rob!

I was robbed.

Yes. Robbed of communications.

My laptop AC adapter has just decided to die on me. It's gone. I have no power to my laptop.

I think it just did a great job. Really. Give me an awesome stunner in Denmark and left me stranded.

The greatest part - my warranty is out! Awesome! I just have to wait till my sister send me one, probably next week. Hence, every minute online is precious.

Well I guess this is part and parcel of the uncertainty in life and out traveling. I shall take it as a good experience.

Apart from that very depressing news (I was desperate for help today), school had started today. I went for my first lesson and as expected, it was very much different from SMU. They held "lecture" in a classroom setting. When I mention "classroom" don't think of SMU classroom, think secondary school classroom. Yes, it's exactly that setting. They use blackboard and there's a OHP projector in the class. How retro! But other than that everything was ok, boring still. I almost doze off.

There was a kitchen meeting later in the evening. It was laid back and very much enjoyable. I had to say I finally had my first good meal in Aarhus. My neighbour made awesome tasting lasagne. Oh my... I am so going to get that recipe (if he had one). I finally had real meat today and a filling stomach. Thanks Aske!

Here are some pictures I took out of boredom on Sunday. We were suppose to meet for dinner and 2 jokers went to the beach. A beach outing on a crazy Sunday weather and kinda cold. And they finally appear so we can finally go inside JJ's dorm.

I need power!

saturday kitchen

It's the second weekend in Aarhus. The Aarhus Festival starts today. We headed town to check out what's happening.

Aarhus Festival logo - pretty cool

Then we headed to the supermarket to buy some things for dinner tonight over at JJ's place. We somehow managed to cooked a big portion of bee hoon for dinner. It tasted quite good for our maiden tryout. I admit it was pretty messy during the whole prodecure but the final product was to our satisfaction.

Hey, not too bad right.

The weather is getting more erratic as summer is ending. The wind is stronger and colder especially at night and rain comes and goes as it pleases. I must bring my jacket out all the time now. Definitely missing the Singapore sun for a moment.

Enjoy the weekend guys...

Skål!

Skål - Cheers! in English, Yam-Seng! for Singapore.

The last day and there were some games being held at the botanical garden across our school.

I did bring my camera but I left my SD card in my computer the previous night. And yeah... no picture again. I just annouce I am an idiot on my blog.

Anyway, the games are pretty much similar to those we played in Singapore - jumping in a sack, relay with egg on spoon, memory game. Still there are a couple of interesting one like trying to put a pen into a bottle with the pen tied around your waist. So you have to squat down, aim and put it in. However, the most "European" game was eating licorice. It's a long strip of licorice and you have to eat it without using your hand. My group was trailing all the way but there was a turn of tide at the end. The last guy in the licorice relay, a big bulky german, sucked it all up and swallowed all in an instance. No chewing. Everyone was dumb-founded. Yeah but I don't recommend licorice. The taste is kinda foul... never again.

And if you are guessing it... yes you are probably right. The night have to end off Danish style - Party. There was a huge meet up along the river. Many exchange students were drinking, socialising and fooling around as usual. I knew more friends and it was never lonely here. And the most common phrase I spoken so far is "Hey, my name is Xu Xian. I am from Singapore. You?"

The party was great and beer was free at certain hours. How cool is that. Free entrance and beer at a club. This is totally unheard of in Singapore. The music great, the people nice and I guess everyone would have enjoyed themselves. Not so for some, if there are having terrible hang over.

An awesome ending for the orientation.

Skål!

a quiet day....

Day 3

Today was kind of boring compared to the first 2 days.

There was some photo taking session with our group and the rest of exchange students.

Then it was lunch before we headed to town as they showed us around abit.

Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant where I had my Burrittos. Not too bad, but not my kind of food.

It feel weird eating tacos and burrittos in Denmark. But this was the more affordable restaurantin Aarhus. My burrittos cost 116Dkk, still expensive though.

Somehow, the night have to end off in a pub or with a party. We went to a place and there were some folk Danish folk dancing going on. No beer, no dancing and no party tonight. Age is catching up as I hang around my foreign friends for some light chit-chats.

Last day of orientation tomorrow. Some sports and games will be held at the botanical garden. Hope it will be fun.

Signing off... Carlsberg and Tuborg from Aarhus!

the danish parties.

Orientation has started in school and it's been a tiring 3 days.

There are a lots of things that I have learnt and observed about Danish and other nationalities.

Day 1

Everything starts through an introduction, the school, how things work and names of people. So we were divided into various groups and it's group 3 for me.

Diverse was the term as people were from all over the world. And some European names are hard to pronounce. But same goes for them when they try to say mine. Then the day passed with lots of boring talks and there was a dinner in school for all the exchange students.

The dinner food was kinda crappy. No much food left when I went over to get. So had a couple of beers and talked to a few German guys who are towering over me. Damn it, 1.9+metres. I have to looked up to them when talking but they are real nice. Night ended off raining and was all drenched when I got home. Lucky it was not too cold.

Day 2

It wasn't orientation for the exchange students only. The ASB freshies are having theirs too. Here comes the interesting part, Danish orientation are nothing like our boring shit in Singapore. Lame OGLs in Singapore want us to cheer, sing stupid songs, play uncool team bonding games. I mean we can do that, sure.... Danish they do it with passion and LOTSA beers! Trust me when I say LOTS! With that, they really get grooving into the party and they have a big show at the botanical garden opposite our school with loud music. Following, it was party time. We had our dinner in the school's club (yes, my school has a club and the students adore it) and the freshies were there. You cannot believe how wild and hard the Danish party. They drink beers like no people business, laugh like never before and dance crazily. I was hanging around my new found German friends and they agree that Danes are crazy. It was a consensus amongst the other nationalities as well. Danes are wild and crazy party animals. You got to come see it to believe it. It was an awesome experience just to see them party.

There weren't much photos, getting forgetful and always left the camera back home. I will probably snatch some pictures from my friends to upload later.

IKEA!

This place looks the same everywhere. Oh well, maybe it has a more beautiful backdrop over here.

And one more, it's more expensive than Singapore, how can I miss that.

Everyone shopping for necessities in IKEA and so am I. I have been sleeping without a pillow for the past few nights. So I am determine to get one.

good try JJ, but NO!

"lelong lelong!"

It's definitely comforting to see familiar food you eat in Singapore. The hotdog here cost 5Dkk, which ain't too expensive. But I decided to give that a miss, cause there are obviously better choices in IKEA.

For instance, the marvelous meatballssssss. 15 in all and cost 45Dkk which was rather reasonable in Singaporean sense. And I thoroughly enjoyed it! The sweet taste of jam is still lingering between my teeth. Awesome.

All looked happy with their barang barang as we headed back to the town to get some grocery. We met a Hong Kong girl whom tag along and she happened to stay in the same hostel as I am.

A cosy ending for my bed. My small and cute flora print pillow, the cheapest I can find at 15Dkk (I am proud of it).

Sweet dream tonight xx.

Orientation starts tomorrow! Just when I thought I had my last at SMU.

lazy sunday

SMU guy no. 3, jinjie, finally delivered himself to Aarhus on Saturday.

So we stopped by a pizzeria for dinner and one slice Danish size thrashed a pan pizza at the place we called pizza hut.

In all, Sunday was an uneventful day as the shops are closed and most students just chose to sleep and laze around in the hostel.

The day went by as we met at my place to discuss some traveling plans to Greece and Italy next month.

Following that, a quick rush to the supermarket before it closes at 1800.

I bought some stuffs to make pasta for dinner and ciabatti for breakfast tomorrow. Yup, washing powder too for some laundry tomorrow.

Monday will be another day for another Scandinavian landmark, IKEA!

Finally, a proper pillow for bedtime.

something by the sea and a sore thigh

We did saw something by the sea.

Biking is like walking in Aarhus. Everyone owns a bike, young kids, pretty chicks, cool dudes and even old couples. So blending in was definitely neccessary. We rent a bike for the weekend for 75Dkk, awesome price if you ask me.

Thus, alongside our new transportation we journey to the south of the city which is marked by the blue sea and lush greenery. And so I meant it.

A serene beach washed by clear water and for an instance you have an urge to drink the water only to discover it's salty.

Ok call me ignorant but yeah I saw lady bug for the first time in my 24 years.

We cycled down the bike trail and no matter how long you cycle or how hard you cycle, you will never sweat like a pig here. The wind is chilly and you feel like you're breathing 100% oxygen.

The ride back to city was equally awesome.

The forest is awesome. Just imagine Lord of the Ring characters traveling through and some orc or ogre trying to pounce on you.

But I don't think I will cycle much in my city again. Cause the terrain is undulating. The steep climb back to school and hostel was a gym session. My thighs were screaming a bit as I finally sat down on my bed.

Cheers!

did i mention H&M??

First ignore the title.

yes... focus now.

So a little walk about the neighbourhood is neccessary and that is what I did. The streets are quiet and there are few cars on the road. Everyone cycles here, there, everywhere...

Headed over to the town to sight-see and got bus pass. Well... bus ride is darn expensive here in Aarhus. It bloody cost 18Dkk which is about 5-6SGD. So feel bless that you're in singapore. So the 1st day, I paid. Today? I did not. If caught, 500Dkk. So in order to be nice, I bought a 10rides pass - 115Dkk. So I did pay, but I think this will be the last time. The only time I going to punch the pass will be when I feel unlucky. Oh my 18Dkk... you can take a cab in Singapore.

Ok, me and Calvin decide to be touristy and so we visit FREE musuem (I have to emphasize) and take snap shots of the town.

ok the rather boring vikings' musuem...

The old town hall

City's oldest church

The streets have a medieval charm to it. If you read a medieval-fantasy novel, you'll get what I mean - the kind of thing that I like. Nothing alike Singapore.

There's a river running through the town and cafes, pubs and restaurants are just by the side. Nice scenery and ambience comes with a price. And of course, which city doesn't have the marvelous golden arches. Hey, there's an Asian supermarket which has a pretty decent stocks and rather affordable prices for Danish standard. How can I not buy a couple of familiar groceries home.

It's Denmark - the Scandinavian, so there are H&Msss. Yes... there are 3-4 H&M stores around town. It's awesome and the prices are affordable as well. I can hardly hold back to buy somethings. Damn it. Ok... I got 2 tee shirts as I did not bring enough. Oh well bloody excuse. who care...

The store is awesome. I think it's an evil place that I have to avoid totally.

Went for a jog at the botanical garden which is very green and more grocery at a nearby supermarket. And basically that sums up my 2nd day on everywhere...

A surreal farewell and arse-cracking moments

Good day everyone.

Pang or xx is not in singapore.

He is at a faraway land with lush greenery, erratic summer weather and friendly people.

So here I am posting the sights I see, things I will be doing or did, an account of my footsteps.

If you are interested, pop by to take a peek at the things going around me while I am away from homeland.

As usual, most people take off from Changi. Yes, so do I. But there's a major problem. I don't think Changi likes me, because I always have to walk to the furthest gate to board. I mean all the time!

yes yes... my gate is opened but I just refuse to go in.

And so I crashed for many hours on the plane. It's was boring on the plane and that's the best thing I can do. After 12.45hrs of butt cracking, I landed my arse on Copenhagen. Unless, you failed geography or a complete dumb arse, it's the capital of Denmark.

The I took another arse-cracking 3.5hours train to my city, Aarhus. Aaaaa-whos? Aaaaa-hurse?

Ok stop trying... try this... "ORRRH...Whos". It's pronounce "Oar-Hus" and so I figured it out finally. The train ride was dead boring. There was this muslim old couple sitting opposite me.

So...

1. The old aunty "threw" off her shoes the moment she sat down. Her shoes landed on my feet, I pushed the shoes back to her using my feet.

2. Following 1, the reek of salty fish filled my nose. And you thought I miss Singapore salty fish, hell fark the feet of that aunty.

3. She lies horitzontal and her legs was practically on her husband thigh. Poor old man...

4. Ok, nail cutting and the nails flew everywhere.

Maybe it has something to do with the "you-know-what", things never change. I shouldn't be too outright with this. It's a peaceful blog afterall. I do want to attract suicide bomber. ooopps..

Nevertheless, the sights on train was still quite awesome. I never been to europe and it's sure gonna be Legendairy!

My hostel is awesome as usual and the room is cosy. Ok I am being nice, it's rather small and I don't have my own bathroom which one of the other SMU guy had. My neighours are darn nice though. Howdy neighbours!

That is it for now. Grocery shopping and city exploration up next.