Graduation day can reduce you to a one-woman-about-to-meltdown jitters…or not. Supposedly the oh-so-magical day you have been waiting for since….kindergarten, the ultimate milestone in your young adult life, and of course, for a lot of us, finally an occasion for our parents to be truely proud of our achievements (i.e. They now know that despite all the detention slips that they have signed, mid-morning calls from a chagrined headmaster and months on end of not hearing from you after you have left for college, their efforts of putting you through nearly a decade of education have finally paid off.) Yet, it can be a totally annoying and I-just-want-to-get-it-over-and-done-with day for many, especially if you already have a job lined up, or an amazing 3-month postgrad vacation awaiting you.

The pressure of having to host your over-doting parents, sometimes our lovely siblings will come along, and for some even the grandparents are thrown into the mix. It might also mean that your boymanfriend will finally meet your parents (if he hasn’t already presented himself yet). And if your personal PR executive didn’t preempt this, an impromptu jovial run-in between his folks (if his are coming) and your folks may materialise to your ill-concealed horror.

On top of this, there are also some style and beauty contingencies to take care of! I may never have been a good student at note-taking, but here are some handy notes for a stress-free graduation day.

1. Find out who are coming as your guests, and plan accordingly.

Make sure you find out how many people are coming so you can accommodate them. Usually, if there is limited vacancy for the ceremony, you will be given two tickets for your parents. If anyone else has expressed interest to come, either hustle for some extra tickets (time to recoup all the favours you have done to your classmates, friends and dorm mates!) or let them know that they might have to wait until the ceremony is over.

2. Weather-proof your style.

I know, graduation is hardly a fashion parade. But you will be surprised the amount of dough people, especially girls, are willing to shell out just to make sure they look picture perfect for all the Kodak moments awaiting them. If you are graduating in a city with a humid climate, be sure that your makeup is sweat and shine-proof, and wear something light and airy under your gown so you won’t be sweating buckets. And get yourself an easy and manageable hairdo that won’t get squashed by your cap. That means, forget the slick chignons and let your hair down in soft curls or flat-ironed strands!

3. Get yourself a designated camera man/woman.

You will be running around getting photos from everyone you know. You will be weighed down by your heavy gown and a rebellious cap threatening to slip off your head, plus you have your clutch, bouquets of flowers from family and friends, and your trusty digital camera. What’s a girl to do? Grab yourself a wingman or woman, could be a sibling or boyfriend or BFF, obviously he or she cannot be graduating on the same day too, so he or she can help you hold on to your stuff and take some pictures for you. And after all this is over, don’t forget to thank him/her, and if you can, return the favour too.

4. Decide on a photo taking session on another day.

In the midst of all the excitement and chaos, you can easily feel overwhelmed by the crowd of strangers, the heat (if it’s outdoors) and the pressure to hunt down your classmates and friends from a sea of faces for photo sessions. If you missed out a few people, because some of them might be in a rush to leave or have familial obligations, no need for regrets yet. Go on Facebook or email a couple of classmates to see if they are available on the same day for a photo taking session. With all the parents, throngs of friends and professors out of the way, you can relax and focus on flashing your dazzling smiles for the cameras.

Did I miss anything out?   

Oh and before I forget, congratulations all around, run along and have a blast while you can! ♥

Sitting in a Starbucks cafe, in central London. An exceptionally sunny day, especially for this city known and loved by many for its gloomy demeanour. To me, London’s not London when the sun is out. And incidentally, I felt a little more than out-of-sync of my usual rhythm — the fact that I am finally graduating has finally started to sink in.

To check the results of my final final exams, I logged onto my university’s account, perhaps for the very last time after the final throes of my academic career, with a mixed sense of apprehension and unfeelingness sinking in the pits of my hot chocolate-laden stomach. Looks like I managed to scrape through the last required elective I was supposed to do (silently cursing myself for letting this one slip). The fact that I didn’t make my desired class of honours, by a pretty long shot really, completely obliterated the joys of getting an A+ in French. Yet, strangely, I experienced a sense of…nonchalance and relief. Nonchalance from not feeling the pain of my non-successes in academic life, and relief that I am walking out of four years of being a non-compliant student.

Looking back, it was amusing to the point of ludricrousness that I ever set out to live an ultimate college experience. Because… in retrospect now to say, there really isn’t any ONE ultimate experience, every experience is different and in the end, so what about the college experience?

I was expecting a huge wave of nostalgia to wash over me dramatically, so much so that I would feel sick to the stomach with regret for all the things I wish I did and didn’t do, and reminiscence of all the beautiful memories….. —-CUT— No, there wasn’t any of that drama. I somewhat wish I somehow did, but no, there was no stirrings, no invoking of any special emotions. It felt as humdrum, and perhaps even less exhilarating, as when I leave a shopping mall at the end of a long spree. Maybe I haven’t don my graduation gown yet, but I guess I am not the super enthusiastic type of student either.

Wait a minute! Before you start bashing me about me being ungrateful to the institution and education, and all the people who have helped me in one way or another during my academic life… I am thankful to everyone who have made my days in college smoother, easier, less torturous, more meaningful than it would have otherwise not been. I am grateful to my professors for trying in vain to educate, sometimes successful but mostly only manage to disseminate; my classmates for not choosing me last as their teammate in projects and being a listening ear when I needed to complain about lectures and assignments and whatnots.

There were moments in my university life that I truly cherished and enjoyed, especially when I was studying abroad and particularly in the sophomore and junior year, when I have outgrown the awkward freshman year and not yet entered the landmines of senior year. Classes I took that I really liked — transport geography, a field trip module in Hong Kong, modules about tourism and travel… Okay, so I have always been a lunch-is-my-favourite-subject kind of kid but still, there were intellectual moments that I relished.

Really, I’m just saying. It’s over… Curtain call. Standing ovation optional. Let’s move on…. to the scary part.

The post graduate life. Thank goodness there’s Dustin Hoffman to make me feel a little better about myself.

I guess I needed a break from the stress of trying to rush my honours thesis out with a little more than 2 weeks left to go. As the deadline looms ahead of me ominously, I began to desperately make some sense of what I am writing — you know that feeling, after a while you don’t know what you are writing about! — and scrambling for every little piece of extra information to fill in a gap here and there. I don’t know about you but this thesis business is frankly driving me insane.

Fret not, at least scores of university students are undergoing this (ahem) rite of passage to academic hell fulfilment in this trying period of time. But, how do you know when you’re about to pass out? Maybe you only have less than 137 minutes left to run out and get your 15th dose of Starbucks coffee before your kneels buckle and white froth start to spew from the corners of your lips!

Here are the seven major signs that you’re SICK of writing, but sorry, you have to keep going anyway.

7. You are looking at how many % you can afford to lose if/when you miss the deadline.

And you think losing 5% isn’t all that bad. Perhaps.

6. You consider forgoing an entire chapter. Or even two!
Hopefully no-one will notice.

5. Everything else looks so appealing to do.
*stares out of the window at guy clearing garbage in torrential rain* Hmm…

4. The joints in your fingers are swollen from typing. But not as swollen as your eyelids.
Sleep beckons with more finesse than ever.

3. You start making to-do lists of everything you want to do when the ordeal is over.
Shopping, places to visit, movies to watch. Hell, you even considered alphabetizing the books on your shelf and colour-coding your wardrobe. (If you haven’t already done so)

2. Times New Roman, font size 12, is making your eyes BLEED.
May start considering typing in a fancier font. Just to give my poor eyes a break from this offensive font.

1. All the words start to blur into a gooey murderous mess.
And you wonder where all the sharp objects on your desk has gone. (Apparently, someone received the memo and hid all the knives in the room…)

In any case, weeks of desperate job seeking, bad hair days and a caffeine/sleep-deprived lifetime await you after this.
So how bad could this be after all?

Just kidding. Before all of that misfortune can befall you, my comrade in fighting the thesis monster, you deserve a big fat sunny vacation with all the margaritas (with the tiny little umbrellas!) you can drink and a (few) shopping spree(s), not to mention endless movie marathons and happy summer days of having absolutely nothing to do after working so hard.

Now, let’s go back to writing before this reverie consumes us (and our beloved thesis) alive. ♥

The strange, eerily empty inbox, devoid of responses from the million of emails you sent with your resume and cover letter attached.

Your cellphone not ringing off its nonexistent hook either, nor are you in any pressing need to shop for interview-appropriate clothes.

No wonder you are so desperate you might just kiss a waiter hoping he would magically transform into your Prince Charming.

Why are some of your friends discussing about potential job offers with an enthusiastic lilt in their voices, their eyes shining with hope despite the depressing period of final exams looming right ahead? Some of us, like me, are already down the chute in Exam Hell. You realised, in acute horror no less, than you are faced with the very real problem that your predecessors who graduated one year ahead of you (and those ahead of them too) experienced. *Horror movie soundtrack plays* The possibility of…unemployment??

Okay, maybe you won’t be sitting on your couch playing Wii, which would be bordering on disrepair considering the way you would have utterly abused it in your times of destitution, nor painting your toes repeatedly because you have nothing to do. But surely all of us once had or still have lofty ambitions and beautifully painted dreams of that highly coveted cushy position in a skyscraper office right in the heart of the city. We want to wear a matching suit ordered from Banana Republic, clutching our designer coffee in one hand and a stylish document case in another, stepping out of the train (yeah public transport is cool because we are earth-loving) with nary a strand of a perfectly coiffed French twist out of place…as we breeze into the spacious lobby where everyone greets each other with a classy peck on the cheek and tilt of the hat.

Nein, nein, nein, nein, nein! I will burst your reverie into smithereens now before great expectations lead to suicidal disappointment. Well, unless of course you are that stellar intern queen, with ten internship notches on your belt and poised to sail into a posh office, albeit as an assistant editor or a human resource executive, of a brand-name company. Good for you, but we hate you.

All is not lost, ma cherie… Et non, you don’t necessarily need to be a Priceless-esque gold digger to get by. (Read on!)

I was depressed about the miniscule chances of working in a decent brand-name company in such dire economic times. But if you can forget about your TRESemmé hair products, shopping in H&M and Victoria’s Secret and having a mani-pedi every other week, there’s a sweet future at the end of this really deep dark tunnel.

Be an au pair.
Ever since reading about my dear Sweet Valley twins au-pairing in a French castle, I always wondered how it was like to move far away from home, to a far flung locale of a different culture, where alien sounds spill from exotic lips, to work for a family and live like a local. Well my time is here!! Many agencies and organizations don’t take au pairs older than 25 years old, so if I don’t seize this chance I won’t be able to.
Check out The International Au Pair Association for options.

Teach English.
You know English. You speak English. Now go teach English! You’ll be surprised that the demand for English teachers is extremely high especially in East Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. I might take a TEFL course when all else really fails.

Go WWOOF-ing.
If you want to stop sticking out like a sore thumb, then it’s time to flex that green thumb! Try your hand at being a farmhand and rough it out. The upside is that you get to spend some time soaking up sunshine in lovely countryside in countries like France, Australia and Ecuador. WWOOF!

Uproot yourself and just go!
I ALWAYS admire those who pack their bags and just move to a new city. Such courage brings tears to my eyes. If you already have some international living and working experience from before, and your study abroad experience shouldn’t count really, then you can go this adventurous route. Be forewarned that it might be a life of sleeping in roach-infested dingy motels, eating stale can food and couchsurfing until you get your big break.

Suddenly, even as I type this out, I feel that my future is no longer as morbid and hopeless anymore. So what if Merrill Lynch, Mckinsey and Ogilvy & Mather never got back to you? And so what if you cannot afford to take a Master in Water Resource Management or 3D Animation?

Life takes you to unexpected places, and don’t be afraid to go with the flow.

So now, go kick some ass, enjoy (ahem, TRY to) the exams and let’s usher in the holiday season! ♥

No, rest assured I’m NOT referring to the latest environmental activist group nor a recreation club created by marine biology majors!

Freelance Whales is an indie pop/folk indie band hailing from Queens, New York, that makes their music using a mishmash of strange, unorthodox instruments like the harmonium, banjo and glockenspiel. (I didn’t even KNOW a glockenspiel exists before I stumbled upon their last.fm page.)

A quick trip to wikipedia identifies the glockenspiel as:

“a percussion instrument, composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano…similar to the xylophone….(but while) the xylophone’s bars are made of wood, the glockenspiel’s are metal plates or tubes, thus making it a metallophone. (Plus)…it’s usually smaller and higher in pitch.“

(Okay mystery solved.)

So this band consists of really adorable band members…and the best part is that their music is even more so! If you are a consistent indie lover, enjoying music with the likes of Death Cab for Cutie (before it got un-indiefied), the New Pornographers and Regina Spektor, you will most likely find this agreeable to your ears.

My personal favourite is a tie between Hannah (Youtube) and Generator ^ 2nd Floor… They have many other equally agreeable tunes too! Check out Starring, Enzymes and Generator ^ 1st Floor for starters. ♥

Image source: last.fm

Finals week is rolling around, just as the golden brown leaves are falling (not here, sadly) and the monsoon winds are sweeping us off our feet. Swap out those precious suede loafers with waterproof boots, put on your comfy hoodie and huddle in your room, so we can all desperately devour the piles of readings we have always meant to start on but still look spanking new as the final examinations loom ominously in the very very near future.

Even though most of us do not have the luxury to dine out at decent restaurants, or have our very personal sous chef, yeah the life of a poor college student, and now that we have to bury our heads in books and papers, it doesn’t mean we should throw our healthy diets out of the window. In fact, all the more we should pamper our taste buds, treat our bodies like holy temples and feed ourselves healthy wholesome brain food in preparation for the battlefield also known as the evil exam hall.

Eat up your greens!

I am a great fan of vegetables. They are refreshing, full of vitamins and antioxidants and everything you need to fuel your brain up for the impending battle! Not only are they good for the brain, veggies give your hair a shiny sheen and help clear up your complexion of all the stress acne! Just what you need to be both smart and sparkly when you walk into that exam hall! Reach for raisins and almonds for a study break snack; enjoy stir-fry bak choy with mushrooms and hoisin sauce with rice for lunch; and have a tomato, ham and cheese (with lots of lettuce and onions!) for a light dinner.

Drink up!

Water not only increases your energy but soothes your jangled nerves from all the exam stress! Stay away from alcohol now…even though all that studying just makes me want to reach for an ice-cold refreshing beer in the sometimes stifling afternoon heat. Gulp down loads of water, because it’s like gasoline for your brain and body, and drinking all that coffee to help you stay awake is only going to dehydrate you more! (‘Cause coffee is a diuretic). Try not to have sugary drinks because having a ‘sugar high’ can only make you more annoyed, stressed out, irritable and worst of all, sleepy! Best bets are fresh orange, tomato and carrot juices, flavoured milk (because plain old milk is for five-year olds :p) and our trusty plain water!

Fried food = fried brain cells!

This is the part where you need to exercise some self-control, young Padawan! For me, I never have a problem with fried food, processed food, junk food, because I never really quite like the artificial and “unhealthy” gritty taste of them all. (Except for sugary doughnuts – my soft spot.) Plus fried food always makes me high-strung and gives me rashes and acne, so I have learnt the hard way to stay away from them…

Even if you are blessed with a great tolerance for the evils of friedness, remember that the toxins will only accumulate in your body! Let’s not go into the potential health risks of eating these things. Unfortunately they also smell and taste oh-so-good. But for the sake of staying fit, perky and fresh-faced, just walk away and bite on a juicy apple instead.

In any case, my appetite has increased three-fold ever since the stress levels start to escalate! But as long as I load myself up with healthy options, I will sail through these tough times and I can pat myself on my back saying that I didn’t succumb to brain-frying bad food!  ♥

Image source: dgilder (Flickr.com); allmoviephoto.com; healthtalk.info

The search statistics that led people to my blog seem to indicate a substantial amount of college students, presumably girls, hunting for information on how to impress a college guy. To add to the overwhelming literature already available on the Internet, and to sprinkle a little satirical flavour of my own, welcome to the Absolut College Girl’s version. Tread with caution.

Before we begin, understand this point: College guys are complicated. They seem so straightforward and simple-minded, especially if you have watched them through sober eyes, drunken boy playing beer pong, backflipping into the pool from the roof of the guesthouse, trying to buy you a drink at closing time just because all his friends have gone to get some “action”… But really, the one worth catching is way more multi-faceted than you think. Not that I’m suggesting that he might be afflicted with bipolar disorder and/or a tendency to exhibit split personalities. They are often compelled by the pressures that come from the boy-to-man transition to commit things they all claim they didn’t do. (“I swear!”)

That said, it’s really very straightforward to impress a decent college guy. I mean, if you have been watching TV, oh I sure hope you have, you would know! Why scour all over the Internet for tips? The hardest part is actually performing them, because every other college girl has probably printed out a list of must-dos a week before freshman year and gotten them down to pat. But for the benefit of those who require a recap, get ready to start googling.

#1 Dress your personality. Dress like you MEAN it.
Ask yourself, which aspect of your personality do you want to channel? Preppy? Look to Blair Waldorf circa Gossip Girl Season 1 and 2 for inspiration. Sexy in an understated way? Glam up the Rachel Berry look in GLEE. That means, please, no sloppy t-shirts, jogging shorts, sweatpants, that sort of frumpy things.

The key is knowing what fits your style and body. College Fashion regularly updates their site with fresh ideas that are up to date and relevant to the college girl’s budget.

#2 Express yourself.
I don’t mean asking tons of questions during lecture time. (That will only put a bullseye on your back and make you the professor’s pet.) Pipe up when you have something meaningful to say. If you constantly find yourself with nothing to contribute towards the collective intellectual, you need to study harder. Join a study group. Steal a star student’s quote, for beginners, but work your way up. Let you voice be heard. Not only will you impress that one guy, you will impress many, and best of all, your professor.

#3 Put yourself out there, and keep busy.
Yeah, stand on a coffee cart, with a handmade sign saying “FREE HUGS…and more!” in the middle of the cafeteria. I hope you can tell when I’m kidding by now. Occupy yourself with activities and hobbies that you truly have a passion for. A pretty well-spoken girl who plays the oboe, tap-dances, enjoys baking and hangs with the windsurfing team is definitely the kind of girl that attracts a stellar man of calibre.

Not saying you have to be that Little Miss Perfect, but don’t make yourself too available by having your own things to attend to. (Personally, I think if you are musically challenged, like me, the easiest way is to pick up a foreign language. Instant bonus bonus points.)

#4 Be sincere, and have a sense of humour.
Nothing worse than a prissy brat or an hypocritical prude who disses her peers for their lackadaisical social etiquettes when she herself goes around acting all obnoxious and classless. You’d be surprised that a lot of good manners go out of the window when people hit college age.

Don’t forget what your mama taught you; smile, say thank you, learn to laugh, and appreciate people for who they are. Because, as cliché as this sounds, the beauty within shines through. (And you never know at any point if a boy is secretly spying at you over his Jonathan Franzen novel.)

#5 Go solo.
College boys hate having to approach an entire entourage of your girlfriends, and fend off a million annoying giggly questions just so he can have a casual conversation with you. Sitting alone sometimes is good for your sanity. (Take a cue from Serena Van der Woodsen who operates sans entourage.)

Pretend to read a book at the bleachers while enjoying a good football game in springtime, spend hours with your laptop (but NO HEADPHONES) in the campus cafe. If someone has his eye on you, he’d seize the opportunity, when peak hour rolls around and he “can’t find anywhere else to sit”, he’d look to you with desperate wild eyes. “Is this seat taken?” has never sounded sweeter.

Bonus tip: Talk to him first.
A gutsy girl is so avant-garde, so brazen, and oh-so-sexy.

Why do you think that all good men are either taken, married or gay? Because someone got there BEFORE you. ♥

Image source: movieloner.com

Who knew that senior year would entail so much more tasks, responsibilities and expectations? Between having to take classes to clear graduation requirements (so I can graduate on time), researching for the final year thesis, applying for jobs, attending career fairs, thinking about the future, actually DOING something about the future (i.e. research about postgraduate options, doing the GRE etc), talking to seniors and professors about the possibility of extending my academic career etc… and of course trying to maintain a meagre social life, I am just about to go crazy. I wish somebody handed us a long to-do list, a guidebook, anything… Anything to forewarn us that it would be quite so very gruelling, where things are thrown at us from every imaginable corner and we are expecting to catch and toss ‘em right back.

Honestly speaking, I am not caught completely off guard. I have been religiously reading blogs written by tons of my predecessors, I have heard seniors who have gone down this same road lament and bemoan about the intensity of senior year, I have seen people crash and rise from the ashes. But nothing is quite like experiencing it myself…

Never-ending checklists, my desk completely overwhelmed and swarmed with stacks of journal articles flagged by multi-coloured post-its and dirty coffee mugs dotting the landscape of my room that looked like it is under a hundred-day siege by books, rumpled clothes (from failed/given-up-on attempts to create outfits in the morning) and balled-up paper (thrown around randomly in frustration during writer’s blocks).

Suddenly, it wasn’t as easy to get the As and B pluses from the classes. Being a senior also meant that professors expect stellar, quality writing from you, more than ever before. But my brain cells failed to multiply exponentially the way their expectations do. So I see an avalanche of bad grades falling faster than a ski day gone horribly wrong. Just when I desperately needed that pat on my shoulder, I had reality served cold right under my nose. I didn’t pull enough weight, haven’t paid enough dues, and now I’ve got to pay big time in my senior year. If I had come this far, I should be able to rise to the occasion and fight to stay afloat, right? (Silence echoes eerily in the background.)

Often, the best battles are fought alone. And this, hopefully, is my final one in my undergraduate career.

Afterall, in this world, we either swim, or sink. ♥

Most of us, after the third year, have acquired the legal rights to engage in many activities that our grandmoms will blush and condemn if we utter them aloud. Yet, it is not surprising to still see college students feeling tied down because of the ‘rents or fear of expecting too much of their very bright futures and to have a mind of their own!

Here’s a few things you’ll need to learn to let go and do if you haven’t already:

1. Don’t feel guilty about not calling your parents/mom/dad every day or once a week.
I know some people who get calls from their parents a lot. Sometimes I feel a twinge of envy because it means that someone at home cares for them and love them enough to check up on them regularly. But it gets annoying after a while if you are bogged down with endless deadlines, project meetings and you have a social calendar to attend to.

Plus, when you are on that date with the gorgeous man from that Cultural Anthropology class, you don’t want to pick up a call and go, “No mom, I’m not binge drinking, I’m going to classes and I will use protection.” It’s kinda off-putting; just imagine if it were your date saying that to his mom!

2. Ignore the urban legends that you won’t last with a college sweetheart.
Enough is enough! Stop perpetuating myths about how people always change after they graduate and will therefore not last with their college boyfriend/girlfriend. Many people find love on campus and in fact it’s the best place to hunt for very eligible and intellectual men without emotional baggage.

3. Love what you study, stop obsessing about the career for a minute.
Breathe. Yes, breathe, calm down, and don’t let the obsession of finding the perfect career deny you of the opportunity to love and discover what you truly have a passion for, in academia that is. It’s perfectly normal if you feel like you are soulmates with Kierkegaard, Sartre, Foucault, Weber and Kant, and wish you could talk to them and have their autographs. This is great! Even if nobody really understands you when you talk about them when you meet other people who don’t share your love with these intellectuals. It might very well be the last time you can indulge endlessly in this, so enjoy being a nerdy student while it lasts.

4. Graduate on time.
ATTENTION all seniors!! You should have done this long ago if you haven’t, anyhow it’s way overdue. Do check what classes you need to attend to graduate on time, or early if you are bright and illustrious as you are. Hanging around for an extra semester when all your peers have graduated is neither cool nor wise. Even if it means you are delaying the need to get your ass out there and find a job in the dismal economic climate right now. I’m now struggling with a heavy workload to clear as many classes as I can, but a girl’s gotta do what she’s gotta do!

Graduating on time not only reflects that you managed your college career and curriculum well, it gives you ample time to begin your first career on the right foot, or if you don’t plan to work, start your Masters degree or your gap year on a satisfying note. And the best thing? Taking that long-awaited graduation photo with your classmates on Graduation Day…easily the biggest milestone in a college student’s life.

5. Think about what you want to do.
It’s nerve-wrecking, having to think about the future on top of the final year dissertations that we are currently slogging our asses off for. But nevertheless it’s important to start exploring the options, if you haven’t done so already. After all the summer internships and meetings with a career advisor, it doesn’t hurt to talk to seniors who’ve graduated before you, trawl the depths of the Internet and check out what interests you enough to make it something you will feel worthy of waking up to every morning for the rest of your life.

So here’s a couple more things for you to mull over… and while you mentally note them down, I shall sit back, relax and enjoy the Gossip Girl season premiere. (And then I start worrying about the future again, of course.) ♥

So here I am, on the eve of my final paper for my final, about to experience academic doom descending upon my head and all I can think about is what I’m going to be doing for the summer.

5 countries, 4 cultures, 3 months, 2 bags and 1 adventure = Summer 2010.

Kicking off my summer with a bang will be visiting the man in my life in Sydney. I really love what the city has to offer, the breezy weather, the sassy people, the trendy night scene, a really hip yet laidback culture, and of course the greasy cuisine. And to get in touch with our inner sophistication, we’d be doing the requisite Sydney weekend trip to Hunter Valley wine region and hope that we won’t have to nurse a hangover afterwards. Je ne peux pas attendre! In any case I’m excited to be back again.

I received my Indian visa two days ago, which means that I am good to go for my internship. And just maybe… I would just run out and buy some more socks, just in case. A backpacking circuit that would set my heart pumping and my wanderlust soul on fire around Southern China, Laos and Thailand would round off the summer with aplomb.

Jumping onto the bandwagon of the Shanghai World Expo hype is part of our itinerary…after all, visiting the Bund during its construction really did pique my curiosity enough for me to visit the Paris of the East again so soon. So with the exception of Chinese culture (which I must say I’m not fully attuned to either), I will have new cultures to embrace and hopefully a couple of interesting phrases to pick up on the way.

My attempt at minimalist travelling will also mean that I have to pack really light this time round — the heels and the hairdryers and the trashy novels will have to stay home, limiting myself to two bags, which will eventually be full of bangles, boxes of Darjeeling tea and traditional garb from India. I will also learn, for the first time, to deal with living in a town free of the creature comforts that an urbanite like me is used to and find out if my body can function well beyond 3,000 metres above the sea level in the Himalayas.

And all of that will culminate towards one big adventure…be it good, bad or funny. Oh, summer, how I love you so.

Now, if you would excuse me, I would like to extricate myself from this reverie and finish up my revision for tomorrow morning’s exam.