Happy Birthday Tanika!

You're legal! Not a minor anymore... yay independence!
Hope all your birthday wishes come true :)

Happy Birthday Tani

Happy birthday, Tani!!!

Hope you are having lots and lots of fun today! Yay 18!

Possible Route

So I was thinking (based on your suggestions and from what's available), that the route might be


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LA --> Barcelona --> Paris --> Nice / Monaco --> Geneva --> Rome --> Venice --(bus?)--> Vienna --> LA, based on easyjet/ryanair routes (I still have to check if they have these during winter though). Of course, I'm sure there will be detours (day trips and such), changes of plans... see if we can get to places cheaper by bus or some other sort of transport. Too bad Eurail is so damn expensive!! Anyway, we were thinking we'd need a budget of about $1000 to $1500, maybe a little more to do this. I know that the round-trip plane ticket from LA --> Barcelona, Vienna --> LA is about $600-650 dollars (student airfare, from studentuniverse), which isn't bad (winter season is generally off-season for tourists, I hear), considering that a roundtrip ticket to Rome during Spring Break (march) is 800 dollars.

I still have to check with Hyung Joo about this route...

Winter Break in Europe?

(click on map for larger version)

Oh no, I didn't mean to say that ISM was bad. I loved growing up in the close environment... its also a very interesting and unique cultural situation. It's not just filipino, its a mix of filipino/spanish/chinese/american culture, largely english-speaking. I don't think that if I had grown up in TAS or ISKL I would feel that the country would be as much a part of me as the philippines has, just because the culture is so extremely open and compatible with many different cultures.

Btw, I just bought international stamps so you'll all be getting mail soon! :D yay? yay yay yay yay (say it!) Oh, and I have a question for you Europeans!!! :P I just had Hyung Joo ask if I would like to go to Europe for winter break (actually, it was spring break, but I wouldn't do spring break, so short and the airfare is too expensive for only 10 days) Josie are you interested in coming? Because we're interested in keeping the trip as cheap as possible (student hostels, cheap airfare, I'm going to ask Nick, traveling friend, who's the dude in Morocco) and such it won't be exorbitant. Should start saving now (ahh no more ordering books from Amazon, maybe won't even get a replacement skateboard, maybe no ipod from parents wahhh). Hey, Adhira -- if are interested in coming that would be cool too (though we shouldn't overwhelm him with er, girls) :)

Anyway, the question is, where should we go (use the map above as reference)? Thinking of Spain (because he speaks fluent Spanish), places like Italy and Greece? I could deal with passing up France, maybe with a little more reluctance the UK and the Netherlands. Because I'm sort of concerned with having to deal with really cold weather, the mediterannean-ish region might be best. Whoa, maybe we could go to somewhere like Algeria or Morocco? (omg, if we had enough money, I am so dreaming). What do you think? Where should we start? (Spain is closest, hopefully cheapest? or we could do London) Darlings, I need advice. Tani, do you think you'll be in Italy then? I wonder if Gracia could be around :) I was thinking that if we really wanted to go to more places, we could try using easyjet / ryanair / virgin express for cheap flights.

I like the idea of Adhira coming over for spring break ;) of course, its easy for me to say, I'm not the one traveling. But besides that, great idea! :) haha

We really are dreaming about traveling a lot on this blog :D Before this winter break idea came up, I was actually thinking that we 5 could try to meet up somewhere like Mexico or Brazil (sorta midpoint b/w our continents)... or go somewhere cool like Hawaii :) of course, money is *such* a problem :P

Adhira!

Talking about ISM, I'd say it's somewhere between what Adhira said and what Margie said. On one hand, ISM is so different (in a good way) than my previous schools. More 'international' for those who never lived as an expatriate before (it might have felt different for you, Margie, and others like Tae Yeoun, Asti, etc who were always at ISM). Although we complain that ISM is not international enough, is not good enough, too limiting, etc., I really think that compared to other schools, ISM isn't that bad.

In terms of the people though, I don't feel 'at home' with most people at there, except with you guys, and maybe a few others. It was fun among us, but not so much fun with most other people.

p.s. Hey, Adhira, any plan for spring break? Maybe you can visit us here...? ;)

Fiery and full of life (a red blog!)

I'm really glad we have this blog too :) it reminds me of where I come from, what I think is important and what I'm working for... of course, I get to keep up with Gracia's latest schemes, Tani's profound musings, Adhira's east-coast cuteness, and Josie's identity as Tia ;)

Adhira, I wouldn't say high school was at all better. Remember the limitedness, the way the school was run (like a damn prison), the shelteredness of ISM and the ignorance of a lot of people at school? At college I feel like I'm at home (though of course nothing replaces family and you guys). Of course Mudd's a little bubble, where people are generally pretty liberal, damn smarter than normal, and fun to boot. I know what you mean about a few things though, I miss city life, shopping, fashion (I hate that the majority of people, sometimes including myself, wear t-shirts, sweatshirts and jeans all the time) I miss you guys a lot (although I'm finding a few cultural type people here too, one of my friends is taking a semester off, traveling from England to Spain, and is currently in Morocco, later will pass by Italy and France, I just talked to him online today, it was great -- all these interesting insights about a muslim country. He was pretty 'international' before but still saw everything as an american, and its great to hear how this trip is pretty life-changing for him. he sees the light! yayy)

BTW, Gracia, have you ever read Bare: On Dancing, Women, Sex and Power? Its pretty interesting, and I think the gender/baring of sexuality issues that it address would really interest you. It writes about the profession of stripping in a pretty intelligent way :P I read it as optional reading for my Hum class, with that cool dutch prof I told you about.

I miss you guys :(

I am so glad we have this blog... Its really wonderful to hear about what you guys are doing at college and how you are enjoying your new life! Everyone told me so many wonderful things about college and its nice to know that they are not entirely false...
But, as far as I am concerned, High School was soooo much better and I really miss you guys. Though I was there for only a year and a half, I loved our cafeteria and the people and the teachers and the just everthing! I wish college was like that too. Honestly, I am not having any fun in college. The only things I do are attend classes, eat and sleep (and the classes I take are purely for my major, no fun!) But enough of my whinning and sappy-ness... I wanna hear more about the plans you guys have and the stuff you do... :)
I realy love our blog :p

Yay, good luck, Adhira!! How did it turn out? Did you make it? =)

Uummm... I m an engineer Tani! A Bio-medica engineer :p
Josie, I am part of SWE and I am planning on running for office today!
Wish me luck... gotta go!

yumm... midterms..

Oww... having a boyfriend sounds fun! Especially valentine's day when everybody else is busy (kind of) with their boyfriends/girlfriends. Fortunately there are other unfortunate singles too...

Hehe.. yay! I know ctrlaltdel! It's very geeky! I haven't read it in a while, though. This v-day edition is cute =) And... well... surprise surprise! lots of guys at Mudd is like that (World of warcraft! Sounds exciting, but when I see the game, it's ... boring...)

Engineering week! that sounds fun, Adhira! Hmmm.. we should have one too at Mudd. By the way, our math club is planning on doing something on pi day (March 14, starts at 1.59 PM --> 3/14 1.59. cute! =) ). Oh oh... are you a member of SWE (society of women engineers)? Just wondering... since I somehow end up being a member of SWE although I have no plan to be an engineer.

Margie: hhh... this week is crazy! I'm having 4 midterms in a roww!! (one is take-home though. fortunately) lab today is fun! I hated that liquid crystal lab -- glad that you like it. I like this pendulum lab a LOT better. (rather unrelated:) Hh... Sometimes I really really want to have a boyfriend... unfortunately, people who like me are ... nice but... uhm... yeah... ^^;

Gracia Gracia: how fun!! I think my passport almost expires... (and I haven't gone to the embassy/consulate!) I hate doing these paperwork - bureaucracy stuff. Glad you finally get your visa.

hmm hmmm.. whatelse...

I'm taking a humanities class on psychology of sex and gender and we're going to have a project where we have to violate a certain gender norm and write about that experience. Looking forward to it. Will be exciting.

By the way, what do you guys think about sex/gender differences? Any theory? Do you think we are strong followers of the traditional gender roles or gender appropriate behaviours? Do you think gender differences are biological/genetic in nature? Why do you think women are relatively rare in mathematical/scientific/technical fields?

It'll be interesting to hear what you guys think about it (if you have time, of course =) )

Just for the heck of it!

I dont really have much to say, but I feel guilty about not posting stuff when everone else is, so here goes...

Margie, I know exactly what u mean... I had a physics test the next day too! (Quite a coincidence)Well, actually if i hadn't had the test, i would just be sitting in my room by myself, but thanks to the sadistic profs, all my friends who have "significant others" were with me studying physics (evil laugh)!!!

Grace, Like I said, didn't do much on V-day. But, I'll have to disagree with the 'uncivilized yankee' (coz I am not a Yankee :p)... Call me an 'Asian Nerd' instead :p

Josie, giving campus tours huh? So you must be getting very good at walking backwards! and no... did not have 'good' chinese food :(

Tani, what did u do for V-day? I know I just asked you two days back, but did you decide on a name? (I am really curious what u guys are gonna come with!) :p

Oh and we have this thing called "engineering week" (also known as geek week nerd fest, etc.). Its pretty cool... each of the engineerings competes with the others and the winner is given a 'golden hammer'. I am helping out the BMEs with a video. It has an Indiana Jones theme and the stuff we've come up with so far is pretty funny... More about that later.

Wow, I guess I did have quite a bit to say :p

'ello everywun!

My Valentine's day was fine, thankyouvery much Gracia. I just finished waking up from my luxurious beauty nap. If only you could see me through the window, I Cleopatra of the Nile, eating a banana up in my 2 story penthouse :) Jason didn't do anything special for me, so I cannot boast like you ;) I gave some people (including him, Josie) carnations though -- so I cannot be blamed for not doing anything. (I've never noticed such an active Valentine's day before... there are SO many couples its crazy.)



I normally dislike Valentine's day though :P I always feel so unloved. But things make up for it, I know every other day everyone absolutely adores me! :D :D :D I also spent most of the day all stressed about lab and homework and the physics midterm the next day, so I suppose that's partially responsible for my bad mood. (argh cruel physics professors...)

So how is everyone doing? I love that everyone is up and posting again :D

Gracia, what did you think of Madame Butterfly? Its still sort of a controversy in China~ I once tried reading a book about the true story, but I got kind of bored and weirded out at the same time... I'm sure the opera was interesting though :P

Tani, I don't know html stuff either! :P just little bits. basically I just don't bother with tables... I find that if I want to do the sort of arrangement you have down there I just open up photoshop or something and type the words as I like, in the arrangement I want, and post it as a picture :P btw there's something more elegant than tables called CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), but I've never really found the time or occasion to learn it (its pretty hard).

Adhira, I didn't get accepted to be a sponsor wahhh. 40+ frosh applied for 8 or 9 spots... the numbers were against me. But they were really nice and told people the decisions in person instead of by email. That was nice :)

Tia, hello! I really love that you're gonna room with Gena next year. You'll be a fearless duo :P

Oh yeah, see my blog for my tentative summer plans
(summer math + cantonese language lessons in hk).

Love you all! (and i'll be back to post again, can't let Tani take over the blog completely hee ;D )

uhuhuhu...

hiii everybody...

Yay! glad to hear lots of stuff from all you guys!

Gracia: Hmm... digital camera shopping is always confusing! Well, I'll just go with the popular vote, then. Sony, I think, is good; but I'm not sure if it's rightly priced. I mean... I often think Sony is more expensive because it's Sony.

Tani: Oo, I read your post on those coats. Yumm... they're really nice; (I like that blue 'regal' one!). And, well... grades suck... there should be a better way to measure our understanding of things -- other than grades.

Adhira: Hey, I hope you make it! I remember you were telling me about that RA position before. Soo... that'll be really nice to actually do it.

Margie: Hmmm... let me have a guess... Is it Mike???!! well.. I know there are millions of Mikes. (and Matts. and Andrews.) But, is this the red one? Hehee.. that's really cute! He's funny. (Oh, and he dances well too.)

General update: I just came back from tutoring a Scripps girl (Scripps is the all women college accross the street) on Calculus. Ahh... tutoring is hard! At least, it's not easy. We went over her hw problems, and the first question was to differentiate some crazy mixtures of crazy trig function; basically a bunch of secant's, cosecant's, cotangent's put together, which requires multiple uses of product and quotient rules in one equation. Hoho... I kind of dropped dead at first. But I managed to convince myself that this is just some crazy number crunching (I can do calculus... I can do calculus... calm down... calm down). The other problems were okay. I guess it went pretty well.

(but I'll quit complaining now...)

Life is okay. Had the worst day ever last wednesday. other than that, just studying, labs, more work. nothing much. should start planning on doing more fun stuff (how about... travelling to Europe and visit Grace and Tani? that'll be fun! I'll see if I can do it this summer) Ow, I signed up to be a tour guide at Mudd -- Just giving campus tour for prospective students and such, which can be put under the title "fun stuff", I think.

Have to study (ugh, more calculus...) for the math exam tomorrow. Bye =)

P.S. Happy lunar new year!! Hope we all had some good chinese food =)

A quick post, yes ~ with pics!

I'm supposed to finish my homework (a hum paper and a math midterm tomorrow) so this'll be a quickie :) I vote for the Canon too Gracia! (way cool and not-so-bulky) How is everything? :P

I finally got my social security no. finally, from applying through the US embassy in manila (where I didn't have to wait 2 hours just to talk to someone).. I hope I never have to deal with them again! :P the next thing I have to do is renew my US passport at the post office (so strange not to have a US embassy... in the US :P)

I saw your pics Tani! London sounds awesome :) and I'd love to shop there, it sounds like they have a lot of interesting and funky shops -- how come all the pics of you are blurry tho!? :) we want to see cute Tani up close! Studying? All the darn time :P I'm taking 9 classes this semester... quite insane (2 are nonacademic tho)

Adhira, the RA thing sounds really great (there's something like that, called proctors here, except you have to be a senior) the double room sounds fantastico. which reminds me, I haven't taken pics of my beautiful L room (its actually a triple) which I share with my roommate, I just moved into it this semester :)

Tia and I both applied to be a sponsor for next year's frosh (yep, that's our name for freshmen, sort of a california geek thing :D), my interview's this sat and i really hope I get it. It's basically a week or too before school starts (orientation week), you get to organize lotsa fun activities and get to know some of the incoming frosh. It's a lot of fun! I loved my sponsor group in the beginning of the year. Hi Tia! ;D I'm so happy I get to see you everyday, I'm going to give you a hug the next time I see you.

Some news I guess:
1) We're learning swing in dance class. Much fun!
2) Margie is yet again torn between two boys :P Jason and someone else possibly... I really hate that Jason's so busy working all the time... there's so little time for me! And I'm really wanting to get to know this other guy better :) [i think he might be interested in me too] Tia knows who it is, and I bet you can guess too. Old flames die hard :P
3) Here's a few pictures from the aquarium I went to two weeks ago in Long Beach (I still have to put pics up from that on my blog, there just sitting on my computer now)


we got to touch some of the harmless sharks, skates, rays and such


this ray was the softest thing ever (and so friendly! :D) apparently they produce some slime to encase their bodies in


little paddling pool everyone was bent over, trying to touch the animals


those are little long fishies poking their heads out, and a cool pink fish cohabiting the same tank :)


lorikeets! I was feeding one when another leaped on me shoulder


sharks we *couldn't* touch :D that's a hammerhead


me and mad jackson

we saw seals, sea otters, walruses, puffins, seahorses, jellyfish, tons of cool fish, lobsters, shrimp, crabs, cuttlefish.... lots of cool stuff like coral, sponges too

Long time....

I just applied to be an RA (Resident Assistant) for next year. An RA has to basically implement rules and enforce disciple, blah blah blah. Its really cool becoz you get a double room all for yourself AND for absolutely no cost! Its a lot of work though, but I really wish I can get it... The chances are around one in every four who applied will be selected.

Yesterday, we had a 'candidate day' for rhe applicants. Basically, it was four hours of group activities. It was a lot of fun! We played cool games like murder mystery and we played with legos and stuff... We also had to write an essay (yuck!) and do an interview, but the rest of it was cool and very casual.

Gracie: I like the cannon better because its smaller and more compact without compromising quality of the pictures and stuff. It also looks cuter :p

Josie: Hows life? I never hear from u :( Hope you are having loads of fun at Harvey!

Margie: Hope ur love life's going well... Keep us updated!

Tani: From what I hear about ur uni, it seems like the gradingis really tough, so comparitively, your grades are not bad AT ALL! Great to hear that your band is doing so well.

Miss you all (still...)