Purdue University – No More Kiamsiap

I wish I can continue the Kiamsiap Road Trip after the one to Bloomington, but alas, the journey to Purdue University was very unadventurous, hick-up [this is for Liz to spot the spelling mistake] free and smooth sailing. No haggling with African taxi drivers; no walking around a huge city finding for a bus to board; just a nice hop on a American All-Star Shuttle (which cost us $15) to the airport and followed by a Purdue Limo Service to Purdue University!

Purdue University

Despite this whole Big Ten University rivalry going on, I had the quick urge to don on a Michigan shirt and see the reactions I get as I walk along the streets. But wth lah! I totally forgot about it! And ended up wearing a shirt about a Baseball team in which I have no clue about – to make things better: I bought it in Malaysia, 2 years ago!! Walking in the USA with such a shirt might attract interesting attention:

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Scenario 1

Stranger: HEY! You’re a fan of blah blah blah (I practically stop listening here, cause I have freaking no clue on what they are talking about).

Jian Wei: [Control Macho tone] SURE!!! Let’s hope they have a great season this year! (I swear I don’t even know where the hell this team is from, what more their performance?)

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But so far I have been very very lucky! Imagine if someone comes up to me and say this:

Scenario 2

Stranger: HEY! Who’s your favourite player?? Mine is blah blah blah! (While he is talking I would pee in my pants I would tap into my debate mode brains and figure something out! By the time he finishes, I would have the stunning counterpunch!)

Jian Wei: [Very professional tone] I from Singapore lah!!! We don’t watch all these things wan!!

Moral of the Story: If you are every in trouble, blame the Singaporeans. XD

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Azfar, our AWESOME tour guide!

We spent the first day, touring the campus, by our awesome tour guide, Azfar and heading to the gym!! Yes! I do run! Or walk… But the point is, almost every god damn building we saw in Purdue that day belongs to the Engineering Department! Almost every thinkable subsection of engineering has their own big-ass building! From chemical engineering dept to mechanical to Moon-Space Fighting Dept (Aeronautical and Space Dept? Since Neil Armstrong is a Purdue Alumni, they aren’t shy to flaunt it!). They even have a MOON ROCK in their Neil Armstrong Building! Which is the size of my balls a tang yuan.

The size of the moon rock! Not my *ahem* OK!!!!

We also met up with Uma, Amy and Julius whom we have not met for more than a year! And that’s when Timothy prank called Uma as well. Eu Win got it on tape. HAHA! I’ll post it as soon as I have it from Eu Win.

That's after we pranked call Uma! =)

Since it was the optional orientation week, we had people at strategic corners of the campus handing out free hand drinks that tasted much like KeeKAAPOOOO. And when it came to our turn to pose in front of the Purdue sign, I felt the angels from Michigan summoning the spirit within me to answer my call of duty to flash out a “Tak BAGUS” sign. Here it goes….TADA!

WACHHHAAAA! Take that Purdue!!

The next day was pretty much a visiting friends day. It started off on a really wrong note when we had to wait for more than an hour for a bus that was supposed to take us to Uma’s place. WTH man! So being fed up of waiting, we just boarded any bus that will take us downtown (that’s where Uma is staying) and wth, it landed us 10 blocks away from the place where Uma is staying. What a way to start the day man!

Trying to mengecutkan the damn spagetthi!

And upon reaching Uma’s place we were greeted with a laboratory in kitchen. Their hypothesis: The spaghetti will shrink when soaked in cold water. This is to make it less soggy. Verdict? Well, it’s edible and it’s very nice of them to have cooked us lunch considering it was their very first few days. Of course, a mandatory group picture before we head of downtown to search for the main hunt of the trip: Ee-Jieh!

Ee-Jieh's place. But he wasn't there!!!!

Fond of body building and exotic comments, he is one of our main sources of entertainment back in INTEC, especially among the boys. He is the Distinguish Professor of Women Issues specializing in Women Anatomy. =) We literally, crossed over a river (on the bridge lah!) and walked blocks to find him in his apartment based on Uma’s memory, which wasn’t exactly a very efficient compass but it got us to our destination safely despite some hiccups. BUT HE WASN’T THERE!!! And he has no cell phone! OMG! This is just unbelievable! Feel like castrating him!!!

The team morale was crushed upon knowing the absence of our distinguish professor. *sobs* Knowing that time is running out, we headed for the Purdue Campus for dinner with Aida and Fareena. Since it was puasa, early dinner with them was a little tricky. They both needed to be on ABC (Allah Bagi Cuti) for an early dinner to materialize. So on our way to the Purdue Campus…

Jian Wei: Eh Uma! Ask Fareena if she has period or not.

Uma: *dumbstruck* Why you so kepo want to know whether she has her period???

Jian Wei: If she has her period, come let’s eat lah! (Malaysian spirit mah!!)

After dinner, we were both brought to their place to for Hari Raya COOKIES!!! I know it’s only Ramadan, but for a boy who hasn’t savoured keropok lekor and apam balik for a year, the sense of time between festivity and fasting has blurred tremendously. Due to fatigue and a loaded belly (as least for me LAH), we failed to muster the courage needed to sweep of those arsenals of cookies. Never mind, knowing Fareena, it’s still gonna be there a few months later. I can go ambush it later. NYEHEHE!

Arsenal of cookies. =P

Despite it all, Eu Win and I felt that the Purdue trip would never be complete without a yum cha with Ee-Jieh. So we decided to take a 30 minute walk to his place….again – at 10.30pm. This time we found him. =) We even decided to bunk at his place thinking that it is closer to walk from him place to the AmTrak station in which we will board a train back to the City of Chicago. I hogged his bed; Eu Win and Ee-Jieh chatted till it was time for us to go.

Us with Ee-Jieh at a place called XXX. Suit his demeanor! JJK!

Somehow it was quite sad for me to leave, knowing that it ultimately shows that my summer break is up. And that 5 hours of chat isn’t enough to catch up with 1 year worth of gossip. But oh well, as the train moved from the West Lafayette Station heading into the vicinity of Chicago, I chose to do something better than drowning in the miseries of parting…..

An End to an Awesome Road Trip!

I watched ‘PS I LOVE YOU’ instead. =)

Last 5 posts by Jian Wei

• One Minute to Midnight - January 1st, 2011
• Prophecy - December 31st, 2010
• Footprints We Leave Behind - November 4th, 2010
• Budapest: Contradictions Aplenty - August 15th, 2010
• Istanbul Day 3: Masters of Our Universe - August 11th, 2010

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