Malaysia!

Hello!
Apologies for the long absence. I have been quite lazy....er...busy.
Mostly busy, really, truly.
Before reading week, we had founder's night, which is when the hall's freshmen become full members of the hall, and when they gave all us exchange students the hall robes and ties to run around in. That same week we had "Global night." For that one, we had hot pot. People tend to call hot pot Chinese fondue, since it involves putting a bunch of raw food in boiling broth to cook, then fishing it out and eating it. It was really good food, and the event itself was some of the most fun we've had in the hall so far.
Then, I went to Malaysia. So, most of you have heard the run-down of my trip already.
Some background: my roommate Andrew and I couldn't decide where to go for reading week, so we went to the travel agents with the goal of going anywhere. We ended up with a trip to Penang, an Island in Malaysia.
It took a while to get there (we had four hours in Kuala Lumpur airport plus lots of flights) so our first day we pretty much just ate dinner at a local shopping mall and then went to sleep.
Tuesday (the next day), was our city day. We wondered through the 31 degree, 95 percent humidity to heat to various attractions. We saw an old fort, a clocktower, lots of awesome colonial architecture, beautiful mosques and temples. We went shopping, and just generally gallivanted around Georgetown, the state capitol of Penang.
Wednesday we hopped on a bus for Batu Ferrenghi, the main beach area. We actually passed by the beach, somewhat accidently, and instead wound up in a much nice and more secluded beach, where we lay in the sun and looked out on the beautiful Indian ocean (yep, another ocean under my belt!). For lunch, we ate at a Thai place called "The Monkey Tree." It lived up to its name, and we watched monkeys in the trees whilst eating. Then we went back to the beach, before going to the hotel swimming pool, before venturing through little India for dinner (note to self: some guidebooks include listings that don't exist and just leave you lost and hungry).
Thursday we just kind of walked around a bit before leaving. Malaysia was a nice place to see, but I can honestly say I missed Hong Kong, and it was nice to be back.
The past week has involved lots of tests, our Hall's cool Halloween ball and haunted house, an outing an Egyptian restaurant in SoHo (with Gelato afterwards!), and a halloween hike at a reservoir.
Hope everyone is doing well!
James