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