diwali.

last week was celebration of diwali, an indian festival of lights and fireworks. my flat mate happens to be an international student from india, and was craving the festivities he would have been enjoying if he were in india. as his flat mates and friends, we decided to be his family and celebrate with him.

we bunked our contract law lecture in the morning and painted these clay pots instead, also known as diya. i hadn't held a paintbrush in so long, and it felt so good to use the creative side of my brain again. 

in the evening, we all headed out to a hindu temple where many people gathered to watch the fireworks. to say the least, we stood out as the must multi-cultural group there. the people i've met here in southampton have grown to be my family over these few weeks and i'm so glad to have met them all.

and hey-ho, our family picture got published in the southampton news the next day!

after fireworks, i went to fetch kfc with the lads where i was satisfied with a good ole chicken wrap, and them with a milkshake each.

after waiting at the bus stop for a long enough period of time, we were put out of our misery in the cold. 

this tired one here conked out on our bus journey, and joe being the 'funny' one decided we should get off the bus without waking him up. annoyed is a little understatement when he woke up.......

london in a flash.

this weekend definitely felt like the quickest one yet. travelling for two hours to each end, seeing many many people, getting up to the usual banter; the old saying that time flies when you're having fun really is true. 

saturday was my 'staying in' day with my family where we caught up, ate lots of food, watched the x factor, and i had a good ole bake - cooking up a green tea cheesecake and a coffee chiffon cake sandwiched with some cream. my mumma sure missed my cakes and made sure i knew (as well as posting it on Facebook) so i would come home more often to bake for her. if only my stack of work vanished at the click of my fingers and travelling home fitted in my student budget!

sunday was church day. we were all going to separate churches as my family are involved in different ministries, but we managed to catch the same train together just like we used to when we went for family day outs.

my church morning that day consisted of catching up with selina and yas over breakfast and chatting about uni life and the challenges we face - and it is during these conversations i realise the recurring theme that there is nowhere better than home.

after a few crazy snapchats, worship and a sermon on the importance of self value, i went to fetch some nandos (aka overrated chicken) with etain, karen and christy.

it was a good catch up with the girls and really great to be let loose in chinese culture again. also did i mention the fact they extra-salted my peri chips?

cheeky selfie when my phone is unoccupied

i went back to church to chill until i had to fetch my coach. there i bumped into hang, a guy who encouraged me to take on law two years ago when i had to write my personal statement and complete my uni application. i was so unsure about the course at the time and was often so overwhelmed by it. but he and his wife gave me so much support and even introduced me to their lawyer friend who gave me a greater insight into the content and possibilities of law, in addition to treating me to an extravagant meal. i've come so far since then and don't regret my decision to study the subject at all, and i reckon i owe quite a bit to this couple.

i managed to catch my coach just in time despite delays with the bus and then a horrible diversion during my journey to the coach station. thankfully i made it and was able to get back to uni safely. 

can't wait to be back - see you in christmas london!!

defining spontaneity.

last week, i spontaneously booked tickets back to london as i haven't been home for a month. and so i spontaneously hola-ed at etain and we met as soon as i hopped off the coach at victoria. after a quick mcdonalds and chilling with our fav budget meal, we took the train to good ole croydon.

etain had planned to get her second ear piercings and me being spontaneous, decided to get my first ever piercings too after considering for as long as 2 text messages. i signed the form, paid the cash, and got the needle jabbed through me. voila. spontaneity at its best. not to mention, my family didn't even know i was coming home this weekend as i was gonna surprise them - double surprise!

we had a good girly date: shopping around, looking at christmas jumpers (never too early) and giggling over a gingerbread latte each. i went back to surprise my family that evening and they were overjoyed to see me to say the least. its so good coming back to a hearty home cooked meal, and my parents were dually surprised at the bravery i've mustered over my few weeks at uni. or perhaps this is just spontaneity at its best.

london to southampton.

the next day, we ended up waking up bright and early at 1pm and lounged around with some music in the background. as we started to feel the rumbles in our tummies, i introduced these guys to the famous 'chinese' street on the walk to uni. as only i had a free bus pass, we decided to go on a mini hike up the hill which to my surprise wasn't as bad, and we had a cute time double dating in southampton.

the first time i visited this restaurant was also the first time i visited southampton and my uni for the next three years with my family. it was nice to reminisce and see how far i've come since then. the roads i walked around with my family that day have now become my everyday uni route and roads that i am now most familiar with.

again, it has been such a long time since i've had chinese and so i ordered a seafood noodle, whilst the others got roast duck rice, some shredded duck rice and fried prawns. needless to say, there was so much bants at the table, especially as the the family business of the two guys are takeaways so they had a thing for criticising the food of other chinese restaurants. 

i came to realise how much i've missed spending time with some of my most favourite chinese people; i haven't had the chance to make many chinese friends despite there being many international students from china and hong kong, and so i felt so at home when chinese jokes started peering through in our convos and i got to embrace my roots again.

as we woke up quite late, our day became quite small and by the time we knew it, it was time for etain and lewis to head back to london. we walked together to my uni where they had to catch their coach, and seeing as we were a tad early i showed them a snuggly place to sit down. 

etain has a thing for eames chairs (especially the black one) and so when i showed her this place, she was like a kid in a candy shop - picking out the best colour chair to sit on. the boys ended up playing clash of clans, and so we just took selfies.

to avoid missing the coach we headed back out, to which loksze pointed out that we would look like flowers growing out from this bush if you saw us on the other side. etain snapped these pics; weird but cute.

i surprised myself by giving loksze a piggyback, and after showing my muscular skills, we said our goodbyes to these two lovely people.

when loksze booked his tickets to southampton, he did something no one else would do: not book a return ticket back to warwick. we hurried back and did it asap so he could get home on sunday, and at a good price. the rest of the day composed of eating out of a tub of ice cream and watching kung fu killer on netflix. 

sunday morning i showed loksze the church i've been settling into, ate biscuits and drank tea with my church family, hopped back to my halls, cooked pesto pasta with cheese and crushed doritos, and devoured in it whilst watching grown ups. 

what a brilliant and blessed weekend i've had! just as i was missing these people, they all came down to find me. i'm not sure when i'll see them again as i'm already up to my neck with work these days, but i'm certain christmas will be epic.

they're back!

 this halloween weekend, etain, lewis and loksze all came down to see me here in southampton!! it was such an awesome reunion as i hadn't seen these people who i am the closest to since i visited london one month back.

 it was conveniently half term week this week so etain and lewis were able to pop down on friday. loksze being all the way in warwick decided to pop down the day before so we could spend more time together and make use of the £40 he spent on travel alone.

friday night featured a grime concert in southampton where they all went to see jme. we watched barbie the movie together (or forced the guys to), made dinner - sausages and chips ofc, and chilled in the kitchen playing agario which everyone were all so addicted to.

loksze leaving his mark in my flat kitchen to which an unknown flatmate replied to his comment

grime is not particularly my jam and so i didn't follow suit to the concert. instead i did some indian dancing with my flatmates, watched a horror movie and pranked a girl in the flat below which occupied me till 4am when they came back.

4am selfies with ma homie

fortunately for us, my flatmate bought a spare mattress to uni thinking it wasn't supplied, and so we borrowed it and carried it up two flights of stairs to make snuggling the four of us in my tiny halls bedroom possible. tight squeeze, but we did it! and so the banterous weekend continued the next day...

lately.

spending 4 hours in the library during non-exam season which feels incredibly weird.

a reminder of the promises God has made whilst walking home

getting excited from a few new purchases from american eagle

still going strong with the drinks

thankful for a much-needed catch up time with lottie and jan, two of my friends from sixth form who also ended up in southampton!