|yourstruly|

Esther
Monash University
Currently in Melbourne
05 July 1985

|loves|

chocolates
good food
hanging with friends
shopping

|loathes|

hypocrite
liars

|links|

Aloysius
Eileen
Elle
ET
Felicia
Grace
Hui Yu
Jemima
Kim
Mavis
Michelle
Pei Lin
Shu Fen
Shu Qing
Winnie
Xiao Mei

|chat|

|rewind|

May 2005- June 2005- July 2005- August 2005- September 2005- October 2005- November 2005- December 2005- January 2006- February 2006- March 2006- April 2006- May 2006- June 2006- July 2006- September 2006- October 2006- November 2006- February 2007- March 2007- April 2007- May 2007- June 2007-

|credits|

SOFT-phisticated
Pixelgirlpresents
TinyPic

Still in the midst of Examinations.
Browsing through Monash Marketplace.
Intention: to sell some of my things cause I don't want to bring them back.
THEN,
I saw this VERY interesting Ad. Some people actually believe this crap.

Ad by L.D
I suspect i will finish one of my exams 30 minutes early. If anyone needs extra time in an exam, i have 30 minutes worth to sell. Cost is $10 per minute. If you buy the whole 30 minutes, you will only have to pay a premium of $9 per minute however a $30 admin fee will apply.

Replies from the ad:

1) I dont get this. is this legal? so if u finish early in exam, u can sell the time? wow (H.K)

2) what is all this! is this for real!? i am totally shocked! (H.P)

3) Don't you have anything better to do with your time? Still, I suppose if they take you seriously they don't really belong in Uni anyway. (L.D)

4) =)) that was funny! (S.F)

5) Haha...funny how some people actually believed you L.D! (H.S)

6) L.D u suck tis ,,,, (H.K)

7) I suck wat? If ur shocked now, then check out the examiner's face wen u show him the contract that i will write up for u. (by the way, it will be written on toilet paper with a crayon) (L.D)

8) ......... (H.K) (It's vulgarity. So I decided not to copy this post)

9) I am studying midwifery so mine is a clinical exam. What if the woman has not had her baby in the allocated time. Is your additional time then free or does she just go for a caesarean? (B.B)

10) Well if it takes more time, then im willing to sell more time. I dont have any of my own to offer but i can get some. I'll even take it off H.K if u want. (L.D)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH......

I really don't know what to do..
I'm suppose to finish my studies and graduate by this semester. But, yesterday, after bumping into Clara and calling my mum.. I'm all confused again..

What should I do?
To work or to study?

People who encourage me to study:
Friends here
Parents

People who encourage me to work first:
Friends in Singapore

What should I do???

I have actually already thought of the course I would do if I would to take masters. I was expecting to go back to Singapore on Jul 4. I have even booked my air tickets already. And then, the sudden force abetting me to take a masters appeared from no where. I wasn't able to sleep well last night, in fact, I wasn't able to do anything last night. Cause I was seriously thinking of what I should do.. One reason for me not to do masters is because I miss home already.
Ha. I know it's kind of slow for me to miss home now since I have already come here for so long. But, you know, I that kind of person who takes time to have the impact on me.. S-L-O-W, I know.
The sudden shock of me suddenly not being able to go home in July.....
I simply can't handle it..

Starting to feel the depression..............

G
L
O
O
M

Now, what I can do is...
Apply for the course first.
Talk to Jimmy about it.

Can't think of anything else....

Yesterday morning at around 11 something, there was a POWER OUTRAGE in Clayton campus. Even though, I didn't have classes on Monday, I was still affected cause the Halls was hit too. Damn. It was really inconvenient with electricity. But, luckily I woke up at 10 plus. Had my shower and brunch just before the power outrage.

Well, this is not the first time I had experience power outrage. The first time was during the first semester of 2006. There was a serious road accident along blackburn road. A truck crash into one of the pole which apparently connect the electricity of the Halls and the area near halls. I remember it happened around midday, cause I was out shopping with Alia, and Pauline called me about it. At first they said lights would be back at around 7pm, and then it dragged till 9pm, and it dragged further till 11pm. Haha. I still remember we had to take the stairs cause the lifts was out too. I was kind of fun in a way or so. Hee. Getting scared and scaring people who climbed up the stairs. Hidding behind those doors. Ha. This power outrage sure brings back memories. Also, that night, the library was packed with people from the halls. Studying, using computer and so on. I was not part of that group cause I went to Roberts hall to look for a friend. Haha. The only place not affected was Roberts and Richardson, apparently they run on a different electricty circuit from the rest of us.

The second time was during december 2006. Well, the halls wasn't affected at that time. But I so happend to be in the library studying for my exams. And the sudden blackout really freak me out. haha. As during summer, there wasn't really a lot of people in Uni already. With the blackout, the security guards started chasing people out of the library. At that time, I was only hoping that the halls are not affected. Cause from the previous experience, I knew that the halls and Uni should be running on different circuits. As I walked back with Ken, we purposly past by the Sports Centre to see if it was affected. And, YES, it was. *faints* But, luckily when we got back to the halls, WOOHOO~ It wasn't affected at all. It does assure me that the Halls and Uni run on different electricity circuits.

However, yesterday, both the halls and uni was affected, even Roberts was not spared. I called the operations office after the power outage. Once the line got through, the person didn't even let me explain the situation, he already started explaining what happened. Hahaha. What was funny was he said the blackout could be due to some trucks hitting into some ploes along blackburn road or a trip in the Uni circuits. HAHAHA. I thought to myself isn't the truck incident like last year. Anyway, I didn't question him further cause I could hear hit panting at the other end of the line. He must be running around picking up all those calls. Cause, after a while, Tracy, our college head, announced through the PA system NOT to call the operations office about the blackout. She said it was due to the uni. So, there was nothing I could do. Called evelyn to ask her to come back and accompany me. haha. Anyway, we were just hanging out in my room when Varuna called me and told me he was LOCK IN his own house. WHAHAHAHAHA. That was the second funniest thing I heard yesterday. Gosh! How do you even get locked in. AND, and, his key was with his friend in Howitt. I thought I would be nice to help him bring it to his house cause his friend doesn't know where is his house. I went to knock on her door and got the key. (OS: Hmm, how come his key is with her?? Something is going on~~ Hee) Walked over his place and he gave me tim tams and apple pie. AHH.. I love apple pies!! Anyway, when I got back to the halls, I sat down with Evelyn in the common room to chat and started to finish those tim tams. We even made a bet saying the lights would not come until after 7pm. Since the both of us made the same bet, it equals to no bets at all.
Well, all I can say is luckily we didn't made any bet at all, cause the lights came back at around 5pm plus. *faints* We have already made plans for tonight to eat out already. But in the end, we were too lazy to cook, we walked to Pinewood to eat. When Erwin called me to go Glen, I was alright with it. It doesn't really matters to me as long as I get to eat. haha. Then, later on, I know he bluff me. He said Xiao Kang wants to go Glen. Actually, she wants to go Pinewood. Haha. In the end, we walked to Pinewood and had dinner.
I really had lotsa of exercise yesterday, cause after dinner the lifts was still not working...

Anyway, Tracy announced that classes, including tutorials and labs would be cancelled for Tuesday which is today. And, there was a loud "YAY~~ WOOHOO~~" Haha.. I guess it was really good for some of them, they got an extension of datelines out of nothing. Haha..

*WARNING! This is a very long entry!*

Spent the last few weeks travelling around Europe which includes Italy (Rome), Switzerland (Zurich, Bern, Basel & Appenzell), France (Strasbourg & Paris), Belgium (Brussels) and lastly England (London). It was really an enriching experience to travel to all these places and not least shall be said about those corporate visits. It had definitely broaden my views and knowledge. Let's just say for this trip, I have learnt a lot, WALKED a lot, shopped a lot. Hee. This trip was not only a vacation trip for me but it was also a study tour. Went to all these places with students from Monash University, students ranging from Bachelor degree to Master to MBA. Thus, I also met new people during the trip cause we have different class. What's more, a lot of scandals and couples were born during the trip. Interesting right? I'll try to write out the details of the trip through memory and pictures. haha.

~Rome Visit~
Our first stop was Singapore! haha. We were in Changi to transit for about 5hrs, I think. Left the group to meet my family. Met up with them for a while. Then later on, I went back in to wait at the gate with my friends. They were all sitting down on the floor playing cards. I didn't join in but gave xiao mei a call. She was pretty surprised at first. Anyway, the flight to Rome took about 11hrs if I'm not wrong. Gosh! It was a torture for me. It was almost a whole day of flying. However, knowing me, I can sleep in ALL conditions. LOL. I slept almost half of my journey to Rome. Played cards with lee shan for the other half of the journey. When we finally reach the Rome airport, we were all very hyper, very excited. When we were waiting to get through the customs, I realised I was the only one who slept for a very long time. Hee. *embarrassed* Anyway, our first official stop, ROME! Looking through the itinery, Hotel Torino, the next few days of our home, it was rated FOUR STARS!! We all had our expectations of a four stars hotel but never did we expect it to be such a one star standard. I think it's like those budget hotels. The rooms are pathetic. When we all got our keys we started to compare rooms.
After all these dramas, we separated into different groups and grab a map from the reception and went exploring Rome on our own. It was a little difficult cause most of the locals don't speak English. So we ended up using "hand language". Lunch was o-k-a-y. Later on, the people from the restaurant told us a few places we might want to visit. We took the Metro (something like MRT in Singapore) to a few places. Again, the train ticket-er doesn't speak English. So when we were buying the tickets we were like "hand-signalling" again. We wanted to go Spagna, not knowing how to pronounce it we showed it to her on the map. She pronoun something like "Spain". We were all shocked!! Cause, we don't want to go all the way to Spain!! After a few more minutes of hand signalling, we realised that "Spain" was the place we wanted to go. haha. Spagna was a street filled with shops like Chanel, LV, YSL, Dior. You name it, they have it. Also, we met this old man, he spoke very good english. He told us the history of certain places, places we MUST visit, etc. ha.
Next day, we had our guide, Mr Onofri, and started our tour of Ancient Rome. We visited places like The Forum, Colosseo and Pantheon.
Some interesting fact, Forum has this little corner where Julius Caesar was cremated. And, it has fresh flowers on it everyday. This was a little something I learnt from the old man the day before.

Colosseo is this place where gladiators would fight with each other or animals.
Patheon used to be a temple in the past.

This is the famous Fontana Di Trev. Legend has it that if you throw in one coin you will come back to this place again. Throw two coins, is if you wish to meet someone. Throw three coins if you want to break up with someone. Believe a not, it's up to you.

Later in the day, we went to the Vatican city on our own. Visited St Peter's church. It's really magnificent. It a place where the pope live.

Had pasta and pizza everyday in Rome. Anyway, if you get the chance to go Rome, remember to bring sports shoes or any shoes that have flat soles. Cause I wore my boots and heels in Rome and I feet hurt like hell. And, staying in Rome for 2 days is good enough, I think.

The next stop was Zurich. I shall continue in the next post. haha.. I'm lazy already....

I just realised that I hardly blogged in year 2006 and that there isn't any blog entries for the whole of December and January. Hmmmm.. Oopps.. I'm not very sure what I was busy with but my most of my summer vacation was mainly in Melbourne.

Let me try to summarise from memory what happened in for the past two months. Hee:)

1. Took a summer course which is called International study program in banking and finance. So, I was studying or trying to study during the summer. Had classes everyday, so was balancing between absorbing information from lectures and doing the tutorial. As Roger, the lecturer, would called out people to answer questions. Anyway, after the two weeks block of lectures, I had to prepare for exams. Holy crap!!! All I can say is that I just hope to pass. The exam was totally DIFFICULT. Well, we did "complain" a little to Roger during the trip. Trying to hint him to go easy on us. Cause even those who major in finance find it too difficult!! Anyway, after the exam, I rest a little and needed to start researching and writing my report. Two choices was given to us, we could either hand in the report before the trip or after the trip. I chose to hand in earlier cause I wanted to enjoy my Europe trip and the rest of my holidays in Singapore.

2. Spent my Christmas in Melbourne. Join Melisa's care group (known as cell group in Singapore) for the celebration. It was held at one of the members' place. A lot of people showed up. It was crowded. Anyway, it was a simple gathering, nothing flashing or anything. Exchange gifts, met new people, sang carols, etc.

3. Also, spent my new year in Melbourne. Spent the new year's eve at Canny's house. She is Zoe's ex-boss's friend. Ha, kind of complicated but they are really a very nice and friendly family. And, I totally LOVE their house. It's so big and pretty. I also must give credit to Canny and Kenny cause their cooking skills are totally fabulous. I would put up pictures later, if I remember.



4. Celebrated Andrew's birthday at his house, Colac. It is very very very far away from Melbourne city. Anyway, Andrew's eldest brother, Jonathan, picked me, Zoe and Ken from the halls. It was a small family gathering, only some friends and close relatives were invited.


5. Celebrated Kristy's birthday at St. Kilda beach with some of her friends and cousin. Had a BBQ party. It was a small party but enjoyable. I'm still waiting for the pictures from her.

6. Packed everything out of my room cause I was going away. It was quite a rush as I was busy with the report and packing up of my things. I had only 1 day to packed. I had to wake up early and sleep late to pack my luggage for the Europe trip and pack everything to Kristy's place.

Okay, can't really remember what happened already. Anyway, for January, I was mainly in Europe. I would update about my Europe trip when I'm free. Hee ;)

just finish one paper today.. losta of events happened during this exam period.. there was a time for joy, time for happiness and time for tears..

firstly, Mira have already went back to Korea.. we had a small farewell for her the night before she flew off.. as the college head told us that we are not suppose to have any gathering in or around the area of Howitt during exam period.. we had a small "pinic" at the lake.. For my friends who are not here, there is a lake near the halls. actually, it's a small park with a lake in the middle.. as the weather that night was pretty alright, we just sat on the grass and chat and drank to bid Mira farewell..

MIRA




Next, Zoe's graduation!! We (people from the halls) went to congrats her.. took lotsa of pictures.. well, it will be my turn soon!! anw, after the pictures session, we went to JP noodles for noodles... haha.. duh..