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, I feel cheated.

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.

Golden retriever.

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 my Aunt TC, 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.

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

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)

This is Anfield

Friday, July 31, 2009

My mama said

#1. Don't take your sandals to UK. Your feet will freeze, sport shoes are easier to walk in.
Wrong. The weather isn't as cold as everyone thought so I'm searching high and low for some cheap shoes.

#2. Pack more T-shirts with long sleeve. Forget all your spaghetti straps - it's too cold.
Look at my coursemates - they're wearing that wat! So I'm itching to buy more of it.

#3. Don't bring the can opener, it'll make your luggage even heavier.
Now I have 3 cans of Campbell chicken soup and no can opener! ARGH!!

#4. Your school bag is too small for you to bring along, take your father's travelling bag.
Father's bag not nice enough so I bought a new one.

#5. Stop converting the prices, otherwise you won't eat at all.
Now I'm buying and eating too much unnecessary food. I'm thinking Cornish ice cream (1 pound), Smarties and toffee cookies (1 pound for 2 I think), chilli corn carn (1 pound also). It's 5 ringgit and 80 cents for each btw =)

#6. Buy some dresses if you like. There are nices ones you can't get here.
Yes mommy. I bought 3 dresses so far. After converting to ringgit I feel like shooting myself.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

West Kirby

I rode the Merseyrail to West Kirby after Friday classes with Fei Lin and Farah. I was pretty stoked to have them on this trip with me. It was a 30 minute train ride from Lime Street to this charming little town at the mouth of River Dee.

The picturesque Marine Lake and North Wales in the distance.

Gulls.

Hilbre Island during low tide. The island is a local nature reserve and is home to the Hilbre Bird Observatory. If you're not into wildlife, then you can take in the views. I imagine it'll be a nice photo opportunity. Unfortunately for us, we had to retreat halfway when we heard thunder. Also note there are specific timings and route to walk across, so check the information board at the West Kirby beach entrance. Alternatively, you can read here.

Fish and chips from Marigolds. We had planned to have lunch by the seaside before it rained, so here we are at the train station. P/S - the green stuff is peas if you're wondering.

Leaving my fleeting mark.

View from the Marine Lake.

Windsurfing and sailing is a norm here at the Marine Lake.

Lawnbowlers at Ashton Park.

Yay the sun came out! Here we are strolling around the Marine Lake border.

If this isn't cute, I don't know what is

.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Lil things

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Peace

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Bleary evenings

Weather forecast: cloudy

Yesterday's weather forecast: Rain

Remember the 2pence I donated to the blind musician? Yeah, this is his dog

Downtown Liverpool

Some buildings

Colorful SuperLamBanana. [I'll show you the giant one next time]

He overlooks the town. I think he owns it =P

Seagulls. Sometimes they walk by you, sometimes they walk with you and other times they fly blindly into you

The other day's weather forecast: Rain

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

2 pence

Last week, Alric said to walk around town while looking down occasionally to recover lucky pennies. After class today I stumbled across one - a 2 pence coin. May not be useful to most Brits but it looked as if it's worth a lot. And a few classmates had found lucky pennies around their apartments (in the sofa!) and not me.

Till now.

Walking along the shopping district I saw a sleeping brown dog with a "Please do not feed dog" sign next to him. His owner was a blind musician. I still had the coin in my pocket so I donated to the guy.

See, I'm nice.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Atlantic Point

Home for the next 3 months. I'm living on the 2nd floor (again!) so the poor Atlantic Point staff had to lugged my 24 kilos luggage upstairs.

View from my room. Block 10A, Apartment 156, Room 2. We usually shorten it, so it becomes 156.2. Sounds like a radio station FM

This is as professional as I can get

How we enter rooms. Lose the key means living on the streets

Hall and kitchen

This wooden bathroom door doesn't work, seriously

Private bathroom

Bed

Overpacking is an understatement. Everyone brought a bunch of 2 min noodles and I left mine at home