The Last Penn Post

It's 2am here... on my last night in Penn. Time for the last Penn post! Gosh. I'm sure this is gonna be a long and luo suo (long winded) post. Hang in there! I'll make it as painless as possible! (or try to at least)

An Ode to My Cooking
I still can't believe there are people who don't believe that I actually managed to do a bit of cooking here. Haha! Yah yah. I know I know. I couldn't cook even if my life depended on it back in Singapore. But well, since coming here I made a decision that I'd make use of the opportunity to learn some basic cooking. Here are some of my (barely edible) concoctions!

The First Attempt. Pasta. Tasted better than it looked... thought that doesn't seem hard to do.

The First Instant Noodle. Yup. It's with Egg and BAK KWA. Yummy! Eh, stop giving me that weird look.

Chicken Soup and Rice

Quesadillas. I'm gonna miss those back in S'pore

NY Strip Steak. Delicious!

Bak Kut Teh
Beef Stir Fry and Veggies Stir Fry
Macaroni Aglio Olio with Grilled Chicken Thigh
Chicken Fried Rice

What i'll miss here and what i won't miss here
What I'll miss about Penn
- Mexican food
- Salads
- Walking distance to school
- Walking distance to friends / food / other necessities
- Short distance from City Centre
- 24 hour areas in school
- Friends
- Freedom (kinda)
- Independence
- The Slack Studying Life
- Pass / Fail
- Navigating on grid system roads
- Yummy sandwhiches
- Genuinely nice people (regardless of nationality... not that there aren't any in Singapore... but you tend to be more appreciative of nice gestures when you're in a foreign country)
- Ludwigs' Garten the German bar

What I won't miss about Penn
- Impatient drivers / lots of honking
- Driving grid system roads
- PUBLIC TRANSPORT STRIKES
- Single ply toilet paper (yes. u miss two ply when it's gone. really)
- Ambulance / Police / Fire Engine sirens every other hour
- Almost a murder a day in the city
- Like, having to, like, say, like, the word, like, "like", like, every other, like, sentence.... ya know?
- Spelling words like behavioUr and coloUr funnily
- Driving on the right side of the road. That's cos the right side is actually the wrong side. The left side is actually the right side.
- Explaining that the Singapore Rice Noodles you find here can NEVER be found in Singapore
- An utter disregard to the beauties of Thousand Island Dressing and McVities Digestive Biscuits
- Explaining where in the world Singapore is
- Explaining that no, I don't get thrown into prison and sentenced to death everytime i jaywalk in Singapore
- The Penn "scenery" (kx should know what I mean)
- Sub zero temperatures
- Dry air and static electricity... -ZAP-

Are we tt different from an ivy league school?
I've been asked that quite a lot in different ways. How's Penn different from SMU? I have to confess that I cannot give you a totally objective view. One. I've only seen UPenn through the life of an exchange student... which is probably vastly different from a normal student. Two. I'm biased bcos I love SMU.

Despite this lack of objectivity, I honestly believe that the difference is not vast. I guess this could be because Wharton came to set up SMU's system. They've got MGMT 100, we've got LTB. They've got OPIM 101, we've got QM and CAT. The system is almost identical. They do have an advantage over SMU in terms of the number and variety of courses they offer because of their size over us. Then again, SMU has always had that problem because of its relative small size.

Their alumni network is HUGE and very strong too. They beat us hands down in that department. Something that 6 year old SMU needs to try to inculcate as much as possible while it still can. Now, if only the few culprits in our school admin (not all of them are guilty of this) can wake up their ideas and start treating students with an inkling of respect... that would be a good start.

Professors-wise... my opinion is based solely on the five professors who have taught me and is definitely not representative of the quality of the faculty at UPenn. Of the five... I felt that I only really learned from perhaps 2 or 3 of them. But of course, please do not take this to mean one school's worse than the other... I don't have a good enough understanding of UPenn to make an informed opinion. I'm certain they must have some famous professors here. I guess I was unlucky not to get a course being taught by one of them.

Students-wise... I guess this is where I can make SOME sort of an opinion. Again, the same disclaimer as above applies here. I came to UPenn hoping to meet the greatest minds of the States and to learn from them. Well, I guess UPenn is like any other school in terms of student make up... You've got the smart ones, the not-so-smart-ones, the hardworking ones, the not-so-hardworking ones... etc etc. Unfortunately, I haven't had the pleasure of interacting with the cream of the crop the same as above. In fact, I've had some experiences with some students that have soiled my impression that Ivy League students were really "all that". I won't share them here for fear that anyone uses those experiences as the sole basis of judging the students of UPenn, which would be unfair indeed. I'm sure each school has their black sheep. Perhaps, in a seperate post i might share it if any of you are interested. I can say though that the percentage of hardworking students here is probably higher than SMU. And an American friend said to me "We're really good at talking even if we know nothing." I guess those are about the only compliments that I can think of for now.

I'm sure UPenn is a great school. To maintain its reputation I'm sure there are some great faculty and great students here. My experience should not in any way be the sole basis of forming an opinion on the school. UPenn sure has its pros and cons like any other school... but it's a good school for sure.

I like UPenn. I love SMU. Trying to be as objective as possible... I believe SMU's best (or at least those that I have had the pleasure of knowing) can definitely compete on the same level as UPenn's best. I have no doubt in my mind about it. Past SMU exchange students have topped their classes here... (though I don't believe I will achieve anything anywhere close to that). This is not an insult to UPenn (I try not to) but a compliment to SMU's students. I only hope that the future batches will continue to do us proud.

On a weird side note... when I first came... I bought a Wharton Tshirt and a UPenn polo T... I only wore each shirt once and never touched it again... but I wore my SMU jacket in UPenn almost everyday during fall. Ha! Pride!

The best thing about Penn
There's no doubt on this one. The best thing about Penn? All the friends that I've made here! :D

The main exchange gang
Ryan - Rza (the one being kicked)
The Dutch Chinese dude... My original lunch buddy. Without him, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to meet the rest of the gang!

Nard
The other dutch. Tall, handsome, and super funny. International Blog Superstar!

Chris - C Biscuit
The Aussie Rocker/Mathematician/Philosopher. Yes. It's confusing. The dude who started calling me "Dazzler"... or would that be Andy?

Andy - A Dawg
The other dude who calls me Dazzler. One of only two men to have ever shared a bed with me this exchange

Djoulien - Juju
One of the three frenchies. My fellow protester in Washington!

Mathieu
Another frenchman. Loves the moose at Ludwigs. I've no idea why. :S

Anais - Ninis
The rose amongst the thorns. Hey Anais, do you know... in Singapore... Ni ni... actually means... erm... errr... breasts?

Fabian (the one on the left)
The german... and number one fan of German bar Ludwigs' Garten. True to german form... he really knows his beer!

The Chicago gang and others
Charissa (in the photo with Dounia)
Singaporean studying in Aussie... Ali claims she has a... err... never mind.

Chi
Another Aussie... this dude snuck into my bed while I was sleeping... and slept next to me... in nothing but his briefs! Yucks! :S Chi! You're gross :p

Ali
Moroccan who studies in France... and knows how to say KNNBCCB like the best of them. Courtesy of yours truly.

Ryota, Donald, and Byron
Jap, Scot, and Hongkonger... Didn't go to Chicago with these three. Didn't even get to meet them much (cos Ryota's always holed up in his lab!). But it's always a joy joining them whenever they eat out bcos Byron reallys knows how to whack his food. It's entertaining just watching him eat!

Chie, Yukino, and Noriko
The three jap girls who I will be going to NY with tomorrow. Don't you dare think funny! Ryota, Donald, and Fabian will be there too!

Sera
My Indonesian OPIM group mate who unfortunately could not finish the semester! Get well soon Sera!

Singaporeans
Renhua, Qiuwei, Gabe, Yanxiang, Kaixiang, etc etc etc... Aiyah. I've blogged enough about this group already. Surely you guys don't need another long profession of love now do you? :)

Anyway, yup! These people were the ones who made UPenn so so so so special for me. Thanks guys! For everything! :D It was really great getting to know all of you!