The Best Man Ever Lived

"Allah created mankind, and made me from the best of them, from the best of their two groups. Then He chose tribes and made me from the best tribe. Then He chose families and made me from the best family. So I am the best of them from the best family." - Narrated by Tirmidhi

He is Muhammad. Our Prophet.

P/S: From Muktamar 12', I remembered one ustaz mentioned that our Prophet was not poor. He was rich. But then he chose to live "poorly". (Memilih untuk hidup miskin)

Part 9: Thanksgiving Dinner with American Family & Black Friday in Atlanta!

Last Thanksgiving, Hannah Gravitt kindly invited me and few other friends to join a Thanksgiving Dinner with an American family. They lived not far from Vandy and Hannah drove us there to help us experience our real Thanksgiving dinner ever!

Paan, Anis, Hannah, me, Kyra and Nurul 

The head of the American family greeted us nicely and introduced us to the typical Thanksgiving food -  Roasted Turkey with Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Steamed Asparagus, Apple Cider Tea and Pumpkin Pie (my fav!). After dinner, all of us sat at the living room and shared with each other about what we are thankful for this year(2012). Then, we watched a short movie that briefly explained the history of Thanksgiving Day. We also had some trivia about Thanksgiving before we left. It was a fun night especially when it was with wonderful people. Thank you so much for inviting us!

Black Friday Craze in Atlanta! 
During the Thanksgiving break, we decided to visit somewhere not far from Vandy but still out of Tennessee. So we drove 4 hours to Georgia to visit the Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola. First road trip with Shida and thanks for being talkative, we were able to drove non-stop all the way to Atlanta :p .

The Georgia Aquarium is enormous and the best part of the aquarium tour was the Dolphin Tales Show. The Dolphins were so smart and adorable! I wish I can have one as a pet.

The Dolphin Tales Show! 

World of Coca Cola. Too bad they closed on Thanksgiving 

After spending about 4 hours at the aquarium, we went downtown to look for Hard Rock Cafe, but then  it was closed as well (Hooters bukak plak.. grrr). Whatever, we then just drove to shopping mall to enjoy the low prices offered on Black Friday. I did not spend a lot that night because I already broke at that time. Best Buy offered $200 off (from $700 to $500) for a Sony nex 5n mirrorless slr and I just couldn't help myself from not buying it. But until now, I'm satisfied with the deal, and the camera had been capturing a lot of unforgettable moments that I had since then.

Because Best Buy always have crazy deals like $50 for a Samsung S3, many people acted crazy as well. They don't mind camping out in front of Best Buy when the weather was about -2 celcius at that time. =,="

Part 8: Aidilfitri in Niagara Falls, New York City, Atlantic City and Washington DC

Again, this year I could not celebrate Raya with my family in Kelantan due to Organic Chemistry classes that I had to take this summer (darn!). But since it was the 3rd time I celebrated raya in States, I did not feel that upset. I guess Im already immuned to this kind of stuff (tapi kalau tgk org upload Malaysian food sedap2, terbakor jgk). Plus, this year we got a chance to celebrate Raya at the Embassy of Malaysia in Washington DC!

Niagara Falls

So, few days after Orgo final, we had a looong road trip (about 13 hours) to Niagara Falls with awesome people (Nurul, Min, Alya and Paan). We stayed at a group of Malaysian students' house that are studying at Buffalo Uni (thanks akak!) for one night. She welcomed us very nicely and even cooked delicious sahur for us (terharu dpt makan ayam masak pedas for sahur :'D ).

There's a lot of interesting places to visit around Niagara Falls. We rode a boat (Maid of the Mist boat tour) to get closer view of the the famous falls. These falls - American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and Canadian Falls (also known as Horseshoe Falls) are connected together forming one huge, spectacular waterfall!

At the Cave of the Winds - the front of Bridal Veil Falls

The International Bridge - Canada on the other side! 

Portion of Niagara Falls - the American Falls 

I think we paid around $15 for the tour package -> Tram around Goat Island, Cave of the Wind, Maid of the Mist, Niagara Falls Aquarium and Memorial. We had to wear these funny ponchos just to stay dry.

Hard Rock Cafe -Niagara Falls : Checked!

Check out this page if you are interested to know more about Niagara Falls! http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/niagarafalls.html

New York City

Done with Niagara Falls, later that day we drove to NYC for second time! We stayed here for two nights at another Malaysian's house that are studying at Stevens Institute of Tecnology, Hoboken, New Jersey. They were very welcoming and the house is very spacious and lovely!

Walked miles for a box of macaroons 

This time, we tried to visit as many places that we did not visit the first time we were in NYC. This trip was focused more on food search (biasalah time puasa smua benda rasa cam nak makan) --> Laduree macaroons, Dylan's Candy Bar chocolates and of course Nyonya, a malay cuisine restaurant. This place is seriously good especially their curry mee and laksa penang (memang da bomb wa x tipu!). We broke our fast (it was Ramadhan) with all the delicious dishes with fully-satisfied expression, not realizing that we actually caught the attention of one American lady. She came to our table and asked what food we were eating because it looked so scrumptious (nampak sgt makan x hengat dunia).

Little Italy in Chinatown

The super delicious mee tomyam! * I dont have any photos of mee curry. I was too hungry and just couldn't wait to eat it. 

Dylans' Candy Bar (FYI, Dylan ni the daughter of Ralph Lauren)

Malaysian Flag spotted at Rockefellar Center! *Imma proud Malaysian :))

Tak lupa jugak makan nasi arab depan Port Authority.
Another Hard Rock Cafe - New York City charm: Checked! 

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Before we continued our journey to Atlantic City, we decided to buy some bakery goods from Carlos' Bake Shop (The Cake Boss Show). We bought some canolis and a cheesecake. And tell you what, the cheesecake was super soft and ughhh there's no word to describe it. Just perfect. Heaven. Marvelous pergh!! Thanks to Min's senior, because of him, we could skip the long line that could take us 2 hours to get in the shop. *He lives in Hoboken (Stevens student), so he has that privileged given by Buddy and the family. Weehooo! 

Then, we drove about 3 hours to Atlantic City to collect more Hard Rock charms. I did not hear much about this place but when we arrived there, it's actually an amazing place! I love the funfair, the buildings, outlets, and the scenery. Finally, I got to see the American beach (there's no sunny beach in Tennessee :( ). Plus, there's a lot of Trump's building here. All are very enormous and beautiful. I guess many people come here for gambling since there's a lot of casinos in this city. 

 Beachside Walk

The Funfair

Another Hard Rock Cafe - Atlantic City charm: Checked!

Washington DC

After spending half day in Atlantic City, we then drove to En. Nazrol's house in Washington DC. En. Nazrol is one of the Pegawai JPA that take care of the Malaysian students  (JPA sponsored) in USA. It felt so good to finally meet the Malaysian family after such a long time. And they are very nice too!

On 1st Syawal, we went to the Embassy for Raya Prayer. There's a lot of people from different places that came to celebrate the holy day together. After prayer, we went to the courtyard to eat Malaysian food! Yeay! 

Pink lace kurung moden for raya outfit 

We spent two nights at En. Nazrol's house, had so much good food and so much fun. Thanks to En. Nazrol's family, other staffs' families and others for giving us such a wonderful raya experience.



 Before we headed back to Vanderbilt, we went to Serendipity 3 --> to try their famous frozen hot chocolate and Georgetown Cupcake --> to enjoy their yummy Red Velvet Cupcakes. We also visited the Reflection Pool and the Abraham Lincoln Monument (we did not visit these places during the first trip because it was raining heavily and we completely forgot about it!). Thank God we had another chance to actually visit Abe.

Serendipity 3 - love the deco!

Serendipity 3 frrrrozen hot chocolate

Georgetown Cupcakes

Abraham Lincoln Statue

Chilling at the side of  Reflecting Pool, eating Red Velvet Cupcakes. Yum!

Complete road trip member. Thank you so much girls!

It was a very long drive but totally worth it!
Photos credit to Paan (thanks for the pretty photos muah3!)
p/s: Another Hard Rock Cafe - Washington DC charm: Checked!

2012 Year in Review: Part 7 - Ramadhan in Nashville and Salam Perantauan 12'

Ramadhan 1432

2012 was my third year celebrating Ramadhan far, far away from home. Walaupun x dapat nk berbuka bersama family, I am still grateful to know that I'm never alone. I have a lot of friends here and we bersahur, cooked and berbuka puasa sama2. Biasanya kitorg sahur kt bilik jer dgn ape2 food yg ada - ikan sardin, telur dadar. Kalau rajin sikit, ktorg masak la spaghetti goreng etc.Time berbuka pulak biasanya ktorg ramai2 pergi bbuka dekat Islamic Center Nashville (ICN), about 15 minutes from our campus. Solat Maghrib, makan nasi arab then balik solat Isyak and tarawikh kat bilik dgn kawan2. 

Kat USA ni lama sikit la puasa duration dye - from lbih kurg 4 pagi until 8 mlm. Memang mnguji kesabaran btul la esp summer time ni (summer kat sini panas cam Malaysia, except for the air is dryer and the the light rays somehow feel stronger. Cam pedih kulit kalau lama2 kat luar uncovered. 

First day of Ramadhan 

Going to ICN for iftar 

Iftar with Vandy sisters makan nasi lemak :))

 p/s: 2012 gonna be the last year I spent my Ramadhan in Nashville sbb this coming Ramadhan 2013, I'll be in Kelantan for summer break - balik puasa and raya yeayyy!! However, still ssedih sbb dh xleh rs pngalaman Ramadhan kat sini lg dah :(

Salam Perantauan 2012

Selamat Hari Raya AidiliFitri daripada kami Vanderbilt students! 

Ramadhan is also the time where student2 oversea sibuk bergambar dgn baju raya masing2 sbb nk antar kt newspaper. Sama la jgk dgn Vandy students. Ktorg cari spot yg plg nampak American (kononnya) dgn harapan dpt convince kan pihak publisher untuk publishkan gmbr ktorg. Tips for those yg nak masuk paper kt ruangan Salam Perantauan:

Kosmo! Salam Perantauan

1. Photo location -> Make sure pilih spot yg nmpak oversea. Kalau kt Sydney, amik la gmbar with the Sydney Opera House kat as the background. Kalau xsempat nk g bergambar kt landmark2 area tpt korg, cari la mana2 campus building yg ad seni architecture yg style western2 ckit.

2. Clarity and Attire -> Kalau boleh amik gambar yg clear nmpak gmbr korg, doesn't mean that it has to be close up muka jer. Just make sure figure korg clear lam gmbar yg nk dipublish kan tu. Pakaian lak biasanya pkai baju raya, tp ade je yg pkai baju jacket tebal like puffer tu kuar paper gak. So depends jgk la.

3. Email -> Ni part paling penting. Time nk emailkan gambar tu dekat publisher, make sure guna email university korg. In my case, i guna email dotdotdot@vanderbilt.edu. This way publisher tau yg korg mmg btul2 student oversea.

4. Publisher -> send your photo kat byk2 publisher sbb bukan smua publisher sudi nk kuarkn gmbar korg kt paper dorg. Maybe gmbar korg x lepas piawai dorg. I sent to Utusan Malaysia, Kosmo!, Berita Harian tapi Kosmo! je yg published. Kalau korg nk dorg publish kat website dorg pn boleh jgk. just sent kt link (online) kt bawah ni. Kalau online biasanya cepat sikit kuar gmbr korg (and has higher probability to be published).

Berita Harian: salamaidilfitri@bharian.com.my
Utusan Malaysia: raya@utusan.com.my (paper), http://xtive.utusan.com.my/salam_perantauan/ (online)
Kosmo : salam.perantauan@kosmo.com.my

p/s: Dah send tu, jgn lupa pulak beli paper. Check tiap2 hari sbb publisher xkan notify korg kalau gmbar korg kuar paper dorg ke tak. All the best!

Salam perantauan '12 dari Nashville, TN, USA

Vandy 14' Girls

Package raya. Thanks for baju and biskut raya abah n mama! 

Walaupun duduk jauh, semangat nk shopping raya masih berkobar2 cam kt Malaysia ;)

All photos are credited to Farhana Harun <3 

2012 Year in Review: Part 6 - 60 Days of Summer with Yuna Zarai, White Water Rafting and Cummins Falls

a) Yuna Zarai's Show at The End, Nashville

It was one random evening, bila I dgr kawan2 I satu floor smua duk kecoh sal Yuna nk bt show kat Nashville. It all started at Twitter bila Yuna post gambar dia kat Franklin (I hour and 30 mins from Nashville) , and ktorg smua duk excited when she said that she will be perfoming at The End, a place which is only15 mins walking from my campus! So ape lg, ktorg yg tgh study for tomorrow's Orgo Test smua cepat2 beli ticket online and start dgr lagu Yuna kat Youtube. To be honest, I xde la layan sgt Yuna ni tp bila usha2 lagu dia, best la pulak. I like her version of Come As You Are and her original song Live Your Life. Suara dye mmg mcm lullaby abes la. 

Lepas abis show, ktorg ramai bergambar dgn Yuna. She is super tall and super nice person! Sgt peramah. Boleh borak mcm kawan2 biasa pulak. I xdapat join Yuna lepak makan pizza dgn kawan2 I yg lain sbb I kena balik study for test esok pagi (Orgo kot). I wish I could stay longer tapi ape pun I tetap berpuas hati dpt dgr Yuna nyanyi live. Mat salleh yg ada kt situ pn smua impress dgn Yuna. She is a truly talented musician.  

Yuna's signature on my phone case! 

                                      

b) White Water Rafting at Ocoee River 

I mmg peminat tegar segala aktiviti yg involve air. Xkisah la swimming pool ke, air terjun ke, pantai ke, I mmg layan smua. Maybe sbb sejak umur 6 tahun lg my parents dah hantar I pegi swimming lesson (for 3 years), I rs water is part of me. I literally find peace when I'm in big body of water (even in shower!). So nak dijadikan cerita, plan ktorg nk g white water rafting menjadi jgk. Ktorg sewa kereta, drove for 3 hours to Ocoee River, and here we are, again, for our second time white rafting experience. 

What is white water rafting?

For those who haven't tried white water rafting before, basically, it is a fun water sport (obviously) that involves a lot of paddling (about 1-2 hours of paddling). Many people ask if it is the same as canoeing (kayak). I would say not really (I canoed twice) because the stream is rougher and  has higher risks. Canoe is more relaxing and low risk of drowning etc. I personally like water rafting much much more that canoe because I love the bumps and the strong currents.

In order to navigate the boat, we need to paddle simultaneously as a group, so that the boat moves smoothly. Do not worry if you have no experience at all. The instructor is there to guide you. The instructor usually sit at that back and he will alert us for any dangers. We had Cleveland as our instructor that day and he is amazing! And funny too (kadang2 tu xpaham pun joke dye tp gelak jer). He 100% told us what to do and where to go.

The stream (Ocoee River) is divided into 5 levels of difficulty --from the safest to the one that can cause death (sounds scary but Alhamdulillah, everything went so smoothly). Level 1 usually very calm, very low current and relaxing. We can even swim at this area very safely (kalau pndai berenang la). The higher the level, the more challenging the path is (and more fun too!). The picture above (and below) was taken at level 4. I sat at the very front part of the boat and had so much fun! The current was really strong, I felt like I was riding a horse, a wild, crazy one. If you guys want to sit at the front, make sure that you hold the side rope crazily tight or you will end up being thrown into the boat (if you are lucky) or even worse, get kick out into the cold river (I'm serious). But don't worry. As long as you hold it tight, you will be fine. It is worth to try water rafting at least once in a lifetime, believe me.

Yang second time entah la kenapa tapi 10 ganda lgi best dri first time. Maybe sebab kali ni instructor tu awesome and berjaya guide ktorg without tersangkut kat batu2 and spoil our excitement. For only $17, I seriously rs berbaloi gler (will definitely do this again before graduate).  So sila la daftar Groupon untuk dapat harga murah cam ktorg yer. 

Lepas rafting for almost 2 hours, ktorg pn gerak ke Chattanooga Downtown, jalan2 amik gmbar. Nothing mcuh pn kat sini tp alang2 dah smpai, pergi jela mana2 pn. Biar berbaloi sewa kereta. 

c) Cummins Falls: Junior- Senios Picnic Time!

 Yeay, skali lagi dapat main air. Kali ni kat Cummins Falls. Sumpah lawa gler tempat ni. Before smpai kat kawasan kolam tu, ktorg kena hiking dulu (agak jauh tp xsure brapa km). Panjat turun bukit di bawah sinaran matahari yg terik. Bila akhirnya smpai depan kolam, I was like OMG. It felt like I just found Oasis or heaven maybe. Air sejuk, bersih and green!! I cepat2 tukar baju then terus main air!

Hiking 

Jom terjun! 

The best weekend so far! Thanks to those yg masak nasi lemak sedappp..
All photos are credited to Paan