Happy December!

As I am typing the title, I feel a little struggle somewhere in my mind. December?
What does it really mean?

December usually means:
-Holiday
-Christmas
-New year
-Shopping
-Birthdays! (my brother and I are both born in Dec!)

This year, December brings additional meanings:
-Location: North America, more specifically Montreal
-On Student Exchange Program, Mcgill University
-White Christmas & White Birthday with bunch of best friends?? ^^

As I was browsing through Facebook just now, some of my friends in Malaysia or Singapore already started celebrating the arrival of december. For some of them, it is the after exam craze month and for some others are doing some reflection on what they've achieved for the current year now that it is almost ending.

Welcome, My lovely December.

I am thankful for I am born in the month of december.

Over the weekend.

I have to announce that Montreal started snowing two days ago! Spectacular view in one of the parks that's near my place. And you can see people started snow sliding in this picture, and yes, with that piece of blue plastic cover.

Woo hoo, weekend is here again! ^^ I always feel relief on Thursday, after 4.00pm cuz that signifies the start of my wonderful weekend. Usually the dim sum rangers will organize some outings and we never have enough time to do everything that we want to do. Eating, Clubbing, Movie, Talks...There's just so much for us to do! This week was a tad bit different cuz 2 of the rangers actually left to fight with monsters in New York city, leaving the rest to guard their base in Montreal.

And so we, the four rangers, Andoni, Carly, Chloe and Nicole went to this place called Juliette et Chocolat for a chocolate feast! OMG, i can never forget their trifle. It's a sin! ^^

We pretty much spent our time eating these good stuffs and the rest of the night with movies. (the movies were so "good" that we slept half way through, firs time sleepover at Carly's place, the Ranger on the left of this pic)!
And we watched Rapunzel(Tangled) before the ranger on the right left for NYC. We were looking for Rapunzel's poster but couldn't find any and took at picture with this cool Narnia display board instead. We all love "Mother knows best!"

my drawing

^^

it's been so long since i last drawn something.

Started off with the little hut there,

Then, I thought it actually should be a bus stop, so I added a bench.

Then I thought there should be some passengers, and they should love each other. So the people and the heart shapes!

Christmas is coming soon, so the Christmas tree, and I always have this thinking that Christmas tree should have a shining star on top, hence the Star.

There should be snow too! and Snow is so light that it flew horizontally when the wind comes.

Then I think we need some sunlight, at night some moonlight with a crescent moon.

Full moon is actually brighter now.

ANd finally the bus came and the artist stopped drawing and boarded the bus.

本是同根生

煮豆燃豆萁，漉豉以为汁，
　　
萁在釜下燃，豆在釜中泣。
　　
本是同根生，相煎何太急！

南韩，北韩。你们俩何时才能和好如初呢？

没熟读历史的我固然不知道你们之间为什么会出现这么大的裂缝，

可是从报纸上看见因为两国不和而被逼分隔两地的韩国人时，

我的心确实产生了莫大的涟漪。

我看见， 我心痛，我不了。 为什么？

也许，也许，明天会更好。

－让我们不要因为发生而作反应，去为结果而努力吧。

宝霓字

Sometimes

Sometimes, a sentence from a friend can just melt your heart away.

I have no idea how addicted myself is to facebook nowadays. Really, have no idea.

This probably explains why half of the time I have no idea as to what the lecturer is talking about, because I can constantly go on facebook and check for new notifications on my little devil (actually with a purple angelic cover) ipod touch.

Then in one of my 3 hours lecture just now, I was looking into facebook again through the little touchie when my lecturer (who has a cute name, larbi hammami) paused for a while after he finished teaching a part of the concept. And I see... Xiao Xuan posted on your wall.

And she went like: Nicole Chen Po Ni JoelyN Liew, I am hungry...I need supper!!

This immediately reminded me of the good old times that we had in PGP (a residence where I stayed in for year 1 of uni). Just one sentence, she knows, I know, all the girls who have stayed in that cluster will know what does it mean. ^^ I'm thankful for I am given the chance to experience the warmth from a seemingly simple sentence from a precious friend of mine.

Monday

To start with, Montreal with clear blue sky. (which does not quite represents its weather nowadays that's cold and gloomy all time, but I still love Montreal, Mcgill so much!)

So after a considerably unforgettable weekend, Monday is here again! I always have mixed feelings for Monday for it signifies the beginning of another week of school (which of course means more knowledge, more new stuffs to be learnt) and also how near I am to the end of exchange life.

Stumbled across a video that was made by a friend of my friend for their farewell party in Facebook and I thought, it would be nice if I could make one too. I am never an artistic person but I think I should at least give it a try, an effort to record the good times that we had here with fellow Dim Sum Rangers. I can feel that I will miss them. They are such awesome companions.

Woke up to a chilly morning at 8.30am but went to bed again for it's too cold a weather to keep myself active. Woke up later at 1++ p.m. to work on finance assignment. Speaking of which I haven't yet completed. ^^ But there's just too much for me to take in for now. I feel like emo forever because I am leaving this place soon, lovely Montreal.

Today I am thankful because I am given the chance to learn more about Options (finance), Income tax, beauty of Montreal (done some night walk down a few streets), and had yummy Vietnamese food and emo talk with Andrew!

montreal alouettes vs toronto argonauts

The highlight of the day would be the football match at the Montreal Olympic Stadium. ^^

Astounding facts:

A total of 58021 audience were there for the match!

Montreal Alouettes defeated Toronto Argonauts 48-17!

^^ Got the t shirt which says Montreal Alouettes football princess. HEHE, was attracted by the Kiddish design and it turned out that the shirt is really designed for kids! So that's a L size.

And a beautiful TOUCHDOWN by Alouettes!
^^ And i said: why don't you guys pose with the tickets?

Chris, the guy to the right was like: oh...I can't believe you are doing it again. LOL

So, from left to right, Andy, Andoni, Yves, and Chris. And you're right, I was the only girl there and Andoni was like, yes u're a tomboy. ><
This shows how packed it was in the Metro (i.e. train) on the way to Station Pie IX (the nearest metro station to the Olympic stadium which was built in 1976 in for the Olympic 1976).

Again, I'm thankful for I am given the chance to witness how much fellow Montrealians support their own team, not only by watching TV and cheer at home, but go to the stadium itself! A lot of them came as a family and also group of friends just like us. That's the Montreal spirit eh?!

Anyways, I've developed some other thoughts from what I've seen today. Shall talk about it tomorrow if I have time, gotta run for my finance assignment now^^.

-nicole chen poni

A day trip to Quebec City (Old and New)

Beautiful street in Old Quebec.
A fairy tale trail.
Me, Big Brother, Andrew.
My lovely roomie, Chloe.

I feel like blogging again! I think the satisfaction of recording my life here in Montreal is getting higher. It is simply not something that you can derive from posting just a sentence or two on facebook.

So today my friends and I, a total of 8 of us went to Quebec City that's located in Quebec Province (one of the provinces in Canada). So here's a brief introduction on Quebec based on what we told by the tour guide (who can speak in Mandarin, English, and French):

1) Quebec city is the first city that is built in North America in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain.

2) It is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec.

That's so much on the facts. More information could be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City

I totally enjoyed the day. It is so scenic in Quebec City especially now that it is snowing! I thought I was in a dream for a while but the existence of my friends and the laughters generated from uncountable amount of jokes just assure me that: Yes, this is true. I'm not dreaming. Once I stepped down from the bus, I was actually jumping in joy. Then I realized that I am actually still quite kiddish deep down there (somewhere) in my heart. OMG, I'm just so lucky to have the chance to go through all these. I feel really thankful for god, my parents, and friends, and everyone who made this possible.

Also I would like to record down what I've learnt (or was reminded of) today from a big brother. Lessons relearnt:

1) Judge for yourself as to what is important.

2) Respect your own thoughts.

All in all, I love my day. Thank you.

Now that I'm writing this

It's 2.08am in the morning now. Just finished watching harry potter 7 the deadly hallows with a bunch of my best friends and I've got a Quebec trip to catch up with tomorrow.

Wow what a life in Montreal. This is simply a place whereby I'll never get the chance to stop one moment and think, what am I doing now? Simply because my life will be filled with activities once the week is done with school. In fact, given all the new things that I have chances to stumble upon everyday, I never stop thinking. Never ever for a second. However, I find out that sometimes my thoughts slip through my mind very fast. It'll be there for the moment and gone the next. Hence, I think it's time to write them down somewhere, for example in this blog space. Oh how thankful I should be for there's existence of blogspot.

Today I would like record down a conversation that I had with one of my friends in the bus. He's one that's obsessed with music. I was telling him how good it is to have a passion in something, in his case, music. We both agreed on that, i think it'll somehow makes one feels more secure, if u hold on to something. Then he asked, what's your passion? I couldn't answer. For once, I actually think seriously about this question. What's my passion?

I think my passion for life is to live my life to the fullest every single day. And write them down, cuz I have short term memory.

人生就好像一杯酒。

2.11.10 Disneyland

Woke up this morning thinking that it'd be great if I'm able to record my life here in Montreal. Although it's been 2 months since I first arrived , but Better be late than not...

The day started with Chloe (my dear roomie) waking me up at 8.00a.m. She always have early classes so it's great! I have a life alarm clock! However I did not completely lug myself out of the bed until 9.00a.m. Well, 2 more dreams from 8.00 to 8.30 and a lovely conversation on skype with my Dear Jiejie from 8.30-9.00a.m. pretty much explain it.

I am surprised how my life is still quite unorganized now that it's been 2 months already. Everyday schedule seems to be different! And what I meant by this is that I can never fix the order of washing up, making breakfast, and checking the news. So today what I did was making breakfast first while brushing my teeth and checking the news at the same time. I'm amazed at how increasingly I'm able to multi task now. ^^

So when everything is done, it's almost 10.30a.m. and it's time for school! And now it's time to explain my post title, it's called disneyland because I really felt like I'm in those disneyland movie this morning as I walked pass the street of my residential area seeing squirrels and humming birds. It's fall now so the trees are either all yellow in colour or has no leave left hanging onto the branches. Hope my limited description can somehow help you to picture it. Waking to the bus stop takes me 10 minutes and it takes another 15 minutes for me to reach school i.e. Mcgill University ( the first ranked university in Canada as of now). So it's 11.00a.m. by the time I reach, time for some serious work now. A long day is awaiting me!

---------------------------------------------------------------

First class done for the day and here I am to share this incredibly nice japanese song with you guys. I'm usually not a fan of Jap songs, but this song is just amazing. trust me, have a try listening to it!

"手纸” by angela aki.

The meaning of the lyrics goes by:

English Translation:
Dear you,
Who's reading this letter
Where are you and what are you doing now?

For me who's 15 years old
There are seeds of worries I can't tell anyone

If it's a letter addressed to my future self,
Surely I can confide truly to myself

Now, it seems that I'm about to be defeated and cry
For someone who's seemingly about to disappear
Whose words should I believe in?
This one-and-only heart has been broken so many times
In the midst of this pain, I live the present

Dear you,
Thank you
I have something to tell the 15-year-old you

If you continue asking what and where you should be going
You'll be able to see the answer

The rough seas of youth may be tough
But row your boat of dreams on
Towards the shores of tomorrow

Now, please don't be defeated and please don't shed a tear
During these times when you're seemingly about to disappear
Just believe in your own voice
For me as an adult, there are sleepless nights when I'm hurt
But I'm living the bittersweet present

There's meaning to everything in life
So build your dreams without fear
Keep on believing

Seems like I'm about to be defeated and cry
For someone who's seemingly about to disappear
Whose words should I believe in?

Please don't be defeated and please don't shed a tear
During these times when you're seemingly about to disappear
Just believe in your own voice

No matter era we're in
There's no running away from sorrow
So show your smile, and go on living the present
Go on living the present

Dear you,
Who's reading this letter
I wish you happiness
***********************************************
Romaji Lyrics

I love those singers who can capture people's heart through their songs. And the lyric is awesome, I wish I've had the chance to listen to it when I was 15 year old, and work harder to go into Harvard University. AHAHAH, kidding. I mean, I'm glad that I've worked decently hard to achieved where I am now. But of course, without my family and friends, I wouldn't have gone this far. There is still a long way to go in my life, I know this is for sure. The only question remaining is, how I want to live it. And for some reason, I am really thankful that I actually have the chance to go for exchange. Which somehow opened my eyes, that now I know the world is not only confined to Malaysia, Australia or Singapore. There's much more beyond that. There's so much in this world which I have yet to understand and explore. Understanding how it works and putting myself into these mechanism is the point.