26th September (Wed): The day I flew off! That was when all the feelings start to come in, that I'll never see the rooms in my house again (for some reason, that hit me the most when I left the house) until next year. I should have taken pictures of the how my room looked like before I left... but I guess it didn't occur to me... just like how it didn't occur to me that I would be flying off to London to study. A lot of people came to see me off which is really sweet for them! People whom I've never met for a long long time and my cousin and aunt and uncle and my lovely friends and wonderful wonderful family. =) I can't recall how I felt at that time but it was a sad yet a good feeling. Strange isn't it? but lovely. The flight was well... LONG. I never liked plane rides... but I didn't get too much motion sickness... my parents got this really small and nice and cute bottle of wine from the plane... I really wanted one but I can't drink wine and I probably need to show an ID to get one...
Random fact: Do you know you need to show and ID to prove that you are above 21 to buy Chinese Cooking Wine here in London??
27th September (Thurs): I reached London! The Airport checks didn't take too long although it kinda scared me. It was the first time I took the tube and it felt really weird... It's very different from the MRT... it's just strange... the view outside is different and more countryside-ish while the inside is really small cos the Piccadilly line is really old and tiny. Anyway, Murphy's law struck on this very day. The circle line was suspended and the district line was partially suspended so we couldn't get to the Bayswater tube station which was where our hotel was located and 2 of our luggages broke!! My parents had to drag the broken luggages all the way from high st kensington to Bayswater... that's 2 tube stations away!! While it's not as bad as from Bishan to Toa Payoh... it was still quite bad especially since the luggages were so heavy. By the time we got to our hotel we were like so tired but happy that we have finally reached. Later, we went past my school to the HSBC at Sydney St to settle my bank stuff... it was the first time I saw my school and I thought it really felt like SMU even though the buildings are really old compared to SMU's beautiful new buildings. You can walk around the school, but in NUS/NTU you have to take the bus. But then again, you can walk to nearly anywhere in London. It's like a half and hour walk is considered quite short... people don't mind walking from something like Coronation Plaza to KAP. Healthy Lifestyle!! =D
28th September (Fri): The DSTA scholars planned to meet at Imperial to register at school... but everyone got the time wrong... anyway, there wasn't really a need to register at Imperial because we had all registered online. We met Shihui, talked, crashed Terence's place and watched Russell Peters on Youtube. That was the first time I watched Russell Peters and !!! Lol, he was really quite humorous... just that you have to be patient because it gets better and better towards to middle. Then we went to Bayswater Four Seasons to eat duck!! I never really got to appreciate the duck cos I really don't like the fats and I think people keep telling me that the fats were the best part because they melt in your mouth and blah blah blah.... .... oh well, I hate fats.
29th September (Sat): I moved in to Beit! Nice room, nice roommate, nice hall... but too many parties. I'm not a party person... I don't even club in Singapore so here, I'm going to be super anti-social and dead. I stayed with my parents overnight because half my things were still back in the hotel. I think there was supposed to be some pre-Mingle (party event) session at Beit but Albert and I just went to get food and then we went to the outside of Juliana's room to eat. Ohohoh! I thought 30th was the day but this was the day we had our tour around important places near our hall. Everyone was finally introduced to Sainsbury (the London equivalent of NTUC Fairprice)! They even have a Nectar card which is like to collecting NTUC linkpoints. So fun! And they have Sainsbury house brand stuff... including their 'Basics' which is like really plain stuff with plain packaging... and the Sainsbury colour is orange! I bought my duvet (cotton though... Shihui's one is made of duck feathers!!! But it costs like 4 times more than mine?)
30th September (Sun): Juliana and I walked around... I think we went to Xiufang's place after getting delicious Ben's Cookies? We were just walking along Brompton Rd and then crossing to Cromwell Rd and then we met Xiufang! =) Anyway, this was the first night I slept at my new home in London... and well... it just felt like sleeping on a hotel bed. I was so tired, I guess any bed was good enough for me.
1 October (Mon): First day at school! the day I've been waiting for! It's Orientation week so there wasn't supposed to be any work... still somehow the EEE timetable for Orientation week is more packed than any other faculties. And we have to work on this egg race thing where we are supposed to build a contraption that can fire a table tennis ball 3m after holding it for 15 seconds. Complete madness. The idea was to get to know the people in my tutorial group because I'll be working with the same group for EEE Design projects are stuff... I don't know what to say... but egg race was quite stupid so I guess it's alright if my group isn't serious about it... just as long as they are serious about the Design project.
2 October (Tues) - 4 October (Thurs): WORKING ON THE EGG RACE. Actually... I really think it's a waste of time... but sometimes it's quite fun... cos you're laughing at everybody's effort... well that sounds like a really sad thing to do.
5 October (Fri): Finally the egg race was over! Well, obviously my team did not win but it still worked... somewhat. The ball flew 1m after 19 seconds! And I found an alternative to rou gan/bak gwa - Hare and Tortoise Chicken Yakitori. It took me a while before I could figure out what it tasted like. It's really bak gwa that is less oily and less dry. Anyway, that night I slept with Juliana in her room! It was fun but actually quite hard to sleep because we kept talking to each other and I was trying to figure out something with all the strange clues she gave me... and there was a stupid fire alarm at 5am 6/10/2007 because some idiot decided that it was fun to play with the fire sensor... (con't in 6/10/2007)
6 October (Sat): and it took them like half an hour to sort it out. When Juliana and I went back to sleep, we talked somemore so when we were supposed to wake up at 7am, we couldn't and we ended up waking up at 7.50am which was quite bad because I told everyone to meet at Kensington Gardens to jog at 8am (and to think I initially wanted it to be at 7.30am) We ended up reaching there at 8.30am... and i think they really wanted to kill us lol. After jogging, we fed the ducks with bread! I think it was the first time I fed the ducks properly (I think there was once we tried to feed the ducks with marshmellows but there were only a few marshmellows so I don't think it counts as a proper feeding session). Anyway, it was during duck-feeding that some things kinda clicked. =) And then I finally got to tour London with the Sotongs!! We went to (just the outside) Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Sq and many other places! Very nice!! I took a number of photos but I didn't really have enough space or battery for more... =(
7 October (Sun): I met my parents at Beit because they were bringing some stuff over since they were leaving on this day. We spent the whole day together looking at the museums... and I think their Science Museum isn't as fun as our Discovery Centre or Science Centre... but the Natural History Museum was fun. They had this display with all sorts of crystals and gems and they were really VERY PRETTY and sparkley and shiny. =D They left just before dinner... *sighs* it's quite strange that I won't be able to see them until 9 months later because they were like always there in London for the past few days and London didn't feel like London. Now it just feels like some strange holiday/OBS thing away from home.
8 October (Mon): First official day at school! It was boring... but I had lab and I think it took me by surprise to realise that lab is free and easy. You just follow the steps giving in your lab booklet and try to answer the questions. And I seriously have no idea how to use an oscilloscope.
9 October (Tues): 2nd official day at school. I fed some leftover bread to the ducks at hyde park. I love duck feeding, it's really fun!
10 October (Wed): 3rd official day at school... computer lab... it's programming with pascal! I can't remember what I learnt from long long time ago. I went oxford st at night with Juliana and Fengyi (who only joined us when we were about to leave?) I bought 2 knitted tops from Dorothy Perkins... it's S$23 in Singapore (cos I have one that's exactly the same (but obviously a different colour)) and 2 for 17 pounds, including student discount of 15%. I guess it's slightly cheaper in Singapore... but I'm not sure why. I ate my first London Mcflurry and it tastes SO GOOD!
11 October (Thurs): One whole day of school. boo.
12 October (Fri): Weekend! The happiest weekday! And we had our EEE potluck!
13th October (Sat): Today there was Fresher's picnic!! I think I ate too much but nuttella sandwiches are wonderful! And we went to Portobello Market and I ate even more junk like chocolates, chicken sandwiches... but they taste so good! And I got a pocket watch, not an antique but one of those mass-produced ones that they con tourists into buying. Since technically I'm a tourist, I had an excuse to be conned.
14th October (Sun): I can't remember what happened.... in fact I think I just spent the whole day doing grocery shopping.
15th October (Mon): I watched Les Miserables (with Lionel, Zhong Jie, You Cai) and it was such a beautiful musical! I love the story and the themes and the music and the cast and the theatre. It was really worth the £22.50 (original price £55 but because I'm member of ArtSoc @ Imperial I get the ticket at a discounted price). I cried twice during the musical (that shows how good it was). And I think the girl acting as Eponine is so chio... and her voice is wonderful. I cried when she sang the really sad song about unrequitted love and when she died... poor girl.
16th October (Tues) - 18th October (Thurs): Lots of boring school stuff going on. My last session on Oscilloscope was on Thursday... and I still have no idea how to use an oscilloscope.
19th October (Fri): Boring school stuff for half the day and then shopping! It wasn't really supposed to be a shopping day but I really wanted to get some earstuds at Claire's... and I spent 2 hours at high st... and I didn't really get any earstuds... just some earrings and stuff for my friends... Then I walked to Earl's Court which is super near from high st. I just realised that it was a really REALLY short walk from High St Kensington to Sainsbury. We had a DSTA stj (seniors treat juniors) at Zizzi and the food was fantastic (and so was the price. 241 pounds? 720 SGD!! to feed 22 people. but that's how it is in London)
20th october (Sat): Prince's Gardens potluck! My 2nd chicken curry in London, it was really really good. =) I miss all the Singaporean food. It was also my 1st attempt to bake a cake... well... it didn't turn out as nice as it sounds (digestives as base, chocolate sponge cake and then chocolate mousse on top, covered with sugary sprinkles) but at least chilling the cake and covering it with sprinkles hid all the imperfections. =)
21st October (Sun): Normal boring day.
I'm a bit too lazy to post up pictures on my blog but if you want to see photos, you can look at my facebook profile. There are lots of pictures of ducks and birds and squirrels and hyde park/kensington gardens (because I love that place). That's all for now because of schoolwork. =( I can see why people complain about uni life... so much work! ARGH. And I've only just started school. My feelings about London will have to come later (if I remember to blog).... I'm really sorry... I'm a lazy girl.
Random Statement 28
"War doesn't determine who's right, war determines who's left" courtesy of Terence Leong. Nice statement isn't it? And he said this many many days ago which shows how lousy I am at this blogging thing. I MUST BLOG OFTEN!
