Goodbye State College

Assalamualaikum :)

Anticipating for my flight back to Malaysia, I had about one more month to spend some time with my friends before leaving the States for good. Apart from Midwest Games and 'travelling', I spent the last few days with really good friends (like Lynn :D):

- Spent some quality time with Kelly and her lovely friend Cindy! Talked a lot about religion and found out so many similarities between Christianity and Islam! :)

 

*Kelly, Me and Cindy! :)*

- I was also VERY VERY lucky to be able to visit John's house at the countryside (aka kampung :P) of Pennstate! John was my art lecturer a during my freshman/sophomore year :) And he had invited me to go to his home for a veryyyy longgg time but I didn't get the chance to :( So I went to actually meet him for the last time at one of his art classes before going back; this was on Thursday, and we then made an arrangement to visit his home on Saturday! Which is ONE day before going back!!! XD Alhamdulillah!!! :) so very very happy to finally be able to visit his home :) 

We first visited his working studio, where all his artworks are brilliantly placed! Also to be noted that the renovations done on his studio was all done by him with the help of friendly neighbors/friends! XD (which looks super awesome!! XD)

 

*Part of his studio! :D*

We then visited the pond near his studio, the green house and Debbie's garden too! :D (Debbie is John's partner :D)

 

*Some claypots made by Debbie! :)*

 

*Super pretty flowers! :D*

 

*SubhanAllah!! :D*

 

*Daisies :)))*

Debbie sells her fresh flowers at the fresh market downtown! :D And they are all oh so prettyyyy and beautiful!! XD

 

*The beautiful pond! :)*

 

*John brought us canoe-ing!! :D he also went for a swim later too haha XD*

 

*Picked a lotus! SUPER BIG and PRETYYYYY :D*

 We then headed to Debbie's place for a simple lunch! Her house was so neat and cozy!! XD Both of them prepared a nice meal for us awwwww thank you so muchhh!! :) (and yes John was so sweet by helping Debbie out! XD) and John also had to put his dog away as he knew how we were with dogs! XD but his dog was HUGE and white and SO CUTE! XD

 

*Lunch made by Debbie and John!! :D*

 

*oh the natural 'sauna' in the forest! XD*

John then sent us back home to our apartment (yes he also came to pick us up, where the drive is 20 minutes away! Thank you so much John sob3 *terharu nih* T^T 

Well, I then left State College for good after properly running some errands like closing my bank account. Also buying Pennstate souvenirs haha XD I will miss you State College! Especially my dear friends that I have met over the last four years :) Please do keep in touch, and I apologize if I have done anything that might have wronged any of you in anyway. It is indeed my carelessness and clumsiness if I have done any harm :'( Truly I meant to hurt no one, I'm sorry if I did in anyway at all. Insya-Allah, I hope I have done more good than harm during my stay here in the States :) I will miss you all, and also I hope to not forget how I found Islam in this foreign country :') 

It's funny how it takes you so long to find something that has been so close to you and has always been there for you. Insya-Allah, I have found my love for You oh Allah, and also for Muhammad, peace be upon him :') And I pray to keep this love forever with me no matter what may come, amin :')

Alhamdulillah, thank you for all the memories oh Allah. I will indeed cherish them, as You DO know what is best for me :) hihii cayangggggg Allah! Alhamdulillah Allahuakbar :) :) <3

Hey Malaysia, I'm home.

- Fresh Grad ;)

Fresh Market :D

Assalamualaikum! :D

So today I went to the Fresh Market with my friend Lynn! :) I wanted to meet up with her and have lunch or dinner before going back, but she kindly invited me to join her to go 'shopping' at the Fresh Market! :D She then came over with her husband and two ADORABLE dogs to pick me up and we went to the market! :D

*thankfully she knew about me n dogs so she let me sit in front awayyy from the dogs hahaha XD*

The market was a very small decent market :) Just like the pasar tani or pasar malam back in Malaysia! But it is wayyy bigger and there are much more stalls in those pasars compared to the ones at this market XD So I just accompanied Lynn to get some vegetables and ground beef :) She also got some cookies, bread and pizza too!

At the stall where she asked for ground beef, the guy was also selling wooden accessories! I.e. earrings, rings and pendants or keychains :) They looked really pretty and nice! :D

I don't remember exactly how, but Lynn ended up introducing me to him by saying "She just graduated!" and the guy looked at me and said oh really?? (I think? BAD MEMORY KICKS IN T_T) I think he then asked me where I was from, and I said 'Malaysia' and all of a sudden he held out his hand and introduced himself as Jessie. I (surprised) introduced myself back as Iliani. And then Lynn said 'She's gonna be going back this weekend!' and then Jessie suddenly said 'Aww that's too bad!'

I just laughed and smiled :D then we headed off and I said nice meeting you!

*This is the first time that an American guy (or so you may think he is American; STEREOTYPE kicks in!) actually said something like that to me, introducing himself first too! And he wasn't that bad too wahahahhahaa *okie okie behave* :P well at least he had a nice smile! XP

(Thank you Allah for making me happy today for that 1 minute hihihihi :D)

Lynn wanted to watch the cooking-demo the had in the center of the market, but then we had to go back early because they can't just leave her dogs out for too long (her husband walked the dogs while she bought groceries :D)

I then ended up spending the evening+having dinner at her place, because I really had no plans this evening and Lynn didn't mind having me yayyyy! :D We talked a lot, and dinner was delicious!! :D Tankiu2 Lynnnn for the great dinner you made me!! :)
Also while chit-chatting, one of her dogs really came close to me; wanting me to pat her (it's a she XD) and after a while since I couldn't pat her, I started walking around the house and she followed me awwwwwwww SUPER DUPER CUTE!!!! XD XD too bad I couldn't pat herr aaaaaaaaa XD

But I did have to 'wash' my socks and jeans later on because she would always langgar2 my jeans adoi2 XD and there was this once I was standing in the kitchen, and the other dog came into the kitchen; he wanted to go to Lynn initially, but then when Lynn opened the hot oven he backed-up (or GOSTAN :P) suddenly and his BUTT terlanggar me huwaaaa XD

 

*They were this type of dog!! SUPER CUTEEE WIth SHORT LEGSS!! XD*

After dinner Lynn kindly sent me home. We did exchanged address and e-mail too to keep in touch! :) I'll miss you Lynn :') Take caree!!!! :)

 

*Me n dearr Lynn :)*

<3 Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah for todayy :)) Me very happy! :)))*

Mid West Games 2012 :)

Assalamualaikum! :)

Alhamdulillah, my friends and I managed to attend the Midwest Games 2012 in Illinois University! :D As this was my last Midwest Games before heading back to Malaysia, I just really wanted to spend time with my friends and ultimately to give moral support to those who were participating :)

So we set off our 12-hour road trip on Friday evening, one of the last cars to depart because one of my friend had an exam that evening, so we just went right after :)

 I only took over my friend from 12 midnight and drove up till 5am, which is already in time for our morning prayer (Subuh) :D unfortunately I am used to driving at night when we travel because I am one of those who do not have those 'glare' from car's lights during the night~ and yes that is when everyone is 'sleepy' :P but thank you sososo much to my co-drivers who tersengguk2 because trying not to fall asleep! terharu ni sob3 T^T

Alhamdulillah we arrived safely at Red Roof Inn, and also running up to our room because we thought we were going to miss the morning prayer, when we forgot that we had to turn our clocks back an hour hahaha XD

Soon after sleeping like crazy, and bathing n sambung tidur I had to go to the opening ceremony because we joined the cheer competition! :) tankiu2 to my kind friends who also registered for me prior the opening ceremony! :D 

 

*go go PSU! XD*

We had Que as our mascot, also the banners of PSU; we were all pumped up! But since we didn't really have a plan so our cheer agak berterabur a bit hahahha XD But but! We got third place anyways yayyyy Alhamdulillah! XD 

 

*Cheering!! XD* 

  

 

*Xwei Fun n Me! :)*

Soon after we started cheering on our friends!; running, squash, basketball, soccer, sepak takraw, volleyball! :D we did win quite a lot of games this year! We got second place for guy's soccer, first n second for squash! :) N when I was watching the basketball games, OMG they were playing so violently that I was feeling afraid for my friends! O_O and also I was cheering so loudly that a couple sitting in front of me find it hilarious :P *high pitch voice cheering*

 

*the running track! :D*

 

*cheering squad for soccer + 1 player! XD*

 

*My midwest shirt muahaha*

The design of the T-shirt this year wasn't as good as the previous years, I even laughed tergolek2 when I first got the shirt XD But then, when almost everyone wore the shirt on the first day of midwest gameswe actually looked good collectively! :)

*another cheering squad! XD*

Soon it was the second day of midwest, and we were mostly having finals on certain games like soccer, tennis, tarik tali etc etc :) I was initially cheering for the guys in soccer, but had to leave early because there was a rehearsal for the closing ceremony's performance :)

 

*me n friends cheering! :P*

Mind you it was SUPER HOT that afternoon! I could even see those 'heat waves' across the soccer field which you would usually see on car's engines!! O_o And yes, sun-burned I am XD

Well the rehearsal didn't go so well because there was A LOT that the technical group was working on in the hall, so we didn't really got to start the rehearsal on time. But Mei San ran us through on our performance and where to stand and all, and we also spent time fixing our borrowed lion heads and apparels; we were THIS CLOSE (imagine finger gesture :P*) to NOT performing that night because in order to bring our drum and the lion heads would need us to rent an SUV, which would cost us a fortune :( Thankfully we managed to borrow the drums and the lion heads!! :D Alhamdulillah!! :D All we needed to do was to bring the gong and cymbals, drum stand and also drum sticks and ourselves :P oh and the lion pants too!! XD

The lionheads were a little bit smaller, which was a challenge for Que and Bryan, but they managed to pull it off wonderfully! :D (with literally NOT much practice at all with the new heads!) Well we did manage to sort off 'practice' outside the hall before our performance :) Mind you we were the LAST performance of the day! :)

I did manage to catch a few early performances before heading out to have a short practice, and they were all good! :D

 

*Before our LAST performance! :)*

 

*Last performance! :D*

It was definitely fun to perform for the last time before going back, Alhamdulillah we managed to get a chance to do so :') And being the only cymbalist left, I had to play 3x more harder and loudly untill my hands hurt n caused me to kantoi2 here n there opssss sorry2!! XD but ultimately everyone still loved our performance!! Alhamdulillah XD

 Right after we finished performing, we had to quickly carry the drums out of the stage and the lions also exit the stage through the back. Unfortunately, since the backstage was super dark and somehow the lions were heading my way without realizing it and I was still carrying the drum (or baru nak put it down rather) I slipped and tergolek back stage wahahaha XD thankfully I wasn't hurt no worries! :)

After the ceremony ended we headed out and met with other old old friends to say our goodbyes, and took a few pictures :)

 

*Pennstaters+medals! XD*

Unfortunately me tak dpt spend much time with friends from other universities sob3 :'( insya-Allah we'll meet again sometime in Malaysia ya! :)

 

*Car members XD*

We headed home on Monday, but dropped by Chicago for a while to have lunch at KFC (which has halal chicken!!! XD) and then went to Aurora outlet before going back to State College :) I managed to get a WEARABLE high heels and also a handbag! :)

I almost NEVER wear any high heels because my mama wouldn't let me; she said I will have a hard time getting a boyfriend because then I would be too tall :P Well I think that is not relevant anymore! XD I got the heels from Naturalizer, which is known for it's comfortable shoes, which is TRUE! And I got my heels for like 20 something after discount; it was originall 79.99!! :D

I also managed to get a Kate Spade handbag below 200!! :D and it is super big too, can fit my laptop in it!! XD so it'll be very useful for me to bring lots n lots of stuff!! XD

Well after the accidental purchases, (:P) we headed back home and was expecting to arrive in State College at about 7am. Since I was going to drive the last few hours, so I slept first while my friends drove the car. Then around 11pm, our car suddenly hit something with a huge THUD and I woke up immediately from my sleep and asked what did we hit?? They said a small animal suddenly jumped into the middle of the road, and my friend who was driving wasn't able to avoid it in time. Soon after that we heard that something was being dragged under the car (okay starting to imagining horrifying scenes) then we decided we had to stop and checked the car.

Thankfully we were very close to a gas station and stopped there. I was actually expecting blood or some sort in front and at the bottom of the car. Turns out the bottom front of the car was dented!! And when we looked nervously under the car, ALHAMDULILLAH we didn't see any dead animal :P but we did saw something from the bottom of the car hanging out of place; causing the dragging-sound. We knew we couldn't drive with that thing sticking out at the bottom of the car so my friend started calling the rental car to try to ask for help or solution.

While waiting, a guy suddenly came up to us and said "Assalamualaikum" :D he then asked us if there was any problem (because we were all sitting by the car, looking at the car n sort of looked troubled I guess :P) and then we told him what happened, then he checked out the car and called another friend of his to help out.

 

*The guy who helped us out huuu tankiu so muchh!! T^T*

Turns out that the piece that was hanging from the bottom of the car was just the cover, and we could still drive the car without any worries. He and his friend also checked our engine and he said we are good Alhamdulillah! :) I was very skeptical at first, and asked him several times like 'R U SURE??' XD n then he said he is from Ohio, and they always hit animals there hahahhaa XD He said as long as we did not hit a dear, we are good XD

And lo and behold, the guy also FIXED THE DENTED part of the car just by using his hands!!! OKayyy that was super impressive and awesome!! XD XD well we were pretty helpless being an all-girls car trip :P Tankiu tankiu so muchh!! May Allah bless u kind kind sir :) :)

Alhamdulillah, we managed to arrive safely to State College a little before 9am :) Note that I was SUPER sleepy the last two hours of driving (I drove from 3am to 9am =_='') but thankfully Auni was there to help me and talked to me huuuu tankiuuuu T^T 

And the insurance also covered everything since it was indeed an accident, and we were good! :)

 

*The evening during midwest Games :)*

Thank you for everything oh Allah! :) Thank you for giving me strength, and also setting me free after so much :') :') Alhamdulillah :)

Till next time! ;) 

Assalamualaikum :D

Post graduation :)

Assalamualaikum! :)

So I have been doing lots n lots of things after graduation! :D Alhamdulillah, I think so far I have been quite busy with lots of activities with friends! :) Definitely need to spend time with them before they go back, and also before I go back too :)

Here are a few things that I've done so far! :D :

- First time eating at Kimchi restaurant!

 

*KIMCHI! people blanje for my birthday XD late treat!*

 

*rice cakes! spicy a bit, but yummy yum! :D*

 

*I forgot the name of this dish, but it is surely delicious!! :D*

 

*At Kimchi!! :)*

 -went to a Teach for America social at Cafe 210! it was a place known for it's beer, and I have never been there. As soon as we sat down they served us BEER like serving water!! (free flow, and they served water too XD) and me n Wei Young pushed the beer far far awayyyy XD

 
*it was on the house, so I ordered vegie burger for lunch! XD*

- Went to my FIRST and LAST football game! :P It was the blue n white game, n there were sure loaddsss of people!! :D :D

 

*StadiuM! :)*

 

*XD*

- Ate at Red Lobster with the guys! Unfortunately the girls couldn't make it sob2 :(

 

*Lobster pizza! :D*

 

*senior junior n senior haha :P*

 

*Makan2! :D*

 

*seniors/alumnis and delicious biscuitsss ;D* 

 

*Yummyyyy :9*

- Free delivery Honeydew Boba teaaa wahahhaha XD tankiu2!! :)

-gave support to friends for their presentation! :)

 

*Azreen punya booth! Sab, Izzat n Bryan were also presenting! :)*

- Went to Senior Sendoff held by the university :) Free food, pizza n ice cream!!! :D

 

*Happy cookie! XD*

 

*Me n happy cookie! XD*

 

*Me n the Lion!! :D*

- BBQ held by juniors at Parkway Plaza for Seniors! Awww terharu2 :')

 

*Yiyi, me n Na'ilah! Pretty2 ladiesss :D*

- Had a yard sale to sell off our furniture n other stuffs! :)

Alhamdulillah I managed to sell almost all of my furnitures n mini drawers! Also sold all my stationaries for $1.25 huuuu sadd T_T but what to do, I really want to get rid of everything before going back! We also sold Cendol n Rojak Buah made by kak Ada during that hot summer day! XD It sure was delicious! :D

 

*Cendolll :D*

 

*Rojak buah! Yummy yum2*

- Learned how to make Egg tarts with Kian Hui's RANDOM recipe!! XD tankiu2 sifuuu! :D

 

*burnn burnn XD*

 

*Pikachu yg GMOK :P*

- Received my degree+minor certificates! :D It was supposed to arrive four weeks after graduation, which is like early June but it arrived earlier than expected, Alhamdulillah! :)

 

*Yayyyyy! XD*

- started to send off friends who are going back to Malaysia for good, sgt sedih sob3 :'( insya-Allah, may we meet again in Malaysia! :)

 

*at the airport, papai rakan2 :'(*

- Ate at the new Pho 11 Vietnamese-restaurant! Not bad! :D

 

*nyummy2*

 

*honeydew milkshake! XD*

- cooked RANDOMLY :P

 

*'instant' dinner :P*

- Tried eating at Ruby Tuesday! :D Sedap2 n reasonable price too!! :D

 

*triple fish-well sort of :P*

- Celebrated Izmer's birthday! surprise birthday party! XD

 

*Me n gadis2 parkway plaza! XD*

- Watched movies like the Avengers and Snow White n the Huntsmen :D Avengers were super awesommmeeee!!! XD snow white boleh2 lahh ;p

 

*Me, Yu Peng n Kian Hui! :D*

- Went to Penn's Cave with residents of Lex111! :D

 

*Tadaaa XD*

 

*Me, Wei Young (malu2 konon), Beng San, Boon Hui and Kian Hui! :D*

 

*mereka2 yg excited XD*

 

*The well outside of the gift shop! XD*

 

*Entrance to Penn's Cave :D*

 

*Awesomely huge!!*

 

*our tickets hihi XD*

 

*parts of the cave! :D*

 

*light effects! XD*

 

*naik boat :D*

 

*'statue of liberty'*:P

 

*Love shaped :D due to whirlpool fuyooo*

 

*Me n cave :P*

 

*us n our tour guide! :D*

 

*pondok tepi kedai :P*

 

*so pretty! :D*

- We then visited Spring Creek which was about just 10 minutes away from State College! The place was beautiful with lots of trees, nature and also a wonderful place to have a picnic! :D

 

*us n the bridge XD*

 

*LOMPAATTT XD*

 

*Lompat #2 :P*

 

*very very pretty view! :D*

- We also went to a BBQ held by our juniors in Parkway Plaza! :D The chicken were deliciousss!!! :) also managed to play frisbee *jatoh tergolek, n dah lama tak exercise XD*

 

*fooddd :P*

 

*BBQ chicken, yummy2!*

 

*Tankiu2 Yiyi for this picture!! Nice nice I like the shadow part! :D (we were attempting to look at the hot hot sun!)*

- Managed to FINALLY get a taste of ICHIUMI! :D Kian Hui yg baik hati rented the car (to go to Penn's cave n Spring Creek too) and we drove earllyyy Saturday morning just to eat lunch at Ichiumi, and then terus balik hahahahaha yes we are very funny :P

 

*Parked the car at a free parking in Queens, took Subway to Ichiumi! :D*

 

*1st plate :P*

 

*The HAPPY ME MUAHAHAH XD*

 

*My 2nd plate! XD*

 

*DESSERT NYUM2*

 

*After eating so fulll XD*

Well if you haven't guessed, Ichiumi is a BUFFET sushi restaurant!! XD but they did not only have sushi, but they had loads of cooked fishes as main dishes, rice, noodles, CRABS nyummy nyummy! Also lots of delicious fruits!! XD

The last time I went there we only made it for dinner time, but unfortunately wasn't able to stay for dinner because it was about $32 for dinner!! n lunch buffet is about $22! That's a HUGE DIFFERENCE! XD

We head back almost immediately because Wei Young and Kian Hui was going back the very next day sob3 :'( But I'm glad we managed to spend time together before they went back! Until we meet again ya? ^v^

- Had our last 'family' outing with my housemates! Ate at Outback Steakhouse :) We wanted to try out Mario's, but unfortunately it was closed early (it was about to be 9pm XD) but we still managed to get a decent meal and had fun!! :)

 

*Sedap niiihhh :P*

 

*Sweet Potatooo XD*

- Managed to 'visit' Kak Ada's kebun for the first, and probably last time :P Kebetulan I had nothing to do, and I became a photographer for just about 10 minutes after that visit XD

 

*really like these yellow flowers! pretty pretty :D*

Thank you thank you so so muchhh for all the time I managed to spend with you guys!! :) Definitely you guys are soso special to meeee and I will miss all of u!!! :') Special thanks to friends and juniors who spent so much time and effort to celebrate us seniors who are going back to Malaysia very very soon :') Will definitely miss u guys!! Especially the noisy2 ones hahahah :P 

Do keep in touch everyone!! (facebook ehem2) hehehe thank you thank you very much once again!! Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah for giving me soooo many great friends :') <3

Till we meet again, insya-Allah :')

Assalamualaikum :)