Adventure log 101
[ aka the 30-day challenge ]
Day 1:
Checked in into the house alone because the other housemates were on later flights. Settling in, I heard the fire alarm, and thought I was the one who caused it ( I hanged my clothes on the heater to dry them ) So, I quickly went out just to find myself among the caucasian crowd and only me being a Muslim and properly covered. The others went out with only their spaghetti top and shorts and were hugging each other for body heat =,=
Day 2:
Had problem changing my term address to the current Ireland address I'm residing now. And so, I went to the student help desk to find a gorgeous Irish guy, but not so friendly, helping me out settling the problem. His eyes are alluring, I'm practically drowned in his eyes. >.< During peer mentor meeting, I got a nice girl mentor from the States but apparently she looks like Malaysian Chinese so I thought she's from Malaysia. By the time I knew she was from the US, it was already old news. So, till now, I haven't really got the chance to know her better because of the late realization. =,=
Day 3:
Orientation was over. So, we went out for some MASSIVE shopping. Brought 2 hand luggages with us but still they're not enough to stuff our stuffs. So, we went back with hands full of things and back full of pain. =,=
Day 4:
Went to the airport to pick up the Galway-ians. As a senior ( by 3 days ), I feel obliged to do so. ( puihhh ;p ) We went by ourselves, with no kakaks to accompany us along the way. Then, we went for a picnic by the lake with some akaks and ate spaghetti and some yummy cheesecake. A dog almost caused me a heart attack when it went sniff sniff at our laid-out food and the dog was just beside the person next to me. *.* Then, we went to open house at the back of Merville. Being "fashionably late", we joined the supposedly seniors-only session in the evening. So, we were the only juniors there and jumbo sale was a huge success that the only thing left was just the 2-3 euro things that was, uh, well, not up to my liking =,=
Day 5:
Went to kak dara's house. Tried out the bicycles. ( I'm planning to buy one soon! ) And went for shopping in the city some more. Unfortunately, can't find a suitable waterproof overcoat. :( Nevertheless, our shopping session was a huge success today too, that our hands are full with shopping stuffs and our back and legs were hurting =,= Back to our house, we don't have anything to eat except for the Day 1's rice which the seniors gave us. So, we heated that, and an akak gave us her taco fries which apparently she hasn't try it yet ( super guilty x1000 ) But, the fries were DEH-LI-COUS!
Day 6:
1st day of lecture. The same thing happened as it was over the years: Malaysians filled the front part of the lecture hall while the Irish and other people from other countries filled up the back part. Lecture halls are apparently shielded ( somehow ) that we can't find any reception once we're in that place: so no calls or even texts at all =,=
Day 7:
2nd day of lecture, 2nd day of puasa in Ireland. Stomach kept on grumbling and the fact that it does is killing me! The lecture hall was as quiet as the graveyard and I was trying hard to make it sound less embarrassing. =,=
Day 8:
Electives I've chosen before somehow got clashed with other core modules so I HAD to change my electives, at the last minute. And the only thing which is available is Italian =,=
Day 9:
Tried the photocopy machine and it got us begging for some change T.T But, it was fun since it made me try to talk with the locals. They're not that bad. Hopefully, they're not that bad during my CAL and dissection session as well. Amin. The wind was blowing VERY hard today. I was literally blown away! Note to self: never to wear skirts during the windy days. Too dangerous. *.*
Day 10:
Forgot to bring out my sweater and not bothering too much about it, I just went out with only single layer of clothing. It was 12°C and the wind was blowing hard today too. A few asked whether I'm not cold. Duhhhh. I was freezing cold! But then, it was still bearable. I'm a strong girl what? *.*
Day 11:
4 open houses to be attended but we managed to go to only 2. Went to the city, and though we've been shopping in the city for three times already, still, we went back home with legs hurting and back pain because of the excessive shopping stuffs. I carried around with me my atlas, and 2 other medical books behind my back while shopping; the books I managed to take from the seniors. =,=
Day 12:
Scrambled through the contents of the cabinet to fill my stomach which can lasts until evening, hopefully. All of us were too tired ( or just too lazy ) to cook, so we just settled down with stuff like yesterday's nasi lemak made by the boys, toast, cereal and other no-need-to-cook food stuff. Suddenly, I miss home because everytime I woke up, food will always be ready. Or I would find the fridge filled with stuff that can be instantly cooked and served. T.T Oh, today, we managed to cook rice without rice cooker. Yay!
Day 13:
Freshers' week! I joined the related Socs: M-Soc ( Malaysian Soc ), i-Soc ( Islamic Soc ), Med-Soc ( Medical Soc. ) . Planned to join the Dram-Soc, well, just because we enjoyed watching plays and stuff, and yeah, it might be a good idea mingling with people, doing the backdrops and whatnot. But maybe not. Haven't decide what to take up for sports yet. Then we had peer mentor meeting, and I swear I heard my mentor mentioning about her home in Malaysia. But, I didn't quite catch her words so I just let it by and laugh it off. =,= I wonder when I will be able to get to know her well. I hope it's soon. I kinda like her ( not in any weird way though ). She's nice :)
Day 14:
Yes, I'm sure it has been 2 weeks since I first set foot on Ireland's ground, no doubt about it. Trip to the bank wasn't successful. Looks like I'm not ready yet to go on my own. I was literally helpless when no one's there beside me T^T I hope to change this asap. I need to become a strong and independent woman! Psychology class was blehhh. We didn't manage to attend the first lecture so we were pretty much clueless to what we're learning. Still can't decide the sports I want to join, it's now down to 3 options:
- Karate: ibu is sending my karate gi soon, so I won't be wasting ibu's money in posting that to me, and the fees is pretty reasonable which is 10 euro per year. The training time is also manageable.
- Archery: the guy in the booth was friendly despite his outer appearance ( which looks rather scary ) and I always wanted something which is not that vigorous, but the fees is more expensive which is 20 euro per year.
- None: if I forgot to bring money tomorrow, then byebye to both of them. Money saved, more time for my dramassss :)
Day 15:
I'm just flat out tired. It's only 10.30pm now and I think Imma hit the bed NOW. It had been a loooong day today, a dreadful one. Please let me adapt faster T^T
Day 16:
Embryology class was a fun one, thanks to a VERY kawaiii~ Japanese lecturer. Met a French girl, Jane :) Gege was with a girl in both of the classes. Once again, he distracted me T___T CAL class for basic tissue went well as well, alhamdulillah. Sat to an Irish girl named Lizzy. Irish is not thaaaat friendly. But, yeah, she's still nice. Good to know that she's just as clueless as me. Good, in terms that now I know I'm not the only one =,=
Day 17:
Rushed to the lecture theater because we left home 15 minutes before the class starts. We managed to print the lecture notes even in that short amount of time. *phewww* Skyped with so many people today: wanchik, maksu, ariesya, opah, ibu, ayah lang, mak lang, wan chow, anak2 wanchow, abah. Missing one person: ayang T^T
Day 18:
Went for a picnic out in the park when the temperature was 3°C. We were freezing cold but the picnic went well nevertheless. We took some pictures in the oh-so-lovely St. Stephen Green Park. Then, we went for some shopping. Again, this time too, we didn't fail to shop till we drop. Tried out hot chocolate at Insomnia and it was DELICIOUSSSS! So, I went to get another dose of it on our way back home. Ate nasi lemak made by an akak whose food is as good as masakan ibu ;) We returned to our house at 8pm-ish. Dreaded the long way back to our house since it was soooo cold and we needed to use the washroom asap. >.<
Day 19:
Went to seniors' house which is sooooo near to the gate behind Health Science Building. It's like 10 minutes walk to the health science building. Seriously a very niceeee house. SUPERB! Close to the campus, bus stop, masjid, halal shop. You can't ask for more! I hope we can move into a house like that, or… even better, we can move into that exact house! >3<
Day 20:
Went out of the house to find that it was raining and it was very cold. Reached health science building soaking wet since I don't own any umbrella or anything that can keep me dry. Went to AIB to activate online banking and was rewarded a voucher to redeem free coffee and muffin. I got myself a cup of milk chocolate (delicious!) and a chocolate chip muffin. Then, during the late afternoon class, I was quite late to enter the lecture theater. I didn't know what to do upon seeing the seats beside Gege was empty, but I didn't dare to sit beside him. So, I went across the lecture theatre to sit away from him. Seriously, I won't be studying if I were to sit next to him. But then, I felt a slight regret not doing it. I mean, it's not like I can get that chance where he sits by himself, with no girl beside him. Haish. What a waste =.=;;;
Day 21:
It's raining today too. So it has been raining 2 days straight starting from last morning. Went for my health screening early in the morning. But then, need to make another appointment for blood test since it is not long after I took my third HepB shot. The consultant was very careful when taking my blood. I can't imagine me doing the same thing as her. Have to start practicing from now! >.< Then, I signed up for JapsSoc. Finally, a society which I personally like. Since there's no KoreanSoc here, the Japs is good enough. They'll be joining forces with KoreanSoc from another university and make kimchi, if I heard right, so, I still can get access to some Korean here. Weeee~ Then, later in the vening, we went for a talk about "Do we need a religion?" It was informative, and I met Muslim from all over the world, which is cool. There's a not-yet-Muslim who attended the talk which I find very amazing and I was touched, somehow, by his question "A pious Christian who do good deeds, living a good life, will he go to heaven or hell?" Sheikh answered with an analogy, that it's the same as if you're very good with your parents; you'd do anything they said and would talk good about them all the time. But, you go and tell him that "Dad, I'd do anything you said, but I don't want to admit that you're my father" It's simple logic, that you have to BELIEVE and ACCEPT the fact that Allah is THE only god and everything else follow suit.
Day 22:
Finally, it stopped raining today. A lot happened today. And they were all good. Alhamdulillah. First thing was the Malaysian mixer. We didn't plan on going because first, we didn't know it was a MALAYSIAN mixer. Personally, when I hear there's a (just) mixer going to be held, I thought it's another plan of theirs to get boosts and whatnot, things they usually do every day. And yeah, I thought there's gonna be alcohol involved so I decided not to go. But then, we decided to go at the very last minute, somehow. We started making food: fried beehoon and chicken curry. I was contemplating whether to go or not in the process because I don't want the same thing happen as the international reception: a lot went through my mind. In the end, we were there, in the meeting room and represented our food which they happily took and eat with much passion, if not more. We mingled around, and were being told by almost everyone that the food was good. ;) Then, it was the CAL class, I sat at the end of the row while Gege sat on the opposite end. I decided not to sit next to him this time because it would be too obvious(?) LOL. But then, I was rather disappointed because Roe doesn't talk much and I was the one who initiated conversations. Gege would initiate conversations and I prefer it to be that way because I might have a lot in my mind to say, but just don't have the guts to say it. In the evening, I went to my first ever Karate training here in UCD. We were late and was greeted by a nice senior by the name of Darren, if I'm not mistaken. He tried to shake hands with us but we politely declined saying that we don't do physical contact with the opposite gender without any relationship. He seemed to be cool about it and make a joke about it too. So, yeah, awkward moment: terminated. Sensei is very good, and funny. He called me by my full name when I told him to just call me Mai. It's a pity that I don't have his name when he remembered my name throughout the class. =,= Since it has been long since I last did Karate, my legs were hurting and my steps were messed up. Again, limbs are not being cooperative so there are a few moments when I go stiff, and awkward doing the movements and the Sensei sensed it. =,=
Sorry, apparently this is all that I can write. It's day 28right now and I already forgotten what I did for day 23 onwards. So, I guess this is the end of the 30-day challenge, and yeah, I failed it, obviously. =,=
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