Vanity Fair

With not many things to occupy my time, I have been eating, sleeping, playing and.... shopping. I've gotten some new clothes, including jeans and a new prom dress as well as working clothes, at big discounts (we're talking 50% to 70% here :P)

This year seems like a good year for footwear for me :D Look what I've got this year:

Slippers with butterfly deco from Colleen, 1 Utama

White sandals from Carlo Rino, Sunway Pyramid

Black and White sandals in different sizes from Bata, Subang Parade

Heeled slippers from Bata, Subang Parade

Nice or not??? I was practically jumping in glee when I found the white sandals in Bata. I bought a pair very similar to that before in Bata more than a year ago. I really loved the versatility of the sandals, but sadly, it was really worn out by now. So I was really excited that I managed to find a replica of it again. And since the slippers there were so cheap I just bought everything I liked. It all came up to RM50 for 3 pairs, which seriously is a bargain. Luckily I managed to find my size for the sandals I bought there, as it was all last pairs or in super big or super small sizes. I'm still so excited from managing to find slippers and sandals I really like at such a cheap price as well! I'm not really a fan of Bata because their designs are not to my taste, but these were really nice. Shows how lucky I am in finding such beautiful things, all in one shop :P

I haven't worn those sandals yet as I could not bear to wear it. The first two pairs were bought during my winter break a few months ago, and I did not want to bring it to Aussie with me as I won't have a chance to wear it there. In Melbourne I'm used to walking wherever I want to go (especially to uni) so wearing those sandals would be a waste, as they would break from the harsh treatment. But next year I'll definitely bring some back with me, since they're so versatile (formal wear and casual wear in one!).

My Room

It's amazing how much things one can accumulate in a short period of time.

In International House, my sanctuary was my room. Living in a residential college with many other students sharing facilities does not provide one with the privacy that those who live in apartments outside get. We eat together, we play together, we work together, and in some cases, shower together. It's not like I totally hate the lifestyle. Living together means making friends. Having someone near by. Friends that are only a few rooms away. Events that we work together to accomplish. But even so, sometimes we want our privacy. Somewhere to retreat when we're tired of keeping up with the crowd. And that is the room we have been allocated to.

In Room 135, Ground Floor, Scheps building, I slowly build my sanctuary. On my first day in Melbourne, I washed and cleaned the room. From the huge suitcase which held my 30kg of stuff I took out my clothes, toiletries, stationery and other miscellaneous items. I went out the same day and bought myself a table fan. I set up my laptop on the huge study table. The room was beautifully simple and clean. Minimalisation, I realised, was the key to simplicity and cleanliness.


My sanctuary wasn't the same after that first day. In the next two weeks I accumulated a stack of papers from Unimelb. Brochures, ads and advices from goodie bags to help me adjust to my new lifestyle. Free stuff, like cds and hairbands and condoms. Receipts littered my desk from my purchases. Foodstuff tossed into the cupboard for my late-night snacks. Bags of plastic and fibre lay around the floor.

I did not have the time nor energy to clean my room, so it gradually became a mess. Then from the roiling activities of O-week I passed into the start of the semester. Life slowed a little (Oweek timetable, was basically 17 hours of non-stop activities and 7 hours of sleep, if you're lucky). I still did not have time to clean my room. Instead, I went on outings, to Philip Island, to the Moomba festival. And I brought back even more things. Namely, soft toys. Small, little toys from Philip Island. A huge Husky won from Moomba took up a corner of my room. The huge study table disappeared from sight under a mountain of papers.

Did I finally get the time/energy/spirit to clean it? Yes, I did. I did the whole works: Filing my notes, packing unwanted papers into a bag, doing my laundry AND keeping it away, changing my bedsheets, wiping and vacuuming and polishing. The room was once again clean. It did not stay that way for long. Soon after, things started piling up again. And of course, I couldn't be bothered to clean until weeks later. Thank god the toilets and showers were not cleaned by me but by the cleaning staff everyday.

In second semester I came back with more stuff. More clothes, more food, more things. And the whole fight between cleanliness and messiness started again.

It was compulsory that at the end of the year we would have to pack all our belongings up into boxes or bags and store it in the college basement until our return next year. My stuff went into four boxes and a small bag. I packed my huge suitcase (the one from the beginning of the year) with food and some clothes to bring back home. It's amazing how much one can accumulate over a year. From one huge suitcase filled with clothes I ended up with boxes full of textbooks, files, toiletries, shoes, clothes and toys. Not to mention all the things that made a transit through my room, like food and papers and all sorts of things students use.

Ever heard of 'one man's meat is another man's poison'? While I consider my room to be messy and cluttered, to others it was homey and tidy. And, peeking into some other students' rooms, I can see why.

At least I never had clothes littering the floor and have less than eight boxes of stuff at the end of the day.

There's probably no one reading this blog anymore. Especially since I don't update regularly. There's not much excitement in my life, or rather, not much that is exciting to you, my readers. My life in Melb is divided between lectures, assignments, college activities and my friends. I don't do clubbing, and outings with friends are just to restaurants where invariably we'd forget to take pictures of the food and dig in as soon as the dishes arrives.

If I can say what was the best moments in Melbourne, it would be:

1. Making two new friends at orientation who later became my good friends.


2. Making a whole group of friends over at college during Easter Break over games of Catan and Dungeons & Dragons.

3. Going to Melbourne U and living independently. I probably have it easy, staying at a residential college, IH. I have no need to cook and clean, and pretty much everything is provided. However, I still need to do my own laundry, clean my own room and pick up after myself (LOL!). And there's the whole time management thing, the importance of which I discovered the week I had to attend Play practices at night, sew a pair of furry gloves, study for 2 tests and do an assignment due that week with my group on top of going to lectures and tutorials in the morning!

4. Coming to International House. The first week there was a killer, with non-stop activities and lack of sleep. But after the hectic O-week life slowed down, and I made many new friends. There are many event at IH that really enlivens the atmosphere, and I really like how we get to do what we're good in, whether it is singing, dancing, making decorations, or dealing with lights!

5. The Catan games we used to play like crazy. By introducing myself in the first week as a Catan player, I got introduced to the seniors who played it as well. Need more players to make up a game? Give me a call at ext 435. We even have a group on Facebook, where active players get titles for their playing styles. There used to be an elite group as well, made up of those who managed to win Catan games. They can then play the expansion set, Catan: Cities and Knights, a harder version of Catan. I nearly cried during a basic game of Catan when Vong led all the other players against me to prevent me from getting my first win. But I managed to win the game, and managed to be the first serious female player in the group.

6. Eating out. Me and my friends would go out to find good cheap eating spots in Melbourne. We've had all sorts of food together with good times.


7. Lastly, playing games. Whether playing with friends on Ian's Xbox 360, or roleplaying in D&D, or even playing Magic TCG, it has been fun and very enjoyable. It's not playing that makes it fun, it's the people you do it with.


My first year of U is now over. Does anyone realise that one Uni year is only 8 months long? The rest of the year is a holiday. So many things have happened that make me feel: I really am lucky.