Friday 7 December 2012

Featherdale

If I ever fail university or life in general, I am going to be a zoo keeper. Even if it means I'm scooping poop all day while squawking and hooting at birds in an attempt to communicate with my equals. Featherdale Wildlife Park is the closest Australian animal experience you can get in Sydney and is definitely worth the visit.

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I upgraded to an iPhone 5 recently so I haven't a case for it yet. Instead, I use a sandwich bag to cushion the fall in case I drop my phone. I was laughed at the entire day but whatever, safety always makes people look ridiculous. Life jackets make you look fat. Safety goggles make you look dorky. Helmets make you look like you have a tumour. Anyway, the point of this is that a goat tried to eat my phone. JUST BECAUSE MY PHONE WAS IN A SANDWICH BAG, IT DOES NOT MAKE IT A SANDWICH.

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We crashed Elaine's place after and ate all her food, watched movies and took endless photos of our distorted faces on Photo Booth. Perfect way to end the day.

Saturday 1 December 2012

Wingardium Leviosa

Hottest start to the first day of summer by far. Imagine spending it in a room with hundreds of other people with no air conditioning. Today I went to Hogwarts High Tea, which was held to help fundraise for Starlight Foundation. 50 points to those people who turned up in robes and costumes in this heat.

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I tried to dress up as Luna. I made my own spectrespecs, cork necklace, a copy of The Quibbler, radish earrings (thanks to Fiona) and messed up my hair a bit.

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There were food, potions, wizarding sweets, duels and we even sat for our O.W.L. exams. (Our group failed miserably. I feel like I should reread all the books now from shame.) We also found all seven horcruxes to defeat Lord Voldemort. We will be famous and there will be history books written about us.

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Monday 26 November 2012

Undeviginti

I delayed my need to pee because it'd be quite sad to spend the start of my 19th birthday on the toilet. It was just as sad though that I spent it on the internet.

Yeah, that wasn't necessary to write about, was it?

I thought it was very appropriate to watch The Perks of Being a Wallflower on my birthday with Andy as it could be symbolic of me growing up and it is a pretty special book to me. I think Logan Lerman was the perfect Charlie. All I wanted to do was befriend him throughout the movie. It was strange to see Emma Watson outside the role of Hermione, but that doesn't change her acting. I also love how Ezra Miller livened up the character Patrick. He holds a few of the most memorable lines for me. I am not one to swear, but since I am 19 now and have no other words for it, I'd say that the film adaption was fucking perfect.

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Celebrated Elaine and I's birthday at Nok Nok, which is a Thai restaurant, then at San Churro, where I am known to hold my record of eating seven and a half churros. I CANNOT DO IT ANYMORE. I am far too old for this. Then we sat by the harbour and talked about life. It was a nice night of catching up, stories, excessive hashtagging and diabetes.

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In other news, I AM GOING TO AMERICA NEXT JANUARY. You have no idea how excited I am because I've been aching to go back there.

Friday 23 November 2012

Finito

I've finished my exams and a whole year of uni. I have learnt so much this year about myself. Like how I become a compulsive liar around strangers when they ask, "How old are you?" and I'd immediately say I'm 17 before they can launch into their speech of saving the world by trying to get us to sign up for their causes. Most of them need you to be a legal adult so they just tell me to think about it till I'm "18". I've also learnt how to meet new people and seem slightly less like a snob due to my introverted nature. I'm getting better at introducing myself too.

Julie: Oh, have you guys met? This is Bec and this is Patrick. He's really popular.
Me: Is that how you introduce people? "He's really popular." Um, yeah, hi I'm Rebecca and I'm unpopular.
Patrick: Hi I'm Patrick and I'm going to major in physics because chicks dig physics.

I don't think I won that one. I had lunch with the physics group before meeting up with Amy to eat at Pie Tin. We're going to make it a tradition now to celebrate through food/photo adventures after whoever is the last to finish their exams.

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We thought we could easily eat three slices of sweet cakes rather than get one savoury pie and two sweet cakes. We were wrong. I felt like my teeth were going to start eating itself away from the sugar overdose.

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Saturday 17 November 2012

Braza Churrascaria

We had dinner at Braza Churrascaria for Sarah's birthday. It's a Brazilian restaurant full of meaty food, which caused us to chew like cows for two hours. Eating actually got tiring after a while. It was kind of like an all you can eat place, but instead of bringing your plate up to grab whatever you want from the food stations, the waiters and waitresses come up to you with food on skewers! I don't know if anything is better than not getting out of your seat and having servings after servings magically appear on your plate until you wish you really were a cow with four stomachs to take it all in.

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They also had live performances with Brazilian music, dancers and drummers, which livened up the place. Afterwards we were too full to have dessert so we just played at the playground then watched the fireworks by the harbourside.

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Wednesday 14 November 2012

Cunctator

I am the best student ever to have existed during exam period. I've made the bad decision to start reading Tomorrow, When The War Began when I've had this book for ages but never got around to getting past the first 30 pages. I kept feeling bad because I was supposed to be studying so I'd stop reading after two hours then repeat the cycle for the next few days. This is why I read books in one sitting - I keep thinking that a war is going on and I'd start planning tactics in my head on how I should conceal or defend myself every time I hear a plane flying overhead. I'm so paranoid and I'm losing that fine line between reality and fantasy.

A few days ago, Christmas arrived early on my doorstep in the form of a cylinder package. I have John Green's autograph. CUE HYPERVENTILATION TO THE POWER OF A THOUSAND ONE DIRECTION FANGIRLS. Except I'm fangirling over a married 35 year old man. I think I might actually love him. And his brother, Hank Green.

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THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER TO HAVE TOUCHED MY WALL BECAUSE JOHN GREEN TOUCHED THIS POSTER. It's a quote from his book, Looking For Alaska, that I am sure every teenager (and older) who has given their time to read will love forever.

So yes, exams. I will study. It's nearly 2am. I haven't studied. I'll be okay. I've calculated and I only need 3% in the finals to pass the exam that I have in 7 hours. I'll be okay. Nearly halfway through my exams. I'll be okay.

Thursday 18 October 2012

Nutrimens

The thing I like about going to uni is that it's in the city. The thing I hate about uni is that it's in the city. So conflicting. If I was a robot I'd explode from feelings within a minute of trying to be human. I guess I like being near the city because I have more options for things I can do and places to eat on the rare occasions that I finish uni early. The thing I hate about being in the city five days a week is how far it is from home. I have to get up two hours earlier than my first class (compared to high school where I just rolled out of bed looking like a prisoner of Azkaban then was at school within 5 minutes) then there's the cost of train tickets. Like paying gazillion dollars per year just to be educated isn't enough!

Today's city adventure was to Hyde Park where the night noodle markets are held. Junyssa (who is officially my impulse eating uni buddy) and I had it all planned out that we were going to stay at uni to study for two hours before heading off but we completely ditched that idea and ended up shopping at Paddy's market, eating at Town Hall then pretended to be rich by sitting at a chair, refusing to leave because we were too comfortable lying there, amongst all the designer shops at Westfield Centrepoint Tower.

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As lame as it was, I think that was the highlight of my day. We looked like homeless people amongst the classy ladies with their fancy hats and elegant dresses and the business men sporting those cases that looks like it has the contents of a $500, 000 winner on that TV show, Deal or No Deal. We then realised that we were probably doing the complete opposite of getting rich by lazying around and not studying.

The food at night noodle markets wasn't that great and plus, I'm Asian so the food there were all ordinary to me and I've had much better.

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The only thing I liked were the decorated tables and the guy who was performing there. Good music always lifts up the mood and makes up for the lack of good food!

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Thursday 27 September 2012

Annus

I am currently at my uni's library laughing at the things people come up with on Tumblr to the point where it looks like I'm crying. (I can sense the judging eyes of my friend.) My favourite one so far - "Me when I lend a book to someone: Bend the spine and I'll bend your spine." Most accurate description of me, ever. I'm supposed to be studying for my mid sem exam during this one week "break" but you know, when does that ever really happen?

The past week has been full of nostalgia for high school. It's been a year since graduation already. It's weird. I don't fully feel like I'm a uni student so it feels like I'm stuck somewhere between the high school and uni stage refusing to believe that I'm really growing up. I went to my sister's graduation and for a few moments, I felt like I was almost back at high school watching other people graduate in the hall.

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Then the day after, I finally caught up with everyone in the group again at Green Peppercorn. I felt like I had been MIA from everyone's lives and at the time it felt like forever since I've seen them but when I saw them all again for dinner, it didn't feel that long and I suddenly didn't miss them.

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Then the day after that, I saw a few of the original people from the random group after nearly a year. I didn't feel the same vibe I did with them two years ago when we used to go out after school or on weekends together. There were too many other people from the grade I never got to know well and there wasn't many from the original group so I felt awkward and out of place. I guess it was fun but still a disappointment because I expected too much.

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University is so depressing in comparison to high school.

Sunday 2 September 2012

Criniti

My family and I had dinner at Criniti's, which is a South Italian cuisine restaurant. It was my second time there so maybe the amusement of eating a one metre pizza wasn't there so my tasting senses were working better this time round and made me realise that it didn't actually taste that good. Honestly, I would have preferred having Pizza Hut. The pizza was too chewy and the other dishes we ordered tasted a bit too bland to me.

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For once, no one blinked to ruin the family picture!

Friday 17 August 2012

Friends For Dummies

As we grow older, we find it much more difficult to make friends. When we are 5, friends are the people who share toys with you. When we are 10, friends are the people who don't have cooties. When we are 15, friends are the people who hates the same person as you. See how much more difficult it gets? Well, thank goodness there's me to help you out on the journey of friendship for those struggling to find friends in environments, such as uni, with the world's biggest pretentious people.

Friends For Dummies by Rebecca Tran.

  1. Be confident with who you are. A good method is to practise saying your name in front of a mirror until you're confident that you won't forget it. Being the nervous person I am around unfamiliar people, I almost introduced myself as Tessa to a fellow lab group member. I honestly have no idea where that came from and I hope none of you will ever make that mistake after following my advice because it is downright embarrassing and the biggest brain fart you'll ever experience. If you want to go a step further, it's a good idea to remember what course you do and why you're doing it as well.
  2. Equip yourself with knowledge (or lack of). One of my earliest uni friends I've made was by wondering around lost with the map of my uni opened on my phone. A girl asked me for directions and by coincidence, she was in the same tutorial as me. Through our shared fear of being lost in one of the creepiest buildings and getting in trouble for arriving late to our first class, we somehow became friends. By another great coincidence, we have a mutual love for fictional characters and tendency to leave assignments till the night before it was due. So either being lost or being a know it all will get you somewhere! You're either lost together or a know it all helping out a lostie.
  3. Get to know the people from your group work. Rants of my friends' uni woes mostly comprises of bad experiences to do with group work. In your group, there will almost always be someone being a control freak and/or someone who does not contribute to anything and never turns up to meetings. Bonding with others over mutual hatred works a charm. Thank God I don't have group work yet. However, there might be those rare occasions that everyone in your group does what they're supposed to and you enjoy your time together so you might even spend time outside of uni together.
  4. Electrocute them. There's nothing like beginning a friendship with a spark. Speaking from experience, it hurts but it's worth the pain. When put in those situations, it brings out their real personalities by how they deal with things. For example, I met two guys in my physics tutorial and it was so silent and awkward. One of the questions that we had to answer involved using a van de Graaff. Since I had long hair, I used it to try make my hair radiate out. One of them came too close to me and the electrons jumped and passed onto him causing us to experience an electric shock. I found that he is dramatic and likes to swear when things get tough and the other guy is still immature ("YOU GOT HIT BY A GIRL!") and would rather laugh than ask if we're okay. After that, it was less awkward.
Good luck and may you find that special someone to make cherished memories with!

Thursday 16 August 2012

Nitrogen

N2 Extreme Gelato opened recently so I went with Amy to try the ice creams that are made in front of you using liquid nitrogen. The whole store had a laboratory theme to it, which is pretty cool.

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My second semester of uni has started and it's time to put my imaginary serious hat on. Remember how Pepito from Madeline once showed his entire hat collection that he has for almost every occasion? His infamous one is the bad hat. I need a stop blogging and write study notes hat.

Somewhat interesting things this so far:

  • One of my lecturers introduced herself as Dale - Flashback to over a month ago when I emailed my unit coordinator with "Hi sir" and "Thank you, sir" only to realise three emails later that Dale is actually a woman. You can imagine my shock and how much I freaked out. She never replied to my apology (I sounded so desperate and made it a million times more awkward) so I'm hoping she'll never work out who this Rebecca is.
  • Received my first ever parcel from buying online at Book Depository. Everything is so much more exciting when it's all wrapped up! I've been living like I'm from the 19th century.
  • Random meet up with all the Usyd people in the group for froyo. The stories we all shared ended up with us dying (or crying) from laughter - Amy: "I have a know it all in my class." Vivienne: "Yeah, me too! I don't know anyone in class!" Also Vivienne was telling us about how you can unplug magnesium out of your head and the scientific thinkers of the group just.. yeah, we just exchanged looks.
  • Vivienne being upgraded: "Everyone always gives me their rubbish so it's like I'm a rubbish bag! Now you're telling me to buy things so I'm like a shopping bag!"
  • Saw quite a few train commuters reading 50 Shades of Grey. I failed to impress a lady with my superior book - I Am A Cat by Natsume Sōseki. She didn't even look up! HOW COULD YOU NOT? IT'S LIFE FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF A CAT. A CAT.
  • Nearly stacking it on the train. This happens a lot but I don't understand why Jellee is always the one there to witness it. I technically never fall, which makes me a genius in the art of not toppling over completely!
  • Made an observation that sounded racist but I swear I'm not. I OFFICIALLY HAVE A BAD REPUTATION AMONGST THE FUTURE PHARMACISTS THAT WERE THERE AND IF I END UP MAJORING IN PHARMACOLOGY, NO ONE THERE WILL BUY DRUGS OFF ME. That ended up with Jellee, Jason and I laughing over things we shouldn't be laughing about. Anyone notice how good it feels to laugh when you have a blocked nose? Laughing overall, feels good.

I found out that a first year girl from my uni got a silver medal for canoeing in the Olympics. It just made me wonder, what have I achieved in life? I didn't think for long because there honestly isn't much I can reflect on my life. Not to brag or anything but this one time I had 7 hours of sleep altogether in 5 days. GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS.

Saturday 14 July 2012

Paradise

Back to my mundane suburban life. I'm experiencing withdrawal symptoms from the mountains. How can I not if I was surrounded by views like this and engulfed in clouds every morning?

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It was just so breathtaking. To spend it away from civilisation with the best group of friends I could ask for in the most amazing three storey wooden house that the three little pigs could only ever dream of is literally a winter paradise. A massive bookcase, our own fireplace, a collection of soothing jazz CDs, shelves of classic board games, a fully equipped kitchen and couches and couches to lounge on made it that much better. I wouldn't have minded if we stayed indoors the entire four days we were there.

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Our first day involved being native tourists (dat oxymoron) at the Three Sisters and the Giant Stairway, which we've renamed to the Stairways of Hell. I had multiple near death experiences by stacking it countless times and it was like a scene out of a horror movie when everyone disappeared one by one on the Stairways of Hell till there were only three of us left. It felt so accomplishing to escape Hell and I felt invincible. Guess who's going to survive the apocalypse on 21st December?

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That night we stayed up talking, playing trivia and drinking tea like classy old ladies. When we heard unexplained banging sounds outside our room, the four of us decided to cautiously investigate. A reminder that we were in the middle of nowhere. There was a sudden bang again then Desiree, Jellee and Vivienne all screamed and collapsed into each other. I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT IMAGE OF THEM BEING SCARED WITLESS. It turned out that the source of the noise was the fake electric fireplace.

On the second day, we went to the Jenolan Caves. The narrow and winding roads on the mountain made the car ride there the scariest thing ever. ("LIGHT BEAM THE FUCKING SHIT OUT OF THIS PLACE.") I loved the history and stories our tour guide told us of the caves. It was truly an enlightening experience and it feels like you've entered a secret world away from the outside world.

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The secret behind a nice group photo is to huddle together like penguins.

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Just like leaving the cinemas, I had to blink several times once we wove our way out to adjust to the light only to realise it's still daytime and I'm back in the real world where time continues ticking again.

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Our third day involved a lazy day in watching Rugrats and Friends while snacking non stop throughout the day. We also roasted (and set fire on) marshmallows and sausages by the fireplace then invented our own card games. Pretty much a perfect day in. JUST LOOK AT HOW PERFECT OUR SURROUNDINGS WERE ON TOP OF THE WORLD.

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On our fourth and final day, we took some last minute "natural" posing photos before reluctantly handing over the key to the owner and architecture of the house. I cannot commend the guy enough on how perfect the house is. Although one suggestion to make it more perfect is to replace the painting of the man in the bathroom because IT LOOKS LIKE HE IS PERVERTEDLY WATCHING YOU SHOWER.

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We shopped at quaint and dainty vintage stores at Katoomba then had lunch at an Irish café. The music they played made me almost expect a leprechaun to jump out of the tips jar and start dancing.

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Our last stop was to a Japanese bath house. It was a really relaxing experience. The outdoor hot spring was heated to 40°C so when you get out and stand in the cool crisp air, you wouldn't feel the need to wrap yourself in a towel to stop the cold. Is this what it feels like to be a werewolf? There was also a sauna room that I couldn't walk further than one step in without feeling like I was being choked. There was so much steam to the point where you couldn't see anything more than half a metre in front of you. How on earth did everyone else withstand it?

I'll continue wallowing in my withdrawal symptoms now. This getaway to Blue Mountains is definitely a trip I won't ever forget.

Friday 29 June 2012

Teneo

I was so excited last night knowing that one semester of uni was about to be over. I started making terrible jokes about freedom and America and I don’t know what. I’m just so happy it’s finally over. It was one of the worst weeks ever. I contracted influenza a day before my first exam causing me to physically be unable to walk without wanting to throw up from muscle and joint pains. My fever got worse and that led to a chain of bad luck events, which would take forever to list all my other symptoms. Overall, I was left in a bad mood all week.

All I got out of this semester is which area of uni has good and bad wifi connection. Priorities.

I got ID-ed for the first time ever when I had end of exams dinner with half the group. I probably got more excited than I should have over it though.

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REPPIN' GEN Y WHERE PHOTOS OF FOOD IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PEOPLE.

Thursday 28 June 2012

Abercrombie

Being Dora the Explorer roaming around the city. The world is suddenly a fascinating place when you have your camera with you. You kind of notice things that you wouldn’t normally pay attention to.

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Amy and I saw this on Tumblr and we got excited over it because things like this don’t exist around Sydney. So we decided to go after her last exam to find this Abercrombie Lane. When we got there, it was just a dodgy looking alleyway that greeted us with... nothing.

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We walked through it anyway and kept looking up as if we were expecting the tetris blocks to appear out of nowhere. Or maybe it was hidden like 12 Grimmauld Place from Harry Potter. I came home and researched it, and it turns out that it was taken down at the beginning of 2009.

UM. OKAY THEN. NOT AWKWARD AT ALL.

This is where I’d imagine a modern city Rapunzel would be locked up in. Except she wouldn’t be worth saving because the tower is so small and you can so easily just jump out and only break an arm... or leg. Or fall into a coma and become the next sleeping beauty.

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Wednesday 6 June 2012

The Book Thief

While normal teenagers smuggle clothes and shoes home to hide from their parents, I smuggle books.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is the first book in a while that has affected me this much. This lady on the train kept staring at me while I was trying to contain myself from creating a dramatic scene and end up as a bawling heap of puddle on the filthy floor. I could feel my heart shatter and disintegrate into millions of pieces as if a bomb was thrown at me as well. The story was both tragic and beautiful.

This story is told in the point of view of Death during World War II in Germany. It's so clever and wonderfully written. It's about a girl living with her foster parents who are hiding a Jewish man in their basement. We see this girl bond with these people and her neighbours during that time and as the war escalates, there are more restrictions and dangers placed upon their lives. Having studied Nazi Germany during Modern History in high school really helped me understand the historical context.

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One of my friends (COUGH JASON COUGH) has been calling me an ass scratcher and trolling through my phone texting others about how my ass is itchy. I think I know where he got his idea from now. Earlier last week he told me he’s read the book as well and was going to ruin the ending for me. That saukerl. I’ve learnt a lot of German swear words thanks to this book.

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Beatus

As corny as this will sound, I honestly do think I have the best group of friends I could ever have and I don’t want any other. It’s the first time in a while that all eleven of us have been together. I have not laughed so much in such a long time till it hurt to breathe.

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Highlights of the night:

  • Earning my respect through eating seven and a half churros because I was forced to finish it while everyone died.
  • Vivienne trying to drink two cups at a time and ended up spilling it on herself. She tried to cover it up by classily dabbing her lips.
  • Jenna and her “life changing” stack by nearly falling into the harbour, but managed to save her free drink.
  • Desiree’s little speech calling for group hugs and having a sentimental harbour side moment.
  • Vivienne teaching me to run like a lady - Flick your hair and gracefully turn your head in the process.
  • Elaine asking Vivienne if she’s ever seen her “peenor.”
  • Jocelyn losing balance on the train and ended up half falling and half sitting on a stranger.

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