i've been here for 2 weeks but it feels like 2 months!
it was suchhh a busy week [surprise surprise]. well, lectures started on monday. They were quite alright...started out a little boring coz they were introductory stuff but they're quickly getting veryvery interesting =) haha. I'm suCh a nerd. I can spend the entire day reading from books like "The Cell", "Organic Chemistry", "Physiology and Biochemistry of Prokaryotes" or "Proteins" and be totally absorbed in them =) hahaha. well. i guess that's good considering I'm going to be doing lots of this for the rest of my life.
I also attended my first practical - wasnt too challenging but wasnt something incredibly boring like microscope work. -phew- and my first tutorial - there are only 2 of us in the tutorial, so it's us two and the tutor. My tutor is incredibly smart...he's like a walking scientific factbook, and he's amazingly logical and clear-headed. haha. I was realllyyyy nervous before the tute but it turned out alright =)

yupyup. schoolwork aside, all the societies held their "fresher's drinks" this week - that's like a welcome to the society kinda thing. I didnt go for many...lazyy i am. there was archery, which wasn't really drinks but just a trial session =) Tim [singaporean 2nd year] brought me there...and i got to shoot -grin- haha. YES my arrows hit the board - not quite bulls eye but...i tried. =) it was excellent. We agreed that the sound of the arrow hitting the board was very satisfying, he insists that archery is romantic. oh well! we're all entitled to our views =) haha. he's really nicee. he saved my life this week - providing me with chocolates, instant noodles, money and books. I'm a poor student without a functioning HSBC account =(

yupyup. and then there was the singapore society of course, the uwc society - where christina dos santos played the mandolin and sang a portugese song...a prelude to the musical cafe coming up in week 3 -awwwwww- i almost teared when she played...it just reminded me so much of pearson. haiss. yupyup. then there was the japanese society - only about 10% of the people there were actually japanese. haha. but we met very interesting people there anyway =) Christian fellowship with the singaporeans was nice too, though i was reallyyy tired by the time I got there coz it was on matriculation day!!

yesyes, matriculation was todayyy, which explains the subfusc [the white shirt, black gown and black ribbon]. Basically all the freshers wear the subfusc and prance around the town...haha. we gathered in the hall in the morning where the dean of sth read out our names...then we proceeded to the sheldonian theatre where the head of the university [i think] arrives with a scepter[it's all quite impressive]...and goes to a throne - it's seriously a throne-like seat, with red velvet and all - reads something in latin and gives a short speech to receive us as members of Oxford University. yupp! There are tourists all around the town taking millions of photos and just staring - we were walking tourist attractions. In the morning when we got out of the hall, there were tourists all gathered at the entrance of our college waiting. it was quite amusing =)

haha. yes, so after matriculation, a bunch of us decided to go pUNTING! =) haha. yesyes. but each boat takes 5 but there were 14 of us so we split up. 5 of us decided to punt ourselves while the others decided to take the easy way out and got a professional to do the punting instead. hahaha. we took wAYYyyyy longer than them for obvious reasons. It was quite funnyy - we kept crashing into bushes/the bank/ going backwards/screaming/almost capsizing...yes. you get the idea. haha. everyone walking along the river were very amused. The OTHERS however, were happily sipping champagne. haha, but it was fun =) when I tried to punt...we hardly movedd, but well, once again, at least I tried =)
AND. the highlight of our punting trip - while we were going upstream, guess who came downstream!!!!!! haha. Pierce Brosnan! yesyes, that's him you see in the photos. haha, he came to give a talk at the Oxford Union yesterday night. He stuck his tongue out at us coz we were being excited college girls =) haha. I received a phonecall informing me to get my camera ready because he was approaching =)

so yes. that's the first week. BEFORE you start thinking life in Oxford is relaxing I must add that I haVE been working very hard this week. =)

I still feel like im on the river...

ohh yes, and if you're wondering what those strange white cloaks are. It's a roommate moment - haha. 2 crazy scientists in their new lab coats =) haha...and yinyin with her dissection kit of course...if you're wondering why the labcoats are different, it's coz she's a biologist and im a biochemist - go figure~ =)

okies...off to study now! =)