transiting in London

Reached London at like 2 plus am last night, that time in Barcelona also reached at 2 plus, this trip is really tiring sometimes : X

Berlin was nice only because the company was great haha! the five of us makes a good combi :) But now they're gone :(

But anyway, London = boxing day sales& chinese food (omg finally). Had two meals at Asian restaurants the past few days which is more than often because really couldn't take Western anymore. And finally, Chinese food tonight with standard yum yums. But first, lunch at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant (ZZZOMG!).

let it snow let it snow

Barcelona was really nice with the warm sun and definitely Gaudi and all, and Porto totally rocked my socks. It has the nicest scenery and people, ever.


Forget Swedish husbands, get me a Portugese one instead :)

season of love and of ..... goodbyes.

The spirit is free but the heart is heavy.


Went to the central station just now and it was thronged with people with suitcases, some traveling home to spend Christmas with family, some traveling abroad, I suppose. It's like how they show in movies.

Went back to my room and my neighbour was cleaning up his room, for the last time I suppose, before he leaves.


The air is filled with goodbyes.

here i come

In less than 12 hours I will be as free as a bird ....... taking flight on the final journey of 2009.

weather report

From today onwards maximum temperatures are hitting negative already. In order to more systematically plan how much clothes to bring for the coming final trip (plus mental preparation), I've decided to find out the temperatures in each city (up to 15 days forecast)

Barcelona: 10/0
Porto: 15/5
Berlin: 0/-4
London: 5/-3
Paris: 3/-3
Bruges: 7/-1
Amsterdam: 7/0
Gothenburg: May hit -10 lowest


Okay, looks manageable. Four layers should do the trick. Which means I can just bring like one set, then inter-change the layers every day for four days, wash, then wear again. HAHA. Just kidding.

(note to self:) Those are mostly the day temperatures. Night temperatures may hit -8 for some places.

12.03 in the morning

It's time for a hot cup of milo! Can't believe I'm wearing gloves (plus a jacket) in my room! I've finally found out the source of the cold in the room - despite the windows being shut completely, wind actually still comes through.... brrrr. Have I mentioned my white elephant of a heater already? I can even hear the wind billowing :S

walking on the winter wonderland

Today was another wintry snowy day. Me likes this kind of snowy days :) The snowflakes float and fly through the air towards your face, it is much like those fake snow machines in shopping centres that blow foam into your face, only this time it's real :)

Love how the white layer of frost settles onto benches and the ground, forming a wintry landscape. Snowing makes the cold all worth it :) This weekend the temperature is forecasted to drop to -9, with highest being -5 degrees C. It's going to be cool, real cool :) For once it's going to be a white Christmas <3

Haven't mentioned how much I like my room/studio apartment. Although it's not exactly the warmest place one can be at (even trams and other indoors are warmer), the bed and the comforter keep me warm and snuggly when I sleep. It's also very quiet and peaceful around here. All I can hear is the sound of the fridge and the ticking of my clock, I'm serious. And this peace is something that I never have at home, be it in hall or home home. In hall there are always some kids running and shouting along the corridors or from other blocks and whatnot, at home there's the TV and chattering of family (my family talks really loudly - ok fine sometimes I'm the loudest but still) and keeping the door closed doesn't keep out the noise), so this solitude is something that I really relish. Not to mention a space that I can really call my own - at home I share a room with the housekeeper so when she sleeps earlier than me (which is always), I'll have to evacuate the room 'cos she has to wake up early the next day, so I'll go to my sister's room, and when she sleeps too and I still have work to do (or refuses to sleep yet), I'll get banished to the kitchen with Max (my laptop). Poor thing right, me :( In hall, well, I suppose I have my own room and I can sleep whenever I want to so that's a bit better, but then we're always rushing from one activity to another, and since hall is a social place, there'll always be chatting sessions and/or birthday celebrations so your room is not really the most private place on earth. So therefore, this is the only place where I really have my own privacy. I sleep whenever I want to, I eat whenever I want to, I buy what I want to eat and cook what I want to eat, I leave my things lying around where I want them to be, I go out whenever I want to go and don't have to inform anyone, I come back whenever I want to and don't have to tell my family whether I'm going home for dinner, I don't have to answer to anyone. Therefore I really love my room here because it's a space I can call my own. I mean, it's not that I'm complaining about people at home or in hall because those are definitely my loved ones, but you've gotta admit you need your own space every now and then and I never have that in Singapore.

Museum of World Culture where we have our lessons - cool right? Having lessons in a museum :)

Trams in Gothenburg

we are all the same

It's strange to see how exchange students in Singapore are also bidding their goodbyes there too. I saw my friend tagged in an exchange student's album which had photos of everyday Singapore --- CBD skyscrapers, Clarke Quay at night, reverse bungee, Orchard Road (with the horrible Christmas lights this year what were they thinking?!), ERP signs (lol that was funny), sights of school (it was NTU but well they all look the same and eek it reminds me of what I don't wanna go back to), the blue, blue sky and of course, the crazy partying that exchange students always engage in. It's nice to see how these Caucasians are so zealous about Asia, talking about visiting places like Cambodia next time (or perhaps already done that), like how we are passionate about traveling around Europe.

It's strange because that is exactly what we are doing now. Taking photos of everyday life here, a moment captured into eternity, that single instant froze and etched into memory, building memories of these beautiful times that we had here.

Anyway, I've been chiong-ing readings for the exam this Friday. I've been reading so much at such a fast pace (ok fine I scan through a lot too hehe) I don't think anything goes in. But the thing is, what we have been wondering is that, the rest of the exchange students are really zai because they are studying in their second language, whereas we are studying in our first. We have always learnt in English so studying all these is easier for us than for them. It's like us studying globalization and psychological processes in Chinese (like omg). Therefore we have always wondered how they do it, you know, do all of these readings in their second language, because even we have difficulties understanding the concepts and the sentences already, because it really is quite difficult. Have to re-read some parts. But I think people like the Swedes and Germans, their English is really very good, and I think it's great that they have their own language as well. That's why I think Singaporeans can only claim to be proud of their bilingualism and nothing else (maybe trilingualism since most of us know a third language like Malay/Teochew/Hokkien/Cantonese/Japanese whatever). We have no native language; it's not quite right to say that we are not as "chinese" as the mainland Chinese, because we are in fact Chinese, although we are not that Chinese, if you get what I'm trying to say. And it's also not quite apt to say that English is our native language because you can't compare us with the Britons and Americans and Australians because it just does not fit that the native language of Singaporeans is English, get what I mean? Therefore and yet Chinese is our mother-tongue (and Malay for Malays and so on) and that is something we cannot deny, and something that we must acknowledge because if not, our heritage will be so gradually diluted that in the years to come as the youth today speak less and less Mandarin we will have no heritage to speak of. Language is of course not the only element of heritage but it does form a significant part of it. It's not about Mandarin becoming more and more obsolete because every average Singaporean can speak English. In light of globalization, if English becomes more and more widely spoken and used throughout the world, wouldn't all native languages become obsolete then? It's a lamentable trend that the youth nowadays associate speaking and learning Mandarin as uncool and useless and whatnot because just being able to speak English today is nothing already, it's just not enough. And when you can't even hold a decent conversation in Chinese when your race/ethnicity in your IC claims/states that you are Chinese, I think it's a sad fact. (No offence to friends who dislikes and cannot really speak Chinese, I still love you k hehe). Like what the Swedish language lecturer said in her first lecture, that the Swedes are proud of their language and they want to increase the number of people speaking it because right now there are only 9 million people (the population of Sweden) speaking it. And it's evident because although almost everyone can speak English here, they use Swedish everywhere and most of the time don't even bother putting English translations.

Ah, anyway, back to my readings :/





When we are through building memories, I will hold yesterday in my heart, in my heart.

the beginning of the end

This Friday will be the beginning of the end. Even now, at this very moment, is the beginning of the end. Our last week in Gothenburg. It's weird - ok maybe not weird, maybe this is how fate works - how most of us didn't choose Gothenburg and yet got posted here, here love this place to bits. This place where I've never even heard before (over the phone I thought I got posted to Luxembourg lol) --- I've come to grow so fond of this place and of its people. Not that I know many, but those whom I've come across, course mates, strangers etc, they were really nice.

Like today we were trying to figure out how the printing works in the library, was really baffled by it 'cos our documents didn't seem to get sent to the printing terminal, so we asked this guy who showed us, as in not just flippantly but could tell that he was quite sincere/helpful about it. And the other day at the examination venue, we are supposed to tear off part of the front page which had our serial number on it, so I brought my paper to the submission table where I thought I could borrow a ruler or scissors to tear it off, then the kind old man there thought I didn't know how to do it so he showed me by folding the paper into half and even gave a verbal demonstration, like "if you fold it hard enough you can actually tear it off pretty nicely" then he did it and smiled at me :):) As in, I know it's just a small gesture, but he could've just told me to fold along the line and just yank it off, but he did it so nicely. And then there was the lady at the supermarket a while ago, we asked her whether chocolate milk was sold 'cos we only found the plain milk, then she said no, she seldom sees chocolate milk and usually they buy plain milk and add cocoa themselves. Then she left, and we went on searching, then after a while she came back to us telling us that she found it at another area, which I thought was really nice of her to inform us.

Anyway, that was not meant to be the point of this entry. Hahaha. There is no point to this entry, actually, but just to document the little thoughts and feelings of every day of this last week.

Went to the library after class to photocopy the textbook which would be tested this Friday. It's impossible to borrow it since there are like 10 people in queue :X and I'm definitely not going to buy a book just to use it for 2 weeks. My friend E managed to borrow the book but she has to return it on Wednesday (some textbooks are not renewable, and definitely not with 10 people in queue) so she's really nice to offer to photocopy with me, then swap tomorrow so that she'll have the photocopied chapters and I'll have the textbook, so we don't have to photocopy all the required chapters, which would be really expensive (20c for one side). Yeah but that means I'll have to finish two chapters within tonight and tomorrow morning!! You know I photocopied like 5 sets of notes today plus the textbook plus the compendium (SGD20.00 for a whole stack of notes i.e. course pack TWENTY freaking SING DOLLARS /rant) I don't even think I'll have time to finish them all :X

Still haven't heard from my professor from whom I'm supposed to receive back the first examination task for another module and I'm starting to get worried :S

First snowfall in Gothenburg <3

final destination: home.

Gaudi, tapas and flamenco are waiting for us in Barcelona;
Yokey's favourite town of Porto is waiting for us;
Christmas is waiting for us in Berlin;
Chinese food (zzzomg!), Portobello and Camden Markets, and Boxing Day Sale are waiting for us in London;
The Eiffel, Louvre, Disneyland (and Longchamp) are waiting for us in Paris;
Chocolates, Belgian waffles and the Basilica of Holy Blood are waiting for us in Bruges;
Windmills, drugs, the best fries on earth, and the world's most famous red light district are waiting for us in Amsterdam...



And last but definitely not least,





Home is always there, waiting for us :)

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas ^^

IT'S SNOWING OMG IT'S SNOWING like finally hahaha.




I just want to go out into the streets now and burst out into christmas carols.

今を生きている

Everything was all right. Life is great, life is beautiful. (I'm all sort of cliches now).


Just came back from the city light-up (10.20pm); haven't been out until so late for the longest time ever. Like maybe the 2nd time during this exchange? Haha ever since autumn started and the day gets dark from 4pm onwards, we are all at home by 5pm.

Photos of city light-up another time. It wasn't spectacular, but it was something different, and I like the feeling of just standing there in the cold listening to carols :)

Sat and talked with K&S for like, 3 hours? Haha time really flies! We were like old friends just chatting about, I don't know, just stuff, which is great. Really thankful to have them on this trip.

The paper was easier than expected, I hope I pass! Oh man I really have to pass >.< The module is on parapsychology. You know, like consciousness, monism and dualism theories, extrasensory perception, psychokinesis, out-of-body experiences, hypnosis, apparitions etc. Ok it sounds really interesting on first sight right? But it drove me crazy. Because it's such a new science (whether it can be classified as science itself is highly debated) there are a lot of theories floating around as to how each of these phenomenon happen, so they will cite experiments which attempt to authenticate the phenomenon, suggest theories as to why these happen, debunk the theories because something doesn't fit, then suggest another one, then debunk again, and some of these theories have to do with what, electromagnetic and geomagnetic fields and quantum processes and I would be like what?! Come on I'm not studying physics here (which I got an E for at one point of time and totally loathe). Yeah then the professor said that he'll choose a few questions from the textbook, which most of the content were not really covered in the lectures, then he also gave a set of questions for us to practise, and it turned out most of the questions came out from the practice questions and none from the textbook, which I so painstakingly studied and 'cos the questions from the textbook were so much more difficult :/ So it turned out that the questions which came out were really straightforward and not that deep and I finished like in half an hour.

Then there's this "research question" that you have to do if you want to get a distinction or merit, if not you'll just get a pass. Initially I was not planning to do this 'cos I had barely enough time to finish the studying for the rest of the questions, so I did not prepare a research topic. But seeing that I had so much time left and I might as well increase my chances of passing (plus a better passing mark) so I went ahead and wrote about something that I didn't prepare for. I settled for something that I learnt last semester in social cognition since I still remembered some studies from it and thus could make my short essay look more substantiated. But then the entire essay (almost) had nothing to do with the module hahahaha, I just linked the two concepts together with some superficial sentence (it did make sense though I hope) smoking my way through.

So yeah, those that I studied so arduously from the textbook did not come out at all. But oh wells, at least I learnt something from it. Random fact: You know apparitions? Those things that are popularized in dramas and fictions about spirits appearing in front of you? They are actually not transparent contrary to popular belief, they occlude objects and are occluded by objects as well, very much vivid, real and solid, and they don't go through walls.

Yeah if you have any questions can go ahead and ask me. So that at least I can show that I didn't study for nothing ahhhh. Hahahaa ok. One down, one more to go!

can't wait for this to be over

Everything will be ok.

a cup of comfort

A cup of Milo a night (almost) keeps the blues of studying away.

bored with studying

Feel like eating but too full to do that :/


The stress and suffocation of mugging? We all live with it.


Some of my favourite things:

regina spektor

I WANNA WATCH HER LIVE IN GOTHENBURG :(

Budapest, Hungary

(Photos inside the bathhouse added)

Met up with Serene in Budapest last weekend, and it's always exciting and wonderful to meet your friends (especially good ones) in another part of the world and to travel together.

We had buffet for dinner on the first night which was recommended by a few travel websites. Gosh, haven't had buffet for so long! And sotong, for that matter.


Although the hostel wasn't our first choice, it turned out to be quite nice. It was zen-themed, and I liked the furniture. However, the stairs to the upper bunks creaked really badly and caused a lot of disturbance, both from us to other tenants as well as them to us. Plus it was supposed to be a 6-bed dorm, but on the 2nd night 2 more people moved in, and the door couldn't be locked so there wasn't really much privacy.

Went to the Christmas market on the first night, nothing much though I just like to shop and see see look look at Christmas markets. Prices were on the pricey side. After which we proceeded to hunt high and low for bikinis/swimming costumes so that we could go for bath, which is very popular in Budapest. In the end we managed to find bikinis that cost only less than SGD3.00! Wear once throw away also ok hahaha. Treat it as rental.

The next day we went to the main market hall which is where the locals do their grocery shopping on the first floor, and souvenirs on the second. They sell this kind of embroidered tablecloths which are quite lovely, but exorbitant prices! Like, one rectangular piece for a normal coffee table can be around SGD70.00! Crazy. I was thinking of buying so I asked my sis what colour is the sofa at home 'cos I sorta forgot at that time, like I thought it was dark grey but I think some time ago we threw that away and got a new one and I think the new one is maroon but I wasn't too sure so yeah I asked her, then she said, "grey la! Surely you forgot alr!?" Then I was a bit skeptical, then a few minutes later she msged back sheepishly saying da jie say it's red colour -.-''' Yeah but anyway I didn't buy the tablecloth lah hahaha.

Hungarian style mixed-rice vegetables

It was also recommended that we go into the opera house to take a look because it's really nice inside. The guided tour is one hour long only and cost 7 Euros for students, but if you were to catch an opera and don't mind sitting way back way at the top, it also cost the same amount of money, so we decided to do the latter.


After the initial wow-ing at the interior of the opera theatre and when the opera started, we fell into a deep slumber. It was the premiere of a contemporary Hungarian opera. Hungarian = no understand ah. Contemporary music = 很难听 ah. So we left during intermission after an hour's nap.

This view of Budapest by night was what captured my attention when Budapest was featured in Sunday Times (you know the travel column) and made me wanna go there, so yup! Fulfilled my wish :)

Although we didn't manage to go caving which is also one of the popular activities in Budapest (not your regular walking in caves, you must wear helmet and overalls and use your hands to climb one), two highlights of the trip made it very worth it.

Although France is known as the land of foie gras, Hungary is actually a main producer too! And way cheaper than France. If you have no money to eat foie gras in Paris, go to Budapest and cook yourself. Restaurants also sell at quite affordable prices. We bought a slab from the main market hall and cooked it ourselves.

Looks gross I know

But trust me it was heavenly (even nicer than restaurant standards, Kat claims hahaha and I believe her)

The second highlight was visiting the bathhouse. It's like hot springs, but unlike Japanese hot springs where you have to be naked over here at this bathhouse you need to be clothed. There are only mixed pools. The outdoor pools are like swimming pools lor, just that you have to run around in 6-8 degrees cold in your bikini before reaching the pool/indoors. There are medicinal pools, whirlpool (which moves you along with its current), saunas (damn hot I dunno how people can be inside for so long), and outdoor pools.


/add

As you can see we huddled in the cold trying to take photos.


You can see the steam around us

Interior of the bathhouse, looks like museum hor.

So yup, this trip was quite fulfilling :)

给我一点吃的吧

Sometimes when I think about Singaporean food I feel like I'm going to die from withdrawal symptoms, like now.







I will just have to 忍 until London where I can stuff myself with Chinese food.

List

Books read while on exchange
. The perks of being a wallflower
. Oscar and the lady in pink
. Harry Potter and the deathly hallows

Books bought while on exchange
. Harry Potter and the deathly hallows (SGD12.00 hahaha)
. The inheritance of loss (SGD2.00)
. The great gatsby (SGD6.00)
. Sophie's World (SGD2.00)
. Consciousness: a very short introduction (course book)

Movies watched while on exchange
. Fame (old version)
. 500 days of summer
. Cloudy with a chance of meatballs
. New moon
. Hello schoolgirl
. The naked kitchen
. Antique bakery
. Nick and Norah's infinite playlist

Dramas watched while on exchange
. Take care of the young lady (Korean)
. 不良笑花 (Taiwanese)
. Bride for a ride (Hong Kong)

Ongoing
. Gossip girl
. アタシんチの男子
. 想握你的手

let us live the Swedish Christmas

I'm getting excited about Christmas. Although I won't spending the day itself in Gothenburg, the events that follow up to Christmas already sound exciting ^^ The bad thing is that I have an exam on the day two events are on! Argh.

Anyway, next Wednesday there is Lucia celebrations at the main school building, there will be traditional Swedish and international Christmas songs and after the performance (probably just Christmas carols, me loves!!), and traditional Lucia refreshments like lussekatt (Lucia bun) and glögg (drink made of 4 different kinds of berries).

On Friday there will be a Lucia procession which looks like this:

Very pretty right!! Every year they will choose a Swedish girl to portray Lucia to head the procession in churches, families, schools, workplaces etc. The girl will wear a crown of 7 candles, and right now many houses display the 7 candles on window sills for the upcoming Lucia Day. It is a popular occasion celebrated in Sweden, and it's a church feast day dedicated to St. Lucy, celebrated on December 13th.

Wikipedia:

The candles symbolize the fire that refused to take St. Lucia's life when she was sentenced to be burned...The women sing a Lucia song while entering the room, the various Scandinavian lyrics are fashioned for the occasion, describing the light with which Lucia overcomes the darkness.

This day also falls near to the winter solstice, which makes the night before the longest in the year, so it is said that the traditions still live on in the Nordic countries because in these countries the winter nights are dark and long...


Anyway, next Friday will also be the official lighting up of the Christmas lights in the city. I hope it snows ^^





Oh yeah, pictures not by me.

最初的梦想

What happens when you want two things (almost) equally badly?




It is not without extreme difficulty that I come to this decision :'(





Sigghhhhhh.




We all live with it.

walking on the winter wonderland

Today I saw the first snow in Gothenburg. It snowed last night while we were all sound asleep. I was on the tram to school this morning when we passed by a familiar yet unfamiliar place. Gone were the dull brown and dark green of the landscape, replaced by a layer of white all over. I felt like I was in a dream or in another country. The past few days the temperature was still around 9 degrees, how did it plunge so low overnight? I look at the snowy landscape passing by it felt so surreal I felt like crying. It's silly, I know.

The ice on the ground shined under the sun. Much were still unmelted by the warmth of the sun. Glistening like diamonds, they reminded me of Edward Cullen's body under sunlight. It was really nice.

i used to rule the world

Every now and then I will get a little ambush of melancholy that washes over me. The fact that I don't have many days left in this beautiful city creeps up on me every time I'm on the tram at night back home from somewhere, from school, from a project meeting in some cafe in town, anywhere. I see the lights flashing by, blurred by the raindrops still plastered on the windows even after the rain has stopped. The Christmas lights here are not fantastic, but it must be the European architecture of Gothenburg that makes the lights, and the city, look beautiful.

How is it that the months that I've hoped for so long came so slowly, yet pass so quickly now that they're here?

Xmas Fair @ Tjolöholm Slott

Yesterday we went to a Christmas fair at Tjolöholm Castle. It was designed in Tudor Style and built between 1898 and 1904 and originally owned by a rich Englishman who owned many things in Gothenburg at that time.

The castle is situated just next to the sea, and thankfully there was a clear sky yesterday so everything looks very pretty. It felt so good to be near nature after so many weeks of urbanity. It wasn't very cold as I said fall became warmer, but the wind was super strong.

(love the blue and the green)

(love the hair, it's so dramatic)

(who's the faceless one?!)

(can't see where i'm going)

(edible gingerbread houses!)

(traditional Swedish ceramic Santa Claus)

(these cute little guys are sitting on my desk now ^^)

Many souvenirs that the stalls were selling were super pricey! Like, one bar of chocolate can be SGD10.00! But there were many locals there who were happily buying away anyway. More photos on Facebook soon :) We tried the traditional drink during Christmas called glögg, and it was nice! I thought it was some alcoholic drink (which did taste a bit of alcohol), but it's actually made of four different types of berries.

three (wo)men in black

Tonight as I was on my way home on the tram from class something amusing happened in the usually uneventful Gothenburg life. At one stop two men and one lady boarded and stood near the door, decked out in black attire - black jacket and black pants. At first they looked normal, since many locals dress the way they do - black windbreaker and trackpants with beanies. But the lady was so tall she drew my attention, then I started to focus on her height, then the brand of her jacket. There was something strange about the three of them. I don't know if it was the age combination - one man was in his mid-40 to 50s? The lady was mid-20s, and the other guy was mid-30s --- Or the fact that they dressed so similarly, or something. For a while they just stood there chatting (dunno about what of course) and the lady was looking at her cellphone, then I saw something bulging out of her pocket - at that time I just dismissed it as some kind of gadget --- a very fleeting thought. Then when the tram started moving, the three of them suddenly



Pulled out their guns and pointed at the passengers.



Yeah right, you think what, drama ah. Heehee. Anyway, they pulled out their Vastraffik (Gothenburg equivalent of SBS Transit) IDs and flashed them at us and proceeded to check our cards. I was stunned a bit --- dunno why also hahaha, thinking to myself, no wonder that gadget that was bulging in the lady's pocket look somewhat familiar, like those handheld devices conductors always use, but then that thought was just fleeting. Yeah then I was thinking, 9.10pm on a Wednesday night?! And when my monthly pass just expired two days ago and I had it renewed just yesterday when originally I wanted to cheat and not pay for a few days hahaha. "Heng ga lao sai" was the first thought that came to my mind. Of course there were a few who didn't pay, and they couldn't run anywhere because the three of them were so discreet about it and the tram had started moving already! So they hovered over them and the tall lady spread her arms and "cordoned" the seats by putting her hands on the handles (if you can imagine, I'm bad at describing) and she looked rather intimidating, with her height and attire and all.

Yeah so after the fiasco I notice that the guy in his mid-20s to 30s actually looked quite cute, like some Swedish ah beng, and when all of them alighted, (they will nod to the others in the other carriage when they're done), I saw that there are like 7-8 of them! On one tram. At 9.10pm. On a Wednesday night.

Moral of the story is:

1. never let down your guard, because they could be terrorists carrying guns, because contrary to popular belief, Swedes actually do work beyond 4pm (I'm serious, 3plus 4pm is like their rush hour, and school administrative offices are only open from 9am-12noon) so don't think conductors don't come flashing their IDs at you when night falls.

2. they are always wearing black, not all of them are old men, and they never carry bags.

a few random thoughts

(1) Booking my return flight home (zzzomg SIA!) makes me slightly home-sick for the first time ever HAHA. And feel like going home :(

(2) Can't wait till I finish the 2nd essay so that I can go back to whatever I need to do --- tidy up the incredibly messy room (which always happen when I just come back from a trip and/or there're assignments to rush), magic-clean the floor and toilet floor, clean kitchenette, tidy up accounts, book the rest of the trips, watch dramassss, and start packing to ship stuff back, and figuring out how to do it --- that's the big question.

(3) Love it when it's raining outside and I'm indoors, dry and cozy (though not so warm 'cos the heater is useless).

Czech it out - Prague

Recently autumn is turning warmer, like around 10-12degrees in the day, which is good, and sometimes you can feel the increase in temperature, and you tell yourself okay, this is actually a bit de warm, because you have already acclimatised to 4degrees days, and it reminds you of how you're going to just die when you go back to Singapore. Anyway, with this kind of weather, I can wear only 3 layers and still not shiver and can even go without gloves sometimes, which is a very comfortable temperature.


Anyway, I love the title. I stole the phrase from the walking-tour guide, who was quite funny. I'm back from a two-week trip with a one-day break in between, and I figure I should start from the beginning, which is Prague. (I should be rushing my take-home essay now, but I find no motivation or whatsoever to start it AHHH).

First of all, the hostel/hotel we stayed in is the BEST out of all that we've stayed so far, which is around 8-10 places? I would strongly recommend Miss Sophie's if you're going to Prague. The location isn't fantastic like you can walk to the city center, but it's near to the metro, there are many cafes/restaurants nearby, and most of all the place itself is gorgeous, like the design and facilities etc. It has the nicest bed and pillow and shower and everything. Just what you need after a long day of walking.

Anyway, the trip started with us taking a train to Lund because there is no budget flight from Gothenburg to Prague, and WizzAir flies from Malmö, and Malmö is close to Lund, so we stayed one night at Lionel's place. G, JS and L were kind enough to cook dinner for us, which included G's signature sambal fish (nice!), and L's something-went-wrong curry chicken but yummy stir-fried pork with his own recipe and a neighbour's self-baked kanelbulle (cinnamon roll).


Woke up at 4am next morning and braved the cold and walked a long distance to the airport bus bus-stop, it was fortunate that the airport bus actually stops at a bus stop near their place. Boarded the bus thinking to ourselves that this is one of the things that backpackers do (waking up at ungodly hours to catch cheap flights) and that we can only do it while we're young).

The bathroom - looks so modern and like a hotel! It's like a hostel/hotel I think.

At the Prague Castle overlooking the city with a hint of rainbow at the other end

The Golden Lane inside Prague Castle - where marksmen and later craftsmen used to live; doors are much shorter than the modern doors, and now converted to little shops which I would've loved to visit but couldn't 'cos we were on a walking tour

It was around 4 plus 5pm when the tour ended so this is Prague at night.

We had KFC for dinner, which is the first time since forever, and it was oh-so-good despite the not juicy and oily and big enough part.

In between Prague we went to Vienna for a day and a half, and after that we went back to the same hostel that we stayed in, and this time they gave us an apartment which was even nicer! ^^

Hot chocolate during breakfast - it wasn't fantastic, but it was definitely the densest and thickest hot chocolate I've ever drunk

Fried cheese, which was not bad, and I think it's easy to cook! Just cheese and dip it in batter and fry
Never give New Europe Tours a miss in the major cities

The famous astronomical clock - they have 365 name days, which the clock below shows, and everyone in Prague must have a name from these 365 names

In the evening around 4 plus, the old town square was bustling with people

Stalls selling food and souvenirs, like pasar malam - just that the food never repeats, except for the sausage buns

Something like cinnamon rolls, with sugar, vanilla, toffee, almonds etc

Potato croquettes that tasted nicer than usual, because of some herb inside that we couldn't decipher

I liked the market in the old town square, it's like my kind of thing, food stalls and stalls selling nice stuff and atmosphere etc.

midnight bus from Stockholm to Gothenburg

I'm now on the midnight bus from Stockholm back to Gothenburg, which includes a change somewhere in between, so the entire journey will take around 7h :( And this happened because we initially planned to buy last-minute train tickets because we thought it would be cheaper but no! It was even more exorbitant for some reason. So for this trip, there are a few critical things that we learnt, which are as follows:


1. Never count on SJ (Swedish Rail) last minute train tickets - Initially we thought that to pay around 300-400SEK was too pricey so we decided to buy last-minute (within 24hours) tickets which are usually cheaper, but to find out that the prices had risen to 900SEK! Madness! So the only other way is to take this midnight bus back home :(

2. If you're in any Sweden airport, just get the Flybussarna airport bus to the city center and not some WizzAir bus because the WizzAir bus is actually under another bus company which we didn't know so we missed the bus and were nearly stranded at the airport for 2h (luckily the bus company was kind enough to dispatch another bus just for the 6 of us who missed the bus), and Flybuss coaches are always reliable.


The thought of going back to doing the essay feels me dread, but at least I'll be in the comfort of my own place again. The hostel we stayed in Krakow was horrid :/ Will elaborate more another time; shall attempt to go to sleep now.

vienna for a day

One of the things that you must do as a true-blue backpacker is to sleep in the airport/train station at least once because the cheapest flights are always either super late or super early = no public transport or not worth paying for one night in the hostel. So yup, that's what we're going to do tonight :S

Went to Vienna for a day and a half yesterday, and it was a fruitful one! But then again, so far all our trips had been very fruitful :) There are a lot of museums, especially cultural related ones if you are one for museums, but since we are not, we sought other ways to soak in the musical and cultural atmosphere of the city :)

We caught a concert at Mozart House by the Mozart Ensemble! Mozart House is the actual apartment where Mozart stayed before, and is the oldest concert hall in the world now. As it is part of an apartment, it's not really the size of a normal concert hall, but rather a cozy room that can fit five rows of audience, and the performers are a string quartet. The room is really pretty, with paintings on the walls like the kind you see in cathedrals/palaces, and the structure of the room is made to enhance the acoustics. More about the room and the performance when I upload the photos next time!

The next day was coincidentally the premiere of the 12th International Acapella Festival! Was flipping through the events magazine of Vienna and saw it ^^ As it was the premiere, different acapella groups performed at balconies throughout the city, and we managed to catch one group's performance, which was really good, atmosphere-wise and technique-wise, considering that they were singing on a balcony to audience below with passers-by walking here and there (it was along a busy shopping street) and random noise here and there.

Yup, so everywhere in Vienna there are shops selling music-related items, museums, posters about art/musical events, that add to the overall atmosphere of the city, and the two events we caught really encapsulate the entire experience of the city, albeit it being a short trip.

The cafe that we went to for our last meal there was also yummy! We had the traditional Viennese beef goulash soup, breaded mushrooms, Parisian egg-coated schnitzel, and pork cordon bleu. Totally delicious, especially the first two items.

halfway in Prague.

The best thing about this trip so far is that the hotel room is really pretty and I'm going to model my future toilet after their design, and that I got to eat KFC for dinner just now! ^^ Have been craving for that fat, juicy, oily drumstick recently, and although the chicken in Prague doesn't quite make the mark (smaller, not that juicy and tasty as Singapore's), but it will suffice for now :)

The worse thing about this trip is that I lost the hotel room card! Terribly careless of me; I hate to admit this stupidity of mine :/

Woke up at 4.15am this morning to catch the airport bus and it was freaking cold. Reminded us of the times in Berlin when we also woke up at 4am to catch the train to the airport for our morning flight to Munich. Crazy things like this you can only do when you're young. When I'm old next time I will resume to following tour groups HAHA.

Going to Vienna tomorrow, will try to soak up its cultural and musical atmosphere and see if it lives up to its title of being a 音乐之都.

globalization

I should stop getting stressed up about the fact that I have no way of getting my hands on the textbook needed to do my take-home exam before the submission deadline.

The issue is, the textbook will only be available next Monday, but on that Monday morning, I will be happily flying off to the much look-forwarded Poland trip (because of meat dumplings that I heard were deliciously good and they're the closest I can get to 小龙包 or whatever dumplings that I love).

I was planning to go get the textbook today after school so that I can bring it on my trip this week, but alas the professor said that students had informed him that it'll only be available next week :( I'll only be back on Saturday, and the essays are due on Monday noon, and I can only get the textbook on Monday at 10am. AHHH.

I should just ask for an extension, which the professor said students can email him about and see what they can do, or just rely on the Internet, Google Books (limited preview) and complementary readings, which he said he'll give extra credit for. HA.

Prague and Vienna awaits.

cardboard love

be light, be life, be Berlin.

When we went up the stairs after alighting the underground train, we looked at the map and tried to look for our hostel. Saw a bunch of people outside a pub drinking and smoking and thought we should move away from them asap. Took a wrong turn and decided that the hostel should be just very near to the station, and the entrance turned out to be the pub which we passed by! Scrambled past the youngsters outside and went in. Turned out that the hostel is just above the pub, and they are essentially the same thing.

A soccer match was on that night so it was more happening than usual. The next day, we went on the walking tour where the guide was a history student before so he told really good accounts of the historical side of Berlin.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

The memorial is made up of buildings of stones of different heights and sizes. It is "designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason." (source: Wiki) It is true in a way I suppose, K said it's like as you walk deeper into the maze-like structure, you lose sight of the people around you and everyone becomes suspicious of one another, losing sense of hope in a way as well.

Mobile hot dog seller

East Side Gallery - large intact section of the Berlin Wall with beautifully painted murals (one of my favourites of Berlin)

Still need to formulate an interpretation of this painting

When we went to Berlin, it was coincidentally the Festival of Lights, so many of the city's attractions were lit up with colours.

TV Tower

Brandenburg Gate at night

I uploaded more photos on Facebook along with descriptions for most of them if you are interested :)