Day 2

Okay its the start of day 4 in Amsterdam now, so far so good. Let me try to go through day 2 and 3 in some words.

Day 2 started with a trip to the law fac of UvA where we registered for the orientation program. It just got colder over here in Amsterdam, with the morning starting at -3 degrees. Apparently 4 layers was the bare minimum to keep me warm. We took a tram, which is just like MRT on the roads.

The orientation was very much a 'get-to-know more people and party away' kind of orientation. No muddy or tekan games, everything's very OTOT. My group is quite nice, everyone's from such a different background and its another step up from just knowing people of similiar cultures, like during NTU FOC.

We had a quick lunch where everyone just mingled, and we were brought to this threatre which was previously a church. Once again, the typical english architecture simply added much more impression on what was otherwise a normal talk. During the whole talk, we were welcomed by the director of UvA, given some idea of what living in Amsterdam was like, and things like policies on drugs and alcohol, which brings me to this funny picture.



Yea, so in Amsterdam the general policy is tolerating and not so much about deterring. According to the talk by the professionals, Amsterdam isn't the world or Europe's largest consumer of drugs, but the transparency and the policy of tolerating drug usage has made it the city where people can take drugs more conveniently than anywhere else!

After the talk we had another workshop where we got to know yet more exchange students. Dinner followed and they served some weird tasting nasi goreng, and supposedly chicken satay, but it was like a really big piece of meat on a stick. And many of the other peeps who have never eaten the satay sauce all went 'oh this is very good peanut butter!' hahahahahahaha.

Well at night it was a welcome party for all exchange students. Well it should be 2 parties since we went to 2 clubs! I think any party animals must come to Amsterdam cos its like just parties everyday! Drinks here are cheaper, 1 jug of Heineken is like S$10. Affordable! I'm starting to believe I can drink well already! The thing about not getting drunk here is most likely due to the fact that if you are feeling drunk, just go out into the cold night and come back in 3 minutes. You'll be ready for a few more rounds real soon!



Bev and meiyee trying to take a picture of us taking a picture of them. haha.





The girl on the left, Kim comes from Canada. The other 2 are Jolijn and Esther, the coaches (or the orientation group leader equivalent over here). The dutch are like really really really friendly. Or at least they are!





Some of my group members. In this picture we have people from New Zealand, Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Romania, Canada, Holland, Denmark, Serbia, and of course Singapore!



Here's a picture of the club, Odeon, which is a nice club that's quite popular around here.



The royal palace in the Dam Square, which is like how Amsterdam all started. I'll leave the history lesson till another time but this is really a nice palace set in the heart of such a vibrant city! Nothing short of majestic, even if its just for show and nobody really stays in there. I'll wait till Queens Day to see how the city will actually come into full glory!

Day 1 continued

Hello everybody, its been another fruitful day and I'm still in the process of being amazed all the time, from the architecture, the tram rides to the people I see.

To continue from where I left off, the night of day 1 in Amsterdam was spent feeling ho-landed. Like how my mum always jokes, 'Bring you to Holland / Ho-land' which would otherwise mean to get lost. This was especially so when I was trying to find where Seb, Weiliang, Bev and Meiyee were staying on the first attempt. I got lost trying to find it the first time round, gave up and went grocery shopping instead.

General thoughts about the grocery store in Amsterdam:

- Most common store is called Albert, Amsterdam's NTUC equivalent
- Meats are like super expensive. 1kg of chicken is like $16 bucks, horrific. Thankfully frosten chicken is better, but of course will not taste as good
- Eggs are 30 cents each
- No chilli or chilli sauce, heng I brought mine
- Ben & Jerry's ice cream are half-priced, whack!
- Coke is $3 for a 1.5litre bottler !*&!#T!^#%!$^@
- European Coke is $0.80 for a 1.5 litre bottle =)))))))) Taste as good! Ok maybe a bit sweeter, but I'll take it
- Milk is less than a dollar per litre, but the cows here are either undernurished or they are just weird, the milk tastes bland
- Rice is a rarity, so its expensive, and I still need to figure how I can cook without a rice cooker!
- They have this really yummy kind of mayo breadspread, which is an Albert house brand, comes in flavours like ham, crab, egg and cheese, something like the tuna we have in singapore, but its really delicious and $1.30 can get fill like 2 loaves of bread.
- A loaf of bread is $1, so yea my breakfast will be that and the spread
- Pasta is expensive!
- Seafood is non-existent, or those they sell are all cooked beforehand, thankfully I'm not so much a seafood person
- Finally, beer is so cheap that mineral water is actually more expensive. Hahaha alcoholics will love Amsterdam

Yeah, after that, when I got home with 2 bottles of water and a pack of chips, Weiliang called via Skype to tell me that we will meet at where we part our ways after we got our keys. They brought me around near where their school is and we found this amazing pizza place which served really cheap and good pizzas. We were famished while trying to find something for dinner when we saw this pizza place and decided to check it out. I think it must have been like a god-sent in disguise. Somemore heng heng it was pizza day, so all pizzas went for 5 Euros each. 4 of us shared 2 and it was amazingly filling! We were so hungry we forgot to take pictures, but we agreed it will be our chillout place every wednesday henceforth. Will take more pictures then!

After dinner, went over to stay at Seb and Weiliang' place since we decided that we will go for the registration of the orientation together. Their place is really near where we are studying, and its about 10 minutes away from my place, so its not that bad! His place is quite new and well furished, even comes with a high tech rolling shutter to allow light into the room! Still, I think my room's nicer and more comfy! Hahaha.

Some pictures of the view from their room, I forgot about taking pictures of their room.





Yeah, that was all the happenings in day 1, its really starting to feel like a superwall of text. I hope subsequent posts will be filled with more pictures, but bear with me for the updates of day 2 and day 3, since I forgot to bring my camera out for day 3, and day 2 was really another day where I was busy knowing alot of new people! Hahaha okay I'm going out for Karoke with the rest of the orientation people now, will be back for more updates later or tomorrow!

Aye Aye Amsterdam!

Hello people! I've landed safely in Amsterdam since yesterday, and the events that have unfolded so far are probably the most exciting I have encountered in my 22 years so far!

Well its going to be a long post but I'll start with thanking the people who came down to see me off at the airport. Special thanks go out to my family, Bobby, Kai, Marcus, Roy, Daphne, King Hee, Sammy, and Yiyang for forgoing some possible angbao money to see me off! Hope you guys are having a good time in school and all the best yea!





I must admit the moment which I bid my mother farewell was hard to swallow. She was in tears and it dawned upon me that it was going to be another 169 days before I see her again. Well but I guess this experience would never come knocking twice, and I think it will be like real soon before I see her again! All hail Skype for making it so easy for me to communicate with my mum! Hurraf.



And so, the 5 of us are off to Amsterdam! This was the pre-departure picture we took right before boarding the plane.



The five of us at London, where we transitted to Amsterdam. What happened in between these 2 pictures probably summed up the unluckiest start to a travel for me, ever. On the plane, we had a drink of our choice when the plane took off. I took my favourite Coke as usual, and had the misfortune of spilling half a glass onto my seat, my jeans as well as the handphone pouch. You know that yucky feeling of some sweet drink on your skin? Well if you thought that was bad, what followed was worse! Seb, Weiliang and I played 3 man-daidee and we were trying to drink ourselves to sleep. I drank 2 mixed drinks, tried to get some sleep, only to end up merlioning whatever I drank and ate on the plane. That buildup to the merlion was one of the most horrible feeling I had ever! Imagine being on the plane, where you couldn't get off, you feel your head spinning and your stomach tossing, you break into cold sweat and your nose starts dripping, and the next moment you're struggling to get the nearest waste paper bag, but failing to find it, instead puking into this makeshift plastic bag that was previously used to contain the headsets in the plane. Yea in short, a NIGHTMARISH start to a trip.

Oh well, soon enough, we got to Amsterdam at 940am on 28th January, or 440pm Singapore time. (I am still trying to adjust to this time difference as I type here, but yea its getting better) and another not so good thing which happened was finding our backpacks damaged. It was pretty bad, but the only other positive to take out of it was all the luggage were accounted for, and we were soon on our way to the accomodation office!



A picture of us with one of the coaches who was nice to bring us to the place where we picked up our house keys.

The first day in Amsterdam is probably one big highlight of this trip. Why so? Having never been to Europe before, I was awestruck by all the buildings and things I saw/heard/felt. The weather that greeted us was a freezing -3 degrees; Dutch people speak dutch like they've got bad sore throats; the buildings look exactly like the one I built as Lego's Cafe Corner not too long ago; and the trees here are the botany counterparts of monks. So much so that I did not realise that I should have been taking photos! Which explains the lack of it so far, but yea just be patient.

The trip to collecting the keys was another unforgettable experience. *note that I did not use the word memorable, for it was anything but it. Picture this, 14kg on your back, a 30kg trolley on your left hand and a 10kg trolley on your right. You walk with this baggage for a good 10 minutes before getting to the place where almost every other exchange student from all over the world go as well... yes it sucked. But like what the coach said 'its all part of the experience'. I'll keep the process of getting the keys short, but yea after getting the keys, the hard part was to travel with the trolley and getting to my accomodation.

My accomodation is officially known as Prins Henrikkade, which is in Amsterdam Central. Unfortunately, the street is pretty long that I ended up walking past my accomodation for a good 5 minutes before I realised I was way past it! By this time, I was switching the trolleys are regular intervals because it was so hard to fight the chilly cold on your fingers, pushing the trolleys through uneven roads that were littered with chewing gum and dog poo. When I eventually found it, I still had the final task of bringing all the luggage up 4 storeys, and my block didn't have a lift. Unforgettable really.

Well, I think I ranted long enough, but all's pretty much forgiven when I managed to get into my room. Its like a really big and comfortable place!



The view from right outside my room, right before I step into it.



My desk which is facing the faculty of humanities, the campuses of UvA are all over Amsterdam, and my accomodation is right in the same campus as the faculty of humanities. This is the view I get from my desk.



When I turn behind, I get a really nice slanting window which gives me a great view of what's outside.







Oh yea, one of the first complaints I had was the way they design window panes. Its seriously not friendly for short people like us.



As you can see, the window pane is slanted, and I stand at where the orange jacket in the picture is. Guess where the window handle is?



Yes, right at the top. The freaking top which is like a good 20cm above me. I bet my Slovakian roommate must have been laughing his ass off when I asked him how to open the window. I will show more evidence of European un-friendliness in due time, I've found a few already!

Other neat things include,



A heater. Yes, its the sort of things that anyone in Singapore would never appreciate. But in Europe, especially during winter, they treasure this like how we treasure a great air conditioner. Hahaha.



And how I can live without a kitchen? This kitchen is pretty simple, but its got like the neccessities, so all's good!

I've got so much more to share, but yes I am afraid I have to end here, if not I will miss out on a lot more sight-seeing tomorrow. Will update this space again when I have more time tomorrow!

Hours before takeoff

0755:

This was more horrible than I had thought. I went to bed at 3am thinking that I could easily fall asleep, I was still commenting to Yiyang and King that I should not have problems sleeping. It appears that I was totally off that mark. A thousand and one thoughts just overwhelmed me as I really tossed and turned in bed. I had this dream which I couldn't really remember what was in it, and the next thing I knew, I woke up from my sleep and I can't get back to it again. Might as well just wake up and finish up some of the remaining things I need to do.

By the way, met up with my NS friends for a drink last night at this place called Sara's, which is like a super nice chill-out place in Thomson. The bar owner is such a pleasant lady and I'm certain I will be visiting that place again when I come back! Its also great to see my friends for the first time in like 2 years. Hope to meet you guys up again real soon!

Well its quite funny really, considering how I'm leaving Holland Village for Holland. Yes, I ended the day with a visit to Holland V's Coffee Bean with Mr Lo & Mr Chu.







It'll be real soon before we meet again, in July that is. Haha.

1900:

Yes in around another hour I will be preparing to go to the airport. Preparation is now completed and I am ready to go!

Whatever happened from morning till now was very much like normal CNY house visiting. It still felt like every other CNY I've been through so far.

Went to the temple to pray for a safe journey, afterwhich I feasted on some decent Nasi Bryani, I know its something I won't see in the next 5 months. hahah.

The dinner just now was steamboat yet again, but served with a heavenly delicious shark fins soup which my mother has successfully emulated, even surpassing the normal version so commonly found at Pasar Malam stalls. I await for yet another bowl when I return. After dinner, my mum and I went for a stroll in the park. Well I can't remember the last time I actually went on a walk with my mum, but it was seriously an excellent quality time spent with her. Just sitting by the bench in the playground, feeling the strong breeze and watching the leaves of trees rustle under that clear cloudy sky with a tinge of blue, suddenly brought home the message that it feels so nice to spend some time on something as simple as this.

All right, guess this is all there is from me so far for all that's happened at home for the past month. Tomorrow marks the beginning of an exciting journey that will go on for five months. I am ready for whatever is waiting and I will try my best to pen it down to the best of my abilities. All the best to everyone and enjoy what's left of this festive season!

Till tomorrow!

1 more day

I'm just done with packing the luggage, and while it seems like there isn't alot of things, there is in actual fact so much things I packed in which have made me feel that I will take out some stuff and not bring it to Amsterdam!

Having spoke to a friend who is in Sweden now, I think that she is right when she says 'you will bring more things back'. So its only common sense that I should bring as little there as possible. Again, in her words 'I brought less so I could come here and buy.' Haha words from one shopaholic. Hahaha



Yes there's so much stuff in there I really don't want to think about how I am going to unpack them when I am there, and how to pack them back again when I come back!! The horror of travelling!

Anyway, I had a wonderful CNY. Relatives who knew about me flying off were more generous than usual, I am most fortunate to receive that extra bit of bonus which will go a long way in this trip! Of course, as usual, my mum and maid are so helpful I wished I could pack them in my luggage (or at least let them pack me in the luggage and they will take me there!) It will really be a personal test of independence for a good 169 days in the foreign land.

All right, guess I will end off here for now. Will embrace my bed for more moments before being separated from it for months. Hahaha

5 days and counting

As countdowns are concerned, I didn't recall any other countdown (other than the last major one being freed from SAF) to be so exciting. While it is true that I want to go and experience the exciting times that the exchange will bring, I'm already feeling the dread of being away from home for some 169 days.

I am only glad that I can still spend a good holiday with my family before flying off and I hope it will be a great CNY this coming week.

In other news, I've seen my orientation group details. How very interesting, of the 17 people in my group, everyone is from a different country! From the closest being Thailand, to exotic places like Estonia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Czech Republic! Quite thankful that my coaches are actually coming to pick me up at the airport!

Hope it will all be good. 5 days and counting.

Pre-Trip Preparation

It was yet another busy day yesterday, of which the highlight was perhaps getting my travel insurance as well as the all important air tickets. Speaking of which, I'd love to compare my air tickets to the Boots of Travel that peeps who DOTA should be so familiar with. Hahaha even the cost is about the same as in the game itself! I should be saying 'GH the traveller level 1 has bought his boots of travel. Allows him to travel into another region aka Europe, channeling time 18 hours.' Lol, what kind of a lousy item is that!!

Okay joke aside, yesterday was really spend spend spend. Other than the above-mentioned items, I also bought more stuff which I consider to be quite essential for the trip! These include..



Lonely Planet's travel guide on 'Europe on a shoestring'. This should come in handy for European Domination without having your wallet or bank account being dominated by Euro Dollar first. Hahaha.



The headset I need to bring over to establish communications link with the family at home. Important!



Important documents including the insurance, my offer of acceptance, and how to get to the hostel when we arrive at Amsterdam.



My personal first aid kit of some sort with the other stuff that's got to do with personal hygiene.

As of press time, things that I still need to buy include.. Track pants, socks, another pair of gloves, maybe a pair of sneakers, maybe a pair of jeans, and my myojo mee! Crap looks like there's still quite a handful of things! Hopefully I can get them by tomorrow then I'll be good to start squeezing them into my luggage!

Foreword

Welcome to the very first edition of 'The Amsterdam Times'. This is a publication which shall attempt to capture the gist of a certain adventurer who is about to make his way into Europe for the first time in his life! Okay this formal introduction aside, I just want to pen down this once-in-a-lifetime experience on another platform, let's just say we are side-tracking from an otherwise routine lifestyle and moving onto something that's more off-the-norm.

Like any major production, there always comes a time where the producer will have to take time or space off to thank all parties who have made the project possible. Of course, I will now take this opportunity to thank those I need to!

Firstly, I will like to thank NTU for giving me this invaluable opportunity to visit one of the countries I've always wanted to go. Although I also wish to go to countries like HongKong, England or more specifically Manchester, the United States blah blah blah, I can only be very thankful that they gave me my first choice which is Amsterdam! The first 3 semesters of study have not been the easiest, but I must say it has been an extremely fun-filled time, with all the new friends and new things I get to know everyday! I hope to be able to return in the new academic year and continue to enjoy school!

Secondly, I'd like to thank University of Amsterdam (or UvA in short) for not rejecting me when NTU told you guys I was going over! Hahaha. Okay I hope I will be able to have great time over there, and from the looks of it, the staff over there have been most helpful! Will finally get to see them in person 2 weeks from now!

Moving on, I know this is funny, but I have to thank myself too! Not trying to sound egoistic but I am responsible for myself, and I would not have made it for this exchange had I not put in the required amount of effort at times when it was called for. I don't have to prove myself to anyone, except myself, and I'm glad to say that I've since moved on from some previously demoralising times to this uber-excited state now! I hope I can keep up with this consistency, be mentally stronger to take on the challenges in times ahead, as well as keeping complacency out of sight!

Last but not least, I want to thank the most important person in my life so far, who has more than just made this exchange possible! Yes that is my mother. No amount of thanks or words can express the gratitude which I will be forever indebted, and I just want to say that she has always been my pillar of everything, be in emotional, mental, financial... yeah you get the point. Although she has the habit of nagging at me all the time when I sit in front of the computer to dota my time away, this is nothing compared to the unconditional love she has given me all this while. I may not be the best son in the world, and I apologise for all the instances I had to lie to you, including times when I said I was going to bed when I was actually still on MSN in hall, or playing mahjong but telling you I was having supper. Yes yes terrible lies, but all in the sake of not having you worry about me. I am 22 going on 23 and I really think I know my limits. I will not do anything that will cause you unnecessary worries, and I promise to take care of myself in the foreign land for the next 5+ months. I know I will spend some part of your hard-earned money, on top of all the current spendings you need to bear, I promise I will not spend money on impulse, and only on the things I feel are what I really need to. (I know some people define spending money on a live soccer match as a waste of money, but I beg to differ) I shall repay this amount of money, and all the rest of the resources spent on me these past years to you in the future! Okay starting to sound a whee bit too serious, but yes nobody will possibly understand this intangible respect I have for my mother. Once again, thank you mummy dearest for making this trip possible for me!

Yes a lengthy ranting to say the least, but now that it is off my mind, I will be able to move on to the more exciting aspects of the trip. Which includes pre-trip preparation, as well as a possible plan for Europe domination! Speaking of which, I need to get ready to head out and collect my travel insurance as well as the all important air tickets already! Part 2 shall continue either later today, or in the next few days! Stay tuned!