Home =)
I’m back! It feels really good to be home, and I was pretty ecstatic when the plane touched down at T3. Back on familiar soil, seeing familiar faces, my familiar bed… =) Anyway, I’m jetlagged now, and am extremely sleepy (330pm), no thanks to the fact that I chose to go on a movie marathon on the plane instead of catching up on sleep. No matter, to bed in a while! Hee.
Since I’ve been back, it’s just been a mad rush of unpacking, sorting out all the gifts, doing the dirty laundry, getting my fleece jacket to the laudrette’s, reading correspondances, uploading photos, etc. Soon, I’ll have to email my prof to settle a date to meet, which means I have to get cracking on the readings.
I wanna meet up with people though! You guys know who you are – if you are reading this I probably wanna meet up with you, haha. =D So please ask me out!
Anyway, London/Paris/Italy was a blur of good fun and memorable events! I loved Paris – Louvre, Arc de Triumph (not sure of the French name), Sacre Coer, Bastille, etc etc. The place has a romantic vibe to it, perfect for couples to visit, and the view from the Eiffel Tower was splendid. I’m glad I made the trip up with Jianyu. =) I think where London and Paris differ is in their vibes they produce? London is pure energy, adrenalin bustling town, always on the move. Paris, on the other hand, is her stately self, feminine in some ways, beautiful still. At this point, I want to say thank you Jianyu’s family, especially his sisters for doing all the planning, footing the bill etc. Don’t know if they read my blog, but if they do, a giganormous THANK YOU.
Italy was basically about pizzas, pastas and gelato. And the gelato – I wouldn’t be able to do it justice if I merely just described it. If you have the chance to, go there and try it! Gelaterias are dime in a dozen, and most of them serve SUPERB stuff. Some of the flavours I tried – Yogurt, Amarena (Liquered cherries I think), Augusta Perugina (Chantilly and other stuff – scrumptious mix), Dark chocolate (the ice cream was practically black, that’s how “dark”!).. they all tasted buono. =)
For me personally, Rome was not my favourite city in Italy. In fact, I think it’s in some ways overhyped, full of tourists, old, sleazy, dusty. Granted, the Colosseum was grand, as was the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain - and Vatican City in itself is worth a visit. Excellent also if you can afford branded stuff. But other than that, I didn’t enjoy Rome as much as I had expected, or wanted to. Instead, I enjoyed Perugia, Florence, Venice a lot more. And the coastal towns of Amalfi, Sorrento and Positano deserve a mention, for they offered a fantastic view of quaint little towns – imagine a mythical town build atop a hill, something like that. Haha.
So this concludes my travel exploits, and I doubt I’ll be doing any major travelling in the months to come. Travelling is fun but tiring! I believe I wouldn’t be blogging after this post (my normal life is pretty mundane, hurhur) but if you’ve been reading my blog and been with me on my SEP journey, thanks for being there! You guys, like this blog, are also an important and cherished part of my SEP memories.
I’ve seized the day, and created beautiful memories. The journey of the past 5 months will always be special to me.
Quick post!
I’m blogging from Florence now! =) Have been in Italy since yesterday, visiting Milan and covering Pisa and Florence today. It’s been wonderful thus far travelling with my aunts, cousin and Jianyu, and we’ve been eatin A LOT of food. Can’t help it whe the pizza, pastas and gelatos here are so delicious! And we’re not even talking about restaurant standard pizza, pasta, but rather any random streetside stall serves up fantastic food! And the gelato – I can’t even start on how fantastic it is. =D
Ok, I’m off to pck my bags for the road trip tomorrow; we’ll be going to Venice and finally Rome!
See you guys soon!
Last post from London!
Hello! I finally managed to get Internet access here, so this is just a short update to say that I’m fine and lovin’ London! =D Had to endure a prolonged coach ride to the M25 due to road works (6 hours on the bus, good lord.) Visit to Cambridge was EXCELLENT – the place deserves a full day and my host was fantastic and so kind. Visited Tower of London yesterday, which was magnificent. Also took a day trip out to Bath (Roman Baths), Windsor Castle (the Queen was in residence that day!) and Stonehenge. A pile of stones it my be, but a mystical pile at that. Three World Heritage Sites packed into a single day – wow.
Last night was Mama Mia and mamamia was it good!! Felt extremely high after that. I’m not from the ABBA generation (teehee) but the songs were all so familiar and the plot was great as well! I’m glad that I managed to watch three different types of theatre during my time in the UK. Phantom, a classic musical; The Woman in Black, a true-blue play; Mama Mia, a boisterous, get-up-on-your-feet-and-dance musical. I was very happy to see many people in the audience standing up to dance to the ABBA songs! The atmosphere was sooo good. =))
Ok I’m off to Paris later in the afternoon. This is most likely my last post from London, and I will miss the city (not the Tube or the air but the liveliness of it all, its ability to inject adrenaline through my vein, the “big-city” feel to it.) Will blog properly about it when I’m back. To Paris, then! =)
Me the Bustling Bee!
If I had to describe York in one word, it would be “quaint”. But it’s also very beautiful, and even slightly surreal as well! For one, the streets are cobbled, and most parts of the city is perimetered by an ancient wall – in some ways it’s quite an old city I suppose! Even in terms of demographics, the population seems to be dominated by the elderly! When you walk along the main streets, there are many side streets you can browse into, so we just spent out time walking everywhere, turning the corner whenever we felt like it. Lots of cottages that have been converted into shops selling fudges, tea rooms, bakeries, bookshops, etc. I’ll remember York most vividly for the very Enid Blyton feel to the town (remember I was telling you guys about how the town supposedly resembles her books?) Well, it’s true! The street names are so quaint and cute! The Shambles, The Stonebow, there’s even an Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Hey! How adorable, and how Blyton that is, right? =) I felt like I was transported back into the surreal world of her books. Haha. Anyway, pics to be uploaded onto Facebook when I have the time! You guys can check out the lovely York too. =)
I’ve been very very busy, and will continue to be so until I reach London. Today is going to be a hectic, errands-filled day – returning library books, photocopying stuff, printing stuff, going to town to buy things, etc. But in the midst of all these, there’s a dinner that I’ve been looking forward to for some time. =) Then, of course, there’s the packing, It’s giving me a headache cos.. of space constraints, let’s just put it that way. It’s even more stressful than my examinations (haha that tells you a lot, doesn’t it?).
A rundown of the next two days:
Tomorrow will be full fledged packing and dismantling of my room back to its original state. My compacting skills to be put severely to the test.Things will have to be dumped/sacrificed, and I foresee a lot of difficult choices having to be made. Sigh.
Come Saturday, it’ll be the bus ride to London, and I have to hope and pray that it will reach London on time (please, please) so that I can catch my connecting train to Cambridge on time. So many things hinge on that bus ride. It doesn’t help that my main Tube line to get to King’s Cross (where I’ll take my train to Cambridge), the Victoria line, has been shut down entirely for the weekend. The entire line, for the entire weekend. (The Tube people have a nasty habit of doing all their engineering, repair work, etc on weekends, closing off major sections of major lines and leaving thousands at their mercy, having to find alternatives to get to their destinations. Even St Paul’s station will be closed this weekend – what are tourists to do??) So, I’ve to do a detour and take the Piccaddilly line instead, which of course takes a longer time to get to King’s Cross. Gah. I can only hope for the best!
Ok, bustling bee needs to go start on the errands! =D
“I solemnly swear that I have finished my exams!”
Haha. The title was inspired by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which I wrote about in my exams just now. (I half expect to see a Marauder’s Map in my mail soon. =D)
I declare myself FREE FROM THE SHACKLES OF EXAMS! Finally, finally. I think the waiting just got too much, so I attacked the paper with lots of vigour and managed to finish it with time to spare. RAWR. That rarely, if ever, happens to me in a Lit exams. (But I can’t quite vouch for the quality of my work, of course. Hur.)
After finishing the paper, I had that weird, slightly deflated feeling that one doesn’t expect to get after her last paper. You know, the feeling of “feeling nothing” at the end of it? Perhaps I really have been too slack this SEP, and can’t muster up the same level of tension as in NUS to feel the immense relief and joy after exams.
Anyway, on to happier things! Waiting for Libing and her bf to reach Manchester (she’s on exchange to Newcastle, and they are on a road trip across England! How cool is that!) so that we can head to Old Trafford to see the Grand Dame one last time and to get last minute souvenirs. Thereafter, dinner beckons! =) Tomorrow I’m off to York for a day trip, and after that it’s two days of intensive packing and last minute details before London. YAY!! Happifying, happifying.
Will be meeting Jianyu’s family in London and travelling with them for the London/Paris leg of the journey. My cousin and aunts will be joining Jianyu and I for the Italy leg of the trip. I’m very excited to see all of them!! =) I consider it a privilege to travel with Jianyu’s family (that they don’t find me a hinderance and are willing to incorporate me into their plans), and I think we’re very fortunate to have the chance to travel with my family too! Jianyu’s sisters have been super nice and generous while we’ve been in Manchester, coming down to visit us when their flight schedules permit. And everytime they come down, they bring so much good stuff from home, and treat us (or rather, me) to meals, allow us to “invade” their hotel rooms etc – I feel very indebted to them. Really ought to buy them something to show my appreciation… Italy is going to be a packed journey covering almost as many places as the number of days we’ll be there. Going to Milan, Rome, Verona, Amalfi, Sorrento, Verona. Have a pact with my cousin to try two flavours of gelato per day (splitting the calories, hee)… should be a awesome trip! =) I’m “chuffed at the bits” (British expression) at the travelling plans ahead!
Ok going out to town soon, see you all! =))
01 June 2008
Today marks a special, happy occasion – our 2nd anniversary! =) Happy Anniversary to my darling; and here’s to many more years to come!
Because we’re in the midst of exams, we’ve decided to postpone our dinner celebrations to after exams. Will be going to try Bella Italia, this quaint Italian restaurant in town - highly anticipated! So what we did today for dinner instead was to whip up a couple of dishes (fried rice, chicken with hoisin sauce, prawn soup) to enjoy in the comfort of the room. Coupled with dessert! (Brownies, very delish; Brig I totally get the having to eat dessert after dinner thing. It’s been almost compulsive here!) Good food, good company, happy couple. =)
I think one of the greatest life-skill that I’ve learnt this SEP was how to cook – properly. It should be safe to say that I’ve graduated from the pop-it-in-the-microwave-and-heat, boil-water-and-pour-into-cup-noodle stage, to mee sua (i only realised how much i love it when i’m over here) – and i can make a mean mee sua in my humble opinion! – fried rice, chicken with mushrooms… It may not sound like much, but it’s an achievement for me, having grown up in an environment where I’ve never had to cook for myself. I’m proud of myself eh, although I fully admit that the above items being my own cooking, I gave myself extra points for effort. Haha.
Countdown… (to the chilli crab, no less)
OK, I’m midway through the 7 day difference between me thrid and last paper. It’s very annoying, as I’ve been complaining to various people about. I really just want the exams to end, please. Haha.
Anyway, lots to look forward to after Tuesday (1145am UK time) – am going to visit York, am going to Bella Italia for a nice dinner, am going to Trafford once more, am going to on my Europe trip! =) But in the midst of this, there’s a lot of packing to be done, a lot more chocolate/gifts/souvenirs to be bought – tell me, how should I going to squeeze these, together with the past 5months of my life into a luggage bag not exceeding 20kg??
On another note, I do hope that the frenzy and flurry of activity that comes with last-minute packing still leaves me with enough time to take a last visit to the places that mattered to me these months, and say a proper farewell to the people that made a difference. Never did relish these moments, but it has to be done.
Anyway, I’ll be taking a bus down to London this time! It’ll be a first, as I’ve usually been taking the train down (takes about 3 hours and a little bit). The bus, in comparison, will take a good 5 hours, but costs a lot less. =) So, we’ll see how that goes! Need to pack a lot of food to entertain (?) ourselves, haha. Upon reaching London and checking into the hotel, I’ll be going back to King’s Cross station to take the train up to Cambridge to meet Dr Ang! =) Am really looking forward to that! Lots of travelling next Saturday then! London will mean meeting up with Jianyu’s family as well, and that’s another exciting thing, to see familiar faces!
Ok i know i’ve said this many many times, but i really crave chilli crab!! It’s THE craving of SEP, man. Haha. Something that’s started early into SEP, was sustained throughout, right to the very end. Perhaps because I haven’t had the chance to eat much seafood (practically have not seen crabs at all) over here. I MUST have it when i return, at the first instance possible. In face, I shall ask my mummy to call Auntie Kat to reserve a crab for me, and make it big, please. Yesss. HAHA. =D (Incidentally and ironically, the proprietress of the restaurant where I get my chilli crab fix - they make the BEST crab - will be meeting me in Italy, but will obviously lack the ingredients/woks/etc to whip up the dish!)
Three down!
Yesssss. Geog paper done with today, now I’m only left with Film to go. But it’s another 7 days away.. that’s a week! Gah hurry up hurry up!
Anyway, I decided to give myself a break today and hopped onto the bus after my paper. Headed to Piccaddilly first to get my tickets to Cambridge, before heading off for a spot of shopping down at Pic Gardens. I don’t know why, but my last stop always seems to be the supermarket (Tesco’s in today’s case), and before that Marks and Spensers (and almost always the food section exclusively, haha).
Actually, come to think about it, I love going to the supermarket! Haha. I like to look at all the food products, fresh fruits, biscuits and chocolates.. even if I don’t buy another, I glean satisfaction from just browsing about. =)
Time really flies, I’ve only about 11 more days in Manchester – that’s a short time isn’t it?? I think I will look back very fondly on the time spent here, most of all because it’s really been a slack and relaxing time, and because I’ve managed to see so much of the world, in so short a period of time. I’ll miss it, like I told Brig today.
When I go back to Singapore, no doubt there will be the comfort of home, family, friends, food, mahjong etc, but I suspect I will be busier and busier as the holidays whizz past and the new semester approaches. Got the official letter regarding thesis today and it’s enough to send me scuttling for my poetry books…
I’m going to enjoy myself to the maximum whilst I’m here and in Europe, man!
Thank you for the music, for giving it to me…
Yesterday marked the final cookout for the NUS people in Manchester, and did we end it with a bang! Colin and Jun Ang (the self-assigned cooks of the day) decided to whip up a storm of local food – so in the end we had laksa, chicken rice and bak kut teh… haha. Too much food in the end, and we downed it with some beer, apple cider and for the brave ones, Nic’s 70% alcoholic concoction (something she brought from her home Romania). I abstained from the alcohol, but indulged mightily in the very good chocolate ice cream. There’s always room in my tummy for ice cream you know! =D
It’s been a fantastic SEP experience with this bunch of people, and I’m glad to have gotten to know them through this. From strangers to friends; from friends to more than friends (for a new couple!) We have, between us, many cherished memories. And so, if any one of them is by any chance reading this – thank you for the good times. =) I’ll remember.
Two down!
YES finally! Second paper over and done with, with a timing (and impunity) I wouldn’t have dare try in NUS, haha. Ok now I’m left with a Geography paper and the Film one, come on come on! Am impatient, you can tell. =)
I think I’ve gained some habits over here in Manchester that I might replicate back in Singapore. The first is the obssession with yogurt. More precisely, Muller light (strawberry/raspberry) yogurt. It’s so so delicious! I doubt I can find anything half as good (for the same price) back home; might have to source for them or stick to Meiji. The second is eating copious amounts of cereal and milk (in desperate times in place of dinner). Milk here is cheap, and the cereal variety exceeds that sold in SIngapore too, so I can have that for breakfast and/or supper, and at times even dinner.
(But, having said that, I still crave very dearly for my chili crab. Hehehe.)
A short update about my travel plans: after exams it’ll be York, London, Cambridge, Paris, Italy! =)
Ok, I’m going to take a break for today. Time to watch my idol drama wheeee!
