Saturday, August 14, 2010 @ 5:24 AM Author: clarinda
After traveling for almost 24hrs, I have finally reached Iowa. I felt totally relieved because I literally have to dash from one gate to another for my connecting flights. Furthermore, the walk for all but one cases was horrendously long. At San Francisco Airport, I had to check in at a counter meant for US citizens or permanent residents (this was instructed and facilitated by an ANA ground staff), waiting to colect my baggage from the baggage claims area, re-check my baggages again before proceeding to the gate that is located at a far away place. I supposed that was the worst situation of all. I was just on time for all of my connecting flights with the exception of the one at Denver whereby I was comparatively earlier.At Tokyo Narita Airport, I found the sight of American-Japanese children speaking Japanese odd. They looked like Americans (though you will actually be able to tell that they are of mixed-heritage), and speak English with an American accent. Nonetheless being able to grow up as a bilingual person, speaking two distinctively different languages, will definitely by advantageous to them in the future.
Enroute to Denver, the places where the plane flew past seems like a desert, hot and bare. In stark contrast to that of Iowa, I was plesantly surprised at the endless sight of trees surrounding houses and other public areas. This was the first time I see a place that has more greenary than Singapore (and I’m not kidding). It was different from what I imagined it to be, endless stretchs of agricultural fields. I am certain that Iowa is gonna be realy fun. It really depends on whether I want to venture out of my comfort zone.
Day 1 of orientation was boring. Talks after talks. We had free lunch in the afternoon and my goodness, that was the worst lunch I ever had. The bread looks utterly disgusting (appearance: damped and flat), the cake was awful, the chicken was salty, the vegetables were overcooked, the rice does not look appealing. To sum up, it is simply gross. In the evening, there is a welcome pinic for international students. It was a brand new experience for me and I enjoyed myself there tremendously. The people were so nice and I have make lots of new friends. There are people from Sweden, Belgium, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea and China. I think that is about it. I am gonna go to US bank, Walmart, North Grand Mall and university tomorrow.
Laptop, please do not die on me or I will have to give you up!!! You must jia you arh!!