graduation, and emo-ness.

Today, I have graduated.

I wish I could be one of those unbearably positive people who will say that leaving university is a fresh start to the rest of our lives, and they have high hopes for the future, and such. But I am not.

Instead, I feel an immense sadness. I am sad to leave the major part of my life behind, where I spent most, if not all, my time facing books and exams. I am sad to leave my dear, dear friends with whom I have built a strong bond in these past few years. Indeed I can say, the best friends of my life were made during university life. But then again, a lot of my life has yet to come so I cannot say that for sure…yet. I am also sad to leave the part of my life where I do not have to worry about money and putting food on the table. I feel a little terrified that the money I use in the future, will come from me and myself alone, and I will no longer be able to ask my parents for money should the whim to buy something new and shiny comes along. I will have to carve out portions of my salary and spend it with care, and will also have to scrimp and save a certain amount of money every month to prepare for rainy days (ie. angpau money for friends’ weddings!). I feel sad to leave this place, the place where I spent the busiest yet happiest year of my life. Strangely I feel sad to bid farewell to the gloomy weather in Glasgow, because I enjoyed it so much! Glasgow was a welcome relief from the eternally sunny days in Malaysia, and I feel sorry to leave it behind. I really don’t see myself coming back here for the foreseeable future, and I feel all the more reluctant to leave this country.

My parents flew in to attend my graduation, and they will be leaving tomorrow. I am really happy to see my parents, after six months of talking to them on skype. Not seeing them for an extended time made me even the more aware of the fact that they are not getting any younger as the years go by. I almost forgot how nice it feels to be fussed over by them, and to be able to fuss over them. I am so glad that they did not heed my advice to NOT come to my graduation, because I felt so happy that they are here to share the moment with me. My dad was forever the social butterfly, he was making his way around the crowd of parents and making friends along the way. The most I can summon myself to do is to nod and smile at strangers. I am not cut out to become a PR personnel after all.

Besides feeling sad, I also feel emptiness. An emptiness that stems from my indecisiveness as to where to head after graduating and what to do with the rest of my life. I do not intend to stop studying at this point but I am unsure where to proceed after this degree. Masters of Pharmacy is the obvious choice in our case, but I do not feel an inclination strong enough to sustain me through another two years of studying something that I feel for only half-heartedly. I thought about studying fashion or interior design, my original options in high school, but where would that lead me? Carving my way in the fashion world is no mean feat and I really do not think that I am well suited to that world of air-kisses and frivolity. Another obvious option`is, well, to get married and have kids and take care of them for the rest of my life but that doesn’t seem too appealing for now. I mean I know that will come sooner or later but it isn’t really a good plan to fall back on now is it?

Emoness aside, there is still cause for celebration!

Pic: the mob of paparazzi consisting of parents!

Pic: housemates!

Alright. Despite what I have just said, I really am happy that this day finally came, and it was made even better to be able to share it with my beloved family and friends. Amen. =)

Prague, and friends.

I'm back! As a matter of fact I have been back for quite a while, just that I have not gotten around to write a proper post. And yes, that was me complaining about Easyjet in my last post. Apparently we were not the only ones who got on the wrong end of Easyjet, another friend was stranded in Milan after her flight was cancelled. I'm not really sure about the details but that only further confirms our resolution to never fly with them again!

An update on my whereabouts: the week before the last we came back from our 16-day trip around eastern and central Europe, and Switzerland; and last weekend me and a couple of close friends went on a three-day tour to isle of Skye. There is something peculiar about travelling: after some time you kind of get used to waking up in a different dorm room each morning, and all the buildings and sceneries get sort of muddled up and start to look like each other! I am still a fan of backpacking nevertheless, just that I'll have to remind myself to bring much, much less stuff on my next trip, goodness knows when will that be.

*On an unrelated note, I am writing this post while watching (or, listening) to the Wimbledon men's semi-finals on the BBC website, so do forgive me if my words seem a little nonsensical at times. I am all for Andy Murray but somehow I just have the feeling that Nadal is going to win in the end. Ah well...*

First off, my long-ish trip to Europe and the Swiss. I think I have spent too much time in cold and gloomy Glasgow so much so that I have gotten used to NOT having the sun and warmth around! Prague, Budapest and Vienna to a certain degree were warm and very sunny indeed. I can't honestly say I've had a good time in those places particularly Prague and Budapest as most of the time I was busy running away from the sun and searching for shady spots.

Janice and You Mai, our INTEC friends, were kind enough to show us around Prague as they were studying there. It was more of like a catching-up session with old friends than a tourist-y visit to Prague but I loved it all the more. I haven't met them in a long time and it was just so great to finally able to chat with them. As for Prague the city, there wasn't an awful lot to see and do so we spent a lot of time chilling out, which was perhaps the better option as we would have melted to a puddle had we spent the whole day out in the sun!

Pic: Prague astronomical clock

The astronomical clock in the old town square of Prague is supposed to be one of the most overrated tourist spots, but it was amazing in its own way all the same. It can tell the time, day, zodiac sign and even tells you if it's daytime or night time (not that we need it to, anyway!). At the strike of every hour, there is a parade of the apostles and a skeleton at the side will pull the bell to signify the hour. Hordes of tourists will congregate in front of the clock 15 minutes before it strikes and so did we, and it did what it was supposed to, but I guess we have seen our fair share of amazing stuff and were thus kind of blase at this point... When the chiming stopped, all I could think of was, okay, what's next?

Pic: Kolkovna restaurant - lunch, day 1

They brought us to this restaurant for lunch and it didn't seem to be teeming with tourists, which was a pleasant change indeed! Irene and I shared a dish and it was delicious! Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the dish, I think it was duck and...pigeon? I don't know.

Pic: the dish consisting of duck and pigeon (?) and sour cabbage and potato dumplings. Yum!

Pics: shots taken around the Prague castle.

We went back to the old town square at night for the night view, and it was just as well that we did. There were fireworks in front of the Prague castle which could be seen across the river and I got this picture. Nice.

On the second day we followed the Sandeman's tour around the city but we ditched it in the middle as we had a tip-off about a sushi buffet for only about the equivalent of 10 pounds. It turned out to be a buffet indeed but with less sushi and more of other stuff. Nevertheless I stuffed myself crazy and had a great time. Food always does the trick for me!

After that we separated into two groups as the lazy ones (me included) wanted to shop around for a little while and wait for the sun to set before we went on our way, and others who didn't mind being baked alive by the sun and wanted to continue doing the tourist thing. I can't say I regretted my decision as I would perhaps have gotten a sunstroke had I stayed out any longer.

Pic: I think this was something like an opera house...

Pics: on the Charles bridge.

We spent our night in a bus travelling to Budapest to save some money, so in the next stop you will see us with tired looks and sticky hair. Stay tuned.

EASY rant

Dear all, I am finally back from my 16-day Eastern and central Europe trip! I know I haven't updated on my previous Dublin trip but there is so much to talk about especially now that I have the additional long trip to tell you. But before I launch into a very long post about that there was something interesting that we came across on the last day of our trip. I probably can make this quite long-winded, so perhaps you would like to boil some water and sit back with a nice cup of coffee while you read the rest of this post.

And as many stories would say, once upon a time...

Once upon a time five girl friends were returning home from a long backpacking trip. Being the frugal students that they were, they decided to book a flight with a low-cost airline, thinking that it would be much EASIER on their wallets. True to its name, it was indeed EASY on the wallets but the JET service was less easy on them. They arrived at Geneva airport only to realise that their flight at 7.30am was delayed to four hours later, to 11.30am. Fine enough, so they waited patiently at the airport while enjoying their breakfast redeemed with the 10-franc voucher provided. At 11.30am, they boarded the plane, fine and dandy.

But after 30 minutes, they realised something was wrong. The plane was not moving! Then the pilot announced that a passenger had checked in a piece of luggage but the person was not on board the plane. So the stranded piece of luggage had to be searched and retrieved from the aircraft hold. Fair enough, who knows if it may contain explosives then suddenly KABOOM! and all passengers on board would become fine particles floating in the air. But the delay on this flight made the five friends a little worried as their next connecting flight was at 1.50pm. Not really enough time but perhaps they could still make it if they ran all the way to their next flight.

Not good. When they got to the security checkpoint it was already 1.35pm. Actually the first person of the group made it to there at that time as all were separated at that point. The first person of the group ran all the way, barely made it on board the connecting flight, also one that was EASY to JET around with. But the second person reached the gate it was 1.40pm. The staff at the gate told her straight out: "You missed the flight." with a stern stare. (The plane was still on the ground at this point.) Needless to say, the third, fourth, and fifth person also did not get on the flight. The third person tried to explain to the stern-looking staff that they were late because of the delay in the first EASY flight, but to no avail. He would not listen and repeatedly told them, in a cold and unhelpful manner, to go the the sales desk outside. So there.

Then, the remaining four friends went to the EASY-to-find sales desk (actually it was the exact opposite) with the help of some helpful and other not-so-helpful staff. They were informed that to get on the next flight, they had to pay a 'rescue fee' of 43 pounds. They tried explaining that they missed the flight because of a delay in the previous flight of the same company and it was certainly not their fault that they did not get on the plane. No chance. Angry and disappointed, they were prepared to hand over the 43 pounds to get back home, when another staff member from the EASY plane company, heard their story and said that it was alright to provide them with free replacement flights back home. Yay! so in the end they put away the 43 pounds and happily got on the next flight back home, 8 hours later.

Okay, so this is the very long-winded story which happened to us, and can probably be summed up in a few words: because of the delay in our flight from Geneva to London, we missed the connecting flight from London to Glasgow. It wasn't our fault but the service and attitude of the people we met were awful. Several times we were told that we had to be at the departure gate 30 minutes before time but it was impossible! Previous problems with the same company (delays, cancelled flights) and this really bad experience made us really disheartened and vowed never to fly with the company ever again.

Anyways that is the end of my grandmother's story. Sorry to have made you sit through it all, but hey, what needed to be said had to be said! I hope I will be able to write about my travels in the next few days but no promises, as I will be heading to the isle of skye on friday for three days, and I'm sharing my current internet connection with friends. Fingers crossed.

Ireland - Belfast

Dear all, I have been packing up my bags in a frenzy these past few days. I never realised one year of living in Glasgow could make me accumulate so much junk. I will be selling some of those soon, and everything else will have to fit into my two luggage trunks, and two more of my parents'. Which brings me to my next point: wouldn't it be awesome if everything I owned could fit into one trunk, or even better, one backpack? Wouldn't it be fantastic and SO convenient if I could just up and go, not having to worry about what to keep and what to take. I have toyed with the idea of minimalism (as stated in a previous post) but I realised I could never take it to the extreme - I love pretty clothes just like any other girl, and really they do make me happy. I know it's shallow but then again I reckon what's so good if I chose to adopt a lifestyle that I'm unhappy with? I would much rather minimise other areas of my life - I could do with less shoes and bags, and I don't feel the need to accumulate books. So if you took a peek into my two large luggage bags you would only find mounds and mounds of clothes. I'm only bringing back two pairs of shoes (downsized from over 10 pairs - no mean feat is it not?) and two bags (reduced from about 6 or 7).

Anyways, since I'll be pretty busy with prom and then my subsequent trip, I suppose I'll have to blog about Ireland now. Besides, I lose the urge to blog about my travels the longer I postpone them, and the memories fade before I can write them down.

We took a bus tour in Belfast to the Giants' Causeway the first day we were there. It cost about 20 euros and it took us to other places as well, like those little villages en route to the causeway and the suspended bridge. It was my first time on a tour where the bus driver doubled as the tour guide - it was scary at first because silly me was terrified that he would lose control of the bus as he was talking non-stop, and he was driving kinda fast, but he turned out to be extremely experienced and there wasn't really anything to worry about.

We stayed at Lagan's Backpackers, a quaint hostel with the quirkiest owner you'd have ever seen! He was funny and chirpy all the time, and he whipped up breakfast for all the backpackers staying there, every morning. And that's me looking happy with my full english.

I can't really remember what was the name of this castle. All I could remember was that we were only allowed about 10 minutes to enjoy it, or else.....!

And then, THE Giants' Causeway!

We had dinner at a local pub, and ordered the 'heart attack on a plate'. Why was it called such? This dish consists of fried and fatty food, and obviously that was not its name on the menu. But it is delicious nevertheless and should be tried at least once (or rather, once at the most!) when you visit Ireland.

Greece part 2

Day 3 and onwards.

There's a little town called Imerovigli near Fira which came highly recommended by friends, so we thought we'd make a wee detour there and see what it's all about. Turns out the village consists of mostly tourist hotels built on cliffs and little else to do (or so we thought!). However the landscaping of the village was spectacular with the whitewashed buildings scattered on the cliffs and lovely villas with balconies overlooking the Aegean sea. We sneaked into the hotel areas for the view, and managed to take a few photos before getting chased off the property. Haha!

Oya is another must-go in Santorini. It is said to have the best view and people flock to it to see the sunset everyday. I thought it did live up to its expectations indeed, and the sunset view was surreal. It would have made a perfect place for couples to spend a romantic evening. Tip: do go early to get a good spot for the sunset as the place can get very packed very soon. Perhaps about half an hour early would be sufficient.

The next day we took a local boat tour to the nearby volcanic islands. We stopped at an island with volcano craters, a hot springs area at which the people had to jump off the boat and swim a distance to reach the springs. I didn't jump - I didn't bring my swimsuit with me that day, a decision which I kinda regret. However they were only allowed half an hour to swim to the springs and back, which was not really enough time to fully enjoy the place, but anyway.

We met a Malaysian girl unexpectedly on the boat trip, Wanxing - Su Mei's high school friend who was studying in Finland. She told us she was on a one-month trip around the EU countries - - alone! Salute betul.

Day 5 - Mykonos

Mykonos is yet another Greek island with quite similar buildings and landscaping, albeit with much more tourists compared to Santorini. For my part, I preferred the latter as walking around with a bunch of tourists bustling around you doesn't really make the perfect vacation, now does it?

We even met a huge pelican waddling around a restaurant's al fresco seating area. I thought it looked a little old what with its balding-ish head, hehe.

Greek coffee. I don't really recommend that you try it unless you're able to take very strong coffee. Besides being really strong, it also has a gritty texture and it has a bitter taste. Not my cup of coffee I'm afraid.

Next stop: Ireland!