Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Nice, France

So I'm finally home from my week of holiday.

We went to France!! On Monday, we took the early cab out to the Bristol airport for our flight to Nice, France. I was beaming with excitement but I was very sleepy so it might have not been portrayed as such. Nevertheless, I was stoked!

We reached the airport and we got some breakfast while we waited for the others from London to arrive. Guys, they're not kidding. The French croissants and the pastries were crazy amazing. They be cray! So soft and so tasty, it's almost unreal because how cliché is it to say the French pastries were sedap??? But they were. I could easily live on croissants all day all night long.

So after meeting up with the London travelers (aka Fatin, Maryam, Sarah, Tariq and Paan), we headed to our hotel. We walked what seemed ages along the beach promenade. Which was beautiful and the weather was so sunny so although I was complaining on how far we had to walk, I was taking it all in! MasyaAllah, gorgeous!









We were in the city first to have late lunch and we had kebabs. But it was really sedap so ok fine it might have not been very French but it was very 'student' hahaha. They had this really tasty sauce and all the while, the girls and I were trying to figure out what sauce it was. 

The city was small and it was very reminiscent of a lot smaller Oxford Street. The buildings were so colourful and bold and so cheery. A nice change from ol' gloomy UK. It was salmon pink walls with turqoise wooden doors. Some say gaudy, some say bold chic. I say bold chic. It was so gorgeous and so quirky! From the mosaic floors, to the rather peculiar lights (I don't know how to explain them without showing a photo... which I don't have at the moment), the city was so cool. It had all sorts of greenery along the street, making it look more and more like spring time! And the weather was so good, with slight wind and lots of sun! I've been Vitamin D deficient, y'see... so yes, I appreciate the sun. 






(the caricaturist asked if he could draw Tariq because he liked his hair lolzzzz)

_____

We walked all the way up the Colline du Chateau for the view of the seaside promenade and the small houses on top of the hills. WHAT A SIGHT. Leaves you breathless (literally... it was a very high climb and from someone who is nowhere near athletic, it was a long stretch. But worth every step!)



Gorgeous. Photos can't and won't do justice. You simply have to see it on your own, the view is c'est magnifique! I wouldn't mind my honeymoon in this city! ;) Honestly, the view was just so breathtaking and it just reminded me of how beautiful this Earth is. Traveling is such a beautiful thing to do because you discover precious places in this world and it reminds you of how amazing God is. Everyone should travel and everyone should have Nice on their travel bucket list. It's serene and the small cute alleys are filled with the cutest cafés and more than anything, you'll enjoy the small nook and crannies Nice offers. I feel like the city is not even trying to impress you but it does in every way. It's so effortless chic, very much like the French people themselves.

We climbed further up (I was panting by then) and we stopped almost every 2 minutes to take more photos because it was like the further you went up, the more of Nice you could see. BEAUTIFUL VIEW.






The yachts all lined up was so cool lah, made me want one. Eventhough I get seasick so easily and crazily. Gorgeous though. Eeeeeep can't get over how wonderful the city was.

Sunset. Was. Stunning. I really can go on and on over how beautiful Nice was during sunset. Loooook lah oh my god my heart. So picturesque. It's so calming also that after this photo, I put my camera down for a bit and just let the view sink in. Nice is so underrated compared to Paris and I think everyone should go visit Nice first because the city is so untouched and raw that it makes it so much more French. Nice was beautiful, too beautiful for words.




We ended the day by walking to a local gelato place. It was like a mamak with their plastic tables and chairs outside for people to lepak. But not with maggi goreng or teh ais. It was with gelato. All kinds of gelato! I had 2 scoops of mango and passionfruit and yum yum yummmmmm it was so good!!!!! Eeek, probably the best I've had. It was so nice to unwind and borak and lepak over good ice-cream with everyone. We played our usual teka-teki and that was good fun seeing everyone scratch their heads over teka-teki's. 











Such a gorgeous first day for me. 




And it was about to get better.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Video makin' and KY lovin'

I love video-making. It started from KY when Amal and I came together and produced a video to be represented for our house in the usual video competition. I had no idea how to make one and was completely new to the process. Amal is pro! So I learnt from her a lot during our KY days. The video that we made was very minimalist and it was very us. We both filmed and Amal edited. It was a long shot because it wasn't the usual video people made in KY; it was bordering on documentary-ish. There was no real story line and it was a risk, but it was a risk we were willing to take. When we finished making it and showed it to some people, they were doubtful about the video. They suggested we amended the video and we did consider it because then, we just kinda wanted to win something. 

We tried changing it and adding a storyline but we weren't feeling it. At all. We just didn't like it at all so we were like "Y'know what I don't really care if we win or not. We love it so that's all that matters. Win or lose, I'll be super proud and happy that the video was ours."

We stuck to our intuitions and upon showing it to everyone in the great hall, Amal and I got so nervous and we were sinking in our seats. We were the last one up so pressure was building after seeing everyone's videos. It made people laugh. So when ours was shown on the big projector screen, everyone was still and quiet. 

They loved it. The video was a great hit (atleast I think it was!) and people were talking about it on Twitter for quite some time. Eeeep Amal and I were so grateful and we were happy that we decided to do what we wanted and went with it. Alhamdulillah, we won the competition. But that video meant so much more than winning first place. It marked my love for video-making! 

I'm looking forward to many many more videos to make and to record. There's just something about filming that makes me happy. Editing makes me happy too, Amal! Hahahah

I've been meaning to make a KY video from all the shots I took from our last week but never got around to doing it so a couple days ago, I had finished all of my coursework and I had some free time on my hands so I figured I'd make one.

Making the video was so much fun and so funny! I laughed so much rewatching the videos from our time playing Taboo in the café! 

I hope KY meant as much to you as it did to me. 

Hope you like it!! 

Friday, April 4, 2014

Coke fast

So on the first of March, I declared a No Coke/Chocolate month. It was a spur of the moment thing and I just decided to see if I can swear off my favourite soda and chocolates off for a whole month.

Well, yes, I did. I hit a month a couple days ago, and after uni, I went straight to the grocery shop nearby and picked myself up 2 bottles of coke and three packets of 6-pack chocolate.

....

I was so elated !

But I think that whole month helped me a bit because I didn't reach for the two as quick and as much as I thought I would.. which is a good thing eh?

Hmm..

But still, now I can go out to restaurants and not just have tap water!

Cheers !!