surviving fairuza...

At the beginning of this year there was only one thing I was excited about, my first internship. It was located at Cyberjaya , and seeing that commuting back and forth to my parents home will be a big hassle there's only one thing I have to do. Rent out a place of my own. I know that within the western culture having to live in your own place after college is a big deal. Well, not so much for most Malaysians. In my opinion, having your own place would either mean you got a huge sack of cash hidden somewhere, or you have a stable job that provide you more sack of cash. In other words, people with a lot of cash. On my first day of my internship, my colleague offered me a room in their terrace. Apparently no one was using the room anyway so it only make sense for me to rent it. Plus I don't even have to worry about driving since we can carpool together. The room didn't come with a bed but one of them lent me an extra mattress she got from her old neighbour-friend that move

*for TIPS Part 1 << click here TIPS Part 2 << click here Especially for the Muslim-Malaysian students, you guys might be worried about your meal plan in a non-islamic country. This is one of those experience that made me missed my country so much and made me realize how much I really love BEEF! For the most part, basically Korean food culture are "almost" similar to us. Koreans also love Rice and Noodles, and you can find these items conveniently at any convenient store.... forgive my unintentional pun :p Anywho~ Koreans also love vegetables, and I mean they Love their Kimchi. I say this because you can find this in every restaurant, except in the Fast Food restaurant... and coffee shops. You'll notice that the Koreans love it so much because even if you didn't ask for it they will still give it to you as one of the side dishes, for Free! At first bite Malaysians might hate it, because it got that slight vinegar taste, and it's not

The following link is a 5-page-document which consist of guides that all the Candidates of 2013 Semyung University Exchange Students need to prepare before arriving in Semyung University. It has a checklist of what you need to do and have with you before coming to South Korea. It also have a sort-of official guide to what you will expect to do the moment you arrive in South Korea. This document was provided by Mrs. Shim Yujin of SMU's International Affair Office on the Wall of her  Facebook page . So I decided to put it in a document file so that you guys can print them out nicely. I've also edited some of the things she mentioned for your convenient.  I hope this document can provide help in any way possible for your preparation. If you guys have any inquiries or anything that you are not clear from the document provided please leave a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I read them. Thank you (^_^) DOWNLOAD HERE >>   Guide

*for  TIPS Part 1  << click here TIPS Part 3 << click here Ok, so the opposite gender in the whole world is obviously aware of this: The ladies have their special needs. Or in other words, more item in the luggage that men don't care about. No offence, being a female myself I do approve of this fact.(^^) So, here we go: LADIES MUST HAVE/DO:

Been jamming my brains with facts and theory since the last couple of weeks. Yesterday was the last day of brain-battle (final exam). So now I can finally rest my head and get back to updating this blog for my lovely readers (^^) I have to say that this winter is driving me crazy. I was at absolute awe every time I walked out of the dormitory, and I can't help but feel thankful to Allah s.w.t. for being alive to witness this beautiful atmosphere. BUT the temperature was sooooo insane I actually thought I was losing some parts of my limbs from the frost-bite. Last night I thought I was going to lose my fingers!! Whenever I couldn't handle the cold weather I would jump in to convenient store just to warm up my body and then went out again.  Winter is adorable and insane at the same time. So, if you guys were waiting for the continuation of  my previous " EXCHANGE STUDENT TRAVEL TIPS ", please look forward to it by the end of this week ♥

*for  TIPS Part 2 << click here TIPS Part 3 << click here Hello to my future 동생! (Juniors^^) Congratulations to the students who made it as SMU-UniKL Exchange Students for this coming semester! Ok, so that is just the tip of the iceberg. Now I bet some of you kids are freaking out about what to bring. Sebab kalau cite pasal duduk kat hostel UniKL, mesti ada banyak yg bawak atau tinggal berkotak2 barang untuk diguna balik for the next semester. Dgn baldi, papan seterika, hanger baju la bagai~ blablabla, hahaha, za pun macam tu jugak :p One of the obvious issue here is that you're not gonna come here to Korea with your family's car. You're going to take a plane, which has a luggage weight limit. So, confirm korg kena tinggal baldi yg korg dh pakai for 6 Semester kt Malaysia. Not to worry! I'll try to narrow down the list for you lovely kids as much as I can. First thing first; MUST HAVE/DO CLOTHING :

This is what my dormitory looks like. It's almost like a real apartment. Quite small, but for a college student it's very comfortable, with a private bathroom. What I like about it is that it got all the basics that I need. They got self service washing machines, but for the dryer we have to pay 1 usd for each use. They also have a huge gym room, and a computer room you can use at any time. The microwave and the water dispenser is a plus.

The other morning I was happy because it's the new year for us Muslims. I even managed to do my fasting for that victorious day. Then as I listens to the Athan on my phone that signals Maghrib and time for me to break my fast, I started to cry... On our new year's day, the most horrifying news arise about our fellow Muslims in Gaza. We should stop and think about what we have done in life.. if you're still alive while reading this and surrounded with comfort be thankful, because on the other side of the world there are people and families would trade for anything just to have 5 minutes of peace in life.

So, recently I've heard some news that my juniors are coming to Semyung. Finally!! a familiar language are coming to this small town of Jecheon. People are gonna freak out seeing more Malaysians and girls in hijab walking around town. Yippee~! I've also heard that some of the decisions hasn't been finalized yet. Coming from my experience, I know that during this time some people are going to change their mind at the very last minute. Which caused me being the only student from my campus that came here last semester. All I can say is that, I know that most people around you would ask about the difficulty to communicate with the locals in korea. It is hard to find locals who can speak at least basic english here, which will force you to learn the native language whether you like it or not. Then again that is actually the best thing about learning the language in it's own country . When you are surrounded with everybody talking in their native tongue unconciously

So, it's the new year for us Muslims  and what more afdhal thing to do other than to fast on this victorious day (^_^) The thing we must not miss during fasting is the meal before the fasting hour starts, the Sahur~ I managed to whipped up my version of Korean-Instant-Nasi-Lemak. All I need was a microwave, korean instant cooked rice, korean seaweed mix, egg, and one essential ingredient, malaysian sambal ikan bilis ! hehe.. thank you Brahims! :D It was almost-like-10%-close to our Malaysian beloved meal,  but I don't mind because at least it was delicious! <3 I really love mixing my egg with my rice, especially if the yolk is still in liquid form. In this version of my Nasi lemak I decided to cook the eggs for like 50 seconds, and then mixed the cooked rice immediately in the egg so that the rice will get all moist with the yolk. Then microwave it again for like another 50seconds. Then I threw in the sambal on top and used the seaweed as the side "vege

The snow came for like just 15minutes, it was about 6hours before this picture was taken, but the ice still remained frozen-hard on most of the cars here. I almost fell on my back on the way to my dorm because almost all the roads were covered in ice! There is like this big basketball court that I always walk through, just to get to the other side faster. But as I started walking it felt like walking on ice! The court was flat and smooth, with no friction what-so-ever, and I was already half way through. So, I forced myself to just continue walking like a geisha. The horrifying part was that there was no forms of rail or any support I could grab on to while walking on that court, just in case if I stumbled. So I was like, " ..just 10meters more, you can do it! you'll make it! don't fall damn it!! " My malaysian-shoes are so not made for winter.  Well, it did protect me from the cold, but not from falling.

The weather forecast told me it's going to rain today... but it didn't warned me about the SNOW that came along with it!!@#$% I still haven't got my winter coat and winter shoes (-_-!!)

  The new field (^^)

we're entering the minus degrees zone (^~^)brrRR   AccuWeather.com

Just decided to try throwing green over my grey sweater-dress & grey pashmina. So warm!! (^__^) Got to include the little birdie necklace that my friend gave to me.

So, exam week is finally over, but I kept getting new research to complete on.Well, welcome to the world of Graduate School to me. But of course, I get bored sometimes from reading and stuff.... research stuff.. blergh!  ANyway~ A dear friend's birthday is coming around the corner, but I was busy studying I couldn't think of anything to give to her. Then I saw this DIY dolly thing, and I say why not! I love sewing and hand-crafts anyway. It was so cute, I began to feel I should get one myself.  Then there was like extra felt, and I couldn't help it, so I made a photo-fun moustache stick. The birdie was a Graduation gift from a dear friend (^_^) I just love hand-crafting, I even had a bag of felt back home in Malaysia. I missed them all :'(

Fruits are extremely expensive here compare to the lavish variety of fruits in Malaysia. Since I can't eat meat here (except for the Halal meat in Seoul, which is far from Jecheon) I have to find a good dose of vitamins. The cherry tomatoes is the only thing affordable I could get in a big amount, and it was soooo delicious! Thank you for that.

me and my dad Last 3 weeks I flew back to Malaysia for a week to attend my  Graduation Ceremony in Putrajaya. I couldn't miss it for the world, and we never had the whole family together when my brother graduated the last time. With two additional family members (my sister in law and the cutest nephew!<3) I definitely couldn't resist it.   I'm not really the type that get hyped over things, I even told my parents not to get me flowers. I never even like the idea of celebrating my own birthday. It is not that big-of-deal anyway. But just having them all with me that day was already enough to make me feel so overwhelmed.  mommy and me <3 it's so hard to get a smiling shot of my mom, so this picture is really personal (^^) My Big Brother > me > my lil' sister Before I flew back to Incheon I spent a lot of time with my one and only Grandmother, my cous