halloween prep

halloween will be here in 15 min's time and this is what i'll look like tomorrow!!!! except better! there'll be lights (green and red!) wrapped across me!

darn that stupid picasa

picasa is making me fume with its slow connection and inability to upload my photos online onto my blog! that means i have to go back to pre-picasa days where i had to upload my photos manually!

anyway, so many things happened after graz and melk. i went to an authentic opera in Vienna Opera House! Yes i did! And it was a mind-blowing opera! But it us unglam cos Tina and I, being poor students, could only afford to pay for Standing Area Tickets which means that we have to queue up 3 hours before the opera starts at 7pm. And we figured that if we are standing for 3 hours straight, why bother to dress up?!

Oh, the opera was Carmen (Yes! I heard that famous song live!) and it was in French. Tina and I tried to figure out what language till we heard familiar french phrases like 'Vous le vous' and 'Pardon'

By the way, those cheap tickets at 3.50 Euros were really a steal! And we were standing just behind those most expensive seats in the groud floor! That means, we both have an unobstructed view of the stage and the opera! If you take away the standing and squeezing part, Tina and I, well at least I did feel like a million bucks and was indeed, paying top notch hell blowing prices for an opera! We also had little screens in front of the stands to showcase subtitles in various languages!

By the way, the stage of the opera was also very cool! The stage was actually tilted at an angle (which meant that all the players are playing and acting out on a slope) to ensure everyone have a great view of the actors on stage!

Had a blast and i am so looking forward to my next opera!

The Vienna Opera House

Walked around with Tina cos we cancelled Slovenia and i realised there's a BDO smacked within the LV, D&G, Tiffany!

At Diglas with Tina and as usual, had my Latte and a cake!

Tina said I looked like a typical exchange student here.haha...and the wind was freezing yesterday!

Graz and Melk

Tried to post stuffs on Graz and Melk through Picasa and somehow the posted items all disappeared from my blog even though Picasa said that they are posted online. Darn technology!
Anyway, I met Tina in Graz yesterday at 2.30pm (she took the direct train from Prague) and apparently, she met some weird guy on the train whom hit on her. Ha, if you are interested in that, go to her blog through the link on my right panel. This blog is mine and should all revolve around me afterall. Ha

The weather was beautiful and sunny yesterday which meant that we would have theoretically enjoyed the trip to this UNESCO site. But unless you consider the following to be your version of a great destination:

1. Plenty of bugs in swarms across various places in the city

2. Bees chasing after your Clementines while sitting on a bench

3. Spider web stuck on you and a spider following you as you twirl round and round wondering why it is following you

Then Graz is simply the ideal and perfect place for you!

In the end, our best Graz moment was when we were busy eating the Clementines I brought along with me, me enjoying my hot tea in my thermos-flask, and us both gorging on the Swiss Butterfly cookies I got while sitting on the hill with the sun glaring in our eyes and bees flying around my fruits and flies swarming Tina’s hair. We took the 5.30 train out of Graz and ended the day much earlier than expected. And we were glad to do it (ending the trip, not going for the trip).

The town of Graz

The futuristic looking Kunthaus in Graz; if only the city would be as unique as the building


The freaking high clock tower that tina and i tried to climb to but gave up and had our picnic where we were entertained by bees and flies


The cool man-made 'island'; half is open space for performing, the other, a indoor cafe


This afternoon, we took a train to Melk, and after the utterly disappointing turnout of Graz yesterday, we both were feeling like the weather today; Gloomy and unpredictable!

Despite the guidebook showing gorgeous pictures of the Melk Abbey being perched atop a hill, and claiming it to be the biggest abbey in whole of Europe, Tina was very skeptical about the charm this monastery will bring to us. To make things worse, we followed a group of peeps whom were going to the river to catch a boat to another town and not to the top of the hill to the abbey! 2 very unhappy Singaporeans were complaining very loudly today!

But thanks to great help from locals in Melk we soon reached the top of the Abbey and were greeted by a gorgeous Yellow Baroque style structure that blew us both away! The ornate building and the gorgeous interiors simply made us realized that Melk is way better than Graz (definately)! The beautiful gardens was also very pleasant as we took a walk and another picnic (in a much more pleasant location this time round, with not much bees, in fact, we only saw 2 bees today!) before staring our guided tour of the Abbey.

I highly recommend Melk to anyone visiting Austria and besides, the cheaper train tickets and admissions prices are a huge plus! I paid 14.80Euros return on the train with the admission into the abbey at 5.90 compared to 29.80Euros return on the train to Graz!

The beautiful Baroque Gardens


The facade of the Abbey!


Mozart was at Melk too!


The staircase inside the Abbey


Gorgeous Baroque style church inside the Melk Abbey


It's Autumn !


The exterior of the Abbey


The courtyard of the Abbey


Shopping after Abbey Visit!


Focus of this is not me! Tina said the lady behind looked like my mother!


She's not posing for us! Tina snapped this while the woman's looking at her hubby's camera!


And Tina and I had the best Weiner Schnitzel in Vienna at Figmuller after we came back from Graz where we paid 12 euros for this!


Also, we were seated at a table of 6 with 4 other, are you ready, Taiwanese and we were trying so hard to pretend that we do not understand any Chinese while there are talking bout the bad and dried Schnitzel (Taiwan's chicken chop is better they say), and how they prefer French and Italian cuisine, to abortion and cons of having kids growing up in West where they end up promiscious. Of course, Tina and I understood every single word and we were trying so hard to not laugh to prevent them from knowing that we do, in fact, understand, Mandarin. The best part was them asking among themselves why Tina and I had the Marmalade sauce (like cranberry sauce) while they did not (FYI, we paid extra for it!) and Guy A saying it may be for everyone on the table while Guy B reasoned that it is not cos' only me and Tina have it and not everyone in the restaurant.


Being Singaporean rocks!

Posh Dinner and an underground club

Ok, life withour Rob is just too good, I woke up at 3pm today! Man, I can and am indeed, so starting to get used to this lifestyle. however, i gotta wake up to catch the 12 noon train to Graz tomorrow because I am meeting Tina there! Waking up at 10, it's a torture which I never really liked.

Anyway, I was at Do&Co last night with Whitney and we both dressed up for the event at this posh restaurant! Whitney had on a gorgeous down jacket (or coat) from Diesal and she look like a billion bucks! Well, I only look like a million bucks with my newly bought Sisley Sweater and Gucci boots! haha.

The restaurant was gorgeous! It is set on the top floor of the building and we got a good, but not very great, seat by the bar that overlooked St. Stephans Cathedral. The food was a mixture of Western and Asian (Fusion) and they are indeed very very expensive! I blew 60Euros on a Tom Yum Kung (very authentic without the hotness-perfect for me), Crispy Duck Noodles in a Tangy Sweet Chilli Sauce, 2 drinks (Maserati and a Rose) and the ultimatum, Baked Chocolate Mousse!

The food was so good and definately worth every penny for the experiance! Of course, the presence of Whit was another added plus! I am saving money for a second trip there!

The menu with locations all over the world!


Whitney with her drink


My Tom Yum Kung with Mushrooms and shrimps


Whitney with her main course, she is happy!


My Crispy Duck Noodels!


I am happy too!



Whitney and her Iris Coffee post meal


My dessert! Baked Chocolate Mousse


The view of St. Stephans from our table


Whitney at St. Stephans at night with my bad camera


After the dinner, Whitney and I went to Soho for some cheap drinks as it was Erasmus night, but by the time we got there, we were at a filled bar with people we never met before! In the end, Whitney went with Mindy and gang to another place while I met up with Montse and Andrea to Flex where they were playing London Underground. The entrance was 5 Euros but the place was crowded and the music was good. Montse had a great time there before leaving for Barcelona today at 8pm and as she said, she had found her favourite club in Vienna and wants to make regular weekly trips there! ha.

Me, Whitney and Mindy at Berm. Triangle


Post Flex with Montse and Andrea and Montse's favourite drink: Eristoff Ice, vodka with lemon juice which is lovely!


Can you see it? London Calling...


The power of three...haha

Burgers, Curses and an unhappy room mate in Italy

I finally set the time zone on my Blogger to Vienna time, so no more weird Singapore timings for posts anymore! haha.

The time now in Vienna is 2pm (as evident in my newly updates settings!) and I just woke up (i know, i am such a pig even in Vienna); I am finally realizing the importance of having a room mate. Without Rob, my life is just so much more peaceful but then again, it is also too overly peaceful and quiet to make or create any significant impact. The missing shuffles of his gigantic footsteps when he gets up at 10 am as a wake up call for me is just one example. Anyways, Rob left for Italy on his grand trip yesterday with the 6.30 train departure from Sudbanhof to Venice and that poor man-boy still had to do last minute packing!

Also, I kindda think that he is cursing at me and the rest of us at home base simply because we have lined up a spectacular array of activities while he is gone.

We had plan to go for great burger at 1516 for lunch with Claus yesterday afternoon, to this ultra hip chi-chi club Passage last night, Whitney and I will be at Do & Co, reputed to be Vienna’s best restaurant atop Zara(!) at Haus Haas overlooking Stephanplatz tonight at 8pm with reservation made one week in advance, then to another hip club Volksgarten on Thursday night.

But alas, the weather yesterday was bad! It was cloudy and rainy and we did not manage to get to Passage! Either Rob is cursing at us, or the weather or bad luck is due to Lacey being back from Switzerland yesterday!

In the end, we went to Berm Tri again and surprise surprise! I counted and there were only 15 pathetic people including us at the club! 15! Freaking 15! How to dance?!!!!! So determined to make it to Volksgarten on Thursday (before 10 for free entry) now!

Anyway, the burger lunch with Whitney, Michelle and Claus was wonderful! The burger only cost me 9 Euros and it was worth every single penny! Look at how happy and thrilled Whitney is to have some great american food! (Mental Note: Think Lacey is causing the photo to be blur...)

My Burrrrrrr-gerrrrrr

What the rest had:

Lastly, the weather today in Vienna is beautiful! The skies are clear and the weather is slightly warmer. Maybe I'll go for a walk!

solo hollow

Firstly, I skipped this morning's Forex Risk lesson cos I did not complete my tutorials. I know, bad exchange student I am. Whatever~

Interesting fact: I will be having 6 nights of solitude boredom starting tomorrow as Rob leaves for Italy. Actually, it's just 3 nights simply because Tina'll be here to sleep on Rob's bed (now you gals can start getting envious of her) from Fri till Sun. And on the floor over Sunday (now you gals can laugh at her). Life's not that perfect afterall.

But wait! Dear ole' Rob just said that she can sleep on his bed over Sunday too! I guess Rob just want the scent of Tina on his bed.

Mental note: Rob's starting to exhibit Lacey-licious behaviour

Anyway, something funny happened last night. I was trying to sleep, but the caffine in the Bai Mu Dan Chinese Tea in my system taken in at 11 pm just kept me awake! So the ipod earphones came off and I thought I was hearing Lee Hom's Wei Yi (=The Only One) playing out of my ear phones before realising that I do, in fact, not have that song in my ipod. I placed my earphones over my ears and trust me, Rihanna's Pon de Replay certainly does not sound anything remotely similar to Mandarin pop.

Only then I'd realised that the only other person (hello, it's 1 am, of course I would like to think that it's an actual human being listening to the darn song!) who can be listening to the song will be Rob! True enough, he was indeed listening to Lee Hom's Wei Yi.

Mental note: Random caucasian room mate listening to Mando-pop in middle of night is freaky and funny at the same time.

Reality check: If asian guy can listen to Thalia and Juanes and Chayanne uttering lightning rate Spanish lyrics, random caucasian can do whatever he wants.

So anyway, I reheated my leftovers, and I finally finished all of them tonight. Also decided to make an omelette with ham and tomatoes to go with leftovers:

lions and tigers and bears...oh my!

i am starting to realise that more people are starting to get access to this frustration outlet of mine and i am so gonna be extra careful on what i am gonna put up on here...haha. I just cannot affort to have more enemies. Yes readers, I do indeed have enemies.

Now that I have gotten that away, lets go back to what I am good at. Posting stuffs about ME. Duh? it is afterall, my blog ~

I invited Cathi (my amazing buddy whom I had not met for soooo long), Whitney, Cha, Mook, Fon, Montse and also stole Rob's wonderful buddy, Clause over to dinner where I whipped up a decent meal of Sweet Sour Pork, Stir Fry Chinese Cabbages with Pork and my favourite, Bak Kut Teh! Yes, folks, I used the spices that Josephine mailed to me and managed to buy Ribs from Merkur to cook the dish!

Rob was not bale to make it and poor ole' lil' boy was slightly sad that he was not able to make, pasta (what else is there?) for his buddy. Reason for not able to attend, well, he went to catch a symphony performance with Michelle. Since they both have access to my blog now, I'd better not fill in any additional blanks to prevent any prospective law suits.

Joke: Etianne and Jeanbaptist, after seeing the ribs lying on the kitchen, was asking if I am cooking dog or cat. Ha, if only these animals have such HUGE ribs.

Mental note: at least i do not force feed my geese to get fois gras.

So many stuffs happened and I just do not have enough time to update eveything! Jeanbaptist's girlfriend, Carole is here to visit him from France and we all joked about Etianne needind his ipod over the weekend. Cha, Mook and Fon, went to Switzerland, and the best part, Crazy Lacey is now there and apparently, she'll be gone for some time. No wonder every hostel is celebrating with parties.

I went out with Cathi, Cha and Sonia (Mexico), and Pablo(Spanish) last night after dinner and had a wonderful time. Starting to think that I am partying too hard here, and in 30 min, I am going to Diglas again!

And who told you Vienna is boring?

Montse with the huge mess I partly help contributed in the kitchen

The 'dog' and 'cat' meat

Pablo, Cathi and Me at Soho 3

supermodel

today, i am gonna bitch all about, who else, but my room mate. Yes, yes, yes, I know I am so starting to appear stalker-rish on Rob, but girls, is this not what you all want? Guilty pleasures huh? However, sad to inform all that ever since I showed rob that photo of him lying on his bed with nothing except his boxers, he now fear for his own personal 'exposure' so much that he is putting tons of cloth to protect his modesty whenever he goes to bed. No more sexy shots. Plus, the weather of Vienna has also not been helping simply because it is getting colder and colder day by day

Mental note: maybe I should start installing pin-hole cameras...haha...

Anyway, I went out last evening with Montse to have a walk outside hostel and I finally decided to wear my newly bought Gucci boots from The Mall! Lokk at these pretty shoes!


Ok, back to Rob. He got a new 2 layered North Face Jacket from the Mall which Michelle, Clause, and I went with him to clollect yesterday. I personally thinks that the jacket suits him to a perfect T!



And we went out (yes, again) last night till 5.30 am and finally took the U-Bahn train back to dorm.


Lastly, Rob did laundry last week and decorated our room a lil' bit. Typical frat jock stuffs; boxers and frat tees, those americans, haha.

heart aching

dear irene:

(if you ever get to see this blog entry)

I had a great time in vienna with you, and who can ever forget all those good time we had in Cafe Diglas and the cooking sessions in my hostel. It's very heart wrenching for me to not be able to help you get over your anxiety while you were here in Vienna, but it's even more crushing that I was not able to make you feel so at home here, for not you would not have caught a plane and fly back home on october 13.

Nonetheless, thank you for at least being here to sample my cooking, and by the way, i managed to finally make a very good sweet and sour now that I have got my ketchup.

I hoped you are well and at least enjoying all those great food back home, and I cannot wait to see you when school starts in January, 2007.

Thank you for being here in Vienna, and once again, sorry that I was not able to convince you that Vienna was great for you, like it is for me.

your friend, always
gerald

presentation day!

had my first presentation today for IT on scanners and printers (covered by me) and I actually managed to talk non stop for 40 minutes. I also managed to realise that I do indeed talk very fast because i see tons of blurred faces, especially the other exchange students. But nonetheless, my group got tons, and i mean, tons, of positive comments. haha.

oh, anyway, i also finally get to meet my academic adviser, Dr. Horst today and he seemed so nice! He was trying to show me this place in Slovenia called Bled and he even google it up!

I am also attaching a vid of Rob taken yesterday (i think), of him imitating an american women he met on the streets (or was it in a cafe?). The lady was speaking like a retard when Rob directed her to his buddy who speaks perfect english. Really love how my room-mate (Rob, of course, duh?) can do such funny impersonations.

after thought and more clubing

i've been here for like 2 months and have always resisted the urge to get and install skype but after meeting hyena on msn and realising that the quality of bitching is so much better with her, i finally installed skype on my lappie...haha.

and after telling and sharing with wanjing my blog, we both actually came to the conclusion (which i am sure all of my friends will tell you too) that i am indeed ATTENTION DEPRIVED. haha. yes i am. i admit it. darn~

so dear rob, i hold no grudge against whatever you said cos you are right! haha. besides, how can i ever be mad at you?! you are such a great room mate to have!

anyway, just wanted to share with all another video by us three. this time round Whitney is supposedly cheating on me with Rob (AKA the Director) and I (AKA crazy asian guy) come into the room and caught them after the act and i just go mad. haha...



so last night we (Montse, Martha, Catharina, Mar, Diana, Andrea, Rob and Me) went to a club after spending 2 hours at an irish pub and the dance floor was good simply cos it was not that crowded and we all managed to have some form of dancing!

sad :(

Disclaimer: This post was posted after another of my nights out where I had lots to drink and some, or rather, alot, of emotions may have been poured out (whatever~) but despite some stuffs that were said on impulse, I will not retract this post simply because I think that if I want to say out stuffs, I should have them stuck on with me.

just came back from another night of partying at swedenplatz and this time round, we party so hard that we need not even have to take the night bus back home to panorama cos' by the time we left the club, it's like 5 am. ! So, theoretically, or rather, in reality, we did take the metro which starts at 5.12 (especially after we spent more time at the pizza stand grabbing our du rigour pizza after a night out).

The vids will be posted soon, by meanwhile, I just wanna tell everyone out there that Rob said that I always do weird stuff to him., like hitting him, taunting him (and especially Kentucky and the USA) after i am drunk. The classic was last night when I piss him off by saying that Switzerland has a higher GDP than USA (which all of us know that it's not true) I also punched him (lightly!) 3 times on the bus and he said i was ATTENTION DEPRIVED! He then lamented that i do not need to treat him like this whenever i feel neglected by him!

Rob! i know you got my blog address and u are so gonna read this, so i just wanna clarify that...FINE! just blame the only child syndrome in me that i am ATTENTION DEPRIVED! Whatever (tongue out)!

Just ask Tina and she'll tell you that I am only ATTENTION DEPRIVED when i am with my frtiends. If I not take you as my friend, I'll not even be that ATTENTION DEPRIVED in the first place! But then again. you are only but a room-mate. Nah, you are a friend actually (swallowing hard).

Maybe i just am trying to step over the border with you with regards to what i am constantly doing to you all the time, but it is still sweet of you to apologise to me for calling me ATTENTION DEPRIVED, :)

Anyway, to clarify stuff, maybe i am indeed (and like my mum said to me) I am indeed attention deprived! But then at least, it is not in CAPS this time round :-)

Why are we not in?

The party at Museum Quarter was atrocious! The long queue that Rob, Etianne, Jeanbaptist and me were in lasted for like 30 min minimun! In the end, we just decided to go somewhere else in Berm Tri. for a drink. Saw Montse and gang there while we were about to go home at around 1.30 and in the end, Rob and I decided to screw the Graz trip today and decided to continue with more drinks with the gang. Gosh, this is so typical of exchange students i guess...haha. In the end, we stayed till like 4.30 and managed to reached back home at around 5.30 where Rob,a again, was eating non-stop and I cooked sausages (again!) . Went over to room of Etianne and Jeanbaptist (they are french) where after like 30 min of The return of the king, we finally decided we really need to return to our bed.

Trying very hard to work on my IT ppt slides now where after one member dropped out, we are left with 3 students (yes, including me, the exchange student whom never reply to the emails) by the way, i think i am so pissing my gp members off, especially this guy from slovakia (he kindda reminds me of a 6 feet 3 doreen with manly voice) cos he wrote in the email :

"I haven't read anything from Gerald, do you Gerald agree with the decisions made in the e-mails?????"

Rob, Etianne, Me and Jeanbaptist killing time in the crowded Q


Look how freaking crowded it is!


Some bar in Berm Tri. think it's called funky munky...ha