Mein hübsche Blumen

Abrupt? Yeah man... imagine what i felt when i saw this scene while walking out to get breakfast from the kitchen. Sunday was a very cold day but i totally didn't expect it to snow. And when i saw this, i finally understood why i so badly wanted to laze in bed on Monday morning.

And that's how it looks from outside my window. Looks cold yea?

Anyway, after about a week here, i'm finally feeling a little homesick. The culture here takes a bit of getting used to. Yesterday i went for a party with Fish, Vishnu, Yvonne and Monika. Vishnu was really tired so Fish and him went back first. That left Yvonne, Monika and I. Because Yvonne and Monika are both from Europe, i guess it was easier for them to get to know new people. I however, had a harder time. Managed to talk to this really nice Austrian couple but they too left early and i had to find myself new friends to talk to. Maybe it's cos i'm asian, people don't really talk to me till i approach them to say Hi.

It wasn't really very bad. I still managed to talk to this bunch of boys from Bosnia, these 3 girls from Hungary, this boy from Australia, another one from Canada (but he's half French) and 2 very nice girls from Hong Kong. I was so glad to meet those girls from HK. Finally i have someone from a country similar to mine. I also exchanged numbers with a few of them and agreed to call each other out sometime soon.

But still, it got me a bit depressed cos when no one talks to you till you approach them makes you feel like crap... I mean, in Singapore, i'm not exactly unpopular you know? Now i'm treated like some outcast is quite shit.

So... today when i went out to get some money from the ATM, i went to this market near it and bought a pot of flowers. Been wanting to get flowers for very long but never found a reason to do so. Well, since i'm now feeling so lousy, what better reason than that?

See? Bright yellow flowers in a sad wintery background. =P
What better thing than pretty yellow flowers to cheer yourself up?
Bimbo? Whatever man. I don't care. I'm just happy about my flowers.
And they only costed me €1.50!

After the flowers, went downstairs to the sports room and jogged for about 30 minutes. That worked really well too. And oh... the best remedy when you feel lousy? Punch something! I did. I'm glad i have a punching bag in my sports room. -beams-

See? I sound more cheerful already don't i? =)

Schonbrunn Trip

Haven't been blogging recently cos i more or less adjusted to the time difference now so i no longer wake up at insane hours and not have anything to do.

Anyway, after saturday's trip to the central district, i haven't been back there yet. For the past 2 days, i've remained pretty much in places close to my area other than Sunday morning.

On Sunday morning, Yvonne (the Dutch girl), Monika (a Polish girl) and I went to Schonbrunn, the place where the imperial palace of the Habsbug dynasty is situated. It was super duper cold and I had to wear my white rabbit ears looking earmuffs and sianz... Some local Austrian girl was super amused by it when i was on the train.

Anyway, photography was not allowed in Schonbrunn so i bought some postcards and tried to take photos of the postcards instead. They turned out to be terrible failures so i shall not post them up... i can only show the postcards to you guys when i get back to Singapore k?

BUT... if you guys don't mind fuzzy photos, here you go.

The entrance of Schonbrunn

Emperor Franz Joseph
Okay... i know i know. He's an Ah Peh.
But i tell you hor... He's mega zai.
As an emperor, he wakes up at 4am then start work at 5am.
And he never forgets a single person's name as long as he has seen them before.
And he meets like 100 -200 ppl a day la. Zai rights?
This is the Vieux-Laque Room.
I however call it the Black Panels Room.
It's a room that looks very diff from the rest of the palace.
It has black wall panels with Chinese art from Peking.
But the thing about this room that makes it so nice is that it is a room Maria-Theresia decorated as a memorial room for her dead husband.
And from the time her husband died till the day she died, she was always in mourning clothes... That's erms... not a short time. 15 years in fact.
So touching right?
Okay... fine. I'm a hopeless romantic.

Anyway, the trip to Schonbrunn was good. However, it is not possible to finish the whole palace in one day. So... my friends and i are going back there in Spring so that we can see the mega pretty gardens. =)

Ringstrasse

Went down to the Ring today with Fish and Kaori (a Shanghainese girl) for a little tour. It was all good till my camera went out of batt. So sad can? But luckily, i already took quite a few photos before it died on me.

Btw, some facts about the Ring. No, it is absolutely not related to Tolkien's Ring. =P That district is really called the Ring... It is named like that cos the area resembled a Ring (Duh...) and many of the important buildings are situated here. And it's name in German is not The Ring la... It's german name is Ringstrasse. Strasse means "street" in german...

Anyway, i did not manage to finish touring the whole area today. It's quite a large area even though you can travel to all the places in Ringstrasse by walking. Furthermore, we were waiting for Vishnu to come over to Vienna before Fish, Vish and I start touring.

Okay... now time for photos!!!

The outside of the Parliament House of Austria.
Well, didn't expect it to be so big yea?
Lol... I look so puny in the photo!
The entrance of Votivkirche, a famous local church.

Mein Neighbourhood

These photos were from 21st Feb. Didn't have enough time to blog about this cos Yvonne, the Dutch girl came over to my room to have a chat. Yvonne's a real darling and she's been like my only friend at 11 Michealerstrasse. She checked in to the hostel just about 1 hour before me and went out to dinner together with me on the first night here. She's been to Austria for holidays since she was young so she speaks great German and she can understand the Austrian dialect very well too.

Anyway, Fish and i met at 9am in school to get our student cards. In the end cos Fish forgot to bring his passport, we went down to his place to get it before going to the District Office to "register our presence here in Austria". His place is not bad. His room is much bigger than mine and he even has a TV in his room. He and Vishnu will share one kitchen and one bathroom and so... I came to the conclusion that parties/cooking gatherings shall be held at his place. His place is so much more conducive for entertaining friends than mine. BUT... having said that his place is great and all, i'm not really jealous. One, he's paying good money for it so he deserves it. Second, his neighbourhood isn't really safe for a girl especially if i'm coming home late. The neighbourhood is quite sleazy, has quite a few strip bars and is very quiet even in the afternoon. Third, his place is not as well equipped as mine is although i have to share mine with loads of other people.

In contrast, my room is much smaller and more bare. But my neighbourhood is great. There are 3 supermarkets for me to shop at and one of them, Billa, even opens till 12mn. I also have this popular local opera house called the Volksoper and there's always people around the neighbourhood cos of that. Getting home late is not a problem. (Note: By late, i mean like 815pm which was the time i got home today) There is also this great kebab store which sells really good food. I had my dinner there last night.

Kale Kebab - they open till 8pm which i must say is GREAT for Austrian standards.
The food is quite cheap as well. For a Schnitzel Sandwich/Doner Sandwich, it's only €2.50 and a slice of pizza is only €1.50. The portions are so huge, they make it all so worthwhile. The best thing about Kale Kabab? It's just 2 mins away from my dorm. =)

Okay... this photo is mega unglam but hey... now you know what i mean when i say the portions are huge. I'm holding a Schnitzel Sandwich which is just fried chicken/pork/other meat coated with breadcrumbs in a toasted sandwich. Sounds really simple but well, it's wonderfully tasty. =P Anyway, see? It's the size of my face! For those of you who actually can't remember how large my face is, let me assure you, it is not by any standards, small. =P

Anyway, the street i am on also looks pretty good.

This is Michealerstrasse. The street which i stay on. It's a small street so nothing much really.
Wahringerstrasse. This is the main street which is about a 3-5 min walk from my dorm. Every morning, this road is filled with cars. Quite a busy road if you ask me.
And of cos, how can i forget 11 Michealerstrasse, the haus (house) i stay in?

Okay... that's about all about my neighbourhood. I wanna blog about the flea market and the wonderfully hot kebab sandwich Fish and i got to experience but it's really very late le... It's now 12mn in Austria and i'm dead beat. This is the latest i have stayed up all week so Gute Nacht! Shall keep you guys posted!

My New Cozy Room

Went to IKEA together with Fish to do some shopping. Initially, he was the impulse shopper buying just about everything. But damnit! He ended up spending like 3 times less than i did. No choice really la... There were things that i could have chosen not to buy but i'll be here for 5.5 months. Why should i make myself live in discomfort? And IKEA's stuff weren't too expensive.

Look at all the difference IKEA made to my room!

Ahhh... finally i'll have enough water in my room with the little jug.
No longer have to drink sparkling water and from the tap.

A nice face towel just beside the basin in my room.
Now i can wash up in my room and...
Look human enough before i face the rest of my dorm in the corridors and kitchen.

Bright pink bimbo bedroom slippers
(now i don't have to walk to the kitchen and toliet with my Pumas)
The slippers had other colors as well but both Fish and i agreed that PINK was just too much my color. Wahahah...

See my new bedsheets?
Really brightens up my room yea?
And oh... 猪八戒, check out the IKEA heart cushion! =P

猪八戒, a close up for you just in case you didn't see the heart cushion. =P
Jealous? Wahahahha...

Of cos, how can a girl resist the temptation of cheap shop toys?
The small ones were only €0.50 each!
Well, they will all be given out as gifts to my friends here.
The owl is most probably going to Kaori, the Shanghainese girl who went shopping with me yesterday.
The octopus/turtle to Yvonne, the Dutch girl who was really sweet to me. (I haven't decide which to keep for myself)
As for the bear, it's meant as a surprise for someone in Singapore. =P
No prizes for guessing who. I'm a poor student in Vienna k? Can't afford prizes.
-bleahs- Even if i can, i also won't give.

I also bought some tupperware to store my food so that they won't go bad so easily. I'll be cooking for myself starting tomorrow so i'll need some food containers la... The portions they sell here are quite large so i think i will have quite a lot to store. Finally i have something to put my strawberries in. Oh... strawberries here are dirt cheap. I bought a box for just €1.00. Usually a box like that would have cost like SGD$6.

Anyway, wanna guess how much i spent? It was quite a heartache for me cos i can of course always choose to live in slightly more shabby conditions but it wasn't really too much la... about €33 in total. Quite a bargain actually. And i really need to decorate my room a little. I can't afford to have friends coming over when my room was so bare. Socializing is quite a big part of my life here so far. I had and will have people coming over to my room all the time. So far, in my 3 days here, i've already got 2 visitors coming in for chats.

Anyway, the prices of things here are about the same as Singapore just that the price tags are in Euros and not SGD. The foodstuff in supermarkets however are quite cheap. The milk was going for only €0.69 for a litre. =P Not too bad la huh?

Okay... shall stop here le. My cough med is taking effect so i'm feeling a little drowsy so i better end before i start talking rot. Gute Nacht!

My Room in Vienna

Just some photos of my room. =P


As you can see, my room is really quite small. I had just about enough space for me, myself and yeesh. But it's not badly furnished. I've got more or less everything i will need and i'm actually quite happy about it. Well, i can't really do much entertaining in my room but the rest of the dorm should be good enough for visitors. The place is very well equipped and my area is really quite good. I shall blog more about it when i have the time. Right now, i really need to get ready for school.

First Day in WU-Wien

Went to school for the first time yesterday for the exchange students welcome breakfast and the briefing session. The trip to school was really quite memorable.

From the research i did while i was still in Singapore i was only 1 station away from school via U6. Then yesterday, i asked a lady at the station how to get to the school and she told me she didn't know a business university in Vienna! -_-" She told me she suspected that i was talking about this commercial university and so, she advised me to take bus number 40/41 down the road and i should be able to reach. So i took her advice and walked down the route that bus 40/41 will take. In the end, after walking for almost 40 minutes, i realised i was at the main university instead of WU-Wien! Crap right? Luckily once i reached the main university, enough people spoke good english and so... i managed to get directions to get to WU-Wien. And guess what? I was still early despite having being lost for over an hour. =P Not bad huh?

Anyway, the welcome breakfast went well. Got to know a few students from China, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Canada, Australia, NY and even one from Kentucky, US. They are all quite friendly and it's been really great. In fact, i have an appointment to meet up with Kaori, a student from Shanghai. And... Ika, a student from Thailand also invited me to go shopping with her in the afternoon after i get my student card all done. Looks like i'm doing well so far in the social aspect.

Btw, after the breakfast, the two NTU students, Cheryl and Anesia and i went around school and we took a few pictures. School is quite pretty and well, i think it is small enough so that i will not get lost too badly. So guys, here's the photos...

Anesia and I
Cheryl and i at the main entrance of WU-Wien

My first moments in Vienna

This was a post from this morning in Vienna so oh well, the emotions and everything's really outdated. I shall update again soon k?


And yes, FINALLY I’m in Vienna after 24 hours of traveling. I used to think traveling wasn’t too bad really. Now, I totally change my opinion. Traveling for long hours really suck - Especially if your flight gets cancelled and you are stuck at an airport for hours.

The 13 hours flight to Amsterdam wasn’t too bad. The 2 darling passengers who had seats next to me did not turn up so yay! I had 3 seats all to myself. It was really good. When I wanted the tv, I could go to aisle seat and when I wanted to sleep, I could shift to the window seat. Am I lucky or am I lucky? –Big fat grin-

The 11 hours after that wasn’t that good though. After going through the super troublesome security screening, Junxian (from now, I will call him Fish) and I went for a little shopping at the airport and then went straight to our boarding gate. After sitting at the gate area for about 10 minutes, we heard 2 flights getting cancelled due to technical difficulties and so we went to the counter to ask about our flight. And wala... our flight was cancelled too. -_-"

The transfer terminal which was supposed to rebook us on another flight was packed with people and Fish and I ended up waiting like an hour plus just to get to the counter. We found out that the next flight to Vienna was at 1230pm and so... it meant we had a few hours to kill.

Well, you have a few hours to kill and you were at Amsterdam, a really pretty city and hmmm... City Central was only like 10 minutes away so what do you do? Lol... yeah. The two of us ventured to the city central despite what the counter lady at the transfer terminal said. The counter lady was warning us against going out and the way she made it sound was like: “you can go but oh well, if you miss your flight, too bad!”

I’m glad we ignored her advice. The other people at the arrival hall were all like saying that it is totally possible to go the city central, had a good breakfast and still make it back to the airport in time for the flight. What a meanie! =P Anyway, Fish and I went out to the city central and loads of fun. The two of us looked super silly snapping away at all the pretty buildings. Even the train station we exited from looked good.

Inside Amsterdam Centraal Station

Me outside the train station

(okay... i know i look silly but hey... comeon man, i look so obviously tourist already. Might as well go ahead and do silly thing like a tourist =P)

We also got the chance to try out some local pastries, got ourselves a croissant, a mini pizza and a broccoli mozzarella pastry. The broccoli mozzarella pastry tasted really good… which oh well was a bit surprising cos erms... it doesn’t sound very nice right?

Anyway, it’s about 645am now and it’s finally looking like it is safe to go out alone. See?

Finally there’s some light. I should be headed to the train station to find out how to get to school. Until next time~ Ciao~

Auf Wiedersehen Singapur

Alright, in 21 hours time, i leave Singapore for a foreign land for 5.5 months. This is the longest i have been away from my family and let me tell you how it feels: I feel like a kid leaving to go to primary one.

I feel so insecure. I can't whine to them when i've had a lousy day. Can't bully my sister to help me get stuff as and when i want to. Can't do stupid things like sing "ABC" and " Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" at the same time with my sister just to realise that they both have the same tune. I can't even snap at someone for nagging at me cos i refuse to go the doc when i'm not feeling well. For the past 21 years of my life, i've stayed really really close to my family. The furthest i have been is to thailand for a week together with my school. And that time, i already felt homesick by day 5. Can you even imagine this trip?

But oh well, just like a kid going to primary one. I also look forward to the freedom i can enjoy without my parents nagging at me. The adventure i will have seems to be able to compensate for all the anxiety i feel now. I think about the weekend trips to neighboring countries, the month long trip i planned to take with Gillian to central and eastern Europe, the search for an internship and wala! It makes me wanna leave Singapore really soon.

In the meantime, all i can say is Auf Wiedersehen Singapur and all the sweet people living in it. I will see you again in 6 months time! =)