Snow storm

This post is for myself. To mark this day as my FIRST ever snowstorm experience in my life. A mild one according to swedish standard. But i have NEVER seen this kind of wind before in my life. 45km/hr !

Waiting for Bus No. 6 to attend Zandankai. The bus was delayed for 20mins. This means standing in a semi cover bus shelter for 20mins. And the story about a YWD in Hokkaiddo that i read in NHR came into my mind. I can now understand her circumstances.

While waiting for my bus.

And now back in my confortable room. The snowstorm rages on. Hope Christoph is alright. Its already 1206am and he is not back yet.

CNY EVE - Morning

Went to the Konsthall (Arts Hall) on the morning of CNY eve.
And i met this lady who kept staring me from all angles.

Kua si mi! Never see Yan Dao before ah!

There's isnt much things to see. So went to the mårtenstorget (main square) to do some open air shopping.

Mårtenstorget

And i saw some familiar sights....

银柳

竹子

And i saw this - Cactus i supposed. And upon my recommendation, my friend bought this to send it to his gf. Hehe...done a good deed.

And this (photo) is for all the girls.Happy (belated)Valentine Day!

Next, the venus fly trap. i never expect to find it here in sweden. And so this (photo) is for stephy. Now you know where can you find flytrap.

Culture Shock X 2

Culture Shock 1

Spot the difference

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Ok, there are lots of differences between the 2 plates of chicken rice, but i would like to bring your attention to the circled spots

The pic on the left is taken from an asian website, while the pic on the right was taken from an european website. They are just for illustration.

I went to the Halland Nation for lunch yesterday and they were serving Chicken Rice with Cream mushroom soup! Sorry, i didnt have my camera with me, so no picture.

All the angmohs were using their fork to scoop the rice. I was comtemplating should i use the soup spoon or follow the angmohs in using the fork. I was rushing for time cos i need to rush back to the lab. So you should have guess it, i used the spoon for eating. I guess i looked stupid. I think i am the only one doing so. However, i just could not figure out why the angmohs prefer fork to spoon, even when eating rice. You can only get a small portion of rice with fork. Anyway, since I AM IN SWEDEN, i think i will try to learn the European culture the next time i visit the nation, provided i havetthe time to eat slowly.

Culture Shock 2

I was seating together with a swedish lady at lunch today, in the pantry located in the Biology building. I was eating my own-made sandwich. And guess what is the first thing she said to me:

" CAN YOU PLEASE CLOSE YOUR MOUTH WHILE YOU ARE CHEWING"

!!?@?#?#?@?!

I felt so embarassed, and i could only say sorry to her. And for the rest of the meals, i was trying so hard to chew my food without moving my mouth too much or chewing too vigorously. I dont know if i have open my mouth too much that all my bread and ham were sticking out of my mouth. But i thought i was chewing quite normally. And perhaps i have already frighten the other swedishs before, just that they are too shy to tell me to close my mouth. So, point taken. I will chew with my mouth CLOSE the next time.

Swimming

Its 2C now.And it snowed slightly (just bits flying around) in the morning.This is our 3rd snow of the winter. Sounds pathetic. BUT anyway, this is not what i am going to blog about.

I went swimming today!

Firstly, the entrance was freaking expensive!! S$11. Ok..i taking back my words, sweden is EXPENSIVE.

Secondly, i thought the pool should be heated. Yes, it was heated to about 20-25C i think. But still it was freaking cold. I started swimming the moment i jumped in. No time to just relax in water. Its too COLD.

Thirdly, here,you have a lane for swimming 'to' and another lane for swimming 'fro', just like a road. I didnt know initially. So i was just swimming back and fro in the same lane until i realise why i was i always going to bang onto someone head-on.

Fouth, i heard an alarm while i was swimming. Thought its a warning that the pool was closing, cos i went an hr before the closing time. No!! The pool suddenly turned into a wave pool. And its not fun when the wave goes up to a metre high and this a 'swimming pool', not those kind in CCK pool where u have fun in it. You just got to carry on swimming! swiM aND SWIM.

ok.. there are more things. Like having bikini blonde babes and hunks sitting beside me in a jacuzzi pool blah blah blah....

But anyway, its now 1C. It was a great night!

Sweden, the misundunderstood country

"I am going Sweden, not Switzerland."

I have forgotten how much times i have repeated this sentence. People always confuse Sweden with Switzerland. Therefore, i thought it might be good to introduce you to some swedish brands/inventions.

1) Ikea

Probably the most famous swedish brands for singaporean. This is IKEA in malmo.

2) Sony Ericsson

3) Absolute Vodka


4) Electrolux

5) Tetra Pak - Almost all your milk packing are tatra pak product.

6) Skype

7) Volvo

8) Karyotyping

This is a pic from BS309. Haha..

9) Anders Celsius - developed the Celsius system we used today for temperature.

10) Carl Linnaeus - Taxonomy

Arent you surprise that swedish brands/inventions are just around us, and yet we know so little about sweden. I think this has to do with the swedish culture. The swedes are reserved and modest people. They dont boast around like some others does. And the number of inventions for a country of just 10 millions people is just overwhelming.

So people, dont ever tell me to buy chocolates back, cos I AM IN SWEDEN.

Life as an exchange student Part 2

Once again, it's the application period for INSTEP, GIP and GSS. I thought it might be good to promote this for the IRO (Haha...cos they are kind enough to select me for sweden, and i should repay my gratitudes). Here are the top 5 reasons of why you should go for an exchange, particularly Sweden, particularly Lund.

1) 读万卷书，不如行万理路!

Although i have only been here for 3 weeks, i think i have learnt much more about the History, Geography, politics and Culture of Europe than i did before. It is always interesting to talk to people from all over the world. I realised that Singaporeans (or maybe its just me) are just like frogs in the well. For example, the govt keeps saying that we are so effectively bilingual and we are ready to face the world since we mastered our English and Chinese. However, most Europeans are effictively bilingual or even tri or quad-lingual. They are good in both their Mother tongues and English. So, what that big deal if we know just two langauges. And anyway, we cant speak both langauges well.

And some interesting facts i have gathered:

Sex change is very common in France.

Do not use the word 'Caucasians'. Use the word 'Europeans'.

Europeans dont drink luke warm water.

Germany is actually part of Austrian in the past.

'Lund' means 'dick' in Hindi.

My flatmates.

2) Be a proud ambassador of Singapore

You find yourself telling people about your country like you never did before. And many Europeans dont exactly know where singapore is. One gal thought Singapore is a city in China. Another thought Singapore is near Mynammar. So here comes the friendly ambassador from S'pore.

3) An English-friendly country

Most swedes speaks very good English. No worries about asking for direction or talking to the locals. They are also very willing to help. I can gurantee. I am never given a 'smelly face' or being ignored when i asked for directions. Also, some English and Swedish words are similar, so you can guess what a swedish signboard or food label is trying to say.

And anyway, it get quite intersting to learn a new langauge. 'six' in swedish is 'sex'. and 'good' is 'bra'. 'Hej' in swedish means 'Hi' and 'Hej Hej' means 'bye' . !!?!
Well, these are just some werid examples.

My Swedish langauge classmates

3) Clean, Green, Safe and Organised.

Sounds like Singapore, isnt it. And you will appreciate it. And since Lund is at the southern end of sweden, winter is actually not as horrible. You certainly do not wish to see snow everyday once you re here. Cos its horribly cold once its snowed.

4) An University Town.

Even wondered how it feels to live in an university town? Forget about Cambridge or Harvard. Lund University is founded in 1666. (341 years old!). Being a Uni Town means that is always something for every student in the town itself, and they are quite reasonably priced as well.

The shopping district is just round the corner. No need to take the slow and always fully-packed 179 to JP. There are many Nations (aka student clubs) that offers parties, cheap alcohol and sports.And it is a great place for sport freaks esp if you like floorball. They also got an indoor swim pool and indoor tennis courts. And the town gym is so cheap! s$100 membership and you get to attend lessons like Yoga, Boxing, Aerobic. Even guys do aerobic here. There are many dance classes too. I attended a Salsa class just now, S$25 per semester. Singapore where got so cheap! And there are more guys than gals! Commodities in Lund are not so expensive as compared the rest of sweden. Price of clothings are actually comparable to Singapore. Cafe food are ususally 2-3x more expensive. Stuffs in the supermart are quite reasonablely priced. And I managed to find s$0.20 instant noodles.

Winter in Lund

5) Alcohol, parties and blonde hunks and babes

What else you want!

I hope after reading the above entry, some of you guys might be inspired to go for an exchange, and hopefully, Lund will be your first choice.

Valkommer till Lund!

(welcome to Lund!)