vic and lulu edventure

Finally!

2007-07-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

we are going to take the plane back to sg tonight!! 1.20am flight on 8 July (US time), will be back in 18 hrs time non 9 jul, 1230pm (sg time)!!!

Meet up soon ya!

Cya

the end

2007-06-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

Our adventure at UC berkeley has officially came to an end.

From the left: Lisa, from Korea ( sorry, she is attached alr)

Our fatherly and caring uncle at Peet's

Sather Gate of UC Berkeley

Lulu is off to tour and shop around US with her mummy and aunt, while i am at my uncle's place again.. waiting for time to pass... Both of us will be gg on a 4 day tour to Las Vegas, Yosemite and Grand Canyon but setting off at different dates.

I just saw lulu's sms tt her mummy and aunt did not arrive at the hotel on time, maybe there were some delays for their flight.. Dunno how she is doing now, kinda worried for her...THis the first time tt both of us split up and travelled alone..Well, i supposed we were v much dependent on each other for this period.TT's y both of us feel quite weird and lost..

We will be back on 9 jul...haha, just in time for NTU subject registration...

2007-06-29T02:09:00.000-07:00

Our home for 6 wks, from a v empty room to one tt is filled with notes..

She is our International Business Lecturer, she is an MBA student at Berkeley. Smart!

Macroecons GSI, our clique and Lecturer

We have to say goodbye to Unit 2 Ehrman hall.. sad..

Hass Biz sch..After our last and final econ exam..

International business clique.. We rox!

Our project hangout..

Haiz, we were so chui today.. after the first international biz exam..

This marks the end of GSS, yet our adventure has just started!

lulu's final thoughts abt GSS and berkeley...

2007-06-29T01:18:00.001-07:00

i just tried stuffing a HUGE amt of things into my luggage.. failed attempt.. hiaz.. i guess i've really to split it into 3 bags.. oh gosh.. how am i going to handle so much things tmr??? i'm going to DIE!!!
okie.. for the emotional part...
The entire period at berkeley felt like it happened in just a blink of an eye... seriously.. time really flew past without me noticing.. though there were seriously times tt i felt superly homesick and wanted to go home terribly badly... it was rather minimal compared to wat i had expected.. i guess it was really due to our lack of time!!!
we had SO MUCH to do in so little time... every single second had to be properly planned and made full use of.. there was no time to waste at all.. tt was the life tt i spent in 6 weeks... rush to play.. rush to study.. rush for lessons.. rush for tours... rush to skype.. rush to msn.. blog... sleep...
Actually.. i nv felt tt this GSS trip would be a reality for me.. since i've always been so dependent on my family and nv thought of leaving home at all... being away from everything for abt 2 months was like IMPOSSIBLE... but i guess.. i underestimated myself! hee~
What will I miss most here?
the cold weather tt i've grown to like... the feeling of living in a small town.. the busy lifestyle... crossroads? but most imptly.. ALL my FRIENDS tt i've made here...
I said many byes today... it felt really werid..cus they were BYES tt meant forever... cus we are all from different countries.. it's really quite unlikely to see them again.. BUT.. seems like i grew stronger.. last time farewells were nv DRY.. hee~ but this time.. i didn't cry yet.. maybe later though.. :p
All in all... the trip was really a great experience for me.. it will always take a huge part in my memories.. and it truly helped me grow up! i hope~ really thankful for this chance tt many may not be as lucky to have..
Now it feels like everything is really coming to an END... packing and puting everything into our bags.. just like storing every memory tt we have had here in our minds... feeling rather sad.. but happy tt i've DONE it too...
Main lesson learnt: you'll nv know wat u can do without giving yourself the chance to try it!
hee~ a lesson tt cost 10K US dollar....
tt's the end of berkeley for me... SF, las vegas, grand canyon.. here i come.. wooHoo...
FINALLY... back in SINGAPORE on 9 july! yeah.. looking forward to seeing all of you!
Lulu

Last day of sch

2007-06-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

I still remember writing a post titled "First day of sch" and here i am posting the last..

i have never tot i will really come to BERKELEY.. i tot it was just another "say say only"..
All our hard work paid off today. Its all over, the amount of anxiety in me before setting off for this GSS trip, the amount of agony during the peparation came to an end. It wasnt v long ago that i was pondering whether to back out. It was also not v long ago that i was so frustrated with VISA application, subject registeration, looking for lodging and packing up for the trip.

We made it TODAY.

Berkeley is a nice place to be in.. although i was complaining a lot abt its weather, the homeless ppl, the ulu hall and the ulu hass biz sch, they are all part of my v memorable experience here. It seems like we were still looking for the CHEIT hall, room no. 230 and 210 a few days ago but we are proud to say that we have done well! really well. Too bad that we chose the pass/not pass grading option but not the letter grades, if not, i wont be surprise to see an A .. haha..

For the past few weeks, our daily routine is:

-waking up early at arnd 7 to eat breakfast at Crossroads
-Hurry back to hall to mug
-pack up to go for lunch at Crossroads at 12pm
-go for International Business lecture at 1pm
-go for Macroeconomics Lecture/discussion at 3.30pm
-head back to Crossroads with Mcc, Alfred, lulu, Tattis for dinner
-Chiong to bath/switch on lappy
-skype mummy
-Start mugging again till 12am plus plus

Occassionally, we will squeeze in shopping at the nearby shops if we finished our tests early.Weekends are always reserved for travelling, judging from the 3 GB of photos.... u guys can count the no. of places we have been to.

There is no need for me to follow tt routine from now till 7 jul..I admit that i didnt want it to end today.. at least not so soon..like give me a day or 2? The sense of emptiness was so overwhelming after i hand up my macroecons finals and step out of class.. To the sch, its just any other normal day of a sch term. To me, it marks the end of all the tears and sweat. Everyday in these 7 wks were packed with activities, there is no free time at all, every minute and second must be well made used of. WE are always saying " there is not enough time. We are dead for the exams" BUT we made it! We got 47 out of 50 for the last final international business exam.

Packing up my huge stack of notes, cant believe we have really finished this 6 wks crash course..Looking around the place in UCB, the buildings and stairs were once so foreign, yet i am alr so used to seeing them now.. Looking into the classroom , i can easily find fimilar faces, unlike the first wk when we were so lost..Sat tgt with Mcc, Alfred and lulu for our last macroecons class, everyone appeared to be so normal, but deep down, i think there is a bit of addness ba..

Really v thankful to be here, there is so much to learn and see. There are so many ppl out there who care for me, so many of u who are concern abt whether we can cope. Friends that we made here, ppl who offered help along the way had really made a difference, everyone means a lot to me. Its sad and hard to bid farewell.. Coz i noe tt we wont be able to meet again in the near future.. Keep in touch k!

I will miss this place..

Thanks :)

2007-06-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hihi everyone...

it's like only a little more than 24 hours to our finals.. but i'm seriously not in the mood to study.. so much!!! and we're quite dead cus didn't have time to study thru the weekend.. feeling quite stressed up but WHO CARES... haa~ tt's the usual me.. slacker.. so i decided to make a THANK YOU card to all who have made this trip possible for us.....

1) To our families... it must have been a big decision to allow ur sweet little girls to leave home into a foreign land ALONE.. plus.. the huge sum of $$$ as well! hee~ but we've done it and done it well too! so no more worries.. we'll be back soon:) and.. we've truly learnt alot from this lesson so it's a good investment! :P

2) To our friends back in Singapore... i don't know about vic but i really feel tt i've lost touch with many of you... don't really know much about ur lives anymore and it's been so long since i last spoke to most of you.. so.. when i get back.. i really hope to get all the updates kk? and don't forget my welcome home parties too :)

3) To All our new international frens tt we've made here.. it's been a great 6 weeks here.. though there were tough times such as periods of homesickness.. huge work loads.. late nights but we've endured thru it tgt.. i'm sure we had fun tgt too.. all the weekend outings really played a huge part in making our life here more memorable

4) To all the other NTU frens that we've met here.. hee~ you guys are the ones that we've spent the most amt of time with here.. these were the times where we felt most at home! using singlish.. and talking abt all the Singaporean food tt we miss... WooHOo.. but we'll be back soon.. gota meet up in Singapore kk?? we'll go for supper.. kbox and many many more....

5) Finally to all the rest that played a role in our lives here.. Thanks alot!

gosh.. this quite a long post.. i've gota go TRY to study again.. hee~ quite a touching post right?? but i've grew stronger! i nv cry!!! HURRAY.. plus plus.. my mummy and auntie are coming really soon.. in 2 days!!! yeah.. this when the true holiday begins! no more budgeted meals or shopping... :)

cya all back in Singapore real soon.. i'll try to blog if i get internet connection at the hotels.. meanwhile.. vic shall just keep all of you updated!

LA trip

2007-06-26T18:46:00.001-07:00

hi peeps.. our finals is in 1 dAY's time... speed entry with pics only.. haha.. we went to universal studio and disneyland last weekend.

Kodak Theatre where oscar award ceremony is held

Universal Studio

Disneyland

Up coming weekend

2007-06-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

hi all!!

We have conquered another macroeconomic test and problem set.. having a test every 2 wks and graded assignments sandwiched in between is so taxing.. The next test is our final on 28june (US time) for both international business and macroeconomics. Materials taught that wk, the last lecture just before exam will be included.. stress arh!

Life cant be more fulfilling and stretched to the max like now.. every min and second is so precious.. haha...

We will be travelling to LA this friday ( tml to be exact) to visit disneyland and universal studio.. coming back to berkeley on monday..more photos next wk! THe scariest thing is.. we wont have any internet access for these 4 days!! Internet is really our life...

Update soon.. (if we have time)..

Our 5th wkend's travelling destination: STANFORD university

2007-06-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

hihi ppl..

it's a sat night and i'm supposed to be studying for my macroecons test next week..

but here I am.. blogging.. haa~ this weekend wasn't as packed as our previous few.. we only truly travelled on friday to Standford University.. it's really a high-class uni with ultra smart ppl!!! haa~ i could feel their aura of cleverness..plus.. the air felt better there.. hee~ maybe if i smell more.. i'm be smart too!!!

look at the 1st pic.. superly bai chi! cus we were asking vic to come over and take pic tgt... and she just decided to take a snapshot.. btw.. this is the cal-train.. not the normal "mrt" called BART here.. it's a train tt goes much faster and travel further distances... so we've gota take this to Standford.. abt 16 stops away from us.. 1.5hr ride

smthing funny happened while buying tics..' an officer came up to us to help us in buying tics.. and he asked as, "all of you under 18 right?
we were like "N------"

and he responded " YOU are all under 18!"

hee~ so we just decided to nod our heads and keep quiet....

and tt saved us 50% of our tics!!! the cal-train tic is expensive.. all thanks to our young looking faces! yeah!!!!

oooh.. after the cal-train journey.. we had to hop onto one of standford's shuttle service.. and FINALLY Standford university! it was super diff from berkeley.. haa~ like the sch for the rich.. nice structures.. buildings... fountains...

There's a really pretty church called the memorial church in Standford University... it's in memory of Junior Stanford.

Me and vic trying to act as stanford students...

sitting under the tree.. having an important discussion

Hurray.. we are graduating from STANDFORD!!! day dreaming~

see what we found??? gosh... ppl in bikini swimming in their sch's fountains... with inflatables somemore!! hiyo.... and our tour guide told us tt it's the stanford spirit..

hee~ imagine doing this in NTU..

NO WAYS!!!!

After a long day's walk and long train rides.. we were finally back at berkeley and we decided to give urselves a treat!!! HURRAY... zhi cha at xiao hu nan.. it's a restaurant near our dorms tt serve chinese food... woOhoo... yummy yummy!!!

but still missing food back home... can't wait to go to the hawker centres for SINGAPOREAN food feast.. yeah... 2 more weeks!!!

a post by Lulu after a LONG long long while..

2007-06-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

haa~ hihi everyone..
i've not been blogging for a long time.. hee~ thanks vic for all the updates!!! she's been really hardworking on updating blog.. studying..juggling between everything! haa~ tt's my life too.. but i just felt too lazy to blog.. hee~

but i'm in the mood today! wooHoo.... just finished our international biz presentation and mid term exams this week.. yeah!! and its thursday... last day of sch for the week!!
erm.. have not really been doing much lately except for studying and project work.. but we are really ZAI!!! for our i-biz proj.. i felt tt it was not really the standard we'll do in Ntu.. cus of the lack of time and the playing mood... but gooodie! we did well...

it's 2 more weeks more to end of sch.. and mummy and bobo's arrival! yeah :) then 3 more weeks to HOME! and to catch up with all of you! really missing it there.. don't forget to start planning my welcome back parties! i'll be looking forward to them.. hee~ jking jking..

kk... back to NTU's time table planning... sian sian.. hee~

22 days to home!

2007-06-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

Yay, we will be back soon!!!
haha, i think we will miss berkeley and all the friends here.. remember to meet up ppl!

Its 7.56pm, another day of school, i always like thu coz it means weekend is here... and.. we can go travel again! Spent a lot, eat a lot, walk a lot and bullshit a lot... Experienced the winter-summer and now, the real summer... Went shopping before lesson along telegraph ave and rushing back for lesson with shopping bags.. it was fun, if only our families are here with us. haha... Pia for exam using the limited time left, staying up late to skype our family and friends, eating at crossroads.. all this will be a story that i will nv forget..Without our parents, we wouldnt make it here, thank you so much!

Plan for this weekend: going to see Stanford!
Plan for next weekend: Disneyland, universal studio

San Francisco Gay Pride Parade is on june 24 at san fran!! And i cant believe we are going to miss this!!!! ITs such a big thing... haiz, we will be at disneyland then... such a pity!!

Next time in line: Macroecons problem sets, macroecons test and NTU timetable planning!

Presentation at UC berkeley

2007-06-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

something interesting today! We had our first and only presenation in UC berkeley... our first project for international business!

Let me see, we have a grp of 5. each grp has to choose a company that has business overseas and then analyse the kinda problems they face using international business theories... Being typical singaporean and typical NTU student, we all wanna get it over and done with.. so we started discussing abt the proj even before the tutor send us his guidelines and requirements.. so 5 little kaisu students went on happily to do their own researh and preparation until one fine day, when we receive an email.

the email has all the guidelines and requirements for hte project, and imagine how lucky we are to find ourselves doing the project in a completely off manner..

and so, after much dicussion, we settled down on the topic of hk disneyland's joint venture with the hk govt, coz it wanna avoid probs arising from difference in western and asian cultures...

Being great fans of marketing, we decided to present this in a fun manner, no biz suit, no makeup, no court shoes.. just v v COLOURFUL clothes and skirts with superly funny hairstyles...

haha, i think the ang mos all look so shocked to see us... presenting on such a kiddy coy in such an informal way with singlish... i dun noe whether the tutor understood what we were talkng about... no one asked us any questions ( surprisingly) during Q&A. I guess our dear classmates couldnt catch anything during our presentation. Oh well....

Anyway, we got 18.5/20 for it! haha.. pretty good, isnt it? ITs a pity that we nv take a photo of our presentation wear... lol...

international business mid term tml... 50 Mcqs in 2.5 hrs...

Travelling over the weekend

2007-06-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

Hihi peeps!

once again, to make utilize our stay in Berkeley, we went out over the weekend. Had a great time with all the nice and friendly peeps from CU and NTU! Must keep in touch after we leave berkeley k!

Friday: Alcatraz

It is an island 1.25 miles from San Francisco, yet an unescapeable prison for the most notorious criminals. Now, the prison is closed and opened to public..

Friday Dinner: Singapore Malaysian Restuarant then Cliff House

Niki and Jaycee found a Singaporean restaurant at some place in SF from the web... and due to our extreme cravings for home food.. we ventured and found it!!!

well, the satay sauce is peanut butter..

our mee siam, hokkien mee and curry mee all looked the same.

though the food was a little disappointing... but there was finally the presence of CHILLI... yeah!!!

haha, at least milk tea and coffee has condensed milk inside. Jia de gan jue! (feeling of being at home..haha)

ooh.. after dinner.. jaycee and niki decided to bring me and vic to go see sunset!!! it's really pretty from the Cliff house but it was really freezing tt night..

Saturday: Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Aquarium, Montegery 17 miles

I can't really differentiate the photos taken at the lighthouse and 17 miles.. it's all abt the same lar.. all rocks.. bay.. waves.. it's nice when you see it at the beginning.. but later.. you'll realize tt all photos seem to be abt the same stuff.. haa~ but quite spectacular though..

The Monetery bay Aquarium is the top 3 tourist attraction in US. Its a really nice place to be in!

The sea otter is so so so cute! Just like us... lol

This photo of sunset was taken around 9pm.. this shows our long days and short nights.. no wonder we are turning to pandas.. sleeping so little

Sun set at the pacific ocean.. magnificient! But the wind was so strong that it almost blow us away... i am serious leh...

Sunday: Strawberry picking, Gilroy

Strawberries ripe from the vines... we are supposed to pick and put them into the baskets, then pay $2 per pound... but, these red little berries just look so good... So we just pick and put in our mouth directly! hehe...

Gilroy is the biggest factory premium outlet around our area.. but tt's still abt a 2 hr drive away... though it was a paradise for me.. i didn't really buy much this time! learnt to be a good gal.. cus i spent too much money already!!! haa~ (lulu)

Haiz... there is a presentation due in 3 days time and a mid term due in 4 days! we need 48 hrs in a day!!

BUt we had a lot of fun this weekend.. thanks peeps for making it possible!

Missing all of you back at home.... we'll be back soon! yeah!!!

Visit to san fran.. yes, again~

2007-06-02T23:51:00.000-07:00

Its weekend again, so as usual, to maximise the value of our stay in US, we went travelling out of the city on friday..

First, to make every faithful audience out there jealous of our trip, i shall present the pics of 5 cheesecakes from Cheesecake factory in Union square.

Drooling alr? In fact, the cakes are so rich that 6 of us cant even finish 5 of them.. we had to play zhong ji mi ma to finish up..

NIce peeps from singapore, hk and prc... all here for a purpose, to study in UC berkeley during this cold summer

Me and lulu finally got to sit on the famous cable car in San francisco!ITs really trilling as the roads are all steep slopes...

That day was really really v cold that our hand and feet all went numb.. BUT, we got to see a pier where sealion gather and buy our tickets to Alcatraz island for next friday. Alcatraz is an island where the inescapable prison of US used to be... Wait for more updates nxt wk!

Our tests and tutorials are pouring in, time to face the reality and mug hard.. so updates wont be tt frequent but i will try to whenever time permits... haha, coz i noe all of u out there are v concerned...

(while lulu is slping, i shall put this photo.. haha, their bloated and sian look after the heavy but delicious lunch at fisherman's wharf) Paisae for the lack of photos coz the rest havent send me those pic in their cameras..

that's all for now! take care!

Sumimasen!

2007-05-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Its been a long time since our last post.. Coz we started travelling around on friday and our "tour" ended on tuesday right before our lesson at 1pm. Dont worry too much peeps, we had lotsa fun!! Sorry for not updating coz we are only back in the hostel at arnd 10 or 11pm...time flies when we are having fun.

Friday: NIght at laundry room

Lulu's add on: Vic gave me a step by step guide on how to wash clothes... so i'm pro now!

Saturday: Winchester House, Mystery Spot and Fisherman's Wharf

Winchester House- This is a house tt has been built by the wife of a man who owns the rifle company. In order to ward away all the spirits that she felt were after her, she decided to build a hse continuously without stopping for 38 years, 24 hours a day.. so her house is extrememly big.. and the hse is really werid... there were windows tt open into walls... stairs tt lead to nowhere, doors tt lead straight down 3 storeys into the garden... it was said to be built like tt to confuse the spirits... SCARY!!!!!!!! i was freaking out... but had to go in cus we travelled all the way there...

Mystery Spot:

Its a fascinating place that demonstrates some strange phenomenon that science couldnt explain. This is the first day that we first chiong S shaped roads downhill at sg's highway speed... seriously need seasick pills.. lol.

Eek, how come there is a mysterous guy standing beside our group? no wonder this place is called mystery spot..

Fisherman's Wharf

tt day tt we went there was so cold...there was even smoke coming out from our mouth when we spoke!!! my gosh... summer kk??? but the food kept us contented... clam chowder soup rocks!!!

Sunday: Lake Tahoe

Magnificent Emerald Bay and Eagle Waterfall

Look at the water... super nice right?? haa~ some of our frens in hall say tt we look like we were superimposed into the background.. but.. it was REAL!!! nice!

oooh.. the girl with the yellow shirt is Niki.. we spent the past few days with her and her bf, Jaycee.. they were really nice ppl!!! from ntu too... poor Jaycee had to drive 1000 miles... hit his record in his life! haa~ at 160km/hr! but he was indeed zai...

Supersize and normal Mcdonalds' meal

ooh.. and the drinks are refillable! can u imagine drinking so much??? i think we'll just explode

pics taking at the lake-side.. it's not a seaside... but it's much bigger than siloso beach or east coast beach! a car ride around the entire lake takes 5 hours!!! hee~

Monday: Shopping At Factory outlets

we were eating ice-cream in a morning tt i guess was around 10 degrees cold.... brave girls... but it was worth it!!! ice cream here is so good...

hee~ look at the radiance of my face??? cus it's SHOPPING time...

Tuesday: Welcome to Albany

We had chinese cai fan as breakfast for only US$4, the portion is really huge, all the food is overflowing from the takeaway container. Satisfied!

These few days had been an eye opener for us. To Super mario and niki: Thank you so much for bringing us arnd and spending so much time and effort to plan the trips! OF coz, not forgetting the record breaking distance travelled!!!Haha, we are all back safe in one piece.. lol... We are not gong gong ku ni hun (blur blur milk powder??!!!?) k!

Lets go and travel around soon!

And back to earth again.... assignment and tests!

No. of pic taken from sat to tue : 500
No. of pic taken so far: 1800

Freezing!!

2007-05-26T00:05:00.000-07:00

Lulu, me and Carmen(a v nice fren from hk) are finally in Chinatown, san franscisco and Union square!! Surprisingly, all 3 of us managed to go there and come back in one piece.. hehee, had lotsa fun and took lotsa photos.. near to 250 pics? Share those with u guys after we go back to singapore.Quite a few funny encounters today, but shall elaborate more tml!

Pics time

San franscisco is a really cool place.. both interesting and cold.. u can actually see clouds passing by the buildings, something like gentin highland.

Got back to hostel at arnd 7pm.. really tired today.. so updates tml! cya!

Lulu's add on: Hee~ i think i look nice in the photo! wooHoo... so i decided to post this too.. nice nice??
Oh... and i was quite home sick on tt day.. probably cus the weather was too cold and we were feeling quite lost at times when in San Francisco.. so i felt like i want my mummy!!! hee~ baby behaviour.... but i'll be fine:) gota grow up and learn to be independent!
Missing all...

carrying BIG shopping bags to lesson..

2007-05-25T00:56:00.001-07:00

Me and vic missed breakfast at the crossroads today cus we were skyping our mums... so we had cup noodles and I finally had my 3-in-1 coffee!! wooHoo.. it's great to taste nice coffee again... coffee here is not nice at all.. it's tasteless.. i wanna drink kopi-c! haa~

We tried to wake up early to go shopping today.. spent about 2 hours shopping! and bought loads of stuff.. really loads of them!!! when we had only visited 2 stores.. haa~ and we had to carry all our shopping bags to lessons.. it was a little embarassing cus most of our frens came and asked us what we bought.. haa~

gosh.. and we've got an international business assignment due next wednesday... it's graded! hiaz.. so FAST... i guess we have to rush through it cause we've got travelling plans for the next 4 days... hiaz.. poor us.. i wana PLAY...

hee~ so proud of myself today! i raised my hand and participated in the discussion.. wooHoo... we've been trying to hide from the crowd cus we are rather conscious of our pronounciation.. but today.. i felt brave and tried! it was... a little bad though.. haa~ the whole class turned and looked at me.. haa~ i guess it's cus they felt tt my accent was werid.. i felt like an alien.. hee~ but who cares! i'm still proud of myself :p
Vic was brave too! she answered a question during macroecons lesson and the teacher was quite impressed.. hee~ zai gal!

oh yar.. and since we felt tt we didn't take many photos today.. we've decided to introduce to all of you more about the Crossroads.. haa~ since it's the place tt we'll be at EVERYDAY..

it's our canteen tt serves 3 meals a day.. me and vic have 14 meals provided there per week and we are really sick of it there.. but it's a really really nice place with a great ambience.. much much nicer than any hall canteens in NTU... but the food there is quite yucky.. salad, burger, pastries, cornflakes... everday! oh gosh.. but they have an asian corner.. which is.. hiaz... not too good

we'll be going to San Fracisco's Chinatown tmr by ourselves.. 3 gals.. me, vic and another hk fren. will try taking the BART (equivalent of the MRT).. hope we won't get lost! oh.. and i can't spend so much money anymore.. i'm going broke!!!

And from Sat-Mon.. we'll be going along with another couple from NTU for travelling.. they rented a car and will drive to some places... erm.. i guess it'll be an interesting experience but quite scary.. cus cars drive super fast here.. and it's LH drive.. but i'm still excited! hope all will go well and we'll enjoy ourselves.. will bring more photos back for all of you!

haa~ felt tt we didn't really take alot of photos today.. so I came up with dumb ideas in the room.. but it's not bad.. make me look tall!!! haa~

Missing all of you back home badly.. and the Singaporean food too!

10.30am-6pm of BORING LESSONS...

2007-05-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

hi everyone! its me again.. haha, nothing much today except that we had to attend 2 boring lessons in a row.. we decided to take more photos around the campus..so, pictures time now.hehe

Sather Gate in UC Berkeley..

FAmous clock tower

A cute squirrel posing for the camera

Lulu as a tai tai..

check this out, its a swing hanging from the tree....feels like a character in the SOund of Music.. haha...

Haas Business school

In the classroom, see our zhi bai skills have improved! US style of teaching is really reflected in SMU seminar rooms..

Haas Business School

more zhi pais.... nice right?? haa~ good skill!!!

This photo was taken by a super cute ang moh tt was walking pass... we didn't ask for his help but he was so sweet to stop and ask us,"ladies.. would u like me to help u take a photo for you?" haa~ actually we didn't really feel tt the place was tt nice to take a photo.. but who cares! haa~ shuai ge leh.. just take

Oh, we wore skirt today! coz the weather is warmer today..

We are gg to look around the town area tml... more updates..

2nd day of sch... Long Hungry Day...

2007-05-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

lessons were from 1.00pm-6.00pm today.. gosh.. if you think it's bad.. tmr is WORST! 10.30am- 6.00pm!!! wat are we doing here??? studying hard... poor us.. haa~ i think we registered for too many courses.. but nvm.. we'll get more intellectual after this trip too... hopefully..

Ooh.. this is a pic of our Cal's card. it's a card tt allows us to take any bus around Berkeley's city and gives us admission to the dining areas and cafe around campus... it also signifies us as being UC Berkeley's student... wooHoo.. zai right??? haa~ for 6 weeks...

Actually we didn't do much today except have lessons and took long walks around the school cus the sch is so BIG... so from a place to another.. it's at least a 20 mins walk.... Now i miss the NTU's bus A,B and C!

students here all sit on the grass to study at the outdoors... so i wanted to have a taste of it too.. and act ang moh! haa~ vic refused..

this is the famous crossroads tt we've been talking abt.. here's where we usually have our meals... getting sick of this place...

pic of sather's gate...

student union...

oooh.. but we were super dooperly ultraly hungry after lessons!! cus we had an early lunch at around 11.30... and no food till 6.00pm at a place where it is only abt 15 degrees celsius... so.. we didn't even want to walk to the crossroads to have dinner.. we just went to a hot dog van tt was located abt 10 mins away from class... and.. sat at the bench nearby..

actually tt's not advisable cus Berkeley is not exactly a very safe town.. many ppl tell us to go straight back to hall once lessons ends.. not safe for girls to be on the road.. but it's part of our adventure! haa~ quite exciting but a little scary....

And vic was so funny!!!

she warned be b4 we started eating... "lulu, if anything happen, we just run kk? leave the food and run!"

i couldn't stop laughing lar... though we were really hungry.. it was common sense! haa~ who would take the hot dog and run? haa~ but it's cus she cared.. so thanks gal! u've been taking really good care of me...

Oh.. a treat for all the guys... our pretty jap fren, Mariko! She speaks really good eng... so no prob communicating! haa~ for the girls... you've gota wait for ur turn.. we pai seh to ask guys to take pic with us.. haa~

know what? Mariko asked me and vic if we sick... cus she say we are always wearing jackets when it's so hot!! my gosh.. haa~ hot?? we are like freezing everyday!!! haa~ funny..

erm.. it's really late now.. and tmr there's lesson from morning to night.. bother bother bother.. so for more updates.. continue visiting our blog..

missing all in Singapore

1st day of school!

2007-05-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

ok, ppl... all the boss and secret admirer and cca frens... Lulu is lazy to post. so i have to do it!! haha, i wanted to blog just now.. then no ling gan now...

We went to check in meeting today, turned in all the documents like VISA and passport.. really felt like ah thiongs at tt place.. we promise not to laugh at them coz they are actually v ke lian to leave home and still be looked down upon by the locals..

BUT, some interesting things did happen today at the International house. We met our friends from NTU. haha, its was pretty funny...

A guy suddenly approached us and say, "hey, are u from singapore?"
me and lulu: "yah, from NTU?"
Guy: "yes! U are?"
we: " how do u know we are from singapore?"
Guy: "coz i saw ur red passport!"
All :" wahaha"

haha, its kinda warm to see frens or ppl from ur own country when u are overseas.

Lulu met a hot german guy during the check in meeting! TT guy is cute, i can testify that! and he was so eager to noe more about our dear lulu.. was toking to her non stop while they were lining up for the official verification of documents. Too bad that, i forgot to take a pic for them.. lulu was so sad abt tt.. wad a pity! I will promise to take a pic for u two if there is chance k!

SO the story goes, UC Berkeley was liven up with a grp of singaporeans speaking in fluent singlish walking down to the Cal1card center to be recognised as a UC berkeley Student! (oh, but we all look ugly on the card.)

[photos of our Cal1card will be posted tml]

Me and lulu went to the berkeley souvenirs shop, a few blocks down the street from our hall, the guys sweaters are much nicer than gals ones. Just when we were leaving the shop, the sales person pointed out to a stack of US dollars on the floor. OH MY GOD, we were so worried for the person who dropped tt pile of money.. it was not us though...

Our first lesson on MARCOECONOMIC ANALYSIS was super super boring. He is worst than my JC econs tutor..actually, the US style of teaching is quite similar to wad it is in singapore. Maybe coz its summer times, most of the students are not the local or existing berkeley student.The class was not as lively or spontaneous as i tot... We nearly fell aslp la..

Look below! See some similarities with my hall in NTU?? PPl, dont be worried k..Lulu wont starve... haha, we alr consumed 2 cup noodles today coz we are too sicked of the western food at CROSSROAD..!!

Being a grp of children deprived of singapore local food, we started naming dishes like char kuey teow, laska, yong tau fu, yu pian mee fen! One of them even say, "I miss the yong tau fu from can B even though its the worse stall in NTU.. " haha... i have tong gan..

Lulu's add on:

hee~ our gossips or scandals must be written by one another... so i"ll write abt vic's.. she'll write abt mine... oooh.. today we had our first macroeconomic's lec.... the lecture was BORING but.. vic was not BORED!!! haa~ there was this guy sitting beside her... and she was not her usual self at all lar.. she's usually eager to make new frens.. but this time.. i told her to say hi to tt guy.. then she refused.... haa~ i was a little puzzled.. but didn't bother... after lessons, vic told me tt she felt tt the guy looked like wu zhun and said he was cool... WooHoo...

MoRe pHotos on our last day at San Jose and 1st day at hostel... pics' tell a thousand words...

2007-05-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

hiHi ppl... this entry shall just be photos kk?? haa~ i'll write a long long entry on our 1st day at sch and 1st full day in Berkeley tonight.... tt's if i can stay awaKe...

FinaLly... we can go shOpping.. and satisfy my cravings!! hee~ this is a "neighbourhood" shopping district at San Jose, near vic's uncle's hse...

Ooh... does this shop looks familiar??? it's our Marketing texbook coming alive!!! wooHoo.. Sears... we also visted Target... quite fascinating for me and vic cus we nv thought we'll see them outside the book

Hee! Victoria has expanded to the US too.... she was so excited to see smthing close to her heart in this foreign land...

Ooh.. it's our stuff!!! really loads of them... these are our life for the next 7 weeks???

HurrAY!!! finally... we can get into our new home at the UC Berkeley's summer session housing....Vic and I just outside our hall's block.. posing with our home keys.... hee~ really feel a sense of relief as we are on our own now... a little scared but definitely EXCITED too...

oooh.. we were almost not given the same room!! scary scary.. lucky vic went to fight for our rights! so... roomies We ARe!! yeah!!!

This is how our hostel looks like... it's a view from our study room... Vic' says it is condo style.. haa~ but i feel tt it's more like the well-furnished old folks' home in Singapore... hee~ but all in all.. it's a comfortable place..

At the Laundry room... Vic looks so professional! haa~ there's loads for me to learn... oops....bother...
MUST I REALLY WASH CLOTHES??? oh no....

This is my side of the room... the room is not too bad.. but not as nice as u would expect by seeing the outside of hall.. but who cares... a bed to zzz is good enough!!!

Haa~ me and vic being lame when it's like around 1+am at our time... preparing to go to bed.. but still.... wanting to leave our last smiles to all of u!!!

kk... i'll try to type the next post.. but this time.. promise!!! more words!!! haa~

ON campus!

2007-05-21T00:49:00.000-07:00

Hiya ppl! We got our keys, phone line and address! haha, but its so late tonight so updates and photos later k.. Find us at Ehrman Hall of Unit 2.. its really nice and feels like a hotel!

Anyway, the hall of residence is really v well organised and their student body has planned a series of programs for the summer students. Though we still cant really mix ard with the ang mos..

We are going to get our Calcard tml and we are official students at UC Berkeley.. its a v good sch k! haha

Oh, we had a great time shopping today at Westfield OakRidge too! Our pockets are burnt now.. haha, and we only went to hmm.. 4 shops. Cant imagine when we get to Union Square, heard that its a nice place where all the shops are..

As we are both too tired today.. (maybe coz we are feel so much more relaxed and relieved after moving into the hall, so we are quite slpy now...)

Wait for the detailed updates tml! (erm, i mean our tml, which is like 10 hrs later)

room no. 313.. hehe, we dun mind parcels!

One more day to campus life

2007-05-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

Heeya! Time for some updates...PPL!!! We feel so sad that many ppl visit this blog but dont tag!! (our counter is also..erm, a little pathetic, so u all noe wad to do la, just keep refreshing the site when u read k! haha) We create this blog specially to update all of u k!! Lol.. so must make us a little happier.. we two v ke lian with no family and friends here leh...

Anyway, Lulu and I will be leaving for the University Campus hostel tml. The check in time is 3pm, which is... hmm, 12am on 21 May in singapore time...

I dunno whether we will become 2 fatties after this two months in US. They drink "fruit juice" (with lotsa sugar), eat bread everyday, cook lots and lots of meat.... no veg, no fish..Lulu, we must embark on a dieting scheme k! Since we will be having western food for the whole of 2 months!

Well well, we took some pic again for the bbq we had at the backyard of my uncle's house. I dun really like their american style of bbq-ing though.. They just asked two persons to bbq all the food outside then bring into the house, food must be eaten while its hot rite!! this is just common sense lo. And their attitude to this routine sunday bbq is so different from us, we bbq for the fun of it, for frens and family to gather around the pit and chit chat while eating.. As usual, my cousins were happily doing their own stuff in the house, waiting for food...

So, being nice gals.. ahha, both of us went to help out to bbq.. See below!

2 PRetty and MODEST gals! haha

see, we are so helpful

The sweet potatoes are so sweet!! (erm.. like us) hahaa

Paisae, lulu makes me wanna be bhb a little today..

more on our ADventure.. haa~

2007-05-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

hihi ppl.. the 1st post was done by vic.. now it's me lulu! haa~ can't believe it.. vic typed EDventure accidentally.. and now we can't change it!!! oh gosh.. haa~ blur blur.. but nvm.. it's unique right? haa~
kk.. for more updates.. vic's uncle's home is at San Jose (but pronounced as San Hose though).. it's abt 1 hour drive from San Francisco's airport... and abt 1.5 hours drive to Berkeley (school). Let's show u more around the house.. it's where we've spent the past few days at and will stay till sun morning... and move to Berkeley's campus..

Vic's uncle hse is quite huge.. but most houses in US are like tt...lucky ppl..

giving all of u a huge smile.. don't miss us! haa~

oooh... this is a treat for the guys... nice car with a pretty gal.. oops.. haa~ it's one of the neighbour's car.. hope it's a shuai ge... hee~ then maybe i can go for a ride...

pretty vic at the backyard... some resemblance of the SIA gal???

ooh.. vic's uncle rear 3 chickens too.. and they lay at least 1 egg each a day!! but are a noisy bunch though..

haa~ tell u guys a joke.. vic's cousin commented tt both of us can't speak english! oh gosh..wat have we been learning for the past 20 years?? haa~ but we weren't offended... just feel shocked when we heard it.. and have been a joke tt we talk abt quite often...

the 2nd day at US was quite a tiring one for us.. we went to Berkeley to look for accomodation.. visited quite a few places but found out that it was either unsafe or too expensive... but till the end, we decided that we should move into the sch's hostel and tt's where we'll be for the entire duration of our lessons.. it's a nice place tt provides 2 meals a day... but super.. ultra ex!! haa~ will post photos of the place once we move in!!

3rd day was spent mostly around the hse.. but vic's uncle brought us for along walk at the "mountain" near his house.. it was called almaden quicksilver country park.. it was really interesting cus we won't get such an experience in sg... there are deers in the park.. and ppl go to the park riding horses!!! can u imagine it?? haa~

i guess tt's all i can add for this post.. haa~ super long... still got so much to say.. i shall add a next try asap.. hope all is fine there and we're going on well! take carez...

1st post!

2007-05-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!!

We have been in san fransico for 3 days. Although things were quite difficult for the first 2 days, its definitely getting better! Both of us are going to move into UC berkeley campus hall of residence.. so address will be emailed to those who care soon.. hehe..

Here are some pics we took during our journey to san fransico...

1.at Hk international airport, rushing to get the famous honey roasted drumstick and tea with milk!

2. on the plane, the beautiful clouds and air view of california..

3. CHui look on the plane... this is wad u wil get with no slp for more than 24 hrs..haha

(it is meant to be dark..lol)

4. San Fransico after 18 hrs!

And, the summer here is definitely cold....