Hello! It's been a while since I've blogged...I've just been so busy!! I did not forget about any of you!
This was the second week of classes and so far, everything seems to be working out as planned. I am taking Marketing, Integrated Marketing Comm, PR Writing, and Advertising Creativity/Copywriting....which is great! The professors are all nice.... I think academically it will be a good semester. I enjoy my major/minor, so call me a nerd, but I'm excited!
It's so funny how people are leaving to go abroad this week, when I have been in Singapore for over 20 days... it feels so much longer than that though. Kelley and Merrie are in Ireland; Libbie is off to Denmark; and Katie is off to Spain soon. I have made some great friends from all over the world; I feel comfortable with them. The homesickness is getting better....baby steps... baby steps. Now that school is in full gear with readings and tutorial week, I am pretty sure I will be occupied. The school work is really not that bad though, comparing to Loyola. In some of my classes, the readings are very similar or the material in the textbook is something I already covered at Loyola, so nothing to really complain about.
On Tuesday night, I went out to dinner with my aunt's best friend (Ms. Wendy) and her family who actually live here in Singapore. It is really nice to have some type of "family" structure, especially since I have been homesick. That's another thing I want to talk about homesickness, but before I do, I'll tell you about the dinner. It was in Vivo City which is near Sentosa boardwalk...absolutely beautiful place. I ate a very nice Chinese restaurant with Ms. Wendy, her husband, her two children (Aaron and Elisabeth), and her niece (Daphne). They are all such friendly people! Her children are 11 and 8, so they are much younger than I am which is great because I love children! Her niece is 19 and is studying abroad in the UK for 3 years. She is very sweet and down-to-earth, and we may hang out in the future before she leaves. Before we ate, Daphne, Elisabeth, and I walked on the boardwalk. It was a nice setting with the sunset and breeze. Daphne and I bonded over girly things like shopping and school, etc. We finally got to the table and started our feast, we ate peking duck (which was absolutely delicious), pork, beef, shrimp in a creamy wasabi sauce, crab fried rice, vegetables, and so on. The catch about this restaurant is there is a spinning round table on the table; the waiter puts the dishes on the table and we spin the table instead of passing around the plates to each other---it's kind of nifty! I look forward to seeing Ms. Wendy and her family again!
Homesickness---never did I think in a million years I would feel this. At Loyola, I forget to call home and talk to my family---as bad as it sounds, I never miss home, but I think it is because I am so close to home, I know I can go home whenever I want to at any time, I know I have that ability, whereas in Singapore, I do not. I am not a "home-body," but I do love my family. I flew here by myself, had to do things on my own, and find friends (like freshman year all over again but in a new country). At one point, I wanted to quit and fly back to the US, but I knew why I came to Singapore, and I intend to meet my goals and have the best experience ever, seriously, when am I ever going to do this again? The homesickness has definitely died down a bit, since I have been hanging out with my friends more and opening my mind up. I think the first month abroad, there is a "homesickness hump," that everyone needs to get over, and once you're over, you finally understand the real reasons why you are where you are. We'll see how it goes!
On Wednesday night, I went out to Ladies Night at Clarke Quay, specifically Forbidden City, which is basically our favorite place. I had a ton of fun, maybe drank a little too much, but still went to classes on Thursday. I intend to go to every single lecture and tutorial to the best of my ability! It's so nice to drink OF AGE comfortably, instead of freaking out in the US, whether or not I'll get in trouble or not.
Last night (Friday), my whole entire group of friends (20 of us), went out to a hawker centre in Raffles Place. Hawker centres are cheap and affordable food courts with so many different kinds of Asian foods, from Korean to Chinese to Indian....you name it. I got Korean Rameon with rice, kind of tasted like the once from home, but I guess I just needed a taste of home that night. Each couple of people shared a jug of Tiger Beer and we sat there with our bellies full, listening to the live band. After a couple of hours, we headed our way to the bridge in Clarke Quay. We had a great time, drinking and chatting, and soon enough moved our party group to Forbidden City (once again, our favorite place haha). Everybody was wasted (I was not as wasted only cause on Wednesday, I had my fair share) and having a good time. I finally danced on the fish aquarium stage, literally it's a huge fish tank but as a stage. After dancing for countless hours, I returned back to good ol Hall 12 and passed out.
Today, I woke up and layed around until 1 pm. We grabbed lunch in North Spine. I had McDonalds. Funny thing is, you will NEVER catch me with fast-food at home, but in Singapore, sometimes I have to eat the nasty, greasy McD's just 'cause my poor stomach cannot handle endless amounts of rice, noodles, and chicken. We decided to go the water park off of Chinese Garden mrt stop. It was a ton of fun and really cheap too! It was $2 admission, 40 cents to rent a locker, and $4 to rent a tube.....cheap! It was a really nice inexpensive day! Katie and I grabbed dinner in the hawker centre nearby and chatted. I returned to my room, showered, and now I'm here. I have water in my ear though, which is distracting me!
Off to the zoo tomorrow (hopefully it does not rain)! Maybe, staff club with the girls tonight? It's beer fest all weekend, we'll see.. we'll see...until then, much love from the Chatty Chong! Miss you all at home! xoxo
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