St Paul, Minnesota

One of the most important spelling word in US’s context, is Mississippi. For some reason the many “S’s” and “P’s” make this a popular question posed to preschoolers. People will often think that Mississippi river originates from Mississippi, but they are wrong! The river actually starts near St Paul’s, Minnesota.

Being a twerp, I actually screamed at my friend to slow down as we were crossing this bridge where the river ran underneath it. It was a historical moment for me. A pity I didn’t manage to snap a good photo of it.

As we didn’t really have time exploring St Paul’s we just buzzed around the State Capitol and Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. I even had the honour of popping into a chapel for a good 15 minutes.

So here are some photograph of my friends and I fooling around in the park and beyond.

Poonam and I taking a snap shot of the State Capitol, at the road divider.

The Chapel which we hopped in for a 15 minutes service.

Inside the Chapel

And one of my favourite shots. Except for the cut off Chapel.

And we went amok in the sculpture park…

Apparently this is quite a famous sculpture - Spoonbridge and Cherry.

Framed.

I’m swinging…

Glass Fish housed inside the sculpture building.

Ahh.. Fall, one of the loveliest time of the year…

Ahh.. The good life of an exchange student

Minneapolis - Mall of America

About two years ago, I took a 6 hours drive down with my friends to Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Because I was travelling so much, 6 hours was really easy-peasy.

Our first stop, was to have breakfast at a pancake house (can’t remember where it was). We headed to our motel much later (after our shopping trip). It was quite a hilarious sight squeezing 6 people into a tiny room. The girls had the beds, and the boys had to sleep on the floor or any available space in the room.

Thereafter, it was a FULL day of shopping at the biggest mall in America, “The Mall of America”. It is suppose to be huge, but to a shoppaholic, I had secretly hoped it was bigger. We had about 6 plus hours to conquer the entire mall. We left the mall at about 1900? I can’t remember why, even though the closing time for the mall is slated to be at 2130.

In the Mall of America, there are 4 departmental stores - Nordstorm, Macy’s, Sears and Bloomingdale’s. There is also Barnes and Nobles.  I still remember that we parked near Bloomindale’s. The stalls were all so alluring, I bought quite a lot of stuff - even though I was a broke student.

I bought this pair of slippers for US$2 from Charlotte Russe - wore it to death as my dorm slippers. And I bought the forever 21 top from the flagship store for US$29 (I think).

I also bought a pair of pretty flats for US$19.90 (sale!) from famous footwear, which I also wore to death throughout my adventures in Canada, US and even in Singapore - I only had 2 pairs of sports shoes and 1 slipper when I went on exchange - how dumb ehz?

I didn’t buy any knickers from Victoria Secrets. but I remember spending a good amount of time in Abercrombie and Fitch - I was so tempted to buy this US$80 hooded jacket. Sigh, I was such a poor student, that I didn’t visit the Club Monaco store in MOA - wait, I think I didn’t know of its existence till 1 month later. J Crew didn’t leave an impression on me, so my friend and I didn’t go into the store. I didn’t remember seeing a H&M store then, if not I would have bought lots of stuff. We did stop by Auntie Annie’s to grab a pretzel. And I so should have gone into True Religion! The jeans would have been such great buys at such cheap prices, given that it was the sale season. Darn.

I was also a Chanel-idiot then - can you imagine, I actually gasp at my sister for buying the Chanel classic pearls necklace - If not, I would have spend most of my time getting my hands on one of the 2.55. When it was WAY much cheaper. Who cares about lugging 3 luggage bags, 4 paper bags, and one laptop bag? A 2.55 would have been puuurfect.

Other sights worth mentioning is that there is this a Nickelodeon Universe right smack in the middle of the mall. There is a roller-coaster, a mini-pet farm and a mini underwater world.

Nickelodeon land in the day

Nickelodeon land at night

Oh there is Lego shop too! And did I mention, level 4 is a theatre wonderland. Plus a hooters.

Food-wise, there are plenty to choose from. My friends and I ate at this cutesie place called Kokomo’s Island Cafe (level 3). We ordered a big palette of seafood and pork ribs. What joy.

Notice the braid in my hair? I did it Disneyland in LA. I would do anything to have it done again.

Coming up sometime this week, a continuation of my adventure in Minnesota - to the lovely St Pauls.

Up and up!

Reaching out for the sky and beyond.

The beauty of faith.

Late last year, I was blessed with the opportunity to travel North America. I have been able to witness the beauty of many famous sites like Niagara Falls for example. Ever since then, for the past couple of months, I sat at home and pondered about the wonders of life.

We are really living in a beautiful world.

Snip Snip

Snip, snip.

Prune, prune.

For a big and tall tree like the ones in red woods.

And with roots so deep, it has a strong firm foundation!

Miss the magnificent aroma and freshness you get after a short walk in the Muir woods. It’s like, up one year worth of life!