The End...

22 December 2006 - New Yorker, I am not

This the official final day of my SEP. The feeling is weird and have kinda mix feeling towards the whole thing. I still remember my first day in NY, end up roaming in Harlem by myself, wondering how my roomie and suitemates will turn out to be. Seriously, I pretty much enjoy the companion of my roomie. Lifestyle dun really clash and we can really crap around with each other which is strange as prior to coming, I always thought that it will be pretty hard to mix around well with someone from an entire different cultural background. How wrong this notion was man. We clicked pretty well and have lots of opinions in common. Even the kind of dilemma we face in life are similar. Which is pretty shocking when we talked about it. 2 of us agreed that this whole experience can never be replicated. There won't be another time whereby I come to NY, not knowing what to do and not knowing anyone and have to adapt to a whole new lifestyle. This whole experience can only be experience once and never again. While on the last night, though the 2 of us are pretty tired as we burnt midnight oil together the previous night to attempt to finish our IB revision, we still made an attempt to stay up and chatted till 4am where I have to go off to San Francisco. We drank, we chatted, it was true friendship in the making. Though, I will never discount the fact that once we leave for our respective destination, we might just drift apart. But seriously, the memories that linger on is good enough.

The Whole 26th Street Residence, 23rd Floor's final gathering

Andrew Suh (L) and Peter Yi (R) - My Suitmates. American Born Koreans

These are my suitmates. Pretty laid back individuals. Nice people and I enjoy staying together with them. Peter Yi is a lady killer. I think he has like 15 gf for the past 2 years. During examination, he will still bring his korean girlfriends (note the "s") back and smoke weed and get high. Dunno what they do behind the door la. haha, and my roomie was like saying," Man, he behave like he is the exchange student and I am the full time student here" He is a neuroscience major. That is serious stuff ok. haha, but really nice guy except the time he keep making drink So-ju till I puke big time. Andrew Suh is more quiet, like your typical accounting major (no offence here). Nice and always bring his guy friends back for video game. Note the contrast with his roomie. haha. But dun be deceive by his nice boy look. He is also a pot head. hahaha. But so what, that doesn't make them baddies.

And lastly, there's Vivian who was my American born chinese exchange buddy. Seriously, I never thought we can become friends. Usually, such exchange buddy thingy usually fizzle out after the first 2 weeks and none of my exchange friends kept contact with their buddies. To my surpise, 2 of us still actually talk to each other. Of course, not like great pals but at least, its still a good friend made in NY. Haa, my impression of her changed totally from day 1 man. I still remember, 8 hrs before my flight to NY, I was still frantically packing my luggage and trying to book a place to stay in NY as I made a big booboo in my previous booking (tts how I end up in Harlem). Then, suddenly I saw Vivian online. Feeling desperate, I decided to badger her for advice etc.. then she was kind enough to give me her number etc... then she suggest that we put our pics on msn so that we can recognise each other when we meet up. When I put on my pic, I was like whoa! So glam, is she a model or what man. And she mentioned that look out for a very tall girl, 1.83m (not bad, she actually convert from foot to metres for me knowing that I am a Singaporean.) with heels. Tall + Glam + NY = naturally I will think that she is a model or something. Then when we finally met, she was sort of an ice beauty. Not much smiles etc.. Pretty hard to get the conversation flowing. But as the times went by, we talk more after class etc... not bad, she is actually quite funny esp when she tell me of her days spent in NUS etc.. I also share some of the nitwit stuff I did in NY. We met up one last time after our final papers for breakfast and it was pretty nice meal. Then pretty embarrassing , cos she keep insisting on treating me and she really end up paying. Felt really bad as she actually has also helped me keep my luggage while I go on a tour on the west coast of US. Hmm, better buy something for her to show some appreciation. Especially, the first conversation we had over msn while I was still in Singapore panicking etc... That converation gave me a big psychological boost as I know that whatever it is, there is someone in NY that I can contact. Seriously, I was pretty nervous (beneath the cool facade, haha) when I was making my lone foray into an unknown world. Contrast to now where I actually made my own trip to San Fran(yes, I am in San Francisco now as I am typing this) and later Vegas, I actually feel pretty normal. That is definitely one plus point of this exchange. International Exposure + Confidence

Finally, after such a long draft, I better end this entry. I guess the ties that I have made in this exchange was the best thing that happen. Haa, suddenly I have friends in HK, Aust, Korea and NY. Pretty neat stuff. Though, I am still feeling sad that this whole thing is over, but perhaps its precisely that its over that makes it so special.

Now, its time to move on and kickstart my one week adventure in the west...

Gotham Comedy Club

15 November 2006 - Gotham Comedy Club

Its examination period. Feeling very stress cos NYU only has a reading day and not week like NUS does. In addition, the papers are all very closed to each other. On monday, I have Corp Fin and Financial Management. Tuesday, I have Financial Statement Analysis and a final report due. Thurs, I have Investment Banking paper. Man, I have never had such tight deadlines before. In order to relieve some stress, I suggest to my roomie to go Gotham Comedy Club to relieve some stress. Gotham Comedy Club is supposedly quite reputable. In addition, tonight features this stand up by the name of Bobby Slayton. His nickname is the "Pitbull".

Frankly, I enjoyed the night pretty much before he came on. This guy is intense. I don't really like the way he deliver his "jokes". I think he has offended not only me, but also some other people. Ok, when you go to a comedy club, be prepared to be insulted especially when you are an asian. But, if it is delivered in a joking way, I mean, I will find it funny too. But come on, this guy is not delivering it in a joking manner. He was way too intense and was just blabbering profanities. Suck ass man! Felt so shit after the night that instead of relieving stress, it just serve to make my blood boil. Even my roomie, who has been to other show was not impress with this guy's antics. I wonder howcome this guy can win so many awards but sorry, I just don't know how to appreciate his crude and vulgar sense of humour.

Back to revision...

Home

7 December to 11 December
Home

Yup, I went back for a brief moment for my sister's wedding. It was great to be back for a while. Meeting up with my family and friends etc...

An equation to sum up everything.

Home = Good food and great companions

Siblings with different surnames now...

Great pals for 7 years...

Of course, there is also Vincent and my VS buddies whom I did not take picture with.

Above is the big man who just like to act cool in photos. The man that orders his son around when he is back and the man that commands his son to put on his blazer and cuff links for him. Oh well, he is the emperor of the family. What can the humble servant say... Haa

City of Universities

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Boston

Yup, just came back from Boston. This place is really the city of universities. There is the famous Harvard, MIT and some other smaller ones such as Boston college to name a few. Seriously, Harvard was not as nice it seem. Pretty dead but MIT was really really beautiful. I thought it would be the other way round. The architecture in MIT was really unique and stylish and they have a very beautiful garden facing the sea where people can relax and chill out.

John Harvard and I doing the most uncool pose

I don't know why, but everyone who took picture with John Harvard will touch his shoes. I just follow suit. Maybe it will make me a genius overnight or something. Haa, no harm trying ma.

MIT

Notice that I am actually wearing a Harvard sweatshirt inside my jacket. I am not being a poser here but this thing save my life man. Temperatures in Boston drop so low that I was freezing to death. I promptly bought this from Harvard bookstore and bloody hell it cost me USD 41. More expensive than the Armani shirt I bought. Seems like Harvard brand cost more than Armani. This sweatshirt better make me a genius to make my money worth it. Still, I must be grateful to it for saving my life.

Freedom Trail

Of course other than the universities, Boston is rich in history. You can walk along the freedom trail, which is a trail of red bricks on the floor and you can trace the happenings of the fight for independence by the Americans over the British. If I am not wrong, this is the setting which the movie "Patriot" by Mel Gibson was based. Maybe Enwei can shed some light since he has stayed in Boston for a couple of years before moving back to Singapore.

Chicago

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Thanksgiving in Chicago

Been a long time since I last blog. Thats because I have been out of town for some time. For thanksgiving break, I went up to Chicago with my friends here. Chicago is a really nice place in a sense that it is more structured and the city is pretty clean which is unlike NY where the subway smells like public toilet. Just like in NY, there will be a mega sale statewide on the friday after thanksgiving. They call it "Black Friday" and some of the shops even started business when the clock strike 12. Of course, ZH here is not so crazy to join in all the squeezing and buying at midnight.

Some of the main attractions of Chicago includes Lake Michigan and view from the top of John Hancock Tower. OMG, the view was breathtaking.

Lake Michigan

Me and the lads monkeying around

View from John Hancock.

Upon typing this post, I just realise that this is the second time this year that I have been to some famous tall buiding and admire the scenery from the top. First was Equinox, next is John Hancock. Next stop will be to conquer the world famous Empire State Building.

Monkeying around again..

Lastly, the hottest and the best experience in Chicago is the ORIGINAL COYOTE UGLY. This was where the movie was shot and seriously, there were lotsa hot babes dancing on the bar tops. Sometimes, some hot bar waitress will give you a free shot. All you need to do is go to the bar counter and open your mouth and they will pour it in your mouth plus a sexy dance from them on the bar top. Of course, ZH will not let such a good opportunity go to waste.

Example of some customers and waitress dancing on the bar top

Some guy got lucky

Of course, being a big finance geek here, I have definitely been to CBOT. It was really majestic and I will show it to fellow finance geeks when I get back home. Shall not bore the rest of the people who probably won't know what is CBOT anyway.

ZH with exactly 1 month left in US