Happy New Year!
Hello guys, Happy New Year! Hope the Singapore balls got lots of hong bao and ate lots of siu yok to celebrate the Year of the Pig (Haha celebrate by eating the Zodiac animal). And for dear Sen, hope you had a good break and finished your memorial thingy.
I just came back from snowboarding yesterday night. My whole body aches but yeah snowboarding's the shit man. You get more control and fall less while skiing but it just feels faster riding and by the 2nd day, I mananged to go down the shortest slope without falling :) Though not falling is actually quite easy on the gentle slopes if you hum a bit. I even went a short bit down a blue slope (though I admit that was because we missed the turn to the green slope. Green slopes are the gentle ones, blue is steeper and black diamond and dbl black diamonds are the pro slopes). I would heartily recommend that everyone tries riding though I have to admit the first 2 or 3 hours of learning are really painful.
Nigel, I think it's quite natural how when you are with Americans, you feel that you have to think before you say anything simply because of the cultural gap. However, if you've been hanging out with them for so long and you still feel like that then it is kinda weird. Maybe you should try being more like yourself (whatever that is) and don't care so much about other people think. Let them get used to you being a Singaporean and not a fake American? At the start of last semester, I felt that if I really wanted to fit in, all I had to do was act like an American but I wasn't one and had no desire to go to such lengths to fit in. Admittedly, that didn't make for the happiest of first semesters but then I'm sure you'll find some people whom you're really comfortable with or grow closer to some of your present friends. It's like how we weren't exactly that close in secondary 1, just that in sec 1, you just go home and nua so you don't think so much about it. Also, I think that as 18 year old freshman, a lot of them are very conscious about themselves and making the right "impression". I find it easier talking to random upperclassmen in my classes than freshmen, some of whom tend to be really cliquely. It did make me feel quite pathetic at times not fitting in with the Americans but just remember this, most of the Americans would feel really awkward if they hung out with say a bunch of Singaporeans or Koreans. I guess it's your choice whether you feel such a need to conform but you could try striking more of a middle ground? Most Americans aren't exactly comfortable being around someone of a different culture either so yes, if you break out in Singlish or ball speak you probably will get weird looks but you don't have to be completely chesterized. And I think it's a lot easier talking to Americans one on one since then you can kinda steer the conversation a bit more instead of talking about American pop culture.
Oh yeah, and I just remembered someting Poon told me when I told Poon how I felt that a lot of the Americans seemed to be fitting into college really well with lots of friends while I felt weird hanging out with Americans. She said a lot of these groups break up in their sophomore year and that they were just acting all buddy buddy cause they didn't know anyone else. That's not to say all groups are this shallow but I think a sizeable number of pple just want a group to hang out with even if they aren't that good friends. It doesn't help that a lot of people go in with the conception that college is supposed to be the best time of their lives. On my snowboarding trip, I met this woman who was the mum of a Brown freshman and she asked me how I found Brown and I replied "Pretty good" and she looked at me kinda incredulously. "Only pretty good?" No doubt her son had been raving about it but I doubt you're going to tell your parents the downside of Brown when you're going to the school that's supposed to have the happiest student population (according to Princeton Review or something). It's kinda a self-fulfilling prophecy when everyone expects you to be having lots of fun. That said, I do feel a lot more settled now. Last sem, if I'd said pretty good, I would probably have been lying. This sem, it's the truth.
Nigel, I think it's quite natural how when you are with Americans, you feel that you have to think before you say anything simply because of the cultural gap. However, if you've been hanging out with them for so long and you still feel like that then it is kinda weird. Maybe you should try being more like yourself (whatever that is) and don't care so much about other people think. Let them get used to you being a Singaporean and not a fake American? At the start of last semester, I felt that if I really wanted to fit in, all I had to do was act like an American but I wasn't one and had no desire to go to such lengths to fit in. Admittedly, that didn't make for the happiest of first semesters but then I'm sure you'll find some people whom you're really comfortable with or grow closer to some of your present friends. It's like how we weren't exactly that close in secondary 1, just that in sec 1, you just go home and nua so you don't think so much about it. Also, I think that as 18 year old freshman, a lot of them are very conscious about themselves and making the right "impression". I find it easier talking to random upperclassmen in my classes than freshmen, some of whom tend to be really cliquely. It did make me feel quite pathetic at times not fitting in with the Americans but just remember this, most of the Americans would feel really awkward if they hung out with say a bunch of Singaporeans or Koreans. I guess it's your choice whether you feel such a need to conform but you could try striking more of a middle ground? Most Americans aren't exactly comfortable being around someone of a different culture either so yes, if you break out in Singlish or ball speak you probably will get weird looks but you don't have to be completely chesterized. And I think it's a lot easier talking to Americans one on one since then you can kinda steer the conversation a bit more instead of talking about American pop culture.
Oh yeah, and I just remembered someting Poon told me when I told Poon how I felt that a lot of the Americans seemed to be fitting into college really well with lots of friends while I felt weird hanging out with Americans. She said a lot of these groups break up in their sophomore year and that they were just acting all buddy buddy cause they didn't know anyone else. That's not to say all groups are this shallow but I think a sizeable number of pple just want a group to hang out with even if they aren't that good friends. It doesn't help that a lot of people go in with the conception that college is supposed to be the best time of their lives. On my snowboarding trip, I met this woman who was the mum of a Brown freshman and she asked me how I found Brown and I replied "Pretty good" and she looked at me kinda incredulously. "Only pretty good?" No doubt her son had been raving about it but I doubt you're going to tell your parents the downside of Brown when you're going to the school that's supposed to have the happiest student population (according to Princeton Review or something). It's kinda a self-fulfilling prophecy when everyone expects you to be having lots of fun. That said, I do feel a lot more settled now. Last sem, if I'd said pretty good, I would probably have been lying. This sem, it's the truth.
posted by OOP @ 1:15 AM
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