Imperial Centenary Launch Day

30th Jan 2007 marks the Centenary of Imperial College London. It's a day of celebration for all the people at the College. Unfortunately, lectures were not cancelled and had to go on as usual :( Nevertheless, the celebration was rather impressive.

It all started off early in the day when the Queen Tower's bells were rung to herald the start of this momentous year for Imperial. Music was then played throughout the day. When I reached College, it was somewhat different to me. Not because there were balloons everywhere but I felt a slight change in environment. People were exceptionally jovial, excited and boisterous.

I had my lectures until 12pm and then, FREE to join the celebration! Lunch in SCR (Senior Common Room) was awesome. And, it's cheap!

Menu for the day. Only for £1.50!


This was what I had. I should have taken the Salmon! It would have been much better.

Imperial even has its own red wine :S

After lunch, we headed to Queen's Lawn and started taking photos. There were jugglers as well.

Me, Shin Hung and Deng Wei [At Queen's Lawn]

London Fire Brigade! This vehicle is maintained by the people from the Mechanical Engineering Department

And, the interesting part: They allowed students to enter Queen's Tower!
For your information:
The Queen's Tower is 287m tall. There are 324 steps from the ground to the base of the dome.

They lock Queens Tower for a very good reason: This is where students of Imperial committed suicide in the past.

We waited for about 2 hours to enter Queens Tower :S


We were all bored and decided to take more photos. LOL




In Queens Tower


Top of the Tower!


Royal Albert Hall from the top of the tower!

We had a free Centenary Cake!

Happy 100th Birthday Imperial!

Brugges, Belgium

Brugge (also called 'the Venice of the North') is fantastically pretty. Personally, I think it is rather unique due to the preservation of the medieval-looking image of the city. This place is a popular tourist destination because of its attractive building and canals.

Panoramic Views of Brugge

A famous town hall

Belfort Tower

Surprisingly, we managed to stagger up the 88m tower! What an achievement for us! Hehe.

View from the top of Belfort Tower

And, of course, who would miss out the famous BELGIAN CHOCOLATES!! I'm craving for chocolates now :(

*drools*

I don't know what to comment about this pic. Interesting huh?


Pictures with friends who went with me:

L to R: Me, Poh Lynn, Yin Mei, Jenn, Cindy, Hong Ping

Cambridge

Trip to Cambridge was seriously fantastic! Cambridge is really gorgeous. What more, Vee Vian and Vin Shen's presence made it even better.

I shall not elaborate on my trip since a picture speaks a thousand words. See it for yourself.

Gorgeous King's College

R to L: Vee Vian, Kavitha and I

Breathtaking view during punting



Vin Shen and I





R to L: William, Kavitha, Vee Vian and myself!

Impressive St.John's College

I love the place a lot and will definitely visit this place again, some day.

Q&A Session with Dato Seri Najib

Had my lab oral this afternoon with my lab partner. It's not the best-ever presentation that I've done but it's not the worst either. So, I suppose it's alright?!

Anyway, nothing special for the day except for this Q&A session in the evening with our Deputy Prime Minister, Dato Seri Najib. The audience was really aggressive: They hurled several difficult questions. Poor thing. But, that's his job isn't it? Besides that, nothing really interesting or amusing. They had their usual politics discussion: I seriously know NUTS about politics! All I know is Vision 2020? That's how terrible I am. I'm being too ignorant about politics in Malaysia. Maybe I should really start to read up about it. Does that make me a true and loyal Malaysian? lol.

And, the best part of everything: FOOD! Ate a little in Malaysia Hall and then went to the famous Four Seasons to have duck(sorry I forgot to take a picture of it)! *drools* But, we managed to get a GOOD picture with Dato Seri.


And, fine. I give up on this. The reason why I don't want to put up my pictures is because I think I look extremely atrocious with my newly dyed hair? Not being vain here, but honestly, I can't accept it because I feel that I no longer look like myself anymore. Swallowing my bitterness, I have no choice but to take it as it is since I chose to dye it in the first place.

Picture of me in my room [2007]

Scary

About one in ten of the essays turned in last term have been plagiarised: large sections have been copied from the internet (we found the originials).

We realize that some of you may not realize that this is actually CHEATING and against the rules of Imperial College (plagiarisim is something that can result in your being thrown out). You may have missed the lecture/study group where I explicitly explained that you must be moving back and forth between sources, must never copy more than half a sentence, must paraphrase or use quotation marks, etc.

For those of you who have made an honest mistake, we are offering you a one-time opportunity to come forward and say that you accidentally plagiarised some sections of your essay, and to rewrite it.

YOU HAVE PLAGIARISED IF:
1. You picked up whole paragraphs OR WHOLE SENTENCES from other sources without putting them in quotes. Changing the occasional word DOES NOT make any difference: it is still plagiarism.
2. Plagiarism is also taking all of your information from a single unreferenced source EVEN IF YOU COMPLETELY REWROTE THE MATERIAL.

If you believe that you may have plagiarised (perhaps because you didn't know any better) you must contact me by Monday 15 January at 5pm. You will be given until Friday 19 January at 5pm to rewrite the essay.

If you take up this offer:
a) You will still get 0 for the assignment once you have rewritten it (though you will get feedback on your writing).
b) You will NOT get any further penalty.
c) Nothing on your permanent record.
d) We will consider that you made an honest mistake and were willing to take responsibility for it and will not think less of you.

If you are caught cheating and have not come forward by the deadline (we have found at least 15 papers so far) then:
a) You will get 0 for this assignment.
b) You will also get a major penalty for your NEXT assignment.
c) Your plagiarism (and dishonesty) will be noted on your permanent record.

Note that this offer will not be made for future assignments: it is only because it is your first written assignment for the department that we are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Any plagiarism in future will be considered DELIBERATELY DISHONEST because, thanks to this e-mail, you all now know what plagiarism is.

(e-mail received from my lecturer this evening)



This is seriously terrifying. Why do they have to make it sound like it's a crime and get everyone's adrenalin going? I know it's Imperial but why can't they express it in a more pleasant and acceptable manner? Plagiarism is a serious thing over here, but don't you think it's wee bit hyperbolic in this case? Awww...

I really hate e-mails like this and now, I'm really worried :(

Tired of blogging?

There are several reasons to why I'm sick and tired of blogging:

1. Lazy
2. No longer broken
3. No pictures to put up. Even if I have, I opt not to do so. (some of you might know why I don't want to put it up)
4. It takes up a lot of time
5. Nothing interesting recently
6. Due to my inactivity, I doubt anyone ever reads my blog
7. It's really troublesome to post pictures in Beta Blogger. Is it because of the system or is it me who's not aware of how it works?

I guess that's about it. Can't think of 10 good reasons. lol.

Shall I give up blogging? Sigh...