Hejda!

the simple life

(swedish social policy class, swedish economic development class, walk to town, Lund Cathedral, AF building, swedish history class, juice and biscuits after service, main square, Swedish language class)

the independent life

(view from room, laundry room, ICA groceries, entrance to corridor, room corridor, Sparta hostel, my room, parking of bike, pantry)

and the friends

HEJDA LUND and Tack for this experience!!!!!!

Skating at Last

Yesterday went skating in Copenhagen with the NUS twins (Melvin & Sheng Wei), their friend Jing Quan (hope I got it right this time), Wayne and Wei Cheng. It was my wish to experience skating out in the open and what a day it was! After skating, Wei Cheng & I went to Tivoli. Having not been to Disney Land i was wowed by the fairy tale like lighting and the whole atmosphere of the place. Really had a fun day which only made leaving this place harder!

14th to 19th Dec: Barcelona and Madrid

The sun at last, weird builings, a mushroom looking airport inspired by bulls, Gaudi the man of Barcelona, Goya the man of Madrid, streets of Madrid packed with people wearing coloured wigs, Sagrada Familia a crazy uncompleted futuristic church (2025), 9 euro buffets, twice a target for pickpockets but not a victim, a sprained ankle (expected it to come earlier)���.so was the 5 day trip to Spain!

BARCELONA
Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, I cant imagine attending mass in this cathedral...just cant

Guell Park:
More Gaudi builings: theatre, Pulau Guell, Casa Mila & Casa Batllo

Torre Agbar:

Museum of National Art:

MADRID
Plaza Mayor

The Royal Palace

Retiro Park

San Antonio De La Florida, Dome painted by Goya

Christmas Lights of Madrid

Plaza De Toros (Bull Ring)

Templo De Debod (An Egyptian Temple)

Remembering December

December marked my final Swedish History History lesson. It began on 5th September and ended on 12th December with an excursion to Helsingborg, Helsingor and Copenhagen. The trip was a memorable one. Not because of the things we saw but it was actually the first time we all really got to know each other despite being a small class of 7. I was surprised to find out Tolbien a Swede and Cathy from Finland are both married! The trip officially ended at around 4 plus but Manny, a really nice and friendly guy from the US, a german girl and myself stayed back and took the 7pm train back to LUND. We really had fun talking about Asians and Westerners in general.

Lund's University History Building

Hamlet Castle of Helsingor

Up the Round Tower

Christmas Lights of Copenhagen

On 10th December, Wei Cheng and I took the train with our rail pass to Helsingborg to see a Christmas market held in Fredriksdal, the open air museum we visited back in August.

Us back in Summer...








No more flowers now!!

December also marks the end of the year and the end of an amazing 4 plus months in Lund. Had a very good dinner yesterday with the twins, Clement, Adrian, Tracy, Peace and his friend Pol. Peace and Pol made really spicy but GOOD green Thai curry and typical Thai salad. Adrian contributed a polish dessert too. The custard was scrumptious. The night ended on a rather sad note after Adrian���s parting speech, with each of us returning to our respective hostels knowing we would probably never see each other again. Such is life.

thanks!

My 22nd birthday spent here in Lund was enjoyable and memorable but rather strange and funny too. Here is thanks to the SIngaporeans here in Lund. WEDDING? Very funny u guys. Having said that, I got a very interesting card from them too. FOr some reason, many left their names in chinese. I even had to use elimination to find out who one of them was. Mixed up wei cheng and jin fu too. Ok dont ask me how! Anyway, thanks for the kind words and funny lines. Some really made me laugh. "So when do u plan to get married?" ha ha. THe little antics were indeed weird and odd but, I have to say it sure made this a birthday to remember. THANKS!

I have to thank the SMU touch team too for the present and one of a kind card! Was really nice reading the many birthday wishes. I honestly didnt expect anything considering it's not my 21st! U guys sure gave my birthday that perfect finish. Enjoy HK! U guys are a HUGE part of my SMU life. It is for this reason I am somehow still in TOuch considering i keep saying I want to quit after each competition.

Lastly to all my friends and of course my family back home, thanks so much for the many wishes =) It is u guys that make home feel like home.

Exceeding Expectations: Kiruna 28th Nov to 3rd Dec

The journey up from Lund to northern Sweden?
9 of us left at 4.38 pm on Tuesday 28th November only to arrive at 3.20pm the next day. That���s about 22hrs with two stopovers at Stockholm and Boden. To our dismay the longest stretch overnight from Stockholm to Boden (15hrs) was the same old train we took the last time from Stockholm. My seat was jammed and couldn���t recline, my arm rest had a huge hole in the middle. Nonetheless, I did manage to sleep with constant position adjustments.

And I actually thought there might be no snow in Kiruna...
How wrong I was. As the train approached the Kiruna station, I was delighted to see the whole place covered in snow. In fact the amount of snow was astonishing. It was fun trudging through thick snow that comes above your knee at times.

Surreal!
After a nights stay in kiruna, the package we booked was to begin the next morning. We were driven to a shed about 40 minutes away where some of us were given boots and ski pants to change into. It was here the adventure began. The dogs were barking and their excitement and desire to run was mind boggling. I was amazed just watching them being strapped to the sledge. 10 km was the distance to travel to a secluded camp site.

Loading our stuff onto the sled

Strapping the feisty dogs to the sledge

The guide led in a snow mobile followed by a dog sledge that sat 3 and a sled pulled by a snow mobile that transported the rest of us. Surreal! It was fun driving the snow mobile and the dog sledge although my toes were pretty much numb from the cold. When we finally reached a river, we transferred into a rubber boat and rowed across to the campsite.