Double Sevens

Can you have a wild guess why did I name my post title so? I have been away from this blogger for too long. With new websites/applications being introduced from time to time such as Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter and all which don't need lengthy posting, they are more appealing than typing whole bloody paragraph and paragraph of words.

Anyway, tracing back the old post, it has been a couple of months and you could have figured that I have returned to my beloved Malaysia. If you catch up on other sites, you would already know. The seven months in United Kingdom has been nothing but an extraordinary journey for a small town boy like me. Back in UTP, I was so used to hear my coursemates were coming from cluster schools. Back in UK, we have met so many Malaysians students who are being attached abroad as well. Growing up in an average family, this is not something that we can witness most of the time. I daresay that I am proud to manage to raise the standard even higher, hoping the next person will be able to do better than myself.

I have learned so much during my stay in the foreign land, not just from my work but also daily social life. Surely, internship has opened my eyes to the world that I never see before. Culture differences, Europeans norms, just to name a few, are the sources of lessons which are not simply available easily. Well, you may read them off the book but to experience themselves will enhance your learning capacity to another whole new level. It should be encouraged to assimilate the good values to boost up our society practices. Comparing England and Malaysia, we have still such a long, long way to catch up if we are still holding the vision to be a developed country by 2020. Not much time left!

A shot with Ross Brawn (Team Principal), Rob Thomas (Chief Operating Officer) and Paul Mills (Human Resource Director) on our last week of internship, with the coincidental winning trophies during Chinese Grand Prix, a brilliant closure

Interning with Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team has given me so many memories to be cherished for the rest of my life. I know this sounds very cliche but how often, for Malaysians, get to work with Formula One team? I have not been able to contribute much of my knowledge since I am a chemical engineering student but it just proves that there is always flexibility to venture into any sectors regardless of your studies background. This opportunity has given me the advantage to learn something that chemical engineering can't offer.

That's that and ever since I landed on this country, other than tackling jet lag, I also need to get used to the hot weather in which I have not experienced for the seven months. Imagine 15 degree Celcius is considered warm for the English. Even a cold shower can't help me much in this Malaysian weather, for the time being. British weather wasn't that pleasant for Malaysians (and so is another way round) but no kidding, I do miss it.

Returning to Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS for my final year (oh, FINAL YEAR!) of studies is something I am kind of looking forward to. This just means that I have about seven months or so before finishing my degree! Time flies by so crazily fast and I will be officially graduated early next year. Ah, I am gotta accept the fact that life won't stop moving as long as the time won't stop ticking. So, me myself, shall not stop living and fighting.

Moving on.

Wishing everyone all the best in their final years and my friends who are about to have their internships soon. Enjoy your time as much as you can. Life is short. Make the most out of it. You won't want to look back and feel regret.

See you around!

Best results don't guarantee the best opportunities.

Life is about taking chances, and seizing them.

I MISS ALL OF YOU!

Inspection Team (Oct'11 - Apr'12) 

Fellow interns and Emily, our big sis 

Internship, British Weather & Eurotrips

It has been a while for not writing here. I’m pretty much alive in this English speaking country if you are wondering. It’s nearly 6 months I have been living here and another 6 weeks before leaving. England is pretty much becoming my second home. Time passes me by just like flying Firebolt. There are always time I really want to update this nearly-abandoned blog but the laziness triumphs it all. Rather, I reckon sharing on Facebook, Twitter and perhaps Tmblr (in which I rarely keep it up-to-date as well) alone would be sufficient. Pictures say thousand words, eh? After all, the main intention of this blog is for personal sharing, is like any other social network sites.

Right, enough babbling. Tracing my last post, it was about Schumi surprise visit to our company. Believe most of you have seen the video on YouTube? When I first accepted this placement, I didn’t really expect much. As far as what I can learn from my friends and seniors who have interned overseas previously, one advantage being attached abroad is that they get to travel a lot. So, my first expectation when coming to England is just the same likes theirs, well, other than learning English working culture of course. This one turns out to be more than just that. Interning abroad is one thing, interning at Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team is another. Such privilege is not easy to come by. True, although I didn’t get to fully utilize my chemical engineering studies background, from the positive side, I get to learn more than chemical engineering field that can’t offer in which I take this as an added advantage. (Meeting Schumi is a bonus! Haha)

2012 F1 season has finally kicked off in Australia last weekend. Never been so excited for F1 before. Can’t help but to cheer for Schumi and Nico, whom we have bumped into them occasionally. Until this day I still can’t believe that I actually get to meet them. Feel bad though, not knowing much about them before. Nonetheless, I was rather sad that the first race didn’t turn out well. Hope to see improvement for next race in Malaysia. It's this week! Malaysians, do come and support the team in Sepang!

Moving on. It’s March, which means spring is coming. Not much sign yet, I tell you because it is still cold and chilly. Room temperature is about 10degree or so. The climax of this all English weather experience was when it snowed last month, early February. Seeing real snow for very time. As I remembered clearly, it started to snow before the night falls. The snow was mild but continuous. As it gets darker, I could see the snow accumulates in front of our apartment. The snow was thick enough that we could make a snowman out of it. It was around 9pm or so. I have the nerve to play the snow with my bare hands, bloody cold it was. We continued in the morning with snowy Sunday walk, seeing the street of Brackley and company to be covered with snow. The sight was just so… whitish. Comparing our snowmen and the one we saw on the street, we were just so amateur. Warming myself to conclude the walk with a nice big cup of hot chocolate. Oh, talking about the snow, I barely can see the shape. To me, it was more like scrapped icing from the fridge, if you ask me. Rather, you can make lots and lots of ABC out of it. You just need the syrup. Lol.

Just like any other interns, we also get to travel much. Photos on Facebook show it all. Unlike any other European countries, England is detached from the rest. So it is kind of hard for us to explore other European countries. Nonetheless, since the company provides us cars during weekend, we get to explore pretty much everywhere in England; from the football city of Manchester to the famous historical site of Stonehenge. Last Christmas we visited Italy with France interns. Covered Rome, Venice and Milan. One thing that I have learned from this trip is not to have high expectation when you are visiting new country. You might find yourself disappointed when you realize the place may not turn out as you imagine. Still liking original Italian pizza and sphagetti. Colosseum is just as spectacular. It was quite long time ago though. Barely can remember much details of it.

Well, just last week I returned from my second Eurotrip. This time we visited Belgium, France and Spain. Truth to be told, I barely aware of Europe geography. Only get to comprehend much of it since I come here, when planning for our trips. Lol. Anyway, Belgium, if you like chocolate, this is a must visit country. Not to mention the variety of waffle is huge! The city is kinda small, not much to explore. The famous landmarks include the Mannekan Pis and Atomium.

Paris is just 4 hours away from Brussels. Bus ticket can be as cheap as 12 Euro. I thought the last snow in February would be my last time seeing it. Never expected that on our way to Paris the other day, it was snowing heavily. Well, when we touched down at Paris, our friends who interned in France became our tour guide. They brought us around famous sites in Paris includes Moulin Rouge, Arc de Triomphe, and of course, Eiffel Tower. Since we reached around 2pm and after settling down, the sky was already turning dark, get to see the night views of these monuments. Spending our next day at Disneyland Paris, reliving childhood memories. Last day in Paris, we were sightseeing the city of Love. Visited Louvre Museum, the museum that accommodated Mona Lisa painting (but I didn’t go in, lack of time), streets of Paris to shop for souvenirs and lastly, Eiffel Tower day view. The weather both in Brussels and Paris was so bad that it was cloudy and rainy. It didn’t fail us from enjoying ourselves though.

Next and final country: Spain! I don’t know why, I seem to enjoy my time in Spain better than the first two countries. May be it was very sunny in Barcelona and Madrid, we have a marvelous time in Spain. Barcelona is just so colourful and I just like the pace of people living there. Spanish food is not that bad either. Paella, Spanish rice is a must try! Madrid, on the other hand, is just another city but still has its own charms as the capital of Spain. 

*it's a nightmare to sort out these photos*

After travelling to several European cities, London is still first; Barcelona second and Paris third. Different countries have their own unique features though. 2 weeks before another getaway (pre-presentation getaway to be exact)! *country of tulips and windmills*

I shall stop my scribble here. I hope the friend of mine satisfied gua with this post. Haha, sorry can't write much. Typed words are never enough to say it all. Perhaps the spoken ones will cover more, if you know what I mean. ;) Hope to catch up with you all pretty soon.

Returning to Malaysia on 1st May 2012. Oh time, please do creep for the next six weeks!

Cheerio!

Grateful for having what you need.
Thankful for getting what you what.

Meeting Michael Schumacher!

Life in United Kingdom and interning at Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited has been nothing but extraordinary. Every week surely has something to be worth remembered. A great example would be today, when PETRONAS Motorsport and Mercedes AMG PETRONAS arranged a surprise visit by Michael Schumacher just for 8 of us here! 

It all started when all our supervisors requested a meeting so that we would stay at our desks during the meeting. We all thought, well, at least for me and my colleague; it was just an ordinary meeting as we usually have it every week. The funny thing is, before Mike popped into our office, we have just talked about him and asked our supervisor whether we would have the chance to meet him someday. As the meeting went on, a PETRONAS officer came in greeted us and there he is. I was like, “OMG! It’s Michael Schumacher!” I was so speechless at the point as 7-time F1 world champion is just standing right in front of me.

Didn't really have the chance to take photo with him. This is the best shot that my colleague could take. Anyway, we might get to see him again soon during our company Christmas party!

He is so slim in person, about my size. Lol. He only stayed for a while there after interviewing us. Nevertheless, I was overwhelmed despite of the short meeting. Even in my own country I never met any famous sportsmen and yet, I have the chance to shake hands with one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time.

Afterwards, we have a little recording to share our experience of our internship here for the past 2 months. Lol, you know, it is like the one you usually saw on TV when the celebrities were being interviewed. The PETRONAS officer told me that it will be released through ESPN Asia next year. Gosh, can’t wait to see it!

I have no regret! =)

Lady Gaga - Marry The Night (Official Video)

Frost

"No point in crying over yesterdays,

Because we are yet to see the best of days"

It's been a while I didn't stop by. Interning in MGP is just the same like working here in any way. Despite of the fact that my jobs here are projects-based as I don't have daily tasks, the naps routine that I usually have in campus is really killing me here as I will always get tired whenever I am home. Vendor machine is my best friend in MGP, to get my snickers bar and a cup of hot coffee to keep me alive. Cooking for dinner, online, watching series, playing games and sleeping; routines after back from work and it repeats for every weekdays. I was too demotivated to blog as these hours are the only time that I can have for myself, until today.

It is coming to the end of November before tuning into the last month of the year. I have to write something. Lol. As you can see from the photo above, frost starts to form. It was taken earlier today. It's just getting colder than before. The temperature barely makes it more than 10degrees. Autumn is ending soon and all of us here are wondering when it is going to snow. As much as we are excited like a group of "sakai" kids waiting for it, pray hard it won't jeopardies our end of year vacation. My colleagues say it is nice to have snow for a week but after that, everything will be just miserable since you hardly can travel. I'm yet to get my boots!

Anyway, since we are given two cars, we have been travelling around during the weekends. Weekends are the most awaited days in the week which keep us going during the weekdays! Has visited few cities around England. This country is big enough to explore and there is so much to offer! If you have checked out my album on Facebook, you will know where I have been to.

Week 1: London

Paying  20pounds for train to London, which includes the use of tubes (underground train) to travel around the city.

Eye of London 

Palace of Westminster and Clock Tower (Big Ben) 

Tower Bridge

Week 2: Oxford

I really love the architecture here! 

Radcliffe Camera 

 Christ Church College, one of the settings for Harry Potter film

Week 3: Alton Towers

One of the largest theme parks in UK!

Week 4: Northampton

These lights were up for Light Night, a marathon for charity 

Week 5: Stonehenge and Stowe Landscape Garden

Desktop wallpaper, eh? This shot was taken by me, though. Lol. Paid 7.50 pounds just to be this close to take the photo.

This garden located at Buckinghamshire.

Reflection

The building ahead happens to be a school. A school in a garden. 

Week 6: Nottingham and Bleinheim Palace 

There was a Malaysian Food Festival held at The University of Nottingham!

 The campus

 Had Sarawak Laksa! It didn't taste similar but it's good enough for me to consider I am here.

Exploring the city of Nottingham. The traffic here is really twisting!

The Ghost Walk - getting to know the paranormal stories of the town 

Robin Hood statue! 

Bleinheim Palace

Greatest Britain Palace 2011!

Week 7: Birmingham

German Christmas Market! An annual event in which we were lucky to have a glimpse of it. The crowd was overwhelming! Human congestion!

Birmingham is definitely a paradise for shopping enthusiast! 

******

While enjoying my every weekend adventure, I'm just so, so excited counting down for the upcoming re-release of my beloved movie which will be on the big screen in April next year! The best part is I am going to watch here (hopefully),  in the country where Titanic departed 100 years ago for its fatal maiden voyage.

Life is a never-ending adventure. Cherish my every second on this lovely country. I shall stop here. See you~

*I miss you. Do you miss me? :)