Rambling
I am so contradicting sometimes. I don't even know when I mean what I say. I thought coming for exchange, I would be less reserved, go for parties like Kristy and get to know more international friends, cos that's what people do on exchange! And then I was envious when I went over to Shasi's and found out how happening his housemates are because they practically gather every night for dinner and drinks and go for parties together at least once every week. Then I wondered how come my neighbourhood and housemates are not so happening. haha. But now, when there's a houseparty right under my roof and I was just invited by my housemate, I was again back to my reserved self and thinking that I'm going to stay in my room tonight and give the party downstairs a miss. Arghhhh can't stand how contradicting I am. Maybe because I know I need to study for the 2 exams in 1 weeks' time - I have very little time left and I still don't know what is going on for those 2 modules. And Cyrus just told me it's very easy to fail the exams in TU/e. Sigh. Still, I think the main reason is that I'm not brave or confident enough to go down and meet more than 10 other strangers alone. Yea, maybe it'd be easier if I had a friend with me. But anyway, socializing is tiring, especially when you're the only Chinese girl around and I probably have to repeat my name and country many times in one night. Hmm I don't know. But that night at Shasi's, it was quite fun getting to know his Spanish and Portuguese housemates over dinner specially prepared by him. haha ok enough rambling, I shall get down to studying!
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Just had dinner and found out that my Chinese housemate actually contributed a bottle of alcohol, whisky or sth, for the party, meaning he's going. Now that I know the whole house is invited and even my Chinese and Taiwanese housemates are joining, I guess I should. Feels better knowing that I won't be the only Chinese around! haha oh by the way my apartment is totally multi-cultural/racial/international. I have 2 Chinese, a girl and a guy, 1 Serbian guy, 1 Indian guy, 1 Taiwanese guy, 1 French guy and 1 American guy for housemates. Quite cool. Other than the French guy and the Chinese girl whom I have not spoken to cos I don't ever see them around, the others are all very friendly and nice people!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sweet Tooth
I'm a happier girl today. =) Because I cooked fried rice for everyone, but it was only successful under the close supervision of head chef Jordan and much help from Samuel and Joshua. So of course it was edible. Can't imagine doing it all by myself. I thought it was a lot of work, preparation work I mean, but the guys think fried rice is the easiest already. =p I think got to prepare everything first, make sure everything is chopped, then the frying part is easy. Yay. And Sonia made us dessert! Some sort of sticky thing topped with whipped cream and chocolate biscuits. Can't emphasize how much I love desserts, be it cakes, cookies, cupcakes, or this sticky Italian dessert which I couldn't make out the name, anyway, sweet stuff makes me happy! Haha now I know why I'm happy tonight. =) Anyway thanks Baoxin and cook, I know I just have to keep trying and learn to be smarter with experience. Hope by the time I go back in June, I'd have learnt a lot and next time when we have sleepovers at my place or even Baorong's new big room, perhaps I can made dessert for everyone!
I'm a happier girl today. =) Because I cooked fried rice for everyone, but it was only successful under the close supervision of head chef Jordan and much help from Samuel and Joshua. So of course it was edible. Can't imagine doing it all by myself. I thought it was a lot of work, preparation work I mean, but the guys think fried rice is the easiest already. =p I think got to prepare everything first, make sure everything is chopped, then the frying part is easy. Yay. And Sonia made us dessert! Some sort of sticky thing topped with whipped cream and chocolate biscuits. Can't emphasize how much I love desserts, be it cakes, cookies, cupcakes, or this sticky Italian dessert which I couldn't make out the name, anyway, sweet stuff makes me happy! Haha now I know why I'm happy tonight. =) Anyway thanks Baoxin and cook, I know I just have to keep trying and learn to be smarter with experience. Hope by the time I go back in June, I'd have learnt a lot and next time when we have sleepovers at my place or even Baorong's new big room, perhaps I can made dessert for everyone!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Very Demoralised
A rare occasion that I'm blogging, it's cos I really need to talk to someone now, but there's no one here to talk to. The pre-paid card is way too expensive, be it for phone call or sms, so I can't call up head chef to complain. I'm really very sad. I didn't go for our usual group dinner at Jordan&Cyrus's today because I wanted to use Sunday nights to learn to cook. So today I wanted to try to make the soup thingy that Sonia made for us the last time she fixed us dinner at J&C's. Sonia's J&C's roommate. So anyway, it's a super simple soup with a little pasta, those tiny pasta thingy (Schelpjes). N you just throw in broccoli, baby potatoes, mushrooms, bruschetta, Parmesan cheese, onions and olive oil. Just boil them! That's it! And I can actually screw up such a simple thing. I dumped in way too much Schelpjes and I could do with less baby potatoes and broccoli. I'm so stupid I can't even make a good estimation for 1 serving. Arghhhhhhh I seriously hate myself. Can't even do a simple thing like this, and not as if I'm good in anything else. Just the other day I screwed up an omelette too, in the end I made scrambled eggs. So today I had to throw away half the pot of pasta, I bet I ate less than what I threw away. Can you imagine how sad I am now, and I'm going to be sad the whole night. I really hate to waste food. And I also threw away 2 baby potatoes. Vegetables and baby potatoes are expensive here. That day I let 2 bananas rot too and also had to give up some milk and 1 piece of bread because it was past expiry date. I should just stop buying food for myself and live on bread. Ham, sausage, cheese, bread. In this way I won't waste food. Arghh I wonder how much money I've wasted. And I really want to give up cooking for myself but like that I'll never be able to learn to cook! I really want to be the girlfriend who cooks well, like Sarah. And I shall not even go into baking cos I have not tried before and there's no oven here anyway. Anyway my soup also wasn't as tasty as Sonia's, I don't know why. But most importantly, I'm very sad I kept getting the proportions wrong. I always use too much pasta when I cook for myself, when I use Fusilli and today, Schelpjes. So everytime I cook too much Fusilli, I had to force myself to finish up. But today's Schelpjes was way too much. I forced myself to eat as much as I can (with Tian's voice at the back of my head telling me to stop eating so much), especially the vegetables and potatoes, but there was no way I can finish the 2nd half pot of pasta. Ok conclusion: Use less, cook less. I can always eat bread or fruits if the food is not enough. Omg why didn't I come to my senses earlier. I should have known that! Arrghhhhhhh I'm really so stupid.
A rare occasion that I'm blogging, it's cos I really need to talk to someone now, but there's no one here to talk to. The pre-paid card is way too expensive, be it for phone call or sms, so I can't call up head chef to complain. I'm really very sad. I didn't go for our usual group dinner at Jordan&Cyrus's today because I wanted to use Sunday nights to learn to cook. So today I wanted to try to make the soup thingy that Sonia made for us the last time she fixed us dinner at J&C's. Sonia's J&C's roommate. So anyway, it's a super simple soup with a little pasta, those tiny pasta thingy (Schelpjes). N you just throw in broccoli, baby potatoes, mushrooms, bruschetta, Parmesan cheese, onions and olive oil. Just boil them! That's it! And I can actually screw up such a simple thing. I dumped in way too much Schelpjes and I could do with less baby potatoes and broccoli. I'm so stupid I can't even make a good estimation for 1 serving. Arghhhhhhh I seriously hate myself. Can't even do a simple thing like this, and not as if I'm good in anything else. Just the other day I screwed up an omelette too, in the end I made scrambled eggs. So today I had to throw away half the pot of pasta, I bet I ate less than what I threw away. Can you imagine how sad I am now, and I'm going to be sad the whole night. I really hate to waste food. And I also threw away 2 baby potatoes. Vegetables and baby potatoes are expensive here. That day I let 2 bananas rot too and also had to give up some milk and 1 piece of bread because it was past expiry date. I should just stop buying food for myself and live on bread. Ham, sausage, cheese, bread. In this way I won't waste food. Arghh I wonder how much money I've wasted. And I really want to give up cooking for myself but like that I'll never be able to learn to cook! I really want to be the girlfriend who cooks well, like Sarah. And I shall not even go into baking cos I have not tried before and there's no oven here anyway. Anyway my soup also wasn't as tasty as Sonia's, I don't know why. But most importantly, I'm very sad I kept getting the proportions wrong. I always use too much pasta when I cook for myself, when I use Fusilli and today, Schelpjes. So everytime I cook too much Fusilli, I had to force myself to finish up. But today's Schelpjes was way too much. I forced myself to eat as much as I can (with Tian's voice at the back of my head telling me to stop eating so much), especially the vegetables and potatoes, but there was no way I can finish the 2nd half pot of pasta. Ok conclusion: Use less, cook less. I can always eat bread or fruits if the food is not enough. Omg why didn't I come to my senses earlier. I should have known that! Arrghhhhhhh I'm really so stupid.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Chilling in London
I'm meeting Chong Wai for lunch tomorrow! 12.30pm at Bayswater Underground Station, I'm still searching for it right now on the Tube map, have never been to that place before. Chong Wai's going to bring me for some Four Season's duck rice or sth like that, Four Seasons sound so expensive haha. Chong Wai said it'd cost between 10-15 pounds, which is an average price for a meal. That's quite insane, dunno how the students survive like that in London. In Netherlands, a 7 euro lunch already makes me heart-pain. But nvm, I'm in London for a holiday and it's once in a blue moon (I was about to say once in a lifetime) lunch with Chong Wai IN London so I'm not holding back and awaiting the good food tml! After which, I'd probably drop by Notting Hill, do some window shopping along High Street Kensington before heading back to my cousin's place at about 6pm. She's bringing me to an art exhibition by this Singaporean artist called Xin, whom we met today when we drove to Kent to collect some of her pieces from her place. Kent is a 2 hr drive from London. My cousin is putting up an art show featuring works by Singaporean and UK artists and Xin is one of the exhibiting artists. Anyway I was shocked by how young she is, only 25 and her pieces are going for about 500 pounds on average! They're rather unique and meaningful though, focusing on Chinese traditional objects.
I'm living such a good life in London cos I'm staying at my cousin's place and this makes me really NOT want to go back to Eindhoven, where I have to starve and eat bread for lunch. Here, my cousin cooked pasta for breakfast, treated me to curry laksa for lunch and then we had home-cooked trout and vegetables for dinner. I don't have to worry about my meals here! And just now I helped out with making a pear crumble and I'm having it for breakfast tomorrow! Man I need to get an oven for my apatment in Eindhoven.
If only you were here with me again, to enjoy the good food with me, to see the beautiful sights with me...I miss you so very much, especially here in London. When I alighted from Eurolines at the Victoria Coach Station this morning, I thought of you because we were first here together. When I was asking around for directions and finding my way to the Underground station, I thought of you because you were our navigator. When I was thinking which travel pass to buy at the ticketing booth, I thought of you because you always makes the right decisions for us. London's just not the same without you.
I'm meeting Chong Wai for lunch tomorrow! 12.30pm at Bayswater Underground Station, I'm still searching for it right now on the Tube map, have never been to that place before. Chong Wai's going to bring me for some Four Season's duck rice or sth like that, Four Seasons sound so expensive haha. Chong Wai said it'd cost between 10-15 pounds, which is an average price for a meal. That's quite insane, dunno how the students survive like that in London. In Netherlands, a 7 euro lunch already makes me heart-pain. But nvm, I'm in London for a holiday and it's once in a blue moon (I was about to say once in a lifetime) lunch with Chong Wai IN London so I'm not holding back and awaiting the good food tml! After which, I'd probably drop by Notting Hill, do some window shopping along High Street Kensington before heading back to my cousin's place at about 6pm. She's bringing me to an art exhibition by this Singaporean artist called Xin, whom we met today when we drove to Kent to collect some of her pieces from her place. Kent is a 2 hr drive from London. My cousin is putting up an art show featuring works by Singaporean and UK artists and Xin is one of the exhibiting artists. Anyway I was shocked by how young she is, only 25 and her pieces are going for about 500 pounds on average! They're rather unique and meaningful though, focusing on Chinese traditional objects.
I'm living such a good life in London cos I'm staying at my cousin's place and this makes me really NOT want to go back to Eindhoven, where I have to starve and eat bread for lunch. Here, my cousin cooked pasta for breakfast, treated me to curry laksa for lunch and then we had home-cooked trout and vegetables for dinner. I don't have to worry about my meals here! And just now I helped out with making a pear crumble and I'm having it for breakfast tomorrow! Man I need to get an oven for my apatment in Eindhoven.
If only you were here with me again, to enjoy the good food with me, to see the beautiful sights with me...I miss you so very much, especially here in London. When I alighted from Eurolines at the Victoria Coach Station this morning, I thought of you because we were first here together. When I was asking around for directions and finding my way to the Underground station, I thought of you because you were our navigator. When I was thinking which travel pass to buy at the ticketing booth, I thought of you because you always makes the right decisions for us. London's just not the same without you.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Carnival @ Eindhoven
So glad I didn't plan to leave Eindhoven this morning. The guys have left for France and Switzerland at 3am this morning. That leaves Yixin, Wei Zi and I and we were pleasantly surprised to realise that the Carnival starts today! I enjoyed my last free breakfast at the hotel, watched some makeup artists at work in the hotel ground level face-painting for the locals. I thought it was a free service and was psyching Yixin and Wei Zi to paint our faces together but then we found out that the service was about 10/15 euros. Nooooo. =(
Basically the Carnival is this damn big thing in Eindhoven where almost EVERYONE dresses up in all sorts of costumes for the occasion. The little kids were in such cute costumes! It lasts for about 5 days and the locals dresses up for the first 2 days. I can't wait to show you guys the photos from the Carnival. So we had great fun looking at the locals dancing and singing to the float procession which started at 1pm and went on past 4pm. Dunno what time it ended. But when it ended, the crowd proceeded to the central square where there are tents set up, with food and games stall. The whole place was super crowded. And the confetti was much more massive than Christmas or New Year on Orchard Road. The whole ground was full of confetti, outdoors and indoors. Vehicles and walls were not spared from spray cans. Basically, the streets are very colourful now. Even now at 8.52pm, the usually quiet Eindhoven town is still bustling with activity, mainly in the overcrowded pubs and the bar in my hotel is still blasting the music. Damn happs. I feel so out of place because I'm not dressed up as a particular character.
After the float procession, we didn't join in the fun at the games stall because the tents were way too crowded (from outside, we couldn't even see what games they were playing in the tents). Instead, we made good use of this holiday SHOPPING! Yayyy. Although I couldn't find my adapter (SO coincidentally 2 electronics shop were out of stock =p), I found a department store called HEMA and another called V&D. Damnn good! I can spend the whole day there if I have the money! You can find almost everything in V&D. They don't have my Burberry Brit though. (Can I buy it???) Sadly I still couldn't find a pair of boots for myself. Only sizes 39-42 were on super huge discounts. I saw very nice Esprit boots for about 50 euros. =( I'm still waiting for the perfect, cheap one. haha. So for today, I managed to grab 2 pairs of leggings, warm cotton ones, one thicker black pair and 1 thinner brown pair; 2 pairs of earrings, 1 necklace and 1 cute pair of bedroom slippers for my apartment from Accessorize - 70% discount!!! Damn cheap la the medium sized earrings for about S$5 and bedroom slippers for about S$9. I just had to buy it la. SO so many more things were on 70% discount there, a lot of beanies and gloves including some leather and suede gloves that were very tempting. I could spend a few hours solely in Accessorize loh hahaha. So happy to see affordable, pretty things. I also bought a Loreal hydrafresh moisturizing cream for dry skin. My skin is seriously damn disgusting now, so damn dry and sort of flaking, not as bad as it sounds, but can see white stuff, around my mouth area especially.
So yeap, I'm very happy today cos my day was so fulfilling and I did not miss the Eindhoven Carnival! But now I have to stay up till 23:59 for my Eurolines to London. Sucks la, why such timing. And I have no where to go but disturb Yixin in her small hotel room. Maybe I'll take a short nap then wake up later for my bus. Cya in London!
So glad I didn't plan to leave Eindhoven this morning. The guys have left for France and Switzerland at 3am this morning. That leaves Yixin, Wei Zi and I and we were pleasantly surprised to realise that the Carnival starts today! I enjoyed my last free breakfast at the hotel, watched some makeup artists at work in the hotel ground level face-painting for the locals. I thought it was a free service and was psyching Yixin and Wei Zi to paint our faces together but then we found out that the service was about 10/15 euros. Nooooo. =(
Basically the Carnival is this damn big thing in Eindhoven where almost EVERYONE dresses up in all sorts of costumes for the occasion. The little kids were in such cute costumes! It lasts for about 5 days and the locals dresses up for the first 2 days. I can't wait to show you guys the photos from the Carnival. So we had great fun looking at the locals dancing and singing to the float procession which started at 1pm and went on past 4pm. Dunno what time it ended. But when it ended, the crowd proceeded to the central square where there are tents set up, with food and games stall. The whole place was super crowded. And the confetti was much more massive than Christmas or New Year on Orchard Road. The whole ground was full of confetti, outdoors and indoors. Vehicles and walls were not spared from spray cans. Basically, the streets are very colourful now. Even now at 8.52pm, the usually quiet Eindhoven town is still bustling with activity, mainly in the overcrowded pubs and the bar in my hotel is still blasting the music. Damn happs. I feel so out of place because I'm not dressed up as a particular character.
After the float procession, we didn't join in the fun at the games stall because the tents were way too crowded (from outside, we couldn't even see what games they were playing in the tents). Instead, we made good use of this holiday SHOPPING! Yayyy. Although I couldn't find my adapter (SO coincidentally 2 electronics shop were out of stock =p), I found a department store called HEMA and another called V&D. Damnn good! I can spend the whole day there if I have the money! You can find almost everything in V&D. They don't have my Burberry Brit though. (Can I buy it???) Sadly I still couldn't find a pair of boots for myself. Only sizes 39-42 were on super huge discounts. I saw very nice Esprit boots for about 50 euros. =( I'm still waiting for the perfect, cheap one. haha. So for today, I managed to grab 2 pairs of leggings, warm cotton ones, one thicker black pair and 1 thinner brown pair; 2 pairs of earrings, 1 necklace and 1 cute pair of bedroom slippers for my apartment from Accessorize - 70% discount!!! Damn cheap la the medium sized earrings for about S$5 and bedroom slippers for about S$9. I just had to buy it la. SO so many more things were on 70% discount there, a lot of beanies and gloves including some leather and suede gloves that were very tempting. I could spend a few hours solely in Accessorize loh hahaha. So happy to see affordable, pretty things. I also bought a Loreal hydrafresh moisturizing cream for dry skin. My skin is seriously damn disgusting now, so damn dry and sort of flaking, not as bad as it sounds, but can see white stuff, around my mouth area especially.
So yeap, I'm very happy today cos my day was so fulfilling and I did not miss the Eindhoven Carnival! But now I have to stay up till 23:59 for my Eurolines to London. Sucks la, why such timing. And I have no where to go but disturb Yixin in her small hotel room. Maybe I'll take a short nap then wake up later for my bus. Cya in London!
Friday, February 01, 2008
Off to London
I have no school the whole of next week because there's a major carnival going on in Eindhoven. Something like Chingay but it lasts a week and locals get a week of school holidays so I'm sure it's a much BIGGER event than Chingay in Singapore. Anyway we're taking this opportunity to go on holiday since our easter break is only 2 days (not like Yanli's Danish Easter break which is almost 2 weeks!!!). So here's my itinerary:
2 Feb, Saturday, 23:59 - Eurolines from Eindhoven to London. 43 euros. Will be staying at my cousin's place at Baron's Court.
7 Feb, Thursday, 09:00 - National Express from London to Glasgow. 15 pounds. Staying at Sarah's place!
10 Feb, Sunday, 06:55 - Ryanair from Prestwick Glasgow to Dusseldorf Weez, 29.81 pounds. From there I'll take a 2 hr train to Eindhoven which would cost me less than 10 euros.
Then school resumes on 11 Feb, Monday. May I please add that so far my lessons are damn chim and I really have to read up myself and revise after the lecture, actually it's this module called Physiological NMR. I totally have no background on imaging stuff (no, those NUS modules that we took for basics on imaging is NOT enough to understand what the lecturer is teaching.) I think the rest of the students in this class took another module prior to this module hence they understood those NMR terms which I've never heard before. I'm so dead.
I have no school the whole of next week because there's a major carnival going on in Eindhoven. Something like Chingay but it lasts a week and locals get a week of school holidays so I'm sure it's a much BIGGER event than Chingay in Singapore. Anyway we're taking this opportunity to go on holiday since our easter break is only 2 days (not like Yanli's Danish Easter break which is almost 2 weeks!!!). So here's my itinerary:
2 Feb, Saturday, 23:59 - Eurolines from Eindhoven to London. 43 euros. Will be staying at my cousin's place at Baron's Court.
7 Feb, Thursday, 09:00 - National Express from London to Glasgow. 15 pounds. Staying at Sarah's place!
10 Feb, Sunday, 06:55 - Ryanair from Prestwick Glasgow to Dusseldorf Weez, 29.81 pounds. From there I'll take a 2 hr train to Eindhoven which would cost me less than 10 euros.
Then school resumes on 11 Feb, Monday. May I please add that so far my lessons are damn chim and I really have to read up myself and revise after the lecture, actually it's this module called Physiological NMR. I totally have no background on imaging stuff (no, those NUS modules that we took for basics on imaging is NOT enough to understand what the lecturer is teaching.) I think the rest of the students in this class took another module prior to this module hence they understood those NMR terms which I've never heard before. I'm so dead.
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