16/08/07
went to meet prof esa in school at 3pm. he was really friendly. briefed us about the requirements of the courses and advised us on the number of modules to take. 2 per quarter is the norm and 3 is manageable but not 4(which is the number of modules we have in quarter 2) as it will be too intense and almost not possible to cope. he navigated us on the school website too and printed out our timetables out. hopefully there are no more changes but so far only the lecture timings are reflected. each lecture is 1hr 40mins. long!!!! no wonder 4 modules is tough haha.
we camped in library for most of the morning and lunch time before heading to ICA(another supermarket in campus). we had a set meal of hotdog bun and a can of drink for 15kr at a small eatery. alan and meng ate donuts again but i enjoyed some digestive biscuits for me. the euro shopper brand is the one to look out for in ICA as the products are more affordable. and the digestive biscuits worked! i went to the toilet immediately when i reached back room..you know..haha..
there's this innovative idea by the swedish to encourage its citizens to recycle. not sure whether is it just lulea or the whole of the country. there's this can recycling machine in almost every supermarket we've been to. for every used can you put into the machine, it's a refund of 50cents. there's 1kr, 2kr and 4kr for different sizes of bottles too. the refund is in the form of a discount receipt which u can present to the counter the next time u shop at the supermarket.
xiao meng and i had porridge for dinner. maggi instant porridge. so glad that we got bring, at least it offers an alternative from pasta or rice hehe. talked to mike and stefan(a new found friend haha) and discovered that the average swedish pay is 18000kr, 2nd hand car also need 25000kr la! crazy man..no wonder the cost of living is so high. xiao meng's internet connection got problem..so sway la..now only alan and i can go online..time to update the blog and do up the photo album!
17/08/07
woke up late today. we hitched a ride from fredrik to town and for the 2nd time we ate max la. so expensive, gotta cut down! felt quite moody throughout the day, can't pinpoint the reason though. we went shopping at willy's! haha bought the 40kr nutella and did some grocery shopping. the bill came up to 355kr. want to faint liao. alan and meng are good la, they know their cooking well! haha..picking the veggies and seasonings..
the highlight of the day was going to kronan to get our 2nd hand(or actually duno reused hw many times) bicycles. we took bus 6 to kronan and then tried to look around for the place called attervin!*&@£^ something something. but the place looked deserted and the shop was closed la! super cold just standing in the wind. so we called anna and she recommended that we go back on monday.and so the adventure begins. the next bus back to the city was a 2hr wait and it was already 515pm. we decided to ask for directions to walk back. ran into this tourist and he pointed us the way and we walk and walk. until we ran into a swede with his angry dog who kept barking. turned out that we were walking in the opposite direction! heng ar..the track back home took us 45mins and cloes to 5km..wuu..not a difficult feat but with a bag full of cans and seasonings on my back(12kg??), it proved to be an endurance test haha. but we walked past some nice houses. with their own gardens with nice nice landscapes hehe.
bought a 50kr pillow, heartache hehe. rewarded ourselves with pasta at night. ate with this french guy called jean-charles. super friendly but bit too friendly for our liking haha. he bought beef to eat with us..haha..so it was a bonus, super full..
18/08/07
lazy sat it is. stayed at hostel for the whole day to catch soccer games. no bicycles and so lazy to walk out because it's raining. we had char mee for lunch and fried rice for dinner! yeahoo. also got to know a 19 year old swede name richard. he's a real giant. almost 2m tall! his head can hit the door frame la..blur..
we had a nice chat and he mentioned that the average age for girls to start working here is around 28! hw blissful! then the army selection also quite cute la. go for 1 or 2 days of psychological and physical tests then they will select u based on results to serve 1-3 years depending on your vocation or don't need to serve also. well as with every system there are bound to be loopholes which ppl exploit. but richard said that the tests will be reflected in government records so if anyone tries anything funny, it won't look nice on their records haha.
first time using the washing machine here man. took real long for one wash, close to another hour. and another hour to use the dryer for the clothes! xiaomeng super sway..everything on his lvl also spoilt..haha..washing machine..dryer..time for him to feedback to Lulebo! hehe..watched Love Letter before we slept. just like the good times in NTU hehe..
19/08/07
first sunday and it was really a super lazy weekend. the furthest we ventured out was to the supermarket konssum. haha. meng and i were on our way back when we saw a guy doing the willy on his scooter! furthermore he did it while his scooter was going up a gentle slope. stunning. basically spent the weekend watching the korean gameshow Love Letter, playing PSP, watching soccer and fidgetting with this blog! So angry with it. I realised that the IMac's dimensions cannot be used for the blog's template as it will not appear the same on Microsoft Window interfaces. hence i will need to go to alan's place or meng's place when his connection is ready.
oh ya the smallest denomination that the swedish has is 50cents. hence when we go shopping, they either round up or down the total amount. so it's a lottery when we go shopping haha. not bad leh, we had curry chicken with pasta for dinner just now! haha..and we went to pick up whatever qp left behind for us at chenkai's place. he's staying at block 9 which is nearer to konssum. more and more french coming in! invasion la..help~~ got 5 koreans also! finally some asians..blurrrrr.
tomorrow's orientation but i think we will give it a miss. we're going to get our bikes instead and hopefully the weather will be fine so that we can go exploring! yeah~! haha..heard from meng that the temperature's going to drop till 9deg tonight..brrrrrrr..nose's been bleeding everyday..too dry weather according to alan. hopefully will be better~
22/08/07
been rotting in hostel! wait and wait for ck to arrive in the evening and he finally arrived at 9+! took cab which costed him 200kr. wuuhuu. we went to get our bikes b4 ck arrived and we were too late! the good bikes were snapped up early in the morning and then we spent 300kr each on not so good bikes lor. then combed the entire town area for a bike lock! in the end came back to ICA to find it! angry sia..haha..make ourselves so tired..
there was this nice resident who invited us to his garden to take pictures when we were on the way to kronan. he saw us snapping away opposite his house. he has a really nice garden and to think that it'll be wasted in winterr. but they are retired and they have a lot of time for it hehe. indeed like what richard said, the swedes are friendly!
attempted to commit suicide by going downstairs to withdraw money at night with only a thin jacket on and short pants. could breathe out smoke already liao lor! immediately ran back room haha..
23/08/07
wa lucky man today, thought i pay 500kr extra for my rent. was worried as i counted 13500kr ytd but when i paid just now the lady said i only paid 13000kr. weird..lucky i came back to do my accounts and found nothing wrong! had tasty burger for lunch today and our 1st swedish lesson! real rush. 45 mins to account for 2 lessons worth. blur..must practise..
ah kai got his bike already! 400kr..from a professor here! nice mountain bike! then we went exploring the neighbourhood and took some nice pictures hehe. ytd was tempted to buy this pair of shades at 560kr. so nice lla..but it's a want and not a need so mayb not..sobs..gotta cook! haha..then practise! found out that my 1st qrter papers are 6hr exams! blur..
24/08/07
saw this little kid riding his bicycle near the sch ytd. think maybe 4 yrs old. he was riding a 2 wheel bike! no wonder the swedish are so good at riding bicycles..seen quite a number of teenagers riding free hand and going past bends with ease haha. attended the 2nd swedish lesson in a proper classroom. the classroom is like a primary school classroom in singapore! except that the furniture is..u know..up one la. i was fascinated by the 3 sliding chalkboards(yesh! they use chalkboards!) which the teacher can slide up and down to the ceiling. need a picture for that haha, hard to describe. student orientation is a big thing here! asked richard how long will the student activities last and he mentioned a month!
finally done with the blog after fidgetting with it in the library for close to 4 hours! so happy..but needa sort out the font colour as it isn't so easy on the eyes. went to ck's room to view the pics taken so far and a lot of his pics taken on his europe trip last month. we are planning for our trip too! hopefully there's enough time for us to roam the nice places in europe. oh yah it's the last day of summer today and alan managed to grab some more bargains in town with his shoes and pants! haha..bargain king..amazing. then finally my legs are starting to look dry and frosty due to dry skin. time for moisturizer..
14/08/07
finally reached the campus. the lifestyle here is so laidback. like what alan said, people here don't mind waiting. i suppose they have too much time and very little to do. the things here are expensive! 3-5 times the normal rate in Sg! my 1st purchase was donuts at 3 for 20kr. still ok. the next one though was stunning. 4 fuji apples + 8 rolls of toilet paper + a long roll of bread for 50.50kr, which is around 12sgd!
so many things to do to settle in. cleaning of room, fixing of key card for access to classrooms, paying of rental bills and fixing up the internet connection. sian half man, i regretted not buying the 1st plug which i saw back home. in the end i have to wait for the trip down to town to it! and it's 5km away..lucky got bus but super infrequent! 1 hr per bus arrival haha. but the bus service is super punctual and advanced, something like the train system in japan where they tell you how long more the bus will take to arrive.
should have packed in my pillow and bed linen as well if i had known that my luggage is only 14kg. washing powder too! haha. on curtains in my room too..but on the bright side, i am totally mesmerized by the furniture here! IKEA writteen all over them. from the airport, school compound to most importantly my room! the room is spacious, bigger than mine and dear's!
however if there's 1 thing that i miss about home, it has go to be dear, grandmother and he convenience of home and friends. made my 1st acquaintance in mike yesterday. he stays just 2 doors away. i'm tucked away in a norner and it seems that there is a dominant group on my level. hope can make peace with them =)
1st dinner was cup noodles! thanks yips and gang. we ended cleaning our room around 8pm and made the trip to the amrt opposite(konsum) and when we decided to eat at the pizzaria below our block at 9pm, it was already closed. blur. weather is still not too bad, the wind is chilly in the evening though. i would say 20deg in the day and 15 in the envening. not everyone here speaks english, the elder generation especially. daytime is long, starts around 4am and ends around 930pm.
the airplane trip was long! my greatest fear has got to be running into air turbulence. irritating because it's scary. plane will bobble up and down. no weeping scenes at the airport and i'm touched by my secdondary school buddies who sent me off. not to forget my dear,her family and my family! i nearly wept when i left grandmother. hope she's doing fine. haha, the check in at SG was a gan chiong affair. last call already but alan was still waiting for his uncle. in the end meng and i went to the gate 1st and thankfully alan caught up. so paiseh to walk around with my floorball stick in sweden la! haha..land of floorball lehz..
have to congrats meng on getting letter of commendation for mp 2002 la. so clever that guy.
received a letter from the sec sch pals and floorball peeps. many thanks. kenghooi very funny, called me to find me in sweden already! then he had to hurry hang up in fear of the high costs haha.
lulea is way ahead of singapore in terms of recycling. one has to purchase plastic carriers during shopping or bring your own..EVERYDAY! not just the 1st wednesday of the month. got our first experience when we asked for a carrier and the lady explained that we needed to pay 1.5kr but she still gave us 1 free. kind soul!
just praying that we don't run into any bad souls and that studies will be fine. 6 hours slower as compared to SG. shops here close early. even school offices. around 4pm. town should be 6pm and they open for really short hours during weekends as they usually go enjoy their weekends at home. not like singapore..
15/08/07
had toast and milo for breakfast yesterday and slept super early! even earlier than the first night. around 830pm. crazy timing. they don't have milo here. and the noodles are sold in individual packets rather than in 5s. it seems i'm living a very healthy lifestyle here haha. finally on the 3rd day of arrival i see rain in lulea. it's still drizzling outside as i'm typing so i don't know whether to go out later. i better wear my jacket later. it's going to be so cold!!!!
went to town yesterday to buy adaptor, bed linen, curtain and tupperware. wa wanted to buy pillow as well but..so expensive! imagine $10 for a sofa cushion??!! haha..saw so many interesting faces in town. all sorts of characters. i must say that the swedish are handsome and beauties! their features are so striking and distinctive. gosh. saw kpmg, pwc, EY and deloitte in town. mengsoon snapped them down to show lifang. shall get it from him later haha. went to this giant supermarket called Willy's. it's something like Giant in singapore. alan was shocked to find the giant version of cereal which is 1kg at $7. what a bargain. we purchased a 5.25kg of washing powder and did something sneaky. we went to kop a roll of plastic bag meant for fruits. well it's a very thin roll though. haha. yesh la..we are thieves..lol..
popped by the 2nd hand store called Red Cross which is beside Willy's. bought our curtains and bed linen there. after which we went to the sea! the 2 places are just located right by the seaside. fascinating sight. the lifestyle is absolutely heavenly. it seems that no one needs to work. we see people walking their dogs or getting into their speedboats and going out into the sea on a wednesday! so relax..the skies are very clear with very little clouds and so the sun's especially glaring. saw my dream house at the seaside too! they are just located facing the sea la! woohoo..with balcony!
ooo ya we had lunch at this fast food restaurant called Max. it should be their version of burger king i guess haha. bought a wednesday special which consists of a beef burger which is like Big Mac, fries and a drink which you can fill up yourself for 50kr. exp exp. the bus rides are 10kr and they are not air-conditioned. but the windows are like air-con buses. the cold air more than makes up of it. the temperature i'm experiencing now is their hottest apparently from what i asked. the brightest months have passed with 24hrs daylight. and there's a chance we may experience 24hrs darkness! blur..
mike mentioned that the average pay here is 18000kr. so high la no wonder their expenditures are so much higher. got to know 4 new peeps yesterday. a swedish guy who's studying his masters in chemical technology, Stefan; 2 australian ladies Eva and Fiona, Eva is staying on Meng's level while Fiona is in another block and last of all a spanish guy called George. he's been around for 2 years already hehe. had difficulty pronouncing his name is spanish so he said his name is pronounced George in English. HAHA.
hopefully the internet connection is up when i go to school later. =)
