Welcome back

I will revive this blog soon!! I've got so much to write about. But not now! I have to finish coursework first...

Dashed.

Two weeks left till Christmas Holidays and I should be rejoicing and enjoying the London Christmas atmosphere but here I sit in front of my syntax textbook feeling absolutely helpless. I don't regret choosing my course but now I am reconsidering my initial dream of UCL. I have to admit, I feel like I am at a lost most of the time. I hate this feeling. Trust me when I said I have been doing more work than I ever did in my previous studies, I have spent so much time in the library, I have been reading up on extra readings, but I still feel at a lost. I feel like I don't know enough to compare with other students. Basically, I feel stupid, and it is depressing.

updates

Its 3.17pm now and its getting dark. How I do miss the sunshine here. Anyway, the anticipated Reading week has passed which I didn't succeed much in doing anything except going to watch musical. 'Wicked' was a blast!! I guess waiting outside LSE for tickets for 1 hour plus in the cold was worth it after all. The cast was simply amazing and the plot was brilliantly constructed as well. Actually, it gets you thinking about the concepts of good and evil as well as ruined the idea of a place 'somewhere over the rainbow'. 'Defying Gravity' has now officially become my favourite musical song. A few days later, I went to watch 'Jump' a korean, yes, KOREAN martial arts comedy show at Peacock Theatre. It was quite funny actually but having still remained under the awe of Wicked, it wasn't as thrilling as it could be. But still funny nonetheless as the actors hardly spoke on stage but does pantomimes and exaggerated gestures for most part of the comedy act and a whole lot of martial arts!

After reading week, all hell breaks loose with the amount of coursework I left hanging! Anyway, I finished and submitted all in time! Thank God! So I am taking a break for this week.

I am ending this post abruptly because I don't feel like continuing anymore...will update again soon.

Birthday in London

I had a fun birthday in London despite having a phobia of getting old. 6th November 2009 London time started with me on skype with Jessica who was the only person who waited with me till my birthday!! It's so nice being able to see her and chat with her even though she is a kabillion miles away in America. Anyway, that was midnight.

The fire alarm went off at 4.40am, thanks to the receptionist that fell asleep! So yeah, my morning didn't started off as amazing as it should be because I had to rush and get dress to get to phonetics tutorial. Right after phonetics, I ran to Russell Square Station to catch the tube to Convent Garden. I had a ticket for the open day at the Royal Opera House.

ROH was amazing!! I am so thankful that I didn't think twice (though I should have) about getting a ticket! I went straight to the Paul Hamlyn hall, which had an amazing archy glassy celling, to watch the Royal Ballet School at work. I have to admit. I was extremely jealous, and I really mean EXTREMELY!! The Upper school students were amazing with their amazing flexibility, amazing arches, amazing extensions, amazing everything!! I look fat when standing beside them.

Then I stayed for 2 more rehearsals on the nutcracker. The first was the fighting scene between the nutcracker and the mouse king. Watching the rehearsals just made me realised how difficult and painstaking it is to perfect everything. The I watched the Waltz of the Snowflake rehearsal. I would have thought that coordinating would be simple as everyone is a professional dancer, but how wrong I was. It reminded me of what I went through in just a simple sibu production. Not that easy after all.

I left after the waltz rehearsal to explore the opera house but eventually came back to watch the last rehearsal on Limen, a new ballet. Just wanted to see how Sarah Lamb looks like. And she is as pretty as all the photos I've seen of her. Wasn't that into Limen though but still the movements were really fluid and elegant.

I went to Convent Garden market for lunch after that then walked back to Chandler house for my last tutorial before reading week. After tutorial, I went to Passfield to meet up the others for dinner!

Well, we didn't expect torrential rain in London but it happened and we just called a cab to take us to the restaurant which we couldn't locate. Anyway, dinner was awesome and there was a 50% discount because of Franchi's tastelondon card. We went back to Passfield where I booked my flight to Italy for Christmas.

So yeah, thats my birthday! Most part was spent wonderfully alone though. But still I had an enjoyable day! Thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday!!

First month in London

It's been a month already!! Anyway, this is just a short post to sum up all the stuff that I have done. So, went to Portobello Rd with Cherwaye, Avenue Q with Cherwaye, Hip hop classes with Franchi, London tour with Siburians...hmmm...thats all that comes out from the top of my head for the moment. Avenue Q was amazing and was much more than I expected!! Might be going to watch Wicked soon with Cherwaye...Anyway, got to read!!! I have tons to read..and most of it, I don't understand..

The perplexity of Linguistics

I am thoroughly enjoying my first week of University which consists of 4 hours of lectures and 4 hours of tutorials!! Yes, I am really free..however that comes with downside as well, I have loads to read and I am expecting workload to come pouring in soon. I have had syntax, phonetic and logic and meaning classes. The first 2 I found relatively understandable however, logic and meaning is just plain bizarre. I can't get my head around the idea of conditional truth, basically, how a sentence is a sentence. The snow is white. The sentence is true because 'snow', which refers to ice crystals from the sky, and 'is white' which is associated with a particular set of colours, therefore, snow is white IF and only if the snow is white....hmmmm.....help............

Freshers!!

London is wonderfully busy!! UCL is extremely organized!! Chandler House is just breath-taking!! I am having quite a lot of fun here as lectures have not started yet and will not until next Wednesday. This week has simply been congested with information and introduction to university life. Weather has been good though chilly but still good nonetheless. I went to freshers fayre the other day and joined a few interesting albeit rather weird clubs and societies. One of them was Chocolate!! And guess what members do! EAT CHOCOLATE! Cool right!! I also joined the Investment society because it sounds rather smart and it is definitely a must for Asians like me who took up an un-Asianly course..plus, I got a free mug! Other than that, I signed up for almost every single theatre society that there is in UCL, just to get cheap tickets though but I might take part in at least one of them before I leave.
In terms of food, I am sorry to say that I haven't been impressed at all. I miss Malaysian food. Actually, I should be saying I miss REAL EDIBLE FOOD!! I swear Hughes Parry is trying to starve all it's occupants with small miniscule portions that are hardly enough for anybody and horribly yucky tasting thingies that I don't even know the name of. That's what you get for wanting to be cheap and living the university life. As for lunch, I have to admit that I should start exploring the area for other things than sandwiches. I have been eating Pret A Manger sandwiches for a week now and I have to say, one can only take that many sandwiches without overdosing.
My linguistics class has only around 30 students plus affliliated students from overseas. They are all pretty nice but I guess it's too soon to say as I have only met them for a week. However, Chandler house, where most of my lectures will be taking place is superbly nice with different colour schemes on all floors. The basement is red so all the furniture and walls are painted red. I know the library floor is orange and some other floor is purple. Anyway, I am quite exicited as well as scared about starting next week!! Everybody seems to have a perfectly logical reason of being there except me. I find it so hard to answer when people ask me why I decided to take Linguistics. Because I have an interest in Language?? Yes I do, but I don't really know how strong and lasting my interest is. Anyway, it's still pretty cool telling people I am reading Linguistics instead of some normal Asiany subject.
My room in Hughes Parry is huge but the colour scheme of the room is poorly chosen, making the place look a bit shabby. I hate my view though, the window at the side of my bed faces rooftops of Canterbury and Commenwealth hall and the window in front of my desk faces a wall. My roomate, Francesca is absolutely nice. Quite soft spoken although she goes out every single night. She is half Italian but could not really speak but can understand Italian so it is a good chance of me to practice with her I guess. I have met quite a lot of people in this hall but really, I can't remember their names. The good thing is, I am probably only gonna meet them once and that's it. Staying in a hall that accomodates 500+ people who goes to different unis, I don't really have to remember everyone.
I am still losing my way around London. Passfield hall is incredibly hard to find though it is only 2 roads down Hughes Parry. I am virtually almost an LSE student, having spent most of my time with Cherwaye, Tania, Zhiwei and Aflaah in LSE areas.
I am tired of writing now and might continue with updates on the next post. So yeah, that's what I have covered so far in London for the past week!! To anyone back home, do skype me or send me an email ok..I do get lonely sometimes...