No i was not talking about WWII.

OK so i finally found some time to blog. It's not gonna be a good post, i'm sure, seeing how my legs and feet hurt from walking too damn much the whole day. Wait, was there ever a good post on this blog? Or is it just pointless rambling and complaining over the slightest things? Anyways...

Japan

My sister and i went to Japan for a couple of days at the beginning of August (if you're my Facebook friend, you'll have the privilege of viewing the glowing collection of our pictures, either frowning because of the intense sunlight or looking hideous with Minnie Mouse ears). But seriously though, Japan was nice. The food was good, the weather pleasant (it was SO nice to get away from the furnace that is Hanoi), and the shopping fantastic. On a side note, we had beef for every meal, every single day for four days, to the amazement of my host. That's how big beef lovers we are. But above all of that, Japan was great because it's just so different. I suppose all countries are unique and different in their own ways, but Japan is something else. We went to all the most crowded places, including a big annual firework at Yokohama, Disneyland, and shopping districts popular with the young crowd Harajuku and Shibuya, and witnessed a tapestry of individuals, styles and lifestyles. Rail thin guys with sperm-shaped eyebrows (walking hand in hand with their girlfriends, no less), check. A straight couple with matching Mickey & Minnie Mouse outfits (complete with the ginormous ears sticking out of their purple-dyed hair), check. Red clothes and hot pink shoes, check. Girls with fake brown skin, bleach blond hair & bright red lips, check (I'm not even kidding). Juxtaposing that to, say, Singapore, where seemingly the national uniform for youngsters is a combination of T-shirt, shorts and Havainas slippers (if you're attending secondary school, throw a hairband and a NewUrbanMale bag into the mix), you realize most unequivocally what makes Japanese youth so mesmerizing to some, and grotesque to others. Being different (or, weird) is not just OK, it's sometimes expected. Besides the basic social norms and etiquettes, young people here don't seem to conform to any single standard of dressing, or behaving. It's the celebration of self-expression at its most conspicuous.

Something else about Japan: it's so obviously aging. If you go to a country with a booming and young population like Vietnam, everywhere you turn there's either a pregnant lady or a newly born screaming at the top of its (fucking) lungs. In Japan, old people are everywhere, driving cabs, trucks, and tending to shops. It's not immediately apparent to me which is better. But seeing that my new dorm room faces the main avenue of this city, with vehicles passing by every five seconds and random people screaming for no reason every half an hour, i'm thinking old & wise peeps might have the edge.

Japan is nice, but would i live my life there if i could? Probably not. Its nice for a couple of years when you're young and ridiculous (and allowed to be), and then you get a job, and you suffocate. The Japanese are way too hardworking and serious about their job, a good-for-nothing, procrastinating, inefficient person like me would probably get weeded out by the society pretty fast. Japanese are so cordial and smiley (no kidding, shop assistants and Disneyland workers smile for as long as they're on the job), you can't help but wonder if it's the frustration and tension building up inside that's going to be their undoing. Nobody screams or complains, and hardly anybody cries in public. Where do all these feelings go? After all, it does have the highest suicide rate in the world.

Germany, a bit of Belgium & Holland

My mom and I went on a four-day trip across Germany (with 2 amazing & knowledgeable German hosts, of course) before i get shipped off to college, and it was so amazing. I know it's probably the fourth time i'm using that word already, but it's 12:19AM, i'm hungry, sleepy and my brain isn't functioning right (well does it ever). There were the perfunctory jokes on America & France, and then there were stunningly gorgeous castles and cathedrals that have existed for hundreds of years. Okay, so these architectural structures are also, like, really old and could crumble any second, killing the bunch of us, but the added sense of danger only makes the experience even more thrilling. After all, Israel is very high up there in my list of must-visit countries. I'm a wackjob. We went to Frankfurt, Remscheid, Wuppertal, Berlin, Cologne, Aachen, then drove over to Liege in Belgium, and Maastricht in Holland. Mostly small cities, i know, but i feel like they're the most accurate & worthwhile representations of the old, cultured Europe. Berlin was kinda underwhelming. It was big, crowded, noisy and so heterogeneous that i just wasn't feeling it. I love small German cities, even if that means being stared at as the only 2 Asians in town, probably the only 2 Asians these German people have ever seen. I certainly hope noThe wall was nice, but we were only allowed to view it from afar (after hordes of people have tried to steal pieces from the wall and sell them on Ebay, the authorities have now installed a metal fence surrounding it. How reminiscent of the old days.) Besides, with vendors selling high-quality fake Berlin Wall remnants buzzing next to your ears, it's kinda hard to feel like you're witnessing a tremendous part of history.

The funniest stories happened in Berlin though. My mom and I were walking out of the central train station behind these two gorgeous & tall German men (have i told you how gorgeous the men are? JFC). For some reason my mom suddenly sped up and got really close to them, at which point they both turned around, hugged each other and posed for a lovey dovey picture. THE EXPRESSION ON MY MOM'S FACE IS SO FREAKING PRICELESS!!! Lol i'm still laughing whenever i think about it.

We went to see a theatrical performance in Berlin, Qi - eine Palast-Phantasie, and we loved it. There were the perfunctory boobs-flashing (Mom: "Why is that girl not wearing a top anymore?"), malexmale nasty dance (Mom: "What just happened?") and drag queeny impersonation of Frank Sinatra (Mom had no idea who FS is), and i thought it was European cultural showcase at it best. I love this place. I'm probably going to spend some time living here in the future, just because you know i'll blend in easily with all the crazies.

I had a chance to practice my German, but i was too scared to say anything beyond "Hallo" and "Guten Tag" (which, respectively, mean "Hello" and "Good afternoon"). My theory that all Germans speak competent English was debunked, but the one about German being a gorgeous (and gorgeously tall) species was reinforced. Boy do i miss Germany.

Belgium and Holland were fine. The towns were small and we seemingly were once again the only two Asians around (ever). I thought high school and the whole being stared at business was over, but clearly i was wrong.

Boston


I fucking love this town!!! Granted, I was only there for about 2 days, but its hard not to fall in love with the houses with gorgeous red bricks, the tiny, weaving streets and huge parks right smack in the middle of the city. We took a walk down Newbury Street, which is the Bostonian version of Orchard Road, and it's so lovely. Boutiques are located in private houses instead of gigantic shopping centers, and you actually get to walk outdoors, which is always nice in the summer of northeastern US. There's so much history and culture in this city, so many nice dogs and clueless-looking tourists. I'd say Boston has a nice mix of everything. I only have one advice for future visitors to Boston (and you have to visit this city at least once before you die): follow the Freedom Trail - which is a medium-distance walk throughout all the historic sites in Boston - on foot. There's this trail of red bricks on the ground to lead you, but you'll get lost anyway, and that's where the fun lies. I get lost often, and after a while you sort of embrace being lost, because, in a sense, you're not lost, just exploring places of the city you didn't plan to.

Cambridge and Harvard


(The last photo is actually of my folks standing right in front of my freshman dorm, Straus. My room is right behind that gigantic tree, on the 2nd floor. It's alright, but nothing to write home about so i'll pass.)

So, Harvard. I know it sounds intimidating (or insert any other adjective here) to many people, but save for the hordes of tourists daily snapping random pictures of dirt-old (and shit ugly) statues, squirrels and recycling bins, 90% of the time i don't feel like i'm at Harvard, but just another institute for higher education in suburban America. I'm in a normal dorm (read: noisy & super messy), living amongst normal people (mostly. hopefully?), and doing normal, college-sque things (like hunting for booze every night until past 3 and sitting on the street consuming fat-dripping pizza slices at 2 in the morning). Every once in a while you do get reminded of the fact that many of those normal people have something amazing about them, be it maturity, life experiences, musical talents, sporting talents or just outstanding intelligence. I say "many" because, quite surprisingly, there are quite a number of brainless bitches and snobby assholes around. It's mind boggling how they get into this place. Ohwells. Probably Harvard wants a diversity of boob and ego sizes.

Cambridge, on the other hand, is quite pleasant. Its a small suburban town with lots of things to do and eat. There are frozen yoghurt (very, very nice one at that), bubble tea (ok-ish, although i hope the throngs of people standing in line are aware of how fattening bubble tea is), Subway, Starbucks (and other coffeehouses), restaurants featuring everything from Thai to Japanese to Mexican food. It's so easy to get fat in this country, you don't even know. Don't be alarmed if you can't recognize me a few months from now because i've ballooned up. It's really not my fault. No, really, it isn't.

One thing i have to say though, is that people here are TALL. I expected Americans to be taller than i am (almost everybody is anyway), but Harvardians are even taller than average. I feel more like a midget here than i normally do. I strain my neck talking to people on a daily basis. Most of the time i'm just talking to their belly buttons... So many guys are over 180, bordering or exceeding 190, it's ridiculous. One would expect my extensive collection of skyscrapper heels to come in handy at this point, but no. Unfortunately for me, there's so much walking to be done every hour of every day that its impossible to wear anything but slippers and flats. I hate my petite life... Or is it i hate my life being petite? I can't even tell.

Another thing, if you ever have the chance to visit this place, don't, and i mean DON'T, touch the foot of John Harvard. All Harvard students do is pee on it, and they dont even do that drunk. So yeah... Or touch the foot, but carry antibacterial wipes with you or something. Oh and warn everyone else in the group. Generally just stay away from the statue. I hope you realized i was talking about a statue.

Anyhow, i look forward to being challenged and inspired by classes at this ancient institution. I'm so over taking classes that i hate (read: Math & Sciences) just to get an easy A or fulfil the credit requirements. I want to wake up every day for early classes because i want to (most preferably because there's a hot teacher waiting for me at the stand. OK i did not just write that), not because i have to. Because you know how good i was at attending morning classes in Singapore. I haven't really been inspired by anything at Harvard yet, but hopefully that's gonna change.

One last thing, it's astounding how many international students have a perfect American accent, acquired from many years staying and studying in America. I'm hanging on to that theory that its near impossible to be admitted into this kind of place without some sort of international education. It's also for your own good anyway. The pace of life here is so fast, and no one is going to wait for you to hone your English skill or finish stringing together that sentence. You move along with the conveyor belt or get left behind. I don't really know what's gonna happen to me.

More to come later. I have a million pages of stuff to read and i have only got to like 3 of them. Clearly, i'm such a hardworking student.

ETA: I took 2 days to finish writing this post, so i did not do a lot of walking today, no. Today was more like waiting day. I had a cold (flu?), waited for 2 hours in the university's clinic only to be told: "Rest & drink lots of water. No medication for you cos you dont need it yet." Why is it called emergency care if the wait is 2 hour long? Ah, one of the mysteries of life...

Labels: Rants, Travel