Well Albert has been incredibly busy since leaving David's place last, last Monday, and its been 18 days since, so heres a recap of all that happened.
It all started on the 30th of June, Albert and Gigih arrived at Concordia College where other exchange students from the Pine to Prairie Chapter
after leaving home and spending a night at Carol's place since there was a family reunion the day before they had to leave for the college.
All packed
Their last picture together
After the bag weighing and the final goodbyes(which gave the local orientation a very depressing tone), a lunch, and the usual orientation activities, and they were off on their 10 hour bus ride to Chicago.
You have to make yourself comfortable on long rides like this.
Extra stops along the way for dinner among other things dragged the journey into the wee hours in the morning, them arriving at Elmhurst College, just outside Chicago(the point where every exchange student from the Midwest converges), at 3:30am.
The next morning, everyone ready to leave.
It was then that Albert had to say goodbye to his German, Swiss and Filipino exchange student friends, and inevitably, there was some tears. Albert himself never had to say goodbye so many times to so many people ever before. The non-YES students flew straight home, but the YES students(Albert&Gigih included)had another orientation in Washington DC, which was their destination that morning via a plane ride.
The domestic United flights are always so much more comfortable.
In the Chicago O'Hare Airport.
A couple hours later and Albert was in Washington DC. The last time he was there he was full of excitement and anticipation, it was more of a subdued feeling this time around, all he had more of now was luggage and body weight. Another short bus ride later, and Albert was in Hilton.
the first thing he saw entering the Hotel
He met some of the old guys, all of whom shared the general consensus that Albert had grown fat, but Albert did not stick around for the pleasantries, he wanted to take a bath so bad that day, so he and his room mate Faiz went up to the room
Nice big flat screen TV and 2 double beds. Albert got the double bed, leaving the cot for Daniel who was to come later. First come first serve dude.
During meal times
The numerous presentation
And as usual, females are never too far away from the dude with the abs & pecs(Daniel in case you are wondering)
Meals, activities, meals, and more activities
The next day was more interesting with the trip to the US Department of State where Mr.James K. Glassman Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs from the Department of State addressed all 364 exchange students followed by a question and answer session. Then there was the long awaited bus ride to their respective embassies, where a Nasi Lemak lunch awaited the Malaysian group.
The embassy
Being greeted by the embassy people
True Malaysian joy-only in the presence of food
The heavenly meal
Up next was the trip to Union Station in the heart of Washington DC
Union Station
where they split up and headed to their own respective congressional reps, but since the embassy meet dragged on too long, Albert was late for the meeting, but it was a good thing that Ryan and Gigih were not, and he managed to be there in time to say goodbye to the staffer.
Nevertheless he wasnt leaving until he had solid evidence that the meeting did happen
After that, with Shalini as their tour guide, Albert, Wai Quai and Barath toured DC together.
Outside the congressional rep building
Poor Wai Quai had to walk around barefoot because she couldnt stand the heels(the things women do in the name of fashion, sigh)
The capitol building up close
A Segway. Would have definitely come in handy when touring DC.
The streets
Subway train
Aeronotics museum
And at the end of the day they all got back on the bus after dinner at the Union Station and headed back to Hilton, where they would practise for their cultural performance.
About the cultural performance, they decided on a Balik Kampung theme, which was fitted the occasion perfectly, they were going to recite a poem(Si Tenggang's Homecoming to be exact, if anyone remembers their Literature poems), while people acted it out, finishing which the rest of em break into song(Balik Kampung) with a group doing an accompanying song. And just for that modern touch, Joe emerges from where the singing group parts in the middle after Ariff yells "REMIX BABY!!!" and raps something that ends with the whole group shouting "PEACE" at the end. If somebody bothered to post the video of the performance Albert could show you but unfortunately, nobody has so far.
Anyway, the next day would be the last day in DC, and there was a grand dinner where all the students will be performing their cultural presentation, after which there was a dance. Only for an hour, but hey, its the best way to end the night.
The comic duo of Joe and Andrew, these guys are gonna be the stars of the show
The dinner
The performances
The Filipinos had a good performance, along with the rest of the countries, their "we are one" song being especially memorable, what with the crowd waving their hands and singing to the common energy in the room, it could give you goosebumps.
As you can see, some people really got into it
Then, there was the dance.
Carrie had her fair share of warding of guys whose hands just wandered to far.
Then there were also people who were caught on video "grinding", not something they would want their parents and Malaysia to see on television thats for sure.
After the dance they went back to their respective rooms, but neither Faiz, Albert nor Danial wanted to sleep because the Malaysian group had to be up by 3:30 am that morning to catch the earliest flight out of DC, so they just stayed up after 12, with a German girl they managed to sneak in, and sneak out later without getting caught.
Stephanie
Who managed to get Daniel to spill some juicy info on his private life in the States, but only Albert and Steph heard about it, and they swore to secrecy, so its going to have to be another one of those times where he rouses your curiousity and fails to satisfy it much to your frustration. Albert apologises.
And so began their long journey back to the other side of the world that they left 6 months ago, flying into Chicago and from there to Shanghai to KL, all equal in their eagerness to go home and reluctance to leave the US.
Although long haul Economy class United flights arent always exactly luxurious, traveling with these bunch of people makes it tolerable. Doesnt matter where you are, as long as the company's right.
It was a shorter flight than the one they took going to the US, by almost 8 hours, probably because it took a shorter route over Alska rather than over the Pacific(the earth isnt a perfect sphere, the circumference around the equator is alot longer than you think)
Shanghai Airport
Long lines were inevitable
But they eventually got on their MAS flight back home
The MAS plane was alot more comfortable than the United ones, with a couple extra inches of legroom, PLUS a TV in front of you where you actually get to choose what movie you want to watch, or television show, or game you want to play or even go online! Too bad it was only a 5 hour flight.
From the pilot speaking in Malay to the Malay stewards to the Malaysian meals to the Malaysian newspaper. They were on their way home. Balik kampung.
They arrived finally back to the homeland, greeted by their parents
and the 8tv crew
After dumping their luggage at the hotel, they did the only thing 40 Malaysians would do after being away from Malaysia for 6 months. They went to the mamak.
Albert's meal and milo ice. Damn it was so good.
And so after the great meal they went back to bed and had a good night's rest for the orientation the next day
The chinese dudes, Niccolo, Insurance and Aunty
They fellowshipped over the good Malaysian meals
And had their wardrobe streched thin
(notice Sherilyn wearing the same blue top she wore in DC, and Joe was reduced a free t-shirt they gave out in DC and shorts, quite a few other people had to resort reusing old clothes and free t-shirts. Thats what happens when you subject people to continuos orientations.
Other than the discussion/debate they had on leadership qualities which Albert was told he did a good job on, the only other high point of the orientation would be the trip to Central Market to watch Top Cover perform live.
The train
Central Market
Top Cover
They did a edgy version of "Umbrella", hence, the unbrella
The last night
And so, after 20 days of orientations and flights seperated by the 6 months they spent all around America, their American adventure officially comes to an end, and again, it was time for goodbyes.
Nevertheless, they have numerous plans together to participate in the alumni and undertake projects and attend camps, and of course, to hang out with each other.
And just so you know, he wouldnt have done it with any other bunch of crazy people.
