kiala in lund!

Berlin!

2007-05-25T21:47:00.001+01:00

First Day:

Had breakfast before the Free Berlin Tour. Ice white chocolate mocha and Rostwurst Sausage. Yummy!

Sights visited for the Free Berlin Tour:

*Brandanburger Tor (gate) - Statue of the Goddess of peace turned Goddess of victory on top of it. Royal member would formerly leave through the gate.

*Reichsdag (parliament) - Power was given to Hitler here but he was suspected of setting it on fire -_-

*Holocaust Memorial - Very interesting architecture, according to the guide, you feel like a ghost amongst the towering blocks.

*Site of Hitler's Bunkers - Where he committed suicide with his mistress.

*The old ministry of ministries - Now ministry of taxation. People demonstrated here and were killed.

*Wall of berlin! - Doesn't look very impressive eh. We also saw the distinction between East and West Germany.

*Charlie Check point - The pictures hanging on top indicate that war is a matter of human conflict. Cheem eh.

*The Gendarmenmarkt Square: German church Deutshcher Dom, French church Franzosischer Dom, Konzerthaus by famous architect Schinkel and the Schiller statue!

*Bebelplatz: Humbold Universitaet, the Staatsope Unter Den Linden theatre and the dom shaped St Hedwig Kathedrael.

*Neue Wache - Memorial in victims of war and tyranny.

*Berlin Cathedral, Schinkel's last building (the one with the big bowl) and the pointy television thing lol. That's the end of the Berlin tour!

Returned to Gendarmenmarkt Square and Bebelplatz to take more photos! Whee!

We saw the recently built Sony Center before having dinner at a german restaurant recommended by lonely planet. Had Wine pork with rice dumplings! Drank the red Berliner Weisse at a pub near our hostel =D

Second Day:

Dunkin Donuts breakfast! Oooo cravings.

We actually saw dead whales and dolphins displayed in front of Brandanburger Tor. It was some exhibition by Green Peace.

Visited the Judiches Museum (Jewish). The architecture was simply great and interesting.

Went to the Zitadelle in Spandau. Climbed up this tower... great view =D The rest of the place was pretty boring though... but it provided us with a brief respite.

Finally visited the Reischdag! Went up to the dom...

Dinner at a quaint german restaurant... recommended by lonely planet too. The pickled pork knuckles was fantastic =D Had the green Berline Weisse this time! The dinner was cheap too... 9.90 euros for the pork. Mmm.

Last Day:

We went to Potsdam, Sanssouci Park. We did so muuuuch walking it was so exhausting. It was a beautiful park though... really worth going.

Had a 40 minutes tour around Sanssouci palace.

Visited the Neues Palais. Had to walk around ourselves... I really liked the statues outside though.

We saw the Orangerieschloss. Was too tired to climb up so we just took photos!

Then to the Historische Windmuhle! (windmill)

The Pergamonmuseum was really good but I think I was a bit too tired to appreciate it lol. Well at least I saw one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Ended up chilling in front of the Berline Catheral... just sitting on the grass and taking the whole atmoshphere in.

German food yet again! Plus some very unglam photo shots.

Uncertainty

2007-05-17T14:50:00.000+01:00

*listening to 'You were always on my mind' by Michael buble*

It's just one of those days... on which you just don't really feel like doing anything. I thought about going out to shop but it's a public holiday so the shops will be closed. I entertained the idea of packing my room... then I think about how sad I'll become doing that.

My lund friends have gone away again. This time they went to Norway. I won't be seeing them until the 26th... when they come back from spain. I wonder what's gonna happen when we go back to Singapore. Will we be as close? Or will we just go our separate ways... treating this whole exchange like a dream. I fear that will happen. And yet... I don't want to cling onto something that can't stand up to the test of time.

Whatever it is... I'm going to miss them all. Really really.

Krakow

2007-05-11T21:43:00.000+01:00

On our first day in Krakow, we visited Auschwitz, the infamous concentration and extermination camp. It had such a gloomy atmosphere... your heart feels heavy just walking through its barracks. We saw tonnes of shoes and hair owned by its previous prisoners. We could even see cyclone B... the weapon that was used to kill so many people in the gas chambers. There were a myriad of other torture chambers as well... including the suffocation, starvation and standing chambers.

Day two in Krakow was spent at the main square... it wa really crowded with young people. The Cloth hall had stalls selling different sorts of things. St Mary's church was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! One of the best churches I've seen so far. We actually sat in there doing accounts... felt rather guilty after that (for spending so much money on exchange). The irony heh. We saw the Town hall tower and the Floriaska gate too.

That's it for now... I'm gonna be uploading photos in my posts so they'll be colourful =D

More still on Vienna & Prague

2007-05-11T21:36:00.000+01:00

Went to the market in the morning... it was bustling. There was so much second hand stuff + fruits, fresh meat, snacks etc. There was this store that sold maggi mee, kimchi and other stuff found in Singapore. We bought some kimchi to eat! =D

Visited Karl's church... really liked the exterior. We didn't go in cause it was kinda ex. Saw the Augustine church... where the imperial wedding (that was 5 days long) was held. Wasn't very fantastic though...

Then there was Prague! (or Praha) Had to take a four hour bus ride there. Saw huge fields of yellow flowers along the way.

On the third day in Prague, we visited the Prague castle... the nicest attraction was the St Vitus cathedra. We were too tired to appreciate its true beauty though... it had very high ceilings and the stained glass was magnificent. We walked along the golden lane... which was lined with quaint shops and it led us to a tower.

We took photos outside the old royal palace... went to St George church (really nothing fascintating). Went into the Tyn church in the Old Town Square... the interior was really extravagant. Most of the statues were covered with gold... We could hear someone playing some melancholic tunes on the old piano.

More on Eastern Europe

2007-05-11T21:23:00.000+01:00

I'm about to blog more about my Eastern Europe trip... you guys might get bored so I'm warning you now =p I'm keeping this to remind myself about what I did in the various cities I visited.

Vienna's such a cultural city. I really really loved it. On the second day in Vienna, we did a lot of sighteeing. We first had a really good breakfast: omelettes with ham just for 2.50 euros. Then we saw the city hall, theater, the Hofburg imperial palace which included the Sisi musuem and the royal apartnments. I really really like the Sisi portrait... I think she looks ethereal. Pity that she was such a melancholic empress. Anyway... moving on, we saw the outside of the State opera house as well.

There were two very impressive churches worth mentioning: St Stephen's church... very much like the cathedral in Barcelona. St Peter's was really fantastic.. it's a small replica of the Da Vinci church in Rome apparently. It was simply breathtaking... I can't wait to see the real one! Went to the Pratar amusement park where Ivan and Yuxian took the vertical shot ride... *shudder*

We had dinner at Grinzing... it was the best! We had pork knuckles and there was so much live music. The violinist would come over and wink at you teasingly... and the overall atmosphere was just so happy... you just feel like bobbing your head to the music. Songs like 'smoke gets in your eyes was playing.

On the fourth day in Vienna, we spent most of the time at Schonbrunn palace. Had a very informative tour around the palace... Schonbrunn's actually the summer residence of the royal family. Hofburg' the winter residence. We saw a total of 40 rooms in total and most of them were lavishly decorated. I saw more of Sisi too!

Went to the maze and got a little lot and the labyrinth just really tired us out. We saw the brazilian guys again! (such a small world) It was quite a surprise.. managed to exchange contacts and take a snapshop with them. Proceeded on to the Gloriette. The view from it was sooo good. It felt really peaceful there as well. Lucky Queen Maria Theresa... she had tea at the Gloriette all th time. We visited the royal zoo as well... apparently the oldest one in Europe. It wasn't as nice as the Singapore zoo though... but it was alright =)

Had dinner at the famous Schnitzel place. Had to walk quite a bit to get there... it was really worth it though. So cheap and good! The portions were enormous! We had to rush for a musical performance thereafter. It was an orchestra playing Mozard and Strauss pieces... a little ballet. I enjoyed the orchestra immensely... especially liked the piece with the trumpet guy haha. The ballt was disappointing though... SDC can do so much better!

Blogging from Prague

2007-05-07T08:24:00.000+01:00

Whee! I get free internet service at the hostels =D I have so much to blog for this trip... mostly about the sights I've seen. It's my third day in Prague... and it's pretty nice. I prefer Vienna though... might be due to the not-so-sunny weather over here. Will blog about what I did yesterday... running out of time! I gotta eat brekkie soon ^_^

Day 2 in Prague

Had breakfast at the hostel... it wasn't very fantastic (pictures lie!) Encountered something interesting though... there was this british woman talking about how she saw a couple having sex in a dorm, with their best friend wanking just above them. Really crude eh? Some people can be sooo sick... ugh.

We saw the National museum first. It was quite a sight... kinda char though. I liked the fountain in front of it. Wenceslas Square was close to the museum... think it would be much nicer at night. It looked really colourful on a postcard... strangely, I didn't see a lot of shops lining it.

There was the Municipal house and powder gate. The Municipal house was lavishly decorated... kinda grand on the outside. It was quite out of place though... especially beside the powder gate. The gate, on the other hand, wasn't that bad (not like how the rest described it).

St James church was closed but we could peek in. I saw some of the paintings inside and they were really excellent. Reminded me of the St Peter's church in Vienna...

Old town Square was busy busy busy. Lots of tourists gathering around the astronomical clock. The clock was interesting... you see throngs of people trying to take photographs with it. We chilled at a restaurant at the square when it started raining... had some really good ravioli!

Tyn Church was closed too! (sundays are eeky) It looked pretty impressive on the outside. It seemed rather dark and gothic... close to looking haunting.

Went to Charles Bridge... my favourite! I really liked it... we could see the Prague castle on the bridge. There were make shift stalls on both sides of it... with artists doing caricatures for tourists. The atmosphere on the bridge was simply wonderful... I just felt really happy crossing it lol.

Bumped into Ming and Cheryl when we were heading to the St Nicholas Church. There were two other Singaporeans SMU graduates with them. THey had a guided tour so they covered quite a few sights (with informative narrations). They left for Krakow last night so I guess we'll only see them in Lund!

Blogging from vienna!

2007-05-03T00:00:00.000+01:00

Budapest

First Day:

Checked into our hostel... and we visited the outside of a Jewish Synagogue. It was my first time seeing one. There was St Stephen's church too... grand on the outside.

We ended the day with a meal at the Blue Rose... had some really yummy hungarian food =D It was a three course dinner that was cheap and really satisfying... only eeky thing about the place was the service. The waitress wasn't exactly providing the best service.

We met two Brazilian econs graduates at our hostel. They're actually travelling just before doing their maters. Really cool people... very passionate about economics lol. One of 'em stayed in the UK for a bit so his accent was british (I really like it).

Second Day:

Walked over to the chain bridge... pretty! Climbed up to the Royal Palace... we wanted to save money so we didn't take the big elevator lol. Loitered around the flea market for a bit before heading to Mathyas church (really colourful roof and interior design) ... which was just situated beide the Fisherman's Bastion as well.

We saw really rich chinese people getting married at the Bastion... they had like a limosine and several other luxurious cars parked outside... it was insane. Ohhh there was the interesting Maziban museum as well... everything inside it was made from sugar. We managed to get into the St Stephen's Basilica... and it was as grand on the inside. It offered a really panoramic view of Budapest as well.

Had quite an experience at the baths as well... oooo nice warm jacuzzi waters *becomes dreamy* I had to rent some really ugly swimwear though. *cringe* There was some festival (I think it's labor day) going on in Heroes' Square as well.

Third day:

Finally visited the Jewish Synagogue before we left.

Anyway I just arrived in Vienna today. Ate schnitzel for dinner and it was rather disappointing. It wa just breaded pork chop lol. We ended up watching the AC milan and Man U match. I was kinda sad when Man U lost... no idea why -_- Maybe I'm an innate Man U fan!

The past two days in Budapest were really well spent. I absolutely adored the city. It had the most amazing architecture and it wasn't just the important buildings... every wtreet had one or two nice structures to marvel at. It was really different from the rest of the european countries that I've visited... it's less developed actually. We took rides in lao pok trains and the dodgy areas resembled some parts of Malaysia. However... the ambience was somewhat rustic and elegant at the same time.

Away once more

2007-04-30T00:54:00.000+01:00

I'm going to eastern europe for 12 days! Won't be around... I think I'm gonna miss everyone. Not exactly very excited about the trip but I've heard good things about the places I'm going to. I shall go there with an open mind...

Will be heading to Budapest (Hungary), Vienna (Austria), Prague (Czech Republic), Krakow & Warsaw (Poland). I hope it's gonna be safe in these areas...

I'm gonna missssssssss lunnnnnnnnd so much.

1pm ramblings

2007-04-28T12:12:00.000+01:00

I went to T bar yesterday! We had a pre-party at spoletorp with the sparta people. I think we were kinda lazy to play games so we ended up picking up cards to determine who should drink (the lowest of course) We had the some vodka vanilla and johnny walker to drink... and whisky is eeky without coke! My alcohol tolerance level has really gone up. Not that I drink often... but when I do, I take quite a bit compared to the past. One bad thing: Now it's more expensive for me to get high hehe.

Anyway we joined the rest at T bar. They didn't open the entire club! We only had a teeny weeny place to dance -_- The music they played was weird too... I guess that's what you get for paying just 40 kronas. It wasn't that bad though... the company made up for it. The delphi people (with their corridor mates), elaine and yixin joined us so it was a big big group. I had another drink: white russian. It's quite nice actually... very milky... kinda like bailey's. It was so hard to get it lah! Paul had to squirm through the crowd to order... haha thanks.

As usual, yuxian and I were checking out the people *snicker* Quite a few cute swedes... but none drop dead gorgeous. haiii no more time to meet anymore! It was quite funny... we were just discussing how swedish guys are so different from singaporean guys. We were toying with the idea of making a video or presentation to portray the stark difference. Just a note: if you want to have beautiful, good looking children: marry a swede =p

mull

2007-04-26T21:22:00.000+01:00

Well... I haven't been doing much. Just really enjoying my time in lund... (before I fly off for eastern europe on monday). Been hanging out with the sparta people... haven't seen the rest actually. I bought a few gifts yesterday... had ice cream in town -again-. I found myself fervently checking out hot babes and hunks. Time's ticking away at the most amazing speed. I really don't have that much time left in Sweden.

I miss my family and friends of course. And some very special people *wink* It just saddens me though... that I'm soon to leave this wonderful place. I've gotten used to living in lund... and I've managed to make new friends. I've become accustomed to taking care of myself... and I've learnt how to be laid back. It's going to be hard to let go of all this.

Sometimes I wonder if I've changed. And then there are other nagging questions... Will it be hard for me to communicate with my family and friends after being away for so long? Will I suffer from reverse culture shock when I'm back in Singapore? Will I lose my independence when I'm back to my sheltered life? A part of me really wants to go home... but yet there's this other part that's really scared as well.

Just to randomly quote my friend's quote =p

Little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth.
For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures,
and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.

Room sweet room

2007-04-23T21:45:00.000+01:00

I'm back in lund! Came back late last night... after an insanely long (eight hours mind you) bus ride from Stockholm. The trip was actually very free and easy. I think most of us are actually quite tired from all the travelling. I actually just want to stay in lund and relax. Anyway, stayed in this really cute cottage in the suburbs of Stockholm. It's not near the central... had to take a train from T-centralen to this place called Gustaplan and then take a bus to the place. We actually had to climb some rocks to get to our cosy lil house. The interior of the cottage was very nicely decorated though. It was very very homey.

We didn't do much on the first day... went to the city centre to do some shopping. Bought stuff from h&m and a really really nice dress from ginatricot (highlights of the trip). Just walked along the streets and went into shops like topshop and mango. Stockholm's a lot like copenhagen actually. I'm not a big city fan it seems. We met up with yixin's friend (jackson) at his hostel... he and his friend (duan) cooked dinner for us so we didn't have to waste money -_- (it's sooo expensive in stockholm... so glad I didn't end up in stockholm for exchange). The night didn't end off very well... for some reason, I had really bad gastric problems. I was in paaaain.

We did some sightseeing the second day... checked out the parliament and the different islands. I really enjoyed the glittering river waters of stockholm. It was nice to see the sunlight dance teasingly on the water. Ohhh another highlight of the trip (lol): we went to this really classy hotel for toilet break *chortle* and the washroom was just soooooooo luxurious lah! We actually spent quite some time in it haha.

We spent a great deal of time in this park called Skansen... ate my favourite cotton candy! =D We saw a couple of nordic animals like the elk and the swedish brown bear... we had fun chasing ducks too lol. It was so funny cause yixin tried catching the ducks (she was on a sugar high) and paul was intimidating them as well... I think we must have been really quite bored hee.

We didn't get to go clubbing in the ennnnnnnd =( We were all so dressed up but we couldn't get into any clubs cause they were really strict about IDs. They didn't accept ISIC cards so we didn't manage to party. Ahhh well. Guess we'll have fun this saturday at T bar.

Left for lund on Sunday... after hanging out with yixin when ivan and yuxian went for church service. Yup it was a really short getaway =) I'm just glad to be in my room!

stretchie

2007-04-19T10:01:00.000+01:00

I hope I can finish compiling the IO project today. I'm feeling a bit groggy... had quite a bit to drink last night. Played Ring of fire, Indian Poker and Truth/Dare with the rest of the Singaporeans in lund. (after a very very full dinner) We had fuuuun and we finished 3/4 of the bottle of vanilla vodka that I bought. Wheeee. Yuxian kinda conked out first... she's so cute when she's high lol. She didn't puke though... *claps* yay! you're one step closer to increasing your alcohol tolerance yx! =D Yixin didn't have much luck last night... she kept choosing the lowest card for truth/dare and I was quite evil when it came to thinking of dares or questions for her. *grin* muahaha. Gerald ang kept losing at Indian poker... it was quite hilarious. And I must say Ivan... you come up with pretty unique questions heh. Kudos to you =D

Anyway I'm going to Stockholm tomorrow! Just going away for three days =) I'm going to the city of beautiful people. I can't wear kok clothing there hehe.

Picnic day!

2007-04-16T21:36:00.000+01:00

I want to have sushi! One of the first things that I'm gonna do when I'm back in Singapore: Go for a damn good japanese buffet. Anyone wanna go with me?! I want my sushi, sashimi, fried tofu, cha soba, fresh prawns, miso soup, octopus and the list goes onnnn. I actually splurged on sushi today (look above =D)... 9 sushi for 55 kronas (12.50 sing). But it was sooo good. Should have eaten the sushi really slowly.

Had picnic at a park near delphi. Yixin... thanks for organizing it! (even though there were some kok ups along the way hehe... you still did a great job). We had to walk quite a distance to the mini hill in the park. We could see a great deal of lund from that hill though... it was nice. It was soooo sunny at the top I could barely open my eyes. We were just lying on the grass... enjoying the clear blue skies and quiet moments. I'm gonna miss doing this... I don't think we'll get a chance to do it in singapore... people will think we're siao.

Leftover stuff from the picnic...

Elaine, Yixin, Gerald Ang relaxing on the grass

Yixin, Elaine and me in the bathing sunlight

Gerald Ang trying to throw the green apple... -_-

Reaching out for the sky

Footsie in the sky

Forever

2007-04-15T22:41:00.000+01:00

"Forever"

Take these roses off of me
Let me live, let me be
For a little while
Let my eyes,
See everything and nothing in their time
I do not mind

Who've guess I'd learn
To let the walls around me burn
Light up the hillside
My words, I ate them for so long and nothing changed
It was just the same

And I don't know if you see me here
But I can tell you your face is clear
I will see you...

Forever
Forever
I will see you
Forever
Forever

Call me close once again
Call me teacher, call me friend
Just like the first time
Call my name, it echos around me in this room
Its all you

I don't know if you hear me there
But it's dark so no one cares
I will hear you...

Forever
Forever
I will hear you
Forever
Forever

I wanted you to be everything to me
Now I've got to learn to carry on
I know I cannot hide this emptiness inside
But nothing is the same since you've gone

Send me letters from above
Send me strength, send me love
Such sweet love
Sing me songs that echo in my head and in my heart
That's where you are

And I don't know if you feel me here
I can tell you one thing that's clear
I will feel you...

Some pictures from the trip!

2007-04-14T14:29:00.000+01:00

The rest of the pics can be found on: http://picasaweb.google.com/zalariel

After IO class on thursday

2007-04-14T14:14:00.000+01:00

Look at how round my face is!

In the midst of pouting... so unglam

groan

2007-04-14T11:59:00.000+01:00

Kiala is sick at the moment. She misses home. She longs for all the nice sick food that she gets back in Singapore. She doesn't know what to cook to make herself feel better. She is currently cooking porridge with frozen veggies + boiled sausages + hard boiled eggs. She has to get well before her trip to stockholm on the 20th of april. She has to read her IO but she is feeling lazy.

Bah bah bah.

Back =)

2007-04-12T23:15:00.000+01:00

I'm back from my amsterdam and belgium trip. It was really great... had loads of fun even though it was really exhausting.

Saw the prettiest tulips in Keukenof... and a plethora of canals in amsterdam itself. Tried pancakes, space muffins and magic mushrooms (it wasn't that baaaaaad really... I'm not a druggie!) Went to two museums... Rijksmuseum and Van gogh. (I bought two paintings!) Saw a couple of churches too... I think I'm having the too-many-churches syndrome. It's quite difficult to remember the church names lol. We took the canal tour as well... but that was rather disappointing. I was actually falling asleep... -_- It was just toooo slow. Oh and we had a spareribs buffet on the first day... it was crazy! We had so much ribs I felt like I was gonna explode lol. It was really worth it though... ^_^

Brugge was quaint... and we had really delicious waffles there. There was this lake of love that was really tranquil. There was this other canal/lake (I can't really tell -_-) with swans resting on the grass beside it. It was such an alluring sight. Saw another church... and we took cool photos! Kinda managed to capture the light shining on us. I can't think of a better way to explain it heh. We saw the town hall as well... and the squares. We couldn't go to the belfort tower because it was closed though. I really like the ambience in Brugge... it's somewhat peaceful. You can amble around without feeling the rush.

Brussels was more city like compared to Brugge but it was still really unique. We saw the peeing boy lol. Had so much chocolates in belgium =D We ate mussels in Brussels toooo (it rhymes eh) and it wasn't all that expensive. I had so much mussels... I'm quite surprised I didn't get a stomachache. We were in Brussels on Easter Sunday and we visited this church called St Michael's I think... and there was a service going on. I really liked the church... it was really very bright compared to the rest I've seen so far. Hmm what else... there was the statue of the unknown soldier and another statue that we rubbed to get good luck =D We saw the Atomium place too! Didn't go up cause it was too expensive but it was a cool sight to see... mini europe was too pricey too bah. It was still pretty okay walking around =)

I've got a new nickname from the trip. Some people now call me the 'tulip flower'. Magic mushrooms make you do stupid things. In my case, it makes a person laugh hysterically as well. That's all I can remember so far... toooooo tired to think.

I think I'm feeling confused.

Easter holiday!

2007-04-05T20:57:00.000+01:00

Next destination: Amsterdam and Belgium!

I'll be heading to copenhagen airport tonight... gotta stay there for a few hours cause our flight to amsterdam is really early -_- I think this is my first time taking an Easter holiday trip =D Can't wait really... I didn't travel for the whole of march! Hmm. My right eye keeps twitching though... I hope nothing bad is going to happen *prays*

I want to see tulip fields and nice canals! I'm going to see the famous Van Gogh painting... and the infamous red light district. Gonna visit the land of weed and mushrooms heh. I want to eat really good chocolate too!

Will be back on the 10th. Good friday and Happy Easter everyone! *muacks*

Bbq photos!

2007-04-05T13:13:00.000+01:00

Happy wednesday!

2007-04-04T22:28:00.000+01:00

There was no class today! Woohoo! Yuxian and I headed to town instead =D I bought stor kebab so we were just eating and shopping. I have come to a conclusion: GinaTricot is my favourite store! I went into the shop and became insane. I kinda told myself that since I'll be skipping Barcelona this time round... I shall shop in lund instead *grin* Bought two tops/dresses and a lot of accessories! Wish there was a GinaTricot in singapore. The pieces they sell are so classic.

We had three scoops of ice cream each after shopping. It was insane lol. We felt so cold after eating... I was even shivering. Gelato ice cream is the best thouuugh. Yum yum!

Took a bus to delphi after that... we had to shop at willy's with the rest of the girls and ivan. We had to prepare for today's bbq! We thought we bought lots of food (especially meat) but it wasn't much in the end hehe. It was soooo cold today. Everyone was standing around the bbq pit for the first time. Not to cook but to get warmth lol. The temperature's dipping -again-. *sigh* The weather be nice in holland! Bqqing in cold weather isn't exactly very nice but we still had fun =) The guys took very long to get the fire going. We actually had to collect tree twigs/branches to get the fire to burn. How primitive! According to jon, they do this all the time in australia. Hmm. I find it strange actually. The pit was actually very small... so it didn't look like it was going to be easy to cook the food. Didn't eat a lot... but we snacked so much before that... so it didn't matter ^_^ Oh! Had banana with chocolate... it's supposed to be a swiss dessert. You slit the banana and put bars of chocolate inside then you dump it into the charcoal area. Very very nice =D Reminds me of fondue... Ahhh I think I'm going to get a sore throat from all the heaty food.

-_-

2007-04-04T00:21:00.000+01:00

Had so much ice cream! I feel like I'm about to explode. Don't want to go for swedish politics tomorrooooow. *feels like sleeping in*

I need a body massage -_-

Just a thought: Why do us human beings always like to complicate things? What makes us do stupid things that are entirely irrational? Why are we always confused about things that are black and white? Why do we feel like we lose a part of ourselves when we think logically? I really don't know. I just hope I learn along the way.

Calling out to all alcoholics!

2007-04-03T16:30:00.000+01:00

I can have a mini party in my own room. For some reason, two people left their booze in my room... and I just bought a bottle of vanilla vodka. Lookie:

Waiting-for-laundry post

2007-04-03T14:50:00.000+01:00

I had big breakfast today! The Sparta guys cooked for us =D It’s been a long time since I had such a good meal in the morning. Thanks!

Had another mind boggling IO class today. I think I need to revise and read the text soon! *feeling lazy* Waiting for my laundry now… hopefully after that I’ll watch naruto and Music & Lyrics. Heard the movie’s really good so I can’t wait.

Tranquility in Lund

2007-04-03T00:05:00.000+01:00

I had my first IO class today. It was boring and mathematical -_- Glad yuxian was sitting beside me. The company is sooo important.

I went to Lund's botanic gardens! I didn't know that it existed... until paul told me. I dropped by before going to hand in my gender paper. It's sooo niceeee. There were people suntanning on the grass. Some of them were even half naked lol. Had a walk around... it felt so serene. I was picking up christmas looking cones... taking my time choosing the best ones. Sat underneath a tree... taking everything in. It felt so peaceful. I could just sit there pondering the whole day. I think I'm going to try reading a book there soon... or pen down my thoughts. I wanna have a picnic!

Ta da!

2007-04-01T22:19:00.000+01:00

I got back from Gothenburg this morning. Still sooo tired from the trip. Slept from 7am to 2pm -_- Feel like a sitting zombie.

Gothenburg was a pretty nice place... more city like. We went to the Botanic gardens... but that was disappointing. There weren't a lot of flowers to look at and I'm guessing it's only so because it's still early spring. It wasn't too bad though =) We had 'fun' climbing up this mini mountain hehe. The view was decent... although we did see a lot of brown. Visited a 15th century church that looked quite nice on the outside. It's different from most of the churches I've seen so far. Not as old as the cathedral in lund though... I still love the one we have here. Walked along the streets and went shopping at h&m. In the end I bought a red bikini! =D Gotta find a matching bottom though... the one at the store was too big. Scandinavian girls must have huge butts -_- There were so many things I wanted to buy but I had to really really control myself. Budget budget! Miss shopping malls hehe.

The salsa congress we attended was great. The performances were so good! Pity I was tired. I spaced out so many times. I think I would have enjoyed the whole thing much better if I weren't that exhausted. I really need to improve my social dancing. Need to keep spinning. Need to stop becoming giddy heh. Need heels!

I'm so glad I worked things out with you =) It has been a trying period... with more downs than before but you always make it a point for us to resolve things. Thank you for being so understanding... I know I can be crazy sometimes. I know I tend to close up when I'm unhappy... and really quiet too. I usually do that cause I don't want to say hurtful things without thinking things through. I will try to get rid of this fault of mine yah.

Sights I came acoss today beams

2007-03-30T22:36:00.000+01:00

So pretty

2007-03-30T14:59:00.000+01:00

On the way back from class... I saw this tree that was filled with pretty pink flowers. It didn't have any leaves at all. It was all lil sweet flowers everywhere! I felt like I was in Japan or Korea... looking at sakura flowers. Managed to capture a not-very-good shot of it with my phone. If only this tree is growing outside my window. I feel like buying a pot of flowers and putting it in my room.

-obsessed with plants-

Gathering!

2007-03-29T23:47:00.001+01:00

I woke up soooo late today. Had such a good sleep snuggling beneath my duvet. Had lunch with yx, eugene and paul at the pizza place. Mmmm. We decided to do dinner at spoletorp and invite the rest over. Eugene, paul and I prepared dinner: Pork curry, pai gu wang (both prepared by paul), beer chicken (Me) and nice veggies (eugene). I stole the beer chicken recipe from my mum and it turned out alright hehe. Should have taken photos! Bleh.

It was great seeing the rest again. Dinner gatherings are always the best. We just sit around... eat and talk a lot of rubbish (although we do have our share of intellectual convos at times). I had soo much ice cream today. Ahhhhhhhhhh. -_- Need to stop eating all this nonsense.

Poor yuxian got slammed so many times. Haha she's so cute sometimes. I'm so glad I don't get slammed here =D I'm un-jackable! Whooo! And I noticed something... I have a tendency to listen more than I talk during the dinners. It's nice listening to what everyone has to say and observing them. I won't be speaking out a lot so it's not that tiring. It's just amusing... I see a different side of me when I'm with these friends. Would I call myself reserved? I don't know.

Anyway... I'm in love with salsa! I'm not very good at it at the moment... but it's still really enjoyable. Poor eugene... he has to put up with my cannot-make-it frame and bad memory. Need to brush up! Gotta be at the same level as gerald, daphne, kim and justin! I wanna dance with you guys too! Wait for meeeee.

I think I miss my mum. Wow.

Mystical trees

2007-03-29T10:22:00.000+01:00

Do you know that trees can grow back their leaves within a short period of time? I find that really amazing. It usually happens at night when everyone's asleep. If only I can watch the whole process. Can you imagine? One day you see the trees being all bare and twisted. The next, you see them all leafy. I can't wait for that to happen in Lund. It'll be so enchanting. =)

My favourite greenery!

spacing out

2007-03-28T23:21:00.000+01:00

I had nice gelato ice cream today! Passion fruit, saffron and lime! Eating ice cream in spring so nice. We were sitting on a bench in the town square, basking in the sun. You can see people sitting on the stone ground... chilling out and chatting. It's a sight you'll never see in Singapore. Yuxian and I were just talking about her trip... it was so very comfortable.

More shopping today. -_- I bought big shades from h&m =D I think they're too big for my face. I kinda regret buying them... but yet I don't. Dilemma. Check them out! Eeek. My hair's so ugly.

...

2007-03-27T21:27:00.000+01:00

Unclogging a sink is the most disgusting thing to do. Especially if you do it with your hand (although it's wrapped up with a plastic bag) Under such circumstances, I would rather not be a feminist. I would willingly allow a guy to help me do the dirty job. It's just...

EEKY!

P.S. I do feel a sense of achievement though.

Next up!-->

Sunshine!

2007-03-27T20:10:00.000+01:00

I woke up sooo eaaaarly today! I didn't have a choice since I had to go to the library to get information for my gender studies take home exam. I had difficulty walking there. Why? Because it's just tooooo sunny in spring. I had to walk with my head down the whole time, if not I think I might become blind. It's time for me to invest in a pair of shades here. I want big big ones! But I can't wear big big ones because I have a small small face. -_-

I feel sooo bad toay. I was supposed to meet ming for his business class but I totally forgot about it! Was trying to rush out my gender essay. I feel so mean -_- I need to get ginko nuts... seriously. Oh and there's something wrong with me these days. I can't seem to articulate my thoughts. I keep stammering and losing track of my thoughts. Maybe I'm suffering from some mental deterioration. Oh no. How. I don't want to be stupid!

I had a nice dinner with paul today after doing our gender project. It was exceptionally nice because tomoki joined us at the dinner table and we actually had a proper conversation with him. He's actually not that dao. He was telling us that living in sweden is actually more expensive than living in tokyo. Surprising eh -_- I thought tokyo's like the most expensive place to live in. In lund, he actually eats pasta all the time to save money. Pasta 24/7... ugh. Anyway, we were talking about how westerners are different from asians. We're not party animals like him... and we really prefer to have dinner gatherings instead. We're so mild hehe (although there are exceptions of course). It's quite funny... I thought about anna when tomoki was describing tokyo. You're going to have so much fun in japan darling! You can check out the cool fashion and cute guys =p

I'm feeling a bit groggy. Just drank dom (the eeky alcohol that stings your throat) Gonna stone for a while. Whee!

Already monday!

2007-03-26T19:05:00.000+01:00

Time really flies! It's 26/3... april's nearing. Tomorrow yuxian will be back from her trip... and the day after, the rest will be back in Lund. I wonder what I've been doing. Well, I guess I've been trying out quite a bit of cooking. Tried baking chicken with basil and lemon. It was superb to me =D (probably cause it was edible lol) Then for dinner, I baked chicken with honey and veggies with butter. Had potatoes with cheese too. I knooow... it's such a western meal hehe.

I bought three necklaces from the makeshift stall opposite ica's today. *beams* Really cheap! I think I want to check out the stuff again. Can't afford clothes so I will just have to settle for accessories. The things at the stall were really nice I think... I got this semi-glam necklace and two other beady ones. So happy! I don't care... since I don't get to shop in eastern europe or in munich, I buy stuff here!

I think I'm feeling a bit lonely. Noone's online. Guess I should dl more movies. Actually dling blood diamond atm. The dl speed is damn fast! I'm dling at 1+MB per second. Sweeeeeet isn't it. I have no idea what to watch so help me out guys! Tell me what's good to watch!

*feels so nua*

Cooking!

2007-03-26T00:13:00.000+01:00

I can't believe I'm actually googling for recipes lol. Gonna try baking basil lemon chicken tomorrow. Go go me! *does pom pom dance for myself*

So yesterday

2007-03-25T17:21:00.000+01:00

Yesterday yesterday... so what happened yesterday?

Ming came over to have lunch. We tried cooking the fish that we bought from willy's and silly me added too much salt. I'm such a lousy cook! *frown* Anyway, I think the only easy way to cook the fish without screwing it up is to fry it with flour. Something like the fish in fish and chips heh.

We went to town after that =D It's to reward ourselves for finishing social policy! Didn't really get to walk around much... I didn't want to drag ming around to shop, it would be too boring for him. Think I'll walk around town by myself tomorrow =D Ming was telling me about his gf and stuff... and it was nice to hear how they've been together for 7 years. That's really a loonnnng time... it's amazing.

Tried cooking curry chicken and xiu yok at night. We were worried that the dishes wouldn't turn out nice... but we actually succeeded! *beams* We can still have good food when the rest are not around lol. Headed to T (or tea) bar after dinner... there were so many swedes in the club. The music was actually good! Lots of r&b =D Some of the songs weren't as nice cause they were translated to swedish. Bah. And they kept replaying this song... I got so sick of it! The one with 'everybody dance now!' I already heard it so many times at arts camp '06 heh.

Didn't really drink a lot... the alcohol was so overpriced inside. I guess we'll be going back though... when the rest come back. It's quite an interesting place... we saw many swedes dressed up in retro clothes... some came in afro wigs. The swedes are very expressive when it comes to dancing too. They hop around -alot-. Ohhh the swedish guy who came along with us, Marten, dances really funny... in a cute kinda way. I was trying not to laugh at him the whole time. He bought the both of us drinks (well I guess he can afford it since the government gives him allowance every month) We saw many chio swedish girls... they're like everywhere! So envious *sigh* The swedes really have good genes heh. And there's one thing I don't get... how do they get such great figures! It's unfaaaaaaaaaaaaaair. Anyway, I felt quite tired at the club... not sure why. I think I need to replenish my energy!

On a side note, I think I'm pmsing -_-

Lalala

2007-03-24T01:10:00.000+01:00

Yay! I'm kinda done with swedish social policy. I don't know if I'll pass... I'm just keeping my fingers crossed. So it's two done and one more to go! I spent a great deal of time at ming's today trying to finish the essay. I think I'm pretty brain dead at the moment. Hehe.

Had cola chicken for dinner! It's really sweet... but still nice =) Paul and gabby joined us... it was nice to see them considering the fact that I've been cooped up in spoletorp for the past week. Hmm. I think I'm becoming hungry. I feel like snacking! Oooo I bought ham today *beams* Note to self: need to buy margarine.

I don't know why... it's 1.15am in the morning and I'm not feeling tired -_- I just feel like spacing out... think about nothing. Even blogging right now is kinda mind boggling. Hehe. I just got distracted by my nutella lol.

sigh

2007-03-21T23:03:00.000+01:00

I'm going to miss lund when I go back. I'm going to miss lund soooo much. Life here is so idyllic.

It's been a long time

2007-03-21T17:27:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted anything in such a long time. Oopsie ^_^ Nothing much has happened really... I've been in my room studying (not very productive I must say) development econs... doing swedish social policy and well, stoning. I should really get out. I think I have issues lol. I tend to coop myself up when exams are nearing. I should be going out there! I'm on exchange! Okay... but seriously, I have no idea how to pass this by studying minimally. Ahhh help. Nevermind... the paper's tomorrow and I'm just gonna do my best. Then I can finish social policy and gender.

Oh oh oh! I saw sleet for the first time two days ago. I was sooo glad that I wasn't outdoors. The weather's really unpredictable. The weather was so niceee last week (I even went out to play frisbee) but now it's starting to be cold again. Where is spring?! I see flowers blooming everywhere... but why isn 't the warmth here yet. -_- Looking out of my window right now... it's so gloomy. Haiiii.

Yuxian went off to munich this morning. I felt a little sad actually. I think I'm gonna miss having someone around to chat/cook/eat/gossip with. The rest are away in Eastern Europe too... only paul and ming are around. But I guess being alone has its perks. I can do whatever I want. I can go grocery shopping and buy comfort food =D Yay!

I feel like going somewhere. I want to have crazy fun. I want to do wild things.

...

2007-03-08T15:58:00.000+01:00

I don't know why... I feel sad. Perhaps I know the reason but I'm just in denial about it. I haven't felt like this in ages. It's a sinking feeling... with a tinge of trepidation. Is it just a combination of unfortunate events? Or is it more than that. I don't know. Maybe I don't wanna know. I hope I'm not going to lose you.

Decent Wednesday

2007-03-08T00:31:00.000+01:00

I couldn't wake up for my 8am class this morning -_- My blinds weren't fully drawn... and I still couldn't drag myself out of bed. Ah well... I hope I didn't miss much.

Anyway... I went shopping today! Whee! There's actually a shopping center in Lund... it's called nova. It's quite near yixin's place actually... lucky girl. The outside of the shopping center looks really dreary though. It looks like expo... yah. Ugh. I'm not going to complain anymore though... cause the place has topshop, gina tricot and many other shops. Yuxian, yixin, elaine and I went around the place for two hours... we kinda left the guys alone to do their stuff haha. Had so much fun window shopping and gossiping with them. Thanks girls! =D I bought a nice black and white dress for 149 kronas... which is okay. Really satisfied with my buy. Not sure whether I'll get to wear it here though... I haven't worn my denim skirts yet. Feeling flabby. Hmm. Haven't reached the ba ba stage yet though... I hope not. (don't worry harris, I'm not going to seduce you haha)

We had the biggest pizzas for dinner! They were damn big lah! The big pizzas really make vildaden a more attractive place to live in. We finally went to yixin's place... it's quite cosy actually. Looks a lot like delphi's. Played lotsss of shithead at her living room. I was quite suay this time. Arghhhh. Gotta play at spoletorp next time! And don't sit next to gerald chew... or yixin haha. Elaine's the nicest!

Lots of reading to do... I can't slack anymore. Development econs is so heavy. -_- Ohhhh! Bleach should be out tomorrow! *beams*

Titleless

2007-03-06T21:15:00.000+01:00

I think I'm getting addicted to watching Friends. So I try to do work... rush work... and then start watching. The whole cycle repeats... it's a very vicious evil cycle. And I hate reading my econs textbook! It's never ending... all these words... argh! I'm glad I went through my gender studies book though... and did my essay. I wanna go out shopping! I wanna buy things! I'm random! I think maybe it'll be a good idea to have another bridge/shithead card session at my place again. =D
I wonder... will I ever be ready to go for bible study? You know... take a leap of faith. It's just that as I grow older, it's hard not to become skeptical. I pray... but sometimes I wonder if anyone's really listening. Yuxian was just telling me that the day will come when I know I'm ready. Will I ever be ready? I don't know really.

I've always wanted to be independent. I remember there were times when I felt like I couldn't do anything by myself. I felt useless. It was all very frustrating. It really comforts me to know that I actually summoned the courage to apply for the exchange. I guess I should really thank feng. I've really learnt how to be a stronger person... I know that I can depend on myself. I guess everyone will have a few people in their lives who have made a difference. I'm glad we're still friends... you've taught me so much. Perhaps you don't know this, but you've played a great part in shaping the person I am today. Thank you! *hugs*

Scandinavian Norway

2007-02-27T10:41:00.000+01:00

I'm back from norway! It was a really short trip... 22nd feb to 25th feb (sorta). I'm quite proud of myself... I could actually spend 635 bucks travelling to the third most expensive country in the world. Kudos to Paul... for being such a brilliant planner. We saw so many places and stayed in comfortable hotels! Now I can travel to more places without feeling guilty about spending too much on one place =D

There were lots of coach taking for this trip... our journey to oslo by bus took about 7 to 8 hours maybe. Due to the really eeky and ugh snowstorms, we had to shuttle between quite a few places... like to flam, from voss back to oslo etc. So many hours spent on the bus! But I guess it wasn't that bad... we could catch up on our sleep during the looooooong bus rides and the scenery along the way was fantastic. We could see towering snow-capped mountains against a backdrop of burgeoning coniferous trees. It was white everywhere. Frozen lakes were part of the landscape as well... if you were lucky, you could spot several rapids and frozen waterfalls. At times, I found it difficult to distinguish between snow covered land and frozen lakes. It got me thinking... what if you're stuck out there in the cold and have no idea what you're stepping on. You might end up plunging yourself into sub zero waters. Scary eh? I think so. Well anyway, I just wanted to randomly point out how annoying it is to have irritating, chattering and inconsiderate people on the same bus as you. We encountered quite a few of those. I wanted to shout at them and kick them out of the bus. I especially hate it when people cough in enclosed spaces... without covering their mouths. I was trapped in a bus with this coughing girl... who wouldn't stop coughing AND talking. Wah. It was painful. My threshold for such experiences is pretty low. Okies enough bitching... and back to my narration of my nice lil trip.

We managed to get to flam despite the weather. We couldn't take the flam railway though *refrains from bitching some more* Luckily the ferry was working so we could still see the fjords and the plethora of mountains that came along. I guess it would be much nicer to see the fjords in summer or autumn... but then again, I wouldn't be able to travel during that period of time since I'll be on my way home. Sometimes, we just gotta be contented with whatever we have/see! Anyway, the ferry ride was fun cause we could get to the top of the ferry... and take lots of photos. It was really cold... with the wind whipping at your face all the time but ah well, we survived it! =D

The trip to Bergen was really worth it. Bergen has such picturesque scenery! Most of the time, I felt like I was staring at a painting... a really pretty painting. I saw colourful houses dotting the foot of high mountains. The waters in Bergen are sooo clear as well... we could clearly see the starfish at the habour. The wooden houses that we saw were tastefully flamboyant. And there was a fish market! The seafood there was soooo fresh. We tasted the authentic crabmeat and shrimp (which was free cause the guy selling them was really nice). We visited Bergen's St Mary's church...a castle and took the damnnnn niceeee tram which allowed us to land up at the top. It gave us a really beautiful view of bergen... and we had such a fun time building a snowman (who was named Sarah) and having snowball fights.

We went back to Oslo after that... and to me, I thought Oslo wasn't as nice as Bergen (which is more like a cultural city). Oslo reminds me of Copenhagen actually... it's very cityish and that's kinda expected since it's the capital of norway. Most of the shops were closed when we arrived in Oslo since it was a sunday but I guess I wasn't disappointed or anything; not really in for the whole shopping thing... not even window shopping. It was snowing quite heavily in Oslo so the mood was a bit dampened... we still covered quite a few places though. We walked around the city center, saw the parliament and the palace... went to the habour (had mac's there: I ate TWO burgers) and visited yet another castle near the habour. We went to this really really nice park as well. The park's famous for its many statues... and the statues were really interesting. Most of them were artistically carved... and most of them seemed rather wrong as well. (check out my picassa to know what I mean lol) I had fun at the park sliding down this slopey thingy. Yes I know I'm such a kid =D We kinda ended the trip with a yummy dinner at Dennis' Grill... which was relatively cheap compared to other eateries. We couldn't really afford traditional norweigen food... and we couldn't find a place anyway hah.

Well that's all I can remember for now!

CNY photos!

2007-02-21T21:51:00.000+01:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

2007-02-21T21:26:00.000+01:00

I can't believe that it's the chinese new year period... sure doesn't feel like it. No reunion dinner with my family. No visiting. No ang pows. No snacking food. No nice red clothes. No comfort at home. I guess the first day of chinese new year was alright... we had a nice get together at spoletorp and everyone was in charge of a new dish. We had sooooo much food (but there was no yu sheng hai). There were drinking games of course... and some people got drunk. I didn't get drunk! Amazing isn't it? lol. I guess I wouldn't want to be though... being drunk will either make me laugh a lot... or it will make me depressed. I don't think I want to risk it... heh. I will post some photos that were taken that night!

Well... I actually feel really homesick atm. I reaaaaaaalllllly miss my friends. You know... friends who will always be there for you. Friends who will wait for you. Friends who won't make you feel alone. Friends who will laugh at you for doing silly things. I miss the high pitched 'hey babe!', the funny face, the short skirt, the incessant laughter, the caring voice, the girl talks, the powerpuff girl, the hugs, the suppers, the pseudo licking, the guy talks... and so much more. Though I'm sooo far away, I miss you all so much.

I think when one is left behind, one shouldn't sulk about it. One should pick herself up and move on. Don't ever feel sorry for oneself...don't blame anyone, that's a sign of weakness. Shit happens. Think about possible nice things that will happen. You won't feel so bad anymore =)

I know this is totally random... but I'm glad that I'm living in modern times. Not in an era where women are trapped in perfectly moulded stereotypical female roles. I'm glad I wasn't forced to marry someone at a tender age. At least we have the freedom to marry the person we like/love. After reading the book 'Money' by Benedictsson... I feel really lucky. I'm thankful for all that I have.

Randomness

2007-02-17T00:29:00.000+01:00

No more pink party, just utter cold winds and sinking thoughts. For one moment, I wish I was home.

London - There and back again

2007-02-15T22:19:00.000+01:00

London, a place filled with marvelous architecture and wondrous arts. I was thrilled when I arrived in a bus. Everywhere I looked, I saw streets lined with colonial white buildings and beautiful churches. There was so much history in the air. It was really overwhelming. I didn't think I'd enjoy london so much really. I'm really glad I went.

It's great to go to a place where the first language is actually English. I could finally understand the signboards, menus and of course the people, with their nice british accent. I didn't feel that lost. The unfamiliar wasn't that unfamiliar... if you know what I mean. I had such a good time going on the big bus tours... going round and round the city... watching the world go by. We were quite suay the first day though... it snowed quite heavily and it was like the first time in eleven years to have so much snowfall. We had the teeth chattering experience of going to the second deck of the bus and taking photos whilst it was snowing. Now that I think about it... I think we were pretty much insane.

We had a glance at all the touristy attractions the first day... big ben, westminister abbey, london eye, st paul's cathedral, tower of london, tower bridge, london bridge and the list goes on... We saw notting hill too! We walked quite a bit just to see the travel bookshop where hugh grant and julia roberts met in the movie. Notting hill's really quite quaint. We headed down to manchester at the end of the day and visited the Man United place of course. I'm not a Man U fan... well, I'm not a fan of any soccer club but I still enjoyed myself. It was nice being at a place where lots of people dream to go to. It was fun running out into the field (kind of), pretending to be one of the soccer players. I dropped by liverpool as well... and I actually recognized the places that I visited before. Fleeting memories. Anyway I realized that manchester and liverpool are pretty racist places -_- They're not really tolerant towards asians... and it's very frustrating really. It sucks to be part of the minority... to be undermined at looked down upon. To think that racism is an ongoing phenomenon is scary... to be a target of it makes me shudder -_-

When we returned to london, yuxian and I stayed at this place called Picadilly's backpackers hostel. It wasn't too bad... but the most eeeeeeeky thing was, there was no hot water when you wanted to shower. I almost died when I showered there. It was so bad for me cause I usually shower in damn hot water (if anyone really knew me, he/she would know). Anyway the best thing about Picadilly's was its really central location and close proximity to chinatown! I had SOOOO much chinese food when I was in london. All the duck meat, char siew and fatty pork. Wahhhh. I was in heaven. The duck meat at bayswater was damn nice lah. Thinking about it makes me salivate. I don't think I'll be able to get duck anytime sooon.... booooo. Oh and the most unfortunate thing happened... our hostel actually had a fire on the last night of our stay there lol. When the fire alarm sounded, we thought it was just a drill... we actually wanted to stay in our room. When were got out.. people were taking forever to get out. It was quite funny... well in a morbid way. The fire (presumably a small one) got put out very fast though... so nothing catastrophic happened =D

Ohhh... I watched TWO musicals in london! Les Miserables and Wicked... both were soooooo gooooood. If only musicals were as common in Singapore... I'll just watch every week lah. They weren't very ex to watch in london cause we had student prices... and the seats were actually very good. I really loooooveeeeeee watching musicals. If I have the money, I'll watch all of them! Another thing that I learnt about myself... I actually enjoy going to the musuem... well the British musuem anyway. I was very intrigued by all the egyptian artifacts; the mummys and intricately carved walls and sculptures. Egyptian history is so rich and mysterious.

For the whole trip, I was trying to improve my photography as well. Taking photos from different angles... fiddling with the functions of my camera. I still have a long way to go hehe. At least I've developed a new interest! Whee!

What else did I do in london hmm... took a cruise, visited emirates stadium, tate modern, shakespeare's globe, southwark gothic cathedral...went to hyde park and shopped at harrod's! Soo many nice things at harrod's =D I bought four bags there lol. Oh yessss... I went for a strip show at Soho! We got conned at the place... bah. So dodgy. We only saw one dance... and I felt sorry for the woman (she seemed quite old -_-) Can you imagine life being a stripper? I think it's so difficult to even respect yourself then. Saddening. And how can I forget eating krispy creme donuts?! They're heavenly lah. I've never tasted such nice donuts in my lifeeeee. Someone should get the franchise in Singapore. I'll never get sick of themmmm.

Ohhh wellll, enough blabbering lol. To wrap things up (sounds so essayish), I can honestly say that I had a fulfilling trip. Though it was tiring... and we had severe lack of sleep for some nights, I had loooads of fun. I wonder when I'll ever go back to london. Will I? No idea. I'll be looking foward to it anyway =)

Homebody

2007-02-04T22:45:00.000+01:00

I stayed at spoletorp for the whole of today. It actually feels good *beam* Friends came over today for lunch so yuxian and I were in charge of cooking =D I cooked the chicken drumsticks and it didn't turn out too bad... it just took forever to be ready. Yes! One step closer to becoming a better cook. *cheer*

We learnt how to make bread today! From scratch! Never thought I'd learn lol. John taught us... it didn't seem too difficult. Let me recall the recipe:

1kg of flour
14g of yeast
2 and half cups of water at 45 degrees celsius
1 egg if you want your bread crispy on top

So making bread involves a lot of kneading... and a lot of strength heeeh. You gotta leave the dough to sit for like 45 minutes so that it raises. Then put it in the oven for 10 minutes... at 230 degrees celsius. =D Walaaaaa! You can freshly baked bread! Seems easy ehhhh. I'll try next time =D

I'm feeling kinda bothered by my essay. Gotta get it done by wed... cause I'll be going to london! I can't believe I'm going this wednesday... I wanna go without being bogged down by anything. Be light hearted! You can dooooo it!

-missing you-

A first time for everything

2007-02-02T00:13:00.000+01:00

I've learnt something new about myself =D Not only can I play pool... I can play table tennis as well lol. Even though it's slow-mo table tennis (you will probably fall asleep when you watch me play), I'm still glad that I can actually return the ping pong ball without making a fool of myself. So I guess my ball sense isn't entirely non-existent. I shall remember to go to Spoletorp's table tennis room more often... make use of the facility since I'm paying so much for my room hah. Yay! Go go me! I shall conquer badminton and tennis next! I seem to be learning everything here... trying new things that I was once reluctant to attempt. Maybe I have too much time on my hands.

So I played table tennis on tuesday and I had a salsa lesson yesterday! Had it after gender class (which was soooo boring... I kept yawning in class) at sparta. Eugene was trying to teach me shoulder isolation, jazz box, susie Q uhhhhh and I revised most of the beginner's steps for salsa. It was fun but very stressful of course. I felt quite stupid when I lost track of the beat... and for some reason, I couldn't do the hip popping thing right. Need to practiseeeeee. I wanna go to intermediate level! I'm really glad that I can do salsa in lund though... I know that if I'm back at home, I wouldn't be as motivated cause I probably wouldn't have the time... and I would be stressed over school etc.

Ohhhh and I cooked chicken wings for dinner at sparta! I'm so proud of myself rofl. Although the chicken wings looked a tad too black... I still think that they tasted nice. (well maybe the rest didn't think so buuuut who caresss) For once I managed to cook something substantial! I mean I know how to cook plain rice, eggs, pasta and stuff... but I haven't really had the chance to cook a meat dish. Now I wanna cook chicken wings again =D I can try the method that gerald mentioned... chicken coated with honey and covered with biscuit crumbs. Mmmmmm.

I finally managed to see how VG's like! We went there pretty early to avoid the queue... in the end, we were the first to go in lol. We actually managed to get a couch... how rare is that. I mean usually back in Singapore, you don't really get a chance to sit down in a club... anyway we just sat down and nua-ed. The dance floor was empty so noone wanted to start dancing... noone was that confident about their dance moves hehe. We got to know a couple of swedes there... they were really nice people. They were more friendly that the average swede so our conversations weren't very awkward or anything. I had cidar to drink... and it's sooo sweeeeeet and nice lah! Apparently it's a very common swedish girl drink. Hehe, I'm really getting immersed into the culture eh. Of course there was dancing... the music was better than the first nation that we went to. Some R&B! =D The manchester guys joined the group of us... and I think ross went a bit insane. -_- I think I've had enough partyinnnnng. I wonder how my flatmates can go to nation parties every week.

Copenhagen - mixed feelings

2007-01-28T22:13:00.000+01:00

Before my trip to Copenhagen, people keep telling me how wonderful and beautiful the place is... they all loved it. I was really looking foward to seeing how great it is... but when I was there, I wasn't very impressed. Perhaps it was due to the poor weather (freezing cold) and poor itinery. Seriously, we didn't really have anything concrete planned. It was -extremely- free and easy. *sigh* I feel like I didn't really get to know the place... such a pity. I really need to do my touring homework before I get to the next destination (which happens to be London). Perhaps I'll head back to Copenhagen again in spring or summer... maybe I might fall in love with the place then. But then again, I will need loaaaaaaads of caash.

Day one

We reached Copenhagen pretty late I think so we couldn't do much. Checked into the hostel... which was pretty decent actually. Had 6 beds in the room... but it wasn't squeezy or anything. But of course we paid quite a for it (it was the cheapest though). We had a look at Christinia... a really shady place that isn't really acknowledged by Denmark. It was really dark when we went there... I couldn't really see where I was going. Apparently, the place was busted a few years ago cause it was filled with drug trafficking syndicates and what have you. You can still see people loitering around and selling drugs though. Ming and gerald actually bought some hash/weed then. Tsk tsk. It was my first time seeing such a dark side of society... it almost seemed surreal to me. Had quite an experience. Oh and the most ironic thing... they had a sign in Christiania saying 'Say no to hard drugs'. And it's strange how the name of the place begins with 'Christ'. Hmmmm.
We ended off the night by checking out the salsa club near the hostel... it was damn happening lah! The people were so pro that all we could do was stand by the side and watch Eugene do his thing. I really really really need to improve and recap my salsa dance moves. -_-

Day two

We had mcdonald's brekkie! But it's not the breakfast meals I'm talking about... they don't have those in Copenhagen. Can you believe it? Poor danish people. I can just imagine a nice, yummy looking big breakfast meal calling out to me. Ahhhh, heaven. We actually had to walk around in the rain to wait for mcdonald's to open. I think we were starving... quite pitiful actually. We stood outside looking in with pleading eyes haha. Visited the Carlsberg brewery! I didn't really learn much after the tour... I don't think any of us were really that interested in the history of Carlsberg beer lol. We were looking foward to the two bottles of free beer at the end of the tour. I think quite a few of us (especially yuxian and I) got a bit seh after drinking... we were playing seven up to finish up the drinks lol. I'm really training my alcohol tolerance =D Ohhh but it's so nice to walk in the cold after you drink some beer... you're so warm on the inside that the cold doesn't really bother you hee.

We wanted to go to the Erotica museum (obviously the guys were the ones who suggested it) but in the end we didn't. 100 danish kronas to get in... haha forget it. We're not that desperate to see sick eeky things. Luckily we met up with paul, gabby and john cause paul was the one with the great itinery. We just followed him around after that... to the round tower, gardens... around town. Then it was off to eat the chinese buffet! I think everyone was sick of paying so much for little food so we decided to just go for a buffet... it wasn't too bad. Obviously it can't be compared to the food we have in Singapore... but it was good enough. Besides, we were damn hungry. (I'm always hungry) Clubbed at Emma that night... really enjoyed it. We actually opened a bottle of Jack Daniel's... apparently, it was quite cheap. Whiskey + coke = nice =D Reminds me of once when I drank Chiva's Regal with coke at Tim's place with feng and the rest. The music was damn good! The place had table top dancers... and there was this famous Copenhagen rapper who performed as well. He was like a danish version of eminem hehe. And one other thing that I liked about the club was that it prohibited smoking. You don't end up smelling like a chimney after clubbing. They should ban smoking in Singapore clubs as well!

That night was especially fun cause it started snowing after we got out of the club. It was sooooooooo beautiful. It wasn't very cold when it snowed... in fact it got warmer. We were having snowball fights like crazy. Imagine a bunch of asian young adults doing that... we were in our own little world lol. We even built a snowman... which was extremely ugly haha. Our first snowman was a failure... it had burger remains for its eyes, nose and mouth. Its body was totally out of shape. Another danish clique near us actually laughed at our snowman heeeh.

Day three

Most of us were tooo tired to wake up to tour some more. I kinda regret not waking up early to join paul and the rest. I didn't get to see the castles and mermaid! *frown* Next time I'm just going to force myself to wake up... sleeping less won't kill ^_^ I think we slacked most of the day away... by the time we finished linner... it was already 3pm. Only managed to catch Christiania in the day... which is significantly different when compared to at night. It's so much less dodgy! Feels a lot safer too... (though we saw cops patrolling the area). We actually hung out at a pub cause the guys wanted to watch soccer... we ended up playing table hockey (I'm sooo bad at it) and spent quite a bit of money on it lol. (unbelievable) We even played pool at the Australian bar after that! I managed to practise my pool skills... they don't suck as bad now yay! =D But I still have no idea how to arrange the pool balls... hahaha. I will never get it right. Had late dinner with Ming's swedish friend... and that was about it! Really conked out that night... four girls actually squeezed on two beds but I was too tired to care.

Yup! That's all I can remember for the trip! Too tired to type anything moooooreeeeeee. I still need to copy notes for econs. Back to reality once again *yawn*

Pictures taken at the International Exchange Students party!

2007-01-25T11:56:00.000+01:00

From the left: me, ming, eugene, gerald chew, paul, gerald ang and yuxian

The two girls on the left: Yixin and Elaine

Candid shot!

Being pensive

2007-01-25T10:25:00.000+01:00

I think I'm getting used to living alone without my family. It's just very quiet in your room... and you have a lot of time to think about things. There's noone to tell you what you should do, noone to nag at you. Usually I don't feel that lonely since there's always msn and housemates in the corridor to talk to.

Suddenly, it just dawned on me that perhaps... I'm living the same life that I used to in Singapore. Back at home, I'm always in my room... my door is always closed. I rarely get out of my room... unless it's lunch or dinner time. My family members are pretty aloof actually. Mum's always watching her korean drama serials in her room... bro uses the computer most of the time. My granny sleeps in her room or watches the television in the living room area. Not a lot of communication in the house. -_- I think I mostly speak to my mum when I go out with her... either to the market or to places where she has to run some errands. We talk a lot in the car... but other than that, I don't think so. I miss those times when my dad was around... and we'll have funny conversations at the table. Laughing over dinner... eating fruits together. What happened to all that? I really don't know. There's also my sister... I miss staying with her under the same roof. I recall those times when we would laugh insanely over the most stupid things... and all those serious sharing conversations whilst lying on our bed. Life was so full of... life. heh.

I guess that is why I'm not feeling extremely homesick... or perhaps it's too early to say. *shrug* Anyway, I'll be going to copenhagen today! *beginning to feel excited* I won't be back still Sunday... I hope I'll have a blasting time over there. I heard it's a beautiful place... and I can't wait to see it for myself. Gonna miss talking to my friends back at home though... not going to be on msn for four days. *hugs* love you guys...

2007-01-23T11:21:00.000+01:00

Welcome to Spoletorp - My land of solace

My room! Looks comfy eh.

Yes! I have my own microwave, fridge, basin and toilet =D

My very very messy desk... will clean up soon lah.

My window... where I look to daydream.

The view from window... without snow.

Transformed with snow

Random photo on my bed *beams*

Snowing in Lund

2007-01-22T22:46:00.000+01:00

I had to wake up super early for class this morning! Didn't want to get lost... I was feeling really gloomy when I left my room but when I went downstairs, I was exhilarated! It was actually snowing! I left the building and started walking in the snow... I was -really- happy inside but I couldn't jump around in joy since I was alone. I was just silently celebrating. My first time seeing snow. It was truly beautiful. Although I had to go to class by myself, I didn't mind. I could admire everything around me without having to say a word to anyone. Lund covered in snow is totally different. I felt like I was somewhere else when I looked around... the trees were all covered in snow, the streets were pure white. I walked with snowflakes falling on my eyelashes... it just reminded me of the sound of music 'my favourite things'. I love that feeling... the snow was really dry so I didn't get wet or anything. It did get a lil troublesome though... when the snow got heavier. It's hard to open your eyes when you have snow flying right into your face. You gotta close your mouth too lol.

My first class was okay... I made friends with this canadian girl called Lisa. Sat beside her for class... we didn't really get to talk much since our lecture was in a seminar room and it's really small. The lecture content was quite boring. I had a hard time trying to listen to what the prof was saying. (she's from bangladesh) I really need to read up... assignment due 13th feb! gotta finish it by 7th since I'll be flying off to london. Lesson went by quite quickly... and I had the rest of the day free! I didn't do any work... haha. whee whee.

Yuxian left for germany today... so I'll be without her for the next couple of days! Everything seems fine atm... maybe cause the smu people accompanied me after she left. They stayed for dinner... julie and tomoki joined us =) There was quite a bit of gossip at the table... and it was really quite funny. Some of the guys were actually bitching haha. Guy bitching isn't niceee heh. I'm really glad I had some company... especially since all my friends in singapore won't come online at night in lund. Nevermind, I shall be independent! I came to lund to learn how to be independent anyway... it'll be good practice =D *go go go*

*does pom pom dance* go go you black black bao ;)

Morning thoughts

2007-01-21T11:29:00.000+01:00

Paul, Eugune and I had lunch with the hong kong exchange students yesterday. Yuxian felt really sick when were we on our way there so she didn't go in the end... poor thing. I just went along with the two guys anyway since it's always better to know more people now, especially in the first few weeks of exchange. The hong kong students seemed like cordial people... they would really make the effort to talk to us, making sure that we wouldn't feel left out. (we were seriously outnumbered)

I got to know this girl called Joanne... she has the really cute and trendy look. The type with a happy smile on her face all the time. She was telling me that she has a bf and stuff... and it kinda got me thinking -_- haaaaaaaaiiiiii. Anyway, I'm glad that I went for lunch cause I got to know shirley... another hong kong girl who wants to take development economics as well (yay!). She hasn't gotten the course yet but I'm really hoping she does! Don't really want to go to class alone the first lesson... which is on monday mind you. *sidetracks* AHHHHHHHHHH. Sian. School's really starting! I think we're going to meet up and go for class together... and not get lost. The department better not be huge. I don't want to look like a poor asian soul scurrying here and there looking for her classroom.

Gabrielle joined us for lunch as well... oh anyway I loved the place that we ate at! The pizza was really cheap and good apparently. I didn't have it though... damn. I shared some chicken slices whatever with chips with gabby and it was yummmmmmy. Cheap cheap too! Going to eat there when I feel too lazy to cook haha... great that it's near to the train station =D Gabby came over to my place to use the net... and we talked quite a bit. Was asking her about her family... and I found out that she's supporting herself financially throughout her university education. That includes the exchange! She was telling me that she refuses to use her parents' credit card cause then they won't ask her to pay them back. She's really independent lah... when I spoke to her, I felt really bad. I'm still sponging off my parents... and they're paying so much for everything. I really need to pay them back one day... and this better not slip my mind. I looove my parents! (not just cause they pay for my bills lol) I should cherish them more...

We had a welcome party at night... it was fantastic! Drank vodka redbull and a bit of beer here and there to get high. I need to stop stealing peoples' drinks lol. The alcohol was quite diluted lah... seriously. -_- But anyway I guess it's a good thing... I don't want to end up on the floor. I did end up looking like a lobster though... as usual. The music was better than the first party's... there was finally hip hop and r&b! It was really fun for me cause they played latin music as well... so I could dance a bit of salsa and I was taught merengue. =D I really want to learn intermediate salsa! Sooo niceeee. Sth bugged me during the clubbing though... I actually felt bad that we were being so cold to dominique. Can tell that yuxian's damn scared of him... but she makes it really obvious. He seems rather lonely... I was thinking that maybe we should give him another chance. We were kinda harsh on him... pretty bitchy lol. Hopefully he was just drunk that night lah. Anyway we took photos... jumped on the spot many many times (it's hard to do that in singapore) and observed random couples making out around us. It was uhhh interesting lol.

I realized that I try to siam when ang mohs look like they're trying to dance closer towards our group. I get uncomfortable... I mean saying hi to them and talking to them is one thing, but once they let loose... I try to avoid it lah. Looks like I'm conservative! Which is a really good thing! Hahah. *halo*

P.S. I know my blog's very naggy and boring =p

A little indolence

2007-01-19T23:35:00.000+01:00

Today was relaxing. No rush, no fuss. I woke up pretty late... didn't really have a good rest because my mummy called me at 4am to ask 'can you hear me? can you hear me?' lol, my mum is hilarious.
Anyway the whole day was slack slack slack. I only did some laundry (yup I managed to figure out how to do it yay!), chatted on skype with my sister and dad. Ahhh I miss them sooooooo. Anyway the rest of the day was kind of dedicated to shopping in town. I know! Shopping again! I need to stop myself from entering any shops. But I didn't spent a lot lah *trying to comfort self* Bought jeans cause I only brought two pairs over... bought a trendy looking cap as well. I better use it... or else I'm going to be pissed at myself. It's actually a guy's cap haha.

I'm starting to miss homeeeeeeeeee. Last night was really awful... it was really cold at night and I really wished there was someone around to give me a hug. Winters can really get to you. Was lying in bed when I started to think about my family, my friends... my special someone. *wistful sigh* Can't believe it's happening so fast. I must be strong! *flex* I must attempt not to be less susceptible to such missing-people attacks. It's nice to to be alone at times... cause you don't really have to care as much, but I still very much like to be surrounded by the people I love and adooore.

School's starting next week... I'm not sure if I'm going to be busier or slacker heh. With lessons beginning, I guess we won't be going out as much so I might have more time to stay in my room... blog, clean up and ponder about things. What new things will I learn in the new future?

The sights in lund...

2007-01-18T14:54:00.000+01:00

Yesterday ohhh yesterday

2007-01-18T10:49:00.000+01:00

Didn't go for swedish class yesterday so I managed to sleep innn! Felt really refreshed when I woke up =D Finally managed to find some time to go to town... it's really near to my place but we've been so busy (with I dunno what) that we couldn't really find the time before that. I'm really happy cause I managed to find my knee length boots in one of the stores! =D The boots I wore when I came over kept giving me blisters... and you know how much I have to walk over here. Anyway the boots I bought were on sale.. 50% haha. The catch thing is... the boots are size 38 so they're a lil big. I bought some shoe pads so that they won't be loose... they're really comfortable though! Haha... I sound like a bimbo.

Shopping around with the girls was nice... we could take our time since the guys weren't there to bug us lol. I hope I still remember the way around the shops. Everywhere's like having a sale... which isn't a good thing really. Need to save money! In the end we headed back to my place to cook after we bought food from ICA. My place is really convenient lah... think we'll be having more dinner parties here. (no need to travel yay!)

We had a pre party after dinner... played card games with the guys from UK. They're all really crazy people lool. They actually know how to play the rule/thumbmaster/blah game that we play in Singapore.. they call it the Ring of Fire though. It's quite a funny version so maybe I can teach it to my fellow friends back home =D All card games are of course accompanied by alcohol. Thank goodness we didn't have a lot of beer left... or else I think we'll all get drunk or something! The manchester guys are quite hardcore I tell you! But they're fun people lah... really friendly, but it's not a good idea to hang out with them every night lol. Argh... should have taken a photo with them!

Gerald (smu guy) was just saying that my place is damn happening but maybe it's not that good to stay here cause it might get a little too noisy at night. I agree to a certain extent... I mean it can get quite frustrating when you're damn tired and you REALLY need to sleep but there are people outside blasting music. Luckily I've been accustomed to loud noises since I live really near to the train station. You learn to block out a lot of things... haha.

We wanted to go for VG's nation party... we walked alllllllllll the way there and saw the super long queue. Everyone was cutting queue lah... all the international students from everywhere. Cutting queue is not uniquely singaporean... trust me -_- The queueing bit got a bit scary when domique started to say weird things to yuxian... think he had a bit too much to drink. She got so scared she kept asking me to stand in front of her! Poor thing... she's too charming lah. In the end we decided not to go... especially since dominique started freaking us out. Alcohol brings out the worst in people man!

Thereafter... the two of us had the 'nicest' time waiting for our bus for 50 minutes... only to realize that MAYBE the bus will never come. The feeling's just soooooooooooo -fantastic-. Standing at the bustop... walking to and fro so that we won't freeze our asses off. Making weird noises out of desperation... babbling positive things so that the bus will come. We were quite pitiful haha. I think we might need to shower ourselves with pomelo leaves... cause we're damn sway lah. We've been stranded for two nights in a roooooow lol. Luckily we managed to hail a cab... and it only took 5 minuets to get back. Welcome to uluuuuuuu Lund. =D

Just to add something out of the blue: I know how to peel carrots, boil pasta and cook rice! Wheeeeeee.

Schleepy... yawn

2007-01-16T00:31:00.000+01:00

I'm still going for my swedish class... not going to drop it anymore! I have been persuaded by ming and yuxian. I really really wanted to just give up in the beginning... but what the hell, I should just keeeeeeep going. We're just going to get a certificate at the end of the course but I'm hoping, I'll get a sense of accomplishment after completing it. At lest ming's in my class... or else I can really die. I've never been so lost in class before. Swedish is like gibberish to me. All I can remember is: Vad heter du? (meaning who are you?) Haha... I know it's pathetic.

We cooked meatball pasta at my place today. I had problems cutting up the onions... quite sad. Cannot make it! *frown* I was in charge of the spaghetti... and it was alright... though I took a bit too long to cook it =p It was tasty at the end though! Kudos to yuxian... I think she makes a fine cook.

I tried learning cycling today... another cannot make it experience rofl. I really regret not learning before I came to lund! Bah bah bah. Why didn't my daddy teach me cycling when I was younnnnnnnng. Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhy. I'm quite vexed about whether I should really get a bicycle... I guess I should really practise first.

Dinner at sparta was yummy! Had pasta again... this time jonathan was chef as well other than ming. Think he used to work at some italian restaurant. We waited quite a while for the food... we even had time to do some salsa! I revised some steps with eugene... one of huiyi's salsa friends. He's really good at it so I'm hoping to get to intermediate salsa in lund! We're all going to learn from eugene... haha. It was quite strange cause after dinner... most of the singaporeans starting to obsess about singaporean food. We've only been here for less than a week! I'm still okaay... I miss food back home but the topic of it doesn't really get me that excited. I talked to gabrielle (from new zealand), jonathan and paul instead.

OH! We actually saw condoms hanging down from the ceiling in the dining room at sparta! It was daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn grossssssssssssss. According to the guys who took them down later on, the condoms were actually used. So sick lah! Who in the right mind would hang such things in the middle of a dining room. -Some- sparta people have nothing better to do lol.

...

I think I just fell asleep in front of my lappy! That's a signal for me to head to bed! I think I need to add a tagboard... hoping to see my friends' greetings soon =D

Wheeee

2007-01-15T14:11:00.000+01:00

I think my flatmates are really nice people! It might seem a little too early to say but what the heck haha. A manchester guy just moved in... his name is Matt. Quite cute actually... dark hair, deep set eyes, you get the picture. I'm feeling quite ugly here hahaha. We actually had a flatmates gathering or dinner last night.

Yuxian and I were in charge of cooking fried pineapple rice... well I was learning from her, didn't really contribute much ^_^ Everyone helped a little and it was quite fun with quite a few of us in the kitchen... some people busy and some people pretending to be busy *cough* The sit down dinner was fantastic... quite a bit of dinner conversation. Dominique and Patrick were totally immersed in their intellectual convo and the rest of us were kinda stoning a bit after our very full dinner lol. Tomoki (japanese guy), Julie (french girl I mentioned before) and the other spanish girl... (can't remember her name) were kinda quiet... but hopefully they'll open up soon!

My excursion yesterday to Ystad was boring! 200 kronas down the drainnnnn. ugh. We saw the St Mary's church and some really small castle. The wind at Gilmmingehus was SO strong! I swear I had to hang onto someone when I was going against the wind. The countryside was still pretty green... just the grass of course. Nothing much to see... slept a whole lot on the bus. I had my first mcdonald's meal in sweden though! haha...

A few photos...

2007-01-15T00:41:00.000+01:00

At copenhagen airport!

Lund Central Station!

Welcome to Lund! Valkommen!

Ying in Lund!

2007-01-15T00:05:00.000+01:00

Finally! Haven't been able to find time to blog... I've been out the past few nights and most of the time when I get back to my room, I plonk myself onto the bed and concuss. Being an exchange student can be rather exhausting in the beginning -_- Anywaaay, Lund is a great place! Although the weather hasn't been very kind to us (with random bouts of rain and can-blow-you-away-wind), I've been able to explore the town. It's not super happening but it's a great place to relax and nua. The pace of life is really slow... and it's a rather quiet university town. =) I've been keeping note of what happened in the past couple of days and this is update. It might not be a long update cause I just typed a REALLY long post and it got deleted cause I shut down my laptop accidentally (don't ask ha).

Day One

- Bad start cause of my baggage probs... really sway cause the other smu students could get away with 40+ kg but I had to go to an annal baggage in charge person. Argh.

- Everything wasn't so bad cause my greatest friends sent me off (my IJ babes, shakineh, yilynn&xx) Thank you darlings! I love you alllllllll. Muacks! *heart*

- I was a bit upset due to my small quarrel with my mum. (I think everyone there knew about it cause it was pretty obvious heh) Things weren't too good between us before I left... but I still hugged my mummy goodbye when I had to go. I can't imagine being away from her for so lonnng. *sniff*

- It's hard saying goodbye I tell you. You have to hold back tears cause you'll end up making everyone cry and that's not very nice hehe. Those people who go abroad to study for long periods of time have it worse... poor things.

- I was excited nevertheless. I was going to have my journey to freedom!

- Flight to bangkok was really fast cause I was chatting with yuxian hehe. But I was quite bored cause there was thai airways has no personal inflight entertainment! I actually slept through most of the flight to copenhagen lol. Can't believe I really did that... amazing. I'm such a piggy.

- Getting to the train station at copenhagen was quite funny... we had a mini accident at the escalator. Oddly, the train station had no travelator so we had to lug our baggages down the escalator. They were so heavy that they ended up colliding into one another. So unglam! lol. But I guess it wasn't as bad as when we arrived at Lund Central Station. We had to carry our baggages down the stairs lah! The people in Lund must be damn strong or something... there was no lift or escalator. Maybe they just kick their bags down the stairs.

- Checked in at the AF building. Got my room and it's really nice! I love it! The furniture inside comes from Ikea I think (not suprising) and it's almost like an hotel to me. Will upload photos soon! I have my own bathroom, fridge and microwave... really self sufficient place. It's pretty easy for me to settle down in it.

- Yuxian's swedish friend Richard brought us around and taught us how to walk to AF/supermarket. That was just before we had turkish lunch with the SMU people... in the end we went to Ikea! Richard drove us there... he's a rather helpful guy... but then again I think he likes Yuxian so he might be nice for a reason heh. I got my dustbin and duvet there =D

Day Two

- I was late for swedish class! I tell you... swedish is damn difficult lah! I couldn't make a lot of the sounds... and it doesn't help that I have a pretty lousy teacher. She seems rather bitchy and superficial... but I might be wrong about her *shrug* Ming agrees though. The good thing is... I managed to speak more to Julie, the french girl staying in my apartment. She's rather soft spoken and shy... really sweet though. She helped my in class when I couldn't understand what my teacher was talking about when she spoke to me. I suck at swedish! Heeeh.

- Went for lunch with a big group of international students. We had italian food! Dining out in sweden is damn expensive. Sometimes I think I rather not eat. This place is really good for dieting lol. We got lost trying to get to the meeting place for our general information meeting... we ended up walking ALOT. So much walking in Lund... if not cycling. *sigh*

- We went to Elaine's place for dinner! The walk to her place was like 45 minutes... it seemed never ending *shudder* The walk was worth it though cause we had a damn good chinese dinner. Ming cooked for us =D Had Bah Kut Teh, teriyaki chicken, potatoes and rice. Played a lot of dai di and other card games. We're such gamblers lol. Had a bit of beer to warm ourselves... I have to say though, elaine's place is really quite exclusive. It's like a little house on its own. We got to know this asian aussie guy from sydney... Jonathan. He reminds me of yoza... the accent and appearance. Quite strange hehe.

Day Three

- Spoke to mummy on skype in the morning cause I woke up fairly early (still jet lagged I think) Only met up with the SMU peeps at 12 plus to hand in our enrollment forms. The walk to school was again very long... I think I can seriously tone my legs or lose weight here.

- My econs coordinator is really cool! He has ear piercings... long tied hair. He reminds me of a pirate... the wannabe pirate in dodgeball lol. He seems really nice too =D

- Hung out at sparta... we self invited ourselves and played heart attack at the common room. We must have been pretty bored lol. Headed back to get ready for the international welcome party held by a nation (student clubs in Lund). We ended up rushing cause we had a house meeting to decide what supplies to get for our kitchen and what duties to do. Chatted with patrick from holland and dominique from germany. Decided to go with dominique to the party cause he knew the way... Waaah the walk there was madness. And the best part was I didn't bring my letter of acceptance and I had to go alll the way baaaack to get it. The party wasn't even that fantastic when we got back! The music was sooo 'off'. I started to miss phuture/zouk when I was there. But I guess it was quite an experience... first clubbing with lots of ang mohs surrounding me lol.

Day Four (my eyes are beginning to close)

- We went to Malmo! Headed to the same Ikea... and got more stuff =D This time we had swedish meatballs... ooo yummy. Ten swedish meatballs is more than enough for me man.

- Had a look at Malmo casino... though we couldn't go in cause we didn't have our passports with us. Anyway there was an entrance fee and I wasn't really keen about spending that money.

- Malmo was really quiet... cause it was a sunday. It seemed like a ghost town... and we were quite disappointed. There's not much of a night life in Sweden. Maybe we should really go to spain soon... party party party!

Okieeeeeeeeeeeeeessss! That's enough blogging for the night! My shoulders starting to ache -_- *collapses*

*dreams of ba chor mee, bbqed chicken wings and teh chino*

testing post!

2007-01-07T19:13:00.001+01:00

*rawr!*