Brisbane and Gold Coast Trip

Wow, the holiday that I have been looking forward to had finally arrived! And my trip to Queensland proved to be fruitful…There were Chean Ying, Yeu Sheng, Daniel, Nooi Hoay, Chau Wang, Ye Chia , Ryan and I…

Queensland is indeed the sunshine state. The weather is even hotter than in Malaysia.

17/11/2007~ Reached Brisbane in the evening. Had a brief tour to University of Queensland then had a splendid dinner with our guides-- Li Suan, Min Shan, Penny and Chiet Yen

In the University of Queensland...

18/11/2007~ Under the scorching heat, we had a tour around the heart of the city. There were Brisbane Museum, Southbank ( I heard that there are altogether 13 bridges across the river linking the 2 parts of the city) , Roma Street Parklands ( The flowers were captivating with rainbow-like colours) , the casino of Brisbane, manmade beach, lifestyle market, an artwork exhibition in Suncorp Stadium. I also had my first sunset watching at the Kangaroo point. And finally, Chelfi and I met and had dinner at a Chinese Restaurant in China Town. We also visited the famous and picturesque Story Bridge.

Sunset at Kangaroo Point

19/11/2007~ After bidding farewell to our friends cum local guides, we headed to Gold Coast. This was my first time staying in a Backpackers hostel and I found the experience valuable. It was clean and quite comfy despite the noise from the traffic in the morning. We met Wong, Sze Ching, Audrey and Wan Mit for dinner. I savoured a seafood pizza…yum…yum…A night visit to Main beach completed my day.

20/11/2007~ Our first theme park in Gold Coast—Dreamworld. It was really fun but I regretted starting with the most thrilling rides (the Claw, Tornado and Vortex). That was the second time I vomited in a theme park! The first time was in Luna Park when I had my orientation week for the residential hall. Afterwards, I had a relaxing day, taking photos, watching shows( have you seen tigers climbing trees? They are really agile! )and queuing for rides.

21/11/2007~ Seaworld was awesome as well. The dolphin and seal shows were fantastic. These shows which I saw when I was still a kid still manage to attract me so much! The dolphins were exceptionally graceful and adorable...I enjoyed the ride in the Ferris wheel as I took a lot of scenic photos. And, coincidentally, my uncle also happened to be on a vacation with his family, so we met and had a great time chatting and savouring home cooked food...

Yes, you didn't see wrongly! The dolphins were carrying their trainer!

22/11/2007~I have heard from the others that Movie World is meant for kids, yet I think this is one of the theme parks that I enjoyed the most... Cartoon characters have never lost their place in my heart... I managed to have pictures taken with Duffy and Bugs Bunny! And the police academy show was so hilarious!

23/11/2007~ The last theme park was the most thrilling one given my love to water- Wet 'n' Wild ... water slides eg Blackhole, Mach 5, Tornado, Aqua Racer etc filled my day even though I admit that I have swallowed a lot of water in the process... LOL...

This is the wave pool...

24/11/2007~ Who can claim that he or she has been to Gold Coast without a trip to Surfer's Paradise? The fine sand and the gentle slope of the beach enabled us to wade into the water and enjoyed the cooling sea water under the scroching sun... We also windowshopped in the famous Cavill Mall... If it's not because of the schoolies events, we would have visited the weekly market as well...

25/11/2007~ As always, we went shooping again, this time to the humongous Pacific Fair. I bought 3 Tees from Jay Jays... And I love the decorations in the mall with a playground and a lotus pond...Then, we all bid farewell to Queensland finally..

But, instead of resting in College Square, we went around and explored the city-- Williamstown ,Melbourne Central, Melbourne Museum, Sunday Market at Arts Centre, Royal Botanical Garden, Chinatown (mostly for the food!), Queen Victoria Market (for souvenirs and American doughtnut!)...

It sounds like I am really an enthusiastic traveller!

I am finally flyingback to Malaysia tomorrow..Wish me a safe journey! And, yet again, I am going to spend half a day visiting Singapore!

真糗！

我今天又跌到了！人家本来就不灵活嘛！每一次打羽球都要不停的道歉，不仅因自己的球技太差了，也因为让我的排档好难过哦！然后每一次做户外运动都要美阿鸟骂。难道我不想自己玩得好一点吗？但是我真的是运动神经迟钝哦。。。几乎每一次跌倒都是被人推的，因为真的跑不够快去躲避迎面而来的朋友。。。结果就跌了两次，头也被羽球拍打了两次。。。每一次都好痛哦，但只能怪自己笨啦！有两次眼泪就不由自主地掉了下，朋友们都被吓傻了。。。真糗！反应太慢了。。。真怀疑自己的CV是不是被量错了。。。今晚又要打羽球了，不要再受伤了哦！哈哈！

Idle....idle...idle!!!!

I guess that almost everyone had grumbled at some point of time that exam stress was too overwhelming....a lot of people fell sick eg Dilys and some others suffered from insomnia or even temporary depression...as for me, i was just dreading the seemingly endless 3 weeks of swot vac...i was "imprisoned" in my room and really wanted to have a getaway yet was overcome by guilt...so i mugged and mugged and mugged and bored myself almost to death!

However, when I finished my exam yesterday, I found that I am so hardwired into the studying mode that I find it hard to relax...I am now learning how to be in a holiday mood! First rule of the holiday, sleep as late as you can and wake up at least after noon (meaning that I got to skip brekky ;) ).... catch up with all the TV series( love you, DC ++ ! )slack and procrastinate....lose my sense of time....watch shows till I fall asleep....lol...

So far, the holiday has been promising...I can't wait to go to Gold Coast (countdown: 6 days!!!) and go home to meet mom and so many friends back in Malaysia!!! And I have to get my driving licence( me, clumsy me....hope that will be pretty easy..) I have already researched on the theme parks this morning and I think we will go and have the best time in our lives-- White Water World, Dreamworld, Wet n Wild, Seaworld, Warner Bros and Movieworld....here I come!!!!

Well, today, Ryan, Jessica, Yu Wan, Chau Wang and I cooked for all the original Misu members and Augusta as long as her friends.... We are really grateful that they provided us with a sense of belonging in Australia by arranging a nice reunion dinner on CNY eve or else I think I might be sobbing secretly under my blanket!!! As usual, we cooked a lot....we were only up to the first dish when it was 12.30pm while I was still busy finalising the batik cake! We all rushed madly, cooking, washing, marinating, fetching utensils, setting up the dining table and chairs... And then, we received the life-saving call that Augusta is going to be a bit late....phew...we gave a sigh of relieve ananimously...We really had quality time together, bonding and joking all the way to around 4pm...Augusta was telling us that we will become slimmer once we got back to Malysia but I really think I will disagree on that as mom, dad and aunt are going to feed and feed and feed me!!! And it was really amazing that most of them can remember my name!

of course, being Misu, there is always plenty of photo time!!!! Everyone was so relaxed and contented and i really hope that we can all stay this way...friends forever, guys! =)

Odd enough, I still wake up so early even though I slept late these few days, not that I set the alarm clock the night before, but I think that's because I really have good quality sleep... and I feel so energetic!!!! So, that explains why I am writing blog so early in the morning...

I am almost done with my packing already...The piling boxes look really intimidating though...I never know that I have got so many things!!! My room is now in a disarray with very limited space to move about...

too bad I forgot where did I put my "before" picture of my room...

Today is Sunday, where should I go? Erm...let's wait for the others to wake up first =P

OSCE

I am so screwed! My first OSCE practice was a total disaster! Got to practise even in my dreams now...lol...gambate!!!!

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I have been really studying these few days as my finals is really just around the corner. I wil have my OSCE soon on 1 Nov and then after a written paper, I will be FREE!!!!! I even plan to go straight to city right after the exam! That gives you an inkling about how sick I am in revising!


Nothing really special during the last week except that a group of us went to play frisbee and boomerang on one sunny day... We really enjoyed it and even played childhood games! Nevertheless, almost all of us injured ourselves as we were playing hard... Now, I have 2 bruises and a scratch on my right knee...yet I must say that the game was really rejuvenating...

Yesterday, Yu Wan finally cooked Bo Bo Cha Cha for me...I had been bugging her for that for quite a while...lol...

I'm now off to practising OSCE! ciao!

The start of Swot Vac!

Yesterday we had an anatomy trivia quiz. I have always thought that there are a lot of anatomy pros in the faculty so I really didn’t expect that I emerged as the second highest scorer! I was 5 marks behind our cadaver boy—Chau Wang of course! Anyway, I got Gerry’s latest Dartos CD with his dog's picture as well as a brachial plexus poster…

This is Gerry's Bessie Beagle!

By the way, there was an anatomy question for dog! Guess what is the extra bone in a dog compared with a human? Ask me personally if you want to know the answer!

It was the last official day for first year medicine. We were all very excited at the prospect of a real holiday and I really look forward to the Gold Coast trip! But before that we have to wade through the tricky OSCEs and a 3 hour written exam.. a lot of my friends from other faculties envy us medical students as we have less paper but it is really a pain! Imagine studying so much material and cramming the information…
And we just celebrated Yu Wan’s birthday today. There were 3 different kinds of cakes—butter, chocolate and sponge and 4 types of kuay teow—3 were fried with soya sauce and another one with Chau Wang’s mom’s secret recipe—ketchup! Yu Wan herself made almond flavoured jelly. And there were jasmine tea as well as longan syrup…

The new MISU “couple” A Niao and A Zhu were our entertainers who kept us busy laughing with their lame jokes…

This was really a good way to start my revision week!

I feel so full and satisfied now!

13 days to OSCE; 21 days to finals!

Rainy day, Cancer Awareness Day

Who said that the weather forecast in Melbourne is hardly ever accurate? What transcended today proves that I should really check it everyday… It was raining so early in the morning so it was the very first time that the MISU members didn’t go to uni together…when I reach uni, I was already soaked through…so I had to sit uncomfortably in the lecture theatre for 2 hours with my wet jacket as it was cold in the lecture theatre, trying my very best to concentrate….to ignore my bedraggled socks and sneakers, as well as my half wet jeans…the lecturer was lecturing confidently about muscarinic agonists and antagonists but all in my mind was to get out of the lecture theatre and have a nice warm shower….anyway, incredibly, I went through the whole day from 8-4pm in this unsightly state…

Well, at least the day was not all bad…we had breast and prostate cancer awareness day so there was a BBQ (with Australian favourite BBQ food, sausage sandwich of course) and a lot more mouth-watering confectioneries courtesy of my fellow med friends…all guys worn blue whereas the girls donned pink! At the end of the day, our MUMUS rep announced that the total donation was up to $1000…amazing indeed!
Countdown to finals—28 days