Wednesday, November 27, 2013

FREDO's

Guys I'm obsessed with this.
I'll be known as the girl who goes into the grocers and buys like 5 packets of these at once. It's pretty pathetic but I constantly need it. I came back from Cardiff the other day and came home to no chocolates in reach.........

I literally dropped my bags and headed out to get some. Couldn't bear going through the day without a frog head shaped chocolate. I even have them in my handbag just in case I get too hungry....... which is all the time but that's besides the point.

Before coming here, my mum said she put on weight in her first semester because she was eating so much chocolate and potatoes.

Err........ ok. Ummm ok I'm not usually bothered with my weight because I'm very blessed to have a rather high metabolism rate (thank you Allah, forever and ever grateful for that) but with all the chocolate bars I've eaten I might have to check balik hahaha



If and when I return home, I might just buy the whole shelf of Fredo's to bring back to Malaysia. I might.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

MONTH 2

It's a gorgeous sunny day out here in England. And I'm indoors listening to Katy Perry and sipping my apple juice. I was thinking of going out to get groceries but I mean, Tesco delivery is very VERY convenient for the lazy and the fab (me) hahahah ok no

But alas, I'm just going to spend my day watching TV shows I've left off because I was busy this week with uni work.

It's been 2 months now in this foreign land. It's cold and the days are so miserable because it gets dark so early. I was here last winter and I remember I couldn't wait to go home where 7 pm wasn't pitch black. I'm so used to sun back home that I just feel like the weather here is not even trying.

YOU'RE NOT EVEN TRYING, UK WEATHER!! TRY HARDER!

Shopping wise, I've been pretty good. Restrained myself from any shopping. I do the 24 hour test. If I like something, I wait 24 or 48 hours to see if I still like it. And so far, it's working great for me. Although it still saddens me when I leave the store empty handed after being completely invested in that one top/trousers/bag/pair of shoes. I'm saving up for a good cause - my London shopping come Christmas and Boxing Day. Ehmehgerd I can't wait!

I now cook quite a bit because going out is expensive and I'm still keeping myself to 15 pounds per week for food excluding groceries. And I'm pretty ok with cooking although I do find myself being a bit of a one trick pony with my stir fry chicken. I did try breaded chicken and chicken teriyaki the other day and that was nice. Though my curry skills sometimes ada sometimes takde pergi mana tah. I haven't cooked fish yet because I don't know what to cook and how to cook it. I find myself watching Malaysian food recipes. I really really really want to try my hand at cooking butter prawns. It's far-fetched, yes I know but I'm just going to do it and see how far I get before I give up hahaha.

My housemates all left for London and Manchester that one weekend leaving me home alone. And I told my parents about it and I decided to buy tickets for Cardiff. So I spent a weekend in Cardiff which was very nice because they had a match day that Saturday and everyone, boy and girl and man and woman, were walking around proudly donning their Cardiff scarfs and jerseys. It was a nice sight although I felt that most of 'em were quite drunk by the end of the day. The city center reminded me of a little small version of Oxford Street. I absolutely LOVE the Christmas spirit in this country. It's amazing and so heartwarming.




The guys behind Sarah were busking. At probably the most inconvenient place ever. It was in the middle of a pretty empty park. But such a gorgeous place to busk nevertheless. 


Don't know what it means but it looked cool. SO NATURALLY we'd take a photo with it.




This is fake snow. But at the end of the day, we're all still amused young Malaysians. But it's fake snow, guys. Cardiff was warmer than Bristol!  



Sofia paid 20p for nothing because we could only see like..... the sky.  




Omg guys MY WIFI HAS BLOCKED MY STREAMING WEBSITES hwaaaaaaaaaa I was genuinely really upset and really sad because this means no more TV SHOWS I'M SO FRUSTRATED UGH UNITED KINGDOM GET YO SHIT TOGEDER



k luv you UK but i mean c'mon give a girl a break pls

Monday, November 18, 2013

Nottingham Malaysian Games '13

So I was psyched for Nottingham since the day I got here. I was counting down the days. And it finally came.

Didn't sleep the whole night because knowing me I might have slept the whole way through and miss my bus. Left for Uni at 2:30 am and we made a move at 4 in the morning. Caught some shut eye in the bus. I was expecting it to be a long journey but it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. We were there by 6:30. Sejuuuuuuuuukkkkkk !!! Nottingham was freezing! It was so sejuk that the whole lot of us were shivering throughout and at one point malas dah nak keluarkan cameras and phones because it was too cold to allow our little frail hands out of our pockets. My hands, I swear, looked swollen! The coldest I've experienced since coming here this year, to be honest.

Of course, budak KY nampak macam tak jumpa dalam 10 tahun. Over gila hahahaha waving frantically and hugging and screaming and photo taking. Macam lama sangat tak jumpa lol sometimes I wonder what other kids think of us. I've had some people say

"Hmm nantikan lah a wave of KY students kat Notts"





Hahahaha lolz sorry not sorry.

We hung around for a bit before making our way for food. I was so excited I could've sprinted my way there but alas, my athletic abilities are pretty much non-existent. So I walked (UPHILL) ok not so bad lah uphill dia but still! And it was cold. But it was so nice to see Malaysians and catching up with friends we haven't seen in so long was so much fun.



Nottingham campus is humongous. HUGE. It didn't feel like a campus because of how big it was. Anyway. We reached the food hall and it was jam packed with people. Couldn't even move about to see what food they were selling. SO many people, I had to leave the place without getting anything first because it was so stuffy and I felt a bit claustrophobic (and I'm not one for claustrophobia in the first place!). Only to realise it was cold outside so I went in again hahahaha this time, I got rice with chicken curry. I only opted for that because that was the only stall that had the least amount of people queueing up for it. Wanted to get nasi lemak but the line was so massive and it was £5 which I feel, very overpriced and so I wasn't willing to buy it. Atleast the rice i bought came with spring rolls, chicken wings and a samosa I think.




So we walked to find a place to sit. Found a bench and the warmth from the hot food made it more sedap! After eating, we wanted to head back to the sports center AND GUESS WHO CAME AND SURPRISED US ALL!?!?!?!?!?!? MARISSA !!!!!!!!!!! Oh my God, you should've seen me. I legit couldn't believe it even though I had the slightest feeling she was going to come. But it caught me off guard and I was soooooooo pleasantly surprised and seeing this friend of mine instantly made my whole day and my whole week. I've missed her way too much and from seeing each other in college all day and all night, it was SOOOOOO good to see her again. Hwaaaaaaaaaa she's the sweetest and the bestest and the absolute loveliest.

Went to the futsal place outside of campus so we got to ride the shuttle. Of course I ran straight to the back seat because that's where it's warmest. And of course this happened.

After seeing the football players (namely just Izmal and Paan), we headed back because we wanted to go see......





...... RUMAH BATMAN!!!! Y'see, Wollaton Park is this place in Nottingham where there was the Wollaton Hall. And Christopher Nolan shot parts of The Dark Knight Rises there. When I saw this on the Nottingham Malaysian Games Facebook page, I freaked out. I love Batman and the movies are brilliant. Iman is such a huge fan of it so I also terikut-ikut. But I immediately knew that I HAD to go there while I was in Nottingham. So we walked. And we walked. It's faaaaarrrrrrr and it was tiring. But this was something I had to go see and take photos and send it to Iman. Hehehe. Would love to bring her here one day!!

The park closed relatively early and we had to take off before the park closed or else we wouldn't be back in uni!

Have I told you how cold and ice-like Nottingham was on that day? Painful. Thinking about it brings painful memories........

x

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Gang

So, last weekend I had some friends over from Sheffield, London, Exeter and Cardiff (Olan, Syazwan/Julian/Paan/Zain, Aidil and Sarah respectively) and it was so nice of them to come over and visit us in lil ol' Bristol.

I've not seen the Clifton Suspension Bridge here so I was half tour guide and half tourist.

"So this is the Clifton Suspension Bridge and - OOH WOW IT'S SO COOL!"

Me, basically.

It was a rather gloomy day and it drizzled a few times throughout the day and it was getting cold. Haih. No more cute cardis and jumpers. All rain coat and heavy duty jacket. Bleh. Meh. Bore.

But any day with my friends is a good day overall.











It is always nice to so much fun to meet up with my college mates. Amazing what that place does to ya!  We practically see each other all the time but we still miss the heck out of each other after some time. I think 'cause we're so used to seeing each other all the time, all day all night for 2 years straight.
We actually all went out for dinner 2 days after graduation day. 2 days. We lasted 2 days before meeting up again.

Ridiculous.

But the good kind of ridiculous. The kind of ridiculous only we understand.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Tangled

Acted like a real grown up and went to the supermarket to get curry powder, tumeric, tupperwares and sauces. I find so much joy in buying groceries now hahaha it's quite ironic because I found it so boring back home because I'd just be following my mum around with the trolley. And I never understood why Mama had to go to the grocers ALL the time!

Now I understand why hahaha

It's also quite therapeutic in its own weird way. Kinda just stand in the Asian Food aisle (... that's where I'll be) and think of what you're going to cook for the whole week. I love it. Dare I say grocery shopping > clothes shopping ?!?!?!

Maybe it's because I don't feel guilty going shopping for food and ingredients as I would if I go buy another sweater/jumper. Yawn. Summer please cepat.

So I had Mum at the ready (through iMessage) and prepared everything and fried this and tumis that and potong this and kupas that.



YUMMMMMMMMMM!!! The curry oozed the all too familiar smell and it brought me home instantly. Which is practically the reason why I like cooking now. Because the most gourmet of dishes here can never beat the good ol' nasi putih and kari ikan/ayam/daging/anything and telur dadar. Devoured in 2 helpings of rice because I was hungry and it was quite sedap and I'm the biggest critic when it comes to Malay food so this batch was not bad. It was definitely better than my last attempt. This one had a thicker consistency. Can't wait to attempt masak lemak and tom yam!

____

The weather here had made my hair go all stringy and dry and tangly. My hair has always been tangly but it has been EXTRA terribly tangled here I have no idea why. So I did something that I have never done in my life ever - buy a hair brush. I was out in the city and I just HAD to get a hair brush. I couldn't finger comb through my hair anymore. It wasn't working. So I got this. Mainly because it was hot pink. I wasn't too convinced about their claims of detangling my hair knots but oh well.

And my oh my was I wrong!!!!!! It is single handedly one of my favourite things I have in my room (and in my life). It's amazingggggggggg!!!!!! Literally, one brush through and it detangles everything completely through! I LOVE ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!! It's such a miracle worker.





Look how stringy and dry my hair is here. Ok no don't look.  



Just for fun, this is a screenshot of my Oovoo session with some of my best mates. Kanda was trying to remove his Halloween make-up........ with a tissue. Wat. Thankfully Marissa and I came to the rescue. Hahaha hashtag pro hashtag amazing hashtag kandaisluckytohaveus



Ok gonna go watch Modern Family aka the best thing since Friends

x