If you have not watched this film, please do. Personally, I think it has to be one of the best films ever made... Will Smith is an amazing actor... did not just have a tear trickling down my cheek.. I had streams of it... I was trying so hard not to sob.. and I bet it was the same for most ppl in the cinema.. ppl wee hugging their bfs after the film, ppl wiping away tears... it was just so sad... It really touched my heart and I was moved by it all.. I wouldn have thought the next time I cried would be for a film haha but hey, everything works in its mysterious ways.. (:

Just handed in the last of my reports this morning.. exams are done and dusted for the time being.. hence why blog has been lacking posts.. 1 semester down another to go... it has been a stressful few weeks but thats what exams and reports do to you doesnt it.. Just got to look forward to the new semester now.. more to learn, more to do.. (:

Not quite done with posting all the pictures from Germany yet.. time has been slipping through my fingers.. honestly not sure where it has gone.. flying right by me ):

Well just thought I would write something to say that Im still alive.. just feeling a little.. soppy from the film (: not long till cny now.. pineapple tarts, red packets, reunion dinner, family visits whats not to like..

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Food for thought



You ever look at a picture of yourself, and see a stranger in the background?. It makes you wonder how many strangers have pictures of you. How many moments of other peoples life have we been in. Were we a part of someone's life when their dream came true or were we there when their dream died. Did we keep trying to get in? As if we were somehow destined to be there or did the shot take us by surprise. Just think, you could be a big part of someone elses life, and not even know it.

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♬ ♬ ♬

It's January again, the leaves are commin down
One more year's come and gone
And nothing's changed at all

Let me feel I dont care if I break down
Let me fall even if I hit the ground
And if I cry a little die just a little

I've become much too good at being invincible
I'm an expert at play it safe and keep it cool
But I swear this isn't who I'm meant to be
I refuse to let my life roll over me

So let me feel, I don't care if I break down
Let me fall, even if I hit the ground, and if I
Cry a little, die a little, at least I know I've lived
Just a little

I wanna be somebody
I wanna face the things that I've been runnin from

So let me feel, I don't care if I break down
Let me fall, even if I hit the ground, and if I
Cry a little, die a little, at least I know I've lived

It's January again. leaves are commin down
One more year's come and gone
And nothing's changed at all

♬ ♬ ♬

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I don't want to be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately.

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Germany

Days 3 - 5 (31st Dec' 08 - 2nd Jan' 09)

Hamburg in a nutshell... brough in the new year in Hamburg.. quiet "little" port town.. not much to see in Hamburg to be honest.. first day we were day we took a boat tour round the whole place but unfortunately it was all done in German.. and no there were no english tours.. so it was really boring.. dozed off a couple of times during the hour and a half long tour which seemed to go on forever and all we could see was boats.. similar to what PSA has but smaller.. some nice architecture but that was abt it..
.

Met up with Tristyn, Borris and her malaysians friends who work in Hamburg.. they brought us to Miniature Wonderland.. anyone a CSI fan? haha.. miniature killer's paradise I say..

Brain of it all.. the control room.. eyes and ears to the whole place.. any train that de-rails, the cameras and computers picks it up and will alert the ppl at the desk... and to think it was all trains and tiny dolls.. more complicated and work than what I would have thought...





Well new year was just a couple of hours away so we had time to kill.. went into the city centre and found this massive tree in the square...then its off for dinner..



Went to this really cosy restuarant which had bills stuck to its ceiling.. haha.. food wasnt fantastic but service was excellent.. (:


The whole gang... the 3 of us with Tristy and Borris and their friends from home...


We brought in the new year with more malaysians who were studying in Hamburgh.. It was the most terrifying experience Ive ever had.. never again.. fireworks firing at random.. spent the last and first couple minutes of the year fearing for my safety and life!!!

Oh and funny thing.. Angel manged to book a hotel owned by chinese ppl haha just by chance... Hotel Bee Fang.. who would have thought...

Nothing was gonna be open on the first so we kinda slept in since we got back really late that night.. went to meet everyone for sushi lunch.. didn really fill us up so dinner wasnt too far along.. waiter at that place was very impatient so we headed somewhere else for dessert and met a friendly malaysian waiter... malaysians, they are everywhere... we all sat and just talked the night way till the restaurant was about to close..

Bus from Hamburgh back to Berlin was leaving at 7am the next morning so we all went back to sleep for another early start the next day...

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Germany

Day 2 (30th Dec' 08)

Well after a good nights rest and after struggling to get out of bed to make it in time for breakfast.. we made a mad rush down to where the walking tour would start.. just made it in the knick of time.. (:

Brewer's Best of Berlin Walking Tour was what we went for and I must say it was one of the best tours Ive ever taken... we had to walk everywhere like but everything was on the way so it was good.. Our tour guide Brad who ironically wasnt German but from America was amazing though.. the way he explained and took the tour actually made history interesting...

This is the first iconic place we saw.. it had a long story to it haha but bottom of the story is that it might not be there any more in a few months time..

Berlin Jewish Synagogue that survived WWII

Bullet holes from the war that were still on buildings..




Lunch - sausages .. whats new.. hahah anyone keeping a sausage count?

The Trabant : A typical East Berlin Car in the past..


Brandenburg Tor

The interior of DZ bank in Berlin.. yes a bank~!!! imagine coming to work every morning to this..

Hotel Adlon.. does this hotel look familiar to anyone at all??? something happened here a couple of years ago...


In November 2002, Michael Jackson caused widespread criticism when he dangled his baby son, Prince Michael Jackson II, from a balcony at this hotel.. wacko jacko indeed...

Reichstag, the first parliament of the German Empire


Soviet WWII Memorial
Holocaust Memorial

this place is just amazing.. architecturally intriguing... the blocks of concrete are planted at different heights at different angles. When you walk through it you are suppose to experience something. Its kinda hard to explain cos when you are in, its like you've walked into a concrete jungle literally.. its blocks after blocks of concrete.. you get disoriented, you hear noises but dont know where they are coming from.. the guy that designed it wanted ppl to form their own opinion when they walk through it, try to allow us to feel how someone who went through the holocaust would feel...





Whats left of the infamous Berlin Wall



Well I was literally standing on what used to be West Germany and Angel on what use to be East Germany haha and ironically I live in the west and Angel lives in the east...

Topography of Horror


Checkpoint Charlie

Berliner Dome Cathedral

The Old Museum
Dinner at some italian place near our hotel.. nothing fantastic.. had to catch a bus to Hamburgh soon after so couldn be fussy with what we were gonna eat for dinner that night..

The tour covered most of the important sights to see in Germany but it didn allow us to stay at any place long.. we took the tour as a opportunity to mark it on the map and at least know where it is so that we can go back and check it out in detail.. it was a good informed tour that started at 10am and last till abt 5pm.. imagine how tired we all were by the end of it..

That night we got a bus to Hamburgh.. long 3 hour bus ride and only managed to get into Hamburgh at abt 12.30am.. another long tiring day...

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Germany

Day 1 (29th Deb' 08)

Well getting to Germany in the first place wasnt an easy feat.. Flight was from Edinburgh airport @ 6am.. so here's what we had to do...

28th Dec 11.30pm - Train from Queenstreet station to Edinburgh train station...
29th Dec 12.45am - Bus from Edinburgh train station to airport...


Arrived at Edinburgh airport at abt 1.15am... studied, slept, waited till gates opened at 4am.. Flight left at 6am, arrived in Berlin at 9.15am.. Phew.. to think getting to Germany is only a 2 hr flight...

We managed to find our way to the hotel easily.. train system was kinda the same as Paris. checked-in, msged the brother to meet us which was the hard part... haha cos it was sooo cold, hard to msg with gloves on and too cold to take gloves off (Alistair's excuse).. but anyho managed to meet him and Amy...


View from the hotel room

Our first lunch in Berlin from the German Christmas Market nearby

Alistair looking kinda lost...

Delicatessen along the street... looked really yummy so we went in to have a look..

Walked along the main street and saw this beautifully decorated shopping mall.. Kadewee 'aka' Paragon of Berlin haha... all the posh brands u can think of under one roof...

First Chocolaterie we saw we had to go in, I mean, who can resist that!!! bought ourselves some chocolate.. Alistair and I shared 500g, he taking most of them naturally...


Another chocolaterie just a few meters from the one we were just at haha.. and we were worried we wouldn see another for ages....


Didn know what to do on the first day so decided to just head over to "The Story of Berlin" museum... tour didn start till abt 3pm so we had a cup of cocoa while Damus had his first beer of the trip, one of many.. in a really old dodgy bar haha.. we survived... (:


Trying to figure out where to go... maps are a life saver... cant go anywhere without them

Underground bunkers used during the war...

Museum upstairs















Hotel we stayed at.

Memorial church a night... see how there is the old church on the left.. well its empty now and the new church is that funny looking building on the right, just next to it..

We didn know where to go for dinner, Alistair and Amy said the place they went the night before was quite good so we decided to just head back there.. it was much further than expected, Alistair and Amy had a bus to catch as well. unfortunately cos we lost track of time they couldn join us for dinner and had to rush for their bus to Paris.. thank god they managed to get on it on time...

First dinner in Berlin wasnt a fantastic one.. everything was just so so SO salty.. I like salty food, but this was just over the top salty... and thats all we did on the first day.. think we were just too tired to do anything else from the lack of sleep and all that travelling... so it was back to the hotel for a good nights rest.....

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