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Monday, January 29, 2007

What a fruitful week!!

Finally I've some time to blog! Been busy with orientation wk and last trip before school starts! Here's a summary of the stuff that happened to me the past wk!

Meet my new friends! Most of us exchange students live at Campus Village and the orientation week that we had were great! There were of course lotsa beer and dancing and food and friends! Meet my new friends from all over the world!
Paolo (Italy), Albert, Victor (both from Spain), Silvia (Italy), Marina and me outside the Cellar Bar getting some fresh air!


Me & Marina at Student House! A bar where international students in Copenhagen gather :)

Friendly Edita (from Lithuania) and tipsy me. Edita just turned 21 and was the first student to throw a party in a container! cheers!

Pavo (Polish), me, Thammo (German), Marina (Bulgarian), Roland (USA) and Thammo's friend

Another good news is that, after all that partying, I can finally hold my liquor after so much training! I can definitely drink more than 1 mug of beer without getting abit tipsy! I shall work harder :)
Today was the last day before school officially starts.
As Ruoling said, school finally has started and at least there's something else to do besides holidaying since NUS exams ended in Dec. We went to Helsingor and Helsingborg and oh my, it was definitely a wrong day out! Rain drizzled throughout the day when we were out and winds were so strong! We were left cold and wet in the end. A little history about H-H: Helsingor and Helsingborg are actually sister towns which are in Denmark and Sweden respectively. Helsingborg used to be Danish land long ago and both towns are separated only by a 20min ferry ride! The only good thing we chose today (sunday) to go on the trip was that return tickets cost (21DKK) only half the normal price! But other than that, most shops (as expected) were closed today. We visited the Kronborg Castle Helsingor. It was the castle that inspired Shakespearean work-- Hamlet even though he had not visited the castle during his time. It was the first castle that I've seen and I loved the scenery in the courtyard, the moat, the seaside and of course the medieval architecture! Despite the freakin cold wind and rain, we were very trigger happy and took lotsa photos!

Kronborg Castle



Do you know that swan is Denmark's National Bird? I love Swans!

In the courtyard of Kronborg Castle



And I FINALLY tasted the smorre brod, which is a type of Danish food with fish or meat! We had our lunch on the ferry while en route to Helsingborg. It was a quick lunch as the ferry took only 20min! But the meal was cheap and I gathered there were people who specially took the ferry ride just to have a meal and of course get a cheap beer onboard.


Ruoling and I with our smorre brod!

At Helsingborg, we walked up the Swedish fortress Karnan and were rewarded with a panoramic view of the town. If only the skies were blue today but nevertheless we managed to walk up the long spiral stairways up to the top! Karnan was a 600 yr old medieval fortress and it still stands today. It is one of Helsingborg's main landmark and attraction, after the City Hall tower.


The 600 yr old fortress

Me at the spiral stairways


City Hall Tower at Helsingborg
School is finally starting.. Can finally lead a more peaceful life! (hopefully theres more free time to do housekeeping and stuff I like!)

Add colours to your life!!
6:46 AM


Sunday, January 28, 2007

still... not updated!

Hi guys!

Inactivity online == Activity offline

Wanted to update my blogs for many days already! But still no chance.. guess will have to wait when school starts! Will have more time then (wad an irony)!

Going to helsingor-helsingborg in 4hrs time! Helsingor is in Copenhagen but Helsingborg is in Sweden... They are considered 'sister towns' haha.

Gonna catch some slp! Look out for my updates in a few days time!

Add colours to your life!!
9:13 AM


Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Images of Snow..

The containers at Campus Village~ Can u see the falling snow?
My footsteps in snow covered grass~

Ice-draped bicycle




The machine that sweeps away snow on roads. What's it called?


Lovely park..




Snow seems kinda gloomy, with only the colors white and brown.. isn't it?


Add colours to your life!!
4:04 PM


Orientation wk!

Boy! It seems that I've left Singapore for a really long time!! Perhaps its because so much things have happened ever since I passed the customs at Changi Airport. But in the past few days, I did not feel that I was in Denmark, perhaps cos I was with the rest of the Singaporeans all the while!
Today was Orientation and it was great! We were all split up into groups and they tried to mix us all up so we will not clique together. My group members are mostly from Europe: 2 Polish, 2 Italians, 1 Spanish, 1 Bulgarian, 1 Lithuanian, 1 German and 2 Americans. It was great meeting everybody from so many different countries and I was definitely out of my comfort zone as I've not interacted with so many 'ang mohs' in my whole life! I certainly feel a little out of place as I have black hair, yellow skin and a flat nose. But they are very friendly and most of the Europeans come to DTU for exchange because they want to improve their English. In their home country, they will not have a chance to practise their English. They are all very brillant people as they have won themselves prestigious scholarships to study on exchange overseas.


Me, Marina and Davide (from Spain)




One thing very true about Europeans is that they all love to drink beer! I gather its because of the cold weather, cos it really helps warm their bodies. During dinner, before we even got our food, most of them had a beer already. I got myself a can too! But didn't finish only after I had my dinner. Dinner was cold ham, cut beef with potato salads and vegetable salads. Somehow I wasn't feeling very well and had no appetite when I see the food, even though I could feel that I was very hungry! (and I'm still hungry now :( ) Guess I just gotta get used to their meals with bread as staple, but I think most of the time in Denmark I'll be cooking my own meals so hopefully I'll be able to eat more. Else, dear will get fatter in Shanghai by eating so much n me thinner in Denmark...

My made-in-denmark Carlsberg beer !!

Oh and I went to a Danish home today for the first time! Marina, the Bulgarian girl from my group invited me to visit her room she rented which is quite near to DTU. It was a nice house and looked triangular from the exterior (Just imagine a house with sloping roofs that slopes to the ground!) Marina is so lucky to stay at the attic room! Wow it's my dream to have sloping roof as my ceiling! Her landlord is a nice old lady and the house just looks nice and cosy! I would trade my Campus Village container anytime for that quaint lovely house!

Looking forward to the next few days of orientation! Hope I'll feel much better and can participate in the activities and get to know my new friends better! :)

Add colours to your life!!
5:24 AM


Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Continuation of previous post

Another day has passed.. today besides the exhilaration in the snow that fell... nth much happened. I guess I was expecting more to be done today, but perhaps due to the insanely high cost of living in Denmark, transport, leisure and even food is a problem outside our hostel.

That's why we either go out if we want to get groceries or run errands, or if there's low cost leisure activities (like sight-seeing and taking really long walks!). But I guess with the cold weather here, there's nth much pple can do as well.
We walked to Jaegersborg Dyrehaven (a National park near DTU) on Sunday and discovered it's a popular wkend hang out place for the Danes.

Many photo opportunities!!

A foresty park where there are dirt tracks for bicycles and where u can see ppl riding ponies, horses as well! According to the brochure we got, one can sight moose/deer if one is lucky! But well, we took the main path and didnt explore the park enough.

City folks like us Singaporeas might exclaim boredom in Denmark (when one cannot spend much $$) but to the Danes, I'm sure they have leisure activities, just that I've yet to find out. haha. The long walk through Jaegersborg Dyrehaven ended at Klampenborg, which is a seaside destination. It is the east coast of Copenhagen that can overlook Sweden. Again, I was expecting it to be a littly cosy town with some nice cafes or shops to hang about. But to our disappointment, it was jus a lonely train station with the occassional passers-by walking around. And again I've gotta tahan my hunger till we got home. :( I guess it will be more popular with the Danes when summer comes, cos its really freezing cold standing by the sea when we were trying to take photos at the seaside! But it's great to see something different and the buildings in this little town are really quite nice and old!

Me freezing by the sea!

Images of Klampenborg, the quaint little quiet town..

Nice building at the railway station!


Add colours to your life!!
4:59 AM


Monday, January 22, 2007

Settling in!!

wah this post will be rather long! Woke up early today, since daytime is so short here, i shall not waste any more time! yesterday woke up late n everybody was waiting for me to get ready..so paiseH!
It jus started snowing!! Saw specks of white stuff floating down when i opened the door early in the morning, couldnt believe my eyes till i saw the snow-covered grass....

I CAN FINALLY SEE, FEEL AND TASTE THE SNOW!! OMG.

View outside my window~

After 21yrs of my life seeing snow only in tv, i'm finally here... in a winter country... ! The view outside my window is great! a slight sloping grassland, so pretty when draped in snow! yipee!! shall experience walking in snow when i go settle admin stuff n run errands later~

ok shall introduce my room and my hostel.. I live in container B and i think there are 20 over containers in Campus Village, cos siow meng stays in container V! its supposed to be an all-girls container but somehow there's an Italian guy in my container. (Ruoling says its probably cos he has a female-sounding name.. haha) couldn't catch his name, but I call him Peter. Maybe I shd call myself some other names too, cos pple can't catch my name here. Zer doesnt sound like a name (acc to peikai) haha, well I shall see how! Havent really come into contact with many foreigners, except my neighbours. tmr when orientation starts, we'll be split into 'OGs' and will get to know more pple then! *excited*

Add colours to your life!!
3:08 PM


Sunday, January 21, 2007

In Denmark!! and Loving it! despite the high cost of living!!

Finally I managed to post something on the blog! I could get it the minute I got here (DTU hostel), but due to the absence of lan point (I actually took it out after putting into my luggage..AGRH! pek ceK!) and some home wireless internet settings, it took 3 EE students and 1 phone call to China (to my Jie) to troubleshoot the problem and solved it. Realised that internet is really the 4th most important thing in Denmark, after $$, warm clothing, camera and internet... well lotsa $$ may actually get u everything u want, tho not quite :)

ok, time in Denmark is 7hrs later than Singapore and I've got my local no: +45 27931526 and my very very own address!! ~



DTU Campus Village
Building 330, room B10
Electrovej
DK-2800 Kgs. Lynby
Denmark
I really really have many things to say abt my first 2 days here... but guess shall jus sum it up... This is my FIRST time experiencing winter, wearing cool winter clothing n boots, seeing botak trees, feeling cold on the street and seeing such scenic scenery!! haha can't imagine when sch starts after 1 more wk, gotta yank myself out of this fairytale land! Nooo...
I shall definitely upload more photos of me, my frens n denmark in an album.. But i'm really quite shacked out now.. nearing 3am denmark time. Shall let u see a preview of my photos! my Favorite!!~

and this~



So awesome rite? Guess whether this is sunset or sunrise? hah cant tell rite.. its taken at ard 4pm in the afternoon at a lake that we chanced upon on our way to Ikea.. Pleasant surprise indeeed!! The sun sets early at 4pm and rises late at 8am.. so naturally our activities in Denmark are affected by it as well.


ok more pics.. jus wanna share em!!



and this~ just to show u guys in my winter wear!! haha although its a hassle to wear all the layers.. i still feel very cool wearing the gear walking down the streets in Copenhagen!! Wheeeee!!



Ok! shall sleep! had a long day today.. :) Thanks to all my frens for ur well wishes!! I appreciate lots! Keep in touch ya? Take lotsa care too!!!







Add colours to your life!!
8:35 AM


Sunday, January 14, 2007

Cold weather, Sick nose, Gloomy days ahead?

It's getting so familiar again, jus exactly 8 mths ago in May 06, I was feeling the same as I'm feeling now.

Tmr 8 am in the morn, Jie will be leaving for Shanghai and won't be back in a gd 1 year's time.

8 mths ago, his Alaska-bound flight left Singapore at the same time and at an ungodly hour, my dad sent me over to his flat so that I can take the taxi with Jie and his parents to Changi Airport. In a few hours, everything will seem to repeat itself again. Maybe I'll just feel a bit more cold (cos of the weather) and more sick.

On the more positive side, I can only say that we've been through more after this 8 mths, and hopefully this 1 yr-long LDR will not be too unbearable for me. Things might indeed improve (as compared to his Alaska trip) since we have more chance to communicate with the internet connection and also the time-difference between Denmark and Shanghai (Denmark lags Shanghai by 7hrs) will not be as great as between Alaska and SG (which was almost 12 hrs!). I've learnt lots from the previous 3mth separation while he was away on Work and Travel in Alaska, but I really wonder if I've really changed for the better since then. Like stop being so imaginative, moody and hurting and be more trusting and loving.

But for the next 1 yr, I will really try hard for your sake and our sake future.

Add colours to your life!!
10:28 PM


Friday, January 12, 2007

The Countdown begins! ~ 6 more days

It's now officially less than 6 days left before I fly to Denmark!

I am still swarmed with meet-ups with many friends! Today I went back to NUS and met quite a few friends (Youyun, Vanessa, Shirlyn, Bernard) as well as to settle Funkamania website details with Yongmin and Chonghan. The rain was kind of depressing and gloomy and made Vanessa sick, hope she gets well soon!


Vera's msg came timely when I was still thinking of jio-ing who else to meet up in the afternoon before my dinner date with Vivian. In the end Vera and I ended up spending a relaxing afternoon at TCC @ Citylink.. Nice cushy seats!! And I'll have my last kbox session with Vera and her sis, Serene on wed, the day before I fly! Gonna miss k-box for the next 5 mths!!


Vivian gave me pleasant surprises today! She brought KianHong along too!! They are working at the same IA company (ICES). Haha it was great to catch up with him before I leave.
To KianHong: I won't forget to buy you Luncheon meat from Denmark (IF they really have it over there). haha but too bad he couldn't stay for dinner with us. And her second surprise for me is the dinner treat @ Crystal Jade (Haven't had it for so long and it was really YUMMY!). Thanks gal! I have really been quite tight recently, as I've spent quite alot preparing for my SEP already.. :)


All the way till Monday I'm still fully booked! Shall try to spend more time with my family!! I wanna nua at home, sleep lots lots and just watch tv.. and also.. START packing! Right now all the stuff that I intend to bring over are just piling up in my room, really wonder if I have too much or too little room left after packing all the things that I'll want to bring. And I still haven't exchanged for Danish Kroners, gotten a bank draft, hand over Funkamania and so many things to do still... better clear 'em sooN!

Add colours to your life!!
11:47 PM


Friday, January 5, 2007

Virgin post!

Testing testing.. haha I just wanna see how my posts look on my newly minted blog!
Finally my first blog is done!

Actually I've set up 2 before, but never get down to prettify them and much less to post anything on them! But this time I'll assiduously maintain my blog regularly and update all of u peepz on my life in Denmark!

Still feeling abit weird posting blog entries as all along I've been a rather private person. Haha, well if I've become accustomed to blogging, I may continue blogging forever! :)

Do check out this space for more updates!

::zer::

Add colours to your life!!
10:16 PM