mugging period begins...

i declared the start of my mugging period... blogging activities shall be kept to the minimum...

going to venice-italy

oh, forgot to mention this... bought my return air tickets to Venice-Italy... for only 20 euros!!! taxes included...=)

cold weather + beer culture + singaporean in hamburg

whoa... going home at 12 midnight, dressed in just a T-shirt and shorts, and with temperature as low as 12 degrees is NO joke...

on a happier note, think i am getting used to the german culture... twice in this week, after my frisbee training sessions, i had been to the pub for a pint of beer... whoever says that drinking water after sports is good has definitely not been to Germany...=P

and i met a fellow singaporean today... how to recognize one in a supermarket? lots of chocolates and gummy bears... OMG... and he was heard complaining in dialect about the high prices of food... hahahah...

cool summer

it's officially summer, with a mid-day temperature of 14 degrees...

i'm loving it!!!

where to go?

ok, now that the exam schedule is more or less settled, it's time to start squeezing in all those little holidays i want...

but now, the problem is:"where to go??"

places which i would love to go to...
(i) Budapest in Hungary
(ii) Venice in Italy
(iii) Bratislava
(iv) rent and drive a car around the entire scotland...

Options:
(i) dave is "chio-ing" me to go to venice followed by budapest... only problem is that i have 3 papers almost immediately after this vacation... oh, i forgot to mention this, most of my exams are scattered throughout the month of august... so i will have to do my travelling in july... crazy you might say, but i think that taking a break every now and then will be beneficial... of course, i won't jeopardize my studies, but i am pretty confident that i will be able to cope even if i go on some short holidays before my exams...

(ii) Sebastian called me!!!!!!!!! omanns, for a moment, i thought that i will forever lose contact with this fellow... so now, i will have to plan something and make a trip to stuttgart.. =) will love to meet up with both manu and him again after 2 years...

(iii) go travelling with stefan... he mentioned that he will be interested in those little trips around eastern europe... hmmm...need to consult him again...

what shall i do?!

shucks.. i think i have sprained my right ankle after the frisbee earlier...

thought that it was just some minor twist and that i could just run it off... i can't rotate my ankle and it is starting to hurt like hell now... ouch...=(

home in aveiro...

was wondering, if there were ever a place in europe which i will call "home", i think aveiro (portugal) will be it... not so much of the time spent there, but it's just a feeling that i get whenever i am there...

to see an old lady riding past, and i immediately recognize her as the lady from the market selling vegetables, and oh, not to mention that she probably owns 50% of the land behind the university...

make my way to the resturant below, and the lady owner will chat with me as if she had known me for a long time...

jog along the lagoon during the evening, and that feeling of wind blowing gently against my face makes me feel happier instantly regardless of how bad the day was earlier...

awoken by the dogs barking relentlessly during my afternoon naps reminds me of the numerous occassions that happened during my earlier stay...

go for coffee whenever leandro is at home, and that me will try to make out the sports headlines of the portuguese newspapers...

every little thing feels so familiar, and so comfortable...

fantastic... simply fantastic...

concluding my short holidays to aveiro, here are just some random shots...

the coffee place which leandro and me (ok, it's still the one for leandro) used to frequent... and oh, that man in orange is probably the owner...

aveiro central...

me at Sao João Festival 2007 in Porto... one of the largest festivals in portugal... lots and lots of fun!!! (pity i took only movie clips instead... unless someone can tell me how to condense 400MB of clips and post them online...)

"you never know what you are missing, until you have left the place" how true... didnt realize that i like aveiro so much... okok, maybe it's the people there, but that feeling of home and belonging came back the moment i stepped into portugal (ok, i still cant understand the slightest bit of the language), but besides that, everything feels like home... and classmates like kirk, abraham, chaminda, abu, and amsalu really brings out the fun... the dinner spent at their place was filled with laughter, and this is something that i really look forward to when all of us (almost) will be reunited in aalborg,demark come this september....

SOS II - Remedy for the tired brain, body and soul...

alright, realized that the pics of the beach at Costa Nova posted up in the previous blog were not that nice... but these pics will definitely much better... taken while sunbathing with leandro and magarida yesterday before leaving for germany... ok, pay attention to the clouds formation... it's amazing...

oh, a sidetrack... see how fine the sand is...

SOS

hmmm... can´t bring you to the beach... so will bring the beach to you instead... vast spaces of really fine white sand coupled with the blue skies and the lovely ocean... the perfect spot for de-stressing... =)
ok, must remember to bring some stuff for my hair the next time... i look funnie leaving my hair down... shall put on a cap for the rest of the day.... oh yes, i am back in lovely portugal... realized that i didn´t take many pics of the place while i was here, so here i go... finally got to aveiro after 7 miserable hours at the london stansted airport... only to find my beloved aveiro in shades of black & white...

oops, been playing with my camera and forgot to set it back to the normal mode... here's aveiro...

lesson learnt: never wear a cap while going for dinner, the owner of the restaurant came over and leandro was introducing me to him, and he thought that i was 18 years old... well, take that with a pinch of salt... oh yes, BBQmeat or any type of portuguese food will probably beat eating kebab... hands down, legs down, whatever...

portugal, here i come...

ever had good news, only for something worse to happen to immediately dampen your mood?

was ecstatic to find out that i will be able to cut short my rental lease and save myself 207 euros because i will be going to denmark at the end of august, and i would be able to spend one week in istanbul (yeap, turkey!!!) using that extra cash...

BUT....

just received a confirmation email from the accommodation office in aalborg university (denmark) that i will be required to pay 6 months of rent + 2 months of additional deposit when i get to denmark... wahhh... that’s like 8 freaking months!!!!!!!!!!

on a happier note, i am leaving for london tonight (3 hours) and then to portugal early tomorrow morning!!!! will post up all the pics when i get back on sunday afternoon =)

my timberland windbreaker passed its first test!!!

on a happier note, weather had been TERRIBLE recently... it's been raining so frequently, and the sky's overcast... but I LUV IT!!!!... maybe i feel that this weather is "in-tuned" with how i feel now... having to stay at home and mug for the coming exams... well, just hope that the rainy weather will take a break when i travel to portugal this coming thursday...=)

oh, here it goes again... rain rain rain...

PS: my timberland jacket had passed its first test with flying colors!!!!

birthday party + toilet bowl as midnight companion

ok, this is so embarrassing... woke up in the middle of the night, and sat in front of the toilet bowl and had to induce puking in order to make myself feel better...well, it's the first time i did it, never knew that my thumb would come in so useful.... hahahahah... i am never going to drink so much again!!!!

here are some of the pictures from the party last night...

bottles of beer we had in my apartment before going next door for the birthday celebrations... oh, nice bottle cap...

birthday gal...

the vodka-drinking competition... those little cups of yellowish liquid are in fact vodka...

freakkiing druunkk...

NTU degree vs European Masters (whats the difference?)

was speaking to some german friends during the frisbee competition last weekend, and i was surprised that 3 of them had recently finished their Masters in Law (yup, they are now working as trainee lawyers)... and apparently, all 3 of them did their Masters in Australia or New Zealand...

so, being the curious sort, and also the fact that I am doing my Masters degree in a foreign country, i asked them about the standard of education in either countries... and surprise, surprise, this is what they said:

"well, basically, whatever the universities are teaching, we had already studied before, and in fact, we learnt much more during our undergraduate years as compared to our Masters... and the main reason for doing a Masters in Australia/New Zealand is so that we could prove our proficiency in the english language... so, our time overseas are spent on enriching ourselves in terms of culture and not so much in terms of studies..."

how true... it's true that in germany, i've learn much of the things that they are teaching now... even though there may be new things, i had briefly studied the basics... so it's just either revision for me, or things that are more in depth... but heck, i'm here for cultural immersion =)

who would you like to meet?

was updating my profile on my friendster website earlier, and i had to re-write the entire "who do i wanna meet" column... and that got me thinking...

if there is one person/persons whom i would love to meet up with now, who will that be??

sitting in front of the window, watching the rain drops pelt down onto the window pane, i finally figured out whom i would want to meet... that will be my tuition teacher during my primary school days... hmmm... why? well... ok, let me explain... i was tutored by him for 3 whole years... from primary 4 till 6... and to me, he was always the strict, but caring teacher... besides having classes at his place, my friends, my younger brother and me used to go over to his place before classes to play, be it computer games, or some intellectual games...

besides him, i would also like to meet up with his entire family... his wife, and his 2 daughters... and i have forgotten to mention this, but his youngest daughter and me were classmates for 6 years... **blushed blushed** used to have a crush on her too... hahaha...

but things changed after primary school days, they moved away to Simei soon after that... and me moved to the north 4 years later... so, somehow, we just lost contact... however, did met my friend (the youngest daughter) during my first year in NTU, and that's probably the last time since then...

hence, if there is ever a chance, i would really loved to meet them again... just to catch up with one another's life over the last (ohmigod) 14 years... wow... i am really old now...

duckies...

oh oh, guess what i saw yesterday... there is a little pond in the middle of TUHH, and that there was a MAMA duck together with several baby duckies...

and you know that ducks will often try to go underneath the water surface to search for food... and cos the adult duckies have too much reserves of fats (thus that explains the large arses), they will not be able to submerge fully... so you will see only their arses wobbling above the water surfaces...

but the baby duckies are different, they are able to fully dive beneath the water surface and disappear from sights for several seconds... so you will see one duckie, then 3 duckies, then 1...2....5...2....1....3....

prediction of next trip back to singapore...

oh, still cannot believe that i have only been back in germany for less than 2 weeks... it feels so long...

and i have come up with an equation, and it supposedly helps to predict the next time i will be back in singapore...

first time back in singapore from portugal... 10 weeks after leaving....

2nd time back in singapore from germany.... 20 weeks after the first time...

so that gives me: 3rd time = 40 weeks after the 2nd time.... ??

40 weeks = approximately 8-9 months later... so it's june, july, august, september, october, november. december, JANUARY...???

updates...

ok, guess i have been bitching about the weather in germany too frequently these days... better provide some update of my well-being...=)

bought my air tickets to portugal finally!!! promised leandro and some of the boys in EMMS that i would pay them a visit in june... so here i am, armed with a big empty bag, getting ready to leave for porto next wednesday... however, due to budget constraints, i have to fly vis RYANAIR once again... and that translates into spending one night at the london stanstad airport, before taking the earliest flight on thursday morning to porto... so it's time for me to spend tons and tons of pounds on those sports and health magazines... and on happier note, i will be flying back vis TUI.fly from porto to hamburg in the wee hours of sunday morning... well, at least i wake up and find myself in hamburg....=)

on my hindsight, i brought back most of my savings to singapore last month, and subsequently, i am in some kind of financial difficulties... well, i didnt expect that i have to pay up-front 6 months of rent when i get to denmark in late august... and that translates into a region of 1800-2400 euros... and it does not help that i've no allowance in the months of august and september... so i have to survive (5 months + that pre-payment for rent + whatever traveling i've planned) on only 3 months' allowance...

speaking about traveling around... last night was the unofficial "D&D" for fellow singaporean students in hamburg... not that there are many to start with.... me + dave + cailin +ching wen + kelvin = 5 of us... and since kelvin and ching wen are finishing their internship with AIRBUS, and that they will be spending the rest of the their spare time traveling, we thought that it would be probably one of the last time when we could just sit down and have a nice meal... anyway, after chatting with them, i realized that i am lagging behind in the number of places visited.... hahahaha... so i must buck up!!!!

in a desperate last attempt to preserve some of my soon-to-be-evaporated insanity (due to the warm weather), i've bought a fan!!!! 14 euros in exchange for my mental health...

and exams are finally around the corner!!! apparently, exams are scheduled by the lecturers, instead of by the examination board... so i've had some papers whose dates have not been finalized... but since exam dates can be arranged, we students are having some problems having to compromise.... everyone wants to have the dates arranged according to individual schedule... well, for me, i think it's better to cramp everything into 3 weeks and finish everything asap... "just suck it in, and have a wonderful summer..."

the summer is here, too soon and too hot...

ok, here's what i promised... the brand new flavors of ritter sports...

summer in germany....

went to an open-air concert last night, and ended up downing almost 2 litres of beer... and had to pee among some trees... either that or wet my pants...

and i just came back from a frisbee competition in Lubeak... imagine slogging it out under the sun for the entire day.... 150min over 5 games, and i probably played in 80% of the points.... guess i will be suffering from severe muscle aches over the next few days, and not be able to move about with ease....OMG... i will be mummified!!! but nevertheless, it's an eye-opener... played with a few pro-teams, as well as the national junior B team...

and summer in germany is so warm ( i am so glad that i am not in italy or even back in portugal)... it's been like 28 degrees for the last couple of days, but there are no air-conditioning in sight.... and the fans at the hypermart are sold out... darn, i should have bought them when i had the chance to... too late for regrets now... rain rain, where are you???

new things learnt...

things that i've learnt over the last one week...

(i) they introduced another 3 flavors of ritter sports chocolates... looks like the theme for this summer is yogart-flavor chocolates... nice nice... apparently ritter sports are constantly introducing limited editions of different flavor chocolates during the 4 seasons... whoa...

(ii) there are mosquitos even in cold countries like germany...

(iii) and finally, WC = water closets... hahahah...

(iv) lots of open-air concerts are coming up during the summer...

cloudy weather for 4 days, and counting...

once read an article about a UK studies stating that the reduced number of hours of sunshine during the winter months will increase the chance of one falling into depression mode...

back in Hamburg for 4 days, and besides sunday morning, the sun was practically playing hide-&-seek with me...

no wonder i still feel sluggish and depressed...

wahhhhhhhh..... i want sunshine back into my moody life!!!!!!

first day of school after my self-declared holidays...

one good thing about summer in europe is that we have up to 18 hours of daylight... and that translates into longer frisbee-playing hours as well as a lot more time to catch up with my school work...

but the other side of the coin = lesser hours of darkness... to explain my point, i went to bed at 9pm last night and my room is dim... and when i woke up at 6am, the room was equally dim!! and i have to tell myself that i need to sleep more cos it is still too early to be awake... arghhhh....

and the first day of school after my self-declared break was terrible... firstly, the physics of high-temperature strength class was like a killer, ripping my defenseless brain out of my head... followed by the german class 3 hours later... imagined having your brain ripped out twice in a day... hahaha... sounds gross...

time now: 9:30pm and it's time for me to get back into the arms of my bed again... but before this, saw this really interesting article in the straits times...

"BRUSSELS - A BELGIAN army contingent joined the fight against a mass outbreak of irksome caterpillars in oak trees which can give people skin rash and breathing problems, authorities said.

Two dozen soldiers will join firefighters in northern Belgium where the so-called oak procession caterpillars have spread to record numbers because of warmer-than-usual weather, creating prime living conditions for the insect, authorities said on Monday.

The hairs on the back of the caterpillars can cause anything from mild itching to painful irritations or dermatitis and asthma attacks.

In the countryside in the provinces of eastern Limburg and central Flemish Brabant, workers have been using gas flames to burn and kill the caterpillars from the oak trees, the only tree they inhabit. Yet they keep coming back.

Officials say that because of a genetic mutation that occurred some 100 years ago, the caterpillars are immune to anti-pest spays usually favored by authorities in such cases.

They are called procession caterpillars because they crawl in long lines, one after another, up the oaks. Their hairs are extremely thin and can be carried in the air by the slightest gust of wind. The caterpillars can also shoot their hairs off into the wind if they feel threatened."

hmmm... what can the soldiers do?? use the oak trees and the caterpillars for target practise?

8 hours after stepping foot into germany...

i feel funny... to the extent that i actually feel sick... hmmm... is it because of jetlag, a combination of fatigue and the unwillingness to come back to germany or simply because i am falling sick...

too tired to start doing my german homework...

too dis-interested to catch up on one week of lost studies...

maybe i should just fall into the comfort of my bed, but then again, its only 6pm here... unless i want to wake up in the middle of the night, this is not a variable option...

what should i do now?

back in germany...

At one corner of the frankfurt international airport, and with more than an hour to go before my connecting flight to hamburg…

Think I am turning into a lady…. A pussycat…. Becoming way too emotional…Or maybe coming home to Singapore so frequently made it harder for me to leave for Europe again… or could it be the fact that Europe no longer appeal to me?? Arghhh… I must learn to prioritize again…

As usual, the journey back to hamburg was filled with incidents… the flight was delayed for 30min again (as in the case last dec when I missed the connecting flight to Lisbon due to this delay in the take-off from Singapore) … maybe changi airport is just too small and the planes have to take turns to take-off…

And more bizarrely, a male passenger was thrown out of the plane by the flight attendants just before take-off… was it a case of air-rage? But then again, we were not in the air as yet… but he didn’t appear to be drunk or anything… maybe he grabbed the arse of one of the sweet-looking stewardess… hahaha… my speculation…

The flight was relatively smooth… not as much turbulences as I have hoped… hahaha… a little excitement on board will help to ease the monotony of sitting there for 12 hours…
.
.
.
.
.
Finally, back in hamburg… upon alighting the airport-express bus, it dawns on me that the whole place is soooooo quiet… there doesn’t seems to be the slightest noises around… whoa… maybe staying in Singapore for the last 2 weeks made me crave for the peace and tranquilly that this place offers…

And there are tons of mail for me, and **grasped** the letter of admission from Aalborg University (Denmark)!!!! And I just realized that I had missed the cut-off date for my application for the student halls…-_-"""

So I am scheduled to move to another whole new country once again… arghhh… sometimes, it’s nicer to just stay put in one place for a longer period… but at least I will be staying in denmark for 12months this time…

Time to go catch up on some sleep… will blog more later…

going back to kebab-land...

the last 15 days were great!! besides having the chance to catch up with friends as well as family, i did my fair share of contributing to the economy... not stating the exact amount, let's just say that it's much more than 1000 euros... broke broke...

and something that i always disliked about coming home to singapore will be the fact that i never get the chance to stay more than a month... and that translates into limited time to try meet up everyone...

regrets about this trip:
(i) spent too much money.... =(
(ii) not spending enough time with my dad and grandma.......
(iii) no swimming
(iv) spending too little time with people whom i like to hang out with... and of course, inability to arrange a suitable time to meet up with EVERYone...
(v) the fact that i always forget to bring my camera along for the gathering = not many pics

highlights:
(i) lots of good food and the great company!!! especially those gatherings at Ding Tai Feng + Tapas Tree + Chong Pang nasi lemak
(ii) RASA SENTOSA... with the Wii game
(iii) absolutely no contact with books / journals/ foreign languages
arghhhh... and i always get emotional when it's time to start packing and leaving for the airport...

but then again, it's not all bad things... i get to go back to kebab-land... =)