Things I Learnt About College And NYC Part 1

September 5th, 2008

10 things i learned in my 2 weeks here. this is Part 1. many more to come in the 4 years i am spending here, i predict.

1. tap water here is drinkable, but tastes so bad when boiled. i’ve made 3 mugs of milo since i got here, and each one tasted reminiscent of chocolate-flavored swimming pool water. i have been unfairly blaming this phenomenon on the milo powder, thinking it some counterfeit version of the good stuff i am used to, but yesterday out of frustration i decided to stick a spoonful of it into my mouth, and found it tasting very much like the real thing. hmm! after some more experiments, i deduced the culprit to be the boiled water. so now i buy really big and cheap bottles of water to boil when i want milo.

2. that i would need sunblock. you know that tan i got after the Pulau Perhentian trip? ya the tan that caused my own mother to not recognize me when i opened the door for her. so i only recently managed to get rid of half of it, so i was almost fair again right before i left KL, and very happy about it too… but after 2 weeks in this hot US summer sun, i look roasted once again. it’s not fair (literally!!! haha.. ha.. ha..), it really isnt. i thought the east coast was supposed to be the land of pasty people wrapped up in winter coats :( but my collegemates tell me with much seriousness to enjoy the sun while it’s still here. they look so solemn that i feel pressured into believing them. hence, the new tan.

3. that i will need an American credit card to buy stuff online (actually, just a Macbook so far, but i’m guessing that other American companies would also require a credit card with an American bank too?) and that AT&T prepaid lines cannot be used to call and text internationally. haih. but it said on the flyer that i can call and text internationally….. =(

4. that there is SO MUCH WALKING to do. my dorm is actually on the furthest south end of the school, and almost all of my classes are at the furthest north end of campus. i walk on average 5000 miles every day, and if you think this is exaggeration, i can assure you it is not. every night, my feet cry themselves to sleep. i’m so glad i brought several pairs of flats, but i wish i’d brought more. high heels have absolutely no use here except on party nights, because even outside of campus there’s a lot of walking and subwaying to be done. sigh.

5. textbooks are expensive. you know how in college back home, you can either photostat an entire textbook for something like RM 20 or buy a used copy for RM 50? here, used and new copies are between USD 160 - 250. no, i’m not joking. a college student here could feed a small third world country with the amount of money spent buying books in one semester. case in point: my Italian textbook cost me USD 230. that’s RM 782 for ONE. TEXTBOOK. please shoot me - i feel like i have done myself an incredible injustice. luckily, Beaver introduced me to Half.com, so i will never again have to buy overpriced textbooks from my market-monopolizing college bookstore. now i just have to starve a couple of months to make up for that exorbitant RM 782 textbook.

6. that the stupid Benjamin Franklin statue in UPenn that i sat on (pictured in below post) is a common peeing spot for the drunken. nice, very nice. (and just for the record, i dont go to UPenn!)

7. that you have to run early to the floor lounge if you want to watch a certain tv show. Monday nights for Gossip Girl are fine because almost EVERYONE on my floor watches Gossip Girl. yes, even the guys, but actually i think they just sit there to mock us girls screaming when GG starts. we’re so excited for Gossip Girl that night that we even bring cushions and popcorn and stuff. but Wednesday nights for America’s Next Top Model, not so lucky, because there are a couple of people here who watch Project Runway that airs at the same time, and if this week was any indication, they are ruthless when it comes to not budging or sharing the remote. but i swear to God if anyone stops me from watching Grey’s Anatomy when it comes on in late September, i will kill that person. NOTHING comes between me and McDreamy. /fierce stare

8. tipping (and tipping well) is the explicitly stated #1 rule in NYC’s moral code. Waiter Rant wasnt kidding.

9. that New York City is not safe. i’ve been getting a lot of emails from friends who live or used to live here, and most of them tell me to be careful, especially at night in the subway stations where girls often get mugged. i’ve always kinda had their warnings at the back of my head, but never really believed them… but yesterday night Martian and i were followed from the back by this homeless nutter on a bicycle. it was so scary because it was at 1 in the morning, there was nobody around, and he’d trailed us all the way from a 24/7 eatery that we’d just left. he started circling around us on his bike, muttering stuff and at one point said to us, “i’m gonna get you motherfuckers!” WTF O_O we started walking really quickly to a brighter street because we were all alone in this dark street, but he still kept following us. then someone came out from a nearby store to take out the trash, and he quickly turned around and cycled away. so scary T___T i was so glad that Martian was there with me. i dont think i’m EVER going to walk around NYC by myself after this :(

10. people here walk around campus in their pajamas. i shall too.

and some random updates:

i got my first package in the mail!! i got the email notification in my inbox, and i was so excited to go over to the mail center to collect the package. it was from Chew Fui :D

she sent me some American snacks from her kitchen, along with some post-its (yay, i am a total post-its user and i havent bought any yet) and a lovely picture of her and her family in Virginia. thank you chew fui!!! i loved the animal crackers.. :D

ooh and i just found out the other day that my college sells bubble tea. i saw this girl happily slurping a cup of very asian-looking tea and tapioca pearls, and i just about jumped on her to ask her where she got it. Cafe East at the lobby of Lerner Hall, said she, slightly frightened. and with this information, i am now happily aslurping too! milk tea with pearls two days ago, mango with pearls yesterday, honey jasmine with pearls today. and it’s even better than the stuff back home! unbelievable, i know.

my classes this semester : Literature Humanities (we’re reading The Iliad right now), Frontiers of Science - a compulsory class which i thought would be lame but my professor is this really awesome guy so i think this class may just be fun, Elementary Italian, Calculus I and Principles of Economics. i could have placed out of the latter two classes because i did those in college, but then i decided not to because the syllabi may be different. but seeing how expensive textbooks are here, i just may place out.

i’m trying to finish up The Iliad but Martian is here in my room disturbing me. how to study like this? is this why all those church groups used to warn us against BGR?

Entry Filed under: College Life, New York City

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