Week 1 Day 1 - ARRIVAL @ CHENGDU

3th March 2010, Wednesday

The parting with my family and friends was still alright… (I still can’t believe that I’m going to leave Singapore. But the sweet thought of my parents and friends at the airport makes me happy and warm~ And at the airport, so many people took pictures of us like we are stars! *nice!* :D)

But the flight was still tolerable… I have to move out of my comfort zone to become a stronger person with faith! Because I didn’t talk for almost throughout the whole flight, I thought, maybe I should change this habit and well, just be open and comfortable with strangers…

Once we reach the Chengdu airport, it was as cold as someone left the aircon running at 16°C… SO COLD! Before checking out, our queue got cut by other Singaporean! >< we were quite unhappy about that… But I liked the Chengdu airport actually… It’s plain and cooling. When we walked out, there are a few people waiting for us (holding ‘Welcome Ngee Ann Polytechnic’)!

We were then brought to UESTC and into our dorms… By the way, the campus is huge and beautiful (and misty)! I liked it so much! But I don’t like the cold though… the wind felt as though it can pierce through our bones! D:

we went into our dorms and wow! It’s so clean and new! One more thing, it’s totally different from what we expect! However(or luckily), i was warned that the toilets are mostly of the squat type. So when we go to the toilet, we were like, "okay...~". We went to have our dinner at the canteen and i got a shock again. There were only chopsticks!! *Where are my fork and spoons~~ T^T* And the taste of their food was really different from ours. Theirs are stronger in taste but i do think that this is because of the cold weather here that makes them want to eat something of a stronger taste. We walked to the supermarket and stocked up our room with the daily neccesities like hangers and food.

And at night, the electricity cuts off at 11pm… NOoooo!!! >< we were all desperate for electricity… So at night, it’s cold and dark… so hard to sleep… Well, I think I need to build a higher tolerance for discomfort… Because the temperature is seriously different from ours in Singapore! It’s so cold here at Chengdu… or maybe ‘freezing’ is a better word to use especially when we are talking about at night…

MISSION : I will learn to have a better comfort level with strangers and a higher tolerance for discomfort.