Dover Day-trip and My Christmas Break
Dear readers,
This is my first post of 2015 HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! :) I feel excited now blogging for the first time this brand new year.
I have a few things to say I don't know where to start. Today is Friday and I remember exactly what I did this time last week. It was Boxing Day and I went shopping early in the morning! When I first heard boxing day I thought it was like *punch punch kinda boxing but it actually is a day that shops have sales and loads of items sold at a discounted price probably because they are boxing old items and replacing them with new ones? So yaay I got a few necessary things for myself but not too many because I am currently on the verge of overspending. Its not like I spend too much but London is definitely the most expensive place to live in the UK and only buying and paying for necessary items is already sweeping loads of your money away. But I like it in London because its so convenient to get around by tube, bus, walking- many people walk so it feels safer. Also there are loads of halal food available and you have lots of nice places to go when you are bored- free museums, free parks.
After shopping on Oxford Street, I went home to make meehun for lunch then we headed for a movie and watched Instellar. It was a really nice movie. And how do I justify that. Well, I was alert the entire time and did not doze off or not understand a particular scene. It was pretty scientific especially those gravity anomaly thingys ( I learn about it this year- so happy I'm hearing about something complex I learned in a movie) and also some parts were so scientific I did not understand but overall it had a nice plot. Then after the movie we walked around Oxford Street and admired the Christmas lights and got a drink at Chatime! Yes, they have one in London and I had pearl milk tea. It was the first time I ever had one and it was so nice- I like bubble tea. After that, we returned home and cooked salmon sweet sour together for dinner with veggie. It was so yummy. After doing some errands, I made a barley drink and that summed up my relaxing Friday.
The next day was our special Dover trip ^.^ Yippee I was so happy and excited for our short getaway from hectic and busy London and go somewhere slower paced for the first time since I reached UK this Autumn. We wanted to go on a daytrip and since Sunrise is at 8am, Sunset at 4pm and Isyak at 6 pm, you can imagine how we had limited time to spend before it got dark so Dover was the perfect place to go. There was only 2 attractions to go- Dover White Cliff and Dover Castle and then we could head home. We went to the castle first and went on a guided tour in the underground tunnels... it was creepy to think that soldiers actually lived down there in the dark and hid from the enemies. I learned so so so much history in one day. Also I learned that Dover is the closest part of UK to Paris only 25 miles. Because of this during the World War, they used to help French people get to the UK and away from the German attackers by transporting them by ship to Dover. I really enjoyed it that I bought a history book and since it was a Scholastic publication (one of my favourite) I decided to get it right away and learn more. We had lunch at the castle then headed off to our next destination- the White Cliffs. Being a Geology student, this is a must-go place for me. I learn about carbonates and deposition of these sorts of rocks that it was amazing to see in real life. It was nice going to see Geology just for fun without having to do fieldwork. 
One thing that I wanted to point out about my trip was that I experienced something extraordinary that I have never felt or remembered before- the transition of snow.. :) It happened when we were at Dover Castle after lunch as we were touring around the other parts of the castle. It was sunny but chilly and then it started to rain and then then rain got kind of solid and ice surrounded me and got stuck on my bag and coat. Then the ice began to get whiter and whiter as more ice decided to land on my backpack, I got out my umbrella because I thought it was just normal rain at first and then the winds were so strong it almost blew my umbrella away so I decided that was not a good idea so we sought shelter. As I was standing by the side of the road, I realised that the grass turned white and it was actually snowing! I felt so touched and surprised at the same time because I haven't felt snow for the last 7 years. And even when I was small I used to go out when the snow was already thick, I have never knew how it started but what I experienced was on the boundary of rain and snow. From my memory when it is cold enough to snow the snowflakes fall more lightly to the ground. But still, it was amazing :) By the time it was near sunset at 330pm, I was freezing cold and my hands and even my lips were numb. We were not exactly prepared for snow so our cotton gloves were wet too.
So after dropping by the souvenir shop, we took the 430 train and headed home to London.
and more importantly
2. Transition in life, no matter in what form it is, is always tough. Change may be challenging to bear but it is the transition that is even more difficult. Just like how the magnetic field of the Earth have a normal and reversed polarity (ok I am being a but more scientific here) but yes, that transition from normal to reverse takes thousands of years and during that process it gets all jumbled up and mixed up but once it completes and becomes the other one, it is fine and stable again. And then I thought... hey.. that is just like experiencing changes in life. That duration of transition is different for different situations and different people. For example, when a student moves to a new school, she may take 3 months to adapt while another student may only need 3 weeks. Using a new shoe may only need 1 day or at most 1 week for your feet to adapt. And at that time your feet may experience blisters and feel hurt and then it is alright again. I learned such a great lesson that day, something I knew but did not really give much thought and understand. So everytime you experience something new in life, you are prone to having that (I will call it- "transition feeling"). So anytime you experience something different, new and you are forced to adapt to whatever life circumstances you are in, always trust that it will be fine and soon the transition period will end. How long? Let's leave that to Him. You just need to stay positive and make the best of your life :)
End of motivation session, back to my story hehe.
The Wednesday before I went to Dover, I met my high school friends who came to London for a holiday :) That morning I met Maddy first and made English breakfast for her, took her to Kensington Park, fed the swans and had a hotdog sandwich for lunch. Then we watched the Phantom of the Opera Musical Theatre at Her Majesty's Theatre. It was amazing! I enjoyed it so much and would watch it a second time. When I was learning about the Phantom of the Opera in Puan Jugdeep's Literature class, I did not know that I would be watching the live musical theatre 7 years later :) Later that night we walked around London Eye and Big Ben then had lunch at an Indian Restaurant in Bayswater. It was such a nice catchup with my friends.
After my Dover trip, a few other high school friends who are studying in the UK came over my place on Sunday evening. We had dinner at Leicester Square and then I went home and the next day we met up to make lunch together. We cooked tomyam chicken soup, it was so yummy yet spicy! I guess real tomyam needs to taste like that ;)
On New Year's eve, I just watched the fireworks from my bedroom window and cooked spaghetti for lunch with my friend who came over to study together.
Take care everyone and all the best writing your New Year's resolution. Whatever it is, work hard to achieve it, after all any sort of hard work will definitely pay off in one way or another.
And now the rest of my holidays are full of books and papers- exams drawing near. If I have a chance I will blog again before exams, otherwise I will write more at the end of January/ early February. Once again, Welcome to 2015 !! :) Happy wishes from LittleMissMeen xxoo
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