Food and I: Unseparable

I suppose you guys might want to know what Jesus College provides for food everyday - well I've had the good opportunity to have lunch and dinner there two times over two different days, so I thought I'd just post some photos of the dining hall and the food they provide. I missed breakfast because Wei Hong and I just made do with cookies - but I got milk last night, so there's something else now!

Alright, so let's see, why not let's show you my dining hall first:

Dining Hall, Jesus College

 It's quite nice and pretty, and classy, and like, Harry Potter-ish? It's not the real thing of course, Harry Potter colleges look a lot nicer, haha. But! It's good enough for me. The long table way back in the background under the paintings is the High Table where all the important people like Scholars and Professors sit. And I sit on the long tables like the one in the foreground:

Dining Table, Jesus College

 They provide drinking water, but Wei Hong says it's directly from the tap, so I guess, I'll just drink only when necessary since my stomach can't handle too much chlorine. There're paintings all over the dining hall:

Famous People on the Wall

 Ah yes, let's start with Thursday's lunch, which was really pleasant. I thought it was pretty filling, just nice to fill my tummy after one whole day of walking to and from; getting around Oxford on foot really takes out a lot of me, especially when it's so cold. You know in Oxford, I can literally see my breathe coming out of me in the mornings! Freezing! And to think it's not even winter yet!

Thursday Lunch: Roasted Chicken with Bacon Wrap,
Mashed Potatoes, Carrots and Raspberry Crumble with Custard

Well, no rice, but I'm not complaining! It's quite decent, only cost me £4.08, easy on the pocket here:

Thursday Lunch: Main Course

 And I didn't expect a dessert too - although it was a tad bit too sour, but the custard was really nice and sweet so I guess it evens out:

Thursday Lunch: Dessert

 And then of course there's Wednesday's lunch; every day they give two options, a vegetarian one and a non-vegetarian one - I chose the vegetarian one on Wednesday because I was thinking of having some nice fluffy rice: 

Wednesday Lunch: Yellow Dhaal Rice with Curry Lentils,
Naan, Tomato/Onion Salad and Yoghurt Mix

Really, this was rather filling, and because it was a little spicy (it was hardly spicy, more like with nice spices), it kept me warm and full till about 7pm.

Ah yes, that's about all for the food update. I've been to a Thai restaurant with Marco and Michael Murphy (my Australian neighbour from Adelaide, reading Economics), and I was pretty satisfied, just that a plate of Paad Thai costs like £5, which was a shocker - it wasn't even filling! And yeah, we had to tip at restaurants, so it didn't make any sense to go after a while.

And I've been to Burger King and McDonald's already, and I've a good mind not to go very often - I don't really want to eat fast food. It's unhealthy although it's well, tasty, haha. Much tastier than Singapore's, but too bad there's no chilli sauce here at all.

Oh well. Toodles! :)

My Room: A Safe Haven

I'm really impressed with the standard of accommodation provided by Jesus College - I must really thank God for an awesome room, it's just splendid and almost hotel standard! Or maybe my standards are way too low, oh well!

I found out from a friend (an Italian from Bolognia, called Marco) that Jesus College is one of the richest colleges, and that's why it can afford to have such nice rooms and give its students travel grants, book funds and other what nots. So, really, thank God! Because I made the choice just based on the name, and nothing much. So I guess, blessed be Your name!

I guess I could show you what my room looks like but first up is the customary toilet video- the reason why I took this video was because I learnt how strong the toilet flush was the hard way, with all the water splashing onto me:

I'm not sure where to start from my room - oh very well, let's start from the bed shall we?

My Bed, Bedside Table and Armchair - Wei Hong sleeping

I'm given a duvet (which is like this thick comforter/quilt), a mattress with bedsheet, and two pillows to hug. It's pretty darn awesome already, but I think when winter comes I might need something extra - I'm not sure what to do but my Italian neighbour (alright his name is Marco so I'll call him that from now on) says that he wouldn't mind lending me his fan radiator, which is essentially a thermistor with a fan blowing across it. Sounds decent enough - it costs about £15 or so.

I'm given a really large desk to work on, and I'm really grateful for that:

My Workstation - A Laptop on a Desktop

I'm given those type of office-roller chairs and it allows for much self-entertainment rolling around; the windowsills are really pretty and I'm given a desk lamp as well (it's so dark and gloomy here it's absolutely essential). 

The previous tenant left an owl ornament for me, made up of cardboard pieces - it's quite cute and elegant if you look at it closely:

My Study Companion - The Night Owl

I really hope I don't become a night owl here at Jesus College! My neighbours tell me it's really common for students to study all the way till 4 am with their desk lamps on the whole night. Apparently, Oxford is known for rigorous mugging. I wonder if I'll become the mugger that I was in JC again?

The Food Corner

Part of my bookshelf is now the snacks corner - but frankly speaking, I haven't eaten any snacks at all ever since coming to Oxford. I gave away my Toblerone chocolate bar to Marco as a sign of friendship and the potato rings you see here? I haven't even touched it ever since I bought it from Sainsbury's. I guess they're all there just in case I have a sudden hunger pang. There's Ovaltine, chicken rice paste, Milo, four glasses, a big pack of potato rings, some tupperwares and a 1 kg pack of long grain rice. And my oh my, is rice expensive here in Oxford!

The Quintessentials on the Bookshelf

I guess there's nothing much on my bookshelf right now except for some Christian books and just one textbook - the rest of my textbooks are on my computer because they were much too heavy to lug to the UK. Oh well. I guess there's always the library!

The Water Corner

Ah yes, there's a small corner, just this niche in my room that I've set aside for placing my mineral water and my travel kettle. But I just bought a water filter (so that I can just filter my tap water to drink), so I guess this water corner will vanish pretty soon, and I'll shift my kettle to my work desk where the filter is.

Oh yes, the windowsill, it might just become my favourite place for doing quiet time:

The Windowsill Beside Ship Street

 Today someone was just whistling Guantanamera along the streets and I heard it from the windowsill - I whistled back in reciprocation, but I got no reply. Oh well.

Sleeping Bag by the Windowsill

It's a pretty nice position for sun bathing - but a pity it's so cloudy, you're just going to be basking in Rayleigh-scattered light, haha!

Back Street Entrance, Jesus College
View of Ship Street from the Window

So this is how the street looks like from my window - you're staring at the back entrance of Jesus College in the above picture. The picture below shows the top of the building - looks somewhat like a castle but not quite. How do you describe such architecture?

Jesus College Building, Back Entrance

And this is what's behind me and the laptop when I sit down to have a chat with you guys or do some work. There's a nice big wardrobe, a washbasin beside it, and do you notice that beside the work desk there's a notice board? It's full of thumb-tacks, and apparently I can tack up all my important notices up to remind me of my schedule! How convenient!

My Wardrobe and Wash Basin

Oh yes, I found a shoe rack in my room, how nice of Jesus College; but Wei Hong's stuff is cluttering up my shoe rack space, haha:

My Shoe Rack - My Shoes and Wei Hong's Stuff

And my washbasin looks quite organized, no? I've toothpaste, a glass for my toothbrush and gargling, a sponge and dettol spray to clean the basin, cleaning cloth, facial wash, shower foam, shampoo and shaver:

My Wash Basin (Close Up)

And they even give me a mirror! I guess when I wear my formal suit or full academic dress I can stare at my clumsy self:

My Mirror and I

And these are my keys; I'm located at Ship Street, Staircase 4, Room 21, shortened to 4/SS/21 - and the blue thing there? It's really useful! It's an electronic key called a Fob, and it grants me access to the IT room, cafeteria and many other places like the biggest library in Oxford! The door auto-locks though, so I've to be very careful - if I get locked out then I guess I'm a dead duck! So I carry it with me all the time now:

My Room Number, Key and Electronic Fob

And my work desk has three drawers! Not telling you guys what's inside yet though, haha:

Drawers on the Work Desk

I guess it's good to have drawers, but no lock? Oh dear me. Oh well, I trust Jesus College - they have room service where this nice lady comes to clean my room every two days! Wow. Amazing!

And I promise I'll get a laundry basket soon, I will - but I haven't had time to, so I just got a big plastic bag from this department store for my dirty linen. Does this count as washing dirty linen in public? Haha. And yeah, there's a LAN access point and a telephone point, quite convenient for me in the UK:

Bedside - Temporary Laundry Basket, LAN/Telephone Point

And there's Wei Hong sleeping again (he was down with fever/sore throat; and look, another notice board to pin up my notices! Heh. Ultra convenient. Oh yes, and look, a bedside table just beside my bed with a bedside lamp:

Wei Hong Sleeping

My Bedside Desk - Replete with a Bedside Lamp and Alarm Clock

Thank goodness I brought an alarm clock with me! Otherwise I wouldn't be able to wake up on time!

Now there's the door:

My Room Door

And when you go out, you're greeted by this nice windowsill - I do my QT there sometimes:

Windowsill Outside My Room

When I sit by my windowsill, this is what my room looks like:

Room 21, View from Windowsill

And the staircases are really winding and I've to climb two flights of stairs every time I want to get back to my room - you guys don't have to worry I'm not exercising, because there're no lifts, elevators or escalators and everywhere is just stairs, stairs and more stairs:

Stairs by the Windowsill

What you see now is the staircase that leads to my room - I climb this many times everyday:

Staircase 4, Storey 3

And they supply me with a refrigerator to share with my neighbours! I already have some milk inside to drink for about a week:

My Fridge, Shared Between 3 People

And what if there's a fire? What with carpeted flooring and everything! So there's a convenient fire point just outside my room:

Fire Point Access

And the washroom is just outside my room! There's two of them on the level where I stay, I'll just show you the one which doesn't look so nice, because the nicer one is being occupied at the moment; so there's the toilet bowl, shower and basin:

Toilet Bowl at a Glance

Flush System

Shower Head

Shower Area

Wash Basin

And that's about it for my room at Jesus College! Hope you guys found it nice looking at them too. :)

Toodles!

Lost: But Found in Oxford

I really should get down to updating everyone - I only just got the internet last night, and I've been running from place to place just to get things done, so I haven't exactly been able to do much thinking or recollection. But I do have some time on my hands now since there's nothing else for the entire day!

I don't even know where to start recollecting from; maybe I'll just start from the airport at Changi Terminal 3, Singapore. So after a rather teary farewell at the departure hall, I left with my friend Teo Wei Hong for Gate A14 to board the London, Heathrow-bound plane:

Wei Hong and I, Gate A14 Changi Airport, Singapore

We had a good 30 minutes or so before we had to board the plane, so we just bummed around - Wei Hong spent most of the time talking to his girlfriend while I just went to the washroom to wash up. We were staring at all of the planes until we caught sight of ours:

The Pride of Singapore - SIA

Pre-Departure Moment of Awe

I really felt like I was being torn away from Singapore when the plane took off - I guess I've flown to China, Tibet, Italy and even Switzerland, but to know that I'll be in Oxford for a year is really another thing:

1st Minute After Take-Off

Of Clouds and Reclaimed Lands

On the plane, I met this really sweet couple, who seemed to be Welsh - I can't understand much of Celtic, but it did sound like it. From their age it would seem like they were married - they spent much of their time cuddling one another, hugging one another, giving each other kisses on the foreheads and just speaking to one another in tender voices. They were really swell to me - they let me get up and down whenever I wanted to get my bagpack or go to the washroom, and I really felt blessed to have such nice people sitting next to me. I was in a window seat, so it was really inconvenient for both of them when I had to get up; plus, the lady seemed like she was sick.

But in any case, they left me pretty much alone, and their conversations with me never lasted more than 2 seconds or so; I ended up being very much in my own cave by the window - so I thought I'd take a look at the menu that SIA was serving on the SQ308 flight:

Above & Beyond: The SIA In-Flight Menu

It turned out that for breakfast I had the choice of the usual scrambled eggs or the Singaporean fried carrot cake; and lunch spanned three options: beef goulash with mashed potatoes, Indian butter chicken and the char siew rice:

Breakfast (right) and Lunch (left) Menu

So guess what I chose? Easy enough a choice actually:

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Bacon, Mushrooms & Hashbrowns

Lunch: Indian Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice & Jalfereizi Vegetables

Oh yeah, have I mentioned that SIA will never let you starve? They gave me snacks like cranberries, roasted peanuts and even Snickers! And they kept serving us drinks, and you could even ask for more snacks like potato chips! Amazing service! The whole flight from Singapore to Heathrow, London took 13 hours - I managed to survive the long journey just listening to my iPhone 4 and doing some funky linear algebra:

The Math I Did On The Plane

Yup, the backdrop you're looking at is my room in Jesus College, Oxford but I guess a blog post on my room can wait till I finish my backlog of Oxford updates, haha!

As expected, I didn't really have much time to hang around in Heathrow Airport - the minute I touched down, I was ushered into this row to check-out and my goodness gracious me, Singapore's Changi Airport is simply, absolutely fantastic when it comes to efficiency and being efficacious! Check-out was manual and performed by hand by the British Immigration officers and it took ages just to get to my turn. Ah, but the nice lady who handled my check-out was really friendly:

Officer: "Wow, Theoretical Chemistry! And how would you be doing your experiments?"

YYK: "Well, we don't - we just perform calculations from first principles actually."

Officer: "I see... and wow, you're reading at Oxford! Is this your first time in the UK?"
YYK: "Yes Ma'am! It is!"

Officer: "Oh you're going to love it there, Oxford's just lovely! All the best for your course of study!"

Real friendly, and she had a nice British accent that wasn't too hard to catch. So after the check-out, Wei Hong and I trooped down to the baggage reclaimation area and thank God, both of my suitcases ended up safe - I was rather worried that Heathrow Airport would have some problem with my luggage. But with that, Wei Hong left for the Underground Station to go to Paddington, London and I left for the Central Bus Station to go to Oxford.

I was greeted at the Central Bus Station by two lovely ladies, wearing the Oxford hoodie - but to my surprise, all they did was to pass me a map and tell me the name of the street to get off:

Lady 1 (British): "And where is your college?"
YYK: "Oh, Jesus College."
Lady 2 (Indian British): "Oh, you have to get off at Queen's Lane, High Street!"
YYK: "Oh... um..."
Lady 1: "Oh you might want to mark out where on the map for him..."
YYK: "Oh dear, a map?"
Lady 2: "Oh yes, so you just get off right here, and you just follow the directions."

YYK isn't really that great with directions and maps in case you haven't noticed; but anyhow, I actually managed to find the bus stop (Gate 14A) with bus 93 (Route X70) that took me all the way to Queen's Lane, High Street! The bus captain was nice enough to help as a porter, so I loaded all my luggage with no problems at all.

Heathrow Airport really, is rather boring - there wasn't really anything to see on the way out:

Exiting Heathrow Terminal 3

On the Way to Oxford City

And we got to our first stop pretty fast, about 30 minutes or so:

1st Stop: Thornhill Park and Ride

Carpark, Thornhill Park and Ride

And then we took a fast turn into Oxford City:

Into Oxford City; Shophouses

Something Familiar: Fujifilm Kodak

A Red Traffic Light

Zooming Past the Houses

Nice Houses

I think their houses look really nice and awesome, especially if you see the whole row of them! My pictures don't really do the architecture and layout any justice, but it's really very nice, gives a very laidback feel.

A Soccer Field

And look at what I found! A Christian bookshop:

St. Andrews Bookshops: Oxford's Christian Bookshop

I might pop by one day to have a look, but it's really a far walk out to the city edge! And then just look at all the people in suits:

Oxfordshire-Folk in Suits

And it took a whole one hour plus worth of a bus ride to get to my final destination: Queen's Lane, High Street! So here's the map excerpt for you to look at:

From A to Jesus College - Where YYK Got Lost

So from the map it looks real easy, but when you're on the streets, with the drizzling rain, the biting wind and all the weird turns, two huge suitcases and a huge bagpack it's really not easy to navigate. But I must say Oxford really has wonderful traffic, and it's quite pedestrian friendly even with the rain and heavy luggage.

After many wrong turns, and help from many friendly Oxfordshire-folk, I finally backtracked my way to the Ship Street entrance to Jesus College. But alas, the lodge porter was a lady and there was only one person to man the office! So no one had the time or strength to help me move my luggages. Now the interesting thing was this:

Lodge Porter: "Oh, your room is right about the turn, you go out, turn left and go all the way down and find your room at 4 Ship Street, and here's your keys."
YYK: "Oh... alright, it's not here?"
Lodge Porter: "Yes, it's along Ship Street, here's a map for you."
YYK: *another map, dies*

And so I had to lug my luggage in the drizzling rain again, back up Ship Street - but well, once again, I got lost! My goodness gracious me, I really can't take maps or directions. It didn't occur to me to take my iPhone 4 out to use the compass function either.

But here's where I met my lucky star - this young Caucasian was just strolling down the road and he said to me:

Young Man: "Would you like a hand mate?"
YYK: "Oh yes, I would sure like a hand!"

And then he just took my luggage:

Young Man: "So where're you off to?"
YYK: "Oh, it says here 4 Ship Street.."
Young Man: "Oh, that's the same building I live in."
YYK: "Oh, hi there neighbour!"

And wow, by God's divine appointment, I met my neighbour, and my first friend in Oxford, United Kingdom - and with my luggage in his hand, we trudged down Ship Street to Staircase 4. Upon reaching the hostel, we realised my room was two flights of stairs up - with no elevator! And the staircase could only take one person at one time in terms of the width. So we had to maneuver our way up the tricky twists and turns, which took quite a while.

But we got through to my room anyway - and when I stepped into my room, I was like wow! Because it looked just like a hotel room with carpeted flooring (carpet on parquet to be exact, with real wood squeaking beneath my feet!) and it had its own wash basin and the bathroom was just outside my room. It was just perfect.

Just that I had to climb 2 flights of stairs to reach perfection. Oh well.

And then, because it was already dark (about 7 pm or so), there was no more dinner on college, so the both of us just went down to Burger King's to grab a quick bite (oh it's good, much better than Singapore's BK, but the meal cost £3.99 without an upsize).

There's no NTUC here of course, but there's Sainsbury's and Tesco - so we bummed around and I asked around the neighbourhood if there was a Sainsbury's nearby. And lo and behold, it was just behind our hostel! So we managed to get some cookies - which saved my life later on in the night because I was just starving.

Alright, let's show you some of the awesome cookie I had:

Sainsbury's 4 White Chocolate & Raspberry Cookies

Oh alright, I lied - that night I bought the Oatmeal & Raisin cookies (5 for £1.09) but they tasted awesome as well and they were of the same brand. Haha! But I like this one as well - it's a premium choice so it's actually £1.55, but Sainsbury's cut it down to £1.00, so well, why not? And the cookies are the the size of my palms:

Cookies the Size of Your Palm

And they were moist and nice - soft baked cookies! Really nice for a quick and filling breakfast. Ah, maybe I should just get some milk next time, there's a refrigerator just outside my room! :)

I unpacked my luggage, packed my room, shifted the furniture, and by then it was already 11 pm, so I just went to bed, feeling lonely, cold, tired and confused. My Mum's and Steph's SMSes brought much comfort to my heart.

And I woke up at 4 am due to a jetlag - so I wolfed down 3 of the 5 cookies, and it sustained me.

And well, that's the end of my first day in UK. :) Toodles!