TAP Into CAL: Berkeley & San Francisco

So as you all probably know by now, my aim is to transfer into UC Berkeley next fall. It's supposedly one of the top universities in the world, 3rd or 5th I think. Anyway, last week I took all my finals earlier (horrible week ever what with papers all due earlier for me too) before flying off to NorCal to join this program of theirs which I was selected for that helps familiarize us prospective students with the campus and application process.

Before I start, I just want to thank God for all these golden opportunities He has given me so far. When my daddy decided to give up all his businesses for seminary school to become a pastor, I didn't like it at all. In fact I pretty much hated my daddy and God back then. Simply because it would mean that gone were my days of an easy life where I can pretty much have everything I ever want or desire and saying hello to a life of hardship. Or so I thought.

Ever since I'd moved back to the States, I have yet to find myself in want of anything. Ok so maybe a psp but that is just frivolity that even I never considered buying back when I had money still. Anyway, what I got was a wardrobe 10000 times better than what I had back in Kuching (its like the clothes here are made for my height and frame ♥), financial aid for tuition fees, a way more kick ass gym membership, awesome education, free invites to many events and an opportunity to enroll in programs like these aimed only at low-income students that help up their chances of entering the best uni in the world from 27% to 94%. Oh and did I mention that this trip to NorCal was totally free too?

All these blessings despite my horrible doubts every now and then. Indeed God provides and I now learn to trust Him more and more for I now see that He does have a plan for me. Like what my parents never fail to remind me whenever I get depressed or doubtful: Looking back, I now see that God's plan for you were already in the works 19 years ago when you were born in Hawaii instead of Malaysia, so why worry? Just trust in Jesus. And trust Him now I shall for He is the all-knowing God after all :)

So my trip to NorCal.....

I NEARLY MISSED MY FLIGHT OKAY BECAUSE I HAD TO WAKE UP AT 4AM AND GUESS WHO UNCONSCIOUSLY SHUT OFF HER ALARM WHEN IT RANG BEFORE GOING BACK TO SNOOZE????

LAX was a terrifying labyrinth of a million different terminals and waiting lines as long as those at a LV mega-sale seriously and what I thought was a pitifully small airport when I first arrived in LA last year was actually only a tiny tiny tiny section in the crazy huge building. But thankfully we made it in time with minutes to spare :D

International House

I think its a student dorm and while it looks pretty outside, the bedrooms are a different story...

Is this how uni students live cuz alkfalskdfas its like smaller than my TV room back in Malaysia even okay! Just a bunk bed, 2 study desks and a dresser.

Confirm will go crazy after a week. I think I shall opt for an apartment instead of student housing when I transfer to a uni. I have no idea how to live in such a cramped space with no personal bathroom or a KITCHEN oh the horror.

Dining Hall

Okay so the rumor about Berkeley's food not being the uhm best is quite true. Except for that one Summer BBQ Lunch now that was awesome. Either that or days of not eating well tends to make everything a million times tastier :x

Eating outside in the sunshine instead of inside the hall is love

So basically its a program that let us have a taste of what being a Berkeley student is like while at the same time having fun in NorCal and so I'll leave the campus tour pics for another day and focus on the trip to the city of San Francisco instead :)

The Pacific Ocean. So pretty~♥

Guess what? We were also given 45 bucks each to spend in the city srsly is this awesome or what? The entire trip was already free to begin with and now we're given spending money too alkfjalsdfajadsf so happy *cue heavenly music*

Golden Gate Bridge

Only I didn't know what it was and was wondering why everyone was making a fuss of this old red bridge because I ALWAYS assumed the Golden Gate Bridge was GOLD in color. GOLDEN gate ok what do you expect me to think.

If not gold then at least some shiny metal bridge then. Whatever is is, I was totally not expecting this. Why is it called Golden Gate Bridge if it is anything but gold or shiny. Why not the Fiery Red Bridge instead ah...

Me and my roommate Princess

No, that really is her name.

Proof I'm not lying

I know....the first time I heard it I was like 'Oh nice to mee-- whaa-- huh?' until I saw the sheet of paper. I didn't dare asked her why of all names this but later someone with guts did and I found out that she was born in the Philippines and apparently everyone has weird names there. Princess.... idk man but I would so get a name change. Like seriously...wteff.

Pier 39. Another famous tourist spot.

Ships. Or whatever its called.

The place

I am never good at writing tavelouges seriously because I can never remember what happened that day so there goes all wittiness.

Bought some sunnies and a couple of tees here and was feeling all happy until I walked a block down and saw that the shops there were selling the exact same tees and stuff for like 1/4 of the price. LAKFJHALKSHFA HATE TOURIST SPOTS NOW *pissed

This is heaven. The smell is like omigosh oh so yummy and I dunno why the tubs of Dreyer's ice-cream I always buy smell nothing like this. It smells like vanilla and fudge and buttery popcorn and all things yummy *___*

Carousel!

I waaaaaant to ride it!!!! Contemplated stealing some random kid so I can have an excuse for riding it.

Great. My eyes are closed here making me look damn stupid.

When people ask you take help take a photo of them, you take not one but TWO. Two cuz 90% of the time you'll screw the first shot up as you fumble with the buttons. And before you press the shutter, it never hurts to say 1,2,3 ok because half the time the scenario would go like this:

kind soul: *fumbles with camera* so uhm which button do I press?
me: the big one
kind soul: *resume searching and just when he finds it and is poised to press the button* wait! why is the screen now black? How do I turn it back on? *panics*
me: oh just press any button *gestures wildly*
kind soul: *fumbles more*
me: *peers forward expectantly* so uhm did you find i---
*FLASH*

And there you have it. A pic of you in whatever fugly position you were in now frozen in time for years to come wteff.

Umi desu yo~♪

The pink sweater 2nd sis bought for me in DC ♥

Happiness!

candy shop :d

Crazy huge dog!

Kinda ugly in my opinion and why would anyone want such a huge furry dog is beyond me. Speaking of dogs, I hate chihuahuas. So fugly can?! I always assumed it was cute since all these atas girls like to carry them but then I saw the pics and wteff its like overgrown mole rate with a kangaroo head. Super uncute okay. You know what is cute? Corgis. And Shiba inus. Toy dogs are overrated. It's like hugging a small liquid filled bean bag. Or to be more acurate, a saline boob implant maybe. With fur.

Really ugly lah. The dog I mean.

Went to Rainforest Cafe for dinner:

The interior was decorated to look like a complete rainforest

Super dark and totally too much decor imo

Everywhere was covered with vines and the ceiling would light up every few minutes as the speakers blast thunder sounds. On and animal sounds too which got annoying after a while.

There was this huge butterfly behind me too which I hated cuz it kept flapping its wings and every time it does, it cast a shadow across my table making me think that someone was behind me so I kept snapping my head behind every 5 minutes only to remember that its the stupid butterfly and even accidentally sprained my neck once (=___=)'

I hate my camera because it always makes me look so shitty. I mean, I look in the mirror 24/7 and I certainly do not think I look anything like that. In fact, I look nothing like my pictures. Is this what they call non-photogenic ah sigh.

Group pic again!

Haha Maria totally forgot she set the timer for the camera cuz initially she wanted to place the camera on the table but that was before we roped the poor waiter into doing it for us poor him was so confused as to why nothing happened when he pressed the button and only 10 seconds later did it went off but then the picture was ruined cuz we were so busy laughing so he had to take another one again and since the timer was still on, had to wait like a dummy for another 10 seconds hahaha I swear to learn all digicam functions if I were to ever become a waitress in the future.

Oh, I met another Hannah wteff and she's the one red jacket and it was so confusing the whole time throughout because we wouldn't who was addressing who. One girl was like 'okay she's Hannah with a H' but then both our names ended with H too and I was about to suggest using surnames but it turned out hers was Kim wteff so ditto for my plans. I doubt they can differentiate between Sim and Kim...

Also, I give up trying to appear Chinese because no one ever think of me as one anyway which is a good thing too sometimes cuz then they would just assume I'm Korean and speak to me in English. Because as soon as they finally figure out I'm Chinese they would ALWAYS switch to speaking in Mandarin to me and I seriously dislike it cuz my Chinese is so terrible like you cannot believe and growing up in Malaysia did not help one bit as I discover that 65% of my Chinese usage is wrong, making me feel all inferior when conversing as I worry if I'm saying it right. So draining I swear and I might as well be speaking in French. Le sigh.

Anyways, will post the pics of UC Berkeley's campus later :)