I dah selamat sampai 2 hari yg lepas di Sheffield. Tiba di Paris jam 6.30 pagi kerana cuaca yg tidak begitu baik. Orgnya tak begitu friendly, tapi bila nampak Hazeeq, depa sukakan children. Airport di CDG (Charles de Gaulle) agak unfriendly spt orgnya – tangga yg curam di tempat-tempat yg tak sepatutnya. Tak seperti org kita, Europeans travel lighter-less bags maximum 2 hand luggages; which is one of the things that we should really think about before going abroad. I will suggest to you all to stick to 2 hand luggage and the rest should be posted later or put as cabin luggage.
6 jam menunggu di Paris seperti cepat berlalu. Maklumlah, tempat org.. tak jemu kita melihatnya. Tapi cuaca sangat sejuk. Flight ke Manchester delay pula dan at 2 pm, baru dapat bertolak ke Manchester. Sampai di Manchester, I saw a man holding my name. Atually a friend has booked a cab for me which would cost me ₤80 for a trip to Manchester. But another kind hearted friend promised to fetch me at the airport and I should just pay her ₤60 for oil cost from Leeds-Manchester-Sheffield. So, I have just to ignore the cab driver for good reason.
Arrived at Sheffield, I stayed with a host, named Janmaizaitaul, 30 yrs, staying at S4 7EB. She’s very kind. Doing her PhD at the same Uni and her husband is working in a factory nearby. They have 2 kids and they bring their maid along. After eating dinner and solat Isya’, we went to sleep.
Second day, we went out in the evening to shop for some clothes. On the third day (Wednesday-today), I went out to meet my supervisor; Prof Peter Willet at Information Studies Dept at Regent Court. He even walked me to the Student Union building for registration and waited for a moment before left for a meeting. He’s very kind and generous; but at the same time really strict on getting things done. I ought to view some houses today but due to some circumstances, it has been postponed until tomorrow.
Am I missing Malaysia – yes, very much. I miss my family and friends back in Malaysia. Even at 5 am(KL) in the flight going to Paris, I really cried when listening “Kau Tak pernah Jauh” by Nora. You should listen to every bit of the lyrics. On the second day here, I cried once again when I’m out of phone credit. I want to call home to tell my family not to worry – but I can’t because I have been using the credits to confirm my arrival with friends at Manchester. Mizi gave me his credit so that I can talk to Ibu for a while. It was so cold. But my world seems as small as this house. I want to go out and ease the pain – but I was so afraid of losing my way back home in the cold weather. My hands felt numb now and then. And even taking shower is so hard. Sometimes the water is too cold, and when I tried to adjust using hot tap, it would be too hot. There’s no way you could just wrap your towels going to the bathroom. You’ll be very completely dressing like going out in Malaysia while you are just going to take your bath. The food is tasteless in the cold weather and the spices don’t taste the same like in Malaysia. On the third day, I’m adjusting myself. I managed to walk around from the host house to the city and around the Uni. It’s a long walk and I love it – except for the very cold weather. He city is not as clean as we might seen in the TV. In fact, KL is much cleaner than here. The supermarket and stores are not as neat as in KL. Even their city centre is cramp with vehicles and traffic jam on peak hours – just like KL. But not many tall buildings. All in all, I would say that KL is a lovely place and beautiful that we must be thankful we have been born in Malaysia. Foreign place is a lovely place to look at, but our own place is always the best.
