Snow!

Today was the first day we had proper snow in Cambridge and the back yard looked so pretty covered by a sheet of snow. I saw that it was snowing as I was getting ready to go to Uni and as soon as I stepped out I thought I should take a picture and ran back in to get my camera.

It was interesting to cycle while is was snowing, at first I enjoyed it but later when the snow flakes started to get in my eyes and nose and mouth, it wasn't that fun!

So as you can imagine it's pretty cold here, and I thought that we were going to have a very mild Winter!

Thesedays work is extremely hectic again. I didn't think it was possible to get anymore hectic than last semester but it is! We've got assignements due almost every otherday and full day lectures, but all in all it's still an interesting experience. So this is what has been keeping me away from the blog-o-sphere for a while.

Just today a new girl moved into my house and guess what she's a Sri Lankan. What are the chances of that, considering how few Sri Lankans are here! It's great to have someone to speak in Sinhala with. We had a nice long chat. I'm looking forward to getting to know her more...

End of exams...

Finally after studying for about a week with difficulty I've finally finished my exams. It's funny how I used to be able to study so much more, I guess after working in the corporate world for a while, it's difficult to pick up those books again. It's such a releif, but I'll be starting lectures again on Monday so no real break for me. This term is supposed to be even more hectic (if that's possible) with the Global Consultancy project too.

To celebrate the end of the exams the MBAs met at one of the local pubs tonight (everything is an excuse to get drunk at the pub here, from the beginning of exams to the end of them to the beggining of term, and just cos there's nothing else to do), but I decided not to go cos I was just a bit tired and still recovering from a flue. (it's extra hard to work when you're sick!) These are the times that I miss my mom the most...

Looking forward to a new term with new challenges and rewards...

Christmas and New Years in London

The holiday season was great and I really enjoyed my say in London except for the way it ended. (as I've mentioned in the earlier post.) I spent it with two of my very close friends from Sri Lanka, and it was nice to be able to speak in Sinhala after a long time. They both held a couple of parties and these were Sri Lankan too and we even had a Sinhalese band in one and that was great!!! It's ages since I really listened to good Sinhalese music.

Below are the friends I spent Christmas and New Year with. The second pic was taken on New Years eve when we decided to have champagne before heading out to see the fireworks. (more about it later.)
















I think going to see the live performance of the Phantom of the Opera is one of the major highlights of the trip. I had been wanting to see it for so long and it was everything I imagined. The singing of Earl Carpenter as the Phantom, Celia Graham as Christine and Michael Xavier as Raoul and the rest of the cast was excellent. At the end I actually felt sad for the Phantom.

Below are 2 pictures of the stage, unfortunately they do not allow photos to be taken during the show. The props were magnificent and the chandelier on the left is the one that crashes on stage, it was hung above the audience and for a minute you think it's going to crash on the audience and then it swings and crashes on the stage. One of my all time favourite songs from this is 'All I Ask of you' you can listen to it on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=838Wfr7gHbQ Soon after coming back I found all the songs.









I Went to see the modern reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe theatre too. Unfortunately they don't do any shows during winter, I would love to see a Shakespeare play there during summer














Of course no Christmas or New year could be complete without shopping. So my friends and I went for all the boxing day sales, unfortunately I couldn't find that many nice things, but I did buy a pretty dress from French Connection UK.

To celebrate the arrival of 2007 we decided to see the Fireworks display near the London eye. The display was magnificent. We ended up spending around 5hrs in the cold to see the 10 minute fireworks display cos we went there early to get a good spot and after it was over most of the tube stations were closed and we had to walk quite a distance to find one that was open.










Left is the Big Ben close to midnight on the 31st and the other is London by night

It couldn't happen to me...

How many times have you told your self this about many things from mugging? Well it did happen to me and on the 1st of January. What a way to start the new year!

While in London, I was walking from the tube station to my friends place around 10pm after some site seeing (will talk about everything else I did in London in the next post) when a woman came out of no where and said something to me while looking desperate. I was holding my wallet and stopped to find out what she said thinking she might be in trouble. Within seconds she grabbed my wallet and ran. For a second I was taken aback and then I ran after her down a lane shouting that she stole my wallet, but couldn't see her anywhere, and no one near by seemed to care. I even asked a couple of people whether they had seen her but no one seemed to know anything. Then I finally decided to return to my friends place ASAP without wondering around and think about my next step. I didn't feel safe hanging around there.

First thing I did after getting to my friends place was to get my credit and debit cards cancelled. Luckily my friend was about to find out all the necessary numbers for it. Then on the next morning we went to the police station in the area and made a complaint. (don't think that I'd get my wallet but atleast I have done all I could) So in the end I had only lost the £30 cash that i has in the wallet and my university card which has already been replaced.

Well I consider this as a wake up call for me. I've been very careless about my safety since the day I got here saying that it is very safe. I've learnt never to talk to strangers in the night. ( I guess since this woman was small and looked innocent I didn't suspect a thing) I also am going to try to avoid walking late at night as much as possible. I also learnt that I should never have wallets, phones, or anything valuable in my hand when walking, and to have only a little cash as with bank cards, cos the bank cards can be cancelled immediately.

At least this time it was only money and nothing happened to me, so I'm taking this as an early warning to be careful when travelling alone.

Well other than this incident my trip to London was great. I'l write more about that in my next post. Just felt like writing about this now cos it's still very fresh in my mind.