Best Places To Go! :D "It's London, my dear Watson." xD

          Last year, on the 4th of July, I was on the plane for 13 hours (yes, it was so long..it was quite uncomfortable too) on my way to London with my older brother and my younger sister. We were all so excited to go to the UK as it was our first time. I still remembered that I couldn't sleep the night before with all the excitement..haha..anyways, when we reached Stansted Airport in London, I was so excited to get our luggage and meet my sister whom I haven't seen in about a year. We had about a week just the four of us as our parents weren't there yet, they had to work. So we took a tour around London. We went to see Big Ben (actually called Saint Stephen's Tower, more on that later) , Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, the Tower Bridge, a lot of cathedrals and, many historical and old-looking places.. :D I loved it there. We also went to China Town and ate Chinese food. Typical Chinese to eat Chinese food the first thing you do when you go to a new country..haha.. :D Anyways, we went around shopping and visiting historical places and I was so thrilled that I was finally here in London! I have always loved the UK and I had always prayed to go there, and finally I did! :D It was really a dream come true.. :D :D :D
        London was awesome and I recommend that everyone should go there at least once. It is a must-see place. With its historical landmarks and wonderful people, it would be a lost if you can't get to see how it is. There's Harrods, the world's most famous luxury department store, Buckingham Palace, where the Queen of England and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh lives, Madame Tussauds, a major tourist attraction in London displaying waxworks of historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers, Piccadilly Circus, which is kind of like New Yorks' Time Square in London and Greenwich. :D Not only is London known for its historical places but it is also known for its shopping destinations. With shops like New Look, H&M, Zara and Topshop. When I was there, believe me, they had clothes from size 0 to 32, which is like heaven to me because as I am a big-sized girl and it's hard to find clothes with my size here in Malaysia. So I shopped like non-stop there because the clothes were so pretty and the shoes were so awesome, and it was summer, so I could wear the clothes back home :D Ah! I miss London so much. :( haha..
       When I went on the tour around London (it was a free walking tour by SANDEMANs NEW Europe, one of the largest walking tour companies in Europe), the tour guide would bring us around London, telling us its history and it was great. I learned so many things about the royals and how some buildings came to be and all. It was really an educational and interesting experience. I recommend that everyone who visits London, go for the tour as, number 1, it's free and number 2, they do not leave out any details on the history of London. They would make it sound animated and tell jokes so that it wouldn't be boring and you'll actually listen to its history. :D The tour guide told us that Big Ben isn't actually the clock tower, it's the great bell in the clock tower and people would always mistaken the name to be the whole tower. The tower is called Saint Stephen's tower. He told us that the clock is the largest four-sided chiming clock in the world.
        When my parents came the week after, we all went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. It is when there is a major kind-of-like parade for the changing of the guards..haha.. There were a lot of people there as it was during summer and tourists from all over the world came to see it. It is a major tourist attraction. The guards would come from Hyde Park, a park near Buckingham Palace, and make their way through the streets to Buckingham Palace. There were guards on horses and guards who just marched. There were also guards who played musical instruments. To me, they were the most interesting as they played songs from Michael Jackson to the James Bond theme song. It was really an unforgettable experience. :D Especially because I had the worst case of sunburnt there, so never wear sleeveless when you go to watch the changing of the guards during summer. :D
        We also went to China Town, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, Harrods, Piccadilly Circus, Greenwich and its museum, and many other places. I hope and pray that I would be able to go back there one day to visit these wonderful places again. :D

            
                              A museum we passed while on tour

   
                                          British Parliament 
     

                            St. Stephen's Tower aka Big Ben
                                  

   
                                          The London Eye

  

                                              
                                        The Tower Bridge

   

                                           A British Guard

                                     At the Science Museum

                                               Hyde Park

                                       Buckingham Palace

                                               Harrods :D

       
                                              Greenwich

The University Of Greenwich

                                      

        

New Friends, new food :D

After 3 weeks in college, I have met new friends, from classes to church. Some were awesome and some were not so awesome. I guess I'll meet people with different personalities and all so I would have to be careful not to mix with the wrong crowd. Some of my classmates are really nice and I had hoped and prayed to find people like them when I came here to study. :D The people I met from church were a few of the awesome ones. They made me and my friend, Jacqueline, who came with me, feel like we belonged and wouldn't let us feel left out. I liked it there. Some of the first few people we met from church are from Taylor's so we connected right away, them telling us how college life is like here and what to look out for. Most of my classmates are younger than me by a year so we don't really connect as much and most of them already have their cliques. I guess that maybe we're just our 3rd week into classes and we wouldn't know each other well yet but I'm sure that when we have more classes in the future that we would all be comfortable with each other, hopefully. :D
        After coming here, I was brought out by some of my friends from church for 'mamak'. Where I come from, we don't have 'mamak'. How sad, I know. I come here every year with my family but we never go out for 'mamak' but I've tried a few times and I loved the food. So anyways, we went to this famous place (according to my new friends) called Murni, near SS15 I think, and I tried the 'Roti Hawaii' and a unique drink called ' I Miss You'..haha..how weird is that. :D Anyways, when I ate my first bite of the 'Roti Hawaii', I couldn't talk for 5 minutes straight. (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating :P) But it was awesome. There were beef,pineapple and something else that I couldn't remember in it but it was so delicious and wonderful, I promised myself that I would definitely go back there. Sadly, I didn't bring my camera then, if not I would have taken a picture of it. :( The drink was nice too but it was a little too sweet for me. :D This weekend, well yesterday, we went to another place, Old Town, and I tried like this curry egg glass noodles and it was okay. I couldn't even taste the curry but the noodles were nice. :D
       The other night, Friday, the 14th of April, I went for Glam Tour, an event in Taylor's, to support one of my new friends who was one of the finalists in this contest. It was located at 'Temptations', a restaurant in Taylor's and it was organized by the students from Mass Communications who are in their degree now into semester 6. It was a beautiful event. All the guys and girls were very glamourous and dressing their best. There was also food provided. There were parts where the audience could win some prizes and also some bands who performed that night. In the end, everyone had to vote for who we thought was the most glamourous candidate and I was so happy for my friend that she won 3rd. :D It was really great to attend this event in my university and to add it in my college life memories. :D




                                             At Old Town

My New Friends

Faith and I

                         Faith, Jacqueline, Ching Huei and Karmen

Ching Huei and I

                                              
                                                 Food! :D

                               Egg Glass Noodles With Curry

                                                              
                                            Glam Tour 2011

                                   The winner of Glam Tour :D

                                           love his shoes!
        
                             Some of the performances that night

College Life : A new chapter,a new experience

So, I have so many things to do even though I only have 5 subjects this semester. Even this blog is part of my assignment, but I guess this is just the beginning of my college life. I'm sure it'll get harder when the time comes but who cares! We have to work for it, to succeed. So bring it on! :D (I sound more confident than I really am. :P) This week's theme is college life and we're suppose to post 2 posts a week so here goes.. :D

        Starting college, or university in my case, has been what I've wanted to do ever since I ended high school. As I went travelling last year, I started college a year late. I was suppose to go to this other university in my hometown last September but some problems cropped up, so instead, I came here to Kuala Lumpur, Taylor's University to be exact, to study and I'm glad to finally be independent and be free. Of course, I miss home and my family, and especially my dad's cooking at times when I'm sick of the food here in campus but it's just a part of this new life I chose and up 'til now, I'm glad I took it. :D I just started classes 2 weeks ago and I'm still trying to get used to it. I've met new friends and seen old ones. :D College life has opened up this whole new world for me that I could never imagine, totally different from high school. I see people from different cultures, races and countries, which is awesome when I get to learn new things from them. Also I get to see how different people from different walks of life go through their lives every day. Just being here makes me very excited and nervous at the same time and I can't wait for what is in store for me here. :D
        When I first came here, I was a little overwhelmed with everything. Of how beautiful this university is, how big it was and how new it was..haha..as my high school was like a hundred years old, I was so used to that kind of thing so this is really all new to me, to study in a place like this. I came here with a learning heart and ready for all the good and bad experiences that I'll have here. Maybe not fully ready, but still ready. :D I haven't really, fully taken it in that I'm here all by myself without my family :( , but at least I have 2 friends, Karmen and Jacqueline, who came with me to Taylor's and I'm so glad that they were with me if not I would have been homesick like crazy. Starting college wasn't easy, I had to start learning to save money even with all the temptations of clothes and food out there, waking up early for classes, doing work and assignments on my own and a little help from lecturers, not being spoon fed with information and steps on how to do something like high school teachers and also making new friends. But I'm trying to get used to it, I have to! I have to motivate myself and be disciplined! :D I guess that's it from me for now :D Before I end, here's a quote.
        "You can kiss your family good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you can carry them with you in your heart , your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you."  -Frederick Buechner-
      


                                  Taylor's Lakeside Campus

                                     The hostel and the lake

                                               The hotel

                                Classrooms and library blocks