72 DAYS IN LONDON

HELLO WORLD! omg so long since i blogged :b basically what happened since reading week and the amazing trip to norway is just school stuff. shall break it down.

Civil Engineering
Busy, as usual. with the lectures, tutorials (i was the only one that turned up today it was so effective cos i mean all the attention was on me :D i really don't mind more of it like that :b), lab. the structures plane frame lab was super lame. the course is still manageable as of now. the most frustrating one is design, where we have to draw all the plan and section and stuff and i did the stairs calculation till i wanted to go crazy but im satisfied with the end product. so yay :D

and preparation for scenario 2 has started. we're supposed to come up with a regeneration plan for West Hamstead/Finchley Road area, and then design an actual can stand can use footbridge. quite exciting right? and i like my group. we chose ourselves so i'm in a group with 3 other angmors. haha. they are the seriuos about the project kind, but in the process can still have fun. i like :D

averaging B's and A's for my work so far. and i'm no longer aiming for the faculty or department award. i've decided that i have to forgo some things to get a more holistic education and to make my life here more fulfilled. getting so involved in so many stuff means less time and energy for school work. but it's a trade-off i'm willing to make. for the first year at least, till my priorities change in the future.


Engineers Without Borders
busy with meetings and upcoming events. and there's a new scheme we want to implement. and a new project i'm thinking of starting up with a friend from egypt about the garbage problem in egypt. still in the talk only process though. oh we had our welcome meet and greet session on friday. turn out was not bad. yup and there's the international development course this sat. i want to sit in and listen to the speakers, but i've got to prepare the food :/ ah well, excited all the same. at least i know the events and activities we have actually create an impact somehow. makes me feel that i'm doing meaningful stuff. and the committee is a bunch of fun people from all over the world. different perspectives, not just confined to singapore. i'm actly the only asian there. haha.


UCL Singapore Society
had the agm recently. i'm the events director (that's my 3rd events post :b). i ran for president and vice president but didn't get them. i'm actly quite glad about it cos i think my plate is kinda full for the moment. but i really want to be in the committee cos as i said in my speech, i want to take the lead to serve the society. so yeah, happy with my post :D meetings are starting soon and yup :) excited about what we can/are going to do.

DHSYA(UK)
more activites up and coming. nearest will be xmas/new year stuff. and then there is the combined alumni CNY carnival. woohoo :D must liven up the dhs alumni here. and i always love meetings cos the president so cute. haha meihui you got stalk me until here not?

Frisbee
one sentence: i stopped going after i paid for the membership -.-

A Twist of Fate
This is a musical by the UCL Singapore Society, to be staged in march next year. i'm the set design IC. cs productions actly got me interested in all the backstage proppy stuff. so yeah glad i can help out in some way :D i shall use my civil engineering knowledge to make really stable stairs. haha. nothing much has started actly. meetings soon and then time to get the work done. so it's all still in the planning stage. i need to read the script. haha. like soon.

woah 72 days in london. it's not really a very long time, considering that i'll be here for 4 years. but it's not exactly short. it's like more than 2 months. i've been away from my family, my dog and my friends for so long. i miss them so so so so so much :( but i've made so many friends here, and some i really feel are friendships that will last after we go back to singapore ;) of course my friends back home are irreplaceable. you all are the best ok? and my mummy is coming in 2 weeks! like omg omg omg excited!!! :D :D :D

yeah, i think that's about it. pictures are all on facebook! sorry i'm too lazy to post them up haha. anyway, the pictures don't really have link with what i just typed cos the pictures are all of events and yah pictures speak a thousand words so just go look at them, i blogged unpictureable stuff. hahaha.

OMG NORWAY IS ULTRA SUPER DUPER AMAZING :D

HELLO EVERYBODY! :D NORWAY IS AWESOME!

Day1:

Flew to Oslo Rygge from London Gatwick. Arrived at the city centre in the evening. and it felt like midnight. their day is like from 9 to 4. damn sad. ziyang got pickpocketed outside the bus station. with all of us looking. this norwegian guy suddenly just came up to ziyang and danced with him and teach him self defence moves and poof. £25, NOK200, our return bus tickets, hall card, driving license, debit card gone. made the necessary phone calls. grabbed a bite from a cheap cafe and headed to look for a police station to make a report. interesting enough experience. haha. after that went to look for a bus to the campsite we were staying at. we stayed in a family cabin. cosy little space :D

Easy bus from West Bompton to London Gatwick

Ryanair from London Gatwick to Oslo Rygge

Rygge Ekspress from Oslo Rygge to City Centre

Supermarket first for next day's breakfast!

Quick bite 2 for NOK30 pizza at Cafe de Luca

At the police station which doubles as a police museum.

Finally found the stupid bus stop to take the bus to our stay

our cabin has a living room...

a bedroom...

and a kitchen :D

Day2:

Explored Oslo. Went to the Vigeland Sculpture park to look at sculptures. their sculptures are like about procreation. a lot of naked figures of men women and children. quite interesting but cos it was cold the park was quite bare and quiet. took a lot of photos and headed off. wanted to catch the guard changing at the Ankershus Fortress but we couldn't make it on time. so we decided to take a slow walk there and stop at anything that looked interesting enough. haha. saw the oslo university. looks like ucl main quad in a different colour. haha. reached the fortress, walked one round around it. pretty views :D and camwhored. then it started to get dark and we went in search for cheap traditional norwegian food. but we couldn't find any. saw a lot of kebab, indian and sushi places though. we settled at this indian buffet restaurant. NOK99 per person. yummy quite nice :D i like the curry veg :D went to the opera house to see the night view and to kill some time. after that headed to the train station to train to bergen. 

outside the cabin :D

the campsite :D pretty hor?

the reception

sculptures at vigeland sculpture park

omg steps ):

tired haha

woohoo halfway done!

very vey tired :b

view from the top

i dunno why birds like to stand on statue's heads

oslo uni. looks like ucl main quad right?

the building is either some parliament house or some theatre i dunno. but anyway, here's lujie, ziyang and jiapei (left to right)

fortress got canon :D

norway has many many clocks

see the patch of emerging new world out there?

part of the buffet

yuuummmmmmm :D

Opera house

night view at the top

ICE CREAM! rum and raisin, before nine and some chocolate dunno what.

to bergen!

Day3:

MY FAVOURITESTESTESTEST DAY! :D reached bergen at around 6.30. ate breakfast and then we started our 3km walk to the hertz place to collect the car. lost our way a bit but found it on time. collected the car and off we go! :D we basically took a round trip. from bergen to sognefjord and back via the coastal route. omg the views were awesome. like awesome. we watched it change from green to yellow orange brown to a bit of white to TOTALLY WHITE and back to green again. seriously omg the view is omg omg omg. i totally don't mind going back again just for the views. really really really very very nice :D ok so after the amazing driving trip (jiapei is a very good driver), we headed back to the city and looked for our accommodation which is actly a house. the person rented out her first floor whiloe she stays on the 2nd and 3rd. she is super duper friendly. gave us suggestions and recommendations. then we headed out again (since we have a car) to look for some night life outside but there were none. haha. our night life consist of eating an awesome kebab in the car :D

arrival at bergen

green :D

the car. we got a free gps which was a lifesaver :D

turning orangey :)

turning white...

the water damn cold. seiously. i mean, look at lujie's face. haha

getting whiter and whiter...

and whiter...

OMG AWESOME!

:D :D :D

we look superimposed

jiapei the driver

pretty :D look at the clear blue sky.

we had to take a car ferry across the river.

i was the bread spreader of the trip. haha.

WHEEEEEE~

awwwwwww~

the house: one of the rooms

the dining loungey area

omg look at the toilet. shiokness!

the other room. the wooden thing is a sauna.

KEBAB!

happy boy 1

happy boy 2

happy boy 3

Day4:

Returned the car early in the morning and walked back to the city centre to explore Bergen. first stop was the hilltop of Mount Fløyen. it's this 320m mount in the city. so we walked. though there was a funicular. but being active and young, we walked. the walk was soooo steep. tiring. good thing they kept stopping to take pictures. haha. nearer to the top, the road started becoming icy and slippery. all of us basically just focused on not falling. haha. reached the top in 1 hr 10mins. and the view is amazing. clear blue sky again :D went down and by the time we got down it was lunch time! yay! went to a good cheap cafe recommended by the house lady. yummy :D then we went to the fishmarket which was a super duper major disappointment. so small and tiny and haiz. then we realised it was 5 more mins before the kebab student timing ends so we chionged to the kebab place to get a kebab. just to save NOK5 -.- hahaha. like that then shiok, lol. then we went to bryggen, which is a unesco world heritage site. after that we headed towards a fortress like thing which really was a fortress. and took a series of failed jumpshots. ok my fault ): haha. then we decided to go to another part to see if we can see the sunset. but nope, bergen is surounded by 7 mountains, all blocked up. and the walk there was uphill. this trip is like a test of my fitness level. lol. travelling with 3 officers not easy leh. haha. then we went to look for dinner. we had a 5 course dinner. haha :D yummy :D then we headed to the train station to catch the train back to oslo.

us with the friendly house lady :D

pretty hor their houses?

view from the house

refuelling before returning the car

the icy road

view from the top :D love the sky

trying to come down with falling down

whee~

Bryggen

we look superimposed again haha

so preeeeeetty :D

course 1: norwegian fishcakes, fishsoup, fish stuff. haha

course 4: pizza for NOK99 yummy shiokness ttm

course 5: BEN AND JERRY'S!

i dunno what they are doing -.-

super icy and slippery

the fish market :/

bryggen again

the inside of the houses

some fortress

yay student kebab!

no sunset but got pretty view :D

hahahahahahaha

course 2: REINDEER hotdog :D

this is lunch. some norwegian beef stew

lunch as well. beef burger. salsa is yummy :D

cannot do jump shot but can zi pai :D

Day5:

Last day in norway. arrived early in the morning. had breakfast and then we deicded to visit the most romantic park in oslo. it was so disappointing nobody took photos at all. haha. then we just walked around. nua-ed around. and then we had sushi lunch. norwegian salmon ok. yummy :D but the most yummy one is the codfish omg amaaaaazing. so want to have it again :D yumyum. then we had ice cream (yes again) haha. and ate our last loaf of the amazing grovbrod, which is this amazing norwegian bread. damn nice. and headed to the airport and home sweet home :D

yummmmmmmmmmmy :D

yummmmmmmmmmy :D

so it marks the end...

dinner at chopchop :D

omg amazing 5 days. i love reading weeks :D yay :D but it's back to school again tmr :/