Sepertimana yang diceritakan oleh Dyanna: USA

Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts

Tuesday, 15 January 2013

USA Trip: Chicago, we are in you

The following day after returning from Miami University, we head up to Chicago. This would be our first stop in our long journey up to Winsconsin. The day was sunny (as seen in the pictures) and I think it was a really perfect day. My brother was driving, so I sat shotgun and proceeded to shoot pictures of the city as we drive into it.

Kuala Lumpur can't be compared to Chicago. It is so big with so many skyscrapers. From a certain angle, you can see tall buildings aligned nicely in a straight line, which is a pleasant thing. The city was quite clean and the traffic wasn't so bad. That's why I said KL can't compare to it.

The first thing we did was to park the car somewhere near to The Millenium Park and started to walk. My dad was quite hesistant about this at first because the last time he and his friends parked their car, it was ransacked. But that was in the 70's and a lot has changed since. But we still hid our valueables out of sight, just in case.

Did you know that Chicago was the setting of one of The Dark Knight's movies? Maybe all three of them. The scene where Bruce Wayne was driving his sports car under a rail track.

We walked through Millenium Park and there were a number of peculiar construction/monuments in that area that are quite interesting.

First there was this huge vertical LCD monitor with water flowing down the sides of the monitor cube. There were smiling faces shown on the screen.

Then there was The Bean, which is a large oddly shaped metallic bean that reflected a panoramic view of Chicago main buildings. Really cool!

And there were nice garden with tulips blooming in front of another metallic thing that looked like a Tengkolok.

A face on the screen. Reminded me of that 1980's Apple advert relatd to Big Brother.

The Bean.

We walked around for a bit. The we had lunch of bagels and doughnuts at Dunkin' Donuts. I wanted to walk further, but after noticing how tired my dad looked (must be low blood sugar or high), we decided to return to the car and drive around the coastal road overseeing The Great Lake Michigan.

The area near the beach (as they call it, even for lakes although it is not a sea) are more touristy with Museums, Aquarium and Planetarium (I think). Found a parking spot and went to visit The Aquarium. It was so freaking big! And it costs USD 20 for each person. Ugh.. Why can't nice places have low entrance fees?

Although the sun was shining, the beach side was realllllyyy freezing and not to mention veeerrryyy windy too! I wasn't bothered much by the wind while I w in the city maybe because the large building blocked most of the wind movement, but here if you had an umbrella, you'll be Mary Poppin off to London. So that's why Chicago is called The Windy City.

We drove around the city in the car for the rest of the day because we cannot tahan the cold wind. I felt it was such a shame that I can't explore it on foot and walk into places that we saw (a funfair near a pier, some shops, art museums, etc). Maybe next time, when I get to stay in Chicago for a week. I really hope I'll be back again, coz I want to eat Garret's Popcorn in it's birthplace.

Ps: by the way, did I mention that while lurking inside a Main Building trying to find a tourist information counter, I saw Rahm Emanuel. I think he's the mayor or something, but a person of importance behind Obama's rise to Presidency.

Saturday, 5 January 2013

USA Trip: Miami, Ohio

I should pick up where I dropped off last year. I hope I could still remember the details.

The next stop was to go to Miami University, not in Florida where Horatio Caine works, but in Ohio. The drive up to Miami took about one hour or so. As usual, the scenery are mostly of small farms and landcrops. Reminds you of Smallville.

Miami University is where my dad did his PhD back in the 80's. The place is a University town, not as big as Purdue or Bloomington. Being a small town, naturally people are friendly. But I could imagine feeling 'kepam' if I stayed here. lolz.

We visited a few places, namely the town centre, the bookstore (which is a must at every university town we visited), and looked around the University grounds, which were quite (almost!) empty due to the summer break. The buildings are well kept. Doesn't look run down or very old. I think local uni should take down a note or two. Maybe it's the weather that prevents mold from growing on walls, but our Uni's especially UM should buckle up a bit.

The place my parents wanted to see the most was our old rented house. Here it is. My mom said it looked as it was back in the days, plus new paints and everything. It is nice to see your parents smile reminiscing over the days when they were living here. Good thing the building was not demolished or anything.

Before leaving, we stopped by Lake Monroe (I think that is the name), a place where my dad used to go fishing and we had our picnics here. Maybe there are old pictures of us having a nice time here tucked somewhere in the old albums.

I love to be this guy.

Tuesday, 21 June 2011

USA Road Trip: Graduation

The 13th of May 2011 was the Graduation Day or as the people of Purdue called it, Commencement Day.

The event was scheduled to start at 8pm in a music hall.

The hall was nearby, we all just walked there. There's no such thing as 'Pesta Konvo'. Just a graduation ceremony. No people set up stalls to sell teddy bears or flowers. If you want to get that sort of stuff, you had to get them yourself at Walmart or the University Bookstore.

This is the inside of the music hall. We sat at the back row, like two tiers up. didn't get a good view, but there were two large screens at each corner where live video feed of the ceremony was shown.

While waiting for the University's President (macam Canselor lah), honorary guests and graduates to get ready to enter the hall, the audience were entertained by the orchestra and... the GLEE CLUB! (well, I think Glee Club is a fancy way of saying 'Choir Club' ;P). No, they didn't danced on the stage :(

There were some quirks around, and this (above pic) was one of them. Just to say that Graduation is not just a serious thing, these students ought to celebrate and have (a little) bit of fun. (fun! fun!).

The Commencement event went very smooth. There was only one speech, by the Univ President (of course) and they called the students up to the stage to give their scrolls. Masters and PhD students were called one by one and their scrolls were given by their own supervisors. Which I think is a great idea. Like a mentor acknowledging a mentee. But for the Undegrads, they were 'commenced' by the president herself.

Oh, yeah there were no formalities in this event. The speech was straight forward and nobody was trying to kiss anyone's ***.

YEAY, GRADUATED!

Obligatory pics with the family (some of these was taken on separate days)

Walking in the steps of Neil Armstrong

Tuesday, 7 June 2011

USA Road Trip: Indiana University, Indiana

*or as the Title could also be called ' Dyanna in Indiana University, Indiana ' =P

Our next short road trip was to Indiana University (IU). It was 2-3 hours from West Lafayette (will be called 'WL' from now on). There is no one we knew in IU to visit, except for memories my parents had studying there. (Hence our first Down Memory Lane trip).

They were in IU in the 70's. 76-79 maybe. That's where they met and got married and everything else, like they said, is history.

Our first stop was the Football stadium. Massive! I tell ya. Bigger than the one in Purdue.

Indiana University students calls themselves the Hoosiers. In fact, the state of Indiana is known as the Hoosier State. So, what is a 'Hoosier'? What does it mean? No one knows.

Or actually, not everyone agrees on one universal meaning of the word and origin of Hoosier. There are many stories behind this, one of the few is that it's a short form of the term "Who's here?"...

This idea suggests the term was a greeting. When approaching a man's home in those early frontier days, one shouted from afar, "Hello, the cabin!" to avoid being shot. The inhabitants would then shout back "Who'sh 'ere?" (who's here). Soon the words became slurred together , and the country folk came to be called Hoosiers.

Indiana University Memorial Union.

We went to the Memorial Union. The Union looks just like a small fort from outside. The university have this thing where all the university buildings share the same brick color. For Indiana, it's this grey brick, that gives an air of yore, while Purdue has the red bricks. Inside, like I mentioned earlier, there's a computer shop stocked up with Ipads, Nooks and whats not. Starbucks. An extravagant cake shop, a bowling place, cafes, Student shop, etc. Man, I'm starting to get bummed out thinking how cool it is compared to my previous Student Union.

Out and about. Indiana University's library. There's a small creek just outside the union and Lo, a small turtle!

We wanted to go to Bloomington and Indianapolis, which was the town, but didn't had enough time (we left WL quite late in the morning), so we just hang out around and did a drive by, visited some of the places my parents went to, like my mom's old apartment (which was still there and intact!), went to the mall where they used to hang out (which was still there and intact as well!). I guess nothing much has changed after all.

I bet tons of memories rushed back into Mom and Dad's minds when we drove by slowly along the university roads. There was a lot of narratives in the car about where they went, who they hanged out with, what they did, where they ate and the songs they listened to. Sweet, I know my parents are cool kids once :P

Revisiting old haunts and joints. Top left; mom's apartment.

Sunday, 29 May 2011

USA Road Trip: Purdue University, West Lafayette

... We landed in LA around 7pm and waited around the airport till next morning. There was no point of booking a hotel room since our first flight was at 6 am and technically we had to be at the airport again at 3-4 am in the morning.

LA airport, no matter if it's one of the busiest airport in the world, is NOT like KLIA, which I think is more comfortable and convenient for transit passengers.

The next morning came and we flew to Chicago. Our host, my dear brother, picked us up and we went straight for brunch... halal KFC. They have GRILLED chicken for those who opt not to have their meal fully dipped in cooking oil. A much more healthier choice.

Then we were on our way to our next stop. Get more chicken, the raw ones. The kids have planned for a barbeque.

Next stop, straight to the chicken shop

And the next following stop, Chicago's Mosque. Mosques abroad, seldom looks like any regular mosque in Malaysia. They're either a large house or an apartment. This one looks like a large house. Unfortunately for me, the sister's room was closed (and the mosque not always open), so had to ask help from a local brother. He brought us to a nearby muslim restaurant and said we could pray there. May Allah bless him.

Now we are finally on the road to West Lafayette, where my brother studied.

Caught a glimpse of Chicago (later about chicago)

After 2.5 hrs of driving (btw, roads and highways are far different from PLUS highway, we should be lucky that PLUS highway is the way it is. But that's another story).

We finally reached the apartment.

The following day when everyone's battery is fully charged. My brother took us out to show his place. Purdue University. We were lucky that day the temperature outside was 85'F (exercise: please convert to 'C) and that was one of the few days where we don't need to wear more than 1 layer of clothes.

Purdue University is located in West Lafayette, just right next to the city of Layatte. Both are separated by a river called the Wabash River. The name Purdue University was given in honour of Mr John Purdue, who donated his land to build a university, which was founded in 1869. I was thinking to myself, surely banyak pahala dia dapat kalau dia muslim.

We went in and out of building structures, sat on the lawn, took a glimpse of the library and went to the student union. One thing about the student union (otherwise called Memorial Union) is that place is nice. Nothing like Cardiff's where every corner reeks of spilled beer. Or UM/USM's that looks like a half finished building. (Selamba je kutuk). This one is like a museum, they even have information counter that has a person waiting there to help. And there are stores like Starbucks, cafes, bowling alleys, locker rooms, computer store that sells Apple products. And Purdue is not the only one place that has a rocking Student Union, I've been to other 3-4 uni's and they're like that as well. Pergh!

Alright, now a Pop Quiz...

"Who was the first person to step foot on the moon?"

This guy, Neil Armstrong.

Guess where he got his aeronautical engineering degree from? Purdue University.

It got me thinking, They sent an aeronautical engineer off to the moon. While we send a doctor/model/entrepreneur off to visit space. That's a big difference.

Just sayin' yo.

But in all due respect to Dr, the experiments he did out of this world was related to medicine (although I wonder how much is it related to his area of expertise?). Can I get a progress report on how that research is going Dr? Well, it's my money too. I paid my taxes.

These pictures are from the inside and outside of the school of Aeronautical Engineering that produces about a dozen of astronauts that went to space. Looking at it's track record, no doubt it is a great Engineering school.

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Went to the Electrical Engineering school,

which somehow confuses me. Why? It's because the walking halls are decked with the works from Ansel Adams (he's only the MOST renowned landscape photographer!!) and also mind tricks images, like the bat-dove image below. It made me wonder if this is is an art school or an engineering school?

Bottom right is a picture of the earth from space signed by Armstrong to his friend "To Carl, share our view of Earth. Hope you see it personally some day. -Neil."

Walked around the campus.

Which was an open campus. It was so big, I think it occupied most of West Lafayette. There was a school that had all these affirmations made on a plaque and were placed on the ground.

This is a story about the bell tower. There's a superstition going around among the students that if you walked underneath the bell tower while it rang (or tolled), that person will not graduate. You can bet people get pretty nervous walking next to the tower, especially students ;)

The (in)famous Bell Tower.

A visit to the football stadium.

The students there associated themselves with the university sports team. Sports is big in the states. They even have leagues for universities. And all students like, pledge themselves for their universities football or basketball team that is has became something like a tradition. This is one thing I find different from UK. The only team most people associate with over the pond are fancy football teams like, oh you know... Man U. lol.

Ross-Ade Stadium.

Purdue has two mascots The Boilermaker Special (which is the train) and Purdue Pete (a boilermaker). What is a 'boilermaker'? It's is a monicker given decades ago by journalist to these group of students, and they took it as a complement. Now Purdue students recognises themselves as Boilers.

Scenes around the stadium.

A boilermaker is the hardworking humble man who builds and molds metals to create a sturdy structure. Back in the days, engineering studies meant having to do hands-on work like that.

A humble hard working boilermaker and the moon which a Boilermaker went to set foot on ;)

Okay, one last picture.. This is a special one, because it's one of my favorite (among all shared here). I love the long summer days especially in the evening where the sun still lingers and it gives that dreamy golden hue in the sky.

Which one is your favorite story or picture?

Wednesday, 25 May 2011

USA Road Trip: An Overview

I am back on the internet. Now, where do I start?

Maybe with a map.

Places we've been to (by air and by land)

The four of us travelled to the states from KLIA via Taipei and finally landed in LAX after 20 long hours sitting in an airplane. (Did I told you I had a special friend sitting next to me the whole way?)

After that, we waited for 8 hours at LAX for our next flight to Chicago the very next morning (6am!).

After that, we stopped at a Chicago suburbs for a few hours and then drove straight to West Lafayette. That took about 2.5 hours.

All in all, it took us 30 hours or more before finally reaching our destination. Fuh! You can just imagine how flat out we were when we reach our temporary home.

During the course of two weeks, we went around places that covered 5 states, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and California. One of the road trip is called Down Memory Lane, which you'll know why in later posts.

Although I made a rough plan where we could go, but knowing my dad, he'll just change everything, everyday. Kind of like opening a box of chocolates, never knowing what you'll get.

Please sit down patiently while I prepare the pictures.

Monday, 16 May 2011

Road trip

Just some pics.. Sudah mula suka pada app Instagram. Oh fotografi...