last post from Vienna and of 2006

this is the last post for this year. and also, from Vienna. Just had lunch with Cathi and Claus where I thoroughly enjoyed a great 2+ hours with!

This has been a roller coaster year; highlights includes the last minute decision to come for exchange this Fall in beginning January, the scramble to look for a University overseas (with 120 to choose from, it is very tough), got my first choice of WU in Vienna, searching for internships and getting turned away so many times, finally getting one in Corporate Communications, the internship which strenghthens my belief that Corp Comms is something I want to do, preparing for my exchange in Vienna, preparing for my Italian trip in September, preparing for all my trips in November, finally getting to Vienna, and most importantly, making friends I will never make should I had not embarked on this journey.

It all seemed so distant, from August, http://tohgt.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html where i packed my stuffs, till http://tohgt.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html where i had fun, till http://tohgt.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html where I made and bonded with my friends, to http://tohgt.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html where I travelled like crazy till now this










My bags are packed, the room is cleaned, and most importantly, it needs to be vacated, to be vacated for the incoming people where they'll have and create more memories which will be special to them.

This amazing journey that is another highlighted chapter of my life.

To great shopping,
To great holidays,
To great intership,
To great exchange,
To Vienna,
To Europe,
To all the friends I made,
You all helped me painted my memories,
My memories in vivid shades of hues.
Thanks for evrything and I wish you all a Happy New Year.

london last day!

After splurging on a new bag and 3 Topman Tees (18 pounds for them) later, I realised that I need to stop shopping (which will fail but that's a later story) Therefore, Tina and I decided to go to Big Ben and Houses of Parliament for photo snapping this morning.

Then we split up and she went to British Museum in hope of trying to join the 10.30 am guided tour and me to the Tata Modern for my Roy Leichtenstein and Andy Warhol addiction. The museum was big and have an ok selection. As my interest lies in Pop Art, I was actually kindda disppointed by the selection they have on display. I counted and there was less than 6 Warhol and 5 Leichtenstein. They have 1 Waterlilies by Monet. Still prefer my MoMA in NYC (even though I failed horribly in my attempt to intern for them!) After Tate Modern, I walked over the Millenium bridge and bypass St Pauls Cathedral where the beloved Princess Diana wed Charles years ago. There's actually a photo exhibition in Kensington Palace on photos by Mario Testino of Princess Diana and I wanted to visit it, but the steep admission of 11pounds just puts me off. Remember, I blew too much on shopping?

I was supposed to meet Tina at Bayswater to have roasted duck from Four Seasons (great food) at 12.30 but I was there and did not see her. So, I left after 30 minutes (realised later that she was there and was inside the restaurent) and decided to pamper myself to the best Dim Sum in London at Royal China along Baker Street. Had a meal of 4 Dim Sum and one pot of Claypot Rice with Chinese saussage and Chicken (marinated oh-so-well) and blew off 28 pounds. Every penny well spent though.

Then we met in the hostel before heading to Stanstead for our flight back at 8pm and i shopped more at the airport! Bought another 2 Ted Baker Tees and 2 books from Borders and more magazins. Failed attempt to control spending. Very bad.

london day 3: oxford and bicester village!

Finally made it to Bicester village today! Went back to hostel last night to gather more accurate information and realised that Bicester is near to town of Oxford where we wanted to go too! So, We hopped onto a train (17 pounds return) and went to Oxford, home to the best and most famous university in the world! The town was beautiful and after 1 hour there, we went to Bicester Village for the real reason why we came to Oxford. To advance my PhD for Shopping.


Bicester was kind of, no, it is a let down. Too crowded, and prices are not that cheap. Tina and I both agreed that The Mall really spoilt us both. Tod's at the mall sell for less than 300 Euros, Tods here at Bicester sells for 300 pounds. Go figure. But I still managed to get a Tod's belt for 48 pounds (and there's no box for it!) as well as some L'Occitane products for my friends back home. My dreams of snatching the Mulberry bag I craved for in London (retails at 276 pounds after discount in Bond Street) at the outlet was also dashed badly when they outlet Mulberry sells not so nice stuffs. Sulking shopper detected. Tina did however, get few good buys at FCUK.

Decided to go back to Oxford to immerse in the scholastic environment and chanced upon a walking tour group and we did wjat we are best at. Following behind their backs and pretended we do not understand english so the guide will not be suspicious of us two free loaders. Saw the bridge of sighs, and the library of Oxford Uni.







Bought dinner in the form of Cornish puffs and ate in in the train on our way back. Then we went to Harrods for the sale which started today and i tried to get my mulberry again. But alas, the men's section is so pathetic, I think my wardrobe can do better.


Hopes of finding a new pair of shades from D&G or Prada were also dashed cos the designs on sale were not exactly my type and those that are nice after the 20% discount still costs a bomb! Good thing is that Tina and I saw a man carrying Krispy Kreme donuts and i just tapped on his shoulders to ask where he got it - from Harrod's Food Hall! Finally tasted these wonderfully fluffy light creatures of desires! Oh, and I also gave into my failed debate as to whether I need another more messenger bag when I zoomed off to Selfrides to get my Mulberry Alfie. Apparently, I googled it up just a moment agoa and found out the Jude Law had been spotted carrying this bag! So blew my budget of 276 pounds and got myself an Alfie (mine's not in the color pictured, mine's a nice tanned brown)

London Day 2

We were supposed to be in Bicester Village today but Tina failed to realised that when the website says "bus in front of Debenhams from Oxford" it meant "bus in front of Debenhams from (town of) Oxford" and not "bus in front of Debenhams from Oxford (which we, or rather, she, presumed was near Oxford Circus Station in London)". So, we spent 1 hour walking along Debenhams in London trying to find a road which is nowhere near Debenhems. What a great start right?

After me getting mad at her for failing to even get 1 thing done correctly (hello, the mall in florence was extremely hard to locate and no official info in English but I still got it!) We decided to walk along Bond Street since most of the Boutiques (read: very expensive stuff like Prada, Gucci, Dloce etc etc...) will be opened today as they were all closed on 26th. Went to Mulberry where I fell in love with a messenger mag (yes I know, i have enough of messenger bags at home) But I retreated and decided to think it through before another purchase.

At night, we decided to try our luck to get student tickets for the play The Woman in Black, the longest running stage show in London, and had tons of rave reviews. Went to Convent Garden and walked around and we did managed to get two 15 pounds special student tickets that were originally priced at 40+ pounds by showing up 1 hour earlier at the theatre.

The play was brillient and extremely spine chilling, and the money's definately well spent!

London calling!

No! London calling here's not the Wednesday theme night in Vienna club Flex, but rather, it's the real actual London City! London of the United Kingdom, Great Britain, whatever, can't they decided to name themself as one proper name instead of having so many?

Arrived in London Stanstead (that means yes, I flew on a budget airline) and Tina and I did not sleep throughout the entire previous night cos we both had to pack our lugguage, especially me cos I only have 1 day in Vienna after getting back on the 29th (leaving back home on 31 morning) We stayed at this lovely boutique hostel called Palmers Lodge and we have to change trains at Baker Street (home to Mr Holmes) everyday we need to get into town (as in the shopping district of Bond Street).

We were in time for Boxing day sale at Selfridges along Bond Street and man! It was a scene there! I swear to myself that never have I ever seen such a choatic place. To think those Brits will have some manners, but apparently, all hell break loose on the sale! With discounts of 50% on top designer brands, people were literally clawing at each other to the thump of the musice they blasted over the hi-fi system. If you dim the lights any further, you'll think you're in a club, with fingernails constantly attacking your skin. The queue for Gucci were like half a mile long stretching onto the street outside of the department store and I swear again, this is the foirst time in months that I have seen so many Asians! In fact, on the train back at night after watching Spamalot in West End, Tina realised that there was only 1 single white female in the carriage of the tube we are in, the rest are either Indians or Orientals! It was also very interesting to sight this Abercrombie sign along Bond Street, which means that they are finally coming across the Atlantic! Tina just cannot resist snapping a shot of these beautiful torsos.


Being extremely sleep deprived, Tina and I, or rather, just me, cannot afford to dig out any extra energy to shop and fight with others to get to my stuffs. So, after walking along Bond Street like zombies for 2 hours in the morning, we decided to retreat and concede defeat to the other shoppers and went to have lunch in Chinatown where I had Dim Sum (Chinese version of Tapas which consists of a gazillion items you can choose)


Thereafter, we did some sight seeing along the Thames. Tower Bridge and of course at night, we went to catch Monty Python's Spamalot in Leicester Square. Tim Curry starred and he is so funny! The whole show is so funny! We were also at Trafalgar Square at night to snap some shots.

christmas day in vienna!

i spent christmas day today in vienna with tina, faizah and gang at the albertina where they had a picasso collection on show. Though I'd been there on museum night in october before with kevin and rob and the half of vienna, meaning i actually get to see more of human heads than picasso paintings in the galleries, and smell more body odour than paint, it all seemed so distant now. Nonetheless, they had a Andy Warhol collection on Popstars and being a pop art fan, i decided to give modern art museum a miss. Ok, the real reason was that tina and i watched victoria's secret fashion show last night till 4 am and i just cannot wake up at blardy 11 am to make it to modern art, then to albertina. Readers of this blog whold also have realised that this is the 4th and i-wonder-how-many-farking-times i have seen the vic's secret show in a month.

After Albertina, we walked around the 1st district and I brought them to try gelato from Zanoni & Zanoni (i know, they are from milan, so how can i compare gelatos? haha) after that, met claus for coffee at diglas, where we had dinner and a nice chat. As usual, Claus was such a sweetie and my friends felt so touched by his sincerity and nice-ness! On a Christmas day, it's just felt so much more warmer to have such a greta friend!

Then I had to bring them to try the Ottakringer beer cos they have not tried it yet! How can anyone come to Vienna and not try Ottakringer! So we went to Bettelstudent, where I celebrated my 23rd birthday in September, and everyone had a round of beer! And more good chat!

Came back and chatted with Whitney and realised Rob tried to skype call me! haha, well, dear ole' Whitney had the goodyear sneakers for pressies on Xmas too, but she did not really like it and she's gonna change for something better! haha...Had a chat with Montse and Marta and it just felt so good to be able to 'see' them on my lappie screen! Just said goodbye to the Thai girla, Mook, Cha and Fon as Tina and I'll not be seeeing them again as they'll be in Paris and Italy till January. But the goodbye was not a sad one because Tina and I know that we'll definately fly to Bangkok to see them in August!

Will be flying off to London with Tina on the 6am flight and the taxi'll be here at 4 am, so 1 more hour and I'll be on my way to the airport.

To all my friends, merry christmas and i hope yours was as special as mine!

a new beginning

i was so sad, or rather, devastated, when (in order) Etienne (although he left like 2 weeks ago and I wasn't feeling that much pain then, but still, he is special in my heart too!) Christina, Martha, Severine, Pauline, Montse, Rob, Whitney,Florie, Jeanbaptist, Andrea, Mindy, Kevin (basically, the entire Panorama!) left within a 24 hour period time frame on 22 Dec that the whole of 22, i was basically crying the whole day. In fact, I even felt like closing this blog to start a new one, but alas, I reasoned that that is stupid cos' this exchange is so special and should always be part of my life. And this blog documents my life so all these wonderful memories should stay with me. Therefore, I am finally blogging again after 2 days. After Rob left, I felt so weird in my double room as I am all alone now andI simply cannot stand seeing the other half of my room which is all empty. In the end, after 1 hour of tossing around in bed trying very hard to sleep, I had to call fmy riends and talk to them. I had never felt so emotional before in my life. In fact, I felt so fucking screwed up to a certain extent while I was crying over MSN to Wenfang. Thanks Wenfang for hearing me out and also to Josephine and Tina. In the end, I had to leave my room cos it's just too sad to face a now all empty room- a room where so much joy was shared and more fun were created. A room which will never be the same again. Of course, I had to do what all other self deserving sad lonely soul will do - shopping. Bought myself a pair of new adidas shoes with goodyear soles! awesome buy and after 109.95 euros poorer, i left the shop happy.



Had to come back to prepare dinner for Andrea (leaving at 8pm) and Kevin and Mindy (at 4am the next morning). Just an absolute last dinner with them and the Thai girls. I felt so lonely cooking on the L8 kitchen, a kitchen where so much joy were shared and exchanged and new friends found, and much bonding were made. Hate the kitchen now and I don't think I'll ever wanna cook again. It just pains me to be alone there facing the now empty room. After cooking, went down to L7 to eat with them and as I was making my toast, I cannot help but, yes, cry again. It's just too hard. Just too hard.





During dinner, we heard from Claus that Rob and Whitney (or R&W) were stranded in Paris for 1.5 days as their flight to states from CDG is non-existant. Basically, STA travel screwed up their flight plans! So they had to sleep in CDG for a night! Whitney just skype me and told me that they were the last 2 on stand by to be allowed to board from Atlanta back home. We all had such a fun time at dinner imitating how Whitney would have screamed at Rob and cursed at STA at CDG. Too funny, and luckily, it took some pain and sadness of from dinner and in Mindy's room while she was packing. It was also hilarious to see how Mindy attempted to strategized her packing. Also did my last laundry in Panorama that night. So funny of Mindy to say that we probably spent more time in the fucking laundry room than school cos of all the German instructions and difficult to operate machines. Till date, i am still very puzzled by them! So glad it's all over!



The next day, I still felt bad after waking up around 1pm and luckily for me, Tina was arriving from Prague. I decided to go Praterstern to pick her up. Reached there 30 minutes late and didn;t see her so I came back. Mook told me that Tina was in her room and upon hearing that I was at Praterstern, she actually went back to look for me, but then again, I was already back in my dorm. Decided to call Mook's number which was passed to her and meet her at Zara in Stephansplatz. We walked around the city for a while and because I still felt so upset, even Zara failed to cheer me up as too many memories of shopping there with Whitney flashed back. Yes readers, even Gerald can get sick of Zara, literally. Walked out of the damn shop and told Tina how I missed all of them and all the fun time we had walking down KartnerStrasse and I actually started tearing again! The walk was so emotional because just on Wednesday night we're all walking on it on our way to Soho. And we had so much fun. Anyway, Tina started rolling her eyes and commented on how pathetic I was but she was so nice in trying to get my mind off them by bringing me into Swarovski. Tina bought a lovely pendent and the shop did cheer me up a little. Come on, with so many sparkling glittery crystals, my eyes were too dazzled to cry!





Anyway, Mook, Cha and Fon (The Thai girls) made a very delicious dinner for Tina and Me and that really helped lifted Tina's and mine spirits! Thanks! After dinner, we head out to Rathaus Christmas market for some photo taking session. On the tram, I'd realised that I had never taken a phot of myself in the Tram so asked, or rather, directed Tina to take one for me! haha







Today, I finally got over most of the sadness and decided to go with Tina to the Museum of Modern Art but alas, it was closed and therefore we decided to try our luck at Diglas. It was opened! Had traditional Viennese desserts and an omelette before heading to meet Faizah and gang for Xmas eve dinner at Latte Grande. Paid 13.50 euros for a good spread of buffet and we all had a great time there! Meeting them tomorrw for coffee with Claus and Lou at Diglas. Cannot wait!
















After dinner, Tina and I decided to do some Vogue shots at the U Bahn station on our walk home since we missed the last 11A bus back to Adolf Scharf Heim.