Saturday, September 27, 2014

Back!

Hi everyone!!

It's been a week since I've been in the UK already, syukur amin. I was in London for a few nights before making the bus trip back to Bristol. Heavy hearted to leave KL but a tiny bit of me missed the UK life so a tiny bit of me wanted to get on that plane and endure the horrendous 13 hour journey. Seriously, I hate flights!! I have the worst air sickness ever and throughout the whole 13 hours, I did not stand up a single time which is bad if you think about it but I really couldn't because I was feeling too nauseous. Imagine feeling like you want to throw up for 13 hours straight!!! Quite horrible gila babs one. But I managed to pull through (phew) and safely arrived London.

I just got back to Bristol yesterday evening and as much as I love London and all it offers, I missed Bristol quite a lot. It's very me. It's chilled but it gets pretty hectic when it wants to. But for the most part, it's chilled. And London can be very very exhausting. I now understand why my seniors told me they hate the tubes. It's so tiring going up and down and being in a stuffy carriage. I try my best to not get on the tube now.

ANYWAY

My independent living has started today. I went out to get new bed sheets because I got a bigger bed and I had groceries delivered and I cooked ayam kunyit for dinner and did my laundry. Quite proud considering I did not once attempted cooking any thing nor wash anything for the past 3 months. Teruk but hehehe was spoilt silly when I was home. The thing excited me most was getting my new duvet cover!!!!!! It's so beautifuuuuul I couldn't stop staring at it when I had it on. It's a floral motif one in all of my favourite colours.

I feel like such a grown up here because now, getting garlic and mushrooms and buying new bath mats is so exciting! Hahahaha, I LOVE grocery shopping here because there's so many things to choose from. Same with going to Boots to get my toiletries. My God, the array of hair products and skincare is insane!

Living independently can be quite tiring because you find that you have to do everything on your own and no one is going to help you but yourself. I mean, of course you have your friends but ultimately, it comes down to you to do things. Going to the bank, remembering you have to throw out the trash, writing down a list of groceries to buy and reminding yourself that the last brand of laundry detergent was rubbish so that you don't get the same one next time around. It's really memenatkan and some days you just want to bum around and not cook. But you can't because you have to! You realise that going out to eat is way too expensive especially on a student budget like ours. I read one of my seniors' tweet,

"Kalau kat rumah, hidup untuk makan. Kalau kat UK, makan sekadar nak hidup."

Which is soooooo true!! I LOVE to eat, I'd eat all day if I could in KL. And if there wasn't anything at home, I'd drive and grab something to eat. Money wasn't an issue and neither was transport. When you have the car, you can go mana mana also never mind. But here, ish. Makan whatever there is and LIVE WITH IT. Nowadays, I really cling onto my rice cooker like it's my prized possession (who we kidding, it IS my prized possession) because I can't be bothered to pay so much money on mediocre food. How much can one eat burger and fish and chips and sandwiches and kebabs. RICE FOR THE WIN. I just stir fry anything I find in my fridge and call it a day. And telur goreng. Nothing a fried egg can't fix!

So yeah, back to my independent living ways. I'm looking forward to seeing what this new academic year brings me! Also, all the traveling!! I hope to discover more places with my friends and eeeeep can't wait for our next holiday (mama papa don't worry lama lagi cuti so i'm studying now ok ok)

Hope you all have a brilliant academic year! xxxxxx


xx

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Di sini lahirnya sebuah cinta

I have Katy Perry's summer anthem on and it's 1:16 am Tuesday morning. I'll be on the plane in approximately 9 hours, getting ready to take off for UK round #2.

I can't believe it's already been 3 months!

My heart is feeling so heavy to leave home again for 9 months. But if the past 3 months have been any indicator, the next 9 shouldn't be too far away. I've been loving home so much that having to leave on Malaysia Day itself is so sad. But at the same time, I am looking forward to start second year again because this time 'round, we have the whole lot of juniors joining us insyaAllah! Should be a fun and hectic time as it always is with them.

But ultimately, I'm so sad to leave this place :"((( I'm so Malaysian, it's ridiculous! No matter where I may go, I will always have Malaysia close to my heart. My favourite place ever lah, this place. From the food to the familiar rojak language, I grow to love this place more and more. I think being abroad for a long period of time made me appreciate Malaysia more bak kata pepatah orang putih "Absence makes the heart grow fonder".

This summer break, I


  • Went to Penang and Terengganu with friends and went to the beach both times. 
  • Had a splendid Raya Aidilfitri with my even more splendid family. 
  • Ate Mak Tok's cooking for 2 weeks straight and then continued to devour food in all of my favourite places. Yes, that would include home.
  • Watched Germany win the World Cup and stayed awake for most of the good matches. Sometimes alone and sometimes with a very sleepy Iman.
  • Got treated to a Paris x Barcelona trip by Tania hehe she da real mvp for sure 
  • Drove both Papa and Pak Tok's car!!!!! Yay!!
  • Dressed up.
  • Dressed down. 
  • Went to Jumpstreet with 16 others and played dodgeball!
  • Played card games and Cranium with my cousinzzz.
  • Karaoke-d with my sisters!
  • Celebrated Zaim's 20th.
  • Tried new food in Terengganu! Pulut lepa is my new favourite tea time food. Only if they had it in KL!
  • Went on breakfast dates, lunch dates, dinner dates, supper dates with different people. 
  • Laughed my butt off.
  • Cried my heart out.
  • Tried my hand at street style photography with my bestie. 
  • Went to KY twice! Ate at Garden Seafood twice also hihi 
  • Chopped off my hair! 
  • Had a pizza date with my Iman.
  • Had a manicure date with my Tania.
  • Had a heart to heart with my Zaim.
  • Raya-ed with my friends and took endless selfies.
  • Once again, played Speed with Pana..... I won.
  • Learned how to play Taiti. Aced at playing Taiti.
  • Went to a Vintage Fest with Marissa and then had a rather large curry puff and enjoyed live music. Best time!
  • Got obsessed (and I mean, real obsessed) with Running Man. KWANG SOO FOREVER AND EVER
  • Satisfied most, if not all, of my food cravings. 
  • Spent time with all the people I care greatly for. 
May Allah bless my second year in the UK with all things good and may it all be smooth sailing for me. 

I looked forward to home for so long and it definitely lived up to all I had imagined and I'm forever and ever grateful to call this country home. I will definitely miss you and there will definitely be nights where there won't be nothing I won't do to come home even for a night but for the mean time, I have to face reality and be a good student. InsyaAllah!!! 

See you soon Malaysia, God willing! 


Thursday, September 11, 2014

Pulau Pinang

Yesterday, Farhan, Kanda and I went on a spontaneous day trip to Penang. I've not been on a day trip to anywhere because even the thought of it is exhausting. But for me, it's always been "Anything for Penang". I've been going there all my life because my grandparents live there and we always try to go see them and we're always always there for Raya. It's really my favourite place next to my own home. I have always and always will consider it my second home. So, naturally I agreed to the day trip.



We left at 10 after having breakfast at McD. I had the back seat all to myself and I brought along my pillow so I had a good hour worth of sleep. The boys stopped by to buy fruits and for toilet breaks but #21 I really dislike stopping by anywhere when we're on the road. It's probably because I'm so accustomed to sleeping in the backseat that having to leave the car is so annoying. 

It was raining halfway and we arrived at about 2, I think? First stop was Line Clear nasi kandar for lunch. 




As you can see here, we finished everything. It was good and from my 21 years of life, I've not gone out for a nasi kandar experience. Because if you know my grandmother, you know that there's never a reason to leave home for food. And Pak Tok will always bungkus some for home so I really had no reason to go out to eat. Penang was raining then so it was nice and cool throughout the day; usually it'll be boiling! While we were eating, it hit me that this would be my last nasi kandar in a long while because we're all heading back to the UK soon. Hwaaaaaaaaa crying inside :"(

And then we headed back to my grandparents place because the boys wanted to pray and chill. It was raining so there wasn't really anything to do. Pak Tok and Mak Tok had bought so much food for just the three of us because she thought there were more people coming hahaha bless them. I initially didn't even want to tell them of our trip because I knew that this would happen. They'd fuss over food and all. But aren't all grandparents like that? Eep, so much love.

After about two hours, we left for some cendol loving at Chowrasta. My heart felt so heavy as we left the house because my grandparents are my favourite people next to my own parents. So leaving the house has always been difficult, even since young. And to know that I won't see them in a while broke my heart even more.

OK BEFORE I START GETTING REAL EMOTIONAL, LET'S MOVE ON TO having cendol.

We went back to Jalan Penang basically for cendol. I'm not really fond of it so I just took photos and breathed in familiar Penang air.


Psh! And they say we girls always silang our kaki when we take photos!

We then went to Batu Ferringhi. I haven't been there in ages! But when we were there, I fell in love again with the beach and the sound of the waves and the serenity of just looking out to the horizon. It reminded of how great Tuhan is, masyaAllah. And we were there during sunset which was even better. The cuff of my jeans got wet but I didn't mind, being at the beach was possibly one of my highlights of my summer break.










After walking around Batu Ferringhi and the boys got themselves some souvenir, we left for cheese naan at the very famous Kapitan in town. I'm not a humongous fan of cheese so I stuck to good ol' roti telur. I did steal a bite from Kanda though and it was really good but I'd probably be so muak of it halfway


We left Penang for home right after dinner. After eating all day long, sleeping wasn't a problem. But I had an eye out just in case Kanda got sleepy and needed someone to talk to.

So that was Penang for us! It was a greattttt day trip and I'm glad the boys enjoyed themselves there because I have such a special place in my heart for that place and to be able to go back there before leaving for the UK was amazing. Wished we could stay longer!

Time to hit reality now, sadly. Ahhhh, can't believe it's already time for university.