Not long after the convocation ceremony, there was another exciting day ahead - it was the day to depart to somewhere else that my family and I have always been looking forward to. I was offered to do Master of Science in Computer Science at the
University of San Francisco and my family and I were so excited that I have been offered a placement in that university. My folks were overjoyed, of course, to see their son being offered a placement to study at a prestigious university.
We were to leave Malaysia on August 16, 2006 at 9.15am (Malaysian time) and we left home at 6am. The taxi came exactly on time and we were on our way to the airport. Everything went smoothly and there were no glitches at the airport - we went to the counter and check in our luggage and got ourselves considerably good seats in the aircraft - and my girlfriend was at the airport to send me off. We bade each other farewell. I was sad, I must say, to leave her behind, but I think I must prioritize education first and to see the world at this age. Before my family and I enter the departure hall at about 7.45am, I managed to capture some pictures of ourselves.
The flight to San Francisco International Airport was not a direct flight, instead the Hong Kong International Airport was the transit point to the destination. I got bored before the aircraft took off and began taking pictures. My little sister was just entertaining her big brother. Look at the way she smiled sheepishly - she was busy with the inflight entertainment. There were so many movies, games, documentaries, MTVs and drama. My father was just too tired and he dozed off minutes after the aircraft took off and so was my mother.
We arrived at the HKIA about 1.20pm - the flight took about 4 hours. Well, a 4 hours journey was not that bad afterall with some refreshments and inflight entertainment. We had lunch in the aircraft prior arriving at HKIA and I nudged my sister, who was at that time enjoyed watching her Finding Nemo cartoon, to play Battleship online with me. She never play this game before but she was quite good, though, beating me 2 - 1.
The HKIA is huge. But I think San Francisco International Airport, the SFO, which I was about to go to, is even huger. Probably I shall blog about the airports in the world that I have visited in the coming entry. We also took some pictures at the HKIA before leaving for San Francisco. Check out my picture taking skills with the main subject - my little sister.
We also took pictures in the departure hall. There was a Disneyland outlet selling its merchandise in the departure hall. Well, it was not a big surprise afterall because there is a Disneyland in Hong Kong, too. Since there was a lot of time to spare before we were to leave for San Francisco, my sister went into the shop with my mother. Well, as for your information, the outlet is only as big as Watson's, comparatively. My sister enjoyed her time looking at those cute teenie weenie squashy Disney soft toys. Here are the main Asian Disney casts at the outlet.
I did not miss the chance to take pictures of the airport before leaving for SFO at 4.20pm on August 16, 2006. These pictures are taken at numerous spots in the airport.
We left HKIA at about 5.30pm due to some security measures. Anyway that did not bother us much because we were already in the plane. As a matter of fact, my family were among the first to be in the plane. Off we left for San Francisco on that very evening. Once again, I took pictures of my family members and myself during the flight.
We arrived safely at the San Francisco International Airport on August 16, 2006 at about 4pm (the San Franciscan time is 15 hours behind the Malaysian time). Kenn spotted us at the arrival hall and I was very delighted to have met him there. He took me to the university to settle my housing and apply for the Student ID. After that my parents went to book a hotel in the downtown and finally after we have settled everything, he took my family and I for short tour with the
MUNI bus and introduced to us the routes in San Francisco.
The MUNI bus and the bus ticket look like this. They look interesting, are they not? I am planning to keep this ticket until I graduate in 2008. Notice the expiration of usage on the ticket itself. The hours are indicated on the left side of the ticket while the minutes are indicated on the right side. It works almost similar to the RAPID bus services in Malaysia, except that the ticket lasts for the whole day while the MUNI bus ticket lasts for 90 minutes. As you can see in the picture as shown, I am allowed to use the ticket until 8.30pm.
It was about 7.30pm when we headed to a Chinese restaurant at Clement Street to savour an oriental style dinner. What a filling dinner it was! My parents and Kenn walked me back to the housing which is located nearby the university.
Alright, that was about the first day in San Francisco. More to come in the next entry.
