It's a hot day...

It's actually feeling rather warm today... even feeling pretty hot at times if you're wearing a jacket.. which is rather surprising when its supposed to be mid-autumn... But since it's a hot day... cue...
ICE CREAM!! =D A rather big tub of chocolate, vanilla, fudge brownies, choc chip cookie dough goodness (a rather long name ... i know...) for 2pounds =D Ben and Jerry's for the price half of Baskin's tubs back in Malaysia...
INDULGENCE... =D

Snacks here in UK are such a treat indeed... oh i have to mention i got thai chilli chips too.. last week was lemon lime infused chips... which was great too...

...and yes im writing this to spite my siblings who will get extra portions of snacks from grocceries now that im not around =P

Trip to London...Or Rather Just Oxford Street

Well I've arrived to see this... Marble Arch... pretty self explanatory isn't it ? Took about an hour's bus ride from Hatfield to... i-forgot-what-road-but-its-near-Hyde-Park-Road... yeah...
And thats the bu... wait i DID NOT take that bus here... why did i take a picture of it then!? .. oh ... open top double decker... ooooohhhh... soo... facinating... wheels on the bus go round and...

Ice Cream anyone at 10c ? I actually wanted one tho... then again i wanted to prance around in the park too, that didn't happen...

Hyde Park, a place for all your prancing, forlicking, dance-around-trees, roll-down-the-hills goodness. Along with some football seen here..

Another view of the arch made from marble... me thinks...

"Meh! Marbles, Smarbles... " - Least thats what I look like when this photo was taken of me...

The Magic Marble Arch didn't take too kindly to what I said and promptly summoned the dark clouds and rain to fall upon us... =(

Argh! Rain!! Crap !! *Pause*... Hey look at those buildings!! ... Argh... Rain!!!



Hehehe NIKETOWN... *Rubs hands in anticipation*

This is the BEST VIEW OF ALL OF NIKETOWN =D THE BEST BOOTS ON DISPLAY!! (I took the other side but couldn't get past the beeper...)
Ronaldo and his pink boots... underneath all those carbon fibre are ballet shoes...

Mannequins came alive!! Debenhams converted their shop display and put on a musical i think to "Dream Girls" clever marketing... but clearly annoyed many brits walking on the already crowded street plus a rainy day... BAD COMBINATION...

Encounted with a very stunned squirrel who just sat there at my feet lost at what to do in my presence... SQUIRREL: should i roll over and play dead or what ?

Well that was Saturday... The next day i tried to cook on my own while Atifi was on her way back from London after spending the weekend with her friend.

Stir fried chicken with vegetables....

Well actually Atifi said it was ok... i have a thing for eating my own food so... ugh... when in doubt tho.. use lots of pepper! Sure did the trick..
HAH! I can make rice after all... and in a pot too!

Comfort food after my failure =P Atifi still think's they were ok... i don't know... she may have stomach of steel... This large Biopot yogurt thingy is so tasty tho... *yum yum* Lots of nice snacks here in UK hehe... i mean... they're good for you right ?

Gah... time to read up my materials to prepare for tomorrow's class... Still have to decide on what to do for my dissertation...

Btw, the word DISSERTATION alone...


The fact that is similar to a THESIS does not help either...

I'm terrified.

Alas... all good things must come to an end..

The weather that is... after all the nice sunshine, i finally experienced my first UK rain... or rather drizzle... all is good until the 24-30km/h wind kicks in...

It's getting colder now.. well actually the colder weather is way overdue as I'm told we're supposed to have autumn since September but we're still getting sunshine and good weather.

Then i stumbled on to this:

UH even exists in Second Life! I've got to get use to all this hi-tech stuff.. Lectures can be downloaded as podcasts, tracking assignments and handing it up no longer needs staff as it all can be done online or via the barcode scanning-then-submitting-it-system.. I've still to get use to all the features of STUDYNET, which is essential to my course and the progress. With news, updates, assignments all dealt with online.. i guess i won't be seeing anyone from the admin face to face for sometime.. I'm sure a lot of you have experience this studying overseas like in Australia, NZ etc etc.. so pardon me for my "just came out of a cave" syndrome. The worrying thing is now that im not as adaptive to technology as i use to be.. *cough cough* (old already..=P ) This is very overwhelming, getting worried about if i missed anything by not checking the STUDYNET or missed anything.. i guess i'll spend the whole afternoon today checking it out..

..After a couple of rounds of Team Fortress 2 that is =D

Still finding my feet playing football here too, (hey i get the 6 months adaptive period for all foreign players coming to England to play too right?) Been playing like crap the past couple of sessions.. must... push... on...

Oh btw, i met a player that looks like adebayor, plays like adebayor.. misses open goals like ade.. (lol) but boy he is GOOD .. i got nutmeg-ed by him like couple of times -___- crap.. and really makes a good target man. At this rate, i don't stand a chance at all to make even the 3rd team lol! Oh well, there's always inter-mural and social leagues outside =P Will just give it a shot and embaress myself anyways =P

Pictures... again... because im just laz.. *COUGH* BUSY..

Pictures tell a thousand words, therefore a couple of pictures should be enough for this post. Besides, people only scan around and not read thoroughly anyway so picture would be more effective...

Plus...

I've ran out of excuses.. =P


Outside my room on the corridor. My room is at the end, facing outwards. which is great because every night there's like some mini-drinking party going on outside at the entrance of my hall. Poor Atifi had to contend with the noise, a complaint should be filed soon i think should it go on..


And then there is the kitchen, with pretty much everything you need except perhaps.. food..

Oh someone brought food.. good. Breakfast served by Atifi, gobbled up by me =P

If you notice, students are expected to multi-task on a regular basis which include ironing while doing your work on the desk while cooking and reading the notes on the notice board.

And then we head out for the garden BBQ party...

Another nice sunny day which is beginning to feel odd as it supposed to be 1/3 through autumn already. I'm not complaning though.

Looks nice isn't it? Thats because 80% of the students have not turn up yet, then it got rather crowded...

All fun and games then..

More fun and games ... and more importantly... FREE FOOD =P

Friends from the Hope International Fellowship - Hope Church Hatfield. Thanks to Malaysian style corruption, i had extra coupons to get more free food and drinks =D (each person entitled to 1 drink and a choice of hot dogs, vege burger and beef burger) How was i to try all of them!? Here we're basking in the sun.. should have brought me shades... oh well, autumn around the corner... oh wait.. it IS supposed to be autumn since sept...

It seems most of the trees and plants in the campus and around the area have berries and what not... more of the fairy tale land stuff...

Back at the halls the next day.. there was a mini-concert in the park, or rather just outside the halls.. it's really stuff you see in the brochure.. people sitting on the grass having a bite or a chat... and you always thought they were all fake and staged photoshoots for the nice brochures to sell the uni.. well here it's for real apparetly.. or i have to ask them how much the uni pays them to sit there.. i wouldn't mind coming up on some brochures as well... but then the uni would likely freefall down the Times ranking then.

Hope to be playing some proper football soon... trials are coming up and i want to sign up to see where i stand. More info after i check out the Sports Fair and atheletic clubs on the 1st of Oct. Meanwhile... classes are somewhat confusing as i never have had to choose the slots for me tutorials.. feeling a little lost.. need... Malaysian...style... spoon...feeding.... =P

There's also lots of football social leagues i think from what i gathered so far.. from 11-a-side football leagues to 5-a-side and even 3-a-side.. from casual, intermural to university and social leagues.. lots of choices.. can i play all? =D

The football here is more street soccer ish.. there is not futsal.. the goals are short and wide like street soccer.. but somehow the Africans have no problem heading the ball into the net.. oh and the indoor balls are still soccer balls instead of futsal balls .. so ball control is essential.. well its great for people like me whose shot power is an equivalant of... nil ... so having a soccer..*sorry* i mean a size5 FOOTBALL would be easier to strike. Nice weather to run in provided it's not 10c and below.. but running and pushing myself competitively would yeild difficulty in taking in air due to it being so cold and dry.. a little getting use to... i hope i don't become a Reyes =P maybe i should have studied in Spain.. BUT NO, i will soldier on despite the difficulties i face.. and will use ... Jeremy's hat-trick and man of the match performance in last week's competitive league game as an inspiration...

=P

Fairy Tale Land...Pictures..

Here are some pictures to prove that the RABBITS ARE REAL!!

... and to show you guys around as well.

(finally getting internet connection in my room meant unloading all the things i want to do all at 1 shot.. should be sleeping soon.. although its 1142pm now. I usually sleep now by 11 latest.. usually around 1030 or 10 in fact.. and get up on my own around 8 or 730am.. healthy lifestyle ?? =P )






SEE THE RABBITS ARE REAL!! (These are roaming around on campus, it was rumoured that the population dwindled down abit at one point because the Chinese students started to catch them for dinner... well food is expensive in UK...tho i don't understand how rabbit population can dwindle with their known mating habits.)





How nice, shall we have a little garden party then ?

Oh yes.. my room..













The Galleria (The nearby Mall)


There's a nearby oriental shop.. guess what i found.. amongst other Malaysian stuff as well..



It's really fairy tale stuff for some areas, my accomodation is rather sterile tho like putrajaya lol. the other campus (College Lane) has more character.. granted my side has top notch facilities, college lane feels homely, and has rabbits =P and a field which is free to play in.. (the field on my side is rented due to its high quality-ness =P )

Oh.. and i found out London Colney (where Arsenal's training complex is) isn't far away, and that Arsenal Ladies Team train at my Uni.. must go.. to Emirates.. soon....

I'm off to bed.. sulking over the fact that the absence of internet has made me miss the wonderful display of Arsenal trashing Sheffield Utd in the Carling cup 6-0 with an average age of 19(Nvm, lucky i managed to download the game with uber highspeed broadband hehehe people still using streamyx- suckers... hehehehe XD). And with couple of english lads too. The futures bright, the future's red and white =D

[More pics to come when im not too lazy to post them again.. meanwhile.. just let me know what you like to see.. shud post up the map of my campus too hmm.. till next time then..]

Fairy Tale Land...

Flight from KL to Abu Dabi was ... really long indeed, pretty impressed with the facilities and service offered by Etihad Airways which left a good impression with me. Managed to squeeze in an hour of sleep in the end before the plane landed at Abu Dabi.

Meet up with 2 students from TOA (The One Academy) who were also going to UH(Hertfordshire). We had met during the pre-departure briefing. The four of us had a drink at the Cafe, then proceeded to board for the flight to London.
When i finally reached the campus.. after lugging around the baggage tossing it into the room, i proceeded to explode its contents before sorting it out and putting it in place. Then i went on a walk first to the Galeria for lunch, then to college lane.. then around college lane.. then back.. i think we would have clocked 3KM easily. Weather was great, clear skies, bright sunny day. This was what i had observed..

Ahh the fresh cool air...
Oh look a squirrel.
Look, a rabbit. (NO SERIOUSLY in the campus, it was running around)
Look, ducks swimming in the pond
Wild flowers and dandelions everywhere, with cosy cottage like houses how quaint and English. It was as if it were all pulled out from a fairy tale..
I had to check if the houses were cardboard cut outs.


At the pedestrian crossing traffic lights...
I pushed the button.
The sign with the words “Wait” lit up.
Within a minute the light went green and the cars slowed down.
THEY WORK!

More Jakun-ness to come..

Geek Talk

Well the laptop is finally here, so i guess perhaps some of you would be curious about the model i've got in my hands now..

Well, im sure someone would be interested? Anyone ?

...

*sound of crickets in a distance...*

...Right, some photos will do then.

It's a DV4t - 1039Tx

It's a 14.1" laptop

It's a ..

..I'm too lazy to go into the details.

If anyone is interested in this model or would like to know more i can post a user review. Or maybe i won't, but i will still tell you how it went for me anyways..

.. and no, i don't work for HP.