Wednesday, February 28, 2007
ok.. now for the london and paris part of my trip!!
+london+the ride from manchester to paris was all smooth sailing and i managed to meet yvette at the euston train station =) and when i met her.. she say she just saw ming sheng at the euston train station.. but we kinda ignored this coincidence cos we were all too excited about seeing each other. hehe. so we walked to the subway.. talking a lot.. and dangerously crossing roads. yvette crosses the road like she owns it.. its scary!!!!! and when we were at the subway.. when i was just about to tap my card and enter the gates.. ming sheng was standing right in front of me!! hahaha!! its really really such a coincidence that we can meet in london!! its so big and so random!! we took a while to get over the shock and started talking. he was there for his medicine interview too. hahaha. and he helped me with the luggage down the horrible stairs.. so im so glad we met him. it's just a pleasant surprise to meet a familiar face in such a foreign state.
then yvette brought me to her hostel and cooked me a nice and hot lunch. hehe.. its not some super extravagant meal.. but it was nice and cosy eating in their kitchen. and den she brought me out to the oxford street which was like a bigger version of our orchard road. shopped a bit here and there.. and there was a hamleys store that sells a lot a lot of toys!! all so cute!! and i tried their krispy kreme doughnuts.. too sweet for me.. but i will say that it is still very nice.
and den we went to the london eye area. it was already quite late so the night view was very very nice. can see the big ben from where we were.. and the london eye is just gorgeous at night! so we stood by the river and talked and laughed a lot. i wanted a coffee and we talked and laughed even more over the coffee. it was a lot of catching up.. and i can tell all vballers that she misses u all! she bought a top and both joyce and yvette exclaimed tt the top is so yvonne!! so von.. they are thinking of u even when they are shopping!! hehehe.
went back after that and i got to meet her hostel's guys for the first time. i can just stand and listen to their conversation and just laugh!! hehehe. and yvette did her work while i read my bible till very late before we went to sleep finally. this is probably the lastest ive slept since i reached uk.
yvette went to school early while i lazed in bed till it was time to meet my cousin. if not for this london trip.. i never knew that this cousin ever existed. so that was the first time i met him for my entire life that i can remember. it was quite awkward initially.. but im glas his jap girlfriend was there.. else it would have been worse. his jap girlfriend is pretty cute.. hehe. and my cousin treated me to a ex dim sum lunch at chinatown and his girlfriend treated me to beard papa there!! hehehe.. good food and im so lucky!! =) they brought to tour around chinatown.. their red light district and some shopping area too.
den i met joyce!! yvette was too busy to come out.. so joyce came!! i was so so so happy to see joyce again!! =) we kinda got lost trying to find our way to camden town.. but it was such a disappointment when we finally found it.. cos there was nuthing!! so we decided to just find somewhere to sit down and eat ice cream and talk. so we kinda wasted the entire afternoon not going places that i shud be visiting.. but it was good catching up time =) and we left when it was time to return to the hall for our cny steamboat dinner =)
i have to say that im very impressed with the guys in yvette's hall. not to mention that some of them are pretty good looking.. they can cook!! im impressed how they knew how to cook the soup base using carrots and bones and they taste real good!! and they did all the marketing and washing and arranging of all the food while we girls were out. im really impressed. hehehe. and the steamboat dinner was nice.. not because the food was nice.. but the company was nice. the guys are just all jokers.. i just had fun laughing at them. hehe. and i got chocked on the golden mushrooms.. which kinda spoilt my appetite. joyce is damn zai!! she eats slow and steady and when all the guys were down.. she was still eating!! hehehe.
after the steamboat.. we girls went for the second round!! dessert!! hehehe.. so we went to the supermarket dressing very little.. it was cold but we enjoyed the cold. bought ice cream back and had out apple strudel warmed.. and eat again!!! two guys joined us.. but they watched more than they ate. boris and zhen an if i din spell their names wrongly. so we all talked and joked a lot.. with them talking about the food they miss in singapore and boris saying i will just come back and eat everything they mentioned. these two guys can really make me laugh till die. talked and talked till yvette decided its too late and we all went back to sleep. so this night.. four girls shared one tiny room.
and the third day.. yvette had a full day school.. so it was down to me and joyce again!! joyce brought me to their nice nice hyde park.. and den the natural history museum. its surprising nice there and i enjoyed myself there!! geography suddenly seems nice to me at the museum. we even saw dinosaurs.. haha.. and we kinda acted like little kids while we were there.
then we went to the west minister abbey where i wasnt very sure what i was watching.. cos there were just tombs everywhere and it looked nuthing like a abbey that i had in mind. and then we were to the harrods.. where everything was ex but nice. even their toilets have attendants.. haha. bought some stuff and we headed back to the hostel for dinner! wanted to cook a nice dinner just the two of us.. but the cottage chicken was too alluring.. so we bought that for dinner and still cooked a packet of maggie mee!! hehehe. dinner was just sinful but nice. and then joyce went back =( leaving me alone in yvette's room awaiting her return. so i went online and did all the necessary stuff till she finally came back.
the next day morning i kinda followed yvette to school and after that we did some groceries shopping. had a nice lunch and went to the airport super early. felt so sad having to leave my friends in london.. happy that im going london and yet worried cos i dunno who i will be meeting. (this fren of mine in france.. i never met him before.. i knew him thru a patient in the clinic. she's a french teacher and he is her student. she intro us cos i was interested in a third language for a period of time.. so all we did was talk online.. and not met before.. hahahaha)
was so tired that i slept while waiting for my plane. luckily joyce smsed me.. else i would have missed the plane totally. and finally boarded the plane and reached paris safely. but from then all.. it was trouble and more trouble.
+paris+
the moment i came out of the airport.. everything was so foreign and i couldnt find the signs that should lead me to the metro station!! so i walked everywhere hoping to find the signs and when i could not.. i called joyce for help! cos she went paris with yvette and boris before. and real trouble came when my phone ran out of money while calling her!! and i haben gotten the directions from her!! and my singapore phone doesnt allow me to call anyone!! so i was totally left to myself =( did get a little scared and worried.. but a big part of me was how was i supposed to go the place where i am supposed to meet desmond and how is he going to contact me when my phone cannot be used!! when i kinda figured my way out.. it was really late.. so i decided to just head to the hostel.. hoping that he had stopped waiting for me and headed to the hostel instead. and when i reached the metro station near the hostel.. i was worse off. i couldnt find my directions and none of them freaking understand english! so they kinda use signs to direct me to the hostel. i was a little apprehensive about asking a group of guys for directions.. but i had totally no choice! it was near 10 plus and i was really desperate to find the hostel. and i finally found the hostel but to find that desmond had not reached yet. but i am glad he reached about half hour after i did. phew.
feeling tired after everything.. i was bathed and went to sleep.
waking up fresh!! and he first brought me to some church near our hostel. cannot remember the name of the church.. neither can i pronounce it. the view from the church is just gorgeous!! and we went in.. walked a while and sat down to talk. im really surprised that we can talk so much altho we hardly know each other. we talked a lot about christianity and how he thinks i shudnt start with new creation church as a baby christian.. we even talked about politics! can u believe it?! hahaha. i will say he is scaringly critical about stuff and i can never outtalk him. just feel stupid and ill-informed about stuff when talking to him.
left the church and he helped me call back home.. cos i simply dunno what the hell was the telephone blabbering about. so glad i have him around.. else i will be totally useless in paris. let alone feeling very lost.
went to the notre damn.. a well known cathedral there. its nice in there.. but i just dun understand why there seems to be more catholics than christians there.
walked and walked till we reached the louvre but decided to come back tomorrow cos he says its super big and need the entire day to finish seeing it. and we continued to walk and walk till this very very very very nice park. and there were just random chairs around. we just sat down.. enjoying the sun and wind.. relaxing by the pond.. and i kinda dozed off a little. hehe =) its just the relaxing life they lead there that is so amazing and totally scarce in singapore.
walked and walked even more till we reached the arc. nuthing much there to be seen.. but the roundabout is just so big there! with 12 exits! oh my!! i will say that it's very big!!
walked and walked till we reached the eiffel tower and just took pictures from far.. cos it feels like a waste of money going up there. and at the place where we were taking pictures.. there were strikes going on! and its pretty cool that its legal there and police can just stand there watching the strikes. sat a while watching the eiffel tower and talking about more random stuff.
den he brought me to this shopping centre with a roof terrace that i can see a good view of paris again. din spend long there cos it was cold. did some walking around and sat down again to rest and talk. and den it was dinner!! the dinner serving was freaking big!! we ate at some italian restaurant. i could hardly finish my main course.. but ice cream was nice altho i gave the whole scoop of dark chocolate ice cream to him.. it tasted horrible! went to toilet and he paid.. saying that i can return him later.. but in the end.. he treated. felt damn bad.. cos it isnt exactly very cheap. oh wells.
and we walked back to the eiffel tower again! simply cos its lighted up at night.. and according to him.. there will be light displays on the tower every hour. so we were there to catch the lights!! and it was just super duper nice la!!! i couldnt stop looking at it.. and in my mind.. there is this song: you light up my life =) and i thot of tian. =)
went back and slept like a pig.. so tired. was supposed to go moulin rouge but gave it a miss cos we were both so tired. and if not for my alcoholic allergy.. he would have brought me to a pub. oh wells.
the next and last day.. we went to the louvre. walked and walked and walked but it was too big to finish walking and seeing everything. i wasnt all interested too. but it was a good experience i will say. and i had kebab sandwich for lunch. it was really nice.. altho we had to eat it in the open.. with our fingers freezing cold before we went into a church to warm ourselves up. the candles were such beautiful inventions at the moment of time.
then he sent me all the way to the airport and still bothered to accompany me till it was nearing my boarding time. im really glad and i really appreciate his company and his hosting. i wouldnt have enjoyed paris as much without him.
+flight back to singapore+the flight from paris to london was screwed la!! it was delayed for half an hour cos of the bad weather.. so i almost missed my london flight to singapore! i had to run once i got down from the freaking plane.. and i managed to check in and board my plane in time. but what's bad was that i could run.. but my luggage couldnt. so my luggage din get transfered back to singapore in the end.. and was stranded in london. they had my lugguage delivered to my house the next day morning. and everything i needed was in there! irritating!
and i sat with two indian ladies on my way back. why am i always in trouble with indian ladies?! hurmp. because of them.. i din get a comfortable ride home.. neither did i get a good rest and sleep. oh wells.
after this entire trip.. i will have to say that there were blessings every now and then during the trip.. which i am glad for. praise the Lord for them. and im so glad that i din meet those bad luck and bad people that everyone was talking about before i came. i am glad that throughout the trip.. i was covered my Jesus's blood and that i am safe.. my money is safe and my luggage is safe.
and of course.. i know who really places me in the center of their lives. tian who smses me everyday.. always worried if im safe whenever she doesnt hear from me. my family who cannot get to sleep if i dun call them one day. and those we were praying for my safety and wishing me luck for my interviews.. thanks all. love all.
so now i'll wait for the news from the universities and hope for the best =)
says me`6:56 AM
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