The academic year of UCSD (on a quarter system) ends more than a month after that of Duke (semester system). So after my graduation way earlier in mid-May, I spent a couple of weeks traveling with my family in the States and one weekend roaming Seattle with a friend, before flying down to SD to spend the last 3 weeks with my darling until he finishes his final quarter and graduates (finally!).

With my undergrad chapter wrapped up, I spent my time chilling out, surfing the net, playing games, following him to classes and his lab… and most importantly, tending to my darling’s needs, i.e. be the temporary housewife. Cook the meals, make sure my darling gets his water and fruits, do his laundry, keep him company.

I’m proud to say that for 2 weeks, almost all his meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner – were home-cooked by me! It was fun and enjoyable to experiment with different dishes, and especially satisfying to whip out a yummy meal praised and licked clean by a hungry darling!

At the start of FM’s Finals week, his mum flew over from Singapore to attend his upcoming graduation (and to visit the States too!). Naturally, the important task of fetching her landed with me. However, her international flight landed at San Francisco airport, and not straight through to San Diego. We figured that it’ll be better for me to be there at SFO to meet her upon her arrival and bring her through the domestic flight together. So on the day of her arrival, I took an exciting day return trip SD -> SF -> SD! Haha… first time I took a flight only carrying a single paper bag with only the bare essentials!

My little day trip:
(pic)

FM’s mum was a little air- and motion- sicked along the way… but she made it pretty OK back to SD. and FM picked us up at the airport *surprise, surprise* with a convertible!! As it turns out, FM had originally reserved a small economy car from Enterprise, but by the time he went to pick up the car, they had ran out of the small cars. The only two options left were either an upgrade to a truck or a convertible! Haha… the choice was obvious.

Over the next week while darling was at his finals, I was the designated driver and tour guide for his mum. When FM was free, he would join us for a chill-out at the beach, watch the sunset, or grocery shop at the local Ralphs or 99 Ranch. FM’s mum certainly enjoyed herself, playing in the clear Pacific waters or just enjoying the views from the many beaches (La Jolla Shores, Blacks beach, Torrey Pines)… we also drove up to the viewing point at Mount Soledad to catch the view of downtown La Jolla and the SD area, and even saw pretty cactus flowers!

After FM was done with his finals, we went to pick strawberries at a nearby U-Pick farm (fun, fresh and yummy!) and visited Legoland @ Carlsbad. She also got to experience moments of being a scientist when she visited FM’s lab and looked at his green (GFP) worms!

The weekend immediately after Finals Week was FM’s commencement. Congrats to darling for graduating!! I had brought my graduation gown over from Duke, and thus pseudo-graduated a 2nd time! Haha. We went around the campus to take pictures, and attended the commencement ceremony for FM’s college, Sixth. (We had to strain our eyes to spot FM amidst the huge crowd of the graduating class!)

After tying up loose ends, packing up and saying farewells to various pple, we jetted off to San Francisco! Visited lotsa places including Chinatown, Little Italy (we stayed there), Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, Golden Gate, and the famous crooked Lombard street. Good foodie times were enjoyed with yummy meals at the Cheesecake factory (isn’t it a must when u visit the States?) and delicious crab/seafood at the Fisherman’s Wharf! It was a fulfilling trip indeed, all of us had fun and it was certainly an eye-opener for FM’s mum!

Met up with Shannon at SF before we left the States. En route back to Singapore, we spent our long 12-hr layover at Hong Kong by meeting up with my “twin” Karen from Duke. Thanks Karen for bringing us all around town to eat yummy Dim Sum!

Taiwan Post-Graduation Trip

Flying back from the states, the touch-down in Singapore at night was actually more of a transit. =P We simply dumped our luggage at home and packed our backpacks for our 1 week trip in Taiwan the very next day! Heh. ^_^ We had claimed our tickets using our Krisflyer mileage for a return trip ticket to Taiwan. Not bad for a subsidized graduation trip! Spent the next week traveling around Taipei, Hualien and Taroko National Park. Good food, relaxing and enjoyable! Highlights of the trip:
• The night markets!!! Went to a few of those, including the famous Shilin market
• Fisherman’s Wharf, where the lover’s bridge was erected. And we got ourselves a pretty pretty caricature!!
• Ferris wheel in Miramar
• Taipei 101 tower. Besides the height, nothing much to it actually. Just another shopping mall.
• Hualien was basically a food-hunting city. We were given a map with the good eating places, and went around to try the goose rice, oyster egg, beancurd, humungous watermelon etc.
• Absolutely loved the Hualien hotel we stayed in!!! 外滩 31, a brand new hotel just opened for business, and they were having special discounted rates for their upcoming opening ceremony! 50 bucks (SGD) for a night in a modern, arty farty decorated room. Usual price probably double this price!
• I finally got to set off fireworks! Had never ever done it before… it was way cool! We bought 3 arrow/rocket ones and one huge 7×7 = 49 big flower fireworks!
• Taroko National Park was average, nothing too special about it, though the little hikes we took were pretty refreshing. =)

After the trip, it was back home to Singapore, and start of work… *bleahz* =P