shopping at westside pavillion, this mall about 3 miles down from ucla. and then met the singaporeans in ucla for dinner, before crashing deb's for movie night (spaceballs, which i totally do not get but its funny anw)

crashing out for tonight school officially starts tmr! :D

LA week 2

"Even though the journey's long
And I know the road is hard
Well, the One who's gone before me
He will help me carry on"

i've been feeling pretty homesick these few days, esp after DICOP activities died down. thankfully, the move-in to Rieber Terrace was pretty smooth, and chris helped me trendously with the three-part move in. a couple of us drove down to Target to get our dorm supplies; i ended up getting alotta stuff that i prolly didnt need because there were so many nice things at target at affordable prices i couldnt help it. i've got nice new pink sheets now; its finally starting to feel like home.

pictures: we had a DICOP beach activity to santa monica beach






abrupt ending cuz i gotta go off now

in the city of angels

after living outta a suitcase for the past 1.5weeks, i'm... still living outta a suitcase, but now alot more comfortably ever since i moved into my aunt's house ytd; esp dinner which was homecooked chinese food, which is truly madly deeply missed. unfortch, im moving out into "little inn motel" with giovanni & his friend tmr, because 3 hour bus rides to UCLA from aunt jeanne's just doesnt appeal to me; at all - i found myself stranded in downtown LA today evening, unable to find a cab or bus at a deserted city center at about 9pm, only to realize that alotta buses stop operations by 8 or 9pm. thank god aunt jeanne drove out to get me.

i've always thot the deck @ nus was a great place to people watch, cuz you get to see different people doing diff things at diff times. but today, in which i clocked almost 5 hours just sitting on the LA buses, i realized that people-watching on LA buses kicked the deck's ass anytime. from norbit-lookalikes, to crazy old folks wearing ucla sweatshirts chanting ucla cheers while holding a walking stick, to irritable hispanics talking loudly on the phone, to random black/mexican guys siting next to me and asking for my phone number.. i've seen it all on today's bus trips to UCLA and back. my mom's rly proud of the fact that i've been thru it and seen the hidden side of glitzy glamorous hollywood; real people living real lives in a harsh society; i guess i could say the same, but im just really glad im getting the car in a few days time, and then moving into the dorms so i could skip the whole bus thing altogether

anyhow, enough talk. the city of angels does prove to be angelic in its beautiful way, esp thru its beaches and really friendly/nice/helpful people that i've been blessed to meet thru orientation, hostels/hotels and randomly on the streets (yes, we actually made friends with strangers on the streets cuz they stopped to help us; they're THAT friendly)

tyler, enru, rom, rohai, and andrew came to pick me up from orientation ytd, and we took a trip to beverly hills to drool at glamorous unaffordable (not in the near future at least) mansions owned by celebrities, or just people who are too damn rich. @ sunset, we drove down to venice beach for drinks, photos and to watch people surfing as the tide came in.



three words - breathtaking, majestic, and god-created (:
hopefully i'll get to go back there on friday with the DICOP (dashew international center orientation program) people, its just so beautiful and peaceful; the seagulls so tame, and the view so picture perfect!

on sunday, we did a trip to six flags as well! just a 40min drive up from santa monica, and everything was just 33USD. the rides there were INSANE; i went thru rides i wld never have imagined myself going thru before, got spinned a thousand times in all diff directions, felt my stomach in my throat a billion times, and was strapped into the rides in all different directions (i was half-standing for some, and strung superman style for some); i think i screamed like i never before either, it was so fun!
pictures that romita took; the rest of us were too excited to bring cameras along



in sanfrancisco we had a blast as well, esp on the last day, when all the girls (angel, jem, huishan) stayed at rom and my hostel, and we stayed up all night watching "hostel" (yes how ironic) with Vadjim, a Belarusian guy who was the epitomy of chivalry - he cooked sausages for us hungry girls at 3am in the night, after we rejected his spagetti offer.

here's us at the hostel on our last (sobs) day - all the girls + vadjim


also, pictures from the biking trip @ golden gate bridge

that's it for now. i'm so busy these days there isnt much time to blog in the first place; i'm skipping the first half of orientation tmr so i can pack and check into little inn first, before going for the 2nd part of orientation, and also a picnic by the lawns in UCLA or something (:

last day in san fran

this is becoming like a travel blog of sorts; but its a gd way to update friends/family bout the trip thus far, and also a means of keeping a track of my travels. pictures will come slightly later, when i get back to LA because i left my USB cable at aunt jeanne's, together with my other HUMONGOUS luggage that i will have to lug to UCLA somehow

speaking of luggage, i came to sanfran with one small hand carry, and will be returning with that, a huge bagpack full of things, and three other big bags that will be carried like some underpacked PRC traveling home from the city back to her farm. we intended to dress andrew up with nice clothes, and hence made another trip to forever21 for him, but exited with another bagful of clothes SIGH.

before that we took a ferry across the sanfran bay to the alcatraz prison. which was pretty cool, complete with an audio tour of the place. it was one of the better prisons i've seen, with a REALLY beautiful view since it was just a little island surrounded by the sea (:

huishan's also over from berkeley today to stay with us at the hostel, and jem & angel are staying over for a night of games and movies for the last day of sanfran :( i dont wanna leave...

san fran baby

greetings from San Francisco!
it's a beautiful, wonderful city; people here are just so friendly and helpful, and we've received nothing but hospitality, great shopping, and awesome scenery
after a SIX hours coach ride from LA, we've settled into a youth hostel @ ellis street, near the city-center for the past 2 nights
because it's just rom & i in the girls room, we've got 2 other roommates - Lana (from New Orleans), and Irina (from Russia) whom we've gotten quite attached to thanks to late night chats and bagels-and-coffee breakfasts in the morning

we did a biking trail today with Irina across the Golden Gate Bridge; a full 6 hours of biking in REALLY cold winds and temperature
it was a pretty tough ride because san francisco is so hilly, but when we got to the top of everything and looked down, it was just so breathtaking that it made the aching thighs worth it, esp since loads of pictures turned out rly nice
golden gate bridge itself was very grand; alot more grand and beautiful than in movies, i think. we rode across the bridge, and took more pictures from the other side
we met two german guys at the observation tower for golden gate bridge, and did the return journey together with them; and we had good talks with them on the way back, when we werent losing our breaths or panting over the hilly roads

on a sidenote, shopping here is to die for. we spent 3-4hours in union square ytd just for shopping in forever21, gap and urban outfitters; and just across the street laid the welcome arms of abercrombie, american eagle, etc which will be checked out tomorrow =D

im tapping on the free wifi in the hostel lounge right now, but battery's running out for my laptop, so thats all the updates for now. i'm rly loving sanfran!

hello from Los Angeles

i've slept less than 5 hours in the past.. 3 days (in singapore time), so im just blogging to say that i've arrived in Los Angeles, the land that drives on the wrong side of the car/road; with terrifying customs officers (i saw an indian guy get deported), and heck alot of freeways.

the journey here was really tough; we had a 12 hour transit in tokyo coupled with the magics of jetlag.
but it was also very blessed, because despite all that, we managed to shop at Aeon @ narita city (i got a few tops in my sleep-craved mode), and also booked a dayroom @ narita airport last minute to catch 3 hours of snooze time and shower.

currently "checked in" to aunt jeanne's home @ riverside drive, just 10 min away from downtown LA. a quaint little house one-story house that's the epitomy of cozy living. my uncle and aunt have been TREMENDOUS help, they've offered to help me on move-in day, and also to shop for dormitory necessities, phone cards, and even helped me pack for my sanfran trip. they've made me feel alot better about being in this strange land that i will call home for the next 4 months; i have a feeling i'll be seeing alot of them in these months!

tyler & i navigated the barrage of freeways to pick up rohai & andrew @ union station, where they spent 4 hours on a train ride from Irvine instead of a 45min drive; then dinner @ carl's junior because we got utterly lost, and decided to park ourselves at smth familiar to get a hold of our bearings, and fill the tummies. on a side note, driving on the left side isnt too different or difficult, just the turnings and parallel parkings on the right may require a lil adjustments. also, i've to rmb not to flip the wiper switch whenever i try to signal.

crashing out for tonight. i'm SO tired.

there is none like You

i started on "Captivating" by Stasi Eldredge today during my hair appointment, a book that was given to me from my DG (discipleship group) for my birthday this year. it talks about life and God from a woman's perspective, and discusses the purpose that God created women, wholly different from our counterparts, to serve different missions and goals that He has set us out to.

here's an excerpt that really struck a chord with me:
"What is it that God wants from you?
He wants the same thing that you want. He wants to be loved. He wants to be known as only lovers can know each other. He wants intimacy with you. Yes, he wants your obedience, but only when it flows out of a heart filled with love for him. "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me" (John 14:21). Following hard after Jesus is the heart's natural response when it has been captured and has fallen deeply in love with him"
- Stasi Eldredge, Captivating

so beautifully written; our romancing relationship with God. a very timely reminder of His love, and the need to flower intimacy amidst changes, problems, and all that we're going through. the need for solitude and silence, so as to hear His voice and to speak with Him; to bare our vulnerabilities before Him. it has truly awakened my heart, it feels like stirring from deep slumber, being able to breathe again, an immense sense of peace that sends waves of warmth thru me.

"The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want;
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for His name's sake"
- Psalm 23

and even though i was so far away, so dry, i've been blessed. huikai, janice and i met up on monday for a good dinner, reminiscing chats, and loads of laughter over huikai's work&travel adventures in Yellowstone, and also janice's work drama (she quit on her first day!). huikai gave me many tips on packing for US as well - i'm now only packing a mini hand-carry luggage, to be stuffed into a big EMPTY luggage so i have room for shopping/textbooks/rubbish that i'm gna be hauling home. then there was reso welcome tea on tues, which was really rather high and crazy towards the end. it's just really nice and heartwarming to see everyone, frm diff batches come together to have a gd time and fellowship and singing.

3 more days till im flying, and i'm really pretty psyched about it! altho there were many screwups in the planning process, but God is a faithful God, and he has brought us thru so many difficulties. for now, we've got all our hotels/bus ticks booked for the trip, and we're good to go.

i'm so excited, but im really gna miss everyone tho.

"there is none like You,
no one else can touch my heart like You do"