For those bored people out there with a little time on your hands whilst I fix up some "404" issues with the blog posts...here's something for you guys!
*Please enable Javascript!*
http://twist.snowburst.org:4747/404
I personally thought it was cute. HAHA!
Time to get back to work! Arsenal and Man Utd both won 1-0, and I guess this is becoming a 2-horse title race...who will win??
Current Mood: 
Working
On Timeline: 07 - 08 Dec 07
Disclaimer: this is not really a thread to bash this wonderful country, but what I see and felt when I was in the situation. It's nothing personal about the country, and I'm not comparing this country to the other countries I've visited, like Spain, England and Switzerland. So, please read on if you feel you're cool-headed enough to stomach what I've blurt*d.
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After my wonderful trip to London, it was back to reality in Eindhoven for 2 days, before I had to jet off down south, to arrive (eventually) at Lyon and meet up with Xiaowen and Lynn who were both studying at Grenoble. There was (apparently) a lights festival at Lyon, and it was so huge that I could not find hostels/hotels there! Gosh!
To get to Lyon on the 8th, I had to fly to Marseille airport on the 7th night, and the flight was scheduled to land in Marseille airport at an ungodly time of 2335hrs. It's simply a CRAZY time. There were no buses/trains serving the airport at that time, and I had no choice but to stay overnight, alone, at the airport!
Not that I was alone in the airport. There were 2 other people who were at the airport also, and over the course of the night I saw people who came into and out of the airport, for no apparent reasons. There was a group of 4 brown/blacks who came into the airport, walked around the airport, played with the check-in counter's weighing machine, conversed in French, and then walked out of the airport. I mean, who comes to the airport at 2am in the night?!?! It's crazy, and it's at least 30 minutes drive from the airport to the nearest city! Gosh.
I ended up having to force myself to stay awake in the airport, which seemingly did not have central heating, from midnight till 0615, where there was the first bus. There was a stack of readings which was supposed to keep me company, but readings have a snooze effect on travellers (it works if you are a student also!) and it didn't work for too long. I decided to catch some shut-eye here and there, by hugging my bag whilst I closed my eyes, and then placing my leg on top of a chair to make myself comfortable (sleeping whilst sitting down SUCKS. TRUST ME)
The night was also loooonnng. Time passed by so so so slowly. It was literally a drag. I guess that happens when you are WAITING for something to happen, and you are doing absolutely NOTHING. I read my notes, looked at the time, and only a pathetic 5 minutes have passed. Well, I definitely thought otherwise...
I could not allow myself to sleep, I thought. There was absolutely no security there, and it was really unsafe. Coupled with many reports about how 'unsafe' Marseille city is, I could understand why. Maybe the prior information had freaked me out? I'm not sure about that, but I'm pretty sure that I was on alert throughout the night.
Slowly and surely, the airport was roused from its sleep as more people arrived at about 3am, and I realised the reason for it was due to a flight due out of Marseille airport at 6.20am, to Fes, a place in North Africa. In fact, there were a lot of black people who arrived at the airport, luggage and children in tow, to check in. I decided it was time to move, and moved from the budget terminal side to the Halls 1-4 of the Marseille airport.
I was kicking myself for not going to these Halls, as there were better facilities to rest. I found a row of cushioned seats at Hall 4, near the ticketing counter for the bus to Aix-en-Provence, and promptly settled down there. Alas, there was no heating system in the Hall, and I was left cold, and a little hungry. Luckily for me, hunger was solved by the few pieces of bread I usually bring on my travel, and it was easily resolved.
I even managed to get 30 mins of shut-eye there! There were almost no people who walked in the hall, and it was quiet. The eerie silence of the large airport hall, but I was too tired to bother. I laid down my bag as a pillow, and laid down on the cushioned seats to have some 'sleep'.
Angry
Returned home to a weird stench...smelling like a cow farm all around Eindhoven, from the airport to my apartment. Gosh, it stinks
Shall not blog tonight about Lyon and Grenoble, will do that tomorrow (I hope!) I've not even done my Spain trip yet. And my Switz trip is forever in the to-do list. Hehs.
It was a good trip down south, took in the good and the bad. Nonetheless, another memorable trip (yea I think Xiaowen and Lynn can attest to it).
Lotsa assignments to get done. Christmas...12 more days to go.
Current Mood: 
Sleepy
Woke up at 0830, even before the alarm rang. Slumbered over to the laptop and clicked here and there mindlessly. Not tired, and not fully awake.
The alarm rings, I switch it off. Goes to the toilet and washes up.
Strong winds outside, even the trees are swaying to the wind. And for a brief moment, the sky's clear. Now? The sky's back to the greyish hue I've grown accustomed to.
People cycling in the street below my house. The houses emit white puffs of smoke as people get up to go to work, to school.
Lumbering around, I fiddle with my gadgets. Damn, the camera battery charger is still spoilt. (I'm so screwed)
Time flies. Probably. Maybe after you get accustomed to the entire routine of life in Europe, it probably does. Go to school in the morning, return home at 6, do your dinner, watch crunchyroll/youtube/movies, listen to songs, attempt to do some work, and go to sleep.
And throw in some MSN convos and Facebook-ing in the fray as well.
December...the winter month. The month where you can literally smell and feel Christmas in the air. Somehow, I dun feel it that much in Eindhoven as compared to London. Gee.
Well, I try to get something out of everything I have done, and I probably did for this exchange, even though the school is kinda dull (do you call beer parties as eventful? I hope not) and life's a crawl at times. But, you do get by with all the traveling and meeting up with friends.
Haven't kept to all my promises...yet.
Am on track, for my general education. Yet, I find myself staring at a question: "What have I truly learnt in these 5 months here?" Have I spent money and...gained nothing in return?
I do not think so. My eyes have opened up to the world, to the many different cultures and places. Something indescribable, yet it's something which money cannot really buy. The different countries, the different cities, the diverse cultures...
Do I like to travel? Yes I do. I think traveling is a way to learn from others. It opens your eyes to the world, and at times, you learn things and try to think of whether it could be implemented in the very country you come from!
And I marveled at the paintings of Reuben and Van Gogh in Spain, the architecture in Barcelona, the great Roman Baths in UK, the obvious difference between East and West Berlin, the lovely fields and hills of Switzerland, the bustling city-life of Paris, and the quiet country-side of Denmark. All of these places...they each hold a different meaning to me.
And I love the outdoors. Would have preferred if I could camp outdoors once, but the weather's pretty cold for that now. Sighs.
August, the arrival of me. Wake me up when September ends. October-fest. November rain. December's the time for Christmas. January, the end of the dream.
Merry Christmas to one and all, it's 18 more days to Christmas now. Cherish the moment and may ya have a great holiday! :)
Current Mood: 
Awake
Current Music: 光良 - 风雨同路
Awake
On Timeline: 01 - 05 Dec 2007
...my camera battery died.
Of all places, and of all times. Sighs.
Now I'm relying on the remaining battery juice to last me till (gosh) next week! HOW!??!?!?! (Luckily, it died on Sunday night...)
Oh yea, and that means there will be lesser pictures from yours truly in London. Hell yea. Replacement chargers here cost a whooping £30, and that's SGD 90 for you if ya ain't sure of the exchange rate.
But moving on to nicer stuff, London's a great city to be in, especially the weekends. Well, the traffic ain't that great, so you're probably better off on foot most of the time since the main attractions are relatively close of each other (e.g. Horse Guards Arch and Buckingham Palace; Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Jewel Tower and 10 Downing Street; Tower of London, Tower Bridge and London Bridge etc.)
Staying at Siew Shin's place for this trip, and he's rather near of the Houses of Parliament and the River Thames, which helps. I was lucky to have him bring me for a short tour around the interesting places around London on Saturday, when he was free. An introduction to a new city is always great! :P
Other than the usual London attractions which would stick out of any guidebook that covers London, he brought me to Borough Market, which was essentially a food market, where all different types of food from all over Europe converge. Great food, GREAT PRICES.
Oh yea, one thing to point out is that, even though I would probably be hesitant to spend any money considering that £1 = SGD3, things here are essentially that expensive. Currency conversion does not help, and if you depend on it, probably you should just skip Britain all the same. I felt that £1 is equivalent to €1 in a way, in the stuff we buy, and there's little way I could try to covert it...in the end I looked for relatively cheaper stuff to buy and hopefully, spend good money on.
Had some great fun, went into Harrods (probably a store where u would come out NOT buying anything cos even a sushi costs like £2 at least??), went to Covent Garden to look at the buskers and the amazing Christmas displays, Hyde Park for the Christmas Wonderland, and I even met up with Daryl on Sunday for some great Four Seasons duck rice! DEFINITELY A MUST TRY IN LONDON!!
You will definitely feel satisfied after the duck rice meal. And it's £5 too! Quite worth it for a fantastic tasting duck rice. Feel like eating it all over again and take it back to SG. haha!
Sadded over the camera
Artistic-fied
The poster read...Indoor Skiing...and the rest is in Dutch. Forgive me if I cannot read further, because other than the place (Bottrop, Germany), price (€38.50) and the date (27 Nov) for the event, I had absolutely no clue whatsoever about the event. Except, of course, that it's an indoor skiing event organised by one of the students' club in TU/e.
And I gamely signed up. Din know what to expect, just felt that the indoor area would prolly be more suitable for me since I did not know how to ski!
And I pulled Joanna along. Luckily for her, there room for one more on the bus and she could get into the event. And that meant that I'm not the only non-European dude there. Haha!
The bad thing was that the bus was late by an hour, and there was a huge crowd there! When my bus arrived, there were about 9 other coaches parked in the huge carpark, and it took me some time to get into the ski center. And for that, I was late for my lesson and I was not allowed to take it. Sheesh.
Anyway...we had fun! Well, learning skiing yourself sure is tough. Getting to 'walk' up the slope was tough, braking was worse! Especially when I came down the slopes at high speeds...
And I fell down not once, not twice, but three times! Dang. And the third time hurt the most cos I fell down, and I was like..."OOWWWWWW...." My left butt hurt, and after the entire skiing thing was over, I realised that it was a fresh wound with skin which seemed to be scraped off, and an orh-cheh below it.
Dang...
Nursing the orh-ba-ka