In correspondence to one of my besties, Sherlyn Tan's post about her new life in Kentucky, I think I have the obligation to post a brief report about mine in Nebraska too. haha
The culture shock and emotional period was ended by the friendly community from home. Other than the Malaysians, the Americans, Koreans, , Brazilian, Vietnamese and Chinese that I have met taught me a lot of useful life skills to survive and live happily here. Not wanting to limit myself in the Malaysian circle, I made effort to blend into the community in dorm and in classes. Then I found out that the key to mix around in this place is to make the first move with thick face. The friendliness of Americans is limited to the platitudes. It is hard for me to have deep conversation with them I don't know why. I realized that they are happy as long as I listen and show an impressive face. No matter it is useful comment, plain personal experience or nonsense, you must say something in class to get attention.
The American food in general tastes either sweet, salty or like cinnamon. You can find cinnamon in cookies, pasta, oatmeal, yada yada... I am anti cinnamon after having an instant apple cinnamon oatmeal drink. Oh btw, have anyone heard of chai tea and eggnog? The earlier is one of the most common drinks in US, the latter is the popular drinks for winter celebrations such as thanksgiving, Christmas, and new year. I was so eager to try them when I got to know them, but I decided not to have so much curiosity over new things in here. Same goes for pumpkin cake/ tart/ drinks/ ice cream. They like to spice up food of drinks of pumpkin and I am not a big fan of the spicy taste.
Online shopping is super efficient and convenient here. I think that is the way they make up for the short operating hours of the shops here. You can get everything you want from the stores in cyber world and they will send it to your doorstep. If you are desperate for a pen but too lazy to walk out from your room, you can even order it online. Thats how crazy the service is. The downside is there are too many sales going on all the time and it is just hard to stop myself from squandering money!
The last thing I want to talk about is the night life. The legal age for alcohol consumption in most of the states is 21. The underage kids, like me, have never touched alcohol drinks in their life or are doing it secretly at home. Well, theres nothing much to do at night, especially we are in a small farm state. There's a saying among the Malaysian students in US that goes like 'if we were to have a drinking competition for Malaysians in US, the fellas from Lincoln will kick everybody else's ass'. Indeed I have seen some very good drinkers in Lincoln. But it is understood since drinking seems to be the only activity to spend time and alcohol drinks are cheap here. =D
This is only my fifth month here, and there are lot more for me to explore (although I can't wait to go home). I will update here when I have the time and mood to (don't hit me :p).
MSN : familyloh@hotmail.com
