Random

The past 1 week has been quite hectic: spent the first day of CNY exploring the Beacon hill at the outskirt of Loughborough, settled the visa appointment at German Embassy, settled all the modules that i'll be taking here (taking 5 modules, 4-days week, No lessons on Monday, so it's a long weekend every week!!!), finalised the itinerary for the Easter break's Euro trip, booked all the accommodations, and finally spent a long weekend at Oxford!

Pictures and posts about all these trips will be coming up soon, probably after I submit my Schengen visa application on Wednesday...Tomorrow will be a long day in school...Tutorials are still untouched and so are lecture notes. It's so unbelievably not me!!!

Wednesday will be another long day...I have to catch 6.42 am train to London alone to submit my visa application at the German embassy and will certainly not waste my trip there, even though I'll be back in London again this coming weekend as part of our long weekend getaway. Manchester will be our next destination within 2 days after coming back from London! gonna watch the Manchester United vs Lille match at Old Trafford...

It seems like I spend more time planning for trip and travelling rather than studying! That's what an exchange student should do, rite? haha...i shall juz keep the spirit of an exchange student burning inside me...This's indeed the longest holiday I have ever had in my entire life!

The Beacon Hill

That's where we spent our first day of Chinese New Year...our first week anniversary at Loughborough. A 20-mins bus ride from Loughborough Town Centre brought us to a village called Woodhouse Eaves, where the famous Beacon Hill is located. At 802 miles, it's the second highest point in Leicesteshire and the site of a Bronze age fort. Beacon Hill can be found in many parts of UK and they were used as sites for warning beacons (fires lit up at the high point to signal the approach of enemy troops) during Elizabethan times. Once fire is lit up at one of the hills, the message would be passed on by lighting up another fire at another Beacon hill. Interesting rite?

Our first bus trip at Loughborough

The journey to the village was a breathtaking one...large green patches at both sides of the road, flock of horses and sheeps (btw the horses here wear clothes and the sheeps are a bit brownish in color!), and rows of beautiful European-style houses (how i wish i'm staying in one of them!).

Finding our way to Beacon Hill

Look at the smoke from the steam train - the Great Railway!

It was an extremely long walk from the bus stop all the way to the top of the hill, but it was worth the effort! Being able to see the surrounding cities (including our university) and enjoy the magnificent scenery from the top of the hill is really fantastic...The weather was extremely cold though, but it didnt deter us from taking our own sweet time at the highest point of the hill, enjoying our cold sandwich, running around on top of the bouncy bed of grass, snapping lots of pictures, wow-ing at every part of the hill...

Some interesting stuffs that we encountered on our way up to the hill:

Alwyn said that his back was really breaking while piggy-backing Lester!

Lots of benches dedicated in loving memory of some ppl who frequented the national park were commonly found in this park. Take a look at the one below!

See how sweet the sentences crafted on the bench are...

For more pictures of Beacon Hill trip, take a look at http://picasaweb.google.com/lydia.makmur/BeaconHill !

Welcoming the Piggy year @ Loughborough

I have decided to set up a new blog...The friendster blog is really lousy! My posts look super dry without the pictures...So from this point onwards, i shall update this one!

Anyway, Happy Chinese New year everyone! Wish u a very prosperous year ahead...it's PIGGY year!!! It's my first time celebrating Chinese New Year in a different continent but nevertheless I did not feel any difference. I am too used to celebrating CNY without my family, without angpaos, without abundance of good food...It's just that this time round I have to prepare CNY's eve dinner! or shall i say WE have to prepare the food ourselves!

Well, lester was our chef of the day! We had dumpling soup, steamed fish, boiled chicken and stir-fry broccoli and cauliflower! Luckily my mum taught me how to fold dumpling before so at least i was a bit useful in the kitchen! haha...

The food tasted extremely delicious (is it because i was too hungry? only had banana for lunch!haha). A reunion dinner away from home, away from Singapore turned out to be not that bad indeed.

Counting down to the new year, we had Bakwa, sparkling juice, red wine and tiramisu for our late desert and not to forget Chinese New Year song as the background music,haha...Oh btw, we got the sparkling juice for free from our neighbour and we bought the cheapest red wine available on the rack in Sainsbury's. It costs 2.64 pounds and is a product of France. But honestly, that's the worst red wine I have ever tasted in my entire life (I guess because it's the cheapesT!).