Happy New Years!

Only an hour away, but I'm exhausted.

To continue: Shreyas was back when we came back from lunch,  so we went over to the Chinese and Japanese gardens, which were really pretty and nice, but very hot.

 We came back after a while chilled until his cousin came back. Then we went to dinner at a "healthy" hawker stand (brown rice instead of white) and then came back and chilled again before Shreyas, his cousin, and his cousin's roommate left for a big New Year's Eve musical party/festival.  They had gotten tickets, but Gabe and I went to the mall instead to see what it was like. It was big. Like every non-American mall we've been in.

Pineapple fried rice - mmm

Vegetarian mutton something or other (Gabe's)

Shreyas's food - I don't remember...

Anyways. We move into our new long-term hostel tomorrow. It's apparently really super close to the school, which is good.

Goodnight-la.

Updates

While I was standing in my cold shower this morning, I was thinking about things...

One of the great things about Singapore is the fact that you can take a cold shower and still be sweating before you even get dressed. Also, clothes are warmer off the body than on. And the food is unrecognizable. And it's going to be summer for all five months... So maybe those things are not so great. But I am really enjoying being here.

It's a great big city with lots of different cultures and it's definitely cool.

Gabe said that dinner was uninteresting last night, he went somewhere and got something spicy and it was good. He went to bed as soon as he came back.

This morning we checked out and headed over to Shreyas's cousin's apartment since the hostel will be full, and tomorrow we'll move into our long-term apartment. We went and got food from the near-by hawker stand, and neither Gabe nor I finished our lunches. Mine was a weird flavor of ramen with wontons and he got fish ball soup, which, oddly enough, tasted of fish. (He doesn't like fish...) Then we came back and met Shreyas and I think we're going to head to a mall soon.

I presume most everyone is sleeping, so, goodnight-la.

First day

I promise I'll have better post titles in the future. It's 1AM here and I just woke up, having fallen asleep around 6:30....

Today (yesterday?) was pretty cool. We got up around 8 and we had breakfast at the hostel - coffee or tea with toast and fruit.

The fruits here were normal except for one; watermelon, oranges and dragonfruit. Dragonfruit is white with black seeds, having both the texture amd taste resembling a kiwi. We alsoo had toast with mostly normal items. Peanut butter, jam and butter were offered, as well as a green jam sort of thing that we both have forgotten the name for but is some sort of leaf mixed with coconut, I think. (Update: it's called kaya.) We walked down to Little India and found Mustafas, where we changed money but didn't shop at yet. Instead, we went in all the little shops along the road. They kindof reminded me of Belgium around Grand Place. We had agreed to meet Shreyas at the hostel for lunch, so we headed back, but only after stopping in a few tailor's shops first...

The first place we stopped was in a shopping open air market sort of thing. The second was across the main street in its own little building/storefront. The first said $350 or so and the second gave Gabe a ten mminute lecture on how the price of a suit depends on how you make it and the quality. The guy was nice, and we learned a lot, and Gabe is now going to research suits and fabric amd everything.

We came back and found Shreyas and headed back to Little India. We ate at our first hawker stand, where Gabe and I had lamian with dumplings and Shreyas had green curry chicken. Lamian is essentially ramen, as far as we can tell, and it was hand-made in front of us right before we ate it. Very cool.

We kept going and got to Mustafas, which is about seven stories covering two city blocks... it's massive and has everything. It seemed fairly expensive for some things (electronics) and cheap for others (everything else). We kept walking through Little India after spending a couple hours at Mustafas, finding an awesome Hindu temple and another shopping place called Tekka. I got a dress/shirt top thing that was really cute and we also got some food. Gabe got a sugar cane juice (yuck) and I got fried Indian bread called buhtan (maybe? Shreyas needs to confirm). We walked back from there and stopped at City Mall, which was fairly western. Burger King, Micky D's, Subway, KFC, Long John Silvers and some other places, as well as a ton of Asian and Indian food. We stopped at BK and got a taro turnover that was really good.

When we got back to the hostel around 6:30, we were both exhausted feom walking around so much and being in such sweltering weather. I was going to take just a nap, but refused to get up when Gabe wanted diinner, so he went alone and was back when I woke up just now. I'll ask him to write in the morning. I'm going to find something to eat and go back to sleep.

Goodnight, world.

Hello, Singapore!

Well, where do I begin?

We left Chicago at 12 Central and just got into Singapore at 12 this time (there's no real name for this time zone) and we're 13 hours difference from Charleston. So. Wow.

The Changi airport is AMAZING! There are plants everywhere and it's super clean.  Even at night, everything in Singapore glitters and shines. The streets are wide and clean, but it has an air of London, which as my past readers know, is not a particularly good thing. I'm sure in the morning things will look nicer. We're meeting Shreyas and his cousin tomorrow morning and going shopping in Little India. His cousin met us at the airport, which was super nice and very helpful. The hostel isn't bad, but it's like walking into a sauna when you go outside. I am in bed writing om my new nook since my computer died and I can't get to my converter. Sorry for any typos.

The flights weren't bad. Chicago to Tokyo was 13 hours, and Gabe and I watched Reel Steel (good) and One Day (bad), slept, read, and that's about it. It was an old-school plane, so one movie at a time and no control, but it wasn't so bad. The flight from Tokyo to Singapore was 7 hours on the same plane, but we had to get off and clear security. It was also nice airport, and we wished we had yen for the drink machines. I slept the whole flight. Immigration was easy and we got to our hostel fairly quickly. Photos will be on facebook tomorrow. The time difference is throwing me off, but it's time for bed.

Goodnight, world (until I think of something better).

On our way

Well, I knew there was something I was supposed to be doing.... Oops. We have to get on our plane soon.

Us leaving from the airport at 5AM. 

Gabe and I are in the President's Lounge for United/Continental.  Talked our way in, but free food and internet.

Super early morning, but we're about to leave for Singapore. Twenty-four hours! Twenty-two of those on a plane! Yay! (Not...) I already miss home, but am excited to be traveling again.

We'll meet Shreyas in Tokyo, and then we're staying at a cute little hostel in the heart of Singapore.  The problem with my camera is that it's too big to carry around and therefore we've started taking pictures with Gabe's cell phone.  The Chicago airport is really nice - big and open with lots of windows and really clean. The walkways have cool lights on the ceiling and I think I've heard "Fireworks" by Katy Perry about five times.  But there's one huge problem - there are NO OUTLETS!  Makes it hard to charge things before we leave. Also, Gabe's got a lot of static for some reason though, and keeps shocking himself and his computer and me.

Anyways, time to pack up and ship out.

Someone needs to recommend a new catch-phrase... "Goodnight, world" was for my last trip.

Traveling Again!

Hey everybody!

Well, I'm at it again. This time to Singapore with my wonderful boyfriend and best friend, Gabe. We'll be leaving on December 28, in just TWO WEEKS! He's studying industrial engineering, and I'll take whatever classes I can get (thirty applied for, three accepted so far - just one more!)  Super excited! Nanyang Technological University looks amazing, and our apartment won't be too far away.  =] The food, the culture, the clothing, the... everything. I can't wait to experience it all. Asia, here we come!

Last Day in Brussels =[

Wow. I can't believe it. Four months. Sixteen weeks. Over. And with it? One of the most incredible experiences I think I've ever had.  Tomorrow will be my deep reflection on the relationships and experiences I've had, since I'm leaving at 7 tomorrow morning and it's already late.  For now, just what I did today.

I woke up earlyish and cleaned most of the apartment. Frederique was supposed to come at 10:30, but came at 11:30 to check everything and make sure it was good for us to move out.  We cleaned and mopped and rearranged and now everything is ready for us to leave. 

I skipped the first half of finance class since we were cleaning, but then I went and got my test and final grade - a B! Several people failed, and more than a couple 4.0 GPA's were ruined.  I was happy.  Then we learned about personal finance and managing portfolios and how we should decide to invest.  It was the most useful, applicable thing I think I've learned all semester...

After class, I went back to Grand Place one last time for a few last minute gifts with Jackie before taking my very last metro ride back to the apartment.  Oh, and I also got my last waffle. It was sad. =[

Then I did random things until we had our CUBC dinner.  It was really, really good. Possibly my best meal in Belgium... at least non-kebapy meal.  We had delicious appetizers - rolls and white asparagus and prosciutto-wrapped melon that was incredible.  Then we had chicken and this weird lasagna thing along with potatoes and zucchini.  For dessert, there were a multitude of pies and cakes, along with luscious fresh strawberries.  I had banana cream and it was so good.

During dinner, we all talked and I ended up next to Prof Mowry and Eric (our finance teacher) and Christian, who runs the CUBC.  We talked a lot and it was really interesting. 

After dinner, we took a lot of photos and then a bunch of people came over to the apartment.  We played beer pong with water (everyone already had brought their own) and read Cosmo (there was one guy we were interrogating) and listened/danced to music.  It was a lot of fun.  After a while, everyone went out to celebrate the last night.  I stayed in for my early flight, so I've said goodbye to everyone and will see them at Clemson. 

So now I should probably go to bed. Early flight and I'll be home in less than 24 hours. 

Goodnight, world.

Second to last =[

Well. Today was fun. =]

It started off with House, followed by studying for and taking a law test.  It wasn't bad and everyone was just excited for the year to be over.  I also packed and managed to get my three suitcases all perfectly 23 kilos (50 pounds).  Whatever's not in them is either being worn or going in my carry-on.

Then I went to Grand Place with Elena, Erin and Brinley and got some cool gifts and delicious ice cream.  Brinley and I really talked for a long time before heading back to our apartment for a bit. 

I met up with Erin and Elena for kebaps (the last in Brussels) before meeting up with a whole bunch of people at Delirium.  We had a drink (mine was speculoos - yuck) with our law professor before going over to Booze and Blues.  Whoever came up with that name was very funny.  It's nearly impossible to say if you're not sober, but it does make for a lot of comical mispronunciations.  Anyways, we hung out there for a while and then headed back to Delirium since a couple of us wanted to do DAS BOOT!

Jackie, Michele, Katie, Kyle and I ended up doing the boot; mine was apple beer.  I thought it was appropriate as the first beer I had was also my last.  DAS BOOT! is the Delirium special - 1.5 liters in a real glass boot.  It wasn't bad, and by the time we'd finished, everyone else had shown up.  There were a bunch of people and we had a lot of fun.

Kristen and I came home early and now it's time for bed.  I can't believe tomorrow is my last night; that tomorrow is my last day. It's astounding. I'm excited to go home, but sad to leave Europe (not Brussels, Europe) and all the traveling and new things that I see every day and every weekend.  It will be weird to be home, but I know I will enjoy it.


Goodnight, world.