Freshers Fayre

Today went to Chandler House Tour. Only lasted 10mins then went to get drinks with classmates.

Met Albert who originally wanted P. Ding to be his PhD supervisor. We talked about HKU ling dept.

The Freshers Fayre was very crowded. Very crowded. Joined some mailing lists. Just like the time when I was a freshman at HKU.

I watched Then She Found Me la. Bought some many things on Amazon right after I got my card... But c'mon! The postage is much cheaper for local delivery.

Basically that's it.

Buckingham Palace

Went to Buckingham Palace with Carol ytd. They have the same chair for tourists as in Residenz in Salzburg! Quite a nice palace, but I love those in Austria more.

Now I can go again for free next summer when it opens for public again. You can turn your ticket into an annual one. Good service!

Btw, I can more easily relate to the history when The King's Speech is coming next yr. King George VI lived there.

Then we walked all the way back to UCL, occasionally stopping in shops in Oxford Street. But it's still a long way.

Rain. I hate it.

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Party at Chandler House. Um... Too many ppl, too small a room gum lor.

Got the card. I started my amazon shopping spree!

Official Welcome

Finally, Chandler House. It's quite a beautiful place. I love the stair case. (it rhymes!)

We were supposed to go to a lecture room but found everyone waiting on the ground floor. So we waited there.

Great! Finally met and really talked to students who were not Chinese. No offence, but come on I'm in the UK. Later we realised those waiting on G/F were not postgrads...

Yay! Finally. We did a little self-intro and stuff. Nice to see everyone. There are about 35 of us in the MA Ling prog. A large class for a master course I presume. My fds studying Chem only have around 10 ppl in their class. Anyway, almost half of the class are Chinese. Around 3 form HK, 2 from Taiwan, and the rest from Mainland. I guess Chinese students are so 'ging' that we're flooding in to the top uni around the world. Fds in HK are complaining about the ratio of HK:Mainland students in their class. It's a similar situation in another continent. I mean, it's like Chinese and other students in the class.

Met Vincent, who happens to be studying Ling and Eng at HKU and graduated 3 years ago. And, I think he is my 上上上莊。

Then I went to the Main Lib. Seriously, it is magnificent! HKU 0個個真係頹到...... Just the atmosphere makes you feel like studying. That was quite overwhelming.

竟然0係Bloombury cafe揾倒大白兔糖......

Look forward to the party tmr night.

Finally, met Carol for dinner in London. Great! We're going to the Buckingham Palace tmr!

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Having been sleeping and waking up late. I needa go back to 早睡早起。Lectures start at 9am next week.

This entry should call 'Finally'.

Tue

Went to China Town with flatmate Crystal. She wanted to buy crabs. (-0-)

China Town, um, not very interesting lor. The Chinese names of the streets are quite funny. Very expensive lor.

We had Chinese buffet. Um, how come there's no chopsticks? So non-Chinese. Went back to Holloway. Discovered a market near our hall. I bought a lot of grapes and it only costs one pound!!!

Watched The Accidental Husband at night. Sigh. This film deserve a separate entry.

Arsenal!!!!

Sunday. Free~ Yay!!!

Didnt have much to do. So basically I just sat in frot of the computer. Nice long chat with mom!!

Also went to Arsenal. Emirates stadium is just a 15-min walk from my hall!!!! Didn't book the stadium tour today. Will have plenty of chances. Bought some souvenirs la of cox. But the clock was faulty lor. Needa go back for an exchange tmr!

Thanks to my very nice flatmate, another one this time, I had my 3rd free meal in London. Delicious curry chicken!

The Famous Oxford Street

Went to the UCL welcome carnival. Um... I expected it to be a lot more boisterous. Did take some great pics though.

Then went to Oxford street. True, Oxford St is THE shopping street. No offense, but shopping women are insane! They snatch everything into their basket! Those boots were cheap, but I suspect you'll slip when you tread on snow. But that how ppl are. Even I myself has spent quite some quids. (Ppl say 'quids' here. See, I've learnt.)

HMV. I've added 2 DVDs to my Colin Firth collection. So, if I ever feel bored, I'll still have Colin with me.

I couldn't find them in HK. Here, I got them with only 9 pounds!

Btw, The King's Speech is getting rave reviews and ppl have tipped that Colin will get another Oscar nom this year. It's great to see that ppl finally see him as a fine actor rather than some rom-com guy after last yr's A Single Man.

I was talking to an English guy about Colin Firth and guess what he asked?

'Have you got Pride and Prejudice?'

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I've been in London for a week. 1 milestone. So far so good.

Day 6

Last night

First time had problems falling asleep. I'd slept for 1.5 hrs b4 waking up at around 1:20am. All I could hear was cars running on the road outside. I can't believe how many cars

there were still on the road. I couldn't sleep again until 3:30am...

Today

Went on a bus tour organised by the union. Double-decker with no roof. So, there I was on the upper deck.

Everything was fine until showers came. Damn! It must've been funny to look as us from the road. Now the bus has a roof of umbrellas! The tour was just a tour, nothing too special.

Had lunch in Covent Garden. Just 7 pounds and I needed not have dinner tonight. Walked around with Angel to Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Sq, Regent st...

Took the tube from Oxford Circus back to hall. The station was more crowded than MK lor...

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I FEEL A STRONG URGE TO WORK DAMN HARD THIS YEAR!

23/9 5th day

Nothing on schedule. A day to relax. Basically I was sitting in front of my mbp all the time. But I did buy a few things and got my uk number. If anyone wants it, pls email me.

I called Winnie and she was still in London. Yay! We went to have coffee in Leicester Sq. Then we walked a 'long' way from there to Trafalgar Sq, Piccadilly Circus... and back to Trafalgar Sq to meet her fd. Then we went to China Town for dinner. My 2nd free dinner in London! THX!

This is the first time that I have time to walk around London.

Il Quarto Giorno

Orientation.

Arrived 0945 at Main Quad. Seriously, it looked grander than some ancient remains. But I love the HKU main building for its delicacy.

Walked to Camden centre for a welcoming talk. Met a girl who is from HK and is in the MA Ling prog! We were in the hall and the host asked us to talk to the ppl next to us. I was sitting at the end so I turned around to talk to the guy who was from China. We finished, I talked to the Italian guy who was sitting 2 seats away. Ai, the host stopped the whole thing lor...

Finally opened a bank acc. Apparently the stff in the Russell Sq branch faked me lor.

The campus tour was not very useful. We did get to look at some major buildings around the campus but I couldn't remember where they were after the 15-min tour.

Went straight to enrollment. Long queue. I guess it's a British thing. They love to keep you waiting. Funny. When I got my student card, the girl who took the pic for me was a final year student of Ling. That wwhy I thought she looked familiar. She was in our fb gp.

A lot of shopping. Seems that it never ends.

3rd Day

The weather in London is notorious. So, I'm very surprised to find that I actually need sun screen and sun glasses in London.

Went to Borough for police registration. Arrived at around 10am. When I could finally got in Brandon House, it was around 1:30pm. I think the British ppl love to keep you waiting. That was absolutely crazy! So, there I was, in the place. I waited another 1.5 hrs before I could stepped outside again... Met a guy from Shanghai who was studying in SOAS and who was in IKEA at the same time that I did ytd.

I was planning to go to China Town today, but gave up the plan. I walked around the area for a bit, went to London Bridge, walked a bit father and I ended up in Bank station.

This area reminds me of Vienna. But Vienna is more beautiful and more delicate. This, feels a bit gloomy and looks like the buildings are going to engulf you.

Mi ho cucinato spaghetti stasera!!! Ho mangiato un broccolo!!!

2nd Day

In the morning, I went to the HSBC branch in Russell Sq because I couldnt use the old 20 pounds notes. They said I needa get a letter from UCL with both my home and UK address on it. Great, I haven't enrolled. Nothing can be done there. I just walk around the area. Passed by UCL main campus on Gower St. Then made my way to IKEA @ Edmonton.

Got off at Tottenham Hale and took a bus there. The free shuttle never came. Anyway, spent quite some money there to buy the sheets, pillow, quilts, clothes hangers... The place was huge!

Finally met 2 flatmates. The others haven't moved in. They're incredibly nice!!! Both of them are from Guangdong. They invited me to dinner! So I didn't need to eat instant macaroni.

No more camping in the night. Felt very comfy. Very comfy.

Goodbye HK

19/9 Sun

It was a morning flight at 0955. So we woke up quite early at 0630.

Leaving home, as we learnt from CW, is a ritual. Now I had the chance to experience it myself. I thought I would cry, but I didn't. But I was quite stressed out as I yelled at dad at the check-in counter. ("=.=) Definitely not sth to be proud of.

The flight was an ok one. CX 's food is cxxp! They served chicken and omelet for lunch. All chicken were gone. So I needa ear omelet. Of cox I wasted a lot of food. I ate the fillings and left the egg aside. The seats were quite comfortable. Happened to meet a girl from Gunagdong and we chatted a bit. When she heard that I was going to UCL, she gave me that look. (-0-) Um... ya... The lady on my right was on a business trip to Glasgow. Nice lady.

Waited an hr for passport-control. Bad luck. The queue I was in moved at 龜速。When i reached baggage reclaim, my two pieces of luggages were lying on the floor already.

So, there I was, finally, in London. I tried to add 20 pounds to my oyster card only to find that those banknotes dad gave me were out-dated and the machine did not accept them. So, I needed an ATM.

The suitcase was damn heavy. With my backpack on my shoulders, I picked up the suitcase and crawled up the stairs at Holloway Road station. Even with 4 wheels, the suitcase did not move easily at all. It took me 15 mins to reach the hall.

The room feels a bit 自閉 bcox the corridor outside was so narrow. It was quite dirty too. I could see dust everywhere. On top of that, no pillow or quilt. I felt like camping that night.

So far so good.