leeds meets london.

last week, i had the pleasure of taking my friends lorraine, jess and carla, from leeds around london. unfortunately, it was yet again a rainy day so we had to make alternate plans to our day at the olympic park in stratford. our first stop was at the british museum, at which i snapped this beautiful shot of the architecture.

after wandering around for some time, we got hungry and stopped by chinatown, to this cute restaurant selling the best xiao long bars, which are technically steamed dumplings with the most gorgeous soup inside of them. we got the waiter to take a polaroid for us, but unfortunately it was blurred :( oh wells, better luck next time!

after some hearty food, we decided to explore london on foot and headed towards covent garden where we saw this magnificent display of white balloons covering the ceiling. it was absolutely breathtaking, and coupled with the sweet sound of classical music, the atmosphere was absolutely britishly perfect.

for dinner, the girls suggested belgo. i hadn't been before, but after visiting once, i'm sure i will return again in the near future! they specialise in selling mussels which taste so sooo good. we ended up ordering a pot each and devoured it with sides of chips and laughter.

the night ended with a classic amorino gelato and lots of hyperness as we headed home. what can i say, we had a blast, and i can't wait for these girls to take me round leeds when i get the chance to visit!

lately.

krispy kreme doughnuts and green tea

touring gyms with janane

making lots and lots and lots of profiteroles

practising kick ups with etain on some rather red astro turf

wetherspoons and girl time with karen and minnie after church

even more feasting at a korean restaurant with some friends from hong kong

enjoying the flash sale at brandy melville last week with etain and selina

horniman museum

the last time i was at horniman museum was with kelly, doing a fun photoshoot in the gardens, but i never got a good look around in the museum until i visited again this summer with loksze. the museum is famous for its preserved animals and bones which are actually pretty interesting! (how educational of us!)

a lot of memories came back from when i came here for a school trip once in primary school, in particular this giant walrus.

and here, loksze is discovering the 'chung' bell. he's not normally fascinated by bells unless their name is the same as his surname!

and to end our trip at hornimans, we did a quick animal walk and said hi to the hilarious llamas and cute bunnies.

end of summer hike -- seven sisters cliff.

roll on our second hike!! ever since the big 10 hour hike from rye to hastings which you can read about here, we've wanted to plan a more chillaxed one. i'm so happy this one was such a success and that we had such an enjoyable time laughing and chatting despite the big grey clouds and light rain.

seven sisters is absolutely beautiful - its white chalk cliffs, the green patches of grass, and the fresh blue waters.

every angle was so scenic, and we managed to discover many features throughout our walk.

unlucky for us, england had been through a rainy week, and it was even raining that very morning. fortunately, it had stopped and the sun had began to appear, however the mud became extremely sticky and wet. with our nice shining sneakers, we tried to dodge all the muddy bits but were literally 'stuck in the mud'! steph being our most daring hiker even took off her shoes and went bare footed through the mud bath!

a stylish stile.

happy hikers!

now this is a pose to remember. i found that walking like this made hills so much easier to get up. as weird as it looks, the others started copying me and we found it totally hilarious.

still hiking through all the way to the seventh cliff!

it got tiring towards the end, but with the love and support of each other we got through all seven cliffs, and with a view like this, it was all worth it. my packet of oreos also made everyone incredibly happy and were a huge pick-me-up throughout the day.

 after a time of relaxation on the beach, we headed back to find that the last buses at our bus stop were gone, so we ended up trekking an extra mile or two to fetch another bus back to seaford train station. long story short, there were also problems on the train services and we ended taking a whopping two hours to get home!

 nevertheless, i've never had a better shower in my life that evening! i really praise God that despite the rain and gloom, we managed to get a heck of a lot of sunshine and that i was able to spend this day with all my beautiful sisters in Christ before heading off to the big U!

graffiti walls.

long time no post. here's a couple of groovy-graffiti-gangster-iphone pics to make my blog cool, taken after a trip to the cinema to watch inside out. the movie was pretty cool too.

oh, and also this. the beautiful shadows and light at sunset...just because.

i'm going to uni!!!!!!

two weeks ago i received one of the best news ever. i passed my a levels and i'm accepted into southampton university!! overjoyed was an understatement and even the rain could not make me sad.

i remember that very morning, my friend jan texted me at 6:30am telling me to check my uni status on ucas. i ignored her as 1) it was hella early, and 2) ucas said the website wasn't unavailable till 8am. at 7ish, she texted again telling me she got into southampton and so with my eyes half opened i logged on. a cookies notification popped up, but in the blurred out background, i saw the word congratulations. and so it went from there.

my silly sister trying to dodge the sun in the car

surprising for some, i hadn't actually visited my uni before i applied for it, so this was my first time stepping foot in southampton! some people think stress and luck, i think spontaneity is the way to go. i went with my family and after stopping by at a good value chinese restaurant, we headed to visit my accommodation.

my halls had a great communal feel to it and i liked how the place was so well connected with great transport links (and free wifi on the buses!)

this is the law building which i should be walking in and out of on a daily basis. opposite is a nice cafe with a starbucks which i shall be enjoying on a daily basis too. woooo i think i'm ready!