Just returned from a night of activities that kicked off life in UM proper. Most of the USA freshmen have arrived on campus and moved into the residence halls- so the place has been bustling with activity over the last few days. Streets blocked, parking lots rendered temporarily unusable, buses rerouted- all to facilitate the mass incoming migration of freshmen. My roommate arrived yesterday- she's from Traverse City, MI, and she seems like someone I can get along splendidly with. And I'm really grateful for that fact, can't imagine having to share personal space with someone who'd irk me to no end. So far I think the food at South Quad is just great, I don't know why, but I appreciate residence hall food a lot! Well there's a permanent salad bar, which is good enough for me. And the quality of the food is pretty decent, so I don't have any objections at all. The CCRB (central campus recreation building) has become my new hotspot. Well, you see, it does have a state-of-the-art gym, which I think is absolutely brilliant. There's also a cardio room with so many different machines- elliptical trainers, the quintessential treadmill, ergometer, spinning machine, even a skiing machine thing! I could just go on about the CCRB facilities forever. Although I do have a minor gripe about the pool- it's only 25m long with 6 lanes, and so that's kind of detracted me from swimming while I'm at UM. Perhaps in the winter when it's too cold to run I'll revert back to the pool (it's an indoor heated affair).

I spent my evening at the new student convocation for the class of 2009, held at the Crisler Arena. I don't really like going for such things, but I thought it was a pretty symbolic affair to initiate us into the student body. And I'm glad I went, even if I did doze off halfway during one of the several speeches. I intend to make life at UM a special experience for myself and I guess that's a starting point. There were a couple of events going on simultaneously at Central Campus- Artscapade at the Museum of Art and Escapade at the Union, so Ted (another Singaporean and a newfound friend) wandered around the area pretty aimlessly because the place was thronged with people heading towards the free food giveaways scattered throughout the Union. We were remarking how different varsity life in the States is as compared to Singapore- and no matter how hard Singapore universities try to figure out the secret behind the vibe of US varsities, they'll never be able to attain the same standards. One reason, we figured, was due to the fact that Singapore doesn't possess the same sort of competitive athletic standards so prevalent in the US- like how NCAA sports and the Big Ten and all that sort of thing evoke such strong school loyalties and feelings from the supporters- you'll never be able to find that in Singapore. A pity, but well.

Anyway so far life has been great here- I've got Honors kick-off tomorrow at 9am (which ruins my plans of going to the CCRB at 9plus like i normally do, I'll just have to go earlier at 7 instead bah). We've a book to discuss, it's called "When Germs Travel" by Howard Markel, which I should really get started on. I am filled with a sense of urgency (albeit a bit too late). Okay I'll blog sometime else... meanwhile, enjoy the pictures below! :)