Wednesday, February 14, 2007
ooh ok my first post in melbourne! :) well, the past 3 days have been a whirlwind of activity! well, not just the past 3 days.. the past week or so, with all the frantic packing and everything. and i'm skyping with vivvy now! and we're talking about what studying overseas feels like and all the gripes we're having about staying overseas and all that stuff. (even though I've only been here for 3 days hee) and I really felt a very strong pang of homesickness when I was talking to her, as in I really can feel what she's feeling now.
Sunday was extremely chaotic. I went to church in the morning (I miss svdp!!!) and said goodbye to all my friends and gave them some notes. Then after that my family, Paul and I went for lunch at Keong Saik Street. We hadn't been there in a while, so mom decided that it would be a good idea to go there for lunch as a farewell kind of thing for me. When I came home, some more frantic packing was done. Then I had to mail some letters, so I drove out, mailed the letters, passed another note, then went home to commence my packing. It was a really hot day, so I really was sweating like crazy when I was clearing up my room and everything. I wasn't really feeling anything in particular at that point in time because I in so much of a rush. I was also really annoyed because after my shower, it was so hot I started to sweat again. -.- Che, Ben and Yai came home around 6 and we loaded everything into the 2 cars and drove off. I saw Sengkang pass by, Lorong Halus.. then we went to terminal 2 and checked in at the First Class area. Not that we travelled by First class (I WISH!) but mom and dad are krisflyer members, so we got to check in there, and it was so cool because it was this room at the side of changi airport with many little reception tables and there were walls behind it hiding the belt that takes the luggage away. I had a grand total of 5 pieces of luggage and altogether it weight about 80-90kg I think. Which I thought was pretty powerful.. but I think most of the weight came from the heavy blanket and my books. :) then I went to meet my dear band people + Aaron. :) thank you so much, my dears, for going to see me off. It really was so sweet of you all.. -huggs- thanks to Ben Chen, Bing and Hong as well. -huggs also- it was so wonderful seeing you all for one last time before I came here. and I miss you all so so so much. Then I met the CSA people, thank you for the prayers. and of course my dear dear 208 society. zengo, oaf, lorenda. I miss everyone so much.. it's really quite painful when I write this, but it's because I love you all so much and miss you all so so much. Mom, Dad and Eunice went in first, so I had to go in myself and I think that that was the most difficult part of all - walking through those glass doors alone. Once I got past the desk and started walking towards the lounge, I just couldn't stop crying, because I couldn't help but think about all the people i had left downstairs on the other side of those doors. I couldn't even eat much, though there was a lot of food available. Soon we had to get to the plane. Dad was on the next flight, so he stayed in the lounge. Mom, Eunice and I did this wild pig scamper to gate E8, which was in some ulu corner of the terminal -.- and we got to the gate just in time. We were one of the last in line to board. haha. Eunice and I sat together while mom sat behind me.
The flight seriously was a complete nightmare. I wanted to DIE. The inflight entertainment was a disappointment. Even Zhi Xuan, who was on the next flight, same as dad, told me! :( I wanted to play super mario, but it wasn't the one that I wanted. bleh. So I read my book and soon I fell asleep.. but not for long! The guy sitting next to me was snoring so loudly. It wasn't long drawn-out snores that occured once in a while. They were punctuated, coming in spurts with an interval of 2 seconds. I was so irritated and so tempted to take my pillow and whack him. But I was too tired and tried to ignore it :) one valuable lesson I have learned is to never take another night flight. bah. when we got to melbourne airport, I was really excited! quite sad, but excited nonetheless. We waited at a coffee place for dad. When he came, I went to look for my airport reception, and found out, to my horror, that no one was holding a placard with my name on it! :( so I spoke to the guy and he drove me and this other girl to Clayton :) he dropped me off at the hall office and Kaihan came to meet me! Thank God for Kaihan, because he helped me carry my boxes HAHA. The really messed up part was when the lady at the office gave the wrong keys, so kh and I walked to my hall, only to discover we didn't have the right keys. -.- so we had to go back and get the correct keys. We dumped all my stuff into my room, although all my carry-on luggage was in his room (so that we could move the boxes more easily). Mom and Dad came after that and helped me unpack. when I first came in, I was thinking "oh no.. i'll be living here.." now, it's like, "ALL RIGHT!! I'll be living here!'' because my rom is so homey with photos and stuff toys and stuff :) really love it!
Food here is insanely overpriced though. I spent so much money on meals. So far, when Mom, Dad, Eunice and I go out, we'll buy 2 dishes and then we'll share and the portions are just nice for us! Things have been extremely chaotic, but one thing that I am EXTREMELY thankful for, is that I went to Melb Uni and met this sister who is the chaplain of the Catholic Overseas Students Down Under and she told me about the chaplain of the Catholic students here in Monash Uni and she gave me this pamphlet with all the mass times and everything! They even hold masses here in campus on sundays!! so I don't have to go out at all :) but I'll go to the city once in a while. :D I really like the city it's such a pretty place!! :) maybe I'll pop by St Francis Church one day :) but the sister was so nice! she said if I'm feeling really homesick I can pop by the chaplaincy to visit her. :)
Today was registration, but I think this entry is long enough, so I'll stop here for now. :) this place is really nice :) one more point: myroom has a really nice view of a park and there's a lake nearby with lots of ducks.. like mallards and geese. when I first saw the ducks I thought they were fake and were just decorations by the lake. then one of their heads moved :D and there's another park which is about 3.3km around. so i have a nice route to run :) ok i'll stop here. take care and God bless -huggs-
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