Winter Break 2011: Part 2

Assalamualaikum

Sebenarnya tadi dalam class banyak jugak mengelamun teringat kawan-kawan kat Intec
Sindrom tengok semua orang baru upload gambar winter break di Facebook mungkin
Kemudian teringat dekat dua orang kawan yang boleh dipeluk bila-bila masa - Eton and Izzati
So rasa nak update pasal Florida sikit lagi. Last part lah kot.

Jadi lepas balik dari Bahamas, kami pergi pula ke Key West
To be honest, kalau bukan kerana trip ni, Key West pun tak tahu apa
Yes I am a loser :S

Alright guys, presenting Key West FL, Paradise USA O.o
Sebenarnya Key West ni, like any other islands
Sama je, ada pantai, boleh mandi manda, bersukan dan sebagainya
Tapi apa yang buat Key West lain daripada pulau lain ialah dia adalah tempat paling selatan di USA
It is the home for southernmost point of USA

Ini adalah main picture spot untuk semua tourist yang datang ke Key West walaupun dia cuma satu monumen kaku yang berwarna warni. Apa yang menarik tentang monumen ni, tourist dekat sini educated. Untuk bergambar dekat monumen ni pun ada barisan yang sangat lurus lagi teratur walaupun takde sesiapa suruh. Good people good. 

Another picture spot di Key West, Mile 0 sign board. Seperti kanak-kanak noob, I didn't even understand why such signboards could attract tourists. Luckily ada mereka terangkan apa significant nya signboard ni geographically. Basically, Mile 0 ini adalah starting point untuk US Route 1, which is the major south-north US Highway. Highway ni bermula dia Key West dan habis dekat border US Canada dekat Maine, nun jauh di utara. Bayangkanlah berapa ribu batu panjangnya. Okay yang itu agak menarik.

Besides that kitorang juga pergi Ft Zachary Taylor Historical State Park, the southernmost state park in the US. This place is interesting and beautiful, bayaran masuk pun murah. Yes, I loike lawatan sambil belajar sejarah.

Our next destination was Universal Studios Orlando
Yes, I have been to Universal Hollywood before but obviously I don't mind going to Universal Orlando again because I wanna go the famous Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
Lagi pulak, dulu pergi Universal cuma 1 hari and so much things to do, so this time rasa nak relax sikit, so we bought 3 days pass. Okaylah I guess. No rushing at all and we had a good time.

To be honest, lawatan ke Universal Studios mungkin akan jadi sedikit bosan kalau kita dah pernah pergi mana-mana Universal Studios. Lawatan ke Orlando hari tu agak bosan pada hari yang pertama, which I went to Universal Studios production set. Mana taknya, almost all of the shows are pretty much the same, even the rides! For first timers, I bet they had so much fun, like all my friends from Iowa State. :)

Then here it is! The main attraction of Orlando, Hogwarts! As a fan of Harry Potter, memang rasa nak pengsan  sebab dapat masuk Hogwarts. Okay I am exaggerating. Tapi serious rasa sangat magical. With all those living pictures inside the castle, I must say that Wizarding World of Harry Potter sangatlah best. Kalaulah boleh transfer credit, dah lama apply Hogwarts. Tapi Hogwarts ada offer engineering ke? Yang di bawah ni adalah our only one group picture. I love this one. 

Tapi hari kedua adalah awesomeeee. Sebab ada Harry Potter! :D That is the only reason I wanna go to Orlando anyway. So puas lah hati. Lagi-lagi untuk orang yang tak berapa nak naik ride, like Izzati and I. Bila je pun dapat merasa nak pergi Hogsmeade and Hogwarts kan? Yang paling best in Orlando, I had the opportunity to spend so much time with my best roommate ever, Izzati :)

Since I am blessed with quite an average height for women, I am allowed to ride all the rides, but who cares! I don't do outdoor rides. I prefer to be the camerawoman when it comes to all those things. I guess people like it because I can take care of their stuffs while they go for the rides hehe. *Okay memang penakut pun. But that is the reason I love travelling with Eton and Izzati. Even Eton loves doing all those things, dia sangat supportive bila time nak naik rides, tak macam certain orang nak ejek-ejek penakut whatsoever. She holds my hand even on very simple rides. Izzati pun sama. See, thats why I love them so much :)

Kalau nak compare Universal Orlando and Universal Hollywood, memang dua-dua ada kelebihan masing-masing. While Orlando has more interesting and challenging rides, I think Hollywood's show and filming sets are more exciting. In fact, I think Hollywood serves more toward educating people to film making compare to Orlando, which the main point is to make people having fun.

Since I know that Universal Studios will bring so much fun to all my sisters (especially Safiyyah the youngest one) I was thinking of bringing them to Universal Singapore. Yes, Piah has always been excited when she looked at my pictures with all animated characters. Nanti ada rezeki kita pergi eh Piah :)

Sebelum balik, we went to Miami. Oh ye Miami adalah bandar yang sangat mahal while takde banyak attraction sangat pun kecuali it is just another beach. Tapi menarik jugak sebenarnya pantai dia exclusive. Personally, I see Miami as the 'Little Vegas'. Dekat Miami mandi laut sikit lagi, enjoy the heat, makan kfc halal, and then head back to Ohio. Back to winter.

Basically thats all what I did during winter break
Now class baru start seminggu, tapi rasa macam dah start 9 minggu
Atikah tolong jangan buat perangai -,-

Winter Break 2011: Bahamas

Assalamualaikum

Lepas beberapa hari sampai rumah, setel laundry, kemas barang-barang last quarter dan bersedia untuk quarter baru yang akan bermula 3 Januari ni, barulah terasa bersemangat untuk update pasal trip Florida hari tu.

Okay mari bermula dengan first week.

As I mentioned in the previous post, we went to almost the whole Florida, from north to south (although we missed some attractions). Florida is known as the sunshine state, and it is really blessed with a lot of sunshine. As the temperature mostly above 20 degrees, winter in Florida is just warm and windy. Tepi pantai dia janganlah cakap. But overall, Florida and Bahamas are beyond awesome. They are beautiful and people there called me "Honey" :D

Our very first destination was Bahamas. And yes, it was my first time being on a cruise. :)

This is our ship. Time ni kami atas boat nak balik atas ship lepas seharian berjemur di private island Norwegian Cruise. Ramai yang tanya, macam mana naik cruise ni sebenarnya? I had the same question too on my first day. Basically what we did was something like this. Around 5.00 pm kapal akan boarding and pukul 7.00 am camtu sampai pulau. Bila sampai dekat pulau, it depends nak turun or stay on kapal. Begitulah selama 4 malam.

First stop! Grand Bahama Island. Time ni still pening-pening tak biasa tidur atas cruise. 

Second day, Nassau. Ada massage therapy betul-betul tepi pantai. So cool. Bahamas ni ada banyak pantai, boleh pilih nak public ke private. Kalau private kena bayarlah.  

Nassau (sebut "Nasso") adalah capital city Bahamas. Basically, Bahamas is still developing but the country itself is very nice. The natives speak English fluently and know how to treat tourists. Since Nassau is the capital city, dia agak maju compare to Freeport and ada banyak gerai, kedai, even Starbucks and Hard Rock Cafe. I wonder how much money the country earn from tourism.

Last destination is Stirrup Cay Island, the private island owned by Norwegian Cruise itself. Perhaps my favorite one. Air dia cantik, biru, bersih, and not that crowded, so dekat sini tewas dengan godaan air laut, lalu terjun bermandi manda di gigi air.

Basically, here are some tips to go to Bahamas/cruise

• Sila google dan print out segala information tentang Bahamas and what you really looking for there. Sebab atas cruise tu nak bayar internet sangatlah mahal and Bahamas is outside US so kena roaming data which is fairly expensive.
• Make sure you bring semua identification documents. Passport, I-20, debit card etc. Secure everything in a safe and easy-to- reach place.
• Prepare cash yang secukupnya sebelum naik cruise bagi mengelakkan cas outside bank. Bahamas ada matawang dia sendiri, but they accept US Dollar everywhere so it won't be a problem. Cash pun cuma untuk transportation ke pulau je. Kalau nak shopping atas cruise, you can link all your expenses directly to your credit or debit card so it is not really an issue.
• Make use of everything you have on your cruise! Pergi setiap activity yang ada, guna setiap facilities, and snap a lot of pictures haha. You've paid a lot so you deserve everything that is considered 'free on board'
• Bawa compass qiblat and make sure check everytime before nak solat sebab kapal bergerak kan. Jadi kena make sure kita menghadap arah qiblat yang betul.
• Bawa satu botol penuh sunblock ye jangan lupa. You don't want to get that kind of free souvenir from Bahamas.
• Enjoy your cruise and trip! Sometimes weather kurang nice, hujan or ombak mengganas, but be positive and look at the brighter side. Observe and think about everything you see. Compare and analyze the culture, lifestyle etc. It is fun and meaningful.

Overall, being on a cruise is an awesome experience. Give it a try and you'll have a memorable experience!

Winter Break 2011

Assalamualaikum

Alhamdulillah I am here again, back in Columbus after more than two weeks on vacation to the other part of US, South America, or literally, Florida and Bahamas

I went to many places which I have never imagined of - all of them are beyond beautiful mashaAllah

As I am a faithful lover of beaches and islands, I must say that Florida is a perfect destination for me

Besides that, this trip taught me a lot about culture, geography and other qualities which are very interesting in my point of view (they might don't make sense to you)

I really hope I can blog more about this road trip, but I have to get my sleep for now

InshaAllah if ada rezeki, I will write more about this since there are also few tips I wanna share, especially if any of you guys are interested of having a road trip to Florida

Basically, here are the places I visited during last two weeks. (ihsan google maps)

Till then, take care and enjoy the remaining days of 2011! :)

Final and Football

Assalamualaikum

10 minggu dah berakhir, alhamdulillah
Sekarang tinggal nak final je minggu depan
Semoga semua urusan semua kawan-kawan OSU dipermudahkan :)

Btw #nw MSU vs WISC Big Ten Championship Game sambil tengok timeline twitter
Serious seronok tengok Fatin Inani and Farah Izni tweet pasal football
Semangat gila, macam time Harimau Malaya lawan Garuda dah diorang update hehe
Tinggal nama je tukar jadi Spartans and Badgers
And nama pulak, adjust sikit jadi nama American
Isn't that interesting?
Tak pernahlah terfikir, as a Perempuan Melayu, akan minat tengok American Football
Dah lah ganas, tak pernah dapat exposure pun, bukan macam soccer
Tapi boleh semangat kan? haha
Effect of being in Big Ten universities, maybe?

Pape pun, the new head coach is here.
Soo..Welcome back Buckeyes!
Can't wait for the next football season

Okay focus balik, nak final ni :D

Rand (11,11,11)

Assalamualaikum

First of all, I wanna let you guys know that I am soooo happy because tomorrow (or today literally), is a holiday for Ohio State yeayy!
Pathetic huh? But this is my first not-so-normal-one-day-holiday after seven weeks of classes
Still, I will be working at 5pm tomorrow, but never mind, working is always the best treatment of my day
I have two midterms next week, and then I will get myself ready for the finals
My dad will be 54 this Monday, and I haven't found anything special enough for him (not good -,-)
And insyaAllah, exactly one month from now, I will be on a plane for my winter break vacation tehee

Speaking of birthday, if any of you are thinking about giving someone special a birthday gift but everything looks so typical, why don't you visit my mom's blog? Not only that you can choose whatever design you like or perhaps invent it yourself, you will surely make people happy. Chocolate is flexible, nice and yummyy. I mean, who doesn't love chocolate? I know that little fact very well. I mean, it's my job Sir. (this might be ambiguous but yes, it is really my job!)

% Note that rand() is actually a matlab function for a random integer. I've just finished my MATLAB             % homework just now, so sorry guys, I am still in programming mood lol 
% Tomorrow will be an important day for me! Do pray for me :D

Eid Mubarak!

Assalamualaikum

Bila bulan Zulhijjah menjelma, maknanya kita akan berhari raya qurban

Qurban, sebenarnya terlalu sinonim dengan semua manusia, tak begitu?

Tak kisahlah belajar, kerja, tua, muda

Terlalu panjang kalau nak elaborate

By the way, ni kali pertama jejak ke Noor Islamic Cultural Center di Dublin

Rupanya dekat je, dalam 20 minit

Kalau nak tahu, NICC ini lah penarik utama waktu nak apply ke Ohio State

Sebab nampak macam lawa and tenang sangat

And you know what, indeed, it is extremely beautiful and calming :) 

Hari ini jadi satu hari yang banyak pengajaran

Dari start khutbah raya berbicara tentang syukur

Memerhati ragam hari raya Muslim pelbagai bangsa

Beraya di Lavash makan kambing lol

Sampailah ke malam hari

Harap-harap biarlah hari ni betul-betul penuh keberkatan, sinonim dengan ungkapan Eid Mubarak tu sendiri inshaAllah!

ps: favorite picture of the day. raya di musim luruh :)

Five More!

Mahu berjalan-jalan melihat bumi Allah lagi boleh?
Rasa mahu ketawa tanpa perlu memikirkan programming dan reading yang berlambak-lambak
Winter break cepatlah datang
5 minggu lagi insyaAllah, can't wait to meet my girlfriends!

ps: Tak sabar nak tunggu my first iPhone :) #random