:: Week 4 - Bristol Trip ::

I can't believe it~ It's week 5 now, and I've been staying here for a month already~! Time flies everyone, time flies... Well, nothing interesting for last week especially weekdays, it's all about classes and study. HOWEVER~! I had a really great weekend and an unforgettable one. ^^ I've promised 'someone' to visit him in Bristol and after a few weeks of delaying plus 'kan chiong -ing', finally I kept my promise and arrived in Bristol on Friday, 23/10/2009. Will have my whole trip's story separated in different post, so please be patient~ Let's start with Friday...

23/10/2009 Friday: While chatting with my mom on skype, I started to pack some of my stuffs for my Bristol trip. Getting more excited when the time gets nearer to my flight time - 9:15pm, Glasgow to Bristol. Being really committed to my Hip Hop class, I went for an hour dance and leave myself an hour to get myself ready and to be at the bus station by 7:30pm, taking bus to airport. I dashed back to my hall right after class, showered, and rushed to the bus station which is freaking far but luckily I got there on time, PHEW~! Can't believe I feel hot under the temperature of 12-degree... =.=" We (Me & Sin Ye, a Malaysian friend I got to know from Hip Hop class) arrived early at the airport and since we haven't take our dinner, we went to Starbucks for a cup of hot chocolate. Well, she got herself a hot chocolate, I got myself a cup of Caramel Macchiato (if you are not sure about what is that, google it. LOL~ I've just got to know about it from a drama, thought of trying it out... =p)

With my Caramel Macchiato

Being too relax, we were almost late for boarding. As I said, 'almost'... Yes, we got there on time as well, such a 'kan-chiong' night I had. Maybe we had overworked ourselves for the night, wasted our energy, felt a bit sleepy on the flight to Bristol. After an hour plus, TA DA~ I'm in England already~ Welcome to Bristol~! Ok, I'll make the long story short. We took bus, arrived at Clifton Triangle, went to Sin Ye's brother's place, unload her luggage, then we headed to Buddha Lounge, where the 'someone' I'll be meeting is working there - MY DARLING KEVIN, I MISSED HIM SOOOO MUCH~ Haven't seen him since May 2007 if i'm not mistaken, it has been two years plus. Both of us looked so different now but he is as playful as usual. =P Being served with the best cocktail in the house (LOL~) by Mr Kevin, Sin Ye & I spent our first ever clubbing in UK that night watching people dancing while waiting for him to finish his work. That night, was also my very first time to have rice with like 4 or 5 dishes as my supper at 2 in the morning, thanks to Kevin that worried I might starved to death. Haha... anyway, nice meal~ Head back to Kev's place after supper, and we chatted our way till 10 in the morning. >.<" Long time no see mar... 24/10/2009 Saturday: Got myself 4 hours sleep, then I started my Bristol day-trip. Our main destination today is Clifton Suspension Bridge. On our way, we passed by Wills Memorial Building, then The Victoria Rooms. Then we arrived at Bristol's landmark - Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Wills Memorial Building

The Victoria Rooms

View over Clifton Suspension Bridge

Side view of Clifton Suspension Bridge

Long shot of Clifton Suspension Bridge

We headed to Kev's work place - Shanghai Night for dinner after that (Yes, it's dinner time already, missed my breakie and lunchie =P) Didn't took any food photos, sorry gals... (you know who you are, LOL~ told you I'm not a food blogger) We went to Broadmead (is it Broadmead? I'm not sure... WAHAHA~) ahem~ anyway, a shopping area, to see see walk walk... I don't really fancy shopping, but I do like watching movies. And yes, I went for my first ever movie in UK, late night movie, and guess what - "Saw VI"! Emm, I will not elaborate much on the movie, it is just plainly disgusting. LOL~

That's all for the night, for my Bristol day-trip. We went home around 2am and we have to take 5am bus to London that very same day. It's also the day we changed to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time, 8 hours behind Malaysia) and I got myself an hour extra to sleep. ^^ Lucky me~ but it doesn't really help, I felt that I haven't really got into my usual 'sleep soundly' mode, I didn't get enough rest. And...

Story continues in the next post... ^^

Patient patient~~

:: Glasgow - Week 3 :: - And baby girl I say okay okay~

Hi mates, how ya'll doing? I really want to blog earlier, but I fell sick for the past few days and getting better now, no worries! Okie now, my updates for the past whole week...

12 & 13/10/2009 Mon & Tues: As usual, I don't have class on Monday, but I have a discussion with my group mates today for a simple & small presentation on Tuesday. The discussion isn't a successful one I guess, there were a lot of communication barriers between group members. They are good people, just that we didn't work hard enough I guess. And, the presentation didn't went great as well, though the lecturer said every group did great. Somehow I just feel like the presentation sucks. Well, only God knows...

14/10/2009 Wednesday: Today is a very busy day, my bad... I have class from 10am-1pm, and I arranged my English for Business class to be on 2-4pm, Academic Writing II class on 4-6pm. >.<" Well... I thought today is a free day with only 3 hours class, I might as well fully utilize the free time right? So I attended the English classes for the first time, it was fun. Not as difficult as I imagined, and I found that there's more ang mo compared to Chinese where I thought it would be the other way round. Tonight, there is this 'Ceilidh & Supper' for postgraduate students from Department of Marketing (and yes, we are under the Department of Marketing as well). Thought of having a free meal again would be great, but other than free meal, I ended up dancing all night long. >.<" It was fun though; Scottish folk dances with simple steps but extremely tiring as you either have to keep on turning and making rounds, or else keep on skipping, so much more tiring than going for aerobic or Hip Hop class! I don't have much photos with me, because like I've said, I've been dancing all night and I didn't missed any of the dances. I guess I've experienced a real Scottish culture tonight! ^^ And I reached back my hall around quarter past 11pm I guess, seriously a tiring day... 15/10/2009 Thursday: Thought that I've booked for the squash session and will have my very first experience in squash, but end up the staff booked the court for me instead of the coaching session. Zzzz... well, since I'm there already, I went to the gym for some workout. Not too long, around half an hour to 45 minutes, then I headed off to my class again. Keeping my time fully occupied! ^^" 16/10/2009 Friday: Not feeling too good today, feel like going to cough soon. I have a three hour class, then I went to bankS after class. Yes, bankS. I went to RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) for some banking matters, then I went to HSBC to check out my account where I opened during my studies in Liverpool 3 years ago. And yes, it is still active... with 5 pence left inside... >.<" It was damn embarrassing when the bank staff told me so and he is laughing. Damn~ 17 & 18/10/2009 Sat & Sun: Didn't really went anywhere other than went out to buy my cough syrup (not really cough syrup, it's our Pei Pa Kou~) and some food. Got fever for a day, flu for two days... Pei Pa Kou really does help as an early prevention for cough, got it controlled and felt so much better with it~! (sounds like advertisement =.=") Well anyway... I got sick because of my stupidity, didn't cover myself with my jacket after gym that day, and I got a cold. Yes, and that is the reason I blogged late. =P It is a good excuse, isn't it? I'm feeling much more better now, and I'm trying to get the photos or videos taken by my coursemates during Ceilidh. Hopefully can share with ya'll soon. Well in the mean time, I got only one photo to share...

My coursemates who attended the Ceilidh ^^

Before I round up this post of mine, here's one of the song I've been listening lately that I would like to share with ya'll. Love him lots, as usual... ^^ Until then, cheers~

:: Glasgow - Week 2 :: - Ah~ it feels like this...

Ah~~ Another week passed by, time flies, really~ So what have I been doing for this whole week? Let's have a review, haha~ (Just some main things I did okay, other than attending classes)

05/10/2009 Monday: I have no class for today, so I went to do my laundry in the morning. Well, it is actually 'we' went to have our clothes washed. My flatmates and I were thinking that we should share the washing service as it cost us 2 pounds once and since one person won't have that much of clothes to be washed. After the laundry, I took my brunch, then we again headed to the trial aerobic class. Haha~ yea, laugh as you wish... It was fun though, not that difficult as I've imagined. Tiring a bit, because we need to dance non-stop, where I usually get the chance to catch my breath during Hip Hop class, aerobic is really different. But still, it's fun. You don't even need a jacket to walk under the weather of 11degrees after that class, you will feel so warm. Will continue with the aerobic class since I got the free time on Monday for these few weeks, and will see how it goes again when my timetable changes few weeks later.

07/10/2009 Thursday: Today, my groupmates for one of the subject's assignment and I, went around the place we are staying now in Glasgow, called the Merchant City, to complete a small task given by our lecturer. We need to answers some of the questions given by him regarding hospitality based on Merchant City and our experience there. So here's our experience and presentation. Lol~

3 dishes for 6.99 pounds

That's the most affordable ones we found around Merchant City with quite a nice interior there. The food was really nice and it was my very first meal that I spent eating outside since I'm in Glasgow. Well, ain't that bad I guess? Went for a free dinner that night, haha~ It wasn't really meant for us, it was the other residence hall's Welcoming Dinner! Well, but since nobody can recognise us, and it is free, so we are there to 'share' a bit of the food. LOL~ There's quite a lot of them there compared to the Welcoming Dinner of our hall, but still we get to eat a lot. And we are really sorry to those who are the residents there but didn't get to go for the second round of the food. =P I'M SORRY~

08/10/2009 Friday: Had my very first presentation in class today, though it was not a really formal one and no marks will be given, it was just a task afterall. But seriously, the students in the class are really SOMETHING~! I should really work hard! Hmm... I went for Hip Hop trial today, and the instructor just look nothing like the one I imagined. Emm, I'll try to describe here... He is really tall, muscular. He got very short beard and moustache. He wore a cap, with really short hair. He can dance well, teach well. He got his way of teaching and controlling the class. I enjoyed the class a lot, I even stayed for the second session of his class and dance for two hours, warmed up twice. LOL~ Well, it's really fun, and I will definitely continue. ^^

09/10/2009 Saturday: I have no class until Monday, so I woke up real late today. Spent my whole afternoon and night chatting, downloading songs, eating... Gosh~ I'm really wasting my time and money! I SHOULD WORK HARD! WORK HARD! WORK HARDER! AZA~!

Thought of the day: While I was walking back alone to my hall last night after the Hip Hop class, the street was really quiet. I walked real slow and look around... I thought of what I had been doing for the past few months, what I had been thinking, imagine-ing for the past few months. And for that very moment, what I thought of, is... "Ah~ it feels like this... and this is how it really looks like..." Ya, this is how my life looks like now. This is how it feels like when those images running in your mind for a long period of time, comes true...

Mugdock Country Park Visit

Hi ya'll~! I've mentioned in my previous post that I was going to blog about my Mugdock Country Park Visit, so here we go~

03/10/2009 Saturday: My flatmates and I are always up for free meals and free tours you see, so one day, my Hong Kong flatmate asked the other three of us whether would like to join her for this trip to Mugdock Country Park. Lol~ We will need to pay for the train, but others like travelling from train station to the park and tea time snacks will be included. So we got ourselves ready around 11.30am and we head to George Square to meet up the rest of the bunch who are going for the trip as well.

There are quite a lot of students going, not only from Strathclyde, there are students from University of Glasgow along and totally 'international' group of students. So we walk to the train station and took a train to a place called 'Milngavie' (wondering how to pronounce eh... and it actually pronounced as 'Mile Gaive', which sounds similar to the word in Cantonese used to describe no place to stay = 'Mao Gai', LOL~) This is what my Hong Kong mates said. =P

Below are the photos that I've took during the visit. I can't really tell you how nice it is by words, even using photos it is still not as perfect as the actual view. Well, enjoy the photos first, then if got the chance, come here and visit. Lol~

After the visit, we had the chance to visit the Scottish's house and enjoy some snacks for tea time. It was basically a simple refreshment for us to get some bites and to socialise with each other. There are students from China, Hong Kong, Spain, Italy, Singapore, Malaysia (just me =.=") etc. And there's one guy from Czech Republic looks so cute and got really nice eyes. LOL~ where my flatmate can't really get her eyes off him, but mine were stucked with the Italian guy. LOL~ Ahem~! Emm... anyway, here's how the house looks like, and I love the cozy feeling of the house~

After tea, we headed back to the train station and took the train back to our place. Well, like I've mentioned earlier, we are always up for free meals, so the next station would be a Christian Mooncake Festival Dinner, hahaha~ Hey, we miss home dearly on Mid-Autumn festival so it's not wrong to get ourselves a good meal and mooncakes right?? HAHA! So I enjoyed a full chinese cuisine dinner and not to forget, MOONCAKES~

We stayed for a talk about don't know what regeneration and science from the view of Christianity or something (Sorry, not being disrespectful, just I really didn't concentrate and I forgot the title of the talk~ I'M SORRY~) Well, we went back to our hall after that, then this is the last picture I took for that day...

'月亮代表我的心'

Will blog again soon, I promised~! Well, at least once a week ain't that bad, correct? ^^ Until then, cheers mate~

:: Glasgow - Week 1 ::

It has been a week since my last post and you all must be wondering what have I been doing for the past whole week. So here it goes~

26/9/2009 Saturday: My first weekend in Glasgow where I got no plans for it. So I woke up in the morning, not too late, around 9am I think, took my breakfast, finished chatting, then I head off for a walk around. There was this Merchant City Festival going on for the weekend with food stalls, accessories stalls around and also performances by different bands. It was really fun and entertaining and loads of people walking along the streets, and imagine with the cold breeze blown upon your face, you won't feel irritated to have to squeeze through your way among the crowd. I've took some videos (wanted to do as if its a travel program, but too many people around and I'm too shy to do it in the end) but I don't think I can upload it all here, so I'm going to share only two videos which I kind of like it. What I cay say is,"I LOVE MUSIC~!"

* Please forgive me where the quality of the video is not as good as the original ones because I have to change the file to a smaller file size for me to upload. Thanks!

First Band



Second Band

27/9/2009 Sunday: I went to a Chinese food selling store with my flatmates, where you can get some of the food we have in Malaysia and some other Asian countries. I didn't buy anything at the moment, but at least now I know where the place is. ^^ Nothing much to do for today, so we went home after a lit~tle shopping.

28-29/9/2009 Mon & Tues: I don't have any classes until Wednesday, so I went to open my bank account, settle some of my study-related stuffs. Nothing special happened today, just that my third flatmate has finally arrived and guess what, a girl from China. So far I got some great flatmates, no communications barrier, everything goes well. I showed her some supermarkets nearby where she can get her food, and also showed her the way to school plus the necessary registrations to be made. On Tuesday night, there was this Welcoming Dinner for the students staying at our residence hall, so me and two flatmates of mine went to have a look. WELL... We actually know that there would be free food for us, so we went... WUAHAHA~ Baked macaroni and cheese, the best dinner I had since I arrived in Glasgow! Haha~

I have some inductions to attend on Wednesday, and Thursday was the official day where my classes started. I have classmates from quite of different places, such as Taiwan, Russia, Czech Republic, Germany and so on. Not much of us actually, only around 20 people in our class and only ONE leng zai here. ::sobsob:: Well anyway, we are all from different countries, graduates from different background, different age range as well. What a class~~ As usual, got to know what assignments we would have to do and date to hand-in, it started to get a lit~tle bit stressful... Well, other than studies, health is a very important thing that we should take care of. So on Friday, I got to know that we have free trial to test out the activities provided by the Centre of Sport and Recreation, so I went for the Hip Hop class! Waha! The teacher FFK eventually, but what do you know, things happened for a reason! I met a bunch of Malaysians there and I even found someone that is planning to go to Bristol too~! I don't need to go alone then~! Felt so excited after that, well though we didn't get to attend the class, we still went to work out in the gym for a while, chat for a while and exchanged our contacts. What a coincidence really~!

*Updates: I'm planning to sign-up for the membership so that I can attend the Hip Hop class, use their gym and get some coaching to play squash as well (if I got the time)! Preety good isn't it?

Well, so far so good on the updates eh? Haha... I'm going to blog about my trip to Mugdock Country Park in my next post, don't want to put everything here now. LOL~ So, until then~ Cheers mate!