Just in case I ever need em again.

First week back in uni went pretty good in fact. Same lectures but need tutorial groups. I like my group, got to talk to new people that I don’t usually hang out with. The most interesting thing that happened was me forgetting to set my alarm and waking up half an hour before class starts. Very bad shock there… Had to half run half speed walk my way to uni. Surprisingly I actually made it in time!!! Lol.

ON the other hand…. =) this first weekend back is Thu’s birthday!!! That girl offically turned 18th and is now legal. Haha… Had a big party at her place with the theme Havana Nights. She even set up a cocktail bar and turned her garage into a dance floor, blasting music. We lighted sparkles towards her countdown and then it was off to the pubs and clubs…

Happy birthday Thu!!!

Jess, Amanda, Linda

Dance!!!

The cocktail bar where some really wierd combinations were shaken up.

Ever had a JagerBomb??? It was my first time and it was only after that I realised that that thing is 35% alcohol. crap.

Andrew showing up his drumming talent…

Richard was an avid listener =)

Intense poker. =) Of course there was ‘remier League as well but due to the lack of alcohol (and both Thu’s parents being around), it was rather toned down.

How to spend the last day of semester break:
1. Bake a cake

2. Get some friends over

3. Admire handiwork of aforementioned cake

4. Surprise a random friend with cake

Lol. Okie, so it wasn’t a random friend. It was Vishnu’s 19th birthday and we just decided that he could do with a cake. We had ‘Happy Cow Goday (God Day)’ written on the cake (cos his name was vishnu -_-”) just for fun.

Cheryl, being the absolute gem that she is, brought a whole boxful of Krispy Kremes back from Sydney. =) =) Lol. I seriously believe that I would not get the chance to enjoy as much Kripy Kremes if I were to be in Melbourne or Sydney. Everyone is bringing back boxfuls of these donuts as rations to last them till the next hols or something… =P

5. Play tennis in the afternoon

6. Watch a movie to end the night

Anyway…. I was expecting to get a package from home yesterday. Unfortunately, my friend’s flight from KK to KL was delayed so MAS did not have time to check in the luggage for the KL - Adelaide flight. My friend barely made it in time for the next flight too. So the baggage was left behind and MAS promised to send them over the next day (today). I was a lil disappointed when told about it. Getting stuff sent from home would have really completed a wonderful day. But I would have to wait another 24 hours.

However, I was totally surprised by this though… =) =) =)

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Belated birthday present!!! =)

Tatty bear with fur lined cape. Omg!!! So adorable!!!

And Godiva chocolates as well!!! Like supposedly the most delicious chocolates ever. =) Smuggled through customs from Singapore. lol!!

Yeah, I think I’m ready for the new semester….

from the ice skating trip and affy’s dinner party (sometime before hols and in the middle of our exams)…

erm.. skates that you can’t see much of. =P

ppl playing some game in the big rink…

the smaller rink, for beginners.

Playing mafia.

Now who said winter is too cold for a swim??? Obviously not for these few people.

Uni starts in 2 days time and my first lecture is at 8 am…. I wonder how many of us will turn up for that. =P

Line dancing on ice??? with skates??? =) That was what I got to witness yesterday!! =) I’m so trying it out next time if I get the chance. Both rinks were packed yesterday due to school holidays I guess. Everyone zipping around dodging each other…

Unfortunately I took a fall though, was trying to make a circle =P landed hard right on my butt. Hurt like hell. -_-”

Photos later

Yes, I have reached the big 2-oh, largely without me even realising it. It was only when they appeared with a small caramel + ice cream topped dessert did I realised that I am now positively 20 years old, and supposedly 1 year wiser (highly doubtful). Thank you so much to all who’ve conspired to surprise me. =) Although I did feel a fleeting sense of deja vu. I remembered my last birthday which was celebrated at McD except that this time, it’s at Hungry Jacks instead. =) My fingers are still frozen from the walk back, can’t type properly… Last but not least, I have brought back a new friend / study mate =)

Yes, Tatty Bear. (against all odds,) I am finally the proud owner of one. He shall have a spot on my study table, as a reminder that no matter what, we will be surrounded by friends, of the past, present, and future…

I have no regrets choosing to come to Adelaide.

Forgot that biology wasn’t a med subject so the results were out already… I managed to scrap a HD =) =) Now I’m hoping for a pass for the rest which will only be posted to me the week after we start lectures. =P

Harry Potter 5 was the slowest movie I’ve ever watched apart from ‘The Departed’. I kept wishing it’ll end. I think I provided a bit of entertainments for my friends when I choked on my soft drink in the middle of the movie. -__-” However, I must admit that Luna Lovegood was GOOD. =) I never imagined her that way but I liked what I saw… I think I’m going to like her best from now on…. Hermione’s way of talking is getting a bit irritating.
Oh, and Marion has a much better cinema with seats that actually support the neck, unlike those in other places where you get a crick in the neck after 2 hours straight.

There will be a sequel to the Elizabeth movie, Elizabeth: The Golden Age. The costumes look wonderful. Hope I’ll get to watch it. Apart from that, Stardust seem to be a fun movie to watch…. a bit along the lines of Pirates. It’s based on a book written by Neil Gaiman.

So some friends of my friends came over from Melbourne for a visit and the bunch of us, having nothing better to do (and Adelaide having nothing better to offer us) all headed over to the airport to pick up these two people (Esther and Kevin). =) Since esther’s flight was due to arrive at 12 pm and Kevin’s at 4.30 pm, what we did in the hours in between was to walk over to IKEA which is conveniently housed next to the airport for meatballs (yum!), and a little shopping (laundry baskets for only $2!!! and $0.50 mugs).

So when you have a friend over for a visit, it is of course customary to bring your friend to all the (many) attractions that your place have to offer. Kevin said that he will forever refer to Adelaide as the ‘Chocolate Place’ since everywhere we went to had chocolate to offer (Handoff, Haigh’s, Cocolat, The Chocolate Bean etc etc).

However, we didn’t just bring them to chocolate places (we’re not like THAT). We did bring them to Barossa Valley which consists of numerous vineyards owned by big / small companies / families. FYI, South Australia produces 50% of Australia’s wines and Barossa concentrates on producing quality wines rather than quantity. So we went on a one day trip which involved visiting some touristy spots, and vineyards for some wine tasting. =) It was rather fun.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking… I tried to put in in the order of places that we went to.

Felicia, me, Esther and Yan Yung with a giant rocking horse as our backdrop. It rocks!!! kidding. =P

After 5 months in Australia, I finally took a picture with a kangaroo. =P I should compare it with those that were taken 8 years go when I first visited.

Enjoying a 3 course meal at the local inn. I got a bit adventurous and tried the Kangaroo steak which resulted in me being severely admonished by the rest of the gang for even attempting to feast on some poor cute little creature that just hours ago, was feeding off my hand. There goes my conscience. >.<

Some of the wines that we tasted. I prefer sweeter wines over the dry ones which can be very bitter. >.< We visited a total of four vineyards and each one was very different. I like those boutique wines =) nicer than those being mass produced.

The girls, and the guys. This was taken at sculpture Park although you can’t see and sulptures in the picture. They are all scattered over the slope of the hill which overlooks acres and acres of vineyards. Their vineyards are like the palm oil estates or paddy fields that you get in Malaysia. Stretches as far as the eye can see.

Me, Felicia, Yeap Shen, Esther

This is the Whispering Wall at one of the many dams built in Australia. Apparently the curve of the dam was just right so that sound waves could travel from one end to the other perfectly. Two people can hold a conversation together by standing at opposite ends of the wall. Astonishing.

Last vineyard at Jacob’s Creek. By that time, we were les interested in the wine and more interested in taking random pictures of each other instead. Maybe it was all that alcohol. =P

Oh, and we had a Girls Night In yesterday to celebrate a few birthdays =) One ex-housemate + current housemate who have been best friends since I don’t know when and who also share the same birthday (11th July), and me =) (15th July). Teresa and Cherie are both turning 21 though this year. Me, I am right now enjoying the last few days of my teenage years whereas my sister just turned 17 TODAY . AND, Yeap Shen turned 21 a few days ago (on the 7th). Vishnu, on the other hand will be celebrating his 18th birthday (this coming 17th July) in UK, lucky guy. My MOM, =) will also be having her birthday this 30th of July, and I don’t think she will take kindly to me revealing her age her on my blog so we’ll leave it at that while Roman enjoys the same birthday as Harry Potter. He’ll be turning 18 this year.

So Happy Birthday to everyone….

[EDIT] I forgot that Ken Fai turned 21 yesterday as well. So sorry. =) Happy 21st!!! [/EDIT]

It allows me to take pictures of moments like this:

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Anyway, first thing we did with our new found freedom (read: after exams) was to head over to the Buddha Bar which is conveniently located one street down from where I live for Karaoke!! =)

Buddha Bar is this really nice place that just opened this year on Gouger street which has some really nice and not-so-nice restaurants. Some claim that it’s the only place where good Chinese food can be found (China Town is squashed somewhere in between) but I find that coming from Malaysia has made me very critical of Chinese food. =P There is a wide variety of eateries to choose from here though, not just Chinese and western cuisine but Thai, Indian, Malaysian, Greek, Italian etc etc…. In other words, Gouger Street is a restaurant street (so much better than back in Section 18 with its 5 coffee shops and identical menus). I am spoilt for choice here.

Back to Buddha Bar, I want to think that it is much better than K Box but since I’ve never been to the latter (not from lack of persuading from my friends though), I will refrain from biased comments. I like the fact that every room is unique here with its own decor and theme and not just a row of uniformed couches and carpets devoid off expression. We got two rooms, one for those who don’t sing chinese songs and one for those who only sing chinese (-__-”). It was a good way to let the steam out and just chill out after weeks of swotting for exams. In other words, it was fun. =)

That was on Thursday night. Then on Friday, we decided to watch movies. Since Transformers just came out the day before and what with all the rave reviews it was getting, we decided to give it a go (actually, the guys were just eager to watch it, -__-” us poor girls were being dragged along (also read: coerced / blackmailed ). I personally did not think that the movie would be anything more than just a bunch of robots knocking each other about with no essence to the story. Don’t get me wrong, I watched the cartoon series when I was a kid, I still remember Optimus Prime (who wouldn’t? =) ). Anyway, it was either that or Fantastic Four and I think that would be worse so Transformers it was. Five minutes into the movie, I was converted. Seriously, the movie was actually good. =) Full of action right from the start and humour injected in all the right places. I think the storyline was pretty good as well, and the effects were great. The cars were so cool, especially the transforming part. lol. I recommend this movie, especially to the guys. =)

Ice cream after the movie… Walked all the way down three streets to this chocolate place only to find it closed. -_-“ Had to settle for Hungry Jacks ice cream instead.

Rundle Street after midnight. This part is pretty dead cos the pubs and bars are mostly situated further down on Hindley.

Random people who suddenly decided to do a little jig at the side of the road.

Saturday was Hui’s farewell party. Lucky guy is going off to Ireland to study Medicine (!!!) He’ll be graduating at the same time as us thanks to Adelaide’s 6 year course (-__-“). We planned a farewell for him at Richard’s place and Andrew tricked him to think that he’s going out to a fancy dinner hence the shocked look when he walked in the door. Your’s truly captured the moment perfectly with her trusty camera. Priceless. (But I dropped it later out in the drive. Grr…. So wanted to kick myself for being so careless).

Hui, sans the shocked look, who is starting his first year even when he’s barely 18!!!! I feel so old…

Ok, this is one of the milder pics that I think I can put up without Joel killing me for it. Haha… He dressed up in one of Affy’s dress especially for Hui and um, yeah, that’s Hui trying out his new stethoscope which we got for him. =) I swear, guys in med school just love to cross dress. -__-“

Ticklefest, Hui being the victim. Our parting gift for him as well. Poor guy, needless to say, all that laughing must have given him some great abs. =P

As usual, ‘Remier League. You can never find a med party without ‘laying ‘remier. Although Hui is technically a Law student but he is going to start med school anyway. That guy can play better than some of us med students.

Tim and Dion with their mini Martini Set. I am still amazed at the amount of alcohol these people can put away and still look sober (LOOK only, doesn’t mean they are and one finds that they have VERY bad aim with darts after that. After some near misses, we decided that Richard’s cat will be much safer locked up in another part of the house, nine lives or not).

Group picture. Well, that’s just mostly the girls only.

I played pool with a Wii as well. =) So cool!! Its amazing the things u can do with a Wii console.

Yep, holidays have officially started and I believe most people have lots of plans lined up to fill every minute of it. Med school has seen it fit to dump us with a 2000 words assignment to finish over the hols (what a spoiler). Apart from that, we got the rest of the time to spend as we wish. I am definitely going ice skating =) , been dreaming of it since swot vac. I’m glad that most people will still be in Adelaide this week because of Convention but after the 8th it’ll just be all the Adelaidieans left as others fly back interstate.

Happy holidays everyone.

Ps* - I am a Cadbury. Lol.

Pps* - We seem to have a fish and chips craving lately. =P Lol, made some of our own last week when we were so fed up with studying. Although the first one was burnt black, the rest turned out really good. =) sans the chips, it was really nice fish, thanks to Paul for that. Then we’ve tried the fish and chips in Glenelg (which were good), Paul’s eatery (which weren’t that good) and Gouger’s Café (which were quite good but the price killed as well. RM 60+ for a place of fish fillet. Oh well, splurge once in a while can right???). Still got a few other places that we haven’t tried yet.

Ppps* - Will blog bout Alex’s 18th birthday party when I get the pics. =)