All the reasons to be fat here:
*Need to eat more because the weather is cold. We need fats to keep ourselves warm*
*It is so cold out there. Too cold for exercise*

Well, nuff said. Be prepared to see a fat fat zhiying.

Another side note, I just finished watching a near 3 hour of Australian Open Men's Final. Of course, it is still Roger Federer as the champion. Poor Andy Murray. But I guess it is definitely a great lesson to the young chap. Cant only be defensive in major grand slam final. You need to be aggressive with a full range of different shots. Baseline, Aces, Volley, Backhand etc. Just admit this. Federer is far more flexible and calm. Experience counts. Look at how federer get back when he is down at 5-3 at the third set. Look at how he managed to save 5 set points. Look at how he able to win the final in 3 straight sets. Good job Fed.

I think california has far too many asians. It is everywhere. We gotta know a few really friendly Asians here and they drove us around, brought us to nice dining place. It is really very kind of them. Really. Grateful and touched. Guess what, some places here are actually more CHINESE than Singapore. Weird but true. The whole area with Chinese Signboards. The supermarket is selling more chinese food than ever. WOAH!

It is late. I should sleep. Adios~

I am blogging in Library

Yeap,I decided to blog in library while waiting for my friend's class to end.\

It seems that many people around me are vegetarians. My roomie and her bf are vegetarians, and they love chinese food. Her bf is a "vegetarian" who loves shrimp fried rice.weird enough. So in order to learn how to cook shrimp fried rice for her bf,she asked me to teach her. Not that I am good in cooking, but well, I guess I am still better in handling chinese food. At least I wont cook those long grain rice, thinking it is the same as our usual white rice. HAHA.

Interesting enough, my roomie and her bf are both hard core tennis players. So, yeap, sometimes we get together and watch tennis match, especially during this Aus Open Season.

And well, surprisingly, Asian is the majority at UCR and the whites are the minority. That probably explains why I have so few white friends over here. HAHA..
Seriously, I think we need to stop going to Chinese Restaurants and start getting into the US culture. FYI, Pearl Milk Tea, which is commonly known as "Boba tea" over here is super duper famous. It is not hard to find a BOBA tea shop around riverside. I think I have more Boba tea over here than in Singapore (since I dun really drink Boba tea back home).

For this CNY, I am probably be camping at Yosemite National Park. We decided to go camping with our school excursion club. It is gonna be fun, it is gonna be cold. It will be a different CNY. After that, we probably going to snowboard. My roomie and her bf and a few other EAP students are also joining us. Hope that's going to be fun!

Oh,interesting enough, I havent been skipping class (this is weird considering the fact that I skipped class in NUS). I have been deligently doing my homework. Weird. Bleh

San Diego

Week 3:
We went to San Diego.
Seriously, we need to drive. Taking public transportation is taking up lotsa time. We took a 5 hour greyhound ride to San Diego (which is supposinly 2 hour drive from Riverside). Hola. Luckily, we did reach in the afternoon and able to visit the San Diego Seaworld.

Seaworld is really a place for kids. I really mean it. We are a bit over-age for the rides. Nevertheless, the SHAMU show is still impressive. For your information, SHAMU is a species of whale (those in black and white colour). The theme of the show is a bit "cheesy", yep, the theme is "Believe". But, it is still interesting to see the whales. We sat at the soak area, which means we probably will get splashed or soaked. Fortunately, we didnt really get splashed and able to stay dry.

We met up with the NUS ppl at UC San Diego (ET and the gang). Went for a good dessert at the shop named "Extraordinary Dessert". The waiting time was 1 hour, yet, we give in and decided to wait for the good dessert. Luckily, it didnt disappoint us. Indeed, the dessert is extraordinary-ly nice.

We managed to get to the beach on Sunday morning. Yes, BEACH! It is really breathtaking. Imagine this. having a house beside the beach. Waking up in the morning. Go for a stroll at the beach. Having a nice breakfast. After then, start preparing for lunch and dinner. HAHA...That's the life if I ever have a house beside the beach.

Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping is probably one of our favourite past time activities here.

Yeap, finally, we bought a rice cooker yesterday.
So there is going to be rice for dinner. That's definitely a good news for 饭桶like me.

We are like a bunch of cheapo aunties and uncles scouting for the best deals/discounts.HAHA.

Rain in the winter

I decided that I really do not like rain in the winter. Our weekend plan is all damped, spoilt by the rain. Apparently, according to weather forecast, it is going to rain for another week. Sob :(

Imagine this, soaking your feet in the totally drenched shoes for the whole day, walking under the weather of probably 10 degree celcius, under the rain without umbrella, not to mention the wind. Yeap, that was my weekend! Bleh.

Luckily, we went to Universal Studio on Saturday, a sunny saturday. We took almost all the rides. The thrilling mummy ride which I personally think it is far too short (it lasted 2 min only), the 3D simpsons ride (You gotta see this. It is really AWESOME. They create the illusion that you are on roller coaster with 3D illusions -- I guess thats why we went back on Sunday to take the ride again), the 4D Shreks, The terminator etc. Universal Studio is the place where you can find all the most updated, most sophisticated technology used in dramas, movies, animations etc.

We managed to take pictures with many famous characters, such as the spongebob, the Simpsons, shrek, mummy, Dora and many many more.

We supposed to go for the filming of "The Price is Right" on Monday. Sadly, we couldnt make it. The admission was closed due to overwhelming response. Why CBS even bother to give out so many tickets when they only can admit another 100 ppl (60 ++ places reserve for the sorority groups...)?? Haiz. So there goes our chance of winning a car :(

Public transport here is not as convenient as Singapore. DUH! Some bus services stop at 5pm. That explains why we spend a lot of time walking back to our student housing.

I misss soup, noodles, rice. Seriously, I am sick of eating burgers, burritos, tacos, salads.

About classes

For this quarter, I am taking 4 modules, namely:
Fate and Transport of Contaminants in Soil
The Principle of Environmental Impact Assessment
The Professional Development of Chemical & Environmental Engineers
Introduction to the Media Art

Fate and Transport of Contaminants in Soil:
Taught by a Chinese Lecturer. So, the way of teaching is similar to that of NUS. Lecture notes + lectures + calculations, chemistry/physical properties of soils etc. Tests + Final Exams. It is pretty much similar to the usual engineering modules in NUS.

The Principle of Environmental Impact Assessment:
Pretty interesting module. Weekly assignment will be to analyze certain aspects of the 4 projects. For example, for this week, we need to analyze/ examine the aesthetic, agricultural and geology aspect of the projects. The projects are all in local context. Well, that explains why I am unfamiliar with some of the acronyms.

The Professional Development of Chemical & Environmental Engineers:
Basically, this is equivalent to Engineering Profesionalism in NUS. I need to make journal entries for every lessons and there is tonnes of readings to be done. Other than that, I need to interview an engineer, as well as prepare for the Fundamental Engineering Exam. Pretty much work ya!

Introduction to Media Art:
Took this module purely out of interest. It is really quite interesting to study paintings, sculptures, art pieces. Tonnes of readings to be done for this module too. AND most of the time, the readings are too complicated and really hard to understand. Yet, I enjoy the lectures. Every lecture is an eye opener to me.

Most of my classes here doesnt have final exam. They all have weekly assignment to be handed up. SOB. This means, I cant really slack. Need to study :(

Updates on the weekend

We went to LA last weekend. This time we decided to roam the suburban area.Yeap, those not so famous attractions...SO dun expect big shots like Hollywood, Universal Studio etc.

We took an early Metrolink train from Riverside to LA. It is a 2 hour ride to LA.

Then yeap, we reached LA at late morning. The first place we visited was the "Original Farmer Market". As you can tell from the name, it is a MARKET.BUT it is a market where you can find all sort of food, a market where you can just stand in front of the candies store and start drooling. Those typical English style of Market. In fact, this place is filled with locals and tourists during weekends. We had a sumptuous lunch (Beef with potatoes..those super big portion of western food). And well, then we spent the whole afternoon roaming the market.

Not to mention the nearby shopping place, "The Grove". It is very pretty with all the lighthings at night. We went to a very interesting store, "The America Girl Place". It is a 3 storey store selling DOLLS. Well, it was pretty crowded. Guess what?! They even have salon, hospital, cafe for the dolls. The merchandise for the dolls ranges from head gear, clothes, furnitures, story books (with story about the doll), shoes etc. Anything we human being need, the store will have it for the dolls. Talking about the hair salon, parents n kids do queue up to get their dolls a nice hairstyle. Well, the price for the service differs. So lets say you just want to tie a ponytail..it costs 10 dollars. A slightly more sophisticated one like all the braids cost about 20 dollars. Well, I dun even spend that much of money on styling my hair. Lucky DOLLS! Parents in the states are quite generous/ willing to spend on their kids. We saw a few other stalls selling kids stuff too and the price for all these aren't cheap.

Victoria Secret is everywhere here. HAHA. The bra size is really scarily big over here.

For the second day, we went to the LA County Musuem of Art. Seriously, the musuems here are much better than those in Singapore/Malaysia. The collections here are pretty impressive. Not to mention the very engaging and interesting guided tour. All the speakers know the collection really well, and they actually try to analyze/discuss about the art pieces. Well, I dun think I am an Artsy kind of person but I did enjoyed the musuem trip.

We went Ice skating too. That was my first experience of ice skating. Quite scary but yet quite fun. Poor friends! They have to keep accompany me for the ice skating. HAHA..

Looking forward to the next trip. We probably going to LA this weekend again.
Touring every weekend definitely makes me having a severe Monday blues.
I dun want to study. BUT I have to.
70 pages + 40 pages of readings are waiting for me :(

Awesome school campus

Seriously, NUS school campus is nothing as compared to UCR school campus. The school is surrounded by mountains. Along the roads in the campus there are many different kind of trees with leaves of different colour. Students walk, cycle, roller skate, skateboard in school. The not-so-frequent shuttle bus seems to lead to this myriad range of mode of transport. Walking to school in the morning is a totally different experience. You gotta enjoy the cold weather, gotta look at the people around you, gotta slowly enjoy the school's scenery. All the buildings in school has names, which personally I think it is more creative than NUS. The buildings here have names like Pierce Hall, Spieth Hall, Rivera Library, The Commons etc. Not to mentioned the landmark of Riverside, the BELL TOWER. It stands grandly at the middle of the school, at the busiest spot of the school. During lunch time, students from every corner of the school will gather here to enjoy their meals or just simply laze around near the bell tower. The bell tower rings every hour. This is so OLD SCHOOL! Back to the times where we have school bells.

Went to the Campus Store(ie. Co-op)to have a look. I was pretty surprised by the large range of UCR merchandise. Seriously, the Campus Store is 3 times of NUS Co-op. For jacket itself, I bet they have about 10 designs. Not to mention all the other merchandise, such as t shirts, files, mugs, photo frames, badge, flags etc.

I also attended one lecture today on professional development of Engineers. The classrooms have black boards and left-handed desk. The lecturer used to be an engineer working for DUPONT. I didnt really enjoyed the lectures though. The whole class seems to know each other and yeap, felt kinda left out. Never mind. Probably I should try to be more friendly next time. Haha. There is no lecture note, no tutorial questions for the first lecture. It was just him, the lecturer, rambling around. For this module, we need to interview an engineer, write your career plan etc. Hopefullly I wont do too badly for this module!

Day 2 at Riverside (2 Jan 2010)

The "smartest" thing that I have done on day 2 is probably bringing out camera which is low in battery. That explains the zero number of photos taken.

Went to get a phone line and open a bank account today. After then, we (3 other NUS students and I) headed to the apparently most ATAS shopping mall at here, the Galleria at Tyler. Bus ride was around 30 minutes. We passed by many pretty houses on the way.

The mall is really quite big with many shops. Not being in a shopping mood, I didnt buy anything from the mall. Forever 21 is really cheaper over here. So as some of the big brands such as Guess etc. Woah! Nevertheless, Factory outlet stores over here offer even better deals. And in fact, it has all the big brands that you can think of. I have to admit that I am not someone who enjoys shopping, or rather I would say, I hate the fact that I need to walk around, choose from 100+ items, and decide whether to buy something, in consideration of budget.

Lunch was at Panda Express. It is a chinese food chain. Interesting enough, all the chinese food here somehow use panda as their symbol/mascot. The chinese food tastes ok at first, but I get sick of the taste after less than 10 bites. Somewhat, everything here is full of seasoning/sauce. So, the beijing beef, orange chicken, sweet sour pork taste all too salty, sour, sweet, oily, after a few bites.

Nice meeting the few others from NUS. At least, we know someone down here at Riverside also secretly craving for Chinese food/hawker food/mamak stall; start to dislike burgers; and just want to get away from Singapore for a couple of months.

Plans for day 3: Visiting Stonehaven Student Housing (the place that I will be staying throughout the semester), nearby supermart. School is starting on day 4. Feel so unprepared

First Post from the land of BURGERS

On the 1st of Jan 2010, I travelled thousand miles from home and landed on the LAND OF BUERGERS.

16 hours of flight is really very very tiring. The leg space is so limited. I cant even stretch my legs straight. *Secretly, I think my blood cant move from the legs back to the heart or vice versa*. However, overall I am quite satisfied with the service of China Airlines. Guess what, the announcement on plane actually comes in 闽南语too. Woah! A typical Taiwan airline. My flight transited at Taipei, and the security check is pretty tight over there. Shoes need to be removed, and there is body search too. Nevertheless, Stewardess are pretty and elegant. Secretly, I want to be part of them. *Girl's fantasy* Food on the plane is pretty ok too! Though towards the end of the flight, I just lost the appetite to eat. Talked to one of the stewardess for a while, and apparently, there is shopping taxes for things sold in California, but not at New York. Darn. That means shopping at New York is cheaper. **Sis, so, yeap, not so much money to get the 2 LEVI's Jeans as requested by you**

Upon reaching LA, I jumped onto a shuttle van and headed to Riverside. On the same van, there is this cute, kind old couple. The driver sent the couple back to their home first. And well, their house looks very nice, with lotsa greens. Indeed, US is in a way quite different from Malaysia/ Singapore.

1. Driver drives on the left side.
2. Residential areas just look so different. No HDB, no high rise building. Just spacious house with big backyard.
3. Roads are much wider.
4. The trees around look different too. Not like the usual trees that you find at tropical country.
5. The mountain looks different too. It is not in lush green colour, but it is sorta brownish.

My first meal in US is CARLS JUNIORS. and yeap, the food is not any cheaper. 5 dollars for a combo meal. Well, the portion is so big that I cant finish it. Can split it into 2 meals. When I look around, there are many fast food chains. SERIOUSLY, I will be fat in no time.

A point to note. The time here is 16 hours later than the time in Singapore/Msia.

Time to sleep. Gotta explore RIVERSIDE tml.