Kuala Lumpur

Since it's been a while since my last blog, be prepared to read a little bit. Actually, I'm a little lazy and might just put up a ton of pictures from the past week. Classes have started and I'm not officially set in what I want to take because the registration system is pretty weak and I can't start bidding for classes until Monday at 3pm. I don't really want to explain bidding because I don't quite get the system myself but it's complicated and tedious and a pain for exchange students. But, from what I have attended, I am really enjoying my sports marketing class and "understanding china's economic situation" class. Some of my classes have a lot of exchange students and some of them have none. So hopefully I'll become better friends with some locals soon. :)

On another note...my roommates and I and a few other exchange students took our first trip this weekend! It was very spontaneous and very unlike me. In fact, I had come back from dinner with Evelina (who I finally got to spend some quality time with--aka she showed me around her "hometown" and took me out to eat and took amazing care of me)and my roommates go, "Jes, on Thursday we're going to KL. we've booked the hostel already and we're getting the bus tickets tomorrow." That was on Tuesday night. So...needless to say, I had no idea what was going on because I thought my roommates had planned everything but...no that wasn't really the case. We arrived in KL after a six hour bus ride, got ripped off by a taxi to the hostel, and then planned our next three days on the spot. I've never really gone on a trip where nothing was planned, but I tried to remain calm and collected while the others figured it out. And everything worked out for the best. Staying in the hostel was an experience...something that I probably wouldn't ever want to do again but probably will if we keep taking mini-weekend trips. But hey, what can you do? When you're a student in college and traveling around south east Asia you can't be spending tons of money on hotels, right? So...in KL, we visited the famous Petronas Twin Towers, KL Tower, Chinatown, Batu Caves, National Mosque, and a few other local areas.

Ready for the slideshow?

A few apartment pics:


Me and my roommates at a delicious chicken and rice restaurant near our apartment: (sorry it's kind of blurry)


SMU at night:



Yay! hanging out with Evelina!!


All of us getting ready to go to Kuala Lumpur!

(Henrik, Guillaume, Markus, Me, Jackie, Alice, Jack, Laura, & Vincent)

Yay! After an hour and a half we made it into Malaysia!


Us on our beds at the hostel:



Loving the drinks they sell in Malaysian supermarkets


Riding the LRT -- Sorry this picture has no real significance besides the hilariousness of the asian woman walking next to me...


Our destination point: Menara Kuala Lumpur Tower -- a 94m telecommunications tower


Trekking through the forest to get there...


We made it!! Listening to headguides and being really touristy...


View from the KL tower of the surrounding area and the Petronas Twin Towers (our next stop!):


But first!! Visiting the KL Animal Zone...



I'm seriously debating about getting a pet snake when I grow up...


View of the Petronas Towers up close:
Day:
Night:

Me and Jackie in front of The New Year arrangement inside the Petronas Towers:


Doing the "SMU Jump" (which is what it's called here by SMU students but what I've been doing at home with the Pod since forever!) in front of Prada


The four of us at the National Mosque:


The four of us in the Historial District:


Me and Jackie being wealthcats in front of the Batu Caves:


Climbing up the 272 stairs...


Inside the Batu Caves:


Drinking coconut juice...


Getting our feet eaten by fish?!?!


We may look happy in this picture but it was quite frightening...


On our way home...


Goodbye Malaysia!