The End of Fall 2007 semester - HOLIDAY!!!

Yeah..the final exams have just ended.

I'll be going off for a vacation tomorrow. So, to all the readers...

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!!!

Just wana wish you guys earlier as I won't be online until next January. So, take care and May God Bless all of you.

Snowing!!!

Last night, I slept around 10am++ because I was so tired. It was quite cold that night and when I looked at the weather prediction, it would be snowing at that particulat night. However, I didn't think so because there was no sign of snowing albeit it was kinda cold. I woke up around 12.45am though. I don't know why I woke up that early and I tried to sleep back but I still could not sleep. Then, I opened the curtain a lil bit and peeked through the window.

IT IS SNOWING!!!

My roommate, Vanni, who was sleeping, suddenly woke up but not because of snow. He was hungry! Haha...

Since we could not sleep that night, we talked about many topics like politics, population of some countries, relationship, and some other funny stuffs. I realized that he is actually a funny and nice guy. After finished chit-chatting about those, we slept around 5am.

The next morning, I woke up for lecture. When I opened the curtain, I saw the snow are all around the road and pavement. It was so cool as it was my first time and the snow was so thick that it covered the cars and grass.

Well, this is my first time experiencing snow. My American friends were so surprised when I told them this was my first time getting to enjoy the 'coolness' of snow. I told them that it doesn't snow in Malaysia.


Anyway, I guess I only took a few photos. I should have taken more. I'm sorry guys...my finals in coming soon. I'll try to take more photos before I go for a vacation during the winter break. I'll keep you guys updated. Don't worry!

Meeting the Sponsor (MARA)

Two weeks ago (November 10th, 2007), all the MARA scholars were invited for a dinner with MARA director, Dato Seri Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin and other fours VIPs who flew all the way from KL to have a so-called meeting with us in Chicago. MARA will give us a free night stay in Holiday Inn and 40 USD (allowance) for this particular meeting.


So, I off again to Chicago for the second time. We went there at noon because there was a slight problem. That morning was so cold that I wore gloves and 4-layers of clothes. We went there by car. When we reached Evanston, where MSD Chicago is located, we went up to the building. The main entrance of the building was actualy locked and we needed passwords to open the door. One of the MSD officers was so clever that he or she put a notice telling us about the passwords (in Malay) to enter the building. "Untuk Masuk, Sila tekan "bintang, tujuh, tujuh, tiga, tiga, lima"" I smiled when looking at the notice.


We actually went to MSD Chicago to have our lunch. I was so elated to eat Malaysians food on that day like the Nasi Beriyani and rendang. I should be thankful enough to eat those food although there were no kampua and kolok mee, which I'm really miss those noodles. And one more thing, if we want to enter the restroom, we also need password to enter. I don't understand and this is really ridiculous.

Then, we off to our final destination, which is the Hotel Holiday Inn North Shore in Skokie.

When we arrived there, we checked in room. I did not stay a night there though. Although the room was nice, I had to leave that night too.

When my friend switched on the television, something caught my attention...

Can you guys notice the third box from the left? The title is actually "Adult desire". Hmmm..

So, that night, we prepared ourselves for the dinner with the VIPs. The food were delicious. :)

After the speeches from the Scholar representative and MARA director, we started eating and I really enjoyed eating every single dish that they gave.

When the function was over, it was photo-taking session. But, I only took photo with Mdm Huda, the MARA director of Washington D.C. because there were too many people.

Okay, I might look different in the photo. I know that.

Then, after the function, I packed my bag and we went back to my university at 1.30am. My seniors and I reached West Lafayette around 3.45am. Overall, it was enjoyable yet tiring journey to me.

Homecoming 2007

I was supposed to write this post last week but I had been procrastinating till now. So, yeah, we had Homecoming events going on three weeks ago. The events were like "Boilermakers Night Train Homecoming Parade", "Pep rally with King and Queen coronation" and fireworks which happened the night before the Homecoming Football match (Purdue Boilermakers vs Northwestern Wildcats). I felt anticipated to watch that game in the stadium that I actually bought the ticket like 5 days before.


The night before was the coronation of Homecoming King and Queen and I was there with my friend watching the event in Slayter Hill. I was amazed by the performance by the Purdue Marching Band. It made me think of my former high school marching band. I really hope that my former high school would somehow perform superbly like them in the future or few years later because I believe that they are improving right now, aren't they?

So, the next morning, I woke up as early as 10.30am. Yea, it was early for me. I got myself ready and went to my friend's house to go together to the stadium. As it was first time, I felt quite impatient to watch my first American Football match live in the stadium. Once we got there around 11++am, we sat there waiting for the match to start. It was quite cold and windy.

Initially, the match was quite dull because I couldn't feel the excitement. However, as our home team got their first TOUCHDOWN, I started to feel the excitation. When our home team got their FIRST DOWN, we would utter "1,2,3,4,FIRST DOWN, B*TCH". *lough out loud* I didn't know what was going on at first but when Purdue had few first downs, I started to follow them too.

Overall, it was a memorable experience for me as I got to experience the excitement going on in the stadium rather than watching it live on the television. Plus, I saw Neil Armstrong from far as he was invited to officially launch the opening of a new Hall in our campus-"Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering". Ok, you guys might be wondering why he was there to officiate and why did they name the hall after his name.

Neil Armstrong, the first person to have set foot on the moon, was actually the former student in my university-Degree in Aeronautical Engineering with a US Navy Scholarship. He was graduated in 1955.

The Beauty of NU and Lake MIchigan

Below are some photos of NU and Lake Michigan.

It is a nice car, isn't it?

Castle

Last but not least,

The Journey to Chicago

Yesterday(October 20th, 2007), I went to Northwestern University in Chicago for the Raya celebration(EID). All the Malaysian students from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota gathered together in one of the halls in Northwestern University. It was quite a meaningful experience for me as there were many things happening during our journey to Chicago. My senior rented a car and we went around 11am(Central Time). We went there with 4 cars going together.

These are some views of the Chicago City.

When we almost arrived the hall, we involved in an accident. Everyone is okay but this was the condition of the car...

Another driver, who is a lady, is also okay. Her car was in a good condition but it can't run. When both drivers exchanged information and stuffs like insurance, my senior called the police for some assistance...

The police took for about 15 minutes or more to do the report in his own luxurious car with laptop inside. hehe...

So, after we were all set, my senior drove us to the Northwestern University Hall with the dented car. We were all kinda happy to meet all of our INTEC friends together again.

After talking much with my friends, boasting and comparing our universities,it's finally the time for us to go our own seperate ways. I took few photos around Northwestern University and it's indeed a beautiful university. I will post all the photos around Northwestern University. After we were all done, we went to Lake Michigan to enjoy the sceneries- next next post.

Next destination - Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (Mt.Baldy)

So, after everyone's done with shopping, we gathered at the same place where the bus driver dropped us down. I actually bought winter cloths, snow cap, two GAP and GUESS jeans and a GUESS watch. Not many though. On that day, the girls spent a lot of money because they cannot resist spending their money on clothing. Hehe...

Then, we got into the bus and the driver drove us the nearest lake there called "Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (Mt.Baldy)". It is only 10 minutes drive from the factory outlet.

We walked to the lakeshore. It does not look like a lake at all. It's like a BEACH.

This lake really makes me feel like home. Hmm..it looks like Tanjung Batu Beach. LoL...

If you guys notice the photo above, there is an American girl, at the shore, playing with a little kid behind me. Hehe...

After spending too much time taking photos, we decided to go back. This time, we used the sandy way to go back.

The slope was very steep and I tried very hard to climb up and down the small sandy hill. When I got back to the bus, I noticed that this sign was interesting!

...and while we were all waiting for the others, I managed to take photo with the driver. Hehe...

Then, we went back to West Lafayette at 5pm (Central Time) and reach there around 7pm.

The trip to the "Haven of Shopping" - Shop till you drop

Yeah, as what I have said earlier, I would be going to Michigan City which is located at Northern Indiana. We departed from Purdue at 9am (Eastern Time)...

...and arrived at the Factory Outlet at 10am (Central Time). It took about 2 hours to arrive there.

There are a lot of cheap cloths, shoes, pants and etc because it is a factory outlet! When we arrived there, I was told by my senior who was sitting beside me on the bus that there was a nuclear power plant or reactor or whatsoever. I still do not believe that there is a nuclear whatsoever thingie there as it's hazardous.

Do you actually believe that this is the Nuclear power plant or reactor???!!!

Anyway, once the bus stopped, we quickly came down from the bus and everyone of us went to our own way to shop. There are actually 120 shops for us to shop there and I just could not choose where to go. So, I just followed my friends. Below are some of the shops that I went on that day.

While I was walking around, something amazed me...

This is the Foot Massage Machine. Weird, rite? This isn't for kids, okay?

So, after shopping, we all gathered at the same place as we had planned earlier to go to another "wonderful" place in Indiana. I will tell you guys about it in my next post.

Life In United States

After a dreadful journey (21 hours in flight), I finally arrived at my destination.

People have been asking me about my life here in the USA ever since I arrived here. So, let me tell u guys briefly about my experience here after my 6th week in US.

During the first week of class, as usual, we were to introduce ourselves to all our classmates. It was quite enjoyable for me because we only had to introduce ourselves and the TA- explaining our course description. Right after that, we left the classes without homework. Yeah, that's one of the happiest week of my life.

Though, most of my classmates still have problem enunciating my name. Some of them called me "Bentolomew", "Bindolomew", "Bart (Simpson)", "Budurlomew" and the list goes on. A Taiwanese girl who was sitting behind me in class called me "Bodohlomew". I was so shocked because she said I'm 'bodoh'. I don't understand why they can only pronounce '-lomew' correctly. Hmmm...When ever I want to buy my favorite "Hot Chocolate" in Starbucks, they will surely spell my name wrongly.

During weekend, the Americans usually have partys. Some of them start partying on Thursday night. I can hear them laughing and listen to many kind of 'sounds' when I cycle at night and even when I'm in the room *blushing*. During weekend, I usually wake up late and do my laundry in the afternoon. What is nice about weekend here is American Football matches among universities in USA. This Saturday would be the match between Purdue and Ohio State. Blackout!

I just finished three exams- Calculus II, Chemistry and Engineering Problem Solving & Computer Tools - last week. The exams were fine for me except for engineering exam. Anyway, next week would be Fall Break. Two days only though. I am still glad to have holidays as it's kinda hard to 'unwind' myself during weekdays. We are all going to Michigan City during the Fall Break which is located at Northern Indiana. There, we would buy our winter clothings and stuffs.

The upcoming holidays would be 'Halloween' and 'Thanksgiving Day' which I am really looking forward to those holidays. Halloween, which lasts for only one day, falls at the end of October (October 31st) and Thanksgiving Day (in November) lasts for a week! Yeah!

I shall update my news with you guys soon. Take care!