Shortlived

I hate to say this.

But I have shifted again.

Tumblr's too attractive.

So there -

http://saffronseeds.tumblr.com/

I hope to see you.

Parcel of love!

Thanks Daddy, Mummy, Big bro, Small bro and Keng for this parcel of love!

I'm the happiest girl ever!

I'm back.

3am. Swedish time.

I'm hopelessly awake.

It's my first sleepless night after spending a month here in Europe.

I hate how my mind runs like a wild horse when all I want is some quiet.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Suddenly I realize 

That if I stepped out of my body I would break 

Into blossom." 

James Wright, Above the River: The Complete Poems

(Source: boxofoctaves)

Took me quite some time to smile like this again ;)

I know what you did.

And for that I thank you :)

Gothenburg

Blogging frm my iPhone at the moment. Am currently in the city of Gothenburg. It's 11:40pm, freezing cold outside. I'm lying on my bed in a 12-bed dorm in a hostel. Life seems too good to be true. Being on exchange is truly the best experience of my life. Minimal academic stress. Maximum relaxation. Everyday, life is happiness and excitement, melted with a tinge of uncertainty, which makes us all cherish the present moment even more. Glad to have met the girls on the trip. Sam, Joyce, Xinzi, Shan, Claire. Awesome girls with awesome personalities. There's rly nothing more I can ask for. Immensely grateful.

Losing faith.

Imy.

Rice oh rice

I just had the BEST meal ever.

Had rice after like, a month?!

Omg, I've been here for a month already?

Time surely flies.

Successful attempt at cooking rice in a pot.

(Since we don't have rice cooker)

Stir-fried broccoli and our half-eaten pot of curry chicken.

Coupled with my recent success at milk tea making,

everything feels like home. 

Gonna do a post with all my food experiments soon!

Life's good.

Cheers!

Street musician

This is so, so inspiring.

Adding on to my wish list - to catch a street musician like him in Europe.

埋怨

好奇怪，

有時候覺得很快樂很快樂。

有時候心情卻很低沈很低沈。

不知道還要多少秒針的颤动，

多少次花開了又謝，

才能填滿心中那可怕的缺孔。

為甚麼世界要沒有永恆。

為甚麼我找不回兩個人遺失的美好。

為甚麼有些事情不能倒帶。

就這一晚，放縱我吧。

讓我像風一樣地肆瘧。

讓我毫無理由地埋怨世界，

讓我任信地刁難回憶。

再一次牽著我好嗎，

我不會亂跑了。

Some feelings, I guess, will always be there.

You may have seen this photo I posted on Fb a few days ago,

which generated quite an amazing number of likes.

It wasn't a tourist attraction, just a place J and I stumbled upon

on our way home from the gym a few days back.

Here's the story.

The sky had been immensely gloomy the whole week,

but that day the sky was so beautiful.

J and I saw the horizon across the road while we were on the bus,

that gradient was so perfect, the colors so rich.

I've never seen such orange in my life.

We shrieked like American tiara girls seeing Barbie for the first time,

attracting some puzzled looks from the commuters.

We made a spontaneous decision to alight and catch the sunset.

Unfortunately the next bus stop was a 10-minute walk from the spot

and before we even got there, the sun was almost buried.

Being slightly disappointed, we strolled closer to the water,

hoping to catch a last glimpse before the sun was completely submerged.

The water was so so still that evening.

Or so we thought.

Until we realised that it wasn't just still,

it was frozen.

The lake was frozen, it'd turned into ice.

We both gasped in awe.

It was as if the world was on hold for a while

and we had to take a few seconds to absorb the incredible phenomenon.

We weren't sure if it was safe to step on the lake

but somewhere across the golden streams of sunlight,

a black silhouette glided seamlessly through the beams.

Someone was skating on the lake!!

Awe turned into excitement as we waved and greeted him from where we were.

He skated towards us and we exchanged a brief conversation.

He shared that the ice was about 10cm thick,

and that it was generally safe to be stepped on,

though there were some parts which weren't completely solid yet.

The first few steps were beyond incredible.

It was a feeling beyond words, beyond my imagination,

and beyond everything I ever thought could be 'reality'.

I felt more alive than ever.

That evening, it was incredibly beautiful.

I'm only a quarter through my life, inexperienced, naive and stubborn as can be.

But this was no doubt the best moment of my life.

When I become old and forgetful,

I may have to look back on these photos to recall how the place looked like.

But I will never forget how I felt.

Some feelings, I guess, will always be there.

I didn't leave because it was hard.

I left because it was no longer worth it.

Best day of my life ;)

Just what should I specialise in

3 years ago I set my eyes on getting a Communication major

because I've always been interested in the very essence of communications.

A year later I found my fascination in advertising

so much that whenever I read magazines,

I never failed to scrutinise each advert,

laugh at how dumbed-down some were, 

and marvel at the ingenuity of others.

Last year, I finally stepped foot into my dream school,

took a couple of general mods and a few other advertising mods.

And found out that the advertising route may not be what I truly want after all.

Just how fickle am I.

I've never seen myself as a future news journalist either,

I don't enjoy covering news stories and I've never been into current affairs.

What I fear most is having to cover tragic accidents and attend funerals

while coaxing stories out of grieving family members.

Seriously, I will never be able to do that.

I've been wondering ever since then just which path belongs to me.

Until a couple days ago, 

I was randomly mind mapping a list of things I love doing -

Writing + travel + photography

Then it struck me that this is the perfect combination

to be a travel photojournalist.

I love writing, but I hate having my writings judged and graded.

Which is why I've always found it incredibly stressful in media writing classes.

But I've decided to stray out of my comfort zone this time

and take up a news writing mod here in Europe.

I've heard about seniors carrying out their internships in Pakistan and Nepal currently.

While I'm not sure if I have the flair and passion

to risk health and safety for a job like that,

it sure sounds much more attractive than a desk bound 9-5 job,

even a high-paying one.

Then again, covering riots and social unrest isn't quite my thing.

It'd be awesome to write for national geographic though.

Hmm, travel, nature, photog, writing.

Heaven.

Hahaha I'm best at day dreaming really.

I figured that since I don't really know what I want,

I must well try everything out then at least I'd know what I don't like.

A step at a time is what I'm taking.

As for now, it's writing class.

I'll probably be interning at one of our chinese radio stations when I'm back,

just to get a hang of it.

I'd very much wish to keep every post short and sweet,

but like you, I just need to rant sometimes.

繼續

感觉离朋友最远的时候，

是看见她穿着你没见过的衣服，在没有你的地方拍了张自拍照。

标注是你不知道的事，回复的是你不认识的人。

［取自几米漫画世界］

世界很殘忍。人卻很堅強。

我們要不斷學習，學習繼續，繼續奮鬥。
加油！:)

Mornings in Europe

I love mornings like this.

Calm, surreal.

It's so quiet you can hear the ringing in your ears.

Waking up from a deep, deep sleep.

Then staring out of the window for that snow-baked forest.

Sunlight streaming through the half drawn blinds.

Pure bliss.

It's as if the past never happened

and the future lies completely in your hands.

When there is so much hope and so little despair.

When you feel like the Universe carries you

and you float like a plankton in the mighty blue waters.

It's amazing what Europe does to you.

Every morning you wake up with a little more hope.

Every night you sleep, looking forward to the next.

"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane 

by those who couldn't hear the music."

Played out

9am. In Sweden. Wide awake.

Thinking through a decision many cannot fathom

or may even disapprove of.

All my life I've made unpopular decisions. 

I've never been a crowd follower.

I know what I want.

And I've never been understood for that.

I don't give explanations.

Yet I tried today, 

but it didn't seem to make anything better.

Which makes me wonder why I even tried.

You know why.

It's silly huh.

Sometimes I really wonder why I even sank so deep

for something that's not even worth a tenth of my efforts.

I've been through a phase where I was lost and deluded.

But I'm over it and I know what I want now.

Like you said,

there're some friends we should let go of when the time comes.

There's no point in holding onto and cherishing someone

when he/she doesn't see you the same way.

At last, you've played me out.

From I song I wrote but never did play for you:

My eyes are sore but from your wisdom I've grown,

Still, I'm sicka chasing you.

要爱对的人 而不是硬把别人爱对

Skype fun

I love my friends hahaha

Missing them so much here.

School tomorrow!

It's sad that you think so.

Thank god, cause a clear sky just wouldn't feel right.

I live in heaven

If I haven' told you,

I now live in this little town in Sweden called Jönköping.

Read as yearn-sher-ping.

So Sweden is right here in Northern Europe.

And if we zoom in further,

Jönköping's right there in Southern Sweden,

at the southernmost tip of Lake Vättern (pictures in my previous post).

Jönköping's a small town of about 125 000 people.

Everyone here is generally very, very friendly.

I have to say the way they greet here's really cute.

Everywhere you go, on the buses/ at the cashier/ in the restaurants etc,

the locals would greet with enthusiasm

"Hej! Hej!"

Which sounds like

"Hey! Hey!" in English.

Very cordial and approachable.

So it just snowed heavily a couple days ago.
It's my first time seeing snow in my life,
so you can imagine my excitement.

Just one night, everything became snow-baked.

It's just so beautiful, everywhere.

Both shots were taken behind my apartment.
And we saw this snowman right outside our building,
I was really excited!

One of the main things Europe's struck me,

is the beautiful, (and I say this in bold and italics)

their BEAUTIFUL packaging and design everywhere.

So the shopping streets and mall's dotted with home decor stores like these.

And they have stuff with mad pretty vintage prints I absolutely love.

I would totally decorate my future home in European style like this.

My other fascination is with their insanely huge and beautiful candy stores.

I have a very sweet tooth and I fell in love with this store instantaneously.

A regular cafe - my kind of sanctuary.

Even their random dressing rooms are pretty like this!

So because it's CNY today, Sam and I finally decided to
break our scrimping and budgeting.
We each bought ourselves one item.

And check out the dressing room I tried my stuff in.

What can I say, mad pretty right?
All four sides of the room were mirrors.
And there was this circular hole through the door that
allows your friends to peep in without opening the door!

Okay snapping time!

Even the shopping bags are so well-designed.
This one on the right's the back of the receipt.

The immense amount of static's also made my hair crazy wavy at times.

I've got so much more I want to share I'll share them over my next few posts.

I want to end off with this noodle thing I made for dinner tonight!
Roomie said it was so good she'd eat it everyday.
Total ego boost for me hahaha

Night guys!

Switch

If I could stop feeling the way I feel.

If the reminders of you didn't remind me of you.

If my subconscious thoughts were unconscious.

If the curves on you would curve on me.

If only, I could switch it off.

Switch you off.

Lake Vättern

So I've finally settled down in my cosy little apartment in Gräshagen, Jonkoping, Sweden.

Pictures were taken at Lake Vättern,

Sweden's second largest lake, which runs along one side of my school.

I've seen it from the first day I arrived,

but most of the lake was obstructed by the train station beside it.

So 2 days ago, Sam and I decided to get to the other side and take a walk.

I've always thought the lake was beautiful,

but never this beautiful.

The peace, the calmness, the beauty.

The ice melting and forming.

The waves crashing softly, then retreating.

The enduring, silent charms of nature.

Breathtaking.

I don't know who or where life would bring me tomorrow.

I don't care if the skies fall and the earth stops spinning.

I do know that I can only live my life in one place at a time.

Here and now.