Pardon my lame attempt at guessing the non-abbreviated version of ERASMUS… it actually means “EuRopean Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students”. 

Let’s not kid ourselves. As I sit down typing this, I am suffering from post-exchange blues. It’s like being woken up from a really, really nice dream. And I’m not even in Singapore yet…

Flash back to late August 2011.

Having said my goodbyes to my Singaporean friends (and eating my last few dishes of Asian food for the next 5.5 months), I took off on a plane to Sweden, the capital of scandinavia.

I’ll be honest: I knew it will be fun, but completely do not know what to expect. Heck, my geography of Europe is as good as my cooking. [7]

“Why Sweden?” is a common question asked amongst all exchange students. For me, I did not chose Sweden as my first choice. I wanted England. Manchester, in fact… simply because I’m a Manchester United fan.

I wanted Manchester/London, followed by Maastrict and then Sweden. To be honest, choosing Sweden was a last-second, sudden decision. I completely did not know anything about Sweden at all.

Whoa. That reminds me of another time when I made a decision like that and completely loved the entire experience at the end of it. I guess that’s what following your gut feeling really is… or perhaps someone above is blessing me silently. [6]

But let it be known: I am completely, utterly and crazily glad that Sweden chose me. Yes. It is the other way around now.

The entire exchange experience is simply AMAZING.

If you were to tell me the things that I will experience, the places I would have visited, the friends I would have known, the languages I would have heard (and tried to learn), the culture that I have been exposed, the things that I have observed and the weather that I have endured…

I would simply say you’re pulling my leg. [8]

I know, I know. Everybody that has went on an exchange (to Europe, at least) more or less say the same thing: that it is amazing, that you will feel so sad to leave, etc.

But the awesome thing is this: even with all the hype, I STILL finish it feeling amazed and awed. It’s like a surreal dream.

I initially believed that I would no doubt greatly enjoy it. I came with an open mind (important). In fact, I purposely chose to go on exchange in the first semester of my second year, which to many is too early (it is in fact the earliest period you can go for an exchange). The reasons I done so were simple:

1. I wanted to go ‘alone’, without knowing anybody. I wanted to hang out and join myself with the Europeans to experience and learn more about them.
2. I wanted to remove the pressure of school to work on my web businesses and ventures.
3. I have plans to go on another 1 year trip abroad via the NUS Overseas College program. I hope to be able to achieve a spot to Silicon Valley and Stanford University. As the program’s earliest start date is Year 3 Sem 1, I did not want to go on exchange during Year 2 Sem 2, come back for a few days/weeks, and go abroad again for 1 year. I know I would miss home too much to be able to pull that off.

I’m glad to say Points #1 and #3 are on track. Unfortunately, Point #2 gave way to the lack of pressure to conduct current business as well as the amazing experiences being in Europe (notably, the travelling and the partying).

But that’s fine. Not everybody has the chance to go to Europe and experience all the diverse cultures in one large area. :)

I had several aims as I head to Sweden for 5.5 months. They are written down on my whiteboard and placed in my room:

Although I did not achieve all, I did achieve others and more. I have yet to come up with a prototype (working on that RIGHT NOW!), QuizFunnel did not progress much (will work on that once I’m back! and I did upgrade it quite a bit) but I have travelled to those places and MORE (I skipped Munich though)!

And indeed, my cooking skills have no doubt improved… ;)

That being said, I appreciate how tough it is to prepare Asian dishes!

Upon arrival at Stockholm, I remembered it being a slight rush as I attempt to find my housing. In Sweden, they speak Swedish as their main language. Thankfully, all Swedish speaks great English as well and based on that fact alone I would recommend Sweden to anyone who wants to experience Europe but YET wants to be in an non-english environment but does NOT want to learn a whole new different language.

Unfortunately, I also realized that I completely forgot to purchase an adaptor for my laptop. As I wrote before… when in a foreign land, we humans have a tendency to grab unto any familiarity we recognize (that’s why person that comes from the same country as you feel much more comfortable approaching you in a foreign country). For me, that is my laptop and the internet.

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have a neighbor that uses a Mac. I was able to get online and contact my swedish buddy for help. The swedish buddy system is also a great system where local swedish students help out the exchange students in adjustments. It is similar to what we have in NUS.

I was lucky to have a friendly and great buddy (Anna Åkerblad, that’s you!). I’m not sure about everyone else… but generally, swedish people are nice and friendly plus good-looking to boot. :)

Before arriving in Stockholm, I honestly did not know what’s the difference in looks between Swedish, English, Spanish, French, Italians, etc. Now, not only am I able to make a good guess… the phrase ‘Swedish people look the best’ has became commonsense to me. It is unfair but true: Swedish people do generally look like superstars. But in my opinion, all Europeans in general look good with their sharp features and fashionable dress sense.

The fashionable dress sense can be attributed to their climate. In Singapore, with our hot and humid weather all year round, our fashion falls back heavily on comfort. You don’t see many people walking around in a full business suit with blazers on or a tuxedo. In fact, anything more than 2 layers is generally too uncomfortable if you stay out in the sun too long.

Not so in Europe. With low humidity, even in the hot summers you won’t perspire as much. During spring, autumn and winter, you will want to put on as much layers as possible to feel more comfortable while giving you a chance to pile on more fashionable dress pieces. I particularly like how scarves can make an outfit look nicer. Contrast with Singapore, where the only time I would purchase a scarf is to…well, hang it on my wall perhaps.

The culture in Europe in general seems to be more relaxed. The stereotype of the hardworking Asian and the life-enjoying European is generally true: they view us as more hardworking (and sometimes smarter), with the rules in our countries being more taxing and less emphasis on human-rights.

In contrast, the impression I get is that Europeans are definitely far from stupid – but perhaps they do not have a tendency to push as hard as us (speaking only for Singaporeans in the same age group now) as well as being uncomfortable with laws that push you rather than take care of you.

That is NOT saying they have no ambitions, goals, etc. On the contrary, they have the same large goals and ambitions as we do; it is just that their method of achieving them isn’t the same and probably isn’t that tough. I attribute this to their culture, governments, infrastructure and laws amongst many things.

Take for example the fact that most European countries are welfare states (and see how their economies are generally not so good as such), providing the jobless with money for survival. Contrast this with Singapore’s meritocracy. Take another example that one would merely be fined if one was caught with drugs. Contrast with Singapore where one would be killed.. and you can slowly understand why they look at Singapore in such ‘fear’. As all things in life, there is no right and wrong, correct or bad methodology. But to be able to see their reactions and listen to their thoughts… it really opened up my mind to a whole new world.

I’m really glad to have been able to succeed at my first goal of surrounding myself with Europeans. I strongly believe that is the best thing to do since I’m coming to Europe… and apparently, I’m not the only person to think that. The various nationalities had similar beliefs. Afterall, the ‘point of Erasmus is to increase your network of people from different countries’ (according to several of them) and to visit them afterwards. Which was what I done! :)

This exchange has been amazing thanks to the great and fun people I was lucky to know and hang out with. Yes, the parties are almost endless, but I attribute that to simply it being an exchange culture (the local Swedish students are generally not as laid-back as the exchange students, though they I would still say they are not as hard-core as our local students…).

The friends I made and the people I know are truly live up to an international exchange. America, Canada, South America, Middle-East, Europe (duh!), China, Japanese, Korea and Australia. I would say almost all continents are covered! [9]

And to the gang of people that I hang out with, I just want to say, a great big THANK YOU for everything. The memories will stay with me forever (especially with Facebook and the pictures and videos we had ;)). I really hope you guys will not forget the Asian guy from Singapore in the years to come, considering that I am geographically far away from all of you guys.

That being said, I believe Facebook has changed the way we view and maintain friendships. I believe that even though you guys are close, you probably will meet each other at most once a year. I may not be able to do that, but I assure you once I can, I will definitely make a second eurotrip to hunt you guys down. ;)

Meanwhile, I think the next biggest chance we can all meetup is at Australia. Be sure to stop by Singapore as well… it’s just 6 hours away by plane! HAHA.

Travelling in Europe is truly an amazing experience. We all know the rich history and beautiful sights of Europe… but until we actually view it and experience it by being actually there, you will not appreciate the grandeur and majestic atmosphere it provides. Each country and each city serves up its own unique taste, and still amazes me how many different people with different cultures, languages and architecture can be located merely hours away from each other by driving. Europe is truly, truly, a world of its own.

So where have I been?

Stockholm, Sweden (of course)

“The Capital of Scandinavia”. To be honest, I did not even know which country consisted of scandinavia when I arrived (answer: Norway, Sweden, Finland). Stockholm is a beautiful city consisting of numerous islands. With buildings that are rather low (they have strict limits), it is a fresh change from Singapore’s skyscrapers.

Being very, very environmentally friendly, Stockholm is considered to be an extremely green country and their blue lakes and seas as well as green trees stand out. With a great nightlife at Ostermalmstorg/Stureplan and Slussen, a great central area at Sergels Torg and last but not least the preservation of their heritage at Gamla Stan, Stockholm is indeed one of the best cities to live in. Not forgetting that they are not as overcrowded as in Singapore…

The downside? It’s expensive. In general, scandinavian countries are very expensive to live in. The locals of course, get used to it with their salaries reflectin their standard of living.

Public transport system is excellent here, but taxis are too expensive (as in all of Europe, except probably England).

Overall I am truly glad to have been in Stockholm where all the people not only look fabulous, they all understand English!

Uppsala, Sweden

A small “student town” just ~2 hours away by train, we decided to visit it as a part of ‘exploring Sweden’. [10] There wasn’t much to do (but we heard the nightlife there is amazing, with different ‘student and city clubs’), but we explored it a little and made a silly little video based on a previous video.

Talin, Estonia (Cruise)

Attending a rather popular TalinSilja student party cruise, upon reaching Talin itself it was spectacular for me. The place was one of the first few places out of Sweden that I saw, and it was a ‘old’ part of town with a large church and open plazas amongst cobbled streets. I remember I loved the difference in architecture as well as the ‘old style’ layout of the town itself.

Helsinki, Finland (Cruise)

Going to Helsinki by cruise, I was not very impressed with Helsinki as it looked and felt almost like Stockholm for me. Prices were the same if not more expensive than Stockholm as well.

That is not to downplay Helsinki though – apparently it is the #1 most livable city in the world by Monocles in 2010, and #7 most livable city in the world by The Economist in 2011.

In contrast, Singapore is #15 and Stockholm is #11 according to The Economist. [11]

London, Manchester, Leeds, England

As part of my plan to visit the country where so many of my friends decide to study their Bachelors in, as well as to visit friends who are currently staying there and last but not least, to carry out my pilgrimage to Old Trafford, I travelled to England.

Upon arrival at London, I met up with Rachell Lau (THANK YOU RACHELL! :)) who was doing her masters in London. Personally, I did not really enjoy London too much as it felt rather cramped, crowded, dirty and constantly gloomy and wet. To be fair, I was only there for 2 days and did not explore it completely. That being said, it reminded me greatly of the Central Business District in Singapore.

The tube was really old, but nonetheless I could see how it has functioned for so many years with its wear and tear and its diverse and complicated tube map of the lines.

One thing I remembered was that the bus actually changed final destinations mid-way during a journey with no reason whatsoever and an entire line for the tube was closed down inexplicably. And this in just 2 days of being in London…

Travelling to Manchester was a nice experience with the efficient cross-city train (by Virgin, I remember). I liked Manchester much more immediately with it’s more ‘old town’ feel and lack of crowd (perhaps I’m just sick of cities for awhile). It’s a quiet city compared to London with its bustling, but the main focus of Manchester was simply to visit Old Trafford and watch a Red Devils game. Thank you Suan Wee for setting that up! I would also like to thank Arda for his hospitality, I really appreciate it!

The game itself was a little boring (it was a boring game with Sunderland, but we won it 1-0 with an own goal by Wes Brown I believe), but the atmosphere, the pre-game hype, the majestic stadium all more than made up for it. I would definitely want to watch another live game in the future.

Oh, and they renamed the North stand (the largest section of the stadium) to Sir Alex Ferguson’s stand in commemoration of his 25th year as the Red Devils’ manager. That was a sweet touch.

Moving on to Leeds, where my buddy is currently studying. It’s different from Manchester in terms of architecture, but overall I felt it was pretty similar in many other ways. His school (University of Leeds) does look very modern though!

And here’s a tip: if you are planning to go back to London from outside London, do book your train tickets in advance. The costs can go really high… (from 20£ to 120£!)

In the end, my dear buddy found a bus that goes from Leeds straight to the airport for about 50£, but it took about 5-6 hours and a change in bus.

The funny thing was that food in England is pretty good! I practically ate great tasting (if not unhealthy) food and numerous asian favorites while I was there. Awesome.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Ahh… Amsterdam. What can I say? It felt like heaven. The Damrak red light district with it’s traffic light prostitute ‘displays’, it’s numerous strip clubs as well as the marijuana-selling coffeeshops and mushroom shops make this place one of the most ‘must-visit’ place by tourists in Europe.

I shouldn’t (couldn’t) say more. ;)

IAMSTERDAM!

Oh, and we lived in someone’s house which I found via airbnb.com. Not the cheapest, but it’s a great place with its location.

Paris, France 

The place which made me fell in love almost instantly, over and over again.

I was lucky to have some friends going there, as I initially planned to head to Paris for 4 days alone. Everything in Paris is perfect… I can now understand why it is the city of love (so is Florence and Venice too I heard..hmm).

The only downside in the entire trip was that I lived in a hostel called 3Ducks. It was decent enough to rest in, but everything else was really bad. I guess that is the complete backpacker lifestyle and I just wasn’t ready for it!

Anyhows, Paris simply has too many beautiful attractions and wonders. I remember taking pictures at almost any place where you can see the Effiel Tower at the backdrop. I remembered taking pictures at almost every turn of the street with the unexpected beautiful buildings and scenery. I remembered being amazed again at Trocadero, looking at the Effiel Tower (for the 3rd time) framed by two large buildings, a marbled floor and fountains. I remembered jumping for joy upon reaching the glass Pyramide at the Louvre, and to visit the Louvre itself and admire it’s AMAZING paintings. I remembered being surprised that the Mona Lisa wasn’t packed with more people. I remembered Musee d’Orsay and that weird vagina painting (no kidding). I remembered the Effiel Tower sparkling at night. I remembered Champ Elyseé and how it reminded me of Orchard Road. I remembered going up the Arc de Triumph, feeling very cold but enjoying the city lights and the Effiel Tower shooting its 2 beams of lights. I remembered how the group I was with hyped up the La Defense arc building. I remembered Sacred Hearts, Moulin Rouge and Notre Dame (the Hunchback of Notre Dame story sprung into mind).

Ahhhh Paris, Paris. You’re merely a city littered with beautiful and amazing attractions. For that, I applaud you.

Rome, Italy

When I told people how beautiful Paris was, many say that I should go to Rome and that I would like it.

They are so right.

Where Paris is beautiful, Rome is majestic.

With all the history of the ancient Romans, Rome was a very different city compared with Paris. But I still love it!

Thanks to Greg and Alsony, we need not worry about housing and transport. Greg had an apartment in town and drives.

Greg also has a mother that owns a Really Huge Farmhouse. Mmm.

Anyways, I absolutely can’t wait to see white stoned large buildings endowed with the pillars of might that is the Romans…and I was not disappointed.

The ancient colosseum, the majestic Victor Emmanuel building with it’s beautiful view at the top, the spectacular Vatican with the large church and the plaza, the Spanish steps, the Fountain of Trevi, the old ancient ruins and the Pantheon were things I remembered greatly. Great tasting pizza and pasta too!

And not forgetting the minimalist club that our friend Greg brought us. Though not a fan of minimalist music… all(most) males are a fan of females and Rome Does Not Disappoint in that aspect. It’s unbelievable, honestly.

Rome has one caveat though: the driving there is chaotic. I highly doubt I can drive there. Italians are honestly great drivers… ;)

Genoa/Albenga/Alassio, Italy

From Rome we head over to Genoa to start the visit of some Erasmus friends who has either went back for Christmas, or due to their term having ended.

Genoa/Albenga/Alassio is a completely different world from Rome. It is completely a countryside, coastal town and I loved it! It’s a refreshing change from cities, cities and cities with the beautiful cliffs and deep blue (really deep, really blue) seas. The roads we drove all looked like scenes from Need for Speed circuits. It was truly, truly a refreshing and amazing change and experience for me.

I just can’t emphasize how beautiful the beaches, the cliffs and the mountains were. Not forgetting their houses too (countryside houses tend to be large!) and the night sky littered with so many stars. What a wonderful world.

Bfly was a nice club (if not a little expensive too!). Italiano was a great shot. And that Baptista cocktail, though probably very worth it, still taste too strong for me!

Thank you to Claudio for picking us up from the airport, I really appreciate it! Thank you to Riccardo and your family for EVERYTHING! I feel like I owe you a lot and your family is honestly, unbelievably nice. I still won’t forget what you Dad tried to tell me:

“No need to buy us a gift, just smile and that is good enough for us.”

I will definitely visit you all again one day… perhaps in the summer! Then again, the population increases 7-fold in the summer. Hmmm. We’ll see.. :)

Marseille, France

Driving from Italy to France was yet another eye-opener. Separated by about ~3 hours of roads lies another place that is completely different from before.

In the end, I really must thank Riccardo again as he drove for nearly 5 hours while all I did was sleep. Ah, there’s nothing much I can do anyhow.

When we finally reach Marseille, it was great to see Mary and Thomas again! Again, I came here just to see them, but the city itself is pretty nice!

It’s quiet, but the coastal parts of Marseille with the rocks, sea and beaches were beautiful. The Notre Dame too, was an unexpected sight!

And Mary’s house is simply awesome with the high-tech kitchen and whatnot. Thank you so much for the hospitality Mary! :)

Barcelona, Spain

After a 7 hour journey, I reach Barcelona. First impression as the bus entered the city?

Holy smokes! It’s totally not how I imagined it to be. It’s a modern city almost similar to Singapore in many aspects! (Interesting point: Barcelona is #14 in most livable city, just one spot above Singapore as ranked by The Economist)

And am I so happy to see Ana in Barcelona! First off, thank you and your parents so much for ALL the hospitality! Yet another moment full of gratitude from me. I really feel like I owe you guys a lot!

Barcelona’s style is quite similar to Paris with beautiful landmarks and sights littered about a modern city. Traveling around Barcelona with a cute spanish girl on a scooter is priceless. :)

Initially going to Barcelona simply to visit Ana, I tried to learn more about it (and it’s sights) before coming. I failed actually… I only knew that they had a fantastic architect (Antoni Gaudi)  whom passed before he could complete certain buildings.

Nevertheless, I remembered all the beautiful sights of Barcelona. The Sagrada Familia and it’s crazy architecture (the queue to enter the church was very long), the cathedral, La Rambla, Park Guell and the beautiful vantage point (or Mirador, heh) and the famous ‘dragon/lizard’ structure. The columbus statue (they had many statues in roundabouts), the shopping mall that was near the port area, the shopping mall that used to be an arena for bullfighting, the beautiful towers for communication (along with the far sights of the amusement park), the tapas, Camp Nou, Español Stadium, the big building that resembles the large bank building in London and the Olympica Lane beside the beach. I’m pretty sure I missed out quite a bit of stuff too but you get the point – Barcelona is nice!

And I absolutely love how Ana’s Dad was trying to speak English with words he learnt from English movies, as well as his great hospitality in bringing me for a private tour in the Español stadium as well as giving me a free Español jersey. I was speechless when he did that. Ana’s Mom is also a great (and healthy) cook too, and I won’t forget that taste of home-made squid and calamari. Mouth-watering, honestly!

And from that, the journey to Stockholm begins. As I entered the bus from Barcelona Nord to begin the long and lonely journey, it began to creep into my mind that the entire exchange has come to an end.

All the great experiences I have got was simply a gift from above. It really makes one appreciate how beautiful this world and how interesting humans are.

And to places where I was geographically at but did not have the chance to visit…

Åbo, Finland (just the port, for 1 hour…heh)
Riga, Latvia (stopover)
Doha, Qatar (stopover)

I will not say I have travelled to a lot of places in Europe… but that goes to show you how vast and diverse Europe is and how much it has to offer. If China is a whole new world, then Europe is a galaxy.

Already, I have places in mind for a second or third eurotrip which will include places like Italy (Milan, Florence, Venice), Spain (Madrid), Poland (Krawkow), Germany (Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt), France (Toulouse, St Tropez, Cannes), Czech Republic (Prague), Hungary (Budapest), Belgium (for Tomorrowland, at least once!) and Greece.

Not only that, this experience has truly shown me how interesting and diverse the world can be, with so many different sights and people to see, so many cultures and languages to immerse in and so many different climates to experience. Indirectly, it has also sparked an interest for me to one day travel to different countries such as South Africa, Egypt, America, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Australia amongst others.

I felt that I have definitely grown up a bit more (coming from a person who believed he is all completely mature and previous has no desire to travel the world), and for that, I can only thank the opportunity for this amazing exchange experience.

Thank you NUS Business School. Thank you Stockholm University. Thank you Dad and Mom and my entire family. Thank you my dear buddies back home and the new buddies I know here.

This surreal dream is over, and it’s time to move forward to greater things..!

 

This post has been split into multiple parts/sections to make it easier to read. It also allows you to read only sections that were relevant or interesting for you. The section/parts happened in chronological order (from start of 2011 to end of 2011), but no doubt there are overlaps of certain events as I attempt to classify them into sections.

1. As Life Goes On…
2. Granny’s Passing and Chinese New Year
3. Academia and Happenings
4. The 1 Year Startup – QuizFunnel
5. Friendship and Business
6. Friendship and Business Part II

Footnotes (All sections’ footnotes are kept here)

[1] I made this up. I DID initially want it to be as dramatic as so, but procrastination of the large task at hand of writing down all my thoughts resulted in me watching drama series (Mad Men), reading articles and ebooks, playing an iPhone game and doing up graphics instead. But whatever, I just wanted to add a “dramatic feel” to my first post. ;)

[2] Again, similar to [1] above. I’m actually writing this on 3rd January 2012, 2:40pm, after a gym session and in the laundry room of Lappis (student residence) while my clothes are in the dryer. Writing this in the laundry room means I have no internet connection whatsoever, hence preventing me from being distracted by the 101 things on the internet.

[3] Ignore [2] now. My laundry is done and to prevent hogging of the dryer, I removed my clothes and proceeded back to my corridor. Writing this in my kitchen now (where there is a weak wifi signal…) as I cook some Spinach and Eggs.

[4] You can view the front-end website and video at http://clickka.com

[5] That’s the sole reason why I’m learning programming for my next venture. Specifically, server-side Ruby on Rails. I am also looking for co-founder(s).

[6] The other life decision was the selection of my Junior College (equivalent of high school). I wanted ACJC badly, and chose CJC as a last second decision, not knowing what CJC is all about. I wounded up getting into CJC (was slightly depressed initially), finished it, and absolutely loved the entire experience. Exactly like my Sweden exchange.

[7] Thankfully, as I sit here typing this after 5 months, both have improved. ;)

I now more or less understand the geography of Europe, and am able to guess the locations of each country and their capitals to a certain extent (well, far from perfect but it’s better than not knowing anything at all). I also understand more about the climate and the various weather that each country experiences (based on latitude and geography of course). And finally, I get a more decent understanding of how timezones work in our planet.

My cooking has no doubt improved too. Afterall, I had to cook for almost 5 months! Buying groceries and cooking isn’t as tough or complicated as it is (though washing up is still a pain). Cooking simple pasta and rice dishes, defrosting and grilling meat, frying and boiling eggs and mix and matching various food as well as adding some salt or pepper isn’t as daunting as it used to be

[8] Word edited for a family-friendly audience. I would use the phrase ‘shitting me’, but I do plan to use this section for my exchange writeup. :)

[9] If you know someone from Antarctica, please introduce him/her to me.

[10] Sweden, like most European countries, is rather diverse in environment in different parts of the country. In the north you have Kiruna/Lappland where you can see the Northern lights and bobsled, amongst other things. In the south you have Malmo and Lund which are smaller towns (similar to Uppsala, I would guess). In the west you have Gothemberg, Nykoping and Orebo which are all smaller cities/towns as well.

[11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World’s_most_livable_cities

[12] As mentioned in point [1], I faked the time for a dramatic effect and to play out the scenes as I wished I had. The true date and time now as I finish writing is 4th January 2012, 5:39pm as I sit in my room typing this down. The fireworks however, were all real.