The weekend's here again

I realised I didn't really post anything yesterday. Yeah but there wasn't really anything to say . . . spent the whole day at home again . . . did some more readings in between watching E! news and Fashion TV hehehe.

I think today I might head out to do some well-deserved shopping.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
- Anon

Misery oh misery

Down in the dumps today - I really wanna see the movie "The Devil Wears Prada" but just realised I have no-one to see it with. Now that's a depressing thought.


It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
- Edward de Bono

Tuesday = day in hell

We'll get to why later, but I'll start from the beginning:

Tuesday 26.09.06
Cos they don't do "course materials", I had to make a trip to the library to see if my luck was better today in locating those books I needed:

Impressive, but is a statue really necessary in a library?!

Entrance into the Economics section - there are double doors and I was wondering why when I was walking through them. Once I got inside, I knew why. It was DEADLY quiet. There were people in there but no-one made a sound. Was really bad cos I was wearing shoes that made those "click-click" sounds and as I was walking, people would look up.

So after photocopying what I needed (the stupid books were on those 3-hour loans so I couldn't take them out of the library) I had to haul-ass to my tax class. I really don't like that class as the people aren't really friendly and everyone basically gets to class right before it begins and leaves immediately after.

Then the horror begins - I had to trek the Waterstone's (a bookstore) to buy my textbooks which I was dreading cos there was a pack of legislation that I needed for tax and that consisted of four books which equals MEGA-heavy. I had to buy another book and I was already carrying one I needed for later on (alternative dispute resolution), so I ended up having to carry all this with me:

I got a coffee in the bookstore and sitting there, I wanted to cry. I, being a strictly no-backpack-wearing person, would have to carry all that in bags, through peak hour on the tube and also walk home as well. Oh, and I forgot to take a pic of the coffee. I only got a medium latte but that was the biggest glass I had ever seen!! Looked like it had nearly a litre of milk in it (and speaking of milk, they sell it in pints over here, which I thought was quite amusing, as I had always associated pints with beer).

So in the arvo, at 4, I had my ADR class. The people in this class were more friendly than the tax losers and when I got to the classroom (early), there was another dude there already and he started talking to me. Then another chick came in and she started talking as well (she was a French exchange student so it was hard to understand what she was saying. Nevertheless, I was like "Woah, I actually have a chance to have a normal conversation!" For those of you who don't realise, besides speaking to my family here, friends from home (over the net), I basically don't have a reason to speak so actually saying words out of my mouth and having someone at the other end listening felt so good.

When everyone was here, we had to do the whole introducing the person next to you to the class thing which I was actually looking forward to as it would be easier to talk to everyone from now on (oh, by the way, the class, like tax, is also very small. I think they don't admit very many people into law every year, probably just over 100). We had to say one interesting fact about ourselves and this one dude had said that he had been kicked by an emu. Everyone laughed and a lot of them looked at me (this was after I had been introduced and so they all know I'm Aussie). I'm thinking, "Why are you guys looking at me?! The last time I've seen an emu was when I was like in primary school!" But overall, I really enjoyed this class, which is encouraging as I am a type of person who either really likes a class or really hates it. And I was so proud of myself, I actually asked a question!!! Hahaha Deb will know what I mean when I say I don't usually say anything in law lectures . . . ever . . . most of the time cos I never do my readings and all my energy is being used to keep me awake. There is no space in my brain left to think of an intelligent question to ask.

Then the time which I was dreading arrived - home time. Lugging those books home is up there on my "10 worst lifetime experiences" list. By the time I set foot inside the front door, my fingers were all red and swollen from the plastic bags and I was sweating all over.


Wednesday 27.09.06
Today I tried to start doing some readings:

Books and folders scattered everywhere . . .

Oh I forgot to post something about Sunday (24.09.06) - I made my first two shopping purchases since getting here! I'm so excited:

Classic brown-leather heels: very scholarly-looking (looks great with my Tsubis)

A Sally Smith purse - was getting sick of my Fendi one and this one matches my handbag that I have back in Sydney!!

The thrilling excitement of shopping was just enough to get me through the two hours of church I had to endure afterwards. I try to make it seem like I'm thinking deeply but in reality, when I close my eyes during church, I'm nodding off.

A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.
- Don Corleone, in The Godfather

And so it begins

So, just had my first day of uni:

• Not a good start - when I got to uni I was trying to find the room of my class and I jammed my right index finger in the hinge of a door. Not only did I take a chunk of flesh off, it's now all swollen and bruised . . . gross
• Was raining today so was not looking forward to heading out when I got out of bed. Luckily I left the house around the same time as my cousin leaving for school so got a lift to the tube station.
• My first and only class today was tax law. Man, the class was so small, like around 20 people - I wonder if it's cos it's a mega-hard course or sth, I swear I thought more people would be doing tax.
• Found it hard to talk to anyone today as tax is a 3rd yr subject so most of the people in the class knew each other already and they were clumps so hard for me to jump in and introduce myself. And they were all doing the whole "What did you do in the summer?!" thing so yeah . . . I kinda wish that I am doing first year subjects so that I would be in the same boat as everyone else but also, I would be super-old then and all those subjects I've already done.
• Another thing which I found was very different: I was the only Asian chick. Number of classes I've been in at UNSW where this was the case = 0.
  
• Their timetables are really weird, like they sometimes don't have a lecture every week so you gotta be careful and check your timetable and see what weeks the lectures and tutes are on.
• The campus is kinda confusing - it has these north and south cloisters which are like corridors and then there are doors everywhere and not enough signs. Took me ages to find where the international office was today. And don't get me started on trying to find the loos - seriously, they have like one for the whole main campus.
• The library's pretty cool - you need your student card to swipe in (yeah I know, had to go to the library on the first day already). They operate on the stupid system of you going off and finding your own reading materials in the library. Haven't they heard of course materials?! Geez, by the time you get to the library, some loser has already got to the book and it's either been borrowed or it's "missing". If the lecturer knows that everyone needs to read it, why not photocopy it for us and get us to buy it?!?! Argh, this is one thing that is really gonna frustrate me.
• My user id is zctlcb1: please explain!! And in case you're wondering, that's not my student number, which is something else. My password is even worse, and on top of that, there's my library barcode and pin that's I need to use to log into the library website. Why can't they consolidate everything?! Yeah, so that means that my email is zctlcb1@ucl.ac.uk - but luckily, I get an email alias which is elvina.li@ucl.ac.uk.
• My bag got super-heavy by the end of the day - I had borrowed a couple of books and had to buy a textbook so my shoulder's killing me.
• For those of you who are fellow law students: AustLII here is BaiLII, which I thought was quite funny.
• And yeah, just a caution for those of you thinking about it: don't bleach your hair . . . like successively. There's this clump of hair at the base of my neck now which is bout 7cm long - it's just gone!!! I dunno what I'm gonna do - next time you see me, all my hair might be chopped off, I think I might have to start afresh.
• It's beginning to set in that I don't think I'll be able/bothered to go out at night while I'm over here. Means no more clubbing for me for the next year. I'm in bed at like 11pm every night which is a first of me (although I don't actually sleep till early in the morn - old habits are hard to shake and I have so many cable tv channels to choose from!)
• Yeah I know I'm getting lazy with the picture-taking, will try to take some tomorrow
  
• No-one in today's class used "the" paper - I'm losing hope . . .

An educated person is one who has learned that information almost always turns out to be at best incomplete and very often false, misleading, fictitious, mendacious - just dead wrong.
- Russell Baker

Sorry, I know, this is long overdue

I've kinda been lazy over the past few days so I'll be good and make this an extra long post.

Thursday 21.09.06
So this was the first day of the International Students Orientation Programme. The day didn't start off very well - for a start, Justin and I had planned the day before for us to meet at 9:45 cos we read the note and thought that the day started at 10am. But turned out that they did it in groups and it was the grads who were supposed to be there at 10am. Since I live so far away I had already left and was on the tube when I got the message from Justin saying it actually started at 11am. Was kinda pissed off as I was in the city at 9:30 already. I went to the uni anyway and there was a mass of people. I lined up to get the orientation pack and then left.


It was weird walking in there without knowing anyone - you know that feeling you have on your first day at a new school where you don't know anyone? Well I was definitely feeling that but for me, it was worse cos everyone there was foreign - I could hear Americans, Germans, French people and even honkie people but alas, no Aussies.

I had nothing to do so I got a coffee somewhere and bummed for like over an hour. Then it was time to head back to the uni again. It didn't help my mood that Justin was half an hour late - I swear, I've had it to about here *hand to throat* with him - he's ALWAYS late (a note on that later on). Anyway, so he came about 11:30am but which time I was so over the day. The welcome talk by the Dean was filled with the usual "this-uni-is-the-best-uni-you're-so-lucky-you're-here" bull crap so there wasn't anything useful in the speech. Oh another note - I think the English are so used to cold weather that when it's a bit warmer, their air-conditioning systems SUCK. I was boiling hot in the lecture hall where the speech was being made and don't get me started on the tube rides - seriously, two words - no ventilation . . . at all. They rely on natural air to flow through, but seriously, how much air can flow through all the way down to the tunnels?! Ahem, sorry, letting off a bit of steam there (hahaha I'm so sad, bad pun, sorry very much . . .)

Back to Thursday - then it was lunchtime - now I understand that beer is a bit part of the English culture, but seriously, 2 out of 2 times I have met up with Justin we have ended up in a pub. How can u have a beer in the middle of the day?! Luckily, most pubs in London have decent food so I was content.

We then had a couple of hours to kill before out meeting at the Faculty of Laws with all the other affiliate students. Justin wanted to head back to his place as he only lived around the corner so I went shopping for a bit. Not my usual shopping, but I went scouting for paper again (still haven't found any) and I had a look at printers as I feel bad using my aunt's printer as I know the s#$tload of stuff I'll have to print out (this was before I found out I get free unlimited printing at uni - at least that's one they UCL has up on UNSW). So I trudged back to the law building (which is called Bentham House, after a Mr Jeremy Bentham who was a very influential philosopher back in the days and whose body has been preserved and is on display at the uni (gross I know):

His actual body - apparently, he donated himself to the uni . . .

So yes, the meeting - there are 52 affiliate law student this year . . . all from Europe except for Justin and me. Did I mention before that Justin and I are the first Australians to do this exchange programme? Yup, UCL law faculty has never accepted exchange students from outside Europe except for this year and Australia's the first non-Europe country and UNSW is the first partner uni. Talk about pressure . . . I really hope that they don't except me to be the model student cos I ain't!! At the talk, the exchange coordinator mentioned this by saying "Welcome to all of you. Most of you are from different parts of Europe with the exception of our two Australians." Was so embarrassing . . . she made another reference to us when she pointed out that students shouldn't miss lectures etc to pop a visit back home, but she was like "But I don't think our two Australians can do that." Argh, wanted to crawl under my seat . . . but was talking to other students and am so envious of the fact that it takes them less than an hour to go home and it's so cheap for them to fly back.

Oh by the way, I had to go into the meeting myself as I had planned to meet Justin at the door beforehand but he msged me right before and said that he fell asleep and that he would be 15 mins late and that I shouldn't wait for him. But it actually was good cos I wasn't stuck with him and had managed to talk to quite a few people on that day. However, I have a feeling that I won't see a lot of the other exchange students as they all seem to be doing core subjects whereas I am doing options (and yeah, I do feel old when people ask "So, are you 2nd r 3rd year" and I go, "Ah, actually, I'm in 5th year").

We had a quick tour of the law building from some of the Law society guys and then they took us to the UCL Union bar for a drink (why are the all obsessed with drinking?!). Again, absolutely stifling hot in this place. I couldn't stand it and had to leave about 45 mins after we got there.

Oh, a mention about my timetable - the gods above must have been on a lookout for me cos I only need to go to uni 3 days a week, which is awesome as some people had to head in everyday of the week. But I have to say that no-one else has to travel quite as far as I have to.

So yeah, that was Thursday in a nutshell.


Friday 22.09.06
I had to go back to uni today to formally enrol. They said that enrolment started at 9:30am so I got there around 9:45 to find a mile-long line for enrolment. ARGH! I had to stand in line for over one and a half hours to enrol. So that was my whole morning gone.

Then I had to register at the Library and then with the IT people to use the computers and to get my user id and password.

By the time I left, I was so tired I didn't wanna do anything - I pretty much went home after that. I stopped by the local shopping centre just to browse what retail jobs were available. The Gap caught my attention, they were looking for people. It's a thought, I dunno yet.


Saturday 23.09.06
Didn't do much today either - woke up pretty late and we all went out to do to do some grocery shopping.

We went to TK Maxx as well (anyone heard Robbie William's song, Rudebox?). Yeah, it's like a discount chain where you can find designer brands. Had a look through, was some nice stuff but didn't buy anything in case it started a flow-on effect, where I can't stop buying.


In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
- Bill Cosby

Exhausted beyond words

Cant' type *yawns* . . . been a very very long day *yawns again* . . . have to do it all again tomorrow . . . so must sleep . . . will tell all tomorrow night.

Peace out.

Elvis

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.
- Alice Walker

First Encounter

Today was an interesting day. I started off meeting one of Calvin's friends, Wei, who here in London studying medicine. Had my first taste of Indian food here and then he gave me a quick tour of the campus:

UCL

Yeah, finally found out that this building's called the Portico and it's like the landmark of UCL. Kinda like the main walkway in UNSW.

After the meeting with Wei, I was just about to leave (actually, I was having another McFlurry at Macca's hehehe) when Justin called and said that the coordinator in charge of affiliate students in the law faculty was free that arvo if we wanted to have an informal meeting and chat with her.

Waiting for Justin

So I hung around and we met Pamela in her office. She was really nice and reminded me of those English grannies who would bake apple pies and have really cool antique things in her house. Anyway, I digress. We had a good little chat but our formal orientation day is tomorrow so I will probably have more to report then.

After talking to her, I realised that they are so inflexible when it comes to timetables and choosing subjects here. Basically, as soon as you choose your subjects for the very first time, you're stuck with them. You can't swap in and out of different subjects and worse still, you can't choose the times of your lectures and tutes . . . at all. You're given your timetable and that's it. Pamela added "Hopefully, you won't need to go into uni five days a week." I was thinking, "HOPEFULLY?! wft?! I ain't computing an hour and a half each way every day by train to attend a 2-hour lecture per day!!!" Note to self: must not jinx myself . . . Their excuse of not being able to run the same lecture multiple times per day on different days is that they don't have enough funds to get lecturers to teach them. I was wondering, "If UNSW can . . . it can't be that they are funded more than UCL . . ." This means I better have made the right choices when I picked my subjects . . . if they're crap, I'm stuck with it. Worse still, if I get a crap lecturer, I'm stuck with him/her for a year. A year!!

And what's with the personal emails from lecturers?! Got another email today from my tax law lecturer (yeah I know, tax law, must have been slightly delusional when I signed up for that) telling us when our first lecture is.

Ok, had a slight panic attack today - some of you know how pedantic I am about my stationery and books and stuff. I only write on loose A4 lined paper (with the red margins and plastic-reinforced left hand side) and only that paper. I've been into like 3 stationery stores so far and I can't find them!! I can only find stupid notebooks where you tear the pages out. I mentioned this to Wei and when he said he didn't really know what I was talking about, I nearly cried *whimpers* he pulled out a notepad from his bag and said that's it when it comes to paper here in London. NO!!!!! Can someone fed-ex a pack to me?!?!?! I only brought one pack with me thinking I could buy them here. I'm being serious!! I can't not use that paper!!


A good designer must rely on experience, on precise, logic thinking; and on pedantic exactness. No magic will do.
- Niklaus Wirth

Morning at Tooting

So, this morning I was woken up by my aunt at 9:30am cos I was supposed to go with my grandma to Tooting, a suburb kinda like Parramatta, where things are cheaper, but it's basically not a very glamorous part of London (like our Western suburbs) and the area is predominantly Indian.

It was, how to put it nicely, a very B-O-R-I-N-G outing. There were hardly any clothes stores worth going into (and I felt bad if I looked at things for long cos my grandma would just stand behind me, making me feel quite awkward) and I'm not the best person to go grocery shopping with.

Really didn't do that much today - will probably have something more interesting to post tomorrow as I am meeting up with a friend of Calvin's who is here in London doing medicine. He offered to show me around the UCL campus.

Get mad, then get over it.
- Colin Powell

Correction

Thanks Jen - man I can't even spell it right - "oesophagus". Hehe

Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Finally, a familar face

I just came back from my meeting with Justin (fellow UNSW law exchange student) and it's such a relief to talk to someone I know, and better still, an Aussie. He's living near campus in one of the student residences, so it'll be easier for him to meet people. But good thing is, he'll lemme when they go out, so yay, fun times are about to start. He's a real pub-going, cricket-watching kinda bloke, so basically, a real Aussie, but he's quite easy to get along with. Too bad we're not doing any of the same subjects - he's chosen all the commercial law-based subjects, exactly those ones I've avoided.

This afternoon, before I met up with Justin, I decided I'll go visit the British Museum, just cos it's someone you have to do when you're in London (was so tempted to venture off to Bond Street instead to do a bit more window shopping but exercised high levels of will power and resisted). The British Museum is pretty impressive architectural wise but museums have never been my cup of tea so it didn't take me long to do a loop:

View of the Great Hall inside the British Museum

Ummm, that's one gi-normous mummy coffin (on the right)

Doesn't it remind you of Nicole Ritchie?

Sooooo cute!! And yes, that is a real mummified bull

Hahaha, as you can see, I enjoyed myself the most in the Egypt rooms (blonde moment: just now, I couldn't think of the word for the stone tomb that a mummy coffin is put in - all I could think of was "esophagus" - I Googled it and was like "oh dear, so NOT esophagus" *sigh* I amaze myself sometimes . . .)

My first caffeine fix since I got here - I like this place cos all their coffees have 2 shots of espresso in them - instant *z-i-n-g*

I had Macca's for lunch today - geez, a medium McChicken meal costs £3.59. Two points on this:

• That's like $9!
• I just found out how to get the "£" symbol (ALT 1063 in case anyone's wondering . . .)

There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have.
- Don Herold

Day of rest . . . well, not really

I was too tired to post anything yesterday so I'll do a recap.

As I knew that I was being made to go church, I wasn't really looking forward to the day. Church was at 2pm so there was time for us to go to the local markets at Wimbledon Stadium (ah, not where they place the tennis, in case you're wondering, it's a greyhound racing track usually hehe):


The next few hours of my life were spent in a half-bored, half-dozing-off state (hahaha Joyce and Yvonne know exactly what I mean - it was a Chinese church so I didn't understand half of what they were saying, or pretended I didn't anyway). Oh, I make no apologies for my lack of reverence for religion, as I said before, those who know me know how I feel about it. There was someone at the Church who went to UCL too, doing some science degree, so my aunt introduced me to him. One word - honkie . . . to the max. It's my personal rule that I refuse to speak Cantonese to anyone except family so I don't think he understood half of what I was saying. And when I was trying to spell my name for him to add to his mobile, he kept on putting "a" instead of "e" - was it my accent?! I kept on going "E! E! E!" I don't think I'll be calling him for advice any time soon . . .

Some of my aunt's and uncle's Church friends were coming to dinner but there was this prayer group thingy after Church which my aunt attends so my grandma, cousin, uncle and I went home early.

I curled Nat's hair with my straightener . . . I was bored and she was willing . . .

The most inquisitive 10-year-old boy I have ever met, Jonathan (Nat's friend and fellow church-goer). He's from Manchester and his accent really shows it.

I won . . . against a 6- and 10-year old - but winning is still winning!

My fellow exchange student from UNSW, Justin, sent me an email today saying that he's here in London now. I'm going to catch up with him tonight, so will let you know how it goes.


Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
- Jim Ryun

Personal email

I am officially scared now - I've received an email from a Professor who's teaching a class that I'm taking. It was like an introductory, welcome kind of email, but it got me thinking - what are the relationships between lecturers and students like here? Add to this the fact that there were only 14 addressees on the email, does that mean there are only 14 people in the class?! omg, I'm so used to not saying anything in class, I don't know what I'm going to do. Also, when I went to check out the Professor on the UCL website, it said that she has just recently been made a Dame. So her title is now Professor Dame . . . what did I get myself into?!

Dispute Processes - the first textbook I have to get

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
- Michelangelo

Lazy Saturday arvo

My second weekend here now, and it was like deja vu - yum cha again and then asian grocery store shopping. As I keep on saying, and as bizarre as it sounds, I can't wait for uni to start.

Some of the suburbs here are weird to say the least, like where we went to have yum cha, the suburb was called "Elephant & Castle" - wtf?! Maybe there's something historical behind it, I dun know.

Shopping trolley full of food

My uncle and cousin fighting over the pocket pc

This morning I did something I hadn't been able to do in a long time - hahaha nothing special for most people but I stayed in bed watching MTV - I've worked most weekends for the past few years, so to be able to do that was a little luxury.

Tomorrow is going to be interesting as my aunt and uncle are churchgoers and I'll probably have to go too - best to stay on their good side even though most of you know how I feel about religion. I have nothing against people who believe but please don't try to force it onto me.

XoXo

Elvis

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.
- Bernard Meltzer

Being a studious law student = z z z z ........

What a better way to spend a Friday arvo than to do my "compulsory" law readings - highlighters: check, post-it notes: check, boredom settling in: check.


Was reading an extract on the introduction of English contract law - man, am I glad that I chose England to do the exchange in - most of their principles we've learnt already and it wsa a jolt down memory lane to read words such as "intention to create legal relations", "privity of contract" and "undue influence". Fellow law students would know exactly what I'm talking about!

Ben listening to a few new cds - Justin Timberlake's one is funky(hahaha but I may be biased), Beyonce's one just sounds pretty much like any of her other songs and Nelly Furtado . . . well I still can't get over her "I'm like a bird"-folklore image she used to portray - listening to her do rnb is weird - although thumbs up to "Promiscuous" (a song which can attract the wrong attention in clubs . . . hmmmm not that I would know *winks*)

He's back!

Living away from campus makes me wonder if I am missing out on anyway . . . maybe all the other exchange students have become all chummy already . . . hmmm but I wouldn't sacrifice the comforts I have now with living in a dorm with strangers . . .

I actually don't know what building this is, but it's part of the uni . . .

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.
- May Sarton

Self-imposed house arrest

My theory is that if I don't go out, I don't spend money. Sounds good on paper, but after being used to going where I want when I want, staying at home, doing nothing seems very very pointless.

Add to that the fact that I know absolutely NO one here and that makes things a whole lot more difficult. Now I can't wait for uni to start, more for the fact that I can meet people than actually wanting to do uni work . . .

So yeah, did nothing today - stayed at home and played with more gadgets - my uncle found a webcam for me to use.

We were also planning to go to Paris in October, probably on 25th. Hahaha I'm supposed to be in charge of booking hotels, train tickets etc so that'll get me occupied. I dun know what my timetable's going to be like for uni, but even if I have uni those days, I dun think I'll let that get in the way hehehe.

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
- Oscar Wilde

Technology overload

This morning, my uncle asked me to help connect a pocket pc (hahaha thanks Calvin, I now know what it's called, rather than the "phone thingy with a screen" . . . *sigh* oh dear). Man, giving me a toy like that to play with is not good, as I had absolutely no idea what to do:

Surrounded . . . my laptop, a Samsung phone my uncle gave me to use, and the pocket pc

It's actually really heavy

So after a morning of fiddling around with that (and adding a few words to my vocabulary, like "SSID" and "WEP encryption") I headed out again with my grandma to the shops:

The town centre


Inside the shopping centre


These shoes were soooooo cute - you can't really see, but it has sequins all over it

I had to help my cousin with her Kumon - ahh, that brings back horrible childhood memories. It was really weird cos for her English Kumon homework, she had to read extracts from . . . Australian story books?! There was like "Possum Magic" and that one about the hippopotamus sitting on the roof eating cake. They even had a story with Aborigines in it . . . would English kids even know who the Aborigines are?!

Random thoughts:

• Bought some kiwis today which were from . . . Chile. wft?!
• Should actually start doing some law readings - there are actually a lot of coffee shops around (Yvonne, there's that cafe costa one you mentioned) but they don't have Gloria Jeans over here, only Starbucks. Man, Gloria Jeans so kicks Starbuck's caffeine arse. I was gonna say that I could do some readings at a coffee shop . . . (hahaha just realised that the two points didn't link up)
  
• Speaking of Gloria, miss you too! Hope u and Ken are well! Once I get my visa sorted, I'm gonna start trying to find work experience at a fashion mag . . . fingers crossed
• It's really annoying that they still use 1p and 2p here - I'm so used to not getting change if something's $0.99 but here, you get the 1p back. It's bad cos you actually need the correct amount and can't rely on the rounding down!
• People keep asking me what I've done over here and how London is. If they're expecting me to have done a lot of sight-seeing and museum-visiting and art gallery-wandering, hahaha I think I'm gonna disappoint them. I'm so not motivated to do all those touristy things - maybe a little of that is due to the fact I've already done a bit of that stuff last time I was here and I was so galleried-out after seeing all that art in Europe - they all begin to look the same after a while. Maybe after uni starts, I can make some friends who are art enthusiasts and they can drag my arse along - it's more interesting to go with people who actually know what they're looking at and can explain it to me . . .
• However, if you wanted to know where all the major shopping centres are, I'm the right person to talk to!!! I've already taken down mental notes of all the shopping centres we've driven past and the nearest tube stations to them so later, I know how to get there!
• Which leads me to the next point - it SUCKS to go shopping and knowing that you can't buy anything while you don't have a job - it SUCKS bananas . . . hmmm I don't know why I typed bananas . . . omg, that could sound so wrong . . .

I'm going to start a "Quote of a day" from now on:

Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.
- Josh Billings

Regent Street take two

I had to make another trip to the city yesterday to pick up my HSBC debit card. To my surprise, they said they've opened up a credit card for me as well, without me even applying for one . . . hmmm I'm now armed with two credit cards now - note to self: must not get into debt, note to self 2: although now I could buy that Chloe paddington, note to self 3: NO! Must not give into temptation.

Me on the train heading out

I didn't do much today - headed back home pretty much as soon as I finished at the bank. I stopped over at a supermarket on the way home and I got:

• milk
• tuna
• digestive biscuits - chocolate ones of course
• chocolate - smarties and kit kats (they don't do fun size packs over here - the kit kats are like in a slab with four and each one has four fingers)
• nectarines
• cereal - Crunchy Nut - one with extra nuts (yummy, has caramel coated peanut clusters in it)
  
• and my first glossie over here!

I brought over a few magazines from Australia with me and when my aunt saw me buy this she was like "ah, you don't like reading much do you?" hehehehe - my reply was "yeah, I would read my law stuff, but that means I'll be falling asleep sooner than finishing the first page"

On another note, I feel asleep on my bed yesterday night with my computer on my chest - hahaha I only realised when I woke up at like 4am - I don't even remember dozing off.

RIP lil mouse

Yeah we caught it . . .

Lost another pound something tonight from playing mah jong.

Mousetrap . . .

Yes, literally. We had to buy mousetraps today cos we think there's one making itself at home in one of the cupboards. Hahaha when my uncle put a piece of chocolate in one of them, he had forgot that he had actually pulled the spring back - he was lucky it didn't go off and snap on his finger.

I did manage to get out of the house today - we went browsing for a new car (we currently have a Honda Accord). First we went to a dealer selling the brand "Vauxhall" - i was like "Hmmm never heard of this brand before" and then I saw one of the models was an "Astra" and then it hit me "woah, it's like Holden, but not!" - hehehe, can anyone tell me, why they do that? Sell under different names in different countries?

Hopefully I'll be doing something more interesting tomorrow and I'll have more pictures to post up.

I think I'll have to play mah jong again tonight - third night in a row . . . man they've set up the table in my room!! I keep losing money . . . yesterday, I think I lost bout 2 pounds.

Things I Miss . . .

• being able to go out on a Friday night and coming home on a Saturday morning
• knowing all the suburbs around me
• buying my blueberry muffin from my favourite coffee shop
• Tim Tams
• Aussie accents
• my bed
• checking my mobile for messages and missed calls
• knowing all the good parking spots in the city
• driving
• living in the same time zone as my friends
• fruit - although I must say that I ate my first banana in ages . . . but I miss kiwis, oranges, strawberries, grapes . . .
  

Day of rest

I decided to stay at home today to recover as I have been out everyday since I arrived, so I had time to do a bit of reflection:

• Every time I think of how long my exchange is, I start to panic a bit - 9 months is a long time and considering I have to start from scratch - making friends, studying at a new institution - it makes me wonder "am I capable of doing this?"
• At the moment, having not met anyone yet, the feelings of loneliness have really started to set in - I dread that first day of uni, which I am predicting will resemble the first day of starting a new school . . . I haven't had to do that since I was 8 . . .
• Actually scrap that last point - note to self: must maintain a positive attitude and embrace new experiences . . .
  
• I just noticed that I don't really write much - I tend to post a lot of photos up to compensate for the lack of ability to write well. Hahaha I have not been blessed with the gift of words but I shall try harder in the future . . .
• I have not had a decent conversation with someone in a while and I'm craving to talk . . . it takes being away from your friends to appreciate them even more

The weather

This one's for you Jen . . .

I don't know what the weather gods are doing but it's been nothing but sunny since I've arrived in London - bright and blue the sky has been and hopefully, it continues for a bit longer cos I'm not looking forward to the winter.

Off to the markets . . .

Being Sunday, it was the perfect day to go visit one of London' most talked about markets - Camden Markets. The absolute best thing about living with my relos and going out with them is that we get to travel by car - yayyyy!!!

Random photo from the car

Another random photo

Nat took this one herself

Obligatory self-taken shot

Geez my face looks so tan compared to Nat's - that's not to say I'm actually tan (having missed last summer, I'm actually really pale) but a lot of kids in England have remarkable porcelain-like skin - am so envious (in a non-Hannibal Lecter kind of way . . .)

We drove through quite a lot of London today, I got to see the Chelsea football grounds, Harrods (again) and all these other suburbs I've forgotten the name of already. As usual, traffic was quite congested even on a Sunday and it took us over an hour to get to Camden:

Start of the markets - that's my uncle, aunt and Nat on the right

"Camden Market" - man it was packed

There were heaps of stores selling goth and punk clothing - there were people out and about who looked like they had walked straight off a Marilyn Manson video clip

More goth clothing

For those who are adventurous with their hair . . .

Why am I always walking last?

Funny T-shirt I saw: [picture of a car] "My other ride is your sister"

Another day I walked away from shops empty-handed. But I must say the stuff at the markets were not all that appealing - you really need to look hard and carefully when buying from markets and I didn't have the patience today.

We decided to head to yum cha in the arvo - most yum cha places in London don't have the trolley ladies come round so you have to order from the menu. Good thing is that the food comes all at once.

For the drive home, my uncle decided to drive near the city so I got to see:

Some bridge - hahaha I think it was Albert Bridge


You can't see it very well but that's the London Eye

Big Ben

Someone was bored again . . .

I lost £1.60

As the title says . . .

Will be a late night

Just a quick update - am being made to play mah jong tonight - wonder how much I'll lose . . .

In case you're wondering why I'm being such a bum - my uni orientation is on 21/9 so I still have time before the onslaught of work.

These boots are made for walking . . .

I decided to head out to central London today and do a bit of "window shopping" as I currently have no moola to do any actual shopping *whimpers* . . .

Walking towards the station - yup it's normal for people to park their cars facing both ways on one side of the street . . .

My outfit for the day

Over on the other side of the world and the stations still look as run-down . . .

It's a long way down (oh yeah, the real reason I took this photo was cos of what those two girls were wearing. You can't really see in this photo but it was very very Mary-Kate Olsen, aka boho cross dumpster chick - was kinda cool tho)

View from the train

The famous Piccadilly Circus - start of the West End theatres

Yay made it to the shops - walking down Regent Street, which is a main shopping strip


omg omg - one word . . . Harrods - every shopaholic's heaven

Actually, on that note, it was more like hell for me - you don't know the torture of seeing all the things you have ever wanted to buy under one roof and not being able to actually buy them. My eyes didn't know where to start looking. Here are some pics (hahaha I had to discreetly use my phone to take these as you are not allowed to use cameras inside - I had to pretend I was looking intently at a msg or sth):

First Floor - cosmetics department. Way better than DJs

The food hall - it's amazing in there, really old-school and gourmet

Time to hit the big brand names: Hermes - didn't see a Birkin though

Dior counter - best thing was they had most items out on display so you can actually touch them

Louis *sigh* - note to self: must get job soon . . . will otherwise die from depression as a result of buyer's withdrawal syndrome

shoes shoes shoes

Bringing back the memories


You couldn't pay me enough to work there again though . . .


This has been the closest I've come to a Chanel counter - I have never been game enough to walk into the Sydney store

My dream bags - at least I got to hold one . . . (if you're reading this Kath, was thinking of ya when I took this pic hehe)

After Harrods, I decided to hit Harvey Nichols to browse some more - my feet were already starting to hurt but the thought of seeing more designer goods willed me on:

The entrance into the famed store


Good to see they stock Sydney brands but sheesh, the prices were exorbitant - a pair of black misfits which cost $180 in Sydney are priced at £130 - that's like nearly double the price!


My favourite denim brand!! Made me a bit homesick though - it was funny that such a prestigious store would stock someone which is also at General Pants . . .


Even more shoes - it got to a point where I had to admit they all started to look the same.

That's something I'd like to point out - there are so many stores and boutiques in London that it can become very overwhelming and you find that you don't know where to start looking. Fashion in London is very hard to decipher - you have such a wide spectrum from the "omg, I can't believe she's wearing that" to "omg, I would kill to have her outfit" (I actually found myself subconsciously following this woman around cos I was admiring her Bikin bag). All I can say is that Sydney fashion is much more sensible and simple, whereas Londoners love to experiment and are more sophisticated. I wanted to take snaps of people that I saw on the streets but decided against it in case people thought I was a stalker/weirdo/crazy tourist girl.

Anyhoo, back to more photos:

mmmmm a Flake McFlurry for 99p


Aren't they supposed to mix it up with that machine? The chick just put the flake and chocolate sauce on the top and that was it . . .


Me sitting at a tube station waiting to go home - it was a long day and I was so pooped


I needed this so bad . . .

Stupid thing I did today: I hoped onto the wrong train and only realised after it arrived at the next station. I had to hop to the opposite platform and catch the train back again - I prayed to god that no-one saw. Hahaha it was cos I couldn't figure out how to read the sign telling you where the next train was going to.

Now I'm sitting on my bed while my cousin Nat does her hhomework(hahaha Kumon - brings back childhood memories) and my uncle is playing the PS2 - have I mentioned the fact that my uncle is the biggest kid there is? He's glued to that thing - hahaha yesterday I accidentally tripping on the power cord and he lost all his data for his soccer game . . .

I think I'll be made to go to Church tomorrow *boo* but I guess I'll have to go to score a ride to wherever we're going to for the rest of the day - I heard whispers of "Camden markets" (really funky and cheap stuff there - hahaha remember the Aldo shoes Ange and Joyce?!) and "yum cha" so I'll keep you guys posted.

I'm off to dinner now - we're having seafood - my grandma and uncle left the house at 4 this morning to go to the fish markets.

Outies!

Elvis