To make matters more complicated, there also is involvement outside academic matters per se to bear in mind - involvement in IV or other Christian stuff, non-academic school-related stuff [on a whim (and a prayer) i auditioned for and ended up in a choir here - which i am quite excited about, though not about the added hours though], just plain slacking =p, and travel, which i really want to do a lot of, though with the limited time at hand i dunno what's possible (methinks i shall have to be more buay pai seh with respect to tompang other people's cars to wherever they may want to go...).
But anyhoos, yesterday and today involved getting involved in various activities organized by various Christian groups catering to new/international students. The whole way that things are done here is definitely something that i can take away lots from, with regards to the organization and the heart behind it. Of course there's still a long way to go (contagious diseases aside) so basically think that even apart from academics there's still a lot to learn...
Yesterday's activities consisted of an international students' welcome dinner by IV international, followed by bowling at the student union (yes, there's a fairly large bowling alley in school - which is really cool save for the fact that this is the first alley i've been to where you still have to write down the score on a piece of paper yourself) and dessert at Cold Stone Creamery (more ice cream, more good stuff). Now that's a lot of stuff for one evening alone - and i'll say it again, to have the tables turned, so to speak, where i'm now in the position of a blur new student who is quite unaware of what's really going on, and threfore in need of lots of guidance in part provided by helpful folk such as these, is a very humbling learning experience.
Today was really exciting - through the first (of many) ice cream social that i went for we (most of the NUS folk) signed up for a day trip to the beach - specifically Wrightsville Beach, just outside of Wilmington, NC (where they film Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill - not that this matters anything at all to me - just a random fact) - a good three hours' drive away from Chapel Hill. Although it basically took up our whole saturday, it was definitely worth it.
After never having ever eaten it, and on the positive recommendations of several of the local UNC people here, i ate food from Bojangles twice today, as there's one at practically every I-40 pit stop between Chapel Hill and Wilmington, and therefore it's a logical choice for food - be it for breakfast on the way to the beach, or for dinner coming back from the beach. It definitely lived up to the positive reviews that i've heard, and i guess i'm glad that there isn't one too nearby where i stay, or i may be too frequent a customer there to the extent that i may put on too many pounds (cos whatever the food is, one thing that it certainly ain't is healthy).
And what blog post of mine would be complete without a matt-and-his-hopeless-mandarin story? This time what happened was that i was seated shotgun in the not-so-mini-van thingy that we sat to the beach and back, and one of the organizers, who also happened to be the driver; Chad, happened to be able to speak Mandarin (and he's a white American). So he was asking me some questions about Singapore in Mandarin, and i didn't know how to reply in the same language so i had to drop out and answer him in English instead - soooo paiseh i tell you...
Just experiencing the beach - which by far is the best beach i've ever been to (though i can only ever recall going to beaches in Singapore and a random few in Malaysia so that isn't much really - oh maybe Waikiki was better, but much more crowded and commercialized) was great in itself. God blessed us with perfect weather for a day out on the beach - sunny but not oppressive. There was more than enough space to just spread out a groundsheet and lie down and bake in the sun. The water was really salty, but was blue in colour (unlike much of the coastal water we get in S'pore - and as a former boat spec, think you cantake my word for it) and just the right temperature. Also, unlike the dirty sea water in S'pore, the water here did not dry leaving a sticky feeling all over, which makes me wonder (but not want to know) what extra additives (or more specifically, pollutants) are located inside S'porean sea water hmm... The waves were strong enough for us to ride them for quite a distance, yet not overpowering to the extent that we were dragged out. And of course, the people met and conversations had throughout the course of today (as well as whatever other events that i've attended) are just sweet. Aiyah, so basically it was great lah - i just hope that i'm not too burnt after today.
For beach and other pics, as usual click on "US PICS" over there =======>
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