emoness

i miss lancaster so much it's unbelievable
has it really almost been a year ago since i was excitedly preparing for the trip?
i'm not there anymore and i'm back here... almost as if i've never left..
sigh
emo......

Florence (Italy)

this is my absolutest favouritest place in Italy
































photos by sy

sunny island

yes i'm back...
and i'm jetlagged.. only managed to have some shut-eye at 6ish this morn :(

will be trying to finish updating all my holiday pics before i leave this site for good.....

lemme get back into my normal sleep pattern first ya..

final destination

on reaching london from poland, everybody on the plane was just clapping cos it was such a smooth journey.. the best budget flight i've ever taken.. and once we stepped out of the plane, mandy and i were just grinning from ear to ear - the weather was fantastic, people didn't stare at you, everyone spoke English and everything just felt familiar. once we dropped our stuff off at our hotel (first ever :) thanks mandy!), we headed straight for chinatown for a bowl of noodle soup..

day 2 - mandy and i headed to harrods for a round of final shopping (for me at least). First day of summer sale, what better timing :D YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! had to part ways with mandy after that :( she was on her way back to sunny island while i went to disley for the final time

day 3 - strawberry and raspberry picking with my cousin-in-law and my nephew. i had the most amazing time :) the best part was making sure some of it went into my mouth while i was picking.. i know aiden had lots of fun too, though he definitely ate more than picked..

day 4 - went outdoors to kick a ball around with aiden and hui ling while we waited for Eunice jie to come home from work. i'm truly gonna miss this very much..

day 5 - i'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when i'll be back again.. oh i hate to go..

still in Krakow

i know i said that i wont be blogging til i'm back in the UK...
but i was insulted 3 times today!!!
and i'm not pleased about it.. totally ruined my rather nice impression of krakow so far
in fact, i'm quite angry and even a little shocked/traumatized..

in Krakow

i never thought i would like poland more than barcelona.. but in a strange and indescribable way, i do like poland.

our hostel is really nice.. huge.. and the best part is we have our own room,own toilet, our shower, own kitchen, own fridge, a pretty large table for putting our stuff and an extra bed... never mind the fact that the mattress on the bed is so soft that we can feel the wooden panel beneath it, i'm just glad that it's not the oven-like hostel we had in barcelona.

first day in poland and we had to get used to the fact that we were the few chinese pple around.. 3 chinese girls somemore for that matter.. pple on the streets were just staring and staring at us.. many of them walking past us only to turn back to continue staring and pple driving their cars staring out of their windows to look at us.. anyway cos weiwei is not with us anymore.. we're returning to our hostel early every night so that we don't put ourselves in unnecessary danger :)

last night, we went for a concert held in a beautiful cathedral.. there's always something about music that never fails to put a smile on my face.. today, we went for a salt mine tour and it was amazing. 9 centuries of mining in Wieliczka, some 200 kilometers of passages, 2040 caverns of varied size. The tourist route starts 64m deep, includes twenty chambers, and ends 135 m below the earth surface. There were 3 chapels inside totally made of salt. Absolutely stunning and impressive :)

after a lunch break, we headed to the grounds and actual buildings of Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II - Birkenau, the sites of the mass murder committed against the European Jews as part of the Nazi plan for their complate destruction. It was truly a depressing eye-opener for me..

anyway i'm off to bed :) super early i know.. but we had a long day and we'll be doing a lot of walking tmr..
til the next time when i will probably be blogging from the UK again..

in Barcelona

it's the last night in Barcelona...
and it's been crazily hot!!!
so hot that it only calls for shorts, spec tops and ice lollies
i'm seriously dying of heat...
but it's been good company so far ..

looking forward to poland
but weiwei is leaving us to return to lancaster
it'll just be the 3 of us girls roaming the streets of krakow.. interesting :)

any dream would do

yes.. i've left lancaster
yes.. i'm in london
yes.. i've seen the Big Ben, London Eye, Oxford Street, Hyde Park, Tower Bridge, Houses of Parliament, Horseguard Palace, Buckingham Palace, Harrods etc..
with my mummy, daddy, mama and papa (they left for Shanghai yest)
have since been checking out more sights in London with SY

and i'm watching a grand total of 5 musicals here
2 down (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Sound of Music)
3 to go (Wicked, The Lion King, Les Miserables)
we're on a roll :)

we took a day trip today to Bath
to see the Roman Baths.. it was pretty cool actually
and came back earlier to our hostel to indulge in cup noodles and instant pasta
ok til the next time ...

anyway cos we're watching 2 musicals tmr, sy and i decided we're gonna dress up to go for them, a big change from our usual ensemble of jeans, tee/tank top and slippers
i'm so psyched ^_^

belated and advanced

10th June

Happy 22nd Birthday Jie :)

12 June

Happy 23rd birthday Ven-nini =)



i love you both

final farewells

after 5.5 months here, there are so much stuff and pple i've to say goodbye to
farewells began on tuesday..

with the exchange students' farewell dinner














our last cell meeting on wed




exams ended on friday
we caught up on much needed sleep in the afternoon
and the 6 girls headed to town at night for some partying


sat was a lovely lovely day
perfect for a picnic on the grass which was exactly what we did




















my face is cut off in this picture
but we look so happy that i just have to put this up :)




isn't the sky lovely?


and then it was Singapore society post-exam BBQ on the same day












can you see me? i'm right behind sy... at the end of the mat
this was about 9pm by the way... the sun now only sets after 10pm
i still remember how it got dark at 4pm when i first came in jan..


my last sunday in lancaster..

we went to church in the morning as usual.. during service, Gail was doing announcements after the worship segment when she suddenly announced that it was mandy's and my last week in Christians Alive.. she then asked the church to send us off in prayer and for anyone who wanted to pray for us to just gather around us and lay hands.. i was so overwhelmed when pple from my cell group, uni and other friends i've made here just began surrounding us and that was when my vision blurred with tears.. i was and am really super thankful for every single one of the people that God has placed in my life here..


farewell dinner for mandy, sy and i at night..
everyone prepared 1 dish each and we were just supposed to bring ourselves
we decided to surprise everyone with this...




yup, so sushi was our contribution
mummy, ever since you gave me the recipe, i've made it 4 times here :)










we placed 4 cameras on timer mode at different places in the kitchen to get a group picture from different angles :)


the 3 of us visited lancaster town for the last time today (mon) to have a look at Ashton Memorial
i'll upload pics of the trip another time..
we rushed back in the afternoon so i could begin packing my room
hasana, mandy, sy and weiwei came over for dinner to help me clear all the food left over in my fridge/freezer/cupboard

ada came over about 12 plus with a bowl of homemade dessert and a handmade card with pictures of our cell included.. i was really so touched.. i'm gonna miss her lots

anyway i've to finish packing my room now cos i'll be leaving lancaster for good tmr :(

this has been one really long and bittersweet farewell...