I'M STILL ALIVE!

Ok, so I haven't been blogging for a while, sorry about that. It's just because whenever I have the free time, my mom and her friends would take me out somewhere in the city and when we get back at night, I would be too tired to write. But no worries, I'll keep you guys updated :)

L.A. Weekend - August 21-23
We were off to Los Angeles for the weekend. Departure time: 6:08PM. Estimated duration of flight: approximately 1 hour. Actual departure time: 10:00+PM. What happened? Mechanical failure, they said. We were on the plane around 5PM something and they kept us locked in there for more than 3 hours! They said to stay put and that we would leave as soon as possible but it seems that they were having problems with the plane. So there we were, waiting impatiently, locked inside the plane until finally, they said that the plane cannot fly and requested everyone to please hop off it. :| great. All the waiting for nothing. But at least they immediately transferred everyone to a new plane and we were able to arrive at LA at around 12 midnight (and as an incentive, they gave all passengers $150 worth of discount on our next flights locally). Mom's senior auntie and uncle were waiting for us at LAX the whole time :( But at least we were finally there. We ate super late dinner at Denny's. It was already around 1AM. Then we finally went to their house. Their place was gorgeous. All their furnitures and furnishings were from Italy (I guess 'cause they lived there for a while) and it just feels so classy and elegant. It was nice staying there but as soon as I got to our room, all I could think of doing was putting on my pajamas and going straight to sleep. All the waiting made me so exhausted x.x

Day 2 of LA. Mommy and I went to Universal Studios. Too bad I only could go to once place. I wanted to go to California Adventures or Knott's Berry Farm or Disney Land or some other places but we only had one day and we were leaving tomorrow already and it was already 12PM. Uncle gave us $200 to spend so I bugged mom to get us the priority or first-in-line pass (in order to save time, I thought) but no, she only got us the normal ticket, which was okay too. I was so excited for this trip 'cause I get to spend time with Shaun. But it took us close to an hour to find each other, haha! I told him to meet us at the Universal Studios shop but I didn't know there were two of them in the park and yeah, we were waiting in one while he was at the other one. And the weather was really really REALLY hot. But at least we managed to find him :)) We then went to the world-famous studio tour and waited in line for another hour or so. After that, we rode the Simpson's ride, which was a virtual roller-coaster type ride. The line took another hour too. Mom was getting tired so we decided to just go around the park once and to just go out already. Shaun took us to a mall, which was unfortunately closed by the time we arrived (their malls close early x.x) so we decided to just have dinner somewhere. I was craving rice like crazy! I have been eating burgers, bread or sandwiches the whole time so I was really happy when we ate at a Chinese restaurant and had amazing white steamed rice :P After treating us to a fantastic dinner (thanks Shaun! >:D<) he then drove us home and stayed for a while to talk with mom's auntie and uncle. Auntie then gave us ginataan to eat (I was so full!!) and uncle gave us coke. But then Shaun left and we found out that Uncle even grilled some BBQ kebabs supposedly for him x.x So I ended up eating it too..huhu. At least I was able to sleep soundly that night.

Day 3 we just spent at home until our flight around 3 that afternoon, then we were back to San Francisco (with twice the baggage we came with! Uncle kept giving us stuff to take home).

First Day of School - August 24
I wouldn't call it a "bad start" but I had a good amount of exercise right before my first class. Imagine going to Bellarmine Hall, thinking your class would be there. But then the student would tell you that no, your class is at SOM. So I would walk all the way to SOM only to find out that wait, my class WAS at Bel. So I had to rush back to the first classroom I went to, which was on the opposite side of the campus (and you had to cross a street too, imagine how far that was). But I'm not done yet. The teacher finally confirmed that yup, our classroom was really at SOM. So I had to go back and forth 4 times between classrooms to have my first class at USF. And we had to do this during the hottest day in San Francisco. Yeah, it was EXTREMELY hot. Like, Ateneo in the summer hot (oddly enough). No one wore long pants nor t-shirts. Everyone was in shorts and dresses and get this, they were giving away free Coke Zero's on campus. haha! Consumer Behavior made such an impression noh? I'm just happy I had a friend and the whole class feeling the same way. This was the only class I took alone.

My other 3 classes were fine. At least Daniel was there too. I didn't like going to places not knowing anyone x.x Generally, our professors only discussed the syllabus and let us all go. Jasmine came over our apartment during the break and we shared ube bulilits (which basically was a small pandesal with ube as palaman) for merienda. It was so nice to see her again! So I can say that my first day was fairly okay. After that mom and her friend (Tita Pining for future reference) fetched me to stay over their house 'cause I didn't have classes the next day.

Hello San Francisco - August 25
We were up early in the morning to explore downtown San Francisco. We went to the Golden Gate Bridge (JC! I remembered that I promised to jog it once for you... uhm... haha! Yeah, I'll still try!) and it was so cold unlike the weather yesterday (yeah, tito said the weather there is really that unpredictable)! It was really windy and there were lotsa people taking pictures and whatnot. We just walked like 3 meters across the bridge and decided that that was okay already. haha! We then went to Pier 39. We just walked around the streets and it was cool to see those street musicians and entertainers on the sidewalks. We rode the cable car to reach the other side, went around a mall, then went back. We then drove through Lombard Street, the crookedest road in the world, supposedly, then went back to the house. It was a short yet fun trip. I would've wanted to go to some places like the Ripley's Museum and the Wax museum and I would've wanted to try and eat crab and go biking at the Golden Gate but I guess we lacked the time to do so. Maybe some other time, right?

Second Day - August 26
It was okay. Back to normal, the locals said 'cause the weather was really really cold again. And this time during my 2 hour break, Evelyn and Andrew came to visit. It's always a warm happy feeling when our "buddies" come and visit us. :) And after my class, mom came to fetch me again because we were off to Las Vegas the next day. Mom has a high school reunion type going on and she decided to tag me along so that at least I get to go to Las Vegas somehow.

Viva Las Vegas - August 27-28
Up early in the morning to prepare for our trip. Our flight was at 6AM but we missed it x.x There were complications with the ticket reservations and we weren't able to check in on time so we were waitlisted for the next flight at 8AM. At around 9 something, we landed. And it was a desert so of course, it will be hot (I think I'll get sick with this hot-cold weather). We stayed at this big rented house and the TV became my best friend during the whole trip. The first day, mommy and her friends spent talking and bonding with each other. They all spoke Illocano (which I didn't understand) so I just spent the whole day (and night) watching TV and eating whatever snack mom would bring to me. I wanted to go out but I guess this wasn't my trip and I should just follow whatever they wanted to do. Went to bed when I was sleepy and I was happy at that least Shaun called me up to keep me company until we both slept.

Day 2 and we're finally off to the strip! Did I say it was hot? Cause it was SUPER hot. My feet got tan lines from my slippers and my skin went so dry after walking around. But it was fun! Too bad I wasn't able to ride the roller coasters cause the wind was blowing too hard and they said that it wasn't safe. We went to the Coke shop and M&M's world then went back home. And we returned to the strip at around 9PM at night. I wanted to go to the world's biggest buffet too but everyone kept saying that it wasn't worth it with me cause I only eat a little. Guys, I always eat this way ok? And Shaun, I don't eat like a mouse mind you! Also wanted to watch a show at least, the Blue Man group or Cirque du Soleil but I guess we didn't have enough time to do so too. At least I was able to watch the water show in front of... some hotel I forgot x.x And I was also able to go to Caesar's Palace and another place to look around and take pictures (sorry I can't post them yet cause they are in the other camera).

Day 3 was a date between the TV and I again. I liked watching "Say yes to the dress". It's a show wherein bride-to-be's choose their wedding dresses, that simple. Haha! But it was entertaining at least. Our flight was at 7:55PM and we arrived back at SFO at around 9:10PM and here I am back in my bed in Tita Pining's house.

So there you go! My update for the past week. I still have a homework due on Tuesday but I still don't have my book for it so I don't know how I'll go about it yet x.x But I'll figure something out.

The wind is really blowing outside! It's howling like crazy! I hope there won't be a storm or something, whatever they call it here x.x

Time to sleep!

Tata! And see you on my next update! :)