NoisyNeighbour is at it again. he seems to have lots of friends cause the doors are slamming close every 5 minutes or so, AND he's playing some loud music with very strong bass beats that's thumping in my head right now.
eeeesh.
so today went into the dissection room for class and instead of having tables right, we were sitting around covered cadavers on steel tables and were supposed to be writing things down and referring to books and notes and stuff like that.
so everyone was using the cadaver as a table to hold their books. i guess to me it just feels a bit wrong using a dead person as a prop u know? that was once a *living* person la.
but anyway i'm struggling with the 9-5 classes. there's so much to learn and we're expected to go home and read everything up when we're so tired already.
yesterday i went home exhausted so i gave myself a night off and already today i'm lost.
and really, i don't think there's a need to have a name for every single little area of every single bone okay! ): how am i going to remember them all?!!
so yup, i'm baaaack. it was a pretty great 6 weeks, but i'm itching to start school again and Semester 2 starts tomorrow (isn't it quick?!) but definitely not looking forward to the 9-5 daily classes.
anyways, LONDON TRIP #3!
that's me posing with our dinner (: Ems and I were attempting to make fajitas.
for this trip, i:
1. shared a bed with a complete stranger. (haha it's not what you think!) 2. read 7 books in 5 days (: 3. got stopped for overweight luggage *AGAIN*. (seriously, i really don't know what i was carrying!) 4. filled my shopping quota for the year! 5. had the awkwardest moment of my life. 6. watched my first movie since i left! (it was Hairspray and it was gooood. yes i know, i am very outdated)
me using my brute force to pull the meat of a chicken off the bone (:
and of course, as i have been raving about for the last few days, watched WICKED. and until now, i am still Youtube-ing Wicked videos nonstop.
yes, it is *that* good. sorry for rambling on and on about it.
Ems and I in our coincidental all-brown PJs.
I basically stayed with Ems the whole of this week (thanks honey!) to save transport money and visited places that I missed on the first trip. and of course, catch up with gossip (:
but yeah, it was just so nice spending time with one of TheTen and it felt like we were on one of our trips again (:
the Apollo Victoria Theatre where Wicked was shown.
so basically we went cheapWickedtickets hunting, (which was very successful cause we paid one third of the price and sat super front) flea market walking in Camden Town where there were loads of scary goth people walking around with super tall black mohawks and crazy eyeliner, and a Hillsong London service.
pretty cool!
the backdrop of Wicked which i sneakily snapped a photo of (: it's a map of Oz!
so this time, in order to avoid all the airport drama i decided to go 4 hours earlier just in case. well, i had to take the train and a bus just to get to the airport so i made sure i left super early in case there was a delay somewhere.
but thank God, i reached on time... then the WHOLE overweight thing started again. see right, i've been on three flights from London-Belfast so far, and on EVERY of those flights i have had to take stuff off because it was too heavy and repack everything in the middle of the airport.
and i didn't even buy that many things! it was all just essential things like underwear and my hair straightener and HOW CAN THAT WEIGH OVER 15KG?!
so this time, i packed and decided just to pay la. it wasn't that much anyway and there wasn't anything to give away this time.
my closest encounter with someone famous ):
both my London trips were excellent, and what really helped was the fact that the UK is facing some economic recession thing and now the exchange rate is 1 to 6.4 (or less) so yay for me!
but I wouldn't want to live in London, with the crazy underground mazes and jampacked trains all the time making you paranoid that you're going to get robbed PLUS super expensive transport charges and the extremely tempting shopping everywhere! if i lived in London i think my parents would be broke by end of the year ):
so no more traveling for me... .. until April at least (:
and yay, i get to cut up bodies tomorrow! i can't think of anything better (:
'It's not called lying, it's called looking at things another way..' - Elphaba+Fiyero, Wicked.
I WENT TO WATCH WICKED! Ems and I managed to get super good seats for super cheap so yay (: and the whole thing was just....
... amazing.
By the end of Act I when Elphaba sang *THE* song, Defying Gravity that was featured in Ugly Betty, her voice was so beautiful and strong that i actually started crying. and by the end of the show the tears just flowed and flowed. that's how good it was.
seriously, go Youtube the UK version and prepare to be blown away.
nope, my trip so far hasn't been one of mad shopping, walking around the beautiful sights and hot English guys. i've actually been either watching British TV which i really love now, or lying on the bed reading books. (all autobiographies of British TV ppl)
what an amazing holiday.
when you just laze on the bed, knowing that you have absolutely nothing at all to do for the rest of the day so you can be in that halfasleep state, alternating between sleeping and reading. mmmmmm (:
then you think about this situation ending in a weeks' time when you have to go back to uni for... 9-5 classes everyday ): sigh.
my first(and very hopefully not last) batch of exams in Med School are over! yay.
one more computer test on how to save Word files on Microsoft Word 07 (which is really incredibly confusing) and i'll be off to London for the next 2 weeks!
(: (: (:
and this time, i've wisened up and changed the airport to Stansted so i'm crossing my fingers for no drama this time.
urrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. well not exactly over but 3 more days and one more paper that doesn't really require memorising = yay!
this week has been such a crap week. first, studying method all wrong and i really really overdid it i think.
it's like you read something but you don't memorise it over and over. so you sorta know it but not really, know what i mean?
well that's what happened and i really got sick of it all so i wasn't that motivated and spent a lot of time watching Top Gear instead. (which is a genius show, really. and only alternative due to the strike)
plus my nose won't stop running and when i went into exam hall i forgot everything i memorised.
so for the first time in my life, i'll be happy if i just pass. really!
this 'being sick' thing is getting annoying. i'm sick like once (or more) a month and i think i've used up a small forest already in tissues >.<
due to my sudden comp failure, i couldn't upload any pictures of London after the first week, but here they are! (:
*btw history REALLY repeats itself. cassie is taking EXACT same subs as me for ALvls and is in the same class! (:
anyway, this is a waist high bar of Toblerone which my aunt gave me for my birthday. it's sorta fake la, since it's actually 3 bars in a long tube but still!!
remember Joey from Friends? he was eating that giant bar from England which i will try to find (: anyway i gave away two bars in Heathrow >.<
the plan was simple- i was going to be there for three weeks and i stayed with my aunt,uncle and cousin in their apt 30 minutes away from CentralLondon. i work at the weekends at my aunt's restaurant making drinks to pay for shopping (:
i was very apprehensive at first since i've only met her twice before my trip so living with them may be a problem you know? *one day i was walking then i whole bunch of soldiers on their horses just walked by like that! and the cars behind them had to drive slowly behind and the horses are MASSIVE!*
at first i was really a bit disappointed cause my cousin kept asking my questions nonstop, like one after another nonstop and you know how impatient i am right? and i have to say their lifestyle took a bit of getting used to, definitely.
*view from London Eye bridge. there's BigBen and Westminster Abbey i think. not sure also, it just looks pretty*
i mean, since she works in a restaurant right, they sleep at 2, wake up at 12, and mealtimes are 12pm, 4pm, and 12am. so yeah, it was really weird for me.
*London Eye! i didn't go on it though*
but after awhile i got used to it and since my aunt was *super* like my mum (which really made me miss her a lot more) my whole time there was excellent.
so everyday i'd walk around/go to library and then go over to the restaurant at night to get free dinner, which was always amazing chinese food (:
*London Eye bridge*
i didn't go down to Central London as much as i wanted to due to the constant guilt about studying and also the travel expenses were a lot, but i'm happy to say that i met up with everyone i wanted to meet up with (:
i have to take the rail, reach some station half an hour away and change to Underground, then from there change another line to get to the amazing shopping area so it was kinda a drag too.
*Ho and I in the elevator of her hotel*
and I have to say, shopping in London.... ... is really really good la. you know how shops always advertise that they have branches in NY, London etc?
well it's really just a huge shopping place with loads of beautiful architecture and amazing amazing weather.
everyone says England is always dreary and rainy all the time but it only rained once in the 3 weeks i was there! and then i come back to Belfast for two days and it rained BOTH days >.<
*us at our best!*
the sales were already amazing and on BoxingDay, all hell broke loose. really.
masses and MASSES of people were about and the stores were just jam-packed. thank God for the cold weather, if not people would be sweaty as well and that's never very nice.
*inside Selfridges- which has nothing to do with Miss Selfridge, which i didn't know. it's a huge departmental store*
long lines were formed EVERYWHERE- fitting room, payment counter, and since it was Christmastime, all the Chinese people weren't working and they were just EVERYWHERE in Chinatown. and all of them were standing around on streets smoking, looking like VCD sellers which i have to say, looks very intimidating.
*Carnaby street i think, i was wandering around so i'm not sure*
i spent Christmasday on a drive around London since the place was empty and the roads were a dream to navigate through.
since London roads were all named right, not like back home where the streets are numerically named so you'd know which direction you're headed most cars here have a GPS navigation system which was EXCELLENT, instructing them exactly where to turn and all the little details like speed and all.
i didn't do much for New Years' due to the studying but i watched the fireworks on TV and then wished i did something instead.
*a chinese supermarket that is really giant with EVERYTHING chinese you can hope for*
i guess London is nice in the way that there are SO many people from different backgrounds there that you don't feel out of place so much. in Belfast, i always feel very conspicuous since there are hardly any international people.
i really enjoyed the pouring drinks part and somehow, washing and cleaning glasses really appeal to me (: so i've learnt how to pour beers properly (a challenge my dad always poses to cas and i which she'd always win) and mix alcoholic drinks, which i'm sure is what every parent wants to hear.
and man, do British people love their Cokes. everyday drink Coke and eat food with black bean/sweet and sour sauce. i really don't know how the whole black bean business came about, i mean back home the only black bean you see is with the fish in the can right?
am i missing out on some amazing Chinese dish involving the magical black bean that i don't know about??
*view from my kitchen*
yeah, Belfast snowed for two days before i came home, and i came back to ice covered walkways and gray slush.
i haven't touched any of it cause it's all really black by now but by looking at the white parts in the untouched gardens, it sorta looks to me like the ice in AisKacang.
see, right in the middle of the road in front of my apt. is a giant ball of ice. i thought it was all soft and all at first but i kicked it and no, it's rock solid.
there are balls of ice like these all over the place and cars have to navigate around them, which is really funny (:
but seriously, the roads are scary to walk on right now cause its all covered in patches of ice so you have to jump from one un-iced patch to another 'cause the iced parts are impossible to walk on.
and you know that's bad news for someone like me who fell down twice a week down the stairs in Taylor's last year. *i'm not joking, as any of my classmates.
so far so good anyway. i can't wait to leave for London in a weeks' time for LT #3! (:
you'll never guess what happened to me. well normally when i start a post like this i have something happy to report, BUT i had a superfreaking bad day.
first, i arrived at the airport a little late cause we had to sit there and wait for the car to heat up and the ice covering the car to melt before being able to drive to Heathrow.
then leh the super arrogant attendant told me that my luggage was 9kgs overweight and i had to pay 63 pounds for that. (in the website it clearly states 30kg but they told me only 20kg allowance) NO WAY i'm going to pay 500 ringgit to transport chinese food back to Belfast, so i went one side and took 1/3 of my belongings out into a plastic bag and gave it to passerbys.
i must have looked really funny huh, giving away stuff to strangers in the airport. i gave away lotions, loads of food, bars and bars of chocolate, and Ho, i'm really sorry but my favorite EVER copy of P&P that you brought all the way from Malaysia ): it was between that and limited edition BodyShop stuff and i really love BodyShop. i'm really sorry but luckily i just bought another copy in London so it was okay.
after all the throwing away half of my stuff (which was very very heartbreaking) i stood in line for like half an hour to drop my (very light) baggage in. now, i dont understand WHY they have 4 counters but only one working.
so when it was finally my turn, they told me that the gate for the flight closed. i went into shock and that stupid woman told me that 'oh, she READ THE WRONG FLIGHT.' but no, 2 seconds later she said my flight IS closed and it was closed 2 MINUTES BEFORE.
and then she asked 'WHY didnt you come earlier?!' and i told her that i'm sorry, but i was busy giving away my worldly possessions and STANDING IN LINE where there was ONLY ONE COUNTER okay?!!! (of course i didnt la huh, i'm extremely polite haha)
so i ran to get a new ticket and with my teary red eyes i told the man what happened and he gave me a free air ticket for the next flight (: lucky man, the woman next to me was charged a hundred pounds for some flight and i was thinking, my dad is going to kick me to the moon if i spent 1000 ringgit for a one hour flight. then i really broke down. i must have looked pretty attractive huh, with the red eyes and nerdy specs. i swear right, i cry at EVERYTHING.
so i went back to the baggage area and oh lucky me got that woman again. *by this time they opened another counter* and she asked whether i had to pay and she went 'oh, you really should have to' and told me there was no need to cry.
YOU TRY LA HUH, RUSHING HOME TO STUDY AND WORRYING THAT I CAN'T TAKE MY EXAMS IN TIME AND GIVING AWAY ALL MY STUFF TO RANDOM PEOPLE SUMMORE TELL ME DON'T CRY?!!!!
*phew* that felt kinda good.
now i have to unpack and study. crap.
and due to the snow, there are like giant balls of ice lying in the middle of the road everywhere and everything is covered in ice so walking is almost impossible edi.
):
i better walk properly from now until the exams finish!
i'll be back in Belfast feverishly cramming those annoying 50 lectures. i'm all packed, and my aunt has bought me enough instant noodles to last me a lifetime despite my constant protests that i don't eat instant noodles at all.
those familiar feelings of helplessness and confusion are back and i *really* hope that i pass this exam or my dad will SURELY make my fly home and become the permanent family driver. but then again, i'm so sick of reading the same old slides over and over again.
my dreams have come true! it was forecasted that today will be snowing so i was really excited and then people kept going 'it's snowing!' when it wasn't and got me really happy over nothing ):
then... it happened!
white speckles drifted from the sky!!
i want to take photos but cannot see anything, so i hope when i wake up tomorrow London will be covered with a blanket of whiteness. (:
that said, 2 more days til i go back and 3 more to exams ): on to more studying!
**edit- IT SNOWED FOR LIKE 5 SECONDS. chey! >.<
**edit 2- i just read Jay's blog... AND IT'S SNOWING IN BELFAST TOO!! heavily summore, enough to build a SNOWMAN. >:( >:( it BETTER still be snowing by Sunday!!
