Shaws & Kinney.

My salvation temple

 When I went to town, my goal was not meander, for I wanted to run errands. Let’s be clear: this article shall markedly foster expenditure consumption. In other words, it will deal with my journey to Shaws, a grocery store located fifteen minutes away on foot from the campus. Until at that moment, I had never heard of it. How deluded to think that I was familiar with retail stores – hello Walmart, Food for Less, Whole Foods. Shaws’ stores are in New England, hence my not-so-ignorant knowledge. 

Thanks to my roommate, I have heard of this, in my superficial attempt to get make-up, for back when I was preparing my things for my stay in the US, I could not be bothered with bringing any make-up. In a more serious tone, it had become quite important to get to know the surroundings a bit better, and in addition to that, I wanted to buy some items, partly for my hiking trep –to be continued, and naturally not of paramount necessity – read ramen noodles, tea, extra shower gel and so on and so forth.

You may find it bizarre that I am writing about a subject of such little interest. Yet I have always lionize foreign stores. What a strange idiosyncratic taste, isn’t it? My curiosity is immediately aroused as soon as I enter into a new retail area, for all the items are new to me and emphasize the specific products to each country – I will always be puzzled when seeing all the fancy and artificial frozen American food (ketchup-flavored sausages, frozen blueberries waffles, rainbow-colored fake-as-hell birthday cake) that cannot compete with the French touch in my country’s cuisine.

Another thing I have noticed is that the staff will not hesitate helping you when asking, and I am not talking about a mere finger-pointing accompanied by a “huh, it’s there”. I always got accompanied to the right section, having the feeling that they did not not care! Astonishing, when you are used to seeing tired, dull and stern soon-to-turn-into-zombie faces.

Peanut Butter! My new "do", previously a "don't". Gotta be extra crunchy and super chunk.

25% less fat. Does it even make any difference?

Where's my twinkies?!

Mac n'cheese.

The bigger, the better, it seems.

Vermont's maple syrup, of course.

Travel sized-hygiene products. I always find them cute.

Inside Kinney, a drugstore. They sell makeup, hurray!

 

 Needless to say, if the stores were to go bankrupt, it would not have been because of me.

Middlebury in September

Welcome to Middlebury College.

This semester, my weekend starts on Thursdays afternoons. What a propitious way to catch up with the growing delay of updates.  I have taken so many pictures and yet, no time has been found yet to post them. I am therefore much obliged to show snapshots from September first. I have not noticed how fast time has gone by. How bewildering to realize that a month has already elapsed and that  until now the weather was still nice, sunny, I could feel the warm rays stroke my skin, whereas now the leaves have turned into gold and red.

The following photos were taken on Friday September 16^th as I went to town on my own for the first time to run errands.

On my way to town.

Urbanization at its height.

Otter Creek Falls

Ain't bad to play badminton.

As I have been too focused on school and homework, I obviously paid little attention to extra-curriculum activities. I missed the fair where students can sign up for clubs, so I thought practicing a sport would not be possible. Little did I know I was wrong. I went to the café français, a social gathering where the aim is to speak French. I met there an International student from China that I already knew from Early Arrival, and somewhere during our conversation I learned he was heading to the badminton club afterwards. My interest was particularly aroused and he suggested that I came.

At seven o'clock, we arrived at the gymnasium. I was surprised to see that ¾ of the space was for tennis courts. The rest was for badminton. On the one hand, I was eager to play again but on the other hand, I realized immediately how bad I was. As I had not touched a shuttlecock for at least six years, I knew I would be rusty but I did not expect to be that terrible, regarding simple basics such as catching the shuttlecock (in whichever possible direction) and serving. Naturally, the more I know the trainer's attention is on me, the more anxious I get. However, the atmosphere was friendly so little by little, I became more relaxed Fortunately, after about thirty five minutes of practice, my body retrieved the badminton skills it had lost a while ago. The trainer and the pal I went with were both surprised, the latter said “wow, you learn fast!”. The thing is, I have just forgotten!

For two hours and a half, I did have fun playing. I kept laughing and encouraging my teammates and even when I made mistakes I took it lightly. The other players were also nice. Basically, I was the only girl (out of ten people) but far from being a problem, it was very enjoyable. Even when I had P.E at high school, I preferred being with guys for I always found it more challenging and thought they seemed to be more into sports (whereas the girls would be more lazy about it). Overall, I was definitely satisfied of this experience that I am going to renew, now that I know badminton club takes place three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Practising a sport is the best tool to release stress thanks to the endorphins. Contrary to jogging, it feels you have an aim when doing it. What I mean is that the goal is to fight and ultimately win against your opponent, so you know why you have to put so many efforts into it. Whereas jogging bored my brain out, as well as being exhausting. Whenever I gave jogging a try, I would end up being even more hopeless. In my case, I do not last very long before I am out of breath or get a stitch. Besides, what is the point of running? You only go straight ahead, and that is it, basically. B-o-r-i-n-g. When playing badminton, I did not see time fly, and although I had played non-stop for two hours and a half, I did not feel tired.

Living on campus and having so many facilities close to me is definitely a plus. As an addition to that, it is free, so I am pretty happy about being able to play a sport I like, for not only does it make you feel better but it is also health-friendly.

22 years old.

As you can see on the top of my Samsung Galaxy: many notifications from Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Viber, Gmail for my birthday, of course! (thanks again to my Uncle Bernie! Btw, the protection case, both front & back won't stay on the phone, it keeps removing itself...)

 I turned twenty two today. 

Nothing changed, but I knew it was a different day.

Birthdays have never been such a big deal to me for after all, nothing really changes, apart from the fact that we grow older. 

Yet, October 5th is a special day, the only day when you get a lot of attention and that you feel very important. Facebook and Twitter covered me with happy birthday messages, even from people I seldom hear from.

Today was nice though. As I have already said, less ordinary and a bit more special. Here in the USA, when you are the birthday-girl, you are congratulated with hugs (something I am not used to).
The funny thing is that no sooner had I left Middlebury College Bookstore than I saw my roommate and the following occured:

- Hey, what's up?

- I've just come back from the bookstore. 15% off after all, eh!
- 15% off? *confused for less than a second* What? It's your birthday?? Why haven't you told meeeee? Come here for a hug!!

Today was also different from the October 5th of these past twenty one years because it was the first time I was all alone. No parents, no siblings, no grandparents, no uncles, no other relatives. Whenever it is someone's birthday, we would go to my grandparents' house to celebrate it among family members in a simple but warm way. Birthday cake(s) and champagne. The person born on that day would blow the candles then everybody would spent the afternoon together, talking about everything and what-not. That is how my asian family rolls. Family matters! So it was weird not to do anything with them today. As a matter of fact, this made me realize even more how alone I was here.

Although I have never celebrated my birthday with my boyfriend, the fact that we are both very far away from each other is more than tough, and on these special days, bittersweetness is what our lips taste like. Presents-wise, I got to do a bit of shopping at the bookstore and...received an envelope from my boyfriend! It contained a mini photo-album of him and I. He got me something else and is still struggling whether he should ship it to me so I can already have it or if he should listen to his selfish-side that would rather have me open the present on December, so that he can see my reaction. 

Even though it may sound insignificant,it was odd not to wake up in the morning and to see my brother quickly saying "Ouais, joyeux anniversaire!" in a still-sleepy yet trying to be cheerful tone, while my sister would exclaim "bon anniversaire timooyoomotoo!". My parents would be nicer to me on that day, and my mom would call me "ma puce". My grandma and grandpa would be extra-nice and give me extra...notes as well. I find it amusing how my grandma gives them to me, by usually saying "Ong Ba Ngoai cho tien nhưng phả cogan học!" The phone would keep ringing, and everytime my mom would tell me to pick it up because it is for me: who else could it be but my uncles? Hehe.

These are the kind of things that go unnoticed throughout your life but that pop up in your face when you are far away from home, and that makes you realize they are so much more significant than they seem.

 Worse, any birthday-girl would wish her boyfriend was here to cover her with even more affection and attention on that day. At that point, it could be any day, the both of us would cherish every single day we would have together.

Tough it up, 22 year-old birthday girl!

A little trip to Burlington

Burlington, aka a city a bit more urbanized than Middlebury.

                During Orientation Week (right after Early Arrival and before the beginning of classes), not only did we have to choose our courses but we also had plenty of activities, including a trip to Burlington, the most-populated and urban city of Vermont and one hour away from Middlebury (sic). I thought that like at the airport, a Middlebury College van would bring us to the city. Surprise, it was a bus! THE American yellow bus, the one that you always see in movies, video games (The Sims!) as well as cartoons (The Magic School Bus! Ah, goold old times). Back then, the weather was warm and sunny, whereas today was awful: rain, wind, coldness, I have had it all.

THE American school bus!

Isn't it exciting to be in a yellow school bus?

Inside...the school bus.

 

                As you may have already noticed, this article is more of an illustration of Burlington through tons of snapshots, rather than a long text describing what life is like at Middlebury College. Taking as many pictures as possible to remember this trip was therefore much obliged.
It was the first time I got out of Middlebury, and since I will seldom have other opportunities to do so, I jumped on the occasion. Being quite stuck in the middle of nowhere as well as not having a driving license is one of the cons of Middlebury, although this definitely has pros too.

Trees and little houses: typical Vermont scenery.

An hour later, we found civilization again.

The Pedestrian Street.

                Unfortunately, we only had two hours to do whatever we wanted Burlington which was a shame because it was way too little time to really discover the city. I did not do any research about it prior to my visit, something I have just remembered my mother would not do. She likes to print pages and pages of information about what to do, what to explore in a specific area. She would even do it for me, see how helpful and involved she can be! I decided to go to the Pedestrian Street, where a lot of international well-known brands are located. You have guessed well, my intention was to go shopping. After all, from what I have seen so far, Middlebury’s reputation is not based on its fashion sense. This was the unique opportunity to enjoy a girly activity, so it was now or never! 

 

                I entered Macy’s, a mall. For some unknown reason, I really like mall’s atmosphere. Is it because it is so huge yet so comfy? French ones seem to be narrower, having less space and thus more crowded, and few benches. GAP, Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, Aeropostale, Pac Sun, and so on and so forth. A refreshing change from European brands! I ended up buying quite a lot of stuff, justified on the fact plenty of them were on sale and nice. Moreover, I probably will not have the opportunity to go shopping before a while, so why not seize it when possible?

Not so funny when it has happened to you (thanks to my sister)!

I bought one because I found this original and cute but only noticed afterwards it was Mac-shaped...

 

                After two hours, it was already time to go. See you next time, Burlington!