The countdown clock to graduation is ticking away, and the time draws frightfully near everyday. Coming to terms with the fact that almost 20 years of formal education is finally coming to an end is a rather overwhelming thought. Nonetheless, I think my 3 years spent here in Michigan have been one of the best experiences I've ever had. Really thankful to my parents for giving me the opportunity to pursue my dreams here despite their initial apprehension on my decision to switch out of my course at NUS. The friends I've made, the laughter, tears and countless hours I've toiled through in the b-school, the concerts, the dinners, the parties, will always be priceless memories to me. With just 2 days left in the school term and in my college life, graduation is really at the doorstep.
In a fitting end to my college experience, I made full use of my weekend (in a non-academic way) this time round. Starting Thursday morning (or rather, Wednesday night when I got out of my Entrepreneurial Finance class), I was totally in the "go-out-and-have-fun" mode. Sadly, I couldn't really find people to go out since most of the other folks were preparing for final presentations and finals. Met up with Michelle for lunch at Sadako, a long-overdue meet-up. Had a pleasant time chatting about random stuff, school and everything Michigan. Gosh, I really miss the Maize and Blue already.
Later in the evening, Val came over to the apartment and cooked a sumptuous dinner of Laksa. Super yummy! Worked on our travel plans for Europe until around midnight when she had to depart for a girls' gathering at Pizza House. I'm really excited for the trip! Lots of countries, walking, visiting amazing places, taking the slightly off-beaten path, and awesome company for an entire month. At least I can look forward to that after graduation. =)
Slept in for a bit on Friday morning and headed over to Val's place where Jing Shen and her cooked Pad Thai. (Oh, I went to Trader Joe's before that to grab two bottles of wine. The wine selection there is awesome and ridiculously cheap and looked pretty good.) Pad Thai, which Val claimed to be a complete disaster, was delicious to hungry me. I drove over to the range later in the day to shoot some golf balls into oblivion. However, with the impending storm (which I later found out, was a tornado in the making), I was blown around pretty good and didn't have such a great game. Combination of that and the fact that I picked an overly long Callaway 6 iron for my shots. Went over to IHOP (yay!) for pancakes and returned thoroughly stuffed. Hung out at Val's place to do more planning for the trip before heading over to Chin's place for the post-senior's day party. Got a little caught up with dealing with some stuff, which kind of ruined the night for me. Oh wells...
Saturday, did some real work for a change, readings and homework (probably my last homework ever). Got changed and headed out for an really nice night. Dinner of salmon (and river eel), as well as agadeshi (tofu) at Cherry Blossoms was impeccable. Rushed over to Hill Auditorium just in time for the Men's Glee Club 148th Spring Concert. The guys were simply amazing. The moment they started singing, silence fell upon the auditorium and their powerful voices resonated through the building. Watched and listened in awe at the breath-taking performance. Then came my favorite part(s) of the performance, a small segment by The Friars, and the closing performance of Michigan Songs. Michigan had amassed one of the largest collection of college songs in the US and given their powerful voices, the Men's Glee Club gave a powerful and moving rendition to these songs, amongst which were Varsity, the Victors (the greatest college fight song ever written) and the Alma Mater. The passion and fervor in these songs and their voices made my hair stand, and my heart race. I'm so going to miss Michigan and the Maize and Blue.
Here's a 2006 recording of their performance at Hill Auditorium. I'll replace this video with the performance from 12 April 2008 as and when (if) it becomes available.
Took a slow walk in the drizzle back home and watched a movie on my comp, drinking one of the bottles of red wine (Garnacha) from Spain; 2002 Abrazo Del Toro. It was an interesting wine and it was just a really wonderful night.
As graduation draws close, memories flood back, but I also shall continue to enjoy the final month here in Michigan with friends, new and old whom I hold dear, and the little college town of Ann Arbor which I called home for the last 3 years. Hail to the Victors and Go Blue!
In a fitting end to my college experience, I made full use of my weekend (in a non-academic way) this time round. Starting Thursday morning (or rather, Wednesday night when I got out of my Entrepreneurial Finance class), I was totally in the "go-out-and-have-fun" mode. Sadly, I couldn't really find people to go out since most of the other folks were preparing for final presentations and finals. Met up with Michelle for lunch at Sadako, a long-overdue meet-up. Had a pleasant time chatting about random stuff, school and everything Michigan. Gosh, I really miss the Maize and Blue already.
Later in the evening, Val came over to the apartment and cooked a sumptuous dinner of Laksa. Super yummy! Worked on our travel plans for Europe until around midnight when she had to depart for a girls' gathering at Pizza House. I'm really excited for the trip! Lots of countries, walking, visiting amazing places, taking the slightly off-beaten path, and awesome company for an entire month. At least I can look forward to that after graduation. =)
Slept in for a bit on Friday morning and headed over to Val's place where Jing Shen and her cooked Pad Thai. (Oh, I went to Trader Joe's before that to grab two bottles of wine. The wine selection there is awesome and ridiculously cheap and looked pretty good.) Pad Thai, which Val claimed to be a complete disaster, was delicious to hungry me. I drove over to the range later in the day to shoot some golf balls into oblivion. However, with the impending storm (which I later found out, was a tornado in the making), I was blown around pretty good and didn't have such a great game. Combination of that and the fact that I picked an overly long Callaway 6 iron for my shots. Went over to IHOP (yay!) for pancakes and returned thoroughly stuffed. Hung out at Val's place to do more planning for the trip before heading over to Chin's place for the post-senior's day party. Got a little caught up with dealing with some stuff, which kind of ruined the night for me. Oh wells...
Saturday, did some real work for a change, readings and homework (probably my last homework ever). Got changed and headed out for an really nice night. Dinner of salmon (and river eel), as well as agadeshi (tofu) at Cherry Blossoms was impeccable. Rushed over to Hill Auditorium just in time for the Men's Glee Club 148th Spring Concert. The guys were simply amazing. The moment they started singing, silence fell upon the auditorium and their powerful voices resonated through the building. Watched and listened in awe at the breath-taking performance. Then came my favorite part(s) of the performance, a small segment by The Friars, and the closing performance of Michigan Songs. Michigan had amassed one of the largest collection of college songs in the US and given their powerful voices, the Men's Glee Club gave a powerful and moving rendition to these songs, amongst which were Varsity, the Victors (the greatest college fight song ever written) and the Alma Mater. The passion and fervor in these songs and their voices made my hair stand, and my heart race. I'm so going to miss Michigan and the Maize and Blue.
Here's a 2006 recording of their performance at Hill Auditorium. I'll replace this video with the performance from 12 April 2008 as and when (if) it becomes available.
Took a slow walk in the drizzle back home and watched a movie on my comp, drinking one of the bottles of red wine (Garnacha) from Spain; 2002 Abrazo Del Toro. It was an interesting wine and it was just a really wonderful night.
As graduation draws close, memories flood back, but I also shall continue to enjoy the final month here in Michigan with friends, new and old whom I hold dear, and the little college town of Ann Arbor which I called home for the last 3 years. Hail to the Victors and Go Blue!
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