Thank You 2012

Presenting to you, a couple of University of Glasgow's alumni:

Emeli Sandé

She’s probably the singer-songwriter of the year here in the UK. If you have not heard of her yet, she performed at both the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the London Olympics. She also performed at the recent BBC Sports Personality of the Year event. There’s something unique about her voice, that soulful one that could inspire people. I really like most of her songs; inspirational and calming. Just to mention a few: ‘Read All About It’, ‘My Kind of Love’, ‘River’, ‘Next to Me’. You are missing out if you have not heard about her yet; you can’t go wrong with this talented person.

 

Katherine Granger

This Olympic gold medallist in rowing is the University’s Young Alumnus of the Year 2012.
You can read more about it from the web link below.
http://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_252973_en.html

PS: Personally, 2012 has been a year of full of experiences that allowed considerable personal development and more self understanding. I am very grateful for it. My 2013 resolution will again be to have many 'been there, done that' moments. To a great 2013!
Happy New Year! J

White and Red

I went for ice-skating today because it was relatively cheap for students on Mondays (£ 4) and I thought I should learn it. I would say I was a good beginner; I didn’t fall and towards the end of the 45-minute session, I was skating like a boss. J

Had my first snow experience too about a fortnight ago. It was forecasted to snow at night, so I waited and waited and then I looked out of the window. I had to look really thoroughly at the light source from the street lamp to see if it’s raining or actually snowing. ( It’s always raining in Glasgow, I wouldn’t want to look like a fool posting on Facebook that it’s snowing if it actually wasn’t.)Then, my Facebook newsfeed was filled with posts of snowing in Glasgow. Many took the opportunity to had a little snowball fight, but I have yet to had one.

 

I thought I would blog a little on my living in one of the university halls: Cairncross House. It has four levels, including ground floor. Every floor is divided into rooms, communal kitchens and communal bathrooms. I am lucky to be sharing a big kitchen with 10 other people. I get to meet people from different countries and get to know them in person.

And so, we had a little Christmas dinner together the other day. There were macaroni and cheese, soy sauce cabbage, soup, Japanese rice cakes, ice cream, donuts and mulled wine. That was a pretty good student feast, I would say. We were also Secret Santas for each other. It was definitely an exciting thing to do. Randomly picking a person’s name from the draw, looking for a gift for the person, sneakily place the wrapped gift into the pile of Christmas gifts and wait… till gifts are presented to respective persons and that person would guess who their Secret Santa was. I got a kettle; very practical but useful. Good for me.

 



Stay tuned as I journalise my experiences in this beautiful land. Oh, Glasgow how I love you so. J

Christmas Break Begins

Sorry faithful readers (if any) for being MIA for more than 2 months. My aim when I revived my blog when I landed on Glasgow was to blog my Scottish adventure every week. Obviously, that didn’t happen. So now, too many things to catch up on.

First things first, I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to study medicine in University of Glasgow. Glasgow’s medical programme is quite heavily based on PBL; it suits those who enjoy managing their own study time. We don’t have routine 9-5 classes. I definitely recommend it to future medic applicants.

Celebrating Dad’s birthday through Skype was something new but not very fun at all. Singing Happy Birthday song to the laptop screen, that moment struck me that it’s amazing how people manage long-distance relationship. I mean, I know it’s difficult, but not till you experience it, you wouldn’t understand it.

It’s always nice to walk to city centre on a Saturday especially when you also have things in mind that you need to get. Christmas shopping must be fun for the people. Having a budget, looking around at all the varieties of things at various shops, then coming across the perfect gift or a very good bargain. That could light up your day like nothing else.  Also, the street performers are great; you get to see some good talents around or just people doing things to raise funds.  All walks of life walking on the streets, how not to be a little nostalgic? I miss shopping with my mum. Although, when one shops on their own, it helps managing-budget and decision-making skills.

Went to the Christmas Market at St Enoch Centre. Very much like 'pasar malam' but with stalls set up selling Christmas confectionery and food from different countries and Christmas crafts. One interesting stall was selling synthetic snow. Appearance and texture almost exactly match the real one. Here, I also tried ‘krakauer’- German spiced sausage.

 

 

Krakauer

 

Glasgow being such a nice city, very welcoming; Glaswegians friendly; I cannot imagine myself studying in another city even with the wet and cold weather. It’s like Ipoh in a way.

Fun fact: Lepak is now a word in the Oxford Dictionary.

Addicted to.....

Hello there again. Had a pretty normal week. Nothing spectacular. But I am now addicted to

*drum rolls*

 

Wong Fu Production videos!!!

I have heard of them for quite some time but didn’t really have the interest to take a look at their videos. I was actually watching jinnyboytv’s Boleh Video and then it struck me that I should jump on the bandwagon and just take a peek at Wong Fu’s videos. Little did I know that I would now end up as one of their million-plus fans.  Because of my not-hectic schedule, I could spend some good few hours just catching up with all those videos.

 

I went for this Pub Quiz organised by Friends of Médecins Sans Frontières (FoMsf) Glasgow University Society. Came in 8^th placing out of about 20 teams. Learnt some general knowledge. And got to know what a raffle is. Tried my luck on a couple of tickets. (25 p each). My number was called out but it didn’t match the colour, I think. So, no bath set for me. ;( But all proceeds go to charity including entry fee. *thumbs up*



Also, I forgot to mention in the previous post, that I went for Med-Chir Society Integration Night. Also, a pub quiz and getting medic families. Medic families consists of some Year 2 students as parents and about 3 Year 1s as children.

On another note, here is why I love Greggs.

SAUSAGE ROLLS :D

That’s about it for now. Stay tuned J

Raindrops keep falling on my head~

Two weeks of classes have gone by. Still settling in. Major change when one steps into the university life, no spoon feeding BUT it will be great. It trains you well. Life as a medical student= study mode activated all the time and your best friend is probably the school library. Time spent usually to work on the PBL scenario of the week. Good thing is schedule’s not hectic in the first year.

Been sick for a few days, may have caught the fresher’s flu or just a common cold. Still recovering, still surviving. :D One is bound to inhale those air droplets loaded with microbes when the sound of coughing is so common in the lecture theatre.
Glasgow’s getting into the autumn season; leaves falling, temperature dropping. Rainy days aplenty. Routine thing to do is to check the weather forecast every morning before one steps out of the building.

My staple food now is probably bread or sandwiches considering most of the time they are either my breakfast or lunch or both. Haha. I think the pastries and desserts here are very good. Bellisimo. But may be lacking savoury food.

Yellow light bulb is more common here, pretty dim in the room; not very conducive to study in the room.

Will be going for a potluck event organised by Malaysian seniors tomorrow. Getting a large dose of Malaysian food, just nice to celebrate the Mooncake Festival here.

Signing off with love J

Strip the Willow

It is always good when things get busy before homesickness comes along yet.

Tralalalalala…. It’s FRESHERS’ WEEK. (paid 41.50 quids for Fresher’s Pass)

Always when a new year comes, I have this resolution of having more 'been there, done that' moments. Good ones are of course very interesting and bring happiness but bad ones are there to toughen us up.

Generally, the people in Glasgow are very friendly and helpful. Customer service is always great; they greet you, listen attentively to your problems and try their best to solve them.  Very civilised lot and honest. There were situations where people left their belongings and passport or handphone behind in taxis or public places, these things were returned to their owners. One same experience was my dad left a shopping bag in the Argos store and the security people there has kept it safely for him.

Monday: Had some free pieces of pizzas in the midst of getting some uni stuff done. Went to live bands in the evening!!! First time and real good experience too. Good music; not crap, loud noise. Performers not over-indulgent. Brilliant. They are the Admiral Fallow, supported by The Emerald Armada and The Dirty Beggars. You know a good band when you come across one. :D

Tuesday:  Grabbed freebees at Freshers’ Fair. Had free lunch at Turnbull Hall. “Free food is always good food!” Another first here with live comedy by Jimmy Mcghie and Roisin Conaty. :D Laughed till my tummy aches; it’s so good, it keeps you wanting more.

Wednesday: First day of induction for medical students. In the evening, I went for an ‘International Ceilidh’ event organised by the Student Representative Council. This was much fuller of fun than the previous one because many freshers are locals so people can catch the steps a little bit faster. There were free haggis too, but I didn’t try it because of the troublesomeness of removing my teeth retainers before I eat and the long queues. Will definitely get my tastebuds tingling with this Scottish national dish one day!

Thursday: Lectures too and Dodgeball! Wanted to meet Sir Chris Hoy at the parade for Scottish Olympians and Paralympians but it clashed with my lecture. Oh well, will try my luck again at the Commonwealth Games 2014 perhaps.

Friday: Some lectures and the highlight was…….. Alan Bates the hypnotist. First time I’ve been to a hypnotist show. Oh my.. Unbelievable! This was the bomb! Really, it was so convincing. I was superbly mindblown. But now, after reading about stage hypnosis on Wikipedia, I am a bit sceptical. Nonetheless, I truly appreciate his performance. :D

Freshers are always the best lot. Centres of attraction. Freshers are treated like kings and queens, have all these events so that you plunge into university life with great enthusiasm. Bombarded with freebees and some freshers’ discount.

Kudos to SRC for providing special double-decker bus service late at night so that we could return to halls safely.

FYI, there are four student bodies: Glasgow University Student Representative Council (GUSRC), Glasgow University Union (GUU), Queen Margaret Union (QMU) and Glasgow University Sports Association (GUSA).

So glad that I had put my Fresher’s Pass to good use.

Stay tuned readers. J

Glasgow, my next phase of life.

So, I was all packed up for Glasgow; for KLM student rate I get to bring 2 pieces of luggage with maximum mass of 23kg each but I am travelling with my parents and they didn’t have much to bring, I got extra things into one piece of theirs. Muahahaha. So I was travelling with about 60 kilos of belongings including books, rice cooker and what not. (Things are mostly cheaper in M’sia, so would be great to make full use of the given capacity to get as many belongings to UK.)

Took a Yoyo bus to KLIA, had McD (can’t get McD here as cheap as in M’sia) and self-checked in. And then, I was bored waiting to board, I went on Facebook and saw Angy’s post on my wall. Touching stuff and some of the Ipoh peeps comments and likes too. To many many many more years of friendship, my friends. Cheers!

Flight journey took about 12 hours and transited at Amsterdam; continued on to Glasgow for 1.5 hours. Arrived in Glasgow at 7.30am local time. Pretty good weather; sunny. Got ourselves some SIM cards for contacting each other while my parents are here. Then, followed the University’s airport transfer to the halls; mine’s Cairncross House. Managed to get my luggage up 6 flights of stairs and then off I went for the International Students Orientation Programme and get all the uni stuff done. In the evening, the university organised this social event where we learnt the Ceilidh dance, very interesting stuff.

Tuesday: Nothing much, just walking and city bus tour and getting things done too.

Wednesday: I went to Edinburgh on a Full Day Bus Tour organised for international students for £10. Visited the Royal Yacht Britannia. Would have been there longer and listened attentively to the audio guide if not for the lack of time. Nonetheless, it was an interesting ship, I shall say. Before the trip, I thought it was going to be like a cruise with swimming pool and theatre and all that but it wasn’t. Hah, silly me. It was a ship with bedding rooms for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh and the royal family, Her Majesty’s workplace/study room, drawing rooms and dining rooms for guest reception. Then, took a photo at Edinburgh Castle (didn’t go inside since there wasn’t much to see in there) and walked down the Royal Mile. Also, set my feet in The Elephant House; the birthplace of Harry Potter. Woohoo.

Thursday and Friday: Mostly shopping for basic necessities and to get other procedures done. Went looking for some Chinese groceries so that I can cook some oriental food and Chinese herbal soup. Bought from Matthew’s Food Scotland Ltd.

Interesting notes:

Many cute babies and little kiddos everywhere and they talk a lot. Love them.

Many people walk their cute dogs and puppies and these canines are rather well-trained and tame-looking and not wildly barking like some of those in Msia; therefore, I am less worried about them jumping up on me. (The leash was also a factor.)

The main mode of transport in West End or city centre is probably by foot. Factors include few parking slots and walking from west end to city centre or vice versa is alright. Walking in cool weather for even an hour is fine compared to walking for 5 to 10 minutes under the scorching sun in M’sia. (Don’t get me wrong, I love M’sia lots.) The amount of walking I did in only one week here is pretty amazing compared to in Ipoh where mostly I just have to sit in the car and daydream till I reach the destination. No motorcycles, bicycles a good number, cars aplenty on highways and busy roads.

These few days’ weather was great with Wednesday and Thursday having some strong winds and raining. Umbrella is a must-have in Glasgow.

Toodles, readers. Till the next blog post. J