no i’m not dead.

but I have finished exams.  Therefore, I’ve been out quite a bit.

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the June 4th Tiananmen massacre.  It was the only day where I wished I was back in HK early, to attend the candlight vigil.  After studying the history of Communist China this past term, I have to admit, I do look upon the entire incident with a new light, a different perspective.  Dare I say, in a way, I can understand why the elders and the senior party members chose to end the protests in this matter.

xx

exam stress.

I just realised, that no matter how much I had said that I wasn’t stressed about exams, I am.  It’s come down to basically the last 12 hours, and I’ve finally accepted the fact that I’m feeling the strain.  How have I been able to tell?

1.)  When what I’m reading is not making any sense even though I’ve studied this.

2.) When I can’t concentrate on anything for more than 5 minutes.

3.) When the thought of seeing my friends stresses me out – that I need to pretty much be kept in solitary confinement to focus.

4.) When I just realise that I haven’t had a proper meal in 2 days.  Yesterday, I had toast, a few strawberries and random snacks.  Today, I’ve had a piece of salmon, grapes and more snacks.   Once my body realises that I really am in crunch time, I’m just not hungry.  Maybe I should be in crunch time more often..then I can lose weight.

5.) When I’m just at the point of giving up.

fuck.  please inspire me.

in the midst of revisions

How do you travel in a world with no light?

On the other hand, while taking a break from revision, Eurovision last night was rather hilarious, especially if you watched it on BBC1 with Graham Morton.  Loved Norway.  ngl.

And right now, if I could be anyone for a day, I would love to be Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, daughter of Corinne Roitfeld, editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris.  The Selby has pictures of Julia Roitfeld at home in NYC.  Here are a few selections:

I love it.  As I’ve said, The Selby has more pictures, which can be seen here.  Cheers loves.  xx

Star Trek

I watched Star Trek yesterday afternoon and it was just absolutely brilliant.  The cast was fantastic as was the incorporation of all the classic Trekkie moments.  If you were really really nitpicky, the only part that you could complain about was that the romance was a little forced.  But that is all.  This is probably one of the best films that I will have seen in 2009.  Seriously, after watching it yesterday afternoon, getting back home that night, I already wanted to see it again.  I love it.  But now, back to revising.  D:  Save me prs.

barcelona – the land of gaudi. part uno.

Yes, I know it’s taken me awhile, but here we go. Maybe I’m only blogging because I can’t get onto the Topshop website..and have been unable to do so for days. Sadface.

Barcelona was my favourite of the 3 places I traveled to in mainland Europe. Perhaps it was due to the fact that I’d never been to Barca before. The places I had seen while in Rome and Florence during sophomore year of high school are still so deeply ingrained into my mind that all I would think when seeing places again would be “oh, we’re back here again, I’m glad I still remember this.” They were all beautiful, but Barcelona was especially special. The Gaudi and other modernist architecture really struck me. I would love to go and see it all again.

Day 1 – was more of a day of relaxation, of exploring the city. We’d arrived past 1 in the morning as our flight was a late one. Our hotel was pretty much right next to La Sagrada Familia, but apparently very far away from everything else. So we went and look at la Sagrada from the outside before walking around..eventually going to the Museu Picasso, finding Las Ramblas and the Marina de la Rambla.

Las Ramblas

Statue buoys at the Marina

Such a beautiful day!

Day 2 – MNAC, Montjuic, etc.  A day packed full of walking and mostly medieval art.  We decided to walk to Montjuic where the National Museum of Catalonian Art (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya) is at.  The walk itself took at least an hour before we even got remotely close to Montjuic.  By then, I was wondering why we didn’t take the metro.  But that wasn’t the point.  It was rather interesting to see medieval Spanish art and the way it differed to the rest of European art at the time.  In fact, medieval Spanish art seems to be of its own.  There was also more modern art..which I did find more interesting than medieval art as I feel that medieval art gets repetetive after the third fresco or painting you see.  Then we climbed the ‘hill’ to the castle of Montjuic and up there, you could look out and see the entire city on one side, and on the other, see the Mediterranean.  Spectacular.

Actually, there were a few Picassos there as well.

Looking out over the city and seeing the MNAC from Montjuic.

oh hay there.

and kids, that’s it for now.  The actual depictions of Gaudi and my experiences will come later.  Now, I should go and continue on my notes on Maurice Meisner’s Mao’s China and After as I have to return it in two days.  D:

xx