Sheffield VS Kuala Kubu Bharu

Damn it's been a while since I've posted stuff here. Sorry bout that. Bukan busy sangat pong, just pure MALAS!! Thanks to her, I suddenly feel the rush in my vein to post as well. #giggity

As you can tell from the previous post, Alhamdulillah, I'm now at Sheffield Uni, studio fisica e prima anni. (show off amek Italian, we'll get back to that nanti). I am now in the middle of my final now before going to Monte Carlo, Milan, Rome, Malaysia and after that back to Sheffield to continue my 2nd year pulak dengan izin Tuhan. #masyallahvrade And thank god, I managed to go to Spain during the winter and it was so much fun and adventurous I would say ahha. I also met her during our visit to Cordoba. (it was not planned okay?) HAHA #orisitttt

It's almost 9 months now, and I love every seconds of my time here. Dunno about people who study in different parts in England, but man, Sheffield is so AWESOMEE!! Being the greenest city in the UK, 4th biggest and even recently, managed to get No. 1 in student satisfaction. #kawhado? You know what? Let me tell you what are the top 5 things I love about Sheffield or even England.

1. (Budaya 'tahan pintu') Here, when you about enter a room or a space with a door, it is WAJIB, bukan harus, WAJIB for you to tahan pintu to allow the person behind to enter the room. Basically it's like what doorman in Hilton's will do just that kita takde la kena tahan pintu sampai 100 orang masuk HAHA. Once, I was like 15 metres away from the door, but SHE okay, SHE still 'tahan pintu' for me. What a nice person I have to say. Yeah I know this 'tahan pintu' is simple thing, but it really shows of how polite the society is. And if it was so simple, kenapa kita tak buat? #akuponmakandalam
2. (Strategic) I live in Broomhall, Havelock St to be exact where it is only 5 mins walk to my class (yup I often woke up 20 mins before class HAHA) and no worry, there are a lot of Malaysians here, not counting of those living outside Broomhall lagi. Here, what we do is walk, walk and walk. Nak beli ayam, going for classes, shopping, Solat Jumaat you name it! Plus it's cold here, so you don't sweat much and get sunburn jgan risau. 
3. (The Peeps) Hey ya? You alright? Hey love? These 3 are some of the common greetings you would hear once you enter a bakery, retail store, anything. Even when you enter a taxi, the driver would address you as sir. SIR kot haha. terhormat gitu! They always put a smile on their faces (guess Joker taught them that) I played frisbee fyi, representing Malaysian Soc to play in numerous Malaysian Games throughout UK and I have to say, frisbee is quite famous here. What I would like to highlight is that it is not awkward at all for me to join some strangers who were tossing at the park. In fact, I managed to make a good out of it, named Ben. Went to hiking with him last Easter. Also, I am not referring to the white British only. Sometimes, I joined my Indian buds and played cricket with them. Given that I sucked (sebab dah karat), they still happy to accept me HAHA. My housemates, sometimes play 'Sepak Takraw' with the Somalians here. See what I mean? By people, I meant not just the British. but all of the community in Sheffield. Even my beloved housemates. Sekor sekor masuk air HAHA. 
4. (Cost of Living) Yeah I know pound sterling is a very expensive currency and moms might think "Macam mana la anak aku hidup kat UK tu? Cukup makan ke dok?". Well to tell you the truth, it is more than enough. Unlike London, (tak suka London haha), Sheffield is a rather cheaper city. My house is pretty big and it only cost GBP 298 per month, you can get into fine dining with only GBP 5. My last travel to Spain only cost me about GBP 400, including flights, hotels, cars, souvenirs, everything! #tiborhspain There's sale in the city like every freaking time as well. (wonder how the hell they made profits tho) So, Ibu jangan la risau. Along kat sini makan semua cukup AHAAHAH.
5. (FOOD) Being a foodie, memang nice la aku ditakdirkan belajar kat Sheffield. Makan sini memang kalau nak cerita tu, memang boleh buat sinetron! And I'm talking about halal food alone. Given that a lot of people from Arabs and Pakistan migrate here, kebab, beriyani tu sure memang tak boleh miss! There's one street in Sheffield called Wicker Street and my god, it's like a food paradise! Kiri kanan makanan halal! But not to forget, English people loves teas and so do I. They have a lot fusion of teas, some are honey and apple teas, blueberry tea and even red chili tea (serious sh*t). Even for the bakery, frankly speaking their TESCO donuts and cookies are much better than some bakeries in Malaysia and 1000000x better than TESCO Malaysia. Yet, it's cheap man! My personal favorite is 5 pieces of vanilla custard donuts from Sainsbury's, which cost only 75p.  

But nothing's perfect right? So is Sheffield, and it's normal. Here are some of the things that I think Malaysia is better.

1. (MAKANNNN) Thinking of writing this at no 3, but my tummy could not wait no more HAHA. Although food is Sheffield is good, I think Malaysian food is better. Especially seafood cause it's freaking expensive here, given Sheffield is far from the sea. Nasi Campur, Cendol, and even KFC Cheesy Wedges pon I dah rindu! And not to brag la kan, living in Sheffield has somehow made me a better cook HAHA. Korma, Curry, 'Masak Lemak' are some the things that I managed to learn to cook. Can't wait to show off to my family HAHA.
2. (Sopan Santun) Eventhough I said that people in Sheffield is friendly and all, we Malaysians still have that kind of 'sopan santun'. Here, we called lecturers only by their names. Example my Physics teacher, Prof. Matt Mear, I just called Matt (yeah he's a Professor for God sake, I know) I found it hard to say it, but over time, it's alright seems everybody been doing it. Given that Sheffield is one of the best social life in Sheffield, party memang tak payah cakap ah. Never walk alone on a Friday Nights here. Drunk people are everywhere and you might not know what they're gonna do. Hell I reckon they also dunno what they're doing HAHA! 
3. (Geography) Sheffield, for you information is a very very hilly city. Very hard to found flat surfaces here I tell you. I once cycled from my house to Peak District and I remember this very steep road I had to cycled. Not to exaggerate here but I'm pretty sure that the angle of inclination was around 40 degrees!! Hell no I'm gonna buy myself a bike here. I rather walk HAHA.  
4. (Weather) It's now spring here, well at least that's what they said. Last month it was very sunny and hot and I was like yeah! But for 2 weeks now, it's nothing but rain, sometimes last for the whole evening. Don't get me started on winter ahah. The wind that time so strong that my Math class had to be cancelled due worries that the building might shake so strong that it will collapse. It's quite shock at first to adapt the single digit during last winter.   But what's sad is that there was no snow at all, well, there's one but it only lasts for couple of hours. I mean like, "Alang - alang dah gagah kena single digit tu, baik bagi snow terus kan?' HHA. Tapi takpe. Ada hikmah di sebalik all of this. #hanyatuhanyangtahu
5. (Pressure by UKBA) UK Border Agency is the agency that you need to go to before flying off to UK. Your visa, TB Cert, etc. had to go through them. And before this, the allowance for international students was set minimum GBP 600++ but then after a couple of years, it was raised to GBP 880. And now there are rumors that UKBA wanted to increase it again to GBP 1000. I mean like it's good right? I got more money from my sponsors, can shop a lot, travel Europe etc. As tempting as that may sound, I have to say that I'm not really agree with this. First, it is still our parents money given that I am a government scholar. Yeah increase by only GBP 120 is not that much, but try to times it with the number Malaysian students in the UK? Plus the massive debts of MAS, a  Government Linked Companies (GLC)? Second, it is one of the method of UKBA to reduce the number of immigrants in the UK. I learnt in my Sociology class. By 2020, UK decides to reduce the number of immigrant entries from hundred thousands to ten thousands per year. You know what? Now I get how Bangladesh-ians felt when we, Malaysians hated them for coming to Malaysia. But financial reports in the UK showed that actually the immigrants in the UK are actually contributing much more in the economies in both working and education sector than the locals, no offense.  So why would you do that? Maybe it's because money's not everything. I dunno man, just a kid trying to figure out life still. HAHA.

So yeah, tu je kot. Wow could not believe I'm finally blogging again, thanks to her. HAHA. Okay you folks take care alright? Love you all bye! :D Wish me luck for exams! Hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri, lebih baik di negeri sendiri haha. Assalamualaikum...