Ramblings in Cardiff : October

Heyyyy :) 

It's been a while since I last posted so I thought I'd update my blog. 

Yep, today's a Friday and I'm staying in. It's raining outside, as it has for the whole evening. How do people stand the cold going out and back in their clubbing clothes, I can't imagine. Especially when my hall is like the furthest from the city.

Autumn is here and autumn in Cardiff means lots of wind and rain. Fortunately though, it hasn't been toooooo cold. 

This was taken last weekend fyi

It's usually really cold and drizzly in the morning, and I have to walk a good 25 minutes to school everyday. Rather less than ideal situation, really.

Initially, I'd wear like 3 layers to leave my house, and by the time I get to my building, I'm all hot and sweaty. And I'd have to peel those layers off and stuff them in my bag for the rest of the day indoors.

Not to mention the walk back when it's usually warmer, too. Ugh.

Daily dilemma

So now, I wear 2 layers to school. Sure at first it's super cold, but my friends and I walk really fast so we warm up alright. It's bearable. 

Honestly, the workload is bearable (for now). Most mornings start at 10, and end at 4 or 5pm, but we usually get like 2 hours in between, so that makes 4 to 5 hours a day. And we get half day Wednesdays!

Sure I'm behind on reading up after lectures (procrastination) but I think I'm doing just enough to stay on top of things. I'm loving Anatomy and Tooth Morphology because I've always found learning about the body so interesting, and looking at preserved body parts and bones is just so cool, plus it makes me feel like 'Woah, I'm actually gonna be a dentist one day'. 

On the other hand, I really dislike (loathe is too strong though I'm tempted to use it) Cell Biology and Microbiology, because it's boring and familiar. Familiarity doesn't make it easier, there's much more depth and hence, it's mucho mucho drier.

Overall though, I like my course. I admit before this, even after submitting my application, I was never 100% sure that dentistry was the right fit for me. 

It might be a bit premature, but I feel like this is really for me :)

My Fridays are spent at the University Dental Hospital, away from the main campus. Here, we're gonna learn about professionalism and do clinical observations in our first year. Fridays are supposed to be more relaxed because as first years can't do much in the real clinical setting yet.

I just got my scrubs and name badge today, so....selfies, obviously. 

Difference with The Good Angle. 

My love for Harry Potter will never die. Being in UK means I get to get ALLL the HP merchandise I want! <3<3<3 Boundless opportunities to satisfy my HP love.

So far I've gotten this 'Undesirable No1' poster and a Hogwarts crest tee from Primark.

 I can't wait to go to London to properly geek-out at King's Cross and the Harry Potter studio tour. 

And get myself a house scarf, for sure!

Hogwarts motto translated from Latin 'Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus' 

 Needless to say, this is my favourite tee right now. 

JLoh's replies to my snapchats are always gold

The Main Building

Graffiti near Senghennydd Hall

The Student Union

 Some random shots around my university. I'm no photographer.

But I guess you can already tell :p

There's this guy in my class that kinda looks like Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars, so he's tall and quite cute. Turns out, he's kind of an obnoxious dick. My friend who was totally googly-eyed for him before, now goes 'Eeeee, benci' whenever she sees him. Lagi, cannot accept sitting near him, ahahaha.

There's also this girl who looks like a chubby Taylor Swift, a guy that looks like a blur Ryan Gosling, and another girl who vaguely looks like a celebrity but I have not yet put my finger on which one.

So I joined the Malaysian Society here, and this was the first social we had. We took over this international buffet in the city. 

After about 2 weeks in a course where there is only one other Malaysian with me, I feel so isolated from other Malaysians. A sentiment echoed by the Malaysian dental seniors I met that night, as there are only 2 or 3 each year. 

Most of them are doing Law or Accounting here. There are even 16 Malaysians doing first year Medicine. And then there's just the 2 of us in Dentistry :(

It felt sooooo good to be surrounded by people - albeit,  strangers - from home. 

Hearing and speaking in our Malaysian accent, such an underrated feeling. 

Going that night made me want to be as involved as I can afford to be in the MSoc. I've already signed up for the Festival of Diversity (Malaysian Night) to be in one of the dances. 

 Apparently, Cardiff has won the Best MNight 2 years in a row, too.

I'm SOOOOO excited to be performing for MNight. 

I can't wait for practice to start!

Initially, I wanted to go for badminton tryouts for the Nottingham Games, but I found out about it kinda late and I had no racket with me. 

So...I ended up going 'Aww screw it' and not going. 

I'm thinking of  going to support my uni at the Games in November though, and exploring other parts of the UK.

With Shakira (my coursemate) and Syairah

When my eyes go Full Asian 

With Julie from Cambridge

GBK! They didn't have my SWEET POTATO FRIES >:( 

Btw, download their app and you can get a student discount of 40% for a limited time. 

You're welcome ;)

Tried and loved this at Jamie's Italian

Lazy to rotate...

 Went over to Jessy's house on Wednesday night to cook some kimchi fried rice together! (her housemate did most of the cooking for us though, hehe) 

It was soooo nice to catch up and complain about our coursemates, we ended up talking for hours!

She lives like 10 minutes from my place, so we're definitely doing this more often :)

Photo to spite Sharon hehehheheh 

Speaking of cooking, here's my cheesy pasta bake with mushrooms and broccoli

Last but not least, Sharon surprised me with this in the mail the other day! 

How freaking adorable is this???

I've yet to finish reading it. I'm saving it for a good day with a cup of tea and Welsh cakes on a cool, calm, drizzly day in.

Time to up my dating game, pug-style. 

Watch out, boys.

Midnight Rambling about my First Week

So my first week as a fresher has just ended. Just came back from the student social with my coursemates. The dental society fed us with free pizza, chips, garlic bread, dessert and discounted drinks, while the committee got to know all of us. It's nice, really, that the dental students of all 5 years are like a community since it's not a big course.

Other than that nothing much really, mostly orientation and inductions all week at uni. Pictured above is my fresher pack from the dental society. Which is cool and all, but I can't help but feel cheated because they gave me the head for the electric toothbrush but not the motor part itself. Gahh. But hey, free stuff!

Had an occupational health check and drew some blood for tests to make sure I won't be giving patients any blood-borne diseases. Hmm..what else? Explored and got lost in the city too. Multiple times. And Jessy and Terrance showed me around the campus and the parks. Oh my gosh, I can't wait to take a proper walk in that park, it's massive and picnic-perfect. I'll go take some photos soon.

Yup, it's been really sunny outside still. The clouds are slowly rolling over though. I gotta get that raincoat asap. 

This girl ah really.

Grabbed free Ben&Jerry's with Joyce, a Scotland-born Chinese, and Shakirah also from Malaysia! Both of them are from my course too. Thank God there's another Malaysian in it with me. 

We met after class to get our Asian food fix at Wok to Walk.

I find food here rather bland. Here I had rice and beef stirfried in hot sauce, the spiciest one on the menu, and I still ended up pouring lots of soy sauce and chili in it. My friends were like omg are you crazy, but hey, my tastebuds are Malaysian born, yo.

Chicken katsu with salad, so funny right

Monday starts off formal lectures, starting with oral anatomy. I'm actually pretty excited about learning new stuff. My brain feels pretty rusty and unloved after completing A2 - I can't wait to jumpstart it up again. 

I found out that this year we'll be dissecting actual cadavers. Actual cadavers! 

While I think I'll need to mentally prepare myself for the sight and smells and the whole bizarre experience of handling a dead human body, I'm actually looking forward to it. Excited, even.

What can I say? I've always liked dissections. Before, I was the only one willing to dissect the pig's heart. Yeerdeh, proud.

Everyone was then surprised with an on-the-spot test on scalpel handling techniques.

They were like 3 stations, where each of us had to demonstrate long and short strokes with the scalpel on a halved orange. At first, we all felt kinda stressed lah, first day already got such test, but it wasn't too bad and I'm pretty sure everybody passed.

So today, Joyce and I went for this taster session with the Trampoline Club at the sports centre. 

I'm not looking to join and commit to this club though, I just wanted to jump on the trampoline!

Damn fun wei.

 Obviously I sucked at it la.

I kept stumbling about the first time, but on my second time, I could actually keep jumping on the centre, kay. I even tried to do that one trick where you bounce on your bum then jump up into standing position again. 

On the other hand, there were people who were already certified pros, demonstrating some stunts.

They'd jump soooo high then do like flips and somersaults in the air. It was so cool.

That moment where you're at the peak of your jump though.

You just feel like, for that moment, you're weightless and floating in midair.

Thinking of going for the taster sessions for Salsa and Latin Dance Club on Tuesday as well. Gonna see if I can drag any of my friends with me, hehe.

Then, we walked to Tesco Extra to pick up groceries and more household stuff.

Found this gorgeous knit for 25% off, so I grabbed it.

I really need more sweaters. I thought I packed a lot for this weather but it really wasn't enough!

Ughh, tired from such a long day. I'm so gonna sleep in tomorrow morning. 

Then, we're gonna scout out the asian supermarket and cafes a bit further from our place.

I feel like I've just been rambling quite pointlessly this post. Must be the fatigue setting in.

Gonna crash, good night world.

PS/ Learnt some Welsh words from the locals. I'll post about them once I've learnt more! 

Hello Cardiff!

So I finally left home for Cardiff a few days ago. And I've pretty much settled in. Still tired and achey from the journey over, but getting better.

I made sure to hug my mom last because she'd be the only one who would cry, which would then in turn make me cry as well!

I survived the 13 hour flight over in what I initially thought was the best seat in the plane. Aisle seat, near the toilet, nobody sitting next to me.NOBODY SAT NEXT TO ME!  How much better could I have it, right?

Well, like most things, it turned out too good to be true because I was sitting behind a baby that had lungs of a deepsea diver. He cried on and off the whole journey, and I barely got any sleep.

While I was waiting for the Cardiff Uni coach to come pick me up from the airport, I had an early breakfast with my ex-college mates YiLian and Darinee, who were waiting for their cabs down to London.

These are my luggages. One big one, one hand carry and a laptop bag. My big green bag was 33kg, 1 kg over the limit that MAS set for us. So I had to open it up and stuff 1kg worth of clothes into my backpack. They almost charged me RM170 for even going above 30kg, but thank God the JPA officers were there to help me tell the woman 'Tak payah charge la, dia terbang sendiri dari Sarawak' 

So this is my new room for the year. I had to singlehandedly lug my 32kg bag up 2 flights of stairs. Ohmygod I almost died. I have 3 big bruises on my legs from heaving it up to my floor. 

Don't mind the ugly sheets, I ordered a set from the residence for when I got there so I didn't have to set out to buy them myself. Ugh, I can't wait to buy some pretty sheets to replace them. 

The room is pretty cosy and I love having it to myself. Oh and by the way, it's ensuite too. 

Do NOT underestimate the luxury of having your own bathroom.

The extra cost is so worth it. 

The privacy.

Not having to share the bathroom and to be able to leave all your stuff in there just the way you like it.

Having it smell of your favourite soap.

Being able to shit without worrying about the stink you'll leave behind.

Just having it all to yourself, basically.

That beige building there is my residence.

Basically, I'm living in a student village. There are about 26 other houses just like this in the area. There's a gym and a pub/bar here too. 

In my flat, there are 7 other freshers. 2 girls from China, me and the rest are local to the UK. I've yet to meet and get to know all of them. Probably not this week though because it's Fresher's Week and most of the locals would be out partying at night at all the club events. As I'm typing, there's a big boisterous bunch of them in the dining area having pre-drinks. 

It's a little intimidating, to be honest. Okay, not just a little. 

I really want to go to the fridge to get my yoghurt but...errr...not right now.  

Maybe after they leave for the club. 

To keep myself awake til at least 10pm, I went to explore my new residence.

Yup, those are the basketball and football fields here. I wound up at a gigantic Tesco near my place and bought some household stuff to make my room into a home. Crashed that night at around 10, forced myself to stay awake til then. I ended up waking up at 3 and couldn't sleep til an hour later. Ughh, overcoming that time jump backwards.

The walk from my place to the Student's Union is about 30 minutes long, and the first time I took that walk  (pictured above), I thought it was the longest walk everrrr. But then again, I didn't really know the way so I kept checking the roads and stuff. 

After enrolling and getting my student ID, a few new Malaysian friends and I went into the city to open our new bank accounts and to shop. 

Again, crashed that night.

Woke up the next morning at around 10am, stayed in bed til around 12pm before I decided to explore the city centre. The weather, for the past few days, is perfect here. Sunny but cool, because the summer is kinda long this year. I was told to really enjoy this weather while it lasts because soon, it's gonna rain and the winds will blow like nobody's business. 

It's great walking around in Cardiff. It's not busy and packed and grey (...like London), but relaxed and friendly and chill.

The city centre/shopping area is much like Manchester too. 

Duck socks I got as a gift!

In the Royal Arcade

Major eyebags ft camo jacket that Sharon got me <3

Cardiff Castle

Street vendor pork sandwich with stuffing and apple sauce, yumm

 My first lecture only starts on Thursday so I still have a couple of free days to explore this exciting city. And also, to find more essentials for my room - I've been putting off clothes shopping til I have all my household stuff and raincoat in order. TAHANNNN.

Jessy arrives tomorrow so she'll be showing me around and taking me out to eat!

I was so looking forward to going to The Kooks concert in my Student Union but the tickets are already sold out. T_T 

What are the chances I'll be able to score tickets nearer to the gig? Fingers crossed.

Ending this post with a couple of gratuitous selfies, that I feel too paiseh to post on Instagram hehe

Oh my god they are so noisy outside. I guess they're pretty tipsy already. They're cheering and banging on things and just bumping things around. Beer bottles clinking here and there. Good music is playing from my dining room and from other flats outside as well - The White Stripe's Seven Nation Army, right now.

But y'know, I'd rather this than a dead, quiet hall. The whole place just feels alive. 

Here's to hoping the level of partying and noise dies down, at least a little, after this Fresher's Week.