Chapel Hill - The beginning

After spending one night in my friends' room, we woke up early next morning to board a Amtrak train down to North Carolina. The train trip was going to be long, but the consolation was that that particular train came with power supply and wifi.

Outside the train station.


My friend's New York Times. It cost US$2.50 for a set of newspapers!


Still in the Christmas mood.


Our train reached our station on time, but left behind schedule. Legroom was wide enough, and came with tables for us to use. Better than Malaysia's KTM trains.


Random scenery outside.


I liked how this photo turned out.The Sun was rising just as the train started moving, so this guy was taking photos of it.


And of course, me too.


Scenery wasn't as nice all the time, but good thing there is the wifi to keep me company.


We reached Washington DC slightly after noon, where it was an official break where we could alight the train to stretch our muscles and smoke.


Our train.


Washington DC, being the capital city, looked different.


Not sure if its a famous building or just some random church haha.


Just like KTM's train, there was a canteen car where we could buy food and sit down to eat. Here I was with a cup of coffee.


Other travellers in the canteen car.


I liked how they provided this cupboard for us to put our food and drink on, so we could bring our food back to our seats and eat.


We finally reached our destination after the Sun set, about an hour behind schedule.


Durham Station!


Even though the United States has one of the lowest riderships numbers among developed countries when it comes to train travel, train operations there are no doubt complex, and go way back to a long time.


First meal at Franklin Street just outside UNC: 酸甜鸡. Looks like I do not need to worry about missing Chinese food anymore haha. Portions were huge though.


Our dining hall has not opened yet, so the following morning it was McDonalds for breakfast. This is their Big Breakfast, which is all the same as Singapore's except the bread is different.


Granville Towers East is where I live! Exterior reminds me of military barracks though; maybe because the windows look small haha.


Basketball court.


Play at your own risk!


"We're interested in keeping folks safe who are expressing themselves."


Student Store, kinda like our Co-Op. Everything from textbooks to stationery to laptops to UNC shirts can be found here.


Instead of canteens, they have dining halls like this where students can sign up for meal plans. Those who do not do so have to cook and/or buy their own meals. Granville Towers where I stay comes with a compulsory meal plan.


Eight storey high Davis Llibrary much like our Central Library.


Campus map! Most of my lessons are in the north area of the campus, very near to Granville Towers.


Fellow Singaporeans posing for a photo.


Much like old universities we usually see in photos, UNC buildings all have this old style architecture.


The Old Well that sits right in the middle of campus. In the middle of the Well is a water cooler where you can drink the water from on the first day of lessons to get your As.


At Ram's Book Store along Franklin Street. One thing I like about here is the ability to rent books for use throughout the semester, and return them when the semester ends. NUS should have something like this.


Bell Tower that rings, err, often. I don't know the frequency.


What is this place?


Ta-da! Its one of very few buildings around campus where they actually said what this building is exactly for. For many other buildings, they just had names like Peabody Hall or Murray Hall or Mitchell Hall.

That's all I have for now!