Winter Trip

Off to Munich tmr!!! 'm goin' do hev fun!

Stranded today at hall bcox no tube or bus could take me to Angel's place. What a country. Everything shuts down on X'mas day.

...

Ytd hosted my 1st guest - Mr. Chairman!

Korean BBQ tonight.

Assignments accompany me through X'mas.

Re-watching Love Never Dies: The Re-written Version

Today met up with Johnny who I haven’t seen for almost 2 months and we are both in London! This is a shame! We went to see Love Never Dies tonight.

So I talked quite a lot about the show last time I saw it. I thought the plot was poor, but there were some touching moments and beautifully staged scenes. This time, they’ve re-written some parts and lyrics. And it felt like a new show. It was much darker.

It opened with ‘Til I Hear You Sing’. The way Ramin Karimloo (Phantom) sang it was so different from last time. Last time there was much more tenderness. This time I could feel more angst and desperation. I prefer the former version in terms of the music but this version probably suits the show better. Anyway, you could tell they’ve changed the characterisation of the Phantom.

The opening scene and the following 2 scenes as a whole made a better beginning. It got straight to the point. Madame Giry was not as mean in the beginning of the former version. Now she was the bad woman all the way through.

1st important change came during the scene where Raoul, Christine and Gustave were brought to their room. In the former version, Raoul went out for drink on his own accord but now it was the Phantom who tricked him out of his room. On the whole the Phantom is much darker in this newer version. I think there were criticism of how the Phantom was not dark enough and too romantic when the show first came out. It’s good to take on criticism but it’s not good to overdo it. In the former version, Christine did not know that the Phantom and Raoul had a bet on whether she’d sing. But now, the Phantom threatened her to sing. if not, he’d take away her son. Damn! I thought he loved her. He was such a jerk! And before the performance when Christine chose to sing, it just didn’t feel right.

The 2nd change that I hate was during ‘Beauty Underneath’. In the original version, it was Gustave who took off Phantom’s mask and the Phantom was totally hurt. In this version, the Phantom took it off himself and revealed his face to Gustave. Then after Phantom confronted Christine, he said he’d let Christine and Gustave leave even if Christine doesn’t sing. But that was just because he knew she would sing. And he made Christine promise him not to tell Gustave about the truth.

They kept the scene where Phantom and Raoul came face to face. Same scene. So, basically the Phantom is doing more wheel and deals in this new version.

The change I hate most, absolutely most was the final scene. The original was so beautifully staged. While Christine was dying, Gustave looked for Raoul, she told Gustave Phantom was his real father and Raoul never appeared again. So, the focus was on Phantom, Christine and Gustave. In this new version, while Christine got shot, she was desperate to tell Gustave that Phantom was his father. Gustave didn’t ask and Christine even said to Phantom that she knew she promised him but she couldn’t keep that fro Gustave. C’mon! Who wrote the lines? The original flow was much more touching. When Gustave knew Phantom was his father, in the original, he didn’t run away. In the new one, he did. And unexpectedly he appeared with Raoul again! What was Raoul doing there? In the old one, Gustave gave Phantom a hug and then Phantom kneeled know and slowly took off his mask. That was one very touching and tender moment. Now, Gustave gave Raoul a hug and then Phantom a hug. And that’s it. Curtains closed. Why ruin the last scene? Why? In the old one because the Phantom never wanted to take off his mask in front of Gustave. So, when he took it off after Christine’s death, he exposed himself and be true to who he was. He let Gustave see the real him. Now, with Raoul on the stage and the mask not taken off... Poof! They ruined it.

By making the Phantom darker, they’ve made him a jerk. Now I hate him. And, just as Johnny said, it’s just pretty hideous to imagine the Phantom and Christine engaging in the act of procreation.

But I’ll see it for the 3rd time because it’s amazing to listen to such beautiful live music. Amazing voices of Ramin Karimloo (Phantom), Sierra Boggess (Christine) and Liz Robertson (Madame Giry). And to see the old and new version of the same show is some special experience. You can see how the actors change the way they sing a song as their character changes. I’d still recommend everyone to see it.

...

Dad called to ask me about cert collection at HKU and he mentioned my still-don't-know-if-I-can-go trip to GER.

‘好凍wor你0個邊。’

‘Ok la.’

‘係咪仲lum住去德國ar？’

‘0下？我book 0西d 0野lor wor！’

雪je，未勁到會令我0吾去lor！

話之keoi3落到幾大，總之0係我飛到去Munich就得啦！

Heavy Snowfall

Today met with Yuko Lam~

Ok I admit, I fail as a Londoner...

Gosh! Now I'm worried about not being able to fly to Munich bcox of the snowfall. When I checked the weather forecast several hours ago, it was quite promising. But now it isn't...

The worst thing about snowing is not the cold, it's your damp clothes. Today walked in the heavy snowfall and it was terrible. The snow kept hitting my face...

These Few Days

榴蓮三日都坐我附近lor... Bad luck!!! 搽hand cream都無用！Sigh!

Tue

Bad luck

榴蓮坐我附近......

＝＝＝＝＝

不是high了，而是瘋了。

同學們自發性組織唱K活動，落堂之後一齊到酒吧唱k，只可以說‘老外k’真係‘頂keoi3 0吾順’。首先無MV，淨係得個screen show歌詞，仲攪笑到會話你知‘instrumental 30 sec’。D同學真係好勁，一黎就飲shot. 我係一黎就去食0野打底先。

30mins內食完0野返去途中見到Nick同Stephanie揾cash point，keoi3兩個好似已經醉醉0地. Haha!

我想講，我0吾飲酒都會0甘hyper！我發現，Stella Artois好好飲！無飲開啤酒，只係知道Stella Artois無中文名所以先叫，點知真係好好飲！難道我ge啤酒生涯就0甘開始？

唱Gimme Gimme 0個時，Stephanie無端端叫‘Gimme Vincent’ 0個0下真係勁攪笑！無端端又畀人拉左去跳舞，hee，un腳0乍0卦？Anyway, 雖然無mut歌識唱，但係堅好玩。講真，點會0係HK落pub唱k跳舞？

Wed

生日！！

Bad luck

榴蓮坐我附近......

間餐廳服務勁差！

0係車差0吾多pk...

但係。。。我0地去左high tea同睇Mamma Mia!!!

Mamma Mia!臨尾全場起身唱歌好正！！！不過Love Never Dies d歌比較震撼。各有各好啦！

最正係大家0係theatre外面，Piccadilly Circus唱生日歌，多謝saai！有個外國人搭‘傘’話識唱中文生日歌，但係其實係日文同埋0吾係生日歌lor！

Thurs

Bad luck

榴蓮坐我附近......

Phonetics大半班走堂。有最愛ge Prof. John Harris!

Phonology. Andrew將review用黎介紹keoi3自己ge research。

Logic and Meaning

無期望之下依然失望。

上堂好嘈，有同學突然話對大家講‘If you dont want to hear, you can leave!’. 只可以話文化差異真係需要適應。

錯grammar 0吾係問題，但係content一錯再錯，而上堂ge時候完全無發現，sorry，我真係0吾覺得你0係logic E方面好有研究lor。

Can’t believe it was last school day! Seriously! Have met many nice classmates and had so much fun!!! I’m already missing the class...

Fri

Bad luck

有人recall左Bilingual Child...

Print readings之外就係上網，d 0野0係去Germany之前一定做0吾saai.

====

近日和外國同學仔談起旅行，說會遊德國，他們都問：'Do you have a friend there?'

'No. I just go there for travelling.'

'Are you going with Qing (Another classmate who's also going to GER)?'

'No. I'm going alone.'

'Your'e going alone!?'

很多來自歐洲的同學都要回家。Dunno, 一個酷愛歐遊的香港人當然要把握機會去旅行吧！

Big Surprise

Class wasn't too great today but it's definitely one of the best days in London yet.

Lulu almost fainted outside the classroom. We called the ambulance, waited 50 mins and no one showed up. Are you kidding me?

Got a sandwich and coffee from Pret and went back to Chandler House. A very nice long chat with Nick. Probably it was the longest period of time that I had to speak in Eng since I've come to London.

Thanks Kant for the Christmas present! Black ball pen. He said it was from his grandpa. His grandpa said a Ling student needed a good pen to write. So sweet!

And of cox! My dearest Mandy and Yu Hsuan gave me a surprise party!! Thanks for the chocolate cake, passport case and Mr. Darcy card!!!

You guys rock!

Lately

Lost the urge to write anything. Why?

Ytd went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park with Vincent. OMG! The atm was sooooooooo great! You never get such a huge carnival in HK! Just walking around felt joyful.

Wt was funny was my meeting with Richard.

Do you have a place to live in?

Do you eat food?

Are you surviving?

Hahaha!

He asked me whether there were any other problems. And I told him about ‘榴蓮飄香’. I saw the smirk on his face!!! He could barely stifle a laugh. XDD

'Maybe you should sit away from that person... Is it the case now?'

Hahaha!

====

Today went out with Chloe who's on business trip here in London! Went to Tate Modern. Love it! Fantastic Gallery!

====

Next Mon Arsenal vs Man Utd.

How come it's on Mon? I thought it's tmr! And now I kinda spoiled the effort that they've been making to give me a surprise part on Mon.

Dinner

Dinner at Mandy's with Yu-Hsuen.

Yay!!!

Shoot! My glasses...

榴蓮... Smells really bad!!! XD

Tmr HP7 Part 1!!!!

...

點解副眼鏡配左兩個月就0吾arm？係咪對得電腦太多？

Frankly, it's quote worrying. I've only got one week in HK to fix everything.

...

Harrods -> Yum Cha -> Oxford St!!!

...

I know I haven't written for a long time. Just dont feel like doing so.

Tried toffee nut latte at Starbucks today and caramel latte ytd at Costa.

Today sucks in some ways. I couldn't stop laughing during that Prag back-up. I know that wasn't appropriate but most ppl were smirking too. And I couldn't control myself. Damn!!!

Just now Jerome told me it's in the book of Chao Yuen Ren!

5 weeks

上了五個星期的課，又到reading week.

一直都說來倫敦要work hard, play harder，因為我覺得生活體驗比學術知識重要，但不代表我沒有好好學習。三年的undergrad都沒這般努力，至少我看完所有required reading。

UCL的感覺是：They expect you to be brilliant and they don’t mind how you do it. 重點在於前面的一句‘They expect you to be brilliant’.

這個MA Ling是conversion degree，假設大家從來都沒有讀過Ling. Syntax, Phonetics, Phonology, Pragmatics, Semantics, core Ling, 我undergrad全都讀過。但來到這裡，幾星期便教畢我一年所學的東西。要是我從來沒讀過Ling，我真的不可能在這裡生存。我們有很多課都跟undergrad上，可以想像在這裡的同學一畢業便要比別人走得遠。一年後我拿著一個MA也可能比不上一個BA的學生。

正如同學所說， 課程難，卻令你更有動力去學習。First week 便讓人喘不過氣，但卻令我意會到要好好珍惜這一年學習的時間。過了幾星期，習慣了這裡的學習模式，hea了。如果我不再只顧上facebook，玩Sims，去土豆看Colin Firth，反而把握時間多讀些書，我相信我會做得更好。

學問，學問（draw trees for these 2 phrases?）。一直都覺得自己不懂問(Thanks to HK gov!)。再多看書也好，知道facts，不活用，也就無所用。這陣子覺得到了樽頸位，很想有人拉我一把，很懷念那種‘比人點醒’的感覺。很想做自己喜歡的lang，寫喜歡的topic，不很想寫lit review或者三百字的短答。

1. 秉承‘work hard, play harder’的motto，在reading week去了York三天。很美，但真心的說句‘好在UCL收我’。

2. 事實證明再好的大學也有‘自修好過上lecture’的course. Anyway, so far so good.

星期一又開始新一個5 weeks。不過3rd week我會在香港自修，haha！

=====

看回上年reading week的文章便知今年過得很充實。

1st Day of Reading Week

Going to YORK tmr!!! Yay!!!

Special trip to Oxford st to buy gloves! hah! But no shopping mood today lor...

AND MY ARSENAL MEMBERSHIP PACK CAME!!!!

Morning Walk

I went for a morning walk today. I've never been further away from the tube station.

I saw Autumn.

Trees on both sides of the path. Yellow leaves fallen, weathered. Flocks of seagulls hovering the grounds. Children playing in the field. This is how Autumn should look like. So peaceful and yet vibrant.

Spent these 2 days working on assignments and listening to Love Never Dies. Hee~

Off to York in 2 days!!!

Fireworks

Went to Primrose Hill with Angel, Vincent, Ya-fang, Yin-yen and Christina to see fireworks.

I was surprised to see that it's legal to fire your own fire crackers in London. Nice panoramic view of the city! No wonder why it's recommended in guide books.

But the fireworks were not a patch on those in HK!! Or Taiwan as they said.

But it was nice. My first time to go out see fireworks.

====

That Japanese restaurant was blacklisted! Appalling service!!!!!!!!

Love Never Dies

OMG! We saw it in West End!!! The original London cast!!!! Yay!!! Our 37 pounds ticket included dinner in Covent Garden. We walked to the theatre after the rather mediocre dinner with intense excitement.

I still rmb watching Phantom of the Opera in HK 4 years ago. Totally blew me away. This time, we were in the upper circle. Quite high indeed but still ok. And the ticket only cost 25 pounds. I paid $790 to see the show in HK.

The show was still great despite the fact that I hate some parts of the plot. The singing was superb!! Especially Ramin Karimloo, who played the Phantom. Amazing voice! Totally hypnotising. His live was better than this recording I assure you! Oh btw, he's quite hot too, no?

And i wrote down some thoughts about the show:

One of the reasons why I wanted to come to London is because of the musicals. There are always great shows for you every night. Tonight, I saw the my first musical in London-Love Never Dies. Given my terribly limited understanding of drama and music, I’m not gonna write a critical review. These are just some thoughts that came across my mind quite naturally during or after the show.

I watched The Phantom of The Opera (TPTO) when it came to HK a few years ago and I loved it. I heard that Love Never Dies (LND) isn’t as good. I probably went to see the show biased. So, be warned. And yes, it isn’t as good as the original.

Spoilers Alert! Skip to the last part if you don’t wanna know the details.

There are 2 things I hate about LND’s plot.

1. They made Raoul a problem gambler. I liked him so much and hate Phantom in TPTO.
2. Phantom is the father of Christine’s son.

The 1st spoiled LND for me and the 2nd TPTO. Urgh. C’mon! Raoul a gambler? You’ve gotta be kidding me. And Phantom being the father is... Yes, it was very significant in the story and gave an emotional ending, but it killed TPTO for me. Totally killed it.

The plot was rather loose in LND. I have no idea what that circus show was about in the first scene. There were scenes which were absolutely fantastic but putting them all together just seem awkward. Some scenes didn’t fall into places, like the one on the beach. Great signing, great music, great choreography, it just didn’t work for me.

So much for the ‘dislike’. There are things that I find spectacular.

The cast was fantastic! Amazing performance from the leads. But the one who stood out for me was Ramin Karimloo (The Phantom). He was phenomenal! He has one of the most amazing voices I’ve heard! His magnetic voice kept me enthralled all the way through the show and it was irresistible. 把聲真係rich到漏! I mean, it’s worth the $ just listening to him sing. Absolutely amazing! I was so moved! MOVED! You can feel the passion rushing out of his voice filling the auditorium, melting into the air.

The songs. It was very surprising that there was ‘rock music’. ‘Love Never Dies’ the theme song sung by Christine was very moving and you could feel the momentum of it. The duets sung by Christine and The Phantom were good.

Back to the scenes. If you look at them individually, there were some scenes that moved me very much. The first one was when Christine was about to go on stage. The Phantom and Raoul were trying to persuade her to go and not go on stage. I could feel the battle in her heart. It was either The Phantom or Raoul. Then she sang ‘Love Never Dies’. Breathtaking!

The second one is the final scene. It ended quite abruptly but was indeed well staged. The surprise factor was very successful. I gasped when Meg shot Christine. Then The Phantom held her in his arms and sang their final duet. Before she died, she told Gustav The Phantom was his real father. When she died, The Phantom took off his ring and put it in her hand. Gustav tried to take off his mask. Instead, he knelt down and took it off, finally facing his son with his true face. That was a very emotional scene and I was so agitated. (And it ended before I knew...)

People say it’s more difficult to make a sequel than a new story. Indeed. I’d still recommend this to anyone who’s seen TPTO. It’s not a brilliant sequel but there are moments you don’t wanna miss. And, see it in London with Ramin as The Phantom!

Last Day Before Reading Week

Thursday!!! Last day of school b4 reading week!

OMG I can't believe I've had 1/4 classes this yr!!!! Time passed incredibly fast!!!

It was so funny in the lecture that Andrew actually asked, 'So far so good?'

Hahaha! I looked around and saw many ppl smirk. Haha!

請用普通話讀出：老李買好酒。

I can never get the tones right.

Talked to some classmates about Prof. John Harris's advanced phono class. They seemed quite impressed. But as Stephanie said, Phonology is a weird thing. Either you love it or you hate it. Ppl are kinda extreme.

Haha! Now I know why so many ppl like Syntax. It's because they like Hans!

The Logic class with Celine... Sigh! Truth conditions.

'This is true, and this is true, so this is true!'

Advanced Phono with John (We call teachers by their first names here. I find it pretty normal with other teachers but always find it weird to call John 'John'.).

Great class! As always.

To celebrate, we went to see LOVE NEVER DIES at the Adelphi Theatre!!!!

Um...

Mon

Stephanie聽到我optional module係Advanced Phonological Thoeries ge時候，keoi3真係當我神0甘拜。XD She's very nice!

Discuss phonology assignment. sigh！

Moster tree!!!! So diff to draw that tree!!!

It was very exhausting to draw trees non-stop for 2 hours.

話說我地0個枱ge combination係Chinese + 2 Greek students. 結過個tutor又係Greek, keoi3地三個就係0甘講Greek，我地講PTH。我同Mandy有試過講Eng，但係無人理我地......

Today

話說同Mandy, Vincent and Angel discuss Phonology assignment，我同Angel解緊phonemes同allophones ge分別，有某同學主動幫手話最好用‘r’去解釋，話好似retroflex係其中一個allophone of 'r'.

究竟係咪cultural difference? 我相信keoi3係好心，但係1. keoi3 0吾識聽Cantonese, 2. Phonemes同allophones係lang-specific.

很雷。

Damn! Tmr tubr strike again!!!

...

Thu

Regular gathering. 去左食日本野！！Sashimi boat都係30 pounds，分分鐘仲（'fan1 fan1 zong1 zong6' interesting string of sounds）平過香港。

Fri

成日用黎煲P+P... Hee!

Sat

去super買pasta, 一包1.09 pounds, 兩包1.50 pounds. 自助購物，發現無discount，同assistant講，keoi3話'You know what, I'll cancel one of them.' 結果buy one get one free!

Sun

好即興跟左Mandy同her fds去China Town飲茶。

Sigh! I really needa work harder!

Tudou is really amazing. You can get full films, even very old films. orz...

====

The air fare is obscenely high!!! But anyway...

26/12/10 - 7/1/11 Germany!!!

Dad asked, '你黎係去旅行定去讀書ga？'

我一直都話work hard, play harder ga wor!

Talk

I love talking about life. Very enjoyable time with Mandy tod

ay. We sat on the steps on Main Quad and talked for 2 hours about basically everything, i

mportant things, serious things.

今日Ya-fang話keoi5中學個老師上堂播左BBC ge Pride and Prejudice畀keoi5地睇!!! 0係我地E個prog都齊集UK+中港台ge CF fans. 好啦！下次一於搞個group去睇The King's Speech, BAFTAs, anything with Colin... 真係lum2起就興奮！

My fav Darcy portrait. Yes, not the wet-shirt one.

Bookstore

I love the little book store on Judd St. They open it to welcome ppl, not just for business. I go there just for the feeling of it. Absolutely lovely.

Didn't sit in Phonetic Theory today coz I got up late.

School Day

Early morning lecture with Richard. Could never tell he is Australian! Never!

Logic back-up. Frankly, more explanation complicates things.

Then i had a picnic lunch in the park in Russell Sq and went to the British Museum again just to walk. Gorgeous. You never get that elsewhere. In HKU we have Happy Park which doesn't look green at all. And being surrounded by thousand years old artifact is an amazing feeling.

And dinner at Mandy's place at night again. Yeah! Would love to go for a drink with other classmates but I needed dinner very bad. Too damn hungry after reading Syntax on my own for 2 hours and attended the back-up for another 2 hours.

Btw, Pret's latter taste better than Starbucks's one.

The King's Speech @ London Film Festival

Very即興！

Knew from last night that there'd be stand-by tickets on the day of screenings. Today I woke up a bit late and was quite tired because I couldn't sleep until 3am this morning. So, I decided to try my luck today. I mean, COLIN SHOOK MY HAND YESTERDAY!

Arrived at Leicester Sq at 11:15am, 75mins before the screening started. And lucky me, I got a ticket!!! Of course I'd very much love to see The King's Speech before the general release next Jan. It's also quite a meaningful thing to participate in the London Film Festival, my first cultural event in London. This time next year I'll probably not be in London. So that was the only chance that I'd see how it's like here. And it's big! I've been to HK International Film Festival and it wasn't bad at all. But here, London Film Festival, a real international massive event! You have all those big movies coming here and some have galas. I remember when Matrix 2 or 3 premiered in HK I really wanna go to see what it'd be like. It's so different. That's one reason why I wanna come to London. HK is great, but not like this. But London, everything comes here.

Back to the movie. Like ppl said online, Colin Firth's gonna 'Helen Mirren' his way to the Oscars. I haven't seen other films like 127 Hours or True Grit, but his performance is so sublime. I also love Geoffrey Rush in this and I wouldn't be surprised if he wins his 2nd Oscars.

After the ending credits, there was a Q&A section with director Tom Hooper. See, that's why I want to go to film festivals like this. You never get the chance in HK! And ppl ask insightful questions, not 行貨.

I can't wait for the award season next year.

OMG!!! COLIN FIRTH SHOOK MY HAND!!!

I’m delirious right now! I don’t think I’ll ever get over the handshake with him!! So, here it goes.

The King’s Speech premiered in Leicester Square tonight at the London Film Festival. The movie opened at 7pm but I couldn’t get a ticket. I saw ppl on forum saying that they’d arrive by 4pm. Well, as for last night, I was still supposed to attend a back-up class from 5:30-6:30pm. Today they changed the allocation and I needed not stay until 6:30pm. I thought about leaving school and going to Leicester Square right away. But (the big ‘but’), Prof John Harris is amazing!!! I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t sit in his lecture from 4-5pm. Given that the back-up class had been reschduled, I could have stayed for the back-up for John’s class until 6pm. But, today I just couldn’t stay. I was tired and the content was so difficult that I couldn’t focus. I went to Leicester Square after the lecture ended at 5pm.

So much gibberish and here is the bit. There weren’t many ppl when I arrived at 5:30pm. I got a place right behind the fence. Next to me was a lady who was originally from AUS and she happened to live around Colin Firth’s neighbourhood some time ago. Cool! She happened to be around Leicester Square tonight and stopped by for the premiere. She said she’d been to movies premiere a few times and she told me how the limos were gonna come in.

The first one who arrived was Geoffrey Rush! Then there came Tom Hooper (director), Helena Bonham-Carter and Ben Kingsley. And of course, at last, Colin Firth!!! Frankly, I didn’t expect I could actually see him in real a few hours ago. Then, he was just 30 feet away. I was more than happy to just catch a glimpse of him. So we waited.

And he came back! After some 20 mins. But come on, it was worth the wait. He came to our side. I held my hand out. His publicist was standing behind him tell him to go away and HE SHOOK MY HAND!!! It was so warm. I mean literally warm. I really needa give him some credits for giving my freezing hand quite a strong grip. And afterwards I screamed to ppl 'HE SHOOK MY HAND!' I'm sure they wanted to kill me.

Well, I'm not his biggest fan for sure. I don't drool over Mr. Darcy in a wet-shirt like most women do in the UK. But I've seen 17 of his movies, got 11 on DVD/VCDs, and watched P+P 5 times. But c'mon! He shook my hand!

Lucky me! I never had chances to go to such events in HK. This is my very first ‘Colin Firth event’ and HE SHOOK MY HAND!!!HE SHOOK MY HAND!!!

Now I’ve got my own calendar, photos and a handshake. I’m gonna go to the BAFTAs and probably any premiere of his movies.

I love London!

Half-day Off

Wednesday

Half day off. Went to China Town to buy fishballs. Yummy.

Do-support and Wh-movement. I wonder how my fellow classmates manage. Coz if I was introduced such a difficult concept in my 3rd ever Syntax lecture, I'd definitely wanna kill myself.

I spent the whole afternoon playing Sims. Sigh. So hard-working.

DING2!!!! I couldn't buy tickets for arsenal vs Tottenham Hot Spur lor!!!!!! I bought my mbp back to school and spent the break trying to buy tickets!!!!

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HKU Ling Dept new welcome page!

http://www.hku.hk/linguist

and...

我与HKU的一段情暨港大文学院语言学系面

http://bbs.gter.net/bbs/thread-1082666-1-1.html

My Life So Far

19/10/10

就這樣過了一個月， 衣食住行通通自己搞定，連病也病過。Anyway, so far so good.

我以為我會很想家。

我以為我會不習慣。

我以為我會有靈感。

我以為我會很輕鬆。

我以為我會很徬徨。

我以為我會有很多時間chillex.

原來... there's sth I can live without. 當初稍稍猶豫時朋友說過人的適應力很強，所言甚是。

這裡太像香港，比較落後的香港。交通燈是舊式香港交通燈，沒有人守交通規則，司機永遠不讓路，吃快餐店不用自己清理桌面，Starbucks差不多價錢，地鐵有免費metro， 市中心一樣多人，一樣有H&M Zara Uniqlo McDonald’s KFC Burger King Subway 3......

不同的是說普通話的機會比廣東話和英文要多，Starbucks比較難喝，沒八達通只有適用於交通工具的Oyster card, 天氣冷一點，課堂進度快十倍，hall沒有電視，超市膠袋免費......

生活還是這樣過。當然，London還有很多地方等待我探索。開始覺得一年過得有點太快，有點不夠。

So far so good. 遲一點才談談新學校。

The Start of the 3rd week of school

Damn! I got a migraine ytd!!!!!!!! Right after I finished talking to mom and dad. I took a paracetamol and went to sleep for 4 hours. Felt better but still week. And i haven't prepared for today's classes!!! And i dont hv the energy to go shopping for grocery. Just felt lethargic.

Today was ok. I love Richard! he couldn't stop talking about his son!

Went to have lunch with Vincent in Oxford Circus. Had a lot of time to kill anyway.

So far so good.

又上Mandy hall食飯！我都0吾洗點煮飯。

Lovely Day in Greenwich

Fri
Went back to Chandler House to print notes and borrow books. Then spent the afternoon hea-ing and did a bit reading.

Sat

Lovely! Went to Greenwich. PLanned to go there last week but went to Westminster instead.

Took an hour to be there. First time to take DLR. The stations were so close to each other.

First stop-Old Navy College. Visited the Painted Hall, where Admiral Nelson's body lay there for a few days after the Battle of Trafalgar before his funeral. Then went to the Chapel.

Next stop is the National Maritime Museum. Free! A lot to see! And I love how they allow children to play around.

Spent a few moments in Greenwich Park to have my little picnic. So soothing!! And ppl ran around on the grass! A bit cold though.

ROYAL OBSERVATORY. There was a very animated guide. Took pics with the meridian line! A shame that couldnt watch the Planetarium show. But I'll definitely go there again!

Thurs

I know I havnet been writing for a long time. Just busy playing Sims3. ;)

Long day. I love it and I hate it. Coz Thurs I have 3 hrs of Phonetics and Phonology, but also 2 hrs of Logic and Meaning.

My classmates were talking about John Harris vs Andrew Nevins. I have to quote them. They said John was more laid-back and treated students as students while Andrew looked like he was a performer and the students were his audience. So right! And I have to say I start to like John's lectures more. But Optimality theory le1...

Fire drill!!! So cold outside lor...

Logic and meaning. So great that I've studied Semantics at HKU. At least I'm not confused about entailms

Oh, btw, Celine is really Andrew's wife!

=====

廣東話同學會聚餐！！！

...

Ytd.

9-11am Foundations of Ling and then 5-7pm Syntax back-up. That 6 hrs... I guess I studied for 3 hrs at most. Too tired. Starbucks is a good place to hang out but the coffee le... Not so good lor. At least the one in Russell Sq was quite disappointing in that regard.

Thanks Mandy for inviting me to dinner! My 4th free dinner so far! I’m totally blessed! And we talked about meeting up again with our Cantonese-speaking group! Cool!

Today

People ask ‘how are you’ every time we meet. And everyone gives the same answer: tired. I’m damn tired and almost dozed off in Pragmatics. Not because I studied too hard, but because I played Sims 3 til 1:30am this morning. =.=”

Grice’s theory in one lecture. 0_0 Kate seems a very nice lecturer.

他鄉遇故知，人都開心d！

Finally, Johnny and I meet up! Yay!

Duped by that Indian restaurant tim...

............

阿Sa同William, 鄭中基同有線主播...... O 0西！！！