Wake me up when November ends

Well holidays was over 2 weeks ago and that again clocked in the start of a mundane uni life. Along with that, the degree of stress has also heightened. You see, my quiet holiday plan and my intention to just relax and study sorta fell short of the target.

The first week of the break kicked off with the Uni Conception Day, but the rain just dampened what was supposed to be a boisterious event with loud live bands and madding drunk students partying like nobody's business. But at night, when the party-goers dispersed or had already KO, we had our own celebration at DLC, with Barcadi as the main menu. Hui Hoong tasted the first drop of alcohol in her life and after that kept gulping down shots after shots when we were not looking. During the first week, I also went out a few times to the city and occuppied myself with anime and Diablo II.

Guilt dawned at the beginnig of the second week, and I began doing some revisons. Huih, Leey and Kah Wai went to Melbourne, so no more distractions, I thought. That whole week could be devoted to studies. Almost at the end of the week, when I still had a lot of unfinished works (i am a terrible procrastinator), Hui Hoong told me about the 2-Day trip to Canberra, together with Han Wei, Susan and Arnold. So studies were shoved aside, and to Canberra we went!

Based on testimonials from so many people, I pictured Canberra to be a boring place, and I had in my mind something similar to Putrajaya - rigid and routine and inhabited by sombre black-donning government servants. Well, still true to certain extent, the city is nothing like the bustling Sydney. However, luck was on our side as the Friday we arrived was late night shopping for the Australian Capital Territory. We checked in at Rex Hotel, which is a pretty good hotel equipped with a pool and sauna. That day we visited the Parliament House and the Australian National University. After nightfall we loitered around the city, which was still quite alive. We walked back to our hotel (it was a 20 mins walk) and the gals went straight to the room while us guys played several games of pool. Then, Han Wei and I decided to try out the sauna since we had paid for it anyway. Fun!

The next day, after lunch at Dickson (Canberra's Chinatown), we headed to the Commonwealth Park for the Canberra's annual flower festival, Floriade, which was actually what lured me to come this far. My expectation was high, but it didn't dissapoint. A pageantry of colourful tulip beds, with accompanying music according to their themes, was truly a sight to behold. First time in my life I've seen so much flower. After that we walked around the Captain Cook Memorial Jet, which was just a stone's throw away. We hired canoes and rowed around it. It was really super fun and I would say was the highlight the trip, nevermind our soaked clothes after rowing through the water spray several times. This is my first time canoeing, and at first it was quite unnnerving when the canoe tilted occasionally. But at the end we were still safe and unscathed, although we still couldn't figure out how to row straight, not zig-zag. Hehehe. Then, we were off to the Telstra Tower. Nothing much there, except we got to see the whole Canberra city from there.

Well, that concluded my trip to Canberra as well as the mid term study break. It was overall a time well spent, especially the trip to Canberra which managed to liven up my otherwise boring holiday. Although only for two days, it was indeed a vacation to remember!

My flight back to Malaysia is at the 5th of December, really can't wait to be home.

Oh yeah, some photos are already up in my flickr account (link at the sidebar). I have also added the link to Steve's blog. Yup, you heard that right. Steve's got a blog! Ahahaah. Till then, peace out!