Western Culture (part 2 of previous post)

This is a long overdue entry, partly because of nagging assignments and deadlines, but mainly due to sheer laziness on my part. Nevertheless, I shall continue the odyssey of the campus in this entry and fill you in on events that transpired when we first arrived at the campus.




An open air concert in the evening for Frosh week (i.e. Freshies' Orientation). The temperature for that night must have been 15ºC at the most, I was freezing to death in my dri-fit T-shirt that night.




Pursued by murderers, muggers, rapists, hooligans? Fear not, emergency posts like these are erected all along the campus's walkway. Help is just a button away, but let's hope we won't get to use it, hahahaha.

For the first time in my life, I get to watch a live football match (not to be confused with soccer), and the game night is HUGE. Crowds thronged the stadium, entire families were gathered to watch the match between the Western Mustangs (UWO's home team) and their rivals, the York Lions. Fortunately for us, students of UWO watch the game for free and like any true blue Singaporeans, we rarely let free stuffs slip us by. Jiahao and Allan who hardly know anything about the game watched the game enthusiastically anyway. As we reached the stadium after the opening ceremony, we got ourselves pretty rotten seats. We were seated at the furthest row of the stadium and did I mentioned the stadium was not sheltered? Gusts of strong and bone chilling wind swept down on us as we tried desperately to rub our palms or put them between our thighs to keep ourselves warm. It was futile. But the skimpily dressed cheerleaders and the adrenaline of the crowd managed to make things slightly more bearable.





The Mustang's home stadium, think the maximum capacity of this stadium is more than 10,000.


We only have to smile once and our cheek muscles will be frozen in place. That night was really cold, the 3 of us were shivering throughout most of the match, and for the first time in my life, I begin to wish that another 20 pounds of fats could miraculously be transfered to my body to insulate me from the wind.



Cheerleaders!!!! I must say they're really a cut above the ones we have in Singapore... I cursed when Jiahao's camera ran low on battery and no further pictures of cheerleaders could be taken. I will never buy another Energizer battery.


The Western's mascot, predictably, a Mustang. It is dragging a doll in the form of a lion with it, talk about Voodoo magic.



The game was intense at every quarter, we had a really good view of the game when we decided to move all the way down the grand stand.


A forlorn looking Jiahao was left behind at the stadium when the game ended.

It was a mind blowing first week in UWO, activities after activities were strewn at our faces and we could hardly rest our foot for a moment. But isn't that what exchange is all about? Immersing in every activities possible, experiencing the time of your life and more importantly, milk the money worth you have spent so far! (I'm a Singaporean after all)