Deceptively Dark Designs

The days are getting shorter here. Daylight saving has come and past, now there's a 8 hour difference from good old Singapore.
It's reading week now, but I haven't been doing much reading to be honest.
But I did stay in today and did case notes for contract law, but it was interrupted by watching anime on crunchyroll (Gundam 00 rocks) and doing some other random stuff.
Had homemade laksa in a coursemate's home, cooked by her mother. It was one of the best meals I had. Explored her home, which was great, it had a great view of the river from the many balconies. Braved the cold winds to take photos.
Saturday went to Borough market and enjoyed a delicious venison burger. Walked around the area checking out the foodstuff, wondered what is black cabbage and other vegetables I have never seen before. Almost got blown off tower bridge, for the winds were so strong.
Went to a part of Surrey, the southern part of England with ZH and Nick on Sunday. Was woken up at 0640 by a call by nick, who said, "Hey ZY we're going to Surrey today. It's now 0640, you have until 0715 to get ready and we'll meet downstairs." I mumbled an acknowledgement, before putting the phone down and went back to bed. After lying there for about 20 mins, I got up again and called nick. I said, "Eh Nick I wasn't dreaming right? We're going to Surrey right?" He replied, "Yes and you have 15 mins left to get ready."
We took the tube to Victoria station to change to national rail. The train there was practically empty, as it was a Sunday, and the station we got off was just as bad. It was just a building along the track only. We set off to the town, where we went to the local shops to check the maps there (we didn't even bring a map of the area with us) and stock up on food at the sainsbury's there. We headed off, but horlaned immediately. Fortunately, for this trip every intersection there were always helpful people jogging, walking their dogs or just strolling around to direct us to the right path. And they were always amazed when we tell them that we walked all the way from the train station.
We went out of the town to reach the outskirts of the nature reserve we wanted to see. So next was just cow, sheep, horse, grass, mud, tree, rain, field etc. We managed to get a great view of the next town we were supposed to go to on top of a hill, before we ventured down the wood which had 100 year old trees to the town.
At the town, we had our lunch in the train station. And that was the only time I felt really cold. It was raining throughout the trip, my jacket was soaked and my shoes and the lower parts of my jeans were muddy and wet. But as we were walking at a very brisk pace, I only felt really cold when we sat down to have lunch.
After lunch we decided to head back, but we wanted to check out the town first before we left. We headed to the main hotel, and saw that there was a hill behind it. Thus, we went for it. After much panting, we got to the top and enjoyed the great view. Nick placed a groundsheet and we laid there for a while as we waited for the next train to arrive.
It was a wet, muddy, cold, tiring but fun time. It's nice to have friends who decide to do this on the last minute to just disappear on a cold and rainy sunday morning.
To go along with the colder weather, I've been buying warm clothing, including a jacket for11-12 year olds from H&M's children's section. The shopping is nice here, but need to watch the expenses.
It's been a mind-boggling 7 weeks here in London. It doesn't feel that short at all, it feels like I have been here for quite some time already. In my time here, I've been vindicated many times to come to London. I got the fresh start I wanted. But there are many more areas I need to look into.
Some people said I don't smile enough! They made this point after seeing my surrey photos, they said they have never seen me smile so happily before. And it's quite a few people who say that. I wonder, because I think I laugh and smile a lot, but sometimes I just withdraw and drift off as well. Sometimes it's because I'm tired, or it's in the mornings my brain is still booting up so I really don't want to talk at all. But yeah definitely something to improve. But I smiled as I did in those Surrey photos because I was genuinely happy, and that to me is all the more reason to smile as I did.
I think I rather get to know people better than get to know new people. I think I prefer to get to know someone privately rather than in a group situation. This is what I learnt about myself when I think back of my behaviour.
The full force of the coursework is bearing on me now. Yet I'm still going out to play or explore. I guess I believe that my legal studies is part of my life, and isn't my life. I would want to learn from the school of life more.
Lately I have been entertaining more and more thoughts of just heading off somewhere by myself, with no destination in mind. Long walks help me clear my mind, and walking is a very desirable activity here in London for the weather is cool.
And again there's this bundle of feelings I'm experiencing but I don't know how to articulate them at all, so I'll just leave it at that. Besides, I know I'll be fine after a while.
Final thought, I told a friend that the girl of my dreams must be someone with contradictions. In other words, one who is strong yet weak at the same time, brave yet timid, talkative yet contemplative, and so on. It sounds like I would fall for a schizophrenic, but it just means I want someone to walk this knife edge with me. But in short, there is practically no one who would fulfill this criteria so I just I can shelve this issue aside for the time being. On this note, congrats Jim! Mission accomplished with 2 months to spare. Respect haha.
Ok 4 tutorials, 1 essay and a massive tonne of readings await me. Wish I could make the work just all go away, but that's taking rejection of reality a bit too far.