SO! monday was the first day of the winter quarter here at davis and i haven’t been blogging because there’s just been so much to do.. finding my way around campus to all my classes which are scattered all around campus, learning how to use their version of the ivle (called smartsite), finding out which textbooks are required and which arent and where to get them from (and fretting over how expensive they are), getting used to the bus system, meeting up with the other singaporean exchange students, meeting up with our EAP buddies, spending free between-classes time strolling around downtown (i watched milk on tuesday during my 6-hour long break), and HOMEWORK!!! already. but the stuff to groan about so far like assignments and having to wake up at unearthly hours 4 times a week all have brighter sides to them.. like how i really like the courses i picked this quarter and how waking up early allows me to see more of what happens in davis in the daytime especially since the sun sets so early.. poo. and long breaks.. during which i either stroll around downtown or go home for lunch. SAVE MONEY. i’m trying to get a part-time job while i’m here.. something not too taxing maybe twice a week couple of hours a day.. minimum wage here is more than twice that in singapore anyway so i’m not complaining (: oh and too bad i don’t have a drivers license, the unitrans buses here are driven by uc davis students! they get paid i think 9.75 USD an hour. i saw a student walking in front of me today and he had a unitrans pin on his bagpack that said “your girlfriend rides my bus” 
okay so here’s the list of classes i’m taking this quarter:
Introduction to Stars, Galaxies and the Universe
Introductory Companion Animal Biology
Introduction to Acting
Food Science, Folklore and Health
Drama class is mercilessly 8am every monday and wednesday. food is not much better… 9am tuesdays and thursdays. and companion animal has 3 lectures and 1 discussion every week. so its not exactly relaxing like what they say.. although it is alot more interesting than most modules i’ve taken back home (: first acting class we did yoga.. it reminded me of the workshops we used to have back in the good ol’ TSD days.. where everyone wore blacks and did CRAZY things in our studio for 3-4 hours at a go. i’ve a really good feeling about this class..and its also the class where everyone’s most intimate. haven’t gotten to know as many people in the other classes cus they’re all lecture style unlike acting, but what’s SHOCKING is.. notice they’re all SCIENCE classes. hahahaha. albeit mostly introductory non-major courses.. but still. i’m surprising myself at how much im enjoying them.. today in SPACE class (stars, galaxies and universe) the prof was trying to demonstrate how far the next nearest star was to earth compared to how far the sun was to earth. he drew a 1-inch long line on the chalkboard, and said that if that was the distance between the sun and the earth, the entire chalkboard (which was SUPER long) wasn’t enough to cover the distance between the earth and the next nearest star. he then proceeded to unroll a roll of toilet paper and he told us to tell him to stop when we think its the right distance. so he went around the lecture hall, up the stairs, out of the lecture hall, back in through the other door, down the stairs till the toilet paper ran out. and then he said it wasnt even enough so he disappeared into a back room and came out pushing a HUGE cart piled high with cartons of toilet paper and said that’s how much it would take. 1 inch to 5 miles of toiletpaper to get to the next nearest star. so… in conclusion, the universe is unimaginably ginormous. and that’s just one example of the quirky ways he tries to illustrate sciencey things to a lecture hall full of math-phobes (this is a non-major class too so we’re mostly not physics majors..phew). i think he may be the most creative teacher i’ve come across.. surprisingly, in university of all places.
as for animal science, today in discussion we spent an hour debating about animal welfare and animal rights and it got pretty emotional for some people. its a real eye-opener comparing the discussion groups here with the tutorial sessions we have back home. its like wet market v.s. cemetery.. or worse. i’m pretty convinced that its partly got to do with the questions that are being asked. uninteresting questions coupled with a less than enthusiastic singaporean audience.. spells a recipe for silence. anddd… my food science class is pretty interesting too.. he was talking about what made food kosher (and halal) and about tons of weird food around the world…and chinese concepts of yin and yang etc etc. except sometimes i can’t help but cringe a little when the professor makes comments about chinese culture like… in the chinese culture everyone shares food and eats from the same dishes, and it is considered rude and unacceptable if you have a dish to your own (like in western culture). which is… not true. anymore, at least. but i guess stereotypes tend to prevail.. and i can imagine how him saying it in a more extreme way would make it more interesting for the locals. i bet it happens in schools of other cultures too.
other than school, tons of things happened in the past 4 days.. i bought (or should i say, “invested”) in a pair of chestnut brown uggs!! its probably the best thing i’ve bought in a long time.. super warm and snuggly (: i wear them around at home sometimes too when its cold. only thing is alot of people have them and wear them, but i guess BECAUSE they’re so warm and nice. wish they had fleece-lined ugg socks so i could wear them to sleep.. oooh. nice. also, i met a fire-breather called Aries while eating at a tiny bakery that sold pizza made in a brick-fire oven on one of my breaktime strolls. long story, but i was supposed to go watch his fire-dance performance thing outside baskin robbins tonight but i forgot! we had dinner with my Education Abroad Program (EAP) buddy chelsea and weifen’s buddy amy at burgers and brew.. had a great time chatting with them and the food was yum yum yummy. i had.. an avocado cheese burger with chilli fries (: (: (: amy offered to drive us to the ikea at sacremento on saturday after we go to the farmer’s market in the morning! awesome possum. and i think annie and lauren are coming to davis this weekend for some party so rochelle suggested we all go to sacramento on sunday!
OH!! right. weifen and i signed up for Introdutory Cross Country Skiing today.. the trip’s on the 31st of january. hee hee!! excitement excitement.. so this weekend’s sacramento, and probably one of the next 2 weekends san francisco (if rochelle goes home and gives us a ride), and then the last week of january SKIING!
tomorrow’s friday, the only day i get to sleep in since class is from 2.10-3pm.. wish i didnt have class on fridays though! can travel more on long weekends!! i shall go check the airticket prices to hawaii (apparently its cheaper from vegas to hawaii) and MAYBE go during springbreak if i have enough money. i need to BABYSIT. or something! though i can’t think of anyone who’d want to trust a foreign exchange student with no babysitting experience and no social security number with their kid.
off to shower now! showering is DAMN shiok here.. cus the water is burning hot. i never feel like getting out of the shower.. except when my skin turns an unhealthy shade of red. freaky i know. but SHIOK (:
goodnight!
went out in the middle of the night for a huge pizza treat.. and then went to bed. oh the glory. and then as if all that indulgent chinese new year feasting wasn’t enough, we had to go out and eat disgustingly delicious (and entertaining) japanese teppanyaki in japantown the next afternoon right before weifen and i hopped onto the BART to richmond to catch the amtrak. we were supposed to take neoprints at this neoprint “complex” in japan centre but we forgot in the end.. poo.
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