Saturday, February 10, 2007
*WARNING! This is a very long entry!*
Spent the last few weeks travelling around Europe which includes Italy (Rome), Switzerland (Zurich, Bern, Basel & Appenzell), France (Strasbourg & Paris), Belgium (Brussels) and lastly England (London). It was really an enriching experience to travel to all these places and not least shall be said about those corporate visits. It had definitely broaden my views and knowledge. Let's just say for this trip, I have learnt a lot, WALKED a lot, shopped a lot. Hee. This trip was not only a vacation trip for me but it was also a study tour. Went to all these places with students from Monash University, students ranging from Bachelor degree to Master to MBA. Thus, I also met new people during the trip cause we have different class. What's more, a lot of scandals and couples were born during the trip. Interesting right? I'll try to write out the details of the trip through memory and pictures. haha.
~Rome Visit~
Our first stop was Singapore! haha. We were in Changi to transit for about 5hrs, I think. Left the group to meet my family. Met up with them for a while. Then later on, I went back in to wait at the gate with my friends. They were all sitting down on the floor playing cards. I didn't join in but gave xiao mei a call. She was pretty surprised at first. Anyway, the flight to Rome took about 11hrs if I'm not wrong. Gosh! It was a torture for me. It was almost a whole day of flying. However, knowing me, I can sleep in ALL conditions. LOL. I slept almost half of my journey to Rome. Played cards with lee shan for the other half of the journey. When we finally reach the Rome airport, we were all very hyper, very excited. When we were waiting to get through the customs, I realised I was the only one who slept for a very long time. Hee. *embarrassed* Anyway, our first official stop, ROME! Looking through the itinery, Hotel Torino, the next few days of our home, it was rated FOUR STARS!! We all had our expectations of a four stars hotel but never did we expect it to be such a one star standard. I think it's like those budget hotels. The rooms are pathetic. When we all got our keys we started to compare rooms.
After all these dramas, we separated into different groups and grab a map from the reception and went exploring Rome on our own. It was a little difficult cause most of the locals don't speak English. So we ended up using "hand language". Lunch was o-k-a-y. Later on, the people from the restaurant told us a few places we might want to visit. We took the Metro (something like MRT in Singapore) to a few places. Again, the train ticket-er doesn't speak English. So when we were buying the tickets we were like "hand-signalling" again. We wanted to go Spagna, not knowing how to pronounce it we showed it to her on the map. She pronoun something like "Spain". We were all shocked!! Cause, we don't want to go all the way to Spain!! After a few more minutes of hand signalling, we realised that "Spain" was the place we wanted to go. haha. Spagna was a street filled with shops like Chanel, LV, YSL, Dior. You name it, they have it. Also, we met this old man, he spoke very good english. He told us the history of certain places, places we MUST visit, etc. ha.
Next day, we had our guide, Mr Onofri, and started our tour of Ancient Rome. We visited places like The Forum, Colosseo and Pantheon.
Some interesting fact, Forum has this little corner where Julius Caesar was cremated. And, it has fresh flowers on it everyday. This was a little something I learnt from the old man the day before.
Colosseo is this place where gladiators would fight with each other or animals.
Patheon used to be a temple in the past.
This is the famous Fontana Di Trev. Legend has it that if you throw in one coin you will come back to this place again. Throw two coins, is if you wish to meet someone. Throw three coins if you want to break up with someone. Believe a not, it's up to you.
Later in the day, we went to the Vatican city on our own. Visited St Peter's church. It's really magnificent. It a place where the pope live.Had pasta and pizza everyday in Rome. Anyway, if you get the chance to go Rome, remember to bring sports shoes or any shoes that have flat soles. Cause I wore my boots and heels in Rome and I feet hurt like hell. And, staying in Rome for 2 days is good enough, I think.
The next stop was Zurich. I shall continue in the next post. haha.. I'm lazy already....
YEstie
12:28 PM
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
I just realised that I hardly blogged in year 2006 and that there isn't any blog entries for the whole of December and January. Hmmmm.. Oopps.. I'm not very sure what I was busy with but my most of my summer vacation was mainly in Melbourne.
Let me try to summarise from memory what happened in for the past two months. Hee:)
1. Took a summer course which is called International study program in banking and finance. So, I was studying or trying to study during the summer. Had classes everyday, so was balancing between absorbing information from lectures and doing the tutorial. As Roger, the lecturer, would called out people to answer questions. Anyway, after the two weeks block of lectures, I had to prepare for exams. Holy crap!!! All I can say is that I just hope to pass. The exam was totally DIFFICULT. Well, we did "complain" a little to Roger during the trip. Trying to hint him to go easy on us. Cause even those who major in finance find it too difficult!! Anyway, after the exam, I rest a little and needed to start researching and writing my report. Two choices was given to us, we could either hand in the report before the trip or after the trip. I chose to hand in earlier cause I wanted to enjoy my Europe trip and the rest of my holidays in Singapore.
2. Spent my Christmas in Melbourne. Join Melisa's care group (known as cell group in Singapore) for the celebration. It was held at one of the members' place. A lot of people showed up. It was crowded. Anyway, it was a simple gathering, nothing flashing or anything. Exchange gifts, met new people, sang carols, etc.
3. Also, spent my new year in Melbourne. Spent the new year's eve at Canny's house. She is Zoe's ex-boss's friend. Ha, kind of complicated but they are really a very nice and friendly family. And, I totally LOVE their house. It's so big and pretty. I also must give credit to Canny and Kenny cause their cooking skills are totally fabulous. I would put up pictures later, if I remember.
4. Celebrated Andrew's birthday at his house, Colac. It is very very very far away from Melbourne city. Anyway, Andrew's eldest brother, Jonathan, picked me, Zoe and Ken from the halls. It was a small family gathering, only some friends and close relatives were invited.
5. Celebrated Kristy's birthday at St. Kilda beach with some of her friends and cousin. Had a BBQ party. It was a small party but enjoyable. I'm still waiting for the pictures from her.
6. Packed everything out of my room cause I was going away. It was quite a rush as I was busy with the report and packing up of my things. I had only 1 day to packed. I had to wake up early and sleep late to pack my luggage for the Europe trip and pack everything to Kristy's place.
Okay, can't really remember what happened already. Anyway, for January, I was mainly in Europe. I would update about my Europe trip when I'm free. Hee ;)
YEstie
6:53 PM