Reminiscence

Unfortunately I didn't go out at night so no twinkling lights from the London Eye. It's impressive from afar but after paying 17 pounds and 50 pence for just one round, you feel cheated.

You could totally distinguish who were the locals (they'd just sit and stare outside) and the non locals with endless snapping and posing and pointing out at famous landmarks. I think we were almost at the top here.

William Shakespeare's place of birth. They fashioned the interior just like old times - old beds, no TV, a cute lil kitchen but I do not remember seeing a bathroom. I'm sure they had one, but I wasn't a fan of Shakespeare (I still don't get his Sonnet 18 I read in Form 4) so I hardly paid attention.

This is one part of Oxford University. I just adore these medieval buildings. It gives you a sense of awe and feeling part of history when you enter, plus, you know how brilliant you are when you're accepted as a student here.

I stayed 2 weeks in London with a relative, then I went up to Loughborough for a week with my godparents. This is the Great Central Steam railway station. It runs an intensive service of steam and heritage diesel trains, which are restored and worked mostly by volunteers. [Thanks anonymous for clearing up]

Loughborough reservoir in the evening

Past and present

Haiz ... graduated already but still need to read those darn scholarly articles on Swetswise and NetLibrary.

What? No lah I'm not going to grad school. But even if I did I wouldn't tell =P

K - who is also my driver, my hotel and occasionally my ATM is in the midst of a college dissertation so I figured I'd lend a helping hand since I'm sitting at home doing nothing but using electricity and raising the Internet bill to a new level.

So I'm back to the terrifying 3 months in Liverpool - doing the infamous literature review. The worst part like, ever.

To the good news - I was in the Mid Valley Boulevard area yesterday for an interview. Not inside the shopping complex. The interviewer said she'd get back to by this week or next. Mana tahu this evening she called me up saying I got the job.

Wuah! Sooooo happy! First time interview lagi wei. And yesterday also marked exactly 1 month after I touched down at KLIA. But anyway the job needs me to have a car and drive around town doing research and attending functions and my dad didn't think the salary is gonna be enough to live on.

Ouish

Andrew Upton mania lives on

This is the Andrew she *should* be referring to. He's the most sought after lecturer while we were at Liverpool =)

And this is Jeffrey Buttle. He's a retired Canadian figure skater and 2006's Winter Olympics bronze medallist.

What makes me go yay

The cutest thing ever

Game over

Hallo! Ik ben in Amsterdam!

135 days ago I was at this exact airport waiting to embark on a journey into the unknown. 135 days later I’m back on the same route.

I’ll see you soon along the way.

Dag!

Emptiness

This day 1 month ago, I was gearing up for the most unexpected event of a lifetime. This is probably the final experience of a lifetime when you have got better things to do than to worry about your future, when you’re trekking across 8 countries with your folks’ money and when you’re caught in between a new chapter and the old.

I’d be lying to myself if I said I wanted to leave the western way of life for the comfort zone I call home. I’d be equally lying if I said I never relieved the 14 days by constantly flicking through the hundreds of snapshots containing smiles and joy night after night. I’d be definitely lying if I said the event was magnificent entirely on its own, not because of the people I have came across.

I am in my final destination, where I can still freely exercise my childishness and when I can still refuse to grow up to face the reality of a dog eat dog world out there.

We'll see

I'm planning to touchdown at KLIA in style - in my 10 euros' I Love Paris T-shirt.

Rather unpatriotic, ain't it?

Plans are meant to be broken

Remember the 3 day plan I had after university life was over? Yeah I don't think irresponsible people, a.k.a. me should ever create. In fact I should be barred from planning ahead like, ever.

Sept 1 - Didn't sleep for the entire night, walked to library to print assignment, rushed for exam, handed up assignment, had lunch with Angeline & Bird, had coffee at Nero, didn't get my shoes, got ready, went to Angeline's to be dollied, called for cab, waited for cab, cab was late and we were late, walked to Adelphi Hotel with those high heels that gave me blisters 3 months ago, forced myself to finish the food, photo taking session, some dancing, went to 2 different bars, danced like a crazed maniac, went home

Sept 2 - Celebrated Xiao Ren's birthday, had tequila for the first time ever, played Police & Mafia til 3am, went home, took a shower, uploaded pics on Facebook, chucked stuff into the luggage, sleep, wake up, lugged luggage out, housemate (I think it was Mimi) thought I was flying home, called for cab, waited for cab, cab arrived, arrived at Lime Street, found the train surprisingly easy, arrived at Nottingham, arrived at Loughborough in 15mins, no elevators/escalators at Loughborough station so this white guy helped me lugged the luggage up and down the stairs, met godparents, had lunch, went home and watched TV, went for some sightseeing, had dinner, had a good chat, went online, slept

Sept 3 - Headed back to Liverpool, bumped into Wei Xiang, Derique, Sharon and Allen, took a shower, went to library to return books, converted my pounds to euros, did laundry, washing machine spoilt so loaded it to another one, went to library to return the rest of the books (yes I'm that kiasu I borrowed the entire library), dinner with housemates (who turned out to be half of the girls from Europe trip's Coach D), took my time, Mimi tells me it's 8.45pm, ran to the room and practically threw anything I could find into the bags, JC asks to have dinner but I couldn't so I gave her the unopened bottle of lemonade and pineapples, ran down to get my laundry, left the bedsheets and duvet in the room, left my unwanted stack of books as well, plus the trash, dumped the bags into the bus (I was the first! >.<), ran back to get the Internet cable and returned it and the keys, realized me and my housemates left food lying around the kitchen, totally forgot about my Mars chocolate in the fridge, ran out, housemate tells me my dinner is still on the table, I told her I couldn't finish her sayur, fiddled with my seat, looked around and thought jeez there are some weird looking guys sitting behind me

Best days of our lives

Greatness.

It's Sept 1st!

My last day as an undergrad. Awww ... gonna miss some of them coolest peeps ever!

Me, Sharon (who rings me up every Sunday morning for church) and Xiao Ren (without a doubt, one of them fun-nest guy ever!)

Me and Eling (who called just to see how my rashes were ... so kam tong! (touched))

So let's take a look at my upcoming schedule as an ex student >.<

Sept 1 - Go library print assignment, rush for exam, scream for joy and then sigh, perhaps more photo session, Starbucks with Angeline and Bird, maybe shop for shoes, go home and prepare for graduation night dinner and disco, go home and hope I'm hungry enough for supper cuz there's still unfinished food (>.<), pack my luggage, sleep

Sept 2 - Wake up early to finish my Tesco ready made microwave food, continue packing my luggage, hoping it ain't too heavy so I can lug it downstairs myself, call cab, wait for cab, look around and sigh, cab arrives and head for Lime Street Station, hope I'll know which train to take and which platform to wait at, get on the train, interchange in Nottingham, reach Loughborough, meet godparents

Sept 3 - Wake up, head back to Liverpool, if I still have time I'll rush to West Kirby for one last time and get my Bakin Boys muffins at Morrisons, rush home, do final laundry, finish my last Tesco meal, pack up everything else, head off to Sharon's place for final Liverpool gathering, run back to room to prepare, at 2130 say farewell to Liverpool and hello Europe!

Sept 17 - Back from Europe, living in London and doing more touring

Oct 3 - Make my way to Loughborough and doing more sightseeing

Oct 10 - Farewell England and hello home (bluek! haha)