Linkopi @ Linköping

Gone for a month!

We're done with our exams and it's almost a month left till we head back to Singapore! We've been busy with the exams so there hasn't been many updates..(just excuses for our laziness).. well, we're heading off to london, our first stop for our month long backpacking trip kindly planned by robin, linus and bb. so there won't be updates for a month and then a whole chunk of updates after that! here're some previews. after we came back from our trip to tallinn, we visited the local recycling plant and incineration plant as part of one of our courses. it's interesting how high tech they were. and how the people bothers driving down to recycle their stuff. we then went to belgium, netherlands, luxembourg, or benelux in short. the above picture is of antwerp, diamond city! haha. we met ben and maaike there, two very fun people we met too late. this is amsterdam! as bb told me, god made man and man made amsterdam. it's a very confusing place with all the canals but nonetheless beautiful and truly unique. and their fries are fabulous! this is Brugge. a medieval town in belgium that is very well preserved and very touristy. but it deserves to be touristy. it's one of the most beautiful places we've been to, minus the crowds. after that, brussels! it's a big city but still has nice spots here and there. the atonium is quite amazing and mini europe too. their town square is grand..really grand and there were tonnes of scouts when we were there. luxembourg! beautiful beautiful small little country. it's kind of like a french countryside as i would imagine since i havent been to one yet. the forts and chateaus are so scenic!

our peer student, Martin, the man in the bottom right picture, brought us to his home after our pestering. haha. and it was worth it. he leaves in a small town not too far from here, just off the highway, across the forest and by the lake. i wanna stay there too. we went to Kalmar, a town in Sweden to make use of our railpass and were duely rewarded, with beautiful weather and beautiful scenery. The main attraction in Kalmar is the castle and it's quite stunning. i would visit more swedish towns if i could 'coz they are all different in the way the houses look and the feel of the place. after Kalmar, we had a small bbq that evening 'coz Martin wanted us to try sweden's Smelly Fish. and it is very smelly! and salty too. eeks. next up was norway. we visited oslo and got caught in a bit of national day fever. it's cool to see people walking around in costumes and waving their flag. and then we took a train to bergen. it is the most beautiful trainride we've been on! it brings us into the snowcaps of the snowcapped mountains and down by the lakes and rivers in the valleys. and snow in May! amazing! and we did the Norway in a Nutshell tour of the fjords. it was horrible weather but still a very nice and relaxing tour. and back to Sweden. There's a farm just next to school, it even looks part of the school. and the bunnies there are so so so cute! i fed them carrots one day. haha. i want a bunny!random shots around here. the sun never really sets now. it's bright until 11pm then it goes into twilight mode and by 3am, the sun's out again! fun! and the tulips have gone and are replaced by some other beautiful flowers. i love spring and summer! we had plenty of dinner parties this month. probably'coz of the good weather and the fact that everyone is leaving for somewhere soon. and finally, how can we leave out all the food! haha. we've had prata, laksa, mee goreng, agar, cakes, etc etc. it has become a ritual to snap photos of the food before we eat. makes them yummier.

and that's a quick preview of the posts that will come in a month's time. it's funny how i've been wanting to go home for the past 5 months but now that home is 1 month away, i wanna stay here longer. probably 'coz home is always there but the time here is limited. and the weather is getting better and the place more beautiful. good things have to end anyway. it's been a great 5 months here and it'll be a crazy 1 mth ahead of us!

luv, jL

posted by jL-yZ @ 1:32 AM