Lost and Found.

I found this bag of money with 4,000 SEK at the bike stand. 

Guess what? 

I turned it in to the bank. 

That bag of money is supposingly the cash receipts for the previous day. 

I wonder if I made the right decision. 

After turning it in, I felt I made a wrong choice. 

Usually I am very rational and make wise decisions.

However, this seems to be a pretty bad decision. 

Why do I say that?

I had no assurance that the bank would return the money to the customer. 

But BANKS are supposed to have HIGH integrity right?! 

I told my mom.my neighbour.my roomie. 

Other than my mom, both said I should have kept it for myself. 

I wouldn't say that thought never surface at all when I had the money with me. 

But I won't do that. 

The person who lost that bag of money must be super panicky. 

I never know what's the consequence of not returning it. 

Imagine if I were in his shoes, I would break down :( 

That's why I never kept it. 

I strongly believe that there's always a good and evil side in everyone. 

At least for this time, my good side triumph over my evil side. 

Maybe people would think I am stupid to do it. 

But it makes me feel better when my mom said I was right not to keep it. :) 

I SINCERELY hope the bank staff thinks the same as me and not keep that money for herself. 

Honestly, I wouldn't know if she did. 

Maybe I will go back to the bank to check it out tomorrow. :) 

Farewell Dinner.

23rd May 2008 Farewell Dinner by SSE.
The last time everyone dresses up for an occasion.
To gather, to drink, to mingle, to have fun.
I can't believe my Exchange's coming to an end! The dinner was simple. Cocktail.Wine.Starter.Main Course.Desert.
Everyone was walking around chatting up with friends while waiting for the food to be served.
The experience at SSE has been great.
The people I met.The courses.The culture.The receiving etc.
Courses are slack and since I skipped most of them, I can't comment much
But during the 1st period, my attendance was almost FULL.
It was only in the 2nd period that I started to skip classes.
The Swedish culture_Sweden is really a nice place to live in.
Or like what I mentioned before, anywhere except your own country is nice to live in?
Some people don't like being in a foreign nation, being a minority.
To a certain extent, I AGREE.
Why want to be a 2nd class citizen in a foreign country when you can be a 1st class one in your own country?
But Sweden is so different.
First, LAND is never a constraint for them.
Population of 9 million when their size is at least a 100 times larger than SINGAPORE!
Second, LANGUAGE is not a barrier.
Almost everyone speaks English though knowing Swedish might be an advantage.
Third, SECURITY is not compromised.
It's extremely safe to be around into the wee hours.
Fourth, PEOPLE are open to immigrants.
Even if you are not a Swede, they welcome you!!
Fifth, EDUCATION is FREE!
So if anyone plans to go overseas to further their studies, Sweden is definitely a good choice. Of course you must save up for your own food and lodging which is relatively expensive. With all these reasons that I have stated above, why NOT SWEDEN?
I was discussing with Sergio about it.
It's a big and cool city.It has everything.
People are nice and friendly.It is big yet safe.
I would definitely want to come back here one day.
Honestly, I do dream about living abroad in future. :)
The world is too big!
I don't want to conform myself to any norms or attitudes of traditional thinking nor the collectivistic culture.
I will choose to stay away from my family to pursue my own dreams.

Back to the dinner.
A lot of my friends were there at the farewell dinner.
Talked to this Spanish guy which I admire deep from the bottom of my heart. Mature.Sensible.Smart.Confident.Friendly.Loving!
His girlfriend is so lucky to have him as his boy.
Though it's still 3 weeks from the actual departure of most of the people,
(2 weeks for me cos I am leaving on 7 June for Madrid)
I can feel it coming.
This place has brought us so much memories, mostly happy ones for me.
The laughter, the sharing, the drinking, the parties, the dinners, the cooking etc....
We ARE a FAMILY too.
Whenever my neighbours and I talk about it, you can feel everyone's reluctance in leaving. Sometimes I really envy all these Europeans.
They can do as many exchanges as they want in their university life!
But I think NUS only ALLOWS one exchange per student. :(
Of course it's crazy partying after the dinner once again.
Headed back to our Common Kitchen for more wine.beer.alcohol.
There were people who did crazy things, sitting on the window latch!
But it's really gonna be the last so why not just be crazy this once?
There's was also an after-party.
But Grona Lund was the very next day.
So I didn't go out.
I stayed in and slept so I would be able to wake up in time the next morning.
I do miss partying with them, miss all the fun, miss all the drinking, miss all the hangouts... But nothing lasts forever.
All things must come to an end some day.
If it's not tomorrow, it will be some other day in the next 2 weeks too.
So why not just let it end with the mark of the Farewell dinner?
Now you guys must be thinking AM I really sad about leaving?

71 shouts:"YES I DO!!!"
As this post ends, I can assure you guys I am all prepared to leave this place too. :)
In the next coming week, I will really have to focus on studying and stop dreaming!

Florence (day 5)-6th May 2008

Ben's Birthday?

Yup, we were back in Florence once again!
This time, it was time to visit Florence city itself!
I like Florence a lot.
It's the typical Tuscany city.
Buildings are nice, people are friendly and warm.
Millions of Gelato Parlours dominating the city.
Trattorias, Cafes all around.
I learnt much of the Tuscany culture here.

Florence City~

Headed to the Duomo Cathedral first thing in the day.
Grand as usual, it's HUGE!
Yup, you have to go to Florence for leather goods as well.
There are a million vendors selling them.
I wanted to buy a leather bag for myself.
But nothing caught my eye.

See the beautiful skies of FLorence?! Damn BLUE!

Duomo Cathedral.

Blessings for your loved ones?

Hang around the city with our backpacks.

For me, I rather carry it than spend $50 storing it.
Arrived at the Old Palace and saw the famous David Statue. :)
It's funny how the Italian authorities employ Retirees to guard those heritage sites.
They will be standing and patrolling the place with a whistle.
If they caught you violating the rules, they will blow the whistle at you.
Haha.. the way of handling violations is funny, not employing retirees.

Old Royal Palace

Statue of David

Look at how she sketched the statue above. Half completed.

By 3 in the afternoon, we arrived at the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge.
It was relaxing seeing locals jumping and sitting by the bridges.
Along came this cute Italian and at one instance, he jumped up the sides of the bridge.
With his sunglasses, Ipod and a book, he sat there under the Sun reading.
Impressed as I was, I attempted too.
Geez. I tried at least 4 times before I finally moved my butt up.
There he was, sitting and looking at me and LAUGHING at me.
Of course he didn't lol.
He just smiled at me. :)
After I finally made my way up, we had a bit of chat.
He could speak fluent English to my surprise.
It was his work break so he decided to spend some time by the bridge
Everyone does that, it's kind of a tuscany culture. COOL!

The bridge which I attempted to jump onto!

Finally on the bridge!

The most absurb and hilarious moment came by 30 minutes later.
After Yvonne and I had our fair share of the Sunshine, we moved on.
Round the corner of the bridge, a guy called out to me.

J:"Hey, do you remember me? I remember you. You asked me for directions to Pisa."
71:"No, I didn't ask anyone directions about Pizza at all" I thought.
71:"Hmm, I don't remember. I think you got the wrong person."
J:"It was on Monday morning. You remember? We took the train from........"
Yvonne:"Oh yeah yeah. I remember him. I remember his hair. He helped us call a cab at Florence."
J:"Yeah. You were going to Pisa."
71:"OH!!! I remember YOU!!! LOL LOL LOL!!!"

That scene was hilarious. We were standing 5 metres away from each other, him sitting on the bridge, me standing on the pedestrian way. He was singing and moving to the rhythm when he called out to me and I was like WTH are you? I can only say one thing,

"The World is Indeed SMALL!"

What on earth was he doing?
They were actually doing a campaign to bring attention of Barack Obama to all Americans in Italy.
Apparently, even if you are stationed permanently overseas, you can vote during election.
So simply to say, "Yes. They are democrats."
But of course, he wasn't in Florence for some political reason.
He's doing an exchange in Florence.
That was just some side note activity.

Yvonne.John.Logan.Me

The bridge which we met. Soccer by the river?

Indeed he was very nice.
He shared with me a lot about the Italian culture.
Apertivo.Chianti Wine.Florence Fortress.Secret Passage way.Photography.Politics.Coffee
He companied us to the Piazzale Michelangelo where you can get a good view of the city.
I think he himself wanted to visit there too because he said he hasn't been there personally but has heard a lot about that place.
Thanks, John!

Piazzale Michelangelo.

Stunning views!

Apertivo-Italian "tea-break"..
Takes place between 5-7 or 6-8.
You get to a restaurant or a trattoria, order a drink and you get some light snacks.
Seriously, the Italians feast a lot!!
They probably eat 4 meals a day.
Breakfast, Lunch, Apertivo, Dinner.
They have heavy dinner.
It's a 5-course thingy.
Anti-pasti.First course (usually light pasta or pizza).Second course (Usually a main course like steak, pizza, salmon, etc).Dessert.Coffee
Above that, wine is usually on the list too.
Yet they are all so skinny...... :) (ENVY!)

Chianti. Florence is famous for Red Wine.
Chianti is a typical tuscany red wine.
I don't know much about wines.
I prefer liquors but Chianti tastes nice. :)
I will drink more of it in future I guess...
Met this really nice bartender, Mathiew, who's a friend of John
There are diligent Italians too.
This guy stays 30 minutes away from the city centre.
He walks in a coffee house in the morning and works at the bar at night.
He can speak English very well though he didn't have much education.
He's planning to go to Budapest to stay permanently.
He travels quite a bit.
He's been to many parts of Europe and US.
Don't be taken aback when I tell you Europeans don't travel that much.
Most of them just stay in their hometown.
Why?

Chianti.

Enjoying Apertivo~

He will be a hunk when he grow up! Look at those big teary eyes!

"Europe itself is beautiful enough. Why travel?" They will tell you that.
But Mathiew is different from the typical Italian guy.
He explained to me a lot about wine, florence, budapest.
People in Italy judge you by the car you drive, the house you stay in, the job you hold.
Hungarians don't.
Of course, this is just his personal experience and perspective.
I can't comment much either.

In front of some Piazza. Preparing to do my jump-shot.

Naughty pictures.haha

By nightfall, time to head for some coffee!!
Cappuccino is my all-time favourite but Cafe Latte isn't that bad either.
John brought us to this cafe which he frequents almost every other day.
The thing about Florence is people in the cafe will remember you if you visit a few times.
The boss was very much a friend of John after his frequent visits over the past 4 months..
Starbucks? Coffee Bean?
Italy needs none of that.
You will fall in love with Italian Coffee and push those American ones aside.

Florence @ night!

Enjoying my cappuccino~

Beloved Italia!
I love every single bit of their culture.
Food.Wine.Coffee.Gelato.
What more can I ask for?
I don't want to go home. I just want to sit here. :)

Pisa (Day 4)-5th May 2008

The journey was planned as follow:

Rome-Florence-Pisa. Why?

Because Trains to Pisa has to pass by Florence and there's no direct connection.

You have to transit yourself.

Then people question me.

So why not Rome-Florence-Pisa-Venice-Milan?

That's because to go to Venice, you have to go back to Florence anyway.

That's Italy. :)

It wasn't anything difficult and costly because Florence and Pisa belong to the same region, Tuscany.

Streets of Pisa..

Back to the main journey.

Though the train from Rome to Florence was delayed by 50 minutes, we still reached Florence earlier than expected.

Scheduled arrival time was 05:47 yet we were in Florence by 04:57.

Tired, Sleepy and Freezing as I was, I couldn't navigate.

There wasn't any train to Pisa at the train station.

So the next thing I had to figure out was, "Is Pisa name as Pisa in Italian?"

I approached this helpful American guy and asked him about trains to Pisa.

He explained that there are actually two train stations in Florence and trains to Pisa might be at the other one which explains why I don't see any listing of trains to Pisa.

He was nice. He was in a rush to board the cab but he promised to help me call a cab.

*Pause* How did I know he's American?

Watch out for the Florence post.

Indeed, the trains to Pisa are at the main train station, Santa Maria Novella.

I should have known that because the guide book said so.

But I forgot about it.

Anyway, we arrived at the hotel pretty early and the reception was nice enough to let us check in so we took a nap before we set off for our adventure.

Pisa is seriously a small town and there isn't much to do except for the leaning tower.

The weather in Pisa is much cooler and it drizzle a bit in the afternoon.

The leaning tower is FAB FAB FAB!!

It wasn't build to lean. It was supposed to be a normal, vertical tower.

Problems with the construction materials, the weather, erosion etc caused the tower to lean at the 4th level halfway through.

However, the architect refused to give up so construction continued.

It started to slant again on the 7th level.

I can only say that's GOD's CREATION! :)

Did all sorts of poses in front of the leaning tower.

It's fun.....

I did all possible poses to the Pisa Tower... Wonder if I get to Eiffel Tower, how will I survive since I will most probably be myself!

But people, I need to tell you this.

The leaning tower is much more inclined than what you see from the photos.

When I was taking the photos, I was frustrated because the tower just doesn't seem to be that leaning in the photos.

If you see it with your naked eye, it's super inclined.

So Yvonne tried.

We came up with one conclusion-The leaning tower doesn't lean in photos. :)

Topple the LEANING TOWER!!!

I personally like this one. :)

Anyway, we were fortunate enough to get up to the tower.

It costs EUR15 for a bare 30 minutes.

The number of visitors at each go is limited.

Apparently because of its inclination, the tower is vulnerable to erosion and destruction.

Acidic rain water erodes the marble exterior but its inclination worsens the erosion process..

A lot of maintenance has to be done.

That explains why it's costly to get up.

The surroundings. It's a Museum. Can't recall the name.

Duomo Cathedral.Pisa.

Just felt like lying on the ground!

The Best Jump-shot I'd ever done...

Just picturesque :)

Journey up the Pisa Tower. Interior.

4th level

6th level

Right at the top.Pisa Football stadium?

Walked around town, some shopping here and there

Went for Gnocchi for dinner!!

Yummy Yum Yum.....

Train station

All the funny videos I took~~Link them to see it... Lazy to upload.. hehe.... :)