My Halloween Hangover

So it was my little flatmates 7^th birthday, and her mom announced that we’ll make it a Halloween themed costume party. To be honest we (Rupal and I) weren’t that excited and Rupal quite reluctantly bought some masks the previous night. Since I sit at home and listen to radio the whole day long while making those terrible applications, I was sort of inspired by the RJs talking about Halloween costumes, and I thought of getting my lazy bum off the chair and make myself some costume. I thought for a while and settled for the tried and tested ‘catwoman’. But after looking in my suitcase and around the house, the only useful material I could find was foil paper. So I had to water down the idea and settle for just ‘cat’. Hahahha. So, I made myself some ears and a tail and painted some whiskers on my cheeks. I thought it was going on pretty well. The kids were getting excited, and I just thought to myself –

‘Thank God for putting some enthusiasm in me’! Rupal came in by then, and she dressed up as a witch complete in black, a complementing hairdo and cap, broom stick, and red lipstick. However, the ‘halloween star’ of the evening was one the guys whom I painted as ‘The zombie joker’. The real star of the evening was of course Cris – the seven year old ‘pretty lady’ ... well actually no ... ‘hot bombshell’ is what she is prefers being referred to as ;-P

We even managed to fit in some divali celebration (divali is just round the corner – 5^th November) by bursting crackers and lighting some fireworks. There were rockets and flowerpots and hand glitters. After that we came on top and played some kiddy party games which is always fun especially when washed down with some wine ;-) Aha... enter wine, and now begins my real Halloween ! So, apparently I had a bit too much. Well, Rupal claims that I had some of her glasses as well.. so I don’t have a count now. But I know what followed was sheer horror.. like the real one. Well, not immediately of course. I do have evidence of dancing around – thankfully pretty composed.

I don’t remember having any dinner, and the next thing I remember was lying on the floor in my bedroom with Rupal standing over me and blabbering something ‘are u okay ? ... what is happening ... fi get up ... what are u doing there ?’. That must have been in the middle of the night sometime. The next thing I remember was waking up in the afternoon with a massive headache and the whole bedroom being messed up. There was a really odd odour as well all round (well ... uh... yucks I know), and I just could not figure out what was happening. With my head still spinning, I tried to sit up but could just not do it. Rupal woke up as well, and she seemed pretty okay – well not as bad as me, and she was still rambling about me having her wine. Hahahahah. She made me some coffee which I could not even sip. Well, I was living a nightmare. We pulled apart the curtains for some light and then realised that the whole room was a mess. I seriously have no memory of what happened and felt so embarrassed. There was no way we could let the kids enter the room - which they do very often ! And with me having a head as heavy as a hundred pumpkins, it was upto Rupal to do the honors of cleaning around.

After feeling miserable for another couple of hours, I finally got the strength to get up from the bed and get all that poison out of my system. Horrible, terrible. I thought I was dying – seriously. ! hhahha I’m laughing now, but it was the worst I’ve ever felt, well almost ! After talking some nonsense for some more time, I finally slept relieved and got up at eight at night. What an utter waste of an entire day. I’m just glad I am alive and fine, it got really scary with me getting breathless and pale and with Rupal suggesting we should go to the doctor. I almost thought I was poisoned. It is now officially in my book – No more white wine for me – Never Ever ... No NO NOOO.

Well, it was a true Halloween night for me, and I am still nursing some cuts and bruises on my feet. And I have no idea where that came from! Hahahha... well something like the movie ‘The hangover’. I’m just glad I have all my teeth intact and there was no tiger in the bathroom ;-)

Well, phew ... so that’s it from me. A bit gross I know, but that was as “happening” as it gets (pun intended).

Hope all of you had a lovely... errr.. scary... Halloween ! Take Care. Eagerly awaiting New Years !

Love

Fiona

When the Irish met, a party broke out

Carrie-Ann and Lorna arrived on the 6th Wednesday. The two good friends that Pat meet at UCC during his undergrad. They were classmates, doing chemistry of some sort. Anyway, Pat had been excited about their arrival for a while now, and had been freaking out about what touristy things we could do- Classic Pat Moment! Of course this was about when I took my cue. I seem to have an inclination to event planning and organising fun things to do. Maybe I need a change in career direction... erm. Nevermind about that for now, lemme tell you all about the what went on during their visit.

Wednesday night, Pat made some dinner- famous oven baked crispy chicken with pepper sauce and mashed potatoes on the side. Delicious! James, one of Pat's work colleague, someone I am not necessarily fond of and I shall refer to as Creepy just for convenience... So, Creepy decided to come over to check the acoustics of his guitar in the living room at Pat's place. You see, Pat had organised a house party on the Friday and Creepy had been psyched about it- wanted to play his guitar, drink Absinthe and sing away to his glory. Oh and of course do what he does best, creep the girls out with is creepy stare. So while Pat, Carrie-Ann, Lorna and his housemates were conversing and dining, Creepy decided to sing away and strum his guitar like he was some talented one at a jazzy restaurant.

The next day Carrie-Ann and Lorna had a tour guide of Pat's "fantastic" lab. Freshers week was on, so they were entertained with some stalls and sales. I, meanwhile, needed to unwind and look into what we could do the following days.

Friday night was finally around, people were buzzing in the house. Pat's housemates, colleagues from work, friends from Cork and me were on the guest list! That night was memorable on several levels. The drunk drama- always so amusing. Everyone has their own version of the same incident. The Absinthe story wasn't the best one. It got the best out of few, fruits thrown about in the kitchen, Creepy sitting out the house in the cold for 40 mins, bit of drama here and there. But it was great fun! Came back home after a aching hour and a half of dancing at The Lounge at 5:00 am the next day! People were asleep on the floor in different rooms. Man, what a night!

The Saturday we decided to take it easy. Went to town, walked by the canal, popped in at White Cross, because a band was playing live there. There was a Lancaster Music Festival for the weekend, so there were bands playing at different avenues. The town was buzzing! Plus, the new comers at Lancaster have arrived by the thousands. So, a lot of new faces. Reminded me of my first week at Lancaster... :') *sniff*
We then headed over to Lisa's, (the man-girl I was talking about earlier- check the recent FB pictures) where we watched X-factor.

The Sunday, Lisa and her somewhat boyfriend, Matt, the Irish girls, Pat and I went to Windermere. We had breakfast at The Lighthouse Cafe, and strolled down to the lake where we took at cruise around. We stopped by at this aquarium. Where oddly, we found a special variety of tiny monkey's, a snappy small croc, amphibians that creeped me out, Asian otters, among fish and tiny sea creatures! Someone should have told them that aquarium is derived from "aqua" meaning water and "rium" meaning place/ room, therefore only water bearing animals should be there. But the mammals were an interesting twist!

The Monday morning they left, I headed into to Stopford with a heavy head and the need for sleep. Pat and I have a cold and sore throat. I took a day off to well, not do anything but pamper myself today... by cleaning my room up!

Man what a week! I'll leave it to Pat to let you know the details of what happened when and where. Or maybe he would cover the next story about Sheehan's visit this weekend. Which reminds me, Fifi, you could come down the weekend with Sheehan if you'd like, lemme know!

I think I hear the ice cream man by the corner of my street, time for me to race up to him!

bye for now!

Sick, so I finally made it here.

That sums up why I'm here. Believe you me, it's Sunday and I had planned last night to be back in the office to, well, catch up on many things relative to my thesis. Fortunately or otherwise, I woke up with sore throat and a throbbing head . With nothing else to do, I finally found the time to make my presence known here.

In other words, I do miss you guys, don't get me wrong. It's on days like these that I get to reminisce the Lancaster experience with nostalgia.

Perhaps a comprehensive update on the one month since I arrived in Singapore: the heat is despicable.

I have no idea therefore how Caucasians (how white Westerners are called here, rather inaccurately - so Pat prepare!) get to enjoy the tropical sun in Sentosa when it is in fact hovering around 35 celsius. The one thing I have always been concerned about is how to avoid getting even darker and developing skin cancer along the way.

I got a fantastic place on the 37th floor of a high rise residential building in this area called Queenstown. By bus, my office at NUS Bukit Timah Campus is accessible in less than 30 minutes. At night though I choose to walk home which normally takes me an hour, that is if I don't pass by the local market.

A brief digression: If you hadn't known yet, Spar at Lancaster was my hangout place after a full day's workload. For some reason I find joy and reprieve in carrying home a piece of banana and a can of tuna but only to decide later on that I wouldn't eat them anyway.

Well, walking home justifies my lack of exercise in this country. The first time I went to the gym I had to compete with Law undergraduates who were taking turns in using the treadmill and crosstrainers. Little did I know that they were reserving those for other friends of theirs who were to come much later. I had no choice therefore but to stick to this rowing machine which I grudgingly used for the next 45 minutes. And that was the last time I was at that gym. It's simply immature to scold those Law undergrads. They might bring me to their moot court on campus and have death penalty pronounced on me on the spot. My ultimate aspiration is for my body to decompose in Philippine soil.

The view from my place, I must say, is simply gorgeous. From here one can have a glimpse of Bowland Tower at Lancaster, if my sight serves me right. Well, any of you guys can stay here. I have a nice flatmate (there are only two of us) who is the Vice President of SwissRe, a global reinsurance company. He always gives me a treat. Invoking the hardship and poverty of being a student always works, I must say. I don't know how I would behave once I finish the PhD.

I may have more to say but this has been getting longer than usual already.

It's good to be here and to be reading everyone else's entries. So shall we start counting down to Manila already? I will be home for Christmas!

*The Mainland European Times*

Hola amigos!

Cómo es? Bien??? Yo soy muy bien! Yo tengo mi una clase de espanol. Comprende?

From the above you can notice that I have had muchos clases de espanol (many Spanish classes). It's tough having 3 hours of Spanishness all over you, but I have to admit that I am loving it. Spanishness, I define as a flood of emotions and RRR's which is a rrrrrr-sound but made with your tongue in front of your upper front-teeth (try it, please, so I can see that I am not the only Spanishspeaking-retard). This said, I also have to admit that I am probably the slowest learner in the entire group . If that has to do with the busieness of the rest of my day, or if it has to do with my language abilities, is for somebody else to judge. So my weekdays are filled with attending classes every day for 3 hours, then have a Lunch on the go in the beauty of the subway, and then start working at my dad's company at 1pm till 8pm. My day finishes with Spanish deberras (homework) and dinner (which my mom is a specialist in preparing it), then I fall into deep sleep at 11pm and wake up at 6am again. Uff, telling you this is even tiring to me.

Anyhow, my weekends are splendid!!!!
Right now I am sitting in the mountainhouse in Austria, the sun is setting, the tiled stove crackles with a warm fire and I am enjoying a hot milk with honey ..... well, it all sounds pretty cozy, ey? But all these blankets wrapped around me and the three layers of clothes is because our heating installation doesn't have any more oil. I guess this is how it will be when the world will run out of oil eventually / or how the mountain people felt 200 years ago. The greatest challenge was taking a shower with ice-cold water which felt like it had just sprung out of glacier mountains. After a power-shower which left me with blue toes, I felt the appreciation for not being born a century ago.

This reminds me that, 200 years ago there was a bavarian King called King Ludwig I, who held a horse-race and festival with free food and beer for the entire city of Munich. Now, the Oktoberfest is no longer a horse-race, but a 16-18 day beer festival, attracting 5 billion people from all over the world per year. You can imagine it just like Blackpool's venture/fun-park but 5 times bigger and aimed mainly at drinking beer. The autoscooters, rollercoasters and haunted houses are just for entertainment after the drinking madness. So this madness I dared to go. My first visit was with my parents where we met my brother and his girlfriend. In the first picture you can see my brothers gf, my mom and me in traditional bavarian dresses. It was just such a beautiful day because we strolled from beergarden where we had roasted chicken with potato salad to booths with glaced almonds, cotton candy, chocolate glazed fruits - I felt like I was in Cockaigne!

Besos y hasta luego,
Vuestra Johanna

The buzz at Lancaster CIty

So although I've not been doing something solid, I've been finding out details about things and socialising quite a bit... Where do I begin?

Job wise:
Been applying for jobs... I'm going back to the company I had been interning with on campus, starting Monday. Just to while away time and keep an eye out for the current environmental news. That sorta thing. I'm considering a part-time job at Lancaster City. Will keep you posted on that when it's finalised though.

Social wise:
The past week, I've been avoiding spending the evenings at my place, simply because I dislike having to deal with my live-in landlord, who is undoubtedly immature, inconsiderate and OCDfied. So, Pat and I have been hanging out with Pat's housemates friends, Lisa (the big girl-boy), Matt (her boyfriend of some sort) and Anna (the lesbian). We caught up on X factor at Lisa's place yesterday, had a couple of drinks the previous week and had dinner the week before that. Lisa and Anna are really nice to talk to. I always did like Lisa for some reason.

We hung out with Mike (Pat's colleague from work) and his girlfriend, Sam's place on Friday. Well, Pat and Mike were playing the new FIFA game, then after realising Sam's and my bored face; we watched Rush Hour 3 and the Planet Earth series. Speaking of movies, Pat and I watched The Other Guys and I think it was really really funny. I loved it!

Lancaster news updates:
Return tickets now cost GBP 2.25 as oppose to 2.15 while single ticket cost GBP 1.50.
The new students moved in on Saturday, campus recruit was busy accommodating the new batch of freshers. Common Room is cleaned out, I think they put in a new sofa set though. Lancaster City night clubs are back in business having noisy drunk fools strolling about. The weather is grim, raining some days sunny the other days.

My rendition of the International Student's reception '09

I wanted to get this in for today, I was a bit confused whether it was today last year or yesterday... anyway, I remember writing this in my private blog.
____________

I scurried off to The Great Hall at 6:00pm yesterday, worried that I was so darn late for the International Students' Reception. I panted my way through the very very chilly evening until I arrived at a huge gathering of people. I walked in lost and claustrophobic. It was the first time I felt warm at Lancaster without a heater in the vicinity.

I bumped into a couple of people, randomly exchanging smiles and quick hellos.

I bumped into an Indian, "Hi," I say deliberately, eyeing the empty glass of wine in her hand," Umm... Is this the international student reception?" She smiled at me, "Yea, I guess so..." We quickly introduced ourselves. Fiona is from Mumbai and is doing her MBA here. She's been in and out of UK, doing corresponding courses and jobs. 7 years of work experience! How about that! But her face defies her age. That's for sure. No sooner I met her flatmate, Jay, a Filipino-Singaporean doing his PhD in Sociology. He's quite a character! Very funny and easy to get along with. Or maybe it was just the wine I'd been sipping on. (Kidding Jay) Oh by the way, red wine tastes amazing! I finished half my glass when I realised I was already a little light headed and my cheeks flushed a bit. Oh gawd! That was embarrassing, considering normal people don't get drunk on half a glass of wine. Oh well! I'll work on that! *wink*  (I sure did work on it over time!)

I met Jay's friend, Ritchie, a Malaysian and his finance management classmate James from North China. Talk about being six degrees apart! So the five of us were around the place talking about a crazy number of things, before the pro-vice chancellor of the university shared a few words and welcomed us all for the umpteenth time. (we're not complaining as along as the wine kept coming.)

After a dizzying half glass of wine, I quietly placed my glass away and headed out of the hall with the others. There was some Chinese food on the house at the Common Room, very close to Graduate College (where all PG students stay)... Now things get interesting, you see none of us knew the route to get back. So we were roaming about aimless chatting up on stupid miscellaneous things. It turned out most of them couldn't pronounce my name. And suggested names like Kate and Katie and Kitty- oh that one got everyone laughing. "Hello Kitty!" James made a funny bunny face (was supposed to look like a cat, he added later). I threatened to fight him with chopsticks if he said that again!

The place we ended up in, was deserted. That's when we knew, we were in the wrong place. We hiked back and pulled a couple of people up to help us with our way. James spoke to a bunch of Chinese people who spoke in Cantonese and it didn't look like he understood it. I cursed the campus map 'cause it's not really comprehensive. Really now, the map doesn't coincide with the place, they've got their scale and proportion all wrong. After aimlessly strolling by, we see people. A mob. A crazy mob. Chinese aroma filling up the room. YUP! this is about right. We all knew, but were worried if we didn't get any food. We came up with all sorts of things to get the crowd out of our way, but the best was James' flatmate, Patrick, an Irish "lad" doing PhD in Nuclear Engineering. "Oh nowt a problem," he says calmly while scanning the crowd then looked at us,"Step back peowple, lemme explowd this place!" he said in an Irish accent, I'm certain I can't imitate.

So we inch our way to the table with pathetic Chinese food,(which we were out in the cold and starving for), when we meet a comical Russian, Sergjy aka C.J. I just tried really hard not to look surprised at this alarmingly natural orange hair. He was talking something about Borat... Umm.. I wasn't really listening. But anyway, after dinner we bid our good nights and headed for some warmth and a good night's rest.
______________________

The following week I met Jo... I'll write about that soon! 
Cheers to that night! :)

Jab (when) we met !

I am not particularly good at remembering dates. Am notorious for forgetting birthdays, anniversaries, and sometimes even important once-in-a-lifetime occasions. I do need reminders, and so far my mom has been super helpful reminding me a day ahead of any special day in the family. I also do have a few fantastic friends who accept this weakness of mine and message me ahead of other friend’s birthdays. I remember a year back, I had a hard request to all of them to please please please remind me of even their own birthdays! Why am I telling you all this ? Because, today must be really special - as I remembered!

What? Today is the 28^th of September 2010. Remember what happened a year back ? We met ! I know Kiki has a super write up of the exact order of events complete with time stamps, and she was so kind to print a leaf from her diary and put it in my scented message bottle! I haven’t read it yet (well just a bit here and there, when I was breaking the bottle!).

How time flies! Was it only a year back on the 26^th of September that I was standing at Mumbai airport saying farewell to my friends and family who had come to see me off. It must have been the nth time I was flying to the UK, but probably the first time I was ever worried. Not knowing what to expect, whom to meet, and how to live on campus for a year! I remember putting up a very happy face, but being extremely anxious within. In my moments of weakness I would often wonder why on earth I’d left my secure and cosy job, blown up my savings, and was putting myself through all this ordeal. Well, I knew the answer within, but I guess it is difficult to suppress such thoughts especially when you see your mom and friends leaving you the airport.

On the flight, I couldn’t sleep a wink nor could I read a line from the book I had got along - ‘Making globalisation work’. Guess I should have carried something more light hearted like say Nancy Drew or the Famous Five ! Reaching Manchester was okay, but the journey from there was nothing short of a nightmare. Try dragging 60 kilos from the airport terminal to the bus station. And then up to the campus, and then up to a flat on the second floor of a building with no lifts. After having travelled for 16 hours all I wanted to do was dive into my bed and get a good night’s sleep.

The next day was my first at the management school. I got up in the morning completely refreshed, and it was as if I had a new burst of energy. The first day was induction, and it was wonderful in its own right. But, this is not about what happened at school. This is about what happened afterwards. I came back to the flat and met my first flatmate - Jay. We both introduced ourselves and agreed on going together to the international students welcome at the Great Hall. On the way to the Great Hall, I remember Jay telling me that he was a Phd exchange student from NUS, and I told him that NUS was actually one my choices for doing the MBA ! So much for commonalities between us, and we walked on !

The wait at the Great Hall was long, with the pro vice chancellor running late. So, we helped ourselves to the free wine and tried to make some conversation. Well, we didn’t struggle much, because out of the blue Ms. Kiki came up and introduced herself. So, we said Hi ! made some small talk and then, I actually thought she would go on her way and say Hi to someone else. Hahhaha . But no ! Ms. Kiki had no intention of leaving, not that night, and not for the rest of the year as we’d realise later! A self-confession from Kiki later was that it was probably our positioning (next to the wine table) that attracted her to us and made her stay put!)

So, by then it was Jay, Kiki, me and actually there was another girl doing her undergrad who had joined our little circle (we lost her in the next 15 minutes though!). It must have been my second glass of wine, when James and Richie entered the scene. They were Jay’s acquaintances (well, later that year we would know that Jay is a self-confessed introvert who is actually Mr. Popular; he knows just about everyone, he knows someone from all corners of the earth, and he has 1500 FB friends !) I gathered that James and Richard were doing a Masters in finance, and I remember nothing from the rest of the smooth conversation – well blame the wine! After waiting for an hour, we were officially welcomed by the pro-vice chancellor, and then we (by now, kiki, Jay, James, Richie, and me) headed off to Graduate college where students were being served with a free Chinese meal ! The first perk of having oriental friends! – (you get to know about free Chinese meals – only a bit too late in our case ;-))

At the graduate college, outside the common room, we stood at the back of what seemed to be a never ending queue. Students from all nine colleges were there to get their share of free Chinese food, and we were the last J We were cold, hungry, and extremely worn out. Aha – Perfect setting to meet Pat – another of Jay’s acquaintances who had the pleasure of experiencing Jay’s ‘drumming feet’ all the way from Manchester to Lancaster two days before. I gathered that Pat was doing a Phd in nuclear physics ( well, for my ease – I kept relating it to Atom bomb!), but what was more interesting to me at that point was the bowl of Chinese food in his hand. It was filled to the brim with different things, and while we were still awaiting our bleak chance to get our free plate, Pat was ready to throw out the food in his bowl which he didn’t like. Hmmm... a lesson on how life is not fair ! Well, later during the year, we also learnt that no one messes with this man’s food and what he does with it ;-P !

As fate would have it, by the time it was our turn, the food was over, and we had to make do with leftovers! So, with an empty stomach, but after having met this cocktail of wonderful people, I went back to my room and got ready for my next day at the management school. To be honest, I didn’t think I would ever meet any of the people again (except for my flatmate - Jay). To me it was just random, and one-off. I considered it the end of the evening, but little did I know that it in fact was the beginning of a year with this very set of random people. The very same people, that in a few days time we’d be referring to as ‘friends’ and our ‘Lancaster family’. If I had any concerns of being away from friends and family (the horrible things I felt at the airport), well this was the answer to my concerns. Super fast right? Who could ever think of it!

Many times during the year whenever we met up for one our family dinners, at the grad bar, or even after a night out, we couldn’t help musing about how we met and stuck together despite being from different courses, age groups, having varied interests and commitments. It’s amazing, isn’t it ? Jojo – I know you don’t feature in that evening, but you know what, that’s because whoever is the master planner behind this all realised that something was amiss, and so had to put Kiki back to work meet you and complete the picture !

And so dear ‘lancaster family’ members ( Jay, Kiki, James, Richie, Pat & Jojo), here’s three cheers to that one evening that made the rest of the year so much eventful and filled with love. Here’s to – Jab we met !