Thursday, January 15, 2009

Finding my way around...

I'm spending a lot of money! I need to quickly get my travel card coz traveling to Helsinki City from my campus in Otaniemi, Espoo costs 4 Euros per ride.. meaning i spend 8 Euros there and back... 16 Sing dollars on a bus ride!

Anyway yes.. u have made 2 trips to Helsinki City centre.. last nite and tonite =) Pics will come soon but first..

It was great to meet up with Lip Hang last nite. Intro: He's my sec school classmate.. kinda lost touch until recently.. when we bumped into each other outside (with Mabel).. and found out he was coming to Helsinki too! He brought Wei Sing and i around and helped us to navigate. The rest of them went to Tapiola to do some 'essentials' shopping.. Every bird thing is expensive here in Helsinki.. well almost.. Weising managed to get a 1 Euro cap from H&M.. it is still Christmas sale here by the way =)

Yes i needed help to navigate.. coz the frickin maps are in Finnish.. and good as i may be with directions.. i cant even tell where i am! I've decided to thicken my skin and just ask people.. previously.. i would prefer to find my own way and feel good about my sense of direction after. But this is different..

Today was Orientation Day... we had a series of talks by various people from many departments.. ending with International Student Advisors from my department (Department of Industrial Engineering and Management) bringing us to the TUAS building and meeting the other exchange students in the department and some current students from the guild. So we went out to Helsinki for dinner.. a tour around.. and chilling out at a bar. That sells beer at 1.5o Euros.. sian.. its cheaper than a big bottle of mineral water. My first taste of alcohol in Finland is a beer called Kolls.. its quite nice actually =) The beer i mean.. not really the talking.. coz sitting around and trying to make conversations with quiet Germans and reserved Finns were kinda difficult haha.. but at least i managed to talk to a chatty Italian Phd student who is super passionate about nuclear power plants.

Oh for the record.. theres no snow coz it was raining over the weekend and everything melted.. Yesterday was 5 degrees.. today was abt 2.. and According to the weather forecast.. its gonna go negative from tmr onwards.. and theres a chance of snow again. Well.. whats cool is that the sea is freezing over.. =) i have some pics.. but will take more when the sea is covered with ice and when i walk on it.. haha.. by the way my school is right next to the sea.. Well.. the whole Helsinki is surrounded by sea.. =)

Please remind me to remember my vitamin C and water intake..

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