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Campus life
Friday's lecture...
Look at this, I have not forgotten you people in NUS. Fourth row from the front, I have reserved seats for you all!
Saturday afternoon was great too. I had a badminton game with some new friends over here, brought by Siping. Mostly Taiwanese with one korean.
Saturday's evening PARTY! It was Pete's birthday!! Happy Birthday, Pete!
The birthday boy in suite. In fact, that was the dresscode for the party. However, I did not have any with me, so just attended in a shirt and pants.
That's Emma and Tom in my funky specs!
The twins, Jo and Nikky. Watch out for them in England Olympic 2012. Jo has won a medal for England before! Yup, she's a long distance runner and Nikky's area is short distance. England's representatives, don't mess with them!
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Loughborough Lecture 240206)
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Loughborough Badminton 260206)
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Pete's Birthday Party 260206)
Final burst of winter?
This morning, something was kissing my face. I opened my eyes and... it was snowing. Snow flakes were flying into my window and gently landing on my face. According to Tom, it seldom snows over here in Loughborough. I got pretty excited, although not the first time I have seen snow falling, first time in Korea, then in US and Japan, but each time was a totally different feeling, just like someone told me no two snows are the same. I got my camera and start clicking for photography, unfortunately don't really have any good shots. I even set up my webcam and gave some of my friends who are online a live webcast of the scene.
Winter will be over in mid-march.
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Loughborough snowing 230206)
Loughborough University
It has already been two weeks since I arrived at Loughborough University. For the first week, things were pretty bad. Being shot with lots of problem, module mapping, accomodation, diners card refund, and the list goes on. I am not going into the details here, if you want to know, ask me personally. But whatever problem that is going to be thrown at me, I am going to throw back solutions and alternatives.
My first hostel in Loughborough University is Butler Court, which I only stayed for a week before I decided to move out. Yes, obviously lots of problems encountered over there. Three of my neighbours staying over there are Germans, who are not really worth mentioning actually. But thanks to this Spanish girl, Laura who is very friendly towards us, and even promise to make us a Spanish meal.
Butler court is a self-catered hall and we have to cook our own meal.
Some photos of my campus (Loughborough University)
Angela: Since when you have a lab over here??
Things got better after settling down in Elvyn Richards Hall, in fact, pretty exciting! The people here are very nice, mostly english except one welsh. We went for meals or food together, blasting loud music across the corridor and playing all sorts of games in that narrow corridor. This really reminds me of the days in Temasek Hall back in National University of Singapore. Tom introduced me to the unicycle. Its tough!! Haha, for a sudden, I wish I have my skates with me...
This weekend, Leiqing and Huishan, the other two Singaporean who came to Loughborough on exchange together with me and Yushun decided to go Nottingham for a short tour. I decided not to join them as I had pretty much of touring before the semester already. I would really like to spend the weekend over here with the locals and experience their culture. I mean, I can always go touring anytime, but to experience a culture is a rare chance, have to know the locals, try living the way of their lifestyle, etc.
Thursday evening - Culture Shock!
I went for a drink with Tom, Bob and Yushun at the hostel pub (Yesh, a pub in my hostel). I was introduced to some really nice and smooth English beer. Over here, when it is time for beer, Bob calls it "Beer-O-Clock" (equivalent to our "Tiger Time"). After getting our beer, we went for the hustings of Elvyn Richards Hall, and this is where the fun begins...
First event we saw, there is this eating competition where two guys have to finish 40 burgers and one whole chicken each. Just like 大胃王!
These two guys are running for the post of treasurer. They were later being tied up together and left half-naked in the open cold weather. (Its winter right now!)
Hot babes in bikinis are running for the post of screatary. This is the most disgusting part. They have to lick the asses of the two guys who were having the eating competition. Something that looks like chocolate or nutella was spread onto their asses. Arghh, super gross. After that, they have to go to the audience with a marker and allow whoever who wants to write anything on any part of their bodies. A secreatry is suppose to be good at taking notes?
Can't really remember what these two girls are running for. But basically they are suppose to pass some stuffs to each other using only the mouth.
That what Elvyn Richards Hall husting is all about. I suppose most of my friends reading this will get a culture shock, including me. Ha, I bet nobody will want to run for committee if there is such a humiliation to go through. Quite self-degrading actually. But well, to them, it seem that they are having lots of fun. I definitely have fun as an audience.
This is the wall in Jo's room, love those lovely picutres...
Friday Night - Clubbing
Make some new friends today, some of them are from other floors or different blocks i guess. After a week of hard work, the weekend is supposed to be meant for partying hard? I assume this is the culture over here. Went to Tesco with Bob, Lu, Tom and Pete in Pete's car, bought lots of beer and start the beer drinking game in Bob's room. After that, went to the club at Union. There is a super long queeue and some bastards just kept cutting our queeue. "Excuse me, there is a fucking queeue for a fucking reason," from Bob and Tom who were very pissed off. Haha. The club was pretty much like our local Zouk. I was introduced to this nice alcoholic drink called Nasty, which Tom claimed that it was the trademark Loughborough drink. Party till around 2am.
Saturday - Game
This was quite a relaxing day. As I am taking some different modules from the other 3 Singaporean students, I have made some new friends from those classes that I am taking lessons alone. I joined Carol aka 思屏, a new friend from my Managment and people skill's class, and her friends for a badminton game in the afternoon. They are mostly taiwanese who are taking their postgrad at Loughborough University. And yesh, I am taking two postgrad modules from the Information Science department too. Has been a long time since I played game, and body still aching now.
I got one last thing to tell you people. I just discovered that I have a month of Easter holiday in April! Also partly because of this holiday that is causing so much problem, one of the reason that I have changed hall. I didn' expect this, as there is no such thing in Singapore. As I have already planned to tour Europe after my semester, I don't really have any plan for Easter. If I am to bring forward my Europe tour, and bring forward my returning date to Singapore, I have to pay a certain administrative fee for change of air-ticket, which is not very worth. Anyway, I decided to go to the States. Haha, Europe for exchange but US for holiday. Well, not exactly touring lah, most important thing is to visit my uncle who is working in Arizona, and not to forget my close buddie, Xinlin!! who is in Virginia!! Haha, missed her when she return to Singapore this January as I have left for UK, but now we are going to catch up with each other again! Excited!
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Loughborough University 090206)
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Loughborough Hall Night 160206)
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Loughborough Union 170206)
Ten Days of Adventure in UK
Day One 26 Jan 06
We touched down at London Heathrow airport at about 5.30am in the morning after having breakfast on the plane. It was a pretty long flight and I did not have much rest as I was busy watching movies on the inflight entertainment system, reading the book that Phoebe gave me and viewing the CD-ROM from my buddies. Although I was tired, I was also very excited because this is my first time in Europe! This is the first time I will be away from the comfort of my home for a long period of six month. I am very sure what's going to happen in the next six month is going to change and shape me into another person, better or worst, yet to tell. Definitely, a stronger one. Although my main purpose here is to study, I have planned a little tour before my semester as a well-deserved break I am going to award myself. The year 2005 was a hectic one for me with two semesters of heavy modules, design project and doing two internships during the two holidays, no break at all! This tour shall also be a good start for the year 2006. For a start, we will do two countries, we are going to cover parts of England and Wales. Our journey will begin in Bath, all the way down to Cardiff, Swansea, Brecon, Bistol and then back to Leicester where our university is.
We started with our first destination to Bath. It was a hard way there traveling with our entire luggage. Initially, we have planned to drop our luggage at Yihan's brother's place at Derby, however, it was quite out of the way as there is no direct bus from Derby to Bath. In order to save on transport cost, we decided to bring our luggage along the way, which I really regretted later on and this will be the first and last time I am going to backpack with luggage.
Out of the airport to the tube (subway) station, there is no escalator but flights of stairs! Imagine moving about 40 kg of luggage per person through the stairs… This is really no joke, but anyway, we did it as we were left with no choice. The weather was cold, but as long as the wind is not blowing, it is still tolerable.
After traveling by the tube and a coach (operated by National Express), we finally reached our first destination, Bath. It was a very beautiful city, with unique houses. It was the first time I saw such a sight as the things we see are definitely very different over here in Europe compared to Asia.
We check-in into Bath Backpackers. For goodness sake, they put us on the top floor! No elevator as it was a budget hostel. I don't have to mention further and you already guess what the problem we faced was. Anyway, we overcame it. By the time we settled down, it was already quite late. We explore around the neighbourhood and went to the supermarket to buy the meals for the next two days. To save budget, we have to cook our own meals. There is a kitchen available in the hostel, which is very handy for us. We bought pizzas (which tasted like shit, only knew it after we tried), chickens, spaghetti, eggs, biscuits and fruits. We are not really fantastic cooks, but when one is hungry, whatever we have, drop it into the water, boil it, and there they goes into our stomach. We ended our first day with a good self-made meal.
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (London Day One 26 Jan 06)
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Bath Day One 26 Jan 06)
Day Two 27 Jan 2006
We started off the day fresh with a full day tour. We always wanted to explore the city by ourselves. However, we decided to go on this full day tour as it was cheaper, and the four places where the guide will be bringing us to are quite out of the place. We will probably only be able to cover the most one or two places if we were to go on our own by public transport.
First stop was Castle Combe. It is a taste of the Cotswolds and the place where they filmed Doctor-do-little. Imagine how nice it is with a small little waterway in front of your doorsteps, where one can play mini sailboats or catch fishes (if there is any).
Next we went to the Aveury. Basically, this are circles of stones. The view was magnificent, however the purposes of building such circles of stones has long been lost. Today, the tour guide can tell you any story about the Aveury but nobody is able to verify the validity of the story. This is the same as the Stonehenge which we visited after lunch.
We had lunch at a pub at Lacock, National Trust Village. According to our guide, Charles, it is the oldest pub in England. It was a very nice traditional pub with wooden tables and chairs. It even has an actual fireplace. To save cost, we only ordered 2 meals, to be shared by three. We still have the biscuits we bought yesterday as back up.
After lunch, we explore the village to look for this particular house where they filmed Harry Porter before proceeding to the Stonehenge.
It was the most outstanding prehistoric monument in the British Isles and is a World Heritage Site. It was said that the ancient people mapped the course of the sun and moon to build this monument. It was a spectacular day for me with the four great sites all in a day!
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Bath Day Two 27 Jan 06)
Day Three 280106
Today, we got to check-out of Bath Backpackers, which we did so early in the morning and left our luggage with them while we went to check out the neighbourhood of Bath for one final time. We decided to go back to the bridge for more photo-taking after being there yesterday evening. Since we already got the night-view, we have to go back for the day-view as the sight is superby! We also went to the Bath Abbey Heritage Vaults where the exhibition is about the history of Christianity.
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Bath Abbey Heritage Vaults 28 Jan 06)
After lunch, we left Bath, boarded the National Express coach to Cardiff in the country of Wales. It was already dark by the time we reached. Over here, the sky will be totally dark by 6pm.
We dragged our heavy luggage all the way from the coach station to Nos da Inns @ Cardiff Backpackers. Again, we explored the neighbourhood and walked all the way to Queen Street. To me, this is a less crowded version of Orchard Road? We have to shop for our meals for the next two days in a local supermarket over there again. This is the standard protocol for our budget meals. Cardiff Backpackers is a pretty nice place, with a bar, internet access (have to pay, so didn't really use) and a little kitchen for us to cook our meals. I ended the day exploring this nice little hostel with some photo-taking before heading to the warm cosy bed in the room.
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Bath Day Three 28 Jan 06)
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Cardiff Day One 28 Jan 06)
Day Four 29 Jan 06
This was a Castle Day. We set off on a day trip to visit 2 castles in Cardiff - Castell Coch and Caerphilly Castle. Castell Coch was not really impressive. We didn't have the chance to visit the inside of the castle as it was under renovation. The view of Caerphilly Castle was great. The leaning part of the castle was said to be leaning at a greater degree (from the vertical) than the leaning tower of Pisa. However, it was much shorter in height. This biggest castle in Wales is a massive sleeping giant surrounded by shops, offices and houses. I took a lot of photos here and almost used up both of my batteries. In the evening, we headed to Cardiff Bay. It was freezing cold over there as the wind was blowing very strongly. Burp!!
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Cardiff Day Two 29 Jan 06)
Day Five 30 Jan 06
This was our last day in Cardiff. We explore the streets of the neighbourhood and visited the central market in the morning. I was surprise by the things they have in the market. It is really similar to our local wet markets in Singapore. The people in Cardiff are very friendly and they greet each other along the way, be it strangers or not. We were greeted by some of them.
We explore the town by foot, walked a distance by the river to reached Llandaff Cathedral, where along the way, we passed by lots of soccer fields. Yihan left us before the Cathedral and headed to Derby to join her brother.
After lunch, the remaining two of us then continued our journey to Swansea. As usual, we reached in the evening and check-in to The Dolphin Hotel. Yes, it was a hotel this time, as there is no backpackers’hostel in Swansea. This one was the cheapest we can find on the internet. It is a pretty nice one, with a lift! The first time we didn't have to carry our heavy luggage up the flights of stairs like we did for the previous two hostels. However, we did not have a kitchen this time. We went to Macdonalds for dinner. The cheapest fast food restaurant we can find! And yesh, it is a luxury for us to have a Macdonalds meal. Still to save on budget, we just ordered one value meal and an additional burger to be shared by two. Without a kitchen, we only bought some cakes and milk for breakfast as we can't really cook this time round. Explore a bit of the neighbourhood and headed back to hotel to rest.
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Cardiff Day Three 30 Jan 06)
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Swansea Day One 30 Jan 06)
Day Six 31 Jan 06
We went on a day trip to Pembroke by rail. The train ride was 2 hours. We arrived at the town centre where we explore by foot along the lake surrounding the castle. The lake was very beautiful and the water was calm with lots of birds, ducks and swans.
We had biscuits for lunch today, while on our bus ride to the coastline near Tenby town. The coast was very beautiful, with a castle somewhere out in the sea. I guess it will be a very different sight in summer, with lots of beach activities and people sunbathing. I saw a dock with lots of sailboats! It really brings back memories of my sailing days, and suddenly got the urge to sail! After a relaxing day in the sea breeze, we took a train back to Swansea and again, had another Macdonalds meal for dinner. After dinner, we went to this giant supermarket, Tesco to buy our meals for the next 2 days. We will be going to Beacon, where we will be staying in a farmhouse, hopefully with a kitchen for us to cook our meals. We bought breads, cornflakes, spaghetti, milk, biscuits and some chocolate bars. This definitely saves us a lot of money than having our meals outside.
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Swansea Day Two 31 Jan 06)
Day Seven 01 Feb 06
We woke up at 6.30am, had breakfast, checked out of Dolphin hotel, left our luggage with them and took a bus to Rhossili. It was a very beautiful cliff with a farmland. However, it was a rather bad day for taking photographs. Firstly, presence of the thick layer of mist was a trouble. We couldn't wait for the sun to come out and clear the mist as we were quite rush on time. We had to catch the bus at 2.20pm to Brecon. I guess the scenery here during summer will be great. But it will definitely be crowded with lots of people over here during summer, and in the end, you can't take a picture with just the beautiful scenery, but one polluted with tourists.
There is this path up the hill which leads to a house. The view along the way up was not really great. I was thinking if I should just turn back but was glad that I didn't after an encouragement by a passerby who urged me to go right till the end. The path lead to a cliff and the view at the end point was simply lovely. Sometimes, we don't know what lies ahead until we finished the path, and little surprises may be ahead of us. A little encouragement along the way really helps.
Next is the problem with the sheep. They just can't stay still and pose for a picture with me. I have to chase them around with my camera, and yah, they were quite afraid of me. I was always making noise of lion roaring at them =p After some fun with the sheep and breathtaking scenery, we catch the bus back to dolphin hotel and collect our luggage. I had a little chat with the hotel reception people and even took a picture with them before we left. With their conversation, I have got some of the facts right. The United Kingdom (UK) of the Great Britain consists of four countries - England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland. All four countries are ruled under one government except for Scotland which has its own parliament. So when we say British, it actually consists of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish. (Julie, this piece of information is actually for you.)
After a long ride, we reached the farmhouse in Brecon. It was really out of the way, a very nice place. I could say it was a great place for retreat. We will be spending the next two days here, slacking!
We made two new friends over here, Gabby and Xavier, an English girl and a Frenchmen. They were touring around UK and happen to stop by for a night rest. They are very friendly and we had a nice chat over dinner. Gabby also teaches us how to cook spaghetti using the microwave. Sigh, the cooking stove was not working. I think it is really cool to pick up friends along the way while traveling. Xavier is a para-glider coach in France. We exchange contact and they asked me to drop them a mail if I am going to France or Spain where Gabby's parents live. Now, I can't wait to visit Joris and Edwin in Amsterdam and tour Germany in april or may when Michael will be backed there with Pamela to attend their friends' wedding. It is definitely nice to have friends to show you around their home country. I am looking forward to that. Meanwhile, zzz for the day…
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Swansea Day Three 01 Feb 06)
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Brecon Day One 01 Jan 06)
Day eight 02 Feb 06
Today is a slacking day for us. Xavier and Gabby left us after breakfast and the entire farmhouse was left only with just the two of us. However, there is nothing interesting in the area that can keep us entertained for the whole day. We went to the reception to ask for a map to explore the area, but they told us that the mountain areas are out of bounce because of the thick mist. In the end, we just went around the farmhouse and took some pictures. The pictures were not really nice because of the mist.
We were quite surprise to see Xavier and Gabby back in the farmhouse in the evening. They came back because they were unable to find an accommodation in other parts of the town for the night. They had a wonderful day hiking up the mountain which we were told to keep out of reach. I guess this is the difference between experience hikers and novices. They showed us the pictures that they took, and the scenery on the top of the mountain was really beautiful. It was above the clouds and mist, and it was sunny up there. It was a regret that we didn't join them for the hike. If only we had known earlier that they will have no accommodation in other parts of the town and have to come back to the farmhouse in the evening...
I remembered that one of the item in the wish-list of my two Dutchmen friends when they came to Singapore was to get a Singaporean to go cycling with them. And they did that. Xinlin and I went cycling with them, not in Singapore thought, but in Bangkok! Now, I am going to set some of my wish-list in Europe…
1) Cycling with Dutchmen (Joris and Edwin, you both know what to do)
2) Hiking with English (Gabby, hope there will be a chance soon)
3) Flying with Frenchmen (Xavier, see you in France)
4) Partying with the Germans (Michael and Pamela, waiting for you two)
and maybe more to come...
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Brecon Day Two 02 Feb 06)
Day Nine 03 Feb 06
We will be setting off to Bristol today. We have to catch a bus from Brecon to Avergavenny and from there, take a train to Bristol. Xavier and Gabby are very kind to offer us a lift to the town, despite our heavy luggage. Thank you so much. I gave them two packets of Milo as Xavier has not heard of it over here and he thinks that they were hot chocolate. Well, similar I would say, but not exactly. I also gave them a Singapore dollar coin for souvenir. That's the only last coin I have with me. I brought a few over, but given out to some nice people we met along the way. I think this is a nice idea for a little souvenir. Something with value, but if you want to spend it, come to Singapore, drop me an email, I will be a good guide. Really hope to see you both again!
We settled into Bristol Backpackers, and finally with internet access!
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Brecon Day Three 03 Feb 06)
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Bristol Day One 03 Feb 06)
Day Ten 04 Feb 06
This is the last day of our tour. We will be reporting to Loughborough University tomorrow. We spent the day touring around Bristol by foot. We have got a map which gave us a walkpath to the top of a tower, where I made many pictures up there, which I joined them up to form a panorama, using a software - The Panorama Factory.
We made many friends at Bristol Backpackers. There is Felipe from Argentina, Jorge from Portugal, Julien from France and two other friends from Poland. They are all interesting people. Some were also in UK for exchange program, some here to work and people like Jorge knows how to speak 7 different languages! Impressive! We shared many stories and cultures of our home countries. As usual, we cooked our meals over here.
Click here to view the photos in a slideshow (Bristol Day Two 04 Feb 06)
This is a conclusion of the first part of my tour in Europe. Next will be study time! Bye for now.
