GARGANTUAN steps
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
fresh start
' It is exquisitely trivial, a delicate bubble of fancy, and it has its philosophy...that we should treat all the trivial things of life seriously, and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality'
- Oscar Wilde
It's been five days since I've set foot in London. The weather is as they claim, raining in the right amounts just to ruin your day. It doesn't pour, not like back at home. But the rain is a general irritance. Light enough not to use an umbrella, but it's like having an intermittent dart being thrown at you. But I particularly enjoy the low humidity, it makes walking anywhere enjoyable (since I don't have my Vios). People are generally in the hustle and bustle of city life, just buzzing around in the hive of the city. Being here has brought about an unseen amount of stress, finding my way around and adjusting to a different set of social expectancy.
My parents will be leaving tomorrow, and I've been having an enjoyable time whilst they're here. I haven't been staying in the halls yet, cause I'm staying at my uncle's residence till my parents leave, and then I'll be living on my own from then on. I've shifted into my room already, and bought enough food to live in my locked room for close to a year, like 40 packets of Mee Goreng, in addition to 20 packets instant noodles brought from Singapore. (to Mike Lui, this is a lie, my room is empty and down to the bare minimum). I would liken my room to that of a prison cell - it has a wash-basin in the middle of the wall, and all that it lacks is just a squatting toilet beside it to make my day. The lights are dim, but I suppose most prison cells don't come carpeted and with a bar fridge. I haven't gotten to know my other hallmates, but I suppose I have the year ahead to catch up with them. Walking to school takes a good 40min, literally, a walk in the park. (It's Hyde Park that I'm walking through everyday, by the way). I'm considering the offer of taking one of my cousin's bike to cycle to school, but nothing beats sliding my way on snow to school should I slip.
Meanwhile, I've met up with Fon and her mum on two separate occasions. She's doing fine (I say this on behalf of her since her internet connection is currently incapacitated). I haven't met up with Mike Lui yet though, but so far, I gather from chatting with him online, he's ok. Kevin seems fine, he looks pretty elated in his blog, go check it out!
First day of school started, and excitement filled with anxiety started the morning. I get stressed out with meeting too many new people, and going through the usual rounds of lectures on how to behave yourself and work hard and play hard. Registration was quite a pain, having to queue for a good 2 hours just to have my photograph taken for my student ID card. Setting up a bank account and getting a telephone plan is worse still. I've never heard of someone having to pay a bank 5 pounds a month just to keep your bank account alive. (It's for International Students signing up with HSBC by the way) But as you can probably guess, no one earns my money that easily, so I'm moving to Barclays.
I suppose that's all for now. I'll be moving into halls tomorrow evening. Perhaps I'll start taking some photographs and learn how to post them here. Meanwhile, here's a people's profile that has been in the closet for a while, but as promised -
People Profile 2 - Lee Yuan Hwa aka Leeagle
Gender - Male
Age - 21 (as of 2006)
Similar fates bestowed on us in accordance by the local university. Of course, he got the interview but I didn't. Got into local law school but decided to ruin his chances of going to hell by becoming a doctor! Our fates have been similarly linked since we met in JC (only academically) till we went to Monash University where I supposedly pang sehed him (meaning, I left him in the lurch, not defecating on him). Since then, our fates haven't been too tangled up. A guy with an extremely sharp mind, an even sharper tongue, and a man of many talons. (and a brother who picked things up faster than him)
- Oscar Wilde
It's been five days since I've set foot in London. The weather is as they claim, raining in the right amounts just to ruin your day. It doesn't pour, not like back at home. But the rain is a general irritance. Light enough not to use an umbrella, but it's like having an intermittent dart being thrown at you. But I particularly enjoy the low humidity, it makes walking anywhere enjoyable (since I don't have my Vios). People are generally in the hustle and bustle of city life, just buzzing around in the hive of the city. Being here has brought about an unseen amount of stress, finding my way around and adjusting to a different set of social expectancy.
My parents will be leaving tomorrow, and I've been having an enjoyable time whilst they're here. I haven't been staying in the halls yet, cause I'm staying at my uncle's residence till my parents leave, and then I'll be living on my own from then on. I've shifted into my room already, and bought enough food to live in my locked room for close to a year, like 40 packets of Mee Goreng, in addition to 20 packets instant noodles brought from Singapore. (to Mike Lui, this is a lie, my room is empty and down to the bare minimum). I would liken my room to that of a prison cell - it has a wash-basin in the middle of the wall, and all that it lacks is just a squatting toilet beside it to make my day. The lights are dim, but I suppose most prison cells don't come carpeted and with a bar fridge. I haven't gotten to know my other hallmates, but I suppose I have the year ahead to catch up with them. Walking to school takes a good 40min, literally, a walk in the park. (It's Hyde Park that I'm walking through everyday, by the way). I'm considering the offer of taking one of my cousin's bike to cycle to school, but nothing beats sliding my way on snow to school should I slip.
Meanwhile, I've met up with Fon and her mum on two separate occasions. She's doing fine (I say this on behalf of her since her internet connection is currently incapacitated). I haven't met up with Mike Lui yet though, but so far, I gather from chatting with him online, he's ok. Kevin seems fine, he looks pretty elated in his blog, go check it out!
First day of school started, and excitement filled with anxiety started the morning. I get stressed out with meeting too many new people, and going through the usual rounds of lectures on how to behave yourself and work hard and play hard. Registration was quite a pain, having to queue for a good 2 hours just to have my photograph taken for my student ID card. Setting up a bank account and getting a telephone plan is worse still. I've never heard of someone having to pay a bank 5 pounds a month just to keep your bank account alive. (It's for International Students signing up with HSBC by the way) But as you can probably guess, no one earns my money that easily, so I'm moving to Barclays.
I suppose that's all for now. I'll be moving into halls tomorrow evening. Perhaps I'll start taking some photographs and learn how to post them here. Meanwhile, here's a people's profile that has been in the closet for a while, but as promised -
People Profile 2 - Lee Yuan Hwa aka Leeagle
Gender - Male
Age - 21 (as of 2006)
Similar fates bestowed on us in accordance by the local university. Of course, he got the interview but I didn't. Got into local law school but decided to ruin his chances of going to hell by becoming a doctor! Our fates have been similarly linked since we met in JC (only academically) till we went to Monash University where I supposedly pang sehed him (meaning, I left him in the lurch, not defecating on him). Since then, our fates haven't been too tangled up. A guy with an extremely sharp mind, an even sharper tongue, and a man of many talons. (and a brother who picked things up faster than him)
posted by Gabriel Yan at 3:02 AM
1 Comments:
Might wanna be wary about British banks. Look at what Nick Leeson did!
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