In a world of my own

Monday, March 15, 2010

Yes, I have been having a lot of fun leaving my footprints all over America while I am on exchange. I just came back from my Spring break in Florida, visiting places like Daytona, Miami and Orlando. The best part was definitely Disney World's Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Two full days of enjoyment spend there for the 7 days. It was definitely worth the USD$166 which I paid for the entrance fee!

Of course, exchange is not all about fun and games. I have my fair share of woes (which you actually seldom hear from exchange students). But I guess these are the experiences that make you remember and learn.

Today I just had a very interesting experience. My light bulb blew. (Don't worry, no explosions). It just went off last night before I went to sleep. Being the independent me, I hate to ask for help from others, so I decided to act hero and get it settled by myself. So I woke up at 8.15am this morning (had to go to church) and I had to get the light bulb out so that I can go and purchase it. Little did I know that this was one of the disadvantages of being short. With my room chair or bed, I could not reach the bulb. I didn't want to stand on the table too because it was made of glass and it was too heavy to move. I went to one of my friend's room (she is still at Alaska) to get another chair. I couldn't reach it too! Darn. I really didn't want to wake my housemates (some of them only get up at 1pm...). So what I did was to put my luggage on top of the two stacked chairs and voila, it worked, after much shakiness and instability. Look at the photo and you'll see why.

After being able to reach the lamp, I had to unscrew the lamp cover off. Little did I know that I was supposed to use a screwdriver instead of using my bear hands to turn the cover off.... This was the result:

Oops... I went to the supermarket after Mass. Since it was Sunday, the buses were rather infrequent and I figured I had 15 minutes to run into the shop, buy the light bulb, run out of the shop and into another, buy my frozen fish fillet for lunch, and then run to the bus stop. It was definitely heart pumping! And yeah, there was a new shop called the Family Dollar which sells cheap things! I managed to get 4 light bulbs for only USD$1! The exact same light bulb which I took out. I had only 5 minutes to get my fish fillet. Thank goodness I made it and the bus was a little late, allowing me to get home by 11+. =)

I fixed the light bulb using the same method and this is how it looks like now:

Phew, now I can spend the night with lights. =)

Oh and I just learnt how to cook Aglio Olio. It is a little too oily, but I think it still tasted pretty good.

A few weeks ago, I cooked Mee Suah for the whole house too.

Looks good right? Thank goodness for recipes online! =)

Oh yah, by the way, there's this Daylight Saving thing in the USA, where we are shifted forward one hour from March till November. Interesting. So now, I'm 12 hours behind Singapore instead of 13 hours. Easier to remember. I guess it has to do with the longer days and shorter nights now that we are approaching summer. Hurray for that!

I'm having the experience of my lifetime despite these woes. 3 more months and I'll be back sharing these experiences with you. =)

- The woes of coming for exchange
by snoopy_lim @ 6:48 AM