"We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey." - John Hope Franklin
I thought I would have all the time in the world to blog after I reach Sweden, however, this came over 1 month late. I've just been one word: Busy. The 1st 2weeks were spent orientating myself, that's mandatory; but subsequently, I've just been going out, partying, going to school (lessons everyday, & not as easy as I expected...damn molecular bio!), gymming (I'm addicted to spinning & its bloody cold to run) & exploring other towns in Sweden...my whole feb calendar is filled & I hardly have the time to sleep more than 7hrs a day since I got here. I'm really lucky that Lund is super near to Denmark (45mins train ride), so I might as well be straddling between 2 countries (saved me an extra destination to travel). Might be a tad too long-winded if I start a story-telling session on my life in Sweden this past month, thus I figured a summary of important events would be more beneficial:
January
14th - Flew to Copenhagen & arrived in Lund after 18hrs plane(transitted in London) & 45mins train ride
15th - Arrival, Golf & Popcorn picked me up & helped me with the luggages. Realised I had no room so I have to bunk in with V whilst waiting for my own room
17th - Attended the 1st corridor party @ Delphi (the area I'm staying at now, a student's corridor), Latino theme
22nd - "Reunion" dinner @ Golf's to celebrate CNY, cooked a cheese-baked mushroom dish
25th - Dinner @ Anna's, a nice Swedish lady I met @ a swedish restaurant who lived in Sg before & recognised my S'porean accent
27th - Biology exchange student meet-up
29th - Outing with my Swedish & French lab/classmates
30th - Corridor party at Delphi K, singles were marked with green marker & attached people were marked red. Free condoms were given out. It was really crowded & music was really bad but the drunkards were hilarious & a dining table broke as a result of 10 people hopping on top of it to dance (my male french classmate was one of the culprits)
Febuary
1st - Went to Ikea in Malmo with Audrey's mentor group
3rd - Moved into Delphi N after I finally got the keys to my new room! It's an international corridor & I'm having Turkish, American, Italian, Irish, Thai & "god knows which nationality" neighbours (haven't asked some of them where they were from yet). It's a very cosy room with a closet area & a personal bathroom. Shared kitchenette which I prefer as I can make more friends
6th - Went into Malmo with Jenny to source for a new tatt job
8th - Welcome dinner at my flat. Cooked a meal for some friends. Menu for the day include Honey lemon roasted chicken, Mixed veg with brocoli, french beans, capsican etc, pasta, rice, princess cake, ice-cream & chips!
I'm seriously becoming a master chef here...Next attempt: to bake muffins & a Swedish choc cake!
11th - 16th: Visited Gerald in Stockholm & bought a few Cheap Monday jeans! Stayed a day & then went with him & his friends to Kiruna. We camped for 1.5 days in a really cold cabin, ate reindeer meat, saw reindeers, drove the snowmobile, drove sledge dogs, had BBQ at -29 degrees, waited for the northern lights at -35 degrees (but didn't manage to see, damnit!). We then proceeded to Kiruna town and stayed at the hostel for 1 night (went to sauna!) before visiting the famous Ice hotel.
18th - Audrey (my french classmate) held a dinner party, we had curry chicken
That's the summary so far. My whole feb calendar is filled to the brim! I'm super sad though, I didn't manage to get tickets for the WHIP (wild huge international party) cos I took my time & the tickets got sold out! I will still try to crash though.
Norli's also visiting in March, and I'm elated cos I can finally step into Copenhagen! I'll try to keep my March really free of other travel cos my 1st exam will commence in this month & I'm also conserving funds for my Jun-Jul 1month Europe backpacking! Mum's visiting during Easter too, and I plan to cover at least 3 Eu countries. Then Jun-Jul, I will cover 10-12. Thank god for budget flights.
I really like the life here, though I miss Sg's fast paced city life often. I'm considering doing Masters here, in either food nutrition or food tech since the edu is free and I plan to have a cafe next time...In planning now...hope to get Norli's or my sis company to study together. Well, Imma lovin' Sweden more & more each day!
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FLY AWAY FROM HERE
by Aerosmith
Gotta find a way
Yeah, I can't wait another day
And nothin' gonna change
If we stay around here
Gotta do what it takes
Cause it's all in our hands
We all make mistakes, yeah
But it's never to late to start again
Take another breath
And say another prayer
Then fly away from here
Anywhere
Yeah, I don't care
We'll just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Won't let time pass us by
We'll just fly
If this life
Isn't hard enough
It ain't no nevermind
You got me by your side
And anytime you want
Yeah, we can catch a train and find a better place
Yeah, cause we won't have nothin' or no one keep gettin' us down
Maybe you and I
Could pack our bags and hit the sky
Then fly away from here
Anywhere
Yeah, I don't care
We'll just fly away from here
Our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere
Won't let time pass us by
We'll just fly
Didn't you see your blue sky now
You could have a better ride now
Open your eyes
Cause no one here can better or stop us
They can try but we won't let them
No way
Maybe you and I
Could pack our bags and say goodbye
Then fly away from here
Anywhere
Honey, I don't care
We'll just fly away from here
Our hope and dreams are out there somewhere
Fly away from here
Yeah, anywhere
Honey, I don't, I don't, I don't care
We'll just fly away
W A N D E R L U S T
Fly Away with Me
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
Egypt
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Mexico
Poland
Portugal
Switzerland
United States
3 SEC INSIGHT
The Mandatory
Melissa a.k.a MeL
Melissa Leong
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Dreamer. Fighter. Sleeper. Wanderer. Idealist. Realist. Imperfect Human Being.
R A N D O M
because I so totally am
ONE Owning a cafe/beach pub is my biggest dream TWO Wanderlustic soul. A life without geographical transition would depress me tremendously. THREE A Happy Drunk FOUR Hate activities that require sun exposure. So I exercise only at evenings/nights. FIVE Tend to keep my room tidy when I live alone but it's extremely untidy when I'm living with someone. SIX Can do a mean swing. The playground sort. Watch me fly. SEVEN 12-hour sleep days are ideal for me EIGHT Do not leave me with a pair of scissors, I'll start snipping hairs NINE Really wanna travel to N.America, S.America, Russia and Africa TEN Closet escapist ELEVEN Hypersensitive to body language (to a point of reading too much) TWELVE Don't be surprised to see me smiling to myself, I often conjure laughable scenarios in my head THIRTEEN The word "fuck" is like "shit" & "damn" to me. Is it even vulgar? FOURTEEN Eats hash browns with maple syrup, fries with ice-cream & curry sauce with everything (you should follow me to Mc D sometimes) FIFTEEN
Cooks awesome. I should cook more. But I don't. Except when living alone.
LUSTS & MUSTS
because enough ain't always good enough
-10kg
$ for more trips
I KNOW YOU READ ME
butter my ego
"So where the bloody hell are you??!!" - Me: "The Happiest Place on Earth!"
1:17 PM - Thursday, February 19, 2009