Hello there from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, or Newcastle University which is what its called now.

We finally arrived at the school and had to do at least 2-3 days of running around to settle registration, banking and even groceries
and to my horror, my faculty is so far from my hostel
and im living separately far apart from 3 of my singapore friends whom ive been travelling with
and im staying with three other guys (possibly unhygienic and inconvenient)
and noone has moved in yet and its freaky
and its so freaking cold that i feel my nose and toes are falling off
and i may only be able to take 3 sociology modules here instead of 5 so this means that im possibly wasting a good semester
and im not used to the water here because when boiled, it STILL has white precipitate and im a very particular person when it comes to drinking water
and its too cold to sleep even with my blanket
and the security here is so bad that we have been warned that burglars climb in to steal stuff
and the things are expensive cos 1 coke is at least 1.5 pounds which amounts to abt 4.5 SGD
and laundry here is enough to make my pockets become empty. each wash is abt more than 2 pounds and drying is 1.4 pounds... that amounts to almost 10 SGD
and im not used to the food here..its expensive (10 pounds for a modest pasta) and even when we shop for groceries, the food stuff is expensive
and buses become a form of luxury cos walking is predominantly a form of transport here
and im so tired and i miss home really. its been a really tiring 3-4 days trying to settle down =(


But of course

the people here are really warm and nice; we've met very warm spanish guys who extend invitation for us to join their parties and we bump into them everywhere and tonight they brought us to the student union house for drinks
the shoes here are cheap at selected stores like Primark: i saw a really nice pair of wedges for 1 pound!! thats like 3 sing dollars.. and i saw really cute socks and all.. i must say the brits have very fanciful stuff
the school here is pretty relaxing... pace of life is slooooow.. good for me... good without the mid term exams and even if there were, i wouldnt mind.. cos im here on exchange!! :P
the view is pretty... and i saw the tyne river with the 3 bridges: millenium bridge, tyne bridge and some other ones... its not exactly spectacular given the fact that we've seen other more beautiful bridges in Prague but still it beats not having a nice scenic view at all
and ive discovered that we all can survive cooking! we made minced meat marcaroni with fried meat and we will be making dumpling soup and oil veggies.. and guess wat? ive been one of the main chefs and my cooking isnt as bad as i thought it would be.. in fact, i know i enjoy cooking but there's pretty not much opportunities for me to put whatever little skills i have to use since my mum is an excellent cook and she mans the wok everyday :)
and people here drink like nobody's business. the uni's court yard is like this playground for frolickers with alcohol bottles in the morning and they even have an alcohol's prayer.


we went to pub crawl just now in the city, near quayside and it was really packed... and because we were early, there werent much dancing, but there were sleazy people around, clad in the tiniest tops and skirts, and well, just hanging out. as the spanish people said, the night is still young, and probably will stay that way for most of us for this sem. the music in the pubs were cool and the poor dj was trying to get people to the dance floor. the drinks are cheaper than singapore too, and people were drinking away. i guess thats the only thing they could do since nightlife is very much limited in uk.


we've tried quite some cocktails in our europe trip and i must recommend orgasmus, which we had in a nice warm pub in prague. its really creamy, nice and tastes like milk shake. :) not too rich in alcohol but very much a lady's drink.


and people have started moving into richardson road where i live with the 3 other singapore friends, though i live alone in my apartment. and looks like the partying has begun as booze and music can be heard all over, though not in my aprtment. i still live pretty much alone, except for the new girl who has moved in beside me but there's not much movement from here tonight. she's probably partying away at freshers' week.


been feeling kinda sick cos was caught in the windy, rainy, cold, wet weather yesterday while lugging back hordes of supply from the supermart with the gang. went back with a bad chill but had to start cooking our first meal (i.e the marcaroni with minced meat and fried meat) in the cold, shivering... and the amusing thing is, while laughing hard at one of the gang's joke, a slice of pork slipped out under my knife, hit the plastic bag at the window and flew right out. :P i could never multi task well :) and now i think the effects have hit me and im feeling very sick :(


tomorrow's a sunday - finally FINALLY a relaxing day without lugging luggage, groceries, documents... finally... since 5 september.. everyday spelled lugging of things.. honestly, my jeans have grown looser, my muscles have grown bulgingly bigger (its really getting fitter in view of all the things i had to carry, including 40kg worth of luggage) and we all agree we lost weight cos we walk a huge amount of distance everyday. remember that buses, trains and taxis are really luxury here in europe? its like losing weight the hard way :( i just hope that when next week comes, everything gets a little easier.


oh, and cos we forgot to bring our O and A level certs, and prior to leaving for Newcastle, we didnt know that everyone had to go for some stupid english language test, we were forced to take a 2 hour test which was touted as 'easy' by a shoving and irritating man. It was a listening compre with strong British accent and an essay in the morning about whether university lectures should be made compulsory cos if not, there will be negative impact on education. i felt angry that with at least 10 years of education in english, and being once a lit major and now a soci major and with my university transcript of lit, history, theatre studies and sociology modules passed, i couldnt escape an english test. Urgh. And some of my singaporean friends from the Singaporean Society could. Just because i dont have my O and A level certs and even with my uni transcript, its just no use at all. *pulls hair* Talk about flexibility.


Anyway, hope all of you are doing fine and great :) I had to rant about my days... its been quite frustrating sometimes... i hate admin redtape which happens everywhere. and my business modules still have not been approved by nus and i need to register for my modules like on monday morning 9am, by queuing. suddenly, i am thankful for cors. really. i cant imagine running around in nus, the way we had to in newcastle uni.

chelsea, hope all is great for u :) remember to write me emails often cos i prolly cant catch u on msn due to time differences. miss u lots and take care :)
valerie, good to know that u are on a new job and having lots of fun :) wish u all the best and remember to stay positive and remain the bright and cheery angel that u always are.

i gotta hit the showers, got caught in the drizzle again here just now. its quite foggy misty and scary, with all the old buildings. no wonder they say that it gets gloomy with the weather. :(