Spring Break

Our university granted us a week off to enjoy the spring break. Today's the last day of the break and school resumes tomorrow. Thinking about it is making me a little depressed, but that's okay. Summer is just a few months away! :) (trying to stay hopeful here)

Most of the international students went traveling... like, major traveling. Most went to the warm, sunny beaches of Florida to suntan and partayyy. I was tempted to go to Miami, but the plan didn't work out so I ended up just going to Memphis. I had a great time nevertheless. :) 

Me and Simona

Throughout the rest of the break, I stayed over at Taylor's. It was a really relaxing week of sleep, chatting, TV-time and eating. I gained over 3 pounds at her place. 

On Monday before we went to her place, we had lunch at Stoby's (Kris Allen announced this was his favorite restaurant in Conway). I had the potato cream soup and a garlic bread. The soup was served in a large bowl and sprinkled with bacon, cheddar and that green stuff. (I'm suddenly at loss for its name)

Best potato soup I've ever had.

Started off my week with food, and continued having more of it as the days went by. 

Taylor had never tried Indomie, Indonesian instant noodles. So I made her a bowl of Indomie soup noodles for dinner on Tuesday and spruced it up with some ham, broccolli, eggs and canned mushrooms. 

And then I made myself a bowl of fancy Mee Poh instant noodles, shipped all the way from Malaysia :) 

I spent a lot of time playing with the dogs. This is Gracie, and she has the saddest puppy eyes ever. I took this picture while eating barbeque chips and she was just sitting there, staring longingly at the chip I had in my hand. 

She's adorable.

On Thursday night, I went to catch the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games with Taylor and her friends. I also met Beth and Brandon for the first time. Taylor, Brandon and I got there really early to get our tickets and wristbands. Then we decided to have dinner at Chinatown, since it was right beside the cinema. Chinatown is undeniably the best chinese restaurant in Conway. It serves legit food, including fresh sushi, fried rice, honey-crusted sesame chicken, thick egg-drop soup and the best cheesecakes.

 

I'm getting hungry just thinking about the noodles.

Best of all, it's a buffet. You pay $10 and you're entitled to unlimited helpings.

The movie was at 12.01 a.m., but we were allowed to enter the cinema at 9 p.m. to get good seats as designated seating wasn't allocated. The cinema was nearly packed at 9.15 when we went in. People rushed there when doors opened because everyone had the same concern as we did: getting the seats we wanted. 

So yes, we waited about 3 hours until the movie began. Those 3 hours felt long, but not excruciatingly long. We killed time with random conversations that made absolutely NO sense, played silly games and just tried avoiding counting down the minutes. The latter didn't work, because Taylor was asking for the time every 5 minutes.

 

Brandon and Taylor. 

It's a grainy shot because it was dark and I didn't want to turn the flash on.

Now, as we all know, The Hunger Games is a rising hype everywhere. I hadn't read the books before watching the movie, so I only got a gist of the plot from Taylor. I didn't have a clear understanding of the movie, but by the end of it, I completely understood what it was about. I think it's one of those movies that could stand on its own, even if you haven't read the books. Of course, reading the books gives you prior knowledge about the terms, the characters and the storyline.

I had my initial doubts about the movie because this was centered around teenagers. I couldn't help thinking of Twilight and Harry Potter. The Hunger Games, like the other two stories, are based on novels by Suzzanne Collins. And we all know how novel-based movies turn out, don't we? The first Twilight and Harry Potter movies received negative reviews worldwide, mainly because the movie directors had cut off many scenes and created a less-than-impressive masterpiece, greatly lacking in detail.

The Hunger Games was not at all like that. Taylor and Beth had read the books before watching the movie. Both of them agreed that the movie replicated the contents of the first book extremely well. I was surprised by the intensity of the film. I wasn't expecting such aggression from the child actors, nor was I expecting so much bloodshed from a teenage movie.

The Hunger Games has so much depth to it. It's not one of those cheesy movies with action and budding romance. It's a movie about survival and trust, and it also introduces the twisted, inhumane nature of the people in power.

I couldn't get it out of my head after it ended. So I borrowed the first two books from Taylor and spent my Friday evening immersed in the crisp pages.

I couldn't put it down.

Well, moving on from The Hunger Games. I did more cooking yesterday.

Tom yam soup instant noodles

I should probably stay away from instant noodles, huh? Instant noodles pretty much rule my campus life.

I came back to my apartment on Friday afternoon. Did my laundry, forced myself to work on some assignments and read the Hunger Games. Despite it being spring break, I had plenty of assignments to do. I don't think I'll ever be free of them until the semester ends.

Lovely afternoon as we were driving back to Conway

Spring break is slowly floating away with each passing hour, and before I can fully grasp the last moments of it, I'll be waking up to a new day of school.

But I'm glad that I can say I had a good, rejuvenating break. :) I really needed it.