Last weekend I took a trip to St. Louis, since there were no classes on Monday as it was Labour Day. Met up with 2 friends there. Chen Lu just started her freshmen year in St. Louis University and Debbie Lam is on exchange at University of Missouri - St. Louis. Debbie was really nice to let me stay at her place so I saved on accommodation. She had made prior plans for sunday and monday so I didn't spend much time with her but thank God for the good talk we had on monday night before I left.
Quite a rushed decision to go St. Louis just for 3 days but I guess I mainly wanted to go to visit Chen Lu and travel around to see the city. Hope to visit as many places as I can these 4 months here cos I may not come back to this part of the world again.
Thankfully this time there were no flight delays or cancellations (except for a 20 min delay from St. Louis to Washington DC on the way back). Oh the plane from St. Louis to Washington DC and back was very small, with 3 seats in a row and 18 rows, 1 toilet and 1 flight attendant. The view before landing in St. Louis was so nice, with views of the meandering rivers and the plains. It's like seeing the pictures you see in geography textbooks in real life!
Here are some pictures. The rest are posted on facebook.
Me and Chen Lu on the bridge separating Missouri and Illinois state. We took the MetroLink (which runs under the bridge) across to Illinois state and walked back along the bridge.
The view of the Gateway Arch from the riverboat. The ride was not very interesting cos the view is nothing like what you see along the Singapore River, not to mention Shanghai's huangpujiang 黄浦江. 
View of Mississippi River and Illinois from the Arch, 630 feet high. Yes, you can go up the Arch via a tram and there are windows with the view of Missouri on one side and Illinois/Mississippi River on the other side.The Arch is apparently the tallest monument in US, taller than the Washington Monument in Washington DC (oh i hope i can go there sometime too!). There's a Museum inside the Arch, underground, showing the history of America's mid-west expansion, story of the travellers Clark and Lewis, integration between the Indians and the whites etc. A lot to see and learn.
On Sunday went to church with Chen Lu and her friend, Long Fei. St. Louis Chinese Christian Church is pretty much like Raleigh Chinese Christian Church. I suppose there are chinese churches in every city in the US. Attended the chinese service which had about 150 people. In the middle of the service there was a combined prayer meeting for about 30 min and the english congregation people came into the sanctuary then left after it's over and the chinese service continued. Haha just thought it was quite weird. The people were very welcoming and every week they will have people to interact with the newcomers over lunch. Yes the church provides lunch, RCCC too but we put the money for the lunch into a box. So actually I get to eat rice every sunday for lunch.
Other places I visited in St. Louis are the St. Louis Zoo, the Scott Joplin House, and St. Louis University. I even ate at the dining hall there for 2 dinners (cos most restaurants were closed during the Labour Day weekend), it's just like the dining hall in NCSU. St. Louis is definitely a more developed city as compared to Raleigh, where you hardly see any high rise buildings besides in the downtown. It's also convenient to travel around by the MetroLink (and MetroBus), unlike in Raleigh where buses are few and infrequent. Both their universities are 10 min walk away from the MetroLink station so it's really convenient. The MetroLink goes to the airport too (15 min from University of Missouri) and runs over to Illinois as well.
What a good trip, to be able to meet friends and see the place (with "free" flight and accommodation). I feel so blessed!
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