Unfortunate week

Woke up on a Sunday morning, filled in my details for my Tuesday flight. Suddenly, my mind went into 'RED ALERT' mode and I could feel my blood with adrenaline rushing through my vessels.

I need a Visa to get into Belgrade, Serbia.

WHAT?!! Googled on application process and the website stated that we need to apply 3 weeks prior to traveling and it'll take 3-5 working days to process.

Panic...

Anyway, took a night bus down to London to the Serbia embassy (thank goodness I didn't have travel sickness attack), lost my specs nose piece in the toilet while I was changing, stood outside the embassy for 15 minutes like some beggar, plead them to get my visa done on the same day, told to get health insurance to have the visa approved and processed, ran around London like some headless chicken to get the insurance, got it, told that visa will be done by 3pm, bought 4pm train ticket to get back up home and 5 minutes after getting the ticket at 12.30pm, got called that visa was done. Wheee BUT train ticket at 1.30pm cost 20pounds less than the 4.30pm train T.T

Reached home at 9pm feeling so loved because my friend drove out to fetch me home (even though I already started walking home) and packed me dinner!

Slept at 1.30am, woke up at 3.30am for 4am taxi. The taxi driver recognised me because
1. I am oriental
2. I am chatty
3. He picked me and mom up when we went to Germany in June
LOL.
Flew to Serbia with no problems at 6am, transited at Paris for 4 hours where a funny American guy chat with me and trying to impress me with stories (good entertainment I would say) then reached Belgrade, Serbia at 3.30pm WITHOUT LUGGAGE!!!

Submitted a report to the lost and found desk, taxi to hotel and got cheated 180 Serbian Dinar (RSD). He told me 1800RSD but when I paid 2000RSD, he gave me back 20RSD. Only realised what happened when I was in my hotel. Feeling sorry for myself x100. Asked where to get clothes and toiletries for the conference and was directed to the largest mall. Shopping ain't my thing so it took me forever to actually buy anything. Got back to hotel at 8ish pm.

BTW, Serbians are not the friendliest people. But then again, maybe because they can't speak English and hence try to avoid me? Another story for the guys, I could feel their eyes burning into me everything I walked home from the conference. Wolf whistling, laughing after passing by me like some kiddos etc but still, it was nice when I smiled and talked to some of them (with limited English and lots of awkward laughters). I tried to buy some food and to find out what meat was used, we started communicating in animal sounds. Epic traveling experience LOL.

Conference was Ok, well, not really in the best mood to engage but it was educational and I did learn things. I was called a baby by the surgeons there because I am a freshly 2 month old graduate while they are all experienced and skilled.

Anyway, to cut story short, got my luggage the day before I left, went around exploring Serbia only to encounter words like this.

How do I go about reading this? I nearly got lost but eventually recognised the places that I passed through.

Flew back on Friday with no hiccups until I reached the UK border at the airport. Due to the wording on the visa, I was detained for almost an hour, sitting at the side like some illegal immigrant. On the bright side, I was all alone and when I was asked to sit at 'that corner', I was all alone. But still, I was dead tired and exhausted. On the bright side, my luggage was arrived safely.

Finally got home by 9ish 10pm and thanks to the taxi driver, my mood was better. I seriously love chatting with them =)

Unpacked, repacked for Edinburgh trip next day (today in 3 hours time heading down), bathed and cleared the kitchen a bit (Blame my partial OCD), washed clothes (to wash all the bad luck away LOL), searched for claim forms etc till 1ish 2am only to be woken up by my mom at 6.30am.

Now, I have tonnes of things to do and submit etc...

Hopefully my Edinburgh trip won't be as tiring as this past week.

Home is now just a house

Since I started working, I have stop looking forward to coming home. I used to enjoy staying at home and would call this house, my home. But recently, that is the last thing that comes to my mind when I enter the house.

Opened the front door, the house is in darkness. My housemate(s) are in their rooms with their doors shut.

Put my stuff down and entered the kitchen, piles of dirty dishes in the sink, stove/ hob is dirty with some left over food lying around and very oily looking. The cloth that we usually used to wipe/ clean dirty table top is wet and slimy. Cloths that we do not usually use are wet and dirty looking. Wet washed dishes/ pots all over the place and some on the wooden shelve. Opened the fridge, everything is filled with food. The little place I have is occupied by other people's food. And people ask me why I don't eat much, because every time I want to buy something, I'll be thinking if there's space in the fridge or freezer. Totally put me off from having my late dinner.

Got into the bathroom, floor is wet, the mat on the floor is wet, the window is closed with the blinds down and the whole bathroom is dark, wet and damp. Mould alert!! Toilet paper has finished but no one (or the last person who used it) did not bother to replace it. No one cares.

Getting home feeling tired is one thing. Having the feeling that I need to clean up after people who has been home hours before me is another thing. It really annoys me and really doesn't make my day end any better. I received enough crap in work, I don't want to receive more crap when I'm in my comfort of my house. It really irks me and I really feel like shouting at them but what can I do but just bottle it up and hope that one day it doesn't explode.

My 2nd housemate who is currently out of block left his gf in our place, occupying the living room. I am trying not to blame her but things have changed since she's around. I never had to face such crap last year or early this year. Maybe I am feeling all angry and annoyed because of stress from work but in all honesty, my work is not that stressful. Maybe I just don't like change and having her around is a change.

The kitchen is in a mess, the bathroom is in a mess. If I were her, I would have the courtesy to ask how does things work around in the house and not just barge in and start doing things your own way. Gosh, I really don't like her. I haven't really had a conversation with her since she started living here 2-3 weeks ago. Firstly, I can't act all nice and interested in knowing her at all, secondly she speaks with an accent when she conversed in English. It drives me up the wall hence the avoidance. Even the sound of her voice just makes me want to leave the room. I know I am being mean and judgmental which is so unlike me but I just can't help it with her. I'm sure she's a nice girl but at the moment, I don't give a shit.

Gosh, why can't things be like last time when we had so much fun at home, talking and laughing and not keeping to ourselves in our rooms. I miss my first year staying here when my 1st housemate was working and every time, knowing that she'll come home to rant, I'll keep my door open and welcomed her home, listened to her rant and do crazy funny things with her. Or when my 2 new housemates moved in. We do keep to ourselves but we still do laugh and joke and tease each other. I miss those days.

Now, to wait for her to leave in another weeks time then hopefully things will be back to normal and I can call this house home again.

Last Friday which was my birthday was another sad story of my life. In 2012, I was locked out of my room after coming home from hosp after a long day. I was all alone, sitting in the common kitchen playing with my phone, feeling sorry for myself. It ended with me being in my room with tonnes of self-pity. This year is no different at all. Came home after a crappy day at work, housemates all in rooms and me, alone in my room feeling sorry that it's my birthday. I really hate my birthday because it's a time when I feel very lonely and sad that I even exist. I'm pathetic I know.

Not advertising my birthday but getting wishes from people who sincerely remembered and cared to wish me did help a bit but seeing the number dwindling down just put everything in perspective. Maybe I can't be alone after all, maybe I do need someone in my life but a week after my birthday, thinking rationally again, I think that's one of the last thing I want now. What if this person disappoints me as well? I don't need more of that shit and now, I am content with being alone again.

Let's hope that next year, no one reminds me that it's my birthday and it'll be another normal day =)
Better still if I don't exist by then XD

To all who are living overseas

Hey you, starring at this screen from somewhere far away from home, give yourself a good pat on your back and go treat yourself something awesome because you are GREAT!!!!

You had the courage to 

- leave home

- stay somewhere far away from family, relatives and close friends

- adapt to the new environment and culture

- familiarize yourself with the local accent/ slangs

- find a new home in a new place

- make new friends

- join in the locals who already formed cliques after years of studying together (especially for PMS and PDS friends who joined as 3rd or 4th year students)

- accustom to the new teaching styles

- overcome the urge for mamak or food from home

- make yourself heard

and finally, be extra proud of yourself if you managed to go for presentations, participate or win competitions, perform on stages etc

Kudos indeed!!!

=)

*pat pat*

English spoken by Malaysian

I have to admit that my English is not the best and I can never compare myself to my fellow colleagues here BUT what happened moments ago just did it. I can no longer suffer in silence. I have to rant...RANT!!

Malaysians start off school with kindergarten (some have the privilege to go to nursery/ Montessori prior to kindergarten) where everyone learns ABC, to read and to write in Malay and English. If you were to go to a Chinese kindergarten, you learn Mandarin as well; if you attend a Tamil kindergarden, similarly, you learn Tamil on top of the two basic languages. After that, you grow up (sometimes not applicable to everyone) and attend Primary school. Depends on which school (government or private), you still learn Malay, English +/- Chinese/ Tamil. You go through the same thing in secondary school and when you attend university/ college, depends on whether you attend a local university where Malay would be widely used or private university/ college, English would be the main language in lectures.

What I am trying to say here is- ENGLISH IS TAUGHT IN EVERY LEVEL OF SCHOOLING.

The story from the previous post continues.

My friend wants me to find her a shipping company and help her send the parcel back to her.

Fine.

But why must I search one for you when you have internet and computers/ ipad/ laptops (she just got a brand new Macbook few days ago =.=) which you can use to search as well. I don't really mind looking up for her but what happens if the one I choose is not of her liking or something goes wrong in the middle of the shipping process and she blames me. No way man. I had enough of crap.

So I asked her instead to choose one and I'll do the rest from here. I'll call up for you, I'll arrange the pick up from my house for you and I'll do everything that I can to get rid of the parcel back to you. OK. maybe I'm being too harsh here but I am really annoyed.

Anyway, after much discussion, she finally decided to use the same delivery company because it's the cheapest. So be it. Gave them my contact and liaise with them. Then I needed to print this document which had instructions on it.





I just wanted to confirm the 2nd part of the instruction.
So do I paste the folded label on the parcel or just put it in a clear plastic bag then hand it to the driver as well or what? Why can't they write
'Fold one of each (what's wrong with using the word both) printed label at the dotted line and place ( it or both?) in a UPS Shipping Pouch. If you do not have a pouch (provide it then!), affix (paste/ stick) the folded label using clear plastic shipping tape (what the hell is a shipping tape?) over the entire label (is it difficult to add in words like 'onto the parcel'?). Hand one printed label to the driver (so if I put both in the pouch since you didn't mention anything about it, do I hand the pouch to the driver too? Oh wait, does that mean I need to affix the pouch on the parcel? What is going on here?!!!).'

So I emailed and texted the person who called me to arrange this delivery to confirm what is written on the instruction sheet and this Malay lady copied the number 2 instruction on her reply. I repeated the question again this time with simple terms:
'Do I stick one of the printed label on the parcel?'
Her reply was:' Print all the document I gave and stick on the box'
So do I stick both the documents on the box?

Fine, i'm just being picky and difficult now so I didn't bother replying and just did what I thought was correct.

ARGH.... why are people who can't speak and comprehend English working in the customer service?? What if an English speaking customer uses their service?
Oh the shame!!

Rantings...

I'm just so sick of being used and not being appreciated.
I'm pissed.

You are leaving tomorrow so you asked me in the morning if I wanna meet up later tonight. I replied 'sure, what time and where' but nothing back from you even till late evening so I asked again. I even called twice to ask but you didn't pick up. Then I texted you asking if its still on, only then you FINALLY replied with 'hmmmmm... I'm meeting xxx at 9pm later. You wanna join?'

What the....You don't want to meet up in the first place, then don't suggest it.
Making me annoyed. It's not like I NEED to meet up with you anyway. Oh, and then another text followed with a favour from me- to leave stuff at my place so I can help her pass it on to the juniors.
Really?? Is that how you ask for a favour?

Later another friend from M'sia (this person's housemate) whatsapp-ed me and started pouring her troubles to me. It was about her parcel that was supposed to be picked up yesterday but the delivery people didn't turn up and her housemate is leaving tomorrow. She wants me to get the parcel and leave it at my place. She also suggested asking a friend of ours or a senior (both have a car) to get the parcel to pass it to me. Oh did I forget to mention that the parcel was 40kg?

I suggested that she could wait till tomorrow then only pass it to me if they still didn't turn up. They might come tomorrow. And since the housemate is leaving to the airport with her family on a taxi, they can get the parcel to me before heading to the airport with the same taxi. Troubling others just because they have a car is not the right way to go.

Noooooo... In the end still troubled the people with car with reasons like 'later the delivery people don't turn up (I repeated- use the taxi and drop the parcel at my place before heading to the airport) and its 40kg, very heavy (she (the housemate) is not alone, she has a family with her which are not disabled).

I find a few things irritating.
1- Why leave things last minute when you left ages ago.
2- Why must you trouble other people when you can sort it out yourself. You're paying for the taxi anyway so ask the taxi driver to drive it to my place so you don't need to purposely trouble other people.
3- Why didn't your housemate call the delivery company when they were late (oh wait, she was so busy till she can't reply me)

Oh whatever. The stupid parcel is in my house now anyway. No point complaining right?

I guess it's obvious that I rather appreciate my local friends here than some stupid fellow countrymen that only use me whenever they feel like it.

Awkwardness

2 scenarios happened in the same morning

1- In the middle of bathing with shampoo on my hair when the delivery guy that I was expecting phoned to tell me that he is outside.
Whats should I do?
Run out naked with towel wrapped around me?
Wear clothes over wet body with shampoo on the head?
Let him wait?

2- Someone on FB messaged me to get my friend's phone number because this person wants my friend to be involved in a project. But the person didn't ask if I am interested too. (Well, I am to be honest but felt awkward to ask if I can get involved)

Ya, awkwardness to the max...

found this in the internet, so true lol

A New Chapter

You can now officially become Bugs Bunny and say 'What's up, doc?' =P

Yup, yours sincerely has finished studying for the same degree for 4.5 years (5 if you include the 10 months break before coming to UK).

How do I feel now?
Honestly, scared, nervous, happy, glad, excited nothing.
I guess reality hasn't sunk in yet. I think it will hit me hard when I start working end of July =|
I just hope that I won't kill anyone!!

But anyway, I would like to thank
my parents for their financial and mental support,
my friends for putting up with me and my rants,
my teachers for being so patient and always being so encouraging,
my colleagues/ seniors who have been so nice and so willing to impart their knowledge with me,
and everyone else who one way or another helped me in reaching this stage.

Thank you so so much!!!

I recently put up this picture on Facebook

and boy did I get so many likes and comments.
I am really good in keeping the newspaper articles a secret ain't I?
It was published 8 months ago =P

My HELP (A Levels) lecturer congratulated me and wanted to read the articles so I forwarded them to him and the next thing I know, HELP uni wanted to highlight my success in their newsletter.
Talk about beginner's luck! (My housemate said HELP wants to milk my fame to the last drop LOL) 
Hmm, now to choose a nice close up picture of me to send to them.

I was looking back at my latest post and I didn't mention anything about the competition. I guess I didn't want to really boast about it but since the cat is out of the bag, let me share what happened.

I saw this competition in a website while I was in my psychiatry block (and psych block is really chill and has nothing much to do) so I decided to join and have fun. The regional heat (the competition before finals) involved the whole UK and 20 finalists from 19 regional heats will get together at Edinburgh for the finals. After seeing and repeating what was demonstrated, I learned how to tie surgical knots, excise sebaceous cysts, suture and stack sugar cubes with the laparoscopic equipment. While the judges were deliberating for the winner, I was ready to go. I was all packed and was putting on my huge jacket ready to leave when my number was called.

I was shocked to the core and when I walked out to receive the envelop (letter for the finals), my small beady aka chinese/ sepet eyes were wide and huge. One of the judges asked me not to look so shocked and should be more confident of myself.
How could I?! Other participants who were way better and has more experience in surgical skills (I believe they had surgical skills lessons back in year 1 or 2) did not win while I, a total noob, a newbie, a novice who knows nuts just got the result that she beat them all to emerge as the regional heat winner and will represent the North part of Scotland for finals.

I was in disbelief for days until I realised I can't go on being an amateur and represent this part of Scotland in the finals. So I started to watch youtube videos on surgical skills and managed to get some guidance from one of the retired surgeon who is still teaching and recently just retired (again). He was so good in making me believe in myself. All the praises and encouragement was priceless and boy did it boost my confidence level.

Anyway, as expected, I did not win in the finals but I got to use even cooler surgical equipments and got to do surgeries that only a year 6 and above surgical trainee got to do. Boy was I glad that I won the regional heat and was given this rare chance =)
* Another thing to share- I scored the highest in the laparoscopic station woohoo!! *

Now, as a graduate and a soon-to-be-working person, I am expecting a few same questions that will be bombarded to me.
From my relatives:
   So got boyfriend already ah? When are you getting married o?

From my colleagues:
   What's your plan? Which specialty are you going to apply? Where?

From my friends:
   Eh, why my __ like this ah? Got problem is it?
   I am not feeling too well, what should I do...
   Eh, you earn a lot more right? You treat.

I just need to prepare the standard answers and be patient when answering them =)


Hmmm, if only I know when will I ever get to go home...

Life moves on...

Similar to the name of my blog, life must go on and life has moved on.

My fellow classmates and friends scattered all around the world have graduated and stepped into the adult world. They have started facing the hardship of the working world, finding new love and settling down while I remain here, the same, stopped in the world called 'Student'.

In another 2 days, I will sit for my finals and hopefully pass this last leg of the race to join the league. But...
Am I done with my student life?
Am I ready to be responsible for others' life/ health?
Am I prepared to see people I become attached to stepped into the afterlife?
Am I brave enough to take risks and change?
Am I?

I don't know and I am not too sure, but I guess I have no choice but to just step up and carry all these uncertainties and move on with life, playing catch up most of the time too.
(If this is the life that I am going to live through, I hope that it would be one that is smooth sailing.)

The future that I foresee will be filled with self doubt, stubbornness, dilemma, fear, worries, stress and maybe an escalation in my partial OCD and mild eating disorder but everything will be fine, yes, it will be fine.

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

Maria Robinson

Friends, they play a huge part in my life.
When I know that my friends are doing well in life, I sincerely feel happy for them from the bottom of my heart and when things are not going smoothly, I worry and over compensate by doing unnecessary stuff just to try to help, sometimes to even step out from my comfort bubble and sacrifice as much, hoping to just put a smile back to the rightful place.

At such time, I always wonder, is there someone else doing the same thing? 

Will I get someone like me around when I am in the gutter? 

At the moment, I want to say I have. I think I have but distance just makes everything blur and some people here who I call friends are proving themselves to be people I should not care as much. The evil values from the Pandora's box is practiced strongly here, to the point that I feel disgusted and nauseous thinking about it. But there must be something good in everyone right? And I too, am afraid has been drawn to the dark side a couple of times but self doubt (my greatest gift to myself) came to the rescue and brought me back to the bright side.

I have been let down countless times but thanks to my friends back home and housemates who put up with me, who are kind enough to accept me for me and entertain my stupid-ness, I am still being hopeful. Without them, I am nothing but a ball of anger.

I am not sure what's the point of me writing here but some things are better written down than allowing it to brew in the mind, poisoning and clouding the consciousness.

So let me end this post on a happy note.

It is sunny out there and I should start my revision so...

Things I do at 2.30am to NOT study =P

Hello hello!

Well, it has been a long long time since I last post something here. 2.5 months to be exact. Compared myself to the old me who religiously posted something everyday few years back until someone told me 'isn't it weird to tell random strangers in the cyber world about your thoughts and inner self?' That made me stop and think and well, I can't say that it did not affect my blogging habit but heck it. I have been writing things here for the past few years and nothing is going to stop me. Not even if my fingers are cut off because there is something called 'speech recognition'. I'm not that noob anymore.

Come to think of it, my writing style haven't change much (I think). I'm still so childish and so happy go lucky even though most of my post were emo posts but hey, I AM an emo person so shoot me =P

So why am I here. Obviously because I am having the mood to type something, to share what I got to say and to erm, make you feel happy for me too?

I have to admit, emotions have been running high and low on fuel and when it's low, it really is low. After 4 weeks of movies, animes, manga and drama series, I finally am ready to take on the world!! Not.

I was just bored of the things I was doing and maybe there was nothing much left for me to watch or read hence I decided to start my elective report seriously and after 16 hours of typing, Googling and referencing, I finally finished my 25 pages long report. Nope, I did not copy and paste, all purely typed out from my mindless head. I did spent a good 6-7 hours the day before reading as much statistics to decide on which test to find the statistical significance for my data. It was more confusing and I needed help! I was | | this close to emailing my A Level statistic lecturer to ask for her help but the thought of disappointing her just put me off. Can I tell her 'Sorry but the knowledge you passed down to me is down the drain and I need your help now'? No way, I can picture her disappointed sad face and her thought process of 'what did I do wrong to afford this student.

Anyway, thanks to my awesome friends and Google, I finished my report 3 weeks ahead of the date line. How nerd am I? Well, nerd enough to watch 50 episodes of Naruto in a day to finish 500 episodes and nerd enough to sit and type for 16 hours straight (no lunch no dinner). Unfortunately, not nerd enough to lift up any medical books. I have a confession. The last time I read something medical was err, 3-4 months ago? Hey, I know I need to buck up and erm, I'll try =P

Another happy news to share- I got my first choice in location and department to work after I graduate.
Yup, licence to kill soon!! Can't wait =P
Not really. I actually want to be a student longer or should I rephrase and say that I am so used to be a student that I am afraid of the working life and the responsibilities that come with it. Nope, not going to quote Peter Parker's uncle at all. I am going to be so busy in the departments that I choose but hey, it was my first choice hence I'm sure I put in quite a lot of thought into it and hence, no regrets.

But, firstly, I need to pass my exam and graduate.

General election back at home is happening soon and I am SO NOT involved in it. If I were back home, I might be hyped up about it but since I am so far away, I don't really care. Not that I don't care bout my country but I just feel like I can't do much or contribute much for this GE. I am not flying home to vote to begin with and erm 'ashamed to admit this' I have not registered. AH, a contribution to the GE- no phantom vote under MY name =P

On another note, I feel so dumb and why in the world did I type so much crap? I blame it on report writing since I got to elaborate and elaborate and jeez, just stop typing. I think I should activate my speech recognition application and play around with it. I recalled shouting at my laptop because it doesn't understand me haha.

Right, enough babbling from mua.
Have a great day =)

Snow a month into Spring

Homesick?

I would say I have not understand the feeling of homesick...till maybe now?

When I first came to UK in 2011, my mom was with me and after she left, we were busy with courses and my beloved seniors organised a lot of gatherings and fun outings.

Went home during Christmas for 3-4 weeks and back again to UK on January 2012. I cried a lot for the first few days to weeks because my last memory of home was mom crying after hugging me at the airport. It really broke my heart but I would not call it homesick because I did not miss home.

I had the chance to return home again 6 months later for 5-6 weeks and coming back to UK was not too bad because I was with a friend. Went to a small town and started my rotation and I did not miss home because I had friends around me all the time. They do make a huge difference.

For the last 3 weeks in this tiny rural place, I have lost the motivation and enjoyment of being in the rotation. I feel annoyed all the time. I don't feel like I'm part of the team and I don't feel like I'm learning anything. This morning, I woke up and felt like having Wantan mee. I really really want it so badly. I thought of getting the ingredients and making it but there is no Chinese/ Asian shop here and Tesco does not have the wantan skin nor wantan noodle. Hence I started googling for pictures etc just to satisfy myself.

My cousin suddenly whatsapped me and I conveniently told her how I am craving for Wantan mee and she was so mean because she replied 'You chose to go overseas ma'. I felt so so angry because it was so unfair for her to say so and I didn't chose to study oversea you bitch. FYI, my mom changed my uni application to overseas instead of letting me completing my clinical years at home.

I was so angry that I told my friend about it and he used the word 'homesick' and that magical word opened the floodgate to my tears.

I guess I am homesick....or maybe it's just PMS?
I don't know...I just feel like having some M'sian food and friends around me to distract me from this feeling.

CNY is round the corner but I'll be alone here with no CNY atmosphere at all. I am at this tiny place with another 2 locals which I enjoy their company but it's different.

I guess I still can't call this place home...

Venice + Florence + Tuscany region + Pisa (+Paris) trip

I know it's so long overdue but I have been busy, sorry.

Right let's get down to business.

My dear friend came all the way from Aus hoping to meet me while he tour UK and Europe but due to some unseen circumstances, I blew the chance to meet him again hence he asked me to go to Germany with him which I turned down. I have no idea what went through my mind at the time. Maybe due to the ongoing projects or the limited days that I can practice at suttie centre before I leave Aberdeen.

Anyway, it gave me the idea of going to Europe and have my first experience of traveling hence I went to Italy's two top 5 most romantic cities- Venice and Florence and Pisa and Tuscany region.

Of the 2 romantic cities, I love Venice better because at Venice you walk everywhere and I LOVE walking. The scenery is so beautiful and the people are so nice too. Even though I don't know any Italian language, I did survive well because they can speak English even though not fluently.

Visited the museums, talked to the locals, watched a play and opera too. Walked around without consulting the map because no matter where you walk, you can see signs pointing to Ponte di Rialto or San Marco. I actually followed some signs made from paint spray/ graffiti because I can't find any signs. It was so exciting!!

I really fell in love with Venice. The day I need to leave Venice for Florence, I really felt so sad.

Venice also gave me a special memory where I was actually asked to have a drink by a local. For someone who doesn't go clubbing or out drinking, having being asked out is really flattering. He was very very persistent and when I said I have enough of wine for the day, he went on and asked to have coffee instead and even asked if I wanted a massage LOL. I rejected politely but he keep persisting and asked for number and hotel etc..wow....

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

 Outside of my hotel

 Venice map and the hotel key

 Venice traditional food- cuttlefish spaghetti

 What is Venice without the masks?

 What is Venice without the gondola?

 Vivaldi concert

 Santa do it differently at Venice lol

 San Marco

 The water taxi that took us to the 3 islands- Murano, Burano and Torcello

Glass blowing Murano in action

Murano glass made ballerinas =)

 Palazzo Ducale/ Doge's 

Palace Scala dei giganti at the Doge's Palace main stairway for grand entrance to the palazzo greeted by colossal statues of Mars and Neptune

 The ceiling of the palace

 The La Traviota opera that I watched which is a private event where the opera singers sing in front of you and we need to change rooms at each scene. Free champagne too!

 San Marco view from Museo Correr

 Venezia, the play that was educational, hilarious and interesting =)

 The coffee that I will never forget =P

Rialto Bridge

 Train to Florence

Florence is a busy town. I didn't like it at first because it was so busy, congested and crowded unlike Venice. But after a few days, I got used to it and enjoyed myself. Went to lots of museums, seen lots of churches, shopping then went to Chianti region for olive oil and wine tasting and tried the famous florentine steak.

 Florence cathedral 

 Ponte Alla Carraia. The bridges in Florence were all bombed during WWII but one of the bridges were left untouched which is Ponte Vecchio.

Ponte vecchio- the only survived bridge in WWII

 Florence city

  Took the hop on hop off bus to tour around Florence

 Stunning looking Fiesole

Palazzo Vecchio

Palazzo Vecchio museum

 Everywhere has art work- the ceiling, the wall, the floor etc 

 Piazza della Republica

Outside of the Uffizi Museum

Cute signs in Florence

Next, I went for a half day tour to Chianti region which includes Castellina and San Gimignano. Surprisingly no other tourist joined this tour so I had a private van, private tour and a personal tour guide for the whole half day =)
He even gave a short tour around Florence hehe

 A trip to Chianti region- vineyard

 Castellina Chianti

 vineyard 

Casale dello Sparviero at Tuscany in Castellina in Chianti- a winery with huge vineyard

The wine cellar- French and Italian wine casks

The wine and olive oil tasting session. I had 5 cups of different wine and some grappa and was still sober >.<

Florentine Steak which was sooooo good

Took a train to Pisa from Florence.

Pisa city 

 Pulpit in the Pisa Cathedral by Giovanni

Leaning tower of Pisa

My plane from Florence to Paris was cancelled due to bad weather so we were driven to the Pisa airport and flew from there. The next plane back to Abd was the next morning so we were given a free room at the 4 star Best Western with 25 euro worth of dinner, complimentary breakfast and free wifi =)

 Free dinner

 The dessert =) 

 The room. Double bed/ Queen size bed per person =)

Experience in Paris for free =)

 Italy is famous for its Gelato and desserts so I've crammed as many dessert pictures that I've taken and tried =)

I really love Venice and would love to go back. No, I will definitely go back!!

Missing it very much =(

Glad I came up with this trip =)