Sunday, May 27, 2007
it's been stagnant for so long here..time to put some life back!school's out already, for more than a week. i really do miss school..the classes..the myriad of buildings in campus..the way-too-tiring slope up to I-House..the black bottom muffin from free speech cafe at moffitt library..the dark chocolate chunk muffin from bear's lair..the polish hot dogs from the van outside sproul..
the demonstrations by student groups (one zombie group protested against an increase in taxes), the preachings of religion (and against religion)/politics/whatever else u can possibly think of..by the various familiar homeless faces, the little old man who stands on buckets balanced on top of a barrel and wears a cardboard sigh and shouts "Happy Happy Happy! Happy Happy Happy!", the greek fraternity and sorority members, and SO MUCH MORE!!
and of course, there's International House, affectionately known as IHouse..the experience there was incredible. and to think that initially, i didn't want to stay there because it was so extremely costly! i still think it's awfully expensive but i have no regrets having spent 4.5 months there, along 2299 Piedmont Ave in Berkeley CA 94720.
when i first shifted into the 3rd floor, i wasn't so comfortable. firstly because it seemed that ying ying and the rest on the 4th floor and above didn't seem to stay so far from one another. secondly because the room really isn't so spacious. it's roughly ok for a single-bed, a desk, and a set of drawers to be arranged in the little cuboid of a space, but double all that furniture and the number of people and the pieces of luggage and clothes and whatnots, and it's really too squeezy. and i thought my roommate was the type to keep to herself and wow did that sound exciting already.
but of course, all that negative thoughts changed after just 1 week! i loved my room..i still do. the view of the front of ihouse, right down the slope of bancroft way facing campus is just awesome. and yea, i get to watch the sunset everyday if i want to. my roommate..i miss her already, we had fun together eating junk at weird times of the day and watching shows online :) the party gang of mainly international students who coincidentally stayed on the 3rd floor (alot of them at least) and their parties were appreciated greatly. never once did i not find the noise and clubbing music blasting from their rooms lively...and oh yea, mon francias voisin (my french neighbor) adrien.
and all the interesting funny students who stayed in ihouse...some of them became friends, some of them acquaintances, some of them still strangers in a sense. among those who became friends, there was ryan from california/nick from indonesia/peter from LA/arom, han-a, unna, elmo from korea/ david from here/ tanja from netherlands...and so many more. miss them!
as the last days of exam week drew nearer (which meant that the sem was ending..too quickly), everyday i saw ihouse residents packing up and leaving. inas left first. followed by pius and alice. then ying ying and her boyfriend, and hannah and derek the next morning, and lastly, everyone else who was left :( i never went up the Campanili Tower that is characteristic of Berkeley, i ate my favorito dark chocolate chunk muffin from bear's lair twice, i drank bubble tea before leaving, ate the yummylicious pahd see ew thai noodles, ate affordable and yummy fancy american style sushi from sushi house, had the last crepes for breakfast, the last burrito and taco chips with salsa dip, the last cheeseboard pizza, the first and last time we had pizza dinner at jupiter's...the last indonesian fare at jayakarta restaurant..so many LAST TIMES..too many rather. I never got to finish all those last times actually.