I have a 2 day school week. Tuesday and Wednesday somemore.
Okay I hear the screams and curses coming in already. Well okay lah let me get down to updating more of school first.
My lesson started at 9am, for which I woke up at 730 to prepare myself for it. However, the usual delidali me still got to class 10 minutes late. Partly also due to the fact that they actually changed the place without telling us!
As if going into class 10 minutes late was bad enough, I didn't manage to print anything since I don't have a printer here and I haven't got my account up to access those files the prof puts up on the web. But I didn't miss out too much, and he was already telling us about this mid-term essay which we have to write and present. He was nice enough to give us ideas on what to write, and its really quite alot of ideas!
As you can see, there are like 40 suggested topics we could write about what European Economic Integration is about and how it is affecting Europe or the world. I must say I've chosen an excellent module to start off my exchange days here in UvA.
My class from where I was sitting. Its truly an international class. Well you see, the girls sitting in front of me came from England and Brazil. The guy sitting beside the girl from Brazil was from Spain, the girl who sat to my left came from Poland, while the girl on my right was from USA. The girls behind me were Dutch and I was the only Singaporean in the class, and another 2 girls from Thailand and Hongkong. Its an all new experience!
Classes here are more relaxing, or would slack be a better word? A 2 hour lesson consists of a 10-15 minute break at the one-hour interval, and then it ends 15 minutes earlier. So it is actually about one and a half hours long only! Somemore *ok perhaps more screams and curses* by the prof's own admission, you do not have to attend lectures or tutorials at all! It is all optional and as long as you know what is going to come out for exams he's cool with it! Of course, as a typical good student, I will not skip my lessons! Muahahaha.
After the lesson in the morning, 5 of us went to this frozen lake which Seb had gone the previous day, and yes we still managed to see and go onto it! Some pictures.
The place is actually also a park and its very picturesque.
Haha do not try this in Singapore. Or rather you'd never be able to do that there. Hahaha.
The place is pretty far from the school, and we need to walk like 20-30 minutes to reach there. A bicycle is needed very soon!
Since everyone had lessons at 1pm later that afternoon, we headed back quickly back to school. And since my lessons ended early, I bought something I rarely eat in Singapore.
Hahaha indulgence! This Ben&Jerrys, which is like the regular size that goes for $15 in Singapore is like 40% cheaper here. Just whack lah! Ice-cream in 0 degree weather is uber. Continued to slack in their house and I also cooked Chrysanthemum tea which is the RIGHT thing to drink in days like this.
For dinner, we finally had our first meal of homecooked rice! T_T The rice was this cheap version called the Surnamise Rice which goes for 0.56 Euros in 1 Kg packs. 1kg is enough to last us for 2 meals! While it is no where near the standards of Thai rice, it comes close, and we really shouldn't be complaining already! The dishes we had to go along with this historic meal included cabbage, mushroom omelet and boiled chicken drumsticks to be dipped in light sauce. I'm not boasting about my own cooking but the meal was simply quite heavenly (as usual =PP) Will get the pictures up in due time!
Since I had school early in the morning the next day, I left their place earlier, with half a tub of B&J left. It snowed on my way back home! Wa snowing at night is yet another sensation I will remember for a long long time! There's this tinge of depression in the night when its so cold and there is barely any one on the streets. The sensation of eating the half-melted ice-cream in -4 degrees is something my limited vocab would be unable to describe.
Day 8
Well day 2 of school started with no school. I woke up early for the tutorial at 9, only to realise that tutorials don't start till 3rd week. *which means we only have 4 tutorials for marketting!, hurraf!*
We went to apply for our residence permit at 10, where we will be official Amsterdammers for a good 5 months. Afterwhich we also got the user accounts to access our school mails and materials. Printing here is horribly expensive, 5 cents per page, which is charged through a cash-card you buy for 13.50 Euros. It only comes with 10 Euro value, and its UN-TOPPABLE. So you pay 3.50 for this card you could probably use as a makeshift knife when you finish up the credits in it. How tech-savvy! Thankfully, 5 of us will buy a laser printer and we can save on the costs of printing!
The marketing lecture was quite interesting, since everything was in a European perspective. Once again, 1.5 hours instead of 2! I'm starting to like this very much! Hahah.
After lecture, Seb called to tell me they were going to this place called Vodermart at where the frozen lake was. The things there were pretty cheap compared to Albert, but its a dreadful half an hour walk from school! Never mind, bicycles will come soon! On my way there, I saw this tourist boat coming out of this canal which was like literally taken out from a scene in those tourist videos!
Okay this picture doesn't do it justice but it was so beautiful I was stunned by the beauty for a while to take a good picture. Well the kind of things that easily amaze me.
Dinner at what's becoming our beloved place the Silver Grill followed.
Today's makan. The lamb pizza is officially the best lamb dish I have eaten so far. Absolutely fragrant grilled mutton with NO trace of that lamb odour at all!
We poor students pay with coins. Anyway Euro coins are like in much bigger denominations. Like they have got 2 Euro coins, which is equivalent to SGD 4 here.
We come from the 金枕头 era. Hahaha that classic channel 8 show was re-nacted right in Amsterdam! Hahahaha. Anyway, what we really ordered was like pizza made to shape into a bun.
What's inside is your regular pizza toppings, just that the bread is now different from the crust we are so used to eating. Its called calzone, but its not really that filling as compared to pizza.
Made my way home after dinner to really slack! Wah the feeling of having no lessons on thursday AND friday ===> ^_______^
I also did laundry for the first time in 22 years when I decided that I've got to learn soon-er or later how to wash my clothes! It suddenly dawned upon me how great my maid has been all this while! Even when I stay in hall 13, I always brought the laundry home for my maid to do it for me. But it is only good that I start to do everything myself!
Oh, I can also take this time to do a special feature, very much like how newspaper like to, on Amsterdam Winter Fashion 09! Hahaha not that its going to teach you what to wear (more like teaching you what NOT to wear!), but just a dummy's guide to surviving sub-zero temperatures here in Amsterdam!
Well, in my humble opinion, a thermal fleece, or more commonly known as long john, as shown below..
IS REALLY NOT THAT IMPORTANT. I had friends who were telling me how this was a lifesaver, but in my 1st week here. I conclude that it is absolutely not necessary. While it does provide you warmth, but it is actually quite useless since you end up wearing 3 or 4 layers on top of it, such that you will be indifferent from wearing it or not! Note, it is also very expensive, that you will definitely be on higher utility when you spend it on something else, like the stuff that will be featured shortly!
The first (or the second layer if you wear the long john) will be a normal t-shirt like what we wear here, you follow up the next layer with a hoodie or a pullover such as those you see.
These pullovers offer adequate protection from the cold, and the hood protects your ears quite well. It is the typical wear people wear indoors, in restaurants, pubs, lecture halls. 9.95 Euros @ Zara.
The next layer is the windbreaker, or the coat, or the trenchcoat which will probably decide if you make or break in the cold.
This is a windbreaker which will prevent the bone-chilling wind from entering your body, thereby saving you. hahaha.
The interior feels like the same material used in jerseys or running suits which will absorb any moisture to keep you warm. Water or moisture makes you feel very cold very quickly, and the effect is amplified, so its important to keep yourself dry.
Comes with this niffy handphone, mp3 player pouch which you can put and conceal.
*Note from editor: Europeans are very large sized, so I am thankful they still had one of this left. It's a perfect fit. 29.95 Euros @ Zara.
Another windbreaker, but this looks more like a leather jacket for motorcyclist.
Its leather-like and give a very rugged appearance, offering a different look from the previous windbreaker.
The interior feels like a lot of cotton which gives that soft and silky texture like a leather sofa. It gets cold very quickly if you don't zip up, but its actually more comfortable to wear.
*Note: Yet another smaller size coat which Weiliang happened to see, I was about to buy another brown one which looked similar when he passed me this. Its my favourite piece now. 39.95 Euros @ Zara.
Lastly, a blazer which the poor editor has never been willing or capable of affording for previously.
Simple no frills blazer with 2 inner pockets. Another good fit despite slightly longer sleeves which may be altered at a later time. Finally a blazer for the perhaps once-in-a-blue-moon formal function. Retails at 29.95 Euros @ Zara, but probably already sold out, except those XXL or XXXL sizes.
Hope I had given shopaholics a good idea of what's available here during winter. Its really much cheaper than in Singapore and I strongly encourage anyone coming to Europe this month not to buy anything more than the set of winter clothing you are going to wear over. Just buy it here, you save luggage space and lotsa money.
Well its like the longest post yet. I shall make my way to Seb's place to cook now, its day 9 today and I look forward to getting my bike very soon! More updates in a while!
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