#1. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Hi guys, I haven't been writing for ages!

Today I'd like to blog about a book I've just finished reading yesterday. Personally, I think the book really had hidden moral values in it especially related to self-esteem and being true to yourself. Reading Eleanor and Park made me realized how two different individuals, so distinct from one another could come to fall in love with one another mostly not because of their looks or appearances but basically, of their personalities, their insides.
Have you ever thought to yourself about someone like, "Wow, I never thought I'd be good friends with this person." or "He/She is the most wonderful person I've met despite us being so different from one another."?
It made me realized how at the end of the day, you grow to love someone not because of the way they're dressed, or the way their hair is tied up or down, wearing designers or the latest fashion collection but, you grow to love them for who they are. And despite the flaws that they do have, you learn to accept them. If it can be changed, you help them change-from bad to good, or good to great. What we see doesn't matter. It's all about the abstract feelings that you could never fully comprehend.
I admire Park and Eleanor's relationship. They were raw, wild and definitely true and honest to themselves. They weren't scared of telling each other how they felt about one another. Nowadays, we see love from a point of view of what we see on social networks. The girl receiving expensive gifts from the guy, selfie photos of doing activities together on instagram, declaration of relationship status on the internet but yet, does all of that matter? Apparently not. When you love someone, you don't have to show off, declare it to the whole world or even brag about it. When you're in love, love speaks even in silence. All you have to do is to just let the other person know just how much they mean to you. And that goes beyond words.
The ending of Eleanor and Park to me was a bit abrupt. I was a bit upset that the author did not elaborate much on their relationship but after a while, I thought about it and somehow, I changed my mind. I like the ending :). It gives us readers a bit of a moment to ponder on. Anyway, I'm moving on to reading Khaled Hosseini's "And The Mountains Echoed" next :)!

Here is my favourite quote from Eleanor & Park:-



"Eleanor was right. She never looked nice, She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something."- Rainbow Rowell in Eleanor & Park.


Toodles, guys! :)


                                                                                                                                               Yours truly,
                                                                                                                                                      Helinna

Analysing a Picture of a Hill

So, I went up to Primrose Hill somewhere in December and I can tell you, the view was absolutely stunning, though I could not get a better picture of it. Mind you, this one is really blur due to the reason that my camera couldn't focus well because it was too cold up there. Anyhow, I could see the whole of London (well, sort of :P) from here. 

I wanted to blog about how this picture gives me the impression of how something out there is beautiful without it needing any prove. It's just a perspective of how that person wants to view things. Since the picture depicts a blur image of a beautiful scenery, I would definitely say the person clearly isn't present in the current moment of her life. It's either she's torn in between wanting to stay in the past or being too scared of the future that her visions are blur. The present, cherish it. Why would you want to exchange the past or the future for your present? The present is what you have now and it determines your future. As for your past, you can never change it but remember, you can always learn from it. They say experience is the best teacher. And if that includes your past, then gain the knowledge from there. You would never be the person you are today if it weren't for your past. Your mind grew matured from your past life, remember that. 

And as for the beautiful scenery in the picture, capture the moment. 

                       

                                                                                                                                      Yours Truly,

                                                                                                                                             Helinna 

My Exchange Year 2012

2012

The highlight of my 2012 was definitely my exchange year to America. I was hosted in Washburn, Wisconsin with the See family for 6 months. It was a life-changing experience. It's difficult for me to describe it here because for me to talk about my exchange year, it deserves more than just one post. I'm so happy I had kept a journal the entire time I was there. I had written down my days in this hipster journal I bought from Typo before I left to the States. When people ask me, "So, how was your exchange year in America?", I would never have the precise answer to that. Of course, one might think being in another country without the guidance of anyone familiar to you is like starting back all over again and building a new life. Yes indeed, it was. But have they ever thought how one could also experience the hardship while being there? Have they ever indeed seen it through my point of view, what was it like being away from your loved ones, having to explain a different culture to a society? They didn't. They just assume being in another country was exciting, was fun. Well one thing I can say is, it was different and I learned a lot. I learned like I've never learned before. It was totally hands-on. No guidance through a book but see it through your eyes, yourself. 

I would never trade anything else for this opportunity to go for this program. One thing for sure was, I was able to improve on my social skills. I also learned that even though people are different, be it race or religion, they are all in the end still the same. Just humans with different personalities and characteristics. I met a lot of people during my exchange and it was exciting trying to get to know everyone. Washburn was just a small town up north in Wisconsin. When I was in Washburn High, I had taken up World Geography, Choir, Psychology and English 11. My favourite subject of them all would definitely be English 11 because that class was the most challenging ever but my teacher, Mrs Radtke was an interesting woman who made the class a lot of fun! I was also in the Girls' Soccer Team. Truth be told, I thought I might regret joining it but what do you know, after months of intense training, I finally knew how to handle the soccer ball. There were a lot of techniques to it. My teammates were rather supportive because they all cheer for one another during practices and also games. Not only that, I was also involved in the Forensics Speech Contest which thankfully, I managed to go through until the State Level in Madison and had gotten a bronze medal. 

Reminiscing back to my exchange days, I'll definitely put on a smile on my face. There were times I got homesick and had problems that were to be dealt by my own but I'm definitely happy I was given the chance to live with my host family, to go to the high school over there and to meet with interesting people who each thought me different things. With each passing day, I learned many new interesting things and it was so much of fun! Even the littlest thing got me excited. I'm thankful meeting everyone who I have crossed paths with during my exchange year. I would also like to thank my host family for taking me into their home, wanting to learn about my culture and I. It sure was something, the experience I had and I will forever cherish it. :)

Yours truly,

Helinna

A Recap from the Future

Hi, I'm finally back on my blog after 5 years! Well, the past few years have been filled with many ups and downs, definitely a roller coaster ride which Alhamdulillah, I am thankful I went through it all because everything happened according to Allah's will. Just to recap a bit on what has happened in the last few years;

2011
It was the year I took my SPM and boy, was it pretty stressed up. However, it was also the time when I applied for Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study (YES) to go on an exchange program in America. How I came about this most life-changing experience was when I was watching the Field Trip USA Program on television back in 2008. It certainly captured my attention because this was the kind of program I wanted to be engaged in; living with a host family, experiencing high school over there, to increase my social skills and of course, life survival skills such as being independant, being able to solve my own problems and to broaden my horizon by viewing life differently as before when I was always in my comfort zone.
So, somewhere in April I had filled in an application form and mailed it over to the AFS office. I had to go for the state interview (Selangor) which was held in Shah Alam. There were so many activities going on during the interview period. Since we had to wait for our turn to get interviewed, the facilitators (who were the alumni of the afs program) got us all involved in playing games, talking individually in a group of people and explained why we wanted to go for this prestigious program (I forgot to mention, the program I was applying for was a full scholarship exchange program to the United States of America for 6 months). What captured my attention the most was how the facilitators were confident as they conducted the session. It got me thinking that they must have sharpen their skills as they were abroad. Anyway, my interview lasted for about half an hour. The questions that were asked ranged from politics to history to my personal life. It wasn't all too bad but I knew it was competitive to be getting one of the 40 places that were available.

Alhamdulillah, with a say of prayer I went through to the second & final round, the national level interview. This part of the interview was the most competitive because students all around Malaysia were to be interviewed during the 3 days interview camp. If I'm not mistaken, there were almost a thousand of us gathered for the camp at Quality Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. I was interviewed on the first day of camp, wearing my baju kurung school uniform in the panel judge room. I guess being honest during an interview would be the key ingredient to you getting what you want because at that point, I knew I wanted to go for this program but at the same time, I wasn't putting much hope into it. I knew it was tough but I did give it my all during the interview because I told myself "hey, you've gone this far and you've always wanted this. why don't you just give it your all for one last time?". And I think I did give it my all because a few months later, I got an email and a formal letter stating that I had gotten one of the 40 places to go for the exchange program in America. I was definitely thankful. Those years of waiting, to finally apply for this program was worth it. My dream came true.

It was in December when I finally got to meet the other 39 participants for this program during our dance practice & visa interview. We had a dance practice because we were supposed to perform it during our end-of-stay orientation in Washington DC. All I can say is, my YES'12 batch rocks. They were different individuals with different characteristics and it was what made our batch special. I am certainly glad I got to meet each one of them. They were a lot like family, even though it took time for us all to be bonded together as a team.

My 2011 year was definitely a learning process. I had to juggle between SPM and AFS but at the end of it, I'm so glad I went through it all. I'm glad I applied for AFS and met new people, I'm glad I concentrated much on SPM but at the same time had loads of fun with my friends as well, I'm glad I was mature enough to think that I was able to manage things even though it might look difficult from the outside and most of all, I was quite happy that it was the last year of my high school. I knew it was time for me to venture the world and be out of my comfort zone :)

p/s: this post has gotten a bit too long so I might as well just continue in the next one!

                                                                                                                                               yours truly, 

                                                                                                                                                       helinna