Moved back to Hong Kong!

So after the most hectic semester (hence why I haven't been blogging) I handed my dissertation in and the last three assignments I had due in. The 22nd of May had seemed so close yet so far all semester long but the day it finally came was the most overwhelming day of my life so far. Finally, after packing up everything I'd gathered for the last 3 years at university in the UK...I moved back to Hong Kong, my city  ♡

Being away from home on and off is pretty hard but the last 3 years have been an interesting and new experience for me. I'm glad I went through it but now it's time to start an entirely new page to my life. This summer I want to explore and travel and just make a little bucket list of all the things I want to achieve.

Busy third year and mish mash of things I've done lately

Hello all!

I have been completely unsuccessful at following my New Years Resolutions to start blogging regularly. Long story short, I have had the most intense semester ever and have just had so many deadlines and things to do lately. My third year project has been very time consuming I had to have the draft completely written up and then handed in before the end of the week. I've also recently had my PGCE interview at the University of Sussex in Brighton which I was very excited and nervous for. This post is essentially just a post of me rambling about what's been happening recently, but I will be able to start this up properly when I have gotten a few deadlines out the way and have more time to explore and try new things.

 I got to experience the third snow of my life when I went to London to interview children for my third year project (odd to think that before I moved to the UK for uni I had never experienced snow.) As much as the novelty has worn off now - it was lovely being able to wake up to an all-encompassing white blanket of snow. It's also very refreshing to see how enthusiastic children are over snow even though there wasn't alot of it.

Over the last two months of being in Norwich I thought it was particularly suited that I explore more of it's nooks and crannies and make sure I visited the top listed coffee shops on Trip Advisor (obviously my top choices of sites to visit when it comes to recommendations). And so a visit to Frank's Bar with my housemate was on the cards. This would have been my second visit to this wonderful little gem but in all honesty it is one of the sweetest cafes I've been to.

Upon walking in you can see that the owner has really put the effort into  the decor of the cafe-bar. Something Hong Kong lacks is definitely it's dainty little coffee shops and surprisingly this is one thing Norwich has that Hong Kong doesn't!

Frank's bar has a wonderful atmosphere with pretty little fairy lights and lanterns hanging from the wooden ceiling arches. The staff are lovely and very prompt and I have nothing but good words to say. On one occasion I've been - I had the chorizo, scrambled egg and red pepper toasted bagel and on the other I just came in for a hazelnut soy latte. But I would really recommend this place for breakfast lovers or avid coffee drinks (like me!)

This semester I've really had the chance to catch up with friends and make the most of my last couple of months in Norwich. As you can tell - with it being the busiest semester lots of coffee dates weren't out of the ordinary at all. For all the sweet toothed people out there - you may want to pop down to 7Heaven. They do fairly nice burgers and waffles but I would really recommend the sweet potato fries. They were perfecttion. For the people who are trying to save some money this semester (and ultimately their health) just cut up some sweet potato wedges, coat them with a little olive oil, season them with salt/pepper/paprika or whatever you like, and them pop them into the oven until they're a guaranteed, crispy, baked flawlessness.


I wanted to do a separate post on this cute vintage cafe but seeing as I'm doing a huge mish mash of places I've been and things I've done in the last couple of months I thought I'd just pop it in here quickly too. Pandora's Kitchen is one of the sweetest places I've been. I've heard good things about it from so many people so I was so happy to finally have gone with one of my Canadian friends at uni. It's the perfect place for a meet up - may it be with friends, family or colleagues. The place has such a nice homey feel and I just loved all the little things they did to add to it - the spotted table cloths, the drinks menus which were placed inside of books and freshly cut flowers on each and every table. I ordered a greek-esque hummus baguette with smashed avocado, a homemade purple cabbage coselaw and a side salad and we both got skinny flavoured lattes. If you know me - you know coffee is important. The coffee here stole my heart. It was a wonderful afternoon of overflowing lattes, great food and a lovely catchup.

Last but not least - I also FINALLY managed to visit Gonzo's Tea Room after all my friends had continuously been telling me about it and after being constantly jealous that they were able to go whilst I wasn't in Norwich :( 

However this time round I did manage to make it and although it wasn't for too long it was a great evening which started off at our house then onto Gonzo's for my friend Beth's 21st ♡ This was on a Thursday night and to all those people who dislike Mantra as much as me...THIS is the place to go. It's definitely representative of the laid back vibe in Norwich and if you just fancy a chilled out evening with friends and drinks this is definitely somewhere to visit (if you are like me and prefer sitting down and talking over getting absolutely hammered on the dance floor).

For now - I hope you've all been well and having busy, productive semesters too!
xx

2015: New years resolutions!

I've been working and spending as much time with my family, boyfriend and friends lately that I've ended up neglecting this blog. Ironically - it is amongst my new years resolutions to blog regularly. Last year was truly a wonderful year...I met my boyfriend, I travelled, I spent more time with my family, I cooked more, I exercised more, I ate cleaner, I made even more wonderful friends...and as people do most years, I grew as a person. As you can see from the title - this post is more to do with the new years resolutions I wish to fulfil this year. Usually people make resolutions that they find easy to verbalise but hard to maintain.The ones I chose to make are therefore fairly realistic and hopefully (fingers crossed) I can stay true to them as best as possible. 

1. Be more punctual 
2. Drink more water
3. Blog regularly 
4. Be more active and surround myself with more active people
5. Work harder (really inspired by The Theory of Everything to work even harder and push myself even more.)
6. Budget better and learn to save 
7. Push myself harder at the gym and leave my comfort zone to try harder more challenging exercises
8. Pass uni and get a 2.1 at the end of my degree
9. Care less about what other people think
10. Cook more and experiment more in the kitchen 

I thought that 10 resolutions (not in any particular order) would be a good number to stop at. Hope you all had a lovely 2014. Why not strive to reflect on yourself and make 2015 even bigger, better and more memorable?

And just to clarify - if you didn't make it onto this blog it is mainly to do with the fact that I have far too many photos and if I used all of them this blog post would be overflowing with photos. Till next time my lovely readers,
xx

First post!

I'm not really sure how to even start off the very first post of my blog, so here's a little generic introduction to myself. Hello to anyone who has shown a mild interest at my blog, and if I've already started to bore you then I apologize in advance. I'm Jennie. I'm currently 20 years old and studying a BSc in Psychology at UEA. I'm bilingual. I love reading. I have a growing desire to travel the world. I want to be a teacher. I love staying active. I have a wonderful family, a lovely boyfriend and the best friends I girl could ask for. I've always wanted to start a blog but always worried that no one would like reading what I had to post but c'est la vie - do what you love, and love what you do. 

I have started this blog mainly because why the heck not? At first I thought I'd start one to document holidays or places I've been but it's really going to be an everything, everywhere, anywhere type of blog. 

Hope you enjoy what you've read so far!

xo