Day 14 & 15

Week 2 in Amsterdam started with lessons in the morning, European Economic Integration at 9am. Like I said earlier, its an extremely interesting module to take in the Netherlands where the lecturers are either economists or analysts who have sat in economic boards/panels and really know a great deal about European Economics. Although there were less students than what we had during the first lesson (since the lecturer himself said lessons were not compulsory), that did not stop the lesson from being any less interesting. I think I mentioned this before, but student-prof interaction here is really alot more than in what I go through in NTU. At any point in time during the lecture, any queries or doubts can be asked straight and the professor will not think twice to answer them. Of course, stupid questions risk the wrath of fellow students, so generally the questions we heard in class were quite valid. Its just the different culture that Europeans are exposed to.

Tutorial was just an extended lecture session, which saw the tutor/lecturer trying to cover 4 chapters of the book in a single day. Well, considering the fact that modules are taught in 7 weeks, 4 chapters a week seems like the norm here. Thankfully most of the things taught have been learnt before, just placed in a more European context. I'm just hoping I won't screw the paper up. Well, on a not so good note, due to my slower reaction of not taking up earlier presentation slots for the essay in this module, I have now got to present my essay in the week which was supposedly reserved for visiting Sweden. I hope I can to swop my presentation and get to go to Sweden with the rest!

We had early dinner which was some fried rice and finger food, since folks are Sarphatistraat where seb and weiliang stayed have organised a trip to Ikea! It was also the first time we were taking the metro, or the MRT equivalent. One interesting to note about taking metro in Holland feels pretty much like paying the 10 cents to go into Singapore toilets. Why so? At every metro station, there will be this machine which you are supposed to put your strippenkart (some sort of coupon which will be chopped one/two/three slots depending on how far you travel) and charged accordingly to where you go. You can also choose to be dishonest and not pay, just like how'd you will not pay at times if there were no caretakers outside the toilets in SG. Of course, should you run into those metro staff who will check your tickets and discover you did not pay for your metro, you'd have to fork out 30-40 euros as fine.

Being poor students, we managed to get away with paying less for our first trip! (didn't dare to try riding for free right from the start! hahah) Cheap thrills don't come cheaper than this. Anyway, Ikea in Amsterdam is BIG.



I was on the second level of Ikea when Seb called to ask 'Eh Guohong where are you? all the plates, knives are all downstairs.'

So I replied 'Yah ok I'll be coming down to find you guys.' The next thing I knew, I spent 10 minutes walking around the 2nd floor trying to find the staircase or the escalator that will bring me downstairs. Thankfully they had signboards hanging down from the ceiling to tell me where their exit was, and with my amazing talent at learning languages, it is child's play to figure that afrit means exit, and it is fast becoming a favourite word of mine. hahaha. Seriously, I think this Ikea is at least 3 times bigger than what we have in Singapore, and they have alot of stuff!









The place where they have all their wooden, DIY furniture is really like those warehouses used to store containers! They really stack up sky high!

Of course, the things weren't exactly cheap, but considering that its made to be affordable, we got a couple of things as well! I got myself a better pillow (though I had weird dreams when I used it right after getting home), bigger and deeper plates/bowls, as well as some plastic cups for this dinner that we are organising. Ikea never fails to amaze me with that special need to want to improve my room everytime I visit it, and it was no exception this time round. I can only imagine how big the Ikea in Sweden will be like! We wanted to try some Swedish meatballs initally, but found out it was even more expensive than in SG, and considering that hotdogs + drinks which the cafe sold at the entrance/exit was cheaper, we settled for that!

Another good thing I think that Singapore should try to promote more aggressively is the environmental friendliness that the Dutch are. So far those major grocery stores and places like Ikea all make customers pay for extra plastic bags, and even so, most people usually just bring their own bags or just try to carry the stuff they bought in their hands. In SG, we won't even think twice about getting the extra plastic bag!

There was a borrel at Club Heffer that same evening, so we hurried back to Seb's place where we dropped the things to cycle to Dam Square. The weather has been nothing short of erratic for the past week, with a nice cold night without wind (winds make the winter a hell lot worse) turning quickly into one with rain and big winds in a matter of minutes. We got our bikes out onto the street after we placed our buys from Ikea at Seb's place, and suddenly I felt like the rain in Singapore suddenly poured into Amsterdam, with this really huge and quick downpour that lasted for all but 10 seconds. Rain here come as fast as they go.



A rainy, windy cold night in the streets of Amsterdam. Nothing quite like Singapore.



The lights off Bev's bike which was quite cool.

It was drinking as usual at the Borrel, met some new people, as well as some other exchange students from Singapore. Met my coaches as well and took a picture with them!



Clubs here end their parties on time. The borrels on tuesday end at 1am, and by 1am, the lights in the club come on and everyone starts to leave.



Managed to make my way back home with the pillow I bought from Ikea and went to bed at 1+. Even though I had no lessons in the morning the next day, I couldn't get much sleep, no thanks to the new pillow...



Day 15

From where I left off on Tuesday night.. day 15 got off to a horrible start. Apparently I haven't gotten used to the pillow, and all sorts of weird dreams entered my mind throughout the night. It was the first night I dreamt of anything at all, and it was not at all memorable. It was compounded by the drilling and knocking in the toilet, where a new toilet bowl and some tiles were being added into. Having no water to brush my teeth or make coffee, I had to go over to Seb's place earlier to wash up and have breakfast there. So much for wanting to sleep in late. =/



Pasta in the new plate/bowl! Its most ideal for lasagna.

After cooking pasta for lunch, and attending the marketing lecture, and eating cheap pizza for the 3rd time in 3 weeks, it is the first time in 2 weeks that I'm starting to find a routine in life in Amsterdam. Don't get me wrong, there is totally nothing wrong with a boring routine life, its just that I'm really starting to feel like any other citizen here in the amazing city of Amsterdam.

Having sat in front of the computer for the last 4 hours, from surfing sites to get ideas to start on my essay, to looking at facebook profiles, to finding that Ryanair is giving free air tickets for us to travel from Eindhoven to Stockholm, to typing this entry, it has already been 2 weeks of independence for myself!

I shifted the furniture around, since we will be hosting a dinner on friday at my place! Seb and I agreed that somehow, we need to show more initiative to host something! hahaha i hope that my curry chicken and fried rice will do the trick!







My bed beside the window, but in a different orienation. Looks more comfortable, but yes messier, I'll clean it up!



The new pillow which I haven't gotten used to.



My desk which is also very messy and I haven't gotten down to arranging!



Well, in a foreign land which is all cold and windy, nothing beats a homecooked packet of instant noodles. The lights and the songs playing from the laptop just makes me feel like being in a different room in the same house back at home. Oh yes, the glass which was whisky offered by my roomie felt like my throat got burnt when the drink went down. Drinking it neat is wicked!

Okay its 3am here already and I'm still not asleep! Really tired already. Hope for more interesting things that will happen tomorrow. Will try to update again soon!