Back in London - and off again!

Sitting in the Starbucks at Gatwick now with Steph waiting for our flight back to France later! Hahaha. Had such a hectic 2 weeks before I came back to London omg was so busy with exams and coursework and all. Had 5 exams in 3 days between 8 - 10 Dec, then another oral evaluation on Friday of that week. Tuesday was the linguistique synchronique exam which was actually supposed to be the following week but turned out that it got shifted forward and I had no idea so I went in and thought the paper was a practice paper before realising 15 min into the paper that it was the actual exam ... Major FML moment LOL. And I didn't even study for it nor did I bring a dictionary. But the passage wasn't that hard so hoping it went well ... Rest of the exams were awful I really hate having back-to-back exams argh. But the oral exam went pretty well I think! And then I had to submit the literature dossier before I left so stayed up until 5am to finish it on Tuesday morning T_T But at last it was done and submitted, so I spent Tuesday afternoon doing last minute chocolate shopping, then went ice skating at the rink at Place Dauphine with K! The rink was really really tiny though and the ice wasn't smooth but it was fun and I hadn't skated for half a year omg. Then met V for a last dinner, we had Lebanese food and it was so good!! I got back quite late so showered and packed and backed up some files on my com but didn't sleep as my train was at 6.20am from the gare. Got to Saint Louis station and was trying to figure out how to get the bus to the airport with this other Spanish girl but this super nice lady walked past and saw that we were lost and she just offered to send us to the airport in her car! The airport was a 5 min drive away but apparently they'd changed the bus route or something so we couldn't find the bus stop, but I'm gonna have to figure it out when I next take the plane from BSL ... But anyway the lady was really nice, her name is Claude and we thanked her when we arrived. I was pretty early for the flight but I had a crappy seat and the flight was really full but I was so tired I just slept all the way LOL.

London days had been really really busy so I'm just gonna do some daily summaries here:
16/12 Wed - arrived in afternoon, picked up some stuff from WT's place, met O for dinner at All Bar One at Canary Wharf and also had a tour of his office!! Had a game of pingpong in the gym room LOL and the view up there was so amazing!
17/12 Thurs - Had breakfast with E at 8am at Le Pain Quotidien and then had a second brunch with the SW girls at the Breakfast Club - 2 places which I've always wanted to try! Food was really really good. Then S and Y and I went to check out the new Brandy Melville store at Covent Garden! Didn't buy anything cause there wasn't anything new. Met J and Y again for dinner at Shake Shack and also had Biju for dessert hehe.
18/12 Fri - Met CW for dimsum then we went to shop on Oxford Street - for the first time it was me waiting for someone else in the changing room LOL. Then went to meet H and J for dinner at Flat Iron, but there was a queue so we went to macs first and ate nuggets LOL. But the steak at Flat Iron was really really good omg will want to go again.
19/12 Sat - Went to explore Broadway Market with Car in the morning and had brunch at El Ganso - the avocado toast with salmon was really good but the pancakes were average except for the huge serving of berries. C had work after that so I got off at Russell Square to check out Office at the Brunswick for shoes - and the New Balance 574 in black and pink which I'd been eyeing was on sale!!! And it was the last pair, in my size!!!!! Was so happy and it fitted perfectly :) Then I saw another pair in burgundy and it actually suited me even more and I couldn't decide between the two so I just bought both LOL. But then again I never wear any other shoes anyway so I will probably wear the shit out of those shoes. Went back and was so tired I fell asleep and overslept for dinner ... Met the HCSE girls at Hare and Tortoise (but the Kensington one) for dinner! Didn't expect to see them so soon after Stockholm but we were once again reunited in London!
20/12 Sun - Had lunch with FY and helped her to shift some stuff, then went to meet M and L in Chinatown. They had dimsum but I missed it but we went to get Sharetea after that. L had a train to catch and M had until 5 before his dinner so he went with me to the post office at the Plaza. But it rained so we were stranded there so we decided to check out the sale at USC. And I found this super super pretty pair of Sketchers in pink and blue!!!!!! Didn't intend to buy shoes again since I'd just bought 2 pairs of NB but it was SO PRETTY and really light and comfortable to wear. And they were half price!!! So now I have 3 new pairs of sports shoes so I probably shouldn't be buying anymore for like the next 3 years maybe ... Then went back to UCL to print stuff before going out again for dinner with I Hall. Good company but made a bad decision so had the worst 炸酱面 ever LOL. Then went back to Car's place and chilled until about 11.
21/12 Mon - Met YX for a quick catch up over hot chocolate, then was supposed to run a few errands and go shopping but I was so tired I just slept the whole afternoon. Showered and packed before meeting S and Car for dinner! Went to eat at ASSA then went to Bone Daddies to try their French toast with matcha soft serve. Then packed and left for Gatwick. We caught the last tube so was one hour early but made the stupid mistake of waiting at bus stop 8/9 instead of GATE 8/9 inside the coach station lol we weren't even in the coach station. But we managed to get the 2.30am bus instead and finally got to Gatwick! Checked in our bags and went to Starbucks.

So anyway the past 5 days have been literally food food and more food. Boarding right now hehe very hyped to go back to Frenchland!

Sunday

So I'm stuck in Strasbourg while the Brandy Carnaby is having a garage sale today :( I have absolutely awful timing basically the only one I've ever been to is the first one ... And also realise my blog views are mostly for the Brandy sale post that I did back in June HAHA. Guess people are doing their research :P

Anyway, last night was a good night :) I woke up miraculously at 4.30am this morning to use the toilet, then I couldn't fall back asleep -.- Got up at 6.30am finally, made breakfast - milo and what was supposed to be a hardboiled egg turned out to be a soft boiled egg instead but all the better LOL. Then I actually went for a run by the canal!! :D Well it's my first time running in ages so didn't run too much only did 20 min but I was so tired LOL. Came back and had a fruit yoghurt and showered and it's only 10am. Normally I would only just wake up at this time, so feeling rather productive today and hoping this productivity will last LOL. And amazing gradient sunrise this morning I swear it's the only motivation for me to wake up early HAHAHA.

Okay but I have friends going for the Brandy sale for me so hopefully there'll be nice stuff OMG.

05122015

HAHA cool date today it's anagrammable!!

Okay but I've finished the syntax exam on Thursday then we all went to l'Epicerie again for dinner then Christmas market where I got another nutella crepe. I came back early and did some work :D Then Friday (yesterday) was a quite productive day, went for an atelier for FLE in the morning, stayed there for another 2 hours and got some work done, then went for lunch with Viivi in the uni resto before going for the methodo revision class. Went back to the library after the class to do some work before dinner, came back and cooked a really lazy soup for dinner, and went back again before the library closed at 10 so I would say that was a really productive day! But I didn't do anything after I came back ahaha. Slept a solid 10 hours so feeling well rested and talked to quite a number of friends it feels so nice to catch up with people after so long! And heard good news too so very happy for one of them :D And very excited to be meeting people in Dec when I go back :D Good day so far even though it's 4pm and I've not done anything for today but I've just showered and gonna do some work now woop woop!

First time at Strasbourg's Christmas Markets

Had the histoire de la langue exam today. Completely screwed it up we always thought it was going to be on everything including stuff from the first exam but turns out it was only the stuff taught after the first exam which was basically all the Latin stuff. I'm so bad at the Latin stuff gah so that was horrible ... couldn't resist checking the answers after the exam, not very hopeful for it at all :( Just hoping I can pass omg ...

Anyway after the exam V and O and I went to check out the Christmas markets in Strasbourg! It opened this weekend but as I wasn't here so today was my first time :D It was quite cool but we went before the sunset so couldn't see the lights, but I'll go again soon when it's dark! Was absolutely starving after the exam so we went straight for the food, but they had tons of cute stuff like candles and Christmas ornaments. I wish I could have a tree but there is no space at all in my room HAHA. Anyway, I got a bowl of spaetzle which is a type of Alsatian noodle/pasta I believe. It was quite good and about standard Christmas market pricing i.e. €5. V and O both got flam baguettes with cheese!

After the spaetzles I was still really hungry so I went for a crepe. Btw we were at the market near Place Broglie which seems to have more food. The one at Place Kleber was mostly clothes and accessories and stuff. Got a crepe with nutella from this store quite near the sides called Stand La Bonumeur. Prices start from about €2 for a basic crepe and you can add stuff like fruits and nutella and other stuff! And the owner was super friendly hahaha he gave me chocolate buttons as I was ordering as well as a brochure menu thing. But the crepe was so good omg it was really soft and chewy and the nutella was heavenly HAHA. Will want to go back again! They also have a Facebook page here: Stand La Bonumeur (it's on the brochure hahaha).

We walked over to the cathedrale afterwards for mulled wine. It was not bad but I still think red wine is a bit strong for me hahaha. Anyway it's really good here in Strasbourg that they dont use disposable cups, but instead they re-use proper plastic cups. So like basically you pay about €3 for a cup of say 30cl and you can return the cup to any store afterwards and get €1 back. Or keep the cup. I didn't really like the design that I got today so I returned it but I saw some people carrying nicer cups when I was walking back so gonna get one of those next time!!

After I got back I was really sleepy because of the mulled wine I think and also general fatigue from all the exams so I slept for 2 hours. Have the syntax exam tomorrow so need to study for that now!! As well as 5 hours of classes before the syntax exam omg ... so much for exchange life T_T

November

Omg can't believe it's been one whole month since I got back from Milan. THE WHOLE NOVEMBER. And it's already 1 Dec today last month of the year omg seriously 2015 is passing by way too quickly ...

Anyway, I have a whole row of exams coming up so gonna make this a quick post because I just wanted to update the stuff in November before I forget. So yep, got back from Milan to Strasbourg on the 2nd early morning I think, then had the Methodologie exam on the 5th. Didn't go anywhere on that weekend because Car came to visit me on the 9th!! I had classes on the 10th so we just explored Strasbourg, ate a LOT HAHAHA then 11th was Armistice Day in France so we did a day trip to Basel since everywhere in Strasbourg was closed. Basel was cool but it was my 2nd time there so nothing new, dragged Car to the Brandy as always and got quite a few items from the last chance rack at 50% off. We also managed to get free tickets to the Natural History museum because they close at 5pm and they give free entry from 4pm onwards. Unfortunately everything was in German so couldn't understand anything ... Then on the same week on Friday made the impromptu decision to go to Zurich because Charles and Han were there on a society trip so another excuse to travel. But I stupidly missed my 5am bus HAHA so got a blablacar instead and finally made it to Zurich at 3pm!! First stop as always is the Brandy so now I can proudly say I've been to all the Brandy stores in Switzerland which is a small but still an accomplishment. :D Got the bus back on Sunday and I was seriously so tired the whole week. Nothing much went on that week but we went to check out Academie de la Biere which was not bad, then Charlie came to visit Viivi that weekend so we all went out. I fell sick and lost my voice on Saturday, didn't even realise until I was calling my mom then I realised I couldn't talk!! So it was quite shitty. Had the synchronique exam on the 24th (last Tuesday), went to all my classes despite being sick and all. Met one of my neighbours on Thursday and he gave me soup and tea and a lemon after seeing that I was sick omg seriously people here are so nice!! Then on the same night I took the overnight bus to Cologne to visit Xichen cause that was something that we planned ages ago! 

Didn't sleep much on the bus and arrived at 6am but ended up sleeping until like 12 noon LOL ... Went to the university for lunch, then we went to the city centre where we climbed the Kolner Dom! A million spiral steps later we finally arrived at 157m up. I think it's like the first cathedral I climbed? Can't remember if I climbed any others before ... then we went to the bridge and caught the sunset and visited a Lindt chocolate factory :D Also went to like 4 Christmas markets, German Christmas markets are absolutely amazing! I think the Strasbourg ones also opened during the weekend so gonna have to check it out sometime ... Then on Saturday we were supposed to go to Aachen, but ended up sleeping in until 2pm LOL. We still went in the end but missed the daylight hours but we went to the Christmas market and cathedral in Aachen and they were really good!! Also bought a lot of Printens (this local chocolate and ginger biscuit thing which is absolutely amazing) and had champignons. Then we went to the Carolus Thermal Bath and spent 2.5 hours there HAHAHA new activity to do in Germany. Got back to Cologne quite late but we cooked dinner! I haven't properly cooked in ages. The next day we were supposed to go to Amsterdam, so thank goodness we woke up in time but barely just caught the train :P Met Petros at the central station, then we went to the Van Gogh museum. Xichen had a concert to watch after that so Petros and I just went to walk around and yes Brandy again LOL but they didn't have much stuff so I only bought the new grid print Kaitlee skirt. Met Xichen again at 6pm then we went for the Heineken Experience! We were the last batch but the staff were all really nice and chill so it was a nice experience :D Got back to Cologne quite late again and had so much difficulty waking up in the morning cause I had to catch a bus back but I made it and got back in the evening!

Then today was the phonetics exam which was quite hard and I have 2 more exams tomorrow and Thursday so gonna stop this post now but omg busy days!!

Sick again

Brief update. So I'm sick again, for like the second time since coming to France :( Also lost my voice again and it's absolutely awful. Had the exam for linguistics this morning, 9 more exams to go + 1 dossier to submit before Christmas break. Been spending lots of time in the library. Also spending lots of money on food. Horrified that my waist has expanded 2 inches since August. It's been freezing these days but no snow so it doesn't really justify the cold. It also gets dark really early and I feel like a plant sometimes wanting more sunlight. I think winter is making me sad and miserable. :(

Amo Milano

Sitting on the Flixbus going back to Strasbourg now and there's supposed to be wifi but it's not working very well ... And so this marks the end of my grand 10-day Scandinavia-Europe solo backpacking trip :( But it was so amazing haha and everything was actually so impromptu?! I like it better this way hahaha basically the only things I planned were the travel timings and even that I only booked everything in like beginning September. And October is over too! I was marking my calendar and I've actually spent half the month out of Strasbourg haha.

So I stopped when I was boarding the flight to Milan (oh shucks did I even publish the post I need to check). Slept the whole way on the flight because I was SO TIRED and even when I landed I still looked like a zombie with huge eye bags hahaha so super sleep deprived. Everything went pretty smoothly though, M came to fetch me from the airport (so super nice of him!!) then he showed me around Bergamo. Also he was driving, so that made everything a lot easier hahaha while I appreciate the convenience of knowing how to drive I don't know when I will ever bring myself to go learn ...

Anyway, Bergamo is an absolute GEM. I can't believe what I would've missed out if not for M bringing me there!! And I was lucky that the weather that day was brilliant. Actually I've been pretty lucky this whole trip with weather because it was nice and sunny in Stockholm and Copenhagen even though it was super cold last week. Then London had okay-ish weather, like it didn't rain during the day but it was drizzling at night when we were going back to C's place so that was annoying. But the weather in Milan was good!! So we drove up to the old town part of Bergamo and walked around. It's not huge, but I really liked the interior of the church that we visited. (And as always this will be a photo-less post but everything's already on my Instagram anyway. And VSCO.) I also tried polenta, which is this corn-flour dish (I think it's really similar to 玉米粥/窝头?!) for the first time and it was super filling T_T I couldn't finish it even though I'm usually super determined never to waste food. But still that didn't stop me from having 2 gelatos after that HAHA. I freaking LOVE gelatos omg damn sad I actually only ate 3 this time :( The first gelato shop we went to was called La Marianna, and apparently it's famous for inventing the stracciatella flavour. I kept thinking that it's cookies and cream but I was wrong!! It's actually milk with chocolate chips. So I got that with strawberry and that was my first gelato ^_^

After that we drove down back to the lower town. There is actually a BRANDY MELVILLE IN BERGAMO. That I didn't know about!!! But it was closed T_T so I am determined to go back again ahh they have a siesta thing between 12.30pm - 4pm and we went around 2-ish so arghhh why do they do this!! T_T Okay but I will definitely have to go back again HAHA. So we went to get another gelato instead and this time it was at La Romana (or something). I got pistachio and pear!! 2 gelatos in a day felt very accomplished LOL.

Drove back to Milan after that and we went back to M's place for tea. Again I need to say it's damn shiok to travel around by car HAHA new experiences every time woop woop!! We wanted to get to the Expo by 6-ish since the night tix only allowed entry after 6, and it took about half an hour to get there by car. Super sian that the sun sets so early in winter it was almost completely dark by then T_T

Arrived at the expo around 6+. It was HUGE. To get to the actual place we had to cross this white bridge. But everything was very fascinating haha it was like a huge festival. So that makes 2 mega events I went to since term started hahaha Oktoberfest and Expo Milano. The Japan pavilion was supposed to be the nicest but it was already closed when we got there, so we just went into the Estonia pavilion randomly and sat on swings. Also saw the USA pavilion. The rest of the pavilions had too long queues and there wasn't much point to wait. But we saw the light show at the Tree of Light!! It was AMAZING omg and I really really loved the music hahaha they had Vivaldi's summer in there! And we went to the side so we were pretty close and got a rather good view. M's Chinese friend MX came to join us afterwards and we had pizza at EATaly hahaha I think that was my first pizza in Idk how long, maybe since April when we ordered Dominos in Argyle?!? HAHAw. Left the Expo around 11 and M drove us back, super grateful otherwise I would have had to find the Airbnb place by myself hahaha. But anyway J and the rest were already back by then so I just had to ring the bell. The Airbnb was a loft and it was so nice omg!! There was even a spiral staircase HAHA I have an obsession for spiral staircases now after the one inside Copenhagen's Botanical Gardens. But yeah the apartment was huge and damn shiokkk. Was super tired by then since I didn't sleep the night before so I just bathed quickly and slept because my eyes couldn't even open anymore HAHA. Almost forgot to set my alarm but luckily I remembered and had to force myself to get up to set my alarmS LOL.

31/10/2015:

Woke up at 6.30am even though my alarm was set for 6.15am omg super sorry for waking up J who was sharing the same room as me cause they weren't intending to get up so early T_T I was supposed to meet M at the Pta. Venezia metro station but luckily it was only 12 min away from the Airbnb place. We went to the expo early to queue for the Japan pavilion!! Arrived at about 8+ even though the gates only open at 9, but they let us in slightly earlier and people were actually RUNNING to the expo LOL. Despite going there so early there was already a super long queue at the Japan pavilion and the staff told us that the waiting time was 6 hours. SIX FREAKING HOURS. I didn't believe him at first but turned out it was true lol. But yeah, we waited for 6 hours. At least there was free wifi in the expo so it wasn't that boring HAHA could be worse. And I think most people who went on the last day were Italians because everyone around me were speaking Italian and I had to keep asking M for translations T_T Feeling the need to learn more languages now to facilitate my travels HAHAHA.

Finally got into the pavilion at around 3pm holyyyy it was really a 6h wait lol ... Apparently there was 1000+ people in front of us O_O But the queue went around the pavilion building so we couldn't really tell how long it was. I don't think I've ever queued so long for anything besides the Brandy Carnaby sale in May LOL but hopefully this kind of things don't happen again HAHA I mean I won't even bother queueing for the new iPhones ... Okay but the Japan pavilion was really really cool so it was rather worth the wait I guess? I mean it's not like we could've done anything else in the 6h when it was so crowded haha. There was this amazing wall of FOOD (pictures not real food sadly) in one of the rooms haha omg I want to eat the whole wall LOL. Then there were quite a few videos but the best part was the Restaurant of the Future at the end! And I still don't know how to use chopsticks the correct way hahaha mega disgrace T_T But the last part was probably why it took so long to wait cause there were limited seats and each show is quite long.

After the Japan Pavilion M's other friend A came to join us, then we went to get food and look at the shops. I bought this super pretty weaved bracelet from Cruciani in ombré pink and now I'm regretting not getting another one ... Wanted to wear it as an anklet but I think now I 舍不得 cause so nice so I'll keep it on my wrist HAHA. Then we went to the Open Air Theatre for the closing ceremony :D Super hyped that I got access thanks to M and A hehehe!! There were a lot of speeches though mostly in Italian but they had French and English translations so I was technically still revising French in Milan :P But I really wanna learn Italian now!! It's similar to French so it'll probably be easier to learn via French than English anyway. But yes the closing ceremony was really cool and they had fireworks in the end! We wanted to take pictures on the stage but sadly they didn't let people up anymore.

We went to eat again at EATaly afterwards and I finally had some legit Italian / Milanese (according to M) risotto HAHA (but was a complete waste cause it all came out afterwards T_T). Also had wine!! I've missed it hahaha haven't had any since like last Wednesday?? Then we walked around and wanted to go to the bar at the Russia pavilion, but it seemed close until some guys ushered us up a secret flight of stairs ... To the rooftop bar where there was a party going on LOL. I think it was some exclusive Russian party but we were there anyway. Drinks were free!!! BELUGA VODKA. HAHAHA. But I was gone after 2 drinks 2 shots and a bit more when the guy came around and just basically shot vodka into people's mouths LOL. So I don't remember the rest and hopefully I didn't do anything stupid even though M said I was okay. He sent me back then J came out to get me too ... Very very grateful again for friends that you can trust to take care of you T_T But I felt very bad for being a burden, AGAIN T_T Hopefully things like this don't happen again omg lol. And it was Halloween!! No Halloween party this year but I think partying on a rooftop bar Russian style in Milan Expo was pretty worth it HAHAHA.

01/11/2015:

Woke up this morning on the freaking floor HAHA but J put a duvet on me. But I was perfectly fine and actually got a solid 9 hours of sleep hahaha. Quickly packed cause I was leaving today while the rest are only leaving tomorrow. Then we went for breakfast/brunch/lunch even maybe?? It was this place called café Sansovino that was only a few stations away and THE CAKES AND PASTRIES WERE SO GOOD?! I bought 8 of the small cakes at first and then went for a second round with pistachio mousse and 2 other cakes ^_^ Then we nua-ed at the café cause they wanted to wait for the new batch of croissants that never came out :( So we left around noon then they went to the castle area (which I only just discovered so I have to go next time!!) while I headed for Brandy Melville. FINALLY!!! I didn't even go for the whole of Friday / Saturday and only the Cesare Beccaria store is open on Sunday :(

Wanted to deposit my luggage at Centrale at first but it was too out of the way and in the end I just left it at the Brandy cashier counter. The staff were really nice about it! But I spent like 2 hours there HAHA I bought 2 signboards, 1 pencil case, 1 pair of pants, 3 Brya skirts, the grid print Abigail dress, the Ellery top that I tried on in Basel but didn't get and 2 other tops! They have the Alena dress in new colours of mustard yellow and baby blue but they didn't really suit me even though they look so cute on their own. And I find Brandy's new colours so weird HAHA like bright colours are so not Brandy?? Idk hahaha. And I was really lucky to have gotten the Brandy Melville signboard!!! Been wanting it for like the longest time ever but it's usually not for sale at their stores. I think I saw it in the Stockholm store but it was 220SEK and it'd have been impossible for me to lug it all the way from Stockholm anyway so I didn't buy :( But it was only €15 at the Milan store!!! And it was the last piece HAHA I was at the counter explaining to the guy that I wanted more signboards, then he asked me which ones I wanted cause there were a few more California and Madrid ones behind the counter. I told him I wanted the big Brandy Melville one on top and surprisingly he said "Yes you can buy it" and I was like REALLY?! Then he got it down for me and told me I could only buy that and not the ones above (which I didn't even see) and it's actually the last piece!! So I was freaking lucky hahaha omgggg. And it's HUGE haha it can't fit into my duffel bag so I had to carry it separately but the Brandy paper bag broke halfway so I had to throw it away T_T

Walked to over to the Duomo to take a few photos, then took the metro to this station called Cairoli where there was supposed to be another Brandy store open on Sunday. I found the store alright, but it was closed even though Google said it opens on Sundays! But it was probably a good thing anyway cause it was already close to 4 by then and if I stayed any longer I would probably miss my bus at 4.45. So I just went to Lampugnano quickly and it was quite easy to find the Flixbus. Also bought a new phone cover with Tour Eiffel (cliché I know but I'm in France!) on the way cause my current one is breaking and a rainbow weaved anklet woop! Then I boarded the bus quite early and have been on it since then.

It's 11.30pm now so I've been on the bus for like, 7 hours already? And we've just arrived in Freiburg one more hour to Strasbourg! I can't say this more but I'm really really happy with this trip HAHA and very very thankful for amazing friends who hosted me literally everywhere!! And honestly travelling experiences are the best hahaha I just have this perpetual urge to go everywhere now but sadly my November isn't gonna be as hectic and wild as October hahaha. Also having 3 exams and 1 commentaire exposé so gonna be spending lots of time in the library!! But right now I just wanna get back quickly to my room in Strasbourg and unpack and rest HAHA.