Getting Back on Track

[16 November, Monday]

 

Day one of our exams! EAP - compulsory for everyone. Well, it was English. 3 hours to plan and write an academic essay. What else needs to be said? Had lunch at Dessert House with Heng Cheng and Mizi right after the paper.

Headed back to Arrow on Swanston where we reanalysed 11 Hamlet extracts. RE-analysed because we’ve been doing so for the past couple of days, on and off, if I remember correctly.

Hungry? Jom. Really really spontaneously headed to Lazzat on Lygon for a five-something-in-the-evening dinner. Well, Heng Cheng had roti telur tambah cheese whereas I had roti bom tambah milo. Pretty good I guess, but still, nothing beats what you get back home of course.

[17 November, Tuesday]

  

Everyone standing in the sun after spending such a long time in the exam hall writing bout Hamlet for our Literature exam that day. As many of us noticed later on, most of Claudio’s students chose Question 1 to answer.

 

Then, Heng Cheng, Kee Keng, Nicholas, and I headed down to the food court at Melbourne Central for lunch. I don’t know how we managed to do so. Usually people would just grab a bite somewhere nearby, then rush home to study for the next paper. Oh well.

 

Then we (minus Nicholas, plus Mizi) did some Math 1 revision at Lygon Court - now officially my favourite place to study, though I’ve nothing to study for anymore. xD Anyways, Kee Keng who already dropped Math was there just to distract us - from planning things to do to advertising for Big M. Well to be honest, I wasn’t in the mood to study much then either.

Random doodle at the end of the day after getting tired of reading mathematics.

 

Then, we had dinner at Cafe Coretto on Lygon before going our own ways.

[18-19 November, Wednesday-Thursday] 

After our Math 1 exam on Wednesday, Heng Cheng, Mizi, Nick, and I had lunch at Lygon Court before Heng Cheng and I started studying for HOI (History of Ideas) at Gloria Jeans Borders, whereas the Mizi and Nick left as they weren’t gonna take HOI Advanced (the exam). Had dinner at home, Kee Keng dropped by later that night for some help in HOI.

On Thursday, it was pretty much the same. After the HOI exam and lunch, met up with Mizi at Gloria Jeans Borders once more where I did some Accounting revision whereas he read up on Chemistry. Headed back in the evening and chilled.

[20 November, Friday]

 

Every single morning for this week I’ve been having a bowl of cereal in front of the laptop while watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother, like the way I used to back in Term 1. It never fails to get my day started off with a laugh, which is good, especially during the exam period.

So the Accounting paper was pretty alright as well. In fact, all the papers were better than I thought they’d turn out to be, which is great of course. Had lunch at Melbourne Central with Heng Cheng as we wanted to go get movie tickets for that night, but didn’t have enough student cards with us.

Anyways, later that evening, Amran, Heng Cheng, Henry, and I played pool at the Arrow basement, just like the good old days. xD After Mizi and Nick came by, we headed down to the city where we had dinner at Es Teller 77 - Indonesian cuisine.

After dinner, we dropped by Myer before going over to Hoyts to watch the Twilight Saga: New Moon. My comment on the movie? Well, I really don’t wanna spoil it for anyone but all I’ve gotta say is that some parts were good while some weren’t as good. No further comment.

[21 November, Saturday]

Joined Heng Cheng, Mizi, and Nick at you’ve guessed it, Gloria Jeans Borders at Lygon Court again this afternoon. Did some light reading while they studied, besides making a few book purchases as Borders is offering a 25% discount off all books, till the 23 or 24 of November.

Yes, I’m pretty much chilling right now as my last paper’s E&D on the 30th of this month. Just wanna relax before having to pack up everything to head back to Malaysia in December - not that I don’t wanna go back of course - just that I’ve no idea where I’ll be studying next year, so yeah, enjoy Melbourne as much as I can now.

And now that I’ve Gotten Back on Track, better titles shall be given to my posts so that you, my dearest readers, actually realise that I’ve updated. Till the next time!

Last Days at Trinity

[9 November, Monday]

Wow, this was just last week. Feels like it was so long ago. Must be all the studying. xD Anyways, last Monday was when Trinity College had its Class Photo session during lunchtime.

 

People in yellow: Keith, Shereen, and myself.

 

After chilling chatting for a while - it wasn’t possible to chill thanks to the weather, those who came all the way to the Trinity Main Campus headed out into the sun towards the Bulpadock - which has been recently reopened as they were installing HUGE water storage tanks underground and replanting the grass - which is now turning yellow. ==

 

Couldn’t tell how many people came, but there were quite of number of us standing under the hot sun, waiting for our “Class Photo” to be taken. You see, we don’t have fixed classes in Trinity as everyone has different subject combinations. So this was basically people from the February Main Intake.

 

After the photo, a few of us grabbed lunch at Union House before heading off to our respective classes - I went to my last EAP (English for Academic Purposes). It was a boring typical class where we.. Okay I can’t remember what we did, doesn’t matter anymore.

EAP IS OVER AND DONE WITH!!
Oh right, EAP is everyone’s favourite subject in Trinity.

 

My second last class for the day was LIT lecture on Bouverie Street.

 

Amran, Shu-Hui, Jojo, Koning, myself, and Kee Keng.

 

After the lecture, our Drama group which consisted of Amran, Naomy, Joseph, Yan, and myself headed to College Square to practice for a little while. Later that evening, after having dinner and while I was chilling, Kee Keng rang me. After a little persuasion, I agreed to his proposition, after he said that I’d be back by 8.30pm.

 

What happened was we went to pick Mei up from Carlton Gardens, together with SamSam and MeiMei - her two pet ducks. You got that right, ducks - used to be little chicks two months ago, now fully grown. Her friend and her managed to keep em in College Square up till then, when a neighbour found out. So she decided to release the ducks.

Unfortunately, SamSam was injured. After much deliberation and driving around, we ended up at a faraway park and just as we were about to find a spot to release MeiMei at the creek, a local jogged by and offered to help. When he realised that it wasn’t a native duck, and that it was in fact a pet, he offered to keep em for the two months when Mei returns to Hong Kong. So in the end, Kee Keng drove us back to College Square, with them ducks.

Long story short, Mei and I ended up carrying the two ducks back to Carlton Gardens - mind you, they weren’t light. Released MeiMei there, brought SamSam back to her place. And today, one week later, I don’t know what’s the ending of the story, should ask Mei soon.

[10 November, Tuesday]

 

Our last day of classes at Trinity!! This was our HOI lecture which was after
my Accounting lecture and having breakfast at Sushi Momo with a few other guys.

 

Hi Choong Hern, your cousin Marvin again. Stoning at the back of the lecture theatre.

 

This guy lagi best. These are examples of common sights that can be found
at the back of lecture theatres, not in front where I’ve been all along.

 

At the end of the lecture, our lecturer, Tamar, sang a self-modified version of some old song.

 

Then, Kee Keng, Marco, and I headed to Seven Seeds for lunch. Third time lucky - managed to try their food then. And I realised something, three times I’ve been there, all three times I sat at the exact same spot. Coincidence? Probly just cause all the other tables were taken.

 

HAHA here’s Kee Keng with his $10 Eqyptian Eye ‘hot pressed sandwich’. Basically a thick piece of bread smothered with some jam or relish, with some bacon on top and salad on the side. With a similar price, Marco and I both got a baguette. Although not totally worth it, it was definitely better than Kee Keng’s order. xD

 

Dench baguette with Andrews A.W. leg ham, Meredith goats cheese, sherry, and onion jam.

 

It. Was. Difficult. To. Bite. Into. Seriously.

 

After the Math lecture after lunch, I had my last ever Trinity class at Lincoln Square North. It was an E&D tutorial with a slight twist. Instead of a regular class, we were interviewed individually by the August Entry students, based on a list of questions Rose, our teacher, provided them with. From questions like “Why did you choose to take E&D as an elective subject?” to questions like “What is Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD)?” and “What is the Copenhagen Conference?”.

 

One of the reasons we did that was probly cause their teacher wasn’t around that day and Rose had to take over their class. xD Anyways, after our interviews, we headed to a classroom upstairs for a final and brief “lesson/session” with Rose.

That was probly the last time we’re ever gonna see the familiar term “ESD” on a white board.

[11 November, Wednesday] 

 
The evening before, the yearbook committee plus subcommittee met ay 7.30pm. Let’s just say we were together up till midnight and were forced to leave cause the place was closing. Delima and I also went down to Arrow on Swanston a little past 1am to get files from Amber, to pass em to Grace who stayed over all the way at Palmerston House to work on the yearbook pages with Faith and Phaik Yie.

On Wednesday, we met in the morning to do loads of last minute work (mostly them - I still have no idea how to use Photoshop), before handing the almost final product in to Student Services. The final final final version was submitted just yesterday.

[12 November, Thursday]

 

Our long awaited Drama exam / performance. If you haven’t already, do check out our group - Jack 8’s performance in video here on Facebook, and comment too! To think that our previous performance was only two months ago - video here. Definitely had a great time with you guys - Amran, Joseph, Naomy, and Yan. “Oh horrible, most horrible!!”. xD

 

After watching a few other Drama performances that were after ours - Jack 7, 8, and 9, we left the Buzzard Theatre and took lotsa pictures outside the Evan Burge building. Photos (from Kee Keng) are on Facebook - this is my first time actually saying something like that - “Go Facebook to see more photos”. There’s a first for everything eh?

 

Then we finally decided and had lunch together at Rakuzen.
That’s Yan, Nick, Grace, Angeline, and Angela.

 

Jia Wen, Cherry, Mars, Kee Keng, Aaron, and Amran.

 

Jospeh, Valerie, Naomy, and myself.

Which meant that our ENTIRE class was there! Except for Gin.

 

Had the Teriyaki Chicken bento which was the last to arrive. After lunch, headed back to College Square where I pretty much slacked the afternoon away. Drama really does drain you - I’m sure everyone would agree.

 

Later in the evening, met up with Heng Cheng for dinner at Mark’s Place, which is at the corner of Swanston & Grattan, which means that it’s a place that everyone has walked pass before, yet I’ve never tried the food there. We had pizza, which in my opinion was just alright, nothing special. Then, we headed to Lygon Court to study where Mizi joined us later that night.

 

Besides having a small cappuccino from Gloria Jean’s that night, I thought that I’d give an energy drink a go. So Heng Cheng and I headed down to Safeway where a can of Mother was purchased. Surprisingly, it tasted rather good.

 

Interesting can. xD Anyways, it was my first time actually having an energy drink. Never even tried Red Bull before. But apparently it does taste similar to Red Bull. Not only did it taste good, it worked too! Well, that’s what energy drinks are for right?

The three of us left Lygon Court around midnight when they closed.

[13 & 14 November, Friday & Saturday]

 

Besides eating out rather often, we also studied rather often at Lygon Court. For me, not only is it nearby, it’s just a nice place to study. Not too quiet but not too noisy either. Feels like I’ve spent my entire week there - which I actually did.

[15 November, Sunday]

 

Met up with Heng Cheng and Mizi in the morning where we had breakfast at the Queen Victoria Market. After failing to find a cafe with an unknown name, we decided to give The Tram Stop’s Dutch Pancakes a go.

 

Dutch pancakes with ice-cream, fresh strawberries, and a lemon topping. It was good, but having something both hot and cold at the same time for the first meal of the day probly wasn’t the best thing to do. Our EAP exam was the following day, yet we could afford to walk around the market and try out shades - Heng Cheng bought a pair for himself, and Tshirts - they bought one each. We ended up studying at the University’s Law Library for bout an hour.

Then, Heng Cheng, Nick, and I had lunch together at An An Vietnamese restaurant which is below Verve. Had the egg noodle soup with beef briskets - was quite nice compared to the clear soup noodle at Mekong in the city.

Then it was back to Arrow where I did some HOI research. Mizi rejoined us, whereas Faris came by later. So yeah, besides hanging out, we’ve also been studying frequently. Balanced lifestyle. xD

So that was last week. This week has just passed by with nothing much but exams. There’ll be another post on the exam week coming soon! Just had my Accounting paper today, and my last paper - E&D is in 10 days time. Which means that it’s time to chill!! Gonna be watching the Twilight Saga: New Moon later tonight.

Till the next time, all the best to everyone who’re sitting for their exams!!

Term 4: Week 5 (Part 2)

[7 November, Saturday]

Had Drama practice at FSC in the morning before going all the way down to Swanston for the Yearbook meeting. At noon, went back to FSC again and attended an extra Literature class which was really packed, before returning to Swanston once more.

Here’s Nick and Mizi totally focusing on their revision. Went around the building getting people to pose continue what they were doing while I to took ‘candid’ shots of em for the Yearbook’s “Gotcha!!” section.

And here’s Sean, also hard at work. Oh right, it was also 7-Eleven Day! All you needed to do was wish the shopkeeper "Happy Seven Eleven Day!” and you get a free small slurpee. I had one from FSC and another from the Swanston outlet. Great as it was rather hot that day.

And here’re are Faith and Grace working on the yearbook.
This is probly the only genuine candid shot that I took that day.

Even more hardworking people - Zack and Kalista. Our finals are just around the corner!

After waiting for Heng Cheng who was at the city, I brought them - Heng Cheng, Jasmine, Mizi, and Nick down to Berkeley Street at around 4pm. The original plan was to have tea, but thing was I didn’t even have time to have lunch earlier, so was starving at the time.

Anyways, welcome to Seven Seeds, an awesome well-hidden place to have a good cup of coffee. The first time I went out to look for it a couple of months back I couldn’t find it. It was last term after an Accounting lecture which finished early when Keith brought me there with the help of his iPhone’s GPS.

Since it was only my second time there, I never tried the food before. Was looking forward to ordering a sandwich or something but I was later on told that their kitchen closes at 3pm. Bummer. But the cappuccino did help a little I guess.

Heng Cheng, Nick, and myself. Flipped through a couple of magazines, chatted, and enjoyed our drinks - pretty much what we did. We just had to chill as it was roughly a 10 minute journey on foot under the scorching sun.

Nick headed home after that whereas the rest of us ended up at Lincoln Square where we chilled once more under the shade of a tree. Oh right, I headed to 7-Eleven again to grab a bite besides getting a couple more slurpees for them. Then we eventually started to study. I worked on my HOI - prepared ideas for Section B of the exam. Decided to go with Classical Greece and the Renaissance periods.

Of course, as it was such a nice day out (in the shade of the trees), we couldn’t help to start taking pictures, but only after we studied. Not taking the few shots taken every now and then into consideration. Followed Jasmine to Safeway after that before heading home for a while.

Later that evening, rejoined the guys for dinner at Universal Pizza on Lygon.
That’s Mizi and Nick. We had four guys at the table with four black cameras on the table.

I had the Gnochi Poseidon which was pretty good. After dinner, we headed to Arrow on Swanston to continue studying. So yeah, I went on with HOI. Kee Keng dropped by for a short while. Then the basement was too noisy, so we decided to leave. Just as we were about to exit, we decided to unpack and study at the entrance / lobby area, which lasted for an hour or so. Went back home after that.

Wow, all that in a day.

[8 November, Sunday]

After having lunch at home and studying for bout an hour at College Square with Heng Cheng, Henry, Mizi, and Nick, we left the building. Heng Cheng, Henry, and I headed to Lincoln Square where we tried convincing Henry to stay but failed.

Later on, Amran dropped by but left for the Bailleau Library instead. So yup, managed to read a little of Hamlet while lying on the grass, trying my best not to doze off. But I did take a quick nap. It was just so nice under the trees. That is, besides the presence of all the flies.

Then in the evening, Faris who was supposed to meet me in the morning or afternoon came by. We just chilled while waiting for Nick to join us so that we could meet Mizi for dinner.

Which was at Lazzat, a Malaysian restaurant on Lygon which I’ve never tried before.
Mizi stays just upstairs, so I guess he eats there pretty much most of the time.

I had a kopi tarik and.. I forgotten the name of this dish. It’s roti with ayam chopped up
with vegetables as well. Was relatively cheap, good, and filling - all at the same time!

Will definitely be heading back to Lazzat again soon to try out their other dishes. According to Mizi, the nasi goreng is a must try. Anyways, after dinner, we all headed to College Square to study once more, though I already made up my mind to just chill. Helped out with Literature a little here and there before calling it a night.

Term 4: Week 5 (Part 1)

[5 November, Thursday] 

The night before, I received a call from Marco. After planning and getting help from Mizi, we managed to get 18 cupcakes from The Cupcake Family @ QV to our LIT class at Royal Parade. Why cupcakes? This was our last official class with Claudio (excluding the extra class on 7 November, Saturday). And since Claudio likes cupcakes (not muffins), Stephanie from our class suggested to Marco, who suggested it to me, so yeah.

Gracia innovatively edited Claudio’s “To be, or not to be, that is the question” [2B/-2B=Q]formula. Meant to write YOUR best LIT class ever, but my right hand was too quick I guess.

I really do hope you’re not reading this Claudio, as you didn’t exactly give me permission to take your photo, let alone publish it on the world wide web. Anyhow, as he said so himself, he was touched by our little gesture. And as always, our last LIT tutorial was as informative and mind-boggling as it has always been. It has definitely been a great year with the class.

[6 November, Friday]

Went over to the Swanston Building late in the morning - initially was supposed to meet up with Faris to help him in Accounting, ended up with Jasmine, Mizi, Heng Cheng, and Nick.

 

After snapping a number of photos here and there and chilling for a little
while at Swanston, the five of us crossed the road to Momo Sushi for lunch.

 

I had the unagi rice which lacked sauce. Then, headed back to Swanston for the yearbook pre-sales. Managed to sell a few copies before having to rush off to the Charles Pearson Theatre in the university for our E&D open book essay exam.

 

I’m sure it was an intense 90 minutes of flipping through the
entire folder of the year’s notes, planning, and writing for all of us.

After dropping by College Square after the exam, David, Jasmine, and myself headed over to the Trinity Campus to meet up with Kee Keng. David left pretty much a little while after we arrived, whereas the rest of us stayed back to snap away.

 

Was actually doing some last minute photo taking of the campus classrooms, library, and buildings for the yearbook. Later that afternoon, headed back home and uploaded the photos.

 

In the evening, joined the same people (plus Zaid who recently transferred to RMIT).

I’m not quite sure who recommended the place but we had dinner at Blok M, an Indonesian restaurant on Little Bourke, a few lots down (across the street) from Brother Baba Budan.

Just cause I can’t think of a caption, I shall say this: The Melbourne temperature
has been rather high lately. Some days warmer than others, but never cold anymore.

I had Nasi Gudeg Jogja(?). “It's jackfruit stewed in a rendang sauce with beef.”

It was a Friday night and we were rather reluctant to hit the books. While at Big Mama where Jasmine took away dinner for her sister, we brainstormed. From having a drink at a cafe on Lygon to Nick’s insane suggestion of bungee jumping. In the end, we wound up at the doorstep of..

People in Melbourne, you need not me to name this building Mizi is peering into. Those in Malaysia or anywhere else in the world who may be reading, this is a red building that’s open 24 hours, which we walk past on Swanston Street rather often (especially those staying in Arrow). Let’s just say it’s a place we look at, but never thought of ever entering.

To prevent any misunderstandings, I will not be describing what we did that night. For those of you who’d like to know about the craziest night we’ve had in Melbourne (so far), do leave me a message or something. Just to satisfy your curiosity a little, the whole thing ended with the five of us running up Swanston Street.

Where we ended up in College Square sharing the video and story with Judith
and Mei Yin, besides doing cartwheels, ‘wheel-barrow racing’, and chatting.

But all that was before we got bored and the urge to do something crazy took over us. We started off by taking over one of the elevators and attempted to freeze froze whenever someone entered. Just imagine seeing seven college kids in the lift as the doors open.

Then we ‘sang’ with numbers. For example, someone entered the lift and pressed ‘7’, we all sang seven repeatedly till the person leaves. Then we tried it with the ABC song, followed by singing Happy Birthday to two very fortunate people.

We also made faces and did silly things at and towards a group of people outside College Square who were planning a birthday surprise. Then we eventually came to our senses that it was getting a little crowded, so we invaded the other lift as well. xD

Alright I’m lazy to go on. It was definitely one heck of a night in Melbourne to remember.

Will probly be auto-publishing a couple more posts (which I shall start on now) till I’m done with exams at the end of next week.

Cheese Tarts & Taro Balls

Hello there, probly the world’s first and only, as well as my own Executive Food Officer (EFC).

Here’s to a great year, great friends, and as importantly, great food!!

Happy 18th Birthday PC!! :D