Hiya everyone,
Been a really stress riddled week, for those of you who follow facebook occasionally, you will notice i have been going mad in my status updates... do not worry, im just... just de-stressing. Funny way to de-stress i grant you, but you will not believe how satisfying it is when they actually succeed in making someone hungry.
More on the cause of the stress later... need to rant for a bit now.
Anyways, yes, thanks for the birthday wish you guys, i really miss celebrating it back home... the standard going off to 1 Utama for pizza and a movie era will be sorely missed... Oh well, i really look forward to seeing all of you again, hopefull before the year is out? =p Being overseas for so long has made me realise how much i took everything for granted, the friends... the weekly badminton... family wasnt taken for granted though... hehe... =p Nah, i just miss it all... though surprisingly, the longing for home thing is not that bad anymore, well, what i mean is its not as bad as when i first came to the UK, in fact if anything i think i feel like im gonna miss Nottingham, (which, incidently is not in London as previously thought by a certain friend of ours =p *koff*shamus!*koff*) more then i miss DJ. But i think its because when i left Malaysia, in the back of my head, i knew i would be back... just not for a while... but when i leave Nottingham.. i know its most probably for good, and thats kinda sad, i have really gotten to like this place, its very small shopping area (smaller than 1 Utama methinks!), the myriad of chinese buffets and international buffets, the people, the sights and sounds, old market square at sunset, the whole cream milk, the farm fresh meats and veg, it will all be missed.
As the 2nd year is now officially over, and since im one of the last people to leave UK, i actually have the fortune of being the guy to give all your leftover food to, thats right, i have 5 cans/packs/bottles of hot chocolate mix, and thats just the hot chocolate.. hehe, not that im complaining... I just hope i can finish it all. Anyways, where was i, oh yeah... its been an interesting experience, ive learned a lot, most of it academic related, but i have also learned some important things about living independantly, as well as learning to adapt to a new situation... so overall, i would say the decision to do this 1 year abroad was the right one, and Shamus, if you get a chance, i say you should go for it, its a real eye opener. One thing though, dont go to a place with a lot of Malaysians, im not saying its a bad thing, just saying that it will actually make you more keen to approach other international students and not tend to stick to your 'sama kaki geng'... i mean, isnt that part of the whole experience? (Oh no, im rambling again...)
Ah well, im actually still working on the final bits of my families trip to the UK. Trying to find a place to stay near Edinburgh aint easy i tell you... every guest house seems to be full.. or too expensive...(Hence the stress!) =(
Oh well, hopefully i can find something soon!
Col, you look very serious in your picture, why so serious? =p You look like you need to turn that frown upside down!(see what i did there? it rhymes the frown with.... oh nevermind...) Haha, why dont you take a pic with your Mr. X and put it here as your official photo... =p
Shamus, hope everythings going well with you... have you started on your Scaby storybook yet?
Art, aussieland cold ah? I am actually considering maybe going to Aus to visit you guys leh late Aug or so... would you be free then or even in Aus?
Bob, aah... you dont really come on here do you? Anyways... hope your well Builder Bob! =p
Ling, ah you i know visit this blog as well, thanks for the skype call that day, hope you are well in East Malaysia, dont get too fat k? =p Kidding!
~Ch'n-Yao~
As a bonus (im feeling nice.. =p), here is a picture of me on my birthday... im considering using it as a profile picture... we shall see how things go.. =p
Hehe, i have been doing some cooking! =p
Any body want some? this has potatoes, pepper, salt, some oil, garlic and cheese.. mmmm... =p
And by the way Shamus, i couldnt help but notice......
What are you doing there? The picture may be a bit grainy, but it looks like youre sad....
Hehe, oh well, sorry for the really crappy post, i am too lazy to do a proper one, maybe within the week. =p
Whilst in York, we (me and some friends) decided to go hunt for some good ol' fashioned fish and chips! Heres the place we entered on the reccomendation of another pub whoose kitchen had closed already. Petergate Fisheries. =p
Heres the cooking station, the front of the shop is for takeaways, and there is a small corridor to the side that leads to the eat-in area. We opted for eat-in take away looks really hard to eat and carry at the same time to be honest.
Theres the storefront. As you can see theres quite a queue.
This is a painting in the corridor of the shop, i thought it looked really nice! =p
The menu.
And heres the food list, theres all the normal chip fare, haddock, cod, then theres the other stuff like pies, jacket potatoes and so on.
And heres my meal, haddock set meal. 5.45 pounds. Gosh it was filling, and this isnt even the normal sized one! I asked for a small even though i was really hungry, coz i was worried it might be too much.
Gosh, look at it! =p
I struggled to finish this but in the end... Burp! =p
Heya, heres another update. I joined a trip to York, basically it was 12 pounds, and they take you there by bus in the morning, and your free to jalan-jalan yourself. The bus then leaves at nite. The bus ride was not bad, the busses here are somehow nicerlah, not like the ones we took for our Redang trip! Well anyways, the city center of York is surrounded by a brick wall which is really really old. Heres a part of the wall. =p
Well, this is me with the entrance, the famous York Minster is just through here.
This is a war memorial.
Hehe, angled shot... trying only lah... =p
Lo and behold! Its the York Minster! That building is huge! And it looks fantastic, the architecture... gosh... Didnt go in though, it was 9 pounds per entry... =p
The back part of York Minster, the building is being restored bit by bit.
This is a sculpture of Constantine, for his contribution to christianity in Europe methinks... And here we are posing with it. =p
Luck of all lucks, we actually managed to witness a army procession, and there was a tank on display, here is the tank as they are taking it back after the procession.
This is the St. Michael Belfry, right next to the York Minster. Entrance was free, so we went in, really nice place had a huge organ, no, not that type of organ, i mean an organ of the musical variety. =p
One of the shopping lanes in York. the whole place was buzzing with people. So many sights and sounds, and it was nice and cool, unlike walking around Malaysia. hehe..
There was a dude along the sidewalk selling drawings, he was really good, he was drawing without any references... too bad the paintings were really expensive so i didnt get any.
Heres York Minster in the distance. I had great fun, lots of interesting old buildings to look at and all that. =p
Well, heres something a little different... a photo by photo look at how to get to my room... =p i am staying in Raleigh Park, a student accomodation about 5 minutes walk from the Jubilee Campus, which unfortunately, is not where my classes will be held. But, there is a free hopper bus that travels between campuses, so i can take that to get to University Park, where i have my classes. If i were to walk to University Park, it takes about 30 minutes. But its a real nice walk... =p Anywho, this is the front door to my block, each tenant gets a key, just one key, which is able to open all the doors including this main door. Which i thought was really cool. That is probably why the key will cost 60 pounds if declared lost. And apparently, the locksmith will not duplicate it for you for safety reasons.
So, this is through the main door, as you can see, there is still some mess... the whole accomodation was refubished just before we arrived, so it was almost completed when i moved in.
Thats the staircase which leads to the rooms upstairs. =p my room is just down the hall, on the left.
The door to my flat, theres a mail slot, so letters can be delivered direct to the flat. But packages, tenants are expected to arrange to collect them by themselves with the delivery company, as the accomodation people dont want to be held responsible for our packages. This door also opens with my key.
This is the walkway in my flat, the kitchen is on the left, and all the rooms are along the hall. Mine is the last one in the right. There is also if you noticed, a phone on the wall, that is not a landline, but it is connected to the intercom.
The kitchen door.
Thats the dining table. and a small living area where the leather couches are.
See the key on the cupboard? Since my flat is on the ground floor, all the windows are grilled, no, not cooked, i mean they have metal grills installed. So, if we need to escape the flat in the event of a fire, the key is for us to open said grill.
Thats the workstation, theres an electric stove and everything.
This is the bathroom, there are two in the flat.
And, this is my door. Door C.
My key specifically has to work over here... =p
And this is my room. =p Out the window i can see a John Player And Sons warehouse... probably full of tobacco. There's also a train track.
Another angle. Thats my table, cupboard, shelves, and a notice board.
Another angle. =p
My bed. Wait, whats that on top?
Oh, they gave me a mattress protector too! =p
