Life in US

不说不知，马鲁帝有不少学生在海外留学哦～ 以人口比例相比，目前在海外留学的马鲁帝游子不在少数。今期，我们找来了Chua Wee Kiat来跟我们分享有关他在美国求学的生活。想到美国求学的话，不妨参考～

1/ What do you think about your life in US?

1.  Life in US is definitely great - different environment, different people and different language. From the first step I touched down in Seattle International Airport, Washington, I couldn't even believe that I’m in a totally different world.

After taking a 2 hours flight, I've come to this place called Bozeman, Montana.

If you ask me, how does Bozeman look like? I can tell you, it's just like Marudi. Well, slightly bigger than Marudi, the buildings are separated by a big distance, not much entertainments, lots of tress and you can tell it's full of natural surroundings.

It wasn't hard to adapt the life here, except for a few things which I will state below.

2/ What are the differences between life in Malaysia and US?

2. Weather, money and culture.

Weather is the biggest difference if you ask me. During summer, it could be as hot as Malaysia and it could be colder than Genting Highland at night. That's SUMMER. What makes you suffer is the winter. Bozeman is covered by snow for 6 months annually, which means half of the time you are surrounded by SNOWS. Yes snows, sounds fun and cool right? It isn't cool when you actually feel it. It's torturing, it makes u suffer. 7 months ago, I had the coldest week of my life, the whole week was -25 to -32 C, in case if you don't know how cold it is, your refrigerator is about 3 C only and winter is -20 and below.

Money, where all the things are counted in Dollars, but please, do not ever compare the price you pay for in Malaysia and US. One lousy burger in my school is about 6 dollars, which is RM 18. You can never compare like that. However, some stuffs are still cheaper in US, like milk. It's only 3 dollars for 1 big gallon (1 gallon is about 4 litres). If you wanna save up, just learn how to cook, that will save you a lot of money.

Culture - You can never see some random person speaks mandarin, at least hardly seen one. English is the main language, but since I’m living in a small town called Bozeman now, people here are friendly. Don't be shocked or afraid when someone comes up to you and say, “Hi”, it's very normal here. Greetings are the first thing when they first talk to you.

"How’re you doing" "How are you today?" that's the most common sentence I hear nowadays, but not in a big city...

3/ What do you think about American? Are they nice?

3. Americans are nice, but not all of them, but at least, they are polite in front of you. Racism happens everywhere, so don't be angry or anything, be nice, and you'll gain respect too. Anyway, there are still rednecks around, I remember last year we ride our bikes to a mall and some bloody rednecks threw wood on one of my friends, from a car. He drove pass us and threw at us. LOL.

Big city Americans are worse, they hardly talk to you, the self-consciousness of individual is too high and this is how they protect themselves. I’ve been to LA last month, trust me, LA isn't even US, it's like a freaking Asian, where you could hardly see a white, cause too many blacks, Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese are on the street.

Culture is the main key, in US, people are open-minded, they kiss in front of you, that's way too normal. Oh let me remind you, in public toilet, the toilet's surrounding won't get fully covered, there must be some small tiny lines that u can see through. Hahaha…

What about dorm's toilet? Some toilets don't even have a door lock! Curtains do the job and guess what? Their shower room has no door, only curtains! :D But too bad, it's splited up between boys and girls.

4/ Briefly describe your trip to South US.

4. My trip included Nevada, Arizona, and California. First destination - LAX (LA international airport), touched down and straight away rented a car and drove it to Arizona.

Arizona - Grand Canyon. It's a beautiful scene, and it was about 2500 - 3000 ft. down. There's a pic of me sitting at the cliff of Grand Canyon. Two steps away from 2500 ft. down.

After that, we drove to Nevada, for Hoover Dam and Las Vegas.

Hoover Dam - Remember Transformers One? Where they kept Megatron and the cube in? That's Hoover Dam, so I actually went to that place. Just a reminder if you wanna visit there next time, it's SUPER HOT AND DRY. Feels like a desert, just HOT HOT HOT!!!

Las Vegas - SUPERB city. It's named the Sin City for some reasons, a city that never sleeps. Lots of nice buffet, lots of casinos and of course a lot of people actually advertising prostitution ON THE STREET. You can hardly see a police on the main street, the main street is called "The Strip", but I personally suggest you that don't go to Vegas unless u are 21 and above. It'll be more fun if u are 21 +. Recommended days to stay in Vegas : 3 days 2 nights at least.

After Vegas we drove back to LA again, for the Hollywood Blvd. Hmm lots of "star signs", lots of people too. One day will be enough to finish Hollywood Blvd.

Next day, we went Anaheim for the Disneyland. Of course, it's a paradise for every kid, well, not to me but it was fun though. You need ONE full day to be in Disneyland. Why? Because at the end of the night, you'll see super nice fireworks, and some shows. That's the main point of going Disneyland.

We drove to San Francisco after Disneyland trip. San Francisco is the best city I've been to. I personally think you need at least 2 days 2 nights in San Francisco.

5/ What do you think about San Francisco?

5. First thing to visit in San Francisco - Alcatraz (The Rock), it's a prison back in the days, until Federal US closed it due to high expenses, it was also a military forces base. Worth to visit and you actually have to take a cruise to go on Alcatraz, because it's on an island.

Second thing is the Chinatown. If I’m not mistaken, China town of San Francisco is the biggest china town other than China itself. Lots of shops, lots of cheap stuffs and nice food, and most of them speak Cantonese!

Third, of course, GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE!

But before visiting the golden gate bridge, I suggest you to take the tour for Alcatraz and City bus tour. It's a package thing, provides you the cruise ticket and tour bus. MUST SIT ON TOP, it's double decker bus and there's no roof on the top of the bus! You can actually see the city clearly!

By taking the tour bus, you can also go across the Golden Gate Bridge, and you got the chance to stop at one end. What I did was WALKING through the bridge! It's cold up there, foggy, but it was super excited!

Also, what I liked about the bus tour is the tour guide provides you some nice historical explanations about San Francisco for every place your bus pass by. To understand more about my replies, I suggest you to go to my album and see the pictures. A picture is more than a thousand words that never go wrong.