LiVe A dAy @ A TiMe ~~~

Uni started yesterday 26th September 05. Met all my classmates who went away for placement last year. Everyone came back with full confidence!! Well done!! First lecture was on research project…given a few project titles to choose from…all seems very complicated..so which to choose??? My brain kept twisting and turning around dunno which to choose..

There is one which I found quite easy as I had learned most of the techniques during my placement but some senior lecturers dun really encourage me to do it…cause the project is not going to be continued and published..so it will not help me later in my future..Another one is about heart disease…sounds interesting and I always found it easier to understand..but never really have much practical experiences..so what to do????? Time to approach supervisors..and finally today (27th Sept) decided to do heart disease project. Hmm…I guess I would need to use my blood most of the time for platelet isolation…gosh a big sacrifice

So why choose this project? First, the project itself sounds interesting. After many hours doing lots of reading..get much clearer picture. Also, this project is on-going by one of the research group within the department with lots of experienced people - supervisor, post-docs and phD students…which means easier to seek for help if I stuck!! Heart disease is one which many people would like to find out more…therefore, lots of funding coming in eg. from British Heart Foundation..which means there is possibility to get a grant to continue phD…but would I like to do it!! another 3 years in the UK!! also will be very tough..so can I take the stress!! What u guys think??

Chat with my mum on msn..she was telling me that I really hav to decide myself..but she would like me to go home..she waited me to go home for 4 years already..:) Hehe!! lucky me to have such a caring mummy :).. Mum said that my little brother cried after hearing me saying that I have to be in the UK for another 3 years..Well~~~ touched hehe :)…Will see ~~~~~~

Well, life being student in the beginning is quite boring…final year dun hav that many lectures..mainly just stuck in front of the pc doing lots of reading and planning experiment..Free all day tuesday and most of the wednesday..So hav more time chatting with frens on msn…so u will see me on msn all the time :)..

But me taking up another challenge..what else? Research work!! I will continue doing research with Edu and Gio (Both Post-Docs) whenever I have extra time..working on different thing but this project use my experience from placement..which is good, so that my experience won get rusted Well ~~ is unpaid but will help me especially on CV and if I m lucky..will be another one of my yet published paper..:) Will see ~~~~~

Well, our last place was fountain abbey. We went with Edu (spanish) and Giogia (Italian)…They are a very nice couple!! Both post-Docs!! Edu drove..Huh!! a rest for me and nichole cause I dun hav to sense the direction again and nichole dun hav to drive. We rested in Edu Hyundai (apparently is his F1) and looking out at the nice scenery. We arrived at Fountains abbey around 1pm and had our picnic there. Giorgia made us very nice sandwiches and we brought our mooncake and some pandan cake for them to try on. After we had our picnic, we walked around the abbey, the lake and also went to the deer park. It was my first time looking at a real deer and they are so close to me. I was really excited and captured lots of pictures. We really enjoyed it!!

  How amazing that we managed to explore Scotland and Lake District in 4 days. Started our trip on Monday from Bradford - Leeds - Newcastle - Edinburgh, Tuesday from Edinburgh - Aberdeen - Inverness - Fort William, Wednesday from Fort William - Loch Lomond - Glasgow and thursday from Glasgow - Lake District - Bradford.

We started our trip at 10am after got our car (new Renault Modus). We straight went to Morrison to fill in petrol and get some food.  Then, went home to get our luggages. At this time, student advisor rang me and told me that my passport ready for collection. I was so happy cause finally my passport is back and my visa extended to Oct 2006. So relief, Huh Huh !!!

Then, we went to Leeds but missed the turning to the chinese shop. So, we decided to forget about the cup noddles. We head straight on to Newcastle and got there at around 1pm. Walked around the city centre and of course to the millenium bridge !!..Spent 2 hours there and had our packed lunch there too..on the bridge !!

Next, we drove up to Scotland, Edinburgh, our first destination. We entered Scotland around 4pm and arrived Edinburgh around 6pm..Great timing because no need to pay parking after 6pm!!! hehe…We walked around the castle and spent another 2 hours here. Well, it was not so nice because we missed the Edinburgh Tattoo..so all buildings around the castle were not lighten up. Is ok Then, we had our dinner in the car…not bad, we had our packed pasta :)..Then, we drove out from Edinburgh and started to rest at around 10pm. We stopped at MOTO services along the highway (motorway) and rest there for one night…Brave leh!!! Nichole did a good job…she drove so many hours..and me too!!! I directed the directions mainly from my sense and guess what?? always works !! I can be a navigator now hahaha!!!

Next day, we started at around 6.30am. This time, I drove to Aberdeen. We arrived there at around 8am and only spent 1 hour there because it was so early in the morning and we felt that Aberdeen was not that nice and not much to explore. Then we moved on to Inverness. On the way there, we saw a few tourist attractions sign board, one of it was Elgin cathedral.  We bravely followed the sign board, entering small road. We almost gave up because couldnt find it..but finally we found it and we were full of sastifaction. We continued our journey to Inverness..arrived there at around 2pm..went to the Inverness castle, river ness and not forget the Loch Ness and Urquhart castle…

Then, we travelled to Fort William. When we arrived there, we tried to get a proper place to rest. We went to Glen Nevis Youth Hostel but decided not to stay there. We then went to town and searched for B n B and finally we found cheap B n B..20 pound per person for the night…Excellent!!!..We had a really nice rest there…

So far…our trip was not that adventurous..not till Wednesday…We explored the Glen Nevis and went to the top and found the Steall Falls…apparently is the longest water falls…

Then we moved on to Glenfinnan…a place as a scene in Harry Porter!! We saw the Glenfinnan monument  and waited for the Steam Train (Hogwart Express)…It was so cold and rained so heavily..we did not give up and able to wait a train passed thru…but :(..not a steam train..but we were happy!!

Then, we drove thru Glen coe  to Loch lomond and then to Glasgow and had our dinner at Weatherspoon, Glasgow. It was great because there was a live jazz band there…We enjoyed our dinner so much…We left Glasgow at around 8.30pm..drove for 2 hours and rest at Welcome Break service..Brave again haha!!! But we had a really good sleep in our modus bed haha!!

The weather was not great on Thursday..rain rain rain..but was a great day for me and Nichole. Lake district was great. We went to Keswick lake and took few pictures there . Then, we drove along lake district…the scenery was so so so nice…undescribable!!! We were so happy and excited.

Overall…the trip was great. Both of us enjoyed it so much and it will be a very good experience for both of us.

We did not travel these few days because I was very tired after the unpacking. Plus, we have not really plan our journey yet. So we ended up stay in the flat. We cook nice food for ourselve on Thursday (8th Sept). Nichole was great. She went to Morrison herselve to get some food to cook…well done buddy !! Nichole made me nice egg sandwiches for lunch (Shuuu…something u know and i know haha) and we cooked chinese food for dinner. Then we watched HK drama (Yummy Yummy)…Well..not even half way thru, I fell asleep…

Friday, 9th Sept, we finally can lie on the bed longer…then we went to do some survey on car hire…managed to get one for 165 pounds for 7 days…Then we passed thru pizza hut and decided to have buffet lunch there since both of us were very hungry…