Also, if you're reading this on your laptop, not mobile, you'd see I got rid of my hideous, childish header photo heh. It was time. So now it's just my Instagram feed up there (totally copied from Vivy Yusof's blog).
Okay now let's see.
Since my last blog post I:
1) Have graduated from university.
Which is weird! For the past fifteen years, being a student is all I ever known. I know how to study (well, somewhat...) and sit for exams and do assignments and be at my wits' end trying to excel this group presentation even though my group members suck and go interview sources for my stories and whew just trying to keep myself together. It was tough. But it is now over and I'm glad I have more time to relax and be unemployed. Yay.
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| Graduated cum laude with bachelor's degree in journalism at UW-Eau Claire, class of 2014. |
2) Got myself published in the local newspaper in Eau Claire.
Which was totally unexpected. The story is basically I met this woman named Barbara, who works for the registrar office and also a freelancer at Volume One, a local magazine. She liked a story that I did on the Host Family Program, which I wrote for my capstone journalism class. She contacted me through Sarah, a staff at the International Office and we met up one time. Barbara was so lovely and friendly! She asked me to write another piece, about me being an international student in EC. I remember it being near finals weeks and I just did NOT want to write that story. I had a lot on my plate, it was finals week, I just finished writing a 16-page paper for my psychology class, I had work, I had to meet a lot of friends to say goodbye to, you get the picture. But I did it anyway, half-heartedly.
She edited the final piece and said I was a "talented writer" (cries) and sent it to Volume One. They rejected it, which was fine by me because I know it was not my best piece. Barbara, being the determined person that she is, sent it to Leader Telegram, which is the city newspaper (not student/campus paper). And they decided to run my story.
The rest, as they say, is history.
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| Picture credits to Sarah. I was away on the civil rights pilgrimage when this came out so I couldn't get a copy myself but good lord... they weren't kidding when they say they wanna put me on the front page! |
Which is insane. I know it's cliche but I grew up with Disney. Especially Toy Story!
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| When we were taking the picture I had NO IDEA we'd look like we were on Andy's bed!! It was just walls around and I was too excited to get my picture taken with Buzz and Woody hehe |
Yes I cried, like 3 times. The first one was when we were on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We didn't know what to expect and the wait time was only 20 minutes at the time, so we figured why not. Everything was fine and dandy, we got on this boat and strapped in. When suddenly it was pitch black, seems like we were going through a river or something and the curtain parts and lo and behold, the Black Pearl ship materializes in front of my eyes.
It was magical. God dang it, I should've thought of a better adjective than magical to describe Disney but it really was that. And I teared up. I don't even know why!? It was just, magnificent and the ship was there and it was amazing and we went on the 'cruise' through what it would've been like if we live among pirates and I loved it so much because duh Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow okay I'll stop rambling.
The second time was during the parade. It was breathtaking. I also keep imagining how the actors playing these characters are living their dreams and how cool that is! I mean, I'm sure most of them are Disney fanatics and to embody the characters, and to interact with little kids who believe they're the real thing... sigh.
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| Confession: I did not like Frozen lol |
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| Obviously you can't see him here and I know I've said this on Instagram but FLYNN WAS SO HOT WEI!!!!!! Okay I'm done. |
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| Aww Tinkerbell was so cute! |
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| *waves* |
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| Cinderella: I was supposed to be home by midnight but I got distracted dancing with this prince so I came back late -- Me: Oh no gurl you didn't. (actually not how the conversation went haha) |
One of my favorite parts is the totally underrated Broadway-style show of Beauty and The Beast. Belle is my favorite Disney princess and I was kind of bummed that I couldn't meet 'her' and take pictures so I decided the next best thing is to go to this show. I actually went by myself because my parents and brother wanted to watch an Indiana Jones (... or something) on the other side of the park.
OH AND right as I went in, one of the cast member called me "your majesty" and it made my day!!!! :')
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| Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, Beauty and the Beast. |
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| "Look there she goes that girl is so peculiar I wonder if she's feeling well With a dreamy, far-off look And her nose stuck in a book What a puzzle to the rest of us is Belle" |
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| "No one's slick as Gaston No one's quick as Gaston No one's neck's as incredibly thick as Gaston" |
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| Be our guest! |
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| They performed all the major songs in Beauty and the Best and I loved it so, so, so much!! Till this day whenever I hear the songs from the movie I think back to this show. Goes to show how no details go amiss in Disney, even the littlest things are brilliant. |
I totally forgotten we had this PhotoPass thing so I only discovered these photos recently. Enjoy my brother's face.
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| Rock 'n' Roller Coaster® Starring Aerosmith |
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| Space Mountain (waited literally like 2+ hours for this and gotta say it was good but not worth the wait tbh -_-) |
And of course, I teared up during Celebration of Magic (or something like that) at the end of the night. The firework show!! We watched a montage of Disney songs/movies projected on the Cinderella castle and yep my childhood summed up right there on the screen.
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| It was a you-had-to-be-there moment. Sorry, guys. |
Where do I even begin.
All my life I've always wanted to go to Hogwarts. But of course my letter never arrives. (Anytime now will be great, Dumbledore!)
I remember going all the way to Singapore just to see the Harry Potter exhibition with Abu, his sister, and Mus. We were such rebels hahah we weren't allowed to record anything or took pictures but we secretly did. We weren't allowed to touch anything, but when nobody's looking we touched Snape's robe, Hermione's dress, etc. Ohh, to be young and reckless hahaha.
We managed to go to the newly opened Diagon Alley, and the shops are just like in the movies! Also went on the Gringotts escape ride, which is my second favorite after the one in Hogwarts itself. Such technology these days, man! Basically we're strapped in, and yes it was a rollercoaster, but instead of the outside world that we see, we kind of 'watch' the Harry Potter movie in front of our eyes like we're in it! And of course with Harry, Hermione, Bill Weasley, Dumbledore, interacting with us. SO FREAKING COOL IT BLEW MY MIND. I felt like I was flying, playing Quidditch, being disturbed by Dementors, being whipped by the Whomping Willow, having fire blown to my face from the dragon's breath, and so on. How could I not cry you tell me!? It was an emotional day, that's all I could say.
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| Butterbeer was definitely worth the hype!!! SO, SO GOOD. I bought it twice. Frozen (7E Slurpee type), and cold. Personally prefer the latter. |
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| Sipping on mah butterbeer in Hogsmeade #livingdalife |
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| This looks unreal like it's just poster at the back! But it's not, obv. |
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| The ride inside was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. BLOODY BRILLIANT. Halfway through I was legit crying tears of joy hahaha I'm glad I went by myself. My brother was too beaten up by the earlier roller-coaster where your feet was hanging (love!). Thank God for single rider queue! I went back to back. Second time with my dad. |
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| Inside the castle, Dumbledore's office. |
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| And I swear in that moment I was no longer a muggle. Lol the woman said some really nice stuff but all I could remember is my wand is for healing. My brother didn't record anything dang it -_- |
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| The merchandise was just insane. I could literally spend all my money here but I ended up getting a passport cover, water bottle, and of course my wand! :D |
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| Inside the moving train. I thought we were just gonna see the view outside but of course, that won't be authentic to the movie so we watched this 3D movie that looks like that's what's outside. Gotta say the animation was impressive! Also, we went to and fro Hogsmeade and the clips were different so definitely go back and forth if you manage to go there! |
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| We arrived in London! |
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| Fefeeling je lah lol satu hari nanti akanku jejakkan kaki di tanah UK! |
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| DIAGON ALLEY! |
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| Madness. *grabby hands* |
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| Knockturn Alley where you can... get elves as slaves. Say no to discrimination. Say with me: "Elves are friends not food" wait I think I got the movie wrong |
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| Trying to do magic! Basically my wand is interactive and there are certain places (marked on a map) where you can do certain movements and magic will happen. Pretty cool! |
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| You could see people 'disappearing' into the wall |
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| Hedwig ain't having any of your shit today #sassyowl |
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| "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" |
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| So then we moved on to other parts of Universal, like the Jurassic Park. |
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| I know, I know. You're welcome for this masterpiece. |
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| My wand :)))) |
The only downside of Universal Studios Florida is... because I wear hijab, I'm not allowed to sit on the front row, or any other row except the back >:( Not all, but most of the rides I had to sit by myself. SO DUMB AND DISCRIMINATORY! Idk what they're scared of, that my hijab will get stuck on the rides? That my hijab will fly off and hit somebody's off and they couldn't breathe? UGH. FOR REAL. I told my friend, Maz, who've been there before and she said she didn't have any problem but when she went to Universal Studios Japan, she was not allowed to go on any ride at all. Damn. I would've asked for a refund!
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Welp that's it. There were tons of photos that'll take forever to upload here so maybe I'll upload the rest on Facebook. At this point it's kind of too late and seems kind of, show off-y but I do wanna share my experience there because it was unforgettable! Can't thank my parents enough for bringing me to these places. Mind you, me and my mom spent literally hours on Skype trying to figure things out! The flights, the hotels, transportation, goodness. But the planning was very well worth it, of course :)
Also credits to my brother for taking most of these pictures.
"So what now?" you ask?
Well. I am definitely trying to find a job. The 'cruel, real world' feels kind of real, to be honest. I always feel like it's made up. But yep competition is tough and there are so many people with the same experience as I do and standing out is pretty difficult.
I can only pray, I guess. Till then, I have plenty of time to blog so maybe I will do that! (But we all know that's not gonna happen).
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