So here I am, in the land of the stars and stripes. America.
Not much of a hoo ha for me though. It's strange. As I stood at LAX airport, waiting for my turn to clear customs, I somehow did not have any of the "wow" feeling (which many people said I was sure to have). Okay, so I've landed, let's get on with business. Perhaps it's because I had another flight to catch. Perhaps it's because I've just sat through a 17 hour flight. Perhaps I just generally feel apathetic. Anyway, queued up for close to an hour, only to be told by the customs officer that I had filled out the wrong form. Darn, felt so embarassed, had to go to another counter to find the right form to fill out. In the end, I became the absolute LAST person to be clear customs. Thankfully the customs officer was kind, and made the clearing process a breeze. How's that for a start. Welcome to America.
And so I went, transiting for a good 7 hours at LA before boarding the next plane bound for Detroit. Upon reaching Detroit, had a real scare. Waited for an hour and still my luggage did not appear. Oh dear. What's wrong. Went to the airport lost and found office, and guess what, my luggage had arrived on an earlier flight. Like duh?! So it was already there at Detroit airport, a good 2 hours before I arrived. Still can't figure out how this could happen. Oh well... the little surprises life throws at me.
Anyway, enough of my travel tales, I finally arrived at Ann Arbor, and what a lovely little town this is. It looks like a simple university town. Lots of greenery, buildings rarely go beyond 4 storeys. Just a very pleasant looking place in general. I graduated from a university with 100 years of history. Now I'm studying in one that has 200 years of history, how interesting.
Actually, a lot of the buildings (especially the older ones) remind me of the buildings I saw in Oxford and Cambridge. I wasn't doing any of the tourist stuff though, did not take any photos so far....think I'm too absorbed in settling the various admin stuff first. Perhaps I will start taking photos this weekend?
I must say the weather is freakishly warm for a place that is so far north in the northern hemisphere. Temperatures are as hot as home, and the thunderstorms are crazy. Showers with strong winds for 10 minutes, then it's all over. So far it has rained everyday that I'm here. But when the sun's out, it's quite nice. At least I do not need to wrap myself up in thick clothing.
This part is for my mother.
还没找到 Ann Arbor 的正式中文名称，可能会向一些中国学生询问。到目前为止，感觉还可以。毕竟好多年没当学生了，能再次感受学生生涯，相当期待。相信这一年应该会很忙，但也会很不错， 时间也应该会过得充实。还没碰到任何新加坡学生，但我想迟早会给我找出来，哈哈。自己一个人远在他乡，求学，过生活，难免会想家， 但这毕竟是一个自我挑战的机会， 一个实现梦想的机会，千载难逢，也只能好好把握，才不会辜负大家对我的期望。
Still jetlagged. Too tired to write more, to be continued.....