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....
Friday, 29 February 2008
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
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..
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.
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!
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
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. :)
Monday, 25 February 2008
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. :)
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.
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. :)
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. :)
Sunday, 24 February 2008
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.
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?
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.
Saturday, 23 February 2008
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 :)
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 :)
Friday, 22 February 2008
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!
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!
Home Sweet Home after Soccer match.... :)
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.... :)