Appreciate

I'm officially back in the world of blogging!

Anyway, I don't really have anything to say but I guess I'll post something for the sake of posting. Well, as most of you would have known, I'm back from the 39th International Physics Olympiad in Hanoi, Vietnam just 3 days ago. And I'm still missing it!

Just so you know, my ranking is 206 out of 376 students from 82 countries all over the world. Not that bad, huh? After that gruelling theory paper which I scored only 3/30, who would have expected me to even win an Honorable Mention? For a person like me who had not expected much from myself, to win something in this IPhO is truly a dream come true. Well, I'm very satisfied with my performance and hopefully I did not let any of my friends or family down.

Ok, in order not to make this another lengthy post, I'll summarize Vietnam in 2 words; Wild and Beautiful.
Wild as in the crazy traffic that never stops! In Vietnam, people stop for the cars and not the cars(motorcycles too) stop for you, not even when you are using the zebra crossing! Vietnamese utilize their car horns very well too. It's like everybody is getting married everyday and the horns just go berserk everywhere you go. And did I mention that their traffic lights are mere roadside decorations?
Beautiful faces and beautiful places. That's right. It's hard not to notice how pretty Vietnamese girls are! It's surprising that in the period of 10 days when I'm there, I only noticed 1 plump girl and everybody else looks like sticks, even aunties! GK even said that if you throw a pebble in a random direction, chances of hitting a pretty girl is so darn high! Of course, I must say Vietnamese have beautiful hearts too as they were very friendly and provided great hospitality for each participants. Aww, I miss my guide Linh so much! And Vietnam is a beautiful place too. The picturesque sceneries at Halong Bay and Trang-An Eco-tourism Park are really breathtaking! I'm sorry I couldn't provide any pictures now because my camera has been sent for repair. It'll be back in 3 weeks, sigh. Unless I can dig out my card reader..but you know me, I'm lazy, haha.

Anyway, I miss everything about IPhO! I miss the midnight chat with the Australian team, I miss Sebastian and Fabio from Liechenstein who were hilarious and the Irish, Macau and Brunei team that were so friendly!

In conclusion, this trip to Vietnam is really an eye-opening and amazing experience that is one of the best times in my life, if not best! I'll definitely treasure all the great memories and the souvenirs from all my new found friends. I'm offered to go for the selection again for IPhO 2009 which will be held at Mexico(sounds like fun haha) but I'll need to think about it.

Well, now that everything is back to normal, I'll have to buckle up and prepare for my trials which is in 1 month. I need to make sure I'm no longer in my holiday mood and be fully prepared for STPM. Speaking of STPM, Upper 6 will be over in .. hmm, 4 months? Which means I must appreciate all the times I have left with all my friends ... I really can't imagine what would happen on our last day of school. I'll most probably cry, FYI.

swt, the whole post turned out lengthy in the end...bah,wth.

p/s :
1. A great thanks to my classmates for organizing that mini party to welcome us back. Really appreciate it! ^^
2. Congratulations to Uncle Charisma on his new blog! Haha

Choppy,
-Nostalgic-