The following are just some of the photos I've snapped around campus over the last week. Take a look! It's a pretty cool place really.

The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Go Blue! 

Well, this is where I'll stay. 

inside the Student Activities Building. It's really kind of cool stepping into a place with which you've been corresponding with over the course of the past half-year... 

Lots of Michigan memorabilia (especially when it comes to american football). Pretty cool stuff- i take orders if there's a commission. Haha! 

Ben & Jerry's! Hoohoo.  

Especially for you with the sweet tooth.  

the Michigan Union. Not much more to go before it disappears! Haha. 

the plaque near the entrance of the Michigan Union. 

the Law Quad. It's amazing.  

here are some more photos i've taken over the past week or two, but not of UMich... see if you can spot yourself! :)

let's talk about the Air Force...  

Loke, you look absolutely stunning here. No, actually i mean you look absolutely stunned. Haha. 

ADA boys + lihui - i miss you guys already! 

thanks y'all for sending me off... :) 

narita airport! 

this is just a sampling of the buffet spread that my dorm (south quad) provides! freshman 15 hmm hmm. 

this great Bavarian-themed restaurant in Frankenmuth, MI. It's a town with lots of German settlers and therefore a colourful heritage! quite cool.  

hahahaha Little Debbies (an inside joke for those of you who've read Bill Bryson) 

this huge pumpkin only costs $7! it's the size of a beach ball... 

sitting in a cafe called Amer's in Michigan Union now- it's kind of the equivalent of the Yusof Ishak Hall in NUS, something of that sort, at least. Pretty cool! so far it's been quite an interesting experience- seeing the college town in its entirety. The brick buildings, lovely architecture, the Michigan Blue Bus, the wonderful sports fields, the huge supermarkets- i feel really lucky to be able to see all these things, especially in a foreign land with all sorts of people from different backgrounds. My roommate from Traverse City, MI has just emailed me- she seems like a pretty nice girl so i guess i'm incredibly blessed in all these aspects. Will be opening my bank accounts later at around 11 when I meet up with some other Singaporean freshmen and their parents. By the way, I've got a new cellphone number, so please contact me at that number if anything's up, rather than my singapore one. I'll be retaining my singapore number for use back in SG, but while I'm in ann arbor I'll be using my Michigan number mostly. i'll mail you guys my number yup. Or you can ask me for it...

The weather here's rather balmy, temperatures ranging from 15 to 20 degrees. I went for a run around the neighbourhood of my inn this morning, and it was an amazing experience. somehow in this sort of weather i felt like i could run really quickly! which was great. :] okay check back to my blog for more regular updates- think I'll definitely be blogging much more now that I'm in UMich and on this lovely wireless campus. Rocks. cheers!

in transit at tokyo narita airport now.. i think it's less than an hour till i get on my connecting flight to detroit. Thanks everyone who came down to see me off.. it really means a lot to me. to the canoeists- vania, mag, leqi, sheryl and shine... it was great seeing you guys after such a long time. to my secondary school pals- qing, xy and weez- haha we've been through so much, hope this temporary separation won't be too bad! thanks guys.. to weilin and dawn, thanks so much for always being my spiritual support when i've needed someone to be around. Liwei! my best pal! haha you don't need words to tell you how i feel right? to lihui, thanks so much dear. you don't know how much everything you've done means to me. lynn- i'll be seeing you soon yup? have a safe flight and thanks for the Rich and Good Cake Shop Cake!

and you.. yes, you. thanks for coming. you don't know how i felt when i was on the plane to narita. like my insides were all wrenched up inside. not even sure when will be the next time i'll get to see you. ha oh well. email me ok... Well at least periodically. do take care of yourself... love you lots.

okay think this will be a pretty short entry.. i'll blog more once i get to ann arbor and not have to pay 500yen for wireless network anymore. ha! Okay i'm eagerly awaiting my 13 hour long flight... Poop!

Counting down the days till i leave Singapore for Michigan- exactly 10 days left. And how should I spend these 10 days? So many people to meet, so many things to do, an awful lot of things to buy, and I'm so blissfully unconcerned about packing that I haven't even started yet (I only got my visa done today, ha ha, which is really Quite late considering that I was supposed to get all these things sorted out about a month ago, at least). Anyway I'm booked on Northwest Airlines Flight 006 to Tokyo, Narita, where I'll transit to NW 012 to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. I think that's about 21 hours of flying time, not counting being in transit, which is not exactly a thought I'm particularly enamoured with right now. And my flight from Changi takes off at 0600hrs, insanely early on a Sunday morning, which means I've to be at the airport by 0400hrs grrrrr.

I'm thinking about returning during the 2-week winter break after my exams end on 21Dec- sprinting back to my dorm after my last paper, catching the first flight out of Detroit to NY, and taking the nonstop SQ flight straight back to Singapore. Well at least that's what Lynn and I would like to do so that we can make it back to SG on the morning of 23rd Dec. She'll leave Baltimore and meet me in NY. But the sad thing is that even if I do come back in Dec, it doesn't necessarily mean that everyone'll be there then.. Hmm if you're the one, you'll know what I mean. And when I return in Summer '06 for attachment, I might still miss you by a month or two. Well but if we can get through that, we could go through anything.

Looking forward to reaching Michigan yet I know it's going to be terribly difficult to leave everyone and everything behind. Hmmm so I'm still relegating that thought to the back of my mind. I think it'll only really hit me quite hard when I board the plane. Oh this is awful. Anyway the past week has been quite strange, I don't know what to think about it, but guess I'll just bide my time and wait.

And I'm petrified by the very thought of Freshman 15! Aaaarrrgghhh. For the uninformed, it's the phenomenon where freshmen studying in the USA put on an average of 15 pounds (6 to 7 kg) in their first year of studies. Check out this website which links you to UMich's Maize Menu for this week.
http://www.housing.umich.edu/dining/maize.php
It's going to be somewhat of a challenge resisting the lure of, say, Strawberry Shortcake, or M&M Cookies, or (God forbid), a Banana Cream Pie. Oh goodness gracious, they even have Chocolate Brownie Pudding. And this fascinating sweetened edible called Snickerdoodles. Okay I'm treading on thin ice here. This is very dangerous territory indeed. Well at least UMich has provided this infinitely useful guide titled "The HEALTHY Freshman 15" with 15 EatSmart Tips for those who actually care about the imminent possibility of piling on the pounds...
http://www.housing.umich.edu/dining/eatsmart.html

***
If I fall along the way
Pick me up and dust me off
And if I get too tired to make it
Be my breath so I can walk

If I need some other love
Give me more than I can stand
And when my smile gets old and faded
Wait around I'll smile again

Shouldn't be so complicated
Just hold me and then
Just hold me again

Can you help me I'm bent
I'm so scared that I'll never
Get put back together

You're breaking me in
And this is how we will end
With you and me bent

If I couldn't sleep could you sleep
Could you paint me better off
Could you sympathize with my needs
I know you think I need a lot

I started out clean but I'm jaded
Just phoning it in
Just breaking the skin

Can you help me
I'm bent
I'm so scared that I'll never
Get put back together

You're breaking me in
And this is how we will end
With you and me bent

Start bending me
It's never enough
I feel all your pieces

Start bending me
Keep bending me until I'm completely broken in

Shouldn't be so complicated
Just touch me and then
Just touch me again

Can you help me
I'm bent
I'm so scared that I'll never
Get put back together

You're breaking me in
And this is how we will end
With you and me bent
***
matchbox twenty bent

* do you think we could last forever?