I have discovered the joys of online shopping.
And not the type I do in Singapore where you go to a fashion online store and select your clothes, jewellery and socks.... No. I'm talking about the all-out furniture/ home series version of online shopping.
After feeling like such a klutz yesterday and convincing myself that I am not a trolley and did not come to London to slog through the streets looking like a homeless person panting and wheezing from the load of plastic bags around me.... I googled for london's malls website and found they ALL do home delivery, some do it free even.
John Lewis, Argos, Tesco, BHS, Marks and Spencers woo hoo! You name it, they've got it. And in different colors, sizes and best of all, a $3 charge only on delivery right to my doorstep herein iQ shoreditch.
So there I am, waking up at 6.30am, a smile on my face, eating my leftover Mapo tofu for breakfast and grinning ear to ear as I made my purchases. And out flew 150 pounds on beddings, towels, dishes, dishrack, weighing scale, yoga mat.
At 8.00a.m, I was supposed to get up to meet some of the iQshoreditch tenants to make our way down to UCL for the ISOP (International Student Orientation Program) that started today. I was skeptical about leaving so early especially since we were only 3 tube stations away from UCL. True enough, upon checking the program information... er... 10.00a.m (Welcome address - a phrase which basically means to skip), 11.30a.m (Introducing the UCL Student Union for fun and games - again another skipable session), 2.00p.m (Learning about studying in London - Skeptical....) and finally 4.30p.m (Living in London - Arent I doing it already?).
Looking at the list of sessions and activities, I self-declared myself as not required to attend any of these dreary sessions. But I was still intrigued at the thought of visiting my university though...
On facebook, some of the tenants in the apartment had reached out to each other to ask if we want to head down to UCL together, one of them, a greek lady also shared the same view as me about the importance of the events. The others (consisting of Germans, Chinese, Hongkongers) were insistent on going to UCL to attend all, even be there earlier. Needless to say, they all went ahead leaving me and the lady from Greece to head down on our own in our own time.
I met Theodora at the lift lobby, a tall, lanky and beautiful person with an awesome smile and great hair! We hit it off immediately and left for UCL, all the while chatting on what we like, how new we are to London. We soon discovered we shared similar passions like traveling, musicals, art and we both have the same sense of (lack of) urgency and eagerness and would very much prefer to take things easy.
We ventured onto UCL grounds which is actually about 9 separate buildings and spread across a huge area. In the middle, we saw this garden where people were reading, chilling and I can definitely see myself here in the future.
We also saw the gym which is relatively cheap to go and they have loads of classes like these below:
After our little sightsee, Theodora and I went around asking if we can do an early enrollment which we had to come back another day to do. As it turns out, we can! So we queued in line and waited for our turn to be officially enrolled into UCL and officially attain our Student ID card. Here is my final card! I'm a student!!!! A graduate student part of the division of Psychology! Woo Hoo!
We felt a little excited on our newfound status and that gave us the boost to walk around UCL to see whats nearby. We finally ended up in this small Italian restaurant which looked so cosy, it literally drew us into the place with its lime green shades and funky glasses.
Yep, we celebrated by having an afternoon drink, a carafe of Sav Blanc wine to match our risottos and pear dessert. Yummy. We would definitely come back to this place again.
Well, in the end, we went home a little tipsy but a little happy too. :)
It was a tiring day, but a good day nonetheless.
And not the type I do in Singapore where you go to a fashion online store and select your clothes, jewellery and socks.... No. I'm talking about the all-out furniture/ home series version of online shopping.
After feeling like such a klutz yesterday and convincing myself that I am not a trolley and did not come to London to slog through the streets looking like a homeless person panting and wheezing from the load of plastic bags around me.... I googled for london's malls website and found they ALL do home delivery, some do it free even.
John Lewis, Argos, Tesco, BHS, Marks and Spencers woo hoo! You name it, they've got it. And in different colors, sizes and best of all, a $3 charge only on delivery right to my doorstep herein iQ shoreditch.
So there I am, waking up at 6.30am, a smile on my face, eating my leftover Mapo tofu for breakfast and grinning ear to ear as I made my purchases. And out flew 150 pounds on beddings, towels, dishes, dishrack, weighing scale, yoga mat.
At 8.00a.m, I was supposed to get up to meet some of the iQshoreditch tenants to make our way down to UCL for the ISOP (International Student Orientation Program) that started today. I was skeptical about leaving so early especially since we were only 3 tube stations away from UCL. True enough, upon checking the program information... er... 10.00a.m (Welcome address - a phrase which basically means to skip), 11.30a.m (Introducing the UCL Student Union for fun and games - again another skipable session), 2.00p.m (Learning about studying in London - Skeptical....) and finally 4.30p.m (Living in London - Arent I doing it already?).
Looking at the list of sessions and activities, I self-declared myself as not required to attend any of these dreary sessions. But I was still intrigued at the thought of visiting my university though...
On facebook, some of the tenants in the apartment had reached out to each other to ask if we want to head down to UCL together, one of them, a greek lady also shared the same view as me about the importance of the events. The others (consisting of Germans, Chinese, Hongkongers) were insistent on going to UCL to attend all, even be there earlier. Needless to say, they all went ahead leaving me and the lady from Greece to head down on our own in our own time.
I met Theodora at the lift lobby, a tall, lanky and beautiful person with an awesome smile and great hair! We hit it off immediately and left for UCL, all the while chatting on what we like, how new we are to London. We soon discovered we shared similar passions like traveling, musicals, art and we both have the same sense of (lack of) urgency and eagerness and would very much prefer to take things easy.
We ventured onto UCL grounds which is actually about 9 separate buildings and spread across a huge area. In the middle, we saw this garden where people were reading, chilling and I can definitely see myself here in the future.
We also saw the gym which is relatively cheap to go and they have loads of classes like these below:
After our little sightsee, Theodora and I went around asking if we can do an early enrollment which we had to come back another day to do. As it turns out, we can! So we queued in line and waited for our turn to be officially enrolled into UCL and officially attain our Student ID card. Here is my final card! I'm a student!!!! A graduate student part of the division of Psychology! Woo Hoo!
We felt a little excited on our newfound status and that gave us the boost to walk around UCL to see whats nearby. We finally ended up in this small Italian restaurant which looked so cosy, it literally drew us into the place with its lime green shades and funky glasses.
Yep, we celebrated by having an afternoon drink, a carafe of Sav Blanc wine to match our risottos and pear dessert. Yummy. We would definitely come back to this place again.
It was a tiring day, but a good day nonetheless.
No comments:
Post a Comment