The days leading up to December

3 albums that I'm currently in love with : 25, Purpose, and Made in the A.M. I'm so happy with the sudden influx of new music after months of not updating my iTunes library and being stuck with the same songs, it's always so exciting to have new music! 

The one positive that I can draw from Daylight Savings and the sun setting earlier, is that the sun rises later which means I am awake to enjoy it! The skies are so beautiful here :')

So, I've decided to brush all that negative emotions aside and to focus on doing work, studying for exams and channeling my energy to the current friendships that I have (Thanks Bincs<3) 

On Wednesday, after having Vegan spinach pie for lunch (which I was so excited for but turned out to be slightly disappointing), I decided to head to Starbucks to study! It reminded me so much of the A level days back in Singapore where I spent most of my time (and money) in Orchard Delfi Starbucks :) I ordered a Grande China Green Tips and had a rather productive afternoon! I also drank 4 cups haha which I felt was a minimum number just to make my money's worth! 

On Thursday, during Earth calling (an after-school wildlife club voluntary service which I go for), we brought the kids into Craigmill Woods and we went exploring! Sara saw a deer but the kids and I didn't manage to spot it :( but I had a great time talking to the kids about movies and christmas and food ! I offered a small packet of Kettle's Salt and Vinegar chips to them as I bought it earlier to get change for the bus, and it was gone in 15 seconds and I am not exaggerating! 

Friday was a really chill day and I watched She's The Man with Niamh and we always spend a good 10 minutes cracking our brains deciding on what film to watch! and after the movie, we were just talking and I can't remember how, but we came to the topic of how the fast technology has been "invading" our lives, especially for the younger generation and that we were both afraid of how we would be living like in the future at the rate of advancements in technology. We also talked about how it took 400 years for white people to treat black people as equals and the fact that gender inequality now would not even be a questionable thought in the future when equality for all would be achieved. Maybe 40 years later or even a 100, when gender equality persists in society, people would learn about history (now) and be so confused at how it was not a thing in the past just like how we look back to history now, and get angry that the black people were treated as slaves to the whites. I just cannot understand why it's taking so long to fix the world's problems!! I left Niamh's room feeling so happy because it had been long since I had such an insightful conversation with someone 

Also, we've finished the syllabus for Industrial Management and that means no more lectures next week, hooray!! And that means I get to go for ballet class on Wednesday and Friday morning! I am so excited :)))) It also means I can wake up slightly later hehe

I went to Kilimanjaro coffee with Tessa today morning and the pineapple-coconut smoothie that I had was so good and refreshing! The cafe hunt has officially started - just kidding, I can't bear to be going to cafes often here though they're less pricey than most in Singapore

And No. This is not something that I made or ate but I got it from Tumblr and just wanted to share it because it looked too delicious! and I can't wait to be making my own yummy food when I am in London! ( Happy stomach and pretty photos here I come!) 

A lot of things had gone wrong over the past 2 days - My phone is not working ( it has a mind on its own and opens apps by itself, spazzes on its own and does not respond to my fingertips ) and there is only one Apple store in the whole of Edinburgh which I can go to for help but the next appointment date is on the 4th of Dec, my watch battery has died, my phone cable is not working and my laptop charger has spoilt. I just take this situation as a test on my patience, I may document my experiences and created a documentary called "How to survive in the 21st century without your phone" or "The worst days of my life" or "How I almost died" depending on the severity of the situation. Stay tuned for more.

Its 16 days till the start of exams and I have no sense of urgency which is a little scary. I'm having a hard time getting motivated and being productive BUT I will just have to force myself to get my work done!! I also feel very guilty because I did not go to the gym today

I am going to buy myself a Vegan Advent Calendar from Holland and Barrett! and the official countdown to christmas will begin soon :) 

I really cannot wait for the 21st of December.

Something more personal

Things that I've learnt and experienced after 2 months of being  here

1. People say "Hey, how are you" as supposed to "Hello" even though they really just mean hello and are not really curious as to how you are doing

2. People say " cheers " instead of " you are welcome "

3. It's normal go out on every school night and there's a club open every weekday 

4. It's ok if you don't have plans on a Friday night and you just want to stay in your room to do work/have some time to yourself to relax

5. It's ok to be seen eating by yourself, you don't have to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable and to be honest no one really notices anyway

6. Why waste your time hanging out with people who don't make you feel good about yourself, you don't have to force yourself to go out with people who's company you don't enjoy 

7. Be comfortable with saying no 

8. Scottish people are very very very nice 

9. Smile at others more often, they may smile back and that will make a happy moment for the both of you

10. Don't be discouraged if you haven't found a social group that you can truly be yourself with, always keep a positive mindset and hopefully you will meet them soon

11. Always be grateful for the things that you already possess

12. Be comfortable being by yourself. You may be alone but it doesn't mean you're lonely

13. You can eat berries off bushes 

14. It is always better to put on more layers and be able to take them off when you're feeling warm than to wear too few layers and be freezing 

15. "Everything happens for a reason" - I find it hard to place belief in such a statement but I will try my best in doing so

16. Take every experience good or bad as a learning one, you'd never realize how much you can gain from them

20/11/15

"The weather today was horrible" - This has been the conversation starter for 80% of conversations that occurred over the past 2 weeks. but it is so true!! The weather has been so bad lately, it's been raining everyday and the winds are insane and it even snowed once on a Friday morning! Beverly and I were in the library and when we looked out the window there was small white balls going crazily in all directions (the winds) and we had to check BBC weather to confirm that it was actually snowing! I mean yes of course its nice that it's snowing but I feel its too early and I'm not prepared at all for the harsh winter that is to come in the following months :((

Any who, the bad weather has made me fully appreciate days of good weather which I guess proves that there's a lesson to be learnt from all good and bad things. Even if it means just 5 minutes of sun on my face as I walk to school, I will still be extremely grateful for the days, hours or minutes of nice, sunny and dry weather :)

Taken on the way to Kings

I got really cheap lights from Primark for just 2.50! and I felt like buying everything in the home section - I might just go back and grab more stuff hehe

Went to De Rui's place last Friday night for dinner!! We had kimchi stew with white fluffy chinese rice and it was so yummyyy :)))))

I can never thank Beverly enough for constantly helping me for our biology module! I'm just so not getting everything and I literally do not know how I'd (barely) survive without her help!! ( I don't know if you're reading this but really thank you so much, no matter how many times I say it, it still wouldn't be enough <3)

I've recently discovered a 1hr long video of a piano collection of Disney songs and it is honestly so good and soothing and just gives you the feels :') You can listen to it here and my favourite piece is I Can Go The Distance from Hercules and it starts at 1:00:57 if you just want to listen to that :) It has been my study music over the past few days! ALSO I got reminded through Bernice's snapchat that I haven't started on Season 2 of How To Get Away With Murder!!!! AHHHHHH So excited! I'm so gonna watch a couple of episodes over the weekend and I'm currently loading one now hehehhe 

I'm going down to the Christmas market tomorrow evening which I'm so excited for!

Lights! Rides! Food! Ice Skating! The works! 

Today's dinner was really good as well - it was Mexican night! The staff in JMCC were wearing Sombreros and they looked so happy! they also decorated the cafeteria which was such a sweet effort, the vegetable burrito was so good and there were nachos with salsa!!

Just talking about the things that make me happy is making me feel so happy!

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Lawson!!!

Saw Lawson in The Liquid Room and THEY WERE AMAZING!!! 

The space was really intimate as well (it was in a club), I think there were only 100 people and we were so close to the stage , about 5 m away?? and the tickets were only £18!

AHHHH I'm so happy :'))))

It's been a while

You know sometimes when you get up from a nap and you can't decide if you were more tired before or after the nap? Yeah, that's me right now 

This week has been the craziest week and I can only blame myself for the guilt that I carry after submitting one of the most poorly written essays in my history of essay writing. Basically, we were given more than a month to write an essay and I most stubbornly chose to do it the Friday before the deadline (the following week). Though I did hand it in on time, I don't feel a sense of relief/satisfaction because I had done such a horrible job and never ever do I want to feel like this ever again. 

Note to self : Please get your shit together and get working early. 

Exams in a month = start revising now. I MEAN IT. NOW 

Now moving on to a more positive vibe, I'm just gonna share the little happy things that happened over the past 2 weeks :)

Haven't had Chinese noodles in a long time and this was so delicious! and it was my first time eating noodles out of the box which I thought was pretty cool just like in the movies hehe It was also my first hot meal for lunch since I've been at uni! Sounds pretty sad but don't worry (if anyone is worrying even haha) I have been eating lunch just that they're all cold like a salad/carrots with hummus dip/avocado on rye

Every Wednesday has become an "eating nice food out" day!! 

I found the contrast in the leaves really pretty :)

Saw this cute car on the way to school :) 

Beverly!! We started playing red car yellow car on the way to Kings on mon/wed/fri where basically if you see a red/yellow car passing, you call it out! and competition has been pretty intense because for some strange reason, the occurrence of yellow cars here is very rare which makes it super exciting when one of us spots one! 

Kim's birthday was on the 9th so here are just some photos of us from the colour run :) We all managed to skype that day which was sooo nice !!

Look how beautiful the Old College is :') I wish I had lessons here, hopefully next sem or next year! (cross fingers) 

I've also just booked my train tickets to London for Christmas and New Years which I'm really looking forward to! I bought the rail card which made the train tickets way cheaper, I got a round trip for £52 when it would've been £82 without the card :) I'm staying with a family friend and they're vegetarian! I'm going to be having a vegetarian christmas! YAYY and I'm glad I don't have to be a burden being vegan if they felt like they were obliged to cook something special just for me 

Also when my rail card got mailed over, there was a promotion for a company called Graze where they basically send you healthy snacks on a weekly basis! and I chose the protein box and the first one was free so I'm excited to try it out when it arrives! 

I'm also going to see Lawson in concert next Wednesday!! So excited!! 

Hope everyone in Singapore is doing well and to the uni kids, all the best for your upcoming exams!! (my sister ends her exams one month earlier than I do sighpie :( ) I miss the sun back home so much because the weather here has been horrible lately with rain and wind - a lethal combination. But I'm thankful that it's not humid and of course the weather would be beautiful otherwise if not for the rain and wind!

Sending lots of love home xoxoxo

It's November??

It's the 1st of November.

( On October 3rd he asked me what day it was, "It's October 3rd" - this scene just popped into my head for some reason and if you get the reference, congratulations)

That's crazy!! Sunlight is peaking through my curtain and it's a beautiful day outside ! I think I might paint something today but I haven't decided what yet. I planned to go to the gym this morning but I'm having irregular bowel movements (aka having to go to the toilet like 5 times in an hour) and it sucks :(((( I have 2 essays due on the 9th this month and I'm only done with half of one and I haven't started at all on my other one - yikes. But I will try my best to finish one today!! Examination schedules have just been released and my last one ends on the 21st of Dec?!?! How late is that!! But I've found others who end equally late so at least I don't have to watch other friends leave for their holiday plans alone!

FaceTimed Bincs and Rachel!! Who are the most hilarious room mates ever and I'm so glad you 2 get along so well <3 Made me so extremely happy being able to see them and hear their voices!! 

(Bianca are you happy now heheh)

Sneakily took a shot hehe

Erin and I watched Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo - which is basically men in tutus! There were 3 parts to the performance where they did the sections of ballets like Swan Lake, Les Corsaire and Don Quixote, and in each section they did a parody of it and it was so comedic!! But I was seriously amazed by the ability of the male dancers to go en pointe and dance equally well as female dancers? and one of them was even as flexible, if not more flexible than some female dancers! We got such great student tickets at only £21 and they were the level 1 stall tickets ! 

So this happened :

13 of us (Sgp ppl) climbed Arthur's seat at 1:30am to watch the meteor showers 

I can never describe what happened that night well enough for people to kinda get an idea what we saw and experienced but it was definitely a night to remember! (or morning...) 

I contemplated going up Arthur's seat when I woke up at 1:15 after a short nap because I could literally hear the wind howling from my room, but I put on as many warm layers as I could and went ahead with the plan anyway. It was not as dark as I imagined it to be because the city lights were reflected on the slopes of the hill ! It felt like I was walking into a picture on the cover of a Nat Geo magazine - the sky was littered with stars!! It was amazing. 

20 minutes into climbing up, we were greeted by insane winds (when it was already 9 degrees) and it was really a near death experience because the wind could easily push us off the hill - it was that strong. The wind also blew sand and dirt from the ground into our coat pockets and worse, into our eyes and I spent a painful 10 minutes trying to clear my eyeballs of dirt, NOT FUN AT ALL

After finding a good spot to settle down, all 13 of us snuggled up and lay in the grass waiting for the spectacular event! Stargazing alone would have been amazing enough but I am so thankful and lucky to have been able to see 15 stars shoot across the sky!! Just thinking back now makes me so happy that I did it and also amazed that I made it out alive

Happy Halloween!! We went to Teviot for a halloween party which they advertised as having a haunted house but there didn't seem to be one which was really disappointing (unless I missed it because I didn't know where it was??) If anyone is guessing what I painted my face as, I call it the "pumpkin with an identity crisis" look because my intention was to be a pumpkin but I evidently do not look like one. I also used eyeliner to draw on my face which I thought was quite genius haha and surprisingly, removing all that off my face was easier than expected! 

Today will be a designated essay day and I'm hoping I'm gonna be productive and get most of it done! I hope that November would be an amazing month for everyone!