Trip down Dublin Day 1 - (part 1)

Leaving Liverpool (aerial view)

Flying with Ryan Air, had never been this scary

Their aero wings shaking during the whole journey!

Finally I'm heading to Dublin for a fun experience. Sadly I'm going with a bunch of friends instead of traveling solo. There's up and down to it. Nevertheless, when I step into Dublin; I noticed the buzzing cars and lots of people and everyone is so fast-paced. That is totally different with Liverpool where I have lived and gotten used to it for the past few months. This scene reminds me back home, Malaysia where crossing the road is as same back there. The good side is people are much friendlier down here than Liverpool and there are lots and lots of Malaysia restaurants. Every corner we go, has at least one Malaysia restaurant and I mean it, not Asian restaurant but MALAYSIAN restaurant. We are like a goat coming into the the city where we go "WAAHH!!! Malaysia restaurant... WOOOWW!!! the price can kill us too!!!" That's our expression and our saliva drool when we see the menu because it reminded us of the local food back home such as Ayam Masak Merah, Nasi Lemak but the price comes up to the whooping price around 9-15 Euros!! Scary enough for us to turn down every Malaysia restaurants that come to our sight.

The amount of people is just too many!!

The first Malaysia restaurant spotted when we get down the bus

But nevertheless, we got down the bus and head to our hostel. The bus which takes us to the city centre stop at the wrong bus stop assuming that's the street we requested and we have to walk a long distance to the hostel with mine heavy backpack. This is the first time I used the backpack I bought from Cheshire Oaks and is heavy!!! Mine muscles sore at the end of the day without me knowing it until I was shocked at the bulge when I touch my shoulders. As soon we have check-in, we head to our room and BAM!! I quickly put down mine backpack and took out a smaller backpack ready for an adventure ahead. We wash up and head down to Guinness Storehouse and you can say we are pretty lost but thanks to the map provided by Abigail's Hostel, we have been saved!! It took us around 20-30 minutes walk to reach there.

 Our comfort - the BED!!

Samantha Sullivan question

Question:
hey , carmen , may i know, besides the lecturer, do you managed to mix up with the English students ??? or did you meet any friends ? ( Uk citizens)

Answer:
During the course of your study period, all will be from Malaysia ( 98% mostly are), few from Singapore, only one from New Zealand (this is my batch). There will be some French doing their internship in LJMU that will be staying in the hostel, some are friendly and some are not (perhaps too shy); ours are crazy and friendly. I did make some new friends down in UK because I was engaging in sports or went down to gym.

LJMU programme (A list of items you need to/not to bring)

Sebastian here it is!! It's up to you, what you want to pack coming down here. I was allowed 40 kg (differs with each plane) to the plane, and I didn't used up the full capacity as I don't want to ship anything back from there. I only use 20kg for mine clothes and foods. =) But it depends on your necessity when you're down here. If you can save by buying from there, save up!!

To/Not to bring down here:
Clothes that you can throw away in case you shop a lot *summer sale: a decent shirt could cost up to 3 pounds or a dress around 10 pounds or lower as the sale getting to the end*
Water bottles, Stationary set, Papers, Make-up set (if you think you want to look nice when you're out), Sanitary pads, Journal Book (to write down what you experienced down here), Toiletries, Travel documents, Travelers cheque or bank draft to show immigrant officer you have emough money to support yourself when you're down here, Maggie Mee is good for the time you don't have much time to cook (Wrap it in parcel and write 'fragile' on it, check-in your parcel) *maggie down here is so different and the mee capacity is quite little and not to mention quite expensive*, shoes, high heels, sandals *high heels here are really high!! is rare to find those medium or short heels here, it could cost up to 6 pounds or more* (and it's up to you if you want to buy here, during sale Nike or Adidas could cost from 10-25 pounds only), thumb-tag (those nails that could stick on board) you will have a board in your room, sweater or jackets

Foods: You don't have to bring lots of biscuits, just bring those like packets of bah kut teh, sambal (local delicacy you think you might miss it when you're down here)
Reasons: Biscuits here are much better and much more choices!!! (could get like 2 packets of biscuits for only 99 pence) and is really delicious.
Caution: Foods here do expire fast, so always look out for their expiry date and calculate if you could finish by that period. If food that goes down really cheap, please check the expiry date (it might be on that day itself)

You don't have to buy pots or bring any culinary sets from home. Culinary sets such as fork, spoon, cup, plate are all provided down here. Pots you can share with your house-mates to buy it and don't go for the crazily cheap ones because it could get rusted easily. I know some of you prefer non-stick pan but aluminium ones could stand longer. Invest more in it so you wouldn't need to buy again for the second time.

You don't need to bring any socket extension or plugs. In your room itself, there's more than enough. I have 6 sockets here and yes I counted it. No need for any universal travel plug unless if you're going down to Europe. UK sockets are as same as M'sia. There'll be a phone beside you on the table, you could call your friends' room, save up the credit. =)

You don't need to bring any bed-sheets down here. Accommodation here will provide you with it. You will be given a pillow, quilt, bed-sheet, quilt-sheet (blanket-sheet), pillow case.



I think that's all for the do bring/don't bring items. If you have any additional items on your mind and wanted opinion on it, just hit me up. Hope this helps.

Do tell me what else you want to know, I'm not sure what all of you want to know.

Volunteering over Backpacking

After a long thinking if I should volunteer right after I finish my studies. I wanted to sign up with Smaller Earth, to become park steward down Banff National Park, Canada!!! A very awesome sight and good opportunity to continue working as that's what I like. The only down-turn is I have to apply visa and is quite complicated as the embassy down here doesn't help much.

Now I finally decide!! After searching for other alternatives, sign up for Guatemala volunteer work under Original Volunteer. I have already sign up!! yyeaaahh!!! Getting my ass there by 6th September. I'm just worried for tropical disasters. =( Oh well, I need to get some shots while I'm down here.

This volunteer work would be something I would cherish as I can't get it done if I start my work life. 1 whole month of volunteering!!! Woowwww.. Can't wait.!!! After 1 month of volunteering, I would then backpack a little around England and a little down Europe, staying in friend's house. =)

Word of advice: Never be afraid to travel alone, just be sensible you would be fine.

3 months experience in Liverpool (Education)

Hi readers, if you're reading this you're probably some batch that would be going for LJMU summer semester prgoramme. I am here to tell you the experience and all the things you need to know during your stay here. =) I would divide it into few sections so that you could choose which one you're interested to read. You too can request for any sections to be add in.

Education
Assignments are really a lot and I'm not joking. This is not like what you had experienced back in TARC. For the beginning two months, every week there will be at least two assignments to be submitted. Unless, you do your 2-weeks assignment (subjects you had down in Malaysia) before you fly here, you would have a good amount of time and less stress. As for me, I did it down here and because i manage my TIME I don't see any problems or stress that I faced. I can't stress enough TIME management is very important here. In this three months, library and books will be your best friend. Trust  me, you would utilize the library in here and you will use the library in here. LJMU has a few libraries dedicated each to their own school as for us, mass communications student; we would use Aldham Roberts Library located behind Rodney Street. Somehow you would know where it is with a map provided by LJMU upon your arrival. Here, tutor would prefer to see a plan before you do your assignment, so basically double work but then you could save the time if you could construct the plan nicely and giving enough explanation to your points. You would able to complete it without going through it after consultation. Lectures and tutorial classes are important and you're not allowed to skip it without any valid reason or medical letter issued by doctor.You will be required to do readings before attending lecture to allow to understand better on what the lecturers are lecturing about and it would help you in your tutorial class later. Culture here and back down in TARC is totally different. Here everything you have to depend on yourself and there's no spoon feeding. Be confident on what you think is right and to express your thoughts openly to tutors or lecturers. Remember they might not be always accurate. Reasoning with a good logic and support obviously. Assignments here can be described very much dependent on you and there's no spoon feeeding given here. It is all up to you when you come down here.

I think that would sum up education part that you need to know. Drop me any questions if you have any but please each post has to be related with what I posted. Today is about education, so let it be education question. If anyone ask me a question that is out of topic, I would ignore those questions. =)

Hostel is the way to go

Alright, maybe some of you out there is not keen on living inside other people home. Well, I searched for other alternatives too. I been weighing between hostelworld & hostelbookers sites. Apparently, Hostelbookers emerge as champion on my list after seeing the price of a same hostel!!

Hostel in Europe could cost from 10 - 25 Euros per night. I'm talking about dorms where you'll be living with other backpackers (another great way to made friends along the way).

You could see their search engine is easy to use while 

they even show you on the map where the hostels are located

The best part you only have to pay 10% deposit from the rates for your booking. 

10 EUROS. 10% deposit would be 1 EURO.

You could even cancel it prior two days of notice but your deposit obviously can't be refund.

Link: http://www.hostelbookers.com/

No, I do not help to promote this site nor I have any benefit out from it. It just what I want to share out to the rest of the travelers. I hope you find it useful.

Where to stay? Budget concern??

Money is one of the concern for us to travel in a long time and we would scratch our head in search of the cheapest accommodation. It's still out of our budget. While I search throughout the search engine, I stumble across couch surfing. I could definitely keep my budget on accommodation and made new friends in the progress. So what's couch surfing as Asian people are not quite familiar with the term nor they practice widely about it.

COUCH SURFING
There are two categories: Surf/Host

• Surf: The ones who stay in a host home during the traveling period in host's city

• Host: The ones who allow surfer to stay in their home during a certain fixed period without expecting anything in return (p.s >> at least you could do is to re-pay them with some gift/cook for them/tidying up the place/etc.)

This idea is to introduce cross-cultural experience from the local and to know that everyone is connected (we are friends but just haven't meet yet). It's to reduce strangers around us and to know that the world is still safe to hang out.

The site (surf & host gather)
Telling new people their mission, vision, etc..
you can get to know better about couch surfing here

Search engine for host to give you a place to stay

The list of hosts available.
Choose a host that closely resembles your interest

It is a refreshing idea to know about it. But bare in mind, couch surfing doing its best to know which host/surfer having bad intention. It's best to couch from a host that has a trustee sign (you will learn more about it when you explore the site)

Link: http://www.couchsurfing.org/

No, I do not help to promote this site nor I have any benefit out from it. It just what I want to share out to the rest of the travelers. I hope you find it useful.

Concern of Western Weather

When I started planning, I want to use up my full 6 months in UK and 3 months in Europe. I will be finishing my studies on early September. Then I'll be traveling around UK maybe for 2 months or lesser. Then it would November before I start heading off to Europe. It hits me FOUR SEASONS!! I search for site that could actually help me to gauge the weather around the end of the year.

I stumble across one which I found out to be helpful, stating how many sunlight.day, temperature... etc. etc. It even shows you which city is best visited during each month.

It shows you throughout the year readings (sunlight, temprature)

You can search for the month, continent, the average min/max temperature

Link: http://www.thebesttimetovisit.com/

No, I do not help to promote this site nor I have any benefit out from it. It just what I want to share out to the rest of the travelers. I hope you find it useful.