Dreams

Had a strangely long dream while napping just now. Pretty amazed by how I can remember this dream so clearly.

Dreamt that I was back in Europe again, Liverpool to be precise, cuz I recognized the buildings and stuff in my dream. It was a Saturday morning (automatically presumed that its saturday, cuz I was working), I was in my office, typing off on my desktop, multi-screens, apparently I'm a programmer, and by the looks of it, a boss. The view from the windows was simply amazing, Albert Docks. No idea which part of Liverpool I was in, but I clearly recognize the Albert Docks. Then I got off work, and drove down to Anfield to watch Liverpool play in the Merseyside derby. Think I'm a pretty big shot over there, was in one of the lounges together with a few other ang mohs, and a few friends visiting Liverpool from SG. Won the game 2-0.

Then after the match, I headed to this tae-kwondo dojo, where apparently I'm one of the instructors. I'm already black belt 3rd dan, and there were kids all around calling me sir. Feels pretty much the same as those TKD sessions in Singapore.

Then I headed home, no idea why I ran back, when I had a car. But I saw everything that I liked so much about Liverpool in my dream. My house was just an apartment, where there weren't any walls, but the size of the apartment is like that of the one I'm living in right now. Can clearly see the bed, the sofas, the tv once you enter the house. Was immediately welcomed by two cats when I entered the house, one white and one black. Then I fell asleep on the bed in my dream.

Pretty much what I remember. But really, it seemed like an accumulation of everything that I dream of in real-life. Or rather, want to be. I want to be back in Europe again. I want to live in Liverpool. I want to work as a programmer, or even, to be my own boss of a small game development firm. I want to watch Liverpool matches at Anfield. I want to get my TKD black belt. I want to have my own apartment. I want to like running again. I want to have a cat, two would be good.

Its amazing how the things you want change in your life. I still remember back in JC days, while my ex and I were still together, what we wanted for our future was pretty simple. We just wanted to sell ice-cream together, be it by using an ice cream truck or opening a shop. It was a simple dream, naive, if you want to say so. Then things changed alot after the break-up, for a while, I didn't know what I wanted, and even when I first entered Uni, I had no idea what I'm doing with my life. Then I started loving programming, found an internship where I honed my programming skills, and I continue to do so now. Suddenly, I had the dream of being a programmer. Then I found back my passion for TKD (though I'm kinda scared to return now), but I'll definitely join back by next sem. I thought I would be happy to stay in SG, to stay by my parents' side while continuing to pursue my dream of being a programmer. But after coming back from SEP, alot of things changed. How the lifestyle over there appeals to me so much. The much more relaxing way of living, as compared to the buzz of Singapore. Oh, and before I left for SEP, I wanted to be in a r/s so much, that now I think about it, it was kinda dumb. But now, I'm just happy to be by myself, happy to have friends around me, whom might not give the love that a r/s would provide, but still are able to make me happy.

I always thought I wouldn't change as a person, but I was clearly wrong. Change is the only thing that's constant after all. I'm just glad that I changed to become a happier person. The things that hurt me now are so much different form the things that hurt me in the past.

HURR

Amazed by my lack of discipline for the day. Wanted to finish up the flash app, but ended up making almost zero progress on it. Spent the whole day drawing the components on flash, but ended up realising that things would be much easier if I combined everything into one frame. Hurr, lack of foresight, plus being not familiar with actionscript has brought this unto me.

Owell, with that said. I need to run soon~ Everything is catching up. Be it the fats that I feel are beginning to build up around my tummy again, or those covering up the muscles I've built up over the summer.

One word: Discipline.

That's all I need now.

Got off!

Finally got off facebook. Not something I would expect myself to do a few months ago. But I guess, circumstances have forced me to do so. Probably cuz I needed more time to study, consider how I still carry on playing DOTA2 and the need to start training for Stand Chart, the only place where I can get back some time is probably facebook. Also, maybe cuz of what happened the past week. It suddenly feels weird that someone who has been there to support you just disappears liddat from your life. Okay, you're still there, but it just feels different. And I didn't need fb to be there to remind me of the happier times.

Owell, I guess that's it and that's that. With that said, blogging will be less too! Time to really hit the books, and get started on my FYP. (:

I need some "me" time

This whole past week has been hell of a week. On one end, I can't seem to figure out why a friendship that was going so well could change over just 3(?) days. On the other hand, this step-away from her for the past 2 days have made me realise how dependent on her I was, in terms of looking for someone to talk to. Perhaps cuz she was around for 3 out of 7 days a week, that's why it felt that its only perfectly normal to talk to her when I needed someone to talk to. Maybe it wasn't my fault at all, but its only me to feel this way. That no matter what, I'm somehow the one at fault. Maybe that's why I kept apologizing. But I guess it doesn't really matter right now. I've lost a friend that I thought would be there for me for life. I guess I was wrong.

No one can always be there for you for life. 但是天总会黑，人总要离别，谁也不能永远陪谁. 

I guess, no matter how close you feel you are to someone, there's always a need for some space in between, before one of the two breaks down, and stuff like these happen. Lesson learnt, but lost a good friend in the process. Its a pity things will never be the same again. I'll miss the random banters, the random conversations, the random cravings for korean food and everything that was fun. Thank you, and sorry. I know you may not read this, but Michelle Lim, I'm truly sorry.

Also, I realised how long I've been missing out on my "me" time. There has been rather little time for me to think for myself. It has been all about hanging out with friends, friends, friends and friends this whole while. So what do I want? I want to run. Run off the stress, run off whatever that hurts in life. But the thing that really hurts me, is the fact that I'm actually told not to run. I still wanna give it a push though. Try for this year's marathon, it may well be my last, but if I don't try, I'll never know how far my legs can bring me. Its sad that the things I love to do all involve the legs, and my legs are the most injured part of my body. Knee cartilage injury, hairline cracks on both shins, ankle that easily sprains. But I still want to kick on and run on. That's what I really want.

On a side note, the whole missing Europe thing is reaching such a bad point, that I'm actually feeling the need to get off facebook, get off 9gag, get off everything that is online, just so that I wouldn't miss Europe that bad. Ah, the good times. But, seriously. Stop thinking.

Recess week, time for some serious work to be done.

As I sit here

I suddenly feel lost. Just sitting here, at home. Wondering.

What went wrong? How did I screw up this friendship? What have I done? All the questions, with no answers. Was being honest the mistake? Should I have handled it in another way? At the end of the day, the mistake seemed to be I opened my heart to someone who didn't see the friendship like I did. For the past 8 months, the wall that I spent so much effort on building around myself, just cuz I opened that little door for someone to come in, and the wall just crumbled. Maybe I shouldn't let ppl stay inside this wall for too long? =/

I thought it was okay. I thought it was okay to let someone that I know I won't fall in love with come in. Afterall, there're so many of these friends inside this wall of mine. I would want to say 一颗老鼠屎，搞坏了整锅粥, but nah, I would rather not think that way. Maybe its just cuz she's not the kind of friend I thought she was? I still want to think that my initial view of her was correct, that despite her personality, she's still someone who's worth being a friend with. I still secretly hope that its just a "at the moment" kinda thingy, that after all the events of the past few days die down, everything would be back to normal again. I don't want to get that feeling that I 看错人, that someone I decided to put my trust in would turn out to be someone who dun value the friendship as much as I do.

Its a different kind of not wanting to let go. I always thought its just the relationships that involve love that are hard to let go. I thought that because of what I became after SEP, the "happy-to-be-single" person that I am now, I wouldn't have to face the problem of having to let someone go in my life. At the end of the day, the thing that made it hard for me to let go was never love, it was the trust that I put in a person. Now I know why I felt that sadness when I realised that my other friend won't be the same cuz he got tgt with his gf. Its that outlet of trust that you know you'll be losing once you let go. But sometimes, you have no choice.

I would rather people not come into my life, make me leave my comfort zone, make me place my trust in them, screw around with my trust, and just leave like that. If that's the case, I guess I shouldn't be placing my trust in anyone at all anymore.

I know I'll still be happy, this won't affect me that much in the long term, but I just feel damn messed up and emo tonight, cuz it feels as if I just lost a friend. ):

Never cried in a long while, but I just did, like how the sky is going to now.

I still hope we can be back to normal again.

So, its not just love that would make me emo, just that I never knew I could get so emo over friendship. Sucks to be emo, when I just want to smile, laugh and enjoy my last year in NUS.

Be strong, stay strong, cry tonight, and smile tomorrow. You're stronger than this. (:

On hind sight

I guess that was pretty harsh. Coupled with stress from stupid FYP, i once again said stuff without thinking. Owell, maaf!

RAWR

I just freaking hate it when I'm misunderstood. And I hate it even more when I try my best to explain myself (I'm bad at words, so things end up long-winded, but at least I tried), and u just go with simple one-worded replies. At the end of the day, its just because I chose to value a friendship more than the other party did. I guess I should have just stuck to my whole SEP mindset of not opening my heart to others, not even to close friends. Should have just stuck to that SEP mindset of making myself happy instead of trying to make everyone happy, its not even worth it. At the very least I wouldn't be feeling this shitty now. Oh, and wad sucks more? I thought shit only happens when you fall in love, i guess you didn't need to fall in love for shit to happen eh? kthxbye.

Look back, and reminisce (Progress: Finished!!)

Long time since I've blogged! Been pretty stagnant since when? Hmmm, mother's day while I was in Europe.  But yeah! So many things have happened since then, I don't even know where I should start on. But I'm not here to blog about what has happened between then and now. Rather, its a look back at the past, and remember all that I've missed about SEP. So many things, that I didn't appreciate, and now I'm missing these little things.

I know I should really be studying now, but sometimes, you just have to take a chill pill, sit back and take a look at the past and relive those fond memories in your mind, before you forget them. (:

Let's start off with an overview of the little things in Tampere followed by a chronological way of looking back, since its easier to remember that way. Will focus more on the little things that I didn't know I would miss so much.

Overview
1) Loved walking around in the coldness, and feeling the warmth of my downjacket.
2) Loved cooking my own meals, and loving the taste no matter how badly I may have cooked it.
3) Loved the potluck sessions we had, still can vaguely remember everyone's dishes. (yunxuan's "icecream n' fruits", ivie's "nice" curry, ivie's nice cake that she baked, xiaochen's signature dumplings, finian's bak kut teh, alex's pastas, clarence's AWESOME chicken rice, yunxuan's tom yum and so much more)
4) Loved just sitting in my room sipping on the bottle(s) of whiskey that were ever-present in my room.
5) Loved the thin walls of the apartment, that I could hear what my room-mates were talking about on their skype :P
6) Loved the times when my room-mates are cooking their own meals and I can smell them from my room.
7) Loved those chocolate digestive biscuits that can be my breakfast/lunch/dinner/supper.
8) Loved how I was able to make my decisions on whether I should go to school based on whether I've slept enough.
9) Loved how the sky darkened so fast, that sometimes, I can go a day without seeing sunlight at all just because I slept through it.
10) Loved the snow (:
11) Loved running in the snow, and able to wear running jacket, trackpants with long johns inside and yet not sweat. (:
12) Loved how I could just go out for a run or a stroll in the cold when I'm feeling down.
13) LOVED the many sauna sessions that we had, where we just sat in there and "chilled" & talk cock.
14) Loved drinking my favourite long beer while watching running man or soccer matches. (although had to stop drinking it cuz whiskey was so much cheaper)
15) Loved skyping home to chat with mom & dad and seeing my baby nephew at the same time. 
16) Loved how the water from the taps are like icy cold when u turn it to cold, and lava hot when u turn it to hot.
17) Loved fanzhe's random moments, always able to make us laugh.
18) Loved mom Ivie's big and wide-mouth laughter, brightens up the mood.
19) Loved dajie xiaochen's dumplings, its like the best in the world.
20) Loved Alex's company as a house-mate, at least I had a fellow Singaporean where we could look out for each other.
21) Loved(?) Finian's dirty jokes, hahaha, always looking at girls.
22) Loved Nigel being a Liverpool fan, always having someone to cheer tgt with when we watched matches.
23) Loved Clarence's photography skills, always capturing the best moments.
24) Loved Yunxuan's carbo-overloaded moments, too bad we didn't get to see more of it.
25) Loved the travelling with friends. Did so many things together that it almost feels as if we're a family.
26) Loved the Italy trip with my favourite Vespa gang, and the fun things we did together. (Thank you yong cong, tessa & laoda rachel!)
27) Loved the Northern lights that we saw in Kiruna, memorable experience, and surely one to remember for a lifetime.
28) Loved the gang that I travelled together with in Germany. (Buying 2 bottles of wines at 4 euros each, and just walking on the streets drinking them. Climbing to the top of the tower and taking self-shots while being blown away by the wind)
29) Loved the hamburg peeps' hospitality when I visited them, made me feel so much at home. (:
30) Loved the one time where we went to watch ice hockey tgt, but yunxuan was busy looking at other stuff :P
31) Loved the buildings of Italy(Rome, Venice, Florence) where I just couldn't stop appreciating the architecture beauty.
32) Loved roaming the streets of Barcelona by myself, being able to do everything by myself, planning my own routes, following my own timings, eating whatever I want, standing in the rain while watching the magical fountain.
33) Loved my visit to Anfield, nuff said
34) Loved the drinking and htht session we had on the cruise back to Helsinki from Russia.
35) Loved making my way around Granada by myself, weaving through the small alleys and all.
36)Loved the sunset on the cruise.
37) Loved taking planes (only took the plane twice before going to europe, and ended up taking like more than 20 times after all the trips)
38) Loved skipping lessons just to travel. :P
39) Loved how Europe changed me as a person, be it being less emotional or being more daring to try out new things.
40) Loved the fact that I have so many things that I loved, that I would stop at 40 and leave everything else in the blog (with photos).

January

1) Arriving at Finland airport in the wee hours of the morning, and happily volunteering to recce the outside of the airport with Finian just to feel the coldness. Walking into negative temperature in t-shirt, jeans, beanie and gloves, and running back in straightaway. Silly, but fun. (:

2) Staying with everyone at the hotel in Tampere before moving into the hostel, first steps towards knowing each other better (: (and our cab/room full of 10 ppl's luggages)

3) Walking around the city with just a thin jacket, challenging our limits (with Alex), and even to the extent of contemplating whether to wear just singlet and army shorts (:

4) Moving into hostel, and taking photos of the place, loving the snow, the white room, the nice kitchen and the independence. (:

5) Just sitting down in my room and sipping on my coffee like an old man. (:
6) Cooking our own meal for the first time (pity that Alex and I didn't have the same eating timings for dinner, else could have cooked alot more together) (:

7) Not forgetting the cold toilet bowl, that my butt managed to get used to at the end of SEP. (:
8) The lovely hot shower when its so cold in the room. (:
9) My lovely heater which doesn't work that well, but because of it, the feeling of snuggling up under my banklets just felt so much better. (:
10) The first trip to IKEA to shop for our own furniture to use for the 6 months. Freedom in its own way. (:
11) Our first clubbing experience in Tampere, where we made one person drink 1 shot of tequilla for every shot that each of us drank. (:

12) Drinking at the bar and just chilling with the finnish, the exchange students, and fellow Singaporeans.

13) Our first snowman! cute and little~ (:

14) The crazy session we had of making the gigantic snowmen!

15) Exploring Tampere, the lake that I only learned to love towards the end ): the nice tower, the many churches in the city center, and not forgetting the guys' first and only night out at the strip club

16) My first CNY away from home, away from family, although something bad happened that day back here in SG, but at the end of the day, all the fun friends over there managed to brighten up my mood. Certainly a different CNY from the rest of the ones I had. (:

17) International food exchange day! Tried all the nice food from all over the world. Those french food were the best, all the pastries. -drools-

February

18) First trip out of Finland, to Sweden! Most expensive trip of all, but probably the most eventful one as well. Kinda strengthened our friendships after all that happened.
19) Loved the cottage in Kiruna that us guys had to ourselves. So cosy, like one small family, out in the woods, next to a frozen leg. XD I would certainly want to go back there once more, if I had the money.

20) That awesome dog sledging experience! The cute huskies, me staring at the awesome nightsky with all the stars while the huskies brought us over the frozen lake, the frostburn I had, the warm soup and awesome sandwich. Definitely justified the expense.

21) NORTHERN LIGHTS! Would I ever forget them? The dancing aurora, the excitement we had when we first stepped out of the cottage and saw how beautiful it was. And it even appeared for us on the second night. (:

22) Shooting star!! When I saw it, I immediately thought, I just want my friends and family to be happy. (:
23) Ice hotel! The snow mobil before that was amazing as well, but nothing beats seeing the ice hotel with my own eyes.

24) Trudging in the snow in the middle of the night, on a frozen lake. (:

25) That Valentine's Day potluck, with everyone missing their gfs/bfs, and those single guys happily being single, we celebrated the day of friendship <3 p="p">

26) Trip to Rovaniemi, where we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with the train rides and the cosy cottage we stayed in. Always loved htht sessions, and that small htht guys' talk session that we had, well, let's keep it to ourselves (: 

March

27) Then came March, where I probably made the best decision of my SEP, which resulted in one of the most treasured trip I've had while on SEP. My beloved Vespa gang (:

p.s: although we haven't had time to get together and just chat away, this group will always have a special place in my heart (: Laoda Rachel, the disowned Tessa & the leather-jacket Yong Cong, thanks for the fun times we had together in Italy, and let's hope we can travel together again

28) First stop in Venice, fell in love with the city the moment I stepped out of the bus. Wandered around the city while waiting for the gang to come in from Swiss. Loved the crazy moments we had there, from drinking champagne (or was it wine) in the hostel, to sharing food, such fun times (:

29) Loved how we found Antonio in this souvenir shop and created the Vespa Gang at the same time. Random, but memorable (:

30) Loved just lying randomly on open plazas and just chilling away. Such carefree-ness that cannot be found in Singapore

31) Loved how we just took random shots here and there. Once again, random but memorable. Its these small little things that make me realise how I miss the times travelling.

32) Leaving our mark in Florence (:

33) Trip around UK, first time planning a trip by myself (of cuz with a bit of help from Ivie), just glad that everything went well. (:

34) Simply loved WICKED!! First musical I've watched, so obviously its the best I've seen (:

35) First and last pub crawl. Good experience, but certainly not the lifestyle I would live. The free shots at all the clubs sucked anw :P

36) What did I love about London? Probably the way it reminded me of Singapore in some parts, while other parts of it were so full of History and interesting stories.

37) Loved how we went around London looking for all the stadiums in London, mocking the teams, respecting the great

38) Loved the experience of watching a football match live, although it wasn't at my beloved Anfield, but the Old Trafford, its certainly an experience to remember, totally different from the feeling you get from watching on tv.

39) Loved my visit to Liverpool, Anfield, the city, the beatles stadium, the albert docks, all felt so..peaceful. Definitely the city I would want to retire in. (: <3 liverpool="liverpool" p="p" ynwa="ynwa">

40) Oh, I almost forgot to mention how I loved the majesty of the tower bridge. So ancient, so nice.

April

41) Month of Easter, which I loved so much, cuz of the sheer amount of travelling I did in the month. I actually travelled every single week of the month and I believe I spent less time in Tampere than in other countries. Let's kick it off with a pic of Antonio covered in snow on the first day of travel (:

42) Loved how cheap the food was in BUDAPEST!! Its like, less than 10 euros, we could get ourselves a full-course meal, with appetizer, main course, dessert plus wine! Plus the snacks there were so cheap, and we just snacked and drank (coke) away~ hahaha

43) Loved the cycling we had around Budapest, cycling in a foreign country, checked! XD

44) Very much loved the train ride from Budapest to Prague, so much fun on the train, but that wasn't the best train ride yet, if only we knew how fun train rides would be ;)

45) And in Prague, we met up with my beloved VESPA again!! So happy when I saw them (: Other than that, Prague was pretty bad cuz of how rude the people there were

46) Oh, but I loved walking around in the morning with friends who didn't mind waking up early to walk (: (and suddenly find myself laughing while remembering how YC was shivering in the morning and asking me for my blanket b4 I left the room)

47) Biggest group photo ever (of SEP students), i think. haha

48) Then came the crazy night on the train, where we basically talked the night away, braided my hair, braided yunxuan's hair, and meeting another big group of Singaporean exchange students on the train itself. Small world. (Sadly, I can't find any pics of the train, but found this proof of yx's braided hair!)

49) Loved seeing yunxuan's released version after all the carbs intake, so fun, and enjoyable to watch hahahaha.

50) Loved the hostel at Krakow, basically I find myself loving big hostels where we can just sit together in the middle of the room, talk cock, sing song, and drink the night away

51) The informative tour to Auswitzch camp (can't spell it properly, its 2am alr -,-), learning the history, remembering the dead, and remembering the lessons learnt, so that we as humans won't do it again.

52) Then after a short stay in Tampere to finish up some of the work, I whisked off to Germany, by myself! Loved taking planes alone, loved taking trains alone, loved walking around alone, this was probably where I started loving travelling alone. But that, was till I reached Hamburg, where I met up with the rest of the people that I was supposed to travel together with for the next few days. (:

53) Loved how these hamburg people made me feel like I was back in Singapore, so much so that I visited them twice, but that's another story in May. (:

54) Germany, where I fell in love with Rittersports cornflakes (:

55) Then we were off to Freiburg! for Titisee and Blackforest

56) Loved the unexpected snowy mountain that we went up to, while we were totally not wearing anything that could keep us warm enough in the snow.

57) Loved how going to Titisee brought me back to nature, something that I've not been seeing alot throughout the time I've been travelling in Europe.

58) Climbing up the observation tower to take photo in the cold and windy weather. AND it was raining plus hailing! Crazy us!

59) Climbing to Neusthwanstein was probably the best climb of my SEP. (: all the photos taken up there, so worth a place here, that I'm just gg to spam them ;)

Loved how Sujee photobombed this pic in that pose

Vespa @ Castle!

F4!?

The Germany group (:

60) Loved chatting away with laoda while we were climbing down the hill. Basically, I love friends who I can talk non-stop with (:

61) Then came the craziest trip of all! The Russia Trip! where I travelled with crazy ppl I alr knew (yx, iv, tiff, fz, xc,cr), and we were joined by even crazier ppl, weiting and michelle, with two normal ppl in ruyi and jon. Pure havoc, but I still remember my comment about this trip: The city sucked, but the company made it worth it (:

62) Loved taking the cruise too, from waiting for the sunrise, to the drinking session we had, to the htht. Pure craziness? Pure fun. (:

63) Loved the vodka drinking and champagne drinking on the nights in Russia too! Man, I actually miss the vodka in russia, the vodka back in sg just can't compare to the ones we had over there.

May

64) Last month of SEP was basically spent mostly in Tampere finishing up my work, but at the same time, catching up with all the new friends I made on SEP and all the old friends (sadly, through online means, like fb chat, msn, whatsapp & skype). But still glad that we managed to keep in touch, afterall, I hate it the most when friendships just die like that.
65) Realised how beautiful a place Tampere was, just before I left. The lake that we didn't visit much, looks so much better in the spring, and the weather was actually perfect for running!

66) Then I left for my lone journey through Spain the next day, turned out to be the best experience of my life so far, well, at least the best solo experience (:
67) But before that, went on a tour around Bremen with Alex & Finian, loved the walking around Bremen to just sight-see like tourists, and drinking beer in the evening by the bay

68) Oh, and I realised how much I love taking trains in Germany, the conductors are so friendly! Even reminding me to alight at the right stop.
69) So before I headed to Spain, I spent another 2 nights in Hamburg, visiting those over there and doing some sight-seeing, spending some quality time with Tessa, just catching up on things. Always loved Hamburg for how everyone there made me feel at home (:
70) FINALLY BARCELONA~ sunny spain! or so i thought, but this was what I saw the moment I got down from the plane ):

71) If raining in Spain means my whole Spain journey would be messed up, I was totally in for a surprise. I loved the running bean tours they had over there, so informative and brought me to all the places that I myself wouldn't have known.
72) Loved the food in Spain.
73) Loved the metro stations in Barcelona, every station feels so different. Especially loved the liceu one.

74) Loved walking around myself, don't need to care about timing, don't need to care about where I am, just wandering around the streets like I actually live there.
75) My mini emo session at la fountain magica actually opened up my mind, and realised the kind of lifestyle I want. Its okay to be single, its okay to be by myself, I have friends when I need people to talk to, so what's there to be sad about? Stay awesome, I told myself then, and I'm still a happy kid now (:

76) Loved Sagrada Familia, the majesty of it. Not a christian, but just love the building, no idea why

77) Loved how random things can get in Barcelona, bargaining with uncle for a jersey, price slashed from 40 euros to 25, to 10, then I decided not to buy. Random strike on the streets, airport with torn newspaper all over the place, random-ness at its best (:

78) I particularly loved this one that I saw in the washroom. So cute. hahaha

79) Loved barcelona's airport, so big, and so fun just to walk about in it.
80) Then came Granada, a place I've heard so much about, and I wasn't disappointed (:
81) Loved climbing up the slopes of Granada just to see the Alhambra from different places. The sheer amount of climbing I did in Granada was simply crazy, even much more than I did all over Europe. But it was definitely worth it. (: (But seriously, dear tourist, what were u trying to take here)

82) Loved how no matter where you go, there's something to see in Granada (well, at least for the old district that's the case) Great scenery everywhere, loved the following one especially (like how my hair looks so smooth, :P, and my smile here, truly happy from within)

83) Loved watching the flamengos, authentic ones by gypsies.
84) Loved how the bartender just treated me to drinks cuz I was an asian dude speaking some spanish i picked off from google translate. hehe
85) Loved making friends in the hostel, just sitting down and talking about Europe. Too bad didn't get their names, but it was a wonderful time. (oh, and there was one hot european girl too! :P)
86) Loved Alhambra, the gardens and all, loved the flowers, and loved the view from the top. Can see the whole of the old district from the Alhambra.

87) I loved climbing up to the mountain side of sacromonte too! The sense of achievement when I made my own way to the top without any proper road was just awesome!
88) My last night in Spain was back in Barcelona, had a few drinks with the random Canadian peeps I met in the hostel, and amazed by how one of them can't hold his liquor. -.- to actually puke from the top of his bed. Well well, that's another kind of experience I guess. haha
89) I actually loved sleeping at airports! Especially the Bremen one. Throughout the whole of SEP, i actually slept there twice cuz I had to take plane back to Tampere from Bremen. The airport just felt so safe, so cozy, and both times, I fell asleep the moment I put my head on my "pillow" (which was my backpack)
90) I LOVE BACKPACKING!!
91) Last days in Tampere, were pretty emotional, realising all the things I could have done while i was there but didn't do.
92) Saying goodbye to my beloved brand of whiskey that accompanied me through SEP.

93) Had our last potluck together. Had a feeling that we won't be doing this back in Singapore again. I guess up till now, I'm still right! GUYS! please prove me wrong! ):

94) All in all, I would like to thank all the people I've met on exchange for the wonderful times that you all have given me. I'm sure we would meet again some place, some time. It wouldn't be the same as before, but you all have left a deep impression in my heart already. Just in case you all have no idea that you all touched me in my life, I'll list out your names (in no particular order, more of whoever that comes to mind first - mostly people that i've still been meeting up first): Michelle Lim, Congren, Yong Cong, Tessa, Rachel, Luke Ong, Wei Ting, Jonathan Goh, Ivie, Tiffany, Yun Xuan, Fanzhe, Finian, Alex, Clarence, Nigel, Xiaochen, Kayla, Ruyi, Queenie, Jelly, Ka Na, Jeremy Quek, Ryan Ang, Kalle, my french room-mate (sorry, till now I still can't spell your name), Michelle Low, Kien Yong, Zhi Gang, Mingfeng, Melvin, Sujee, Yongtae, Yui, Zijian, Felix, Qinglin, Chuan Wei. I hope I didn't miss anyone out (:
95) I thank my parents for the support they've given me on my SEP, be it moral support, or financial support, without the support, I wouldn't have had so much fun.
96) Loved Europe for giving me such a safe and enjoyable journey.
97) Loved the cheap alcohol for accompanying me through lonely mugger nights ;)
98) Loved Finland.
99) Most importantly, I learnt to love myself more (:
100) Well, that's all of my SEP. Really miss Europe, miss the backpacking days, miss the carefree days, miss the chit-chatting with friends, miss miss miss so much of everything. I swear I'll be back again, Europe, wait for me!