Massive update from Singapore.

[izkariote]

I actually started writing this one from my cousin’s flat – it’s the place I’ve been staying in for nearly a week now. As those of you on plurk already know, there’s no net access from home yet. Planned on making this entry when I was actually online, but whenever I get online, I end up doing a whole bunch of other things instead. XD

So! Singapore. Where do I begin?



Parents took me to the airport, and were fussing as expected – this is the first time that they’re sending me off on my own, and it shows in how worried (and occasionally naggy) they’ve been since the middle of January. There’s not much to say about the plane ride beyond the fact that it was probably the most boring one I’ve ever been to. Whenever I think I’m used to long flights, something proves me wrong. orz tasogareika picked me up from Changi, though, which was pretty sweet. Honestly, her and her family agreeing to take me in for the first week REALLY HELPED, but I’ll get to the why of that later.

Since Sunday was Travel Day, Monday was my first “official” day doing what I’m supposed to be doing here. (Sort of.) Visited KB’s school (Singapore Polytechnic, which has more students than Ateneo, and it’s a poly-u), ate kickass Thai food (the start of what looks like a long romance between me and that particular cuisine), then went to NUS for the first time.

I’ve been on big campuses before. My dim recollection of UBC still leaves me awestruck, and then there was UCLA. On both of those previous examples, however, I never really had to walk around the place and take a look at things. NUS, however, is a different case altogether, as I am expected to do research there. Now that I’m walking around and getting totally lost (read: I always enter from the same area but exit in a completely different place somehow, even though I swear I know where I’m going…), I really know what the meaning of ‘huge’ is. @_@

(Oh, I also did something horrendously touristy when I had some spare time and got lost, taking random NUS shuttles to take a look at the campus. It was so totally worth it.)

Back on topic, though: I had to go to NUS to meet with the people in the Japanese Studies department for the first time. I think it went pretty well, and I was able to make arrangements for a lot of things. Overall, the day looked productive and smooth, up until the point where SingTel – one of the mobile service providers in this country – decided to be a dick and prevent any of my messages from reaching KB, and vice-versa. We only got back together way late at night, back at her place. Oh, and her net went down too. FYI: SingTel was the one providing said net connection.

Suffice to say, KB and I marched downstairs the moment we were up and got me a prepaid number for a Singaporean mobile phone the very next morning. Then it was Epic Journey time, scouting out the student hostels that NUS suggested that I go to for accommodations.

Summary: all of them sucked, and we got royally lost trying to find one of them. We trekked home hell of tired and wondering where the heck I was going to end up staying. It was around that time that I decided to get a hold of my cousins and ask if they knew anyone who was renting out a unit in the Clementi area, which is the district that NUS is located in. Oh, and I got my first taste of KB-grade dinner, which wasn’t so bad.

The day after that, KB and I split up for a bit so that she could attend class and I could go back to NUS to get completely lost again run some errands and check up on the progress the department was making with some of my requests. Once we were together, we zoomed over to meet up with ninjaoctopii, who was in town to visit relatives. We had lunch together, and wandered around a bit before parting ways. We got home to cool our heels a little, then we had to rush over to KB’s grandmother for the seventh day dinner for the Chinese New Year. I’ve never actually had a CNY dinner with anybody before, so that was pretty cool!

Oh, lulzy thing that happened during the dinner: they switched on the telly, and tuned in to this Filipino drama. Which was dubbed in English. And subtitled in Chinese and Malay.

Yep, pretty surreal.

We had our meeting with FM the following day, where we caught up on RP things and randomness while FM did his toy circuit. I also got an early birthday gift from KB out of it, subsequently exposing the mech fangirl in me. *^* NOBODY UNDERSTANDS US, FM. Outside of that, though, going to all of those malls allowed me to pick up gifts for KB, KB’s mother and KB’s maid, since they’re awesome.

Last Friday meant more errands for me while KB was at class – that included going to a quiet little place in Clementi to meet up with the land lady who owns the room that I’ll be renting out in the future. She’s a sweet old woman who is friends with my cousin’s wife. I moved out of KB’s place on Saturday, and met up with my cousin. Catching up with him was great, since we haven’t seen each other in years. I also got to meet his wife for the very first time, and one of his friends from work, who is sharing the new place that they’re going to move in. Said new place is where I’m currently based while waiting for my stipend from NUS and for the tenant of the land lady I mentioned to move out so that I can roll in.

Sunday was amazingly quiet – I spent the entire day watching stuff, rolling around and enjoying myself and the fact that I don’t have to go to Mass, omg! before going out for dinner at Vivo City with my cousin. Then it was back to a net-less existence, which isn’t nearly as terrible as a lot of people think it would be. In fact, as I’ll mention later, having no connection at home has been good to me in ways that I didn’t really expect.

Aaaand that pretty much sums up my first week. This week has been full of moments of epic awesome and personal derp. Monday was particularly memorable. First: I couldn’t figure out how to get out of the apartment: I had to call the folks I’m staying with to ask how to work the door knob. OTL Second: I forgot the adapter plug I use for my laptop at home, which had me scrambling around campus for a good two hours in search of one. The fail those moments were canceled out, though, by the awesomeness of meeting annotate just before heading off! She dragged me to her organization’s room, where we babbled about NUS, getting lost IN NUS, ideal bus routes (without Ang, I would have been taking an expensive and incredibly convoluted route to NUS this entire week!) and Dragon Age. Fail, however, was quick to strike again, in that I missed my stop on the bus. Then, after doing THAT, I couldn’t get the door to my room in the apartment to open. I thought, at first, that it was the key – only to discover that I just needed to give it a good jerk.

Yep, I am a special girl. -_-

*coughs* Tuesday was when I really buckled down and maximized the Central Library for the first time. The place is a frigging dream come true: it has all of the books I need (although some of them are on hold or checked out right now…), it has so much space, and it has a snack room.

That’s right. A frigging snack room. Where you can trek up, grab something good to eat, then go right back to studying.

Research hos and book worms, I’m sure you understand how terrifying and beautiful that is. I need not describe it further.

Oh yeah. Met up with one of my colleagues from ADMU while I was at the library – we sat together and did our own things in between catching up, updating each other on Department Matters and comparing notes about our stay. I also got V-Day chocolates from khursten. They were amazing.

Spent Wednesday morning leeching net from NUS to catch up on tags (because I just can’t quit you, soul_campaign!) before zooming off to the graduate student meeting of the Japanese Studies Department. In those four hours, I realized, yet again, how different everything is done outside of the academic milieu that I’m currently in. Once I got over my initial intimidation, I attempted to contribute to the discussion as best as I could… overall, I’d like to think that I wasn’t useless. As it was, I learned a lot. The things the other grad students are researching are so cool. *A*

Thursday was study day yet again, and I topped it off with a brief meeting with amandes before heading back home early to try my luck with the washing machine. Report: I did not destroy any of my clothes. Next mountain to cross: IRONING MY OWN CLOTHES. I’ll let you guys know how that went once the time comes~

Would’ve spent Friday studying, but all of the books that I wanted to check on were gone for some reason. (Btw, I can’t borrow books – it’s a long story, just ask me over IM) Decided to do some smaller errands and catch up with internet things instead before going back to meet with my future land lady and drop off the documents and security deposit she asked for. Stayed a bit longer than expected because she fed me, and we ended up talking, which was kind of really nice!

The last weekend was pretty quiet. Spent Saturday burning through White Collar (which, by the way, is such a fun series to get into) and taking notes for Endtimes since Blake is a con man and spent some time with my cousin since he dropped in to catch up and chill out. Sunday morning meant last minute chores, packing and even more White Collar. I’m almost worried at the pace that I’m swallowing up the stuff I brought with me for viewing and reading while I’m out here, but there’s the fact that I might be able to get my books along with the definite possibility of a net connection at night starting next week. Will probably slow down soon enough… dunno if that’s a good thing or a bad thing just yet. Definitely good if we’re talking about my research, though!


Summary: it’s been a pretty crazy trip so far. I have no doubt that it’ll just get crazier from here.

I told yukitsu, khursten, kye_kestrel and a few others this before, but back before I left home, I knew that somehow this trip would be good for me. So far, I’m right. There is a special joy that comes with being on your own, with no one to really rely on but yourself – sure, you have to do all of your stuff on your own and plan all of this stuff on your own and worry about your cash and your laundry and your room and your commuting route, but god, it’s glorious.

It’s the little things that are best about independence, I realize. Standing around at the bus station while you wait for your ride home, listening to Nine Inch Nails on your mobile and absorbing the noise and heat of the city, wandering outside to the balcony of the place you’re staying in to light up and enjoy the breeze… that sort of stuff. Take note: I’m the 25-year-old girl who’s still living with her parents and therefore subject to all sorts of loving but ultimately ridiculous rules. I don’t love my family any less, but I am starting to see that I really need to get out there already. And Singapore is the first step.

I do miss my cat my cat, though. Like, really, really, really miss her. There are lots of friendly strays that are beautiful looking and plump and stuff, but they just make me wish that I could’ve brought Gouto with me. And I kind of really wish my girl friends from home were down here with me too. ._.

Anyway, I previously mentioned that having no internet at home is really good for me. This applies in more than just one direction. For one, so far, I’ve managed to read half of the huge-ass pile of unread comics and doujinshi that have just been piling up on my hard drive for the past year and a half. For another, I’ve managed to catch up on a lot of anime and tv shows, and watch some movies that have also been idling around in my collection. Something tells me that if I had brought my PS3 along, I would’ve been able to play through some of the games that I’ve had to set aside too – but it’s a good thing that I didn’t, else I’d be distracted. Forever.

Oh, and I’ve gotten a lot of writing done. Like, a lot of writing. Let me show you. :3

FIC DUMP!

† DURARARA! Izaya, Kida, rendezvous. // The possibility of zero.
† COUNT CAIN/GODCHILD. Riff, Cain, watching. // And yes, the way you look at me.
† FINAL FANTASY 7. Aerith, ghosts. // A new iconography of resurrection.
† GINTAMA. Gintoki, Katsura, how things have changed. // Faith is a series of calculations.
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Vergil, Yuna and a bottle of booze. // Women do have an affinity for evil
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Genesis, Vergil, black mail. // Only enemies speak the truth
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Phoenix, Edgeworth, Soul Talk. // Sic probo
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Date, Dante, getting crazy. // Scuse me while I kiss this guy.
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Dojima, Roy, taking the next step. // When a heart must go where it belongs
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Mukuro, Adah, experimentation. // Given the scalpel, they dissect a kiss.
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Shizuo, Nanako, babysitting. // The quiet moments while the city’s still dark.
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Roy, Vergil, discipline. // Nous sommes fucked.
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Vergil, Kurapika, treating ladies right. // Confusion that is so hard to be avoided.
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Pedosun, Voyeurmoon and creeper!Adah. // Things in heavenly bodies.
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Roy, Celty, silence. // You can either hold on or let go.
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Rhode, Chrome, tension is sex. // I (don’t) hate you.
† SOUL CAMPAIGN (RP). Mukuro, Rhode, ten years later. // She got a buttermilk smile and a thorny touch.

Week Three, here I come.