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Wednesday, January 31, 2007
i'm slowly adjusting to life here, my Russia Since 1953 (finally, a module solely focused on Russia!) ended only after 30 mins, and i walked around the city centre myself and ran a couple of errands. i booked my seat for my train ride down to Southampton at Central Station, and bought pots/pans/utensils from Wilkinson. i got back to my flat, cooked myself hot pasta and tried to settle our accomodation at London. we're going to be staying at Ace Hotel! i'm quite excited for the London trip, my other Singaporean friends here are going to Edinburgh, will be waiting to hear from them about their trip!

about my classes, i'm enjoying my history classes over here. i like the way that the content sounds a little bit familiar yet different, the way that the course has an ambivalent set of syllabus, the course never ends, because they go like 'Russia Since 1953-____', and 'Britain in the Last Century to _____'. i like the way that the lecturers try to link present day issues with history - afterall history is continuity, it is nothing that is chopped or, or clearly demarcated from the past.

the people on the streets are really helpful and friendly. i was standing around looking at a map when a guy in his 40s standing just next to me asked 'where are you heading to love?' that really put a smile on my face, because i couldn't quite imagine the same thing happening to me back in Singapore and i probably wouldn't take the initiative to help a lost-looking tourist in Singapore either. the people here also thank the bus driver before they alight, the town is really disabled-friendly (people don't abuse the toilets for the disabled). just as i've seen the beautiful side of this city, i guess i have also witnessed some of the bad, the superficiality, but guess its the same everywhere. what goes around comes around (damn, i should have treated the international students better). haha.

i bumped into michelia's flatmate on the busride to school today morning. she's frm the west of France and she was actually around cooking with her own friends when we had dinner at michelia's flat on monday. people here actually do know where Singapore is (mr chiew, that's quite different from your case in Canada!) and do think well of the place. funny how we just grimace and say 'there's nothing much to do over there', when Newcastle is pretty much the same. except here there're no hawker centres to explore, or little nooks to discover. Newcastle Upon Tyne is just Newcastle Upton Tyne. the city center is where everything is and the university just a 5 minute walk away. the university is only as large as perhaps the engine faculty. haha. the French girl (i'm sorry but i have no idea how to spell her name!) also mentioned how she could only understand snippets of our conversation, and i told her with pride that we have our own style of English - Singlish. i do like speaking Singlish with my friends here, we reverted totally to Chinese today and then Jivan went 'channel 5' (a little bit like Abhi). haha. most people (professors and classmates alike) at the university have no problem understanding our spoken proper English, we only have problems understanding with those who have really thick accents. i guess Singlish really defines us as Singaporeans, and it sets us apart from other Chinese. i like that very much.

there was an International Community Fair today as well at the civic centre, we went there to have a look-see. michelle has moved into her room at richardson, sigh. :(

the entire Singaporean gang - jivan (nus chem engin), michelia, shunming (ntu engin), myself & michelle. they're all going to club later, which i'm giving a miss because i've got to pack. they promised to go with me one day when i'm free, thanks girls! :)

this is the library van/truck. they'll be there every weds and thurs, which is really convenient if we decide to borrow some books. membership is free and the range of books looks fantastic!

this is getting to be a familiar sight.

supposedly one of the most well-preserved streets. hrm. i'm definitely going to read up more on it. i saw a monument dedicated to those British soldiers who fought in Burma in the 1940s, wanted to take a picture for mr chiew but i forgot. next time dude.


we managed to walk around the shops before they closed (at 6pm!) and we had dinner at Frankie & Benny's.


frankly, i've always thought that the service in Newcastle is really good, until we came to this place. really slow service. not an entirely good dining experience.


we shared a Sampler Platter, which doesn't look like much actually but we were stuffed. haha.


michelia and i were walking to the bus stop when we saw truckloads of people walking towards St.James Park (edmund, this is for you. if you want a jersey its around SGD60, do tell me and i'll send it back to Singapore together with my friends' mail). i think there's a match going on tonight, and the atmosphere, even outside, is rather impressive. its a pity we missed the whole Asean Cup finals thing back in Singapore, but yeay for the Lions!

[edit: to keith, thanks for telling paulene to chat to me more often. haha, go and claim the title of Mr Sheares for Blk E!]

8:18 PM

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leaving the sunny island of Singapore for exchange at Newcastle for six months, to explore what life has to offer on the other side of the world and excite the senses.

ITINERARY
23 Jan Singapore-Amsterdam KL838
24 Jan Amsterdam-Newcastle KL957

01 Feb Southampton
02 Feb London
02 Feb London
03 Feb London/Newcastle

09 Feb Oxford
10 Feb Oxford
11 Feb Oxford/Newcastle

22 Feb Newcastle/Southampton
23 Feb Bath
24 Feb Stonehenge
25 Feb Southampton/Newcastle

02 Mar York

08 Mar Newcastle/London/Sweden
09 Mar Sweden
10 Mar Sweden
11 Mar Sweden
12 Mar Sweden/London/Newcastle

Easter Break
22 Mar Newcastle/London/Granada (Spain)
23 Mar Granada(Spain)
24 Mar Granada(Spain)
25 Mar Granada/Valencia (Spain)
26 Mar Valencia (Spain)
27 Mar Valencia (Spain)
28 Mar Valencia/Barcelona (Spain)
29 Mar Barcelona (Spain)
30 Mar Barcelona (Spain)
31 Mar Barcelona (Spain)/Nice (France)

01 Apr Nice (France)
02 Apr Nice/Lyon (France)
03 Apr Lyon (France)
04 Apr Lyon/Paris (France)
05 Apr Paris (France)
06 Apr Paris (France)
07 Apr Paris (France)
08 Apr Paris (France)/Brussels (Belgium)

09 Apr Brussels (Belgium)
10 Apr Brussels (Belgium)
11 Apr Brussels (Belgium)/Amsterdam (Netherlands)

12 Apr Amsterdam (Netherlands)
13 Apr Amsterdam (Netherlands)/Munich (Germany)

14 Apr Munich (Germany)
15 Apr Munich (Germany)
16 Apr Munich/Berlin (Germany)
17 Apr Berlin (Germany)
18 Apr Berlin (Germany)
19 Apr Berlin (Germany)/London

04 May Newcastle/Edinburgh
05 May Edinburgh/Newcastle

11 May Newcastle/Brighton
12 May Brighton/Newcastle

10 Jun Newcastle/Krakow (Poland)

21 Jul Milan (Italy)/Newcastle

22 Jul Newcastle-Amsterdam KL964
23 Jul Amsterdam-Singapore KL837

links
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jinzhan@ucla
paulene@texasaustin michelia@newcastleupontyne
sheunming@newcastleupontyne

erik@newcastleupontyne
justicia@york

datoucun@shortwing
amy
huiyu
nic
songyun

past
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
September 2007

credits
Brushes:1
Designer:1 2
Host:1

ramblings