North Carolina State University

Now for an introduction (my own version) to North Carolina State University (thereafter referred to as NC State), the place where I'm studying at this semester.

At the Campus Crusade meeting it was mentioned that there are 32 000 students at NC State, of which 4 700 are freshmen. So it's a really huge university with 10 colleges and between them many departments offering over 100 degree programs.

The campus is divided into central, north, west, south and centennial campus. There's a campus bus called Wolfline that runs through the campus but I've never taken it before. My classes are all within the north campus which is very near the central campus where my dorm is, so I just walk. Students can ride for free on the Wolfline and the public buses in Raleigh when they show their campus ID card.

Hillsborough street runs along the boundary of the north campus and has lots of food outlets. It's almost like the only street outside campus where you see people walking along the streets.

This is the entrance to one of the three dining halls. It's where most students eat their meals, and there's meal plan where you pay in advance for a eat-all-you-like, aka buffet. There will be a few dishes that is served the same day once the week, but some stuff that will be there every day are burgers, hot dogs, fries, pizza, salad bar, fruits, desserts, ice cream etc, really a lot of food!

Just a nice scene of the campus, a place I walk pass every Tues and Thu when going from my International Finance class to the Public Finance class.

The building on the left is Harrelson Hall, where I go every day as I take two courses there. It is quite special, being the only circular building, designed by students and is said to sink a two inches every year if I remember correctly.

Now for the library, it's 10 storeys high and is a very nice place! Bookstacks like these below occupy seven floors!

And in this picture below you see many people at the computer terminals and two television sets where people are playing wii. How interesting!

One interesting fact is that many of the buildings have multiple exits and exits on multiple floors. Oh the campus is rather hilly, maybe like NUS and NTU. Sometimes I walk uphill only to have to walk downhill again. I don't think there are any escalators. We all use the stairs (except the circular building where you can walk in circles to go up the building or the library since it's 10 storeys high) but anyway the buildings are about 3 or 4 storeys high only.

An exciting weekend lies ahead. Watch this space!

Raleigh (pronounced raw-lee, rah-lee)

An introduction (my own version) to the city of Raleigh, the state capital of North Carolina and home to North Carolina State University.

Raleigh is one of the three cities in the Research Triangle Park, the other two being Durham and Chapel Hill (where UNC is located and where the AO fellowship holds their weekly Friday meetings).

It's really quite a ulu place. One chinese student described it as a 大农村. Haha. There is a downtown where there are high-rise buildings with offices (and some clubs), but the shopping mall is located at another part of the city. Basically, buildings outside downtown and campus hardly go beyond three storeys. Most people in the US have cars (owning a car in US is like owning a bicycle in China) so you actually see more cars than people on the streets. The public transportation is free for students, but they are infrequent so need to check the timings for the buses.

Still it's quite inconvenient to get around outside campus without a car. The nearest Walmart is about 20-minute drive away. Well I don't really know which one is the nearest cos i've been to 3 different Walmarts nearby and different people have different opinions on which is the nearest. The nearest place to get stuff is about 20-minute walk, where Harris Teeter (something like NTUC) is.

I guess being a small city/town, the people here have a slower pace of life and generally more relaxed. In my two weeks here I've only heard someone sound the horn like once or twice. People only sound the horn when it's death-threatening. On the streets, cars will stop for pedestrians intending to cross the road, even if they are not crossing at the designated areas (especially on campus). People will hold the door for you, it's just a natural thing to them. And when there is a central divider on the walkway or stairs, people automatically walk on the right side, even though there's no sign to tell people to do so. Yes it's left-hand drive here, but not much adjustment for me since I've been to China and Korea before.

It's still summer here, and it's been raining the past two days. On the days where there's no rain the day temperature is about Singapore's temperature or maybe slighly cooler, but it's less humid here so don't really perspire. I actually think it's dry as compared to Singapore though this part of the US is considered humid.

There are actually quite a number of Asians in this place. There's a Chinese church and a Korean church. Oh some of the ABCs speak both good English and Mandarin, I feel rather intimidated. And I think the proportion of African Americans here is higher than the average.

Obama actually came to Raleigh last Tues, but I didn't get to hear him speak cos I didn't manage to get tickets.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Went for the Campus Cruade for Christ weekly meeting tonight so thought I'll write about it. It's usually on Thu but because there's a football match on Thu they changed it to Tues this week. Sports is a big thing in NC State and CCC has a sports ministry here too. It rained today (the 2nd day since I came) so the meeting was held indoors. They call it Prime Time and I think today there were probably more than 1000 people.

Today is BACK THE PACK NIGHT. Well I honestly don't fully know what it is. Probably just something to show support to the school. NC State's colour is red and their mascot is the wolf so we were told to come in red. Their school spirit is really strong. There are a lot of NC State t-shirts designs and you'll see people wearing them to classes. How often do you actually see SMU people wearing school t-shirts to classes?

Here are the people I went with today. The girl on my left who leads a Bible study for junior girls contacted me so I'll probably join them. As you can see, I bought a NC State Wolfpack t-shirt too.


And they had all the freshmen stand up to take the Freshman Oath and "swear allegiance to the Wolfpack!" It was quite a funny oath.

Can't really see clearly but the picture below shows the guys having the letters "GO WOLFPACK" painted on them.

Here's some pictures from last week's meeting. It was held outdoors, on the new track. A big crowd and at 8pm, the sky was still bright.

This is Holly, the Campus Crusade staff that I went with that day. Met her when they set up a booth near the bookstore last Tues. She mentioned they have 18 staff at NC State and many of the staff are actually trained here and sent to other campuses.

They have a full band for worship (there's even a violinst!) though there was only 1 song before the message and 1 or 2 more after.

For both meetings we were given a card to fill in our details where everyone (even the staff) filled in. There's another one about "Campus Crusade Stuff Going On". They send weekly announcement emails too. One of the items is:

"Come help change the WORLD from your dorm!

Imagine stepping off an airplane into a different country all by yourself, where the culture and social norms are new and confusing at times. There are 700 international students coming to NC State this month. And they want to have American friends! So, we have an amazing opportunity to be Christ's hands and feet by befriending them, learning about their culture, helping them practice their English, and loving them. They are top students in their countries and have been specially selected to come to the US. If we can show them who Christ is here, they can go back to their countries with influential jobs, and help build God's Kingdom around the world! By spending an hour or two each week, you can make a great friend and an eternal difference! If you're interested and for more info, email Michelle Edwards (michelle.edwards@uscm.org )."

Wow, there are 700 international students here! I believe almost all are the graduate students and it's really a large number. And yes, this Michelle Edwards was really quick to respond to me when I left a message on the NCSU Crusade facebook. They are really efficient. I received a personal email 3 days after the gathering to welcome me and invite me to join the Bible study and the group leader contacted me that day too. Imagine having to sort out 1000 over response slips!

Will SMU CCC ever have so many people?

My Name

Before coming to the US I seriously did consider getting myself an English name so that it would be easier for others to remember. Non-Chinese people generally can't pronounce Xian correctly so my name ends up sounding like something that is not pleasant to hear at all. A prof told me to get others to get used to my name so there's no need to get an English name. Some other people suggested I be known as Ying.

In the dorms, all our names are written on the door so when I saw this:


I decided to just be known as Ying. Easy to pronounce, easy to spell, though not that easy for people to remember.

Apparently the Study Abroad Office here wrote my first name as Ying, middle name as Xian, family name as Chan. So on my Campus ID card my name is "Ying X. Chan" haha quite cool huh.

Brief Overview of Day 1 - 11

So it's quite easy to blog after all...

For those who don't know, I'm now in Raleigh (prounced raw-lee, rah-lee), in North Carolina, USA. Attending North Carolina State University on a one semester student exchange program.

I've been here for almost 12 days, and what a journey it has been! I don't know where to start writing, cos there's so much to write about. So here's just a overview of what happened the past 11 days, and more details will come later (for specific stuff).

Left on Wed, Aug 13, 7.15 am Singapore time. About 20 hours later, landed in Washington DC on the same day 3 pm local time to find that my flight to Raleigh was delayed, then cancelled. Took the next flight at 10 pm but my luggage didn't arrive in Raleigh. After completing the baggage-lost form and getting to the hostel, by the time I checked-in and went to my room, it was almost 1 am. There was no one outside by that time and without my luggage, I couldn't do anything but simply go to bed and settle everything else the next day. Thank God at least I had my toothbrush and toothpaste with me.

This is my room in its original state (actually my roommate's bed cos I didn't take a picture of mine before I put my own stuff). The first night I just slept like that (only had the SESS jacket and I didn't know how to adjust the temperature then). I almost thought I'd fall over in the middle of the night!


Day 1 - Thu, Aug 14

Woke up early to borrow stuff from people so at least I could shower. I guess I was really thick-skinned but no choice. Thank God there's Andrea, the other Singaporean from SMU here!

8.30 - 11.30 am: Orientation, breakfast provided. Briefing on the administrative stuff, students we could go to for help, important information etc. Got to know some of the other exchange students too.

2 - 4 pm: Information fair for new International students (exchange students and mostly graduate students). There were about a handful of booths by Christian ministries for international students so got some information. Suddenly felt very tired after this so went back to sleep for an hour plus.

6.30 pm: Shopping trip to Walmart, organised by Study Abroad Office (I think). Finally I could get some clothes and other necessities while I wait for my luggage. But I was really so tired (jet lag) the whole time. After we got back (about 10 pm) there was some free food by the Hall but I only hung around for a while. Quite sick of eating muffins and bagels already.


Day 2 - Fri, Aug 15

10.30 am: More orientation - meeting the academic advisor, attended some sessions by the Office of International Services on sch volunteer opportunities, getting around and places around school.

5.30 pm: Attended an International Students Welcome Dinner, organised by Forest Hill Baptist Church. Got some of the other exchange students from Korea and Japan to go too. There were probably over 200 students, mostly graduate students from India and China. The church holds English classes and some other weekend outdoor activities for international students too. Spoke to one of the volunteers and knew that they have been ministering to international students for almost 30 years, ever since a lady started English classes for the international students then.

And I finally got my luggage that night! Could start to settle in properly...


Day 3 - Sat, Aug 16

In the morning went to open bank account and more grocery shopping.

Roommate arrived in the afternoon, before I could properly settle in. Wasn't sure how having a roommate would be like but so far it's been good. She's African American, lives near the beach in North Carolina, about 2 hours drive from campus. Went for lunch with them (her mum gave a treat!) and to Walmart to buy more stuff.

5.30 pm: Attended another welcome dinner for new students, organised by Raleigh Chinese Christian Church (RCCC) for students from China so it's in Chinese. There were over 100 students who came, all graduate students I think. Quite weird to be there but got to know one of the student leaders, this girl from China (Luyan) who studied in Singapore for a year before coming to NCSU a year ago for Masters and PhD. She gave me and Andrea rides to church and back the last two Sundays.


Day 4 - Sun, Aug 17

7 am: I actually woke up early to watch the Olympic Games, the table tennis women's team finals. But it wasn't shown on TV!!! There were two Games channels and they showed tennis and baseball finals instead. How disappointing. But I'm so proud of Singapore winning a medal in 48 years and I ALWAYS tell everyone that everytime people talk about the Olympics or when they ask if I watch it. It's quite a common conversation topic here. So sad that I didn't get to watch the Olympics at all (except the closing ceremony). It's such a big event and it's happening in China but now i'm on the other side of the world :(

9 am: Attended RCCC in the morning. I went for both the Chinese and English service. So happens that the guy whom Shuang Ning gave me the contact of attends this church too. And the pastor of this church is a Singaporean who came to US 18 years ago. Their daughter speaks english with an American accent but the pastor and his wife still speaks Singaporean English. The church is really pretty much like Kum Yan. Mostly Chinese people. The Chinese service has more of the older generation people (congregation of about 240 people), while the English service are mainly young people (congregation of about 220 people). There's a Cantonese service too (congregation of about 60 people), so it's like a family church. There was lunch at the church, my first time eating Chinese food in US! And yes, I get to eat Chinese food every Sunday :)

After church I walked around the campus a bit with Andrea, explored the gym and bookstore and bought 1 textbook. It was USD 140!

5 pm: Attended the Bridges International Vision and Fellowship Night. Bridges International is an arm of CCC's ministry to international students. It was at an American's home and meant for Christians to share the vision of getting Christian international students to reach their own people. Something like vision tea, but only me and another guy from China attended. Again, they mainly reach the graduate students, so they don't do much ministry at all with exchange students.


Day 5 - Mon, Aug 18

9.30 - 11 am: Briefing by Office of International Services on more admin stuff

11 am: Cates Crawl. Organizations set up their booths along Cates Avenue (where my Hall is located) for freshmen to find out about the organizations. Lots of freebies. Haha.

1 pm: Campus Tour by Hall ambassadors. The campus is really huge! I actually didn't go to many places until this tour.

Went Cameron Village again to buy stuff and I bought something very important - a hot pot! Boiling water is one of my favourite activities now :) The water coolers don't have hot water so I've been drinking cold water since I came. The air is dry plus I'm in air-con room almost the whole day. Well, it's dry compared to Singapore. The people here says it's humid compared to other parts of US. But anyway I'm happy to be able to drink warm water in my dorm.


Day 6 - Tue, Aug 19

11 am: Library tour. The library is really a cool place. There are so many nice seats and computer terminals, and there's wii there too. It's so funny to see people playing wii in the middle of the place while others are at the computer terminals. (Hmm it's quite hard to post the picture cos it goes up to the top. Will post next time.)

After lunch with my roommate and her friend and another Japanese girl, I walked around with the Jap girl to the library, gym and bookstore where I bought more textbooks. Total bill is USD 590. And these are used textbooks!

8 pm: Hall meeting on some general and safety stuff


Day 7 - Wed, Aug 20

Classes begin! :)

9.10 - 10 am: Elementary Linear Algebra
11.20 am - 12.10 pm: Statistical Methods for Quality and Productivity Improvement

I enjoyed both classes very much, it's like doing Maths :) These two classes are every Mon, Wed and Fri.

5 pm: Chilling and Grilling. Some campus activity with free food - burgers and hot dogs. Just a time to hang out and socialise.


Day 8 - Thu, Aug 21

Classes again. The editing class in the morning was totally not what I expected and there's nothing I like about it so I'm dropped it.

1.30 - 2.45 pm: International Finance
3.00 - 4.15 pm: Public Finance

Both economics modules. Not as enjoyable as the other two modules but still ok.

8 pm: Campus Crusade for Christ gathering. They call it Prime Time. Held at the track, which apparently was just refurbished. There were probably 600-700 people, I'm not really sure. But the Bridges International people told me this CCC is probably the largest in US with about 1800 people.


Day 9 - Fri, Aug 22

Classes in the morning.

7 pm: Alpha-Omega Fellowship welcome dinner and session. AO is a bi-college fellowship, the college fellowship of RCCC but registered under both North Carolina State University (NCSU) and University of North Carolina (UNC). There were quite a lot of freshmen that day too. Got to know some of the people better.


Day 10 - Sat, Aug 23

9 am - 2 pm: Tour of Raleigh, organised by International Bible Study, a church group. Over 100 people, but mostly new graduate students. Split up into 12 vans. My group had mostly Indians, a Korean and a Hong Konger. Got to see the museum and legislative building, and lunch at the open space outside someone's house. Most of the trip was just being driven around, didn't get to go down.

3 - 6 pm: Service NC State. Quite a huge event organised by the international hunger relief agency, Stop Hunger Now. Student volunteers from different colleges packed 1 million meals in three schools - NC State, UNC and East Carolina University. "Our goal is to bag 1 million dehydrated, fortified, rice-soy meals containing over 20 vitamins and minerals especially formulated for the underourished." Haha I even do CIP on exchange! It was quite fun though, assembly line job but it was quite short only cos we were the last shift and we completed it early.

6 - 10 pm: Breaking Bread. A program where students are hosted by an American family for a meal. The other 3 students together with me are graduate students from China. The American couple actually taught English in China for a year before. Their 3 kids were so excited to receive us. Their house is by the lake and is so big there's pool table, table soccer and table-tennis. Oh the family said they didn't see any of the table-tennis matches on tv too. Had a good time getting to know the family and the other Chinese students too :)


Day 11 - Sun, Aug 24

9 am: Attended RCCC.

Went to the mart again to buy stuff and I bought a table lamp, after going to a few different places. Luyan was really nice to drive me around :)

5 pm: Alexander and Turlington Hall event with free food again :) So you see I've gotten quite a lot of free food since I came, with all the campus/hall activities and ministry welcome dinners :)

8.30 pm: Watched the Olympic Games Closing Ceremony (yes, it's a delayed broadcast cos no one's gonna watch it at 8 am). It's like the first olympic event I watched la. Oh I watched it with the AO fellowship people at Heather's place. Met more people again :)


Okay that's a lot for a blog post and I think I took a few hours to write this. I guess after this week my weekday schedule will be pretty fixed once I get used to my new routine. As for weekends I'm sure I can always find activities to do so it should be pretty exciting :) I guess I can say I've settled in quite quickly, once I got my luggage things were well for me. God is good. I feel happy and really blessed to be here :)

A blog! (finally)

Hello everyone!

I've finally decided to start a blog to write about my journey in USA, after much persuasion and inspired by Claire's (Shen) and Mervyn's (Lee) blogs. Also so that I don't have to repeat my stories to different people. But of course personal emails are very welcomed and I will reply to everyone (soon if I haven't) =p.

So if you drop by to view my blog, please leave a message or something so I know there are people reading it, and then I'll be motivated to write more. Haha.

This post is just to test if this works so that's all for now :)