finding my way home

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

a stream of river on my way home

Love the shades of mother nature

almost there!

The castle walls that surround around our school area.

walking back can be quite enjoyable too.

but not the cold.

love it

A rainbow to end my day

5:44 AM

roses are red

Friday, February 15, 2008

This afternoon I received a pleasant surprise:

Thanks dear! :D

Hope everyone's vday is well-spent.
be it ur bf, family, friends.

lovely

and so I finally found a sauce bottle to place them in.

cool eh?

vday is a day for the romantic thingie.
the practical pressies can come during birthday.

besides, I am still a girl :)

A rainbow to end my day

4:28 AM

who say it's fun?

Thursday, February 14, 2008

It's officially 1 week here in Maastricht and I have only attended 1 lesson.

I read the coursework and boy! it's really tough here.

basically it's 25% presentation, 25% written and 50% examinations.

Ok the tricky thing about here is, you have to participate and prepare ur reading materials in advance.

i have so much reading to do. this semester is MAKE OR BREAK!

The textbooks here are so freaking expensive, like double the amount.
my HRM book cost 69euros which is like S$140. I really regretted not buying in Singapore b4 coming but then again my weight of my luggage will be affected. oh well.

my classmates are all dutch, germans.
the germans are the ones in the university who gets all the As.
my german classmates already asking abt the exam format on the 1st day!

Like singaporeans? :P some but NOT me.

some fotos I've been missing out in:

this is one of the square with the clock tower.

Maastricht is a really pretty town! I just got to know that the EU treaty happens here and was used as the entrance for the french attack in the history.

the architects are really very french-like and that explains why.

I love country side feeling rather than the normal bustling city life.

all of the buildings appear like this.
like walking on cobbled streets and small country lanes like these just make you feel nostalgic.
loving it...

one of the churches there

I am really lucky as the guys from singapore, derek and daryl really can cook!
even tejinder can cook!

i feel ashame but I will help them then learn along the way :P

almost close to my home cooked food!

looks good ah... every night they have been cooking. really good.

I have not started my shopping yet coz my account 3 weeks later then can get the money.
arGh! unlike singapore :P

However, I've been spending money on school like my new bag to bring to school, groceries and MORE GROCERIES! food and more food.

it's really quite worth it to me, only 55 euros! (=s$110) and I can put my laptop in! cool rite?

I love my laptop

it's a mac, a mac, a mac, a mac :p notice the flower beside? was given by my dearest friends so I can think of them :D

this is my work desk

Basically the booze here is cheap!
one bottle of wine is 1.69 to 3.79 euros! which like S$3.50 to 7.50.
we are talking about jacob's creek and many others.

I am thankful to meet my mentor naomi, shes dutch and my friend I know in NTU, Martjin.

Thank god, there's an asian supermart somewhere near the train station which is about 15-20min walk. Ohyes, I WALKED ALOT HERE and I dun realised it.

my school is like 20 to 30 min away. if the weather sucks then it's a drag!

but here's one beautiful scenery I took when we were walking to the asian supermart using my phone w580i and it's one of the neighbourhood.

isn't it beautiful?

I am going to brussels this weekend and hopefully it's breath taking!

I love Maastricht too it's just a stone throw away from belgium and germany.

lovveeeeeee it

xoxo

and people, happy valentines' day to you!
hope all is well in Singapore

HUAT AH!

A rainbow to end my day

7:54 PM

THE netherlands

Friday, February 08, 2008

Yo...

This is my 4th day in Maastricht and it has been cold here but not the worst I've experience.

still bearable for me. :)

Let me blog my journey here...... for these 3 days

I travelled alone via SQ and watched 'secret' and 'balls of fury' in the plane.
not nice de

there's an empty seat beside me and I felt like I was the only asian there!
Until i saw 2 more asians and I overheard that they are going Maastricht too.
But i was shy to talk to them.

it was very heavy in my heart because I was holding my tears.
my frenz, family and dearie sent me off. Luckily I din cry!

I wanna be so grown-up :P

I love the pressie they gimme :D

Then going thru the customs was scary

because they seemed pretty strict so they open up passengers' baggages.

The custom officer wanted to open mine too. until this tattoo body guy came along and his focus switched to him.
so he just check my visa, acceptance letter and I am off to go!

weee...

Then I realised my luggage is 27.9kg with my backpack of 11kg.
And moi is like 45 kg only.

geez! How am i going to manage?

I managed to.

that's MY backpack only

so I am off to take the train.
The train was confusing...

each platform has different trains going on different routes.best of all, sometimes the train can interchange to the other platform so must really read properly, note the timing.

and it's really efficient. the train has SPECIFIC timing like 10:32

the 2.5 hrs journey has nice sceneries but was unfortunate raining.
the rain really spoiled it all.

Dun quote me but some people are not very friendly. When i ask some questions abt the train tickets, they just can't give me a definite answer eventhough I know they noe it. they just abruptly answer you and when you ask them again then they will give u the correct answer. wth....

some are quite nice to help me carry the luggage off and on the train.

i bought the 1st class tic and there's only 1 section (out of 15 sections) on the train. the rest are all 2nd.

weird and I had a hard time running in the middle to board on else it will leave ON THE DOT. yes, like 11:13

I arrived and the student exchange network committee fetched us to guesthouse.
I am paying 13.25euros/night in my guesthouse.

I love my single room. it's so BIG! and the heater makes my day.

after unpacking, we proceed to walk to city centre and realised the train station is so near us! 5 min distance. this station can go brussels and basically the whole of europe :P

My other singapore NTU mates brought everything - pillow, pots and pans, sauces, kettle, rice cooker, cup, utensils.
I thought was abit kuazhang but in the end, i regretted becoz it's so expensive :(

I spent like 40 euros just on pillow, pillow cases, bowl, plate, cup, utensils and dunno wat else.

I also met other singaporeans from SMU and NUS maybe about 10+ of them?

some of them came earlier for the carnival and went to barcelona, Uk over the week. cool man! and shared their experiences with us.

7 feb we went to the university for orientation and realised it used to be a church so my briefing was in a chapel!

how cool is that?

the university is really modern especially the library but the school buildings blend in with the surroundings so I might lost my way really.

and some places in the university reminds me of hospital :/ especially the signs.
check it out:

faculty of economics and business administration

the hospital signs. hahaa

some pure entertainment in the men's toilet. apparently they have pictures of flies in the toilet bowl. farnie.

I love Maastricht. it's a small town with nice shopping areas and serene walk ways.
it's like those we've seen in movies. the brick like pathways and buildings living out of ancient rome.

simply love european culture.

photoshoped. but I love this pic!

our guesthouse is opposite the bridge where the citycentre is.
everyday we have to cross that bridge to buy groceries and stuffs, walking to school.

I love this scenery:

it's almost perfect with the sunset. of coz, there are more beautiful sceneries in europe. can't wait!

the city centre is also bustling with shops on certain days like thursdays they open till 9pm else it's 6pm

winter trees lined up

I have more photos in other friends' camera. wait for more updates!

meanwhile dun miss me and take care.

lastly, GONG XI FA CAI!!!!!

prosperous new year people~~

miss my family, frenz and dear

A rainbow to end my day

6:52 AM

A lit' treat from me

finding my way home

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

roses are red

Friday, February 15, 2008

who say it's fun?

Thursday, February 14, 2008

THE netherlands

Friday, February 08, 2008

Songs of Rainbow

Someday I will find it

The Rainbow connection

The Lovers, Dreamers

& me

The pot of gold at the end

Must go

Someone out here