Thanks everyone of you who made my stay here so memorable. Global House 7th Floor will always be a part of me. A goodbye is never a goodbye.

Keep in Touch my friends!!!

People on the 7th floor are starting to leave while I was busily preparing for my exams. How I wish time can run slower just for one more day.

雪花飘在脸上的感觉好温柔

安安静静降下来的时候充满了勇气.

Beyond the little red dot!

Yesterday,

Global House had a farewell party in Chang’s Garden. My friends had a couple of drinks, the place was filled with darkness and loud music. Nilmary hugged me tightly and said:” I am really going to miss you. I am serious, I am going to miss you”.

I cried out loud.

It is not the feeling of separation that hurts, but the fact that everything is coming to an end…and it is never gonna be the same again.

Hi! I am finally back at UCONN after a short vacation in Chicago. Chicago is awesome, with Ying Ying being such a nice companion. We had pretty much covered most of the places of attraction and practically ate our way though! Thanks to Ying Ying ingenious iPhone navigation functions, we had the famous deep dish pizza from Giordino’s and the Popcorn from Garette. Chicago is a pretty city, the skyline is beautiful and we are really luckily that the weather has been very kind to us!!! Bright and sunny for all these days and it snowed when we were back in the comfort of our hotel room. There are some of the places that we had been to.

Day 1

We reached Chicago at about 4pm and head straight down to the Michigan Avenue (aka The Magnificent Mile) where it is the heart of fashion and dining in Chicago. There were a lot of up class restaurants and international brands. We decided to go there as there was a parade on the lighting festival for Chirtmas. Ying Ying and I did catch some parts of the Parade, but we went off doing some shopping~ Hoho..

Christmas's coming!

Wave back!

Hershey's Big Chocolate..It costs 40 over USD.

Day 2

We visited the Navy Pier and I bought a bag that changes colour under the sun, it was so cool then, so I bought it out of impulse. -__- We visited this tinted glass museum for free, there were lotsa of amazing artwork on glass painting. It was pretty much the highlights of Navy Pier. There are suppose to be really good scenery for photo taking, since it is near the harbour, but the weather was too cold to venture out! We went to Hancock Observatory Tower in Michigan Avenue, and I was smart to suggest the visit before sun set, so we caught amazing Chicago cityview before, during and after the sun set! Haha, it was worth the trip, the tower was 100 level tall, one of the tallest building in the world. We took the elevator up to 94^th level for the observatory section and according the information guide, it only takes 40 secs o reach 94 level, it is the fastest elevator in North America!!!

Navy Pier

Tinted Glass Museum

Beautiful view from the Hancock Observatory tower.

We round up our fabulous day with the cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. I ordered strawberry cheesecake and it tasted so much better than any of the Cheesecake I have tried in Singapore, I am not a fan of cheesecake, but I fell in love with the one I had today.

Day 3.

Today, we practically combed The Loop in Chicago, an area where all the CTA (train lines) run in a loop. We visited the entire Millennium Park and went to the Cloud Gate- one of the top ten modern wonders of the world. Well, we had fun times taking shots of ourselves, and the Cloud Gate looks gorgeous with skyscrapers decorating its’ backdrop.

Cloud Gate

Our next destination was the Art Institution of Chicago and I took a picture with the famous lion statue outside the building. Too much art in the Museum though, maybe we are arty enough to digest all the artwork.

Dinner was at Giordano’s Pizza, the famous Only-In-Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. According to Ying Ying iphone, there was one store located near the Wabash street, so..we walked a long way in the cold…to realize that the store had closed down for business! Oh my! We were very determined to taste the legendary Chicago pizza..SO, we walked all the way to another store, which was some distance away. We were both glad to reach there and being so hungry, we ordered a lot of food! Garlic Cheese Bread, Salad and Cheese Pizza…too much Pizza, too much cheese. –___– But I have to say, pizza crust taste very good! They made the pizza on the spot, so we had to wait at least 45 mins for the pizza to be made! Fresh and good, but too much cheese.

Check the thickiness and the amount of Cheese it had!

Day 4

Day 4 was allocated to the Shedd Aquarium and The Field Museum. For some reasons, there were lotsa of visitors in Shedd Aquarium on er…Tueday afternoon..Mostly parents and their children. I must say it wasn’t that impressive, I think the Singapore Underwater world had set such a high standard that I didn’t enough the Aquarium as much! Singaporeans should be really proud to have such attractions, our Zoo, Birdpark and Underwater World were genuinely remarkable, we are small, but strong! Haha..

The Field Museum made up for the less enjoyable Aquarium though, Sue the T-rex was the world’s MOST COMPREHENSIVE, WELL-PRESERVED AND LARGEST set of fossil ever found in the world. Wow wow wow, there is all I can say, Every part of the skeleton was the real bones except the head, which was exhibited at a separated section as it was too heavy to be hung with the body. Then, I spotted something too, the world LARGEST diamond, displayed in the Field Museum, it was 5900 carats…the diamond sparks almost can kill! Oh my gosh, I need to steal it away for my own collection. (=

Sue, the T-Rex

Largest Diamond....mine....

Check out the amout of "colours" this diamond has...oh my gosh, kill me..

There is no light shining through this piece of Jade, the mixture of greens makes it looks translucent..wonderful.

The sky colours after we end our day.

So today, I am back at UCONN, took the plane on the busiest traveling day of the year. I am glad to be back, at my own room and be here, blogging. It is Thanksgiving Day tomorrow and I heard from my relative that we are going to have a 18 pounds turkey, I don’t have a idea how heavy it is actually going to be…lazy to convert it into kilograms. But yes! Heading to New Jersey tomorrow morning and shopping on Black Friday in New York! After this week, I will be so jia-lat with my work, oh well, work don’t come into the picture before Saturday.

My 2^nd day in Chicago was very enjoyable; Ying Ying and I will be safe and happy! We went to the Hancock Observatory Tower and had a spectacular view of Chicago on the 94^th level. Chicago is a captivating city, my much-awaited excitement for urban life after spending so many months in Connecticut! It started to snow today! I can see snow drifting down from my hotel window! The hotel room is good, clean, big and safe, just that the hotel Internet connection is slower, so updates on my Chicago trip will have to wait. But I am more than happy, to be connected. To these friends who are traveling during Thanksgiving, be safe everyone and keep warm!

I miss you guys!

Ps: I ate Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, the cheesecake is like Oh-My-God…. (=

Disney Store In Michigan Avenue- The Magnificent Mile

After these few months of student exchange in USA, I wonder has any part of me change. What is it that I will bring back which will never be the stay as before I depart.

I hope I can became a better Wee Lai.

Welcome to Yale

Imagine two Yale students rushing for class!

Just for the fun of it, look at the rankings...Well, NUS was not bad too!

On the serious side, my father was right…that as a student (学者), one should take a look at schools like this if given a chance, walked the path many great scholars took and appreciate the school as a place that had nurtured many great people. Afterall, such opportunity doesn’t come easily with a guided vacation tour. I didn’t realized how nice a university can be until I visited Brown in Rhode Island, I will insist a trip to Harvard University in Boston with Jenny, this time, I want to meet up with Sir Harvard.  

The hotel we stayed in was very nice too, to think that this was only the second time I stayed in a hotel for my exchange…I am more than glad, I need to erase the memory of my previous stay in the youth hostel~ Mr Creepy and dirty bathroom..OMG. This hotel is almost a luxury, I had a wonderful bubble bath~ Need to pamper myself from time to time. =D

While there were lotsa of good memories, there were bad experiences too. We all concluded that the hotel receptionist was big racist against Asians, bad services for us. Her attitudes serving the black family in front of our line was oh-so different. I didn’t felt much because I wasn’t sensitive when comes to such things, but after Jien pointed it out, I realized how obvious it was… =(

Met another creepy man in the bus station on our way back to UCONN in Hartford. We were kindda stunned by his ranting about women and what they should do..long stories..I was freak out. A million of thanks to the bus captain who let us board the coach before the actual boarding bus, if not we would continue to be harassed by the stupid drunkard. I NEED pepper spray. I am seriously going to buy one.

I am doing well, miss home though. It is difficult to be away for too long. Louisa, if you were reading this, I listened to the song u send me and I thought described me very well.

Thank you very much, 我听到了你的思念.

*Three of the photos were taken with Jien’s awesome camera, thank you Jien!

Just woke up with a new day and a new president who is so inspiring. Yesterday, after the outcome of the election 08, I got to watch Obama delivering his first Presidential speech LIVE. What he said was powerful and beautiful and it will always be a legacy in the history of America-Yes We Can, was chanted with big and loud voices by the Americans, from all different colours, the whites, blacks, asians and hispanics…coming together as one and exercising their rights and beliefs on him. It was truly spectacular, truly touching and truly inspiration.

Yesterday, a class of Willimantic kids came to our dorms for treat or trick, well, I have never been through a Halloween before, so I bought some Hershey’s kisses for them…was worried that it wasn’t enough, so I went to Co-op to buy more sweets. I had fun giving away the sweets. Natalie taught me a song and there is goes.

Treats or tricks

Smell my feet

Give me something nice to eat,

If u don’t,

I don’t care,

I’ll pull down your underwear.

Haha..Helloween is a festival mainly for children, but Level 7^th had lotsa fun in our little pre-Helloween celebration.

A swarm of kids as I opened my door. I love IronMan!

I am your father....

Gory and blood...

Sweet Sweet princess!

Erm...who is this beauty?

Oh my gosh..FF.

I just came back from a UCONN drama performance named Spring Awakening. It has been showed in the Broadway before and I am glad I went for it. Had a very different experience from the dramas I have seen so far in Singapore. It has a very deep stage, good actors, nice costumes and good sound effects. Wow! Spring Awakening is about youth exploring sexuality and there are many acts that depicted youths having curiosity about sex. Setting is in Germany and there was a scene about two gays who hugged and kissed each other! While I totally opened my eyes in shocked when I saw that, but I have to say they were all very professional. I will be watching more dramas! I have bought a NY Broadway show Mama Mia! for only 50 USD with the student union and will be watching Wicked with Jenny in December. I cant wait for Broadway standard.

Sping Awakening

Going to Rhode Island trip tmr for a community outreach programme. Updates coming soon! I promise.

I just bought this bottle of coke with says Diet Coke Plus (with vitamins and minerals), can u imagine?! Coke being healthy now. -______- taste good though.