Graduation Part I

Written on 19 December 2008, 12.10am, 6 degrees celsius

Three weeks just passed like that.

Today was graduation with the other students at OCU.

Before that we also had the Phi Kappa Phi induction ceremony.

(Don't know what that is? Google it.)

Had to rush the robing, the photo taking due to lack of time.

Kinda felt emotional for a while and the feeling faded off.

But in addition to my robe, I had the Phi Kappa Phi medal to go along with it,

And indeed it really makes you wear it with pride.

Dr. Musselman also came to join us after the ceremony in his robe!

And as usual, took pictures with him again and again. (:

Well, graduation part II will come next year again.

Meanwhile, it is nice to know that people are proud of me.

I am proud of myself, too.

Faculty Student Dinner

Written on 16 December, 1am - 7 degrees celsius.

Tonight we had a faculty dinner, all the students and faculty whom have taught us.

Wonderfully organized and planned with much cam whoring.

But really, there perhaps won't be another chance as such to bond with our classmates.

While I'm happy that graduation is coming,

I'm quite reluctant to leave really.

End of Personal Lifestyles Module

Written on 12 December, 11pm in OKC.

Today marks the end of our classes with Ms. Binkley, a prof who looks like 40 but is instead 52. Fit, petite and a storyteller at heart. Glad we had her or else we'd be copying from powerpoint slides all day long. *shudders* I don't mind reading the text on my own, just tell me something else from what the text says. So, yeah, although it wasn't a really detailed lecture, I still enjoyed it all the same with the dose of movies.

I can't imagine how time have passed so quickly. From the dreadful 30 hour travel to this place, till the fight against the cold, the coughs, the runny leaky nose, the sore throat and the fever, 2 weeks have almost passed. This is happening too quickly. I waited 2 years for this, and no, this can't be going so quickly.

Tomorrow we are heading to Texas for a full day of shopping. My cash is almost half depleted already and it's a discount shopping mall we are going to tomorrow! Haha, but it's a long roadtrip there so I should be heading to bed now. So I'm done with uploading part of my photos on facebook. More to come when I'm free and in the mood for some time in front of the laptop.

A Fabulous Day with Cooling Winds

First thing in the morning, meet Donnie, our favourite bus driver who has Elfy's ear muffs! He's really nice with plenty of stories to tell and a sense of humour.


Today lessons end early at 12nn. Apparently, Friday's half day for Oklahomans, so from 12 to 1 we had some time for camera whoring... Oh, here's where we've been for the past 2 weeks, Petree College of Arts and the Sciences. We decided to cut off the words because we couldn't capture it. Hee hee.


This is our campus. The tower of OCU and huge spaces in between buildings. This is university man.


And we found the "main gate" of OCU! Well, OCU ain't fenced up, so it's really an open concept kinda campus. So just behind the "main gate" are the main roads already.


Again, inspired by classmates taking jump shots, we decided to join in the fun too. Successful jumps!

Then when it was time to head to the bus, we made Donnie jump with us too. But he gave up after a while because jump shots take a couple of times to capture. Haha. It was really fun.


But man, I can jump high!


After lunch at Macs from opposite the residency, we took some pictures since it was another warm day, say about 3 degrees celsius. Nice day for a walk really.

And to Joanna too, I'm reluctant to leave... This place is way less crowded and way friendlier to live in.

Mum, can we live in Oklahoma City for a while?

True Blue OCU College Student @ Oklahoma

And so, inspired by some of my classmates' blogs, I shall post some pictures. Seriously, studying on-campus from 9 to 5.30 now finally makes me feel like a true college student who belongs to OCU and not elsewhere.

Anyway, here are snapshots of the campus, courtesy of Joanna... Heh.

One night, OCU's basketball team was playing against SNU and so we decided to root for the Stars team. This is what we call a true basketball game. They are really hardcore players.
During intermissions, the dance team came out to perform a routine...

But I've never felt so heated and enthusiastic in rooting for a school team before. Cheering and clapping when they score. That night, OCU won. (:


TV production - that's my posing as a floor manager in the mass comm studio...


On our visit to KOCO Channel 5, we toured the studio and this is Cheryl and me posing as news anchors...

Remember the cowboy christmas parade? The little girl (Ashley) was so cute that we took a picture with her and her dad. Cool hor?


Christmas is also a big thing in OKC, so there was a "Light the Campus" Dinner that we all went to and cam whored. That night most of us were really sick of the food already, we just hanged around for the festive mood. But yeah, check out the antlers!


Oh, and remember the snow? Look closely and see ice forming on the steps to our residency. Heh, that is the usual attire for everyone. Hello, ice no sign of melting at all... Bet it was about zero degrees celsius...


And the visit cum fieldtrip to a health facility affliated to a hospital in the midst of our management of personal lifestyle module... We got to use the facilities in there too. I was so warm after playing basketball that I managed the chill without my coat.

This is Teners, a shop selling cowboy outfits opposite where we stay. It had really nice decor so we snapped some pictures while the sun was shining and when the wind was mild.

Now, hope this had some viewing pleasure. It's 14 hours behind here, as I type it is 11 December 2008 at 11pm now. Have to wake up early. Gotta snooze!

Management of Personal Lifestyles

And another module coming to an end.

This module is a less lecture-more active kinda module.

For example, we do skinfold tests to check for our body fat composition,

We run 1.5 miles to measure endurance,

We kick boxed today, stretched and did yoga/pilates kinda exercises as well.

Also doing muscle endurance and strength tests.

After having stopped exercising for so long, I scored an average.

So much for the gold physical fitness tests awards huh.

Oh, but my muscles are sore from all the running... PAIN!

And so, having waited so long for this, it's only about a week more left in Oklahoma City.

How I wish this would be longer,

I struggle with the cold weather:

-The low temperatures,

-The howling winds that potentially can blow me away,

-The numbness in my hands despite wearing gloves,

-The layering of clothes to ensure I endure the cold
(Thermal, tee shirt, pullover, jacket then down jacket)

-Having to robe and disrobe when I enter and leave buildings

-Holding on to heat packs

-Breaths that produce little puffs of smoke in the air

Despite all, I have nice dinners because we get to cook,

Nice coordinators around here,

Friendly Oklahomans,

Fabulous Mass Comm Munchy Corner,

Funny Mister Donny, our bus driver,

BAH, I am not ready to leave, not even end of next week.

I don't mind waking up early at 7am every morning to head to school.

I LOVE LIFE AT OCU!

And oh, once again I survived an all time low of -7 degrees celsius.

With ice forming around everywhere...

Chickasha Festival of Lights

Now, crap those Orchard Road Christmas lights,

Yeah, beautiful they are, but nicer ones in Chickasha, Oklahoma.

An entire park, lit up by little light bulbs making out figures, things and people.

No other lights, just lights from the bulbs.

Will post up pictures when I'm not as tired...

But yeah, who needs Orchard Road lights when Chickasha does it better?

And oh, did I say I survived -2 degrees Celsius already?

That's when you step out and ice stones are still on the steps, with no sign of melting away...

SNOW!!!

I saw snow for the very first time in my life.

Snow flakes floating down from the sky with howling winds cutting my face.

White little icy flakes they were.

But it was so cold that I couldn't even make 20 steps out of the Walker Centre,

Where I was having lessons to the cafeteria,

Another building about 100m away.

Snow and snow it was.

An experience of a lifetime.

A Peek into Eskimo-ism & Sleepiness...

This is a few of us at the cowboy Christmas Parade on a Saturday morning.


And a picture taken while I was sound asleep in the laundry room waiting for my laundry...


It gets really nice to sleep in weather like this.

But I've survived -1 degrees Celsius at night in Bricktown,

I can survive anything now.

End of TV Production

And so a week flies by and module of TV production is over.

We have produced a 30 minute show and indeed that is an achievement to do in 5 days.

Shopping was great at Belle Isle with Old Navy and Wal Mart today,

Tees at $5 and cardigans at $4.99.

More and more shopping to come.

Seriously some of my classmates have tagged me in photos on facebook.

They are real cam whores so I think they didn't have enough memory in their digital cameras,

And putting it on facebook on an almost daily basis is quite a good idea.

Anyway, Personal Lifestyles module starts tomorrow,

So gotta go and read my text.

Till next time!

TV Production

Two days into TV production and my class can be proficient cameramen, directors, assistant directors,

audio operators, technical directors already.

How cool can it get to learn all positions in the TV studio?

But goodness, full day lessons from 9am to 5.30pm drains and kills energy.

Even I have fallen to fever with the cold winds and temperature,

And having to be "evacuated" while on a newspaper publishing company tour with purple lips today.

But panadol to the rescue, I'm better now, but could do with more sleep. *.*

As the day passes, I just hope that the residency won't end so quickly...

Speaking of which, I really needa snooze...

The Flight

After a:

- 1 hour flight to KL
-Transit of 2 hours
- 4 hour flight to Taipei
- Transit of 1 hour
- 10 hours flight to Los Angeles across the Pacific Ocean
- Transit for 3 hours
- 2 hour flight to Phoenix
- Transit of 2 hours + 2 hours delay
- 2 hours flight to Oklahoma City

I finally got to Oklahoma in about 30 hours. PHEW!

Luggage not lost, immigrations cleared smoothly,

Cab ride at 2am to the wrong hotel and one more cab ride to the right one,

Carrying my own luggage of 17.9kg and helping with Cheryl's 28kg luggage up the stairs,

We almost didn't believe we made it.

Yesterday was orientation and today was first day of classes.

Seriously, university here is different, in a good way.

But it gets really cold with the wind that I look like an eskimo with layered clothes and my down jacket.

Btw, it's 14 hours behind time here.

As of now, it is 9.56pm on my watch on 1 December.

Ah, tired out. Update again.

And oh, I love the peaceful town here.