don't let the sun go down on me

This took place from 12th - 15th of December 2009.

Once upon a time, there was a boy who told himself that he shall always look at the bright side of life. However, he knew that it would not always be easy...it's not always black and white. He became cognizant as he glided through the clouds in the sky. Truly, when one wonders upon the creations of Allah, it can be wondrous! 

Then, he remembered a quote from a friend named aozora (which means "blue sky"), "this path may be difficult but the final destination is certain".

Yeah adlan, what's the worst that could happen? There's a sunrise after every night...;)

Suka ek baca personal thoughts orang kat atas tu??? Anyway, here's what I did in Belfast:

I just have to do this at every university that I've been to

Actually, Belfast was the 1st place that we planned to go to (even before Manchester) and it's also the 1st time for us to board a plane from the UK since arriving on the 14th of September. Who's "us"? Takkan tak tau...haish~

The J's at Belfast :)

Hazwan, Fana and Fifah at the kitchen (tu pon nak posing :P)

We went out for a drink (hot chocolate ye) afterwards. Surprisingly, hot chocolate is now one of my favourite drinks since the Belfast trip. Of course, we went to Junction One the next day to shop but there are no photos since it was too cold for me to hold my camera.

We even joined the lecture on Monday morning and I didn't fell asleep, hehe

And we had sandwich for lunch which is said to be better than Subway, it's good really (I had seafood la). As you can see, Charles and Hazwan looked excited.

Me, Fana and Fifah took a picture outside the sandwich shop

That evening, we went for a tour around the university

I guess Naim was just too excited to take us for a tour around his university

That night, we went out to the city

Taking pictures of food has become a hobby of mine, I love tarts by the way

 

I had a Macaroon which originates from Belgium and it was delish!

I have to say, the city's huge and pretty too

Tempat ni memang cantik

So, that is it. We didn't go to Giant's Causeway since it was winter (it might be too cold) and it's quite far. After all, we decided to come again some other time, insyaAllah :D

After going for all the visits around many parts of the UK, I have to say that most of the time, it's just about meeting our friends. Yeah, I love doing that...which reminds me of something which was said by Nurul Iman Azwan from Scotland, "Orang pergi Notts Games selalunya nak jumpa kawan".

On another bright side, 17th Dec was an incredible day. It began with the sun shining its golden rays into my room and suddenly, snow began to fall on the lonely street in front of my house...and I smiled sooooo bright as I stared through my window :)

And by the way, although it may be a bit late, salam maal hijrah...

runaway

It just so happens that one of the things that I enjoy doing is running.

Have you ever run so fast or sprinted so hard...that when you stopped, you realized that you have tears in your eyes?

And I'm not talking about dust in my eyes.

On the 6th of December, 5 KMBians set off to Leicester which is the nearest place from Nottingham where we can find other KMBians. It's funny really how we thought of going there. Me, Aida and Arina were in HDT (Human Development and Tissue Differentiation aka Histology) class when suddenly the idea of eating at Nando's popped into our minds. Apparently, the other 3 girls couldn't make it so we went to Leicester anyway :P

At first, I have to say, I just don't know what we'll be doing in Leicester. We only thought about Nando's and Subway. Hahahaha.

 

Right after buying Subway sandwiches, we headed towards Victoria Park. It truly is a nice park and it's windy on that day. Next, we went for a tour around the city.

 

As we were strolling around the city, I suddenly had the impression that Leicester is a bigger city than Nottingham. But I thought "Nahh, it couldn't be" until Iman said the same thing.

with the 5 Leicester girls

We went to Nando's finally! The place that I actually put as one of the criteria for my future university although I eventually found out that there are no halal Nando's in Nottingham O_o

a rush of adrenaline

To end a fantastic day, we went to this giant slide and had a go on it (well, several actually). When I went down the slide, the feeling was so great and it was a blast! Really made my day.

New Walk :)

I present to you, New Walk! It's a great place to jog, run or sprint. Too bad I still couldn't find a place where I can jog in Nottingham. I like New Walk actually - we walked during the day and we ran (most of us didn't run that much :P) at night to catch the train.

All in all, it was another great trip! Thanks to Atiqah, Fasya, Nana (Happy Birthday! since we went there on her birthday), Sarah and Seha for being such great hosts.

So what have I learned today? Well...I have to say that every place has its own uniqueness. Cause whenever I mentioned I'm going to Leicester, people would usually say "Ada apa kat Leicester?". Now, my response would be, "Banyak kottt".

And I would runaway, I would runaway, yeah, yeah

Yeah, if I were in Leicester, at least I know I can always run along New Walk and go to the slide whenever I feel down. About the title of the post? Use your instinct, decipher sendiri. I just love to run...

paparazzi

A gift from my parents :)

Why hello there ZR1! I'm looking forward to spend time with you for the next few years. Furthermore, you're in blue!

Let's see what's the first picture taken by this camera...

Hahaha, the old Cybershot DSC-T20. Thanks for all the 6598 photos you've taken! There  are so many memories that I have with you...always been a lovely companion. I may use you in the future, you know.

Speaking of cameras, this really reminds me of a post which I've read once upon a time from the blog of Ammar Roslizar entitled "Kamera":

March 26, 2008 at 1.34 pm

Kamera

"Oit! Kamera, Kamera..." kata Sophia kepada Nadia.

"Control..control.." kata Nadia sambil memuncungkan sedikit bibir untuk menampakkan wajah yang lebih manja kepada kamera.

"Hanya jika kita yakin pada kewujudan Allah..."

Firstly, we can see his technique in writing. He would put sentences in inverted commas at the end of each of his post and I just realized he likes 3 dots too ^_~

Okay, back to the deleted post (or blog if I may say so :P). Honestly, when I read it for the first time, I didn't really get the message until the author himself commented on it.

"Kalaulah keyakinan pada kewujudan Allah itu tinggi, pasti kita akan control dan melakukan amal-amal yang hanya diredhai Allah sahaja..kerana kita yakin bahawa amal-amal itu akan diperlihatkan semula di akhirat..samalah seperti gambar kita yang akan dilihat oleh orang ramai..=)"

So smile people, cause you know you're being watched...;)

p/s: i miss reading your blog...

where'd you go

Where'd you go?
I miss you so
Seems like it's been forever
That you've been gone

On Saturday, 28th of November, I went into hiding :D

It's just impossible for me to be hiding and stay offline when I'm home. Thus, it's obvious that I went out somewhere...and I certainly did.

Azim took us (my housemates & I) to Oxford!


Well, the University of Oxford is a city university so, it's somehow similar to Manchester. Nonetheless, this is Oxford! The buildings everywhere are strikingly picturesque and photographic if I may say so.

We climber up this tower

Climbing up through the narrow steps

The view from above can be really stupendous

The street below

The shadow effect

Somewhere along the way

This is the place where I wanted to go so much

The first 2 movies of Harry Potter were filmed here. I found a much better shot of the hall on Flickr.

IB...brings back memories

To Aqeem, if you're reading this; if I knew you really wanted to go to Oxford, I would've called you :)

Yeah, that's what I did on that day. Go ahead and travel, you'll be amazed!

"Certainly, travel is more than seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living"
Miriam Beard

And about the hiding part? Hehe. Well, when you go into hiding, you can really tell if people miss you. Sorry for doing that though.

Now, you know where I had gone to. What about you? Just so you know, I miss you so...

rain on me

The wind blew cruelly towards them. The freezing droplets didn't seem like it would allow A to walk peacefully in the huge city which he had arrived just now. H was taking the guests from Nottingham to the halls which they would live in during their visit. A's light brown sweater is now drenched in the cold rain and wonders if the tears of the sky would ever stop...

Nahh, not another short story, just an intro for my post on the visit in the city of Manchester...;)

It really is a huge city which you can find good, delicious, halal food almost anywhere. And for a person with a big appetite, that's definitely a good news! I kept telling others too that I wanted to eat (macam takde benda lain) when I go to Manchester. I stayed at Hafiz's and I did bump into several other Mancunians.

The host

Remember this photo? Bad memory? Click here.

Well, it's not exactly a Ferris wheel. The view from above the Wheel of Manchester.

And even though it rains very often, there's still sunlight in the end...

I also told Hafiz that we have to check the weather every now and then especially when you live in countries with 4 seasons.

Of course, we went for a tour at Old Trafford

We played Foosball

Cardiff & Nottingham

When I heard the tour guide said the jerseys correspond to the seats where the players actually sit, I did this.

At the gift shop

We are from Nottingham!

Frankly, when I was at Old Trafford, I suddenly remembered a secret which I once shared with someone once upon time. Hmmm...

The scrumptious dinner

Since there are so many halal food in Manchester, I bought souvenirs for my housemates - Subway sandwiches!

Well, it was my insurance choice

Now I know how it feels like to leave Nottingham for a long time (padahal 3 hari je). I feel so great to come back home on Sunday.

Have you ever run across a highway?

In Manchester, I made new friends, met old ones, recurring characters too :), ate a lot, took some pictures, bought some souvenirs and I learned more.

What would you do?

One thing's for sure...it won't always rain on me...