Monday, December 20, 2010

More graduations

After Amelene's graduation, I attended a few other friends' graduation....everyone is graduating this year and us meddies still gotta wait till our turn =P




Hui Xuan's graduation at University of Melbourne where she did her Honours




Harry Potter in the making


Went to Eugenia's graduation and attended the ceremony at Robert Blackwood Hall...first time attending a graduation ceremony!





Though not my first time inside the hall, it still looks impressive to me....notice the pipe organ in the middle




Ancora Imparo =)



Eugenia is my ex-neighbour at halls



Carmen and Wai are some of the few HK hallmates I met last year (halls kitchen is a good meeting place), so surprised to see them graduating on that day too, coz I didn't know!

It's always happy to see people graduating, because there's always a happy atmosphere around... =) and also because it kept me wondering how my graduation will be like next time =P (Nooi Hoay and me even came up with some tips for dressing for graduation day after some observation in the graduation ceremony....hahaha)

Monday, December 13, 2010

First graduation I attended

Went to Amelene's graduation last Saturday at the Royal Exhibition Building. It's my first time attending a friend's graduation...and it's an honour to be able to attend my ex-roommate (at INTEC)'s graduation! From the day we first met at the INTEC hostel office and found out we were roommates, till 5 years later today...Who would have known that we both ended up in Melbourne together to pursue our degrees despite being at different universities.  And to be able to attend her graduation too!


Inside the graduation hall


In the Melbourne Museum opposite the Royal Exhibition Building....thank you aunty uncle for still remembering me even though it's been 4 years since we last met at Kuching! *so surprised and touched*



Outside the graduation hall

During our chat I asked Amelene, where's your mortarboard (the square graduation cap)? And she said Melbourne Uni undergraduates don't get mortarboard, only Masters (and above) do...So I said 'then you won't be able to throw mortarboards up into the air, like how we used to talk about/dream of doing during our INTEC times...' to which she said, 'Yeah 梦想破坏了'....aiks =P


The Royal Exhibition Building - a World Heritage site

Congratulations Amelene and happy birthday in advance (tomorrow)! All the best in your future and may your dreams come true... Hope we get to meet again in Malaysia =D

Geelong road trip

We planned a second road trip to Geelong/Queenscliff last Wednesday-Friday, just 2 weeks after our first road trip!

It was a cold rainy day when we drove to Geelong. Stopped by the waterfront to have our lunch - homemade sushi by Chean Ying (and halls assistants?) and of course took some pictures =D


Geelong has more than 100 of these wooden characters around



They have a carousel too

After the short break we continued our journey to our accommodation at Ceres...it's a house at a hill top. The house we stayed is as awesome as the house in the previous road trip, the difference being that this house is very 'high-tech' and has won awards due to its design + energy-saving concept. So you could say that we were staying in a 'million-dollar' house... =P


Private road leading to the house (Barrabool Hills Estate)




 Front door...


Living room


Home theatre system...wow! All controlled by a remote control, whether you want to watch Foxtel, listen to Ipod, watch DVD, play PS3....


Dining area


Kitchen


We are allowed to use any ingredients in the pantry!


And even this....coffee!!


Coffee-maker and milk steamer


 Coffee is a must everyday in this house....awesomeness



BBQ area


It has a swimming pool on one side


The other side



View from inside the house




Found this magazine in the games room....the house in the picture is the house we stayed in =P



Taking picture with the breathtaking view as our background

What we did:

Day 1 - relax at home playing Daniel's PS3 because we were too impressed by the house, then prepared dinner while a few of us went to have a swim.



Preparing dinner


dessert expert making strawberry and apple pie



they had fun at the swimming pool despite it being a cold day



We had our dessert first because these came out of the oven earlier =P



Our dinner

It seemed that we were all reluctant to go to bed, so some of us watched movie in the living room till 3.30am =P when, if not now (holidays) that us friends get to stay up late at night together?

Day 2 - relax at home in the morning before starting our journey to Queenscliff and the beach.



Outdoor mahjong....priceless




A neighbour's dog came to our house compound, it's soOOoooo cute!


Time to go to Queenscliff!


Saw a group of pelicans and seagulls on the way



Big pelican on top of the lamp post


had our lunch of fish and chips and calamari and scallops



Beach time!


Went home to start preparing dinner....BBQ! It started raining so we couldn't use the BBQ pit at first and had to grill/fry our food in the kitchen....but the sky cleared later so we BBQ the rest of the food =D



Double rainbow appeared after the rain



Justina and the huge pepper grinder



Dinner time!



then karaoke

Day 3 - planned to go to the Geelong water theme park but ended up enjoying ourselves in the swimming pool instead. Then it's time to leave...but group pics first!



 Inside the house


and outside the house




Bye bye sheep, bye bye Barrabool Hills Estate

Revisit Williamstown

Holidays have been great. First we had the road trip to Lakes Entrance. Then we had a potluck to welcome Josephine and Ye Chia to Melbourne last Monday!


Yay to potluck!!



Potluck at Farrer Hall common room


We started our potluck at 2.30pm and there were so much food and drinks...it was a hot afternoon and we were stuffed and lazy after the potluck. But our plan must go on - next destination: Williamstown!


showing off our legs


everyone loves the beach


Ye Chia loves Melbourne



Triple J - Josephine, Justina and me



wanted to watch sunset but the cloud blocked our view >_<


Soon it was time for dinner and we all headed to the city to fill up our growling stomachs at a Japanese restaurant....bento nom nom nom =P


this isn't my bento; I was so hungry that I wolfed down my food

Then we went to see the Myers Christmas display....it's going to be the 4th time I see it when I bring my family there...soon~