Nottingham, England

So I've finally arrived at University of Nottingham. School only starts during the last week of September but I'm here early for the orientation week. I've decided to turn in early after not being able to sleep a wink last night. Must've been the back-to-school jitters. Just gonna upload a few photos! Sneak peak :)











Thank god for skype.

Skien, Norway

Pronounced "shi-en". We walked the whole day in the rain when in Skien, with Moody as our tour guide. It was also this very day that my Muji canvas shoes decided to give way and rip a hole in one my the soles so I walked around with squelchy feet. Zzz. Moody brought us to this little museum at the peak of an enormous flight of stairs--home to a number of old Norwegian wooden lofts. Pretty amazing stuff. I think we were most amused though, by the fact that we were blowing smoke out of our mouths at one point in time. Cooooooooooooooool huh.

Porsgrunn, Norway

Sidetracking a little, my computer's currently running at snail speed thanks to the overload of photographs post-europe tour. I'm sitting on the carpeted floor of our friends' apartment with my beloved macbook in London at the moment. In just two days I'll be bidding London goodbye for awhile and heading for Nottingham, where I'll be joining my university's orientation week. From there, school starts a week later, and it'll be my humble 21st in no time. Wonder how it'll be like spending my birthday away from all my loved ones.

Norway was a quiet break from the bustling city life, especially once we arrived at Porsgrunn on the 10th. We managed to squeeze 3 places in 4 days--Oslo, Porsgrunn and Skien. The latter two are smaller municipalities which are part of what makes Grenland (or Telemark, I'm not too sure!). I'll post the map up for your reference. [There's fireworks display outside my apartment window now, woohoo!] Time seemed to pass really slowly in Oslo. I guess we didn't really have any idea what to do there, except to try and make every single krone (norwegian currency) count because everything is super duper expensive! Here's an idea of how much stuff cost in Norway. A kebab wrap costs on average 4 pounds in London, 3 euros in Germany. It's more than double the price in Norway at 7-8 euros! An extra value meal at McDonald's is even crazier. 80-100NOK which translates to about 10-12 euros. We basically survived on kebab and cheeseburgers for the first two days in Oslo.

We then trudged our way by foot to our one-storey hostel in Porsgrunn after a 2.5 hour bus ride, which was pretty scenic with lovely rivers and lakes. If you've watched Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho before, our hostel looked almost exactly like the motel featured in the film. For those who haven't, it felt like we were staying in a stable--no thanks to the fact that there was a horse-riding centre right next to our hostel. There, we managed to meet a nice Palestinian guy whose been living in Norway for 2 years. He offered to take us around the city and paid for our lunch and dinner too (chicken salsa burgers from Macs for lunch and kebab rolls for dinner). Honestly, everyone doubted his intentions at the beginning but turns out that this single Norwegian boy was simply lonely--he moved to Norway for his then-girlfriend whom he broke up with a few months later, as has been stuck in Norway alone ever since. How sad is it when your girlfriend shortens her three-week vacation in Norway to just one week because she finds Norway to cold in December. Very.

I didn't do much in Norway really. I think we could have visited more of the picturesque nature-abundant areas but we simply didn't have the time, nor did we plan to do so beforehand. Would have been a drag if not for the time spent watching Mandarin films (Jay Chou's Secret!) on Yawvwee's laptop and cooking Campbell soup in the hostel kitchen. I think we're a homesick to some degree and it was great sharing the same smiles with everyone when we all took our first sips of mushroom soup. If only we could order a cup of Milo-peng at our every whim or fancy, now that would be kick ass.

Oslo, Norway

It says "Oslo has got Murakami-fever and it is very contagious!!! -enjoy :)". Murakami's one of my fave Japanese authors by the way! :D:D:D

Rome, Italy

Forgot to add that there are bedbugs living with us in the hostel we're putting up at in Rome. I swear it's the first time I've ever seen bedbugs in the flesh. Everyone supposed to bunk in with us in our room have since moved out. Thank god it's our last night here.

Rome, Italy

I'm struggling to use the keyboard at the hostel's computer desktop because the punctuation signs are assigned to different buttons compared to the ones I'm familiar with so please be forgiving with the typos should there be any! It's the wee hours in Rome now but I have to stay awake to catch a flight to Norway, Oslo at 7am. I'll be boarding the airport bus shuttle in about an hour so this entry will have to be rather short.

Rome's by far the most beautiful city I've visited so far. It's true whatever people say about Italy being the most romantic country. There are couples holding hands everwhere--strolling down the sidewalks, having alfresco candlelight dinners while clumsily feeding each other pizza, with classical violins, trumpets and accordions in the background serenading the throngs of tourists and locals. The buildings are collosal, and deals a big slap in the face when you compare Singapore's history with Rome's. Our men obviously have never been decked in robes and we certainly do not have grand political forums as major tourist attractions. All we have is the pathetic Hong Lim Speakers' Corner which I'm sure most tourists would ridicule if they've even heard about it. Sadly, we had to squeeze our itinerary within 2 full days because we arrived on a Sunday when the shops and attractions are all closed. At least we managed to pay a visit to the major attractions like the Colosseum, Pantheon and Vatican Museum. The churches here are sized XXXXL too. Totally breathtaking to the point that pictures really don't do them justice.

Alas, the food here has been very disappointing. We were all looking forward to authentic Italian pizzas and pastas after having to put up with Spanish cuisine which we weren't well accustomed to. On the contrary, the pastas we've tried so far have been either soggy, or not well cooked. Whatever happened to al dente? The gelato hasn't been that fantastic either--melting within a minute and dripping off the rims of our cones. Yuck. I guess you only get good food when you can afford it. For now, I'll have to make do with whatever I can afford! I'm missing the lobster noodles from the Chinese restaurant in London's Queens Way already.

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, Spain

It's been close to a month since I've left home for Europe, and the homesickness began kicking in about a week and a half ago. It's especially difficult without much access to any form of communication which doesn't cost a bomb or isn't super convenient to reach your loved onces.

Phone: EUR 0.07/min outgoing, SGD 0.18/min incoming. A calling card makes calling a lot more affordable, but traveling around Europe's complicates things as roaming charges prevail when you use a calling card purchased in another country.

Internet: Eur 1.00/25min. Inconvenient most times without a data plan on your phone or a trust iphone to begin with. For anyone whose intending to get a smart phone soon, please get one which supports skype mobile. Trust me, it comes in handy. Oh yes, at least make sure it supports ebuddy or else it's as good as a stupid phone anyway.

Snail mail: Costs a bomb to send international mail in Europe, for some strange reason I can't explain. I just blew EUR 15 on two packages and they don't even weight that much. On top of that, patience is certainly not a virtue I possess and waiting at least 3 days for mail to reach your loved ones, and risking your mail getting lost in transit isn't much my cup of tea.

Honestly speaking, there is no convenient way to reach your loved ones when you're overseas. The time difference and this virtual reality crap is really making me depressed. I hope this so-called "homesick phase" passes soon so I can truly bathe in the holiday spirit and enjoy my stay in the UK for the rest of the 4 months I have left.

Back to Spain. Barcelona's been pretty neat. The buildings are much more grandiose in terms of its architecture. We were all in awe of the gothic-style buildings which we were acquainted with through some lame "ghost tour"--which turned out to be simply night tour really. (Our tour guide kept asking us to snap pictures of places supposedly rife with paranormal activity, just so that he could point out orbs of energy. That's as good as it gets.) The gargoyles and stone demons were cool, but started getting a little disturbing after awhile. I certainly would not like the HDB flats in Singapore to be decorated in a similar fashion. People-wise, the girls love their flamboyant-printed maxi-dresses and harem pants. 1 in 4 ladies wear something along those lines! It's incredible how everyone can carry it off so easily. Wear the same thing in Singapore and people laugh at you. The weather's been kind to us too--hovering between 22-25.

I'll be leaving Barcelona for Rome tomorrow, in the evening around 9pm. Can't wait for the gelato. Photographs in the following entries! :D