Canteen Talks

My first Saturday in Singapore was spent sitting in cant 2 and then cant A for about 3 hours talking with the group of exchange students from all over the world. Mexico, Holland, Australia, Sweden, Finland, the South! How can all of these people from so many different places possibly find themselves all sitting at one table in the middle of Singapore chatting? We were supposed to go swimming at 8 pm but the pool was already closed so we ended up not only chatting after eating (I ate samosas from a canadian pizza place...hmm) but meeting a couple more exchange students: Daivd from Canada, John and Amanda form Michigan and Pablo form Mexico. But I am sure that I am learning just as much from all of them as they are from me. For example, teaching them what s'mores are, what in'n'out burger is, and what yosemite is like is almost as enlightening for them as it is for me to learn how to calculate celsius degrees and why the day comes before the month (9/11 or 11/9?). Roel (aka grr) from Holland mentioned that he had a turtle once, and that its size is determined by th size of its tank. So I came to the conclusion that it must be that way in humans too, explaining why asians are so damn small because they live in such small places, while americans have all the room to grow, my theory to the obesity epidemic. everyone agreed.

We have all established that we may all be very different, but the one thing we all have in common is that we are all ALWAYS late to everything. If we plan to meet at 3, that pretty much means 4 in our universal language that we all seem to know. Sitting around in canteens for hours on end is pretty much the most exciting thing we have done so far, so we all agree on that too. John from Michigan (who doesn't know jonny) said that at home sitting outside McDonalds is not cool, but obviously here we have made it the thing that cool kids do. The diversity in the group is overwhelming, and I can't wait to travel with all of these amazing people.

I went on a run this morning around the sauna aka NTU campus with my new friend Amanda from Pennsylvania who goes to U of Michigan. The best part of the run is a toss up between going up about 12 flights of vertical stairs, similar to what jim carrey climbed in ace ventura, or when she tripped on the sidewalk which tripped me and we both fell to the ground. It was hilarious, and im sure even more hilarious to watch. No wonder the singaporeans stay so far away from us.

Last night on our way back home Christina from North Carolina aka my future new roomie and I had a great walk back to our hall, which consisted of climbing the fence to catch the 199 bus and finding the hugest snail we have ever seen in our lives. I thought everything was bigger in america, but apparently i was wrong.

Roel from Holland is pretty much the funniest guy ever, along with john form Michigan. Roel's high pitched "what??!?!?!??!" to pretty much everything that comes out of my mouth is hilarious. Daniel from Australia is always down for everything mate and has got me in a new habit of saying cheers at the end of everything. Fernanda de Mexico is single handedly teaching us spanish and spanish phrases, like Cuando quieras!! Susana is also educating us on all of the millions of books and research she has read about everything..while Marko is from Finland and is an only child (lol). Christina from NC my dear elon girl is so sweet and funny and i am still fascinated by her southern accent. Learning about cook out ("uhh..is that a place where people get together and just cook?") and old southern racism and watching "the end of ze world" and bon qui qui is priceless. I can't forget her obsession with cats and trying to rescue them from the trash cans at Cant A, only to have them jump out of the trash can at the speed of lightning. Ill be sure to let you know if she ever gets sick of the hamburgers here!! :)

The Gang

They really aren't so bad after all...

Oh Singapore

I get about 4 or 5 hours of sleep every night here. I will come back from the trip with permanent black circles under my eyes. Either that, or as Christina and I have discussed, super thin, super tan, with crazy wild uncontrolled hair (Macy Gray look-a-likes). My hair seems to look like it "exploded" (Susana) and the lack of makeup has made me feel like im at camp NTU. I dream of the day when I will be able to take a shower without flip flops on, and I wont have to bring my shampoo and soap to the shower, and lizards and moths wont be creeping all around. Ive grown more accustomed to it though, so taking me out of these flip flops at home is going to be a challenge.

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