The US of A

My dear friend just came back from the United States of America last week after a two week holiday in LA. This was her first time there and she had a really great time althought not enough time to do all a tourist should do and see cause she was there partly for work.

Am really glad she enjoyed herself there and seeing as little as she did, I know she can't wait to go there again. There is so much to see in the States. Despite what the Government is, it is a great place. Hearing to all her stories makes me miss it very much.

I studied in the States from 1992 to 1995 and it was the BEST time of my life. If ever I could turn back the clock it would be to that time. Not only was the place great but the time was good too. When I was studying the exchange rate was only 2.5 (what our rate with Singapore is now!) therefore the pinch was not felt so much.

A picture of downtown Kalamazoo. There was a disco/club we used to go to during weekends. Forgot what it's name is

There is something about being a student too. You don't have to worry so much about worldly problems like we do at this age. I studied at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. This is two hours away from Chicago and Detroit. It's situated at the Great Lakes which means it was winter 8 months of the year. Cold!!!! BRRRRRRR ..... But an experience I would never give up.

When you are away from home like that, friends are the most important things as they are the only family you have. I made many friends there and there was a bunh of us that became pretty close knit. I am rather sorry that we are not all in touch with each other but our lives have taken us on a different path. Nevertheless, you are all remembered and will always be dear to me.

I have a whole bunch of pictures but I would have to dig them out of storage. There are so many memories there. The friends. The places we travelled to. The food. The classes. The campus. Ahhhhh ... so many sweet memories. The movies every weekend, the late night donuts, 24 hour grocery shopping, delivery shopping!

We took the opportunity to travel as much as we could when we were there. Of course going to Chicago was like a weekly affair. We loved the sophistication of the windy city and there were several good food outlets there including an Indian shop where we could get tosai! Besides the shopping was good too and there is a factory outlet called Michigan City on the way there which we loved!

When my friend was there, a whole bunch of us who studied and travelled to the States before kept on asking her to eat all kinds of things for us. Ah yes ... the food was good. Even the Chinese food there is different. Hunan and Kong Poa Chicken was my favourite! Yummy ... Not forgetting the chocolate malt, desserts galore, Ruby Tuesday, Denny's and Big Boys (patty melt and country fried steak). There was this steak house we used to like going to and it would be a monthly treat for us as it was rather pricey. Can't remember what its called now. There was this burger broil place too downtown, it was really very good. I remember those burgers very well, even the buns were different!

The shopping was another thing wasn't it! I think I accumulated a lot of junk when I was there. America is great for knick knacks and well, junk! But collector's junk some of us would like to call it. There was this knick knack shop downtown, just next to Jacobson's which I just adored. They had beautiful stationary, and stickers and punchers and what not. My kind of shop!

There are so many memories of the US of A. I remember watching my first football match at one of our home games. And the ice hockey matches were a real adrenalin rush. I remember I took ice skating and my instructor was an ice hockey player before, Scott. Very the can do!!!

Fall was my favourite time of the year. It was always so pretty when the leaves were all changing colour and the air was cool. I loved taking walks in the fall, with the leaves rustling as you walk by. I tried making a snowman several times, and snow angels too!

And yes, somewhere in between I had classes and I did graduate (sadly) with a double major in Journalism and Interpersonal Communications.