There is always something to do when the weekend draws near. C is diligent with her readings, tutorials, and lectures. On the days where she does not have classes to attend, she stays indoors to finish up her readings or whatever work she has with her team mates. 

The group of them were supposed to head up to Nottingham the previous weekend but some of them were slightly under the weather so plans were postponed. 

The 40-minute bus ride out. 

C said it was sunny but oh so windy. 

Being miles away from home, and especially during this festive season, homesickness must hit hard and different. It was heartwarming to learn that they got together for their own celebration. 

With Valentine's Day around the corner and it being the weekend, C and her friends had a bit more time to spare. They gathered for breakfast and made themselves pancakes. 

I was going to upload a photo of the girls together -but I didn't get permission, so I think I shan't. 

The girls cooked chicken curry today!

C said it took them a good two hours to prepare everything: way too long. hahaha. oh well, the good thing was the kitchen smelled heavenly after. 

Meal prep is getting more exciting with each passing week. 

I guess it is also easier to be preparing western meals as they have less complex procedures and do not need all sorts of fancy spices.

The colours truly whet the appetite! We are heartened that C is adapting well. :) C said she liked the taste of the sweet potatoes and that they provided a contrasting texture to the oily salmon. 

The weekend's here! C and her group of friends headed out to Leicester. 

bonding time with her mates. :)

She found a thrift shop and bought 2 tops for 3 pounds each: much to her delight.

Meal prep for the coming week. 

Sunday morning, a few of them went to church near campus. 

Okay, we'll await for more updates from C. :) 

It's been 2 weeks... C's daily routine has been quite similar: Up at 7am, eat breakfast, then get ready for classes. Lectures are mostly in the afternoon with a day at 9 o'clock in the morning. Then she will be back in the dorm to do her readings. 

Then at around Singapore time, 5pm, she will call us. :)

Finally moved into the varsity hostel! 

her school for the next few months. 

Her room is really quite decent: spacious and clean and she has a pretty view of the outdoors.  The size of the bed is a luxury too, I must say, given that it is a dorm.

The girls must have gone out to do some groceries shopping too because C showed us photos of them meal-prepping. Not too bad with their choices of vegetables and meat. Wonder what food they would try to cook next.

Looks like dinner for the next 3 days is settled. :) 

Thanks to the wifi onboard her flight, C was able to keep us updated. Much to our amusement, C bought the famous Dubai chocolates while waiting for the connecting flight out to London. 

When she arrived at Heathrow Airport, she also let us know that they had cleared customs and were waiting for the train out. 

Thankfully, the train looked clean.  Because they were not able to move in to the hostel yet, they had to put up at an Airbnb for 2 nights. They also took the opportunity to explore the university town. 

Oh man, the old-so-familiar grey England skies... 

C took off for her 6-month long Exchange. After we learned that she had been accepted, she had been preparing herself mentally to be away from us. We noted down the things she might need and slowly made purchase over the months. 

Everyone at home was excited and yet had that longing for her.

With the cousins.

A reunion. 

and also an extremely early birthday celebration for the girl who will be turning 21 this year.

I went to work with a heavy heart... 

Can't believe that she is all grown up ... 

Kids these days are really quite resourceful. C was added into a group chat with students from the various universities who were also going for Exchange during the same time. There is a group of 9 others: 8 from NUS and 1 from NTU, met up several times to get to know each other and discuss their plans in the months leading up to D-day. Honestly, we left C to do almost all the preparation for the trip: she settled the study visa, flight tickets, booking of the modules that she would be taking, accommodations, among others. She updated us every now and then about the progress of things and we did not have to worry much.  

So, we shall look forward to her texts, video calls, and photos from her adventure. :) 

It was some time late 2020 when C came to this decision - she would continue her post-secondary school education in a junior college. Since then, she had been gearing herself up.

We spoke about the challenges she would face - the late dismissal from school, the CCA commitments, the pockets of "free" time from her time table, and the demands of the curriculum. We also advised her about the friends and school mates that she might encounter. It was not all solemn and serious, of course. We also commented that class would be interesting especially for English and General Paper because of the discussions that would take place. We candidly shared that during our time, our motivation to get into jc was as simple and frivolous as us just wanting to go to school in trainers. Haha

It has been about a month since school started for her and she is still acclimating. She is definitely spending more hours online reading up on materials, or watching a film for class but she is enjoying the process. Then there are days where she is grouchy and waking up tired - all part-and-parcel of student life. 

We keep her in prayer. May the good Lord watch over her and guide her.