Final Post in Europe

I'm nervous. Definitely sad. A little scared. Of course excited too. After two amazing years, 20 beautiful countries, five lovely homes and countless new friends & acquaintances, it's time to go back to where it all started and begin a new and enhanced chapter. After all, the only constant in life is change.

Last Week

I know I should write about London, Dublin, Paris… well, Dublin especially. It is now in my top five favourite cities that include Paris, Istanbul, Cairo and Budapest. But with my worn out TravelMate, I don’t feel motivated at all. I haven’t even continued editing my book! I’m way behind schedule right now but I promise once I get a new laptop, I’ll get on top of things. Both the book and the blog. For now though, I’ll leave you with my favourite photos from the trips last week. We’re flying to Barcelona tomorrow for the graduation and I have a feeling next time you hear from me, I’ll be in my sweet home Malaysia. Oh boy I’ll have so many things to tell you by then!

Oh anyway, I did well in my Master’s thesis defence recently but the Q&A part was a little bit out of my depth. The committee gave me the highest mark but of course I couldn’t be happy since I personally think I flunked the Q&A. That’s me, I just have to dwell on the past and worry excessively about the future. Something I’m still working on.

Alright, the photos.

Stonehenge, one of the seven wonders.

The Wicklow mountains. The nearby surrounding is as magnificent, where they filmed the movies Braveheart, PS I Love You and Leap Year.

The Eiffel Tower & La Seine from a new angle (for me at least!).

Statue of Liberty as first seen on the movie National Treasure! Obviously I'm a self-proclaimed movie buff.

Saw Paris Hilton in Paris in her pink limo! I'm not a fan but any famous stars tend to have that effect on you.

We also saw a few local bands playing Irish folk music in Dublin and one of them played the famous Galway Girl, aaaaaa!!!

So many things to share it’s killing me here. I need a new laptop pronto!

My Mate's Got to Go

It has been too long and I miss writing. The thing is, my laptop is aging. She's making loud noises as if a critical football match is taking place inside the machine, she gets really cranky & heat stroke after ten minutes and I'm hurting my nails when I type because some of the keys refuse to work. 

I appreciate all the accomplishments that we've achieved together but it's time for her to go to a better place once I get a superior replacement in Malaysia. It sounds mean but I know she understands it's something I have to do. If she could talk, she would've let me know which model she thought would be good enough to take her place.

My darling Acer TravelMate 6291, you've been a wonderful companion.

Farvel Danmark!

And that means, Goodbye Denmark. I don't know when I'll be next time I talk to you blog but I suspect still a bit far from sweet home Malaysia. Not too long though this time, not too long...

Who would've thought the six months of joy amidst trouble have quickly metamorphosed into distant memories. Sure, sure... we always knew the day would come. The day when you have to bid farewell to all the things you're familiar with and start anew just to gradually move closer to another goodbye. As usual, you instinctively think that you're not prepared for this again and again. That's why it's nice to have someone by your side to go through the path. It can get a little scary and heart-breaking. I could've done it alone, brave and strong I make myself to believe. But having your best friend to hold your hand and walk with you definitely helps big time.

Our landlady's eyes keep watering every time we mention anything related to our departure, even as banal as "Thank you for the corns but we already have so much food in the fridge to clear this week." She gave me a tiger eye necklace that I thought I was choosing for her when she asked for my thoughts in the Mons Klint gift store three weeks ago. Why do people always have to make it harder to leave? When Bri left three months ago, I was devastated and thought that it would be a loooong road ahead before my turn. And now here I am, babbling about the sorrow. How long is long enough anyway? 

I hate, hate, hate goodbyes. But like death and tax, it's one of the things you can be certain of in life. I'm just glad at least I have my best friend to share this with.

Alrighty, have to start packing and cleaning the house. I know our landlady is definitely going to cry but no amount of preparation can actually prepare me for that. I just have to keep in mind that I'll be seeing my little sister in no time after two long years. Heh, long...

Alone in the Village of Sleeping Beauties

It's 1.30 in the morning and I'm still wide awake even though I only had four continuous hours of sleep the previous night. The days are long and so it means I'm fasting from about 3 am until 9 pm. Now I'm waiting for the morning prayer before going to bed like what I did last night. My intention was to sleep until noon but I could no longer sleep after 7.30. It's the sun. It doesn't matter that the curtains are double-layered and shut tight, I can still sense the sunlight. Hubs thinks I'm secretly a vampire. Maybe that's true. Maybe it's just a myth that vampires burn in the sun or according to Twilight, glow. Maybe we're simply a little allergic to the bright, warm light.

And it baffles me how I still don't get even a bit tired. I feel like I can stay awake for the whole week. Then again, it may be due to the really sweet muesli I just had. Sugar does make people go hyper, doesn't it? I worked really hard today since morning so I should be exhausted a few hours ago. The thesis submission is due on Monday (yes, this Monday) and my academic supervisor has just given me his feedback on my draft that I sent over a month ago last Friday! To top it off, he's a very detailed person so he had thorough comments on almost every single page of my thesis. I also lost the rock-paper-scissors game to Rafiee so I had to do the laundry, sigh. But I suppose I could've corrected the draft sooner nonetheless if I hadn't been so caught up with the Q Cious Spa website. I'm helping with the webpage and I'm quite proud of it if I may say so myself. Have a look here!

Also, I've just finished watching another brilliant movie called The Whistleblower based on the true story of Kathryn Bolkovac about her courage in trying to expose the involvement of some United Nations peacekeepers in human trafficking in Bosnia. She was threatened by the big guns in the organisation and was even fired, but that didn't stop her. The revelation is no doubt very appalling but like I said, ignoring the truth doesn't make it go away.

Alright, one hour to go. What else can I do, hmm... 

Alive & Kicking

There are good news, bad news and really bad news. I obviously survived my longest solo presentation that lasted for 35 minutes. 11 people came including the head department and a number of experts in my field. They all loved it so that's the good news.

Bad news is that the head department is one critical man and he asked me LOTS of questions and some were even embedded in other questions! They were like little gremlins rolling towards me. I shot one only to see it multiplied with more ferocious energy. Oh the horror! Mon dieu! I was literally sweating while the other 10 people looked on, silently thanked their lucky stars they weren't in my shoes. But alas, it was over within an hour and I have one less thing to worry about. Now on to the corrections and writing the paper to be submitted to a journal publication.

The worst news has nothing to do with my presentation but everything to do with my state of joy. My old blog has been deleted! Completely and utterly kaput! This is all Friendster wrongdoing. Here comes the nostalgia. My old brain can't store everything so in a way, parts of my memories are gone. My fault for not keeping a copy somewhere else so lesson learned, though in a hard way.

On a different matter, a family member has recently launched a new beauty & slimming spa called Qcious Spa in Kuala Lumpur. The lovely website is still under construction but until then, you can find all the details on this page. They're having some promotions right now so why don't you take a look and see if you can get something out of it.

The day is fading, which means there are only 12 more days left before I leave Denmark. Time sure flies when you stop counting.

Freaking Out!

Okay, I knew all along I had to present my findings to the company but the reality has only recently set in. And I'm FREAKING OUT!

Unlike most normal people, I enjoy making and doing presentation. So although I've been doing this for years without breaking a sweat, it started to dawn on me when one of my supervisors put out a public invitation for my thesis presentation this Monday, that this is my first industrial presentation! All those presentations have been in front of academicians, students, friends or strangers sometimes. Giving a presentation to a bunch of professional consultants, engineers and managers may be a different thing.... or perhaps not? Well even if they are poles apart, there's always a first time for everything right? 

Okay, I just need to calm down. If you don't hear from me by next week, I've probably fallen into a coma due to stage fright, nothing serious.