L4C

L4C stands for London for Christmas ^^.

Hehe, a lame acronym I came up while thinking of a weird title post. Well, as it says, I was down in London for Christmas. Come on, why not? Being in UK and not visiting London is like going KL and not visit Chow Kit road! (Haha, makes sense yet? =P ).

Well, this years plans were quite not normal for sure. If it was back in Malaysia, I would be with friends or a 'certain' friend's church event as I would be at, every year. This year around, I got to go to London instead~~

It wasn't as fun as I would thought it would be though. Maybe it was due to the excessive walking and all. Don't get me wrong, as I DID get a transportation pass. Just that there were too many places to visit hence no point taking the public transportation. Everything was like 10 mins apart from one another. On the other hand, walking EXCESSIVELY has ever been my daily routine ever since I was 9 =="

23rd - 24th December

Didn't actually get much sleep at all on the night we departed. Was awake in my room doing some work till like 4 in the morning. By then, I was already half dead and dragging my body across the room and down the stairs =). So, by 4.15 me and my housemates (total 5 of us) were ready and walked all the way to the bus station. Oh boy, it was a long walk! Took us 45 mins to reach and it was SOOO far away! After a 3 hours journey down the M1, finally reached the infamous Victoria Coach Station in London! Yay~

After settling down our things in Bayswater, we were ready to venture London. Was able to get to the Tower Bridge, visited H.M.S. Belfast, Tower of London, London Bridge, Millennium Bridge, some ship museum, the British Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral, Oxford Street, Picadilly and most importantly --> China Town!

On the way to St. Paul's Cathedral

The Tower Bridge of London

(once known as the London Bridge - before it collapsed that is ^^ )

Shocking as it is, China Town is just a street and a junction! LAWL! Never the less, I miss the chinese environment and mood (unlike Nottingham =P). As our first official dinner, we had an all you can eat Kowloon Style Buffet for only 9 pounds! After some digesting, went to the London Eye which proudly overlooks the Thames River. For some reason, there's no fishes in there. When I asked, CeDong only answered me with "Ask Oxford who's upstream...". Lol?

London Eye during the night

Housemate Liek Seng waned to climb it =)

Our night activities didn't ended there. We continued on to Big Ben for the famous Clock Tower and Parliament Building and as well as Knightsbridge. On Knightsbridge would be the famous Haredz which is one of the top class malls here in London! When the Queen comes here to shop, they have to close it just to honour her graces presence =)

Speaking of which, she's the only one who is allowed to use the third person tenses to refer to herself in the English language =D.

Parliamentary Building by Big Ben

25th December (Christmas!)

This was really one of the weirdest day on our itenary. First of all we woke up late and had to rush out, since ALL public transportation was not in service. Went to Hyde park first where i broke off with my housemates. Went to meet CeDong at Wellington Arch while the others went to the Princess Diana Residence.

From the arch, we went to the subway where they portrayed Lord Wellington and his various achievements in History. Besides being Commander-in-Chief of the British army, he was also the one who defeated Napolean in the Battle of Waterloo! On we went to Mayfair and Park Lane, which are the 2 most expensive plots of land in the UK. Well, according to the Monopoly board la. Went on to Marble Arch for a short walk, before doubling back to Green Park to meet the others.

Proud memorial statue of Lord Wellington

From there, we went Buckingham Palace to visit the Queen! Well, her gates were closed tight, so better luck next time =D. From the palace, we embarked further into St. Jame's park, the Palace of the Horse Guards, Parliament Street to the Prime Minister's Office, Big Ben, St. Jame's Abbey, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and finally the Malaysian Embassy. Phew, what a long walk! Took us 4 whole hours to cover all those grounds!

Taken at the area over-looking the front gates of Buckingham Palace

Big Ben in the Morning

In the end, we had the entire Evening from 4 onwards to spare. So, we decided to explore more of Oxford Street looking for suitable shops to shop at for Boxing Day. Saw CeDong for the last time here, and we soon headed off for dinner. Guess what, our Christmas dinner was Kebabs! What a way to go! HAHA!

26th (Boxing Day)

SHOPPING DAY! This was supposed to be the highlight of our trip, but I actually hated this day the most! Of course they were the unreasonably cheaps stuffs on sale, so who could complain at all right? Well, due to lack of asking beforehand, I ended up carrying my big luggage around London while shopping! Grrr, hated it so much! But regardless, it was a team fault, so I can't complain much. (ARG!)

From Picadilly, we shopped all the way till the start of Oxford Street, which is Marble Arch. Got my self some Tee's from a buy 2 free 1 sale (6 pounds), a nice polo shirt (3 pounds), an Espirit sling bag (20.80 pounds), glossy formal shirt (18 pounds), facial products (3.50 pounds), a cheetah cap (10 pounds) and a hell of a leg ache (FOC!). Well spent if i say so myself =D

Nothing much to say about this final day except, Boxing Day is hectic! People were rushing to all of the stores, especially to the Burberry, Gucci and other famous brand flagships everywhere! People were crowding as far as the eye can see! Top that up with my luggage I was carrying, it was a no brainer why I was 'unhappy'. Well, that was an understatement, cause we had 3 backup plans to leave our luggage but all backfired badly! Haiz~

After a long tiring day of shopping, we finally reached back at Victoria Station and departed back to Notts at 8.20. Ultimately, my entire London trip costs about 156 pounds which includes my accomodation, transport, spending, and food! This rounds up to a whopping MYR 875! Haha, at least I got lots of things that are useful and practical! (till CNY at least, haha!). Guess have to work part time soon to cover these expenses =P ).

Well, that concludes my 3 day trip in London. Mum is so killing me for overspending 'a little' XD

Ciaoz~

Tang Yuan-less Winter

Christmas Break has begun, and still no 'Tang Yuan' in sight. =(

For those who do not know, the 'Tang Yuan' is a Chinese traditional food made from glutinuos rice flour. The fluor is then mixed with water, and rolled into small little balls. Sometimes, it's even filled rock candy, sesame paste or sweet red bean paste! Yum Yum! - Ref from my best buddy, Wikipedia =)

Well, there's always next year right? So, Ever since Christmas Break started on Friday, I've been literally eating like a PIG!!!! (Quote Miss Sonia). So, once Friday class finished, Hakim called us few guys and Amanda out for a movie. We watched Avatar at the Corner house which cost us 7.20 pounds. (Had to pay an extra 80p for the 3d goggles). 80p's only like RM 4.50 so I didn't mind it. Actually, no one minded!

Well, it's better made then GSC's though! (hush~ hush~ ^^) It's much more comfortable, cheaper, and it's not a rental. i repeat, NOT A RENTAL! So we actually get to KEEP the cool shades. Well for Hakim, he loved wearing them, but i prefer my Vincci Shades more =P

Avatar was Cool! Putting the fact that I only watch a movie once every fortnight the most, I still enjoyed it. I can literally imagine myself there in the movie! (Oh wait, that's just the 3D Glasses speaking..). Still, 8.5/10 rating from me! And guess what, Iron Man 2 is COMING SOON! Here comes the all awaited War Machine, Major Fury and of course..... Black Widow! Add in Hawkeye, Destiny and the old gang and we've got Iron Man 3 not too far in the future too!

Sneak Peak of War Machine!

(sedang 'membatu' at the sight of the armaments!)

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow

(membatu at something else now ^.^" )

Well, after the movie, we had a whopping dinner at Pizza Hut. Intended to save up money, so didn't plan to spend more than 6 pounds. In the end we ordered till 9 pounds each! (SWT!!!!!! My maths failed liao!). Still I didn't mind much, since I got to eat a lot!!!! Also found out that poor thing Amanda only ate brussel sprouts for the past few days, due to assignments and all =[ . So I 'think' she was contented with me.... gua.

Off to Saturday now. Housemates all went to ASDA for some grocery shopping in the early afternoons. Hours later, (yes, HOURS!) they returned with two whole buttered chickens! So, with the season of Christmas in motion plus two friggin whole birds and you'll get --> ROASTED CHICKEN FOR DINNER!! Yup, yup, in the end we had whole chickens for dinner and oh boy, it sure tasted good! Add 1k more calories to my diet, wahahah!

Still, they were many leftovers as the bird was relatively large! So we used packed them up for the next day. On Sunday Erwin made a BIG wok of chicken fried rice for all of us to enjoy! (What a poultry delight!). From roasted chicken to heavily flavored Chicken Rice! The best comes lasts, which was on Monday. After 2 failed attempts to go to Alferton, a few of us finally managed to do it! We actually went to the Chinatown Restaurant for a 'light' and long sought dim sum lunch. Pathetic isn't it? =)

For some reason, dim sum unlike back in Malaysia can only be enjoyed in the afternoons. Weirder, some people here calls it 'Dim Sims'. o.O

Although it is in pounds and we ordered like mad (hehe!), but still it was worth it! Not only that the prawns used were so succulent and fresh, they even tasted better than Taman Paramount's or SS2's! From AUTHENTIC egg tarts, to succulent siu mai with har gou, apetizing pei tan porridge, REAL chee cheong fun and so many others, OhLaLa~ Top that up with the 50% discount we got from the manager, it was truly Heaven~

Siu Mai!!!!

Har Gou

Porridge ^^

The Aftermath 2hours later =))

It was nice to enjoy Dim Sum after 3 months long months~ I'm so going there again, since it's just a 15 min walk from my place. Finally, there you have it! My eating fiesta for past 4 days straight. Now I have to deal with the after effects --> my brand new tummy! [ Oh wait, there's still Christmas Eve and Boxing Day Dinner! ] Wahahha! Guess I'll double my workout next year to compensate then =P

Signing off,

~ Guy with new proud belly~

Last week of term

"This's the season to be jolly, far lalalala~ Lalalala~" ---> NOT!

Ok, I'm down to my final week of my first out of 4 sems. Logic dictates that I should be most busy during this time, as sem finals and assignment datelines are approaching. NOT! Truth be told is that all of my modules this sem are assignment based. Hence, I don't have to indulge myself hours in the library studying~ (Yet, at least ==" ).

On the other hand, I have 3 heavy programming assignments which are due after New years. There goes my Christmas plans down the drain.... Did I mention that one of them is a currency exchange predictor assignment? =D

Random Grumbling : I So wanna travel around UK a bit!!! Why don't I have many contacts here! Mataku.....

Taken from Christmas Market. This brings pain to a whole new level!

Speaking of Christmas Plans, was supposed to be down in London during early this month and Manchester for Christmas Celebs. Due to some unexpected stuffs, nothing happened. Ce Dong made an unexpected visit over from London,so no point going there then. Also got tight on budget ever since I got forced to buy a 50 pounds book. Jeez, who would spent 50 buckaroos for a lousy 'INTRODUCTION to Programming'? Oh wait, that's unlucky me.... =(

So, till I (we, the related housemates) sit down and discuss Christmas plans over Sunday dinner, life is as boring as ever....

P/S :Oh yea, anyone knows how to straighten hair? My top's getting bit too heavy and I don't wanna cut it yet...

Been a while..

Let's see. Tuesday out was considered fun. A little escapade for myself, away from the 3 assignments I have right now. Went to a place called Coco Tang which is actually an underground bar/club. Enjoyed myself, but just have one freaking conclusion, I so need to learn some dance moves!

The Entrance Ticket (Neat!)

Supposed to glow in the dark with UV lights, but when i tried it, nothing happened =(

By the way, hair's still messy from heavy wind uproars everyday! So disappointed now~

makaze no toki

This posts literally translates to "The Evil Wind of Wintertime". First and foremost let me stress that I have close to null sense of styling my hair. So it's already as messy at it is. Top that up with the 15 km/h winds here, and I get to total hair do-over! Maybe 15 is a bit too exaggerating, but you get my point, right?

Anyhow, my usual route home would be up a almost steep hill from the tram stop everyday. While walking uphill, the darn wind blows downhill towards the large open field without mercy =(. But I'm lucky enough that no darn ass**** farted at the top of the hill spreading scent, marking down territory XD.

Ok, the real problem starts there! Since winter is coming, the winds are getting rougher these days. First, start off the day with the typical messy hairstyle of mine. Next, go out, wind blows and Tadaa --> my hair totally sways to one side! So FU*KING untidy!!!! It's like a giant bird nest on my head every evening =.=""""

So, now I'm left with 3 options, which are

1) Get new hair wax which is as strong as super glue!!!!

Super Glue to the rescue! Now I can get HARD LONG LASTING spikes!

2) Get a hair straightener and get my hair straigthened out!

Let my hair sway-by with the wind, haha!

3) or, Dye my bird's nest hair rainbow and become a clown at the circus!

Bobo The Clown is Back!

So, any suggestions? =D

Signing off,

~Guy with a bird's hair nest ~

Remembrance Day

Courtesy of Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-u9zYZCUJc

Courtesy of youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tlVShzXvZI

Guess what? It's Remembrance Day today in nottingham. Every year, around this time, everyone would gather around chatting about their loved ones who had an untimely death. Remembering the fond memories of the laughs they had together, the fights and arguments and sometimes the special one-of-a-kind memories about them. So, everyone in the city today is in a bit solemn mood over Remembrance Day. Soft and slow songs are played everywhere to remember the passed aways. May it be a lover who's loved you, a parent who cared for you, siblings who you fought with a lot as a child, family member who's not too close, the neighbour down the road, a best friend since primary school or even a distant relative, they are all remembered and honoured today.

For me, I'm going to honour 2 of my relatives on this faithful day. The first would be my maternal grandmother who passed away in 2006. Whe suffered from a brain stroke and was in a coma state for a few weeks. She finally passed away quietly in her death. Her last hours were peacefull as family members who she always cared and loved were by her bedside.

The second would be my dear aunt who passed away recently. Unfortunately, she got contracted wit the the infamous deadly flu during the mid of the year. Her death was sudden, but all of her dearest friends, family and relatives were there to pay their final respects. Today would be a long day for me, as I'm going to honour them in my own little way. No games and slacking of today as I'm going to study as hard as possible. Even though it's just for a day, in my heart I'm just showing my gratitude in my own way that I will not waste this short life of mine. We will never know when 'the time' finally comes and regrets after that would be useless. Signing off~

~From ashes to ashes to ashes, dust to dust. May you be gone, but you'll always be remembered and cherished~

Fireworks and Bonfire

This time, I went to the Bonfire and Fireworks event at the Forest Recreation Ground. Every year, on the 5th of November, the people here would gather round and watch the fireworks display, while a giant bonfire brightly lits in the middle of the field. This yearly event is to actually commemorate a certain guy, named Guy Fawkes. The story was, back in 1605 he tried to BLOW UP THE HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT! What a way to go! To 'congratulate' him on his great effort, the people here hold this event every year for him ^^

The initial mini-fireworks

Tried my best to be there and arrived just nicely at 7.15 pm. The timing was nice as the mini fireworks have just started. Guess they just wanted something early for-show to attract more people to come and to watch the bonfire later on. The place was rather crowded when I got there. Had to squeeze my way here and there to get to the bonfire place. Almost an entire ONE THOUSAND people showed up for the night! IMAGINE THAT!!!!

People crowding the area

As far as the eye can see!

Some people were even enjoying themselves by playing with lil' fireworks

Putting aside the fireworks, people did come early for the fun fair rides! Food stalls were set up, games booths for couples and kids, amusement rides for the thrill seekers, and best of all, the local radio station Fly FM was also there. (Yupz, Fly FM, version UK!!!). Well, you didn't expect one thousand people to show up JUST to see some measly little fireworks display did ya? ^^ (Oh wait, that only happens in Malaysia, haha!)

The Big Swirl that spins horizontally, then turns straight up to spin vertically

The Big Spin that has spinning seats attached all around it

Super Bungee that shoots you HIGH UP into the air!!!

Bonfire Starts!

After the initial mini fireworks display, the bonfire finally starts. It was just pile after pile of crates left at the centre field, and someone just runs over and to burn it. Not much to see though. Was really disappointed at it as we were expected to JUST WATCH the crates burn from a distance for like an HOUR plus! At least have some folk dancing or singing around the bonfire la! Even we Scouts know better, haha! What a let down... =(

The main event finally started at 9 pm sharp. Massive amounts of long anticipated fireworks were shot into the air lighting up the dark skies! I think the whole thing lasted for about 25 minutes. The whole thing was filled with non stop displays of vibrant pyrotechnics and music in the background. It started of with a gospel like music and fireworks flinging in casually from left and right repeatedly. Soon, it picked up pace to a faster tempo beat and more colours and varieties of fireworks were added soon after.

On the final 5 minutes note, they finally pulled out all of the stops! GIANT amounts of fireworks were shot, which was like 3 times more than the ones before! The music changed to something like from Star Wars and the sky was totally bright with it! After 25 mins of ooh and awe-ing, the final shot was up! This final display was the best! Like any fireworks display, the finale was a massive one time shot of all the remaining fireworks and it went *BANG*BANG*BANG*BANG* with all possible colours! (I think I saw one that blew up with a black light =P ) With that, audience applaused and so ends the long awaited display ^^

Moments before the Final Shot

The Great Finale!

Video taken during the starting of the 9 pm show

(Cam memory was running low, so the duration's kinda short)

P/S : Despite my rambling on how nice it was, I still prefer Malaysia Fireworks over this anytime! It was just refreshing to see something so grand after being here for so long ^^

Finally, it's a month! Time to pay privellege

IT'S OFFICIAL!!! I've been cooped up in nottingham City for a month! Truthfully to say that I don't miss home would be lying to myself. Still, living in nottingham is GREAT and I wouldn't have it any other way! To start off, I'm living in the City itself, but not to near to the bustling city centre. So, you can kinda say that my neighbourhood's just nice and the only way to describe it, is the typical 'hood' environment. yea, you hear me, the 'hood'!

My landlord Mr. nandha is superbly nice as he gave us a large appartment/house, with loads of perks, such as a 20 Mb/s line, 40 inch LCD TV, washing machine, oven, kitches, ya' know, the usual appliances. Of course, all of them are included in the weekly 70 Pounds rent! Not to mention, he even subsidized our Tram and Bus Passes for a whole year!!! How KEWL is that?!?Some accomodations don't even have all of them, and they are paying for the same price! So, three cheers for Mr. Nandha, (Yeep yeep, Hurray! x3) Well, you don't expect me to copy paste three times do yea? =D

When I first arrived, everything was in a TERRIBLE MESS though. My bank wasn't settled, fees didn't get through, course scheduling was still midway being processed, GP (General Practitioner) problems, transportation issues and so dam much more. Of course, we have the handy dandy Malaysian Society here! Just one call, and the problems were solved! (LOL, did they just sound like an appliance that i just bought from a TV show?) Ahem... Anyways, thanks to some of them, i was able to get all most of the issues settled out rather quickly. I did say most right, coz I did settled most of the things by myself! Grown Boy Di mah. Hahakz hence, a proper thanks to the entire gang ^^

As for classes, they are quite boring. No, SERIOUSLY! It's bad enough to have 4 sems as compared to the traditional 3 sems course, I only get 2 weeks of inter-term time Holidays! Well, it's a Masters course after all. So can't complain much. Putting that aside, my 1st sem has 2 modules ONLY (keke, laughing on the inside....) which totals up to 2 or 3 classes a week only (KAKA, laughing even more on the inside! ). The first module is Software Engineering 1, whereby it's COMPULSORY!). So, i'm basically relearning my C++ which is something that I Had learnt and applied for 3 whole years!!! You can guess it by now that i'm mostly napping in class =P

The second module is Smart Engineering and Natural COmputing, and this time I'm RELEARNING MATALAB pulak! Another one that I've been using for 4 years~ OMG... relearning from scratch and all is so VERY BORING~ At least I'm finishing my assignments on time ^^ Speaking of which, this SENC Module's 1st assignment is very interesting. I'm given a share market graph of a certain year, and expected to make a projection forecast for the following month! Not only it's fun, but who would have thought that has something to do with smart computing? Watch out you share market swindlers out there, I'm so going to put you out of business! Haha!!!!

So,

Accomodation ranting, CHECKED

Malaysian Society, CHECKED

Complaining about Classes, CHECKED

Assignment ranting, CHECKED ^^

What's left is, I so need to workout again! the flabs are BACK!!! I went to the free student gym in Clifton (outside the Main City), and it's sooooo under-equipped! Can hardly do anything proper there! HELP ME~~

Besides that, got nothing more to say except, I'M ACTUALLY COOKING everyday! What an achievement! Tears of joy are rolling down now, >.<

~Ciaoz~

Cheering on for the Nott Games!

31st August was the Malaysian Nottingham games, here in the UK's. Well, before going off to the games, the Malaysian Society had a small gathering and free food for the players. Of course, it's traditional to cheer on the players right? (They said cheer on our players like Football, Badminton and tennis, but i signed up for Scrabble, so how ah? HAHA)

Pic taken on that night. Credits to Ryan!

Well. the Nott games went on fairly well. Had to wake up at 4.30 in the morning to catch the 6 o'clock bus. Registration for the event was supposed to start at 7, so that was the best timing. As one would conclude, the equation below came true man! =="

Malaysian Event + Loads of Malaysians + Malaysian Timing = Malaysian Styled Lateness

Haha, no offense for my fellow country mates, but it was true! The whole thing got postponed for 45 mins. (Deng, didn't need to wake up so early la =D ). Anyways, after a short Negaraku Anthem, speech by the Chancellor of Nottingham University, and another speech by the Minister of Sports, the games BEGAN!

(Bet'cha you didn't know that our current Prime Minister was from Nottingham!)

Morning Crowd. Had about 700 ppl wor...

The Hall that fitted us all

Row of chancellor, minister and Malaysian Athletes who came to support

Rachel and Amanda

(2 of the 6 ppl from KBU who came to Nottingham. Who knew? ^^)

We were kinda give Malaysian Flags, but never used them =)

(Our China Friend on the left looks like she never seen one before, haha)

So, I went off to my Scrabble Competition, which was a total loss. They planned it such as the first round would be a 4 way elimination on each table. That way, they could cut the amount of players down to just 1 quarter! SO, my first set of opponents were a student from Oxford (Scary!), a Scrabble State Player from Penang Medical College, PMC (he got 2nd runner up in the day's competition), and an ENGLISH TEACHER!!!! What a nice way to start off the competition =="

After an wonderful round (Seriously!), I went back to help the society with the food stall at the Malaysian Food Fair. Wasn't much of a help actually, coz I was selling Sushi. (Why sell Japanese food in a Malaysian Food Fair? I still can't get it >.< )

Me 'helping' out

Anyways, the best highlight of the evening would be badminton. Get to watch Xiong Ling, who not only represents our Malaysian Society, but also the NTU Badminton Club in the regional competitions lately ^^. She's really good, as she didn't need to take off her jacket to play until the semi-finals. Did I mentioned that she barely even sweated on each round? Too bad she lost to Mancester U in the finals~ Good game!

Talking about badminton, I totally HATE MACU SWANSEA!!!! (hope none of them reads this~) So, the thing is, It's a MALAYSIAN game, so why on earth did you send team(s) with all NON-MALAYSIANS? Even one of the best team, which has our Malaysia Junior Player in it lost badly to them. I seriously felt like foul-thrashing them on the spot! Worst part of all, there was this middle aged man sitting right next to me, he kept cheering the NM team on! Until when he realized that EVERYONE ELSE is rooting for their own home team, he 'curi-curi' support back Malaysia. Where's the pride in that?!? Guess Sportmanship's gone this year =(

On a bright note, got to meet an ol' fren of mine who's studying in Imperial College London (Best Engineering Uni!) Too bad he was the only one. Was expecting to meet another 4 friends of mine who are here in the UK's, but too bad~

31st of October was so happened to be the Halloween Night as well! So everyone dressed up in their spookiest or cutest costumes to celebrate the night. Well, all but not me! Didn't find time to go buy myself a costume, so just wore something that I don't usually wear. Pai seh with my look for the night......

Anyways, we just celebrated the night at Oceana Club, which is also the biggest club in Nottingham City! Didn't drink much, but sure partied all night long~ I think we were there till like 3 a.m. Although I actually got gastric and felt tired by 1, still enjoyed myself! It's been a long while since I went anywhere to club, and I sure missed the atmosphere of it!

Halloween Look. (I don't normally wear like that kay!)

Oceana's Main Dance Floor

(one of the 4 dance floors they have)

English classes

Who would have expected that I would need to take English classes again! Well, since I entered Uni without taking TOEFL, IELTS or wateva exams they have out there, guess I can't complain much, can I? Seems like getting A1 in both 1119 and SPM English wasn't good enough for them =P (Don't kill me for that yet! ^^ )

Almost forgot to mention. The REAL reason in taking up the class is because it's compulsory! Yup, you've heard me right. They made us take up the lesson due to 3 easy reasons

1) We need to write our Master's Thesis (okay, acceptable la)

2) English is not our first language (say what?!!??!)

3) and...... we MSc students have too mush free time wor =="

So, first classes were at late evenings last Monday. Classes ended at 12 pm, and I had to wait for another 3 hours for the next class, which was English with Miss Lezli. Thankfully someone lent me some bed at her home to rest for a few hours, HAHA! Rolled about, and slept till 3 before going back to Uni. Finally met her her for the first time (ok was second time actually, if I counted the 5 mins induction talk with her on 1st week of uni =D)

Surprisingly, during a minor chit chat with her, I got commented on my English, which was -->

"I can't believe how insanely good your English is!"

Haha, felt like flying at that time. LOL! There was a second of such encounter, when I visited the International Supports Office to complain about my scholarship. It happened just a few days before. My scholarship which has been approved on my visa letter, apparently has not been registered in the system! After a 20 min complaining to them, the 'kind' ladies finally asked back....

"Are you a local student to begin with?"

WTH!!! If i was, I wouldn't be here right?!?! (Luckily I didn't say that, after all she DID made me wait for like 2 weeks for this mmess to be solved!) Surprisingly she remarked that she only said that cause I spoke flawlessly wor... HAHA!!! AHEM.... Back to my point, really felt happy and dancing on Cloud 9, but in a wrong way =P (Not the candy Cloud 9, KAY!)

Anyways, today was the first offical class and we were just given a small workshop on how to deal with the academic faculty and staffs during times of need. One particullar exercise was to write an e-mail. The question given to us was...

You are sending an e-mail to your tutor to tell them that you will not be attending classes because you had an argument with your boyfriend/girlfriend and you do not want to go out. You've been crying and your eyes are puffy. Write your e-mail.

Since guys don't get puffy eyes, we got a new question instead ^^

You are sending an e-mail to your tutor to tell them that you will not be attending classes because you had an argument with your girlfriend and you do not want to go out. You've been crying and your girlfriend had hit your eye with a frying pan. Write your e-mail.

So, mine went as follows:

Dear E*****, (My course coordinator)

I am Shi Min, LEE (student number N02*****) from the Msc. Cybernetics and Communications program. I am writing this uneventfull email to notify that I will not be able to attend your classes for the next few days. This is due to an argument I had with my spouse. During the unforgetfull clash, I was unluckily hit in the face by a stray-flying frying pan! Due to my subsequent injuries, I've decided not to attend any classes for the time being to recuperate at home.

I deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused. Thank you.

Regards,

*********

Great, it was my 1st class, and I've already got hit by a frying pan! =D Putting that aside, trying to your professor that you fought with your girlfriend, AND got hit by a frying pan AND got a black-eye from it, AND making it sound FORMAL, is FREAKING HARD!!!!! Try doing that one day, and you'll see what I mean! (You'll die from laughter!) Of cause that I could have PURPOSELY changed a few words here and there to make it more 'flavourful', but I think I would get kicked out from the class ^^

Well, off back to the city now, Ciaoz!

P/S : If you thought this was stupid and a bit funny, wait till you see my ranking list on "rank the following sessions in order, according to how much YOU are expected to contribute(to talk!) ^^

2 Weeks in Nottingham

Wow, 3 whole weeks has actually passed. Life in the UK's is quite entertaining. Less traffic, convenient transportation services, extremely kind folks (Sometimes TOOO kind!) and too much fast food! There's a Starbucks and Subway on every subsequent streets! So, you can practically get it anytime and anywhere!

Enjoying my Double Choc Mocha at Old Market Square

As you've noticed from my first statement, it is totally contradictory with the blog post title right? Well, thanks to my unstable 20 Mb/s line by Virgin Media, Totally can't upload photos at all. Try uploading the same 5 photos every 15 mins to just find out that all of them has been corrupted. What a piss off man! I would go to campus and do it though, if it's not but the 45 mins public transportation time to reach there...... (Nvm la.... Must pre-se-vere....)

Cam W-ing in my toilet =P

So activities for the 1st 2 weeks were quite fun. Instead of too much words (like i usually do) lets sum it up in a nutshell using a visual post shall we? =)

1) Settled in my Accomodations in the city

(will upload later, after i clean up the mess from unpacking =.="" )

2) Got My Smart Card and settled my fees

My Student Card (after some editting of coz ^^)

3) Cooked for the first time in ages ^^

1st hand made dinner, Tossed Maggee Mee with salte'd mushroom & potatoes and bit of steamed vegies ~

Penne with chicken Meatballs, Chicken Ham and Brussel Sprouts

(It's quite healthy kay! =P)

Spaghetti Goreng~

(by Yee En and Elaine)

Indo Mee with chicken and beef curry & meatballs~

Penne with white cream sauce and Basil

~I actually still have some pics of my mashed potato, garden salad, Rendang chicken and all ~

~ but I rather not show them ~

~Don't wanna make people jealous =P ~

4) Got to visit my Clifton Campus and visited my School of Science and Technology.

Not much things to show. Just wait for the pics of the modified X-Box and PS3's!

5) Went for Saturday Antics

Many people were here to celebrate a sort of mini sports day

Seems like a lost kid ventured into the place ^^

Me trying out the surf machine. Only can last till magnitude 10 =(

Mini Rock-Climbing (Haven't tried that in AGES!!!)

In the end, got myself a face painting of a Croc

(and for those who've been asking, it's NOT a GREEN SH*T ON MY FACE!!! JEEZ!!!)

6) Went for Nottingham Trent Malaysian Society Welcome Dinner at Bonzai

I'm somewhere there, buried in the background T-T

Let's see, we had nasi lemak, curry chiken, fried chicken, sushi, mee goreng, ............ ^^

Haha, barely escaped from someone smacking my face for the camera ^^

So, that's a wrap for my first 2 weeks here. It's been good so far, and I'm hoping for more things to class. Maybe i'll blog about my classes next time ^^. It's sure an interesting class though. No locals, and have to relearn C++ for the first 3 months.

Newayz, I think i got the flu! Been sniveling with headaches accompanying it for a few days di. Thankfully I'm getting better by the minute ^^

P.S: Maybe the sudden outbreak with a flu have something to do with my graduation that I'm missing tomorrow? Just a feeling though ^^

The leaves of autumn

~Yay! Winter is coming! ~

Ciaoz,