Aug 19

Registration day. Being kiasu Singaporeans, we decided to go early to collect our Cornell ID, which is the equivalent of matriculation card. This day was also a very messy and noisy day because all freshies move into hall today. And they have only today to move in. Besides receiving the card, each of us also received a checklist indicating the things that we have yet to do, like paying our bills or submitting health history forms etc. All 4 of us were lacking clearance from the Gannett Health Center so we made a trip down to see what was wrong.

When we got there, we joined the queue behind this long line of tall athletic girls. The last one at the line happened to turn around, took a look at us, and told us that we were probably in the wrong line cos they were signing up to be intervarsity players or athletes or something likedat. Sheesh. The difference in size couldn't have been any more obvious. Well anyway we found out that we had to undergo the BCG screening test: The Mantoux test. Which is really unfair cos we all did it in Sec 4 already and the BCG vaccine has already been proven to be ineffective, so why the h*** are we doing the test for it again? Yup I could go on ranting I guess, but it wouldn't stop the fact that it's Cornell policy for all international students so... Nevertheless, we were all disgruntled when we made appointments with the receptionist to take the test on Monday Aug 22. In case any of you forgot wat the test was, it's the icky one where they poke the needle underneath your skin near the inside of you elbow, then 2 days later they check to see how much it has swelled. My dear roomie seems to abhor injections of any sort, judging by how unhappy she is about it. That's not all, we have to pay $15 too! I thought it was included in our insurance...

When we returned to Balch, we officially checked in with the Balch admin and sadly had to surrender our temporary IDs. Those were really handy because they allowed us access into any building. Quite reluctant to give it up actually.

In the evening, we had a meeting with our Resident Advisor (RA) who's sort of in-charge of all the people in the same floor on our side (North Balch). Her name's Laura, very reliable and helpful person. There are a couple of Asians living on our floor as well, but besides the 3 of us Singaporeans (Cherlyn, Yingyi and I), the others seem to be American-born. It was basically an informative session. Laura went through certain important rules that we had to abide to. Think the most important one was the escort policy. Balch is an all-female residence and some people choose this hall for a reason, so we have to respect their choice, hence all guests, male or female, have to be escorted within the hall at all times. I'm actually really glad and lucky to be in Balch. When I was filling up the hostel application form back in Singapore, I never actually considered this issue but now that I'm here, I actually feel much more at ease knowing that I'm surrounded by girls.

The next meeting was with our orientation group. Basically it comprises of students studying in the same college but think they tried to incorporate one or two ppl from each floor. My OGL came to pick me up first from my room cos it's on the ground level (but 2nd floor. Weird right? Still haven't figure out how it works). So I happily followed her all the way up to the 6th floor, where one of the girls live in this 3 person room, which was huge la, somewhat like a really large attic I think. But of course very inconvenient too, what with it being right at the top corner. We played some icebreakers and I was the only Asian in the whole group of them white girls, (group leader is a Singh, but think she's American-born) so I decided to spare them the agony of pronouncing my name. I introduced myself as JY which they all remembered flawlessly. Good. Ooh then we played that true and false game again and yours truly again proved to be a master of deceit. Hee. Yes I am getting a great kick out of it so pardon me for being smug. Maybe it's revenge for all of them ignoring me haha.

But honestly, it's not a nice feeling when everyone around you just goes on chatting about which county of which district of which state they are from when I can't even pinpoint Ithaca accurately on the map. It's not discrimination of any sort, you just feel left out cos there's no common topic and there's the cultural barrier. Everyone will take the easy way out of course, I admit I'll probably do the same too. But it's ok, I was rather tired already at that time, so that just gave me an opportunity to zone out and stone.

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Aug 20

Qihui's birthday. Congrats to you, finally 20 though you still look like you're 12 but that's good cos it means that you'll never need Botox or face-lifts. Many thanks to Kris cos if not for him, I don't think I'll be here. Everyone needs a friend with powderful English. Or a friend's friend. Or friend's friend's friend. Yesh I should just shut up. Best wishes!

Cherlyn and I woke up a little earlier for breakfast because we wanted to go for the dump and run sale at Helen Newman Gym. Woo hoo we made some great buys:

Cherlyn's wearing this fur-lined jacket that's probably never been worn before cos the tags still there. Mine's a thick silver jacket. And guess how much it cost? 3 dollars each!!! Alright man! Also got a green fleece blanket at 2 dollars. Hee retail therapy works for me.

We went to the Ithaca Commons in the afternoon. There's this shop that sells cheap Nalgene water bottles, only USD$7.99 for the large ones so anyone who is interested can let me know haha. I'm definitely getting one for myself cos the one I brought from home leaks. We also found this shop that sold everything for $1 or less. We took another bus to Wegman's, which is a large supermarket, and did grocery shopping. We probably won't go back there again cos it's not really that cheap and it's inconvenient too cos we have to change buses at Ithaca Commons. We were exhausted when we finally made our way back to hall with the groceries.

But that wasn't the end of the day. There was yet another OG meeting. Dang. I wanted to meet Anna but my plans were spoilt obvously cos the RA meeting after the OG one was mandatory. Still haven't met Anna after a week in Cornell, how pathetic can I get...

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Well after all the meetings, I finally got back to my room to shower. Guess what happened this time. Nothing too bad actually, just that I was very painfully reminded about my petite-ness again. I was standing in the bathtub showering and I was trying to reach up for my loofah which was on a hook right outside the tub. I loss balance and bumped my knee into the side of the tub. Yup the left knee. So my earlier bruise doesn't get better, it gets worse.

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Alright, enough of my amazing ability.