After one week of school

Oh well, I am still surviving. =) Which is expected but great. =))

I am taking three courses this semester plus a lab rotation which I am still trying to search for at this moment. My three courses will be (hopefully there is no more changes) Systems Biology 200, Genetics 201 and Structural biology (mcb 156). I like the first 2 courses but din really like the third and feel like it does not really value add my education. But i guess i shall see how it goes.

Day before school starts

Feeling like fifteen bottles, 7 up and 8 down now. Haha....

Wah... school is starting for Miss slowslowturtle again.

I remembered that Ms turtle was very excited on the absolute first day of school in her life. If only Mrs turtle had told Ms turtle that the latter will be going to school everyday for the next 20 days of her life, Ms turtle would not have been so excited on the first day.

Haha.... hmm.. there is chinese saying "ten years of desolute window" (okok, i am not a translating expert), hmm.. I think there need to be a new version of this saying.

okok.. anyway.. Ms slowslowturtle is feeling v anxious now. wahhhhhhhhhhh school again!!

A name for myself??

Hmm.. having been practising e act of giving names to my softtoy for the past 15 years or so... it is hard to imagine that now I may actually need to give a name to myself.

Hmm.. I think ruizhen is just too hard for not only an average american but also for advanced american.

Sigh.. so mebe i will give myself another name. This really feel strange cos people can give names to things and pets but usually not themselves.

So.. what should I be named?

Please give me some suggestions on names or just anything that will help.

I have thought of three options
Either I will ask them to call me Rachel (which is the most similar english name to Rui Zhen)
Or get them to call me Zen... which is the american way of pronouning Zhen
Or just get them to call me Tan. Which is my last name.

I kind of feel bad about all e above names.. cos they are names of people I know!!

Haha.. feel like I have stolen their property rights or something. =P
Anyway, have fun, everybody!!

Tour at medical school

I must say I was impressed. If you have been to the mall at washington D.C. and liked it, you will definitely like the medical school as well. The medical school is like half of the mall with smaller buildings. There are buildings on two sides of the grass patch. The grass is well taken care of and you can see students reading on the grass or on tables at the side of the grass patch. Some of the buildings are roman style and really give this strong and solid feeling. At the end of the medical school is this building with many little steps and reminded me a lot of Lincoln Memorial.

During lunch, you will see medical students wearing their blue and white lab coats sitting around eating their food. They are really dressed like those doctors that you see in "chicago hope". Actually I never quite understand why they can just wear their coats around. I thought there will be some contamination issues or stuff. But I guess it is really cool to see them around like that.

Anyway, I think Harvard is a place with really tight security. There is a security guard at all the buildings in the medical school and I have to show them a photo ID in order to get into the buildings. Luckily I had my learner's permit with me. The other alternative is to carry my passport around which is really irritating.

I was looking for food around the medical school and found this salad bar in the cafe in Building C. For the salad bar, the food are charged by weight. I think I should have taken more chicken and tuna instead of the marcoroni. But oh well, I was glad that I finally see something that looks more nutritious.

Getting Started and Small Talk

The residential advisors organized a "Getting started" and a "Small Talk" program for us. I found the two events pretty interesting, especially the latter. During "Small Talk". the RAs told us what is considered rude and what is considered polite in America.

In general, it is good to always use "please", "thank you", "excuse me" and "sorry". Basically you can say "thank you" to anyone, from the driver when u alight to the shopkeeper. And even if it is someone who bumped into you, you will often still say "sorry."

Another tip for politeness is to ask for things in the following manner of "Can I have the pepper please?" instead of "i want the pepper" Haha.. it should seem pretty obvious, but sometimes it is just hard to execute.

Oh, there is this other part which teaches us how to respond when people asks us "how are you doing" or "wat's up" along the corridoor . Basically I think americans just use these two phrases to say hi and your response should be just "i am good" and "See you." A lot of the europeans student were quite surprised that they do not actually need to say more stuff.

There is this chinese student who asked "what if you are feeling bad, do you still say that you are good?" haha.. i think this is a really interesting question. But I guess america is a really formal place where many things have to be done and said properly.

Oh yeah.. end of inspiration again. So i guess i shall end here.

Life@Harvard

Hey folks!! Today is my fourth day in Cambridge, MA 02138.

Let me tell u all more about life here.
Cambridge is just one river away from Boston, which is of course as everyone knows, a major busy American city. Transport between Cambridge and Boston is very convenient as they are linked by the subway system. The subway is like the mrt in Singapore. In Boston, the subway is known as the T. So for those who likes shopping and have th money to spare, i think staying in harvard will be like heaven to them. For me, I guess the main attraction in Boston has to be its chinatown. I already have plans to go there to get roast duck every week. Haha.

So... life in harvard cannot be all good right? Haha.. of course not. I think the high standard of living is already driving me nuts. Each meal costs at least 5 bucks without the drink and I can't seem to find Macdonalds anywhere. There is this sandwich chain that is like everywhere in Cambridge. It is called au bon pain. (does it mean I born pain?) Hmm... more like I pay the food with pain. haha... anyway, the wraps at au bon pain are quite good. I tried the Chicken Caesar Wrap and the Southwestern Tuna Wrap and they are both pretty good. I got a menu and I am going to try all the sandwiches!

Breakfast is always hard... dunno what to eat. Presently, oatmeal is my breakfast essential. I was eating oatmeal and feeling so bored that I went to goggle on oatmeal. I found out that in England, oat is the food for horses. Hmmm... and it is thought that only poor people eat oat. Hmm.. so if horses eat oats, I am assuming that my Mian Mian, Yang Yang, Moo Moo and Eeyore will like it too. Haha... So i guess oatmeal is breakfast food for my whole family. =P

Okie.. will talk more about life here.