The Eagle has Landed :)

I am amused by my own title :) Yup I am in the land of West Wing, Coke, Apple, Google, Kate Spade and Cookie Monster. Soon I too will find "amazing" and "awesome" experiences :) 

We landed around 3.45pm (US time) on Tue 14 Aug and had a fairly eventless customs check. Ironically the one person in our group who had the least luggage was the one who got called aside for a spot check! I am so thankful that WY's dire warnings of having to open all my suitcases didn't materialise :) We met the 2 Fulbrighters from Morocco at the airport and shared a shuttle bus to the hotel.  We are at Key Bridge Marriott and I absolutely love the super comfy bed! Must say I had a good night's sleep! Today, as good Singaporeans, we went shopping at Fashion Mall at Rosslyn. We also ate at dc cupcakes which was a major yummmmm :)

We have been meeting the other Fulbrighters at mealtimes - so far we have met the 3 Fulbrighters from Argentina, one from Finland, 3 from India and of course the 2 from Morocco. I need to get ready soon for the evening reception where we will meet all the rest, including the US teachers who are going abroad.

Just a quick note to those of you who read this blog. Because it is quite hard to even keep up one blog, I'm going to be less frequent on this one, but have set up a different blog for my Fulbright experiences. That one will be more politically correct :) This one will be for my private rants and shopping confessions.

Ohayou Gozaimasu

If you haven't guessed already, I'm in Narita Airport, enroute to Washington DC. Getting here was traumatic. I have no idea what came over me. My best guess is that I had one of those woolly days when it feels like I have brain fog.

Would you believe I packed for 4 days and was still packing right up to half an hour before I left? I have no idea what happened! I couldn't seem to choose what I needed to pack and when I tried to get rid of stuff I couldn't decide what to leave out. In the end I left a bunch of winter clothes for J to bring when she visits in Nov.

Anyway, I'm on transit now and on my way! Que sera sera! What God wills will be! :)

Mixed Feelings

In 8 days I will be leaving for the US. I can't believe July has whizzed past and we are almost a week into Aug already! It feels a lot like I'm waiting for the first day of school. Travelling with 2 women I hardly know, meeting 18 strangers from different parts of the world, sharing an apartment with 2 other women... There are just too many new encounters awaiting me.

I will be landing at Washington, D.C on 14 Aug and 3 days of orientation await me. I think we will be taken on a tour of the city one one of those days. That will be nice. We are then transferred to the University of Maryland, College Park on 18 Aug. I will be living in the student apartments called The Varsity, sharing a flat with 2 others. We ballot for our flat-mates and we don't get to stay with the Fulbrighters from our own country.

The university hosts have been very kind so far and conducted a pre-departure survey to ensure our needs would be met. One of the questions was - what are your 3 top concerns? I said - my knee, whether I would make friends and the cold :) On hindsight my answers seem juvenile, but those really are my top concerns :)

My prayer is that God will watch over my comings and my goings. I trust He has already chosen my flatmates for me. I trust my knee will not trouble me and that I would be able to finish my project! Thus far my mind has been on the places I will visit and the experiences I will have. Maybe I should expend some mental space on my project asap! :)

It is a strange feeling - trepidation, a little anxiety, some excitement, a touch of fear, lots of bravado.