Change of blogsite

Hi Folks,

Thanks for visiting my site, but it has been changed to http://evikhui.wordpress.com/

Sleeper Train Experience Design Project

This is our first major project of the semester. To improve the sleeper train from Glasgow to London run by Scotrail. The first thing we did was send 4 of our classmates to London on the train so they could experience what it was like to be a passenger. On that night, we also surveyed 20 passengers, asking them the pros and cons of their experience. Now that we have our data collected, we mapped it to see where there were points of friction in terms of service, interaction and physical product. Now we are on the next step to discovering oppurtunites for design to improve the users experience.

Scotland Road Trip

This past weekend my friends Ingrid, Chris and I, went on a 2 day road trip around beautiful Scotland. We started in Glasgow and drove to Sterling where there was a big beautiful peach coloured castle at the top of a hill. From there we drove to the eastern coastal cities; Perth, Dundee, and Aberdeen. The next day, we drove through the northern national park and saw lots of sheep! Then we traveled to the west coast where there were beautiful mountains and locks. Before going home, we went to Lock Lomond, one of the most lovely places in the country.


Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle



Aberdeen

Aberdeen Beach

Aberdeen Beach

Scottish Lamb






Scottish Salmon

East coast

Highland Rocks

Zoey Van Goey Live :)

It was a cold and windy Glasgow night when Sian and I went to see Zoey Van Goey in an old church now converted into a venue and pub. The concert was in the basement, cold and damp as you can imagine. Suddenly music started, the drum thumped and the guitar strung as we followed the growing crowd to the stage. A small girl in black released her cherry voice, she also played the keyboard and the guitar (and later the drums!) The band joined in and it was like sunshine. The male vocalist is from Canada :) and everyone else was Scottish. Zoey Van Goey played cheerfully, and they are quite funny in a quirky way. Have a listen http://www.myspace.com/zoeyvangoey

Thanks for bringing me out Sian! It was spectacular.

Sculpted Openings

Old Church in Scottish highlands.

spicy chai

Last night I joined some friends at the Tchai-Ovna on Otago lane for some tea and jazz. It was a very special little place, looks like a cozy basement hang out and has a garden patio beside the river. They have teas from all over the world and is served in random cutesy tea pots. At some points it felt like some ones house party but they offered tea instead of beer and jazz instead of rock. Anyways, I found their website : http://tchaiovna.com/ if you are ever in glasgow, check it.

The Beauty of Edinburgh

Edinburgh is so beautiful! The medieval city is surrounded by beautiful green lush hills. I took a one hour train from Glasgow, and the first thing I saw when entering the station was a BIG castle. This was the home of Scottish Royalty. The city was more lovely than I imagined, actually, I had no idea what it would look like when leaving this morning. Edinburgh sits on an inlet of the North Sea. From the top of Arther's Seat which too an hour to climb and come down from, you can see the beautiful blue Sea, the historical city and more small mountains. I would defiantly recommend anyone to come see this place :)

No baths here, only toilets.

The weather has been so lovely these last three days, it is uncommon to have sun like this according to the locals. (ive got my toes crossed)

Last night convo at a restaurant:
Evi: Hi, where is the bathroom?
Waiter: Bathroom? We have not baths here miss.
Evi things to self (Oh... no, but I need to go)
Friend: She means toilet.
Waiter (points direction)
Silly me, thats what they call it in London and the rest of the UK. So my Canadian friends, when you come visit, remember toilet!

Glasgow was hot and bumping during the world wars. It was a main city for ship building. Now it is a university town, so there are many intellectuals and younglings like me running around. The city population is also quite diverse, there are people from all over the world, but mainly European.


OOOooooo! This maybe one of my favourite streets here. There are no cars here, only people. On both sides are buildings over 150 years old and when you look down the street to the very end you can see hills and 8-10 energy wind mills. This glass entrance to the tube is interesting, it adds to the perspective line if you stand straight in front of it.


This is the main building of the GSA (Glasgow School of Art) known as The Mackintosh Building, it was built by architect Charles Rennie Macintosh in 1899. It is beautiful, the inside is made of mostly dark wood, and there are lots of ceiling windows. There are about 20-30 students in each program per year, so it is 1/3ed the size of OCAD's. Most people in Glasgow know about the school and its reputation for being awesome :) My classes start on the 21st. Can't wait ~

Pint

I made it to Glasgow :)

I write to you from my new home. It's a pretty big bedroom.

Glasgow is nice, in central, there are big boulevards where cars are not allowed, pedestrians only. The buildings on the street are more than 150 years old and have been converted into shops. At the end of the street you can see some gentle mountains and some 15 energy windmills in the distance.

In the late afternoon, I went shopping for groceries nearby my flat. J walking isn't as easy here, so I followed someone as they jumped across the street. This person became my 1st friend in Glasgow. We later hung out with his friends at a pub and I had 'the' Scottish pub experience. There was a football match, Scotland vs. Netherlands. The pub was packed! Unfortunately due to a slight miss of luck, the Scots lost and will not be making it to the world cup in Africa. Oh well, it was very nice to meet new people at the pub, the Scots are friendly. Luckily I live near the University of Glasgow and there are many students alike me living in this area.

Safe in her new cosy bed...

Time Machine

This morning, I made a visit to the British Museum. The mummies were certainly a sight. In Egyptian culture, you were either royalty or literally dirt poor. It is incredible how much effort people spent on preparing for the after life. The Roman sculptures were just as beautiful. One thing I noticed was Egyptians used a lot of wood, stone and paint, Romans stuck to marble and the English liked their metals.






This is not a pipe, it is a oil lamp!


Forgive me for positioning the lights on it's eyes. I could not resist.





In the afternoon, I went to Stonehedge, two hours from London. It's so much bigger than I imagined. I think people built it to warship alien spirits, but there are many other interpretations that include wizards, kings and a way to tell time and seasons. Amazing how people were able to built it 3 thousand years ago. It was so nice to go to the country side and see sheep and cows. This was my favourite part of the day.




It was a picturesque day in England.

London's Portobello Market

It has only been three months and I am back in London. This time, London is a stop over before I flight to Glasgow, Scotland for a semester of school.


This is Notting Hill, and where the movie was also shot. It is such a fun street. All the houses are candy coloured. Apparently, these cars are too.


This is the most magnifying glasses I've ever seen.


Old English Stuff being sold in the market.


The store lady was about to come over to point out the no photo sign. That's me on the left, and my English cousin Priscilla on the right. We are the same age.


Here you can see Saturday is busy day at Portobello Market. Lots of tourist.