Stockholm, I miss you!

11 January 2011. That was my first day in Stockholm, the start to my roller-coaster 6 months in a foreign country. I can't believe it has been more than 3 years?! 

I'll forever remember that first day when the four of us were trying to find our lodging with our many gigantic luggages. We had to go to the university library first to get our keys. That was easy. We took a cab! After that, we dragged our luggages down the slope to the train station and at the same time we were blessed with a mild snow storm. The elevator was under repair. What are the odds right? We carried our luggages down the stairs and waited for our train. Our accommodation was just one station away. Once we reached Universitetet station, we lugged our luggages out and this time the elevator worked. Thank God. We took bus 40 to our hostels at the Professorslingan area and by this time, all of us were drained out of our energies. When we alighted, the snow was already up to my mid-calf area, making it almost impossible to drag my luggages. So all of us carried our >30kg burden to the opposite side, and we decided to help each other carry the luggages up to the rooms because there were no elevators. By the time I was in my room, I wanted to sleep so badly, but I had no pillow, no blanket and no mattress cover. BOO. All of us made our way to IKEA to buy all the household necessities and we had the authentic IKEA meatballs that night. The most memorable dinner in Stockholm - a plate of meatballs and mash for just SEK16. Going back was another nightmare because it was nail bitingly cold and windy. I had the best sleep ever on the first night. 

This "first day in Stockholm" scenario keeps playing in my head whenever I miss my exchange experience. 

I miss my cosy hostel room that had the freshest tap water. 

I miss looking out of the window and seeing snow fall. 

I miss walking in snow in my boots, and occasionally slipping on ice. 

I miss the scarily accurate public transportation. The bus stop for bus 40 is just outside my building!

I miss doing my laundry and bitching about strangers who didn't know how to do laundry properly (LOL). 

I miss the beautiful KTH (or Royal Institute of Technology). 

I JUST MISS EVERYTHING LAH. :( 

I definitely must spend at least a month in Stockholm in the near future. The company has plans for me to go to Copenhagen for a research workshop at the headquarters. Maybe I should visit Stockholm after my week in Copenhagen! 

I LOVE YOU STOCKHOLM!!! 

I'm a Graduate! (WKWSCI Convocation Class of 2013)

OHYEAH I FINALLY GRADUATED FROM UNIVERSITY!!! 

14 years of education in Singapore has finally concluded. It didn't start easy at all. My gosh. Thinking back, the process was really quite painful. 

I came to Singapore not knowing a single word in English or Chinese. Basically I was a really unhappy 8-year-old in a foreign land. I had to leave my close friends and comfortable surroundings and immediately, I was sent to numerous tuitions. Back then, I had to stay in a host house. Although my mom was in Singapore, my tuition centre was at Parkway Parade, so she had no choice but to spend money on me living in a house full of other Indonesian kids. It was expensive okay. Like S$1000 a month expensive. Even though yes the house was really huge, but there were a lot of kids staying in the house. 

Even though I was surrounded by other Indonesian kids, I didn't feel at home at all. Too many kids meant that I was constantly ignored. Moreover, I was a really ugly kid, so nobody really cared. Hence, instead of studying, I did the extreme opposite. I ignored my homework and became a thief. I stole so many things that belonged to other kids. All I wanted was attention. My stealing habit got so bad that all the other kids avoided me and they put all their valuables in a locker. I didn't steal because I wanted the things, I stole because I wanted people to look at me. 

Then in 1999, I attended a true-blue heartland primary school (Ghim Moh Primary School). Oh dear gosh me, the first year was just as bad. By then, I could already converse in English, but once again I didn't really bother about my studies. In the end, I did well only in Mathematics and failed everything else. 

Eventually I woke up but it was too late because I didn't get satisfactory PSLE score. 

Then, I went to Choa Chu Kang Secondary School, and I must say that my secondary school years were one of my best years. I had great friends, great classmates and great teachers. Everything was awesome and I did really well for O Levels! 

I was excited to go into a more branded school. Anderson Junior College was branded then because top-tier neighbourhood secondary school students would normally choose to go into AJC. I was ambitious, so I did that. It was definitely the wrong choice. Don't get me wrong. My friends and teachers were really amazing and I had fun. But, I really was terrible in Physics and Chemistry and I did Science stream in JC because my mom told me to do so. I did so badly that during prelims, I only passed General Paper and Economics. The rest was graded "U" and my percentile was single digits for those subjects that I failed. 

Obviously I got really scared. I worked my ass off and I was able to pass A Levels with not so terrible grades. 

I chose NTU - WKWSCI and I waited and waited and waited. The letter didn't come until a couple of weeks before the closing of the registration period. HOMG THANK YOU WKWSCI FOR GIVING ME THIS OPPORTUNITY. 

My university years have been my most fruitful and most enjoyable years. I love how WKWSCI undergraduates know each other because the cohort is so small! I love everything about WKWSCI. Yes, some of the modules were tough and competition was crazy because everyone is so talented, but the process was very much satisfying. 

Now that I have graduated, I'm embarking on a new chapter in life - MY CAREER. 

To be frank, I kinda miss my school days. The grass is always greener on the other side, eh? 

Nevertheless, YAY I AM A GRADUATE!! :) 

My FYP mates are like family. We have heated arguments sometimes but we know everything will be okay the next time. Without them, I don't think I can survive my final year in WKWSCI so easily.

Thank you Mr Nielsen Ong, Kokky and Konkon. :')

YAY JAPAN TRAVEL BUDDIES. :) Cray Chay is my KPOP partner and we go crazy over stupid songs like EXO's Wolf. HAHAHAHA.

Thanks to my secondary school friends, Junyi, Lily and Mr Chung (yes we start wayyyy back hahaha) for coming and celebrating my convocation with me!!

Ah, what more can I say about Mr Chung? I'm not the most calm-headed and rational person to be with and this person has tolerated every of my flaws. Let's give him a round of applause for being the world's best boyfriend. :')

Bo! Or formally known as Dr. Jung YoungBo. Stats genius and a master at his specialisation. Our FYP wouldn't have gotten an A+ without his help! THANK YOU BO THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

Yay. I was super bloated during convocation but ohwell, smile and everything will be alright! Also, why are Marko and APH looking so glum? Dr D, on the other hand, smiled at EVERYONE. Also, thank you Dr D for remembering my name and calling me out for sneakily grabbing the last slice of cake during the graduation bash! A bit paiseh but I was so touched that he remembered my name! :')

I must of course thank my mom and my sis for coming! Family is always important when it comes to events like convocations!!

Of course, I cannot forget the Paverts. We used to be tight last time, but we chose different academic paths and hence we drifted apart from each other. However, at the end of the day, we know that we'll be there for each other. Going for FOC in 2009 was the best decision that I have ever made prior to university education!

Stockholm gang! Thanks for making my 6 months in Stockholm and Europe a more pleasant one! :)

I shall end this post with this lepak photo. Actually, I think this is the best photo in the entire album! Heh.

AH, ONTO CAREER AND SAVING MONEY! :D

Happy graduation to all 2013 graduates! :))

Graduate lo! (Well, almost!)

My last day in WKWSCI was a really eventful one (I don't cout exams lah, so April 22nd is my last day in school haha). It started off with a crazy transportation bonanza where SMRT once again proved to the world how useless it was. =___= But no let's not go there. 

We started the day with immense nerves. Our oral presentation for Final Year Project was at 915am and we were just rehearsing like mad! Of course it went well (I think) and it was all over by 945am! HOORAH! We then had a lot of waiting to do because the buffet lunch was at half past one. A lot of waiting meant a lot of gossiping with people that I haven't seen for a long long time, so that was precious! :') 

Buffet lunch was from Amici and the WKWSCI management still gave us wellness packs! So awesome ah this school. :) 

The night was spent at fabrika and the gathering was like a conclusion to our undergraduate lives and a beginning to many many years of alumni gatherings to come. 

Thank you WKWSCI for the 4 years of great education and for giving me the opportunity to know all my wonderful friends! I LOVE WKWSCI! 

Technically, WKWSCI also gave me my job, so THANK YOU MORE MORE WKWSCI! :) 

PHOTOS TIME!

This was taken right after our FYP oral presentation. HAPPY RESEARCHERS!! :) 

We also took one precious photo with Bo, our amazing FYP supervisor! The statistics genius!! 

Kokky was rehearsing her speech I think. haha. 

YAY WONDERFUL FRIENDS!! Where's Chay!!

HERE'S CHAY! :D 

Anyway, I know I'm not dressed up for presentation lah, but whatever haha, I tried to formalise everything with the black blazer. I was dressing up for fabrika!!

Wellness packs from WKWSCI! <3 td="">

Everyone queueing up because the buffet was ready to be attacked!!

Those mushrooms were just heavenly. They were completely wiped out when I went back for more. Sian.

With Mark, Jasmine and Krsytal! 

Finally caught up with some Paverts at fabrika! :) Been long since I saw them and it was a good gathering!! 

I cannot say enough ah, but THANK YOU WKWSCI! :))

See all of you guys again on July 26th!

Visual BOOM SHAKALAKAS

So addicted to Big Bang, I don't know what I'll do without their songs. Every single morning, a Big Bang or G-Dragon song will never fail to perk my mood up. :D

Anyway, so much things happened this past week. Freakishly, my "be careful of traffic accident" zodiac prediction by that channel 8 master came true. Yikes. 

On Monday, kengyang and I wanted to watch Saving General Yang at West Mall, so he picked me up after school. We were on the route that we always have taken, just that this time we were damn freaking unlucky. Just as we were turning (after the green arrow flashed) right, a damn huge truck came crashing into us. Like seriously?! We didn't even see it when we turned! Goes to show how freaking fast that driver was! :S So long story short, we escaped serious injuries because kengyang was quick enough to accelerate instead of stopping, and hence the truck hit the back of the car instead of the middle or the front (which meant I would have received the direct hit ohmygosh). Everything's fine now, but the car needs to undergo some repair. But of course, no injuries is always a good thing so yes we are not complaining about anything already. 

OK NO MORE SCARY STORY. 

Moving on to the photos that I took this past week! :) 

Amazing Greek Salad that I had after my second round of job interview. It was at Raffles Place MRT, but I can't really remember the name of the vendor. :S

My newly-discovered GAP sandals. I was cleaning my shoe closet and I realised I have a lot of unworn shoes. Not good at all. 

Successful tracing of the Sagrada Familia on transparency paper for the last week of Introduction to Printmaking.

Yay, my crown made out of Sagrada Familia! :D 

The only OOTD that I took last week. Every single day I tell myself I must take an OOTD shot, but in the end my poor memory got the best out of me. Blergh. Anyway, outerwear's from Uniqlo, tank and studded shorts from Chatuchak Market and shoes are from TOMS! :) 

MY FAVOURITE ICE CREAM. OMYGOSH. 

Very cheapo lunch at IKEA. This was only S$1.50 and I was fully satisified. <3 td="">

Yay finally met up with these two! Can't thank God enough for making amazing friends like them through my internship at MTV Asia! :) 

Food For Thought is officially my favourite brunch place. People complain that it doesn't serve poached eggs, but I'm fine because I very much prefer a good scrambled egg. The servings were CRAZY HUGE. I was on the verge of puking at the end of the meal but I persevered because everything was so good! :D Also, I didn't even order FULL WORKS (complete with chicken sausage), I only got the second largest (HOUSE WORKS) and I was filled up already. Great food from Food For Thought! 

Lizhen ordered the Granola pancakes. This was amazing too because the pancake had this pleasant hint of cinnamon! Everything was just deliciosoo~~

Ms Dora with her Black Ball shaved ice. 

This fringe is irritating me. I need to go for a trim before I fly to Japan! 

Thanks to Anthony for helping me get this from Hong Kong! Finally can play with my falsies again! :D

Have a great week everyone! Stay safe! :)

Recent visuals (it's April!!! One more month to Japan!!!)

It is a hectic week. We still have FYP Oral Presentation to settle and I still have so many essays undone! Blogging will be quite difficult these few days but I'm not going to abandon it altogether! Here are some visuals from the past couple of weeks! 

And woohoo, I can't wait for Japan!! :D