lovely

2012-01-28T12:49:00.003Z

WED,

didn't have class, stayed in all day to finish some work in the kitchen with the flatmates,

verdict on CNY goodies: everyone loves pineapple tarts and only Elliot likes bakwa.

THUR,

craziest day in uni since this term began, all the biweekly lessons happened to cluster this week, so I was in straight from 12-6. exhausted.

went home, had dinner, napped and then headed to Proud at night with Flat F because Soph's friend Abbie was here for the weekend,

it was the geog social night and the theme was Camden :)

FRI,

easy day of classes 11-1, grabbed lunch with Megan & Esmee after and we talked about moving in together and cooking (pretty excited), collected my soc anth essay (B+, good thing it doesn't count), bought a mirror from Argos on the way home, spoke to Dad for a bit,

napped more, then headed to OCF decentralised at Chinacity

undoubtedly the most chinese night I've had here ever, karaoke and platefuls of chinese food.

Fun night :)

walked to Euston with a whole bunch of them, took the bus back because it was freezing.

TODAY,

will. write. 2. essays.

and book my reading week/Easter trips.

2012-01-26T00:58:00.002Z

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/the-last-time-you-ever/

trying to figure out where to travel to and when and how to make the most of things,

conflict: feeling like you want to quit school and "see the world" when you know you're only getting this wanderlust because you get to travel on the money your parents have made.

2012-01-24T00:35:00.002Z

The Fray tonight at Bush Hall with Cindy, Ken, Megan & John were amaaazing.

Isaac Slade walked through the crowd, played the piano at the back of the hall, sang unplugged with his guitar, everything everything everything,

I'm completely incoherent, one of those bands who sound ten times better in real life,

No class tomorrow, finished my presentation today, life can be good!!

2012-01-22T16:18:00.006Z

church today: sermon topic was "what is your biggest problem?"

Mark 2:1-11, Jesus heals a paralytic

sometimes even we do not know the depths of our own hearts and what we need to be happy

"how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed"

HAPPY CNY YA'LL

skyped with Zihan,

spoke to Nat,

called my entire family and spoke to all of them,

watched musical charades vids that Jo posted from our study days in church,

wrote my Israel dig application, (doubt I'd get it because I have no digging experience, catch 22 moment for me, fingers crossed)

Went to Lisa's place at International Hall for a random reunion dinner, but it just feels good to be around Singaporeans again at CNY :)

Fun night with Amadea, John, Tiq, Heather, Lisa, Leo, Debby and tons of food,

our chapalang family!!

2012-01-21T00:42:00.003Z

My day:

- CNY carnival at UCL

- Lunch with Amadea's old church friends at NOPI

- Finishing my ethnographic practice/room analysis in Shuwen and Huimin's kitchen

- Having NISSIN tomyam noodles for dinner (thanks mum and GM for bringing it over!)

- Amos Lee gig at Shepherd's bush

Punch Brothers opening for

Amos Lee

o2 Shepherd's Bush, London

21 Jan 2011

Setlist:

El Camino

Truth

Careless

Supply and Demand

Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight

Cup of Sorrow

Flower

Violin

Jesus (with Punch Brothers)

Soul Suckers

Hang Me (Andy Kimbel cover)

Listen

Windows Are Rolled Down

Won't Let Me Go

Shower of Love (hilarious)

Sweet Pea

Seen it All Before

Black River

Encore:

Night Train

Arms of a Woman

Fat Bottom Girls (with Punch Brothers)

have walked so much today that I deserve to sleep eternally,

love it when already awesome days end by skyping with Zihan.

via Ken

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/12/john-steinbeck-on-love-1958/

2012-01-20T01:54:00.003Z

After class today, I met Amadea, Heather & Tiq at Goodge Street to eat KFC ^^

We really just had a super foodie day, it's so funny Amadea's a healthy vegetarian but all her friends love meat and love to eat junkfood.

Walked all of Oxford Street, got myself a dress and top from Zara sale,

Grabbed hummingbird cupcakes then a giant snog cup then they had burgers at Byron,

and then we walked to Chinatown and met John for 2nd dinner at Four Seasons,

SO FULL, walked home.

Booked flights and accommodation to Amsterdam in April with Shu/Nat!

Can't believe this is our first trip :)

Skyped with Zihan, love.

2012-01-20T01:45:00.001Z

Sudden Wholeness by Rumi

A thousand half loves
must be forsaken to take
one whole heart home.

via Nat

2012-01-19T11:32:00.004Z

No class til 4pm today!!

Applying for the Tel Bet Yerah excavation in Israel in July!!

Just exclamation marks all around!!!

Where'd the days go? When all we did was play
And the stress that we were under wasn't stress at all

Met Tarrant for lunch at Reason To Eat,

Went for class then met GM and his two friends at Oxford Street to shop,

Headed to Edgware which is apparently the Arab Street of London (never knew), to a really cool Arab restaurant for dinner. Legit with carpets and shisha and everything.

It was outdoors but tented but really nice, photo with GM.

Met Amadea & John near King's Cross, headed to John's place to hang out and watch all the "Shit ____ say" vids in existence, missed her :)

Back home now, midnight, crashhhh

2012-01-18T02:29:00.006Z

cannot wait for my backpack to come in the mail

Also ordered this dress for Ruthy's 50s party, but mostly for me to use for ever.

Wednesday = errands day,

Got my mail, made lunch/dinner for the next 2 days, talked to Zihan, wrote emails to my parents, did my laundry,

At some point in the afternoon, Nick was at home and I had a day off so we decided to seize the rare moment and give each other a call.

I love realizing just how much you've invested in a friendship in moments like these,

ended up talking for an hour and catching up properly - "youth is wasted on the young" is my take-home quote from our conversation.

Finished most of my horrible computing/excel assignment in the kitchen with Jenny and Sophia, then met Shu/Nat online to discuss Amstam plans (10th-15th April woop)

Were supposed to go to Ronnie Scotts Jazz Bar at night but we didn't leave early enough to make the entry fee worth it, so we just decided to go to Union,

Were supposed to go to Moonies but it was packed so we just decided to go to PUNK,

Dancefloor was empty when we reached but we decided to get it started,

Spontaneous decisions all round, but really fun night.

Met 2 of Stu's friends and James by chance on the way so it was them, Sophia, Laura, Jenny, Will and me.

Amadea and Guoming're coming tomorrow!!!!

2012-01-17T19:39:00.005Z

In between our lectures today, Kaya, Megan & I headed over to Esmee's at Astor for tea and she cooked us lunch,

Parma ham tortellinis with pesto, parmesan cheese and crushed peppercorns,

And freshly made garlic bread,

Woop

Back home now, Will got a vacuum from home so I never need to get it from reception again!

Packed my entire room, so clean now. Which means my work productivity is going to rise, I can only work in clean spaces.

Golden Globes looks I loved

- Emma Stone

- Rooney Mara

- Charlize Theron

- Tilda Swinton

- Julianne Moore

- Ricky Gervais

2012-01-16T23:34:00.002Z

Who knew Mondays could be so great?

Went down to class early with Megan and did my library readings,

Grabbed hot chocolate at the Union with Esmee, Kaya and Megan doing crosswords,

Talked to Zihan for a good half hour in between my last 2 classes of the day,

Got back and finished my pdf readings in the kitchen with Athena, Sophia and Rob,

We all brought snacks to share (Rob's chocolate umbrellas from France won)

Rewarded myself by having Kardashian night with Athena, Sophia and Shandana,

Had a jelly-donut-caribbean-twist picnic on the floor of Megan's room,

the week ahead looks awesome, Amadea's coming down on Thursday,

and it's CNY in London next week!!

2012-01-15T17:58:00.005Z

Went to All Souls for church this morning,

Grabbed lunch with Ken at Imperial China (my first dimsum in London!), the siewmai was crap but everything else was amazing,

The thing about having dimsum for lunch is it lasts hours and also makes you extremely tired so I basically lost a day of studying to dimsum,

Was worth it though- always enjoy conversations with Ken, feel a lot better now.

Walked around Convent Garden to find a shop that turned out to be taken over by Crocs to Ken's horror, saw amazing buskers 3x while walking up and down Neal street to find this 1 shop,

Bussed back home,

The flat guys (namely Will, Stu and Rob) decided to cook dinner for the girls today,

They'd been discussing it for ages but never got round to it,

It was so cute- they were actually nervous about it.

But it turns out the girls have competition- the guys made an amazing lamb rack, crispy potatoes with butter, and vegges, and we had chocolate and cheese cake for dessert,

SO GOOD. Gotta love Flat F.

Ken told me about this today, via Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The world's only albino whale, named Migaloo the Magnificent,

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/photo.do?photo=2764&category=50&group=1

Would like to go to David Hockney's exhibition at the RAA, and pop by the Natural History Museum at some point

2012-01-14T15:20:00.003Z

woke up, made myself a smoked salmon sandwich for brunch,

painted my nails, skyped with Nat/Zihan, wrote emails out, talked to my parents/Ethel,

didn't do any work,

am over-rewarding myself for finishing a past societies essay..

Met Tarrant around 4ish to walk down to Euston to meet Esmee and Kaya to celebrate handing in our essays,

Went all the way down to Ravenscourt to try this Iranian restaurant Esmee knew called Mahdi, food was amazing and cheap, portions were huge as well,

We got iranian tea, bread, houmus and this egg salad to share,

and I got 2 huge lamb kebabs with saffron rice and grilled tomatoes for my main,

paid 11pounds in total including tip!

Obvs couldn't finish our food, on the way back to Max Rayne for movie night in, we popped by Esmee's dad's place to pick up her stuff and have some cherry brandy (seeing other parents makes me miss my own), and Sainsbury's to get ice cream, some drinks, other unecessary snacks and hot chocolate,

Caught both Sisterhood movies and chilled til 3am,

Apparently I am Lena from Sisterhood :/

Really awesome night :) can't wait for the next one

2012-01-13T15:49:00.002Z

love this scene, couple seconds extended

Handed in my essay today!!
Came back to Skype with Zihan, going to sleep now before OCF tonight,
Yesterday was cuhrazy

2012-01-12T23:26:00.004Z

went for class, wrote most of my essay, went to Proud Camden with the flatmates to celebrate Soph & Jenny's birthdays, came back at 1am to finish the rest of my essay, crash.

Pulled my first near all-nighter with a night out in between, can't believe I survived.

Will also never do it again, ever.

Got myself a 1.5l of cider so I don't have to drink nasty beer and shots haha,

Photos from the hour long pre-drinking sesh in the kitchen with DJ Stu (best tracks ever) and Shandana's Pakistani bubblegum, our flat is so PG,

first time we've had everyone out!! ever :)

Also, the flat girls have taken to calling this the "Eve" pose:

So this is the "Sophia":

From Proud,

2012-01-11T10:48:00.005Z

Up early at 7am today, slowly shaving off my sleeping hours until this jetlag is dealt with.

View from my window,

Spent the better part of the morning washing up, cleaning my room, writing emails, making breakfast and talking to Ethel online.
It's hitting the afternoon now, sun's out and the weather is gorgeous,

and my hair colour is finally showing! It's supposed to get lighter and more obvious in about a week, fingers crossed.

My dresses came in the mail! hurreh

Will now attempt my past societies essay in my room and go down to uni if I can't focus.

Wish I had more time to write about my holiday back home and the things I have learnt,

but for now let me just say I am grateful. And although circumstances may make me feel isolated externally at times, I know I am never alone. In many ways, I am always surrounded by a cocoon of friends and family.

2012-01-10T10:22:00.006Z

SATURDAY,

Spent the day with Zihan and we watched Tucker & Dale vs. Evil,

Zihan always downloads all these high rated rotten tomato movies that I've never heard of, but have cult followings, that turn out to be really good.

Had dinner after with Shannon & Ethel, then dinner #2 at Genki because I wanted to show them the awesome train system

Went home to pack, Zihan came to help me after his mum's birthday dinner,

And Ethel came back to make nutella tart for us, so we stayed up til 1am talking round the kitchen table with Shannon.

SUNDAY,

Met Kenneth & Amadea in the morning for breakfast,

Caught up with the DG for a bit after service and said my goodbyes,

then went to Ahma's house and finally saw Mildred,

Back home to hang out with Zihan for the last time in 5 months :'(

Family dinner at home where Sarah, porpor and Ahmai came over and stayed til midnight,

Then off to the airport with Shannon, Daddy and Ethel. Walking through the departure gates alone waving goodbye to your family really, really sucks.

MONDAY,

Spent the whole day in the air and touched down at 2pm London time, my Dubai stopover got delayed by 2 more hours so it was like a repeat of going home the last time.

No more Emirates for me.

Sat between 2 really cute guys in the plane from Dubai to London, watched My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and Footloose, slept tons, ate 2 breakfasts between both flights,

Came back and had to endure 1.5 hours of customs and 1.5 hours on train to Camden, lugging my luggage around the stairs at Leicester Square tube,

When I got back to halls, checked out my timetable for the week reluctantly, then crashed from 6pm til the next day 7am.

TUESDAY,

First day of class for me, was awesome seeing everyone again and walking down with Tarrant,

Managed to rearrange my Anthro tutorials so I've got Wednesdays off again though Tuesdays and Thursdays are ridiculously long. It is a necessary sacrifice.

Got an overview of this term, don't know if I am prepared for it but I will be eventually,

Did my harris matrix during the break with Tarrant because I lost it somewhere in transit :(

Now I've got to finish my past societies essay on metallurgy- to think I told myself I would finish these 2 assignments before the winter break. It was a nice idea.

Got groceries on the way home, and sat in the kitchen with the flatmates for 2 hours even though I had an essay to do (queen of procrastination). Kind of glad to be back in Flat F, got hugs from my flatmates as they came through the door and I feel like I could get used to being here again even though I'm far from home.

Ended up staying in the kitchen to finish the questionairre on my harris matrix,

(so much harder than it looks, trust me. supposedly the hardest assignment of first year)

Crashed at 10pm.

2012-01-06T18:53:00.000Z

THURSDAY,

bye Liz :'(

FRIDAY,

Breakfast with G/Tabs, lunch with Bev/Tabs, dessert with Seeyue/Hi Jo, tea with Ken, dinner with family, supper with AD1. SHAG but happy.

Finally seeing Zihan tomorrow :)
So much to do before going back to London :(

2012-01-05T07:14:00.001Z

http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2011/12/25/photos-of-an-empty-london-on-christmas-morning/

2012-01-04T03:26:00.002Z

also,

2012-01-02T19:02:00.002Z

TUESDAY,

Cut my hair with Ethel at Agnes in the morning,

Met Ahmai for lunch with Liz & Ethel for dimsum at Taste Paradise,

Went shopping with Liz & Ethel before meeting Shu earlier to get down to Dempsey,

Nat's birthday dinner at CMPB in the evening (met Shu + Nat earlier for predrinks, love you two)

Insanely exciting night, TBC. Happy early 20th Birthday Nat, two candles on the awfullychocolate cake, surrounded by people you love (the circle gets increasingly smaller every year but more accurately so), riding home in the car at 2am with you, talking about how the night was. Like always. Love you so much.

MONDAY,

Zihan day,

Kenneth's place for our Double Mcspicy + 20pc nuggets Drive Thru tradition, visiting his mum and Trevor + Flo, sitting out in the balcony chilling and catching up properly and finally,

Supper with the mission trippers at Newton before Nathan leaves for Sweden and John goes back to London,

SUNDAY,

New year service at BPMC, Ahma's house, hanging out with Zihan, dinner at home with the family :) Just like Sundays before uni.

SATURDAY,

Got new specs with the Hoon sisters and breakfast with mum in the morning,

My degree is wonky though so I've gotta change the specs :(

Chill day out with Zihan, talking through resolutions

NYE party at Matlock with just family, porpor's duck soup, red wine, playing scattegories, falling asleep before midnight since dinner starts at 6, waking up for fireworks, watching Inception with Ethel while everyone else sleeps away the first day of 2012

2011-12-30T12:48:00.003Z

AHHHHHHHHH JGL

also in response, I'll be drinking duck soup, getting drunk on red wine and playing scattegories with my family YAY

haha

Full family Friday, yumcha lunch at SICC, MI4, shopping, steamboat dinner at Beach Road, back home to drink wine and watch gossip girl with Liz +

Ethel trying to get her Chanel into every single photo (challenge of the day)

happy hoons!

2011-12-29T15:42:00.002Z

WEDNESDAY,

Spent the better part of the day with Zihan, meant to go to the Musee d'Orsay exhibition at National Museum but town was packed today for some reason so we retreated home instead,

Came home for dinner with Liz, ordered in a large pizza and wings since it was wing wednesday and opened up the ciders in the fridge.

THURSDAY,

Met Zihan for tauhuay and curry puffs at NB house like old times,

then caught Sherlock Holmes (SO GOOD) and grabbed soyabean ice cream at SMU,

Dalton at Fatcat for dinner, both of us got extra cut 300g steaks, turns out it was the last week before Flaming Grills moved to East Coast, so awesome we got to fulfill our tradition again,

2011-12-26T17:32:00.002Z

http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/literature-spoken-word/tickets/simon-armitage-carol-ann-duffy-helen-dunmore-seamus-heaney-michael-longley-62303

got my tix for the Literature and Spoken Word fest at Southbank in 2012!

MONDAY,

Got up a little late but rushed down to Kith cafe to meet the classmates for breakfast, missed them tons. Am learning increasingly that there're many ways to show you care about someone: sometimes by saying it, sometimes by showing it. But showing it is always better, and making time for people is the perfect testament to that.

Such a chill morning by the river, Kelly and I were talking about being back and how relationships change, and it's nice in the midst of that to be sitting with my classmates from JC catching up with each other.

Dad picked me up and we had lunch with the family at Long Beach Dempsey,

then us cousins went shopping with Shannon til late,

Had dinner at home finishing all the leftovers from xmas and lunch by the pool outside,

took antihistamine and fell asleep for 2 hours and woke up and everyone was in bed.

So I went downstairs to watch The Voice marathon til 4am, I don't even like that show..

TUESDAY,

Pepper lunch steak with Liz and getting new specs while waiting in line for hours for my new debit card, good thing I had her to talk to could feel myself slowly going insane in the line,

Met Zihan in the evening and got new earphones from Jaben (hippo whites now come in hippo blacks!!), and shopped for a bit since the post-christmas sales are pretty damn amazing,

Walked to Esplanade and then took the train, had a really nice dinner at mb golfcourse,

Love date nights.

Back home in bed with Liz watching Shit Girls Say and christmas eps of all her series :)

2011-12-24T19:09:00.002Z

THURSDAY

Had lunch with mummy, Ethel and Liz and got christmas groceries (plus Brothers cider!!) before hitting town again with Liz,

I've got "Blues for Red" on my toes and "Cuckoo for this Colour" on my fingers,

Met Zihan at night at Nex for dinner and caught We Bought a Zoo, really old-school date night. Had so much fun.

FRIDAY

Lunch at Irodori with Sarah, sisters and dad,

Back to the office to help dad do some end of year spring cleaning, anything's fun with the hoon sisters,

Met Zihan at Lewu early so we could hang out before Nick & Seeyue came for dinner,

MISSED THEM SO MUCH IT WAS SUCH A GOOD NIGHT,
The air was cool because it had just rained and we had tons to catch up on, love these guys

Took a bus down to Al Azhaar with Seeyue for the impromptu mission trippers dinner with John, Amadea, Liz, Char, Nathan and Sheryl,

feels like nothing has changed

SATURDAY

Woke up to the smell of Ethel cooking in the kitchen,

Took the longest train ride of my life down to Nick's place for DG Christmas lunch,

Met Shaun on the overhead bridge (gave him the geekiest smile cos I was so happy to see him again), loving the cool monsoon breeze, played FIFA and had fish head curry and no one wore red or green but it was good fun seeing everyone again,

Nick: Seeyue, press B

Seeyue: What?
Nick: Nevermind

Nick: Seeyue, quick pass!
Seeyue: HUH?

Nick: It's okay forget it

eventually progressed into

Zihan: Eh Seeyue go away don't block

Nick: Seeyue pa- aiyah nevermind.

Went home and prepped for everyone to come over,

awesome christmas dinner with friends and family lasted til 4am,

Mahjong, christmas cracker circle, watching sloth videos, eating dinner again at midnight,

Gotta love a Matlock christmas,

SUNDAY

Lunch at SICC with the family, met Uncle Paul by chance so we decided to take advantage of the coincidence and merge our family lunches,

And since Aunty Manju and Naomii were dropping by, they all came over for coffee,

Dropped by Zihan's place to hang for a bit,

finally got to see his parents after ages, got chocolates from their Adelaide trip and heard Zihan play Desperado on the piano,

Mae's home for her anual christmas dinner,

Then popped by Evan's place to check out his new home and hang out with the Tan family,

SO FRIGGIN TIRED,

Merry christmas everyone!

2011-12-21T17:48:00.004Z

It's interesting being taken out of a cycle you've gotten used to over 19 years,

a circle of friends you've built up over time and a pattern of meeting up that you've grown into,

being taken out of all of that (even if it's only for 3 months), having to adapt or create a new way of life for yourself, and then being thrown back into it all over again.

The insight you get rather than if you'd never left at all - realizing some people have "inevitably" moved on, and that some people have waited for you, or that some people have kept their stories and secrets for you to come back to,

Feeling like you know who the people you want to make time for are, being surprised at the people making time for you and those you can't be bothered- all of that's important.

It's not something you dismiss or hope will get better because your time isn't going to last beyond this month until you're thrown back into being away from everyone again having to figure out who you're going to keep in touch with.

I appreciate this insight. I'm realizing increasingly you hardly ever not have a choice, life has not forced you into your circumstances and wrung out all the time from your hands or cut you off from people you love and who love you, you have made a choice. And with what little time I have, I'm making mine as well.

Can't believe how much I'm learning in these 3 days being back home.

Something Zihan said that's remained on my mind for awhile though I'm still trying to grasp it, with some friends you just have to wait. That's what friends do.

I've always loved the way Zihan deals with his relationships and the amount of chances he gives to his friends who eventually prove him right. Hopefully I can draw on some of that patience.

2011-12-20T17:13:00.000Z

MONDAY,
Went down to Nex in the morning with Aunty Imm, Uncle Kenneth, Faith and; Liz to get my briyani and prata fix

Spent the rest of the day shopping the entire day with Liz. I have to constantly remind myself that I'm not a tourist here, I'm definitely shopping like one. Glad I got to spend the day with Liz, I've missed her too much since I left Melbourne back in July.
Bumped into Amadea and Pearly on the way to Ion to meet Ethel and Shannon, spent the night at a really nice apartment atop Ion because one of my dad's friends who distributes wines just wanted to have some friends over to try a new wine he's brought in. 1 red, 1 white, and loads of canapes, made Julien the sommelier tell me all about the wines and what he thought of them because who am I to act like I know what they're supposed to taste like anyway.

Dinner at cricket club with Ethel, Shannon and dad,

TUESDAY,
Spent most of the early part of the day with Ethel, Liz and mum.

Went over to Zihan's in the afternoon and sucked on honeysticks while watching Wild Recon which is pretty much our favourite show. Prawn mee for lunch, and soup for dinner.

Talked to him for ages about everything in London- I underestimated how much I value his opinion on things, because it's sometimes hard to have to rely on someone when they're miles away and keeping in contact is hard, but being reunited validates everything again.

Feel like I know who I am most when I'm with Zihan.

Guoming picked me up around 9 with Liz in the car, and we went for supper at Chompchomp with Amadea and John. First round there, it's so funny to look around and see that we've all gone through so many different things but yet nothing much has changed.

Had the second round of supper back home with Ethel and Kenneth, stayed up til 3am.

These moments when we're all together are getting rarer every time, can't believe we're all in the same country again it feels too precious to be true.

WEDNESDAY,

Met Naomii for ayam penyet in the afternoon, love knowing that we both made time for each other because we had both our boyfriends out of army on bbm while we were having lunch haha. Am always reminded of how intertwined our families are when we meet, hopefully mama Melwani and Naomii are coming over sometime next week to hang out.

Felt immediately comfortable hanging out with Naomii again, and I feel myself being as interested to listen to how her life is going or has been going as I am to tell her how I've been, that's a balance I love feeling with friends,

Walked down to Abercrombie to say hi to Harshby, helped them take obligatory couple shots by the christmas tree haha. Abercrombie makes me laugh, it's hilarious how blatantly they're selling the topless male models and the heavy manly Abercrombie scent all around the store.

I mean, the lighting in the shop is horrible which is completely apt because no one is really there to look at any of their clothes, obvious from the number of people walking out with polaroids rather than shopping bags and how empty the payment counter is. Also do not understand how the exchange rate from USD to SGD is like 1 to 10, the clothes are too expensive here.

Met Zihan in town just so we'd force ourselves out of the house, walked around for a couple of hours, he solved this impossible puzzle in Times,

Eventually we got lazy (ok I got lazy) and took a bus back to his place,

we were talking and somehow I ended up crashing for 2 hours because jetlag finally hit me, and woke up to see Zihan watching tv and waiting for me to have dinner :) Love.

I like that Zihan could guess my 5 closest friends. Been feeling really confused and stressed out lately, it's like reflecting on everything again being back here, it's nice to have Zihan help sort my thoughts out. He jokingly said that I wasn't as independent or stable as he thought but I think you grow into relying on someone in a relationship, and it's not at all a weakness like you would usually think it is.

Duck noodle (confirmed that Four Seasons in London is 10 times better than any duck I'll have in Singapore),

Watched Wild Recon again, we're way too geeky.

Tons of plans for the upcoming week- want to watch We Bought A Zoo, and visit the Musee d'Orsay Paris collection at the National Museum (http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/ExhibitionDetail.aspx?id=65&cat=2), get new earphones at Jaben, have a DG zichar night + sleepover since the guys are all out, go for a nice dinner (I like how we usually can't be bothered to go to nice restaurants all the time when the best food's usually in the hawker centre in your own heartland), etc etc.

Back home where I found Ling, Ethel and Liz at the dining table drinking red wine and eating chips and Ling's "ahma's dessert" before Ethel and her friends headed off to Mambo,

stayed in with Liz watching 2 Broke Girls :)

2011-12-17T17:41:00.002Z

Home :)

Finally made it through my 8am flight from Heathrow, 7 hour stopover in Dubai, 3am flight to Singapore with a luggage full of presents for the family, a Nespresso in hand and posters for my sisters.
Saw two sunrises though, which is perhaps the only perk of flying early.

Got chicken rice and tauhuay at Potong Pasir with mum, dad, Liz, Ethel, Shannon, Sarah and Zihan.
Then hor fun and kang kong for dinner with Porpor, Aunty Imm, Uncle Kenneth and Faith,
Mcspicy double, twister fries and 20piece nuggets with my sisters and parents at night for supper.

Hung out with Zihan most of the day and I guess I can say I know why we chose to do a long distance. This is too good to give up.

SO HAPPY TO BE HOME and reunited with everyone!!!!!
Same number as before, text me (hope I can meet everyone)

2011-12-15T17:48:00.001Z

Met Bev and Harold in the afternoon to get Ethel's Chanel, have roast duck at Four Seasons, drop by Covent Garden market to get hotdogs, and then Camden Town for more food.
Really nice afternoon with the Shaddicks, had a lot of fun, can't wait to meet Bev again back home.

Long Table at Abbott Street with Ken at night, took the overground down to Dalston which is somewhere in Hackney,
followed googlemaps directions down a dodgy alley into a little hidden corner with stalls set up selling food from the best restaurants in London in streetcarts for a fraction of the price,
Tables set up under tents, exclusive cider, jazzy live music, crowds of couples or friends or families,
a queue of people outside waiting to get in,
This happens once a year and I'm so happy I got to try it this year,

Back to my place to say bye to all the flatmates (conveniently there was a fire alarm so everyone was clustered downstairs), hugs all round, will not see these faces for 3 weeks having seen them daily for 3 months.
Stayed up with Ken until the cab came in the morning to send me off to Heathrow. Happy to leave the 0 degree weather.

2011-12-15T01:46:00.003Z

Dragged myself out of bed at 8am, handed in both my essays with Sophia and returned my pile of books,

Map-reading for past societies tutorial with Esmee & Miles again, more map-specific jokes I can't remember and will never be funny taken out of context,

Met Siyi, her brother, her boyfriend and her sister to show them around UCL,

Sat outside at the Print Room Cafe for a bit just talking to her,

seems strange I hadn't actually even taken a step back to think about uni until then,

Glad I'm at UCL though, was nice to see Siyi again as well, like a blast from the past,

takes me right back to CF days in St Margs,

Lunch with Megan at Bloomsbury before heading for the stratigraphy practical where I found out that Chris came to Singapore and finds it appalling that the police can come into people's homes to check for stagnant water (definitely the first time I've heard that referenced to Singapore),

Maggie, Megan and I walked the entire stretch of Oxford Street to shop for christmas presents.

I've got christmas crackers to bring home, and I got myself a silly hat I've been hunting for,

Dropped by Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland since we had reached Marble Arch,

Got hot fries, sang christmas songs, ran around like kids again,

The carnival was amazing, bustling with people, tons of couples and families, loads of food, happy music, glad I got to see parts of Christmas in London before going home,

Got back and headed out to The Abbey at Kentish Town with the flatmates for our last night out "of the year" "of the end of term" "til Christmas" "til New Year's",

Got ourselves drinks and sat outside on the benches,

Was a nice moment looking around the table at everyone, these are people I've met 3 months ago and have been thrust into the ultimate situation with i.e. living together, and it's been awesome.

Came back to the kitchen and Stu put on his prom playlist from when he DJed, old school tracks came on, singing at the top of our lungs as we finished all the food left in the fridge/cupboards before everyone jets off over the weekend back home,

Haven't laughed this much in ages, going to miss them: my family away from home.

2011-12-13T17:35:00.000Z

Walked Nat out this morning at 8am,

finished my readings for the week for Archaeo (namely past societies and field methods, realizing that Anthro is taking up all of my time since it's Anthro reading week and I've got tons of free time now).

Headed down to Regent's with Jenny and Soph for the RUMS Rugby match,

it was exactly as Soph had marketed it to us.

First years vs. second years, people selling minced pies (which aren't actually minced meat as I have just discovered today), everyone drinking port and mulled wine,

There're even port runners who run onto the pitch to give port to the players, and the referees drink port,

it was so much fun, an hour into the game we were laughing at tons of things that on hindsight probably weren't very funny,

Laura came to join us for the second half, and we all walked home in the cold after.

Awesome Wednesday afternoon, so glad I finished my essays early :)

Just sat around the kitchen table having dinner,

can't believe this month/term/year is almost up,

Some thoughts on my mind:

So glad that Nat came up to spend time with me the past couple of days,

I'm conscious and so grateful that her coming was a decision made. There are of course other places to go and other people to be with, but she chose to come to London.

We spent 2 days together mainly, but 3 days apart doing our own things,

Sometimes even sitting in the same room on different computers,

Then at some point late in the night, we'd both crawl into bed shivering, and talk about our days with each other. Nat's probably the 1 person apart from Zihan I can say anything on my mind without having to filter things out first, and I always learn from our conversations- from her, about myself, about life.

I like that we have grown together over the years of our friendship.

Also, I thank God for the past 3 months I've had in London.

The uncomfortable initial phase of settling in and the friends who stuck by me and wrote me emails, struggling to stay true to myself (if I even knew who I was and what that meant), to finally finding myself in this space and place.

Thankful for my flatmates, a rare combination of 10 people who somehow get along despite being vastly different. For my coursemates, for me being very satisfied with having a small group of 5 familiar faces I am genuinely happy to see instead of trying fruitlessly to be friends with everyone on the periphery. For UCL, which I initially didn't want to go to but am now proud to be part of. For familiar faces in London from back home, those here and those who've come to visit to help me take stock of changes with the situation or with me and talk it through with me so I know where I am in this. For OCF and for His hand guiding me throughout this time, telling me it is okay to feel like everything is shifting because He stays the same.

Looking forward to being home at the end of this weekend, to see more people I love.

I will perhaps attempt to finish my essay on Metallurgy (yes read that right) on my 7 hour Dubai stopover.

Movies I've watched:

2011-12-13T00:22:00.004Z

Monday,

Got up in the morning,

Went for Ask The Ethnographer session in class from 2-4pm, it was the best Social Anth lecture of my term basically.

Jerome Lewis and Rebecca Empson telling us how they discovered their communities turned friends by chance, the chances they had to take, the letting go of friends, the suspending of your own biases, the realization that no one is a blank slate.

It's quite.. refreshing, to hear about them and their interests in society.

Jerome Lewis was talking about how he was invited to speak at the Occupy talks to consider if egalitarian living is possible, equality among people, and he talked about taxation.
Feel like anthropology is increasingly relevant.

As opposed to archaeology, which for me seems like people are just interested to find out the "truth" for no other reason apart from it?

I don't know where the motivation to find out whether the true origins of civilization and complex societies came from Africa or Egypt comes from :/ maybe I will in time.

Grabbed hot chocolates at Caffe Nero with Soph, Megan and some of the anthropology girls.

Talking about pranks they played in their halls, I'm so glad no one bursts into my room in my flat when I leave the door unlocked or clingwraps me into my room,

Walked back and made dinner for my lover Nat, hung out in the kitchen solving crosswords and eating leftover crumble with ice cream with the flatmates,

Worked on my essays, procrastinated like crazy,

somewhere in between Nat skyped me to show me something. Literally right across the room from me. Singing songs to each other, watched 2 episodes of Gossip Girl when I finished my essays, then sat in bed in the dark talking through our thoughts to each other,

Tuesday,

Past Societies in the morning was so interesting, having the best lectures this entire week.

Really want to get on David Wengrow's excavation programme in summer,

Had lunch with Megan at Beani Bar and a double-shot moccha,

which was a huge mistake because I felt a buzz all day,

Called Zihan and talked to him all the way while I walked to the gallery to see Sylvia Plath's exhibition with Nat,

The street we were on was full of galleries so we just walked into them,

Saw Rodin's casts and Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen among other new artists,

Talked about art in a really conversational way, I like that I can talk to Nat about any thoughts without being too "aware" of what we are talking about and worrying about pretentious, it's all just opinions to us,

Walked down Oxford Street just to prolong time to talk to each other more,

Got really cheesy christmas cards I can't wait to send out,

Made dinner for us again :)

Went for Ben Howard at Barfly at night with Megan!!

He was amazing but they probably had double the amount of people as William Fitzsimmons night and I had so many strangers crushed up against me,

I'm really liking this last week of school,

Back home now with Nat, she just got packed to leave tomorrow :'(

Going to watch One Day in bed,

edit: One Day was depressing :(

2011-12-08T21:25:00.004Z

Past 2 days have been uneventful, and by that I mean I have finished 2 essay drafts!!

Finally whipped out the down jacket, every night I hide myself under my duvet and try to plug all the holes where the cold air can come in.

Nat's coming tomorrow :)

2011-12-08T12:17:00.001Z

Photo-heavy, thought-light for now

FRIDAY!

Class all day,

Finished my Harris Matrix during my lunchbreak, possible entirely wrong but it's a start,

Nat came over at night and we had dinner at Camden before she went out,

painted my nails and watched Bridesmaids in bed,

SATURDAY!

Nat came back in the morning, traded Uggs!

Don't know when we sort of merged into having somewhat the same shoe size as each other,

went down to Borough Market in the afternoon for lunch,

had an ostrich burger and fawned over all the food,

Took a tube down to South Bank,

Dropped by the Hayward Gallery for Pipilotti Rist's video exhibition,

Met Ken and went to see the Christmas Market,

Saw the sun set by the River, (never seen the sky like that before),

Got churros from the Chocolate Festival and warmed ourselves up inside the Royal Festival Hall,

Tubed back home with Nat, made dinner at home and sat in bed binge-watching 5 episodes of Gossip Girl while she wrote and edited photos, again comfortable silence.

SUNDAY!

Dragged ourselves out of bed in the morning for All Souls' carol service,

Met all the OCFers there :)

Had brunch with Ken at Riding House Cafe, my first full English breakfast and black pudding,

Got coffee at Kaffeine across the road,

Came home to cook flat dinner with the flatmates while Nat went shopping,

We started at 4pm and ate all the way 9pm, full christmas dinner with all the trimmings,

christmas crackers, secret santa, 2 dessert seatings, then hung out til 11pm with port wine, charades, corridor cricket, corridor bowling, corridor lying all over the place recovering from dinner, table tennis, singing christmas carols,

undoubtedly the best flat ever. It really felt like Christmas :')

Back to my room to chill with Nat :)

2011-12-06T21:01:00.004Z

Today was UCL's Christmas in the Quad :)

Went for my shift with Volsoc's Card-Making booth from 4-6pm to make cards to give to the old folk's at our visit next next week,

Tons of people came, really funny to see people in uni designing cards like little children,

I made these heheh, (yeah I can't believe I'm in uni either)

Megan & Tammy came to visit,

Out in the quad there were rows of stalls selling hot food like churros, paella, pancakes, mulled wine, minced pies, fajitas, hotdogs, cakes, freshly-baked bread, and winter clothes or little gifts,

In the evening, there were carols and jazzy christmas tunes out at the main quad,

My favourite bit was the bread lady who hung mistletoe over her stall and tricked unsuspecting couples into "sampling bread" then making them kiss each other,

CHRISTMAS HAS ARRIVED and I love it.

Also, someone in our flat (presumably Wedic) bought a Christmas tree and Athena decorated it,

2011-12-05T17:20:00.005Z

British Museum in the morning from our museum on lectures,

Vicky's advent calendar has Kinder surprise eggs in them...

So we made a dog with a christmas parachute this morning,

Checked out the Anthro library which has an amazing collection, one of those libraries you'd want to "visit in your free time" just to be surrounded by interesting things,

3 hours of breaks today because various things were cancelled,

Walked back with Sophia and had hot chocolate in the kitchen because today it was 3degrees and I felt I deserved it.

At night,

Bell x1, Bush Hall London. Best gig of my time in London thus far, can strike this one off my bucket list, have always wanted to see these guys.

JAPE opened,

Crowd was amazing, venue was intimate, they played a whole range of their rock to soft songs,

and of course Eve is the Apple of My Eye.

Took the tube back with John and missed King's Cross while talking somehow,

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two." - Captain Corelli's Mandolin, via Ken

2011-12-04T15:55:00.001Z

Had one of the best weekends I've had in awhile,

Met Ken at the British Museum to see Hokusai's Great Wave off Kanagawa before they took it down,

Was a lot smaller than I expected, and I found a Hokusai parallel to Van Gogh's Starry Night Over The Rhone vs Starry Starry Night, i.e. the lesser known piece that I like more.

100 Views of Mount Fuji,

Also found out that Debussy's La Mer was inspired by Great Wave,

Had beef cheek Pho for lunch at Cay Tre in Soho, and made Ken tell me all about his travels.

Talking to him is like finding out something from Wikipedia, there're just endless stories to go into and after awhile you kind of forgot the first question you had to begin with.

Got gelato (well Ken did) at Gelupo,

Then walked to Covent Garden for a bit, saw buskers, Christmas market, a contemporary art installation trying to reinvent the Nativity scene in a really strange way,

but above all things I got to pet reindeers!!!!

The Covent Garden Piazza, I think, is enough to make anyone fall in love with London.

Walked down to the Royal Academy for the Degas' exhibit, the last weekend it's showing in London. Got audio guides, walked through 5 rooms of his paintings, sketches, photos and sculptures.

They had parallell exhibits of Jules-Etienne Marey, Eadweard Muybridge and the Lumier Brothers. Spent a good two hours there, I kind of underestimated the effect going to a museum has on me. Quiet spaces, random people walking around but everyone feels like a collective, walking slowly, being aware of your steps, hadn't done any of that in awhile

Felt like my head was cleared when I left.

The exhibition kind of explored the shortcomings of different mediums in capturing movement, and I guess the magic in being able to do it. My favourite pieces apart from Degas' Two Dancers on Stage were Marey's Flight of a Pidgeon

And the Lumier brothers' Serpentine Dance which was handpainted,

Dropped by Waitrose to grab a bottle of Merlot (the wine descriptions are the best there) and some steaks, seasoned it at home, put some really good music on Ken's amazing speakers,

he cooked while I read Watchmen,

Made apple crumble, watched Drive while it baked in the oven, then Notting Hill,

Drive was really good- minimal dialogue, and they completely subvert your expectations of an action film. My favourite scene was when Carey Muligan and Ryan Gosling are in the car, you can feel so much tension and attraction between them, and there's silence for about a full minute which is rare in movies today, and she just places her hand on his. Scene closes.
The soundtrack was brilliant as well.

Really awesome day, I had 2 essays to do but I really didn't feel up to it so I'm glad I had an entire day of good company, conversation and comfort instead.

Today,

Went to All Souls in the morning for service, Holy Communion,

Back home to work on my essay (finished my Consumption draft finally),

Had dinner at Uncle Ajay and Aunty Vineta's because Aunty Siak and Sam were in London checking out universities. The conversations I have with Sam take me back to applications last year, can't believe an entire year has gone by, another batch has finished A levels.

We had traditional indian food- chicken curry, prawn masala, sambal cauliflower, bismati rice, ladies fingers, and a completely untraditional dessert- chocolate tart, berry crumble and cheese.

I learn a lot talking to adults, they were telling me about work ethic here and in Singapore.

I can see how the work ethic is already breeding in university,

Aunty Vineta walked me to the busstop with tupperwares of food to sustain me for the week,

Always glad to know I have people, families, to come to if I ever need in London.

Came home to this, :)

2 weeks til I'm home. Home is where my heart is.

2011-12-02T15:23:00.002Z

Day ended with OCF decentralized at James' place.

Guys outnumbered girls and so instead of cooking, we ordered in KFC, crammed 20 people into a twin bedroom and watched Narnia.

It's such an OCF/church film to watch. Remember watching it with Nat in the cinemas before.

It's strange how whenever Aslan appears, I get all emotional.

Funny how the lessons you learn from Narnia change as well.

Going for Ben Howard at Barfly, it's going to be amazing,

2011-12-01T00:26:00.005Z

Got back home, thought I'd ran out of chocolate,

then busted Santa out of the advent calendar

Happy December, 17 days til I'm home.

Got my 3rd essay back today- 1 mark short of a first :/ Still satisfied though,

Drew the stratigraphy and harris matrix of a Bakewell tart then got to eat it,

And had a discussion in Mat/Vis about "gay"dar and gender constructs,

Got to touch spearheads and figurines from the 1800s.

Just another day as an Arch & Anth student at UCL.

Caught Railway Children at Waterloo station with John today, hadn't seen him in ages since he jetsetted off to Sweden and had "the most exciting 3 days of" his life.

Was nice catching up with him during the intermission.

The whole thing was very.. PG. It even ended at 10pm on the dot,

but it was really touching and unexpectedly so. Almost teared at the end.

The layout of course was nothing like I've seen before, 2 banks of seats called "Platform 1" and "Platform 2" with a huge railway in the middle. The way they used the set and interacted with the audience was very clever, and it was just very sincere.

Really enjoyed it. Also felt like I needed a day to kind of step back and feel like things can be simple again and remember what's really important and that's family.

Sounds terribly cliched but I miss mine tons.

2011-11-30T01:42:00.008Z

want to do this to my hair over Christmas break,

Caroline's hair is purple dip-dyed so she taught me how to do it, seems relatively easy

I want dark teal ends

Home day, drafting up 2 essays,

Consults lined up tomorrow,

Edits over the weekend

Got tickets for James Vincent McMorrow, guess I am spending a little too much money on gigs but this is part of the draw of being in London.

Spent most of the night in the kitchen with the flatmates before they headed off to the Union,

Went to see Mark Watson's live recording at BBC Radio 4 with Megan & Isaac,

Fun night- needed the laughs.

Need to lock myself in the library and do my essay,

I've got 2 incomplete drafts out and a deep physiological disability that prevents me from completing them.

2011-11-29T00:39:00.001Z

ASOS arrived in the mail today!! Love it,

After class today,

Esmee, Kaya, Megan, Tammy, Miles & I grabbed pizza from ICCO,

Sat in the park eating fresh hot pizzas and chilling,

Dropped by paperchase, so tempted to buy up the entire store but I ended up controlling myself and leaving with what I went there for: a box for my secret santa gift.

Went to the main library, UCL has a huge beautiful library with gigantic stairwells and endless corridors, can't believe it's the first time I've been in the main library since I've arrived here.

Went to the history section because no one goes there, camped ourselves in a room for 3 hours and finished all our readings for the week. The earliest I've ever finished :)

Gotta get my essay drafts out tomorrow so I can enjoy my last week in December.

Headed back home then took the bus down to Heaven for the Jezabels gig with Megs!
The venue's amazing, stage is just high enough to see everything and the standing area isn't too wide, but the people were horrible so I doubt I'll go back to Heaven for another gig anytime soon.

Opening acts: Good Dangers, David's Lyre, both were awesome.

But Hayley Mary was divine, her voice is unreal and they played all the songs I wanted to hear!
Closed with Disco Biscuit Love and everyone went nuts, loved tonight~

At the end of the gig, everyone was taking the posters so I just ripped one off the wall, hurreh.

"limit to your care, so carelessly there"

James Blake's cover of Feist's Limit to Your Love

2011-11-28T20:54:00.005Z

Since I have to finish my 6 porkchops from Sainsbury's in the near future,

Today's dinner was black pepper porkchops with caramelised onions and yesterday's mash,

It looks kind of like the sandwich I made the other day but it tastes drastically different,

Lunch at Beani Bar with Tammy & Megan, had a sausage and eggplant sandwich and a mocha,

Stayed back in the library after class ended to get a head start on my readings,

Walked back eating the cake Meg's dad made when she went home over the weekend,

Got some groceries from Lidl's,

Back home to read more before watching the Kardashians with Athena, Soph & Laura.

We were all in Athena's room in our PJ pants eating jaffacakes watching Kim & Kourtney take new york (Khloe's my favourite though), new Monday night routine,

I always miss Glee nights with them cos I'm at gigs,

Elliot came back from the gym around 11 and we hung out googling recipes for the Christmas dinner and learning Burlington Bertie for the union night on Wed when all the UCL people scream it at the top of their drunken lungs at midnight.

Love my flat.

2011-11-27T11:47:00.005Z

Loved these readings, what convinced me to do the essays on consumption and social meaning. Daniel Miller's The Comfort of Things:

Empty: http://ls-tlss.ucl.ac.uk/course-materials/ANTH1001A_49760.pdf

Porous: http://ls-tlss.ucl.ac.uk/course-materials/ANTH1001_55328.pdf

Full: http://ls-tlss.ucl.ac.uk/course-materials/ANTH1001_53374.pdf

Made this for lunch,

Curry-spiced pork with English mustard, wild rocket and sauteed mushrooms on toast

Got Erica's feedback on my essay outline (she gave me the go-ahead with my points),

and tried to work out a substantially-worded draft before flat dinner but I was terribly unfocused, going to go to the library tomorrow with Megan to get it sorted.

Cooked flat dinner with Soph, Laura & Athena.

Peeled potatoes, cut vegetables, boiled them all (used all the pots in the flat), mashed potatoes, made Toad in the Hole (which is sausages in yorkshire pudding), and then mulled wine and blackberry charlotte with custard for dessert. Athena & I made dessert today,

Fun night- my favourite part of flat meals is the hour waiting for dessert to be ready in the oven while we just talk and hang out. Good Sunday night before the crazy week begins,

Also getting fewer photos of us as flatmates and more of the food we eat.

That's an extremely accurate testimony to who we are as a flat and what we care about.

Also, when Will & Will were moving my table into the kitchen to make room for everyone,

they found out how neat my room was.

So my flatmates have discovered I am slightly OCD- I guess this means they know me well now!

Will: omg Eve, your shoes are in twos..

Eve: WHAT ELSE CAN THEY BE THEY COME IN PAIRS

Will: Your kit kat come in twos, and so do your crunchie bars...

Eve: I ate one of each today I swear!!

Will: you count your chocolates...

Belated photo of Megan & I in the park frolicking in the leaves,

2011-11-26T02:02:00.004Z

Redditor bbilbay asked the Reddit community if they would be so kind as to cheer up his daughter and her best friend, who had recently been diagnosed with leukemia, by photoshopping “something pretty or fun” into the background of this photo of them together.
The outpouring, to say the least, has been incredible, amazing, breathtaking,phenomenal, and so much more.

http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/lqx59/photoshop_request_this_is_the_photo_of_my/?t=1319839522

Went down to the library today with Tammy and did my first draft for my Material Culture essay, must've taken out 15 books on Consumption in those 5 hours, the more I read the more convoluted my argument got, it took me ages to cut it down.

Sent it to Erica to approve before I start on my social anth essay next week.

Wanna see if I like Monday's lecture on Marriage enough to do the essay, if not I'll do gender.

Had dinner with Tammy at this cheap Italian diner,

11" pizzas for 4 pounds! So yummy, got a Diavola and she got a Hawaiian,

Headed down to the Garage Theatre to queue for tickets for the last night of Reservoir Dogs with Maggie, it was AMAZING!! So glad we got tickets, was sold out right after us again.

One of the few Tarantino films I actually enjoyed so I was excited to see how they'd make it into a play but it worked so well, and the venue is great as well.

The UCL Drama Society is amazingly talented, going to go for all their productions there now,

I also fell in love a little with Mr White,

Walked back with Tammy,

Tammy: you know there's a song called Suzanna about a hooker who gets killed in Camden?

Eve: you're kidding me right

Tammy: no google it!
Eve: -googles it- (lyrics are really creepy) I hate you please tell me a happy story in Camden to counteract this, I can't walk past Camden lock without freaking out now!

Tammy: mm ok, there was once this girl walking down Camden and it's a nice cool evening..

Eve: yeah ok

Tammy: And then a car pulls up behind her and.. A CLOWN POPS OUT AND-

Eve: OK HELL NO.

Haha I hate clowns they're so freaky.

Watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,

Really really liked it,

2011-11-25T14:16:00.010Z

Got this for dad via his email request, so cute

Also got this in the mail today!

Just skyped with Zihan, OCF tonight,

Nat told me about the "Screw You" effect over Skype haha, by Masling.

When a participant in a psychological experiment is aware of the objectives and act to mess up the experiment, hilarioussss.

Feeling unproductive so I think instead of trying to do my essay today, I'll download a movie instead and do the essay tomorrow

edit: Watched Post Grad (terrible) and Love Actually (amazing),

OCF was really good as well. Decision made to go on a Friday night.

+ http://www.youtube.com/user/SoulKitchenfr

2011-11-24T23:15:00.002Z

Got up in the morning, trolled ASOS,

And made the best meal I've had since I've been here,

Got pork chops from Sainsbury's late last night and decided to make a porkchop sandwich with wild rocket leaves, caramelised onions and mustard.

Stu called it a "posh sandwich" while he ate his weetabix lol.

Did a bit of readings before heading down for material culture lecture,

Then tutorial with Erica where we had 2 hours of Bordeaux wine tasting :)

Partly her phD research and also partly studying the notions of culture and locale,

Tried a rose, 2 whites and 2 reds. In the middle of the day. Then we spent the remaining time finishing up whatever wine was left and talking about material culture.

Grabbed sandwiches from Tesco and sat on the UCL quad with Megs, headed to the South Cloysters to finish up my readings and then we went down to the Garage Theatre to get tix for the Resevoir Dogs play with Maggie but it was sold out. So annoyed, but definitely going to catch it on Saturday.

Megs came over and we finished up more readings, brain food:

It's now 11pm and I've officially finished all my readings for the week before Friday! Unprecedented :)

In anticipation of TGIF!

2011-11-23T00:42:00.003Z

Got up in the morning at 9am: Sophia, Laura & I had our doors open shouting down the corridors to get our Florence tix! Site crashed but we managed to get ours so we're going to see her next year~~

Good thing I got up because I ended up doing my readings,

headed down to Mully's for the Volsoc Comm Meeting, met the rest of the people, brainstormed a little,

then camped out at the library to catch up on work I hadn't done the past couple of days,

From hunter-gatherer to food-processor, Farming in Prehistory ://

4 hours of that and other books,

Then met John at Strand macs for my QUARTERPOUNDER. Wish they had DQP here.

Caught Broken Glass at Vaudeville Theatre, Arthur Miller's play. Really enjoyed it.

Because we went with the theatre group, we got an informal talk with the cast after, moved from the dress circle down to the front row of the stalls, sat in front of the cast and listened to other theatre students ask them questions while pretending to be a theatre student.

This song is on my mind,

2011-11-22T01:47:00.003Z

Personal tutor review with Dave Wengrow after class,

Sat in the park and talked to Zihan (haven't spoken to him in like 4days, it's amazing how much you can rely on someone who isn't physically present)

Met Amadea & Tiq for Four Seasons, gotta have my fix.

Took a tube down, the shortest tube ride of my life, to Selfridges to get Sarah's aeroccino for her Nespresso. Thank God I didn't get the machine because as of tomorrow, it's 20% off Selfridges home appliances online!!

Sat at Pinkberry and studied for a bit, mostly researching on Sarah's Nespresso machine.

Took me back a little to studying for As and Os with Amadea :)

Walked to M&S to get my Advent Calendar, it's up in my room now so happy.

Had dinner with Sophia and Shandana at KFC on Tottenham, we were gonna grab jacket potatoes from the Union but it was closed for a private event,

Tiq's right: KFC is way better in the UK. The chicken was amaaaazing, 3 of us sat there just nodding in agreement after every bite.

Met Will, Megan and Tammy at the Bloomsbury for Now You Has Jazz to support Stu and Maggie.

Fun night, they played "Baby it's Cold Outside" and "Georgia On My Mind" and a whole host of other jazz tunes so I was really happy.

Went to the Union bar after just chilling for a bit with the housemates,

came home thirsty as heck and drank an entire carton of juice,

I need to start doing work.. :(

2011-11-21T18:00:00.004Z

Class today was awesome.

I've decided to do my essay on Consumption like I predicted I would, today's lecture was a confirmation of that. Really interesting- one of those "hellyes this is why I chose anthro and am in uni" for moments.

Went to George Farha cafe with Megs & Maggie during the lunchbreak to do our write-ups.

During mentoring, we exchanged the participant-observation pieces we did and talked through them. I usually hate these little assignments and discussions but today's turned out to be really interesting. Particularly liked Chris' write-up of people in the park and group solidarity, and Maggie's one one 3 couples in a cafe and how long they've been together. I did mine on the camp ground at OCF retreat the last day, seeing the groups people gravitate towards and how people negotiate space.

And during Social Anth, we watched 2 videos on Rituals and Initiations. I love anthro days.

Met Amadea & John after class at Hare & Tortoise and got charkwayteow, pretty authentic but not spicy enough. Still good though!! Love it when Amadea's here :)

Then we grabbed ciders and hunted around all the supermarkets in the Russell Square to Euston vicinity for Haagen Dasz, ended up getting Strawberry Cheesecake and headed to Tiq's hall.

Helped her and her groupmates stick stuff down on their boards,

reminisced about secondary school project days,

Hung out for a bit then took a bus back.

2011-11-20T00:44:00.006Z

Back from OCF retreat :)

It was awesome, made tons of new friends and really spent a good weekend with God and His people, really like the OCF bunch.

I don't have post-camp "high" which is great cos it means I can try and make little retreat moments in my life now rather than let the lessons I've learnt and experiences I've had be time and space-specific. God is everywhere, and I've gotta start taking advantage of it.

My group!

Got back around 5, dropped my stuff at home then met Shu & Mel at Camden for dinner.

We caught the Book Barge at Camden by chance, I've been to Camden tons of times and I've never seen it so Shu's really lucky.

The kind of boat Shu wants to live in apparently, 2 cats and books everywhere.

After Mel left, Shu & I headed back to my place and talked for a couple of hours.

Missed her so much. I've always known Shu & I are really different in personality and interests and stuff but every time we meet and really talk to each other, I'm reminded of why we were friends to begin with. Got to talk to her about loads of things that have kind of eluded me, it's nice to meet people from "before-London" just to remind yourself of what things were like before so you don't lose hold of who you were/are. Had a really good night.

Shu left around midnight, walked her out then got back to my room and called Dalton, fell asleep on the phone after an hour, I haven't done that since primary school :( sorry!!

2011-11-18T01:30:00.002Z

http://www.youtube.com/user/themahoganysessions

Off to retreat!!

2011-11-17T00:51:00.002Z

Tutorial Thursday 9am-4pm: survived

Lunch in the park with Megs, then a phonecall with Zihan, then hung out with Jonny for a bit,

John came over at 5pm, we finished a pint of Praline & Cream Haagen Dazs (2 pound from Sainsbury, Winter sale!!), then did some work while putting Portugal The Man on replay.

Studying for gigs.

First I fell asleep on my bed while doing my readings on domestication,

then John let me used the table, then he fell asleep on the bed. Bed is clearly source of all evil.

Headed to Camden around 8, grabbed bang bang chicken for dinner, Bulmers from the bar,

and caught Chakra!

Can't believe we were 1.5 hours late from the time the doors opened and we were in the 3rd row.

I really liked Chakra, surprisingly.

Portugal the Man were awesome (always fascinated by how people made their voices sound the way they do) but a little too rock for my liking today, one of the rare moments where I prefer the band on iTunes than in real life. And they didn't play Everyone is Golden either :(

The lead singer is SO cute though. And I'm glad I went cos I've always wanted to catch them live,

9 pounds for both bands what a steal.

Bed time~

2011-11-16T15:37:00.004Z

The sermon on Sunday was talking about what we "need" to do vs what we "want" to do, "want" being the desire to seek a better relationship with God,

And I'm thinking, perhaps the closer I get to God and the more I align myself with Him,

make the decisions He knows are best for me, the less "want" and "need" become a conflict,

My work, my job, the way I spend my time will not be stealing time away from my purpose,

but will be it. I'll be pleasing God with my life, and of course since He made me,

And I'll be happy as well?

Replying emails all day, sending love back to where it's all come~

Nat sent me this quote in an email 6 days ago, I've always known the last line in this but never the quote in entirety and I love it, thank you.

"I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today,
life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I've learned that you
can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three
things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents,
you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that
life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you
shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you
need to be able to throw some things back. I've learned that whenever
I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right
decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be
one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch
someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that
people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but
people will never forget how you made them feel."
-Maya Angelou

2011-11-15T23:35:00.002Z

Smoked salmon sandwich at the park with Megs,

Staying in the library to finish up all our Material Culture readings which were only available on Issue Desk (another skill to add to my "research ability" section on my skills profile),

Took a detour down past Odeon to check out the GreenNote in the nice part of Camden, made plans with Megs to go to 1 restaurant there per month since a full meal is around 6pounds,

Got the brochures for the London Jazz Fest this week,

Short nap,

Walked down the road to 229 The Venue for the UCL Music League competition to support Shout Timber,

tried a new cider today: Magners pear

Sat on the "surprisingly" comfy couches and watched 3 bands, danced a little, talked a little, screamed over the music a lot, met Alex & Sam via Megs,

I think Stu just got a ukelele cos I can hear the geography guys in the kitchen jamming ^^

2011-11-14T17:03:00.004Z

BZBZBZBZ DAY going to collapse of exhaustion:

During the breaks today, I got my readings for the week from the library,

Grabbed coffee and a panini with Claire, Vicky & Megs,

Got tickets for You Has Got Jazz with Maggie and made plans to go for UCL theatre stuff,

Sat on the IoA steps talking to Zihan which was a nice break from the day,

(sorry to everyone whose bbms and whatsapps I haven't replied)

Getting back into a routine is tough, though I do love Monday's lectures.

This is what Vicky & I did during Social Anth lecture today,

Walked back home with Soph & Megs,

took a quick bath then went for the Amnesty International talk/book launch with Juan Mendez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/events_details.asp?ID=1976

First proper event I've taken advantage of in London that isn't a gig/arts-related.

Was very star-struck being in the same room as him, a whole host of other people in NGOs and the director Kate Allen.

It was an interview style but they covered a range of topics like the importance of universal human rights, his own experience as a torture victim, even some controversial topics, what we can do, what governments can do.

It was less vague and flighty considering he was a UN rep and they usually can't talk about loads of issues but he came more as an individual, and my favourite parts was when another human rights activist asked him for advice on staying motivated to fight for justice when things seem bleak (he was also a torture victim) and Juan Mendez said being courageous enough to share your own experience even if it's painful and rehashes the memories to let people know that it's a real issue, and to be secure knowing he's still doing his small part which is better than nothing at all. After the talk, I saw them exchanging a handshake and talking as well.

Philipp Sands: you've also done some work as the advisor to the Secretary General on genocide.

Juan Mendez: no, prevention of. Very important those 2 words. Make a huge difference.

Really enjoyed it.

Groceries with Megs grabbing half-priced Sainsburys items on the walk back then

Oovoo with John, Kenneth & Amadea making plans for London 2012 with everyone,

love these guys :)

Replying emails now, giving myself a night off.

2011-11-13T17:41:00.004Z

Church today- wore my boots out and they're really easy to walk in so I was really happy.

Talked to Zihan on the busride :)

Holborn was closed (idk what that even means how can an entire area be closed) so my bus terminated at King's Cross suddenly and I got a free busride and on the back of the coupon there were 3 McDonald's vouchers- going to use them next week though,
Changed bus and got to church on time,

Sermon was about using our gifts,

I like how after sermon Kim, John & I all turn to each other and say "Juice?" lol,

Met quite a few people after service, people at Christchurch're very friendly.

Hunted down the random pub John & I stumbled upon a couple weeks' back and had Sunday Roast with Clarence, YUMMEH

Had an impromptu volunteering society meeting at UCL, so I walked down and met Itsa & Solene. Itsa took us through our new portfolios and jobs,

and then 3 of us just spent some time talking about our mission trips and what we wanna do in UCL, inspiring to be around people like that. Really happy I got the position in this society.

Sunday roast again with the flatmates- we're all reunited after reading week :)

The girls made Cottage Pie cos minced beef was on offer (apparently different from Shepherd's Pie which is lamb), and roasted vegetables and pear & dark chocolate dessert, and we had mulled wine as well! So good.

Will & Jenny came over as well, forgot to take a proper photo :(

Sat there sucking on ring pops and talking for hours,

then we doled out the secret santa names! So excited for the next flat meal,

Chatting with Ethel now, planning our trips when she comes up to Paris next year for Le Cordon Bleu! Can't wait to be reunited with my family in December~

It's been too long since we've all been together, Sarah included.

Bev sent me this link to http://musicphilosophy.co.uk/ that basically is text art of lyrics,

Love it :) Thanks Bevvo.

Back to school tomorrow, let's do this.

2011-11-12T17:48:00.005Z

Tuesday, 8 Nov

Dragged myself and my luggage down Camden Road on a rainy morning at 4am to catch my 5am train from St Pancras,

Slept all the way on the train and missed the sunrise,

Arrived in Paris at 8am Paris time, Ahmai & I excitedly jumping up and down in the middle of Gare du Nord having found each other successfully,

Checked into our hotel where Ahmai's been staying for over 10years, and had tea,

Met Elton my new friend the hotel's bulldog who sits at your table quietly and waits for you to feed or pet him,

Took a walk down the streets and had brunch at La Tartine which is a simple, low-maintenance concept that serves really well executed sandwiches,

Also the first time I met the French ham & cheese sandwich which made frequent reappearances throughout the trip lol, looks nothing like any hamcheese sandwich I've had on my student budget, but it's France.

Dropped by Poilane bakery, Jean-Charles Rochoux & Pierre Herme to get desserts,

I got to try the famed Miss Gla'Gla ice cream, salted caramel flavour,

Had tea again by a small cafe because we were tired of walking,

The white truffle macaron was amazing- you could smell it before you even tasted it and especially when you bit into it, this is white truffle used well.

At night, we had dinner at Le Chateau-Briand,

2 bottles of red wine and 7 courses, 2.5 hours, lots of conversation,

Back to the hotel room for bubble bath and singing to music on Ahmai's iPod,

heckyes I have the coolest aunt in the world.

Wednesday, 9 Nov

Got up and had breakfast in the hotel,

Then took a train down to hunt down Uncle Francois' tarts,

Had lunch at the Jewish quarters,

Then went vintage market shopping at the Spanish quarters!!

Got myself some flannels, got Ethel a lovely green dress, and some leather gloves,

back to the hotel to rest up before catching our train to Epernay,

Uncle picked us up from the station and we had dinner at Cook'in, French chef making food with Thai flavours but french style.

Opened up our desserts at home, sat in front of the television and ate it all,

Thursday, 10 Nov

Ahmai made me a ham cheese sandwich in the morning for breakfast,

Drove down to La Vallee Ville which is like an outlet store for all the designer brands,

Ahmai wanted her Moncler/Burberry jacket, and I wanted to get new shoes,

Got my Hunter-Jimmy Choos, got Liz some Jimmy Choo boots, and a new longchamp Le Pliage in the colour I wanted (greyish blue),

Drove back and picked Uncle Francois up from work then went to La Briqueterie for dinner, 1 michelin star! Apparently, it's very very traditional french food and not very inventive, but it was hearty and I liked it. Uncle Francois had the pidgeon, Ahmai had pheasant and I had veal. My veal was amazing, it was so tender and packed with flavour.

Went home and watched The Killers on tv with two of them, and tried on all of Ahmai's clothes that she wanted to give away so now I have tons of new sweaters and dresses and my favourite, Tod's shoes!

Friday, 11 Nov

Got up and had a nice long phonecall with mum & dad,

went to A. Lallement in Reims for lunch, 2 michelin stars.

Amazing- Uncle and Ahmai were explaining to me how the michelin star system works, it's beyond being inventive with food and goes into the little details like service and ambience.

Apparently in 3 michelin star restaurants, service flows seamlessly and tables are all far apart enough so you can't overhear people's conversations.

Really interesting talking to 2 of them- definitely the most "foodie" couple I know.

Bordier butter, the best butter in the world. I never thought I was someone who could tell the difference between supposedly "good" wine/food/cheese and "normal" but this was amazing, you could tell immediately. The butter didn't melt, even the unsalted one had so much flavour and it was so smooth.

Dessert in the lounge,

Drove down to visit Reims Cathedral which was so beautiful inside, stained-glass windows some designed by Chagall,

Went back home and tried to convince Ahmai to give me her Sandro dress,

Had maggie noodles for dinner, sat by the TV watching the 5th element and Glee :)

Stayed up late since it was my last night and Ahmai made me pasta with sausage and XO sauce for supper, watched almost all of Season 3 of Gossip Girl again.

Saturday, 12 Nov

Sad day. Realized there was no 2.30pm train, so I slept in and got up at 11 and realized I had to leave at 12.30pm :(

Couldn't go to the market to have fresh oysters, so Uncle walked down to buy the organic roast chicken and potatoes for lunch,

Was a really nice last lunch to have,

Slept on the train back to Paris Gare du Nord, the tunnel was closed so I had to lug my luggage bag up the huge flights of stairs,

Waited for 3 hours for my train back to London,

Huge delays because someone left an "unidentified luggage" on the train before ours and the police came down and the whole check-in was on lockdown, ridiculous queues, read all my notes in that time,

Reached back at 6.30pm, missed Lord Mayor's fireworks but

hung out with Sophia, Athena & Elliot in the kitchen, (love my flatmates),

then went up to find Megs to paint my nails red and catch up with her about the week,

Back to my room to skype with Zihan who I haven't spoken to the entire week, love.

Skyped with Nat too, buying christmas lights off Amazon together and planning December and seeing so clearly how we'd saved up a week's worth of stories to tell each other,

Then Liz & Adam- Adam has the exact same poster as I do!! And he has the sweater too.

Hokusai's Great Wave :)

Strange how different things can feel like home to you-

being with Ahmai and having long conversations with her in Paris, singing to oldies, laughing at Uncle's dancing in Champagne, sleeping in, feeling completely at ease with her,

and then back in London skyping with the people I love most and just chilling with my flatmates.

Had an amazing reading week, needless to say- so thankful I've got Ahmai just a couple of hours away. Love her so much and appreciate having such a special aunt like her in my life.

After our hours of conversation, I feel like like my head's been cleared and my heart's at ease with a lot of things. This week passed by without any effort at all, was completely and totally myself.

I love asking her questions because when you love someone and respect them, you want their opinion on things. Hearing them tell you literally "what they think" feels like a privileged moment.

Probably put on 10kilos but it was well worth it imo. What a week :)

2011-11-07T17:14:00.002Z

FRIDAY, 4 NOV

Social anth presentation went down well, no more presentations until next term~

After class, I dropped by the library to print out my readings and return books,

At night, I walked down to OCF with Terence,

Finally stayed til it ended and then had supper at Chinahouse,

Walked back home.

SATURDAY, 5 NOV

Did my essay all day and watched the sunset by the window,

Saw Jan & his friend out in the carpark with their chairs watching it as well,

something that pretty can't just be ignored like it's just another sky,

met Amadea, Paul & John at Camden Market for bang bang chicken by the river,

Then headed down to Primrose Hill for Bonfire Night :)

Sitting on the grass, knee to knee with strangers and friends, seeing fireworks go off all over the London skyline,

Walked back to Camden around 10, people setting off fireworks overhead and in front of our faces,

Got prosecco and cadbury dippers at Sainsbury with Amadea & John,

then back to my kitchen where we hung out til late talking about our months since we've last been together, just as they were about to leave someone set off fireworks and we saw them by the window,

Skyped with Zihan at night :)

SUNDAY, 6 NOV

Church in the morning, didn't get lost at Blackfriars this time,

Lunch at Sade,

Headed to John's place after church to finish up my essay draft,

Distracted (but gladly) by Amadea and a 2l bottle of Strongbow lol,

Cooked chicken curry in the ricecooker, sat cross-legged on the floor eating,

Took a long walk to Angel, waited while 2 of my buses broke down?!?, got home impossibly late.

Kenneth needs to come to London, but for now it's pretty close to perfection with these 2.

MONDAY, 7 NOV

Stayed home to finish up my essay!!

Then met Amadea & John for more bangbang chicken (it's officially an addiction.. only a matter of time til' the guy knows me by name),

And down to the Camden Barfly for William Fitzsimmons.

We sat on the floor with cider literally next to the stage,

Scott Matthew was really good as an opening act, and he played Community,

but William Fitzsimmons was amazing. I think, my best gig yet.

Everyone was absolutely silent while he was playing, he told us stories to lend the songs even more meaning than they already held, and then if it wasn't enough- he played in the middle of the crowd for the encore. Magical.

Got the setlists!! And a photo with Scott,

Met Vanessa, Christabel and Ken and they told us about Sufjan Stevens' gig next year, so I went home to buy tix lol.

Packed for my 5am train to Paris.

Love weekends when Amadea's here!

2011-11-03T01:31:00.002Z

After school today,

Walked home with Sophia,

Finished my readings,

Went down for the Poetry Slam/Easy Jams at Mully's basement with Megs,

Got ourselves Bulmers, so appreciate how we both love cider equally as much,

Cheers ourselves to surviving another tutorial Thursday,

Listened to some acoustic performances

and then the slammers from Birmingham and UCL recite poetry,

Going to quote them completely out of context now,

"when you watch fireworks, you should see them reflected in your lover's eyes"

"it's not the winning that counts but the taking of your opponent's losses, to see self destruction is to know self assurance, or so they say"

"not everything has to fit to make sense"

"you are mutton dressed as lamb, and I am spam dressed as prosciutto"

I love the hold that people have over words, it's a gift and I appreciate it.

Stopped by Sainsbury's to get warm supper then walked back in the drizzle with Megan's droopy umbrella. Thursdays are officially the new Fridays for Megs & I.

2011-11-02T12:55:00.002Z

Slept in and got up at 10am, made myself a smoked salmon sandwich for breakfast,

Home doing my readings, weather's cool at 13 degrees today,

At 12, I had a nice long conversation with Zihan and the last 1/2 of the bangbang chicken dinner I got last night at Camden,

Got my asos package as well and just put some rice into the cooker for tonight.

Liking today already.

Yesterday after class, I went to find David Wengrow (feels so strange to call my tutors by their first names here) to get my essay back. Really satisfied with my grade, thank God.

Took a bus down to Primark to get myself a coat, boots and flats.

I don't know how it happened but I reached home and realized I had got them all in roughly the same shade of brown. John is definitely going to be making some "earthy" comments soon..

Really happy with my buys! As I was queueing up I took stuff out of my bag as well, which was good cos I don't think I'd be wearing purple boots anytime in my life.

Met Megs at home and we walked down to the Roundhouse to jam with the Live Music Soc people- Andy, Ele & James.

Was really fun, we did some Foals, Edward Sharpe, Mumford & Sons, Noah & The Whale and Killers.

Made plans to meet up at the Easy jams on Thursday and perform sometime together at one of the open mic nights~

Grabbed groceries with Megs on the way back, had dinner with the flatmates in the kitchen,

and then Megs came to my room around 9pm til midnight so we could figure out archaeobotany and what-the-heck Dorian Fuller was going on about in lecture and why it's important.

Comfortable silence, I'm glad we've hit this point with each other so fast already.

2011-10-31T00:19:00.003Z

Monday's are usually long, crappy and exhausting but this one was really awesome- the best way to spend my last day of October. I can't believe it's November already, where has all this time gone?

Walked down in the morning with Megs and Tammy,

Feels good to see the same faces after a fun weekend out and be able to have a proper conversation that doesn't entail small talk and feel like I really know this people and would choose to take the 30 minute walk down to school with them day after day.

During lunch break, Megs & I went to the park before Tammy & Jonny joined us and figured the day was too lovely not to sprawl ourselves on the grass and have lunch even though no one else was doing it,

Endured a mentoring session where we had to figure out the uses of objects we already knew the uses for pretending we didn't know their uses,

Another great social anthropology lecture on globalisation and the dilution of culture (or not), and stayed back for Jerome Lewis to give us some information on the war in Congo..

Some of the UCL students have already started a page and petition, and are meeting to decide on the next plan of action. Reminds me of the sermon on Sunday, can't do everything but can't do nothing either.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/UCL-Students-Supporting-Freedom-in-The-Democratic-Republic-of-Congo/187835021296053

Walked back with Sophia,

Made dinner and then headed down to Shepherd's Bush again for Gotye at St Stephen's church.

Reached and realized it was an actual legit church,

Alex Winston opened for him and she reminded me a lot of First Aid Kit whom I love.

Every gig I've been to in London has topped the previous one in some way.

Gotye's voice seems layered even when he's singing alone, and the acoustics in the church of course were amazing. The screen behind him had these lovely animations from the music videos,

and my only criticism was that the set was wayy too short :(

So glad I saw him, John & I kept fawning over him in between songs, casting each other "I-cannot-believe-he-sounds-like-this"/"cannot-believe-I-am-here" glances.

My personal favourite song of the night,

Had supper afterward at a cheap chicken place (of course),

and we both decided that Joshua Radin's the best gig we've been to thus far.

Took the tube back and shared a bar of Crunchie which is the best chocolate in the world.

I kind of liked that I spent my halloween at Gotye with John,

and then got to see all the outfits of the people walking down Camden Road to go to their parties.

Instead of partying it up and waking up tired tomorrow.

2011-10-30T00:30:00.003+01:00

Daylight savings is so strange, but I think it means.. I got an extra hour of sleep!

Got up and took a bus down to Blackfriars for church at Mermaid Conference Theatre,

I got lost for 30minutes because Googlemaps isn't updated on Blackfriars closing down and there's construction going on everywhere, I actually walked past church 2x but couldn't get to the road, I just had to stare at it from a distance and walk around in circles.

Was so frustrated, called Zihan and made him calm me down,

Told John I would probably never come back to this church again because of the "negative experience", and of course the service turned out to be great and I will actually most probably be going to this church from now on.

Met Kim & Leo after service and some of the church people introduced us to the small group leaders and told us places to eat around the area,

I think I'm beginning to understand how important it is to "catch" someone who is new at church at their first visit and be welcoming and not imposing. Will be interesting going back to bpmc in December and after these 3 years here.

Sermon was by guest speaker Baroness Cox from HART Foundation and it was about the pain and privilege of serving God's people.

She took us through different stories in Azerbaijan, Sudan, Burma and Nigeria.. Told us to take these people in our hearts.

One line I really remember during prayer was, "I pray you all will grow with compassion, and not shrink at the enormity of the task at hand" and how she said, "we can't do everything, but we cannot do nothing."

Again, one of those big picture moments in life that make you feel minuscule but rightfully so.

After church, John & I walked around the entire area and ended up walking past King's College (so pretty!) and Holburn until we finally found a pub for Sunday roast and cider,

Talked for a couple of hours, mostly a retrospect on the past 2 months here among other things,

was a nice way to spend my Sunday afternoon

Took a tube down to the hotel to meet Aunty Seok Hui & Ahmai again,

Visited Selfridges to get some shoes for them, and then back to the hotel room where they shared with me about how they became friends and got to the jobs they're in now,

Dinner was lovely- went to the Chicago Rib Shack with Ahmai and spent 3 hours there catching up with each other proper. Learned so much in that conversation about myself, her, my family, the world.. The kind of conversation that leaves you feeling light, refreshed and happy and anything but tired.

Went back to the hotel room for dessert and I took a bus back with a huge onion ring tower for the flatmates,

I've had an amazing weekend, can't believe there's class tomorrow :(

Busy week ahead- presentation, essay due, readings,

dinner with Paul & Amadea on Saturday (honestly can't wait), chinese dinner with the flatmates on Sunday before I go off to Paris.

2011-10-29T13:20:00.004+01:00

Supposed plan: wake up at 9, have bfast, do laundry, get halloween outfit, go for OCF workshop if I had the time.

Actual plan: woke up at 11, had lunch, did laundry,

skyped with Nat/Shu, ordered ASOS, skyped with Liz (then dad called with Sarah in the car so we all talked),

going to meet Megs & Tammy now to get halloween outfit for the Archaeo Halloween Party tonight~

Edit:

Went down Camden High Street and raided all the thrift stores, we've got like 10 just down the road- it was so much fun.

Found tons of cheap buys and things like a full spiderman, darth vader, power ranger, cleopatra outfit. I was dead set on making my own though so in the end I got a hat, a red top and a pair of old jeans for 7pound!

Got groceries on the way as well, definitely going back to the thrift stores,

Got a huge pizza slice for 1.50 from Camden Market!!

Went back to Megs (Medusa) and cut up the jeans into a pair of denim shorts and used the rest of the denim to make my overalls for my outfit,

Used sticker paper to make a mustache, my buttons and my hat! Proud of resourcefulness.

Tammy (Xena the warrior princess) and Raphaelle (dead schoolgirl) came over to get ready as well, clothes strewn all over the place, fake blood on the table,

4 of us walked down Camden Road to the South Cloisters (people shouting "where's Luigi!!", one guy coming up to me wanting a hug from Supermario lol),

Free drinks, apple bobbing, stayed til midnight and walked back home~

Everyone looked amazing and a lot of people put in tons of effort,

I like that hardly anyone did the "halloween is the one day girls can dress up like sluts and have no one care" ala Mean Girls look,

Liz & Olivia a black and white swan, Claire as Anne Boleyn

Bronte as a mad cow, Nick as Edward and Maggie as a vampire

Ruthy as a corpse bride

Tristan as a vampire and Alex as wolverine (he just took out knives from his pocket whenever a photo opportunity came lol)

Theo as a mad scientist, Richard as Gadaffi, Charlie as a colonialist and Chris as a mexican!

This one's brilliant- Dave the Duracell bunny!

Miles wearing his rug lol, Kaya as a french maid and Esmee as Napolean,

And tons of undead people, obligatory shot on the quad!

Awesome first halloween in London ^^

2011-10-28T13:24:00.004+01:00

After school today I took a bus down to meet Ahmai and Aunty Seok Hui around Marble Arch,

had lunch at Goldmine AGAIN,

then we headed down to Harvey Nichols and the streets around to shop for them (not for me),

stopped for some white wine and fries along the way at a small cafe,

back to the hotel to drop off their bags

and then dinner at Nobu!!

Nobu was alright, slightly overrated (as most of these restaurants are), but I'm glad I got to go once.

More than that, I'm glad I got to see Ahmai again :)

Aunty Seok Hui studied in London before too so she was telling me about all her memories of uni and not studying and studying last minute.

We did spend a large part of the day shopping for branded goods and they are both quite well-off, but to be honest none of that really matters to me- I just like how they brought a bit of home to London just by talking with me over lunch and dinner, speaking singlish, giving me hugs as I left, asking if I would be alright, little things like that.

Am realizing increasingly what is truly important in life and what is only peripheral, although alluring. We did talk about this in class as well about egalitarian societies and what exactly entails a "better" life.

Had a really nice day with them, went home with a bag full of winter coats and uggs from Ahmai.

Went out with my flatmates at night,

were supposed to go to KOKO for the Halloween party but the queue was insane.

So instead we stopped by macs for supper (my first macs in London!), and to a 90s jazz club where they were playing movies like Never Been Kissed and Scream on the large screens while they played cheesy 90s pop hits lol.

Was pretty fun, but we left a little early, went back to the kitchen and talked about tattoos and Christmas plans.

Skyped with Zihan before sleeping :)

2011-10-27T00:01:00.002+01:00

Survived Thursday,

Spent my breaks printing out next week's readings, borrowing books, and doing my readings for this week. Officially on track!!

Got to play with a stereoscope today during practical.

Kris Lockyear: what do you guys reckon is that darker patch around the main excavation area? (storage pit)

Miles: swimming pool

Kris Lockyear: what about those white specks? (chalk)

Miles: that's a rash!

LOL. Miles is hilarious.

At night, I headed down to Mully's with Tammy & Megan for the Live Music Soc mixer.

SO MUCH FUN. The last band was amazing, truly medley deeply.

Got my cider, danced with my friends, sang medleys with a bunch of very enthusiastic buff guys,

walked back with Megan & Tammy. What a night :)

Also, I saw a fox tonight! It was so pretty.

2011-10-26T01:50:00.002+01:00

Nat left this morning, we got up bleary-eyed at 8am having stayed up til 3am talking in bed,

and I was supposed to walk her out,

and she said "should I go out by myself" and I nodded hopefully and she said "that's what a good friend is", gave me a hug and left on her own. Love her haha.

Watched her go from the window and felt very sad, crawled back into bed and slept for a couple more hours,

Got up and it was raining all afternoon (see Nat I told you the weather's good when you're around),

finished up my readings I should've done over the weekend, still slightly "behind" in the sense that I have to do an essay within the next 2 weeks on top of my readings,

I am slowly getting the understanding of how to do my readings and what information is important to glean from them,

Struggled through Bordieu's Berber House, it was written in such a convoluted way, even if his argument was convincing it was hard to follow. I like the topic though, anthropology of architecture in studying humanity, the family unit as the most fundamental unit of society, the significance of the house as a construct and symbolic space,

Also finished all the chapters from the books I borrowed 2 weeks ago that I've been renewing online (no one seems to want them, so I'll take as much time as I can get) and I can't wait to return them tomorrow and get new ones,

Will officially be "on track" if I finish my past societies readings tomorrow after class,

Around 4pm, I met Tammy and we walked down for yoga at Bloomsbury- talked to her about her family and things I won't share here but it's nice to connect with someone on that level.

Somewhere in between she said "I'm glad I met you here" and I felt the same way too,

About yoga: met loads of other yogis there, was a really chill session. On the way out after the 2-hour session which involved 15 minutes of self massage and 10 minutes of savasana, we met the yoga instructor and he told us before London, he was building ecohomes in Portugal with his dad who is a master builder, and his VISA got revoked. He was on his way to a ceilidh and I thought to myself, "what a hippie",

Tammy and I decided to grab dinner somewhere alone Camden and we talked about being here. She's a native Londoner, and I'm far away from home in this new place, but neither of us find London particularly special. "A nice place is a place with people you love" she says and I agree.

We've got to give ourselves the time to find these people.

Really felt like she opened up a lot to me, and I'm learning to open up to people too, give a little of myself to the friendship, take a little risk, have a little faith. It's paying off.

We walked back and Richard waved at us from his window, and we went to say hi,

he invited us in for tea and we ended up drinking Rose and eating chocolates,

making imprints of our face on the 3D metal imprint thing, leaving Tammy's face on the shelf,

"it's nice how this little thing I bought off amazon can reduce Eve to a little girl",

playing oldies like Sweet Caroline and The Beatles,

Richard tells me that NASA plays "Here Comes The Sun" when they send their astronauts off to space, we play sporcle.com and fill in countries all over the world in under 8minutes,

watched silent movies in the dark, Buster Keaton,

I like how people start sentences with "when I was younger" because you know you're about to hear something they don't tell people often, letting you in a little on their past,

Stayed til 1am, feeling like school doesn't exist right now even thought it does, clearly because I have to up at 8am for it.

Ahmai's here this weekend and I'm seeing her on Friday :)

David Wengrow dropped me an email to say my essay was really good, and asked me to collect it tomorrow :) Feels like, maybe, I can do this? Or rather, this can be done? Feels good to be doing alright at something I really enjoy learning about.

I am kind of amused that in uni I still have an equivalent of "tutorial thursdays" ala AD1 in ACJC, tomorrow will be 10-5 lessons with 3 tutorials and 1 lecture.

2011-10-25T16:22:00.004+01:00

Woke up to lovely weather again and decided to wear a dress out and forget about a jacket (in faith),
Past societies lecture, where we talked about plants and how early humans moved into a more sedentary agricultural lifestyle,
Met Evan & Nat outside the IoA for a bit,
Walked home with Megan & Nat and grabbed a chicken tikka subway on the way back for lunch,
Talked to my parents on the phone, then Shaun, it is so comforting to hear the voices of people you love letting you in on the happenings of their lives and how they feel,
Then skyped with ZIhan which made my day as usual,
Athena got the vacuum from reception so our whole hall passed it between doors and everything feels clean now,
Drizzling lightly outside, reading Archaeology of Bullock-Down which is interesting but seems unrelated to my lecture,

Left the house and took the bus down to JZ Young- literally my favourite lecture theatre for its name alone- with Nat to catch the Freud Museum 25th Anniversary event with UCL called "The Museum as a Film Set", first of three films.
Today's was Hugh Brody's 1919 (he's an anthropologist! went mostly for him) on psychoanalysis followed by a panel with the director himself and a psychoanalyst. Mostly impressed by the roomful of people who were anthropologists, psychologists or film junkies asking a whole range of very engaging questions.
I really enjoyed it, learned so much within those 4 walls and those 3hours, and in between during the reception I got redwine and crisps.
Films always mean more to me when you know the things you have perceived are due to the deliberate efforts of the director, I feel like that makes it art as opposed to an accidental coincidence so it was nice to have Hugh Brody there confirming that the closing of curtains was symbolic of closing off the external world that brings consciousness,
Really liked what he said about how we are captors and captives of our past, and how the film was set in the midst of a political turmoil which the characters touch on lightly and yet their deepest scars are from their very personal experiences,
Liked how the main characters found comfort in each other,
And how although the movie seemed extremely specific, you could still relate to how a connection can be enough for you to reveal your secrets to a stranger, among other things,
Overall really good night for me, feel like this is one of the reasons I would love London- all these events available for me,

Took a bus home and dropped by Caroline's place to get some of Nat's things and drop off Percy Pigs from Nat,
Skyped with Ethel for a bit,
And then dropped by Jan's birthday party in his flat with Megs & Nat mostly just to say hi, I hate Smirnoff why did I have 5 shots.. But at least I know my limits, I can feel when I am getting to the point of drunkenness in a way.
Met some people, but one of them said something especially true in the circumstances "you should just be brave and socialize and be yourself, because honestly you will never see these people again, there's no point in worrying about your impression, we will all forget each other tomorrow". Felt like it was very real as I spoke to a whole bunch of people whose names now elude me, with the exception of Jan,

happy birthday! Have an awesome one, (insert uk "x") lol

Going to bed now, it's Nat's last night here- she just gave me one of her spare maroon macbook cases (thank you), I will miss her dearly but I have a lot of readings and work that will keep me occupied in the space that she is gone until she returns again,

2011-10-24T17:42:00.004+01:00

Loved today,
Chris Pinney is no longer the material culture lecturer- and Victor Buchli is amazing. Explored architecture and how it reflects social hierarchies today, and social anthro with Jerome Lewis exploring egalitarian societies was insightful and engaging as usual.

During the lunchbreak, I went to a little coffee place with Megs & Tammy and got myself a double shot illy Mocha for like 1.60?! It was really good too. Going to try all the sandwiches,
Had a nice conversation with them too, my first coffee in the past.. 3 months or so!

after mentoring, we went to the park to sit down with Bronte & Jonny. Weather was 17 degrees today! Jonny re: the flyers people give out "they might as well say, could you please throw this in the bin for me please?"

Cooked pasta for Nat & I for dinner,
did some readings, we sat around for awhile doing our own separate things in silence in the same room which is a sign of our absolute comfort with each other.
We've been friends 7years now, and it really shows.

Laughed about a lot of things in my room while people shuffled around outside, getting ready for a wild night out on Monday- I'm more than content staying in here with Nat just talking.
then walked out in the rain under a small umbrella to Tesco's to get coke, a 24 pack of Walkers crisps and dark chocolate kitkat, and a bowl of half-price pasta to tide us through the night~

2011-10-23T22:23:00.002+01:00

Slept in til 11 today, felt so good~

Nat & I have concluded that my bed is a magical infinite space, I always wonder how I manage to fit 2 people in it sometimes and yet still have it feel roomy..

The weather was amazing today, 17 degrees when we left and it hovered around there til the night time. Got our skirts and dresses out and took a bus down to Chinatown for lunch and to get Nat some kikoman and vitasoy,

Ate at this 5pound buffet place and got my fill of black pepper beef and sweet and sour pork and soup and Nat went crazy on the vegetables,

"One skill in life is really to not feel like you are missing out on things and being happy where you are" "Another important skill is knowing when to leave the buffet"

Lol, clearly a skill we didn't possess. We sat there for like an hour, although we were mostly talking. Ran into Kelly :)

Walked down the street to explore the bookshops on the way to Soho,

Soho's such a lovely little area- full of cafes and the atmosphere's amazing on a Sunday, everyone's just chilling with a cup of coffee and friends around,

Some couples holding hands not needing to say anything,

And a bunch of little clothing shops littered around the place,

We stumbled upon an exhibition, saw the sign and ran across the road.

The artist took portrait shots of some musicians that he picked, and then he painted them, selling them to raise funds for charity. His taste in music was pretty amazing :) Iron & Wine, Lisa Hannigan, The National, Vampire Weekend, Jamie Cullum, Patrick Wolf.. Also couldn't believe they were paintings, they looked so real.

Talked to him for awhile, bought a couple of postcards (though they didn't have the postcards I wanted),

Walked to Wardour past Hummingbird to meet Nat's friends at some breakfast place for a bit,

Saw a singing handyman blowing bubbles out of his vehicle along the street,

Love these little things that people do just to bring some happiness into the lives of others,

On the way to church, we checked out the Bloomsbury Fest at Tavistock Square, Russell Square & Brunswick Square for a bit. Wish I could've spent more time on it, looked so awesome from the little glimpse that I caught. Was going to volunteer as well, but I did have a great weekend with Nat anyway so :)

Church was really nice, first church I've been to that reminded me almost entirely of BPMC.

Message was about marriage, husbands and wives but somehow I found it very relatable nonetheless. Especially liked this verse in 1 Peter 3:4 "Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God's sight". And he talked about how letting your potential husband lead is about trusting that your identity and hope lies in God, while for the guys it's about using your authority on things that will dignify your wife.
He mentioned also that while we all have different responsibilities and roles, we have equal status and standing in God's eyes. The roles are about areas, not about a hierarchy of authority. I really liked that.

After service ended, we had some snacks with some of the church people- one of them told me this: you could spend all your weeks here finding a church to settle down in and you won't run out of churches, but find one soon and spend your time settling down in that one instead.

Nat & I took the bus back to Camden (so much walking all day, my shoes are completely worn out with holes in them already). She went to her friend's place for dinner, and I headed home for Mexican night with the flatmates!!

Elliot made chilli and guacamole and we had them with tortillas and margaritas, while Stu put on some Mexican music lol. As usual though, Athena was STILL excited about Christmas lol. She has a countdown timer on her phone and all, and there're loads of Christmas markets and outdoor ice skating things going on in November, so I'm getting pretty excited too~

Had lemon tart for dessert, really chill night, we were all back in our rooms to do work by 10pm. Really love my flatmates.

Teaching Asya & her brother how to eat a taco wrap :)

Soph & I did the dishes, "extreme team, living the dream"

Did so much today, I'm exhaustedd!

Nat's back, week begins again tomorrow,

finishing my readings from so I can return my books and be ON TRACK finally.

2011-10-22T17:49:00.007+01:00

Woke up at 7.30AM, no joke..

Headed down to the American Apparel sale with Nat at Brick Lane, met Caroline on the overground and we took the train down to Shoreditch High Street,

Got free bagels while waiting in line, and it only took 15 minutes to get in! Perks of waking up early.

Inside was crazy. Racks and racks of AA stuff and all pretty neat and organized, though it was only the start of the day.

AA is already pretty expensive so even an up to 90% off sale wasn't that amazing, but I did get the basics I wanted at a fraction of the cost! Got 2 v-neck acid washes, 1 v-neck striped tee and a tulip skirt for 23pounds :) They had loads of sweaters, cardigans, dresses, and stuff.

People were stripping behind racks lol, never seen girls so desperate for clothes before- or that much underwear in a day.

So glad we went early though, got the stuff I wanted in my size and were out of there by 10.20!

Grabbed a smoked salmon and cream cheese (the holy combination) bagel from a bagel shop nearby, and walked down to Hummingbird bakery to get red velvet cupcakes with Caroline & her friends.

After they left, Nat & I checked out Spitalfields & Petticoat Lane Market and then took a train down to Camden Market AGAIN.

She got this really nice 1960s vintage gold watch and I got frying pans from Morrisons lol.

We shared chinese food and sat by the Regent's Canal.

Such a lovely day, the weather is amazing when Nat's here :)

London is as happy as I am that she's around!!

Back home, exhausted from all the walking, we're both doing readings now before she cooks dinner later! SO HAPPY NAT'S HERE IN LONDON :):) Really appreciate her coming down on her reading week to spend time with me.

Skyped with Shethel!

2011-10-21T17:37:00.003+01:00

After school today,

I got groceries with Megs and got myself a Nectar card- going to collect my Sainsbury points and hopefully redeem some amazon, eurostar or Argos things.

Skyped with Zihan :)

Then met Evan (impromptu London holiday and he JUST told me) and showed him around Camden Market, got Gilbert a Rekordelig wall clock and got some serious discounts,

Then around 5ish Nat whatsapped me and said she'd arrived in London!!
Sorry I didn't pick you from the station, I forgot how hard it is to find your way around London the first time round!! Walked out in the 5 degree night to pick her up and we kinda screamed across the road and ran to hug each other :) So happy she's here! Feels surreal.

We caught up for a bit walking home, really talking so fast cos we had so much to say to each other, I can't even sum up what our friendship is like but in essence, I feel like I can be myself completely and so can she,

After resting for awhile, we walked down to Mark's house for OCF Decentralised :)

Invited Emma as well, so it was like 20 of us packed into his flat.

They made pineapple rice, chicken rice, sweet and sour pork (so good), a huge array of curries, and vegge stirfry!! And for dessert we had ice cream and brownies.

Played charades and reverse charades, really hilarious.

Ben: APPLE! ... EYE!

Group: -nods furiously-

Ben: Four words, one phrase? Apple something something eye?

Group: -nodding furiously-

Ben: What's that!!

Nat: -facepalm-

Ben: OMG APPLE OF MY EYE!! (to Nat) haha sorry sorry!!

LOL!!

After the games, we all sat in a circle and James asked us to draw a lesson God has taught us that we want to remember and share with the group,

and he reminded us of the importance of group sharing. Sometimes when you lose hope or it seems hazy, you can hang on to the hope of others for awhile? That's fellowship in a sense.

Everyone was really sincere and open to sharing, which is what makes the group work.

I really love going for OCF on Friday nights. Feel refreshed.

Took a bus home with Nat and we talked non-stop, then went back to my room and talked all the way til around 2am. She taught me how to use my Canon Manual function, like a speed guide to DSLRs.

:) :) :) It's going to be an awesome weekend

2011-10-20T17:20:00.006+01:00

Today,

I'm sick! Got the flu from Stu I think :( Couldn't go for kickboxing today but I think I might just join yogasoc after all since it's so cheap. 8pound for membership and all classes are free.

Returned my books for this week's readings! I'm getting.. on.. track.. slowly but surely. Still have to catch up on last week's.

Also finished my first presentation today, so glad I got anthropology of art as my topic- it was actually pretty fun preparing and I think I'm going to do my material culture essay on art as well.

I'm really enjoying tutorials but they aren't what I expected. I've kind of figured out why uni is so difficult- there is no formula on what you should know and the teachers don't teach with exams in mind but knowledge? Very different to adjust to from Singapore's sytem, but it's a challenge I think is worth taking on.

In between classes today, I had lunch at the common room with Vicky & Megan and read Cosmo campus. It's really funny it's like uni editions of all the normal cosmo things i.e. hook ups in dorm rooms, drama with flatmates, bucket list for uni.

Vicky went to culinary school over summer so she told me some tips for easy pasta recipes!

Went to the cluster room which is like the equivalent of the opac in AC for me now to print out my readings for next week, and borrow some books for next week.

I think everything seemed daunting before I started but now that I know where everything is and how the library system works, it seems more manageable.. :)

Walked home with Megs & Soph, got bread on the way (I eat like an entire loaf a week on my own), and collected my Amazon books from reception!

Talked to Zihan as well.

Feels so much like a Friday. Just made pasta for dinner without using sauce (my little cheap thrill). Readings...

Yesterday,

Stayed home to finish up my readings for this week,

Booked my eurostar to Paris/South of France to visit Ahmai over reading week!! 70pounds return~ I'm looking forward to clear skies and green pastures, and wine every night,

and then at night I had dinner at Hare & Tortoise with Terence, John, Huimin, Shuwen & Jean.

It was amaazing- I had prawn noodles and it tasted SO authentic. The rest of them ordered curry laksa. Felt like I was back in Singapore again albeit it was 6pounds.

Went back to their place after so John could check it out.

They were telling us about this thing at Halloween called Phobophobia at the London Bridge where they have rooms dedicated to testing your greatest fears. Sounds intense but I want to try it with the flatmates. So excited for Halloween this year. No idea what I'm going to dress up as.

Walked back in the 3degree night, it was crazy.. Rewarded myself with hot chocolate at home.

So so so so so excited Nat's coming in to London tomorrow!!

Over the weekend it's Bloomsbury Festival and the AA sale at Brick Lane.

Excerpt from ODJ last night,

"On any given day, we have a multitude of things clamouring for our attention. From the mundane to the monumental, life is a series of choices. It's easy to respond to whatever conveniently crosses our path, commands our attention or seems most pleasurable, but Scripture reminds us to be exceedingly deliberate. Philippians 1:10 says, "I want you to understand what really matters, so you may live pure and blameless lives." Writing to the Corinthian church, Paul taught that there is no other foundation than Jesus, because salvation comes only by accepting His life in exchange for ours. Salvation is the foundation, beginning point, of our lives- and what we build from there depends on our daily choices.

We can be saved but choose to spend our lives on fruitless activity, on the other hand we can understand our salvation to such a depth that every moment becomes an offering given back to God. It's the fire of God that will reveal if we have lived with this world or the next in mind."

Want to do too many things- so many volunteer opportunities, jams, museum exhibitions & lunchtime lectures/seminars are passing me by.

And sometimes it's even tempting to say, above all these things, I'm here to get a degree.

But God's got even bigger plans for me than just that. Gotta remember it.

2011-10-18T02:13:00.004+01:00

I can't believe my Amazon books that I ordered with supposed 1-day delivery haven't arrived, really irritated about that- went to a live chat to try and get my problem solved and the guy says I'll be compensated. Whee. Hope they come tomorrow though cos I need to do my readings.

After lecture, I went to the UCL poster sale with Megs in Mully's basement and got 5 prints!

It was 3 for 10pounds, huge posters.

I got Hokusai's Great Wave off Kanagawa, Van Gogh's Blossoming Almond Tree, Klimt's The Tree of Life, and a Beatles poster for Ethel and a Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake one for Liz.

They didn't have that many band ones, but they had tons saying "I <3 (insert alcoholic beverage)" and Keep Calm posters. Megs got a world map.

Met Terence & Jacq and we took a tube down to Bayswater for Goldmine!

The meat is definitely more tender than Four Seasons and a lot less oily, but the skin isn't as crispy and I'm still on the fence about which one's better. The roast pork at Four Seasons is definitely better but I think Four Seasons only does good roasts and their hotplates and soups aren't good.

Took the bus back (crazy long route) and missed the Live Music Society jam at Roundhouse :(

Hopefully they'll organize another one,

Walked down to HMV Forum at Kentish Town with Stuart around 6ish for Jamie Cullum!!

HE WAS AMAZING. He played without a setlist and took requests on "money and pants thrown on stage" but off the top off my head he played:

Mixtape, Lover You Should've Come Over, Photograph, All at Sea, Wind Cries Mary, High & Dry, Please Don't Stop The Music, One of Those Things, Gran Torino, If I Ruled The World, These Are The Days, Twentysomething, All Over It, You & Me Are Gone, Love Ain't Gonna Let You Down, Music is Through, Rayleigh Road, Wheels. Everything I wanted to hear, I heard.

Definitely up there with the best gigs I've attended, he's absolutely amazing live and every concert he does is one of a kind because he does everything impromptu, and the band and audience made things even better. We all jumped, sang, harmonized.

Had so much fun with Stu, we were both so excited to be there lol I kept whacking him don't know if he'll want to go for gigs with me again.

Grabbed fries & chicken on the way back and walked in the cold back to Camden talking,

Lucy Mason opened for him, she really reminded me of Hayley from Paramore and Brooke Fraser combined,

which reminds me of what Jamie Cullum said. In one of the magazines it shows a photo:

Jame Cullum + Drugs = Pete Doherty. Lol so true

Came home, sat in the kitchen eating chocolate with Rob, Asya & Stuart. Stuart was telling us about the Cadbury factory lol "it's like a themepark"

Skyped with Ethel for a bit, miss her tons.

Sleep now- going to finish my readings tomorrow with Megan and get my presentation done :)

2011-10-17T21:49:00.003+01:00

Mondays are my busiest days, always falling asleep in the 2hour social anth lecture :( Bad start.

Handed in my 2nd essay in my time in UCL! 1.5k words, felt really good as well.

Went to the British Museum during mentoring with the Arch & Anthers and had lunch on the IoA steps, I like little things like that that become habitual with time.

After class, I met Sophia, Laura & Athena at Bloomsbury and we hung out for a bit before heading to Give It A Go Yoga at the Lower Refrac with Will & Shandana.

Turned out it was organized by the Krishna Appreciation Society and not Yogasoc so it was very meditative.. Really didn't like it, seriously contemplating just getting bloomsbury membership and going for the classes there after doing my readings in the library (new system I'm trying to put in place here re: my life). And then staying in the Live Music soc and Volunteering soc, seems like a more sensible plan vs having 10 different socs to go for.

And then I can actually go for the lunchtime lectures and seminars that UCL organizes that are really cool.

Took the bus back because it was freezing out, then made dinner in the kitchen.
Going to get down to my readings now.

Want to cook stew pork bee hoon for my flatmates at our next dinner in.

2011-10-16T23:23:00.004+01:00

Got up this morning and it was late afternoon in Singapore,

and Seeyue & Shaun were over at Zihan's place having a chill afternoon after church so we skyped.

I MISS THEM SO MUCH, I miss chill Sunday afternoons with them.

Brisk-walked to Dominion (got to Euston in like 16min, record time) for Hillsongs with John & Kim. I really like what they do- getting people excited about worship and God's word. Not sure if the service is my style but I am glad that I went today.

I like hearing speakers talk about God's word and things like tithing or giving without the overcomplicated arguments and considerations of other people's opinions, it's like they have it set right in their minds- it comes across so clearly and simply, like it was meant to be anyway.

Probably checking out Euston next week, which lies somewhere between Hillsongs and All Souls- before I decide on which church to permanently settle down in.

Met Mr Ngoei after church cos he's in London doing research for 2 weeks!
Chose The Tottenham because it's the only alehouse left in the whole of Tottenham Court despite all the bars, and it was supposed to have an amazing Sunday roast. But it was sold out by 2pm (must've really been amazing), so I ordered a beef burger instead because I just really needed beef. Decided to buy him lunch to thank him for basically everything- from making me interested in History to begin with (large part of why I'm even here), for helping me with my personal statements and essays and recommendations and just being an all-round amazing person and influence on me. Really enjoyed talking to him outside of school, and not just outside of the physical space of school- but also the time? 8months since A levels ended, and 1month being here in London. Had a really good talk about how God sometimes works in very strange, but most definitely not reckless, ways- and he kind of gave me some advice on my undergrad years.

He's got tons of ex-students here in the UK that he's helped to get into unis, it's nice to be added to this list of achievements on his part lol. Hopefully next week, I'll meet him again with Eugene.

After lunch, I walked to Shu and Min's place to do my essay because after yesterday, I realized I just can't focus in my dorm. It was so quiet there, I really love it.

Another friend of theirs Melodie was there doing her essay as well, so it 4 of us with our macbooks on the table typing away furiously while Jean played Plants vs Zombies on the couch and Joel did Mensa quizzes on his itouch lol.

Finally finished it after 3hours!

Decided to stay for dinner, Shuwen cooked maple syrup glazed porkchops, sambal beans and peri-peri chicken!!

Then of course we had frozen grapes and more ice cream for dessert where I paid my dues by finding phish in Phish Food for Shu. Dessert lasts 3x as long as dinner does in their house.

Played QWOP much to everyone's amusement, and managed to Skype with Ethel :')

Ethel's friends are so awesome, they're like my replacement sisters here in London.

Came home and sat in the kitchen with Sophia, Stuart, Geography Will (not to be confused with Will the Medic a.k.a Wedic) and Athena listening to Ray Lamontagne and eating cookies.

Then submitted my essay on Turnitin. SWEET FREEDOM.

Tomorrow it's a trip to the British Museum with the mentor group,

Yoga with the flatmates, then Shepherd's Pie at Esmee's,

and apparently Flat F's going to watch the Kardashian wedding in the kitchen lol.

Will do my readings throughout the week and finish them by Friday when NAT COMES.

MOTIVATION. Gotta do a presentation this week as well~

2011-10-15T18:58:00.006+01:00

Went down to the library to get my books and print out my readings

for the past 2 weeks and the coming week,

Goal: get myself back on track by the end of next week when I return these books,

Lugged 10 books back to my dorm, 3 of them are written by my lecturers,

that is either a) very cool assuming they are actually extremely influential scholars in the field

or b) very self-absorbed and presumptuous of UCL. I SAY A

Made dinner, essay time~

edit: 1am, 800 words down. Will do my introduction and conclusion tomorrow.

There are a bunch of guys singing There is a Light that Never Goes Out outside my window. Sleepy

2011-10-14T15:55:00.005+01:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZIHAN!!

I have way too much to say to you but let's just go with I love you, I miss you & I feel so blessed I've got you in my life.

Crazy past 2 days finishing my readings, and I'm still behind.

Woke up early to try and get Florence tix for her Ceremonials album launch, sold out within 30seconds. Sophia & I were shouting down the hallway whether or not we'd gotten tix.

She managed to get 2! I added them to cart and it said Qty: 0, so annoying.

But I did get Bell X1 and the Jezabels!! SO STOKED.

After school today, Megs & I did groceries, bought an iron, did laundry, and vacuumed our rooms! And then we went to her room to jam out some Norah Jones~

Felt extremely productive for all the wrong reasons considering my essay is still undone.

Also, Lidl's is so cheap- Will, Asya & I shared a 15-pack of Stella for 8pounds :o

Finally chose my articles for the essay- people in my course have all done their readings and started on their essays, and I'm falling way behind.

In some ways, many ways- I am not used to this feeling of being behind?

Will get my life on track this weekend and enslave myself to the essay,

OCF today was really nice, met Daniel Sia as well. Always feels good to meet pieces of home here in London. At first, I didn't want to change groups but now I really like my group.

There is a sense of hunger for God's word, like everyone has spent time on their own searching and discovering it for themselves before coming to OCF.

We did a line-by-line study of Mark 1, and it brought me back to the importance of the word.

Hearing everyone's input also reminds me that we all see different aspects of God or are touched by different things, so it's important to share in that sense.

Also, it's refreshing being in an environment where everyone has chosen to be here. Nothing's forcing you to come for OCF on a Friday night when you've got loads of other things you could be doing, but everyone has chosen to go. So everyone's so willing to open up and talk about His word. So glad I'm in OCF.

Around 9, I went to meet Kaya, Esmee, Megan, Tammy, Jonny, Theo & his flatmates at The Court- we decided to finally pin down a date to meet outside of class and just chill out with each other. Crazily random night- Theo herded us to Ramsey (which is really a huge party hall) to play Ring of Fire in his corridor with his flatmates, who were all really lovely and nice.

Then we went to someone's birthday party at Arthur Taturstall for awhile-

decided to leave and go back to The Court and met Maggie on the way with her flatmates.

Long story short, we ended up at The Court with pear ciders upstairs and talked til like midnight. Also met Pikne and his friend there, and a bunch of jujitsu third-years who joined us at our table. People are so friendly on Friday nights lol,

Megs and I caught the bus back around 2, made curry noodles in the kitchen (introducing her to a Singaporean tradition of sorts), and talked.

And then, as if the night wasn't amazing enough, Zihan came online and we got to skype :)

2011-10-12T13:09:00.005+01:00

Home day!

Going to

- finish my essay draft

- do my readings for my tutorials (x)

- consolidate my notes into my mac (x)

- apply for volsoc (x)

Made myself lunch (soy & garlic chicken and mushroom) and packed half of it for dinner,

Called mum to settle my flights home for Christmas in December,

Talked to Zihan :)

Oovoo-ed with John & Kenneth (Amadea's connection had some problems, next time!)

Replying emails is extremely therapeutic, once I can articulate my thoughts into words, I kind of reach some understanding with them myself. Thanks for replying guys, it means a lot to me.

Giving yoga a miss today so I can finish up my readings which I'm already behind on,

I foresee it being difficult to drag myself out of the house for 5pm yoga in subsequent weeks..

2011-10-11T16:53:00.010+01:00

Past Societies lecture today! My favourite one.

Loved it- explored the considerations in excavations and explorations of the past, critical questions to ask to ensure that we don't project our own expectations onto the past.

Andrew Reid is such a good teacher as well- really hope that I get to go on his Kenya fieldwork in second year.

After lesson, Megs and I went to the cluster room to print out 12 active reading forms for the next couple of tutorials for Anthro. Walked home together and grabbed groceries on the way, we have the best conversations on our walks home. It's really just too easy to not know someone properly in uni, so I'm glad we're getting there with each other.

Collected my mail- got a huge package from Adam (my Melbourne care package) and a letter from Naomii with photos of the two of us.

Adam's package came with Gotye's album (just in time for the concert in November), timtams, an Egon Schiele postcard from our museum trip in Melbourne, a book and a postcard.

Really made my week- feeling the love, definitely.

Back in my room- talked to Zihan on the phone, then skyped with Kenneth and told him about my pathetic pillow situation and gave him a room tour and heard about his week,

Then Nat called me and we talked for a bit as well, I miss her so much- can't wait for her to come up to London.

She also wrote this about a sermon she attended, which I completely agree with:

"another thing was the distinction the speaker drew between three kinds of knowledge—rational, scientific, and personal belief. each of these are as valid as the other. i felt it was interesting, and i guess it's true—why should scientific belief be more valid than ones we hold personally? his example was a kiss, it cannot be explained rationally but it can be explain scientifically, the approach of lips and exchange of microbes. but that fails to explain why we value it. and so, it is personal, maybe emotive. and so is the belief in God. we can explain it scientifically but emotion and faith is what bridges the gap between rationality and God. "

Got ready for Joshua Radin at 02 Shepherd's Bush with John, AGAIN.

When we reached, we found out that the opening act was Joseph Arthur because they were selling his merch at the stall. On the train home yesterday, two of us were googling and hoping it would be him, but then somewhere in between got the impression that it was the Wood Brothers.

When I found out today, it would be a massive understatement to say I was SO FRIGGIN HAPPY!!! I would've paid to see a Joseph Arthur set alone! Instead, got them both for 17quid.

Joseph Arthur painted on the spot, and did a very very cool poetryslam-esque rap in the middle of his song.

And at the end of his set, Joshua Radin did a completely unplugged song with his band, it was breathtaking.

Didn't get a shot of the setlist cos the crew people were being annoying, but I remember Joseph Arthur played Honey & The Moon and In The Sun, and Joshua Radin played Winter, Closer, Everything's Gonna Be Alright, Brand New Day, Streetlight, You Got What I Need- and brought 2 guest singers with him who were really lovely (despite not being Schyuler Fisk).

Took a couple of videos of my favourite ones as well :) amazing gig, so glad I went!!

The video I took of him performing Closer

Also, Liz sent me this,

At Shepherd's Bush again in Dec! Buying tix on Friday :)

After missing Feist, this is definitely making up for it.

The band I always said I had to see before I died!!

Also getting tix for The Jezabels with Megan & John!

Listening:

1. Wild Horses by Rolling Stones

2. Dreams by Fleetwood Mac

Excited to start jamming with some of the people in the live music society.

Decided to join that, kickboxing, yoga, film soc, art soc and volunteering soc!

Realized that first year is really the year to live it up: only 2% counts?!? Will try everything.

I love Tuesdays, I'll do my essay tomorrow :)

2011-10-10T02:19:00.002+01:00

Just got back from Iron & Wine, with Marketa Irglova and opening act Fujiya & Miyagi at 02 Shepherd's Bush Empire with John :)

Needless to say, Samuel Beam was amazing amazing amazing.

John and I have decided to stalk him and go for every Iron & Wine gig in London so that we can eventually listen to all the songs in our "ideal" setlist.

He didn't play Flightless Bird/American Mouth, Passing Afternoon, Trapeze Swinger, Love & Some Verses or Naked As We Came Today so I figure a couple more gigs with him will do it.

2 rows from the front, the sound was amazing as well.

After the gig ended, we went to some 24 hour minimart and grabbed beef lasagnes 2 for 4pounds!

Took the tube back (2nd time on the tube!! It's getting easier to figure out) and ate my lasagne.

Such a good good good good night!

Although John mentioned Mcspicy and now I am craving it ceaselessly.

Before the night, I had a full day of classes (social anthro was so interesting). During our long break: Clare, Megan, Bronte, Richard, Jonny and I sat in the park and tried to solve crossword puzzles from Telegraph while having sandwiches for lunch. "How many archaeologists does it take to solve a crossword" tbh I don't know because we still haven't solved it.

Richard thought a small horse was a pony!! (foal) Haha, how cute is that.

Bronte grabbed a contraception brochure that folds into one of those origami fortune-teller things we used to play in primary school- because she wanted the 5pound Uniqlo voucher.

I love afternoons like these in the middle of the day,

2am now, replying some emails- the wind today was crazy, it physically pushed me off my feet (not even kidding) and now it's howling louder than I've ever heard wind.

Past societies lecture tomorrow and grocery day with Megan :)

2011-10-09T01:53:00.004+01:00

Internet's been down in Max Rayne all weekend, but it turned out to be amazing because of it.

It's funny how everyone's lives suddenly stopped functioning.

SATURDAY,

On Saturday morning, when I got up to make breakfast, people were wandering the corridors looking dazed and confused hahaha.

Did some of my readings for my essay, archaeo articles were really interesting- I actually didn't get the essay done because I was distracted reading over the necessary readings. Which is a refreshing distraction to have.

Met Terence to explore Camden Market, it's amazing!
The last time I explored only 10% of the market- didn't realize the treasure trove of vintage clothes, books, posters, CDs, clothes in general, and food just across the bridge.

Made mental notes to buy loads of things including this jacket I really liked, and some huge posters for only 5pounds.

We got 1-1 chinese meals haha, all you can stuff into an aluminium box for 1.50 each.

Had homemade dessert in the Ifor Evans common room a.k.a bananas with nutella and yoghurt.

Really glad I met Terence by chance at the boat party and that he lives in my hall,

walked down to Astor College to meet Anwar!

Met his flatmate Ping from Thailand who goes around collecting the huge movie promo posters when they're done advertising them- asked him to steal a couple for me as well.

Everytime I meet Anwar we trade Singaporean goods- gave him wasabi peas, he gave me milo.

Anwar sent me back, and I went up to Megan's flat to have banana bread with her and her flatmate Isaac. They put on some really chill jazz music, and we just hung out for an hour or so before I went to bed. Lovely end to my day~

SUNDAY

Got up and took the bus to Oxford Circus for All Souls' 11.30am service with John & Kim,

sermon was really really solid. Went back to the heart of Christianity, it's about how we see ourselves and our need for Christ, and what we see when we look at the cross. Really reminded me to get myself settled down in a church and start taking this religion seriously beyond the actions to the heart. Especially as I'm starting a new chapter of my life in this place.

All Souls' service is kind of like Passion AC, they have a weekly interview with a person, and songs in between the service. Mostly traditional service, did loads of songs I remember hearing when I was younger- including "Here is Love" which has really beautiful lyrics. Definitely going back for All Souls', though I may check out Euston and Hillsongs this coming Sunday.

Walked down to Hyde Park with Nat and Gwen for the OCF picnic!

The weather was so lovely, just the right amount of sun and wind.

We were in a huge field by Serpentine Lake. Somewhere in between eating satay, sandwiches, chips and a lot of chocolate desserts, the guys sprawled all over the place playing soccer or frisbee, groups of people clustering on picnic mats talking and laughing, a bunch of us played Saboteurs on the grass :)

Been awhile since I've played it!! Makes me miss the dg. But I met loads of new people- everyone in OCF is so genuinely friendly, I really like this community.

Didn't even realize that it was 4.30pm, John & I navigated our way out (chased a squirrel along the way) and took buses back to our halls.

Had Sunday Roast with the Flatmates! Flat F = Family.

Sophia, Athena & Laura all help their families cook Christmas dinners at home, so they decided to make Sunday roast for the family :)

3.50 each and we got a roast beef, stuffing, baked potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower puree, sweet potato mash, apple crumble and ice cream and wine.

Put some Jack Johnson and jazz on the stereo, a fake flame gif on Asya's computer, cinnamon candles on the table and Athena's plant to make it feel like a homey Christmas.

At some point in the night, we moved into oldies like Beach Boys and BSB and everyone was dancing.

The guys cleaned up :)

Was such a nice, chill night, I love my flat!

Made plans to have Sunday cook-outs every other Sunday- next one's Mexican~

At some point, I'm going to have to learn to make sweet & sour pork as the token Asian in the flat lol, everyone loves it.

Called Zihan before I slept, which is basically the perfect end to any day- let alone such an amazing weekend.

2011-10-07T15:04:00.005+01:00

Woke up at 9am today after a crazy night out with the flatmates,

can't believe I stayed awake through three 1-hour sessions, tutorial-lecture-weekly review,

we were all rushing to get cover pages for our first official assignment to hand in.

I really like my tutorial groups and the little group I've found myself hanging out with for my course, though it's also nice to have some fluidity to sit with anyone else if I wanted to.

Feel like I took the things-I-wish-I-had-done from JC and brought them over to uni to get done, in some ways.

After class, I talked to Tammy & Megs for awhile then we walked back to Camden.

Stopped by the 99p store and bought Pringles (bad idea lol) and kitkat for me to snack on.

Megan was telling me about some stuff and I really wanted to go up to her kitchen and eat the freshly-baked banana bread she made, and talk to her over coffee, but we'll save it for the next time- instead, I skyped with Zihan (I miss him so much all the time), and then took a long nap.

Got up and heated up the food I made yesterday for dinner,

and then headed down to OCF at ULU (pronounced yooloo by normal people and ooloo by Singaporeans haha) with Terence and John.

It was freezing today- met Terence at Ifor reception, he waited for me at reception with a cup of hot chocolate!! So sweet :')

OCF tonight was really good, met Leo, Serene, Charis, a whole bunch of new faces and names swirling around in my head right now.

One of the worship songs was from Psalm 23,

I've always felt immediately refreshed singing out the Psalms.

"The Lord's my Shepherd I'll not want
He makes me lie in pastures green
He leads me by the still still waters
His goodness restores my soul"

Sermon was an introduction on the book of Mark, and something that really struck me was when the speaker talked about next year's studies on Ruth and Jonah and said "these are stories about these people, but they're also stories about Jesus' life" and I wondered whether I could say that about my own life, or can say that in years to come. Will my life be intertwined with and inseparable from His so that when people recount my life, it'll be a recount of how He worked through me.

It's tough being a christian here, not by name but in practice and action. Checking out church with John on Sunday- looking forward to that.

We got sorted into our small groups, and then headed down to Chinahouse for supper. I got beef brisket for 5pounds, huge portion.

Found out that a lot of the OCF people are housemates, nice to think about what life'll be like for me in second year.

Walked back with Terence, Mark, Darrell, Jireh and Jeremy feeling really at home again.

This feels a lot like BPMC to me, I love it.

Back in my room.

whatsapping Nat, fb chatting Liz. life's alright

Yesterday I had class in the morning, had lunch with Megs in the park again and then we walked back to Camden.

Made lunch and packed dinner,

and then did a bit more readings.

Pre-drinks in the kitchen- Rob, Sophia and Elliot joined us.

Elliot's iPod is awesome, it reminds me of Liz's- loads of showtunes and Glee soundtracks.

Around 11, I headed down to the Ministry of Sound for Fresher's Ball with Asya, Will (henceforth known as Wedic i.e. Will the Medic), Shandana, Stuart, other Will (big Willie and source of many innuendo jokes), Laura and Jenny. Was a really awesome night!! Company made it though.

There were 4 rooms of music, and lasers and pyrotechnics, and it was pretty packed.

I think I needed a night of good fun after this week as well~

Love my flatmates!! Sucks that I haven't been able to hang with them much because of my archaeo stuff. I think there's a general consensus that the party is starting to die down, I'm looking forward to chill dinners in with them as well.

Left around 2.30 and reached home at 4, freezing cold walking from King's Cross station to Euston, lots of laughs that I can't remember for now. Slept at 4.30am :O Never doing that again.

2011-10-05T13:06:00.007+01:00

Amadea came over in the morning to get her luggage, byebye :(

C u in a month or so!

I made myself a sandwich and then cooked lunch and packed half of it for dinner.

Tom yam stirfry! Was really good.

Spent the day doing my primtech essay and editing the sketches in my book.

Had a bit of an emotional breakdown on the phone with Zihan- really rely on him a lot to help me get my stuff together when I'm all over the place.

Met Miles at reception and while we sifted through our mail by surname (he has a ton under C going to Mr Chow and I have a ton going to Mr Ho, chinese people so much mail), he told me that in our tutorials we have an upcoming presentation. And there's another essay due next week. Feel like.. I am struggling already. I've been out of school for 8 months it's very hard to "get it together".

Also I feel like activities keep happening, and lessons isn't so much the central focus now as "UNI" in general including events, societies and all of that stuff.

Can't believe I've only been here 2 weeks it already feels like a month.

I guess I keep telling myself it's because I've had so much activites on i.e. first week- freshers, second week- societies, camp.

Don't feel like myself here. But I have accepted that I will soon, I suppose.

Strangely it's only been 2 weeks but it feels like months because of how fast things've changed.

Couple of things that redeemed today:

- Skyped with Nat for a bit and received her email x

- I told Asya I was feeling homesick on FB chat, and she came over to give me a hug,

then we studied together in my room. Finished my primtech essay! Had to write out all 1000 words into my field notebook.. Amazing housemate.

- The wind is actually literally howling.

And I'm listening to Iron & Wine in anticipation of Monday's concert at Shepherd's Bush.

- Talking to Megs about all the music events we're going to check out together and "meeting" people from the Live Music soc who are really up for jamming with strangers

- Recreating Freshers Fayre from my macbook, joining all the societies online and finally getting onto their mailing lists so I'm up to date. I've "joined" yoga, kickboxing, muaythai, amnesty intl, model un, gastronomy, film, live music, art, christian union, glee club :)

Thinking about how I am going to go for the Live Music Society jam night and Fresher's Ball.

LIKE A BAUS, I guess!

PWNED MY PRIMTECH ESSAY, that's 2 of 8 pages

2011-10-04T17:00:00.005+01:00

Thought my 11am 2-hour lecture was a 10am 1-hour lecture, and all that jazz.

Woke up too early, decided to run errands along Camden.
Got my new cards, posted out huge packages to Singapore (byebye $$), checked out the bakeries,

went for Past Societies lecture which is by far my favourite- the lecturer speaks really well (as most of them do here), but he doesn't use excessive language. It's very easy to understand, and he brings up really interesting points as well. If anything, he's an OCD lecturer and I likeit.

Talked to Zihan on the walk home, :)

dropped by Lidl's and got a whole bunch of groceries for the week, including a frying pan and a couple of plates and bowls so I can stop jewing off my flatmates. It's a lot cheaper buying my cooking ingredients in bulk.

I got broccoli, carrots, onions, garlic, (cannot find ginger meh), chicken fillets, bread, smoked salmon, cheese, ham, salami, rice, juice, yoghurt, apples, pears, muesli bars!

Definitely enough to last me the week and I only spent 12pounds.

I'm deciding to not buy any other carbos i.e. noodles/potatoes until I use my ricecooker at least 10x.. Going to try cooking soup next week once I'm more settled in and done with my primtech essay.

Hung out in the kitchen with Rob, Athena, Sophia & Elliot for a bit.

Elliot did a really sassy commentary on how to use the washing machine when we did our laundry loads. 2 weeks' worth of laundry = 2 pounds. Going to do laundry every 2 weeks when I've accumulated enough dirty clothes.

I like afternoons with my flatmates a lot more than nights.

Walked down to Shu and Huimin's apartment for dinner, it was such a lovely night.

I really felt like I could fall in love with London while I was there.

They have a really quiet and nice little apartment and being in there feels incredibly warm and comfortable. They cooked carbonara pasta with mushrooms and a whole box of mozarella cheese which I love, and then we cut up some fruits and ate ice cream out of the tubs.

A lot of conversation, a lot of laughter, felt like home!!!

Feels so nice to have them here, they said their doors were open to me anytime, feel like I have people to go to if I ever need now. Needed this. Love them :) replacement London sisters

They walked me to the Euston busstop, and I was home within 5 minutes.

Drafting my Primtech essay now :( gotta finish it tomorrow.

2011-10-03T23:17:00.003+01:00

Packed day of lessons,

Material & Visual Culture in the morning which was really interesting. The lecturer took us through an introduction by talking about Anna Hazare's revolution and the impact of media and cultural references or images to constructing this movement. His pet subject is India so he had a lot of insight on it.

Had a nice lunch in the park (my favourite park) with Megs, Esmee, Kaya, Clare, Tammy & Bronte.

We all grabbed 3pound sandwich deals from Subway and Sainsbury and whittled our 2 hour break away.

Mentor groups was a waste of time, I foresee myself skipping it in the future,

and then we had our 2 hour Social Anthro lecture- really loved it.

He kind of told us about his own research project to give us an overview of what social anthro entails- and then told us about the layout of the year.

Signed up for my anth tutorials today and got my arch tutorials assigned so,

For now I've got Wednesdays off and Tuesdays are 10-11. Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, are packed but it's a fair trade-off I suppose.

Had to go down to the police office to retrieve my report again, really troublesome waste of time that almost ruined my entire day.

Met a whole bunch of new people there who all had their phones nicked out of their hands while walking along the streets by guys in bicycles. Crazy.

Got a couple of notebooks, a diary for 2012, and did some quick shopping along Oxford getting some early birthday presents for people,

Anwar was around so we decided to meet up for dinner- grabbed some kebabs and sat on a huge concrete slab in a quiet corner of Oxford (ghetto style, according to him). Was really comfortable and generally an awesome night for me.

Talked through a whole slew of subjects, which I haven't been able to do in awhile.

He sent me home and we kinda talked about religion for a bit- I hope he stays in London after his foundation.