DAY 302/303/304

Jun 30, Jul 1 & 2

1) So finally, I've shifted house! From 48 Leeson St Lower, Dublin 2 - all the way to 11 Sweetmount Drive, Dundrum 14. From sharing a room at a student apartment, to living with a host family for the next half a year. It's been a completely new experience for me, packing and bringing all my stuff with me to my new home.

2) The only experience I have had prior to moving in was coming to Dundrum for buffet with my friends. So at the very least, I was familiar with the location of the LUAS station (not to mention the very reasonably priced and highly rated Global Cuisine Buffet). There is also the Dundrum Town Centre - the largest shopping centre in Ireland! Yesterday, I tried the buffet again, as it was just as good as I remembered it.

3) Today, I did some walking at the shopping centre, before having lunch at Subway (at the Food Hall). It really is a lovely walk, with lots of outlets and beautiful design layouts. After touring around the mall, I walked to Lidl, a German global discount supermarket chain (somewhat similar to the convenience stores we have back home). Everything is just so convenient around here, and all within walking distance. There's even an Apache Pizza, which opens until 5am everyday of the week! Not to mention home delivery for extra.

4) My host family has been very welcoming and accommodating of my stay so far. I'm living with Mrs. Fallon, who lives here with her two daughters. Mrs. Fallon was very interested in knowing where I came from, so I pointed to the appropriate location on the map in my room. We spent some time talking about Malaysia and Southeast Asia in general, and she recounted her stories with past tenants. Then I excused myself to unpack my belongings. Speaking of my room, it is very well furnished, with study lamp and many cabinets and dividers to organise my things.

5) I've to get used to a different schedule from the next week onwards. This is because I need to take the LUAS (Irish tram service) to RCSI everyday from now on, including the summer break as I am working there in the labs. It is really convenient, though, that the last stop for the LUAS is right in front of RCSI, hence it is nigh impossible to get off at the wrong stop haha. (Here's hoping it never happens). Anyway, that is the end of my narrative, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks very much for visiting my blog, and have a nice day. Cheers!

My house is the one on the left ^^

My room

Plus all the cabinets to put my belongings

The bridge is the iconic landmark for the LUAS station 

(less than 10 minutes' walk away from home)

Came back to Leeson to take the last of my belongings, and to say goodbye )':

The walkway to the main shopping centre

Having buffet lunch at Dundrum Shopping Centre

A stunning angle (imho) of the Food Hall, 

located at the top floor of Dundrum Shopping Centre

DAY 248 & 249

May 7 & 8

1) The past two days have been very eventful for me. Yesterday was a full day as usual for me in the library, where I studied for the GIHEP paper today. As I had expected, our GIHEP paper was not easy. Many of the questions had more than one possible answer, and the problem lay in choosing the best option. As always, I did my best, so I'll just have to wait and see.

2) Today was a much more exciting day for me though. After our exams, I had to go to Dublin 1 to sort out some documents. Walked back to RCSI, where Zi Yan and I took the LUAS to Dundrum. It's our friend Hong's birthday today, so we went for buffet lunch at a restaurant called Global Cuisine. It was not easy to find the place, as it was in an obscure location at the cineplex, just beside Dundrum Town Centre (the largest shopping mall in Ireland). The food was really good, and at 9.95 euro, much cheaper than Dublin 2.

3) After a wholesome meal, some of us went shopping at Penneys, while the rest of us took the tram home. But that's not the end of our escapade. At night, some of us (Jason, Alvin and me for now) are going to watch Fate of the Furious (a.k.a. Fast and Furious 8), a film which I have been yearning to watch ever since it came out. Now is the best time to watch it, and then binge study the rest of the week for this Saturday's final paper, the HBPS. All in all, it has been a really meaningful day for me, as we near the end of our exams and the holidays are just round the corner. That's all for my two days' worth of blog updates, and thanks for reading. Have a great day, cheers!

The birthday boy Hong :)

That's as candid as we'll ever achieve...

Group photo :))

Dundrum Town Centre

Global Cuisine Buffet Lunch

That's my friend Alvin, who was really keen on being in my blog ^^

Happy days!