1 week in Pittsburgh

To my family and friends who are wondering how happystella has been in Pittsburgh.

This blog is long overdue. I have a half-completed blog entry on my first week in US during which I toured LA and Las Vegas. Taking into account the painful amount of time it takes to sort, select and upload the travel pictures, I've decided to temporarily skip that 1 week of glorious fun to provide an update to (highly probable) final phase of my study life. At this point, I don't see myself study for the many years to come, although man (and Stella, notwithstanding) can be fickle.

I've just placed aside the computing notes and fully wary that I've only 7 hours to my morning alarm buzzing, I hope to keep this blog short and sweet. But I do miss writing and hope to write endless pages, alas, time waits for no man.

Accomodation:
I'm staying in a clean, nice 2-bedroom apartment. I have received varying levels of service from the apartment staff, though most are generally pleasant.

But prior to my arrival, I had the most unpleasant encounter with Stacy, apparently the manager. 1.5 weeks before my scheduled arrival to Pittsburgh, she had unilaterally cancelled the 3-bedroom booking I made almost 2 months ago, and merely informed me via email. I called the apartment umpteen times, spoke to almost all the counter staff there were, found out that lady who sent me the curt email was on leave and the rest of the staff I spoke to could not help me on this matter, before I finally spoke to her. Talkig to her felt like I was stupidly banging against the wall, to the point that I was at my wit's end and got my hubby (who is generally more logical and calm) to speak to Stacy who probably is acquainted with the real meaning of customer service. All efforts came to no avail.

And despite all the unpleasantries, I still had to stay at this apartment because it was just too late for me to look for alternative accomodation. On the bright side of things, the other counter staff I've met are great and helpful, all with the exception the woman who doesn't bother to even smile at you. I certainly hope she is not the manager. I don't think I'm biased against her. Even my rational hubby thinks her quality of service is really substandard.

So everything at Forbes is great..from the free Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate to the extra study desk in my apartment...except for her whom I don't care much about anyway.

Food:
To all Subway fans back at home, Quizno sandwiches win Subway's handsdown anytime! Competition between both sandwich chains appear tough. Both chains are currently having $5 footlong promotions, and the Quizno ads on TV blatantly mentions that they include more ingredients than Subway! I'm not sure such an advertisement could be aired without lawsuits back at home.

All bread and no rice makes Stella a dull gal. Lucky for my friends and myself, we found a Taiwanese eatery a few streets away that serves pretty decent Chinese food at reasonable prices. The "gu lu yok" is simply delicious and I've a good mind to make it my staple for the coming weeks.

In school, I haven't explored that many eating places, but I think the one I will patronise most often would be the food truck selling Thai food. Ha, looks that the Singaporean me simply can't live without Asian food.

Occasionally, we also have the cooking sessions...only 3 sessions so far, but definitely more anticipated. The general rule is that gals will do the cooking, and the guys the cooking. I'm tempted to ask the guys to cook (more than maggie mee) but I need time for confidence building, hee hee. Oh, by the way, we succeeded in cooking rice using a normal pot! Quite pleased as I thought cooking rice would be a pretty formidable task.

School:
Challenging. I spent 1.5 days writing the code for one question, and would probably take more time if not for my friends. The subjects have more coding than I would like. But I'm trying to look at the bright side of things and hoping this is a good chance to brush up my programming skills. Project work also generally requires more brainwork, hopefully it'll add some mental agility. I'm expecting more work, less play in the upcoming weeks. So in the meantime, trying to put in consistent work, enjoying whilst I can, and just to try my best.

Weather:
Freezing! This morning, it was about 8 degrees Celsius. Lecture hall was pretty chilly and I had to down a cup of hot cocoa to fight off the cold. Lunch time was much worse. I wore 3 layers of clothing, but nonetheless, still shivered on my short walk to buy lunch. Weather is supposed to be sunny tomorrow with a high of 20 degrees, but the low is 7.2 degrees! Brrr...right now its actually a bit cold in my apartment cos the heater doesnt seem to be functioning well. But I'm glad I'm indoors. Every time I leave the guy's apartment (just a few rooms away), I've to run back to my apartment cos the chilly wind. Let's see how I'll manage the cold tomorrow. I really miss Mr Sunshine.

Transportation:
Transportation comes in 2 forms: walking or bus. And patience is tested when waiting for buses. It is not uncommon to wait for over half an hour for the dear bus, and I have learnt not to trust the bus numbers stated at the bus-stops.

But the bus drivers have been generally helpful, and we met a really nice bus-driver on Sunday on our way to Waterworks Mall. We took the wrong bus and was kinda stranded at a bus-stop waiting for our bus. Weather was cold and the wind was blowing furiously. A kind bus-driver who had apparently finished his scheduled drive picked us from the bus-stop and drove us all the way to the Mall! Thank God for such a great driver!

Everything else under the sun:
Caught some exciting scenes the past few days. About a week ago, saw a several police cars speeding by with their sirens blasting out loud. And above us was a helicopter...perfect scene taken out of a movie.

Just this afternoon on my way back to the apartment, my friends and I saw a group of policeman surrounding a man, putting him down on the floor before handcuffing him. It was pretty exciting, and a bit scary cos one wonders why it needs so many trained police officers to handle a man.

Great friends, great company. Having friends around helps to ease the part of me who is missing home, the summer-all-year round weather, my cute little berry, my food, my family, my friends.

For now, I think I'm settling in pretty well in Pittsburgh. Hopefully all continues to go well and I hope to make my stay here as memorable and enjoyable as possible (ex- all the homework and exams, of course!).