Saturday chat..

I have been silent for a while from here because it has been some sort of busy weeks for me. I have been busy reading my own thesis & correcting what needed to be corrected. Have to make sure every single details are look at because my 'bos' has the tendency to spot the minor mistake & after few spotted mistake, she will dismiss it as not good at all, without even reading the rest. That is why I end up amending things a few times and I realised that sometimes, the changes goes in a circle mode.

Anyway, I have submitted my 3rd draft & hopefully, that will be my last draft. At least in term of major changes because literally, I do not have so much of time left. At the same time, I also submitted one paper, which I hope will get publish in one of the reputable bioethics journal. Keep my finger cross for that. Now, it is not in my hand. I have done my part & I hope it be good news. As I always told myself, I will give my Best, the Rest I leave it to God.

This is my last weekend in Denmark. My three months stay has come to an end. I will have to endure the long hours journey on Monday. I hate long haul flight because it's very tiring. Luckily now they have a direct flight from here to Amsterdam without going through Denmark main airport in Copenhagen. At least I will only have one change of flight & I do not have to carry my luggage because it will be check in all the way to KL. Each time I have to fly off, the only thing that I really look forward to is the moment when I am landed at the destination & a nice comfortable sleep on my own bed! As usual, I will travel alone. My other half will not be with me because he has no holiday left except for Christmas. I don't really feel so sad because I'll be back here again in Dec. So, it will only be for 2 months. Furthermore, I am looking forward to settle the MAJOR part of my PhD; the starting of my thesis submission.

Well, FYI PhD thesis submission took a very long time. According to the email I received last week, the formality of thesis submission for PhD will take at least 5-7months. That provided everything goes well & only require minor changes. So, I am praying so hard that my process will be as smooth as possible. There are too many protocol & approval to go through not only for me but for my supervisor. So, hopefully, it be smooth for both of us. And in the time being, I pray that I can find a suitable job too. I think after 5 years of 'vacation', I just can't wait to go back to the workforce. Furthermore, I have two major party to do after I finish my viva & convocation next year.Hheeh..it be nice if I am able to pay for it instead of having my hubby to sponsor it.

We will be staying in this weekend, just spend time with each other. I literally have pack my stuff. Won't bring so much this time because I'll be back.Just brought my shorts, jeans & a couple of baby tee because according to my friends back in Malaysia, it is HOT back home. So, I better enjoy this cold weather before I am heading to the OVEN!

Trip to Manila

I was in Manila for 5 days in October last year. Yeah I know, this post came almost 1 year too late. Well, I have not got the time to update my blog for the longest time! Since for now, I am basically a bit free from my research paper so I plan to update you guys with all the travelling I made from last year up to today.:)


Anyway, I was in Manila for a Bioethics conference. Yup, I went there all by myself. Good for me, I was sponsored by UNESCO for this conference. I was so excited when I received the email from the conference committee. But the down side, I need to present my research at the conference. I was a bit nervous but I am ready to do it. This is my second international conference where I need to present my research in front of God's knows how many people. But for the sake of gaining experience, why not.


I stayed at ...err..I forgot the name of the hotel.Hahaha...I was greeted by the committee at the airport together with few participants who are also sponsored by UNESCO. There are four of us from Malaysia and I am the only girl! That is cool and I am so proud of myself. We were part of the ASEAN participants.

 Arrived at my room at 4pm. It was quite a ride from the airport to downtown Makati town. The hotel was at a very good location because there is a huge mall just across the street and there are lots of eating places just around the area. Since I am alone, having a mall nearby help and you can basically get everything there including some familiar shops.

Can view the mall from my room. I have to admit, the hotel has it downside, it's can be very loud because you can hear the busy street down below & it does not help that the night I arrived, there are a bunch of teenager staying there. I basically can't sleep the whole night. Not forgetting to mention that the air conditioning is from the stone age era so it was very loud. But I tried to get some sleep because I know tomorrow will be a very long day.

The next morning, we were picked up my the committee organiser who are consisting of the university post-graduate students. The conference was held at the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines oldest university or probably one of the oldest in the world. The guy in black is the representative of the university patron from the Vatican City itself. This is a fully Catholic university where all the deans from each faculty are a priest themselves. It is not something so new in a country where almost 90% of the population are Catholic.

 Before the launching of the conference, these choir groups presented us with a lovely song and an amazing voices! It gave me goose bump. Man..their voice is really damn good! All of them are student from the university conservatory.

 The conference was launch officially!

 I am in awe looking at the building in this place. It is well preserved and well kept. All these building are mostly, how they look like when they were first build. The university also has it own high school within the university compound.

All the participants taking group photo in front of the university main building.

 And I busied myself taking picture of me elsewhere. Hahahha...I am wearing the traditional Cheongsam because all ASEAN delegates were instructed to use our country traditional cloths for the first day of the conference. I choose cheongsam because it is easy to move around wearing it since I have to use it the whole day!

 I love the university ambiance because it is so relaxing. Look at this foundation..

 There is an outdoor cafe with some band playing some music to entertain you. Lovely atmosphere. Even the other M'sian delegates admit that.

 The conference is a part of the university 400th anniversary's celebration. Yes..you read that right, It is their 400th birthday!!

Look at this ceiling! Me & some participants were lost on our way to find the function room for our dinner that night.

 And we finally find it!

 I am seating with participants from the Land of Smile..Thailand.

 She really sang superbly.

And so is he. Both are students from the university's conservatory.

 The student entertain us with some folk song which is very common among the Filipino.

 Some of the dancers are lecturer at the university.

 We were asked whether we want to do any presentation on Malaysia but we all declined because we can't basically create a presentation within such a very short notice. Actually none of the ASEAN teams present anything except for this guy. He is one of the participant from Indonesia.

 A group picture with all ASEAN delegates and the speakers.

The Malaysia's delegate except for the guy in blue outfit. He is from Vietnam. The guy in Malays costume is from Unisel, the Indian guy is from UPM and the baju batik Chinese guy is from MMU. All of them are lecturers so that make me the only student among them.Hehhehe...

 Second day of the conference is my presentation day. Getting myself ready that morning with my new black dress. Armed with my USB, I am off to tell the crowd about my research. I was not expecting such a huge crowd and man am I nervous when I stood in front of the class and saw the whole room was packed with people. I was so nervous but I remain calm & do my thing. After 20min everything is over & I can feel that my palm are sweating.Hahhaha...

 On the last day of the conference we had a round table discussion regarding Bioethics among the ASEAN delegate and the discussion was lead by Dr. Macer from UNESCO in Bangkok.

 The Dean of the post-graduate unit of university of Santo Tomas giving the closing speech and prayer for the three day conference.

My last lunch with the participants. I was seating with some delegates from the Philippines, Singapore & Thailand. After the conference was over, we were given a tour of the city arranged by the committee, which was good because we were so busy during the whole conference. I am literally at the university hall from early morning to late in the evening. When we reach the hotel, it was already 6pm. I only manage to get some dinner & go back to my hotel room & getting for the next day. So, I am grateful that the organising committee did arrange for the city tour.


But that I will continue in the part 2 of my trip to Manila because now I need to get my beauty sleep. Nite..

Writing

Writing can be damn hard sometimes, especially when you are doing academic writing. I can easily write anything but when it come to academic writing, man that is hard. You can't simply use the normal English language that I normally use when writing my blog or email because it just has to be the right wording to actually represent my so call intellectual thought and provide a solid argument for my findings.

On good days, I can write 5-10 pages a day. Helloo...this is a thesis writing so that much is actually an accomplishment (at least to me as I write every single day). And when this happen, I am so happy & fill very productive. Unfortunately, I do experience bad day as well where I can only write a maximum of 5 pages!! When it happen, I really feel that I wasted too much time with very little results and very disappointed with myself although I knowing I had tried my best. Writing also depending on your mood swing which explain why most writer prefer to be isolated when they are writing a book. Now I know..

Some people won't understand what actually I do looking at the laptop for few hours everyday for every single day since I'm doing my PhD. Well, all I can say is that, you experience it first before making nasty comment about it. It is not easy that is for sure. You do get frustrated sometimes when the ideas are not there or when you have it in your head but the words just won't come out. I have to admit, sometimes when I am lack of idea or when my head just feel heavy with thought,  I swear that I'm about to go mental!

But I am taking my time now to complete my 2nd draft as the 1st one received a nasty comment so I vow to have this 2nd one better, and 100% improve. But I won't want to take my own sweet time as I plan to graduate next year (though it is 1 yrs later than I originally plan). But hey...at least this time I can feel that it's for real & I am producing a better thesis! Wish me luck fellow!