Of palaces, horsemen and old clock towers.

I visited the government sector of London with Qianqi on Thursday, and it was crazy fun. But I shall let the pictures tell the story.

Buckingham Palace. This is where royalty stays. Beckingham Palace is probably more grand, but yeah its not bad, because at least its free if you're born into it.

The gates of Buckingham Palace.

I have no idea what this monument is for but its a golden angel of sorts reaching for the sky and I thought it was cool.

In the Green Park near the Palace. I love their gardens man. They all look like the stuff you find in postcards.

Qianqi does a jumping shot.

My attempt to do one. "You suck at jumping shots" - Qianqi. Haha oh well. Spare the reservist man. I haven't done star jumps since ORD.

Strolling towards the grand gates of Green Park. See my trademark bag? Lol. Just kidding.

A Buckingham Palace guard. Oh ho! I've always dreamed of making fun of these since I saw Mr Bean do it.

Mr Guard is my good buddy. I'm giving him a pat on the shoulder for working so hard.

See how comfortably Mr Guard fits into my hand. Minature guards from Buckingham anyone?

Qianqi gives Mr Guard a prod. I don't think Mr Guard was very amused by what we were doing.

Me and Qi along Birdcage Walk.
Qi: "Why you never raise both your hands!"
Weili: "I can't I'm taking the picture!"
Qi: "Oh."

Advertising by the STA actually makes it to London. It was quite funny to see this.

The Horse Guards Palace. That ferris wheel in the background is the London Eye.

A closer shot in front of the Horse Guards Palace, where the clock tower can be clearly seen. Beyond that archway the changing of the Horse Guards is currently taking place.

The Horse Guards. Check out their cool uniforms man. So... medieval.

The Old War Office. I know, wow.

Downing Street. One of the most famous addresses in the world, next to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Other offices in the government sector, including the Ministry of Defence and the Wales Office.

Qianqi's turn to have a little fun with telephone boxes. Haha.

Me, some Bobbies and Big Ben. You gotta love the Bobbies here. They are really friendly and nice.

Some people striking opposite Westminster Hall. Nobody gives a shit about them really but the tourists, who take pictures. It must be a torture though to strike in this weather, because it is like 5 degrees?

Big Ben. Its very awesome to actually see it close up because you can see all the details. Big Ben is part of the Westminster Hall, which houses the Houses of Parliament. It is made up of many parts, one of them being the Palace of Westminster.

One section of Westminster Hall.

The inside of the cavernous Palace of Westminster. It is really really huge, and this is where heads of state and other famous English politicians lie in state before burial.

This is what happened when we got bored of normal shots. I became a subject for Qianqi to direct in some ANTM inspired shoot. It was fun though, not least because I was really happy to just sit down for awhile. Haha.

Another shot in the same series. Those two at the back kinda spoiled it though.

Qianqi joins in the shoot herself. Lol.

Big Ben at night. Gorgeous. By night, I mean 530pm.

Exiting the tube towards Leicester Square for dinner. Can you spot me? Haha. Its not hard, I'm wearing the same jacket.

The chicken at KFC is DAMN SMALL. Either they grow stunted chickens or they kill chicks. That is Qianqi's finger for comparison. Each piece costs $2.50 in Singapore dollars. Cheat money.


Chinatown.
CNY goodies in Chinatown! It was awesome to see these, especially since there is no festive CNY mood here.

Sauces. If you are Chinese, you can't live without these. You can find them in London if you know where to look. They sell for about 1.80 pounds apiece.

Look at all those snacks. They even have Pocky and Hello Panda. Lol. It really made me happy and a little homesick.

Picadilly-illy-illy

Visited London on Sunday, which was supposed to be CNY eve. Lol. The weather wasn't too good but I still had a good time. London is gorgeous even in bad weather.

Look at what I found in King's Cross station. Lol. Damn sad Hogwarts don't want me. If I could study there I'd learn how to apparate so I can travel around. And I'd make friends with um, Hermione Granger. Hahaha.

Some of the stuff they sell in the markets here. This was taken at Covent Garden, and those are actually real bottles. I have no idea how they flatten them into this shape but it was amazing to touch them and realise how hard they were.

Avenue Q, which I'm going to watch this week. And no the road is not called Avenue Q.

The National Potrait Gallery. Lots of interesting potraits in there, especially to someone like me who hasn't visited that many museums. Pity I wasn't allowed to take pictures of some of the more interesting exhibits because no photography is allowed to protect the fragile exhibits from the potentially damaging effects of camera flash.

Picadilly Circus. One of the most famous intersections in London. The legend goes that if you stay here long enough, you'll eventually meet someone you know.

Another shot of Picadilly Circus. No idea why so many pple like to stand around at the monument in the middle. And in such cold weather too. Londoners.

Carnaby Street. An atas shopping street. London is great if you're rich.

Pictures of school.

The view outside my hall the next morning. In case you're wondering, that is fog. And the temperature was 0 degrees. Happy CNY! Those windows of flats house noisy Brits who will not hesistate to sit on the windowsills at night shouting to their neighbours. Some day I will upload a picture of one of these window warriors, with their weapon of choice (beer bottle) in hand.

Some stuff I did in Web Animation class. It was damn fun. This was done on flash.

Check out my new dog. Lol. This was done on flash too, by modifying basic shapes into a more complex picture. I didn't have enough time to finish it but it sure is cool.

An exchange student who doesn't want to study

Everyday I'm in this place I am amazed at how different it is from Singapore. but now that school has started its suddenly a lot less fun. for one, I'm fending for myself in just about every single way, while having to worry about school at the same time.

I have to worry about how much I spend, how many sets of clothes I wear because I eventually have to wash and dry them, what to cook/eat for every meal, and on top of that I have to study and make sure I pass my exams and submit my assignments on time. Plus, I'm busy planning trips and other stuff on the side. Its crazy, like totally. Everyday is too busy, and I sleep every day completely exhausted. Its the kind of exhaustion that is characterised by the fact that you don't even dream, but just sleep soundly for 7 straight hours. It doesn't help that I have yet to get used to western food, and in the rush of everyday I end up eating more microwaved stuff than ever.

Welcome to the reality of student life as an overseas student. And now that I actually have to start studying, with lecture notes and readings actually starting to pile up, its starting to really stare at me in the face that I have to take control of my life like I never did before. In the past I used to take everything at home for granted, now I realise how fortunate I was that I never had to worry about where my next meal would come from, or whether my clothes would be washed for me whenever I wanted them. I never really had to worry about spending either, because I always had my parents to give me money if I really needed some. Down here, I have to force myself to save and fight for every penny because I know every penny saved will go a long way. I walk when I can, and buy the cheapest thing available at the supermarkets.

And I know that it might sound cheesy saying this, but although its a pass/fail for every module, I have every intention to excel in them, because I don't believe in using the difficulty of adapting to life here as an excuse for not putting in the effort to learn all that I can here. The one thing I hate more than anything is making excuses, because I can lie to people, but not to myself.

This is probably the most difficult thing I've ever done, even more so than army, because being alone like this really forces you to grow up. If you don't cook, you go hungry. If you don't wash your clothes, you have nothing to wear. If you overspend, you have to worry about how to make ends meet for the next few days.

The one thing you learn the most here is responsibility. There is no one else to blame if something goes wrong for you here. It is your own fault, your own doing, and it stares at you in the face like the starkest truth ever.

And now I have to sleep, because tomorrow its my turn to wake up early and take out the trash for the whole flat. And after that, I have lessons. Woohoo.

St Albans on a Saturday morning.

We took a bus to St Albans, and upon getting off I saw a glimpse of life in a small town on a Saturday morning.

The market is open only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so we were lucky to see it. There was a lot of fresh produce being sold, which reminded me of a little English nursery rhyme that went "To market, to market, to buy a fat pig". And the mushrooms taste weird here. Like more than a little mushroomy. You can virtually taste the earth they are grown in, which is disgusting.

Chatting up one of the shopkeepers. He must have been amused to see so many Asian people. Half the angmohs here still think Singapore is somewhere in China, and some of them can't actually believe we speak English well. But when they are nice they are usually quite amusing. This one tried to offer us his whole shop for a pound, but we had to decline because I was the only guy there and I can't carry that many plastic bags.

On the streets of St Albans. Guess who's always ready for a camera moment.

The Abbey and Cathedral of St Alban. An example of English architecture at its finest. England is full of such buildings, which really makes you appreciate how much culture there is in the country. This cathedral alone is about a thousand years old or more.
Inside the church.

I didn't take this picture but I included it to give everyone an idea of just how huge and breathtaking the cathedral was. We were running out of time so we had to give the west wing of the church a miss. We were inside for an hour and I think we only toured like half of it.

It was only 3pm and it was already starting to get dark. The reality of life in winter, where the sky is dark by 5pm.

St Albans at 530pm. The towns here look better at night than in the day, and here is an example.

Just something I saw in the supermarket that amused me to no end. Seasoning for jerks. Hmm.
I found this funny too. Innocent orange juice. I remarked that it was innocent because it hadn't been squeezed yet, and after that I was accused of being a pervert. Like whatever lol.