NS Chan Studio:: Graphics, Art, Manga, Architecture

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

MALMÖ (Part 2)

Hehe part 2 is here! But part 2 mainly on some buildings... and one is of them is done by a faaaaammmous architect who loved to make expensive buildings. A dream that all architects would wish to have. hiak hiak~

The expensive building I am talking about is the "HSB Turning Torso" by Santiago Calatrava. One of my favourite {sculpturist} architect. I described him as sculpturist, in my own words of cos. His stuff are like huge sculptural pieces, most are beautiful to look at. When completed, it was the tallest building in Scandinavia, and Europe's second highest apartment building. The 190m tower contains 54 storeys, the design based on a sculpture called Twisting Torso. In fact, it reminded me of a Futurist sculptor, Umberto Boccioni, who first did sculpture of figures with twisted muscles as seen in "The Unique Forms of Continuity in Space" to show motion and speed of the coming new and modern era then. Anyway, the skyscraper won the 2005 MIPIM award for Best International Residential Building in Cannes, France...

So while we were walking towards the building, we passed by this weird looking bridge... wat a waste of concrete! Is it juz for aesthetic purpose to build it like that or is there a structural function for that which I dun know of? oh watever...

Ahh finally we spotted Turning Torso from afar!!

So a prove that we have been there. Me, Lw and clement posed for this photo. Amazingly, it happened that the sun peeked through the thick layers of clouds at the back of the building and the clouds were in this fluffly texture that spread out juz from behind the skyscraper... So what I wanna say is, I didnt add clouds manually here. It is really like this.

A photo of us at the entrance that is nicely decorated with sculptures on symmetrial layout of pool. It's taken by cw's cam with wide angel lens of cos.

So we rest our feet at somewhere near and we saw these clusters of apartments, not sure if they are purely residential or they are Sohos.... Anyway, nice apartments with open balconies. gheez, the facade reminded me of the SOHO design group project that we did in Year 3 sem 1... The modularity and patterns that is...., what's more it's the form and articulation too.... Rudy, are you seeing this? familiar huh~

I explored inside and find the interior garden and layout much more interesting than I expected. Rather cosy and ideal for work-live environment.

Hmm, that's all folks! End of malmo photos~ After germany trip, I will post photos on Stockholm den copenhagen. And of cos on Germany!! Cya all! Will be back on Sunday night. And before setting off, I would like to make an early wishing.... "Happy B'dae Mum!!!" :p~

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

MALMÖ (Part 1)

yes, 2nd post for today and as promised, here are the photos on our Malmo trip~

Actually we went 3 times to Malmo .... first time to visit Ikea to get our necessary stuff for our rooms and visit some buildings like the malmo castle... And 2nd time to find 2nd-hand bicycle but shops are mostly closed and so we enjoy more of the ongoing Malmo festival. The 3rd time... is purely getting a 2nd-hand bicycle.

Let us turn back in time for the Malmo trip - 19-20th August.

Welcome to Malmo! I love train stations with those wires and cable running above the tracks. I wonder why I like those stuff... They cast beautiful collage and patterns against the sky and giving a sense of oldness and timeless sensation.

We got out of the train station (Central station) and I was delighted at the floral decorations on the lamp posts. I wish singapore has lamp posts like these... arent we a garden city? And there are so many statues and many more to come in stockholm (sweden) and copenhagen (denmark) photos. I really love such artistic scenes and sense on european streets. Why cant singapore have more art pieces ard the city since we are moving towards to becoming an Arts hub?

Now let us look at some photos at the central square where the festival is going on.... well I didnt take much photos... bascially some fun fair stuff with games and food stalls along the streets and canal. Quite a pity we dun have time to stood by to look at the 'pasam malam'. Here's the central square with a huge stage where performances were held... look at the big crowd. And there's this statue with a small ferry wheel in the background. yea most of the sculptures or statues are made of copper that rust to give that bluish colour.... i think.

Along a particular street lined with food stalls (damn, i nvr took photos of those weird yummy food n those stalls), there's this street art piece consisting of human figures that seem to march down the lane while they play musical instruments. bascially like a band. And the girls and guys took photo each with the figures. the girl in the middle is a german from Lw's hostel i tink. Look at lw pretending to be part of the troupe-blowing her "trumphet"!

Ok we visited the Malmo castle... and yes, very very smiliar to Citadellet in Landskrona!! And almost similar history! After it lost its function as fortress and castle, it was used to hold prisoners.... tsk tsk. but the inside is much nicer and happening than Citadellet becos there are shops and cafe going on...

The inital 4-NUS ppl gang (from left): Cw, Lw, me and Yh, standing in front of the entrance. The next photo is a pic of a display shelf in one of the shops taken by cw. Very pretty ehz~

all right, part 2 will be coming up soon!

Food!

Before I set off for Germany this Wed, I'll juz post some food-related photos! Maybe later if I still have time tml, I'll post Malmo photos hehe...

Look at this photo of my lunch on the 22th sept (finally get well abit then to cook something), finally I know how to control the amount of oil and heat from the stove to get my perfect sunny side up- no leakage and no burnt areas. vola! Proud of moi egg~

On 23rd sept, Yinghao said he had whipped up some special dish with his big prawns as the main ingredients, thus invited a few of us to his hostel at Vildanden for dinner. So the special dish is Wu Xiang. Ahh~~~

After dinner is drinking beer session and yes I was forced to drink. We played this card game whereby one draws a card each and places on the forehead. whoever got the largest number will be forfeited to drink mouthful of beer.... And as if it's heaven's will, I drew aces and aces and aces most of the time. dun ask me why I am that 'lucky'. They said it's a training for me for the germany trip (ocktober fest). But I cheated with small sips.... And so drinking and playing while we watched Pirates of the Carribean on TV til late at night. Finally! Get to watch TV and yet a nice movie. Really enjoyable for me yea.

More outings on Sat and Sun. Sat we went to town to see some festival but nothing much and few of us ended up at Sparta and stayed in Sheng's room throughout the night talking. Sun had dinner at Sparta again but I juz came in time to eat before going off... a quick meal as I have work to do. Hehe.

Yesterday night, one of my corridor mate Louis, made Swedish muffins! The traditional ones with cinnamon taste, and a slightly different one with coconut taste. I took one each and here's the pic. On the left is the cinnamon one and yes I bit one mouth at the back already. The other is coconut flavour. Nice nice~~ She made lots but this morning I wondered where she kept them.. :(

Did I make you drool so far??

Monday, September 25, 2006

Disturbances

One moment I was talking abt peace, and now am talking something otherwise.

Some things are getting on my nerves... When work are starting to come in, some things are getting into my way of having a 'peaceful' life. My light bulb for the main room spoilt again... luckily I have my table lamp which wasn't working initially when I first moved in though until i got a new bulb for it. And my sink choked as well and the caretaker is not responding to my report of the sink. If I can get hold of a 30-40cm metal wire and a pump, I'll do the job myself.

My laptop had fan error many many days ago... and it is a sign that it needed a new fan... and I havent have a single clue where is that computer store in town yet. wish I have the time to check it out.

My food rot. Due to the 2 weeks of sickness, I seldom cook or use the ingredients as I was having simple meals... so I had to throw away my tomatoes, peaches, yam.... great... my jam and margarine are going to be finished ... I'll have a major grocery shopping soon... maybe after I return from germany.

One of my watches stopped working... erm wat else?

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I think i understand exactly how jovie felt in her latest post that I juz saw today at this time. I went through such situation many times until I found a way of my own to accept and live with it. There are also times I wish to avoid people. It comes juz so sudden for no reasons at times... For eg, there is a period of time I dun wanna cook to avoid my nice corridor ppl in the kitchen. well maybe i'm sick or moody at that time so i dun wanna put up a fake front and socialise with people with forced smiles and so on. Well jov, there's this introvert self that is lurking in us under waters. I wasnt used to it at first but as years go by, one will get used to it somehow, or know roughly how to get round the problem some ways. Dun be too troubled by it k.

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Gripped by stress
Disgusted at self
For being directed
By external forces
Way too much

Loses independency
Loses self
Loses identity
Loses dignity
Loses own mind

Realisation of helplessness
And lack of adaptation
How foolish can one be seen
Stripped of all pride
Left nothing but dumbness

Misery to be hidden
Tolerance to all criticisms
Accepting remarks
Fighting against eyes
Experience.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Life

how long more do i have to eat bread and simple meals before i recover?
how many times do i have to fall and get injuries before i can cycle decently?
how many times do i have to be late for classes every darn early morning?
how much more yakkati yak of swedish at my ear before i can be used to being ignored?

ok, four lines that shld be sufficient to describe wat i am going through now :)
I did more 'stunts' with my bike today... and yes, more minor cuts and abrasions hehe... testing my limits aren't I?

As usual, reading on some of my frens' blogs and find some of them feeling troubled these days. In fact, I know everyone have troubles all the time but from time to time, the feelings can be so intense and they subsided again later before they come again, like the waves of the oceans. This reminded me of the buddhist teachings I read up during one of my research.I wonder when can we mortals be able to curb the waves or be able to let them in and out without disturbing the stagnant calm sea in ourselves. To maintain the entrophy or order of chaos in our minds is almost impossible if u see it in scientific perspective. If external disturbance enters, the entrophy within the mortal will be increased and when that disturbance energy is released, the entrophy will return to initial stage. Yes, the resultant entrophy maintained but during the process it is affected. How to maintain the calmness within self then? Also, we mortals as dissipative structures will need external stimuli and releasing outputs to maintain stability within self. So how am I suppose to combine this with buddhism? After much thoughts, I think I found some sort of answer. It is purely my own interpretation:

To go through the process in reaching nirvana, the seven stages include Arousing, etc, which teaches one to experience the pain and feelings itself. If that is the case, maybe the external stimuli etc are needed in order to understand the calmness. It is like without black, how do u know white; without bad, how does one know good? The order of chaos keep changing in all living things and there will be disturbances forever, and we do not ask one to refrain from these changes or going against the world. In buddhism, we accept such changes and yet able to transport our soul and mind into another umwelt within the world of changes. That umwelt or world is where ur calm sea of innerself lies.

Ahh, let's talk about something else. I am following the anime Honey & Clover 2 as I mentioned way before. And yes I finished season 1 too. There are a few lines of words in the anime that rang so deeply within me because they are the lines of words I always remind or tell myself, especially this particular line from this artist who injured her right arm: "I want to draw forever. If I cant draw anymore, I do not know what is life for me." The scene was quite sad then and it moved me. I have made similar promise to myself and art since young, that when I lose my ability to draw, it will be the day I die or consider 'dead'. This is the resolution I made for my life in this world right from the beginning. In the show, it said about how one sees the artist's world through her drawings. Indeed, drawings are our tools of communication, especially to me after the days of darkness I went thru. Without this communication, what existence do I have in this world? I will forever remember words that a teacher said to me "Your drawings portray a sense of softness, calm and serene." That is precisely what I felt when I draw. My secondary umwelts are found in drawing where no disturbances can reach me.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Back from Copenhagen! and other interesting happenings.

yoyo!! yup, been travelling in copenhagen, a city of denmark, over the weekends with 2 ntu gals (yy and jj), yanling, cw and yh. i think the place is much exciting than stockholm! will be posting the photos soon~ haha i have to start posting those on Malmo and Stockholm too. I really prefer those types of streets where buskers and musicians perform along them. what is really delightful is that they each have their own albums and people actually buy! I was tempted to buy the one with those tribal (abit red indian looking people) group that blew very good melodies from their woodwind pipes (not sure wat they are called) and mixed with light drums and cymbals etc. It's like modern new age with tribal sensation. That is one of my favourite music genre I wish to hear. very meditative and inspiring. It is those type of music when u close your eyes and sceneries form in ur mind, seeing the boundless blue sky that meets the endless stretch of meadows. You hear the rustle of grass as the gentle gushes of wind embrace the land (it was very windy in the city lor!!). Then big flock of birds fly pass above the sky as you dance through the meadows. For a moment, you feel you have stretched your wings and flew into the arms of pure freedom and nirvana - broken away from the vice of chains and attachments of life. That is what I feel.

ok, enough 'intro' of copenhagen trip~ will elaborate more with the photos!.

Back to sch on Monday today and realised it's basically own working time, so one does not need to come today actually... haiz~ anyway did abit of work before I went back after my laptop's batt died on me. On my ride to Willy's to get some bread and other groceries, I was happily cycling along this narrow path and then from the oppo end came 2 cyclists. i think the lane is juz too narrow for 3 ppl to cycle and so, i was rubbed or hit from my side and yes, another dramatic fall forward. Well my fault, cos my lack of skills cannot help to prevent the collision, or maybe I should have stopped and squeezed next to the bushes to let them pass first. Or how I wish the guy can stop talking to the girl next to him and slow down to get behind her, so that we can each have half of the lane. Whatever it is, done is done. knee abrasion is slight, thanks to my poor jeans. left hand gets most of friction as i supported myself on the rough tar road while i slided. And y is there a 2 cm bloody cut on one of the bruised finger? oh, maybe that guy's bicycle handle or watever sharp stuff scratched it. shalala... bicycle collision. But seems like the other guy is totally fine and not knocked off at all, in fact he didnt know he hit me and carried on cycling abit until he heard my fall and 'ahh!' sound. haha~~ Then when i finally got my groceries and went back hostel, someone else occupied my bicycle slot that is allocated in correspond to our room number... i wrote a note for it and moved the heavy bike away to one side before i could put mine in. what a crap day for bicycle stuff. How many times more of injuries do I have to get? I wish it can juz stop already. Enough! :P

Dreams:
The night before we set off for the morning train to Copenhagen, I had a dream... I believe some of u have known that I have been having stressful dreams or work-related dreams ever since I entered uni. That night I dreamt of this group of china clients asking me to renovate a hotel due to poor sound system at the lobby, and also the exhaust system to remove fumes from their fire decorations quickly. I was so stressed as I promised them I will come up with something within a week and was trying to take down their company's name and address. Luckily halfway, the alarm clock rang me up from the dream. eek...

I had another dream last night after I came back to lund after the weekend trip. BUT this time, it is not related to architecture. It is not a nightmare, nor a horror one. But it still abit shocking to me... I was very tired then and I collasped on my bed before I can cook noodles for my dinner (yah, I skipped my dinner as a result, not on purpose!). I dreamt about my JC gang aka sixoneders... and some mean things happened to one of us and we were like trying to help but abit helpless...Dont ask me the details, dun wish to mention it. I was so horrified tat I snapped out from it wide-eyed. The clock read 3am. gosh... I washed up abit before going back to sleep again... gheez, this is the first time I dreamt something bad happened to my dear 61 frens. I know in real life they will be blessed and nothing of that sort will happen.

right, need to do work now~ wait for my photos!!
(ps, if u still experience some misalignments on my blog, pls check if u have the encoding changed to Unicode UTF-8. It is due to the chinese text on previous post.)

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Sick

It all started with abit of uneasiness at my throat on last sat's dinner session. Haha think my body was too heaty after all those yummy food, biscuits intake, etc etc many more reasons. And now it gets into the flu stage. Why on earth did I forgot my strepsils and flu tablets when I have panadols and others? See, I told ya my packing is darn last minute. And so, wc and yh had to gave me some of their medicines and pills. I'm really sorry to trouble u guys and thanks alot manz.

And thanks for everyone else who have been so concerned about me. I am really touched. Dun worry, I will definitely get better soon. Yea, some ppl told me I shld consider taking care of myself not juz for the sake for myself but also for the sake of others cos it will make ppl worried about me, and worse still, become a burden to them.

And some of u who know me well by now will know, the idea of being burden to other ppl is something which i dislike to hear... and I will take on the form of running away... literally.

Living for the others probably acts as responsibility to ownself and others yet a burden to self.

9th Sept Cooking cum Dinner session~

Last saturday, all of us had our 2nd dinner session at my hostel (Delphi). We cooked alot again and ended up having some ppl to dabao back. yea I also had lots of leftover food to keep. check out the photos :)

This is our spread. Green chicken curry, steamed egg and meat, omelette and onion (abit too sality), Grilled pork slices(salty too), vege dish of carrot, potato and some green veges which i forgot whether it is cabbage or not, some fried bone thingies that I dunno wat it is called, deep fried pork, and carrot- potato-onion and pork ribs soup (i played a part for the soup).

And so Yanling started the ball rolling by distributing rice.

Let us take a look at some scenes during preparation for the food.... not many though. Here, stepf (and wayne) were in charge of this green chicken curry.

JJ (left) and yy were preparing the vege dish together. They did the grilled pork slices too...

Ok, these ppl were done with their part so they are slacking while the rest were still busy... Weicheng smiling so happily... yea, his appetizer dish of cheese bits with pasta on bread was good! Yh sitting at the back.... think he did the deep fried pork and the bone-thingy dish. Cw did his onion and omelette... yea that dish of black stuff... haha too much dark soy sauce? Yanling did 2 bowls of steamed egg and meat. So, daidi for these ppl ....

And after eating.... washing up-business was amazingly efficient. Here we have Sheng trying to scrub the dried rice off the bottom of the pot. haiz~~ cooking rice by the "prehistoric method" (as we called it) has this big problem. Too bad my mini rice cooker cannot help to cook rice for all at once.

And thanks to Wayne, we have a birthday celebration for him with a nice yummy ice-cream cake! It's darn good and he's darn happy~ Even my swedish corridor mate, Johan, wished him happy birthday specially in chinese. He called his fren Thomas (the swedish guy who can speak mandarin) who was all the way back in his hometown somewhere in sweden then, just to ask for the chinese pronounciation. Aww isnt he sweet? And so thanks to wayne, I get to eat a cake (finally) here. I never dreamt I would taste one (and a really good one) in sweden. This cake has almond and banana taste within the chocolate layer, and another layer with some liquor... eck, dunno wat is it made but it is darn delicious.

Yup, wayne was so touched. A special bday as it is celebrated in sweden with us who are exchange students from the 3 universities of singapore. cool huh~

Monday, September 11, 2006

Thoughts

[note: if u cant read the chinese characters or some funny misalignment going on, pls go to View > Encoding and choose Unicode (UTF-8) to see them]

I always love the times when I can do things at my own pace, doing little things that I enjoy... Recently downloaded this anime "Honey & Clover". It is not those sweety pie cute girl anime that you think it is when u heard it's title. I find it very heart-warming, but quite touching especially for the 2nd season. It talks about the lives of a group of students from art and also architecture course. It's not about work of cos, but how they treasure their moments and how they feel when they are able to create something. Also, they talked about their relationships such as friendships and love etc. Because of all these factors, esp the art part, that's y I feel this anime close to heart and I can understand and feel every word they mean and express.

从小蹋上想当画家的路途，老早把自己陷入一个属于自己的空间。从此很幸运地了解那份能从自己的手中创造出来的喜悦。那份属于自己的能力是多么地神圣，有如被上苍照耀着而被赏赐的礼物。它让我能感应到世间所看不到的力量，倾听它们窃窃私语的谈笑声。自然界的力量仿佛身体的一部分，引导你该怎么去了解周围实景的精华。这份沟通是神圣的。这是属于我与世间的感情。

上苍赏赐这份宝贵的礼物，也是一份圣旨似的。从此将背负这心灵所必须吸收的质料与责任，缓缓也成为背负他人的期待、期望。凡人的躯体有时即将支撑不起这份终生的抱负。也因为如此，对而外的杂景和人物不多于采纳，造成了孤僻、孤独、无知，但仍然继续自己的路程。神圣的任务换来疲惫的心灵，同时换来悲痛与折磨。喜归喜，悲归悲，悲中造乐为经学之一。无奈经学也需漫长岁月才能拿捏得巧妙。我因此了解生命的短暂。

动画片也把生活中所面对的问题一一描绘出，尤其是友情和爱情，也就是人与人之间的感情。当一幕幕的画境和描述如此实在，如此逼真，让我想起不愿提起的话题，不愿构起的回忆。起初为己担心再度会被悲酸覆盖。但发现那时的悲酸已不在，伤感也不在像那时的激烈。这是好事吗？逃去异乡的目的之一是否算达成了？这算是解决了吗？如果非也，可耐几时？

那晚的风刮得很勇猛，确如此凄凉。偏偏想起有些人怎么对待自己，所用的语言与态度，和了解自己的无能，自己的努力，自己的忍耐。窗外的刮风与屋内的细雨，已让人疲惫不堪。如此地累，确无法安眠，那晚是如此漫长。

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Gatherings + Site Visits!

Before I touched on my site visits to Helsingborg and Landskrona (2 cities in sweden), I must share my joy with you in finding a second shortcut to my faculty building - the 'A' building (A-huset). It's damn near my hostel, 12 minutes of casual walk or less than a minute of cycling. I love Delphi for this major reason now. But still, it's far to get to the town area.

Oh almost forgot to post the lunch photo I had on 1st sept. Yea, my sunny side up aint as pretty as what I did back at home. stupid pan... and sort of 'broke' the yolk at the very last stage. hmpf.

And also share my frustration with you:
I know it aint good for me to say this but I think I am getting frustrated or upset at the swedish ppl in my classes speaking svenska among themselves and to the teachers. The german gals and both me and cw were like blur all the way. Even the teacher/tutor himself loves to speak swedish to them. Luckily today, there's this swedish gal who kept reminding the class and the TEACHER to speak english. great..... in sg, it is both students' and teachers' duties to help out and make sure the exchange students are able to catch up with the class. Now I think I will treat exchange students better. Ppl, pls dun speak some language that they dun understand all the time. They will feel lousy. really lousy. Please initiate conversation with them k.
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Ahh, we have some gatherings (for the singaporeans here) during the weekends. On Friday, there's this speech by the chancellor, and thus invite all exchange students to come to the Palaestra (if u have read my sweden entries from the first one, you would have seen this photo of the palaestra building which is located opposite of AF building). It is some grand white building with big fountain in front. And so you can expect to see the interior finishes as grand as its exterior promises.

This is the atrium space once we entered the building... nice

Before and after the speech, there's this male swedish choir grp who entertained us with really good songs. I mean, their singing is great! I was very touched at that moment. I always wanted to hear such vocals while my eyes and mind gaze upon the medieval interiors of european buildings. And you feel urself transported back to those olden times. This is one of the scenes that I always dream to experience. It has always been one of my dreams etched deep in my mind tat I was afraid it would never be fulfiled. And so at that moment, for once, I feel so surreal as though I am in some kind of fantasy or dream. Is this real? Yes absolutely, I told myself and managed to hold back my tears.

I tried to capture the choir grp above the many heads... so the photo wasnt well taken...

Hmm saturday we went to this NovaLund shopping centre at the outskirts of Lund... it feels like a mini suntec inside... so we shopped abit and after that all of us visited yinghao's hostel and played cards etc. Too bad lingwei, waicheng and a few not around. Mina, totemo genki ne~

And we decided to have a cooking session together at cw's hostel for sunday's dinner.... We had wonderful dishes, especially when they taste and smell like home. :)

We had curry chicken, bak kuteh, onion omelette, beef omelette, mashed potato with peas, carrot and corn, beef with black pepper sauce, cabbage with (dunno wat) sauce, fruit salad and ice-cream!!! haha sinful!! bloated!
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Right, let's go on to the site visits! Haiz, I wish I have wide lens... and faster shutter speed or inbuilt image stabiliser~~

First, our design studio grp went up to Helsingborg to look at Kärnan Castle (pronounced as 'Shar-nan'). We all came by bus and car to the carpark and entered via its garden. Otherwise, one will enter via this grand gateway cum stairway.

And as u walked up and passed the gateway, you will see the castle aka tower.

And when you turned back, the gate and city is below your feet. a beautiful sight. eek, cw got into my picture! ok, you can use him to gauge the scale of this gateway in the photo.

The serenity of site brought forth by the lone tower and the withered trees that cast silhouettes against the gloomy skies.

I didnt take much interior photos of it, only this one.... scary looking huh....

So this tower was a fortress built by Danish King in 1200, which later owned by the Swedish. After the swedish won the battle in Helsingborg, the tower lost its meaning. Luckily, they promised not to pull this tower down, instead reconstructed by an architect. The building is listed as a national monument, allowing tourists to visit it. However it's not handicap-friendly. Look at the 6m height of staircase u have to climb... and internal staircase is a spiral one all the way up the rest of the building to the roof. So you really go round and round. dizzy eh.
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Now the 2nd site is the Citadell castle in Landskrona. It was initally a monastery. The reformation caused them to give it up to the Danish King. Christian III turned it into a castle, and later the swedish occupied it. In the 18th century, it was used as a prison. Now, it is also a national monument with occasional medieval market to attract people and tourists during the weekends.

The castle is beautifully sat in the middle of this greenery with its moat surrounding it. It would be more fantasy-like if the exterior design is more... erm... more aesthetic.

Noticed those yellow houses around the castle? They were houses to carpenters and craftsmen who worked for the castle at that time. Now, they are juz normal houses. We went in to one, and it's cosy :) And we see people fishing as well as feeding ducks. Benches are spread on the beautiful lawn, good for having picnic and snacks with frens...

Don't be deceived by its exterior. The interior is awesome... and it is said that people can hold wedding dinners in here. wow~ take a look at the medieval settings.

The "windows" were made for canon firing... but now they are covered up with glass so they become windows today. Oh yes, they also the spiral staircase again. ahhh~~ so is my hostel one. Swedish ppl really like spiral staircases huh.

These are some animals that you can find around here. Cute tender ducks, birds, and the woolly sheeps. meh~~~

More sheeps...

Gheez... I am still feeling bloated with food though the sunday's dinner had passed one day ago. I juz had corridor meeting and I have to pay 250 kronas!! Becos they are getting new tv and water boiler!!! And I think I wont be using them :( Ah, I met Johan's gf. Nice couple! Nice conversations with everyone~

Friday, September 01, 2006

"Wonderful" Cycling experience

I fell. In a dramatic way.
Once on the way to school. and once on the way back :)

haha, dun worry, ain't serious at all. Today, I managed to gather enuff guts and determination to try cycling to school. Luckily it's not rainy at that time though everywhere seemed rather wet... as though after a wash of rain before dawn sets in. The cycling part was quite ok but as I said, I can't manage turns and also with lousy control of the bike. Near an underpass, I went down the slope fast and it got out of the track and went straight into the harsh bushes at the side. My bike was stopped harshly and capsized, so I was thrown out onto the track. I juz went 'tud' and 'tud' on my side... 2 bounces, how drama. My jeans were covered with mud, yikes. A guy cycled pass me (so heartless :( ) while later, an elderly woman came to a halt to express her concerns. Well, I didn't fall badly, not bleeding of any sorts, not abrasion thanks to my sweater and jeans :) Sis, if you are seeing this, pls dun let mum know else she will be worried all over again. I am totally fine, really.

On the way back from sch, I was on a linear path near my hostel but somehow I had to brake but as I didnt prop myself with leg fast enuff, I fell in some kind of slow-mo segmented actions. And a guy wheezed pass me in his bike and laffed at me LOUDLY. Well, I am trying to get used to ppl laughing at me or pitying me. :p

I'll try again tomolo.

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A few days ago, I found a shortcut to my faculty, aka School of Architecture, which is not the main university building at lund central for your information. The faculty is much nearer to my hostel but still require 25 min of walking. So this shortcut is a wonderful gift! I explored it 2 days ago and only found the first part of shortcut. Today, I found the second part to it. haha~ good good. If I know how to cycle properly, I think i'll need 1 to 1.5 minutes to get to sch...

Anyway, here are photos of School of Archi and then the School of Interior Design. They stood side by side... And so, sch of archi seems pale in comparison with the modern classy building of interior design school. And look at the huge huge letter A! Goodness... A stands for Architecture mah but if only 'A' appears in all our grades, then it would be nice.

Oh yes, along the shortcut, I found this nice horse sheds hidden behind those thick foliage. It's really nice and seemed so countryside .... And I could see the horses so close to me as they scratched their backs against the wooden fences or nibbled their food peacefully. Aww...

And finally I get to see a cat!!! But it aint pretty.... but at least a rare sight to spot one along the streets. I asked a swedish classmate why there aint stray cats ard... and she said in here, any stray cats would be taken away and killed as to prevent transmitting of any dieases. aww ok...

Hmm... oh yes, remembered my gummies? Here's my 2nd 'collection' from ICA store. ICA and Willy's have different types to offer.

Next entry, I will upload the photos of the 2 project sites given to us. We were to choose one for our design project. And both buildings are monuments - castles! But no, not castles that kings and queens live in all the time. They are all initally defence towers used by armies. And they were once places for prisoners too.... so... haha~ Anyway, I'll post them in next entry. Shall take a break now :)

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