awww so cute.

As promised, the Little Zorro video!
Enjoy:)

Venezia!

Everyone knows that Venice is a must-go. For us, the trip to the magical Venice was beyond expectations. It was more than just beautiful canals and mysterious alleys. The trip to Venice was wonderful because...
1) We had great company!
Thanks Mir and Steph for the countless unglam moments! We never stop laughing with u 2 around! 2) We met with with the crazy Milan exchange students! Fantastic seafood accompanied by 7litres of wine was ooh la la, damn high.
My Milano amicis: Mir, Steph, Dee, Val, Kiat and Jieying! 3) Venice was just sooo beautiful! Every twist and turn brings a plesant surprise :)

Doge's Palace

We sat on a gondolaaa! More pics next time!4) We went just in time for the annual Venezia Carnivale! During this period of time, people dress up in medieval costumes and wear masks!

How can not be part of the action?!

As for children, they dress up in costumes as well, but cuter ones! We checked out this mini-Carnivale in the nearby island of Burano. Altogether now, awww so cute. Special mention of little Zorro whom we adore. Wait till you see the video!5) We visited the nearby islands of Murano, Burano and Torcelli! As Ilian insightfully advised, the less touristy The place, the more beautiful it is!

Burano, an untainted and serene islandTorcelli, a colourful fishing village. No 2 houses next to each other are of the same colour!6) The yummilicious food!
?Did you know? You don't get seafood in Germany?! Cos Germany is surrounded by land, sooo u never see fresh fish. And in comparison, Venice is by the sea! Can you imagine how crazy we got when we stumbled into the fish market by chance? The fishmonger must be thinking oh you suaku China people never see fish before.And how can we forget to mention the Gelato? It was so gao, light yet rich, hard yet not lumpy, simply incredibly good. We're going back for more soon!

For more pictures, please visit Jem's online photo album: http://eleczor.multiply.com

Next up: Cologne Karneval!

Next.

Been busy the last 2 days with our asset management project, which was more CAT than finance really.

And now for more recaps...

Our Budapest trip was pretty awesome cos of the company! we heart our exchange pals:)

On the 4th morning when everyone flew back to Frankfurt, the 2 of us took a train to Bratislava. So... Have you heard of the place Bratislava? Hahaha. I didn't know until recently heh, so suaku. Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, land of a whole load of wartime history.
Jem: the new Lonely Planet poster boy We arrived! First step on Slovakian soil. At the train station, we headed straight for the tourist information which had a guide on a half-day tour of Bratislava. Ah, just right for us. As compared to Budapest (which is old and beautiful), Bratislava is kinda old and not beautiful. A more prosperous-looking place with a few Shenton-way-like buildings, but sadly with damn ugly graffiti at the bottom. A glimpse of the Bratislava town center...

The highlight of Bratislava for me, haha, was the MacDonalds! They have a whole range of weird burgers we've never seen before. Not even in other parts of Europe. Everyone, please check out the SwissKing burger: succulent beef patty, melted cheese, steaming hash brown and a bun with toasted cheese on top! I'm salivating again. Hash brown shouldn't just be eaten at breakfast yo.

Bratislava has some beautiful architechures here and there, but most part of the town is too urban for my liking..

And so, we spent half a day touring Bratislava, spending only 8euros (S$16) which got us a sumptuous Macs lunch, 1 bottle of water and 2 bus tickets to the airport. Cheap hor.

From Bratislava airport, we took Ryanair to Milan (another one of those 0.01euro tickets)! Landed at the ulu budget airport in Milan and off we go to seek shelter at Mirs and Stirs' :) Their Milano pad is 10 thousand times more posh than my village in Hattenheim yo. All's cool, cept for the 5x4 flights of stairs.

The next morning we headed to the magical land of Venezia! To be continued...

Budapest!

We're back from our vehhh-ry long trip finally!!

9 days of nonstop travelling left us more ecstatic than exhausted. The overwhelmingly breath-taking sights can cause indigestion:)

First up, Budapest...

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary, just 1+ hour flight from Frankfurt.

?Did you know? Budapest is divided into 2 parts: Buda and Pest. Just totally make sense right. Buda is the historical part and Pest is the more modern part (only just a bit more). They are separated by the famous Danube river.

The lovely Castle Hill (Buda) at night...

Szechenyi Bridge

The second morning we were off to climb Buda's Castle Hill. The view from the top was ooh la la, beauuuutiful. Well worth the long and steep climb.

The view from the Royal Palace across the Danube River. The gothic building is the famous Parliament House of Hungary. The City Hall at Padang is macham no standard.

The Buda Castle, also the location of the Hungarian National Museum now. The 7 girls on the Budapest trip: Sophie, Joyce, Alice, Nicole, Kit, Stephanie and Elodie.The view of Matthias Church from the Fishermen's Bastion.

Matthias Church was once the church where the royalty was crowned and today, its excellent acoustics make it ideal for organ concerts.A stone throw away is the Marzipan Museum. Marzipan is simply figurines that made of sugar. I first thought I was going in to see some cute figurines on wedding cakes... I was so wrong! Some of these marzipans are almost my height yo.
Day 3 was free-and-easy day. We split from our friends and everyone went to wherever they wanted to go.

On the way to the Heroes' Square, we stopped by the beautiful and serene City Park. Aww, so romantic.

Heroes' Square: What a spectacular sight! At the center stands the statue of the Archangel Gabriel holding the Hungarian Holy Corwn and apostolic double cross. This square is sandwiched by the magnificent buildings of the Art Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts (where you see the Van Gogh flags below).

The magnificent Szent. Istvan Basilica left us starring in awe. After seeing St. Paul's in London, we thought we've probably seen the best. This cathedral's interior was mostly in gold and red, exuding a very warm and welcoming feeling. Btw, Jemmy took the pics! It's not a postcard!Then, it was time for the highlight of the day --- Thermal Bath! Budapest is a city of thermal baths, a culture left behind by the Romans and the Turkish occupation. Can you imagine wearing bikinis and swimming outside at 3deg? When we first emerged from the heated indoors out to the freezing cold, I swear there were goosebumps even inside my intestines. Everyone just jumped into the oh-so-warm pool water without hesitation. That feeling I tell you, ahhhh.

This is the Szechenyi Spa Bath!Because we went there on a weekday, the entire bath was filled with elderlies. It's really amusing to watch a bunch of balding ah peks totally engrossed playing their floating chess set.

Venice post coming up! Stay tuned!

Auf wiedersehen for awhile!

Between now and the last time I blogged, we've had 2 parties, 1 dinner gathering, 1 trip to Mainz and 1 morning of heavy snow! And that's just 4 days! Pretty happening lives we have now.

Our school has a club. Isn't that awesome? Like a Phuture at SOB basement, that would be just great. It's called the CAFTA and its really the size of Phuture, with its own deejay. There is a CCA which manages the club. (Reminds me of Nabsy and her Frujch! I heart heart Nabsy.) On Monday there was a party to welcome back the 6th Sem (Year3) students. It was super crowded and the music was ooh lala.

And there was another party last night at the CAFTA, a costume party cos of we're nearing the Karneval. The theme was 'Movie Stars' but us exchangees (low on funds and low on resources) were totally underdressed. Everyone was SOOO comically dressed up! There were a gang of sexy bimbos dressed as Moulin Rouge, Mario and Luigi, a penguin, a cow, 7 dwarves, cowboys, police and thief, darth vaders ... too many to rememeber. I don't have all the pics, so here is a preview...

We're off to Budapest tomorrow! Updates in a week :)