I know, I know, for the 4398th time, I’ve successfully neglected this blog for quite a while. I’m a medical student, cut me some slack! #excuses . But yeah, I’ve had to prepare for some tests that drained me soo much, I ended up complaining to just about everyone that I’m so fatigued. I even spent a couple of days sleeping 6 hours at night and 3 hours during the day. No worries, I’m back to normal. Just a slightly terrible mental lag during that period.
So. To make up for the lack of boring (maybe?) posts, I think I’ll make this a photo entry, just to highlight some things that have happened this month, thus far. With accompanying explanations of the photos, of course. :) If your connection is terrible and the photos are taking too long to load, I sincerely apologize. Go get better WiFi somewhere!
...where we saw a dragon breathe fire
We saw beautiful swans and little ducks out on the water
We ate chocolate Easter bunnies. And a lot of other things. Yum.
Some of us even climbed trees!
Of course, we rode bicycles around the castle.
And messed around with some of the sunglasses that were in our possession.
Tadah! Mine, all mineee.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is my guitar. MINE. All of it. After going to about 6 or 7 different music stores all over town, walking under the searing sun with two different people on two different days, I finally went for it and bought that beautiful sunburst darling up there. It was supposed to be my birthday gift from my parents, but I decided to put off buying it until the Easter break. It cost me quite a bit, but I am sho happy! :D Loads of thanks to Charissa and Anushiya for accompanying me, and of course, le parents for coming up with the whole ‘guitar for my birthday idea’ :D It definitely is the highlight of the month.
It doesn’t make sense to have fireworks now, since I can’t think of any major celebration, but one week after Easter, I saw fireworks going off outside my window for at least 7-10 minutes. Apparently that’s when the Greco-Catholic Church celebrates Easter, but I still can’t be sure that that’s the reason for it.
An unexpected, but most welcome opportunity for me to practice shooting fireworks.
Okay, so I’ve baked about 4 times since I came here. The first time, I baked peanut butter cookies, which IMO weren’t sweet enough, so naturally I didn’t make a big fuss about it. :P Then I baked a few more other things. I even baked sugar cookies for the aforementioned picnic, which some people said were better than something else that a friend bought from a bakery *bangga* Unfortunately, I was in a rush and so there were no photos of it. Also, I had people who flat out said that they were too sweet, so each to their own, I suppose.
But only two days ago, I baked again, and this time, even though I still got the “too sweet” remark from 2 people, I am thoroughly convinced that I nailed it. They were Frosted Chocolate Buttermilk Mini-Cupcakes, which did end up a little hard on the top because I accidentally threw in too much flour, but it was still good. It was also supposed to be some super healthy recipe (or just about as healthy as sweet things get), but I just put in all the standard ingredients without bothering about the calories. But then again, I’ve never really bothered about calories anyway, so bahahaha. I actually made them for my dad’s birthday (I know, he won’t get to eat them, but it’s the thought that counts) so I’m glad it turned out good.
Maybe it was just the proverbial ‘beginner’s luck’, but whatever floats my boat. :)
Frosted Chocolate Buttermilk Mini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
No, I’m not talking about academic material. I actually bought fiction. Really glad about that too. I went to this lovely little place with so many English books and an adjoining cafe and bought myself the two books below.
A Wrinkle In Time is actually geared towards the younger generation, but it has a sort of quality that sets it apart from other books. It discusses a few futuristic-ish issues, like a utopian society and travelling through space, and of course, as with all good books from its era, it has several underlying themes that I felt were worth pondering over. I haven’t finished the other book (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), but so far it’s pretty good too.
The flowers aren’t all out in full bloom in Krakow yet, but boy, are they beautiful. I can’t wait for them to blossom. I imagine they must be even more picture-perfect that way. No landscape photos because, 1. I can’t seem to find a place with good enough landscape yet; and 2. I’m kind of lousy at taking landscape shots. Not that I’m very good at taking other kinds of photos though, but below are a few of my favourite photos from this set.
A shot from the Krakow Main Square
I know this photo looks rather ordinary, but I like the trees against the contrasted blue and white sky.
And that was my April thus far! A fairly interesting month, if I might say so myself. There are only 4 days left to go till the end of the month, so I suppose it’s safe to say that it has been a good month.
Oh, and to all you India-bound people, congratulations again on your university placements. God has His own plan for you. Believe it. :)
Oct 16
This gallery contains 9 photos.
Nature is so distracting. Autumn came knocking several weeks ago, and the temperature has been skydiving since then, along with golden leaves, brown branches and red flowers. I’ve never been so distracted by the sheer thought of watching leaves fall, or looking at the trees sway slowly in the cold autumn breeze. Attending classes has [...]
Another long overdue post.
I took a train from Krakow to Warsaw with 14 other Malaysians last Saturday to attend not one, but two Raya open houses! Open houses equals food, and I lurve food. I like seeing my friends in Warsaw too, but hey, good Malaysian food two days in a row? Absolutely fantabulous.
We did take some time off to go sightseeing in Warsaw. They have an Old Town which doesn’t look old. The reason? Feel free to read on your own here. It’s a very short article, so no excuses for not reading it, unless you already know the history of Warsaw’s Old Town.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking now (more pictures on Facebook). And yes, I’ll explain the cabaran my kecinaan faced when the right photo appears. I have several recordings that I thought of editing and uploading, but I’m far too lazy to do that. We’ll see if the hardworking bug kicks bites any time soon.
My compartment buddies for the ride there.
The view from the train on the way to Warsaw.
Touch-down in Warsaw!
The first open house we attended. Oh, Nasi Lemak!
All the Malaysians from my batch who made it to Poland. 
The Palace of Culture and Science. A gift from the Soviet Union to Poland. It was quite a sight in the midst of all the modern high-rise buildings. Read more about it here.
FREE HUGS! No, I didn’t get one.
Warsaw Old Town
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the stadium for the upcoming Euro Cup!
This dog’s owner walked into the shop to get something and the dog faithfully waited outside till its master came out. Then it obediently trotted along behind its master.
See the angmoh fella in that blue windbreaker? See the excited face of my friend at the side of the photo? That’s because the angmoh. Speaks. Mandarin. Fluently. He could hold a proper conversation in Mandarin, albeit with a funny accent. Very frankly, it made me feel less of a Chinese than I am. Hence, my kecinaan was challenged. 
Second Open House at the Ambassador of Malaysia’s official residence
The very delish satay style chicken. Yum.
All in all I had a good time. I’ll probably be visiting Warsaw several times during my time here in Poland, so then maybe I’ll get bored of it. 
Warsaw’s a nice place, definitely more modern than Krakow in terms of architecture and infrastructure. Not that I’m complaining. I like Krakow more because I didn’t come this far to live in a place which looks too much like a small developing town in Malaysia, albeit with blonde haired people and a difficult foreign language. On the upside, the people in Warsaw speak more English than the Krakowians, which would definitely make life a lot easier for non-native Polish speakers like Yours Truly.
Anywho, I’d still choose Krakow over Warsaw. 
