Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Back in sunny Singapore!

This morning, (or was it yesterday? I don't know. I'm pretty confused with the whole timeline nonsense) we left Foyer Beausejour for good. Oh how I will miss the place. My home for 26 days. I will miss the neverending lunches and dinners. Tortilla Boy, Matador, Perut, Jack(not really), Ricardo, HotRedJacket... I will miss saying Salut/bonjour/ciao to everyone and anyone on the streets, everyone's just smiling.

I mean, if you were to do it here in Singapore, everyone will think you're some kind of poser.

Blearghh.



So we left Fribourg for Zurich Flughafen. I swear Zurich has the worst system ever. We took 40 freaking minutes to check in! What nonsense is that!





Emirates has this weird-ass system of being so anal about punctuality of the passengers and THEY themselves cause delays. We are all there on time, 40 mins before departure.. and 20 mins after the scheduled departure time, we are still taxi-ing around.




I want to emphasize again that Emirates is STILL the best airline everrrrrrrr, even though they cause unnecessary delays. The cabin lighting so totally rocks!



Their inflight meals are uncomparable. Once just now the stewardess asked "Coffee, tea or ice cream?" I almost grabbed her by her neck to shake her and scream "WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?!?!" Obviously ICE CREAM!!!!!!! Ice cream on the plane ballssssss!



Plus on Zurich-Dubai, we got their new airbus, with the new entertainment system, ICE, which ROCKS.



600 over channels of movies, tv shows, disney cartoons, old shows, music soundtracks and albums, all totally scannable. So you can watch what you want, when you want.



I took the liberty of watching Aquamarine (annoying chickflick), Pocahontas!!, Little Mermaid, Friends and my ultimate favourite Pretty Woman! When it got to the sweet ending, they had to collect the freaking headphones! Do you know how PISSED I WAS!!?!?! ARGHHHH. Dah takleh berfeeling feeling.



The rest of the time I was listening to Franz Ferdinand's album and other assorted albums, including Westlife's. Haha shut up okay. Don't deny it. At one point of time everyone DID like westlife.



Zurich-Dubai was the best 6 hr flight I ever had. I was always occupied and..yeah it was great. Except we didnt have that much legroom.

We got to Dubai at 2 mins past midnight and I went to solat what I needed to solat at the mosque in the airport. Comfy. I like. We sat around and boarded our homebound flight at 2-ish am, but only took off at what 330am?

I pretty much slept through the Dubai-Sing flight, woken by turbulence. We had some MEAN turbulence there. And I went to the Belt, greeted by my parents and Babs and Hirmyyyyy! hahaha. I swear Hirman must have thought I was nuts because my jaw literally dropped when I saw him there. hahah. Too bad you're a guy hirman, if not I would have pelukked you too.

Haha. Okay lets not go there.

Anyway, I went to fetch my sister at her school just now and while I waited at the foyer for her, she came up from my left and shrieked "KAKAKKKKKK!!!!!!" and I went "AHHHHHHH!!!" and we hugged, di hadapan khalayak ramai. I'm sure they thought we were mad. haha!

So anyway I do miss Switzerland already, but I'm happy to be back here, nonetheless. No place like home yup. :)

Labels: swissimmersion

Monday, July 24, 2006
Leaving Fribourg for sunny Singapore.

Right now I'm praying SO hard for so many things.

I'm praying that everything I've bought here will fit into my luggage.

I'm praying that the luggage will still be well within the weight limit.

I'm praying for a safe flight back home.

I'm praying that my family and friends are in good health.

I'm praying I'll wake up tomorrow in time for the 1004 train.

I'm praying that I'll be fine lugging my luggage, carrying a mighty heavy backpack and 2 huge paperbags that are bursting with yummy chocolate goodness from the hostel to the Bahnhof.

PACKING IS SUCH A BITCH!!!!!!!!!

Zurich - Dubai EK 88

Dubai - Singapore EK404

Wednesday 205pm I will (insyaAllah) be back in sunny Singapore's worldclass Changi Airport.

Chicken rice here I COMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Labels: swissimmersion

Left in awe

Interlaken was SO beautiful. Its such a small town, with majestic mountains as the backdrop. Shopping haven too!



Anyway we had to change trains at bern and we took a Deutsche-Bahn train!!!!!!! GERMAN TRAINS ROCK!!!!!! So super comfy with nice 6-seater cubicles. WOW! I love DB Trains! Next to Swiss Intercity double deck trains, of course!





Oh and since Interlaken is the last Swiss town we're visiting, I've decided to hold a inter-canton fountain water award. You know how I've been refilling my water bottle with fountain water right? Zurich, Fribourg, St Gallen, Schaffhausen, Geneva, Bern, Interlaken. (technically interlaken is considered to be under the canton of bern)

After tasting all the water from all the above mentioned cantons... The nicest, most refreshing water comes from..... Interlaken! I think its because the water comes from the mountains, so the water's ice cold and very refreshing. The rest all taste like they came from a stagnant river. Okay that sounds absurd. But whatever ah.

Haha so be sure to take Interlaken water! Its the best!









Joyce, Si Wei and I reached the Foyer at 9 plus? (Adi continued on to Grindelwald since he was using his Eurail pass) We went down to cook dinner anddddddd...guess who was cooking dinner too!!!!!!

TORTILLA BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY, my spanish neighbour!!





A guy who cooks.. how HOT is that lahhh.




Okay fine this is a bad photo of him.

So poor thing, he was eating alone! Anyway the photos were taken by Joyce. I had NO involvement in the taking of the photos okay.

Plus he had such an appetising dinner lah. Pasta with fried chicken fillets. Ahhhhh. Today's a good day.

---

*p/s: Dear Manna, On the way to church this morning, Rebecca and Si Wei bumped into....AURELLE. Sorry babe. I mean, its not like you would have gone to church right.

Labels: swissimmersion

Sunday, July 23, 2006
HAHA!

We're almost 20 and stuff like this still amuses us.

This was taken in a toy shop in geneva.

Labels: swissimmersion

Saturday, July 22, 2006
2 down, 7 to go.

I just came back from sending Yu Shan off AND a humongous shopping trip. Photos are with BeccaBurritto will get it later tonite perhaps. Argh, the weather is SO HOT its just makes you so lazy to do anything.

ANYWAY, speaking of hot, yesterday when I was downstairs cooking dinner, my Spanish neighbour the Tortilla Boy was cooking in the kitchen as well!!! I haven't seen him in quite a bit, just hear him coming back that's all. THEN TODAY! When we were just leaving the foyer for the bahnhof, Tortilla boy was JUST coming back to the foyer. WOW! Twice in two days! Sheesh man, I have such hot neighbours!

One side is the really nice lebanese girl, Nancy and the other side is Tortilla Boyyyy. Nancy is hot stuff la, really. I wish I could sneak a photo of both of them.

Argh okay la I desperately need to remove every piece of clothing from my body. Interlaken tomorrow! Yey!

Labels: swissimmersion

Friday, July 21, 2006
Last day of class!

Today was the last day of class! How time flies! I left the Foyer at 830am for Manor with Adi to develop the photos and put them in the frames. Freaking early lah, considering last night Joyce, Si Wei, Manna, Adi, YuShan and I were in Rebecca's room gossiping till 330am! I only had what, 4 hours of sleep? I woke up at 730..bah.



Class was fun today! It wasn't much of a lesson..Frau Probst made us go on a Amazing Race like thing around the university. IN GERMAN! OMG. And we had to walk around alone..in 5 minute intervals. So i was holding the paper, pen and the most impt thing of all..the dictionary. Later go wrong way how!




Dahsyat man. I must have been like super sleepy because the instruction said "Gehen Sie unter..." and I went UP the stairs, when padahal supposed to go down! Then I panicked because nothing on the paper made sense and I knew I was on the wrong route.

Michael, Ho Shan and I finished early and we sat in the mensa(canteen) while waiting for the rest. We still had a quiz about Switzerland that we had to do.



THEN, we met with the rest and sat at the mensa's outdoor terrace where we received our certs and other assorted articles.



Meine Lehrerin, Frau Probst und ich.


Mdm De Dardel! She's like the nicest woman on earth and has the prettiest porcelain eyes ever.


The best german class everrrrr.

The funny part was that while taking this photo, I stood in front of frau probst and i bent down, for fear of blocking her. So she told me "Ah amylia, nein, nein, ich bin gross genug.." WTH! hahaha. She told me not to bend down becos she was tall enough. haha. shes SUPER tall lah!

After all the hugging and goodbyes, we sent Manna off to the train station, where she left for Zurich to catch her flight to Norway to visit her brother. She's the first to leave! YuShan is leaving tomorrow, Huang Sha on Monday and the rest of us leave on Tuesday.



So soon!! And I HATE PACKING!!!!!!

Labels: swissimmersion

Edits!

Photos of yesterday's dinner are up already!

I tried to start packing. After most of my clothes went in, I think I'm screwed. No space for 5 pairs of shoes. 32892389743829 chocolate bars. And I'm still not done shopping for stuff to bring home!

MUMMYYYY!!!!!! HELPPPPPPPP!!!!!

Labels: swissimmersion

Updates!

Well I had planned to update yesterday, after we got back from BEAUTIFUL Le Gruyere but the internet was cranky. So here are the photos! If you thought Schwarzsee was beautiful, check gruyere out. Its at least 982734987239874298374 % more beautiful. You never run out of scenery in Switzerland. Really.

We got there by bus, to Bulle, and then by train from Bulle to Gruyere. Gruyere's very countryside-ish, something you'll never get in Singapore.





We entered the cheese factory, and our ticket was a packet of cheese. The cheese is NOTHING like our kraft cheese, which really isn't cheese, CHEESE actually. It was blearghhhh.



Not my cup of tea, really. There were like 3 huge chunks.. 6months, 8 months and 10 months.. I tried the 6 months one and the taste was really strong, so I didn't dare try the 8 and 10 month one. Haha!

Saw this really freaky looking cafe. Eww.



We walked up to Chateau Gruyere but kept stopping to take photos because the place was just too beautiful.








Yu Shan told me to take a photo of her. And Adi just hopped in, uninvited. Her facial expression is priceless.









and finally, we reach Chateau Gruyere.



THEN! After walking around Chateau Gruyere, michael and antje gave us a treat to the authentic Swiss meringues and DOUBLE CREAM.




Check out Adi's orgasmic expression, haha.

I swear to you, it was the bestestestestestest thing you can ever eat in your entire life. Yeah, it'll clog up your arteries but hey, who cares man, I'm in Switzerland.


----

Anyhoos, its way past midnight now and I just got back from a totally great dinner at Mdm De Dardel's place.

Mdm De Dardel is the head of the University of Fribourg's International Relations Office and she's been like our mother here. She ferried us to her house in her HUGE Volvo XC90 7-Seater.



We could see her house from the bridge, and from there it looked awesome, the kind shrouded by greenery... But when we got into her driveway, her house looked 932879832498237 times more magnificent.



She has a frickin pool lah! Her house is totally a dream home lah.















Ok time to sleep!

Labels: swissimmersion

Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Explorers for the day!

Since we spent yesterday just lazing around in the hostel, Miss HoShan-Hilton insisted that we go explore Fribourg today. And so we did. We walked over to downtown, about 10 mins from our hostel. I told you, our hostel location ROCKS.

Dah lah, enough rambling. Pictures.


Trying to do a Sex and the City picture. Adi was our great photographer, as usual.


Fribourg is a pretty place.

The following are just us camwhoring on the bridge. Tsktsktsk. How tourist-ish lah!






Manna is in my room right now.

Manna: Okay NOW I'm starting to miss singapore...-pause- It took me 3 weeks ah.

haha totally ah. I'm not fully in the whole i-miss-singapore mood YET but I miss the (cheap!) food, my family and friends like schnitz now ah.

Ahhh. I've just finished settling 4 of my modules. I need 2 more! Headache lah!

Miss HoShan-hilton just came to my room and she's complaining that Manna and I are not paying attention to her. Manna's on Joyce's laptop and I'm on mine.

HS-Hilton:Am I supposed to entertain myself?
-no response-

-9879328742374 yrs later-
HS-Hilton: You all are STILL not done?! Well at least MANNA's making some effort to hurry up. Unlike SOMEONE. And she's the HOST. Ahhh, my BORING immersion mates.

Manna and I: -instantaneously- OH!!!!!!!

Yey going to Gruyeres tomorrow!

Labels: swissimmersion

Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Yesterday.

We went to Antje’s house on Sunday, that was yesterday. AFTER playing mini golf.



It was a really nice apartment, about 15minutes walk from the university and it was a BALL of fun. Plus she had a keyboard so we made Adi work his magic.

Seriously, who would have thought that Mr Widya-Adi-ohyeayeayeayeayea has the talent of playing by ear AND a great voice to go along with it. Funfact: He made it through to the top 100 in Singapore Idol Season 1, but had to drop out because he had to go for Choir Olympics in Berlin. (VJ Choir, don’t play play ah, and they won the choir Olympics in the end) WHAT A WASTE! If not, move aside, Taufik Batisah!

Serious ah. The first time we were fooling around with the clavinova in the hostel, once he started playing, members of the powerful new group: Manna, Rebs and I were totally awestruck lah. Baik adi.

He knows like a TON of songs, all played by ear AND Manna and I made the first request of sephia ever, and he created it on the spot la. HOW awesome is that.

Check out this vid of him doing quando quando quando.



This doing "If I ain’t got you" with rebs, the first part. The harmony rocks.



Sex and the city theme song



And my absolute fave theme song! Guess what it is!!



Haha! TOTALLY AH.

Then we played nonsense games and some of them played Twister--self made mat.



The sunset from Antje's balcony.



Rabikker, HoShan and I.


Two more stops. Gruyeres and possibly Zermatt+Interlaken on Saturday. YESSAAHH.

Labels: swissimmersion

Sunday, July 16, 2006
Geneva + Montreux

Heute haben wir Genf besichtigt!

Click photo album for photos. (sorry for the lack of photos, the rest are with the other girls and guy because I absentmindedly forgot to clear my 256MB compact flash card so i will upload them at a later date)

We went to geneva today! How GREAT is Geneva?! I tell you, the places in switzerland that i've been to, the next one is more perfect than the former. Before today, this was my top 3 Switz cantons list.

1. St Gallen
2. Zurich (Jurisch)
3. Schaffhausen

After today, this is my list.

1. Geneva
2. Geneva
3. Geneva

If you don't have much time to travel switzerland, just go to Geneva! It rocks your socksssssssss! Okay things are slightly more expensive there, but its SO beautiful and international (not exactly a good characteristic) you have SO much scenery to see.

We reached Geneva at around 10, and unfortunately it wasn't a clear day, so we couldn't see Mont Blanc. I went crazy at the Jet D'Eau. I am simply amazed by it, really. Well thing is, Geneva is TOO international. Half the time you walk down the streets, you feel like you're in Japan or China because all you see are Asian people. Oh and there are lots of Muslims in Geneva! Probably more than I've seen in any of the Swiss cantons that I've been to. coolios.

The thing that shocked me the most was that the shopkeepers were CHINESE! No offence or anything, but I'm in Switzerland! I wanna see Swiss shopkeepers! Plus this Swiss souvenir shop aptly named "the swiss shop" had Chinese shopkeepers and to put it bluntly, the service SUCKED.

They were rude to us maybe because we were students, and maybe because we were Asians because I saw the same shopkeeper who refused to attend to any of us, being really hospitable towards some Caucasian guy. What, you think we students no money issit? Hello, ever heard of working parents and CREDIT CARDS?! And mine is platinum, thankyou.

My friend Joyce, was going to buy a swiss knife and she asked the shopgirl (ain haha!) to show her the functions of the knife. The rude ass told her to figure it out herself AND turned her back to talk to her other colleague!!!! WHAT NONSENSE IS THAT?!

Argh, that aside, shopping at Rue de la confederations was GREAT. Big brands like Zara had cheaper prices as compared to singapore. I didn't get anything because I didn't see anything I fancied, duh. The H&M at Geneva is also probably the best in all of switzerland. H&M is a large clothing store that's probably in all of Europe. The clothes at H&M Geneva were 29834729837492837492387 times nicer than the H&M at Fribourg centre!

After shopping we wanted to go to the Palais des Nations, the UN headquarters, but it was already closed, so no point going. So we ended up watching the lake parade for a while, before leaving for Montreux. While watching the lake parade, the sky cleared up a bit and we could see Mont Blanc. Gorgeous, I tell you. Its all in the photos.

Montreux was another beauty in itself. We walked around watching the jazz fest and the fireworks, because today was the last day. Then Adi joined Manna and I telling us that there was an Indo fair down the street! They were playing Radja's Jujur! WOW! Indo pop in Montreux! Bring it on! So Adi reunited with his countrymen, who totally LIVED in geneva la! How cool is that! So they speak Indo AND french FLUENTLY. HEBATTT. It was quite funny because they initially spoke to us in french and Adi asked if she could speak indo, so he was excited, she was excited, and they were friends, the makcik and adi.

Record time. We took the last train from Montreux at 11.19pm and we reached HOME (Sweet home) at past midnight. I just came back from supper with Yushan, Manna and Rebecca in the kitchen. Mini bitching session as well. mwahaha.

Okay tired. LUCKY no class tmr! Nites all.

I wanna hug my sisterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Heads up, nangs. I'll support whatever decision you make ok, because I know its for the best. Sorry I wasn't there for you.

Labels: swissimmersion

Friday, July 14, 2006
Rippedddddd

Jetzt sind wir im Mediathek. Es ist sehr schön. Ich habe im Internet geSURFEN (akakak) und ich habe ein Foto gefunden (vom Adi's Friendster).

Okay enough showcasing my broken German. This is a photo of the group at Rhinefalls! I stole it off Adi's friendster to put in a text we had to write just now. Mwahaha.


rebecca-manna-yushan (but the german teacher calls her ho shan)-me-joyce-si wei (fellow saint!)-lixuan-adi and the girl at the front is Huang Sha.

Okay back to class.

Labels: swissimmersion

OMG!

My best friend Miss Australia-Chua-Nur-Lydia bought herself a CAR!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!! And That's just after she got her license. APER NI!!!! I have a license too! Why don't I have a car?!?!

Wow congrats babe!! your car must be your darling right nowwww!

Ahhhh I just had a great video conversation with the folks at home and my nutty sister. I miss home so much!!!!!!! But... at the same time, I can't say I don't like it here ah. It simply rocks here. Eh come ah, we migrate NOWNOWNOW. Mwahaha. Plus the GSS is going on.. the Great Swiss Sale.. hebatttt. Everyday after school we go to Manor, this huge departmental store to shop. Miss sixty jeans for 80 Francs! I didn't buy lah. I'm SO not miss sixty material.

We're like pigs lah. Tak shop, pegi supermarket. And we take turns. One day we'll go to Co-op, another we'll go to Migros, another we'll go to Manor. And we'll buy all the budget stuff. I bought a 400g chocolate bar for 1.70 francs, the Migros Budget chocolate (to last me till end of next week). OMG its heavenly ah. Smooth and creamy. I'd say its better than Cadbury!

Anyway its going to rain right now. Its getting chilly. Dahlah bye.

Oh and I forgot to mention that my first three fingers on my left hand are numb! For 2 days already! Why ah? I just woke up and it became like that!

Argh! The rain is tempias-ing into my room! Byebyebye nak tutup shutters.



Kentalnyer! Now my room looks like jail! I have to half shut the shutters because the rain can come in through the small slits. To make it worse, the light at the sink is konked out. How am I supposed to sleep at night?! With no light!?!

Labels: swissimmersion

Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Vids!

So anyway today I went to the train station after class to check out train prices to Munich. On the way back, I walked pass this Falafel, Homous shop which had a guy, the owner, I presume standing outside doing some work.

So he looked at me and started smiling and for some reason I was waiting for him to say Assalamualaikum. And so he did after the smiling. So we answered the salam and talked to him for a bit. Then he tells us that there are actually lots of Muslims in Fribourg! How cool! And in the vicinity were not ONE but TWO mosques.

Oh did I mention that Manna and I went a-walking in search of the mosque as directed by the International Relations Office? Yeah, we did a couple of days back but we forgot the map and walked by instinct and ended up at a bus stop. We were tired so we took a bus back.

LATER, after meeting some Algerian, Zidane lookalike on the Schwarzsee trip, he told me that just across the road from where Manna and I walked was the mosque. WTHHHH!!!!!

So anyway. I love it here lah. Can I migrate here now? hehe. The only thing i'll miss is the food back in Singapore. arghh.

Oh! And another slenger moment! After living in the foyer for at least 5 days, I realised that just around the corner beside the winebar was a kebab shop selling HALAL kebap! It was heaven lah, my first taste of meat after so long.

On Monday, Manna and I went to get a beef kebab and I briefly chatted with the owner on where he gets the meat and all. Manna spoke to him in french and I spoke to him in German. How cool lah. hahaha.

Dah lah enough rambling. I'm just terharu by the vast number of muslims here.

VIDEOS!

video 1: Going up the skilift-ish thingermajig.


video2: The view at the top -- breathtaking!


video 3: cows grazing from afar. and kecoh moment 1.


video 4: skilift down


video 5: adi and I debating the meaning of lac noir. KECH GILS.


video 6: MORE COWS and kecohness!


My dad just msn-ed me from religious class. WOW! He's super attentive.

Labels: swissimmersion

Schwarzsee!

We were out to Schwarzsee today! Instead of taking the train, this time, we took a bus! It was a 52 minute bus ride.

I still am impressed with the Swiss transport system-- How punctual the trains and buses are. They have like a timetable at each train/bus stop which tells you what time the bus/train comes, and whatever time it says on the timetable, say 7.08, the bus/train will come EXACTLY at that time.

We couldn't wait for Rebecca, Manna, Joyce and Si Wei, who were not there at Fribourg's bahnhof at 2pm because when it says the bus will leave at 2pm, it WILL leave at 2pm. NO exceptions! So they had to take the next bus, which was an hour later.

True Swiss timing ah.

Schwarzsee was B-E-A-U-tiful, to say the very least.

I've uploaded the pictures (videos up tomorrow okay), so you can have a look-see if you want. Same old drill, click the picture album on the right panel, danke.

I'm damn tired now, just got back from dinner and lepakking in Manna's room. Gonna Isyak and sleep! Early day tomorrow!

Labels: swissimmersion

Monday, July 10, 2006
ALLEZ LES BLEUSSSSSSSS

I was out this evening to catch the WM finals. We decided on Cafe Populaire, which was just behind our hostel, the one where the bulk of the noise comes from.



We were already seated by the fence at 730? 745?

There are probably 839274298374 Italians here. Everywhere I turn, I see whiteredgreen.


Of course I semangatly donned french colours.



You can't see but the top under the jacket and tudung was red and I was wearing jeans. whiteredblue!

Finally I see my clan.




Allez allezzzzz!


rebecca-me-manna.

Ah the atmosphere was superb! Definitely something I'll remember...watching the Worldcup finals in Fribourg with the locals, wearing national colours... an experience, I must say. I was surrounded by Italian fans and they were outraged at Zidane and his stupid move.

It was great to be in the midst of "italia italia!" and "allez les bleusss" cheers! Although france lost, and I forgive Trezeguet many many already this was probably the highlight of my stay in Switzerland so far. ak ak.


Forza Italiaaaaaaa!

The usual lah, after the match, all the honking started. I left the cafe first and headed for the hostel. And as I was making my way through the crowd, the incredibly hot guy from the picture gave me a pat on my shoulder saying its okay... HOW cute lah! Nasib dia hot. He looks like Trezeguet's younger brother lahhhh. Too bad the picture I have of him is a sucky one. And I was too distraught to ask him for a photo.

Labels: swissimmersion

Sunday, July 09, 2006
Excursion to Schaffhausen!

Today is Saturday! That means theres no class! But I've got a ton of homework and grammar to finish by monday's class. arghh. Anyway, today was an excursion to Schaffhausen, that's the topmost part of switzerland, just at the german border. Some of us got german telephone signals there!

Best part of the excursion was that it was free! Haha! Kindly sponsored by the University of Fribourg, of course.

We took a train from Fribourg, and changed trains at Bern and Zurich.

Schaffhausen was very very very nice! The buildings were great and of course there was the magnificent Rhinefalls.

Pictures are already uploaded in the photoalbum, if you wanna have a look-see.

-sings- Deutschland hat gewonnen! Deutschland hat gewonnen!

Yesssla. Pardon the short skimpyy entry. Dah penat, nak tidur.

Labels: swissimmersion

Friday, July 07, 2006
I am a certified Chef.

I'm at the campus computer lab right now. The internet connection is super fast!!


I was just telling Manna how they save alot on aircon because they just have to open the window.

So its been really cold these few days... We went to the Supermarket after class (again) to get more potatoes cause I finished mine from the other day already. BUT! It occured to me that the easiest thing in the world to cook is SPAGHETTI!

So I bought the essentials! HEBAT HEBAT! I'm totally a chef right now.




Neapolitan sauce (tomato, onion and some other random veg) for CHF 2.10 (S$2.70), huge bag of spaghetti for CHF 1.15 (S$1.48) and champignions de Paris..fine.. MUSHROOMS for CHF 1.90 (S$2.45). And I bought a big bag of Madelines for CHF 2.20 for breakfast.


Ahh. im happy.

Anyway it looks like its going to rain again.


I love the location of the hostel! Our classes are at the university building just beside the Elite Hotel, if you can see in the picture..and the Post office is the one with the yellow flags.

Anyway the keyboard here funky lah. y and z diff place and its friendly for the french and german language. I can type frühstück and désolée (or is it dèsolèe?) with ease. mwahaha.



Now my dad's telling me how he likes the pocketwatches in the photo I took yesterdaz in bern. I'm NOT buying a pocket watch. What a complete waste of money! haha!

Ah okay dah lah. Nak balik hostel already.

Labels: swissimmersion

Daytrip to Bern!

As the title suggests, we went to Bern, the capital of Switzerland after class today. The journey was 20 minutes by train from Fribourg and the train ticket costs CHF 24.80 (S$32), two ways. I had the half fare card so I only paid CHF12.40 for the return ticket.

The weather today, both in Fribourg and in Bern was cold! It was maybe 17 degrees here in Fribourg, and about 13-15 degrees in Bern! I wonder why. Oh yeah, it did rain, so I guess that explains. Very comfortable weather, aircon all round.

Bern is beautiful! Well the whole of Switzerland is beautiful lah!

I've just uploaded the pictures to Bern, so you could check them out in the album. Link is on the bar on the right hand side, danke.

Here are some videos that I took today as well. Mostly merepek stuff lah.

This is one I took at the Flea market auf dem Barenplatz just now.



In the next video, check out Antja's Canadian friends (who came to Switz to visit her)walking in the fountain. She dared them to walk around with the kids, holding an umbrella for 10 mins.



This video, we were just fooling around la ah.



Haha!

Alrighteysss. Its close to midnight now and its freezing in my room. I LIKE! heh. I just had dinner.. my authentic, original delicacy of course..Potato/egg mayo. hehe. Dah enough crap. I need to revise dativ and genitiv right now.

Bis Spaeter!

Labels: swissimmersion

Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Officially in mourning.

I could hear my heart shatter when Italy scored at the 11th hour. Ok la fine I have to give it to them because 2 goals in the last two minutes IS an amazing feat ah. Really impressive. So when Del Piero scored, it kinda nailed 98787665765 nails into my heart and Ballack ripped it apart when I saw him cry.

I was watching the match at the TV room in the hostel. Everyone there was for germany, only 2 people were for Italy. [Commentary in Deutsch!]

Indian guy: Whose side are you on?

Italian fan: Italia!

Indian guy: BOO!

Italian fan: Boo you!

WTH seh. Merepek sungguh! So after the match, that Italian fan girl was screaming at the top of her lungs "Italiaa hat gewonnenn, italia hat gewonnen.." I was SO sad so I took the lift back up to my room. In the lift, I was joined by two guys just back from the bar outside fully clad in German colours looking as crestfallen as I was. Haha!

The people here are all so nice! They smile at you all the time, regardless if they know you or not. Everyone in the hostel that I bump into say Bonjour/Bonsoir/Salut and Ciao when we part in the lift. Professors and students alike, in the university do the same. Its really nice.

Check out Italia celebrations in Fribourgggg.


---

So the France-Porto match just ended. Totally the ending I was hoping for, although the match was a tad bit boring. Now I'm all for France! woohoo! I think this feels like another jinx coming along. Since now I'm all for France, I have a feeling Italy will win! Argh. Eh whatever eh.

It rained today! So the weather now is really really cold...i LIKE! My windows are fully opened to let in the cold.

Manna: Eh why you leave your window open? Put down the shutters ah!

Me: I like the cold ah..

Manna: Eh its really a big hole ah. What if an eagle flies in?!

WTH!!!!

Ah dah lah. Its close to 1am right now and I haven't done my homework. I have to cook early tomorrow morning to pack food for lunch since we're going to either Bern or Schwarzsee.

Okay nights everyone.

Labels: swissimmersion

Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Amasham my cooking skills.

So I went to the supermarket just now (again) and I bought Kartoffeln (CHF 2), Apfelsaft (CHF 1.90) and mayonnaise (CHF 1.40). The mayo funky ah, looks like colgate. BUDGET GILER.




I boiled some Kartoffeln with the egg I bought 2 days ago... (in style)




and voila!



I swear its the best thing I've tasted since I got here. Mwahahaha. Sedap gilsss! In addition to my 9 pax of instant noodles and 7 cans of tuna and 2 cans of curry, I have a new meal to last me another 23 days! Yessah.

Labels: swissimmersion

Sunday, July 02, 2006
Lazy Sunday!

I'm still high off the french victory yesterday. Its definitely my first time being around people of the country that's actually playing the match. There are alot of french students living in the hostel as well, so we were all gathered in the TV room last night watching the match.
The energy was great, they screamed whenever Brazil got close to scoring.

Wah. The french totally top form seh.

I just finished cleaning my room... I just realised that I could open the big window. -slaps forehead- slengerrrr.




Arghhh. Its Sunday! No shops are open.. I just cooked Maggi for lunch and boiled one egg. How scrumptious. EVerytime I eat, I imagine it to be fishball noodles from tongseng. It tastes much better. haha!

Anyway, Rebecca was uploading her photos to my laptop..and I found some photos that I didn't have so I'll post it up here. I was actually freaked out to how small/short I was among the other 8 people on the immersion with me. I think I'm the shortest (eh really ah?). Check out this pic, you'll get what I mean.



I'm like a mini size ah! Aper ni! I don't recall being THAT small! Check it out! I barely made it to Adi's shoulders! Well yah he's a guy la, but the other girls are tall too!



You see you see!!!!

Ah oh wells. Oh yeah and I found another nice group shot. Totally can make into a postcard lah..



Woohoo!

Labels: swissimmersion

World cup like never before!

Wow! Worldcup in Singapore is HIGHLY boring! In switzerland, it ROCKS! after the Porto victory, I heard loud horning and stuff, so I thought there was a massive traffic jam..everyone trying to get home.

BUT, I had to leave at 8pm to fetch another girl on the immersion at the Bahnhof. So I SAW what the noise was all about! It was porto fans just horning and flailing their flags and sitting (precariously) on their car windows!

Right nowm, france is playing Brazil but people are still chanting portugal portugal. CRAZY MAN!!!! ROCKS!






And check out this makcik all geared up for brazil's match! The people here smangat giler!!!!



Oh and here's a video of HOW noisy the streets are!



Okay adios. Watching france and brazil now.

Labels: swissimmersion

Saturday, July 01, 2006
video dumpp!

okay sorry for the sucky commentary.





ah dahlah nak tidur. 2 days deprived of internet..and i'm so jakun now. haha!

Labels: swissimmersion

Hello, World!

Its close to midnight now.. but I can't sleep just yet because I have to wait for Isyak which is at 1230! We just checked into the hostel in Fribourg. It ROCKS! the room is splendid, the location is good..Loves it!

Its near to the main train station, the university and the supermarket, whose name is coop! And we NUS undergrads call it co-op ah. We actually asked the international relations officer if "things at the co-op are cheap". She gave us weird stares.

So anyway the prices of things here in Fribourg aren't that high, as compared to Zurich where I was for the past two days. I bought 3 1.5Lbottles of Ice tea for 2.25 francs. Not bad eh. Bread here is ROCK hard! WHY AH!?

Rewind to yesterday: We got out of Zurich and took a train to northern Switzerland, romanshorn, where Lake Constance is. Its at the German-swiss border. Nice place, where I had fries from a seafood stall by the lake for 4 francs! Expensive ah, but its the cheapest of all the nonsense they have here and the servings are big.


seafood stall by the lake


Then we moved from ROmanshorn to St Gallen! St Gallen ROCKS!!!!! Shopping was great! This were relatively cheaper and I love the buildings. Well of course we went crazy at the chocolate store. hehe.

So moving on to technical details.. Temperature here is around 24 degrees in the day and now its probably around 17 or 18. The hostel doesn't have aircon..so I just open my window...voila! Natural aircon. Downside is that the people are still making noise..aftermath of the italia-ukraine match just now. They're still chanting Deutschland Deutschland! WOOHOO!

I'm at the 6th floor..and my room has the view of the alps! I actually took a video of my room and the scenery outside..just haven't upload.

Anyway, as much as I'm loving every minute I'm in Switzerland right now, I'm missing home really badly!

Just keep checking my photo album at the sidebar yup. I'll post all photos there. (because im too lazy to photoshop all the photos!)

We'll be going to the market with our mentors tomorrow to get essentials. Vege, fruits, etc. The german-learning people, we have this german girl, yes from germany..and the french-learning people have this hot guy from America!

And guess whatttt!? The hot guy will be taking the german classes with us! haha!

Okay ah, 2 more mins and its isyak. I still haven't ironed my clothes for tomorrow!

I'll update soon with more photos!

Labels: swissimmersion