Ten Updates

Hi! This is just a quick update!

• Spring open exams next week! Pretty nervous, obviously.
• The lady in MAC store gave me the wrong foundation shade and I had to go back and switch it with the correct one, which I find annoying.
• Found a new daily body moisturizer and I fell in love with it.
• Went to the Boxing Day last weekend and successfully managed to buy things that I don't really need.
• The flood in York is getting better and flood waters are in retrieve.
• I've been exercising regularly and determined to lose 8kgs. 
• New Year's Resolution; to fully make use of my time.
• Justin Bieber's Love Yourself repeats itself in my head. It's kinda like an involuntary action.
• Currently reading Memoirs of A Geisha and loving it so far.
• Obsessed with makeup, skincare and workout videos of Youtube. Favorite channels at the moment are Carli Bybel, Kathleen Lights and XHIT Daily (Rebecca-Louise)

Travelogue | Pickpockets in Spain?

Alright, this post is solely a safety reminder if you ever planning to go to Spain (or other places as well) because it might just save you from being a victim of pickpockets or losing your personal belongings. 

So Spanish people are very nice and helpful. They might don't really seem friendly or nice at first, but trust me, they are. There was a time when we went for a lunch at a restaurant, a fancy one. So I thought that it was okay to just like sling my handbag at the chair. I mean, it's a fancy restaurant, I thought that it was fine, that it was safe. After a while, a woman tap on my shoulder and pointed at my handbag. She didn't speak English though but she was kinda like telling me not to put it there since anyone can just take it. Basically she wanted me to be careful. It might seem a small gesture, but I did appreciate that. I really did.

Our host on the other hand reminded us about Romanians in the metro, and because of that reminder, we were safe from being victims of pickpockets. We were on our way to Parc Guell or Sagrada Familia I think, that two women suddenly standing so close to Jazilah although the train was not packed with people at all. Obviously they were up to something bad that I just had to glance at them. It was so, so annoying that one of them suddenly pretending to be pointing and reading the metro map but oh, with a grin on her face while her eyes at the corner, trying to look at me. Urgh. Bloody annoying. We urged Jaz to take a seat across us since it was empty. Then these obviously-unskilled-pickpockets attempted to asked Nad about maps but were ignored. Second unskilled-attempt; by doing a gesture asking what time it was and again, they were ignored. And guess what they did after that? They just left. Well guys, I think they were newbies in this pickpocket thingy. Heh.

Then when we were in Granada, we stopped at a kebab shop (kebab was always our go-to food during travelling) to takeaway our lunch. The owner seemed a bit unfriendly, he just took our orders and did his thing; cooking the meat and all. However, after we went out of the shop, he suddenly ran after us and hurriedly asked us to follow him back to his shop. I was wondering why? Did we left anything? Or did he want to give us free kebabs? I'm not lying, those were on my mind back then hehe. He then started to speak in Spanish but guys, language was never a barrier. It took us a while to understand but with the help of hand gestures, we finally understood that he wanted us to be careful with our backpacks, always look at our reflections in the mirror to see if anyone was following us from the back. He also said that people can use knife to cut our backpacks and steal stuffs. Then we concluded that he probably noticed strangers following us right after we went out of his shop, so he hurriedly tried to warn us. BECAUSE, we finally did realize that two women were actually been following us! Geez, thank god that nothing bad happened. Phew.  

But please don't be afraid to travel to Spain. Visiting the country will be one of the best decisions you ever make. These are just my experience that I think I have to share with you guys, just so that you'll be extra careful with your surroundings. Be alert. Don't put your money where it is easily accessible. Some people are watching your moves; they're observing where you keep your money and personal belongings. Always, always keep an eye on each other's luggage or backpacks. And please, everytime you want to get into your apartment or accomodation, make sure that no one is following. Make sure that no one is around when you wanted to close the door. I mean, anything can happen right? Anyway, hope this post helps us to be more aware when we're travelling in the future. Stay safe, wherever you are :)

Oh, deer

'Art is anything

you can getaway with'

'Oh deer' came into my mind in a flash. I was just lazing on my bed (as usual) and suddenly I have this image of a girl with a pair of deer horns, with a pretty tall and straight hair up-do. I've always loved it when I have a vivid imagination on what to draw, so I quickly sketch it and voila, it was finished within less than two hours. 

Travelogue | Italy Part IV - Rome

'Travel. The world belongs to you' 

We decided to explore Rome starting with the great Colloseum. Going to Colloseum was one of my bucket list as a child, so alhamdulillah it is now ticked off the list. The entrance fee was €12 but if you're planning to come here, try to go as early as possible or else the queue would be very long. And since Colloseum is the main attraction in Rome, so you should expect a lot of people. It is estimated that 3000 people visit the historical building every single day. We finished roaming around Colloseum for for about 2 hours and then we headed straight to the Vatican City to give pope a visit and lepak together. Okay I was kidding. Sorry. We were just simply visiting. I mean how can you not? Vatican City is the smallest country in the world with a population less than 1000 people. So a visit is a must, plus, we were already in Rome. So why not. 

However the journey was a bit rough. Apparently the metro line that was heading to the Vatican City was closed for some reasons, so we had to take a bus. Can you imagine taking a bus in a city full of tourists and they were all heading to the same destination as we were? Obviously we were totally sardined in the bus. To make it worse, I had to stand all the way through and it took like almost 1 hour to get to the city because of the bad traffic. I was stressed out because of the inefficient public transport in Rome. It's not that I hate taking a bus, but  I wasn't feeling well that morning. So it kinda made me feel dizzy and nauseous because of the smell + heat. 

But whatever, we managed to arrive to the city anyway. So how was Vatican City? Well, it was crowded. Everyone was queuing to enter the museum that I couldn't really tell where the line started lol. We didn't go inside the museum since it cost about €20 I think? Too expensive. Then we headed to get some ice cream at the famous ice cream parlor Giolotti. It costs us €4.50 for three scoops of ice cream. The flavors was a bit overwhelming, so it was just fine. Not that great but it wasn't that bad either. 

This has got to be the steepest escalator I've ever seen!

Later we went to enjoy the view around the Pantheon (while finishing our overwhelming-flavoured-ice cream) and I think that the interior was ah-mazing. But I didn't really take a lot of pictures of it though Hee. Thennn I insisted Hajar and Amiza to go to another famous spot, which is a cafe called Sant Eustacchio. This place is so famous for its cappuccino and espresso that there would usually be a very long queue every day. I ordered the cappuccino for €2.80 (if I'm not mistaken) and it was just perfect. The baristas were friendly too. Such a lovely way to end our trip :)

Soooo that's it! I am so glad that I actually managed to finish this post! No more rasa bersalah for procrastinating and not writing it. These photos were taken using my phone, and I do have a lot more in my camera but y'know, I'm too lazy to transfer them to my laptop hehe. So I guess I'll just see you in the next travel posts. I honestly can't wait for my winter break to come!

Coffee Culture, York

"As long as there was coffee in the world,

how bad could things be?"

York has so many lovely cafes and I do go on a cafe hopping from time to time. So a few weeks back I went to get my cake and coffee fix at Coffee Culture. It's just a two storey small cafe but it has a lovely ambient, friendly workers and good food.

I especially love their carrot cake which is very unusual of me. I mean, I DON'T EAT CARROTS, NEVER. But I guess that day was exceptional. I saw on the counter that their carrot cake was left with the last slice. So what went through my mind was 'Hm, the carrot cake must be so good that it's finished first'. So I ordered one and loved every bit of it. And of course, I also had a cup of coffee. I couldn't really remember what did I order lol. I think it was their latte. It was fine in my opinion. 

Personally I think Coffee Culture is a great place if you want to spend the time with your friends and do some catch ups. But, since it's quite small, you might end up not getting a table. So try to go during weekdays instead of weekends okay? :)

Coffee Culture

41 Goodramgate, York, YO1 7LS, United Kingdom

+44 1904 630325

Travelogue | Italy Part III - Pompeii

"Ruins are reminders 

that while time will pass

memories remain"

We went down to Naples for two days with the goal to explore Pompeii, the ancient city that was swept away by volcano eruption and earthquake back in 79AD. The journey took about one hour and half, so make sure you are quick enough to grab a seat for yourself or else you will be standing all the way through since there are manyyy people going there as well.

The entrance ticket costs you €13 but if I am not mistaken, you can enter the site for free on the first Sunday every month from 9am - 12pm. Then, you have three choices on how to explore the city. First, get a two hour walking tour with a tour guide who speaks fluent English. The pros is that you get a lot of information and you can just ask any questions regarding the history. The con is that it costs you additional €12. I am not sure whether it's per head or per group, but it is expensive for us cheapskates.

Second, you may hire an audioguide + map that costs you €6.50 like we did. The pro is that it is less expensive and you can take your sweet time exploring the site. We only hire one audioguide and share it. I know, sharing is caring. The cons are, the audioguide is actually useless and they can't talk back whenever you have questions in mind. I think it's much better if you just read the whole history about Pompeii beforehand. It will save you bucks, trust me. Plus, when you hire the audioguide, they will keep your id (passport) to make sure you return the audioguide to them. But the entrance and exit gate is like 1km away from each other, which is farrr.

Lastly, you can just get yourself a map on the phone and it costs you nothing. Pro, cost free. Cons, you ended up exploring Pompei for hours because you don't really know which part you should actually visit. We took 4 hours or so to finish everything and it was tiring I tell you.

So, was Pompei worth a visit? Yes, if you are an avid admirer of historical sites and buildings, or maybe if you're taking architecture. No, if you actually looking forward to see the remains (like me) because most of the remains were transferred to Archeological Museum of Naples for preservation. But there are some that's left but still, I wanted to see more sobs. 

Anyway, we stayed at an apartment near Napoli Campi Flegrei which is like 30 minutes via train, if I'm not mistaken. But you also get there by subway. The owner Annarita doesn't speak fluent English but she was very helpful and welcoming. It's only like 3 mins walk from the railway station and supermarket. Restaurants are also within walking distance. So I highly recommend booking her apartment if you feel like visiting Naples.

Here is her link. You can book her via Airbnb 

https://airbnb.com/rooms/1369241?s=8&user_id=42595928&ref_device_id=25ffcb2bdfe6ae085678f077fe774f597640c3e7

Photos taken at Ruins of Pompeii 

The Last Autumn

"Autumn is a second spring, 

where every leaf is a flower"

Basically this is my final year in UK, hence my final last autumn. This has always been my favorite season. There's calmness whenever I walk on the fallen scarlet and red leaves, the crisp sound that they make and the warmth I get when autumn sun shines on the skin. When the light streams through the trees and the wind sings, I get lost in my own world, admiring the beauty right before my eyes. All of these, I will miss. 

Definitely.

Photos taken in University of York | Nottingham City Center