The academic term had officially come to an end earlier this month. During the final week of classes my trusty camera had followed me everywhere on-campus, while I seized every opportunity to take pictures of the familiar people and places I'd seen and visited over the past 4 months. Here I share some little snippets of my everyday life in U of M. :)
FILM 1290 - Art of the Film
Undoubtedly my favourite and most insightful course on exchange, film studies has exposed me to greater perspectives and an appreciation for the history of film and cinema. Apart from being a more informed viewer, I've also learnt to admire filmmakers for/and their techniques deployed in creating their works.
For these reasons, I've put in alot of effort for the course as I genuinely want to take away from it - the Prof too thinks I have potential! Heh. I had my film exam yesterday, and I'd say it was manageable, though there were sections where one's required to write essays which encourage out-of-the-box critical thinking in relation to film themes. I discussed the Coming of Age of young women as depicted in some of the films we'd watched.. a very draining exam, 3 hours and I'd to write non-stop. :S
Prof Gene Walz, an internationally-recognized film critic with vast knowledge and experience. He sometimes calls himself Uncle Gene, acknowledging the fact that some may find him long-winded. Haha.. I do admire and respect Gene very much, and am indeed thankful to have benefited alot from his teachings. We'd spoken on several occasions, discussing Singapore's (amateur but rising) film industry, and after mentioning Jack Neo's themes (Money No Enough and I Not Stupid especially), as well as Royston Tan's works, Gene'd expressed interest to come to Singapore one day! Haha.
160 Elizabeth Dafoe Library - the theatre where we watch our films on Thursdays, and 241 University College - our classroom for Tuesday discussions. Notice that they still use the chalkboard here, the chairs too are very squeezy (you can't fit in comfortably with your winter jackets on, haha), and the TV and DVD system are always faulty. Hmm.
FIN 3270 - Personal Financial Planning / ENTR 3100 - Small Business Management
Left: Melissa, my Personal Financial Planning groupmate. Right: Small Business project group with Prof Nathan Greidanus, a previous investment banker and entrepreneur
Small Business classmates - Gaby, Katie and Allie from left to right. Katie and Allie are really friendly and chatty; we've had lots of fun in class during the small-group discussions and presentations. Heh.. Allie works at Baked Expectations too, she cuts larger slices whenever I visit! :)
A typical classroom in the Asper School of Business - this's already a newer room as compared to the one with brown chairs above (venue for my Small Business class). Old-school OHPs are commonplace here; screens aren't fancy the way we know it too. But worst of all..
The chairs, which are hinged to table legs, providing very restricted movement! They also creak and squeak constantly, and slide away from the tables all the time! Really uncomfy, haha.
Asper School of Business
Classroom hallway at the basement
Study area on 2nd level and booths on the main floor - yes, they don't have to move their own tables and chairs when setting up booths! Heh.
Couches at the Fishbowl on the main level - the name "Fishbowl" is attributed to the glass surrounding the area. The Asper computer lab on the right gives us CAD 50 worth of printing credits for the term, so we don't really pay for printing! (Printing's damn ex at 10 cents per page, heh.)
Tunnel leading from Asper to the other buildings, just like SMU's Concourse. Mostly utilized in winter!
Exterior of University College and Drake Centre (Asper School of Business)
Ahhh. I think I'll miss the wonderful people and places in U of M somehow, no matter how chui the latter may be compared to back home.. :(
tada.. the chocolate advent calendar! 6:32 PMWhat's Christmas without chocolates?
Heh.. I love the chocolate Advent calendar. Essentially a special calendar used to count the days in anticipation of Christmas, it usually takes the form of a large rectangular card with many "windows" or doors, one of which is opened every day during the 24 days before Christmas. Haha.. I guess this ain't that popular in Singapore (although I believe it can be found at atas candy shops such as Candy Empire or something), so it was still considered quite novel to me. :)
The above is a gift from the Fox family. Spot my 1st December snowman choc! Haha.. the dates on each Advent calendar are all jumbled up too, so it adds to the excitement of one eagerly finding which window to rip off. Ho.. my local friends keep sharing how they've cheated when they were young; they'd open more doors than they're supposed to and eat what's meant for the next few days! Haha.. and yes you can guess, I'm totally falling into that trap too! ROAR.
So now that I'm here - what's Christmas without a chocolate Advent calendar? :)
7 december - ice-skating at the forks 5:15 PMOne thing rarely known about Winnipeg - it is home to the longest skating rink in the world. At the heart and confluence of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, The Forks offers a spectacular 8.54km-long ice rink when the two river canals freeze in January's Winterpeg. Sadly though, despite the already -30 degC cold (and yesterday it was -38..), temperatures are still insufficient for the rivers to solidify thoroughly, and we thus had to settle for the outdoor "manmade" rink instead. :(
There was quite a huge amount of snow that day, I think it was either flurrying heavily or it was just proper snowing, haha - can't tell the difference; lack of experience! But yep.. it was an incredibly beautiful and fascinating sight, and I was greatly charmed and touched indeed. :)
While waiting for the bus on-campus - it was really cold that day, but that didn't hinder us from capturing the beautiful scene. The pic on the right depicts somewhere downtown, along the route to The Forks. (Yes, JS and I totally PLONKED onto the huge pile of snow in public, haha.) What thick snow! And it's fortunate that Winnipeg snow's drier than the rest of Canada's; we'd be terribly frozen from the water seeping through our jeans otherwise! Heh.
The "manmade" skating rink - not that it's artificial really, cos we were indeed on real frozen ground. I guess it was really quite cool to attempt skating on natural ice, but it was sooooo scary too! Nothing like the Jurong East rink of course, there are no handles at the sides and the ice is never smooth! So yep.. for an amateur 2nd-time skater like me, the ice surface's rough edges and ridges were enough to freak me out, haha. See me wobbling and trying to maintain balance! :S
But thankfully though I wasn't THAT noob considering I first skated (hmm..) 14 months ago? (Eh actually that's quite long ago, haha.) On my 21st birthday that is, where Vicki'd insisted I do something dare-devilish and never done before. I must say that despite my friends' support and help me last Sunday, I think Vicki's still the best instructor ever! Haha. (And you untied the irritating shoelaces for me leh, which I realize (after doing it on my own) can be very frustrating!)
I eventually managed to skate around on my own, gradually gaining speed (but still slower than most of my friends, heh). I could even pose for pictures with one leg off-ground! *beams* haha. Apparently the news crew came that day to film the rink too, but I hadn't noticed them cos I was too concentrated on watching my feet in motion, haha.. I hope they didn't catch me wobbling from side-to-side! ROAR.
The person (who slipped and fell) on the ground is JS! Haha.. not that he couldn't skate well, but he really enjoyed himself so much he didn't mind stumbling and falling all over amidst the fun! Heh.. but it was a good day indeed, a well-deserved break from the stressful exam period. We ended the day off with dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory with Lindsay, Steph and Ron.
Seeee the hugeeee amount of mist below.. it is THAT cold..! Brrrrr..
So cold that I had to keep running indoors every 10-15 min of skating, just to warm my feet at the fireplace. Coupled with the tight-fitting skates, my toes were just numb and seriously icy..! And that's my first snow angel on a hill, but it looks kinda dead and fat..? Bleah.. what an angel! Haha.
This was me last week, studying for my Personal Financial Planning exam -
Yes, I now realize the 2nd picture didn't help cos of what my computer screen depicted, haha. I must say I was really stressed up over this exam, not just cos it was Finance (revolving around Canadian laws and regulations somemore), but also cos of lack of preparation. I'd spent most of my time compiling, editing and rewriting project reports, and it didn't help that there was no study break so it was all rushed and frustrating! :(
Since my days are numbered in Winnipeg, I'd cleverly worked around this by studying with some of my friends as a form of spending time together, resorting to our own self-entertainment when we got bored..
Left: God(dess)-zillas attacking the world! The AVM study lounge offers a good view of the white, wide snow blanket on-campus. Somehow it reminds me of SMU - "Book SOB GSR 3.11, got good view!" Haha.
Right: IQ's on-campus, which prides itself on offering (cheaper) Starbucks coffee, albeit quite limited in variety. I'm seriously becoming a caffeine-addict hanging out here, haha.. but it's the only place that's open for legitimate hours (everywhere else closes at 4 or 5pm), and IQ's stays open till 2am every day!
Oh anyway, I'd also made a video, "How to Study Effectively with Wini", which was a very impromptu spark of inspiration on my part. Go check it out on my Facebook! And omg.. I suddenly realize that the ratio of my studious to non-studious pictures is horrendous!!! HAHA.
29 november - the aims farewell gala 7:35 PMAhhh. Time flies; the term had come to an end before we knew it! Roar. We had our last official AIMS event two weeks ago, the very-much anticipated farewell gala dinner. There wasn't any kind of formal dress code, but everyone dressed up more than usual to commemorate the final time we'll all hang out together as an entire group of exchange students. :(
AIMS Gala Awards
I guess the night was a mixture of euphoria and nostalgia - part of the excitement was attributed to the pre-dinner award "ceremony", where we gathered at Asper (School of Business) for the prize presentation and screening of a video that AIMS had specially made for us. The award categories were predetermined prior, and we had to submit our nominations/votes to the execs via email.
See what I won! Miss Got-Around, for the person who travelled the most! Actually there were several other good contenders, but I reckon most people knew I'd gone to the Rockies (coupled with all my pictures..) and I prolly outshone the rest. Hehe.. thought I might have won Miss Photographer though.. oh btw JS won "Most likely to have ID checked even when turned 25"..! HAHA.
The farewell video was really sweet too, bringing back lotsa fond memories. Essentially a montage of the many pictures we'd taken over the past 4 months, it was heartwarming to revisit what we did and witness the many friendships forged. Yep.. I teared too while watching it.. haha. It was just so touching, even though I kept laughing too cos they took alot of pictures off my facebook to create the vid! Tskk.
The female AIMS execs - Natalie, Chantale, Steph and Lindsay. To the right is the very old (school) bus that took us to our dinnerplace! I think it looks like the magic school-bus, albeit too ancient to be magic eh.
Lexy's Restaurant
Lexy's Restaurant - a buffet spread of salad, pasta and pizza. It wasn't all that good though, primarily cos we waited so long for dinner to start and they didn't replenish the food in time either. Bleah.. and they have a weird pizza with green (long) beans on it! Haha.. not exactly easily palatable.
Chantale and Julie, probably 2 of my closest friends here. We hang out for weekly coffee sessions, and Julie's also my unofficial French teacher (though she learns Mandarin/Jap/English from me too).. I'm drinking a red cosmo martini btw, Carrie Bradshaw's favourite! Haha.
Blush! Ultraclub
Dylan and I along the Christmas-lit Main Street downtown. Sure doesn't look as elaborate as Orchard's!
I'd mentioned in a previous post that Blush's amongst the most high-end atas clubs in Winnipeg, being considerably bigger with more professional lightings. And no country music! Haha.
And ooh I must mention this too, that I'd wanted to try a new and unique drink, so I requested for the bartender to make me something "semi-strong, easy to drink and preferably unique" - he made a fascinating concoction right in front of my eyes, then beamed proudly and declared, "This is a very special drink, one-of-a-kind, the Singapore Sling!" And my jaw immediately dropped open, literally haha. I mean it was just so amusing and ironic, and after Dylan revealed I'm Singaporean, the bartender kinda disclaimed that it doesn't taste like the original cos he'd added apple juice to it. HAHA. In the end I shared my Uniquely Singaporean drink with many people, repeating my interesting story time and again. :)
I actually drank quite abit that night (cosmo martini, half of Julie's pina colada, Malibu pineapple, Skyberry vodka cranberry, Singapore Sling, Skyberry vodka shots..), but I was still widely sober though tipsy! (P/S: Luyi, I know you are still waiting to get me drunk yea, so many years still never succeed! Haha.)
On the bus-journey home, and nua-ing at the AVM lobby. :)