Day 1: Paris

The plan was to meet my mum in Paris on the 19th night but I took the bus on the 18th March.

Anyways, came to Paris alone by bus from London Victoria Station via Megabus at £15, departed at 8PM and arrived at 6AM in Paris ! I didn't change my service provider from giffgaff to Three; which has internet and line in Paris cause honestly, I can't be asked to travel with my phone beeping all the time so I had to go with the well-known "hi! approach" to strangers and tag along with them till the sun came up cause it was kinda creepy to be alone at the bus station. The sun wasn't out yet at that time aiteeee, so yeah.

So the strangers I decided to approach and hung out for the whole day were... Fazmie, Syamil and Anas !

It was bad enough that we didn't get proper sleep thanks to the bus and ferry ride, but we decided to still pull through the whole day and visited a couple of places from 'the Sacred Heart of Paris' (picture above), 

the Opera 

(which I only stood outside waiting for them cause I wanted to go to the Opera again when my mum came)

and the Mosque which was so beautiful ! 

I was so mesmerized ! The nearest station to the mosque is "Jussieu" which should be on the pink metro line 7. There were about 4 armed guards waiting outside, so don't be surprised. 

Also, the Natural History Museum was only less than 5 minutes walk and free entrance for youths, so we just went in cause Fazmi thought it reminded him of PetroSains... by which PetroSains is wayyyyyy cooler ! Well, based on how I remembered it about 10 years ago atleast lols. It was great though, the fact that I could catch my power nap at the "Outback Africa" section of the museum as they had lots of seats there...... hahaha

We chilled a lot really since none of us had any reasons to rush. But we did have to rush after dinner cause I had to pick my mum up from the Garu de Nord station at 9PM. And as expected, we were kinda late by like 15-20 minutes and finding for my mum at one of the most busiest station in Paris without a phone was definitely a bad ideaa ! 

And then, it was time to say goodbye to the random friends and spend time catching up with my mum :) 

Datelines, Datelines

*'We are the Champions' song cues in*

Yesssss ! I've submitted 2 assignments of my core modules today. It was the EU Law Assignment of 3,000 words due on the 8th of March and Company Law Assignment of 2,500 words due today; 10th of March. Finally, a little taste of freedom :)

I didn't do this assignment last minute though, I've started drafting in 2-3 weeks in the due date. But, restructuring and understanding the question again and again took forever. The worst part was knowing that there's still a lot of legal sources out there that I could've read and add into my essay. Which as you would've expected, I keep on adding points to my essay that I even exceeded the word count limit by 500 words ++

I thought if I didn't do last minute work, I might be able to get enough sleep, at least 4 hours, but I thought wrong !!

For the past 2 weeks, my sleeping schedule was literally a roller coaster ride. I had frequent naps in the day and stayed up all night till 5AM; essentially till I do my morning prayers. Then, I'll try to sleep before the sun comes up and get myself started for the day.... which was only a few hours of sleep really.

Spent my night completely awake 2 nights ago, and still woke up for my 9AM tutorial on the 8th after submitting the assignment *phew* (it was cause she's quite a firm tutor). I came unprepared, thinking someone might come with the answer the questions for me but apparently, NO ONE CAME ! So I had to be honest with the tutor that I came unprepared and she was totally cool with it. But she still insisted on me coming for another tutorial replacement next week, which is totally fine by me.

But last night though, was a mess! I had my nap in the evening from 3-5PM (Well, if you consider a nap as 2 hours sleep). And I stayed awake since then and till this exact moment I am writing this post, 1PM. Its cause I'm working and I had classes this morning that I'm still awake, although my mind and body isn't functioning well for human interaction.

Celebrated submitting 2 assignments that I was quite satisfied doing, with a bowl of ramen and an episode of 'The Big Bang Theory'!

Now, just gotta wait for my shift to end, and I can finally get the sleep I deserveeeee before I go to Tesco's. According to my calculation, I would've been awake for 23 hours if I manage to get my sleep at 3PM after work, whoaaaaaa. Never imagined a sleeping pattern or a busy schedule like this when I was in college. I thought SPM and A-Levels drained my sleep enough.

Oh ! Before I forget, this is my first time submitting 2 assignments back to back without coffee but all on healthy eating and endless cups of green tea :) (also, self-proclaimed mental strength hahaha)

How I wonder if there was any law student that made it through law school with enough sleep and without coffee though....

And after this long deserving nap, I gotta start prepping for my 6-minute speech for the Commercial Awareness Initiative Competition and a thousand words essay regarding the topic I'm planning to talk about. And no, I'm not even complaining cause I actually am excited (but also nervous).

Also, note that there might be a lot of grammar errors in this post because as you would expect, my brain isn't functioning as sufficient... sleep deprived.

Dad's Biggest Influence

They say,

Distance makes the heart ponder..... And it got to me, that

Maybe, my dad doesn't know how much he has influenced me.

My urge and drive for adventure came from him.

He was an avid traveller himself, travelled across Europe, even in the Yugoslavian countries during their post-war. He even lived in Tunisia for a couple of months and settled there once. And when I was 12, I came across a newspaper article that he was in, known for his travels. 

Even now at the age of 61, he still craves for an ultimate adventure. Two years ago, my mum and dad even went to Israel to check out how it was there. Also, last year, he joined me for a couple of dives while I was taking my diving license (and I gotta admit, I really appreciate it cause I knew the tank wasn't as easy for you to carry as how it was years ago).

And when in a crowd, he will be the one who makes everyone laugh. 

I wish my sense of humor came from him (although I didn't laugh most of the time cause we grew up with it), but he's usually everyone's favourite. Like a dinner table would be quite without him. And the family wouldn't be as spontaneous if it wasn't for him. He would randomly dance whenever he's around good music, even when the music came from a cetak rompak CD shop hahaha. 

His love for knowledge is what I adore most. 

At the age of 50, he went on to take his Masters in Environmental Engineering.

And when we ask him questions about the world's history and general knowledge, he'll answer as if he was a walking wikipedia. You will always find him watching some random documentaries or reading books. 

Although... he did admit that tricked us about a couple of facts when we were younger hehehehe. 

And even in his 60s, he has been holding and has held so many positions in so many clubs in Malaysia that I honestly can't even keep up with. From being a President for the Rotary Club, to being part of the committee of UEM and ENSEARCH (and yes pa, you can correct me if I'm wrong with listing any of your many achievements in life). And with all that, he still tries to be home for dinner with the family, have movie nights and supports us in our own pursues. Sometimes, he'll even cook for us breakfast or dinner too ! He'll try to get us together for prayers as well, whenever he can. And never fails to try to get us together especially for morning prayers. In other words, even with your busy schedule, you still make time for us :)

Oh, and he never spends unnecessarily, seriously.

He'll use his wallet until they're worn out. He'll use his phone until the digits can't be pressed anymore.

I can even remember the time we argued cause I wanted to eat out but you insisted on me cooking at home hahaha. There were times you even ended up cooking for us as well. 

And the coolest part? He plays so many instruments. Yes, dad's talented too. He plays the guitar, piano, even the trumpet ! (that we even have a jamming studio at home, which I reckon was due to my dad having had his 'band' days when he was a student in Tasmania)

Even this post doesn't justify, how amazing you are to me pa. There may be even a part 2,3,4,...etc post one day. But the most important part is that, I will always love you undeniably, pa (and will always try my best to make us argue less too hehehe)

Salmon Spinach Lasagna

Hi there ! 

A couple of my friends requested for a recipe for the Salmon Spinach Lasagna I made on Monday, and I usually just throw everything in when I cook (and God bless, it was kinda sedap and edible haha). But anyways, here's sorta a basic yet simple way I would reckon anyone would be able to bake this Salmon Spinach Lasagna ! Also, since I'm a student, I have limited amount of money, time, resources etc so this is as simple as it can get :)

Servings : 2-3 people (depending on your appetite!)

For the Lasagna

- Bake the Lasagna Sheets in boiling water for 8-10 minutes

- Be sure to stir it all the time, and pour in a little bit of olive oil

- Set aside the Lasagna Sheets in cold water 

For the Salmon

- Heat up some olive oil

- Cook about a teaspoon or two teaspoons of garlic

- Chuck the salmon in and cook it with herbs, black pepper and salt

(I used mixed herbs cause that's the only herb I have in my cupboard lols)

And set it aside !

For the Spinach + White Sauce 

- Grab as much spinach as you'd like (I used about 400 grams)

- Chop some garlic and red onions (or any onions really)

- Cook the garlic and onions, then throw in the spinach into the pan with some herbs

- Once it's cooked, set it aside to cool down and chop the spinach into smaller pieces 

Whilst waiting for the spinach to cool down, you can make your REALLY SIMPLE white sauce !

- Mix in 75ml of Double Cream and 150ml of Creme Fraiche into a mixing bowl (I used a whisk at this stage just to mix them well) 

- Beat an egg in 

- Add loads of cheese into the mixture (I used a little bit of Mozarella and loads of Cheddar)

- Add a bit of butter in (possibly a table spoon) and salt 

And you're kinda done with the white sauce ! 

Mix the spinach into the white sauce, and we're good to go ! 

Finally,

- assemble all the mixes together (it took me only about 15 minutes-20 minutes to prepare for all 3 mixtures)

- I started off with a pasta base, then the white sauce, then I threw in the salmon pieces on every base  

And you're done !

Just put it in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees or 160 degrees fan oven uncovered and you should get a nice golden layer at the top

I think this recipe is really easy and can the ingredients can be substituted with other ingredients easily. And I kinda did this Lasagna based on a mix of about 5 different recipes posted online.

Anyways, hope that helps, 

Enjoooooooy ! :)