Updates on US life

Random: I just made this potato and onion dish you have no idea how good it tastes.

For the moment, I feel home.

^^

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I shall take some time to blog about my internship while waiting for my hair to dry! So I have been in the United States for about a month already, if you still haven't noticed... Spent the first two weeks adapting to being without comfort of home, family, convenience of transportation (I have never feel so appreciative of SMRT and SBS till now) and convenience of good food at Riverside, California. Had intensive studying like 7 hours a day with 1 hour lunch break in between, 5 days a week. Felt slightly pointless about the academic part of this internship program because, although the modules are more specific and focused on North America Tourism industry but as we are not studying in depth of the industry, we were taught the basics and fundamentals (which is necessary because without foundation you won't understand anything as it applies to future concepts, this you should know if you're studying at all) and thus, in simpler terms, we already learnt what we were taught there, while we were in Singapore Polytechnic. (I forgot to mention there are 23 of us, 3 classes in SP Tourism) So as you can probably tell by now, it was utter boring to me (Imagine learning something that you already learnt, memorised before once for exam purposes, gladly took it off your mind/put it at the back of your mind to learn other stuff and suddenly you have to learn it all over again from the start) So I kept falling asleep in class although I have to say that the speakers (part-time instructors who are mostly working full time in respectable hotels like Marriot) were really awesome and professional. Not only were they not originally Americans, they speak really well and at some points of time where I was awake, I was actually paying attention because of they way they teach. Kind of guilty that I did not try harder to stay awake... So anyway since it is a 5 day study week, we had 2.5 weekends (left on a Saturday) to explore on our own or take their tours. If you have been to my facebook you should see that I have been to places like Universal Studios Hollywood etc. I had not been feeling well since the start of the second week there so I had not been able to enjoy myself to the fullest but I have to say I defeated that horrible weather (managed to not fall really ill) and flew to Orlando, Florida here. The living conditions are better, to me (the others prefer UCR/University of California Riverside because of the free food) and I SO prefer the weather here. It is still extremely cold in the morning and night, but in the noon it is ultra sunny. Love the heat but not exactly the sun. I believe I will get tanned without even trying but I believe I will get fair again when I come back :) Being a character performer, I didn't look forward to it at first. After all, amongst the other roles given to the other school mates, this job feels like it provides the least relevant experience to the tourism industry and the skills would not exactly be something I might use in the future in a full-time career. Even till the first few days of mass orientation with over 400 students from other countries (mostly Thais), the information provided for my job scope had been really brief and uninteresting. Just as I was about to think that I will not enjoy my internship at all, I spent the best 2 days of this whole internship today and yesterday. I finally got a chance to understand the importance of my job. 'I'm the heart of the world-known theme park, Disney.' People know of Disney, the theme parks and movies because of the cartoon shows they used to watch, or the story books they used to read. Those contains elements of me, the character. Deep inside you know, despite anticipating all the fun rides and cool infrastructure of dream land Disney, you know you get all excited when you see the Disney character you have liked and watched since young up front waving at you live! The excitement, as if a dream coming true (because fiction characters are appearing live before your eyes) reminds me how much impact I really have, on each an every guest that I would be meeting. Yes I would feel so hot and stuffy, yes I have a lot of things to take note of while interacting with guests (learnt that I had to coordinate a lot of things during the whole time I'm with a guest), yes I might be so tired at the end of the day, but guess what, I would be brightening up many people's day just by showing up as their favourite! Also, I do not have to wear uniform like the other roles to work, because I change into them at the workplace. I can wear my shorts and slippers (once it gets warmer to go out in shorts in the morning) and I get long and frequent breaks! I would also be doing something I enjoy; getting all excited and 'high', making people laugh and smile, 'act cute', etc. Tomorrow I will sort of experience on-the-job training, looking forward to it very much :) Previously I talked about cooking too. Tonight I cooked soup for dinner and got reminded that there were potatoes so I thought of mom and decided to try to cook a dish she always cooked but I have not asked her how to cook it. Managed to get something like that (without the meat though) and will be bringing it to lunch. Can't you already feel that it is going to be a great day for me? ;x Anyway the reason why I am more optimistic than few days back is because I am feeling much better from weeks ago. Also being more open minded and forgiving (not forgetting) helped. Will be going for a check up next week, pray for my health thank you. That is pretty much summing up what I have, as for teeny bits and pieces of how I am spending my days, I will be uploading 'moments' on facebook so if you keep track of my life now and then, you will be able to see the link and know what is going on for me over here. This is just the beginning of the working part of my internship, wish me the best of luck because the academic part that will be ongoing with my practical part is coming and I have no idea whether I will be able to cope! My hair is partly dry, I'm going to sleep. Have a good day if you're 12 hours apart from me now :) Don't Monday blues!

P/s: I miss hanging out with my girls (SDZ, SPAMK, Sinyan) and KK. If you are reading, let me know if you miss me too? :/