This is yet another guest entry by a good friend from UIUC, Alvin (hence the title, duh~) The descriptions of my friends here at UIUC will be up at a later date. Heh. Anyway, there goes: Alvin says....

Basically, the weather here is not too bad, although it can be quite unpredictable sometimes. It can get kinda chilly, especially at night and in the early hours of the morning. That's when the bikers suffer. It sucks for me, because I have classes early in the morning and I end late, and I ride to class. It's really cold to move about at top speed. Your hands get really cold and numb after a while. The most scary part of riding is that your ears hurt so much that they feel like dropping off. They hurt even more after you get into a heated building. Thank god that I am adapting well to the change in environment.

The odd thing is that some of the Americans here don't feel a thing at all. You still see guys and gals dress up in short pants, mini-skirts and T-shirts. The strong winds make it really bad for us. You will never want to leave home without a jacket. Gals out there: if you are in Urbana-Champaign at night, a guy offers you a jacket and tells you that he doesn't need it cos' he is not feeling cold, you know that he is putting up a brave front. The important thing is to protect the vulnerable parts: your hands, your ears, your head(a cap or a bandana would be wonderful) and your chest area. These are the places where you lose the most heat.

I am really afraid of the cold. That's why I wear my winter gloves when I ride to school. Some people look at me in a strange way, but that doesn't bother me. I was brought up in a tropical country after all. Speaking about Singapore, I miss the weather back there. I know this sounds ridiculous, because any one of you out there who comes from Singapore should know how hot she is. What I mean is that you will hardly find days in Singapore when the temperature drops below 30 degrees C. Those who were in the Army should know about how hot Area D gets on weekdays. I used to complain about the heat, but ironically, I miss the weather back home. I looked forward to visiting a country with 4 seasons. I had never seen snow in my life. But on hearing that temperatures here can get below 0 degrees C, I am really looking forward to returning home this winter break.

If I didn't remember wrongly, I never had to have a warm shower before, unless I was sick, of course. Things are very quie the opposite here. You can see steam coming out of the cubicles.

A drizzle here is really a drizzle. The rain drops are really very "fine". However, when it rains, it is most likely to carry on for the whole day. That sucks, because all my plans would have to be cancelled. It also makes it difficult to control my bike because of the slippery surface ( and I don't exactly love taking a bus). When it really rains, you normally get a thunderstorm. That happened to me on my first night in US. I had to carry all my luggage in the rain. Thankfully, I had a senior (Kiren) to help me move my luggage to my temporary place of residence.

I end off by telling you guys how excited I was when I was invited by Cindy to contribute to her homepage. I have never done this kind of stuff before, but I think I came up with a respectable article on the weather in UIUC. For those who made it this far to my article without actually sleeping, I thank you for your patience and appreciation.