Well i am at Montreal airport now while waiting to board the flight for tomorrow. Or rather later today at 9am. It has been a long journey, with me applying for SEP and getting into McGill after being rejected by Berkeley (sigh!) and then going ahead to fight to be able to go on exchange. Although i didn't manage to save much, it's all thanks to my family that my expenses and all could be thoroughly supported and this whole experience made possible.

Exchange was so surreal and sometimes it felt almost unreal. Haha. I wish i could return to where i left off, and yet sometimes i wish i could be able to be a fusion of the old and new. Not really brand new, but different in some ways. Better cook and homemaker :P

Guess all of these are precious memories to hold on to, and at times i might look back on them and laugh them off. Some incidents are really silly, not worth mentioning, and sometimes we all look back at a certain incident and laugh or bitch about it. But anyway, what matters is that i have enjoyed my SEP, although the exam period was hell and being alone taking such heavy modules wasn't really fun.

Perhaps it would have been better if i had used the money that i spent on exchange to go on a holiday and tour around the States. That might be a more carefree and fun way! Definitely more worth it to enjoy a vacation with those money. Conflicting views sometimes. Ultimately, going on exchange really depends on personal choice. Some might say it's a waste of money, some might say it buys us valuable experiences. Any o how, it's everyone's prerogative.

Today was a mad rush for me, as i flew from San Francisco to Montreal, with a transit at Chicago. We were delayed at SF, because Air Canada changed its flight to United Airlines' and we had to join a very long queue and all to check in. After that we had to join another q (which we accidentally cut the queue because we didn't know where it started from) to go through the security checks and all. After that we walked really fast to our gate and only found out that our flight was delayed by about 1.5 hours. This meant that we missed our Chicago connecting flight to Montreal!

After we reached Chicago, we bolted out to find out if we were slotted onto the next flight heading to Montreal. So we first headed to the United Airlines' check in machines but they couldn't read our tickets. So we ran to some UA gate and asked the guy what to do. Then we RAN to Terminal 2. FIRST TIME IN SEP I RAN SO FAST OKAY, SOMEMORE DRAGGING ONE LUGGAGE! Anyway that's not the point. So we ran to the Air Canada counter since they had the next available flight towards Montreal and HURRAY WE GOT SEATS!

Didn't really sleep for the whole flight, and used the 3 hours watching Shutter Island, which sadly was interrupted by too many announcements by the pilot and i didn't manage to finish the movie. So after we got off we met SY at the airport. The poor guy had been stuck at the airport for the past 20 over hours because his flight back to Singapore got cancelled at the eleventh hour. YIKES.

So we left our barang barang with him and hopped on the 747 express bus from the airport to downtown. J's place was pretty far from the bus stop, so we had to navigate and walk a little. Kind of strange to be back in Montreal, the place where i had lived for the past 5 months! Walking through Ste Catherine and St Urbain felt so so so deja vu. And looking at McGill University is so strange. Paying my bills felt almost like a clear cut from the school already. Felt so sad despite the hell that McGill has given me in the past 5 months.

Then we finally reached J's place and washed up, packed a little and then took a cab towards the airport. Stopped over at Tim Horton's to get our last cup of grande iced cappucino then sped towards the airport. Bringing all our luggages and then met SY. We even packed our stuff in public!

Well, now its just waiting and all before our flight. Sitting in Montreal airport, alone on the marble bench, with people walking here and there, cars passing by, trolleys being pushed, cleaners cleaning the floor, machines buzzing... I feel a sense of loss. Like THIS IS IT! Damn.

AIYOH. Heart ache :| Going back home already... just hope for the best for everything when i return. The people, the money, the stuff and of course, my birthday party. Just want to have a really sweet and memorable 21st birthday party!

Not going to sleep since i am trying to adjust my body clock back to the Singapore timing. All the way till i board the plane!

FEW MORE HOURS TILL I LEAVE FOR SINGAPORE!!!