Updates on School & Life...

I have been here for almost 2 months but I've never mention much about school. The classes here are little compared to NUS but the people here are definitely as competitive as those in Singapore. Most people have not heard about the university I am studying in because it's a private school. But apparently, it's the most prestigious business school in Stockholm. The people here do all their readings well before classes and most of them are super wealthy according to my buddies. The school fees are much more expensive than the public university and the people here are super well-dressed with coats, boots etc. I remember when I went to Uppsala university, everyone dresses in wind-breakers, jeans and just sneakers. It's so different!

I am just done with my term paper and somehow I feel I will become stupid if I stay here for too long. My brain hasn't been working on any studies-related stuff unlike when I am in NUS. I have been watching Hong Kong dramas one after another.

Kim & I were planning to go for those sports activities like tennis, floorball or badminton but they needed us to bring our own rackets or equipment so we gave up. I have always wanted to learn tennis so I shall do something about it when I get back to Singapore. Anyone can teach me?!

Oh ya, I am so happy today! I have a friend who's visiting me in MAY!! We are planning to visit Italy together because she will only be staying for 10-11 days! I am ELATED!!! I hope more people come to visit me honestly. Seeing my neighbours having friends coming over to stay with them every now and then, I am really filled with envy.

Furthermore, recently I am having super good appetite! I am craving for food every night when I watch my show. I need some help to remove all those cravings if not those kilos I lost in the past 1 month will start coming back to haunt me!

To summarize my life for the past 2 months.. I think the exposure here has really broaden my horizon. The opportunity to mix with people of different nationalities, to spend time abroad on my own, live independently, visit different cities really changes my perspectives on a lot of things in life. Cultural differences, interpersonal relationships, general knowledge etc, I have gained much much more while I am here. There's this Chinese saying that literally means "Traveling a mile beats reading 10,000 books." I totally agree!

I totally love my life here as I was telling my sister. I hope time can slow down so I have more time to indulge myself in this happiness. It's kind of bad for me to say that because it will seem that I am not missing home, my family, my friends etc but I really like it here. It's just the way of life that makes me like it. I will strongly encourage everyone to spend time in Scandinavian countries and stop the big hoo ha about those beautiful cities like Paris or Rome. Of course, you must visit them at least once in your lifetime. However, I have always been a Paris-lover & it's a must-visit city on my list but I don't know if I will love it if you ask me to stay there for long because according to many friends, Paris is only a city worth visiting but not staying. We shall see!

I wonder how it will feel like when I go back to Singapore in June. The weather, the food, the streets & the pace of living. It will be totally different.

I may leave this place but the memories will stay with me forever. Like my backpacking trip in Vietnam in June 07 is definitely one of the most happiest period in my life. Although we had to endure long bus & train rides, budget accommodation, warm & humid weather at 40deg Celsius etc, I love each and every of the 18 days that I spent in the country. For all that, I thanked my traveling partners, CC.CB.YP for those precious memories. I will age and maybe one of these days when I am old, I will lose memory of them but at least for now, they are vividly in my mind. :)

Like what BY say, I will sooner or later become a Globe Trotter! That's my dream....

Arts or Science?

Status Updates:

1. I am pasta overloaded! I was supposed to oven-baked the pizza Kim & I bought from the supermarket for lunch when I saw one of the German guys preparing pasta. He offered to cook for me if I am planning to have lunch because the oven was occupied so I agreed. It's spaghetti with pesto, my favourite! So at 3:30pm, I ate one BIG plate of spaghetti mixed with penne. Then my Dutch neighbour came in and invited me to join them for dinner at 7pm. I gladly agreed so I had bolognaise with fettucine for dinner. Within 4 hours, I ate 2 big plates of PASTA!

2. My Dutch neighbour was baking strawberry cheese cake in the afternoon that's why the oven was unavailable. The cake was the dessert for the night. Of course, I had to pay. :) But it was FABULOUS! I haven't have cheesecake for ages! She asked me if I was going to join them for dinner tonight but I kindly rejected and told them I will be there tomorrow instead. I need to clear some of my fridge stuff because it's overloaded.

3. I added a new page element on my blog for learning French. I told myself I must start hitting my French Books before I forget them again. So, everyone can learn together with me alright? I specially picked the French Flag's colours, how nice!

4. I am re-uploading all my photos from the day I arrived in Stockholm till now and my laptop is super laggy as I am typing this post. But I can't afford to sit and watch it upload so I had to find something to do--> Blog!

Topic for the day!

A Question to ponder on: Do you think more of an Arts or Science person?

I was speaking to Kim's senior, a law student last week when I went over for dinner. She was an Arts student in VJC and we were talking about the difference between an Arts & a Science student. She told me that in NUS law school, you can see the distinction between an Arts & a Science student's essay. An Arts student will always beat around the bush and submit a 5-page essay while a Science student will most probably go straight to the point, summarize and submit at most a 2-page essay with both of them getting the same grade ultimately. I am not trying to judge whose writing style is better or smarter and time is not a factor under consideration because there won't be much of a difference anyway.

It's the difference in writing style that I am trying to point out. An Arts student always has more ideas when it comes to laying out their essay so they always seem to have more things to write while a Science student is super practical and just wants to talk about the main argument points. Eventually, Arts students work hard at shortening their essays to avoid exceeding the word limit while Science students have to lengthen their essays to hit the word limit. How irony that can be! haha...

Throwing over the question to you: Which category do you belong to?

Posts with no pictures are boring.. Here's to share..

The slippery Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo~

I was pretending to slip. One of my usual mischievous acts...

For me, I've always thought I was more to the Science side because since young, I've always excelled at Mathematics & Science rather than languages or humanities. I did countless personality tests when I was in poly while preparing for the psychometric test and the results always seem to put across to me that I am actually both left-&-right brain but I never believed until I went into NUS.

I don't deny the fact Mathematics is my favourite subject of all but I loved literature when I was in sec sch. It's a pity the school did not offer literature as a subject combination for triple science class in upper sec. So in the end, I did Geography. Then I went into poly and of course accounting & never pursue my interest in arts' subjects again. When I first went into NUS, I freaked out seeing the tons of essays assignments I was supposed to do. Most of the time, I will be asking around hoping to take modules with MCQs as final exams because I wanted to avoid all the essays-based examinations. I feared I won't be able to cope with it because my English isn't that good after all. I hate reading literature texts or course packs and I complained about them every other.

However, as I recall my conversation with an Arts friend half a year ago, I remember myself saying I see the change in myself already. I love reading & totally don't mind writing tons of essays for submission. If it wasn't my interest in economics, political science would have been my major. Look at my blog entries & their length and you can use it to substantiate my claim. I am starting to feel an entry a day is insufficient to contain all my thoughts and feelings. :) But of course, my blog put together with those of my other Arts friend still pales in comparison. It's the huge vocabulary that sets the difference. But I will work hard to improve on it.

My Answer to the question earlier on: I belong to the first type. Arts blood runs in me.

Deep in my heart, I've always had this dream. The dream to be a LAWYER. But I knew my English isn't up to standard & I thought I wasn't an Arts person so I gave up this dream long ago, back when I was in sec sch.

#If only my English had been better so I can articulate and write better

#If only I had participated in all forms of debates in school

#If only I had discovered this latent Arts ability of mine years back,

the path I am taking now would have been completely different. Honestly, I will consider going to graduate school to study Law, Political Science or Public Adminstration in future if I still have the zest for it. But I've no regrets doing what I am doing right now because I love my life.

J'aime ma vie!

Circumstances & Life

Indeed, my throat is sore today! :(

Inspiration for this post: I read through my sis's blog today on leaving your sec sch. I am aware that I've posted comments on it before but I can't help adding on. 

71 asks:"Did anyone kept their sec sch uniform in their wardrobe?" 

71:"I did!"

 

When I first went into my sec sch, I kind of disliked it. It wasn't my first choice. But the day when I left it, I am proud to say if I'd the chance to choose schools again, it would definitely have been my 1st choice! I guess it's the people that I miss, the precious memories each and everyone in the school gave me that made me loved it. I had both happy and unhappy memories but now, I can only remember the happy ones honestly. All the silly things I once did-if I say it out here, everyone else would start laughing at the computer screen and my sec sch classmates will be nodding their head in agreement. I kept my uniform because it forms part of my memory of the school. Also, it's a way of reminding myself how skinny I used to be because I can no longer fit it! haha...  

 

To my sis: There may be a lot of things that you are unhappy about with your school currently but always bear this in mind-What's done cannot be undone so why not make the best out of your jc life by being more participative in class and I am sure you will be happier. :) 

I understand how it's like to feel out of place in a new environment but everyone goes through the same process. It's always this scenario. When you first enter into a new environment, you dislike everything about it. I think it's natural everyone thinks this way. But since you've already landed yourself that and you can't undo it, just ADAPT and GET ON WITH LIFE! Learn to like it and you'll be happier. 

I transferred school when I was in Pri 4 to a totally new environment. I hated it. 

I entered sec sch all alone without any friends from pri sch. I'd no choice but to adapt to it. 

I went into NP Accounting by myself with my besties all in SP. I tumbled through it. 

I moved into NUS and went for orientation ALONE when everyone else around me had friends from JC. I forced myself to like it. 

2 months ago, I went on SEP to Stockholm, Sweden, leaving all the people DEAREST to me once again to survive in another continent. Now, I am loving it. 

In all the above scenarios, I wondered to myself why weren't my friends with me, why did I have to go to NUS alone blah blah blah...Especially when I was in NUS, I told myself I will adapt and now I've survived through 1.5 years. 

Currently, my threshold is high enough to withstand all kind of new environments. I wouldn't mind getting a role as Tom Hanks in Castaway. :)

To everyone out there reading this post, we all have to enter new environments constantly and if you can't change the circumstances, change yourself and I assure you will start to see things from a different perspective. If I can do it, I am sure people around me can as well. I hope this gives you some motivation if you are waiting to get into a new environment. :)

Why do we blog?

Surprise! Wu Zun's Blog!

But get this clear. I am no fan of Wu Zun. I just happened to browse across his blog and I thought you guys might be interested to check it out.

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/wuchun10cool

That's the link. If only Pan Yu Wen had a blog.

I was discussing with a friend about the purpose of blogging. He doesn't blog about his personal life, only his hobby. I thought his blog was quite interesting after reading it last night since I had nothing better to do and I didn't want to watch shows all the time. Like him, I hate to read blogs full of complains or routines. I mean it's true that blog is a very personal thing and you can blog about anything you want but if it's just full of complains & routines, it really bores your readers.

I don't blog when I am in Singapore because I think I don't have the time and I prefer talking to my friends about my life through phone or sms. But I think I will continue blogging after I am back honestly because I feel that blogs need not just have information on your life. It's my thoughts that I would love to share. :)

Current Status

I am going to have a sore throat once again.

I went over to Kim's senior dorm for dinner on Sat night. It was an invitation for mahjong after dinner. I had roast chicken. It wasn't too bad but maybe I don't really like stuffs with bones. I ate the chocolate cake which they baked. It was fabulous. I forgot to take photos of it though. It was like an exchange. She came over for dinner on Fri night and we cooked pasta for her.


There's this amazing chocolate chip cookies in Stockholm and I first tasted it 2 days after I arrived because Kim's previous tenant left her a packet. I craved for it all the time but i convinced myself not to buy it by saying it's too expensive @ $3 a packet. But when it went on sale on 18/02 and became $2 a packet, I gave way and bought them. I started with 2 packets and I realised it wasn't enough. I kept buying and I even showed them to my bro. He told me to bring back 10 packets but it's impossible. Instead, I stocked up 4 packets in my luggage to bring back for him. The offer's for a week and today is the last day. Up-to-date, I actually bought 14 packets of these cookies, which means I spent 126Kr this week for cookies. I only have 4 packets left in my room which means I ate 6 packets of those cookies in a week. I am impressed. This explains why I am having a sore throat and most probably, my jeans will get tighter by next week.

The Best Cookies! It's like Famous Amos!

We have something similar in Singapore too and my mum used to buy it quite often. It's named Bolsters. After trying it, you will know why I am so addicted to it. :)

Reciprocate

I accomplished 2 fulfilling tasks the past 2 days.

Friday Evening_Night

Although I've been here for 2 months, I'd never chatted with my brother using skype until a few days ago. We were discussing about handling interpersonal relationships. I believe most of you have met people in life whom you don't hate them but you don't really like them. It has always been my case when I talk about that "sidetrack" person. haha.. My bro commented that she's really pitiful after listening to my stories about her. He advised me to be nicer to her & my bro's words did have some impact on me.

She's quite nice to me the past week, offering me food when she cooked. Furthermore, I am the one that usually sleeps later than she does. She will never switch off the lights no matter how late I stay awake though I told her that I don't mind working in the dark. At least that's her way of showing some consideration. So I thought I should reciprocate. When I was at the Japan Week event, I brought back the cake and the sweets for her & her face lighted up. It makes me feel good seeing that my little act brighten up someone else's day. She asked me for help the past few days, directions, information etc & I lent her a listening ear when she needed someone to complain to.

I feel I am starting to treat her like a friend rather than just a roomie. :)

Saturday Afternoon

I realised something new about myself this afternoon. If someone treats me well, I will reciprocate him/her by being nice double. But if someone treats me badly, most probably I will reciprocate by hurting him/her back what he/she does to me!

After my post yesterday, I need to take back some comments I guess. I woke up this afternoon and saw my cute french neighbour cleaning his room! I am not showing favouritism or being biased but apparently, he's one of the neater and cleaner guys among the lot of men here! I had another Canadian neighbour and his room is a total mess with clothes, beers, towels, bags lying at every corner (even worst than my roomie). What that french neighhbour did was he moved out all his tables and chairs in his room and did a thorough cleaning up of his room.

I was surprised.

After he was done with his room, he went to the communal kitchen and he started working on the cleanliness of the kitchen. Didn't I just say that he's the laid-back kind 24 hours ago? Haha.. Seeing him doing it all alone, I helped him even without him asking for help when he saw me. I didn't offer to help, I just HELPED. Frankly speaking, if it had been someone else doing it, maybe I would have just said "Hi" and walked past, totally can't be bothered or maybe offer to help first and observe his or her reply. But it was him, someone who has been really nice to me (he's nice to most people actually), especially offering his laptop so I could watch soccer so I felt I should reciprocate.

So, I spent almost an hour helping him to tidy up the communal kitchen in the end. You will be amazed by what he did honestly.

What he did--> <-- What I did
^Cleared all the dishes #Cleared all the beer bottles
^Washed every single pot & pan #Put the utensils into dish-washing machine
^Scrubbed the hotplate and the sink #Wipe the tables & the sink after him
^Vacuum & Mopped the floor #Swept the floor & empty the garbage

It was freaking clean after he scrubbed the kitchenware and the hotplate. Then, I tried to vacuum the floor first so he could mop it but I am quite clumsy when it comes to using vacuum cleaner & I don't know why. Haha! So he say he can vacuum it & I can just stand at the corner and watch him do it.

Actually, there's a schedule that states who's responsible for cleaning up the kitchen every week. It wasn't our turn this week but no one cares about it anyway. We felt a sense of achievement after seeing the clean & tidy kitchen seriously. He said I did a perfect job & he appreciates my help so he offered to get me lunch as he was on his way to get his but of course I didn't accept. I didn't expect anything in return when I helped him. But he said he can invite me over when he cooks someday.

In the evening, when I went back to the kitchen, many of them thanked me for helping to clean up. I felt I didn't do much so I said it was that french guy who did the job. I wasn't trying to be polite but I felt I didn't do much honestly.

But he said, "No. We did it together."

I felt a sense of fulfillment when I heard that. :) It wasn't because people thanked me and I find it satisfying, neither was it because I think the french guy is cute and helping him makes me feel good. It was the bond that was established between me & the rest of my neighbours, the feeling of working together with him as a team to get things done & me doing something without asking for any return that made my day. (",)

Ask yourself: When was the last time you VOLUNTARILY worked in a team with someone without any conditions attached or without any personal gains? When was the last time you did something not expecting anything in return?

I guess this is something that varies inversely with growing up, at least for me.

Your Nationality determines your Character?

I had a great conversation with one of the Dutch Lady here. I would like to share with everyone and to those that had been to Europe or have many international friends can feel free to share their comments...

We were discussing about how your nationality or culture determines your attitude in life. In particular, we were looking at the guys around in our dorm and we came up with these few conclusions.

Germans: They are kind of male-chauvinistic but they really take good care of people especially girls because they think that they are strong men who can protect women.

French: They have a super laid-back attitude towards life, always taking their own sweet time, scrambling around to find the right thing in life. They are creative and good with people but they are definitely not the type of person whom you can be dependent on.

Spanish: Almost similar to the French, don't have much of a clue to what they really want in life so they adopt a laid-back attitude as well. Indecisive is the word. Party, Drink & Dance is their LIFE ?

Swiss: The most reliant people among the European gang. They always seem to know what they want and they don't just do the talking. They get things done. Is that the reason why Switzerland is Europe's Banking & Financial Centre?

Why were we gossiping about the guys in our dorm in the first place? Actually, 2 of them bought bikes so the Dutch girl was talking about it. She cycles in the Netherlands everywhere and she's contemplating about getting one but she doesn't feel comfortable cycling around by herself. Neither does she want to follow those 2 guys around because the 1 of them is French & the other is a German that grows up in Spain so he's kinda Spanish-like? haha.. I totally would like to get one too so we were saying we can get one each. But, it's only 4 months left so after doing the accounting, we felt it wouldn't be a good buy. It's cheap for her to ship back to Holland but it's definitely a NO-NO for me to bring it back to Singapore. European bikes are really of good quality I guess. Look at their tyres and rims! I love them :)

Japan Week Plus City Hall Reception

Updates about the Japan week event on Tuesday night.
The event was held at the NobelMuseet, museum of Alfred Nobel's lifetime contribution to the world and the prestigious Nobel Prize today!

Kim & me were there to... basically, EAT! There wasn't a wide variety of sushi, sadly. There were only like 4 different types of sushi and 2 were sashimi, dory fish & salmon. There were also cooked-prawn sushi & salmon maki. I tried all of course, how I missed SUSHI! I am usually not a sashimi-lover but that was authentic Japanese Sushi and the salmon sashimi was FABULOUS!

After the sushi, we just walked around, looked at a few exhibits of Japan's history, key inventions and popular leisure activities like origami. Oh ya, drank sake & it wasn't too bad! There was a room reserved for drawing your personal manga protrait. There was an extremely long queue and Kim & I really wanted our personalised manga picture. We were too SLOW!

There were lots of other snacks anyway, like Japanese sweets, chips (Wasabe flavour, extremely nice!) etc. There's a type of cake which I don't really know how to describe it but it resembles those small pastry which we buy during Mooncake festival. I am bad with words. :(

Well, I walked around the museum and glance through stuffs on Alfred Nobel and he's such a genius! To become a millionaire, you don't have to work so hard actually. Haha..You should just try to win a Nobel Prize! haha. One prize is worth $10million. MR NOBEL is FILTHY RICH! All the cash that comes with the prize is part of his assets. So sad he didn't have any children but it might be a blessing in disguise- otherwise we will lose all the inventions in the world today.

Kim's senior who stays at another dorm suggested we go over as they cooked WANTON NOODLES and there were lots of leftovers. By the way, I really need to let everyone know:

71 shouts:"I found MAHJONG KAKEES!"

I played mahjong last friday with Kim's seniors & friends. They are all NUS students as well but they are doing their exchange at Stockholm University so they stay at another dorm which is just 5 minutes walk from school. They cooked Basili chicken (chicken in vinegar) when we went over with rice! That was the first time I ate rice in Stockholm. haha.. It was good I've to admit. So Kim & I said we must do something about our menu. All we have been cooking all these while is Pastas, Fried Noodles or BeeHoon & Pizza. But I don't know why, I just love PASTA & PIZZA!

Wednesday night- City Hall Reception
It was a reception held for all international exchange students, researchers etc. The weather wasn't too good last night to be honest. I was in skirt and had to walk 1km as usual. I forgot about wearing tights. The food was seriously GOOD! But everyone was like rushing and cut queues. Apparently, Singaporeans ain't the Kiasu lot! Those Europeans, Americans, Indians (since they come from all parts of the world) etc are equally KIASU! All the blabbering about them being civilised and putting down us Singaporeans? I prove that point wrong last night!

They opened the main hall, which they call it the Blue Hall but it's not in blue though and the golden room. I bet you guys must have seen the photos of the two rooms in January when I posted my visit to the City Hall. Once the welcome speech was done, everyone simply pushed and squeezed their way up to the Golden Room because they thought it was like some VIP room when it's just normal like the Blue Hall! Oh my! I didn't take pictures because the situation was kind of chaotic and I didn't have time to bother about pictures. I had to make sure I don't fall down from all the pushing! haha..

When it was time to get food, I waited half an hour yet I didn't get a single piece of food on my plate. So in the end, we had to be kiasu and cut queue before I finally get some salmon to fill my EMPTY stomach! There was this Caucasian guy who confronted one of my friends but we were definitely not in the wrong! We queued like everyone else did but we didn't get our food so we had to cut queue instead.

It was a short reception though, about 1.5hours (because it's costly to book that place) and there was no follow-up activity sad to say. But there was SOCCER! I almost forgot about it Arsenal Vs Milan. They telecast Champions League here... :) But there was only one match.

Kim's senior's friend actually gave me a web-link to watch soccer online but it didn't work with MAC! In order to be able to catch the game, you need to download this sopcast player or some other player but the installation file is in .exe which Macbook doesn't supports. I tried to view the ManUtd Vs Arsenal FA Cup game last weekend and it failed. I missed the first half game because I was trying to download Crossover which allows me to switch to Windows and hopefully i will be able to install the application but it failed. Fortunately, I have a nice neighbour!

The cute french guy was watching the match on his PC and he say I could watch his. Apparently, he decided to go have dinner because Arsenal was down 3-0 by half-time and he kinda likes Arsenal. So sad... So I watched the 2nd half of the game. Like I told my brother, when I watch soccer now and see Old Trafford, memories flood back to me. That place is like so familiar to me! I've been there! The seats, the pitch, the dugout etc etc..

Back to Champions League game-I watched the match in the common kitchen on TV with the large group of football-fanatics (students) staying at my dorm. It wasn't a good game seriously. What happened was that the french guy & another german guy brought their laptops to the kitchen and 3 matches were being viewed concurrently!

1) Arsenal Vs AC Milan on TV
2) Lyon Vs ManUtd on PC
3) Celtic Vs Barcelona on PC

Why these 3 matches? The french guy obviously supports Lyon (french team) so he wanted to watch that match. The German guy grew up in Barcelona so he's a Die-Hard Barca fan so he was watching the Barca match! The thing with the PC is that it's like 15 secs behind actual play. So there was once when I saw updates on the score on TV but I've yet to see the goal on PC. Haha.. I watched the Arsenal game for the first half and after that I switched to the ManUtd match.

Anyway, when Lyon scored, the french guy was CHEERING!

He was going:"I am sorry, Ginnelle! Man Utd don't look too good today." haha..

But when ManUtd finally scored in the 87th minute,

I was going: "I am sorry! ManUtd made a comeback. We are still friends, ain't we?" haha...

It was so important for ManUtd to get an AWAY goal!

The Arsenal match was a disappointing one seriously. I had expected some really entertaining football going on but all it was - Poor freekicks being taken, players going down easily, Adebayor missing the open header (alright, it hit the bar actually.), Kaka not in condition. The Barca & ManUtd matches were much better! I was hoping Milan will win & the french guy was rooting for Arsenal!

It's just coincidental that I dislike the teams he roots for and vice versa. I've been mentioning his name a lot i realise but if not for him, there won't be any football for me so I really need to thank him! We agreed to watch the AWAY game together for ManUtd Vs Lyon 2 weeks later! It's much more fun when two people that supports the same team watch the match together because you DOUBLE the HAPPINESS when your team wins and DIVIDES the UNHAPPINESS when your team loses. But sad to say, I've yet to find any ManUtd Fan here.

Lastly about my roomie.. At the reception, I hope she enjoyed herself. My brother says I should be nicer to her and show her more concern. I hoped I did a good job ystd at the City Hall reception by companying her throughout the reception :) Catch the photos!

The photo below: Apparently, I will say he's one of the most friendly guy in our dorm, almost making friends with everyone. I didn't take any photos with him at the Welcome Dinner because he didn't attend so when I saw him that day, we said we must take photos. He's a very NICE guy, from Switzerland. He knew he's kinda tall and in order to make the photo look better, he actually bent lower to accommodate my height. The first one was quite bad. This was the 2nd attempt. To add on to the surprise, my roomie was the one who took this photo. haha!

Ginnelle.Simon

Group photo-Mixed Nationalities: Dutch, Singaporeans, Swiss, Cambodian, Swedish & German

See my roomie? The other 2 girls are from Serbia & Hungary respectively. The Serbia girl (beside me) is another very friendly soul who makes friends with EVERYONE!

The BEST Photo: My Soccer-match provider! The French Neighbour! haha.. This was taken when the reception was about to end and everyone had finished their wine and was going around asking, "Is there any more wine?" We were the last few who still had wine left. So we said we should take a photo to signal that we are the last few CONTENDERS! We are SMART to save some towards the end. We had to take 3 shots because we didn't have a good photographer around. Why? They kept taking photos of our faces WITHOUT our WINE when the wine should have been the focus! Still, the 3rd one wasn't too good! There was one which was quite nice with the wine in the picture but he said I must delete that photo cos he felt he didn't look good in that picture. I even did a self-shot but he looked totally lost in it. He said I should pre-amp him.

Oh ya! Anyway, we are just exact opposites! We support different soccer teams and we have different preferences for wine! Red for him & White for me! I don't know but it's like my natural instinct to go for white wine. I only tried red wine once or twice. Maybe I should go for red wine the next time round!

Ginnelle.Damien

Home Sweet Home after Soccer match.... :)

News~!

Alright, I have 2 pieces of information on hand, one good and one bad.

Bad: "I have a term paper to do right now! "
Good: "My handphone is working!"

Currencies & Food

Something picturesque to share:

1) Currencies of different nations... 

Swedish Kroners--- 

Norwegian Kroners 

Great Britain Pounds

2) Food-Fried Noodles

Ingredients: Carrots, Mushrooms, Hot Dogs, Fish

Penne Pasta-Bacon, Mushrooms, Crabmeat 

The worst thing to happen when overseas

I met with a problem last Saturday..
It's not been resolved yet..
I hope I settle it tomorrow..
My damn water bottle got me into trouble..
Water leaked from it and went straight into my handphone..
My handphone can't be switched on right now..
It's been 2 days!
I am "UNCONTACTABLE" for 2 days already!
That's the last thing that you want to experience when aboard
I can't get a new phone because the cheapest phone around with no contract is probably S$800
Maybe my phone is tired
It needs a rest and that's its way of signalling it to me
I will try to get it working tomorrow again
Hopefully it has enjoyed its "vacation"

I realise my English has improved
No more "lah,leh,lor,ah" in my conversations on msn
I just don't feel comfortable seeing them
I hope they disappear from my oral conversations totally by the time I am back in Singapore
I hate their existence!
What's happening to me?
Why am I becoming more and more "UNSINGAPOREAN"?

This week is Japan week in Stockholm
Will be going for a Sushi reception tomorrow night
How I missed Sushi..... YUMMY!
Totally looking forward to it.. :)

Pressies~~

I make myself post one entry every single day so you guys won't be bored. 

Finally the 5th present appeared in Manchester! 

Congratulations to my Brother! 

I sent him the photo of his pressie already

Otherwise it will be a long wait-5 months to see that present

It's the Man Utd Jersey 

Always felt my brother is a lucky man

He's got 2 women who loves him more than he loves himself in this world

No.1 --> My MOTHER! 

I think my mom loves her children more than she loves herself to be honest

Maybe you people will think that I am bullshitting

Which MOM doesn't love her children?

The answer is: All moms love their children but it may not be more than they love themselves

So ask yourself: Do you have a MOM who loves you more than she loves herself?

Willing to sacrifice herself for you?

I think I am seeing some heads nodding in agreement with me RIGHT now!

Don't be sad if you don't have a mom like me :)

Don't be snobbish if you have one like me too :)

Just tell yourself that if one day you were to become a parent

Make sure you are able to put your KID before YOU! 

No.2 His Girlfriend

No details but I just feel this way

So my dear brother

You must have accumulated tons of good deeds in your previous life

I might be the 3rd woman in this world that loves you more than you love yourself

But I told myself I am not going to indulge you in that 

I will love you on par with how much you love yourself 

No.5 Pressie

For the 6th present, the honour goes to WenX !

Well, he's my fellow ManUtd supporter

SO he's next when it comes to present

What's more, his birthday is in MAY! 

So he has the priority! 

I would love to buy him a jersey too 

But he will understand my situation that I can't afford another jersey after buying my bro one

If you are smart, you can guess the price of one jersey in Manchester

So I bought him something else from MUFC which is still quite expensive 

But cheaper than the jersey 

7th pressie-Goes to AG

I owed him a birthday present from last Dec

He may never read his post

But at one of the toughest period in my life

He gave me a big pull & I really appreciate it! 

Like me, he's another MUFC supporter

SO he definitely deserves something nice from me this time round 

8th pressie-TL

Someone who asks me if I missed him almost every single time I see him online

How can i forget him? 

He stands on the heavier side of our friendship

I can see he puts in a lot of effort to maintain the friendship

He buys me stuff whenever he goes overseas

Plus I promised him his B'day present will be from Europe though it's in JULY

9th Pressie- BenC

Someone who always question my sincerity in being friends with him

BUT BENC, don't doubt me! 

I gave him a choice between 2- he's greedy

He wanted both

But SORRY, it will only be one for YOU

Yeah, another MAY B'day BOY

I got lots of friends who are May Babies

10th Pressie-Alvin

Still in collection but at least I got my first item

I will try hard to complete the rest 

By now, frankly speaking, my luggage is already quite full from the above 10 pressies that I have gotten. I haven't even put in my own CLOTHES. You know why? Most of them had been wrapped up so they take up a lot of space. My pocket has a BIG BURNT HOLE too. If you haven't seen your name, don't worry. I still have 5 months to go. If I see something that suits you, I will buy. But like I said, I can't guarantee everyone a present not only because of Financial Constraint but because more importantly--BAGGAGE constraint! 

If I had PERSONALLY promised you a present before I leave (Lucky I didn't make too many promises), I will make sure I honour it. Moral of the story: Don't make promises ANYHOW!

To my SIS, DAD & MUM, no worries, no matter how tight any of the above constraints, you will definitely have one from ME! 

Thoughts on travelling alone...

I have always thought about the idea of traveling by myself to different cities and I never find it lonely or whatsoever just by thinking until I experienced it personally! There are really pros & cons when it comes to traveling alone.. I can name a thousand bad things about traveling alone but maybe I can only name 2 or 3 good things.. haha.. Maybe it works for those people who can do everything by themselves but definitely not for me, someone who loves being around people, I kind of find it boring... That's ME! I like to share with other people what I see, talk about it etc etc but when i travel alone, no one shares any of my tales or excitement.. I need my FAMILY & FRIENDS! But my roomie can! haha.. She told me when she came back from London that she kind of enjoy the feel of traveling alone! That explains why She's HER and I am ME!

1stly: I recall what my cousin told me when she went to Paris, "Eiffel tower is just a tower to her when she saw it!" Maybe it was because she saw it by herself or with some other stewardess who aren't that close with her. Now, I finally understand how she felt right at that moment & the meaning of those words! To me, it's the same thing.. Windsor Castle is just a Castle though I was really overwhelmed by the "AURA" that surrounds it! Nothing special! That's all because no one shares my excitement!

2ndly: You can only take pictures of the sceneries without you yourself in it! haha..No one will be around to take photo of you but of course you can get those passer-by to do you a favour but it's kinda tiring to keep asking people for help. What's more, you can't guarantee that they will take good photos with what you want as background!

3rdly: Don't ever get lost! You will become the typical character in movies or shows where you stand in the middle of the streets by yourself with lots of people walking past you quickly! You try to seek help, some will lend u a helping hand while others might just ignore you...

4thly: No one will share food, lodging, or the heavy bags that you carry! You do everything by YOURSELF!

However, the good thing about it is:
1) You need not accommodate anyone and you can do everything at your own time and own target! It's like you plan what you want to do, where you want to visit without any considerations of anybody else... Even if you don't follow the schedule, it doesn't matter because you won't affect anyone.. You won't have the feeling of "I don't feel like doing this but I am obliged to do this because my friend wants to do this!"

2) You learn to step out of your comfort zone & you will try things that you won't do if you had a friend around you. You learn to take care of yourself, meet new friends etc etc... You stretch both your physical & mental limits!

3) You become a SELF-SHOT expert! Prior to this, I wasn't that good at taking self-shots. It was always Kim who does all the self-shots that you see on facebook. But now, I dare to say I am quite proficient too. haha..

So after this trip, there are 2 people that I must name to show my deepest admiration for them:
1) Bihong: I finally understood how it feels to be an air-stewardess and why you want to quit that job. I don't know much about the job scope but I can feel your loneliness when you spend time abroad by yourself!
2) Alvin: How can you ever travel to Germany & Belgium for 2 weeks doing everything alone?!

Nevertheless, I still enjoy this trip because I learnt a lot out of it, fulfil my dream and am able to put myself into other's shoes!

I must appeal to all those out there: Please come to Europe! I need someone to travel with me otherwise I will be super lonely!! haha... But even if no one comes, I will still go by myself.... Nothing can stop me from realising those words in BLUE on my Blog Title except Money & Time :)

Concluding Remarks on Manchester!

I realise these few days my entries are all lengthy and full of pictures! Hope all you guys enjoyed all the photos and entries. I know posts on Manchester are all about SOCCER and you guys must be really bored by it but that's what Manchester is all about-Football, football and more football!

I had my share of happiness and freak-out incidents in Manchester seriously. Putting aside that "I lost my way incident", my boots played a joke on me while I was there. They tore while I was in Manchester and because I had to catch the match, I didn't have time to buy them. Shops open at only 11am or 12pm on Sunday and they close by 4pm. So I had to bear with those torn boots (like beggar kind). On Monday, I had time to buy them finally when I was shopping in Manchester but the queue was too long and I ran out of time to queue for them. Just as I was about to catch the bus to the airport, the boots finally gave way! So what I did was to take out my M'phosis slippers from my bag and wear them. Imagine: Me wearing slippers at 3degrees! I wore the slippers to Hard rock cafe in Manchester, took a bus back to the Picadilly Station and walked to the bus stop to catch the airport shuttle. After I arrived at the airport, I continue to wear the slippers to the plane. When I finally reached Stockholm City, I realise the last train was gone and I had to walk back (about 1km) from the City terminalen to my Dorm which is about 20minutes at 1degrees at 1:10am!

Trust me, it was freaking COLD and my feet almost went numb. Furthermore, it was the first time I walked home alone in the middle of the night at Stockholm after being here for 1.5 months. But don't worry, people who know me well will know I am a tough girl! I can survive all these. Stockholm is really a very safe place to be honest. Along the way, as I was freezing, I just kept thinking of the chocolates that I can eat once I reach my dorm, reflect on the scenes at Manchester & time whiz past!

I also had a shocking experience on the bus in Manchester. It was Monday, peak hours and there were lots of cars on the road. Like London, cars parked by the roadside and you have to be extremely careful when it comes to corners and bends. At a particular traffic light junction, the bus was turning left and there was this black family crossing the road! The bus nearly hit the daughter, a teenager, but luckily the bus driver swerve away and hit another bus by the side. It wasn't a major knock but the bus driver simply opened the doors and scolded the BLACK guy! The black guy was so mad that he STOMPED up the bus and F***** the driver at least 20 times!! Fortunately, there's this safety feature on all buses in Manchester that I observe where there's a glass panel that protects the bus driver. Apparently, I guess this is to stop abuse at the driver. If not for that security feature, I guess that bus driver (a rather old man) would most probably have been beaten to death by that black guy! But he was kind of in the wrong too because he called the black guy Nigger which is super racist. I kind of freaked out when that happen because I was running late to catch the airport shuttle and if any fight were to take place, I might most probably miss my flight back to Stockholm.

Also, I went to the Chinatown in Manchester and it was really packed (just like Singapore) but there wasn't any Bak Kwa or whatsoever. Just those candies and nian gao so I was kind of disappointed and left.

Next to all people who have plans to visit MUFC-Stay near the club if you are just interested in watching football otherwise stay at the city centre if you want both soccer & shopping. Though there are trains to Old Trafford (only on Matchdays), it's in quite a suburb place and it isn't that easy to find seriously. So might as well stay near the city centre so you can shop at night or have some night activities in the city then take a cab straight to MUFC in the day.

Lastly, Manchester has the same flawed train system like Norway. Haha. You buy tickets on the platform and the train staff will conduct random checks. If they don't check, you can forget about buying a ticket and just travel for free. Ain't the Europeans the father of trains? Why are their train systems FLAWED?

Streets of Manchester

That's the Old Trafford Train Station that is only in operation on Matchdays

Manchester ChinaTown

Liverpool City from the plane!

The thing about airport security that pisses me! Alright, the standard regulation at airports is usually one hand carry bag but they don't take into account jackets & small plastic bags. At the liverpool airport, they insisted that I pack everything into ONE BAG-NO PLASTIC BAGS at all! I kind of oversized to be honest so what I did was to wear 5 layers of clothes (to reduce my baggage size) and carry 2 jackets on my hand. I bought a duffer bag from Manchester and it saved me as I managed to squeeze my backpack and all the items I bought and pass security using it! So before I pass security checkpoint, I repack everything into one bag. After I pass security, I repack everything into my backpack and one plastic bag. Reason: The Duffer Bag is super heavy and I don't want to carry it. Moral of the story: Always travel with BACKPACKS! They are the BEST!

As I boarded the plane, my 6-days HOLIDAYS were officially OVER! But the memories stay in my heart forever and whenever I miss them, I will look at the 700photos I took over the 6 days... When will be my Next Visit to Manchester again?!

Manchester-Day 2 11th February 2008

The day started with the MUFC Museum & Stadium Tours at 0940hrs..

A little scary story to start off with.. As MUFC is about 20minutes walk from the hotel, I decided to walk there after getting really CLEAR directions.. Along the way, I also asked passer-bys if I was on the right track because I can't afford to be late! Then I reached this junction which I recall seeing yesterday but I decide not to continue because I saw the train station and decided to take the train though Old Trafford is probably another 8mins walk away.. After I board the train, I realise that it was a Non-match day and trains don't go to Old Trafford! Out of panic, I hurriedly alighted at the next stop and that's it! I ended up in this super run-down place with no roads, just a park and a canal.. I was super worried not because I had lost my way but because I could miss the Stadium Tour and that MUST NEVER happen! So I quickly look for the direction which I see cars and ran all the way there... Fortunately, I managed to find my way out and reached Old Trafford safe and sound at 9:35am... **Phew**

It was super packed by the time I reached though 9:40am is the first tour for the day. I quickly hurried to the reception, pay for my tickets and went up to the museum to prepare for the tour.. Like I said, the tour at ManU is a very professional one and the guide was quite funny.. He will say some crappy stuffs or lame jokes along the way and I followed him closely not because he's cute or whatsoever but because I wanna absorb everything that he says! The tour group is quite large about 30 people so if you stay too far away from him, you won't be able to catch what he says!

Anyway, our first stop was the North Stand and we just sit there while the guide introduced to us the different facilities in the stadium, the structure of the stadium, its capacity and a little bit of the its history. Capacity at Old Trafford is around 75,000-76,000 and it's the largest English football club in England! Last August, the seats at the quadrants have just been fully furnished so now when you look at the stadium, it is totally filled with seats. There can't be any additional capacity. The guide explained to us the reason why we don't see replay screens in the stadium as you need to put up 4 of them and there isn't any space to put them otherwise it will block the audiences' view. Furthermore, if they were to put right at the top, it will mean that the shelter will have to be lowered and more sunlight will creep in and that will affect the goalkeeper's vision be it home or away. FYI, because of the high popularity of the Big 4 clubs in England, sponsors have requested for all their matches to be scheduled not earlier than noon time that's why when the sun sets, it affects the goalkeepers' vision.

Something interesting to share: Commentaries which we hear on TV are not live from the stadium itself. For e.g, the commentary for ManU Vs ManC match was done by the commentators at Chelsea Vs Liverpool game and the commentary for the Chelsea Vs Liverpool game was done at Old Trafford but I can't recall the explanation for it. I am so sorry...

The 2nd Stop was of course the Press Conference room as usual but you guys will be disappointed because unlike Chelsea, interviews with Sir Alex ain't held in that room. It's held at their Carrington training ground. That interview is usually for away team managers to take interviews or Champions League interviews. Quite sad.. But see the video.. It's hilarious..The guide wanted to let us feel how it is like when a Champions league interview takes place there.



We then went into their executive lounge where players used to hang around but not now anymore. It's just a room to entertain officials or the press etc. There's this nanny room in the lounge so kids of the footballers are babysitted there while their dads train or play. So, Brooklyn Beckham once sat there! There was this International Honours Board in the lounge so each time you earn a cap for your nation, it will be updated accordingly. But because the lounge is no longer used by the players, it is really outdated (it was last updated 4 years ago). You see big stars like Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo blah blah blah.. But Carlos Tevez, Owen Hargeaves ain't on the board yet. If you were once a Red Devil Captain, your portray will be up in the room too. The more recent ones are Roy Keane & Gary Neville.

The very next stop is the Home Team Dressing room! It's super spacious with tons of facilities like spa, massage and even a warm-up room. That warm-up room was initiated by ManU Legend Eric Cantona. Apparently most of the French teams have warm-up rooms for their home team so when Cantona came to ManU, he suggested one and that's how his successors get this privilege now. According to the guide, the away team dressing room does not have any of these facilities, just shower and lockers haha.. Like when the Champions League finals was held in Old Trafford a few years back, they will lock the warm-up room and seal up the spa and massage facilities so as to be fair to both teams and ensure they receive equal treatment. Like Chelsea, you see the players' shirts hanging outside their lockers & friends usually sit together like Ronaldo with Nani (Portuguese), Evra with Saha (French) etc. But we didn't get to open up their lockers to see as it was all locked.




We also passed by the room where they hung their boots. Along the way, you see lots of photos of Man United players during a game & not to miss out, I saw the man who influenced me to like ManU--DB 7! Woah!

That's DB-Smiling so happily with his team-mates

Like DB-7, CR-7's boots

Mins later, I ended up at the tunnel! haha.. DB, CR once stood there like I did :) The way the guide did it was totally PROFESSIONAL! He had the background music and effects on for us and made us get into two rows as if we were two soccer teams. Then he made us shake hands with our "opponents" and we had to mimic the warm-up exercises footballers do before the game! Totally hilarious!! Catch the video!



Once I was out in the Managers' area, I was engrossed into taking photos and kind of lost track of what the guide was blabbering about but it was the usual stuff about who sits where, and rules & regulations, the 4th officials.. All I was interested was to take a photo at the stand where Sir Alex Ferguson sits because I had always held in awe the cool AUDI LABELLED seats! haha.. I know people will think I am totally MAD but if I am not MAD or CRAZY over cute guys or such crappy stuffs, I am not just ME!

Ok, this is where the Managers enter and exit

Yeah, these are the COOL AUDI SEATS I was talking about...

The tour ended at the dugout and my next destination was the Munich Tunnel. It's something totally new in Old Trafford and they created it because it was the 50th Anniversary of the Munich Disaster. To non-MUFC supporters--It's History lessons NOW: Manchester United was a very strong team back in the 1950s under the management of Sir Matt Busby. He led a bunch of young kids to great success especially in 1956, 1957 & perhaps 1958. However, when his team of officials & players were in Munich for a European game, tragedy struck on their return flight to Manchester. The plane failed to take off twice and it crashed on the 3rd attempt to fly. 23 people died and among them 11 were ManU officials & players while 21 others survived. Sir Matt Busby was one of the survivors together with the famous ManU legend Bobby Charlton. Everyone thought it was the end of ManU in England as they lost their young promising captain, Roger Byrne & Duncan Edwards and 6 other players. But they shocked everyone! 10 years down the road, Bobby Charlton, George Best & Law (I can't rmb his full name) under the leadership of Sir Matt Busby & Jimmy Murphy bought the European Champions (Current day Champions league) honour to ManU! It was the first European Cup won by an English team and Sir Matt Busby was conferred the title of Knight (that's how he became Sir). That's history, that's the disaster that caught everyone's attention 50 years ago & has lived through till today. Of course, Sir Matt Busby has been CERTIFIED (A term coined by my cousin) but Bobby Charlton was at the game the previous day & I saw him. A man who has lived through the ups & downs of life, the wrinkles on his face tells it all!

Inspirations from the Munich Tunnel...

As I was going through the tunnel, I really thought to myself: If one day I leave the world out of the blue just like those boys, how would life change for the people dearest to me who are still alive? Or how would it feel for me & how would my life change if I just lost one of my best friend overnight? I know this is a question that resembles "Why do people live?" where there is no answer to it but everyone should seriously ponder about it one starry night when you are all alone. Perhaps it could help create more intellectual brain cells. :) But I reached one Conclusion after thinking about it.

We all LIVE ONCE! So make the best out of your every single second and minute that you have each day. You will want to leave this world with NO REGRETS!

MUSEUM! The ManU museum is totally HUGE compared to the Chelsea one! The first section was the trophies cabinet and you see TONS of trophies there! I don't know all of them because some were won well before I was born. The more familiar ones are the League Champions, FA Cup, Carling Cup, Community Shield, Champions League etc..

** A small test for everyone: How many FA Cups & League Champions has ManUtd won up to date? **

TaDa--> Ans: 16 times league cup winners & 11 times FA cup winner!

Majority of the trophies were won under Sir Alex Ferguson to be honest (he won the league cup 9 times in 22 years of management) and Ryan Giggs was the only player who had all 9 league cup medals!


After seeing the GLOWING trophies, the next section was dedicated to players! You will be surprised when I tell you who was the key player under scrutiny--> Gary Neville. Well, I understand it's partly due to the fact that he's the current CAPTAIN of ManUtd and I don't doubt his loyalty to the club but his CONTRIBUTION?! I don't know seriously. They sound like he's the best right-back around which I don't quite agree. They had displays of the caps (real caps) he won for playing for England, the jerseys he got in exchange during International competitions etc..

Of course, Roy Keane, Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs & even Ruud Van Nistelrooy had their own display cabinets. What surprised me was Cristiano Ronaldo had a display there too. Young yet influential in the team, even Rooney wasn't there. Some personal thoughts- I feel sad for David Beckham! I remember reading his bibliography -My Side which was published right after his move to Madrid and he spoke of his love for ManUtd. He didn't want to leave the club at all but when your relationship with the Gaffer changes, that's it. You EXIT! Just like the way Jaap Stam, Roy Keane, Ruud Van Nistelrooy all move out of ManUtd eventually. DB wanted to end his career as a Red Devil because he has always been with them since young. His dad is a ManUtd Fanatic though they are 'Londoners' and he won the Bobby Charlton competition when he was 11. He was approached and signed as trainee at the age of 12. He fulfilled his dream to be part of the Red Devils at 12! Maybe he had fame too young so he didn't know how to treasure it. But when you are torn between your family & your career, it's always a hard decision. He's really a sad case. I didn't see much of his display at ManUtd despite his contribution to the club like scoring freekicks during important games, part of the treble team etc etc. I guess that must be his greatest REGRET in his life because he failed to leave a legacy in the club he supported most and once played for.

The next section that came along was the Managers' Honourary Section. Of course it was Sir Matt Busby & Sir Alex Ferguson's territory! To be conferred as a knight, you really have to make some contributions to the Nation and both of them brought glory as Winners. Sir Alex Ferguson was knighted when he completed the Treble. If I didn't remember wrongly, ManUtd was the first football team in England's history to complete the Treble.

Lastly, it was the display of all the awards the footballers have won over the years. DB had his trophy there as he did won some ManUtd player award. Of course there were other big names like Roy Keane, Eric Cantona as usual. Anyway, there's this really cool interactive computers at different areas of the Museum where you can read about the statistics of the ManUtd players or review the goals that they have scored! It's totally cool and everyone was like queuing for it and totally ENGROSSED! That's what I meant when I say ManUtd is just so professional!

Before I left, I went to take photos with the Barclay's Premiership Trophy & the Charity Shield which costed me 12.99 Pounds! Chelsea had that service too but it was the FA Cup & Carling Cup since they were the winners the last season. Though it seems really expensive but that might be a once in a lifetime chance so I just WHACK it! That's my display pic on my blog!

I think i kind of fully utilise every facility available in ManUtd. After the tour, I went to the Red Cafe to have a meal! A big Hearty Meal! I ate the famous Red Cafe Burger! It's just the typical quarter pounder but it's served with wedges (my fav!) I was never a beef fanatic before I went to Sweden but I am kind of addicted to beef now. I have it every other day. haha.. But does beef makes you fat? Check it out and let me know so I will try to reduce it. haha..

The seats in the Red Cafe!

My Red Cafe Burger! Totally filling!!

The last stop was definitely the MEGASTORE where I grabbed the jerseys and merchandise for all my ManUtd-lover friends! I bought a jersey for myself :) and one for my brother. It's definitely an expensive one but COME ON! It's MANCHESTER UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB MEGASTORE we are talking about, the printing are all MADE IN MANCHESTER.

The Poster At the Entrance of the MegaStore

I left Old Trafford after that to go back to the hotel to pick my bag. I had 3 plastic bags filled so I decided to take a cab back since cab wasn't too expensive compared to Stockholm & London plus I was still lingering over the morning incident. Headed to city once again to prepare to go to Liverpool Airport and fly back to Stockholm.

Finally finally, I had time for shopping!!! But it wasn't that great because I had my backpack with me and the bag of MUFC merchandise so I had to watch it carefully in case I lose it & I will be like crying on the streets. Hahaha.. Anyway, I only had like 2 hours so I need to be fast. London is not a bad place to shop seriously because it is comparatively cheap (to Stockholm) and a normal tee will cost you probably $25/-. I was totally TIRED after the shopping and I had to run to catch the Airport Bus because I kind of "shop-past" the time. haha.. Well, I am a girl so you gotta forgive me for losing track of the time when I am shopping!

Slideshow of the entire stadium tour---

Slideshow of the Museum Tour----

Manchester-Day 1 10th February 2008

The one & only reason I am in Manchester is for the Football Game! First I have to apologise that I posted the wrong Singapore time as it should have been a 9:30pm kickoff instead of the 7:30pm which I had written previously! *My Apologies*

Reached Manchester rather early at around 6am so went to the hotel to put down my bag before walking around & finally ended up at Old Trafford at around 9am! There were lots of vendors setting up to sell scarfs, flags, merchandise of MUFC (illegal ones I guess) but I didn't buy anything from there. Everything I bought from MUFC was from the Official Megastore! :)

I took a brief walk at the stadium before heading to the Lanchashire Cricket Club for the hospitality brunch they had in place for us. It started at around 10:30 and I left at around 12pm to go to the Football Stadium to feel the atmosphere of the build-up to the game!See the slideshow of pictures....

I've to say I bought the RIGHT tickets! It was definitely a very Memorable Day at Old Trafford because it was the 50th Anniversary of the Munich Tragedy. If you are a Hard-Core ManU fan, you will know about it. Lots of people in their ManU jersey, red or black, gathered round the stadium waiting to get into the Theatre of Dreams to catch this memorable yet tensed-up Manchester Derby game! There was this wall outside the East Stand which tuned the time to 6th February 1958 3:03pm when the Munich Disaster took place and lots of people prayed there and there flowers around it.

Me at the Stadium where my seat is

Anyway, I am not sure if you guys had seen the 1-minute silence being observed before the game and why the players are wearing jerseys with no name & sponsors, but only numbers because they wanted to bring game back to 50 years ago. It was an important game not because it was a Derby game but because it was to be played in memory of the BUSBY BABES (the players who died). The moment when everyone lifted up the red,black, white(for ManU supporers) or blue,black, white(for ManC supporters) scarf to observe the 1-minute silence was definitely GRAND & if you had seen it on TV, you will be impressed too. I got that SCARF too! :)

Players coming out from the dugout

Waiting to observe the one minute of silence

The atmosphere in the stadium was definitely lively & tensed-up. You hear cheers and lots of singing throughout the game and there was this rivalry which you can feel because the ManU fans will be going "F*** Cit" all the time! I was hoping to hear the hit "Glory Glory Man United!" but i didn't get to. I guess it was due to the outcome of the game!

Though I was sitting rather far back from the pitch, I could see every movement clearly and when the ball struck the back of the net, past Edwin Van De Sar, not once but twice, my heart sank. Not just me, I guess the heart of all the people around me sank! haha... I was sitting at the end where ManC attacks during the first half so I saw clearly how both goals went into the net! I have to say ManU played rather badly that day and I was kinda disappointed.. As usual, some fans left before the game ended maybe because they feel that ManU won't be able to make a comeback in the closing minutes since they were 2 goals down. But I held high hopes! Yet with greater expectations comes greater disappointment.

The thing about watching it live is that there are no commentaries & no replay screens so people who have short-attention span may just drift away after some time. But for me, both my eyes were on the pitch every single minute except half-time break! The most exciting part of the game took place in the 2nd half for me when it was ManU's turn to attack in my direction. With every attack that came near the penalty box & each corner, everyone would just stand up hoping that the ball will get into the net. Though it was quite tiring to stand and sit every now and then, the probability of seeing ManU score just overcomes the tiredness especially when ManU was falling behind. Sometimes, I don't even feel like sitting down to be honest. Never did I wanted time to slow down so badly in my life because I wanted the outcome of the game to be triumph on ManU's side but that didn't happen.

When Carlos Tevez scored, everyone was cheering only to see it being disallowed but he was clearly offside. Even when Michael Carrick finally earned a goal for ManU, it was too late. The game was already in the closing minutes. When the final whistle blew, you could hear the CHEERS of the ManC fans LOUD & CLEAR & their players applauding their fans. What about the ManU players? Heads down, pace fast, heading back to the dressing room. But their fans ain't that bad too. They sang this song which says that No matter what the outcome of the game, we will follow you.

There's this Nigerian guy that sat 2 seats from me and like me, he came specially for the game. Both of us shared similar thoughts because this may be our only chance to be in Old Trafford to watch a game & the outcome of the game was definitely not what we desired. I lingered around the stadium as there were lots of people exiting and I don't wanna squeeze my way through. The ManC fans weren't allowed to leave until all the red fans had exited for safety reasons. After I finally made my way out, guess where I went?!

Alright, I went to the North Stand where the players leave the stadium. I was trying to catch a glimpse of C.Ronaldo! Anyway, FYI, players don't train at Old Trafford. Their training ground is at Carrington, some suburb place in Manchester. Haha.. Yeah, I saw him! He's damn cool! Actually I don't really like CR when he first came to ManU. Maybe it's because he wears the No.7 Shirt which my all-time favourite DB wears so I always feel that he took away DB's place. What's more, he kicked England out for 2 Competitions consecutively, Euro 2004 & World Cup 2008.! I watched both matches & I was super pissed! But maybe it's the influence of my brother! He's a Ronaldo fanatic, always telling me how good CR is, the tricks that he do & how he always win free-kicks, penalties, corners, fouls etc etc... Plus there's just this charismatic aura that surrounds the Portuguese! It's just Jose Mourihno.. They have got this attitude that makes you love & hate them at the same time.. I like his cheeks, especially when he smiles so now, I not only accepted him as part of ManU, I love him!

Talk about the people that I saw.. the first that came out was Nemanja Vidic with his wife and kid if I didn't see wrongly. But he got onto his car rather hastily and left. Then it was Park Ji Sung! He's nice.. He went around for autography but I didn't get it as I wasn't standing in the first row at the time & I ain't that crazy about him. Subsequently, Nani came out and he was out there signing for the fans too. I could have gotten his signature but I didn't want to. Then out came John O'Shea. He's very friendly and he kind of waved before he went into his car. The big shot CR came out but he just got on his car after waving. He drives a Bentley Convertible, with a red top! So no autography from him but I got one of his pictures. Before I left, I caught sight of Giggsy who drives an Audi! I didn't wait for all the other players to come out because you don't know how long they will take though I would have love to see Rooney or Tevez. But it's boring to wait there and a rather waste of time anyway. So I left...

Nemanja Vidic (I think that guy beside him looks like Anderson)

Park Ji Sung

Mr Nani!

Yeah CR 7 with his Bentley

John O'Shea

Took the metro to the City Centre, walked around, passed by Chinatown (rather lively but I didn't feel like walking much) and headed back to rest.. End of the Match Day!

I paid 199.75 pounds for this day & this dream-----But it's worth it!