...and finished my second day of school! (added commentary on the Arab-Israeli conflict)

I'm lazy to upload the two proper photos I took of the student groups and their tents lining the street. So no photos here.Update: Photos!!The buildings in the background are the Social Science buildings, where I have all my classes. Taken from outside the library. All the booths are manned by the student groups. My 'favourite' place - the library where I've been photocopying notes and making use of the heat. I think the chairs have heaters! Cos my legs felt very very hot after awhile.

Today school started at 11am, so I mistook the bright morning sun for a nice warm morning and wore only 2 layers. Mistake mistake mistake. It was waayyy colder today!

My first class was quite scary, but in a challenging and exciting kind of way. Homeland Security. Midterm exam, midterm paper, pop quizzes, a specialized name plate so that the prof can call people easily, plus all 3 books read and highlighted to be placed on the desk at all times. And it was 3 hours so it's lecture and tutorial together. Yvette said I looked worn out when I met her. I didn't really understand all the abbreviations of US agencies and all that, and American history is so not my forte. Blah. Plans of travelling go flying out the window in favour of studying. Studying on exchange!! Imagine that. Have the same prof for Coercive Diplomacy. Think I'll die if it's like this again.

I had my very first In N Out Burger!! Oh this must be shown with a photo!! Ok upload tomorrow when I'll take photos at the int'l student breakfast. Anyway, the burger was REAL!! and the fries were REAL!! they aren't the frozen crap Mac's sells. No wonder everyone loves it!Yvette and burger at In N Out

My meal!

We stopped by the Christian Students' Association or sth like that booth and met Debbie and Grace, from Taiwan and HK originally, and they invited us to join their welcome stuff. Since IVF is nowhere to be found I think we might join them, especially since they offered to drive and invited us to their house for dinner next week. They're very nice! and were excited about eating Singaporean food. HELP i kinda don't really know how to make chicken rice at home let alone here........

My Modern Israel class totally rocked. Like totally. My lecturer was really excited about the topic. So excited that we had a 10min break for a 3hr lecture but she couldn't finish the material. She kept going "Oh I want to tell you this story but we don't have time but nevermind I'll tell you...hey I sidetracked let's finish the other story first!" I think this might be my fave class.

Here's what I learnt:

The Jews have always had a presence in the area presently known as Israel and allegations of a disturbed Palestine homeland with Israel as a big fat bully are unfounded. Why Israel does not immediately stop its ground invasion and pull out completely of Gaza and the West Bank are because it HAS offered peace settlements from the beginning, to the point of giving up Jerusalen, all the way from 1937, and it HAS pulled out of the territories, to no avail. In fact, terrorism by the Palestinians has increased to about 2000 rocket attacks a day since the 1990s. While Palestine casualties are documented and played up by the media, the fact remains that Israeli civilians are killed almost every single day, and Israel has tried every means possible to ignore and stop these attacks through diplomatic channels. Peace is impossible in the region because the Arab nations have refused every settlement offered, and the whole objective of Hamas as an organization is to destroy Israel and put a strict Islamic nation in place.

I think Israel should ignore all those international calls for peace and advice about how to control the situation, because it has to secure its own borders first and foremost. Other countries, no matter how well intentioned they are, do not have to deal with the aftermath of constant terrorism and aggression from its neighbours. The media's role has been an almost biased one, showing Israel as the aggressor, when in fact it took control of the Territories only after the 6 Day war which was started by the Arab nations! And the number of Israeli civilians that are killed is almost rarely shown while Palestinian casulaties are emphasized. In short, Israel rocks!

Ok enough. I have take home exams for the module so I can write more for those.

Can't wait for 620pm tomorrow, when my week will be finished! That's right, no school on thurs and fri. yay!!!