pancakes & bananas?: October 2012

Its been about a month since I started my exchange studies in Strathclyde University.

I'm really glad that I went for exchange because within this short time, I've learnt so much more things than i would if stuck back home. Though i might not have gotten the best flat facilities here, my flat mates more than makes up for it. Even after a month of living together, there never seems to be a lack of cultural exchanges.

The lifestyle here is so much different compared to in Singapore. Here, they encourage a balance of study and play over the concept of just acquiring academic knowledge. I wouldn't have dreamed of living the lifestyle im currently in back home, to the point of feeling guilty of having 7hrs of sleep every schoolday. and yes, the concept of level asian do exist. although i've mapped similar modules, the syllabus here is so much lesser compared to the ones back in NTU.

The highlight of every week is of course the weekend getaway to another town,city,country. and again i cannot express how happy i am for this! okay i'm getting abit sian of blogging. till next time!

random family guy screening night.

Galloway Forest Park, the largest forest park in the UK, south west of Glasgow, about 2hours drive. Situated in a region commonly known as the Lowlands.

So after forfeiting a trip to Paris, we decided to go on another road trip to hit some walking trails. Acclaimed for their many bike trails, their walking trails were not too bad itself. Walking into the forest, one could not help but feel the serenity of the towering century old trees. It feels like walking into an enchanted forest, one that you usually see in movies or the forbidden forest in the world of Harry Potter. Keep a look out for those centaurs!

Spent a day driving around Castle Douglas (apparently its a town and has no castle. so misleading) and its surrounding to the Threave Estate where you can find the castle not douglas but the ruins of the Threave Castle. It sucks to have the sun set at 5pm but we were treated to some fireworks at night!

The next day, we attempted to hit the trails around the forest park but due to the inclement weather aka RAINING the whole damn day, all we could do was drive around and stop only to admire the sights from within the warmth and comfort of our car. Pretty scenic i would say and better still if we could walk around. The autumn colours and scenery of the tree line was a treat and it would be stuck in my memory as what fall is like. Also it was the only 25hr day, always great to have extra sleep without feeling guilty because the clocks were turned back by an hour.

Finally leaving, Galloway Forest Park headed for Ayr, we drove down the western coast and the coastal winds were able to blow us away at Girvan. Ayr was quite a big coastal town and could finally see shops that were open. So where are discounts and shops, its time to go shopping!

Overall it was an okay trip. would be so much better if it had not rained. The scenery of the lowlands is so much different than the highlands where it's still generally green and loads more of farm animals, mainly the meh mehs, moo moos and neighers. Was quite a nice drive around the changing landscapes . Place would be nice for the summer though with all the water sports and mountain trail biking. Kind of went at the wrong time because most of the places including some of the Information centers were closed from october onwards. We were quite suay because when we arrived at clattershaw's loch information center to get some hot cuppa in the cold weather for some mood booster, it was the first day of their winter closure.