Wednesday, June 14, 2006

usa trip

hello im back and i wanted to type a post of epic length but i figured most people would die reading it so im just going to blog on my thoughts and some reflections. if you still want to read about what we did and on technical stuff like on the hotel industry and so on you can read about it here

the trip was really really an eye-opener, especially las vegas, and honestly, i wouldnt mind paying more than $3k for that alone. i initially was rather apprehensive about the trip and didnt even seriously consider it because i was thinking about how i should be studying now because cts are really impt at this point of time, but when i just casually mentioned it to my parents and my bro they were insistent i should go, so i just found it weird they wanted me to go more than i myself wanted to. but now i don't regret it, and i can see their point of view.

the ppl were really fun, i really died laughing with engswen and shih haur and daozhe. then got to meet ppl whom ive seen before but nv talked to like huiqing n hazel and even j2s ive never even seen before, like sue-faye. but well the trip was really expensive and i didnt intend to pay all that money to go there as a tourist so i'd say i wasnt a whole bundle of joy and fun and laughter cos i wanted to go there and really open my eyes and just learn and study and listen to what bob the tourguide had to say, but nonetheless i still had enough fun with the ppl there anyway and i think my abs are stronger now thanks to all that laughing over sbgl and mf and sbkb and sbl ahhaha. thanks to all who made the trip alot more enjoyable! the american ppl on the other hand are really nice and humorous and good at making small talk but they are really slow so it was quite kancheong when they talked and did things slowly when i was in a rush to hurry off to other ppl. but service was good, so i cant complain. tradeoff im willing to make.

visits to the universities were kinda mixed feelings i guess. caltech wasn't impressive, ucla was better than i expected it to be, but well, its a party school, so there. being my dream school i felt before the trip that 1hour plus was too short for stanford, but in the end, there really wasnt that many things to see. a university's appeal because of its looks can only last so long, what ultimately attracts you would be its atmosphere and its credibility rather than its layout and architectures (although of course good architecture and layout do increase its appeal). stanford didn't quite make such a huge impression on me, it was nice and rustic and pretty but i didn't have any sense of excitement that something big's waiting to happen, and i generally love it when i have that feeling, so yea stanford's kinda dull. berkeley felt more alive and awakened and just cheery and sunny. i heard it's a more cutthroat environment and not as laidback as stanford since it has a considerably higher proportion of asian students, but i couldnt verify that because it was summer vacation for most students already. generally in some ways i felt more alive in berkeley and preferred it slightly to stanford, but it doesnt look as nice as stanford or feel as warm and laidback. with the hectic lifestyle of a college student, who knows? maybe the relaxed tone is exactly what i need. in short, stanford didn't take my breath away, partly because i havent been around the whole campus too, but it definitely isnt a place i would mind being at, and i sure can picture myself having a great time there, if i somehow do manage to get in.

the technical visits were all pretty alright. the mgm one was fantastic, i think it was a really good session and some really good questions were raised and answered, and i think i really got to learn alot just sitting there listening and questioning. being brought around the bellagio and behind the scenes is also something memorable because not everyone gets to see it. i was particularly impressed with the staff welfare at the bellagio. its actually pretty much alike with huge american corporations, and its something that singapore companies cannot touch. all the free training and education and the way they actually want to go out and genuinely improve the standard of living of their staff to raise their productivity, and because of a genuine concern for fellow human beings, it's just wonderful and somewhat noble. americans foster a real working environment, whereas what i see in asia is that companies just try and squeeze out every last bit of productivity out of overworked, overstressed slaves of the corporations. that's why i wanna be there in the states and work there one day, where i can further myself, where i feel like a real integral cog of a great big machine, where i'll wake up everyday with a smile on my face, excited to go to work because i'm happy doing my job. in singapore, most people just dread working...sadness...

the other technical visits were okay...idealab is interesting, the idea of an incubator. it was something that my bro's professor was looking into doing so it wasnt that foreign a concept to me. somewhat nice to know that we've been to this company that may be at the forefront of many new bright ideas and innovations that may one day change the world and how we work. ida singtel and nus were all, well, normal, because frankly i aint that interested in singaporeans even though they're working there. i dont think we did justice to panache by just listening to its founder talk why we ate breakfast, because i think what she's got going is really quite something, living out the american dream, pursuing a passion and not being afraid to take the plunge in a foreign country when she realised she was getting too big for her shoes and wanted a new challenge. it'd have been so easy to just rest on her laurels and continue with her well-paying job but she decided to go it alone, and that kind of adventurous spirit is really commendable coming from a singaporean. but really, i dont suppose its that uncommon when youre in the states.

silicon valley is well,not very special. its just a place with alot of buildings and alot of them happen to be headquarters of mncs. intel and nasa were normal tours and visits for your typical visitor so there wasnt a behind the scenes thing or anything so it was just going through the motions and all. i think the whole beauty of silicon valley isnt that its a special place with nice landmarks for photography but rather a place brimming with ideas and possiblities. so i didnt particularly enjoy going to nasa or nus or intel. sure, intel started with a typical silicon valley entrepeneur's idea, but that was in the past. i'd sure have loved to actually know what kind of things people in silicon valley are actually thinking about or brewing over right now, to actually feel that electrifying burst of creativity and innovation that's made the place so special. and i do know too that it's a pretty much impossible request. its just that i didnt feel our visits captured the very soul and spirit of silicon valley.

shopping is kinda overhyped. well i don't see the point of shopping that much, but well it is true that the factory outlets do have quite some cheap yet good stuff, and hey, we're going with singaporean girls! shopping is a national pasttime. im generally satisfied that i got what i watned over there though, coupla shirts and jeans and an americal football and a vick jersey <3

entertainment stuff was alright. i seriously didnt wanna go universal studios at first because i didnt wanna pay big money to go see some disneyland kinda thing, but it wasnt disneyland. the rides and all initially confirmed my fears, it was just like a huge carnival or funfair sort of thing. but once we got to the special effects show and the studio tour, i felt it was worth it, to be actually there where the hollywood films and tv shows that are such a staple of our lives today are actually being shot, and how. i found it quite cute to see wisteria lane where desperate housewives was shot. it was like seeing a little neighbourhood in the middle of nowhere, definitely interesting.

hollywood boulevard and all was okay. saw the walk of fame and the handprints n footprints and all but didnt see any celebrity or what so it's just like that, been there done that and thats all there is to it. its the same with the golden gate bridge and fisherman's wharf actually. all these tourist attractions, i dont particularly like them because its just a building or a street which is famous because everyone says so and there are tonnes of photos taken at the place. but these attractions dont improve the quality of your life if you've been there, these places dont make you learn anything or feel anything. okay, maybe the great wall of china made me marvel at the pains and labours taken to construct the thing, but apart from that? the eiffel tower, l'arc de triomphe, the golden gate bridge, the big ben, they're just buildings that everyone marvels at, but i dont suppose im steeped enough into their culture or history to appreciate them. i guess u could say that i just dont absolutely love visiting destinations like that, i'd rather see things that actually do relate to our daily lives, not gargantuan monuments that make our lives prettier but don't actually ameliorate our well-being directly.

i think the whole highlight of the trip was las vegas. all the hotels, the casinos, it was amazing, and i was just walking along telling myself, this is it, this is the usa, and im freaking living it and walking along here, right where i want to be. the structures are beautiful, and the scale of everything is crazy, and walking through bellagio was mad because the casino and the jackpot machines just stretch on forever. and you see all the attention to detail, the money that goes into making it a beautiful place, it was sickening. it's obscene to see a chocolate fountain/pool with all the frothy creamy sweet liquid flowing around lazily for the viewing pleasure of visitors, when there are billions of people in africa who can't even get one decent meal, let alone a slab of chocolate. it's obscene to see all the people blowing their money on jackpot machines and the machines reading up to hundred thousand dollars, or the people who bet thousands of dollars each time, when that money could lift countless people out of dire straits and abject poverty. it's obscene that all these billions of dollars go into monumental hotels and resorts and into hiring the top chefs in the world when the poor don't even have a roof over their head or a tasteless meal to go into their stomachs. it's obscene, the opulence and affluence and those who flaunt it, while out in the streets homeless people lurk, their motions stiff and rigid from the cold weather and the dirt and grime on their back. it's just plain obscene, the rich-poor divide, it's an injustice that i find mammoth and impossible to understand all at once. it's one of my goals in life to do something about the rich-poor gap, and i think that being to vegas , seeing the zenith of affluence and luxury and lavish spending, it gives me an inkling of the scale of the problem, it makes me see one end of the spectrum to compare with the other. and boy, it's just something thats hard to grasp and comprehend, that two people who are born so biologically and physically similar could end up with such impossibly different states. and this is what i found most mind-blowing on the whole trip, the incredible wealth in vegas, more than i could imagine, and the unfathomable heaven-earth difference with the abject poor. there are so many things on the trip that i paid so much to see but which i would forget anyway - the feelings i have while crossing the golden gate bridge, the sights and sounds of san francisco, the bustle of los angeles, the movie sets in los angeles. but this i will not forget, the sheer horror and wonderment and disgust and amazement and shock and thrill i had in seeing vegas. this is something that i believe i will take to my grave, it will be something that will always be in the back of my mind, reminding me of a mission in life, and the sheer size of this undertaking.

las vegas - where everybody is somebody, where dreams become a reality, and where everyone else is forgotten.

teo spoke at 9:47 AM

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