Winter Break is coming to an end

Winter break is coming to an end soon! I’m actually more happy than sad because it’s going to be a whole year of intensive Korean language!! I’ve been revising my Korean during the holidays, although not as much as I wanted due to the holiday mood I have. I still have so much to study but I’m only left with a weekend before the new semester starts! But I find myself actually quite disciplined in revising my Korean, it’s the passion I guess! hee~ ;p

Besides studying, I’ve been enriching myself with skills and knowledge! Utilizing the time I had, I started learning how to…

KNIT! :) The photo shows a practice patch I knitted out while learning how to knit two colours together. I haven’t knitted out anything useable so far as I’m still practicing. There are so many different kinds of pattern stitches to knit and each pattern requires a different method of knitting. But I’m taking it slow as I have a lot of time before December comes!

And today I FINALLY got down to making the Korean sushi, Kimbab! I’ve wanted to make kimbab for so long but was too lazy to find out which Korean mart has the ingredients I need as not all Korean marts have kimbab ingredients!

For a first attempt, it’s quite successful although I need more practice with rolling the kimbab! ;p

It’s been quite a purposeful holiday, travelling with sister and cousin, studying, reading, knitting, cooking, hanging out with friends and saying goodbye to some. Soon I’m going to embark on my honours year!! OMG excited.

Semester 1, 2011.

Results for sem 1, 2011 were released few days ago and as I expected, my results were not on par with the previous semesters’. Definitely no Dean’s list this semester!

Can’t say I’m not disappointed because I expected at least one 7 for either MSTU or POLS. But I also expected to see a 5 for COMU, good thing it’s not! My first grade 5 in my whole uni life received in the last semester (for my normal BA). What a pity I could not keep my results purely 6s and 7s. Argh, Buddhism. From the first moment I learn about this course, I knew I would not do so well if I were to take it. It’s religion, it’s philosophy. The stuff that makes my head go haywire. Alas! I proved myself right. I worked quite hard for Buddhism, did lots of reading which is required actually, if not you can’t write shit. But well, other courses were quite as time-consuming with looooots of readings to do. I guess for this semester, without a Korean course, I was kept busy on my toes just like a “more” normal uni student. Every week, tons of readings to do.

The thing is, although my grades are not as good as my previous semesters, I felt that I learnt the most for this semester. Perhaps it’s because of the readings, but I would also credit my Buddhism prof (oh the irony!). Throughout the semester, he stressed on the importance of reading and writing. Reading is essential for everyone because it is through reading that we gain knowledge (mostly), which of course is true. Besides learning from lecturers, profs in school, we gain most knowledge through reading (be it textbook or other academic books). Besides that, having taken the political science course has made me realised how little I know about Asia. I reckon that I should not only focus on Korea and expand my knowledge to other parts of Asia as well, especially SEA which shamefully I have the least interest in. >< Because of this course, I am cultivating the habit of updating myself with current affairs around the world (especially Asia, since I’m majoring in Asian Studies). There are actually so much more that I’ve learnt this semester but I’m just too lazy to type it all out… lol.

So, now I’m officially a Bachelor degree holder and moving on to another year of honours! I’m sooo excited for the new semester to start! Only two weeks of holidays left, I have to take this time to study and revise my Korean due to the lack of Korean practice last semester. ><

Short post on the Melbourne/Gold Coast trip!

I have been fighting the unmotivated will to blog all these while and finally I’m here still struggling to type what has been going on  in my life since my last blog post. I see blogging as a practice for sustaining my writing skills although it is not something I want to boast about and it may not be an effective practice (due to the lack of a 3rd party proof-reading) but it is still SOMETHING which is better than nothing! That’s why I don’t want to give up blogging.

June was a really really busy month which is kind of obvious considering my number of blog posts. I was busy with exams and assignments, after which I went on a vacation to Melbourne and Gold Coast with my sister and cousin. It all ended within the month of June! A month mixed with working hard and playing hard.

Melbourne/Gold Coast trip was really fun. I was pretty impressed with the amount of things to do in Melbourne city! There is the Fed Square where we participated in the winter light festival on one of the weekends, where there were performances and a beautifully lit pyramid of lights. Chinatown in Melbourne was bustling and seemed authentically Asia, heaps better than the Chinatown in Brisbane which is labelled as the red light district (danger zone). As our hotel was located at Chinatown, we had to walk past Chinatown everyday. I think I have been to Melbourne’s Chinatown more than Brissy’s. Melbourne city closes way later than Brisbane city as well which is super awesome! Woolies was still open at 9+ near 10! Certain boutiques were still open at around 7+, 8 on Sunday when Brisbane shops closes at 5 sharp on Sunday!

But the less populous city of Brisbane appeals to me more. The amount of people in Brisbane is just nice to me, not too many and not too little. That’s one of the good things I like about Brissy, other than the weather!

Besides city touring in Melbourne, we went on a day tour to Great Ocean Road and Philip Island. Although it was freezing cold, it was still a great experience! The good thing about the tours was that I didn’t have motion sickness!! It was probably because I ate medicine and slept almost throughout the whole bus rides. Waking up really early in the morning for the tours helped too. ;)

I’ve nothing much to rave about for Gold Coast since I’ve been there 485720302348023 times. Hahaaa, you know that’s figurative right?

I will blog more soon…. I think I’ve depleted my writing juices last semester (sem 1, 2011).