4th Nov 2008 (by MeiSi Wang)
Yes We Can.
And so we were getting all eager and excited about going down to GRANT PARK in Chicago to “see”, or at least be in the vicinity of, OBAMA and hear his long-anticipated ACCEPTANCE SPEECH (somebody actually challenged me to a bet: if Obama won, I’d give him $1. If McCain won, he’d give me $200. Obviously I declined the challenge). Although JJ’s nonchalance of being late (lol) and denial of our sacrifice in missing the previous purple express bus for stunned most of us, we were nevertheless unanimous in our enthusiasm and anticipation of what was to come in the next 4 hours.
Rusty as my writing is (and as cliché as it sounds), the memory of the day a new American president is elected would never rust (told you my writing was rusty!) or fade from our minds. The 4th of November is a day that the world would remember forever. It was a day of CHANGE. We Singaporean Northwesterners were no less excited than everyone else. For those of us who had just come for the very first time to the land of liberty, democracy and equal rights, the moment proved even more poignant. To personally experience such an once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon was priceless. We were at the very center of global attention, and it felt kind of surreal to be standing right in the middle of all the action as part of this historic moment and milestone and as part of the news everyone else could only watch from their TV screens :P.
The atmosphere in Chicago was one that no other cities could parallel because of the sudden influx of people. It was also the first time I realized that actually there are a lot of people in America- they just don’t seem come out a lot. There were already an overwhelming number of people before we reached Grant Park. We also met supporters of all sorts.
When we reached there, it was spectacular. The gradient of the number of people we meet along our way to the place was constant until the point when we entered the field. There, it saw an exponential increase. 
As most of us skipped dinner before we went there, we patronized the one and onlypizza stall that was set up in a corner of the field, snug in its monopoly. So with a piece of pizza in hand, we waded through the sea of thousands of other people to sit down near the screen and watch a live broadcast of what was happening 5 ft away (?).
Under the night sky and a shining crescent moon (ring a bell?) with wonderful food and poker that KX brought resourcefully, we were engrossed in the ambience and milieu around us. It almost felt like we were counting down to the New Year.
When the results were finally announced: Obama as the next elected president, it was kind of expected, so no matter how hard we clapped and cheered our response seemed tepid when compared to that of the frenzied crowd. And although we couldn’t see Obama’s pretty face, we felt very uplifted by his acceptance speech and could sense his strong and keen presence near us. All in all, this was a huge inspiration to our future potential presidential/prime minister candidate, KX, as well as the rest of us. Can nusaf do it? Yes we can!
Photos from Grant Park:
We’re in here! O.O
(Tribune photo by Bonnie Trafelet / November 4, 2008)
People leave Barack Obama's election night rally in Grant Park, Chicago.
Written by Wang Meisi
Edited by Tiffany Cheng