#4.28 I Know Places

"After living in Nottingham for a while, it's impossible for anyone to not come to know all the good places in town with great food. =) "

Even though it was practically a study month and we were all having big headaches with the final year project, there were still a lot of memorable things going on during this busy period. Well, during times like this, stress eating was definitely one of the most effective ways that could make me forget about all of the stupid hard work that I had yet to catch up with. 

So, we went back to Red True Barbecue again and we had one of the classics, The Donut Burger, which of course was a delight. Some people might say that the restaurant was too meaty but personally I would never ever complain about any piece of meat that came straight out from that kitchen.

In the mean time, we also had a Barbecue Smurf Night and it was really a night that I needed because it helped put all the stress away. Although I barely did any of the bbq-ing as usual, at least I did offer to help with oven-ing the whatever chicken thighs that sadly in the end turned out to be still better tasting when bbq-ed. 

It was definitely one special and fun night that I would remember for a long time to come but at the same time it was a bit sad to think that our Smurfy days together were numbered. =(

Awesomeness.

The best chicken wings in town and I meant it!

Killer nuggets.

Highlight of the session - Strawberry's perfect marshmallows.

Besides that, I finally got to try out Hungry Pumpkin for the first time even though I had heard about it for so many times. All I could say was that the breakfast was the perfect reason to get my ass up early in the morning for. 

The stress eating continued with my guilty pleasure place The Pudding Pantry, as well as my personal favourite place in Nottingham, which was no other than the Georges. After Fish and Chips, CH and I went for our first ever movie premiere and we got to see Avengers 2 in 3D before everyone else for free after we successfully grabbed the last two tickets online. And while we're excited to get our very own posters, I wasn't really impressed by the poster design though. Whoever who was in charge should obviously fire the whole design team and hire me to design the poster for the third film instead. However, it was still a great souvenir to have to be honest.

Healthy choices of latte.

I could definitely sacrifice all my sleep for these.

Arguably the best milkshake in town.

I said I would be back, didn't I?

Dinner before the movie premiere. 

Being excited and all!

Popcorn time!

Coke and my chubby angle!

On top of that, we decided to take a stroll around campus while the flowers were still blooming and I was really glad that we did because poster preparation, printing, graph plotting and dissertation writing were literally taking a toll on me for most of the month. 

We practised at home on different ways to present our poster, adjusted our timing and made any necessary changes but still it was hard to shoo the nervous feeling away. On poster presentation day, I was lucky enough to be able to quickly get my poster presentation done early in the morning and I should definitely thank my surname for it! =)

Only if they could open for forever.

I would miss them so much one day!

Pink and white.

Thick jackets and cold weather.

My poster on asthma audit~

Poster presentation day!

Now with poster presentation done, there was only the dissertation piece to write before taking our final exam paper. It would not be easy but I would be focusing on Prom first instead before spending most of my waking hours typing in front of the laptop again. Looking forward to Prom but there was still the conflicting feeling that wished time wouldn't pass that fast.

Goodbye, April. You would be missed terribly. =(

Yours - Ella Henderson

#4.27 Wonderland

"Glad and very fortunate to have a bunch of my favourite people on earth to travel the world with me so that I did not have to do it all alone. =) "

It was the first time that all 15 of us embarked on a journey together and while I could not be more excited about it, I also felt a tinge of sadness as it probably would be the last time that all of us could go on a trip together. 

Right after midnight, we took a taxi to London Gatwick Airport and flew to Thessaloniki to begin our one-week adventure. Once we reached our destination, we walked around Thessaloniki for a while before we boarded the evening train to Kalambaka. It was the place where we first discovered freddo cappuccino, a special greek iced coffee that was topped with delicious cold frothed milk and it was no doubt the perfect choice to counter the hot weather offered by Greece. 

The view of the city from the tower.

In front of the tower.

After having a good night sleep at a comfortable and cosy hotel, we woke up early the next morning and spent the entire day exploring Meteora, which was one of the most breathtaking, unique and peaceful places that I had ever been to in my life. We're told by the tour guide that the word Meteora meant "suspended in the air" and that we should try out the signature local dish known as gyro. 

The first destination that we visited was a small chapel with beautiful story-telling paintings but too bad no photos were allowed inside so I could only lock it all in my head. Besides the chapel, we got to enter and take a walk around a monastery later that day. The monasteries in the area were all built on top of the rocks or cliffs and their levitated-like state in the sky left me with an overwhelming feeling of admiration. 

The incredible view in front of the chapel.

The Holy Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapausas.

Inspiring view along the mountanious road.

Standing on top of the world. =P

The Holy Monastery of Varlaam.

Thank God for the sunny and clear weather.

The panoramic view of Meteora.

While we're waiting to board our train to Athens, a funny incident about secret angel lightened us up a little after a long day. Athens would be my least favourite city among all of the places that we had visited during this entire Easter trip but still it was well worth a visit. Weirdly, its buildings and streets reminded us a lot about KL. 

At night, we had a small incident about hostel changes and although there was only a small bathroom for all 15 of us to share, it was still an interesting memory that would be remembered for a long time to come. We walked around Athens for a day and although it was quite a hot and sunny day, we still managed to immerse ourselves in the ruins and urban landscape and enjoyed what the city had to offer. 

Frappe to start off the wonderful day! 

First destination of the day.  

The ruins and the city of Athens.

Sunny and bright day ahead of us!

Parthenon - the signature landmark of Athens. 

Lucky to be able to witness the change of Greek guards!

We departed to Delphi by bus on the next day and visited the Temple of Athena and the Temple of Apollo and what I loved most about the small town was its refreshing view of the green, green valley. We spent a quite relaxing day walking around Delphi and the highlight of the day was definitely no other than the amusing taxi incident. =P

The Temple of Athena.

Standing right in front of it! 

The Temple of Apollo.

The climb was worth it in the end.

Moussaka, the local dish with aubergines that I loved!

The restaurant-style gyro. Preferred street-style though.

On the fifth day, we all took a ferry to reach Santorini, the highly-anticipated dream place that everyone would love to visit in Greece. The ferry was much more comfortable than I had imagined it would be and the long hours of being on the ferry was completely compensated by the alluring oceanic view along the way.

Once we got down from the ferry, we were escorted to our lovely hotel to freshen up a little before taking a taxi to Oia to catch the sunset and begin our Santorini 2-day tour. While waiting for the sunset, my camera dropped onto the ground accidentally and stopped functioning for quite a while before magically recovered and I really thanked God for that. After dusk, we had gyro as our dinner, walked around the small town of Oia and visited a few unique shops with artsy feelings before calling it a day.  =)

Clear sky and the blue ocean.

Having Goody's for lunch on the big boat!

Reaching our dream destination soon.

First day in Oia. 

Third time admiring the sunset in my life! 

The beautiful view before sunset.

The view after sunset.

The next morning, we were lucky enough to have the cool and unforgettable experience of hiking up the volcanic island and swimming in the hot springs of Aegean Sea before returning to Oia again to take more photos. Santorini was definitely a place where I would love to come back in the near future as there were still many attractive Greek islands that I wanted to visit. 

On the last day, all of us went to the black sand beach, took lots of photos and had lots of fun before hopping on the plane reluctantly to fly back to reality.

Donkeys of Santorini!

The volcanic island.

The hot springs. 

Photobombed~ 

White and blue. 

Jessie's photo of everyone of us!

Vivi's photo of everyone of us!

Greece was a wonderland that was made memorable because of all Smurfies. I had so much fun and laughter during the entire journey and the memory that we all created would definitely last for a lifetime. I was really blessed with uncountable amount of good luck to have each of them in my life during the past few years and for that, I would be grateful forever. =)

Tenerife Sea - Ed Sheeran