Sunday, August 20, 2006
adjusting?
i feel as though i'm still adjusting back to singapore.
the weather. the food. the people. and more importantly, school.
oddly, i'm starting to miss my regular soya-milk and corn pops, the salad bar where i only eat carrots, lettuce, 2 slices of cucumber and lots of ranch dressing, and the fries. I miss the fries terribly, and i miss having them with lots of bbq sauce and diced onions.
the fries i had at burger king last week was bad. soggy, un-golden brown, and just bad. trust me.
and btw, i'm STILL trying to find corn-pops in singapore. i remember eating them when i was a kid. so where are they now!??!? i need my corn pops and soya milk fix badly.
and i'm not supposed to be talking about food. but as usual, i cant help it. i'm a part time foodie. some people eat to live, while others live to eat. i guess i'm much more of the latter.
i get a kick out of tasting sauces. and i love having steamed prawns with spring onions and chili steeped in soya sauce, lime juice, sesame oil and fish sauce.
and i just had them today at imperial treasure!
as usual, we over-ordered. but i'm not complaining. hahahaha. but i'll just have to live with an ever increasing pouch. do girls get pouches, or isit a strictly-male term?
I'm having lab session tomorrow. it feels weird to be attending lab sessions after so long. i guess one good thing about level 3 lab modules is that most of them do not require lab reports. haha. unless of course, its microbio or immunology, which i have absolutely no intentions of taking at all. so... ^_^
have i mentioned, I'm taking japanese this semester and from the responses I've heard from my friends, they think i'm quite nuts to be taking a language module in year 3. hmm. but considering i'm only taking 4 modules this semester (although world history seems quite killer with an average of 35 pages of readings for each lect, and thankfully theres only a weekly lecture), things should work out fine in the end. i'm choosing not to think of how i'll actually manage, but to just get in the mood of things, and get the cranky engine of mine running. i wonder how i'm actually going to get my cap to 4.2 by this semester (seriously), when for the past 2 sems, i have been hovering dangerously around the 4.0 mark.
i need the second-class honours, i cant imagine getting a second lower. which is bad, since i'm supposed to be studying out of pure interest, curiousity and self enrichment, and of course, for the attainment of knowledge instead of the mindless going after of grades which amount to nothing but a mere piece of paper at the end of my four years.
what exactly do i want. i have no idea. and i'm halfway through my university life.
this blog needs a revamp. thats for sure.
sarah at 10:24 pm
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
reality check.
The whole UCLA experience ended with a blast when the 12 of us from nus feasted on cheesecakes and more chessecakes at the Cheesecake factory.
i'm missing the place, everything about the place. and now when i'm logging into cors bidding for my modules, i can't help but look back at the summer trip as surreal and possibly a dream come true (in a sort of way).
this whole entry shall be dedicated to pictures
taken on that fateful and beautiful day. reminsce.
at the cheesecake factory.
lunch, or rather, dunch was a delicious thai chicken pasta that reminded me terribly of rojak because of all the nuts and sweet sauce. and i never knew raw beansprouts and spring onions tastes great with green linguine. yums.
and the highlight of the meal, the sole reason why we didn't even complain when we missed our stop and had to pay another 75 cents when we took bus 3 in the opposite direction.. the absolutely delectable Godiva cheesecake!! woohoo!
i'm a non-whip cream person but trust me, when you eat this cake, you HAVE to have some of the whipped cream. perfect combi of whipped cream and super duper chocolatey chocolate cake with bits of Godiva flakes interspersed among the 3 layers of pure delight. i'm sounding very incoherent, but that could be just the high of thinking about the fact that i got to enjoy such a wonderful cake. i sound insanely chocophilic.
the 12 of us ! many thanks to Josh, the friendly and patient guy who attended to us, and who also had to take like, almost 10 photographs for us. and don't be deceived by the deco of the restaurant. it looks high-end, but the food and of course, the CHEESECAKES are worth every dollar and cent.
more of us ! at the entrance of the cheesecake factory.
i love this sign. NO CHEESECAKE PARKING. the ambiguity of the english language.
black and white. on the way back to campus. picture taken through the vandalized window. if you look hard enough, you should be able to see the scratchings on the window but thats not the point.
deep in thought on the bus. or not. we were just posing. ;P but kala really looks like she's absorbed in something. hmm.
reminscing.
sarah at 8:38 am
Friday, August 04, 2006
irony.
the whole irony is how i'm missing this place already and i was dying to go home, counting down the days (desperately, abit insanely too) to home ever since the plane touched base here.
i miss UCLA. i miss LA. i really do.
i miss the food, amazingly, although my friends and i keep grumbling about how sweet and salty everything is. no wonder americans suffer from corony diseases and hypertension.
i miss the fries. the convenient access to fries here that make me eat them 3 times a day for 5 days a week. crazy i tell u.
i love my fries with bbq sauce, onions, and mayo. not surprised if i should have put on 6 kg during my stay here. hahahaa.
i love how coffee bean and star bucks is everywhere here in LA. then theres peets', jack and jills and other nice coffee joints that serve a good cuppa with hot, yummy pastries.
i love westwood village.
the smell of dried pee along the pavements is one big turn off.
i love it how the people here always respond to my thankyous.
the people in LA are friendly, and they always say, "Hi, how are you", or "Hows your day" when you enter the shops, and respond with a "you're welcome!" cheerfully whenever you say your thankyous.
i love going into borders, getting lost in the multi storeys of books, DVDs, CDs, and other nitty-grittyish things that interests me quite abit. ^_^ and not forgetting the buy 3 get the 4th book free offers! woohoo! and the staff there are very friendly and helpful, even if you make them look high and low for your possibly out-of-print book and decide not to buy anything in the end.
i love the shopping here. shopping in a foreign country, with shops like Roxy, urban outfitters, bananna republic, American eagle outfitters, GAP or even Nike town takes on a whole new meaning. haha. plus, theres the whole novelty of shopping at third st promenade that gets me addicted even though the stuff there aren't cheap to begin with.
ahh, the pleasures derived from retail therapy.
and now, i really have to study. final exam is tomorrow and i'm, fairly confident not in my own ability, but in God's blessings on me, that everything will turn out ay okay tomorrow. :)
amen.
1 day to home ! Yikes !!
sarah at 12:35 pm
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
crazy photo-taking day...
one of those days again.
when we know we should be studying, but instead, we take photos!
lotsa photos!
photos during lunch at the Bruin cafe, where attempts at using kala's 10sec timer were very successful, such that we adjourned to my room to continue our photo madness.
lunch was good. good meaning a good change from the somewhat-getting-boring pot roast, burgers and fries, salad bar, and chicken fried rice that we usually have for lunch. i'm not complaining, but a change is refreshing once in a while.
a big thanks goes out to my nus friends here at rieber hall. although i doubt they will ever get to read this entry. haha. thats the whole point about keeping a blog ain't it? you can write whatever you want without having to worry about any awkwardness that should arise if you say things straight in the face.
talk to the hand cos the face ain't listening. lynn truss.
definitely a book worth reading.
yah. anyway back to my nus friends. i'm really thankful to God that we are able to get along more than well together, sharing some common interests, and being great company for ping-pong or just for meals.
i think i'm getting pretty used to UCLA. and now, i think i might actually don't want to go back home now. na. i miss home and i can't wait to get home.
but this place, the people, the sg friends and the memories will always have a place in my heart. Oh, and so-not forgetting the food here. i shall definitely miss the buffet-style meals served in hall. and compared to the food we get in nus (although im missing curry yong tou fu and my nasi padang tremendously), the food here will be times better than in the average nus canteen. barf.
oh, and did i mention. on the way to the cafe, we saw a squrriel running away with a piece of bagel in its mouth. terribly cute sight i tell you. haha. oh yes, another thing i'll miss here, is the frequent squrriel-sightings. but i think squrriels aren't all that cute beneath the furball exterior. i believe them to be quite agressive creatures esp when it comes to stealing their nuts. lol.
4 days to home !!
sarah at 7:03 am