Olie's adventures from the other side of the world

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brain itches Theme by Adam Holwerda.
Aug
26

Another letter

Hi everyone :)
Sorry there haven’t been many updates over the last few days. It’s been rather busy and time has just been flying by. I’m still loving America and I think my eh-merrr-eee-can accent has become hella slick (as they would say) :). Much has happened over the past few days, so I shall just update in point form :) :

  1. Over the weekend I’ve been to Sonoma county (also known for being wine area) for the International House retreat, it was absolutely beautiful. It was in a campsite known as Valley of the Moon. I finally put my shorts to good use there, as we went for a hike around the area. It was so warm! I’m rather tanned now after the 2 day retreat. But at night, we all pulled our mattresses outside and tried to sleep under the stars. I’ve never seen so many stars in my entire life, it was just spectacular and I was truly in awe! Though, I wimped out in the end and had to crawl back to the cabins in the dark as it was way too cold to sleep outside.
  2. On Sunday I visited San Fran again for shopping (it’s way windy and cold over there) with Alice, the other Singaporean girl - did mostly window shopping and surveying the place for good buys.
  3. With the school year just starting, Alice and I were invited to ‘rush’ for the sororities here as we were walking around Caltopia (the school carnival). Rushing is basically proving your worth to all the sororities here, and getting all the head honchos to like you and recruit you into their sistellll-hood. Every night, from where I stay at International House, we get to see all these girls dressed in practically nothing running around in the cold heading to parties and stuff. It’s rather interesting and funny at the same time!
  4. Just yesterday, 5 of us went on a road trip (rented a car) to visit Silicon Valley and Stanford. Despite being enemy territory (they’re arch rivals of Cal - what Berkeley is known as), Stanford’s campus is sprawling and the architecture is rustic and mediterranean like. We also visited the Computer history museum and the Intel museum, and drove around and saw google from outside.
  5. We rushed back from that part of California for a mad rush for Cal merchandise at the Cal Store here in school. 20% discounts for international students :) I’m well stocked up with Cal gear! If you guys have any requests just let me know! They have everything you can think of. Even baby clothes, underwear, dog clothes, caps, t-shirts, hoodies, earrings, hearbands etc. basically anything you can think of :)
  6. AND TONIGHT, the day before school starts, I was dragged by my friends to go check out the introductory ballroom dancing class. Despite being reluctant initially, it turned out quite fun! We learnt how to waltz and do the east-coast swing, which I must say is rather fun. Didn’t step on any guys toes thankfully, though I wasn’t really appropriately attired.
And now, it’s 1145pm and I’m typing this email. Am starting to get ready for school tomorrow. My first class starts at 12noon which is great for me :) and then I have 3 back to back lectures. I’m kind of anxious-excited starting school, it’ll be interesting to see how different school can be on different sides of the globe. I’m bracing myself for some high standards and really intellectual people. It can be quite intimidating at times and will just do my best. 
All in all, I’ve been having a really wonderful time here :) I should really go to bed now and get ready to start using my brain again in school!
Keep me updated with what’s happening on your side of the world!
Much love, Olie