I've been collecting state quarters, and they are really pretty. It's fun, easy and almost free. My colleagues go to the vending machine to change their quarters in the hope of getting a new state. Haha. I do that sometimes too. Hopefully I can get those that are out by the end of my stay here.
In another sense, I thought it would be damn cool to visit all the states here. I suppose not all states are very visitable and touristy, but at least drive through them.. Well I won't do all but as many as I can! Whee.
This weekend alone, we drove through a few... Ohio to Pennsylvania to New York to Massachusetts to Connecticut to New York to New Jersey to Pennsylvania and back to Ohio!
Next week will be California (San Diego + Los Angeles), Nevada (Las Vegas), Arizona..
October will be Maryland (automation fair) and Washington DC!
Maybe squeeze in a Chicago weekend somewhere.
and others on my list.. florida, san francisco, seattle..
Haha. that also means a freaking lot of money. but it's the kiasu mentality, need to catch them all since I'm here.. Haha cheapo paw! When I'm bored I usually go to google map and look at the high level view of all the states in US.. and dream of when I'll visit them. hoho!
Okay I'm still in the midst of organizing my tonnes of photos (regret buying 1GB instead of 2GB memory stick) and thanks to sebastian whose camera is set in the wrong time i gotta manually date and rename all the photos. It's never gonna get finished so I'll just start penning down my trip details before I forget, and then add in the photos later. So here goes.
In another sense, I thought it would be damn cool to visit all the states here. I suppose not all states are very visitable and touristy, but at least drive through them.. Well I won't do all but as many as I can! Whee.
This weekend alone, we drove through a few... Ohio to Pennsylvania to New York to Massachusetts to Connecticut to New York to New Jersey to Pennsylvania and back to Ohio!
Next week will be California (San Diego + Los Angeles), Nevada (Las Vegas), Arizona..
October will be Maryland (automation fair) and Washington DC!
Maybe squeeze in a Chicago weekend somewhere.
and others on my list.. florida, san francisco, seattle..
Haha. that also means a freaking lot of money. but it's the kiasu mentality, need to catch them all since I'm here.. Haha cheapo paw! When I'm bored I usually go to google map and look at the high level view of all the states in US.. and dream of when I'll visit them. hoho!
Okay I'm still in the midst of organizing my tonnes of photos (regret buying 1GB instead of 2GB memory stick) and thanks to sebastian whose camera is set in the wrong time i gotta manually date and rename all the photos. It's never gonna get finished so I'll just start penning down my trip details before I forget, and then add in the photos later. So here goes.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
After working super long hours from Monday to Thurs, we met in the lobby at 9! After trying out the walkie talkies that george kindly lent us, setting the GPS systems, and with maps in hand, 6 of us [raju cy sebast ks jy paw] finally set off for boston in 2 cars!! The poor 3 drivers were raju, ks and jy.. while I happily brought a pillow and blanket to snooze in the backseat. haha! Actually it was for ks's gf's hall stay cos I assumed I would be sleeping on the floor. But it was pretty shiok [oops sorry ks and jy]
playing with the walkie talkies
our trusty GPS system! first time we keyed in another state!
sooper shiok! luckily i got no license haha
Friday, September 1, 2006
First stop was Raju's cousin's apartment in Boston. We were all bleary eyed with bad breath, and it was comforting to be invited into her warm apartment with pretty decor. His cousin and her husband were such sweet hosts, making lovely coffee for us, and also warm toasted garlic bread with marinara sauce, and pasta. They even packed a big bag of chocolates and fruit for us.. so paiseh!
Pretty apartment!
yummy welcoming food.
Next we made our way to the Prescott Hotel, which is actually a lok kok hostel abt 15 min from MIT. jy, cy and sebast were to stay here for the night.. After they settled down, it was MIT time!
nice, short drive to the hotel
must make ur own bed!!
On the way there, other than pretty buildings, we realised that it's really different driving everywhere. Boston streets are cruiasey! Jams and honking pple everywhere =(. Met up with yx and lm at their MIT dorm after getting kinda lost, and i happily dumped my stuff in lm's dorm room..
this castle like building is their dorm!
got fireplace in the dorm! not used anymore though..
After washing my face, we set off for a MIT tour. MIT is full of interesting and quirky buildings. There are wacky disproportionate buildings, grand ancient buildings with roman columns, weirdly shaped domes, a 90-60-30 pythagoras triangle-y building [haha geeky, i like].. All sorts of nonsense! I lurrrve the green grass where people sit/lie around and do nothing. I wanted to buy an MIT sweater/teeshirt but they were pretty expensive and not exceptionally pretty. Haha, dont think i'll ever wear them in spore anyway.. so-pretending-to-be-lihai..
infinity corridor
classic 'MIT' picture, in front of their dome!
bizarre building
TIM the MIT mascot!! dammn cute
Our Harvard tour was intentionally set after MIT cos it's supposed to be prettier. We took the subway [my virgin subway experience!] from Kendall to Cambridge(is it?). Haha. well.. nothing much lah, just went for the sake of saying I've visited MIT and harvard. Hoho. There's this Hahvahd tour thingie which is super cool, and the 2 tour guides are hilarious, but unforch we didn't have enough time to stay around and listen to them. So we just took meaningless pictures of different buildings that we know nothing about. And of course we had to visit the coop as well to buy nonsense.. heh heh.
kendall subway station and in the train
harvard, and a memorial building with beautiful stained glass windows
john harvard! very shuai!!!
harvard coop.. like mph hor
After finally finishin touring the 2 unis, we took a bus [where we promptly fell into deep, no-image slumber once we got seats] to Boston! Bought our Boston Duck Tour tickets at reduced student prices by borrowing student passes from the MIT chaps.. Heehee. They were sold at the Prudential Tower. I'm still wondering whether its the same prudential as the spore one? No idea. While waiting for our evening tour, we took a walk around boston...
river between MIT and boston
prudential tower and some nekkid statue
Other than the crazy traffic, another interesting thing about boston is that you'll get to see diverse cultures. Actually, just Asian. Somehow everywhere I turned I saw Asian faces and that was just weird! Not used to it.. cos Cleveland is composed mainly of white pple. We came across this quaint little street which sold designer clothings.. and I simply loved the atmosphere there. Families and friends were gathered at the cafe, having a leisurely martini, coffee, or cigar. I really enjoyed walking down that street, and how I wished that I had the time + money + chance to sit at a place like that every weekend with my dearest friends! So shuang.
See what i mean? quaint little cafes.
tired like shit
i'm rather proud of this photo of the exterior of a fashion design sch.. nice leh!
We then dragged our tired aching feet back to the Prudential Tour to start our duck tour. We waited in this little bus stop thing and there was this chinese family (parents and lil kid) that came after us. they looked prc but later i found out that they were taiwanese. Anyway, so the tour organisers told them to queue behind our group.
Right before we boarded the ducktour bus/boat thingie, the family magically appeared in front of us. Wow. [I later encountered this with many others as well but I shant elaborate cos er.. i'm trying not to be racist..] Well being me, i just kept quiet and fumed in my poor lil heart.
3 idiots
Anyways, the duck tour was really entertaining, so my $23 didn't go to waste. The tour guide pretended to be a pirate [haha so bluff small kids] but he was very knowledgeable, explaining lots of US history which I thought I understood but I can't remember a single thing now. Also kinda cool that he let the lil kids drive the boat at some point of time, that must have been a bonus for them. The thing is when he asked some of them if they had ever driven a boat b4, and many of them actually said yes.. My! I've never even driven anything larger than a car before.. and these kids actually drive boats.. US kids so happening hor.
aye aye captain!
this is a jail! Apparently it's fully equipped with tvs, gym etc. The window blinds thingies are actually BARS! I learnt the difference between a jail and a prison then.. do you know?
By the end of the tour, I was sooo tired, hungry and freezing cold. So poor thing, hor. Tired hungry and cold pawsie = grumpy pawsie. I was kinda pissed cos I assumed we'd be driving around and left my sweater in the car.. I must be too pampered le, take a bit of public transport then want to die liao heh heh. This trip also made me realise how impt it is to bring a good warm sweater and shoes. It's still summer and it wasn't that cold in cleveland so I ya2 ya1.. Now I'm gonna reassess my winter wear situation!
By the end of the tour, I was sooo tired, hungry and freezing cold. So poor thing, hor. Tired hungry and cold pawsie = grumpy pawsie. I was kinda pissed cos I assumed we'd be driving around and left my sweater in the car.. I must be too pampered le, take a bit of public transport then want to die liao heh heh. This trip also made me realise how impt it is to bring a good warm sweater and shoes. It's still summer and it wasn't that cold in cleveland so I ya2 ya1.. Now I'm gonna reassess my winter wear situation!
creepy subways
The subway took us to the Aquarium station where we reached Legal Sea Foods restaurant after a brief walk. Even though we made a reservation, we still had to wait a loooong time for the table. boo.
The wait was worth it, though. I ordered a Lobster's Lover meal which cost me $27. It consisted of their famous inaugural Clam Chowder, a steamed Lobster w 2 side dishes and a Boston cream cake. Great meal for seafood-deprived-me. Especially enjoyed the dessert!
The wait was worth it, though. I ordered a Lobster's Lover meal which cost me $27. It consisted of their famous inaugural Clam Chowder, a steamed Lobster w 2 side dishes and a Boston cream cake. Great meal for seafood-deprived-me. Especially enjoyed the dessert!
I don't remember how we dragged our cold and tired feet back to MIT to sleep [and jy cy sebast had to drive further back to their hostel]. i only remember sleeping on the floor even though there was a bed for me, cos i was too too lazy to bathe.. haha.
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