Running Around the Consortium

Today was a heck of a day! We're in Western MA now, in the general Amherst area.

 This morning we took a tour of Hampshire College, the newest college in the Five College Consortium and the one that made the Consortium a thing. It was an experience. While I'm sure the college is great for some people, it didn't seem like the right fit for me. One of the student tour guides was creating a third year programme about 'Hip Hop and Latin Studies' with his final project being 'A sort of musical mash-up with different plays, maybe a little of "Grease" all with hip hop music and dance discussing Latin identity.' Hey man, whatever floats your boat. The admissions lady was an alumni who tested to see if the traditional theatre positions (director, stage manager, etc) could be eliminated in favour of equalised positions. Apparently it's possible, though that's kind of news to me as a theatre tech.

Hampshire College: Alternative, curious, not for me


Then we drove through Amherst College. It's the best liberal arts college in the country, and it looked that way.

Amherst College: A dream!

After that, we decided to head over to UMASS Amherst. It was really confusing. We thought we could get a tour even though it was Saturday because we called and it said so, but alas, it was not so.

UMASS Amherst: A production

We ate lunch afterwards at a place called Black Sheep Deli, and it was amazing. I had a parma ham sandwich that was good enough to write to Singapore about. Oh, and the iced mocha was to die for. RECOMMENDED

Black Sheep Deli: YUMMY!

Since we figured we might as well continue exploring the Consortium, we drove to Mt. Holyoke College. It's a woman's college, and pretty darn cool. The buildings were stately and brick, with pretty windows. It has everything I'm interested in (Sociology, International Relations, Chinese) and is very reputable.

Mt. Holyoke College: Pretty and interesting.

Now of course, we had to go to the last college, Smith. I think we saved the most beautiful for last. The grounds were simply amazing! I think we're going to try and take a tour of it even though it doesn't have International Relations.

Smith: Gardens~

Verdict: The area is great. I'm most interested in the two women's colleges, which is interesting because I was pretty certain I wanted a co-ed school. Go figure.


Cool thing: Today I got a really nice comment on this blog from an anonymous poster. I don't know if you're going to read this or not, but I greatly appreciate what you wrote! Sometimes I question if I'm just writing this blog for myself, but if I can help someone else with my experiences, I'm very glad. Thanks for reading :)

Other things on my mind: Have to raise my SAT score. Have to write that pesky college essay, which is turning into a not-so-pesky essay because I have tons of ideas floating around in my head. Miss Singapore, and someone special back there. Hope he's having fun playing games, working out, and being special :) Also wondering which country I'm going to end up in. Craving chicken rice. A little nervous to start my Senior year, but also excited and ready to take advantage of it. Sad people in Bedford changed and didn't change at the same time. Glad I saw my friend Kiara the other day. Hopeful that things are going to work out at the end of the day, and I'll find the college right for me!

The Laziest Larceny

Something pretty strange happened tonight, and I'm going to call it "funny" purely because I'm not sure how to handle it. We drove to Western Massachusetts today (I slept the whole way there), and this evening we went to a diner. The food was awesome and the portion sizes were huge. However, when we got back to the (rented) car, my dad realised the gas tank cover was open. When he checked the gas amount in the car, it was definitely lower than before. Someone nicked some gas from our car, and was too freaking lazy to close the cover! I mean, come on.

If you're going to steal something, at least try to be subtle about it.

My family is viewing this as weird but slightly funny. The person didn't take very much gas (or we just have a huge tank), but I really think they could have been better about it. It's actually the first time my parents have had gas stolen, and they have started recounting stories of "back in the day we had locked covers" during the gasoline wars.

Other interesting things happened too, unrelated to the stolen gasoline. I've seen a total of four colleges so far out of five, and I already wrote about one of them (Wheaton). All of these were seen on different days, but I'll list them quickly here. First, I saw University of WI, Madison which was a really big school. Then, I saw Beloit College and was very impressed by the campus and staff. They really made sure I learned a lot about campus and what it is like to be a student there. After flying back to Boston, I saw Boston University. I actually saw this school last year when I did a college tour down the Northeast, and decided to bring my parents back. After talking to some students and staff, I can also firmly say I like BU. Picking a college is going to be really hard!

The Capital of the Cheese State

Greetings from Madison, Wisconsin. It's the capital of the state, though not the largest city (that would be Milwaukee). The capitol building is apparently the centre of the city, and everyone around here seems pretty proud of it. Situated between two lakes, the city is breezy and beautiful. It's a bit short overall, lacking high-rises and other such buildings. It's also a bit old-fashioned... aspects of it seem quite old. There's no MRT or anything here, the city is too small.

Instead, the city is pretty green. There are lots of trees and flowers about. Bike lanes exist, which is pretty neat. We saw lots of people biking for exercise and transportation. There's recycling everywhere and other such things. We drove around with a few of my mother's friend's brother if that makes sense, which was interesting. The ice cream is so good around here that we all got some (though not eating dairy often means it messes up our stomaches) and explored the area. The university is absolutely massive, and enrolls like 40,000 students or something crazy like that.

Also, the people are TALL here. The men break 6'0 easily, and the women are all like 5'6 and above. I guess it's Swedish roots or something. I look like a child walking around here. It's a little tiring because I'm always looking up at people. The guy who took us around the area was 6'7. How do you buy a bed when you're that tall? Fit on a plane? Go on the MRT? Drive a car?

Seems inconvenient.



Also, I've come to a bit of an conclusion.
I think I'm a salt-water girl.


 Lakes are pretty, but I prefer the sea.  

Wheaton College Visit... and Readercon?

Well, today was an interesting day. It didn't start out that great, since I've been waking up a lot in this hotel bed. It's really uncomfortable and my upper back hurts.

Wheaton College is a small liberal arts college in this not-that-sleepy town called Norton. The campus itself was really pretty and I liked it a lot better than many other schools I visited last year. It was basically the epitome of New England- the woodwork and whatnot just seemed like home. That being said, the school is quite small. Not certain if I like that or not. Anyways, I do think parents tend to have really stupid reactions to silly college traditions. There's apparently this Wheaton tradition that kids swim in Peacock Pond at some point before they leave. However, parents apparently called the school fussing that "you can't force kids to swim in a pond to graduate"! Honestly now people, do you really think a respectable organisation would make kids swim in a pond as an actual graduation requirement? Come on, get a sense of humor.


This hotel is currently hosting Readercon, which is an imaginative literature convention. Seems interesting enough, though some of the folks around here have very interesting choices in attire. There are lots of interesting conversations to be heard around here.

Hey There, USA

It’s been a year since I’ve been back here, and loads of things have changed. At the same time, nothing has changed at all. I’m from a small town in Massachusetts, and there’s something about small towns that never change no matter how many new restaurants move in or what strip malls get rebuilt.

Getting here was annoying. We had a 12 hour flight to London, a 5.5 hour layover, and a 6.5 hour flight here. So yes, we travelled 24 hours to get here. Even though I’ve been here for a bit, I still feel jetlagged and generally in the wrong time zone.

I’ve forgotten a few things about being in America, and I’m not sure if I like them or not.

11.     There are American flags everywhere. I know the 4^th of July was recently, but seriously; there are flag poles everywhere. It’s impossible to forget what country you are in!

22.     American food is really strongly flavored. Something sweet is VERY sweet, while something salty is incredibly salty.

33.     You need a car to get anywhere.

44.     Every single one of my friends can drive, and many have their own used cars.

55.     Trucks. There are so many of them, and they are huge.

66.     People are friendlier. “Hey, how are you doing,” is a common phrase, while a simple “hello” is not.

77.     There are more adjectives to describe various products. Nothing is just “normal”. Nope, everything is “enhanced”, “new and improved”, “radical”, “dramatically different”, etc. It’s a bit silly.

88.     They drive on the wrong side of the road.

99.     The bill in a restaurant is brought to you, rather than you going to the front to pay.

110. Service charge and tax isn’t automatically included, so the listed price isn’t actually how much something costs.

111.  People talk louder here.

I met up with friends for dinner last night and lunch today. It was really nice seeing people and how things have changed. It’s a bit disappointing to hear about friendships falling apart, but that’s what happens in small towns when everyone has known everyone for too long. I was also somewhat (though not very) surprised to hear about various kids getting into drugs/alcohol/sex. Though it’s a pretty normal thing, the various people who have fallen make me a bit sad. Some of the kids are really smart and were nice (though some were always stupid), so hearing my old friends and classmates do really stupid things is distressing. Overall though, the people I’ve met up with haven’t really changed.

My first college tour, Wheaton College, is tomorrow! I’m so busy here running errands and stuff that I pretty much wake up, eat breakfast, and am gone until the end of the day. It makes me feel kind of bad, because I’ve been meaning to talk to people back home.

I’ve concluded while I’m back in my hometown, this isn’t home anymore.

Layover in Heathrow

12 hours down. 6 to go. Chance of insanity: medium. Chance of eating another bacon roll: 90%

Well, I'm in British Airways Lounge passing time chatting with people on Facebook. I'm tired even though I slept for a while, and completely off time zone. It's 3pm in Singapore, some time in the morning in the UK, and 3am in Boston. Flying backwards is worse than flying forwards in time. 

The stuffed sheep (Fluffy) Nick got me way back when smells like the airplane. Actually, so do I. I hate the way airplanes smell- it's just gross, you know? There was this little kid on the airplane who was jealous I had a plushy with me while he did not. He also thought it was cool to stare at me. His grandmother didn't seem to care, which is really weird. If my child was staring at random passengers, I'd tell them off. Another thing about airplanes I don't get- why are babies/small children allowed in Business and First class? I suppose they are paying passengers... but seriously, I think exactly nobody would really mind if the screaming children stayed in coach. I'm going to remember this when I'm a mom. I'll fly Business, and my husband can fly coach with the kids!

Just kidding. 

So, I'm really bored, so I'm people watching. There are about a million different sorts of people... the people who just walked in are really loud. Others are quiet, sleeping (often with funny faces), or generally bored looking.

YAY FOR LAYOVERS (psh). 

Getting Ready to Fly

I don't think I've mentioned it up until now, but I'm flying out of Singapore tonight. We're going on British Airways, which is quite the change because we haven't flown with them since our Europe trip (which was back when I was 9). It does mean we have a layover in London, but that won't be too bad because Heathrow is fun to explore and I do believe they have Cafe Nero there. Honestly, one of my favourite parts of London was that place, and its wonderful hot chocolate!

I had a "when you're an expat moment" just now that I wanted to write about. It is: You know you're an expat when your Hungarian paprika-container-turned-coin-storage has four different currencies in it!

There's Sri Lankan rupees, British pence, USD, and Singapore dollars in that thing.

So this amused me greatly. Needless to say the biggest pile is Singapore dollars, followed by USD, Sri Lankan rupees, and British pence. After my trip, I'm pretty sure the USD and British pence will be bigger piles than the Sri Lankan money. Anyways, I think this is pretty cool. That being said, the pennies are not. Seriously America, get rid of your pennies and round to the 5 cent like Singapore! So much easier. 

Anyways, I'm ready for this trip. I haven't finished packing yet but I'm close enough, so that's good. 

Here's some other random pictures of food and such that I've been eating around Singapore. 

Strawberry ice with soft cream, jellies, and snow fungus. From Dolce Tokyo, 313 Somerset

My mom and I at the Japanese place in GWC on the first floor. The green tea ice cream is actually mine.

Parfait from the Matcha place in Orchard Central

Not food, but a chop my dad got from China. The stone is called chicken blood, and the writing is my name in old-school Chinese print. 

Will post again in America, the land of the (sorta) free!

1 AM Thoughts

Okay, it's kinda late. Well, for normal people, it's very late. But that's alright, because I'm seventeen, it's my summer holiday, and I don't have anything particularly important to do tomorrow anyways. I'm meeting up with my mother's friend's niece (who I went to Arab street with today) for lunch and swimming around in my pool (that I've used exactly once), but I don't exactly have to be awake for that. Just kidding- I did like Leah a lot. It's just that at this point my body has gotten used to going to sleep between 1-2 am and waking up whenever Mom decides it's time to open the curtains.

So, I've noticed that there's crazy stuff going on in the news these days. What the heck, Egypt? Syria? USA? Strange stuff, really. And I've been reading a lot of the comments people post on various articles regarding Egypt, and they make me mad. Come on, Americans (generalising, but they tend to be the ones to post the most ignorant, rude comments). Can't we clean up our act on the internet and stop spewing hatred everywhere?

Guess what. We're all human. Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, (dare I say) Atheists, Agnostics... you name them, they're human.   We're all subject to the same desires, hopes, fears, aspirations, joys and sorrows. Arguing that one religion is inferior to another is futile, since nobody can say for sure if they are right.

So at the end of the day, which is concluding at nearly 2am, I've come to a conclusion: 

If you are a nice person to me, I'll like you. I don't care what you look like, what religious affiliation you have, etc.

If you talk about your beliefs, I will listen and be interested. 

If you try to force your beliefs down my throat, I'm going to get mad because I wouldn't do that to you, so doing that to me is pretty darn inconsiderate. 

If you're just a mean/rude/inconsiderate/nasty person, I'm not going to like you. Fairly self explanatory. 

So: from a teen blogger on the internet- everyone, just get along already. Stop picking fights and using your own superiority complex as "proof" that you're better than someone else.  Everyone has the potential to be both a good person or a bad person, and how "good" and "bad" are determined is a personal issue often based in religious or ideological beliefs. While a rotten apple can spoil the barrel, some people's bad behaviour shouldn't taint the reputation of others.