Its the 10th... well, officially the 11th, since its almost past twelve. But whatever it is, I have a little over 2 weeks before I go home, and its a bittersweet feeling really. While I've come to love and adore the countryside that is Gippsland, not to mention the amount of friends, memories and loves I've made here, at the same time I can't wait to return home as well.

I will not deny it, I've fallen in love with this city, this country, this place. What's there not to love? Efficient public transport, amazing culture, and while Australia has its own drawbacks as well, its altogether an amazing place to be. Even in Gippsland, I cannot help but marvel at the wonder that is slow point, especially at dusk. The way of life where people would go home at 5Pm regardless, because they want to spend time with their family. The food and stuff all available here, the choices we are allowed and the freedom we are given in terms of what we want and what we wish to see change.

But at the same time, a part of me longs to go back to the familiarity of home. People have asked me... why do you want to go back? Have you not considered staying? Why go home to a place that has messy politics, and not exactly the best place to live in?

To me, that's exactly the reason why I want to go back. You've said it yourself, its home. And home has never been a more profound word for me.

It was where I was brought up, where everything that is near and dear to my heart is. Where else can I find shops that open till the dead of the night, places to eat and hang out when we leave university at 11PM because its been a long day with plenty to do? Despite the mess and everything that is bad within Malaysia, it is the place where I'm familiar, and to me, it is more home than anywhere else could ever be. For better or for worst, its home to me, and I think that helping it to be a better 'home' would infinitely be a better alternative then just running away... because running away is never going to solve anything. Nothing is perfect, and there's always going to be some bad or some good in every country, no matter where we go to.

So home it is, and I would be there to stay. But I'll be lying if I said it didn't pain me to leave the land down under where I've grown accustomed to, attached and love for the past four or so months. And I will be back, someday. If only to revisit and renew all the friendships I've made and cherish here, all the memories made here, and everything that has transpired.

But first, let me get through the next week, where two papers loom and threathen to eat me alive. ):

time bomb

Easter break last week! Everyone basically cleared out the residential to return home or go on week-long holidays, and I was left with an empty house for the few days that I was there. So. happy. It was empty and I could do whatever I wanted and for once, I could bake to my heart's content, play music at the loudest I like it, and have a clean kitchen! I baked like mad, and played poker with the guys, and was generally very very happy. xD

They went to the city though, and only came back on Monday. And then we decided to have a hotpot dinner on Tuesday night because it was so bloody cold! So we went to Woolies to get ingredients, but we ended up getting so much ingredients we had to lug the trolley back with us. A trolley which, by the way, is still sitting in their living room. xD

baked my salmon quiche which everyone seems to like from Malaysia till here! Hot pot was amazing too, never knew how good steamboat could be eaten on a cold night when the temperature was four degrees. Dx

Finally went down to the city on Wednesday! First stop was at Mei's house, where she asked me to bake. So I baked scones for her! Not really fluffy enough, but she's not complaining so meh. xD

Went to eureka skydeck on thursday! Met up with her brother at Flinders before heading over to what Melbournians call the tallest building in the city.

Its a pretty sunset, absolutely gorgeous view, but other then that... I really don't see what else is there to do there. We got there just before the sunset, and managed to see it set before we left, at any rate.

We went shopping on Thursday too! Saw so many cute, adorable stuff. From Chadstone, we went to Spencer mall on Friday before I left too! I spent so much, I'm pretty much broke till the end of the month. >.<

Oh, not to mention, I ate like a pig. Dinner on Wednesday, Grill'd was amazing. Thursday was scones, lunch at Chadstone food court and dinner was more dumplings. Did i mention I gorge myself on dumplings each time I go to the city? I can't get enough of dumplings!<3

Met up with the AF peeps on Friday, cause Mei had stuff to do! We had dinner at a Korean place they brought me to, where I finally satisfied my ddukbukki cravings, and Peter ordered some intestine dish that was amazingly delicious. Steph was supposed to come as well, but she had work to do so it was just me and Peter and Ao. Mother of, the whole night Ao and Peter just went on about those pickup lines Peter was using on his korean girl friend's, and it was amusing, to say the least. I would throw a jar at the person who used those cheesy as lines on me though.

They wanted to bring me to dessert to! Apparently, this new place on Chinatown called dessert place sold stuff that was a lot like Snowflake, and darn did I have taro ball cravings. But! The place was full and had a line a mile long, so we only went to passionfruit for dessert. ):

Saturday afternoon after shopping with Mei at South Wharf's DFO, I went to meet Eunice jie at her place! Took the train to Reservoir, where here and Jere kor brought me out to dinner at Petaling Street restaurant! Surprisingly, the food there was pretty good, and I gorged on the kangkung rojak<3 After dinner we even had cakes with Uncle Patrick and Aunt Andrea! I have no idea where the cake place is though... somewhere in Box Hill I think. It was good, but I was way too sleepy to remember. xD

Dimsum cravings satisfied! I specifically requested dimsum for brunch on Sunday because I've been craving har gow since forever. The place was in Preston, and it was pretty good dimsum for a place in Melbie! Expensive, but oh so worth it. Oh, I have to mention, Sunday morning was the first time since I got to Melbie that I slept till 12, almost 1pm! I haven't been able to sleep in since forever. I think it has something to do with the curtains not being able to block out the light... either that or the cacophony of grass cutting, cows moo-ing and birds screeching outside my window by 8 is the one that wakes me up. xD

Cooked dinner for them that night! Steamed tauhoo, ku lou yok and fried kailan. Grandmother will be proudddd. :P I fed them!

Now its back to daily grind. But i can't wait to go back to the city in the beginning of May!

Somehow I'm not too surprise that I seem to have taken (read: GIVEN. SHOVED AT) the position of cook again. Spent two out of four days last week cooking for friends in south seven, because they be Malaysian and they miss curry and I just happened to have curry mix that I brought over from the PJ market. xD

Ended up burning myself too, on the oven grill, but no surprise there. xD I've had a stiletto stab me in the foot, got a carpet burn, cut myself on the train and burnt myself on the grill. Daily life of self, really.

Played badminton with friends on Thursday night at the leisure centre in La Trobe, and I'm so bad at badminton now. Haven't played in years really. >.<

Went to the city on Friday morning! Took the V-line train with Fish, and it was a two bloody hour ride I wanted to claw my way out. >.< Surprisingly though, my motion sickness is not too bad in the train, I could even read while on our way there! We shopped from Flinders all the way up to Melbourne Central, where Tong met up with her friend, and I met Mei Li! Finally, after we've been here for so long. :P

We watched a movie and had dinner in Central before she brought me back to her place in Carnegie, and the next morning she borrowed her brother's car and we went to Ikea! Meatballs there was shit, but at least they had Daim cake! Makes up for the lack of daim cake in KL now. >.< I even bought three packets of the meatball sauce so I could cook it back in my dorm, but somehow her brother misplaced it and we have no idea where it is now. ._.

We went to Ikea purely for food though, and after that we took the short drive to Chadstone so we could shop! She had to buy her towel, and I was quite sure I had nothing to buy, but I ended up spending quite a bit as well since when Australia has sales, damn their things are dirt cheap. The pair of heels you see there is five dollars, but they were too high I would fall to my death. xD

Cooked dinner for her and her brother that night! This is turning in to a habit. Even her brother is calling me their hired cook. Not even hired! Since according to him, if they hire me, they would have to pay me, so I'm their slave. ): Soup was a failure though that night! Epic sadness and embarassment. ):

Next morning, Wing Li drove us over to QV market for churros and doughnuts! Their doughnuts weren't as good anymore, sadly. ): But the churros was good! Extremely messy to eat, but oh, so, good. *slurps*

We sorta went overboard buying Ipod/Iphone covers as well, but they were all so pretty! Malaysia never has such pretty choices! D:

Her brother then dropped us at Lygon street for lunch before he went off with his friend. Italian lunch was amazing, risotto is much love<3 And then we had Il Dolce gelato, which was good! So very very good, but I'm still curious about the Trampoline gelato, which we shall get at Chadstone the next time I go over. xP

It wasn't even five when we finished our gelato, so we had the spur of the moment decision to go to Brighton Beach from Central! It was easy, just a matter of taking the train. The beach was pretty, but oh so cold! xD

Had to wait twenty minutes for our train to go back at seven though, so we just sat at the train station with junk food and talked. Of course, had to wait for miss mei li to check in first, the foursquare whore. xD Had dinner at Shyun Sushi on Koonawarra road, which was near her house! Everything near her house is pretty much good, really. Lucky girl. D:

I had to go back already the next day, so she brought me over to her uni in the morning, where we had scallops and yakitori at Tower Sushi for lunch, with Bubble Cup! And then I took the train back. Boooo. Now assignments are piling up and its insane cause everything is due on the same damn date and I'm about to drown in all my assignments. ;_;

yawnness

and i'm now in my prison cell bedroom, bored as hell and extremely homesick. i wanna go home to my comfortable bed, routine lifestyle and familiarity. ): Mom just boarded the plane too, so the homesickness is just increasing as the minutes tick by. I can't wait for classes to begin, I need the distraction away, so the next four months can fly by and I can go home in July!! July 8th, you just wait for me, I miss everyone back home. ):

Don't believe me when I say I have a prison cell bedroom? Everyone keeps saying it can't be that bad, but when I put up that picture everyone says it really does look like a prison cell. xD I think its probably cause of the walls, but I dunno, the room is basically, to quote Penny, me living in a tiny box for the next few months. *claws*

Did sorta meet people though! Wandered in to the kitchen to wash my plates after my pathetic dinner yesterday, and saw a girl named Pam there making chocolate puffs, which I ended up helping her make. xD She's a Malaysian too, but she's been here for three years and graduated last year. She's still here as a residents worker I think, but she won't be in my house for long either. ): I think we clicked well, which is why I'm kinda all ): that she's moving to her own flat next week or so. But she lets me crash her place? xD

They showed me this cute game too! They have magnetic balls stuck on the fridge, and a target pasted there. So you're supposed to throw the balls at the fridge and aim for the middle spot, kinda like archery, except with a fridge and magnetic balls. xD Oh the things we do to amuse ourselves in this tiny area.

heart is sinking

Annnddd its the last day of orientation. Technically. Well technically there's the Monash Dash at Clayton tomorrow, but for one I'm not even going to be in Clayton, and for another I'm too lazy to run. Not that I'm not athletic (actually, I think I'm turning to be a real lazy bum, but shhh. :P), but I would rather hike/climb/swim/bike rather then run around like a headless chicken. I like treasure hunts, but only when I'm organizing it. I rather like watching people running around frantically. *sadist*

But anyway! Clayton campus is huge, I can't iterate that enough. Its massive! I swear I almost got lost, except the map is pretty easy to read. But after three days there, I only know my way around Building 63, and the Campus Centre. Anywhere else and you'll see question marks appearing above my head. If I were to go there and had back to back classes, I'll lose weight in a month, I swear to you. I don't know how do people get from class to class here without either running madly or getting a bike!

On another note, I think I've lost my picture taking mojo. I can't be bothered pulling out my camera anymore, and most of the time when I do end up taking pictures, its just with my Ipod and those photos usually end up on instagram. Speaking of which, follow me! Its at kittykits! :P

Last day of orientation and i took the public transport back myself, which surprisingly isn't as complicating, even if it is tedious and long. Bus from Clayton to Huntingdale, Pakenham line to Parliament and change to Sydenham line at Flagstaff all the way to Watergardens, all in all took me an hour to take. Then again though, I'd rather do that journey then study at Gippsland, which is a twenty dollar fare to the city via V-line. *sour face* but meh, I don't have a choice anymore. It rained on my journey back though, and I did like just sitting by the window with my earplugs plugged in contemplating the problems of my world. :P

Crossing fingers for an awesome O-week next week and a fun semester for the next six months!! ^_^

whoah. O-O

Yeahhh. Figured I should just keep a blog during my six month stay in Melbourne, partly because I doubt I can remember everything and just want to keep stuff as memories, and partly because.. well Gippsland is a hella boring place. There's really not much to do here! Literally. I'm back in Syndenham now at Uncle Eddy's place, thankfully. But that's only because there's the Abroad orientation going on in Clayton this week. Next week is when I move back to the land of wild bunnies roaming around my not-so-big-but-complicated campus. Meh. ):

Life through instagram! That seems to be how things are these days, and while my Ipod is only workable with wi-fi, i'm semi-addicted to that app. I update like crazy when I get wi-fi. :P But either way, Uncle Eddy's food is amazing. Its like I never left Malaysia! Curry, char koay teow, nasi lemak, you name it he makes it. And in Gippsland I have to make a ten minute trudge to Hazelwood in the next village to get my groceries. Meh. I'll survive on bread and butter.

Totally does not help that v-line tickets are so expensive too! Fortnightly trips to the city it is, I can't afford to make one every week. Psh. But oh well, I'll be the asian kid who sits in her room and stares at her computer all day, school-shooter tendencies and all. xD Fingers still crossed that I'll make awesome friends and have an awesome six months here, but I'm all resigned to being friendless and sticking to my room.

That said though, Melbourne city is an amazing place. I love the culture and lifestyle here, and had my campus been closer to the city, I have no doubt that I would have had an amazing time here, friendless or not. I'm quite fine with adventuring by myself, and I can walk for miles alone had my campus not been so far.

But ah well, life sucks that way. Loneliness, here I come! xD

Grandma's house the best place to take pictures. Its so olden looking, and it has history too! It never changed much from how I first remembered it, and I've been going there ever since I was born, so at least 20 years. xD

The shed the walls and everything has been there since forever. xD But the bad side is that there's so many bugs there, I get creeped out sometimes. Especially the shed behind the house, has always had a wasp/bee living there. And they make the loudest buzzing noises. T_T

Oh! Get this. I went back to my grandma's house in Penang, came back to KL on the 10th... and went back to Penang on the 13th again by plane, this time for a holiday with friends. Nice, huh? xD We stayed at Caryn's place! The most epically gorgeous glass house ever. Lookit the windows at the master bedroom!

I would love this drawer. solves my OCD problem once and for all. xD

My favourite place in the whole house! The attic/ top floor. Its gorgeous! If I had this place in my house, I'd be perpetually having sleepovers there. xD

It was at a pretty housing area halfway up to Batu Ferhinggi.

I captured slaves to serve me there. *evil laughter* One of them was being cheeky. xD

Popiah at Ferhinggi food court! I love it there♥ It felt a little odd being only with friends there though, cause I've always went with my family, barring none. xP

Breakfast! At the little place just below where we were staying at Ferhinggi.

American! With toast, poached eggs, panfried tomatoes and turkey ham~

Mei had pancakes, which me and Lei couldn't resist and ordered it for 'dessert'. It ended up being too much though. Was so full after that ~_~

The gorgeous lovely yolk of a poached egg♥ I love half-cooked yolks!

Went to the beach afterwards in the evening to sit in a coffee shop and just talk~

Fries and ice lemon tea!

Butterfly park on the second day we were there! Coincidentally, it was also Valentine's Day, so the Butterfly Park was having some sort of event. We were given the flutterby's to release! :P

Saw so many eggs there, they dotted everywhere!

So pretty butterflies, can? ♥

Told you it was V-day there. xD They even had balloons and stuff dotting the place.

And these little heart shaped tags with 'I Love You' printed in different languages and hung around the area. So sweet!

Scorpions! *screams and runs*

Can you see what I see? ^_^

They had gorgeous landscaping there too! I could see cobwebs all over the place. And cause they have a sprinkler system to water the plants I think, the waterdroplets hanging off the webs made it easy to take visible pictures of them!♥

They even had waterfalls! Pretty landscaping, no? xD

For the V-day event, some love porch I think, they called it. I found it really nice. :p

A friend showed us this. Butterfly playing dead. xD

Third day! Headed down to Gurney Plaze for shopping. Ended up in Winter Warmers for some tea. I loved the place ever since my cousin showed it to me last year! They should totally have a branch in KL, like fersrs. I would be its most loyal customer. xD

My iced mixed fruit tea! See how it comes in an adorable jug and the cutest martini glass? ♥

Wanted to go to Gurney Hawker for dinner, but it ended up raining so we ended up in Clinic Cafe. Remember the one I wanted to show you guys but ended up deleting all my pictures by accident? =.=

I can take replacement pictures now! xD They serve it in kidney bowls. KIDNEY BOWLS. xD Or whatchamacallit.

Night times at the house was a little creepy, cause there was only electricity in certain parts of the house, but is all good with friends. Lookit!

Also, we had our neighbourhood friendly orange ghost! xD He ate too much carrots as a human and ended up orange as a ghost. xD

Last day! We were at Queensbay, luggage and all before take off time, because its the nearest to the airport. Mei's honeystars covered BR ice cream!

Dinner at the Japanese place Anne showed me the last time at Queensbay, which has the best Tamago♥

And udon! ♥

And with that we went home on our 11pm flight~ I haven't seen that ceiling in years, ever since we started driving home. But it still hasn't changed, my aquarium ceiling. xD