It has now been nearly two months since I came to Malaysia! I don’t know how long really? I’m not actually counting, you know. But it seems like a long time now. And I’ve fallen behind on blogging again, although I’m going to do my best to recap the past two weeks so I have some vague record of my life here. Sorry, but this will be another essay length blog post. Maybe breaking it into a list will be easier to read?
- – KL! The Saturday before last I went into KL again because I really really wanted to go to KL aquaria. I wanted to head out early but I ended up arriving into KL in the afternoon. The trains were confusing although once I found which service I was using it was a breeze to buy a ticket and get on the right train to get into central KL. I arrived in the KLCC shopping mall where thankfully there were clear signs leading me to the aquarium. I stopped at Starbucks and treated myself to my monthly over priced coffee and an even more over price muffin. The muffin wasn’t even that great. The thing about baking is that no matter how terribe my baking is, I have become slightly used to it. I especially don’t like the heaviness of so many store bought muffins. Basically, I wished I could have made my own banana and chocolate cake and eaten that instead. I miss baking.
Anyway, it was then on to the aquarium, feeling more than a little buzzed from the coffee and the excitement. I was the only one there alone like always but most of the people there were tourists, so at least I didn’t stand out too much. The aquarium was good, the underwater tunnels especially. I love those tunnels and even though it wasn’t too busy when I went, it was still hard to linger. It should be easier. Also as much as I enjoyed the aquarium I emerged from it thinking “that was it?!” and there was no way for me to go back in and have another poke around to try and see if there was any bit I missed. I’m glad it was cheap otherwise I would have felt slightly cheated. This aquarium wasn’t as great as Nagoya Port Aquarium, or Cape Town aquarium, but oh well. Plenty more aquariums for me to see and to compare to each other.
Afterwards I wondered around a bunch of malls getting lost and not really buying anything. I stopped at little Tokyo in pavilion which was a bit disappointing. It’s rather small and there is not that much to see- just a lot to eat! I ate at one of the restaurants and I must have picked the wrong one as it was over priced and not so great, with annoying staff (it seems there is such a thing as too attentive.) Then I bought some macaroons for later, and some really fancy green tea for my dad. The green tea store was nice. I got to sample all the teas and the girl was chatting to me about them. I felt rather.. fancy. Then I wanted to go to Daiso but it was closed. Apparently opening in October. lol. I love Malaysia for stuff like that.
I ended up getting back really late. I got confused with my train changes, then when I eventually got to kl sentral I had to walk to the other/main kl sentral (and it was a bit dodgy the route) and then I had to buy a ticket, then wait for the train, eat my macaroons and discover that they weren’t so great, wait some more, get crammed on the train, eventually get back to town, wait for the bus. It took forever to get back and by that point I was fairly tired out. oh well. I had then had a lazy Sunday and then on Monday I skipped my afternoon lectures and headed into KL again. Just for grocery shopping, post office. Boring stuff, really. It was worth the long trek into KL for such mundane things though as my letters home would arrive within the week. Oh and I had Japanese cream puffs for the first time. They were so. good.
- – Seoul! I stayed up until 3am on the phone to my dad the other night sorting out flights and hotels for…Seoul! I have a reading week coming up in November so I decided what the hell, I’m going to Seoul for a few days. (Why Seoul? Why not!!) I had the dates sorted and a hotel in mind but of course this is me, and I had to fuck up my planning in some way. My dad was literally about to book my flights before I remembered that I should check my lab timetable so I stopped him, opened my timetable and saw that I had a lab right in the middle of when I was going to go. I felt sick, shaky. How could I do this? I hastily recovered as best as I could and in the end got the new dates that would not interfere with my labs, although I am only going for 3 nights now. I felt wretched- almost like throwing up. My dad asked if I was excited once everything was booked and I should have been but I felt too awful.
I was so nervous that I had got it wrong again. That something would reveal itself to interfere with those dates. I know its over acting but shit, I always do this. I am 20 years old and I just cannot manage to be organized. I miss lectures because I don’t know what room I’m in, or because I think they start an hour after they actually do. I mess up my lab assignments because I spend all my time doing the wrong one first (Yes, this happened to me last week. Gosh, I was so disappointed in myself. The thing was I wrote such beautiful code for the first one, it showed that i spent time on it, and the second was half asked and just terrible). It makes me feel pathetic and utterly disgusted with myself. I am way past the age where I need someone to hold my hand and tell me what I need to be doing.
Later, I found out that reading week was the week before I thought it was. Of course it was. By that point I could only roll my eyes at myself and push down that sick, shaky feeling again. In the end I am only missing lectures on one day now because of this trip and I don’t care anymore, at least I’m not missing labs. I can only be thankful I checked my lab timetable before my dad confirmed those flights and things are working out. Because at the end of the day, I am going to Seoul! It is going to be awesome. Its a place I’ve always wanted to go to but never wanted to spend £1000s on the flights there, nor too long there. Three days is enough for me to shop and sight see (and visit the aquarium, of course :P) and I’m staying in a really nice hotel. I’m even flying with Malaysia airlines, instead of going the cheap route and picking air asia. Because air asia wasn’t that much cheaper. I almost can’t believe that I’m actually going in a matter of weeks. My life is so surreal right now, its a wonder I’ve not had a break down yet.
- – University! The flip side about going to Seoul in just a few weeks is that well, its November already. The weeks are just passing by and I’m still struggling to concentrate in lectures, and I’m really behind on my revision. And I’m being really lazy and disorganized when it comes to getting my lab work done on time and to a decent standard. I’m totally half asking it right now. It’s a little worrying how I’m still behind, and still struggling to care about that fact. :/