My first Emergency in UK
I had my 1st and hopefully will be the last REAL emergency I'll ever experience in my dunno how many yrs I intend to be here last night.
Heard the fire alarm go off somewhere, but was thinking it could be that of another building around mine, but quite some time later, mine went off as well. It was at a crazy hour of 2+am, and even when the alarm went off, everyone was just awoken but not getting out of bed, and carefully listening to whether your other flatmates are taking any action for it.
And amazingly, I was the first to actually bother getting out of my room and the others followed when they heard me open my door. It was really funny when u see what your flatmates are wearing in the middle of the night. Gosh..*lol* We were all wearing terribly "salted vege" clothes, and one even came out with a tee and undies! That girl had her bf in her room..so hmm...I think one can guess what the hell they're doing inside..haha.
As we were walking to the lift, we realised certain areas of our level's carpet was totally soaked in puddles of water. Sensing that something is really amiss, we hurried down 12 storeys to gather.
It was absolutely freezing out there, and I do regret for not wearing a pair of jeans and having proper shoes on. Good thing I remembered grabbing a jacket and my wallet.
The fire brigades came, and it was hours and hours of wait in the lobby while they were busy checking the entire 21 storey building. Some ppl didn't have shoes on, some without tops, some in bath robes, while some were in mismatched pyjamas. Everyone was sleepy, some grumpy while some were trying to make the best out of our pathetic situation by talking rubbish, making ppl luff, and practically making merry if tt's the best way to describe it. Zhang Zhen and Chun Xiao were quite tired, so the 3 of us just sat ard and didn't talk much.
I was kinda irritated for a bit cos I found some of them really rowdy and too noisy. I mean..during such situations, won't one think about what's the next step to take, rather than just sitting there and making noise? Perhaps I'm just serious..I don't know.
Only after quite a long wait were we told that we're not able to go back to our rooms anymore, and buses will be coming to bring us to a sports hall to sleep for the night. I was really worried because I had no phone with me, and I can't miss my placement next week in Swansea either. Plus, I didn't turn off my laptop and my other electrical switches. I was finding ways to go back to my room, but couldn't think of an excuse until a guy said he's gotta get his medications from his room before leaving. Soon after, more and more ppl came up with this excuse, and there was a huge crowd waiting to go up, while some just couldn't be bothered and just went to board the bus.
I managed to be escorted back to my room after being warned not to take anything else down but medicine. I was told to get up there as fast as I can..so yeah..for once u see Michelle running up 12 storeys without stopping..and the ppl behind me couldn't even catch up. Even the security guard was shocked at the way I ran up. Grabbed necessary stuffs, put them in a bag and happily went back to the lobby with Zhang Zhen. And because I was worried the security might not allow me to bring my bag down, I even grabbed a packet of medication just to make the lie look real...hahaa.
And it was only at the lobby when I bumped into Chen Guang again. What a pleasant surprise! I met him while I was at the admin office many weeks ago to query abt something, and he happened to be having some problems with the accomodation, and the British found it hard to understand his English as well...so I was asked to be the translater. I was quite amazed that he still remembers me, and wasn't unfriendly at all.
Poor guy had no wallet, and was wearing slippers..and he wasn't allowed to go up there (he's lazy too..lol). And oh boy was he really pleased to see a familiar face, so throughout the night, we were hanging out tgt. It was quite good cos through this emergency situation, I got to know my new friends here better, and also met new people. Was lying down and chatting throughout the night with Chen Guang, talking about our education, life, parents etc. It would have been great if the other 2 girls could join us but they were so tired that they went somewhere else to stone. By the way, while these 2 girls were stoning, there was a Chinese girl who went up to make friends with them, and Chun Xiao told me the girl is a Singaporean. I was overjoyed!!!! Finally..I have found someone from home. Chatted quite a while with her. She's a very decent and quite a nice girl. Jamie's her name :)
We spent the entire night as refugees in the sports hall, having registered with Red Cross and keep ourselves warm by having hot drinks.
When dawn broke, we were sent to Jury's Hotel, which is near my accomodation. Again, everyone was rotting together in a function room. We were given blankets and pillows, and because there wasn't enough, ppl just starting lying on the carpet and just sleep.
To be honest, I'm really grateful for having Chen Guang ard yesterday. I wasn't expecting him to care much abt me after we get off the bus each time, but he was always waiting for me, and when I dozed off in the function room, he even kindly went to get a blanket to cover me with it, which unfortunately woke me up a little. I felt sooooooooo touched.
After a while, the 2 girls joined us, and cos I saw Jaime ard alone, I got her to join us. :) It was a lot of chatting going on throughout the day. We watched downloaded variety shows together etc. It was quite fun, despite tiring.
Meal times was terrible. Because we didn't bother to rush for the food during lunch, we ended up having nothing but leftover potato chips and miserable small pieces of sandwiches. Zhang Zhen and Chun Xiao then decided to be one of the first to get dinner in the evening, and true enough, they were one of the first few. And because they saw Chen Guang and me behind, they got us to stand tgt with them and even helped us get plates (Jaime went off to work already...sigh..). And when everyone was fighting to get food during dinner, these 2 girls were very aggressive in squeezing their way through, and grabbed as much as they could. Knowing that we were behind and had no way of getting through, they just grabbed our plates and filled it up with food for us...hahahaha. How sweet of them huh? :D
And we took so much that at the end of it, Zhang Zhen was forcing the leftovers down her throat....hahahha. The food wasn't very nice anyway.
There was many rooms which were flooded in the building. Some was really ruined by the water. It was due to a pipe that burst and caused the flood. And because of that, the affected students had to move out of their room to another new one at the other wing of the building. Fortunately, my flat wasn't affected (I hope it stays this way...*crosses fingers*) and I was able to return to my intact flat and stay there after the fire brigade and police gave permission to do so. So here I am in my comfy room blogging now.
Feel pretty tired, but gotta revise again since I have wasted the entire day not revising much but sleeping. But yeah..I'm happy :)
Heard the fire alarm go off somewhere, but was thinking it could be that of another building around mine, but quite some time later, mine went off as well. It was at a crazy hour of 2+am, and even when the alarm went off, everyone was just awoken but not getting out of bed, and carefully listening to whether your other flatmates are taking any action for it.
And amazingly, I was the first to actually bother getting out of my room and the others followed when they heard me open my door. It was really funny when u see what your flatmates are wearing in the middle of the night. Gosh..*lol* We were all wearing terribly "salted vege" clothes, and one even came out with a tee and undies! That girl had her bf in her room..so hmm...I think one can guess what the hell they're doing inside..haha.
As we were walking to the lift, we realised certain areas of our level's carpet was totally soaked in puddles of water. Sensing that something is really amiss, we hurried down 12 storeys to gather.
It was absolutely freezing out there, and I do regret for not wearing a pair of jeans and having proper shoes on. Good thing I remembered grabbing a jacket and my wallet.
The fire brigades came, and it was hours and hours of wait in the lobby while they were busy checking the entire 21 storey building. Some ppl didn't have shoes on, some without tops, some in bath robes, while some were in mismatched pyjamas. Everyone was sleepy, some grumpy while some were trying to make the best out of our pathetic situation by talking rubbish, making ppl luff, and practically making merry if tt's the best way to describe it. Zhang Zhen and Chun Xiao were quite tired, so the 3 of us just sat ard and didn't talk much.
I was kinda irritated for a bit cos I found some of them really rowdy and too noisy. I mean..during such situations, won't one think about what's the next step to take, rather than just sitting there and making noise? Perhaps I'm just serious..I don't know.
Only after quite a long wait were we told that we're not able to go back to our rooms anymore, and buses will be coming to bring us to a sports hall to sleep for the night. I was really worried because I had no phone with me, and I can't miss my placement next week in Swansea either. Plus, I didn't turn off my laptop and my other electrical switches. I was finding ways to go back to my room, but couldn't think of an excuse until a guy said he's gotta get his medications from his room before leaving. Soon after, more and more ppl came up with this excuse, and there was a huge crowd waiting to go up, while some just couldn't be bothered and just went to board the bus.
I managed to be escorted back to my room after being warned not to take anything else down but medicine. I was told to get up there as fast as I can..so yeah..for once u see Michelle running up 12 storeys without stopping..and the ppl behind me couldn't even catch up. Even the security guard was shocked at the way I ran up. Grabbed necessary stuffs, put them in a bag and happily went back to the lobby with Zhang Zhen. And because I was worried the security might not allow me to bring my bag down, I even grabbed a packet of medication just to make the lie look real...hahaa.
And it was only at the lobby when I bumped into Chen Guang again. What a pleasant surprise! I met him while I was at the admin office many weeks ago to query abt something, and he happened to be having some problems with the accomodation, and the British found it hard to understand his English as well...so I was asked to be the translater. I was quite amazed that he still remembers me, and wasn't unfriendly at all.
Poor guy had no wallet, and was wearing slippers..and he wasn't allowed to go up there (he's lazy too..lol). And oh boy was he really pleased to see a familiar face, so throughout the night, we were hanging out tgt. It was quite good cos through this emergency situation, I got to know my new friends here better, and also met new people. Was lying down and chatting throughout the night with Chen Guang, talking about our education, life, parents etc. It would have been great if the other 2 girls could join us but they were so tired that they went somewhere else to stone. By the way, while these 2 girls were stoning, there was a Chinese girl who went up to make friends with them, and Chun Xiao told me the girl is a Singaporean. I was overjoyed!!!! Finally..I have found someone from home. Chatted quite a while with her. She's a very decent and quite a nice girl. Jamie's her name :)
We spent the entire night as refugees in the sports hall, having registered with Red Cross and keep ourselves warm by having hot drinks.
When dawn broke, we were sent to Jury's Hotel, which is near my accomodation. Again, everyone was rotting together in a function room. We were given blankets and pillows, and because there wasn't enough, ppl just starting lying on the carpet and just sleep.
To be honest, I'm really grateful for having Chen Guang ard yesterday. I wasn't expecting him to care much abt me after we get off the bus each time, but he was always waiting for me, and when I dozed off in the function room, he even kindly went to get a blanket to cover me with it, which unfortunately woke me up a little. I felt sooooooooo touched.
After a while, the 2 girls joined us, and cos I saw Jaime ard alone, I got her to join us. :) It was a lot of chatting going on throughout the day. We watched downloaded variety shows together etc. It was quite fun, despite tiring.
Meal times was terrible. Because we didn't bother to rush for the food during lunch, we ended up having nothing but leftover potato chips and miserable small pieces of sandwiches. Zhang Zhen and Chun Xiao then decided to be one of the first to get dinner in the evening, and true enough, they were one of the first few. And because they saw Chen Guang and me behind, they got us to stand tgt with them and even helped us get plates (Jaime went off to work already...sigh..). And when everyone was fighting to get food during dinner, these 2 girls were very aggressive in squeezing their way through, and grabbed as much as they could. Knowing that we were behind and had no way of getting through, they just grabbed our plates and filled it up with food for us...hahahaha. How sweet of them huh? :D
And we took so much that at the end of it, Zhang Zhen was forcing the leftovers down her throat....hahahha. The food wasn't very nice anyway.
There was many rooms which were flooded in the building. Some was really ruined by the water. It was due to a pipe that burst and caused the flood. And because of that, the affected students had to move out of their room to another new one at the other wing of the building. Fortunately, my flat wasn't affected (I hope it stays this way...*crosses fingers*) and I was able to return to my intact flat and stay there after the fire brigade and police gave permission to do so. So here I am in my comfy room blogging now.
Feel pretty tired, but gotta revise again since I have wasted the entire day not revising much but sleeping. But yeah..I'm happy :)
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