Journey to the west

I am so lazy to type any words so allow me to just copy and paste one email I gave to my family.

Assalamualaikum wbt to Abah, Mak, Lan and Mira.

I'm safe and healthy in Pennsylvania right now. Let me tell what happened in the last two days. While at the KLIA, everything went smoothly. I got to sit next to my friend, Nublan Zaki. Almost all of us got to sit with among us. The seats were full. Foods were great too. Tapi kepak glak dudok dlm plane for almost 12 hours. Then we stopped at Stockholm and had our security check up. It was strict and slow. 1 hour and half was spend merely on that. We got back to the same plane but less people inside. So most of us changed our seats to sit near the window. There was one time when the plane went through the north pole and it was freaking cold! But I didn't aware of that since I slept like a pig. Haha. Then at almost 7pm (USA time), we arrived in Newark. Adoi, I'm so regret that I didn't bring the serunding because they won't confiscate it unless I declare it on. But never mind. Two Mara's officer waited for us and brought us to Mariot Hotel. The next morning at 4am we rushed to the airport and we were late! The check in procedure was so slow that one of us missed his flight. But that was because the plane was full, no seat was available for him. Luckily we had Mara officer to help him out and he took another plane. At Washington, we were separated into two groups. One departed at 9am and the second group at 12.30pm. So I was in the second group. We got the chance to explore the airport, and it was unbelievable hi-tech! To get into one gate to another, for example, from gate A to B, we have to take a shuttle bus which it will come in 5minutes. The bus will dock into the terminal, something new for us here. Something macam when our angkasawan naik to the ISS. When the rocket docked into the whatthename of ISS, remember? The airport is huge. When we were hungry we bought sandwiches, make that vegetarians'. They were huge! and cost us about $3 each. Then it was time to leave Washington, we took a very small plane, almost 5 feet 10inch height with 3 seats per row. My friend had to bend down to get into the plane because he is tall. The flight was ok la, we were served with drink only. At 1.30pm we landed safely in Pennsylvania. The scenery is fantastic. Banyak gunung ganang, country style. You can say it's a kampong la. Our senior picked us up and 13 of us got into taxis and went straight to our dorms. First thing first, we got our room keys and check in. My room mate is my friend, named Ezzaida. We are now living in a temporary housing until we finish our orientation which starts tomorrow. Then after we sent our bags to our rooms, senior brought us to register our ID. It was fast. We got our ID straight away. Then we opened a bank account and it is PNC Bank. We were given instructions how to get money from home but I forgot how. hehe I'll get back to you about that later. Having all that settled down, we headed to a halal Indian restaurant. Nice foods. After that, we went back to our hostel and rest. At night, the seniors brought us to the Wallmart, something like Tesco. But I didn't follow because I was too tired. Huhauha. All of us had to buy a pillow because it is not provided. Sigh. Then today, we had an amaxing race, haha. Together with my friends, two boys and one girl, we headed up to the downtown which takes about 20minutes walk. By the way, University Park is very huge!!! The buildings are almost the same and most of the time I get confused with the roads. So, play safe, I go out in a group of people. We ate at a Waffle restaurant, nyaman la juak food sia. Oh here, tipping is a must or else they will disrespect us. Seniors said reputation is very important here. If we dine in McD, we have to throw away all the leftovers by ourselves because they don't have waiters. They only have cashiers. But the cool thing is that we can always top up our drinks. There's a drink section provided. Oh ho, there's a lot of culture style I have to learn. After we had our breakfast which cost me about $3, we decided to go to the Wallmart! We took a bus and paid $1.25. Luckily we ride on the right bus or else we surely will lost our ways. Of course, we asked the local how to get there. Then at the wallmart, I bought one comforter -$14.50, one pillow (very comfy!!)-$2.50, foods : vege,tuna pizza, french fries, all of them can be cooked by using the microwave. (p/s every room is provided with a fridge and a micowave). body wash-$1.80 and a hair band-$0.99. Almost all the stuffs are quite cheap IF we don't convert to RM, of course. But still, seniors said the cost living here is just moderate and we can save a lot of money. Hopefully. I am extremely refraining myself from buying unnecessary stuffs. You can say I am super duper kedekut now. Cannot borong stuff anymore. Then we got back home with the same bus and I slept almost 6 hours! Woke up in hunger, I reheated the tuna pasta and it's dinner time. At 10pm, most of us can't sleep and some of them felt hungry since the weather is cold though it's summer, and we headed to McD in downtown. Then here I am now at the Computer Lab at 1 am. It is 24hours. Don't worry, I have many friends with me to go back to our hostel. Plus, if we feel insecure, we can call the police to escort us. I'm using iMac now!! so cool! This place has only dell and apple computers. The internet speed is super fast.

About hand phones and laptop, seniors said that we won't be using hp much. Because most of them are using internet to call home. but since they are many of us in my major, so maybe we'll get a hp. the system here is like this: we buy a hp line and get a free hp. if we do it individually, it's expensive. but if we have one leader like a father la, and with 4 anak-anak, then it's in a reasonable price. I'm not sure how it works but I'll figure that out. Laptops? Hurm not sure whether I'll get myself a MacBook since it's more expensive that a normal laptop. A common dell laptop is about $600. MacBook is $1000++. Oh ya Abah, the adapter here is expensive. huhuh so I borrow from my friend and I look out for a not-so-expensive one someday.

Woho, that's a long one. I think I've got to go now. I am doing great here except just that it's getting very cold here..
Convey my regards to all our relatives, teachers and my friends.
I love you all and take care! Miss ya. Pray for me ok??

Love,
Sharifah Nor Baizura bt Wan Mohamad.
PA, Sunday, 2.15am,
The super fast internet connection in PSU Computer Lab.

p/s: Mom, my hand carry, the one with trolley, rosak!!!! aaarrggg~ so I have to carry that all the way but nasib baik it was damaged when I arrived in PA. To make it became handy dandy, I stored all my foods there. Teehee. I hope I won't eat much and become KURUS. ha.ha.

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so people, here I am now in Pennsylvania!

so sorry that I have ZERO pictures. that will be later yeah. ;)