First trip

Hey hey!

Just a quick post.
I am going off to a trip soon (more like now). Where to? I cannot tell you yet. I am definitely going to tell you all about it once I come back from .........

I am so nervous right now. I have never in my life been on a holiday this far. My entire 20 years of life, I have only been to Malaysia (my hometown), Singapore (short holiday) and UK (to study). Apart from that, I have never been overseas, EVER! And this is my first official holiday trip to a foreign country! And this time, it is with my friends and no family around. So scared! haha. Exaggerating much?

I am excited for it though. I really am. I am going to a beautiful country and where the people are so beautiful and handsome (any guess yet?) ;)

Thus, I need to (wo)man-up! and give this trip a go. No matter how scared or nervous I am, I know Allah will protect my whole journey. :D

Please pray for our safety!

See you soon. :)

Cousin in town!

Hey hey!

And so the holiday begins. :)

I received my first ever guest last weekend since I came to UK. MY FIRST EVER! haha. It is my lovely cousin Sophia all the way from Dublin, Ireland. ;)

Guildford Castle

One of the passageway in the castle

So,  it is my obligation to bring her around Guildford. However, there were nothing much you can do in Guildford, the town is sooooo tiny that you can just finish it in 2 hours max, that is of course, if you just go for a sightsee and not shopping. If shopping were to take into account, then it might have been longer. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of places you can visit in Surrey. It is a big county, but not in Guildford town, especially not this time of the year, Most of its best attractions are closed for Winter. (",)

Coffee Culture moment

We went strolling down the streets of Guildford, went to the castle and some of other places (basically none other than that). We stopped by to have tea and desserts at the famous Coffee Culture shop and went into some shops. Then we went to Tesco to buy some stuff and we made DESSERTS! haha. My cousin loves to bake, so we managed to do Fruit Tarts and Tiramisu (my fav). I don't want to brag but they are really delicious! Especially the tiramisu. I am so amazed by how easy it was to make those two. :)

Tiramisu!!

The next day, both of us with an extra addition, Fadhilah (my friend) went for a day trip to Portsmouth. We went there by National Express bus and arrived in Portsmouth Harbour within an hour journey. Yup, Guildford is just close by. The city alone was design to compliment the Maritime status they hold thus almost all buildings, bridges, statues are inspired by ships. :)

Near Portsmouth Harbour

On the Ferry's Jetty

We went into few attractions near the harbour which was within walking distance and went into various types of souvenir shops. Even antique ones. You can also go into the museum which is in the ship with a fee. I am sorry, but I do not know how much it costs as we did not go into museums but I am sure it must be worth the price because the place is so awesome!

No idea what this is called

The big H.M.S. Victory

V for Victory!

We got our lunch a bit further into town, and bought ourselves Fish and Chips! There is this halal shop which serves lots of food, and the F&C were just excellent. For the right amount of price, they serve quite a big portion even just for a small serving. They even do delivery for people living around the area. Why don't we have one in Guildford? :( (Or do we have one?)

Try it!

The size of the Small sized Fish and Chips

Later the evening, we went to the Gunwharf Quays. Famous for its retail outlets. So, my dear shopaholic, this is definitely the place you should go to. There are significant amount of shops, and the prices were indeed cheaper than the market prices and they are having sales currently. I must admit, I was tempted as well, so I accidentally bought myself a handbag. haha. Ok, I was looking for a bag to be honest, but I was not looking for the bag that I just bought. It totally went over my budget but it was worth it and still is. :D I keep on looking at it even until now out of satisfaction. hehe...
No, I just bought a bag for my self and nothing else. Still under control. haha.

The Main Entrance to Shopaholic Heaven?

Few boats docked in the Quays

I don't know what this is but I think it the light house

Some smaller shops

We hang for a little while in Gunwharf Quays until the bus came and off we go to Surrey again.
It was a tiring day indeed but it was fun. :)

The next morning, it was time for my cousin to go back to where she belong, Dublin. haha. I had fun though. The baking experience was the fun part, I still have some tiramisu left for me to finish. :) Yeay me! Fatty me! haha.

I am definitely gonna set foot in Ireland soon.

And.... that is it for now people. Thanks for reading!

Sorry, am not really in an updating blog mood right now, I have a coursework to finish!
BYE!

End of Semester 1

Happy Holiday people!

There was frost everywhere last week

It is the end of the year, we are now closer to a new beginning. Or is it the end of the world already according to some?

Nahhh, definitely not. :P

But, we can fake it and tell our children and grandchildren that there was such an event and tell them we survived it. haha. ;D *No we shouldn't lie*

Anyway, as I am currently in UK, the Christmas spirits are everywhere! Guildford town has been crowded with people; with those shopping for presents, preparing for the Christmas season, and those people who have exactly nothing to do with Christmas like me - the ones taking advantage of the sale. hehe..

The way people over here preparing for Christmas really reminds me of home when we have any festive seasons around the corner. Malaysia celebrates more than 5 festivity from Thaipusam to Chinese New Year. From Diwali to Eid Celebration. From Wesak Day to "Hari Gawai" and we even celebrate Christmas too. :) 

*Show off? - Nahh, only proud of my country*

Well, that is not the main point. The point I want to make here is that, I have been happily involving myself with their Christmas spirit over here. It is definitely a different environment here. Everyone is extremely excited for it. Who wouldn't? =_="

So, just before the Autumn semester came to an end, I have few programs in my calendar.

First was the secret santa among my classmates. :)

I received a very cute cup with the Disney's 101 Dalmatian dog on it. Just perfect to fill in my coffee and milo. :D Thanks to Rachita for it (She's my secret santa). Then we had few wonderful meals, like pizza, cakes & ice creams, bread and etc. We also played Monopoly while we were at it. Me and Aysha loss the game terribly. Haha, couldn't help it. Somebody have to lose in order for someone else to win right. ;)

Meet le classmates

Monopoly!
We even applied economics while we were at it.

The first team to go Bankcrupt

Next on my list of things to do was attending our very own, Compton House Christmas Party. We had LOADSSSS of food. Thanks to our main chef Lola for preparing it. It was extremely delicious. Everyone gave a contribution no matter how big or small it were, we all made it a success! I can't describe it to all of you enough with words, it was just magnificent. The food that is. :D

The GIRLS

Our Main Course

How it looks like on my plate

The deserts! (Missed out the starters picture)

My worthy guest

The only boys in the party aka our photographer.

Leftovers!

Thus, my first semester in Surrey now has officially comes to the end. With a great welcome and a perfect ending. I hope to have a fantastic semester again next year though and I really miss everyone!

Oh oh, I have a cousin visiting me currently. I am gonna tell all about it the next time I get my hands on this blog.

See you all soon! :)

Winchester & One week to Holiday

Good Evening (or) Morning everyone!

Sorry for not posting anything here for quite a long time. Apparently, I have been a bit busy doing nothing. haha.

As the title suggest, I will be talking about my current Winchester Trip with my fellow housemates and the excitement to holiday. (Why do I sound like writing a school essay?)

Meet le Housemates!

Okay, first of all, let's talk about the trip to Winchester. It was held on 8th of December (today), organised by the Student Union. The ticket was really cheap. I should probably look into their activities more often. Me and my housemates (almost all of us) bought the ticket and have been planning for it for months now. Haha, see how excited we were.
We departed around 9am and arrived in Winchester about 1 hour later. It was pretty near to Surrey and apparently near to Southampton as well. ;)

So, let me give you a bit background of Winchester. According to our 'supervisor', Winchester was once the capital city of England before it moved to London. Therefore, there were a few historic places relating to the UK's history situated in Winchester. When I say few, I really do meant FEW!

Look out for this building for the City Mill

We started our exploration to the Winchester City Mill. It was appropriately small and very easy to missed it if you do not pay attention to the sign board. We went in to the shop and there were plenty of souvenirs and jams and perfume and yada yada yada. I regret not purchasing the city postcards. However we did not went into the actual city mill, you need to pay for it and it appears that all of us are really 'stingy'. haha. If you happen to go there, do check the place out. It looks interesting from the outside so I bet it must be worth the money to go in. ;)

Abbey House

Ducks in the park

Scary >_<

The Great Winchester Cathedral

Then we made our way to the Cathedral. We went through the park, the Abbey house (Mayor's house) and some tomb/grave to get there. The Cathedral is so huge in size, it was used as a place of worship for over 900 years. Jane Austin tomb is in it! You can take a tour around the Cathedral with a fee of not more than 10pounds, cheaper if you are a student. We did not went to the tour as well for the reason, you know why. haha. Around the area, there was a German-inspired Christmas Market. They were selling jewellery, food, nuts, chocolates, christmas decorations and many more. It was a bit crowded since it is the weekend but still bearable. To top it, in the middle of the market, there is an open ice-skating ring. :D

Look! The chestnuts stall.

Cupcakes!

People playing ice-skating outdoor

2 lovely lady wrapping cotton candy

The brother behind the chocolate counter

Just us posing in the middle of the market.

Afterwards, we went up the high street and found the West Gate and The Great Hall. The place was astonishingly beautiful. There was also a round table (have no idea what that is) in it. The hall was the only part left from the old Winchester Castle which used to be the largest and the finest in England. There is also coin transformer machine, sort off, so I used it! ;)

Me and Annette infront of the West Gate

Have no idea what I just sat on.

The Queen's statue in the Great Hall

The 'thing' on the wall probably
is the Round Table example.

COIN TRANSFORMER MACHINE!

Later, we bought some lunch and went strolling around the area. There was a City Market, so the streets were crowded with tons of people. There were also musicians, dancers, street artist, and people singing Christmas carols just to get season's spirit hyped up. :)

It's a real MAN!

They sell veges.

There were not many places to visit or things you can do in Winchester. The town itself is very small (almost the same size of Guildford town) and as youngsters, I must say, it is a pretty boring place. I mean it in a way if you are gonna be there from 10am-6pm, it is relatively quite miserable! The shopping mall is not even a mall. You can count the number of shops they have using just your fingers on your hand. Most of the shops are on the High Street which was almost impossible to go to since there were plenty of people there.

Crowd of people watching youngsters dance

So, my conclusion for this trip is - just OK.
I won't suggest people to go there for the whole day, but if you would want to visit it, just plan your trip to make it last only up to 4 hours max. Cause if you stay there longer than that, you are gonna suffer, man. Seriously. =_="

Me with the not so big Christmas Tree

Enough with the trip. As for the coming holiday, I AM EXCITED! Well, we do have to come back after the break for exams and stuff but until then, I am going on a Holiday people! haha.
Where to? You'll see. I am sooooo gonna brag about it early next year. haha.

As for those who are already on the holiday mood, have fun. For those who still have a week of classes to go, good luck! As for those back in Malaysia, have fun eating Durian and Rambutan for me. Oh and Happy Newlywed! I know, there must be thousands of couple ending their single life by now. ;)

Until next time people. Have a great day!