5:08 AM
Its 10pm here, but I'm not bathing yet. Why? Cos I'm eating chocolates. Yes, those that I bought from Camille Bloch. I am so gonna get fat, but I don't really care lah, they are damn nice! Haha.
This is just a random update, since I always get scolded for neglecting my blog and not updating. But tomorrow we will be going skiing, so have to wake up early, prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner to go, and very likely return with a sore butt (from falling down too much). Apparently its going to either snow or rain at the resort we will be going tomorrow, hopefully I won't come back with a frozen butt as well! Lol.
Speaking of snowing, the weather forecasts promises some snow in Bern sometime next week! I'm rather excited, though not very looking forward to the cold weather again, cos this week we enjoyed temperatures of around 10 degrees, which to me was just nice. So if there's snow, I'll definitely be back with lotsa pictures!
Yep, I'll end off here, cos we want to bring pancakes tomorrow and have decided to make them first. And charlene apparently has no idea how to do it and is just surfing people's pictures on facebook while she waits for me to end this post. Lol. So hopefully I'll update soon! And depending on whether I'll be reading Wuthering Heights, my writing style might be rather weird again. So wini, don't complain so much lah!
Kay Key
Tuesday, February 26, 20085:22 AM
Amusing dayI had a very fun day! We skipped 2 lessons today just to go for the chocolate factory tour organized by ESN Bern, which was definitely worth it. We went to the Camille Bloch factory, and the chocolates are really fabulous! The moment we started the tour I could smell chocolates everywhere and started getting very high. Chocolate was EVERYWHERE. It was heaven. And there is something really exciting about seeing tonnes of chocolate being made right in front of your eyes.
I didn't take lots of pictures, because they didn't allow cameras inside the factory, and also because when we were finally allowed to take our cameras, I was too busy gorging on the selection of chocolates that were laid out, for free, for us to eat .
But 2 very hilarious things happened today.
Incident 1: At the chocolate factory
Someone was heard to remark upon seeing the many different chocolates laid out for us, "I should pocket some to take home!" This incited a flurry of activity from another person, (note: that person was neither a girl, nor an Asian) who started to fill his pockets with a lot of chocolates. Others started to follow after seeing him sweep many of the chocolates out of sight.
While previously everyone was just busy eating all the chocolates as fast as we could, now most of the people were grabbing as many chocolates as they could! And in no time, the trays were almost empty. The one who made the comment that started it all was rather amazed at the reactions that followed, and kept repeating after that at random intervals, "I was just joking!" And we came to the conclusion: its not just Singaporeans who are kiasu and will grab all the free stuff they can, its an universal trait.
Post-kiasu-grabbing scene, the guy who led in the flurry of activity was also spotted carrying an extremely loaded basket when we were at the chocolate shop.
Incident 2: Back at the hostel
First, some background info - the guy who was in Bern for exchange the previous term had left some things for us with some other people who lived on the same floor. He passed us one of their numbers and I smsed Guy A a few times, and he told us that we could just go down to get the stuff. Because the layout was such that there was a common door leading to 2 different rooms, that door would be unlocked when one of them was there. The stuff being behind that common door, we were told to just go and collect the things when it was unlocked.
Therefore, we did take some of the things, but as there were too many, we left some of them behind.
Some time had elapsed after we took the items, and we decided we should take the entire bag even if we did not need everything, since the people living there were just taking care of it until we showed up for them. So, we went down today to take the rest of the things. Guess what we found?
On the bag was an envelope (actually containing a letter for the 2 guys who lived there), with these lines written on afterwards: "Who are you? What have you done with the things? Please inform us!!!" It was written obviously for us, and in such good faith that we would turn up again to take the rest of the things. We suspected that Guy B was the one who wrote it, and knocked on his door to explain things.
To our surprise, we found that we had met the guy before! We just never connected the name we heard and the tag on the door. Recognition dawned on both sides of the door, and the following conversation ensued:
Guy B (B): What are you doing here?
Us (U): We saw the note on the envelope, and just wanted to inform you that we were ones who took the things.
B: It was you?? I was so shocked to see some things gone!
U: Oh we told Guy A, but we didn't have your number, so we couldn't tell you.
B: Oh! (Took up the envelope) See, I wrote this! I didn't know who came to take the things and how you did it!
.
.
.
He sounded really amazed that we managed to take the things from under his nose and what we found very funny was that he actually wrote on the envelope that was on top of the bag to ask who took the things. What faith he had in us going back down to collect the rest of the items! And what shock and amazement he displayed when we recounted the entire story for him! I was laughing so hard when I was talking to him, lucky he didn't take offense.
What a funny day today was; I'm still high on chocolate, I believe. I do hope I don't grow fat from all the chocolate I ate and will be eating!
PS: If my writing suddenly sounds different towards the end, it will have to be attributed to intensive reading of Jane Eyre for my lit class, in which Charlotte Bronte writes in rather the same way. Read something from that era and you will know what I mean.
Kay Key
Sunday, February 24, 20087:26 AM
New blogskin! Yep, suddenly feeling illustrious about maintaining my blog. (But no, the picture is not one of Bern, or even Switzerland, lol.) Haha. I'm just lazy when it comes to technological updates. But anyway, while I was doing editing to this new skin, there were suddenly fireworks coming from the opposite building! Charlene managed to capture like only 1 shot before it stopped. I tried Googling about it, but apparently its just some bored person on the roof of the other building letting off some steam, albeit very nice-looking "steam". lol. But yeah, all in the life of an exchange student in Bern!
Oh yes! Remember to go observe the gradual progression in the level of difficulty of food we have cooked on my webshots link! And I -finally- can blog more than 1 post per day. Perhaps that would give me more incentive to blog. I hope. Perhaps. We'll see. *Sheepish expression* Hehe.
Kay Key
6:10 AM
My feet are so tired now; we've walked the entire day around Bern, looking down at the city from all the different high points. Of course in order to get such a good view, we needed to first climb up to those locations, which is the main contributor to my tiredness right now. But I had a very enjoyable time today - special thanks to our guide Mohit - plus the weather was so nice. Sunny, but without the humidity that makes the warmth so hard to bear in Singapore. The wind would occasionally blow, and the temperature was just above 10 degrees. If only the weather would stay like that the whole year round.
But yeah, we have seen almost the whole of Bern already. There really isn't nothing much to really see, as much as the tourist spots are concerned. The exploration of the city, of where to dine and shop and find entertainment; that's for us to slowly discover while we are living here. These take time, and there's no way to hasten this process.
I'm starting to like the city more and more actually, perhaps it feels a little like home after spending some time here. I can see myself living here (ok, maybe not in Bumpliz Nord, which is the area I am living in now, but near the city itself), and seeing the River Aare everyday. While it holds the title of capital to the country of Switzerland, Bern city itself actually proceeds at a rather sedate pace. It does not have the harried pace of Singapore, nor the bent heads and generally sullen-looking people. I don't need to live in a tourist attraction, and see beautiful castles everyday. Bern has an understated charm which is slowly but surely working its way into my heart.
How do I start to describe the city? It is never noisy - indeed, I don't hear a cacophony of voices, cars and horns here - there is just a serene feel to the place. Shops close as the sun sets, which is rather early right now, and Sunday is a day of rest here, as well as most of Europe I think. Almost no one works on Sunday, which seems like heaven to me compared to Singapore's 24/7 workforce. I used to regret it a little when I first arrived, because the place did not seem as beautiful as Switzerland was described. Now I see that beauty takes many forms, and Bern's beauty one that slowly grows on you.
I believe I would miss the place when I leave. :)
Update: Food pictures are up!
Kay Key
Friday, February 22, 20086:33 PM
I realised I have not updated stuff for a long long time. Sorry lah, but that's me, I find other new things to do and I forget to do some other things. Just woke up like 1.5 hours ago, because I HAVE NO CLASS ON FRIDAYS! Yay. But Charlene just came back from school cos she went to sit into another class, and she seems ravenous. So she has chionged out of the room to start on lunch. I probably should go and help, but oh well, after this post lah, I owe it to everyone reading the blog to at least post something new! Haha.
Ok anyway, I know this is extremely late, but all pictures of Munich are up. Lol. I am a sporadic updater, as most people would realise by now. :D
But well, school has started for the first week! I attended so many classes, there were days when I went for like 3 classes back-to-back. But no lah, I'm not so crazy to be taking all of them, just going in to test the waters and then decide which ones I want to take, and how many I want. Yes, another item on my to-do list.
But I was wondering, why SMU doesn't have such nice courses? Ok, I know most of the classes I find interesting are the english lit classes, but still. We also have arts classes what, why don't the profs have something more exciting to offer the students? Since arts classes are mostly about exploring and experiencing anyway.
I have more pictures of food to post up, of almost all the meals we had so far. Haha. Still at the exploring stage lah, so whatever we cook still seems exciting if its not maggi mee and spaghetti. Lol. So here's a teaser first:
Will hopefully update soon! Till then, if you are dying to talk to me or something, can email me lah, haha. All emails to myname.surname@gmail.com (add in my real name of course!) Shall go help charlene now before she goes mad with hunger! Ciao~
Kay Key
Sunday, February 17, 20086:51 PM
Switzerland has been an interesting ride so far. I'm still discovering more new things everyday, and it helps to have an open mind when going about your daily schedule. Perhaps I'm not a person who needs to have reminders of my heritage everywhere, because I find all the ancient architecture very fascinating. How could man be so ingenious to design and build such intricate things with little technological help? It is such a different environment from Singapore, as every stone and brick has a story to tell, having weathered at least 100 years each. You would find small monuments everywhere, even along the streets of your neighbourhood. I have seen some of these while out buying stuff, but its regrettable that I have not had the time to slowly explore each nook and cranny.
I used to want to see Europe so badly, but now that I am here it seems like such a daunting task. History is infused in each small corner, and I wonder how I would even be able to start to scratch the surface of such a rich heritage. Even things that we always associate with modern times and technology actually have huge legacies and interesting stories behind them.
I feel that this is where I envy people who come from old countries, as they are blessed in this sense. Singaporeans do not have the same rich culture and identity like they do, given that we are a nation of immigrants who have yet to become really integrated into one people, no matter what our pledge says.
I guess this is the reason why I don't mind not seeing anything that is distinctly asian in this place - if you want to see asia, go to asia. There you can see the authentic things. Of course I don't deny that I get excited when I see things that remind me of home, who doesn't? Its just not really the point to search for Asia in places that are so quintessentially European, isn't it? I want to be able to enjoy my stay in Europe and explore the sights and sounds that are so different from what I am familiar with, soaking in the atmostphere here. And then, I'll be ready to go home after these 6 months and to all that I love and miss while over here.
Great plan, yeah? Right now, Squishy will remind me of home. :)
Kay Key
Friday, February 15, 20084:25 AM
Ok, feeling rather lazy to blog alot these days. Probably because there are quite alot of things to be done here now, with all the orientation activities starting. And we discovered the city centre of Bern! Its like the Orchard Road of Bern lah basically, so there are shops and stuff that we can go browse in.
And there's H&M, our new favourite store since coming back from Munich.
There's now a sale, and the stuff is really rather cheap considering they come from Europe. The clothes and accessories there are really quite nice, so when we go in there, I inadvertently come out with at least 1 item. Lol. Kinda like me during Mango sale, but this is even better than Mango! Haha, allow me my bimbo moments please, every girl needs some good shopping places. :)And we cooked carrot and potato soup today! I have discovered a gradual progression of the level of difficulty in the dishes we are cooking as the days pass:
Day 1: Maggi Mee (with salami and egg)
Day 2: Spaghetti with tomato sauce
Day 3: Fried egg with salami bits + sausages (brunch)
Today: Carrot and potato soup (with chicken meat and bacon bits) + rice (first meal with rice here!)
They all look good yeah? I think we are starting to be more and more daring about cooking, and its rather fun to go supermarket and get groceries cos we can plan the stuff we want to eat. Plus the supermarket is just downstairs, which makes it very convenient to buy things.The more i cook, the more I feel at home in Bumpliz!
Kay Key
Tuesday, February 12, 20085:02 PM
Morning people from Switzerland!
Yes I'm back from Munich already, for those who still don't know that I did go, and i took shitloads of photos! Am still in the process of uploading them as I type, but the first batch is up! The slideshot is below. Will continue to update this post as I finish uploading! :)
Munich Day 1
Kay Key
Friday, February 8, 20082:30 AM
This is a blog entry in response to Charlene's 大年初一post.
I like sleeping. That is a fact I cannot deny. Then I guess the term opposites attract also come in play when talking about individuals' sleeping habits. Cos Charlene Tan DOES NOT LIKE SLEEPING AT ALL! This is a rather big difference for me, whose friends mostly love sleeping too. Anyway. She's still in the midst of adjusting her internal clock to Swiss time (hey! that's my blog's name! ok random.) and complains of tiredness and non-hunger at the weirdest times - say, 3pm for the former and dinner time for the latter. I'm mostly fine already, except for getting tired earlier and still getting shocked by the fact that the sun goes down very early (5.30pm or 6pm).
But that's not really what I was getting at. She woke up at 6 freaking am this morning and started clattering around. Now its almost 9pm here and she's really tired, cos her body still thinks that it is 4am (which is sg time). And its quite cute to see her wandering aimlessly around, actually with stuff to do, but which she cannot for the life of her remember. She now has this blank look on her face and takes to muttering to herself while she sits at her computer. And her thoughts have this disconcerting way of taking great leaps all over while I am still lagging in her wake and trying to catch up.
I think its rather hilarious, the way we interact, and its like a setting in a comedy. Sometimes she has almost no response to my questions at all, and sometimes she really starts getting agitated over very small comments I make.
Example:
Me: Charlene are you ok? (admittedly i have asked this question many times, cos she always forgets rather obvious things, like the fact that she just packed an item)
Charlene: Don't ask me whether I'm ok! Of course I'm not ok! Ask me that question again tomorrow and I'll give you another answer.
Then she falls silent and resumes calmly going through her things.
Me: ROFL
I guess when people are tired, they tend to have funny quirks, and I probably have them too, but this is really too funny to pass up not blogging.
I better get back to planning our Munich trip (which is tomorrow) before she kills me with the murderous stares that she has perfected. Will not appear online till maybe Monday night, so till then, everyone take care! Pictures will be up on my photo links, rather lazy to wait for stupid blogger to upload them. :D
Kay Key
Wednesday, February 6, 20082:45 PM
-updated-
check out the pictures i just posted! click on the link on the right. haha. and its raining rather heavily now, trapped inside. haha.
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Guess what time it is now? 7.48 am! Haven't been up so early since the times when I had morning classes. That's not the craziest part - I woke up at a freakish 5 am! The things jet lag does to people sia. The funny thing is I don't really feel like it should be afternoon, which is the time it is in Singapore right now. I'm just feeling aches all over from yesterday's hellish exercising.
Here's what we had to go through:
Changi airport - ran all the way to the gate at the end with two of our bags, no trolley.
Bangkok (airport's name is too long to remember) - had to walk a long distance before finally snagging a trolley each to place our stuff. We decided to explore the airport abit, since we had nearly 2 hours. Bad move, cos when we went up to the 3rd floor (our boarding gate is on the 2nd floor), the lift decided that it was time for maintence and died on us. Therefore, we had to abandon the trolleys - which were promptly snatched up by some angmohs - and took the escalator down, all weighed down by the stuff we were carrying.
Zurich airport - NO TROLLEYS AT ALL. Had to carry everything all the way, and what do you know, the distance between arrival hall and baggage claim is so far apart that we had to take a 5-min train just to get there. While carrying everything ALL THE TIME. Now would be a good time for the fainting emoticon on msn. Haha.
After claiming our suitcases, at least we both had trolleys, and a nice uncle helped us out with loading our suitcases onto the trolleys and he even helped us find the train station, which trains to take, and where to buy the train passes from.
-Sidenote: seems to be very windy outside right now, and its been raining since don't know when. -
Right, going on. We settled everything and once on the train, we had to carry all our luggage by ourselves. Woah, what a challenge! One of the trains we took had steps up, so we had to work together. I went up first, and Charlene stood at the platform and sent the suitcases up. All the time I was very scared the doors would close on one of us, which thankfully didn not happen.
After reaching the train station, we had to walk out, cross the road, go up a slope, across an empty quadrangle (not sure what its called), down a relatively short path, before reaching the hostel building. Not very far lah, but we had to push and pull our luggage all the way, when we were already rather tired from all the pushing and pulling from before. I can't imagine how I did it now that everything is in the room, but we'll have to do it all over again when we leave! *inserts fainting emoticon again*
Yeah. That explains most of my aches.
And I've been blogging from when its dark all the way to daytime! What an achievement. Haha.
And happy CNY to everyone at home! I will be thinking about the food.. :(
Kay Key
Tuesday, February 5, 200811:27 PM
Latest update: I'm now in Bern!
It was quite a long flight. Thanks to the people who came to send me off, Wini, Jer, Aries, Winston, Marcus, Desmond, Frances, Nuha, and of course my family: my parents, my uncle and aunt, my 2 cousins and my brother.
It was a rather eventful journey from the start. We didn't really have time to properly say bye to everyone, cos we found out that it was already the last boarding call for the flight we were supposed to be on. So we ran all the way to the gate, which was at the very end. It doesn't sound that bad right? But we each had 2 bags that were extremely heavy, and had to carry them while running. Good exercise, I guarantee, people who want to lose a few kilos can try that. Haha.
After checking in, there was still time before the gate opened, so we had a chance to catch our breaths. We had to hoist our bags up again when it was time to board the plane. Throughout the entire trip, the most welcome sight for us when moving from place to place was a trolley. Yes, the lifesaving trolley which enabled us to deposit our laden bags for awhile and enjoy a few blessed moments of being light again.
The in-flight meals were not bad, as was the in-flight entertainment en route Zurich, which made up for the less-then-comfortable seats we were in - too cramped and rather hard.
After we got off the flight at Zurich, we had one more burden to carry - our suitcases. It was really a feat cos they really weighed TONS.
Am really tired now, shall go turn in for the day first. Photos will follow soon. For now, my new penguin Squishy (named and given to me by my cousins and brother) will bid you good night.
Kay Key
Friday, February 1, 200811:16 AM
Had steamboat at home yesterday with my family. As usual, when we all gather under one roof, it got really loud and boisterous, and its a wonder my neighbours (being the typical complain kings and queens) didn't make the security guard march up to our door in all self-righteousness while themselves hiding behind to make us stop. (That really happened once.. don't doubt my neighbours' abilities!) Yeah but anyway, it was great, and I really thank my mom for organizing it. I guess it counted as a farewell dinner of sorts, since I might not get to see most of my family before I go off. :)
And guess what? I finally got down to packing my stuff! My main suitcase is done, my backpack also done, now I'm just left with the things I still need to use here. So.. 90% packed! Must also thank my aunt for helping me out with some of the more fussy items, of course.
I can't believe it.. only 3 more days left..
Kay Key