couple interesting experiences this weekend. went to a bar where they had a ping-pong table. after beating my classmate, i got challenged to some person i didn't know and people started watching. the guy i was playing against was using the "chinese" style of playing - except a little more dramatic. in any case, he was pretty good and beat me (i think i could have won considering it was my first time playing in a few years). in any case, my classmates kept asking if i won or lost and when i told them i lost, they were like, 'you should have won! you could have kicked that guy's ass!' another guy said, 'you're asian! you're supposed to be good at ping-pong!' i said, 'eh, i guess' and shrugged. was i offended? not at all, but i knew some other people would have been. then the guy proceeded to say, 'you let your country down!!!' i guess that was a little more on the offensive side, but really, i didn't care. i knew if certain people were there, they would have been infuriated. was it really an offensive comment? i don' t think so... but i guess it could have been. i'm glad i'm not in california anymore, where ANYTHING that can be treated as 'racist' explodes to front-page news.

also, yesterday i went to a law student party. i guess it was interesting because i never went to a party where EVERYONE was drunk before. actually, i've never been to a party where i was the only asian before either. it was entertaining just watching the people do really stupid things. on another note, there are some really pretty girls at the law school. in any case, i guess the topic of just drinking all the time to have fun really concerns aileen since she is in the South as well. aileen and i aren't really the type to go out bar-hopping every weekend, but the only friends we have made so far are the type that do. just a very different lifestyle here, and for aileen, it's a matter of time finding the right group of people to hang out with. i guess i'm fine with it considering we get very tired by midnight and go home around then.

i have successfully taken my first nap in a library cubicle. this is not a good sign.

about to start my first class. sitting in the classroom... notebook ready... binder ready... notes ready... blogger ready... and AIM ready. here we go baby.

how funny... i'm on the international students mailing list.

all this talk about 'networking' really bothers me. sure you go to a good school to get a good job through your 'network.' today during orientation, the career services team told us that we should have an active list of 30 people that we should be calling up weekly and keeping contacts. we should keep those active networking contacts on a spreadsheet and really put in an effort to keep dialogue going. to me, that just seems so foreign and is a completely different mindset that i am used to. for most people here, it's just natural to them. i guess it's weird to be using people just for the purpose of jobs... doesn't that seem so superficial? i guess in the end, it's going to be completely worth it and i'm sure all the other business people are used to it already - but it just seems like you are using people which is something i don't particularly like. maybe it's just part of life in the business world - and i will probably get used for it as well.

i guess this all sorta relates to finding a group of friends... are they just using you as a contact or a genuine friend or both? ugh... i think the worst part of it is forcing myself to talk to people who don't really want to hang out with me.

on another note, i have only met two guys that are shorter than me... actually maybe it's just one... and i'm definitely short by a LOT. the average height in my class is 5'11". that definitely adds to my insecurities. i am so convinced that if any of the girls were here, they would go crazy. at my business school, there definitely a lot more good looking guys than girls... considering that there are only 30% women in the school.

second day of orientation and cliques are already starting to form. i have a feeling i will be part of the 'nerd' scene - i mean i am the only one here from UC Berkeley with a degree in "molecular biology." for everyone else, it just says 'biology' but for me, it's 'molecular biology.' i don't know how much nerdier you can get than that. but again, we'll see what happens. i need to be more pro-active with the whole friends thing... especially since there are a very few number of asians, californians, and jerseyans.

thoughts of my first day of orientation:

- our dean talks like morpheus. all he needed was the morpheus sunglasses and raise his hands more.
- i get a locker again. just like middle school or high school. pretty funny.
- laptops... definitely a nice addition to my hardware wardrobe.
- i joined the ranks and an now playing golf. i bought a set of clubs yesterday and went to the range today. boy do i suck... but must get ready for tournament on friday!
- those nametags that you put in front of you... the ones that i always made fun of haas people about... i guess what goes around comes around.
- speaking of karma, i met my group today... and yes, i have a fob international student girl in my group. she can't speak english... but actually, the funnier story is her trying to drive. she's learning to drive on the right-hand side of the road (she's japanese) AND she's learning how to drive stick at the same time (she didn't know she bought a manual transmission car). i know who's car i'm going in if i get a bad grade on a test.
- speaking of cars, my friend drove into a building today... he accidentally pressed the gas instead of the brake when trying to park. his car is pretty dented and he took a good chunk out of the wood siding. the workers didn't care - cuz the owner wasn't there :-p
- my photo ID has me with a white smear on my lip. it looks like i either have chalk on my face or have a milk mustache but upside down.
- one advisor is only assigned to one group only. how cool is that? he's taking us out to lunch on thursday. how cool is that?
- went to baja fresh today...
"um... i'll have a baja burrito with pollo please."
"that's.... chicken, right?"
"yeah... i think so."

first entry from my new laptop from a study room at b-school. wow, this is fun. a bunch of us are in a room downloading and installing instant messenger.

sex and the city: if a guy is a fan of the show, does that automatically make him feminine or gay? in my book, i would have to answer yes. the only exception i can think of is dave, but he's just in a league of his own. seriously dave, there is something wrong with you if you keep checking my webpage. in any case, most women i know are fans of the show and most men i know hate it because of the same reason why i hate it: it's boring. dave argues that the show is really good because the issues are so true and you can relate. please, even if that were true, it's from the WOMAN'S perspective. i mean, it's about four women, a woman wrote it, and there really are no guy main characters. and for the problems that guys can relate to, how many times will that sort of problem happen to me? i mean, c'mon, how many women use me just for sex. how many women use me because i'm so rich and good looking. please. if anything, it makes a guy feel more insecure about himself after watching that show. who are the guys that i know that enjoy the show? oh, if i could only divulge such things on the net.... (note to self: must start working out again)

another thing that i was reminded of today at the beer hour: even in the south, asians still piss me off. i guess more specifically the fobs, since any native asian-american here is basically white. at the food line, emphasis on the word line , this asian girl just comes barging into the line, cuts right in front of me, holds up the line by taking her time in choosing which sushi she wanted, and leaves. if i didn't stop where i was going, i woudl have run into her and spill my beer, my food, and some obscenities onto her. so yeah, i was very tempted to let her know that there was a line, but i held back. i mean, classes didn't even start yet so can't make any enemies... yet.

also, being one of the very few asian guys in the school - and by very few, i mean 3 or 4 at most - the fob girls have been looking at me a lot. too bad none of them are hot... and they are probably thinking the same thing about me. in any case, there was always a girl from the group of female asian international students looking at me at any given moment. one of them kept looking at me, waiting for a time where i woudl stop talking with whoever i was talking to in order to come introduce herself to me (you tend to notice these things when you are really bored with whoever you are talking to). i of course, kept the conversation going as long as possible and segweyed into meeting someone else. this probably means that God will put that girl in my group for the year, where i will have to work with her every single day.

so while in college, i was known as several different names. "east coast andy," "white boy andy," "preppy andy," and so on. i guess with names like that, it led me to feel more isolated during college since i was basically the only one from the east coast. everyone already knows each other at state schools, since a very large percentage of students come from each high school. so you can say that i was definitely and 'outsider' or 'loner' or whatever you want to call it.

so this is the ironic thing about coming to wake forest. now i'm known as "west coast andy," "asian andy," etc. i went to a happy hour today and judging by the reactions and mentionings of different people, that was the obvious conclusion. so basically, i am now known as the exact opposite from berkeley. irony at its finest.

the real question: will i feel like an outsider this time like i did at cal? the answer is definitely not. first of all, this is business school where the point is to make as many "friends" as you can. so even if i felt like being a loner, people will still come up to me and be nice and friendly and include me in their activities (as a side note, i am also to blame for being anti-social at berkeley, but honestly, it's hard to be friends to people you don't click with). secondly, i get along better with the students here (who are 98% caucasian) infinitely better than the students at berkeley and asians as a whole in california, even including the fellow brothers and sisters at my church.

so i guess i'm happy that i am here and am definitely looking forward to the next two years. who knows, i might even stay here and just get a southern accent too.

you know you are in the south when:

1) people can't stop talking at the same time. it's a contest... the loudest voice will always win.
2) you meet an indian girl with a southern accent who knows more about college football than all of the girls you have ever known combined.
3) it's very common to get married by the age of 24. (the most common degree to get out of college is the MRS degree, they say)
4) you see a lot of white old women weaving the freeway who also drive pick-up trucks.
5) at abercrombie, a really cut guy wearing nothing but sandals and shorts and a really hot girl wearing nothing but a guys button-down t-shirt are the greeters.
6) the huge white bouncers at bars who have more tatoos than clothes and hair and look like they are in the KKK are one of the nicest guys you have ever met.
7) the size of a burrito is 1/2 the size what you are used to.
8) wake forest is considered a great school and EVERYONE knows it.
9) people attend "debutante parties"


to be cont'd.

new word that i learned:

'podonk' - a place in the middle of nowhere.

kernersville, NC is surely podonk.

pictures 1
pictures 2

they are mostly overlaps... still trying to figure out how to work imagestation...

some interesting moments:

on Sunday, steve and i went to dinner with a group of my classmates. we were introducing ourselves to everyone and when i was meeting this one caucasian guy, ben, he
asked us if steve and i were brothers. if anyone has seen a picture of steve and i, we look nothing alike. steve was pretty pissed off (due to his hyper-sensitivity to asian issue) but i thought it was quite funny. i haven't heard a comment like that since high school.

today i was walking from the mailboxes back to my car. a guy who was watching me approached me and asked "can i help you? you seem a lil' lost." his voice was rather condescending, so it was hard to figure out what his motives really were (his group of friends were watching us from a distance). anyways, i just said "actually... no. i'm just going to my car which is right behind you." i think he was a little offended. so much for making new neighbors. for a second though, i was really tempted to fake a fob accent...

the very night i moved in, i did my laundry and... most of my clothes got stolen. all my boxers... all my dress socks... shorts... nice shirts... all gone. i told the manager and he said that was the very first time he's ever heard it happen. in any case, the area is definitely a safe area so i'm not too worried. at least i get to have all new clothes, right?

the #1 song on several radio stations in the south is a christian song. mercy me, "i can only imagine." the #1 song in the rest of the country...Beyonce Featuring Jay-Z, Crazy In Love.

Treking across country gives most people the impression that you are "daring" and "exciting." It has never failed once where the reaction has not been "wow" (with the exception of Wyoming, who I think most of the people on the road of the state are fellow x-country trekkers). Was there anything hard that makes it so dangerous? Considering that I either slept at a friend's place or a name-brand hotel every night and that everyone outside of California and New Jersey are super nice ... hmm ... not really. Well, there was this one time where I had to drive through the pouring rain - I guess that was a little dangerous.

So what wisdom and experience have I gained from this trip? The only "wisdom" I have gained are the answers to almost every brain teaser known to mensa. Steve and I got bored so we picked up a Mensa-certified brain teaser book - finished it in 1 day - and got another one that included hard math problems.

But in all seriousness, although it really wasn't that exciting I have learned a few things. I can say that Wyoming is a surprisingly beautiful state (I bet you even forgot that it was a state in this country until just now), Harry Potter #5 is a very long book, and that Chinese food outside of California is surprisingly bad. I can also say that the USA is not as big as it seems (only if you average about 90 mph). But I have always felt that it was something that needed to be done in this life... such as watching the Austin Powers trilogy no matter how bad it gets. I guess in terms of future outlooks of life in North Carolina, I hope that racial differences won't affect me (too much) and that I will pick up a southern accent. I have already met Asians with Southern accents... even an Indian (India Indian, not Native-American Indian) which I found highly amusing for some reason. I figure it was because I worked with native Indians in my past company.

Oh, and another thing, the "ol' smoky" from the song "On top of old smoky... all covered in cheese..." actually exists. It's this big mountain near the Tennessee and North Carolina border.