Salam/ Peace be upon you,
Oh so can’t believe that I’m already in week 6 of my final year 1st semester. Nonetheless, memories of traveling in the USA still lingers strongly in my mind. Can’t believe that that’s over too! As if I was dreaming. Anyways, this post goes to you, F.A.R. 
Picking on where I stopped last time, it should be obvious that this gonna be a long one. Please bear with me, okay? 
To make it easier to follow and less messy, I’ll use the point form.
1. First stop, Delaware
Tanger Outlet in Delaware is one of many shopping paradise located nearest to Wildwood. You can find branded items there i.e. Levi’s, Coach, Hush Puppies, etc at a much lower price. A thing that makes it more attractive compared to the one in Atlantic City is that there is no sales tax there meaning that you can shop more, for less! I went there with Christy and Soon Kiat by ferry, Cape May – Lewes Ferry to be exact, and it took us about 1 and a half hour to arrive there from Cape May jetty. By the end of the day they spent about 600 dollars, each. While the only thing that I bought is a pair of Levi’s jeans. I’m not much of a spender, I guess and I’m kinda saving my money to pay back to my dad (haha..guess how it goes).
Somewhere in Cape May
Sun bathing atas feri
Lupa nak mention, Tanger outlet ni ada 3 part; Bayside, Seaside n *lupa*. Wiki lah sendiri kalau nak tahu. haha..
This one shopaholic girl..
*There’s actually a lot more interesting pics but I wanna save place for more stories to come.
2. A visit to Cape May Zoo
I’ve actually went there before but then it was closed. So this time I went there again, fully aware of its opening hours. And again, it was a very hot day.
Notice anything weird about this chick?
So, is zebra black with white stripes or is it white with black strips? question, question..
Rasanya sign ni patut tak letak kat Malaysia?
3. Running away from Irene!
Well this is interesting. Actually earlier on the week when Hurricane Irene pays a visit to Jersey Shore, we had had an earthquake tremor with the epicenter somewhere in Virginia. Earthquake on the East coast is a rare occurrence and experiencing this 2 natural disaster back to back in the same week is exciting, at least for me it is. Not that I’m unaware of its threats and danger but this is my first experience facing such natural disaster and that eagerness is actually there. We’re lucky that Morey’s Piers and CIEE were there to help us evacuate when the governor pass the order for total evacuation of Cape May County due to Irene. We were brought to Brookefields Elementary School for shelter then.
There were no showers there and we stayed for about 2 days. Lucky that my body odour isn’t that strong. Or is it? I have no idea. Anyways, staying there with ample supply of food but doing nothing really is a boredom.
Evacuees waiting for the bus.
Stone, *unkown guy* and Soon Kiat getting all excited to evacuate
The boardwalk was deserted
Briefing with Denise.
Piles of foodstocks
4. Raya Celebration
This is my 1st Raya without my family around and of course, I felt a little bit sad. But thankfully, my mom’s serunding (something like beef floss, just in case you don’t know) which I’ve brought along and kept inside the freezer for 3 months is still good! And thankfully, I still got friends to celebrate it with! Yin, Christy and Darren came to have dinner at my place on the 1st day of Raya. The next day, I went to celebrate it with my Muslims brothers in Mag House 2; Saif, Malek and *lupa nama dia*. Ah, and I almost forgot, two other Malaysians also joined us then, Anne and Shu. Except for the Malaysians, others find the serunding as “killingly” hot. hehe…
Raya with Yin, Christy and Soon Kiat.
Jamuan raya yang tak seberapa, nasib baik ada serunding. weow!
Raya at Mag House 2 with Saif here, and Malek.
5. Small reunion at State College, Pennsylvania
On the first Raya weekend, I went to Penn. State College to visit my cousin, Yuyu. I took a bus to Atlantic city (about an hour), then took a train from there to Philadelphia (1 1/2 hour), then again I took a bus to State College (about 4 hours) and arrived at Walmart parking lot. All in all, it took me about 12 hours for the journey plus the waiting part. There, I stayed at a friend’s place, Izzat whom I’ve known since secondary school. I was really lucky when I came because Malaysian students there are going to organize a Raya open house the very next day!
I helped Izzat’s housemate, Puten, who happens to be a friend of a friend of mine (what a small world!) to prepare briyani rice and “ayam masak merah”. He’s a really good cook! I have no idea how those colourful rice are prepared before and now I know. The function next day was great (these people can really cook!) but since I knew no one besides Izzat, my cousin, and a few newly made friends, I remain silence most of the time. And that gave me more time to waste on eating (which is rather awesome) than chatting. haha.. Later that night we and some of my cousin’s friends went to the creamery to taste the college’s ice cream. Then, I got a free college tour from Puten. The facilities are really great and I gotta admit here that I’m jealous. lol.
Waiting for train to Philly
Philly Map
The City Hall
Somewhere in Philadelphia
Waiting for the bus at 29th Street
Oh, did i forgot to mention that the bus got wifi? 4 hours of journey doesn't seems so bad at all, ain't it?
Puten, freshie and Izzat, holding nunu.
Getting ready for the event (though I didn't have the pics there with me so this is as good as it gets)
At the creamery entrance
Melantak ice cream
Old main.. (lebih kurang macam Canseleri dekat UM)
With college mascot, Nittany
With... *tah lupa..
PSU
I stayed there for 3 days, came back to Wildwood on Monday night. And my flight to LA is the very next day, from New York! Oh God! It was actually quite hectic as I had to rush packing my things and prepare for the trip to NY early morning. I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye properly to some and I felt really bad for that. And this post really needs a break now. I’ll update it shortly (say, in a week’s time). Is that ok with you, F.A.R?
Till then, take care!
