Bits and Pieces

Summer holiday 2009: Beaujolais Wine Region, France (Day 2-Day 3)

2009-09-03T10:47:00.001+01:00

We bid farewell to Paris after an awesome time there. Back on the coach, we headed to the Beaujolais Wine Region, famous for their white wines (if I remember correctly). We arrived at Contiki’s private chateau called Chateau de Cruix, one of our special stopovers in this tour in the evening. Weather there was really nice and cooling, while the place exudes calmness and relaxation which is a nice change from busy Paris. I was quite excited to come here as I’ve always wanted to stay in a chateau, or at least visit one (all down to too much novel reading). The chateau was really huge with three levels and a basement, dubbed the Cave a.k.a. bar area. There was a nice antique feel to that place but sadly, I did not take that many pictures of it =( .

The entrance to the chateau (its a longgg walk to the chateau itself)

Exterior of the chateau

The swimming pool with a beautiful view of the vineyards

Went for wine tasting after checking in to our rooms. The wine was just so-so for me. I liked the cheese and crackers they gave much much more! =D

Wine tasting

Me at the vineyard

After dinner (which was terrific by the way), it was the first party night of our tour and the theme was bright and tight! Everyone was so up for it, especially the guys! You’ll know what I mean after you take a look at the pictures..

Sam and I with Alex from Aussie

Our tour driver, Jeff!

With our cool tour manager, Dane! I hope you get the gist of what I meant now

With Brian and a Jap/Korean girl from another tour

The guys in their full bright and tight glory

The next day, we were to have a picnic lunch at the top of a hill. We were given a picnic basket filled with baguettes, ham, cheese and snacks and also a map that will guide us to the top. Apparently the view up there is supposed to be good. Going uphil was tiring. Really really tiring. It took us around 1hour to reach the top and the path was steep, rocky and dangerous. View at the top wasn’t all that great. At first we weren’t even sure if it was the place we were supposed to have our picnic at lol. But it was the end of the hike up, so it had to be it.

Start of our hike

The guys had the task of carrying the heavy picnic basket hehe. Being a girl rocks!

Dark clouds

Very nice house we passed through as we walked towards the hill

I heart this picture

Mama horse and baby horse

Some statue midway through our hike

Downhill is SO much better than uphill. However, it was also terrifying when we came down the rocky path. The rocks kept falling off and I nearly slipped a few times.

Apple trees!

I was too tired and lazy to take a picture with the beaujolais sign hence a picture of Sam with the sign instead haha

Ok this is a fairly boring post. Nothing much to talk about those few days as there was nothing planned. All I did for the rest of the time was to get much needed beauty sleep after the hype in Paris. Next up will be the French Riveria, where we visited Monaco! Stay tuned! =D

Summer holiday 2009: Bonjour Paris (Day 0-Day 1)

2009-07-29T09:03:00.042+01:00

GUESS WHO? Yeap, the lazy blogger herself. HEE. Im just gonna skip the apologies and lame reasoning part and move straight onto my summer holidays in Europe! 6 other guys and I joined a popular tour company called Contiki and our tour was for 20 days (quite long but there were plenty of countries to cover). Our journey began in London, where we crossed the English Channel into Europe on a ferry (nothing exciting to talk bout the ferry ride though). A few hours after arriving in Europe, we reached our first destination which is as the title hinted, PARIS the City of Lights and Love. No doubt Paris was one of the destinations I looked forward to visiting most. We checked into our campsite (our tour's accomodations were cabins, hostels and occasionally hotels) and had a yummy dinner. After that, it was on to the coach tour around Paris to give us a taste of what to expect the next day. I'll let the pictures do the talking shall I? =) By the way, sorry for some not so good pictures (mostly are those taken while on the coach) because the bus was moving and there was reflection off the windows. =(

One of the first views of beautiful Paris

As you can see, it was the perfect weather that day

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL!!!

Sigh ain't it beautiful? HOWEVER, due to lack of time, I didnt managed to get in there *cries* So this picture will have to do

A close up of the spider web pattern on the Notre Dame

Another shot of beautiful Paris while on the coach

A glimpse of the Lourve Museum

One of the many bridges in Paris. I think this was the one where a scene in Sex and The City (the movie) was shot (something about someone running after Carrie. You fans out there should know better than me =p )

Ah what can I say. Paris is indeed beautiful.

Yet another bridge (albeit a nicer one)

Palais des Invalides

Cannons ( sorry I forgot the story, history was never my best subject)

Had a chance to stop at the Palais des Invalides for picture taking. That roof is made out of real gold, no kidding.

Sam and I

Random shot just because the sky looked nice here =D

errr..urm...hmmm..forget it, i cant remember the name of this building

Posing against this huge monument thingie with THE tower in the background

A-maaaaaazing. I do not care that it is rusting lol.

Closer look of the Eiffel tower, which basically symbolizes Paris

The Seine river

I-don't-remember-the-name-of-this-building. But I dont think its a very famous one. i THINK..

Yet another shot. This is the best place to take a picture of the Eiffel tower.

Random shot of Ferrari hehe

Academie Nationale de Musique (Opera House)

I heart Paris

The pictures above were mostly taken during the coach tour. We had a free day the next day and the first place we went to was where else but the Eiffel tower. Without a doubt, there was a longggg queue to go up the tower, even if you are climbing the stairs and not taking the lift. Eiffel tower has two levels and you can only climb to the lower level. The highest level can only be accessed by lifts at an additional charge of course. Wherever you want to go when you are in the tower, queueing up for a good while has to be expected. Even when you want to go down from the top level to the lower level. The queues were extremely long. Overall 3hours plus was spent just on that tower itself. That is the reason why we had no chance to visit the Notre Dame... =( ANYWAY, enjoy the breathtaking view taken from both levels of the tower.

Champ de Mars

AH. can't believe I actually had the chance to see this view in person and not from someone else's pictures. Like a dream *pinches self*

Me on the lower level

The long queue below (nice formation don't you think? haha)

The other breathtaking view at the top of the Eiffel

Seine River taken from the Eiffel

*Love*

I have no idea why is my hair so brown. No I did not dye it

Posing away helps reduce boredom while queuing up

Same shot as the top picture but taken at the highest level of the tower

Another shot just because I like the view =)

Me again

Look at all those bridges along the river

Seine river and I

Us with Eiffel Tower (double love)

With some obscene sculpture thingie

Don't ask me what is that building cause I never knew

Look at that gloomy sky. It was like that the WHOLE DAY. Tough luck we couldn't get the same sunny weather as the day before.

My favourite picture of the bunch (super love)

We grabbed lunch on the way to the Arc de Triomphe (banana and chocolate crepes & baguettes with ham and cheese YUM) as there was no time for us to sit down and have proper McD food lol. Whole morning gone just on the tower. It was a long walk down Champs Elysees but worth every minute because that street is packed with shops after shops and posh looking restaurants. Sooo good shopping opportunity but I not only lacked time, I was also dead broke and was on a super tight budget. Finally we reached the Arc de Triomphe which was situated in the middle of the scariest, most dangerous roundabouts I have ever seen. Cars were just zooming out into the roundabout( which was definitely big) and there didnt seem to be any clear road lines. Im just glad I survived that roundabout..

Arc de Triomphe!

Saw this while walking down the Champs Elysees, headquarters of Louis Vuitton! Grand dont you think?

Sorryiforgotthename

Place de la Concorde

One of the fountains there

Obelisk at the Place de la Concorde. It was said to be a gift from Egypt (I think) but according to the them, it was stolen from them by Napolean (I think lol)

The famous Tuileries Garden (on the way to the Lourve)

Some arch which I dont know the name of

THE FAMOUS PYRAMID! =D

Big pyramid on the left, mini pyramid on the right

The small inverted pyramid (been really looking forward to seeing this-- big da vinci code fan)

*pointy*

outside from inside

welcome to musee de lourve

seineseineseineseineseine

Groupie photo

Picturesque

Entrance to Musee de Lourve

Happy after exploring Paris

That night, we went to watch a cabaret show called La Nouvelle. It was a good night, with pretty girls dancing the french can can ( not all are pretty mind you. some were quite erm..elderly ) and there were some pretty good interval performance too. Of course, there were also occasional boobs on display, like Moulin Rouge. That show was not cheap, it set me back by 71 euroes but there was half a bottle of champagne each so it was quite worth it imho. Before dinner, we walked up a REALLY REALLY steep hill to the Sacre Ceur. It was ok. Nothing much to shout about actually.

Sacre Ceur

View of Paris from the hill top

Beautiful Lourve all lit up at night

I guess that sums up Paris for me. Of course, there's alot more to Paris than what I managed to explore in the little time I have. I have a few regrets for my Paris trip though.

a) Like I mentioned above, I didnt get to go in Notre Dame

b) Didnt get to see the arts in the Lourve (yes Im into famous arts and sculptures)

c) Didnt had chance to see Paris at night and more importantly Eiffel tower which I heard is absolutely spectacular when its lit up. This is due to the sky turning dark really really late in summer. Which means I dont get to see Paris in its full City of Lights glory.

d) I didnt get to see Palais de Royal, which I heard can be more spectacular than Eiffel tower

Ah well, I'll definitely go back to Paris again if the chance arises. Its a wonderful city and I enjoyed it alot (despite the gloomy weather)

Till next time! (only God knows when =p )

Signing off,

Ling

Christmas Break ~ London Day One (24/12/08)

2009-01-24T02:51:00.041Z

Can my blog be any more dead? (I guess the answer is yes lol)

Now that exams are finally over and done with (bye stacks of notes, bye problem sheets, bye past years), I finally have time to inject some life into my blog again! This post SHOULD be interesting..maybe your not a fan of my words, but I'm hoping the pictures would do the trick. =)

We took almost 4GB worth of pictures! You can just imagine how much we worked the two cameras (Teo's and Sam's)

London Day 1 (24/12/08)

The train in Nottingham

Stan, Sam

Eu Ling, Teo, Gareth

All of us (including mirror images hehe)

Left Nottingham very early in the morning. One step out of the train and into London, ahhhhh the feeling can't be described. I know, its just London, but haven't been out of Notts for quite a long time so, there's nothing wrong with being extremely excited right? =P The sight of the trademark fire red London buses, telephone booths, and even the TUBE left me grinning excitedly like a little girl at her first shopping mall trip. We arrived at St. Pancreas train station and stopped by the famous Kings Cross Station! (Harry Potter hehe). They made a fake platform 9 and 3/4 there. It's only a plain wall with the platform name and a trolley attached. LOL but stilllll, HARRY POTTER! Hehe.

Fire red London bus

Fire red phone booths

Platform 9 and 3/4 yo

I'm about to go through the wall to board the train to Hogwarts

Waiting for the tube

Our accomodation was near Bayswater and Hyde Park. The houses and high classed flats there are SO posh. The amount of throat killing pricey cars you see there...amazing. So we were all really happy, thinking that our place should be ok since its in such a posh area and all that. The exterior of the hostel looked quite nice too. However, we got the shock of our lives once we opened the door to our room. It was the size of a broom cupboard considering its supposed to fit 6 adults in there. The bathroom was nice and clean though, thank god. Got used to it and it became quite a comfortable place to go back to after long days out.

Looks decent

This is how cramped our room is. Yeap, just that small area of free space for 6 people

Another cramped up shot hehe

Caution: Sit up on your bunk with care (I've knocked my head often enough)

AHHH but a bed is still a bed..comfortable after a long day(because of this, I earned a new nickname..)

Original plan was to visit Millenium Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral, which is famous for its beauty. Plan did not go as planned so we switched to The Tower of London instead. The Tower Bridge was also around that area, so two attractions down, many more to go.

Part of Tower of London

With Eu Ling (yes, our names are very similiar)

Group pictureeee

Another group picture with Tower of London at the background

Info about Wakefield Gardens

Posing with this arched structure

Building in Wakefield Garden

We were actually imitating the statue on the building behind, but the photographer must have not understand the reason of our pose hence, neglected the inclusion of the statue in the picture

Jump shot attempt 1 - I fail (Stan's jumping pose pass with good marks)

Jump shot attempt 2 (I passed =p )

The arched structure from another angle

The other side of the Tower of London

I don't know where it leads to (think its one of the tower entrance)

Tower bridge!!!!!!!!

Me with Tower Bridge

Next up was Big Ben, the Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Those three are situated next to each other and you know what? ITS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. It was already 4pm when we were there, so when it got darker at around 4.30pm, the buildings lit up. Breathtaking. Could stare at it for ages and wished I didn't have to leave.

The magnificent BIG Ben!!!!!!!!!!!!! (its much Much MUCH nicer in real life)

Close up of the clock

The Parliament (I loveeee this shot! *proud*)

<3 this picture

Gareth and I (and London Eye)

London eye before lighting up (looks simple)

I don't know what's this building, but I know the colours of the lights are GORGEOUS

We went up the London Eye and boy, am I glad we decided to change from going in the morning to late evening. I've heard many people saying that the price you need to pay(13pounds I think) is not worth it and its expensive. I would have agreed if I went on it at broad daylight. At night, the ride is worth every single penny. Brightly lit buildings all over London, bridges with their bright colourful lights, the Big Ben and Parliament, Thames River flowing beneath us, just indescribable view.

London eye after lighting up (MUCH better don't you think?)

*awe*

Big Ben and Parliament from London Eye

Double <3

Lights after lights after lights

Black and White shot (Looks like a picture on a postcard)

I <3>

Group pic on London Eye

Went on to Trafalgar Square, another London attraction. Pretty, but reckon it would look much better in the daylight as the statues cannot be seen clearly at night. (more on this on Day 2 post).

On a bridge near London eye (forgot the name, sorry)

LOL!

Niceeeee

Me with fountain in Trafalgar Square

With Stan, Eu Ling and Gareth

With Teo a.k.a. Peo

On the way to Chinatown

Had dinner at Chinatown at this chinese restaurant called I-can't-remember-Pagoda. TOTAL RIPOFF! Never ever go there!! We saw the price range of the food and thought it was affordable, so we went in. Sat down, opened the menu, and saw a note stating that a minimum charge of 10 pounds is required for EACH person. Dinner that night cost me 16pounds. Could eat at a posh hotel with that money back in Malaysia. The food wasn't even great. Just edible. My mum's cooking beats it hands down. Do not go there.

Chinatown entrance

And that sums up my first day in London! Overall, extremely fun (despite nearly freezing in the weather) and extremely great company =)

Clockwise starting from brown boots (mine, Stan's, Teo's, Eu Ling's, Sam's, Gareth's)

Next post on Day 2 in London!

xoxo Ling

p/s: It's 8.33am now and I haven't slept LOL. enjoying freedom to the max =)

German Market, Maysum, Notts games

2008-12-10T00:40:00.035Z

Its been a while.. =)

I've neglected my blog again..this time being more than a month! Of course, without constant pestering from friends and family, that one month could have been extended to maybe after my Semester 1 exams. So here I am, writing this post to update you guys about the few events that happened in this one month period.

Nottingham Malaysian Games 2008

This is quite a big event that takes place every year. Malaysians all over UK and Ireland come to Notts to either participate in the games, support their university team or just to meet up with old friends and watch the games. I, of course fall into the 3rd category. Ok, maybe the 2nd one too but I have to admit, I was there to hang out with friends studying in UK as well. And there were many! Munirah, Hon Sum, Yi Jiet, Pei Xia, Kart..I even saw Grace and Yong Jing after god knows how long. Hanged out mostly with Mun and Hon Sum and spent the day watching basketball at the Sports Centre. Imperial's team was great! Really nice to watch. But I didn't get to watch the finals cause it was getting dark and I had to walk home *frowns* .Yeap, there's no shuttle bus back to St peters court or jubilee campus on weekends *double frown* I had to walk to uni in the morning too *triple frown*. Ah well, good exercise after all the yummy Malaysian food I spammed. Mini doughnuts, NASI LEMAK with delicious prawn sambal!!, Malay kuihs, Cendol...Wanted to try the Durian bubur cha cha but then..I ate too much and had to control heh. Anyway, it was an interesting Malaysian-filled day =) oh oh oh, most of my friends said our campus is absolutely beautiful! *beams*

With Yi Jiet (haven't seen him since high school ended!)

With Pei Xia <3>

Maysum Buffet

My friends and I have been planning to go Maysum, this restaurant that serves Chinese food buffet styled. After much talk of going but never really found the time to go, we finally went there for Benny's birthday! Don't know Benny very well but he seems a jolly person =) And he uses this ultra high tech high megapixels high everything camera that captured quite a number of random pictures of me doing stupid faces (definitely not intentional stupid faces). Anyway, food was great was not too bad (the teppanyaki , chocolate fountain and deep fried beef stripes rocks! <3>

Group piccie after dinner

Group pic during dinner

German Market

Ohhhhh this is goooooooooooodddd!! They should have this more often and not just near Christmas! (or maybe not, cus I might become fat and broke). Obviously, this is yet another market that sells HEAPS AND LOADS of yummylicious temptatious sinfullicious food! It's not really a market market..almost like a fair selling food and those ornaments, crafty items. Obviously, I'm only interested in the former. I loved the market food so much that I went there 4 times, ate the most delicious, juicy german sausage twice, munch and tapau back sweet crunchy nuts god knows how many times (those were fab let me tell you..almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, pistachio, walnuts coated with hard caramel-like shell), had deep fried cheese with mushroom/pepperoni twice, german meal consisting of burger, mushrooms and potatoes thrice....ok the list can go on forever. The german meal was the bomb!!! I can eat it how many times and not get bored with it! Forgive me if this post is sounding more and more like an essay but I can't resist from describing the food =p The burger was superb, the potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft inside, and the mushrooms? HEAVEN. No kidding! Those mushrooms are the best and with the garlic sauce drizzled over it, irresistable. We ate all these in the cold and the warmth the food gave us made it taste even better if that's possible. We nearly froze though, eating outdoors with wind blowing at 3 degrees celcius. Also tried german hot wine (I tried the apple wine) and it has a really thick aroma. Definitely a body warmer. The hot red wine tasted better though. There are so many food I would like to describe but I'll spare you guys the long winded essay and just let you see from the pictures. They also have a skating rink set up at the market, but after the terrifying experience in Pyramid, I don't think I'll dare to ice skate again anytime soon..

The oh so scrumptious foot long sausages

My favourite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marshmellows (NOT NICE DO NOT BUY)

German doughnuts (ohhh these were yummy too!)

Stall selling the german sausages

Stall selling chocolate coated marshmellows and fruits (the choc apple in goose fair was WAY better)

The deep fried cheese sticks!!!!!

Stall selling german alcohol

Me buying hot apple wine hehe

Christmas deco

Sam with his hot red wine, me with my hot apple wine

All of us with our drinksss

The guys

The ladies =)

Yan Mei and I

Us girls with Sam disrupting behind =p

Group photo

Toffee Nut Latte (a great end to a great day)

On a random note, my shipment has arrived!! Hello choc chip cookies. Hello Malaysian food. Hello Maggi mee. Hello hairdryer. Hello electric kettle. Hello ipod speaker. Bye Bye books.

Mummy's homemade choc chip cookies!! *munch munch*

One whole container of food whee

The whole loot (ignore the trash bin)

Signing off till next time

xoxo

Ling

p/s: IM GOING TO LONDON AND BATH WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE =D

p/ps: Most pics taken from Hui En =)

Jorvik

2008-11-08T22:16:00.042Z

To my loyal readers, sorry I haven't been updating for yet another long period. Again, its due to boring boring work which are stacked high up like pancakes. One new coursework is equivalent to 10000 kg burden on my shoulders. No, I am not exaggerating. Well, not really anyway cause it really felt that way while trying to meet all those datelines but not knowing how on earth are we supposed to solve those questions (one major example-matlab and simulink coursework). Its a killer. Been sleeping only a total of 9hours for 2days thanks to that two assignments. I guess thats why I felt really emotional for the first time since I reached UK. My stress level was so high, my friends could sense it strongly. Been a terrible week but its all good now cause the coursework submission receipt is pinned up proudly on my message board *beams*. Anyway, will use this post to thank Teo for helping me with Matlab and finding out the problem in Simulink =) Wouldn't have managed it without his help.

So, yet another long outdated trip to post about. This time, we went for a day trip to York, formerly known as Jorvik. Didn't expect that much from the trip but to my surprise, I had so much fun that day (forgot which day already LOL. I think it was around mid October?). There's this amazing rustic, historic feel to York that made me felt as if I've gone back through time where dresses with big puffy skirts were considered fashionable. I loved the ancient buildings, washed walls surrounding the place, cobbled narrow streets with tiny shops along it, the awesome scenery. There were a few places that we planned to visit and I'm glad to say that the plan went to plan and we managed to go to all the popular must-sees in a mere 6 hours (6hours is short for a trip where there's so much to see). The places I visited were the York dungeons, Jorvick Viking Centre, Clifford Tower and the York Minster (in that order). I can't really pick my favourite since I loved all those places for different reasons (except the Jorvick Viking Centre, which frankly can be said to be a waste of 7pounds as it was quite boring.). Loved the Dungeons for it's horror, terror and the thrilling feeling the place gave me. I shall just give a brief description of the place in case people (cough *adeline* cough) say that my posts are always too wordy. =p Anyway, the place tells us the horrific story of York, where crimes, history, and supernatural occurences were told in a gruesome way. The place is like this huge ghost house where you go in room after room in which different stories were told. Credits to the actors in the house as they really gave me goosebumps. All of us were really afraid (even Wei Han and Darrick lol) that no one really dared to take the lead.. I was tugging Wei Han's backpack while Sarah took hold of Darrick's hoodie hahaha. It was really really fun and we got to learn many new stuff about York.

On the way to York

Entrance to York

Me with York Minster in the background

March March March

Parade

Us on the bridge

Looks like a painting no?

On the way to York Dungeon

York Dungeon

I'll skip about the Viking Centre as it was really quite boring. After the centre, we got ourselves Starbucks coffee and headed to Clifford Tower. It was nothing short of breathtaking. The structure of the tower has the 'I've been here a thousand years' look and is just A-mazing. Sitting proudly at the top of a lush green hill with steep stairs leading up to the entrance to the tower, it just calls out to be visited. Which, we did and I have no regrets parting with 3.50 pounds (as far as I can remember) just to get a look at the view from the top. Take a look at the pictures and you'll get what I mean (=

Outside Viking Centre

Image of how York market used to be

At Clifford Tower

Entrance to Clifford Tower

Outside Castle Museum ( we didn't go visit it though)

With Darrick (wind was too strong, kept blowing my hair lol)

Inside Clifford Tower (ground floor)

View of York from the top of Clifford Tower

View of lower level of Clifford Tower

While walking down (slowly and carefully) the steep curvy stairs

Cobbled street with tiny, interesting shops along it

Goodies sold in a candy store

More goodies

LK Bennet!!!!!

Last stop was the all famous York Minster. I've read articles on the net about places that you absolutely have to visit in the UK and York Minster was listed as one of those places. Basically, that church is HUGE! Totally and completely grand looking just like a castle. The architecture of the building is just unbelievable and you have to wonder how did the people managed to build it with such detail which was I-don't-know-how-long years ago. Really glad I got to see it with my very own eyes. The place is divided into 3 sections which are the Minster Tower, The Undercroft and the main York Minster. We didn't get to go up the Minster Tower as we were too late and the place was closing soon. However, we managed to go to the Undercroft and the main part of the building. Honestly, I didn't enjoy the Undercroft all that much as its just filled with monuments and historic stuff. We can't even take pictures inside it. The main part was gorgeous though, surrounded by the famous ceiling to ground stained windows and the beautifully crafted ceiling. There's just this fantastic feel inside the place and I enjoyed it very much.

With the statue of Constantine

York Minster

Just look at the structure!!

The famous glass stained windows

Sorry for the blur picture, it was MUCH MUCH prettier in real life..my camera wasn't good enough to capture the real image

With Brian

Arvin and I

Beautiful ceiling

A last shot of York Minster before leaving

After the Minster, we had to walk back to the bus stop for our ride home and most people slept through the entire 2 hours journey back. I was exhausted but I had so much fun that it didn't really mattered. A great trip I must say =)

Been too long since I posted on this blog that there's so many backlogged events I need to write about. I'll do that as soon as I can, I promise. But not that soon as I now have a Maths coursework and 2 lab reports this week. Sigh yet another tiring week coming right up.

Till then,

xoxo

Ling

My crib =)

2008-10-24T19:09:00.008+01:00

I am blogging again!!! =)

Just a short and simple post this time..here's some pictures of the room I'm staying in.

Corridor of Flat 140

The kitchen (a little messy cause I was cooking dinner that time)

The mini "lounge"

Room B (mine! =p )

Monkey twins welcomes u =)

Coat hanger and shoes (only very few pair of shoes...)

Looks tiny but...its soooo cosy =D

The wide and spacious desk which I really love

Part of the wardrobe

Limited number of clothes hanging up as I am short of hanger (extra hangers on the way!)

One of the two shelves in my room

More storage spaces

My very very very very comfortable, solid bed with my thick duvet

The view from my room (facing the courtyard)

So...thats my crib!! The crib that I love and enjoy staying in..Its really fantastic..May look small but its actually spacious and I'm staying alone..Big enough to not feel cramped up, small enough to have that cosy, homey feel =) I'm this bedroom manic...i absolutely love to decorate and beautify my room hahaha..arrange my stuff in order on the shelves, arrange my clothes in the wardrobe, buy air freshener,buy cute bedroom slippers, buy nicer duvet cover and almost bought extra pillows to make it even more comfortable but managed to stop myself at the last minute lol. Have I mentioned how much I love my room? hehehe..even my friends staying in Raleigh love it and wanna exchange room with me( right Brian? right Arvin? =p ) I enjoy livinghere very very much and don't even mind staying in on weekends..AND i get to have my own bathroom which is the best! =D

Will stop here bout my crib hahahaa..it might bore some of you =)

Gonna treat myself to Haagen Daez now.. toodles!

LING

Nottingham Goose Fair

2008-10-22T15:40:00.044+01:00

Hi y'all!

Know its been quite some time since i last updated..Been too caught up with uni work..Had a lab report and 2 courseworks! Left one coursework only which is Matlab which im totally clueless in..I just stone in class..and type here and there..but I always produce errors hahaha..Ah well, enough bout boring work! Gonna post bout Goose Fair today which was on the 1st week of October (yes quite long ago lol). It's quite famous really, one of the biggest fair in UK and it's held annually..So I can only experience it once in my life haha..The fair was held from Wednesday till Saturday but I only went once which was on Wednesday night. Was supposed to go again on Saturday cause it really is great fun walking past those stalls that sold loads of goodies!! Goodies that I've never seen before in Malaysia. A popular food is the mushy peas..I didn't try that though...I mean c'mon..mushy PEAS?? I don't even eat whole peas..why would I eat mushy ones? hahahaha..But really, I saw loads of people eating it with mint sauce? It looks a little like mashed potatoes..just that this is green in colour..Doesn't look that appetizing haha! There were loads of other food that caught my attention though (specifically my tummy's attention). Stalls after stalls selling a huge variety of candies (bon bons, gummies, toffees and plentyyyyy of other sweets I've never even seen before!too many, so I can't remember the names), candy floss, FUDGE!!!! (my love), pretty cakes, muffins, hotdogs, cheeseburgers, chinese noodles, toffee apples, marshmellows, CHOC COATED APPLES!! (another love) and many many many more! haha. There were plenty of rides too and may I add that those adult rides were so terrifying, it rendered me speechless and I was screaming for those who were on the ride even though I was on solid land. Twists, turns, flips, seats flinging and swinging here and there...you get the picture. No ride in Malaysia can beat any of those scary rides I tell you.

Anyhoos, went to the fair with a group of Malaysians. Me, Sarah, Hui En, Darrick, Wei Han, Kai Xin, Poyi and a couple more people walked to the fair (about 20 to 30 minutes walk from St Peters Court) at about 6pm. Cheng Wei was our tourguide lol. He lead the way as the rest of us didn't really know where was it. It was freezing cold that night. More bout that later. We reached the forest soon after and the sight itself got us excited. Bright colourful lights, the smell of food, ride musics, screams and laughter filled the place. It was huge and happening! We walked around, took some pictures and awed at how freaky the rides were. We agreed to go for one ride so we walked more to survey which ones were worth paying for. Finally we decided on this ride (forgot the name sorry) that was only 2.50 pounds (cheap compared to the others) AND looked way too scary to be real. I was a little hesitant to ride it cause it really freaked me out ohkay..I was staring at it for so long..stunned into silence..but after much pondering and persuasion from Darrick and Wei Han, I decided to be brave and go for it heh (congratulate me pls lol). Not all of us were up for the ride though..only Wei Han, Sarah, Darrick, a friend (forgot his name sry!) and I braved the ride while the rest stayed on safe ground and took pics of us screaming our lungs out like we were being murdered (ok admittedly more of me =D ) Let me describe the ride in detail..it was nightmarishly scary. So we were seated with our legs hanging, and slowly but surely the start of the nightmare begins. Our seats began to rose and spin around in circles. This part was the least scary of all and was quite nice but as I've already seen what the ride can do, I was already terrified at that stage LOL. Back to the ride of my life, it spinned faster and faster and suddenlyyyyy...................................it began to throw me around...upside down..non stop..360degress...to the left to the right.. head down head up, leg flying around...spinning here and there while being thrown around..gosh...i.was.terrified..screamed through the whole ride LOL..thrs one part where they just let us hang there upside down...in the cold air..all the while a thought was vibrating through my head.."when is this gonna end?????!!!???" Actually I was terrified cause I'm paranoid that the safety hold will unlock LOL.. I know I know it shouldn't..but can't help thinking bout it..ah well, I landed on my feet again safely..it was a fantastic ride actually =) but don't let me hear the Star Wars song again...cause it will remind me of that ride haha. Might be going Alton Towers in November! More heart attack moments on rides coming upppp hehe

After the ride, we walked around more..Darrick, Wei Han and Sarah wanted to go on another ride. We walked till we reached the food stalls..but decided that they sat for the rides first before eating in case they puke it all out haha. Finally they decided to go on a swinging ride..looks nice..but they said the first one was much nicer and cheaper..while they were on the ride, Hui En, Kai Xin and I went to get some hot fries..it was exceptionally tasty cause it was piping hot..and we were freezing cold..warmed us up immediately..Darrick was the coldest among us all LOL.. cause he only had on a thin tee and a thin hoodie..wen it was only 8degrees..and windy HAHAHA..pictures on that later! We went back to the food stalls and the pigging begins..there were many stall selling hotdogs but I was looking for those that sold fat juicy ones..and I found it! hehehe..it was good! =) Bought fudges too! Honestly I'm a big fan of fudge! These fudges aint those factory produced one too! It's freshly made and oh sooooo yummy...heavenly! It was pricey but worth the money..I bought 4flavours ~strawberry cheesecake, rum&raisin, Baileys, and one more chocolate flavoured one..All of it fantastic. I still have it inside my fridge cause cannot bring myself to finish it hahahaha..Cheng Wei then treated Sarah and I chocolate coated apples!! It.was.the.bomb. The chocolate was thick and creamy and crunchy and the apple was sweet and juicy! Great combination. He also treated me to 2 other apples (toffee apple and another chocolate coated apple) which i brought home to slowly enjoy another day hehe. Thanks Cheng Wei! =) The toffee apple wasnt all that nice though compared to the chocolate coated one..but it was not too bad.

Few hours of fun later, we decided to walk home as it was getting colder and colder. Wind was soooo strong on the way back..Really happy when I finally saw St Peters Court..Home! Warmth! =)

Pictures below~~

Of the fair:

Me at the entrance to the fair

Group picture

With Sarah

Ferris Wheel

With Darrick

Another group pic

Of the rides:

Yes, there are people in that tiny little cubicle thing

And they are swinging around sky high

Another shot of one of the scariest rides there

A bungee-like ride (again, there's ppl inside that tiny ball thing bouncing and swinging in the air)

The nightmare of a ride: Space roller

Me being scared =p (yes my eyes are tiny, don't laugh)

Being secured into our seats

Paranoid me checking the safety lock lol

Pose first, cry later

First they spin us around horizontally (fine)

It starts spinning faster and faster (still fine)

Then it propels us into the air while flinging us around 360 degrees (NOT fine)

Horrible picture but just to let you all see exactly how terrified I was LOL

Relieved to be safely on ground again, hence end of screaming, start of smiling

Of the food:

The piping hot fries that tasted really good

My juicy hot dog with onions, mustard and tomato sauce

Darrick warming himself with hot chocolate lol

The fudges that I was raving about

More of the fudge

Boxes after boxes of candies

More boxes

Little kid enjoying the chocolate coated apple that I loved too =)

Toffee and chocolate apples

Wooden roses

Another group picture before we left

Frozen darrick

Pictures below were taken during Yan Mei's birthday:

While waiting for the bus

With Hui En in this time

Most of the pictures were taken by Hui En cause her camera was the superb, high tech kind haha..Long post again =) Alrite gotta rush off for class now..update soon!

Ling

49-20

2008-10-14T21:20:00.015+01:00

Wonder what is that weird number on my post title?

It's actually the age of two of my much loved ones

One of them is the person who raised, fed, clothed, taught, nurtured and cared for me since I was a baby. The one who has always loved me unconditionally no matter how many arguments we have or how many mistakes I have done in all my 20years. The one who will always make me feel safe by just being there and that everything will be alright. I guess its not hard to guess who I'm talking about. But in case you still can't figure out what I'm blabbing about, the person I was talking about is

My pretty mummy! =)

Of course, to me she is the best mum in the whole wide world! She is an all rounder. Great in the kitchen, experienced in computer skills, and still looks hip at her age! There is a cantonese saying of " yap dak chu fong, chut dak teng tong" which means she can be a genius in the kicthen AND is well presented when out. (something like that...my cantonese aint very good.. I just know the meaning haha). She is really a kitchen genius! She can cook fantastically and bake cakes, cookies, pies and tarts like she's been doing it all her life! She tidies the house everyday until its squeaky clean (except for the room my sis and I share which she claims to be afraid of entering for fear of seeing all the mess hehe), she cooks wonderful hearthy meals and still find the time to play her usual afternoon solitaire and catch up on her TVB series at night. Ever since coming to UK, I really have no idea how she manages it. I know I can't for now. =p And like I said, she has good pc skills (my dad is constantly asking for her help hehehe). She has great taste in clothes and look every inch the modern mum which my sis and I are very proud of haha. Oh yes, she does nag of course..which mother doesn't? But she is terribly silly and crazy like me and my sister! How I miss the times where we talked and laughed like 3 crazy people during dinner or watching tv. How I miss the time when we played in the waves when in Redang (yup, my mum still enjoys it very much..cool eh?). How I miss the times when we asked her to camfreak with us and she happily obliges =). What can I say? I have a cool mum =)

I miss her.

Mother's Day at Westin Hotel

Joining in for the mirror camfreaking session *happy memories*

Mummy with her girls at Laguna Redang June 2008

Mum and Dad at The Loaf, Pavillion (2008)

Happy 49th (belated) Birthday my dearest mummy! I'm sorry I wasn't there to celebrate with you this year..That's never happened before. Hope you had a special one, special mummy.

Me loves you. xoxo

The second one, is not family, but is as good as. After 8 years (still counting and will always count) of wonderful, exciting, and memorable friendship, our bond is still as strong as ever though we are miles apart and hardly saw each other anymore due to studies. So many things that we went through together, the tears, the laughters, the joy, the sadness and even tiny arguments brought us closer instead of tearing us apart. To think I used to dislike you LOL. Yes everyone, I'm talking bout one of my two besties that's been with me for almost a decade, Adeline Er aka Beloved =p

Those moments that we shared, I still remember it clearly and after looking through those old pictures again, it puts a big smile on my face. All these time that we had together is just indescribable and really precious to me and I'm sure it is to you too. You never fail to make me laugh with your antics, your poses, your words. The late night talks during sleepovers, boiling porridge on the phone during sec school days, counting downs at One U or The Curve, the heated debate on Manchester United and Liverpool, the various crappy stuff we talk about, the "fishing" we do together, the hyperness and madness states we used to be in, not to forget our famous camfreaking... the list is just so long. Well, 8 years IS a long time haha.

LOL remember this??? Our first picture together! The official start of our camfreaking!

Adey with her two besties (she has more than 2 of course, pengkhianat rite LOL. jkjk =p)

With kartsi

New Years Eve 2007 @ The Curve

Testing our posing skills heh

Marriage shot lol

Going wild =b

You have always been writing special dedicated birthday posts to me on your blog and I never got to do the same for you cause I didn't have one till recently. So here it is,

Happy Big 20 beloved!!!!

I know you had a good time and I'm glad. A little sad though, as I haven't been able to celebrate your birthdays with you for 2years now.

Just wanna let you know that I treasure our friendship to bits and I know you do too. No matter what, you'll always be my BFF! =)

Birthday kiss from me hehe

I love them both =)

Week One 16/9/08~20/9/08

2008-10-06T22:44:00.065+01:00

Hi again peeps!

This is yet another very outdated post, I'm sorry. Been trying to collect the pictures before posting about the first week at Nottingham.

For international students, we were provided free accommodation and breakfast from the 16th to the 20th of September which was really great. Well, anything free is great haha. Its called the Welcome Week and we needed to attend it to settle our registration, set up a bank account, do our medical checkup, go for talks etc etc. Didn't go for all of the talks cause some were of no importance and the biggest factor of all is......the long walk from Sherwood Hall (the place where we were staying) to the talk venues. Hehe. Instead, a group of us went to explore different places in Notts. Definitely more fun and worthwhile. =)

The Downs

University Halls

Mini apples outside Sherwood Hall (there's an apple tree!)

Cripps Hall

Some tall tower building

Trent Clocktower

On the first day since we arrived, Poyi, Darrick, Chern Hong, Kai Xin and I decided to pay a visit to the lake. It was hugee! If you thought the one in Notts Malaysia was big, it is miniscule compared to the one here. The weather was nice (it was still summer then), the trees are still green, beautiful colourful flowers everywhere, the air was fresh and so, it was a very nice walk. I mean, I hardly went for all these walks back in Malaysia. Can't even recall when was the last time I took a nature walk. Snapped loads of pictures of the scenery which was really quite breathtaking. Some of the trees were exceptionally tall I must say. I ain't good in describing it so just take a look at the pictures =)

Very tall willow tree

Control boat

Us with Trent Building in the background

Trent Building

Entrance to the lake

Was definitely a long walk. We walked from afternoon till late evening but I didn't feel tired. Ok, just a little...but it was a big improvement ohkay! =D We saw so many squirrels! Sooooooo cute! Just the way they stand (refer to pic) can make me go "AWWWWW". Chern Hong tried to tempt them to come closer to us so we could take a nearer shot by throwing crackers on the grass..annnndddd IT WORKED! Ok, I'm really trying to control my usage of the word cute but I really have to say that THE WAY THEY NIBBLED THE CRACKERS IS JUST BEYOND CUTE! *reminds self to check the dictionary for synonyms of cute* I have loads of pictures of the adorable (there you are! no more cute!) lil thing but I guess I can't expect everyone to be as obsessed with squirrels as I am. So, I can't be so selfish to post all those squirrel pictures. These are a few of my favourites =)

SQUIRREL UR SO CUTE! =p

Looking at us before pouncing on the biscuit

Ok so if you are not a fan of squirrels, how bout geese, ducks and swans? Saw plenty of those too and I love the swan the most. So white and pure. There were some ducks (or was it geese?) that were on land seemed to like to follow humans around. I was a little afraid of them (so was Poyi haha. I mean, look at those beaks..) so we let Chern Hong take the lead hehe. On our way back, we passed a Croquet field and watched two elderly men playing it. They chatted with us for awhile and were quite nice. =) We also saw people playing with a mini speed boat which looked cool. Finally we reached the campus and headed back to Sherwood to get ready for dinner. We passed by a small garden on the way back and it was very well kept. The flowers there looked amazing. And again, we took out our camera's =p

Geese

Beautiful snowy swan

Duckies

Smart dog returning the stick to it's owner

Another place we visited during the welcome week was Beeston, this nearby small town. There wasn't much there but it does have a huge Sainsbury supermarket and a Fresh Asia shop selling asian food. There were a few clothes and shoes shop too but nothing much to shout about.There's also charity shops. Had lunch at Subway and we then had to rush back for some important thing in uni which I've also forgotten but its boring so there's no need to mention.

Malaysia car!!! hahahaha

Too happy see Malaysia car so jakun abit hehe

On Thursday night, (I think it was the 18th) we went to a club called Oceana located in the city centre. The event was organised by the ISB for us international students and it costed us 5pounds for entrance fee and transportation. I think its worth it cause it includes transportation. A whole day bus pass costs 3pounds here and cab ain't cheap either..so yeah..5pounds is reasonable. The club looked wayyy cool from the outside. Inside, it was awesome! There are 5 rooms (from what I heard) but I think I only went 3 of it..or maybe 2. Not too sure cause it was really crowded and I don't know which are the different rooms. Anyways, the first room we entered had a really cool dance floor (I find it cool cause I've never seen it in the clubs I went in Malaysia) and I find the DJ quite good at mixing the songs. There was another room which had great atmosphere! The dance floor was this big square and it was jammed pack with people. We didn't really hang around long in that room cause it was really too packed. But the crowd was great. I wanted to get a little tipsy..but I didn't and I have no idea why cause I did drink. The drinks at Oceana are expensive though. We left the club at around 1plus..nearly 2am. Was waiting for the bus but waited at the wrong place so we missed it and waited again. We then saw another bus 30minutes later and it was waiting at the original place where we waited at first. So we had to run and thank god, we made it. It was freezing lol. Was literally biting cold.

On the way to Oceana!

wooooo its hot! =D

Dance floor at 10pm (picture courtesy of Chern Hong)

The DJ

Packed dance floor

Before leaving the club

Our welcome week programmed ended on the 20th of September and we moved into our permanent accommodation by taking the free coach provided. Woke up really early again for breakfast(by that time, I was dead bored with the breakfast cause its the same every single day..but ah well, its free) but we didn't get to board the bus till much later. I managed to board the bus earlier to St Peters Court than some of the Raleigh Park people but due to bad luck, the bus broke down when it was about to leave the hall and we had to wait for quite awhile for another bus to come. Finally reached SPC at noon and had trouble lugging up all my heavy luggages to the first floor. Luckily, one of the guy volunteers helped me carry it up like it was feather light =.= Had a look of my room and I really like it. Had a quick check of the room to make sure it was in ok condition and I was out of the door and walking down St. Peters Street to Raleigh. We were meeting up to go to the city centre as we all needed duvets, pillows and stuff of that sort. Bought most of those stuff from Primarks which is really one of the cheapest stores to buy stuff. We all had so many Primarks paperbags that we looked like walking advertisments for the brand haha. After Primarks, we went to Tesco to buy some groceries and other daily necessities. Not very interesting shopping but it was an essential one haha. We passed by Market Street which looked quite fantastic and went to Broadmarsh briefly too. Tesco was located at Victoria Centre which is the most frequently visited mall since I came here. We passed by so many clothing labels but we or rather I could only stare from afar and walked grudgingly to Tesco. Zara, Topshop, Dorothy, H&M, River Island all shouted for me to enter but on that day, I could only promise them that I'll be back (which I did =p ) Went back by cab in the evening and I had to walk back to SPC from Raleigh Park cause I wanted to save 2pounds. Carrying all the Tesco and Primark shopping bags. Where the Primark paperbag was not strong enough to hold all my stuff. And the handle tore from the rest of the bag. Stuff spilling out and I desperately try to stuff it all back while struggling to hold my other stuff. All the way back to far far away SPC (ok not THAT far but far enough with those flimsy bags). I always carry a proper bag with me now to stuff my groceries in.

Me with all my luggage ( picture again courtesy of Chern Hong)

Lugging all the heavy luggages

Primarks!!

Market Square, City Centre

Hugeeeee Zara!

Walking to Asda for grocery shopping

We look like we're on a mission LOL

PHEW! This is seriously one heck of a long post. Not to worry, this will most probably be my longest post ever and it will reduce exponentially from here according to Jinn (hear hear).Im glad I got rid of the post finally hahaha. Off to do some cooking now. Update soon on Goose Fair!

Ling

(I realize i put alot of smileys)

The journey

2008-10-03T23:32:00.042+01:00

Ok, so this post is kinda outdated..but better late than never rite? heh. So the story starts when I left KLIA on the 16th of September. My flight was at 2a.m. so I had to reach the airport at around 11.30. That was the original plan anyway but I was fashionably late even though we left home quite early as we forgot to make a turn and ended up at mont kiara instead...so yeah it made us 30minutes behind schedule. Finally reached KLIA nearly 12am and hurried to check in as Darrick was already there and was waiting for me. Got through check-in with no problems (my luggage was 30.1kg wheeeee not overweight =) thank you god for listening to my prayers). Bas and William came to send me off (thanks u guys) at the ungodly hour and we just chilled at McD and of course, take pictures heehee.

Bas Tower and I

William

There's a reason why we are smiling so widely and the reason is Bas Tower

My family <3>

with the little bully =p

After saying my goodbyes (quite a tearful one thanks to the little bully) Darrick and I went down the famous escalators and on to the immigration officers. This was where I did something really really and I mean REALLY stupid *smacks head*. I forgot to take my laptop bag. YUP u heard me right..I cant believe how forgetful I can be. I was kinda lost in my own thoughts and so after the bag was scanned, I left it there. Worse still, we boarded the train to the terminal and I still hadn't notice that it was missing.! It was only after we reached the stop at the terminal area that I realize something was gone. I thought I left it in the train so I ran into the train again but it wasn't there and thats when I started to panic. Hectic situation I tell you. Darrick and I took the train again back to the other side and I was really worried we might not be able to board the plane cause it was getting late. Everything turned out fine in the end and I really appreciate how much Darrick helped me get back the bag. I know I've said this plenty of times but thanks again!! Felt so bad cause I could have made him miss the plane too. Anyway, its history and I definitely learnt my lesson.

Mummy and Daddy!! Before departure

Fly emirates?

Emirates Air was a disappointment. I was expecting it to be quite nice ya know? Since it was supposed to be a good airlines and all. First impression was bad. The aisle was so narrow that it was terribly hard to carry your handcarry while walking along it. Its so narrow that you can't even pull the luggage behind you. Imagine that. Second complain~Seats are very very cramped. It is only wide enough for you to fit your butt. You can't really shift all that much in your seat and there is very little leg space. With all that, its not that shocking that I couldn't get much sleep. Even when I managed to fall asleep, it was a restless one. BUTTTT another sub reason as to why I didn't sleep much was cause of the meals. Hahaha. I looked forward to having those meals that I didn't really bother to sleep that long. Yes, I'm a food pig. =p I personally thought that the food was good. I have always liked airplane meals for no particular reason. Had been that way since I was a kid. Heehee. I'm still a kid. On-air entertainment was really good too. There was a very wide variety of movies for us to watch and I was pleasantly surprised The Other Boelyn Girl which I had wanted to watch badly was available. I ended up not watching it though (regret cause sis said it was the bomb) cause I was afraid it might be boring and I didn't want to fall asleep yet. Watched 27 Dresses instead.

7 hours of uncomfortable flight later, we landed in Dubai for our transit. The airport was okay I guess and had big duty free stores. I wanted to buy perfume if it was cheaper than the counters in Malaysia but turns out its the same price! Ended up not buying but I did buy some chocolates.. Just a little hehe. Our transit was 5hours so we just bummed around and boarded the plane again for another 7hours worth of flight to London. Was again disappointed cause the seats were as narrow as before though this was another plane. Ah well..On the flight, I asked the stewardess if I could have a Baileys with ice. She asked me if I wanted her to make it a double and I answered YES with a big smile and no hesitation. So she gave me two miniature bottles of the alcohol. Delicious.

Cute mini Baileys

7 hours later, armed with a heavy overloaded tummy filled with 6 yummy airplane meals, we finally reached Heathrow, London. It wasn't all that crowded though. Went past the immigration process fairly easy as she only asked to see my offer letter and when does my course ends. Some of my friends got questioned about their medical checkup though and got held up. Im glad I had a lucky day. Went to clain our baggages and we managed to reach the arrival hall with no custom problems. We joined the University of Nottingham volunteers and not long after, we were boarding the coach that will transport us to Notts, being 20pounds poorer due to additional baggage fee. =(

Coach ride was okay. Still couldn't fall asleep so I awed at the scenic view outside and started taking pictures. I spotted cows =)

Reached Notts at 6-ish and checked into our temporary accommodation provided by the uni. Our luggages arrived not too long after and we settled down and had a nice longgg shower after that long and tiring journey. There was free dinner on that day but I was too exhausted so I skipped. I was still bloated with all that airplane meal anyway hahaha.

A picture of Sherwood Hall, my accommodation for welcome week

Sooo..that basically concludes my journey to the UK. It was long,tiring and uncomfortable but I have always enjoyed sitting in an airplane and I still do very much. Anyhoo, thats the end of this post and I'll continue bout my welcome week in the next post. Till then, toodles!

-Ling-

At last!

2008-10-01T15:42:00.018+01:00

HELLO!

Finally, I manage to drag myself out of my lazyness to blog and start writing my first post. Some of my friends and my sister have been asking me to start a blog to write about my UK experience which I really wanted to but had no "inspiration" lol. Actually I created an account quite some time ago but never wrote in it. Sorry, but I am really just too lazy. =p I really admire those who able to find the energy and time to update their blogs so often. I'm a major blog reader (bordering on stalk-ish behaviour especially blogs that are filled with food pictures) so reading all those interesting blogs made me really want to start having my own and post MY yummy food pictures (a not so subtle hint on whats to come in my blog hehe).

So yeah, I am now in the UK and enjoying it. I love my room to bits, my flatmates are nice, uni is beautiful with tons of hot ppl, there are loads of clothing shops in the city and no blistering hot till you cannot sleep weather. Of course, UK does have its downs. The weather pms-es. One moment its all sunny and not too long later, its pouring and the wind is so strong and freezing. It even managed to unbalance heavy me, and no I did not move myself like what my friend suspected. Food here is definitely not as tasty as Malaysia's nor is there a wide variety. I so miss my mum's cooking and Broga pan mee. Just the other day, Hui En joked and suggested we go Broga for pan mee after class ended. Haha. That totally set off my cravings for Malaysia's food. Also, I have to do house chores very often here eg. wash toilet, do laundry, cook, shop for groceries, wash chickens etc etc. (I do NOT want to elaborate on how my toilet cleaning went cause it was frankly disgusting full stop) However, toilet cleaning aside, I really like it here and yes, of course I miss my family and friends back home but I'm doing fine in that area..not too homesick till I cannot function or breakdown. Hope it never happens haha. I am struggling with lectures here (another downside). Not that I breezed past my year one in Msia but I swear its tougher here..thats cause I am too used to the spoon-feeding at the msia campus and of course, they do not do it here. The lecturers even emphasized that the notes are not complete and we must find additional info ourself. *additional 100000000000N of pressure added to my shoulders* Ah well, I must get used to it and be more hardworking (reminds self to stop watching moonlight resonance). I did went to the library to study maths just now (YES, MATHS!) but am still in a blur...must study MORE!! i sound like a total nerd....but I really am not

Ok, enough complaining for now.. have to go off to settle some bank stuff..and tonight I'll be off to Goose Fair! Will write bout it soon.. first week in Nottingham post coming rite upppp! =)

-Ling-