#14 Mid-Semester Break

Day 1

Semester 2's mid-semester break kicked off with our usual routine - GO Card spamming day! You may think we're cheapskates and that we're just wasting one day of our break but no! The joy of tapping our GO Cards without having to worry about burning our wallets after that proved all the waiting and strolling around the city aimlessly worth it. We actually enjoyed our spamming day quite a lot! It has definitely become one of our "outings".

We ended up in Westfield Shopping Mall that day. You see, the good thing about spamming day is that you get to explore places that wouldn't be on your explore list and who knows, you may come across one or two places of your interest! We weren't really in a shopping mood that day so we randomly entered Big W and dressed up in party accessories. Pretty fabulous-looking eh?

Even went for a one-hour karaoke session! Encountered an unbelievably rude counter lady but that's okay. It has become our inside joke now. "Up to you" LOL. It was actually my first karaoke session since I came to Brisbane!

Before dinner, we went to Max Brenner for some dessert to kill time! Yes, dessert before dinner. We ordered this chocolate fondue set for two to be shared amongst eight. Speak about cheapskates again. Fancy desserts like this are usually overpriced but I don't mind splurging once in a while for the sake of pampering myself with Instagram-worthy sweetness! More so if the sweetness is to be enjoyed with great company, like them.

Headed over to Cyber City in Fortitude Valley for some Asian goodness! To be more specific, Chinese cuisine that none of us could resist no matter how often you shove Chinese food down our throats. Chinese food will always be on the top of my food list! 

Us in the train on the way back to the city from Fortitude Valley. We had no idea where to go anymore so we just chilled (literally - it was a pretty chilly night) in front of Brisbane City Hall like a bunch of homeless kids. 

I really, really do enjoy times like this, when we do nothing but just crap nonsense. The range of our topics can be really wide and most of the time hilarious. 

We reached home at midnight but we had only tapped our cards for 8 times. We only needed one more tap for free transport for the rest of the week! So we walked all the way from home to Nando's and took the last 412 bus back home again. That was probably the craziest thing I've ever done in my life. 

And by this, it marks the end of Day 1. 

Day 2

After all the hardwork of tapping our GO Cards for 9 times in a day, off we went to Gold Coast! This time, we chose our favorite theme park out of the three - Wet 'n Wild! Ignoring the fact that I'll get tanned really badly, I really enjoy water parks! 

This was us during lunch. We always say that we should bring our own lunch whenever we go to places like this but we always end up forgetting and giving in to overpriced burgers that in reality, do not look as appealing as seen in the menu. What a big let-down. 

We only queued for 2 water rides and swam for a while in the pool before we decided to leave that place and head off to Sea World for ice-cream. Yes, you did not read it wrongly. Joseph's pretty obsessed with the ice-cream there because they sell 3 scoops for like what? $7.90? 

The ice-cream I'm talking about. Picture taken during Easter Break!

This was us in a double-decker bus! We don't see such buses in Brisbane so we got really excited and just hopped onto one and quickly scrambled upstairs. We were too relaxed (bus was air-conditioned at the perfect temperature *sighs in comfort*) that we did not realize the bus wasn't heading towards Sea World. We were like "Ahh whatever. We'll just get off at the last stop. Forget about Sea World, the bus is more important now". So true enough, we got off at the last stop and had to take the tram back to Surfers Paradise, the alternative to our Sea World plan. 

And so there we were, taking in the beauty of the sea and enjoying the sea breeze that we don't get to enjoy back in Brisbane (it's so hot here it's torturingggg T_T).

Fooling around. Huishin and I hugging (attacking) Lavinia who hates any form of body contact.

Ahhhh so beautiful! Wanted to wait for the sunset but by the time we realised that we were at the wrong part of the beach (sunset was behind those buildings -.-), it was too late. So might as well just stay longer and take more photos!

Group photo.

Dessert before dinner again! Didn't get to eat the ice-cream in Sea World so Movenpick it was! I've always wanted to try Movenpick to know what all the hype is about. It turned out really good! My favorite is rum & raisin.

Had Chinese food again for dinner! Seems like Chinese will always be Chinese wherever they go eh?

Rushed back to Brisbane and as usual, we were so close to missing the last 412 bus home. Thank God we made it in time! 

Day 2 was adventurous enough! 

Day 3 

Day 3 was a slacking day for all of us. 

My high school friends, Yuan Ting and Wei Shan along with two of their friends came over to Brisbane for a visit so I brought them out to the city for a while before coming home to prepare for Timothy's birthday surprise. 

We did not know where his house was but we had his address. At times like this, Google Maps came in really handy. *stalker mode on* 

Surprise was considered successful I guess? Jon called him and lied that he had a parcel at the door. It was a good thing that Tim doesn't save phone numbers so he had no clue that it was Jon fooling around. When he opened the door, tada! Happy birthday! 

Lepak-ed around his room for a while before we headed home again for our dinner plan with Leroy and Paul! Two of them kind seniors drove us all the way to Burrito Bar in Paddington for our long-awaited chicken wing feast! 

We ordered 130 chicken wings! They were honey BBQ and chipotle flavored. There was so much food it was crazy. I surrendered after gobbling 10 chicken wings. 

And that was how we ended our Day 3 - with our stomachs full of chicken wing goodness.

Day 4

I brought my friends out to tour UQ with another Pharmacy senior, Fiona.

Meet Yuan Ting!

Meet Wei Shan.

Had lunch at The Burrow. Their pizzas are amazingly delicious at affordable prices! They have really creative names for their pizzas as well, which add on to the fun of choosing your pizza. I definitely recommend this place! It's located in West End, just take the ferry to West End Ferry Station, take the CityGlider bus 60 and get down at Mollison St Stop 5, if I'm not mistaken. Just walk a bit and you'll see it! My senior told me that they serve pretty good brunch too! Gotta go try their brunch menu out one day.

Senior brought us to a cafe just opposite The Burrow, called "The Three Monkeys". With their intriguing interior design and dim romantic lighting, I think it's a perfect place to hang out and chit-chat with your buddies! Or even better, a date. *smirks* Except that the dim lighting is not helpful at all for taking good photos of your dessert. :( 

To be honest, I felt like I was being brought around Brisbane instead of me being the tour guide. Fiona and Shawn (another senior) brought us around the city. We toured QUT, Riverside and Botanical Gardens as well. 

Beautiful aye?

At night, after bidding farewell to my friends who were flying back to Melbourne, I spent the rest of my night playing the piano and watching drama. 

Day 5 

Today I had a date with En Ying! As promised, she brought me out for lunch at Two Wheels and a Handlebar at Milton and for a coffee date at Bunker! 

*couldn't wait a second to swallow my food* 

Meet my beautiful housemate, En Ying.

*non-halal

Holy moly this was da bomb! The rolled pork was roasted just right, the skin was sinful to be eaten yet irresistible because it was crispy beyond words! Had to forget my diet plan for this meal.

Their potato and cauliflower salad was really tasty too! I really liked the sauce.

Ordered 70% hot dark chocolate drink. I thought I was in heaven. Description is as simple as that. 

At night, we went to the city for Korean food at a new restaurant called The Journey. We wanted to go there because they were giving out free beer! Being Asians, we jumped at the thought of getting free things. 

My first time drinking beer! Bitter at the first taste but not bad at all afterwards.

I don't have the group photos in my phone so a screenshot from Lavi's Instagram will do. Hehe.

After that, the gang went for Annabelle at Events Cinemas while the scaredy cats (Jinyee, Lavi and I) settled with The Maze Runner. I've seen many good reviews about it but I thought the movie was meh..... It was just okay. Probably because my expectation was too high after reading all the good reviews.

We reached home at around midnight and it was time to surprise Jon for he was turning 20! Woots! 

Lavi and Jinyee baked these cupcakes in the afternoon. 

Surprise successful! The birthday boy forgot to take pictures with all the cupcakes so this would do. Hehe. 

Birthday groufie with the birthday boy!

That was it for Day 5! 

Day 6

We have already run out of ideas on where to explore so we came up with a genius idea. Wait, was it really a genius idea? 

We decided to just randomly hop onto any buses that stopped nearby and see where it brought us. We ended up taking The Gap bus and got off at Paddington. LOL. Wandered around looking for a decent restaurant for lunch. Finally settled with Ruby. 

With my vegetarian burger! I really like it although it seemed like something I wouldn't normally order. I fell in love with the sweet potato and mushroom patty! So rich in flavor that my taste buds strongly approved! 

After that, we got tired of wandering aimlessly because it was too sunny. So we decided to just rot at home.

Hmm just a normal day with everyone in Joseph's tiny but cozy room.

With the owner of the room.

At night, we headed out to the city again (I've lost count, how many times have we been to the city so far this week?) for dinner at Jackpot as we've promised Timothy to bring him out for his char siew fan. It was sort of like a 2-in-1 birthday dinner for both Tim and Jon! 

Talked in the restaurant until it was closed. Hahaha.

Caught the bus to uni and conquered a room in the library.

Watched random roller coaster videos on Youtube and I ended up dozing off because I was too worn out. 

Day 6 was the weirdest way to spend my holiday ever.

Day 7

I was determined to go to Gold Coast at least twice this holiday so we went to Harbour Town to satisfy my cravings for shopping! 

Ended up only buying a few clothes. Way fewer than my expectations. But, cravings satisfied! 

Had BBQ dinner at Maru in the city (what, city again?!) which left us bloated till the extent that we couldn't move an inch. 

*non-halal 

Yums yums yumssssssss.

Groufie again! 

This post pretty much sums up my whole mid-semester break. So what do you think? Probably not the most eventful holiday but I enjoyed a lot! :)