on the move.

ok so i've been MIA-ing for quite some time. so here's an update. without pictures.

school has officially ended for me. i took my last and only final this quarter on saturday. the last week of school was CRAZY. i almost died. i had tons of readings for political science class to do, to prepare for that final take-home exam paper that was released on wednesday. where i spent most of my wednesday and half my thursday doing it 'cos it was due friday at 12noon. but i am rather pleased with the paper and i'm really happy that i put on my thick coat of skin and took the class, considering i have no background whatsoever in political science or communication/media studies. i learnt SO much and it was really a case of enjoyable learning and great teaching by my professor (who is this zai zai media/communications guy in US) and my TA (who is this really nice guy who amuses me sometimes with his antics, political science phd student who spent 2 years in japan studying their politics. so cool!). yes. so i'm going to miss this class. for real. maybe i really did choose a wrong major. who knows? maybe that's where my grad school plans will take me. but then again, singapore media and politics is nowhere as exciting as US's.

well enough of my political science class. you can see how much i liked it. i can go on and on. so on thursday i had a human resource management class presentation. that was also the deadline for our written report. which was so tedious to do and compile. but many many thanks to dan who agreed to be interviewed by us!

well on top of those 3 heavy loads to do. i still had to study for my final on saturday. but i survived!! =)

the past week seems like a blur. ever since the second half of spring started, it seems the weeks just pass me by without registering in my head. all i remember is going for my enjoyable political science class, and admiring the scenery and enjoying the great weather.

hmmm. UW's educational outreach programs office arranged a closing lunch for us. it was really poignant hearing the stories and speeches made by our program director, administrator (gretchen who helped us with SO much stuff) and suzanne my friend. our time at UW has really ended. and in a way, i enjoyed myself so much in UW that i didn't want it to end. even though school is more hectic and there are tons of homework, weekly assignments, presentations, take-home finals, i still learnt a lot from my professors and i realise i do love learning afterall. and i love UW.

well so now i'm back in new york city. the weather's hot!! at 23 degrees, i was constantly perspiring and wearing my shades. we touched down and made our way to the hostel. then we explored midtown manhattan on foot, did a little shopping, took pictures of new york. we were at 5th ave and herald square garden and the fashion ave (7th ave), where the largest macy's and gap were around. and many many shops like H&M, forever21, victoria's secret etc etc. had to stop myself from going in, or i know i'll spend more $$. then we walked to broadway and times square to check out discounted tickets for broadway shows. ended up buying les miserables. before the show started we had some time to kill, so we explored times square, took more pictures (this is my 4th time there, but i'm never sick of it. this time i kept thinking about the stuff i learnt from my political science class, about advertising and the consumer bubble and corporate censorship.) and we went into the HUGE M&M's store and the HUGE toys "r" us store and the hershey's store! hahahahahahaaaa. everything at times square is just magnified. buildings, ads, slogans and stores.

so les miserables was really really good!!! it was even better than phantom of the opera. especially the cast and the production set. the singing was excellent, esp the leads jean valjean (who had this amazing range and his falsetto range was SO controlled and in tune!), fantine (sung by lea salonga, the same girl who sang miss saigon when i saw the production in singapore years ago), epinone was surprisingly good, though still a little raw, the adult cosette was really good too and she looked like emmy rossum - the girl who played christine in the movie adaptation of phantom of the opera as well as javert. i normally don't give standing ovations unless i thought it was really good. and i did give a standing o. =) loved it. linda and i are probably gonna catch one more show here before we leave. i feel like i want to watch so many. a chorus line, lion king, beauty and the beast, mama mia, mary poppins, stomp, chicago etc etc. but no $$ and no time. plus cirque du soleil in las vegas is gonna cost about $90. argh.

so many many plans for the next few days, including meetings with andrew, zhihui, edlyn and glenda who all happen to be in manhattan now. then off to vegas to meet ian and his friend. then off to LA to meet my friend tina who studies at UCLA, then off to san francisco to meet shian chi.

let's hope i still have energy left. =)

time to sleep. early day tomorrow to liberty and ellis island. good night everyone from the city of all cities.