Solo trip Day 3

I'm back in OXFORD! 

The weather was horrible (wet,windy,cold!) the previous time I came and I couldn't cover the entire area nor take good photos, so I've decided to come visit again  to take more photos of this beautiful place. :) 

I shouldn't have prayed too much that it won't be too windy because today was extremely hot! I got so tanned after being outside the whole day.

Arrived in Gloucester green bus station and the Oxford Backpackers Hostel was just less than 5mins' walk away. Left my luggage at the hostel, got a city map and started exploring.

I haven't eaten anything so I went to the covered market, bought a chicken cheese panini and hot chocolate for brunch. It was really delicious! There were a few stalls selling these same kinda Italian pastries and I randomly chose one. Turned out that this one was quite well-known and was featured on newspaper.

I didn't get to explore Christ Church, the largest college in Oxford the other time, so I headed straight there. There's the famous original Alice's shop in front of the entrance to Christ Church. They were selling all kinds of things related to Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass in the shop. 

I bought a very cute book "How to be a British" which is kind of a comic book humorously(sometimes sacarstically) describing the behaviour and traits of a real British. Haha.

Spent half an hour or so walking through the trails around the Christ Church meadows, boy! It was HUGE! There were people punting along the river, feeding ducks, pat toh-ing and also cute cows grazing on the meadows. The students are so lucky to be studying in that college.

Paid 4.50pounds to visit the interior of Christ Church and finally saw the FAMOUS HOGWARTS DINING HALL where HARRY POTTER WAS FILMED! It's smaller than what's shown in the movie(computer effect la) but nevertheless, grand! 

I talked to one of the guides and found out that the students indeed sit down in that dining hall to have their dinner together every night. It's like buffet style and they're free to come and go anytime within the 2 hours dinner time frame. He even showed me their menu. Damn cool! These students so 好命, just need to focus on their studies since they'll be well fed by the college.

The sun was so hot my forehead became one shade darker. =.= But excellent light conditions for taking photos. I went around the town to snap more pictures of the different colleges. Went into Jesus college. So beautiful and very English as expected.

Then I went to Blackwell's music store to look for flute scores. One thing I really love about UK is one can find famous music scores so easily and at affordable prices. Was looking for Bizet's Habanera from Carmen but to no avail but bought the scores for Nutcracker instead!

Later the evening, I dined in some nice peaceful pub, had some British sausages for dinner. My iPhone went dead for no reason which was disastrous to me cuz I'm so so SO dependent on it. All my travel info, hostel/ coach booking references are stored in the phone and I'm so used to using the Internet on the go! So I had to go to a nearby Internet cafe to check some mails and record the info.

The hostel was so warm and stuffy after being heated up the whole night and it kinda smells cuz I was staying in a 14 mixed dorm. 都是臭男人的错！But I was so tired and manage to fall asleep effortlessly somehow...... 

Solo trip Day 2

A new friend found in Cambridge!

I had such a fulfilling time today and randomly made a new friend!

I arrived in Cambridge early morning and walked a MILLION mile to find the YHA hostel. Dumped my luggage there cuz obviously it was still early to check in. It Is commonplace for tourist to travel around Cambridge by bicycle... I should have researched on where to rent one. =.=

Went on to explore the historical city centre and grabbed myself a cuppa java chip ice blended on the way, from this shop called cambridge coffee club. It was good, better than starbucks!

Cambridge seem to be bigger than oxford cuz the different colleges are spreaded out much further apart from each other. I personally feel that oxford is prettier. 

I went to the banks of river cam near Queen's college and there it is... the popular punting site, where many were rented punts/ rowing boats.

I found my way to King's college, probably the most beautiful and grand-looking college of Cambridge. Even though Trinity College is more popular and richer, its attractiveness wasn't reflected on the outside. I didn't pay the 10+pounds to enter Trinity as I did not wish to contribute further to its wealth. Haha.

As I was travelling alone, i yook very few photos with myself in it but King's College was so magnificient I just had to snap one with it! So I approached some Korean gals and asked them to help me take a picture. 

As I continued walking, a gal suddenly approached me and asked if I was travelling alone. She was alone and had just arrived for the 2nd day so was quite lost and asked if we could walk around together. 

This was how we acquainted and became friends! She's a Brazilian, really nice and friendly! We went on the punting tour on cambridge and gosh... I sure have become chao tahed! 

It was really nice having a company for the day while we went sighttseeing and also accompanied her to buy some stuffs she needed to use in England.

I've walked the route between YHA hostel and city centre so many times my legs were breakig at the end of the day and I think I've become so familiar with the streets! (well part of it)Hahaha!

In the evening, we went back to our respective hostel to shower and rest before meeting up again for dinner at the Eagles' pub! The pub is famous because it used to be frequented by Watson and Crick and it was also the very place where they announced their discovery of the DNA structure! Well, very good ambience in the pub but food is just average.

It's so hard to bid goodbye, but I really hope to keep in contact with this new found friend. Afterall, it was such a super random encounter so I'm sure it's fate which brought us together to become more than just strangers. =)

It's a cooling night and this hostel's bed is clean and comfy so, good night Cambridge!         

Solo trip day 1

I was so tired after I reached London that I could hardly open my eyes! Went to Hyde park intending to take a stroll but fell asleep on a bench instead.

Walked over to Buckingham Palace at around 11.10am and there was already a huge crowd waiting to see the changing of guards which will start at 11.30am.

I've been to London several times and yet I haven't seen the whole changing of guards ceremony so I decided to witness it before leaving. However, it was just too pack and I couldn't see a shit after the guards marched from the street into the palace. Moreover I reckoned it would be quite similar to the changing of guard which I saw in Taipei's Sun yat sen memorial hall. So I left.

Went to Camden market cuz I read about this palm-reading master who had good testimonials for being accurate. Although it's my 2nd time visitng Camden market, I still got lost so much! Can't be blame right! Camden is so ultra huge and crowded. 

Finally found the palmistry master, after making a few detours and circles, and had a 8minutes palm reading session for 10pounds. Surprisngly alot of things he said actually corresponded to what the Chinese palm reader told me when I had the reading in NTU.
Hmmm...

Travelled east to the canary wharf in the evening and sat by the canal. The place looked so similar to the esplanade bay where you can see bridges and several tall office buildings for banks etc.

Returned to the hostel which was a 4 female dorm and the other 2 gals were already asleep. Went to shower on the first floor but someone switched off my bathroom lights halfway when I was bathing! 

I was surprised that I didn't scream.. Probably too tired to care so I just continued bathing in the dark. Not exaclty pitch black cuz the matted window allowed a little moonlight to shine in.

Solo trip day 1

I didn't sleep a wink last night, partly cuz lots of things have been going through my mind. Like I keep thinking back on the past half a year, how I've changed my thinking and grown to be more independent, how I'm starting to miss home etc. I couldn't sleep partly also because those crazy football fans are making so much noise downstairs after getting high on alcohol.

So here I am on the megabus on my way to London for the 4th time! =D
It's a super early ride supposed to depart Coventry canon park at 5.15am but it was 35mins late! Atrocious man!

Now as I look around, almost everyone is sleeping, some even had fluffy small pillows with them lol! Guess Im the only energetic one still blogging?!??! and munching hungrily on the sandwich I bought from Tesco before departing.

Lots of thoughts running through my mind yet again, as the bus drove through Coventry. I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to come back here to Coventry again. Afterall, it is not one city which tourists would specially visit.

Every now and then, I would remind myself how lucky I am to get the opportunity to come for an exchange in Warwick, and how fortunate I am to have parents and bf who were so supportive of me.

Travelling alone makes me more conscious of the surrounding happenings. It's a very special nice feeling. I just wanna treasure more of the last few days' time in England...

Been so busy the past whole week with research and packing up my room (cuz I'd to ship some of my things back to SG) that I didnt have the time to update blog.
Oh my, so much things that I wanna blog about so it'll be stored as part of my memories cuz I grow very forgetful easily. I need to preserve my memories. =(

Tomorrow, I mean later ...at 5.15am (crazy I know! but tt's the cheapest bus fare), I'll be taking megabus to London for a final travel before leaving England.

By now, most of my exchange friends have already gone home. The ones left either have their own plans or do not want to travel anymore. So I'll be making the trip to London, Cambridge, Oxford (again...cuz the other time it was raining and I didn't get to see everything!), back to London then Coventry.

Summer sales are everywhere so hopefully I'll have a fruitful shopping trip in London! Damn excited!

I also wanna catch Love Never Dies!!! It's a sequel to the Phantom of The Opera musical which is new and just opened this year in March 2010. I'm a die-hard fan of Phantom and wanna watch its sequel ASAP. Cuz if I were to wait till the musical make its tour to Singapore, it might be a number of years later. Even though I've heard alot of mixed reviews with respect to this musical, I still wanna see it for myself to judge its good and bad.

Alrighty, shall update after I'm back on campus. Well hopefully I have the time and don't feel lazy. Need to preserve my memories. Need to.

FRIGHT OF THE DAY!

I bought a packet of eggs from Costcutter on my way back to hall after lab cuz I was too lazy and tired to walk to Tesco.

For dinner, I made Herbal Chicken soup and was going to fry a mushroom omelette when all of a sudden...ARGGHHH! This is more horrifying than a horror film to me.

CAN U SEE THE FEATHERS STICKING OUT OF THE EGG!??!


This picture was taken AFTER I dumped the whole carton into the trash. I was happily frying the mushrooms with one hand, while the other reached for the carton and opened the cover. When I glanced around and saw these dubious thingy sticking out of the box/egg, I shrieked so loud I scared myself. -.-

Damn disgusting. A closer look at the eggs made me realised 2 had cracks on them and the others look dark and.....and...plain weird. I just had to throw them away! Just in case I crack one of the normal looking egg and there hatch a chick foetus or wadsoever, I would faint and never dare to eat eggs again.


Moral of the story: Open the cover and check your carton of eggs before buying.
(Like duh... research 烧坏我的脑...)

Apparently...

EXAMS ARE OVER!

Even though I took only one paper this term, well I HAD my tough times ok. Struggling to cope with the adapting to life here and shortly after I settle down, attend lessons, I had to take 4 exams. Those days were stressful man. And I still dunno the results yet. Super efficient.

Just like any other Last-day-of-exams, I felt kinda lost and suddenly "goal-less" after I come out from the examination hall. No need to discipline myself to bind to the table to do last minute revision, lots of time to slack around, cook slowly, bathe slowly,walk slowly etc.

This reminded me of my last day of O levels, after P.Chem paper, me and the other girlfriends (think is Lauren & Xian... can't remember), we sat on the sofa outside Mrs Neo's general office, not knowing what to do or where to go even though we should be feeling excited that the major exam is finally over! I guess it's a mixed feelings that we had ba... Os over = secondary school life is history. Aww, the bitter-sweet memories.

And how did I even digress so much back into the good-O-times!

But well, after my last paper Polymer Chemistry (makes disgusted face).. I went straight to the library to discard, I mean return the books. Yeah, library books saved my ass cuz the lecture notes are haiz....

Then I met Jenn to explore the wildlife reserve in Warwick!

I was so surprised when she told me the campus actually had a nature reserve site where many people would take strolls and relax. So we transformed into explorers and discoverers (sounds so Dunmanites again =) to check out the place.

The duckies would miss the exchange students after we leave.

I doubt the locals feed them as much. LOL!

Scary scene! LOL!

My friend Christine is scared of birds and ducks' and those relatives species. I think she will faint if she had seen these giantic er...goose?

Cute Pi-pi.

Wandered off into the nature reserve.

At this point, I already don't know which part of the campus I'm at. Hahaha!

A group of Malay students, seen in a distance, picnic-ing on this big field. How nice!

Love the reflection!!!

Sway with the wind!

Jennifer & I! ^^

After the nature walk, we went to TESCO (my fav) and bought groceries to cook dinner.

That's Bah Kut Teh soup, Tomato scrambled eggs, Broccoli & Salmon! ^^





Hungry girls. (^o^)

I wish I had more time to spend with the exchange friends...

Good times always come to an end.


Singapore is my home afterall.

ICE CREAM IS MY GREATEST SIN!

Many of my friends and relatives have been commenting that I've become fat. LOL!



YES I HAVE.



BUT, I still dunno how much weight I have gained cuz I haven got the chance to weigh myself yet. Hopefully I wont give myself the shock of my life by hitting the number 5...(50kg) just within 6 months!


I find it so hard to curb my diet especially when ice cream is so cheap here. Just as I'm typing this entry, I'm having this whole tub of B&J's to myself! A 500ml tub only for 2.50pounds (~.5.20SGD) on promo!


The other day I also bought Magnum Almond ice-cream which was even more ridiculously cheap! 3 in a pack for just 99p! (~2.10SGD) WTH!



Actually come to think of it... TESCO is my life saviour... or rather every student's.

You can get all kinds of food there at low prices. Definitely made this 6 months of living in UK much easier and comfortable. Eating well. Over-nutrition.


If you were to compare the cost of living between Singapore and the UK, or at least England. Here's is much more affordable.


Say if an Englishman earns an average of over 2000+ pounds per month (according to my british friend, they do), which is comparatively the same as the amount Singaporeans could earn on avg per month in SGD, one could actually spend lesser on food, nice clothings and entertainment here as compared to in Singapore.



For example, some of the most ridiculously cheap buys one could find in TESCO:


15 eggs for 1.49pounds
7 chicken drumsticks for 1.53pounds
One big bag of mushrooms for 89pence

etc etc...



Nice clothings from NewLook/Topshop for maybe around 25pounds+ is considered reasonable (according to British friend)... whereas in Singapore you have to pay so much more for similar brands in SGD. I'm not considering the conversion rate if you get what I mean.



Ok, the whole idea is to bring out the high cost of living in Singapore and how I envy the ppl living here. It's quite a pointless post...getting nowhere... but it's my thoughts on my blog afterall.


HAHA. hmm....ice-cream overdose... Ciao~

I just had the most fucking-est bad day that I almost broke down and cry.

Sorry for the ultra crudeness...but I really need a platform to express my deepest unhappiness today.

...................................................................................................................................


I was gonna start blogging about what happen today but I'm really too tired. Reckoned that it might have been better if I use this "grumbling on blog time" to do something else that could cheer myself up.

Furthermore, as my blog is not private, it might be dangerous cuz wadever I'm gonna complain and criticize is related to 华威 大学。I'm not so stupid to be caught by some 教授 who happen to chance upon my blog and then sees it.


NOW, I'm gonna go grab a big piece of the chocolate gateau which I bought from tesco, cheer myself up a little before I start cooking a nice dinner.

Life's just full of ups and downs. I don't FML.

Research is getting so mundane...

I felt quite 气馁 today cuz my experimental results didn't seem to be too optimistic.

I'm sick and tired of running flash column chromatography cuz there isnt a single motor/ electric pump in the lab! We're only using manual squeeze pumps. Sounds like no big deal, but try doing that for 3 column in a row!

Squeezing the pump exerts my arm/shoulder muscles so much that it hurts my spine. SUCKS man.
或许以我的性格真的不适合做 research work.

Well... pray for the NMR results to be good and let me get my product soon!!!