From Liverpool to Paris

I was off to fetch my parents from Manchester Airport that night. Luckily, they could still recognise me and I didn't have to hold up a cardboard with their names on it at the arrival hall. Hahahaha. The only thing we did when we got home was to shower and sleep.

They woke up extremely early the next morning. So, I decided to bring them around Liverpool before we made our way to the airport. I know this plan sounds really crazy now, bringing my parents straight to Paris the next day after their 13 hours flight to reach UK. Well, the outcome of this 7 days trips was that the organiser was dead tired and the 2 visitors were still super energetic. Will elaborate more on this when I come to it.

*N's tour agency sincerely apologise as no further booking for this tour package will be taken as the tour guide in-charge has retired shortly after the first and only run of this tour.

Liverpool has changed a lot over the last 4 years since they last visited together with my sister. Too bad that she couldn't make it for this trip.

The start of our Euro trip:
Well, our trip had a really bumpy start. First, our flight was delayed for 1.5 hours, even longer than the actual flight itself. When we reached Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, it was already 11.20pm. Initially, I'd wanted to take the RER train and metro to our hotel in District 17, but as the trains stopped working at midnight, I didn't want to risk it.

We were approached by a man claiming to be a taxi driver who offered to take us to our hotel for 20 Euros per person. Initially, I was hesitant, but as I had no other choice, we decided to take up his offer. I was already prepared to turn down his offer if his car wasn't a proper taxi, but luckily, it was.

Finally, after all that stress, we reached Campanile hotel.

The room was quite big and the beds and pillows were clean and comfortable. The most important thing was, the air-con in the room was functional with adjustable temperature. Time to retire for the night as our adventure starts in a few hours time.

Next up: Paris Through Pictures Part 1 

My big day

Finally, after all that I've been through for the past 5 years, not including the stress of going through interviews, writing personal statements, meeting the conditional offer, etc., it's my graduation!

We woke up so early that day just to arrive at the Guild of Students before 8am to collect my gown.

Last touches after putting on the mortarboard.

All set and ready for pictures!

The photographer had to help tame one stray hair of mine before taking my photos and my family portrait. We were the 2nd group to get our photos taken that day. Better get it taken before my make-up melts in the rain.

We took the opportunity to take photos of my Medical Faculty, Cedar House - the place where PBL took place, and of the library before the graduation ceremony. Luckily it hasn't started raining at that point.

The hood looks so elegant from the back.

The ceremony - everything felt so surreal at that time. I've never seen so many medical students dressed so smartly in my life. Hahahahah. I can't even recall what the Vice Chancellor said to me when I shook hands with him. The only thing that I could remember was my hands turning numb after clapping for hours and hours.

My father's shot of me taken with his super telegraphic lense from the 3rd last row of the Rear Circle, perfectly capturing every single smile line/ the bit of toast stuck in between my teeth from breakfast, the little crease on my shirt where I had ironed wrongly....I'm just exaggerating. This was taken by my camera from the video of the ceremony playing at the entrance of the Guild. Hahahaha.

It started to rain after the ceremony. Why, why of all times? Luckily I managed to take a few group photos with my friends.

We went to the drinks reception in the Crypt in the Metropolitant Cathedral. We had some white wine and finger food. It was quite stuffy in there so we decided to leave earlier for lunch.

Lunch at Bistro Jacque. As usual, the food was delicious.

Flowers and cakes from friends. Thank you so much!

Santarinas graduating.

I was so sad when the rain got heavier that afternoon. My 5 years dream of taking photos with my gown at Albert Dock was almost going down the drain up till 4.30pm when the rain suddenly stopped. We quickly took a cab and rushed straight to the Three Graces. Guess who I met there.....

Yay! At least there's someone to throw Mortarboard with me.

Family Photo

Me with the big anchor.

Jumping for joy as the rain stopped for 1 hour till 5.30pm for me to take photos around Albert Dock. After that, it was a mad rush back to the Guild to return the gown.

Last, but not least. My favourite photo:

I wonder who's graduating that day?

Finally, the end and a start of a new adventure

My life revolves around food, maybe too much

I've been so busy sorting out my things for shipping, transporting them to the loading point, packing and moving house that I didn't have time to update my blog. Sustained quite a number of injuries as well, bruises here, sprain there. At least I'm still in one piece.

E's Birthday:

A and I had to bake this cake withint the short 2 hours that E was away that afternoon attending her clinic session. When the cake came out of the oven, we went 'OMG!' cause there was a crack in the middle of it. Luckily A remembered that we had some cooking chocolate. It was something like putting a concealer on someone's face, concealing all the flaws. I don't know what will be E's reaction when she read this. Hahahahha.

Happy Birthday E! What matters most is the end product, right?

VIP in Liverpool, again:

Y3 came to visit me again. This time, I brought her to Bistro Jacques as she's never been there. Poor girl, she had brunch just before I called her to inform her of the plan. I managed to go off early that afternoon from hospital. I felt bad as I couldn't entertain her over the last few days that she was in Liverpool that's why I dragged her out to eat. Hahaha.

Lovely starters, as always. Y3 looks like she's paid to model for this restaurant.

Main course which was delicious and beautifully presented.

Desserts. Because M informed me as a good friend that creme brulee contained vanilla that I decided to go for apple crumble instead, but found out that it had cinnamon which I'm allergic to as well. I think I'll be forced to go on a diet whenever I eat here. I loved this restaurant so much that I even booked the place for right after the graduation ceremony and the drinks reception for lunch.

Dinner at Wagamama: 

Guests from Preston. They came for less than half a day to Liverpool, so I brought them to Wagamama for dinner.

I had Chicken Tama Rice which was really delivious and apparently it's really popular among customers. I wanted to tell the waiter the number of the dish but he said he knows it by heart as it's been ordered too many times that day.

Ikea:

Well, you must be wondering why is it just a picture of food and no furniture when I'm at Ikea. Hahaha, that's because my main purpose of going there was to try the Swedish meatballs. They were delicious. Ok, the furniture were well designed and appealed to me but I rather shop for them at the Ikea in Malaysia.

Homemade Satay:

It was so nice of E to offer us Satay. I can cry having it in Liverpool. She even made the peanut sauce. It was that long ago in Malaysia that I'd forgotten when. More opportunities in the near future.

Random:

Since there's too many pictures of food, I've decided to put a random photo of the colourful fly swatters sold at Clas Ohlson. Ok, it's indirectly related to food too. Well, I did try.

Finals Result Celebration at Etsu:

Dr C and Dr L who are officially dentists on that day. Congratulations. When will it be my turn?

Calpis, a Japanese soft drink which tasted a bit like Lychee.

The cute little soy sauce which only lacked a handle to differentiate it from other teapots.

Starters of sushi and sashimi.

Adding the soy sauce and wasabi.

Mains. They were all delicious. I loved the Japanese curry which was similar and unique at the same time as compared to Malaysian curry.

Final picture of Etsu. Try it and you'll know why it is ranked as the No.1 restaurant in Liverpool by Trip Advisor. Not only the food is taken into account but the atmosphere and service. Highly recommended.

That's all for now. I was so glad that I found a really nice black skirt for graduation today. I practically searched the whole of Liverpool for it.

Next plan on the list: Liverpool-London-Copenhagen-Cruise-London-Liverpool.

After all these years, I'm leaving with a bad experience

Warning! A lot of grumbling and complaining ahead

I've been staying at St Andrews Gardens for the last 2 years of my student life in Liverpool. The reason that I chose this place in the first place was because of the good location (my bus stop for my hospitals are just across the road) and good reviews from friends who have been staying there for more than 3 years.

I loved the place. Not only I had good memories of the times we had open house for Hari Raya, the bbqs on the patch of green in the middle of the semi-circular building. The friendly and helpful staff who makes the effort to know you added the finishing touches.

Then, the recession came in last year. St Andrews Gardens was bought over by Mansion Properties. That was shortly after we've moved in at the beginning of our new contract.

Here lies the problem. The new management is trying to squeeze as much profit or cut as much losses from the existing tenants who has already paid and signed the contract. They can't change the rental fees so they do that by cutting down on essential maintenance even though we've paid our rent, some of us in full.

The lifts which were used to be repaired within a week at most when they broke down stopped totally. We've been climbing the stairs for almost a year now. That wasn't too bad as we were just carrying our body weight up. The thing is, they are making everyone move out at the end of the contract, without even considering our constant pleas to repair the lifts for just a day so that we can move out!

I've just moved my boxes for shipping from the 4th floor down via stairs which is just ridiculous! I don't understand why do they want to delay replacing the lifts earlier on as they will have to repair the lifts at some point. It's not like they're going to disrupt current tenants by repairing lifts as we are not even using them! They're going to renovate the whole place in preparation for the new term so that they can increase the rent, but the builders will definitely need a mode of transportation of heavy items up 5 floors right? Isn't there a possibility of maybe using one of the lifts as a cargo lift? If the current management can treat existing tenants that poorly, I don't think they're any better when the new ones move in. In the process, they're already creating a bad name for themselves as the current tenant, including myself are already discouraging potential tenants from staying here. I'm even blogging about this.

J, one of the porter was kind enough to help me carrry up all the empty shipping boxes which I'd ordered. From that day on, I was already dreading the worse and yet, the worse was not the worst that I'd imagined.

Carrying down the last box, which was the smallest one and one of the lightest, I think I'd become too careless and the lighting at the top flight of stairs wasn't the brightest, I missed the last step and fell spraining my ankle and dropping my box in the process. Haih.....just right after my dad told me to be careful and not hurt myself. I don't know if this is some sort of premonition that he has or something, every time somebody advises you to be careful, something is bound to happen. Papa, sorry for not listening.

I should have retired for the night after carrying those 5 huge boxes to M's flat whose lift was still working so that I wouldn't have to suffer too much tomorrow, rather than stupidly persevering on with the last 2.

I seriously hope that my ankle doesn't swell up tomorrow as I'll need to transport them over to the loading place for shipping. Wish my luck. I still need my ankles for tomorrow.

Liverpool Dental Exhibition

Summer is finally here! What a great day to be out and about. I had a flatmates outing to the Dental Exhibition which was held at the Echo Arena this year.

Armed with a badge each, we went in empty handed and came out at least 2 big bags, each containing at least 5kg of freebies. Muahahaha.

Lunch at Wagamama:

All the restaurants at Liverpool One had opened all the doors and removed the front panel as the weather was so hot and sunny. We were just glad that there were seats indoors to rest after dragging all our things there. Need to refuel first before making the uphill journey back.

I loved the Chicken Tama Rice which I ordered. It was grilled chicken topped with gravy and served with sticky sushi rice. My flatmates had a variety of noodles which were not bad too.

Good luck to all preparing for the last dash to the finishing line. I myself need all the motivation that I can muster to finish off this essay before I can graduate. It's getting more difficult to find the passion and concentration that I used to have in the past. Haih....Somebody motivate me please!

P.s. if the CPR tutorial is too hot and distracting for you, I recommend that you revert back to the clinical skills handout to prepare for the BLS station at OSCEs. Hahahahaha.

Busy weekend

I attended the forum organised by UKEC which explored briefly on the issue of brain drain in Malaysia. 1.5 hours of discussion clearly wasn't enough for this huge topic but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I learned more about the situation back home.

The poster

3 prominent speakers and a moderator who teased our own opinions on the issue. I was impressed that these speakers actually do know their stuff and the experiences that they have shaping the country.

Dinner was served after. I was starving by then. We had Papadom, Ayam Masak Merah served with Nasi Minyak and Acar. Desserts were Seri Muka, Kuih Ka Sui, fruits and puddings.

Saturday: The visit of PL to Liverpool after 2 long years

Only visitor are motivated enough to climb up the stairs all the way to the 2nd floor to the restaurants at Liverpool One. Did I tell her about the escalator behind the stairs? Hmmm....can't remember.

We had Thai food at Yee Rah, one of the restaurants in Liverpool One.

I had Yee Rah curry with Jasmine Rice whereas PL had Papaya salad. The service was really fast and the food is delicious.

We stopped by Sblended to get a milkshake before PL started her shopping spree. I think F and I just watched her shop in amazement. Hahahah.

While one person had bags and bags of goods, the other 2 had pictures and pictures of random things.

We chilled out at Brew tea bar and lounge after a hard day work at shopping. Hehehehe. I had Raspberry Ripple tea which tasted really good and it was soothing at the same time. The cakes there were delicious too. Maybe the closest thing to a mamak stall in the UK.

Right after we've finished our tea, we headed straight to Big Bowl Noodle, a new Chinese restaurant very near the Chinatown arch to meet up with L to have dinner. The food there is not bad and the portions were huge! I couldn't finish my Wanton Ho Fun cause of the tea I had previously. There's Curry Laksa which was quite spicy and other stir fry options too.

Sunday: Change of plans

The main purpose of PL's visit this time was actually to go for afternoon tea at Leaf Tea Shop & Bar as it was voted as one of the top 10 tea houses in the UK. But, but, but.....haih....I didn't realise that prior bookings was essential. I did try booking 2 hours prior to departing but minimum booking is 1 day in advance. Oh well, maybe we were not at a high enough class to enjoy afternoon tea just yet. At least Manchester is not that far away. PL, you must come again and I'll book this place 1 week in advance next time.

Our plan B turned out to be really good in the end. We had a 3 course meal at Bistro Jacques which is an authentic French restaurant off Hardman Street. I'm definitely bringing my parents here!

They have a different set of lunch menu everyday which makes everyday unique! It was very affordable too. Just less than 8 pounds.

Starter of soups and scampi salad. I loved the salad. It was really fresh.

 I loved the decorations in the restaurant. It has that French feel to it.

Main course - grilled bacon, seabass and chicken served with a heap of roasted vegetables. Very healthy for an eat out meal. The bacon was a bit salty but if it was ate with the potatoe mash, it was just right.

Our favourite order - Desserts. From Tarte de Chocolate, Tiramisu to Creme Brulee. There's always room for desserts.

Poor PL, shortly after lunch, I handed her over to M and rushed off to fetch another 9 tourists visiting Liverpool and staying at my place. By the time I got back to meet her here, it was already quite late.

Therefore, I made it up to her by taking photos and photos of her around Albert Dock. This place changed so much from 1st year.

Model for the day

And of course the person taking the photos is the professional photographer for the day. Hahahaha.

This shot was taken by my assistant photographer, M.

If anyone was wondering where is the ferries wheel now, it's near the Echo arena.

Starbucks at Beatles Story Shop. I didn't realise how spacious and comfortable the shop was in the basement as I had never visited it.

Liverpool One in the 2010s.

Thank you PL for visiting. Hopefully you had a great time here. Do come back for afternoon tea sometime soon and enjoy your Easter holidays while I envy you here.

Interview on Wednesday!!!! How, how, how? Sleep first, worry later. Now to start writing up my cases.