Life as an exchange student Part1

Something happened today which inspired me to start this topic.....

Living aboard in a foreign country means that you got to be independent and be willing to try out new things. Take for example, cooking.

Cooking is a love-hate affair. I have never cooked on my life, so this few week has been the experimentation period. I would said i have more or less perfected my rice (ps:i am not using a rice cooker). And i tried cooking fried noodles even though my mom have not taught me before. Curry pork was my boldest experiment. Although i bought the ready made powder from ICA (supermart), i tried to vary the taste by coming out with a sweet and also a sour verison. Well, perhaps the curry pork didnt turn out to suit everyone's taste, but i thought the sour version was nice. It resembles Malay Asam. Anyway, while i am writing this entry, i am actually boiling porridge for supper. Hopefully it turns out well. Its my first time.

And i shall tell you why i am inspired to write this entry...

Washing cloth was not new to me, since i stayed in the hall for 3 years. And this machine in my apartment has a program for wool clothings. Although i knew wool cloth should be dry cleaned, i decided to trust the machine. So i happily threw in my S$56 100% wool sweater into the washing machine on sunday.

I was feeling cold just now and i decided to pile emyself up. And to my horror, my S size sweater has shrinked to XXS.

What a costly experiement! And goodbye to my sweater. I dun wan to be seen with my belly button.

And now off to see my porridge.....

københavn on 27 jan 07

My first out-of-sweden trip to Copenhagen,Denmark.

Denmark is connected to sweden via the Øresund bridge and it takes just an hr train ride from Lund. we didnt even need a passport to enter copenhagen.

Radhus(Copenhagen City hall )

Change of Guard Parade @ Amalienborg slotsplads (Palace)

We went next to the National Musume. Nothing intersting at all. I thought it will be a good musume since copenhagen is suppose to be the most famous scandinavian capital. Our trip ended with a dinner at the Hard Rock cafe.

I didnt really enjoy my trip. Blame it on the cold weather. The temperature was hovering around sub zero. My not-so-waterproof nike shoes made my legs cold and freezing. On top of that, melting snowing in cities is really disgusting. Look at the constast below. The snow that was steped by people or cars was dark and dirty. Luckily Lund was a smaller town and melting snow doesnt get that disgusting. I guess i will return back to copenhagen again in spring.

However, i got a nice travel mate, Thomas from Germany. Before coming sweden, i really had a bad impression of the Germans. Blame it one Klaus and Peter Dorge.

I pity Thomas cos he has to travel with someone who speaks bad english. For example, i was trying to tell him that i was very "cold" and he could not understand me pronounce it as "col" without the "d". Sometime, i wanted to say some cold jokes, but it turns out really bad cos i didnt know how to convert my chinese cold jokes into english ones, and he just gave me a lost look. I shall work harder to improve my english. I seriously have some difficulty talking to the ang-mohs. Sometimes, i find myself stumbing over my own words and have to repeat myself again and again. While having group conversation, they speaks so fast that i can catch only 60% of their conversation. I shall try to improve my powder-ful English.

And thats Thomas from germany

More photos can be found

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYs2TZy4ctGLoo

Its snowing

Finally, it snowed.

It starting snowing in the morning of 22 jan.

I could not get out of bed cos it was really cold. When i finally gotten out, i saw snow. And the first thing i grab was my camera. However, snow is not always good. It got wet and slippery and i nearly fell a few time. More pic on

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYs2TZy4ctGLmQ

Party week

The ang-mohs really love beers and parties. I had been drinking almost every night! And i guess its common for them to get a cup or two after lessons, cos i went drinking with them in an English pub on thurs after our swedish lang lesson, even before we had our dinner.























Thomas (german), me, Andrew(Irish), Eva(Austrian)



Before the 19th century, the swedes actually thought that drinking water is bad for their health, hence the drink beer instead, 6-7 liters a day. They used poatatos for alcohol fermentation, and in one of the year, they have used up so many pototoes, that it actually caused a famine in the following year. On the other hand, germans have a strong drinking culture cos after WWII, water condition was so bad that they have to drink beer. So i shall not sterotype the Europeans (they dun call them caucasians) as beer hungry people anymore, cos its pretty much a culture.

Corridor(aka hall or block in singapore context) Party is also something they liked. Its a time for them to get to know one another, and always with a can or two in their hands. They didnt have orientation camps like what we have. I wasnt quite used to this sort of party on the first few days, but i getting hooked onto it now. It is a good way to meet many people at one go.

Ist week in Sweden

Hej!(hello in swedish)


Today is sunday. I finally have some personal time to do my own stuffs. And so i decided to write my first entry. This blog is quite raw. Haven got time to design it yet. It has been a hectic week. Just in case u've been wondering what i have been doing.


Tues - Deaprture from Singapore
Wed - Arrived at Lund, sweden via paris and copenhagen
Thurs - Attended my first swedish langauge class
Fri - More swedish, (and i have three shot of vodka)
Sat - Excursion to Ystad and Glimmingehus
Sun - wash cloth, housekeeping, cooked my first proper dinner

lund - A small little town found in AD990.

Glimmingehus - built in 1449. This is supposed to be the most well perserved castle in the whole of Scandinavia.















Ystad - A small sleepy town south of sweden
















Our first self cooked real proper dinner with RICE ! Kellie did the vege and meat and i did the rice. However, the rice wasnt well cooked. Cant blame me. We do not rice cooker here.