Gong Xi Fa Cai!

It is an eye opener celebrating the Chinese New Year here in UK. For a small town, Loughborough has quite a huge number in terms of its Chinese population - 1500 including students. Not too bad eh. Last friday, the group of Singapore exchange students (6 of us) went over to the Town Hall to have a supposed formal dinner with the mayor. He is a pretty nice guy. Dr Peter Lewis, the SEP English Literature coordinator drove five of us to the town hall and introduced us to all the important people in the Loughborough community including the mayor himself!

The mayor is voted every year and the various political party will take turns to run Loughborough. This way, they won't get into some huge argument. Dr Lewis told us something real exciting about his son: His son is Tony Blair's secretary! I was pretty excited upon hearing that. No idea why. Dr Lewis however, is the opposition. It was funny when he actually told us about it.

It is Sunday morning now and i just got back from the CNY celebration at the Union. I don't know.. It is alright i guess. There were a lot of Asians but i stayed closely to the Singaporeans i am familiar with. Partly because i was tired and in no mood to socialize. Another reason could perhaps be the stomach cramps i've been having the whole day. I drank two bottles of coke and three glasses of fruit juice. Those must have caused me the excess energy in my body. It is almost 3 a.m. now and i am not the least tired. This biological clock of mine needs help.

I'll be posting pictures soon. Especially of Nottingham. Oh the trip to Nottingham today was fantastic. I went to ice-skate at the National Olympic rink..supposedly UK's best. 4.5 pounds for two hours and i only managed to circle the rink thrice cause my ankle was in pain. I blame the skates. Like totally. We then went for a buffet lunch of Thai, Indian, Italian and Chinese food at the Red Hot. Nice ambience although the menu is slightly a lil confused. We then went shopping and although i didn't manage to buy the red outer jacket i wanted, Melody, YingZhi and Jerry managed to get their stuff i think. Shopping was so much fun there as compared to Loughborough. We went TK Maxx, H&M and many others that is not so familiar to me as yet.
We had to rush home for the CNY party but it's ok. I'm glad i didn't get that jacket. "You'll find something nice elsewhere," Jerry told me.

I wanted to say something else but i can't remember what i wanted to say. Today, i discussed my dreams with the other students from the Singapore Society. Jerry said we could drive a Lamborghini for 150 pounds for an hour in Leichester and 100 pounds for an hour of Ferrari. I told them that i wanna stay in a two storey house with five bedrooms, two maids, a garderner and have four of my own personal cars. My cars would be a Lexus RX300 for family picnic, Mercedes SLK for shopping with best friend, red Mazda RX8 for spa and maybe a Porsche Cayman. I'm not so keen on Lamborghini because it is not sexy enough for me. Also, my dream is only possible if i marry a Brunei king. I don't like the Brunei king and i'd prefer to earn my own money. Therefore, those will continue being my dreams unless i strike 4D. But since i can't gamble, that will remain as one of my many dreams. That was what we discussed at the CNY party with Will, Jerry and Jeremy. Easy to get all those for Jerry. He is on the Brunei Shell scholarship! Lucky guy.

Anyway, i've got plans for a Lexus 250 in the near future already ;) My dreams will come true. At least, a bit of it, yes? I'll blossom in this year of the pig, God willing.

Enough crap. I'll upload the pictures another day.

By the way hor, Happy New Year... Gong Xi Fa Cai to one and all. I'm gonna miss the yearly mahjong this year. Bummer. Don't snigger, Jannah. I'll be back for the next one. Hmph.

Sigh.

This is another brainless entry brought to you by me. Good night.

(Stomach pain pain right?)

Airport send-off

I know this is a lil overdue but better late than never you know..

These people here sent me off on a very gloomy 8th February 2007 at 6 a.m. I'm too touched for words until now and please do know that i think about you guys a whole lot.

I didn't manage to take pictures with everyone for the simple fact that we didn't manage to and for most of us, it wasn't exactly our glamorous moment with the puffy eyes and all.

So a great HUGE thank you to my family, Jannah, Yihui aka Lydia, Siok, Bin, Molly, Adrian, Kak Lina, Mak Ngah and Amirul. I know, i know.. It is not easy to wake up that early. I apologize for the inconvenience caused. But like i said, it is a test of love.
Also many hugs and no kisses to Aliah, Alex, Jo, Sya and Ivy for the going away wishes. Thank you also to Gerald and Benji. It is heartwarming to know i've got such high-quality friends. ;) Blessed indeed.

19 more weeks before i return home. (Please don't moan and groan.) And, and... a happy convocation for some of you! YAY!

Loughborough University...

First of all, i admit i haven't been going around school because it is just too cold and i cannot handle it. I could feel my bones shiver the last time i stepped out even with the sun kindly shining its rays on us. Here are the only pictures that i've got of the place for now. It is a beautiful campus i must add. National University of Singapore should be like this. I wonder how those sportsmen train at night with this kind of temperature. They were running in groups and happily playing hockey at 10 p.m.

By the way, if you kind souls want to add in a glimmer of hope into my life (i'm entitled to be dramatic okay?), here's the address. I'll wait impatiently for the arrival of gifts such as those from Tiffany & Co., Prada or even DKNY. :)


Siti Aidayantie
Room F3A1
Butler Court
Loughborough University
LEicestershire
LE11 3TS UK

I'm so excited. *grin*

Let the pictures do the talking :)

In essence...

Frostbite

It was 7.30 pm here (and about 3.30 a.m. Singapore time) when we decided to go to Tesco supermarket which is opened 24 hours a day. Having saved enough money from a few days' worth of starvation, i decided to go ahead. It was raining when we left and the walk was about 15 minutes long. Not too bad except that halfway, i had to ask Melody:

"Hey, how do you feel when you have frost bite?"

She said you won't feel anything. Just numbness. Naturally i panicked because i didn't feel anything. I started walking fast just to feel those toes again. Thank God it was only redness.


Everything appeared cheap at Tesco. My bread was only 29 pence. Fish though was so expensive that i've decided i should just be fishless. At 4 pounds for two slices, i might as well go get a good meal from the nearby pizza place. I bought enough food to last me a week. In total, it was 23 pounds. Not too bad considering how expensive the foods are. I feel so poor over here but this is good practice. No one can tell me i don't understand what it is like to keep buying the cheapest food. I understand truly and i feel for those people who are studying here permanently.



I must say that the two highly potential EXCO members of the Singapore Society helped us a lot with our grocery shopping. Those guys helped a lot.


Here are some random pictures taken while shopping.










My jet lag is slowly improving because it is already 11 p.m. now and i am still awake. That's good news.





I went for my first two lectures and tutorials today - Contested Countryside and Creative Writing. Lecturers here are pretty good so far. I love how the lectures are only one hour for most. It maximises our ability to pay attention somehow. That said, work is also piling and i should be camping in the library soon. Creative Writing is not easy see... not that i am a nerd or trying to spoil the bell curve here.





I talked to my room mate just now and she is pretty fun. She has no birthday this year (29th February) and although she is supposed to be 23 this year, i like to think she's only 6 next year. Her university in Finland is unique such that they graduate straight with Masters' degree without having the need to sit for the Bachelor's Degree first. I also asked her about the cost of her education. Her reply was - zero. The government pays for everything, thereby giving equal opportunity to everyone to study and do well. Even her daily expenses are paid for. There is absolutely no need to depend on parents, part-time job(s) or live like you're the lower income in a third world country. I do think however, that the adults would have to pay higher tax considering how welfare the country is. Sara said it is about 45% of their salary for those who are earning more. If i stay in Finland and i do not have a child, i think i'll migrate to Singapore.





I really want to blog about my exciting adventure at the immigration at Heathrow Airport but i am just too tired. In addition, i have yet to visit the castles. Pictures from outside are boring although some parts are pretty much intriguing. I'll do that on a better day when i am feeling better and my stomach is not throwing its gastric tantrums. Don't worry. I ate. It is not the food.





So while at the supermarket, guess what i was looking for?

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SWEETS!! :)

Over at Butler Court...

12th February 2007
2nd day at Loughborough, 139 days to (in)sanity.
8 a.m.

Jetlag sets in last night after my arrival four days earlier. You could say that it’s a little late for jetlag but I had no problems sleeping the right time for the past three days. When people tell you it’s colder up in the north, they’re not lying. Without a comforter for the added comfort, I found myself hugging anything within reach in the hope of some warmth in the middle of the night. While everyone else was out partying last night, I went to bed at 7 p.m. What’s there to party? Beginning of school term? I only celebrate beginning of school term in Singapore with a nice slice of cake from NYDC.

I woke up at 5 am only to realize that it was still too early to get up. I have yet to love my room because it is different from Kent Ridge Hall. Good thing is, I have an attached bathroom. I also have a room mate. My neighbours tell me she is from Finland. I have yet to meet her since I slept real early last night. I am pretty excited to meet her. Last night she was still in London. I met with other Singaporeans though and two other girls from Finland who are my neighbours. I quite like how on third floor, I get to share the kitchen with only five other girls cause there are only six person staying on my side of the third floor. The attached bathroom is clean although I do feel a great deal of discomfort without a movable pipe. Back to my room mate, she is asleep now and I tried my best not to wake her up this morning at five.

Sun rises at around 7 a.m. and sets around 4.30 p.m. The restaurants particularly the pizza place will only open from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. I found two halal brochures. That gives me a deep sense of security since most of the foods here have either wine added or pork mixed with it. I cannot be too particular though since I need the meat.

My room mate just woke up and talked to me. Her name is Sara and she is from Finland doing her Masters in engineering. Her course will end on the 9th March and she has only about four more weeks left here. Apparently, the International Students’ Association organize weekly Saturday day trips to various parts of England. She said it ranges between 10 to 15 pounds and they’ll just drop you off and pick you up. That way, I’ll get to travel around without incurring any additional cost on other things. Transportation here is very costly. Coming to Loughborough alone from London was 52 pounds.

I’m off soon to the Geography Department to meet Dr Brown, the SEP coordinator. I’ve heard about his charismatic nature and how he is such a nice person. I am looking forward to meeting him because he will cure any worries I have regarding my modules. He sounds old though.

Will update soon and talk more about what I learnt in London. With pictures too!

Flying on an airplane...

As you know, Bangkok is one hour behind Singapore. Apparently, it hasn’t affected the speed of my reaction when it comes to shopping.

I touched down safely at Bangkok’s Subharvaniam Airport after a boring 2 hour plus flight where I was stranded beside a man whom I thought was initially dumb because he kept smiling but didn’t talk. But, I saw his passport and I figured out that my fellow Singaporean next to me is probably shy for his 50 + age. Anyhow, he helped me in the end with my 6.2 kg luggage so it was an unspoken truce. Truce because I was getting pretty annoyed with him reading the papers and leaving me to half my rightful space beside the window.

I haven’t traveled alone and Bangkok’s airport was a little bit different because they have many levels and I was unsure which level I should go to for International transfer. I figured out in the end after asking the information counter. “You go fourth floor. There got massage you want”.

So, you know where I head first: Fourth floor.

The Duty free shop in Bangkok is pretty mean. I mean MEAN. It is able to satisfy a girl’s smallest cravings and tempts her to enter every single one of the shops. It didn’t help that I lack the self- control looking at the pretty bags and watches. It was going at a 30% discount for some bags and watches like Emporio Armani and DKNY (!!!). I figured out that my body is possibly aching cause my hand carry is stuffed with items and the 6.2 kg was just too much for me to take. Hence, I made an important decision to buy the bag below.





Pretty Sisley for just S$60. After discount that is. When they say the Thai women are friendly people, we really ought to find out who made those claims because I had to literally beg them for me to buy the bag. I asked for them to convert to Sing dollars and they told me it’s $37. Naturally, I immediately dug out every single Sing dollar in my pocket and after she keyed in, her partner informed me its S$60. When I asked why, she simply remarked that it was in US dollar. I thought I specifically said SINGAPORE dollar. I felt so cheated.

Then, the excitement continued as I stepped into Chang Foot Massage and Spa. 500 Baht for 45 minutes of any massage is just too strong an attraction. I queued behind this Caucasian guy and expected the same treatment of “Hello. How are you today? Come.. Very cheap!”

But this was what I got:

Aida: Hi! Your massages are all 500 Baht for 45 minutes?
Recept: Yes.
Aida: Ok.. *look at the catalogue*
Recept: *Talk in Thai to her friends*
Aida: HELLO. I want a massage. I want the shoulder massage. How? *Pronouncing my words carefully by syllable, fearing they can’t understand my English*
Recept: You pay now. 500 Baht.
Aida: Convert to Sing dollar?
Recept: $25. You want?
Aida: Yeah.

She didn’t even try to promote her packages. Boo. :(





In fact, every shop treated me the same way. I was disappointed to say the least. Luckily, the things on sale were nice.

Then I realized I got my timing wrong for my next flight. That makes my waiting time 3 hours instead of two. I managed to tap on somebody’s wireless and went online to see the prominent people missing. Possibly sleeping from the exhaustion of accompanying Aida through the night and sleeping at the Airport. I appreciate it darlings.

I must get used to the treatment these people give and not expect much. In Singapore, we always demand. I am certain though that we won’t be as lucky else where. I’ll go examine that once I reach London. I heard some horrible things from my cousin but that shouldn’t affect my excitement of reaching there.

Alright. I’ll just wait for the flight for now.