Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Check in at Centre of International Education

Today Spy and I went for check in for the uni officials to have our visa documents and health records checked. We both got a jab of MMR (Measles,mumps,rubella). Cost us 44.40US dollar! Everyone says medical expenses in US is high. Now I believe it!

After which our cousin took us to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) to get our californian driving license done. I wasn't ready so Spy went for the written test first. He passed! first time....He got his temporary license til he takes his practical test. In the meantime he can drive.....

We then went to our nephew's school to check out his schedule. He's attending middle school (equivalent to Sec school in Singapore) and school's starting tom for the fall term. We found out the public school he went to is free...no need to pay school fees. Each class has about 20 students. At break time, students either bring food to school or school provides free food for the needy students. Ain't that great!

Meetin Thomas this weekend for some sightseeing at Long Beach.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Day 1 and 2 Orientation at California State University (CSULB)

On Monday (27/8), Spider and I attended the kinesiology department orientation at the PE block. Still suffering from jet lag but we survived the day. The department professors were very friendly and helpful. We were briefed on expectations as a graduate student and what paths we want to take after graduation. We have to start thinking if we wanna do our doctorate after we graduate and this will impact on how we wanna do our masters. Heavy responsibility type of decision. Strict criterias were set to meet in order to graduate with a masters degree. Seems hard ya..... Butta we'll take it positively and still gonna enjoy the sun, the good air con weather and explore the good crags and try to do well for studies ya.....

Later we both found out more about our schedules. I have 3 days of lessons a week. Tues, wed and Thurs. Yippeee....that means long weekends to drive to local crags and climb climb climb on top of our studying schedule. Spy has 4 days (mondays to thurs). That's not too bad too ah....

After lunch we decided to check out a local car mart to see if there are any good buys. We navigate our way around long beach city with a bus guide. Little did we know that we entered the "Cambodian town" so called by the locals. The place seem dodgy. As warned by many friends not to loiter to "bad areas"....we did. An African american guy and another hispanic guy asked Spy for a quarter (25cents in a coin...interesting!)He said NO of course and we walked off. We decided this is over the limits of our little adventure so we escaped the "bad area". Chased after a bus that was about to leave and got to a "safe area".Phew.....

It has been the 3rd day at California. Been great despite the jet lag. We've got a great cousin who took us in her place at huntington beach. Such a lovely place. Clean rows of houses with nice gardens everywhere. Supermarts here displayed free food. On the first nite, we have a free cookie/donut from the supermart. Many supermarts here displayed free food to sell their products. Ain't that great??

Spy's been busy reading up the motor theory test so that he could get the californian license asap. It's bad to ride the public here. Almost everyone drives a car. What more with cars going at 1000US dollar. That's cheap...ay..

Day 2 Orientation is for International Students. We were grouped up with the graduate students. We were the only ones from Singapore. Most of them come from Korea, Japan, Taiwan and India. Interestingly, most of the Indians are doing engineering and most others doing arts/business. Then we had a free tea break and free lunch. Some important info about the uni and a mini fair was conducted. There'll be a free hollywood tour this coming fri. Btw, hollywood's at LA.

After lunch, we loiter about the school checking other areas out. Went into the bookshop and my gosh...very big and beautiful. Like 10 times bigger than the one in NTU. All the shop assistants are CSULB students. There's a culture of students working on campus. Very nice.....we will look for a job on campus too once many things are settled. The first level of the 2 story bookshop has half the space selling souvenirs. It looks more like a shop in Sentosa selling souvenirs than a bookshop! There are CSULB logo-ed teddy bears, cups, sweat shirts,etc. And the students are so proud to wear them! Then we walked to the book section. There are rows and rows of used textbooks going at very cheap rates. Many are resold (I believe) by graduated students and are in very fantastic condition still. Each book has a orange "used" sticker on it. Very nice.....for poor students....like us....

After checking out the libray, very big of course and spooky too with each rows of books seems very long...hee...,we decided to take the bus home. Took the bus from long beach to huntington beach. Somehow wrong info from the bus guide made us missed the connecting bus home and we walked like 5km or so (more than an hour) home. Nobody does that in America. 2 idiots walking along the road while the other cars drove by so quickly....boo hoo....Our little misadventure again....well at least we got home safe.

The experience has been great. We are glad we came out of Singapore to see what the other campus from other countries are like. And how they function from how ours function. Class will start next week so serious business soon. Will be visiting local gym soon....hope it'll be fun. No outdoor climbing til Spy pass the california driving test and get our little mobile soon....