Friday, January 25, 2008
.looking back.
occasionally when you are bored or triggered, you look back. memories, most lovely, some painful. whatever they were, memories are meant to be kept with you, because they would always be yours.
this picture triggered my thoughts a little.
Looking back, many awesome memories, but i guess, eventually, you would have to move on to your next journey, like what I did after waving to my peers who weren't in this picture, and the journey turned out unexpectedly well.
i know, i have to thank god that these memories existed, and would always be kept precious with me.
floated away at
12:34 AM
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
.had a bad dream.
dreamt of driving along Upper Serangoon Road with one of my friend(whom I can't remember now ) when he turned mad and started speeding furiously. I wasn't able to control him and was desperately trying to get him to slow down. I could feel the car was out of control when we hit the kerb and the car flew all the way into the cemetery. Everything went blank after that.
It was the first time I dreamt of death. Literally, the experience was so real, and indeed, it made me feel that death was so helpless, and could happen in just a snap.
I woke up and was unable to get up from bedon my own, only after praying for help, I managed to sit up. What a scary experience. Gosh.
floated away at
4:12 PM
Monday, January 21, 2008
.so glad to be back.
and so I am back Singapore. Mixed feelings but it was a mad rush. Suffered from jet lag, heartbreaks and so many things piled up. Bain&Co case competition took up a lot of my time and energy and the worse was we didn't even get through. Ended up sleeping a lot today as I really felt drained out.
Nevertheless, I am thankful that everything is slowly getting back to normal. My friends, my family, church and school. Phew.
And so yesterday we went Waraku(craving for Jap food for really long) to celebrate Mich's birthday. Had a long nice talk but too bad G couldn't make it. A family together for 4 months, let's just hope this family will stay.
And here, so glad to see you 2. C, my best gay buddy,Love ya!
floated away at
11:36 PM
Monday, January 14, 2008
.excited to get home!.
-in my draft for the longest time..-
just 3 more days and I will be back home sweet home. The journey has been kinda short but it feels so long! Recalled how Christine and I got quite home sweet when it came to our Venice trip. Bidded them farewell, sent Ryan off from his hostel, having a long talk with H and back to our really ulu Venice hotel where I caught up with Songjie and Laura.
Then the following day, I headed to Milan, and found myself shopping non-stop as it was the first day of sales. No time for Duomo as I was busy squeezing through crowds. Met up with Matti, the Finland chap and Annisa from San F and had the best accomodation I had so far. Milan trip was short but yet good, as I wondered when I will be meeting those people again. ( Did a lot of shopping. )
Took a flight back and remembered running back to my Bath hostel with all the heavy loads as I couldn't wait to get home. Cooked myself a bowl of nice hot mee sua and was so glad to see my cosy little room again. Caught up with M and S at night and decided to foresake visiting Devon as I desperately wanted to finish my last assignment due, which turned out to be a good choice. Such a huge relief as I submitted the assignment at the management office. phew. Went back, did my laundry, ate M's leftover porridge and started my packing which was unexpectedly disastrous.
Next day was the trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakesphere's home town. The small town turned out to be really nice, and it easily became the best UK town I had visited so far. (I didn't visit many in the first place) Got some time to get to know S better and all the bird feeding moments - hilarious! Had lousy fish n chips before we headed back to Bath. Suffered from damn bad headache on the way back.........
my girlfriend in stratford. can't wait to bring her home with me.
And on the 9th, we had our last lunch together in Bath and proceeded to the University to take some pictures(need to get the photos from Mich.) Took a few hours before I bidded farewell with M and S and rushed to the train station to catch my train to London where I met Jose, Mark & Ching. Ate at this Malaysian/Singaporean restaurant which was gooddddd. Starting to feel quite sick and it became worse as I stayed up the whole night talking to Jared and Jose before I headed to the airport for my flight to Oslo!
Oslo was snowing but it was boring. It was an adventure as I stayed in this really lousy low-grade hostel with drug addicts. :/ I was just so glad to leave the place to Bergen the following day. Had a 7 hour train ride which was scenic but Swiss kinda spoilt the novelty of seeing Alps and being high above the clouds. haha. Also, I was too sick to appreciate the snow outside. sigh.
Met M at the train station finally at night and was so glad to catch up with her. Met her NUS family which reminded me of the Bathies. As she was busy with her orientation(and getting drunk) and I wasn't feeling well, I ended up staying in the whole of Saturday sleeping. Met Greg and Carolyn the next day, and it was good meeting them before I bidded farewell with all of them. Will miss all of you!
Came back London and ate Four Seasons with Jose. Stuffed myself with so much duck + mei cai kou rou until I wanna puke. Suffering from migraine now and I just wanna sleeeppp. Jose is really really nice to set up a mattress, bedsheets and pillow for me. (She forced me to write this down. haha)
-end-
//part 2- the rest of the UK days. 120108 - 140108
So Jose brought me around London for the last few days and it was the most awesome time I had. Watched the play, Wicked, which turned out really touching. No wonder people say " If you go London, don't forget to drop by the theatre. "
Also did some last minute shopping at Oxford Street and ate another mussel feast! shiok.
Last stop was to Arsenal Emirates Stadium as I bought some goodies for my fat brother.
After the play, sent J back halfway and had to rush to take the last train back to Bath. I managed to get to the train just 1 minute before departure time. Gosh, was rushing like mad man. As I was in the train, I was glad that in a few days time, I wouldn't be in such a mad rush anymore. What a journey.
So I reached Bath at 2am on the 14th. Did my packing and unknowingly, I packed till about 6am before I went to bed. Woke up 4 hours later and rushed my packing as I needed to catch the 12:43pm train. It was panic attack when I realised I had SO MANY bags to carry by myself. To make things worse, went to the girl's room and realised EVERYTHING was cleared, including the jacket I left there. Ended up getting my jacket at 12:20pm, and carried everything with an empty stomach. So glad I decided to call for a cab though, as I couldn't imagine lugging EVERYTHING alone to the train station.
And so Bath, there was about it. Spent my 4 months in Pulteney Court. Will remember the familiar building, the corridor, the girl's room, the clear skies, the garden, the washing machine, the kitchen, and my cosy "bloody" room.
After finally reaching London, met up with Uncle Asoka and went to his place. So thankful he gave me a lift and helped me a lot during this whole trip. Without him, life wouldn't have been so easy. Had a good feast, and some nice talk with both of them, before they sent me to the airport. Had problems with the baggage but again, I thank God for letting me meet a slack counter. She was understanding towards my situation and allowed me 36kg of baggage for checkin! And thanks to Heathrow lifting the 1 baggage rule 4 days before I left, I was able to lug everything into the departure gate with minimal problem. Phew.
floated away at
8:06 AM
Friday, January 11, 2008
.5 more days.
5 more days and I will be home. In Oslo right now typing this and a little home-sick. I am glad everything is going to come to an end as I am gonna meet all my loved ones soon!
Really sick right now. Arghh!
floated away at
4:00 AM
Thursday, January 03, 2008
.tired.
As 2007 went past me while I was in Rome, I thank God constantly for keeping me safe and healthy in these 4 months and surviving this exchange trip. Life has been a whirlwind and I am so grateful for all the experiences I had gained. I am in Florence,Italy right now and looking at happy teenagers/tourists on the streets, I wondered sometimes why travelling in such a beautiful city just doesn't seem to excite me much anymore. Like Christine loved saying : " I want to go home" , maybe, I really want to be back playing my frisbee, taking a swim in the hot tropical weather, wearing my t-shirts and jeans, spending time with my family & friends, going back to church, and eating all the gourmetttttts in Singapore. Gosh.
Chamonix holiday had been great. Spending time with the Asocians-on-exchange couldn't have gotten better. We snowboarded, ate a lot and slept quite a bit. Our comfortable luxurious apartment truly helped in making the whole trip so memorable. After which, we went Lyon which was good as well due to the accomodation. As we were all rather tired, we spent only a day touring around, and played poker throughout the 2 nights. Wondering how the guys are doing right now.
And so I went on next to Italy. Rome was my first stop. The ancient capital of Italy was really awesome, apart from the bad small cabin accomodation which we stayed in. It was so far away from the city area that it was so painful to even get back all the time as the transport system in Rome was quite bad due to some difficulities in expanding their metro system due to the ruins underground. The first day, we even got chased out by a bus driver because he decided to go on a strike! Goodness.
our really small cabin.
breakfast at Cornelia.
Visited the Area Sacred, Cheisa del Gesú, Venice Square situated at the Piazza Venezia(lots of bird flying in the skyy!!) and the famous Fountain of Trevi where all of us made a wish by throwing a coin into the river using our right hand over the left shoulder which signified that we would come back to Rome again. Myth or not, whatever man. Just do it! Walked around the Piazza Navona at night where we saw lots of pasar malem stores there. Ate lots and lots of 2 euros gelato too.
On Day 2, we visited the Colosseum which turned out really great. We beat the queue by joining a tour group which allowed us entry to the Colosseum, the forum and the Palatino. Nothing much to say, but you have to come here yourself to see the gruesome place where the gladiators and animals killed one another for the pleasure of 75,000 spectators (which the Colosseum could host). At night, we visited the Pantheon and the Fountain of Trevi again and had a good dinner at one of the restaurant around the area. J ordered the 15 euros set whereas C and I ordered the 10 euros set which was quite worth it - Coke, Roasted Veal and Tomato Pasta.
Pantheon and the inside.
Day 3 was Vatican Day. We woke up at 7:30 instead when we initially wanted to wake up at 6. Got up panicking and went straight to the Vatican City. By then, long queues had already formed up and we bet there were about 300 people in front of us! We only managed to get in at about 11 (3 hour wait) but it was worth it. During the wait, I went to get some pizza which turned out really delicious. Went on to visit the St Peter's Basilica after that and took some jumping shots. Really impressed by the sculpture and the buildings in Rome. As we were all tired and excited to attend a countdown party in Rome, we headed back to our accomodation for a short nap. Woke up at 8+ and took a bus down to Spagna to see the town. It was so packed as everybody was ready for countdown. We were famished then and we settled down at a self-service Pizzeria where we had pizza, fries and pasta for dinner. After which, J and I started a early celebration by opening the Corona he bought. We went to the Fountain of Trevi again to make a wish before heading to Piazza Venezia for countdown.
Colosseum, forum and Palatine Hill.
Vatican City.
St Peter's Basilica. Pope's home!
Countdown was great with many people squashing one another. Poor C was so squashed on many occasions that we had to rescue her. haha. The concert held was quite an experience although we didn't really understand what the singers/performers were singing. haha. After countdown, we walked back to our hostel as there were no more bus services. While walking back, I was so glad that I am leaving that shitty hostel man.
Took the 10:30am train to Florence on New Year's Day. Our accomodation in Florence was thankfully comfortable and near the city and train station! As everywhere was closed, we decided to head down to Pisa. It was a mad rush as the ticket machines were packed and the one in front of us was a granny who wasn't very IT-savvy. We met a lovely Indian couple on the train who work in San F. Very interesting as the guy, Joy, showed us how amazing his GPS works for him as we were finding our way to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Us trying different poses.
Headed back to Florence at about 8 after a string of unfortunate events that happened at Pisa train station. First, our 20 euros was eaten by the machine. Then, our tickets got stuck in the machine the second time when we only had 5 minutes to the departure time. We were panicking all the way but realised it was all in vain as the train was delayed. (@$)*$#*#. haha. We had dinner in a traditional italian restaurant along Piazza Signoria. The service was horribly bad and food wasn't that fantastic as well. We were all very disappointed with the Carbonara we ordered, especially when it was the most expensive Carbonara for our trip so far! (*)#@@*#
And yesterday, we toured around Florence and realised how beautiful the city is. We went to the post office early in the morning to post some stuff back to Singapore. After which, we took some photos at Ponte Vecchio along the River Arno, Europe's oldest wholly stone, closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge. Do you know it was the only bridge in Florence that wasn't destroyed during the WW2? After which, we continued to take photos at the Duomo, Saint Croce, the Bell Tower and the fountain at Piazza Signoria. In the evening, we decided to queue to get in Museum Ufizzi, where it hosted many beautiful paintings by many famous artists like Leonardo and Raphaelo and sculpture collected by the Medici family. The queue took us for about an hour plus and during the wait, J and C went to get a portrait of both of them and it was so hilarious as the picture turned out disappointing. lol. At least we had a good dinner after that where I had Spaghetti with Mussels. I think all of us felt quite stupid as we were arguing over a really silly incident at the cloakroom in Ufizzi.
So tired right now and I can''t wait to get back to Bath somehow. Venice tomorrow and hopefully I can finally try my Nero Di Seppia which supposedly taste heavenly.
For now, I shall sign off and head to bed as J is snoring as usual again. zzz.
floated away at
4:00 AM
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
.happy 2008.
Happy new year guys! Just spent my new year counting down in Rome, and all I really wished was seeing my loved ones back in Singapore and embracing them. Getting a little homesick yet I know I will miss Europe once I am back home. Bits and flashes of 2007 kept appearing in my mind, and all the happy & special moments spent with you specially got me smiling.
I really wished you were here.
Rome was fantastic. The ancient city, simply awesome.
floated away at
9:30 AM
