Step into the daylight and let it go.

Friday, July 31, 2015

#4.35 The Story Of Us

"Thank you for taking care of me and being by my side for the past few years. I might not say it much but I loved each of you to the moon and back and that would never change I promised. =) "



After we got back to Nottingham, I decided to bring my family to Georges Fish and Chips because I really wanted to go back there myself for all the food I wanted them to experience good authentic British food. 

We had a nice evening meal in the restaurant and I was glad that my grandparents loved all the seafood very much as I was a bit worried that they might not be used to eating western food. 

Mouth-watering~
The tempura prawn cocktail was my favourite starter of the night!
Good old classic and Inka grill.
Doughnuts with chocolate and raspberry dipping sauce.

After all the rushing and endless walking in London, my grandparents spent the rest of their time here in the UK in a much more relaxed pace. We went shopping in Birmingham, cooked our meals at home, walked around the city of Nottingham and visited Wollaton Hall.

Birmingham! 
With Wollaton Hall.

On the night before our graduation, all Smurfies gathered once again to exchange our graduation gifts and my graduation angel was Jessie! I loved my graduation presents - the pikachu and the balloons - so much. A lot of secret angels would probably want to kill me if they heard this but I must say that I always received the best gifts among everyone in all occasions. 

It was the last time that everyone of us gathered together and I would surely miss this very special night for as long as I lived. My University life was a complete one all because of them. It was no doubt a very fun and memorable ride all the way thanks to these awesome human beings who forced themselves into my otherwise boring life. 

On the morning of eighth of July, we all finally graduated. I reckoned that at least one of our birthday wishes came true after all as every Smurfy's first wish would always be that all of us could graduate smoothly together. For me, it was a day of mixed feelings because I knew that it meant the beginning of goodbye for all of us. =(

All the people that I loved so much.
Graduation day with my grandparents. 
The graduation cake. 
And the ceremony began. 
He did wear it a lot better than me, didn't he?
With Strawberry. 
With Carmoon and Aunty.
Phey and I!
My secret graduation angel.
With Chiechie~ 
With Ethan. 
My fake Twinsie.

After sending my grandparents off at Heathrow, I encountered the awful tube strike and it was one of the worst days of my life. 

I spent hours waiting for the bus that never came, got caught in the mother of all traffic jams, ran into St. Pancras station like a mad person with everyone looking at me and even tripped over a luggage sending all my documents flying around. However, it was probably my lucky day as well. I was absolutely thankful that I managed to get onto the train two minutes before it departed back to Nottingham or else I would be stuck in London for the day.

For the next few days, I had no choice but to spend most of my waking hours dealing with everything in life that I needed to while trying to squeeze out some quality time for myself and Smurfies.

Lazy pig like me woke up at the crack of dawn for these.
Back to Hungry Pumpkin again!
Afternoon Costa time!
Seafood time~
Victoria Centre after K session. Gonna miss this shopping mall so much.
Adored them truly.

Before Smurfies left Nottingham for good, we finally had the chance to take the so-called must take photo in the campus after talking about it for forever. 

I guessed that two years in the UK were simply not long enough to finish every single thing that we always said that we wanted to do or accomplish. But still, I had no regret or complain as these people who I picked as my family on my own turned out to be the best and most beautiful people inside out.

The School of Pharmacy.
Our last few moments with one another.
My everything.

I would always remember the day that Smurfies left Nottingham. It was early in the morning at the junction that we walked past almost every day. Reluctantly, we exchanged hugs and bid farewell to one another before they got onto the cab one by one. As the cabs drove away leaving the three of us behind, I felt a big part of my world left as well.

I knew that we had been talking about this day for months and I had been mentally prepared for it for a long time. But still it felt too soon. And the heartbreak was too real.

多幸运曾经相拥。
It was indeed. 
Goodbye Nottingham.
可最单纯的 最疯狂的 都已留给你们了。
我们会再见,缘一开始就没尽头。


Goodbye world, for now. XOXO. =)




 Dedicated to the best people in life:

Ethan, Dillon, CH, HJ, 
Stephanie, Jessie, Strawberry, 
Manman, Carmoon, Alicia,
ChieChie, Vivi, Wantying and Phey



我们会再见 - 梁文音

Saturday, July 4, 2015

#4.34 I Wish You Would

"Mr. Time, I really wished that you would do just one thing for me - stay. "



On Sunday, a few of us spent the whole day walking the streets of London and we even got to have lunch in a Malaysian restaurant. Speaking of London, it was too big a city for people like me to live in but still it was a magical place where I could never get tired of its charm.

I liked how London gave me different but good vibes every time I set foot into the city. It could easily be a scary setting for me due to my poor sense of direction but as of right now I loved the secured feeling that I had frequenting every corner of the metropolis because I knew that I would never ever get lost with Smurfies by my side. 

At night, we had our dinner at Princi, a nice and cozy Italian place in Soho that I immediately fell in love with. Also, it was the very last night that we all could stay in ZH's house and I would definitely miss all the time and memories dearly in the future. =)

London street art.
The wall said it all.
Free mini cans of coke!
People I adored.
Pizza night.
Cooked to perfection.
Funny chemistry between the two.
London squad. 
Disney store in Oxford Street!!
Have courage and be kind.

On the next day, I took the tube to Heathrow to pick up my grandparents and cousin. Needless to say, we were extremely happy to see one another after two long years. To my surprise, my grandparents were not tired at all after the long flight from Penang and we chatted all the way from the airport to our hotel near St. Pancras.

After a good night sleep, we began our few days of stay in London and did all the typical cheesy touristy thing. We went to almost all of the most iconic and exciting places in London and I could tell that they really loved it here. The best part of the entire London getaway was no doubt the London Eye Champagne Experience and we were quite happy as we got to skip the massive queue and did not have to cram inside the capsule with the other tourists.  =P

All ready to start the day.
Beautiful view from across the River Thames.
The Official London Eye.
Our first London Eye Experience!
Up we go.
Spectacular view of Big Ben from London Eye.
Sipping our champagne.
On top of London.
The unrivalled view.
Spent the rest of the afternoon at British Museum

Also, we joined a half-day tour to Stonehenge, one of the so-called top attractions in the UK. I had heard of the famous batu-batu and had wanted to make time to visit them for quite a while but did not have the chance to do so up until now. Therefore, I felt truly blessed to be able to make it here. It's better late than never, right?

Initially, I was a bit worried that my grandparents might feel a little bit bored but they were unexpectedly much more excited than I was and even walked around Stonehenge twice accompanied by their own handheld language translation devices. 

Reached our destination after a few hours of drive.
Finally here after such a long wait.
Stonehenge. 

For the entire journey, my cousin and I slept like a pig every day until around 9-10am but my grandparents, especially Grandma, woke up extremely early in the morning due to jet lag so they would usually walk around the neighbourhood by themselves first without waking us up.

On the following day, we went to Buckingham Palace first thing in the morning to witness changing the guard and we were early enough to grab a few seats with decent view. However, unfortunately it began to drizzle when the 45-minute ceremony was about to start. Luckily, we were smart enough to bring a few umbrellas along with us, which were enough to keep us dry and comfortable under the gentle rain.

Change of guard at Buckingham Palace.
Natural History Museum.
2015 was definitely a dino-crazy year.
One of the must-visit places. 
Disney store again!
Evening stroll after dinner.
Good night London.

After we spent a few days exploring all of the best places in London, we got onto the train back to Nottingham. It marked my longest stay in London and I should really count my blessings during this period as I managed to bring my family around London smoothly without much trouble. Miraculously, we did not get lost due to my terrible sense of direction. In addition to that, I managed to tick off a lot of things that I had always wanted to do in London over the past two years.

While it was a bit sad to leave London behind, I was pleased at the same time as I could finally go back to my bed in Nottingham to rewind and recharge before making plans to visit other places again. 

Until next time then. XOXO. =)



Waiting For Love - Avicii