Photo from Jak & Jil blog.

Christopher Kane for Topshop mirrored and grommet leggings and Alexander McQueen zipper booties.  What lust.

and a lot has changed hasn’t it?

1) For one, i am no longer in Bristol.  no longer in the UK.  Instead, I am now back at my home uni finishing my last year.  I’m really missing life in Bristol, especially all my friends.  Things just aren’t the same and as much as I love being with my friends at my home uni, I feel like a part of me is missing.

2) I’m in my final year of uni.  Ridiculous innit?  Almost 4 years have gone by in a heartbeat.

3) well…the front page of wordpress is completely different.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Today is the 26th of April, and now, I have a little less than two months left in my term in Bristol.  The last time I updated my life on here is now almost a month ago.  Where has all my time gone?  It seems so strange to think that I’ve already been here for 3 months when it feels like it’s just been a few weeks.

I’ve been trying so hard to live life to the fullest, grasping every opportunity that flits my way – as I wrote on March 22.  I mean, only in the past week, I’ve made choices in life that had I thought about and brooded on long enough, it would have never happened.  I’d been thinking of getting my scaffold pierced for years, and on Monday night, when Megan, Ji and I were at Oceana, we decided that on Friday, that is 2 days ago, we would get something pierced.  Granted, I ended up not getting my scaffold pierced because it was 55 quid and I didn’t have 55 quid to spare.  Instead, I got my helix pierced.  Split decision made when we had alcohol in our systems because I had been talking about it.  But it was wonderful, and I couldn’t be happier with it.  Also, going to the boat race, Bristol v. UWE yesterday.  I had originally been impartial to it because I wasn’t sure about how I felt about crew or regattas anymore.  Yet, it was lovely.  Kyle’s teammates were hilarious, and it felt so good to be cheering for “your” team.  Yeah, it was cold and it was wet, but that just made everything more interesting.  Although, I have yelled so much that my voice is shot, but hey, all part of the fun.

It’s slightly insane how quickly and intensely I’ve grown to love this city.  To be completely honest, I haven’t felt this way about anywhere in such a long time.  I definitely cannot say that I feel the same way about South Hadley..rather, quite the opposite.  Perhaps, since I thought that England was going to be just like being in the States and really didn’t “look forward” much to it.  Just the thought of being in the city elsewhere was nice.  So, I think that I received quite a pleasant shock and fell in love.  Having been through years of my life being told by my parents and the older generations about how the British mistreated Cantonese racially when they were in Hong Kong, especially in the early 1900s, I hadn’t expected much from them when coming here.  But times have changed, and although I am fully aware that I am a person of color, it’s exactly the same in the U.S.

Hey, at least people here know that Hong Kong is not part of Japan.

As much as I miss my friends back at Mount Holyoke or in the States in general, I want to see them so badly, but I know that I’ll be miserable when I get back.  This city, which has killed my feet with the amount of walking that I do.  This city, that already makes me feel nostalgic when I walk down Whiteladies to the Uni and from the Uni to Cabot Circus.  This country with the weather that is so unpredictable that it sometimes makes you want to pull your hair out.  I’m going to miss it so damn much.  And in a sense, I already do.

I can’t say that I’ve seen much of the UK, as I’ve only been living in Bristol for a few months, spent a few days in London and a day in Bath, Cardiff, Salisbury and Glastonbury.  But I feel like I belong, and this feeling I haven’t got since Hong Kong, since leaving Taipei.

Maybe I’m only getting this feeling because I’m abroad and having so much fun, but I have fun at MHC as well, with friends that understand you.  Ones that you share one look and they know what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling.  But it’s so sad for me to say that I really don’t feel like I belong in the States.

I’ve decided.  I want to come back to England for post-grad studies.  Maybe Bristol, maybe elsewhere.  Only the future knows what will happen.

and…I will update on my spring break travels soon.  well, sooner or later.

I’ve been in London for about 3 days now.  Not going to lie, I did miss good ol’ england when I was traveling.

It’s funny how..in such a short amount of time, the UK already feels like home.  But, sadly enough, I’m leaving soon.  Oh the things I will miss.  I’m already feeling nostalgic.  How pathetic.

Right now, I’m just sitting in the kitchen of my hostel, waiting for the clock to reach 6 ‘o clock before I grab my bag, walk to the train station, get on the airport bus and go to London.  Goodbye to Italy, goodbye to Florence.  Soon, I will no longer have to attempt to converse in broken Italian.  I love traveling though, and will be sad to leave Florence behind.  But, part of me is slightly happy – to return to a place that I am familiar with, to return to the real world of academics.  In a sense, I’ve been living a dream these past several weeks.  To have traveled parts of Europe for 2 weeks as a student, who is barely 20.  (I almost typed 19.  D:)  It’s been so amazing, but I feel that I now need to get my head out of the cloud and back into what truly matters.  I’ve been avoiding internship applications, academic work and much more while traveling.  Now, I have no more excuses.  Perhaps, that’s a good thing since this way, I will be forced to do what I really need to do.  As much as I love Florence and the other places I’ve been – Barcelona and Rome, it is really time for me to say goodbye.  Con te partiro.  Firenze, te amo.

Ciao, bella.