amon's secret chamber

ya. last fri was my last day in classroom training. finished several IBM courses, with tons of complicated IT jargons which confused me all the time. now calling my destop as virtual machine not PC; window system as interface. do i sound v IT-pro?  of course, there still lots of acronyms making chaos in my memory. and today just finished 3 days BOOT CAMP, teaching how to use how those complex program via webcast (web meeting). i too stupid, still don't know anything. otherwise i will sound even more IT-pro~~~sigh~~~

yesterday just heard colleague was saying the chair we were using worth 2k plus, my jaw dropped...so for the entire day i was sitting & streching all the time, hope to find out the difference btw this one & my 30 bucks chair @ home. yes, i guess there is a difference. big one.

tml will be training again, on-the-job training. i guess my full-time work is training. & i enjoyed it... don't ask me why~~~u all know~~~now feel scared of my shift work, which i have to take charge of & be responsible for any mistake....

btw, my bday was great. tks for everyone~~~  also missed the two gals in states, & fang2 in beijing! hopefully my PR could be approved by this year, so i can travel ard to visit you! perhaps the chances is slim..

finally found a satisfactory job. although not @ CBD, nothing about IBD, i am quite satisfied.  if they keep their promise, i am very looking forwards 3-days-on-4-days-off work schedule after training. just cross finger and hoping nothing bad would happen, such as give me the pink slip before i start ... 

 

pray pray pray.....

Dear bored-men & women, let's organize a world trip in SG. inspired by korean reality tv show (don't laugh), let's pretend we travel ard the world by taking faked photo with famous buildings around the world, by within SG. can we? maybe we should carefully plan, anything can be faked as famous attraction?   

----------------------so bored------------ can't focus------------------------depressed------------------------------------

i m now more or less graduated.. was planning to stayin SG until find a decent job. However, almost everybody ard me is going back home. it's a really disturbing sign for ppl who lack of self-discipline, such as me. i wanna go home~~~~

being graduate = jobless + homeless, how to find a satisfying job which i am interested, it seems to be an extremely task for me now.  tradeoff btween opportunity cost of seaching time & offer of non-value added job, i think i probablly will go for the first one. but i m not a patient/optimistic person who can wait for long. especially when i m not sure how long i can wait & what i can get at the end, the waiting will be absolutely irratating and torturing. this time, last min doesn't work.

maybe i m not pushing myself hard enough, maybe i m not showing my hunger enough, maybe .... but i just can't stop complaining, neither stop thinking abt it. i think it's a time for me to go for future teller  

life is still in a rountine. everything thing still remains unsettled.. fyp, still hang in the middle; job, still don't know whether to get; graduation trip, also no $$ to go; weights, still keep growing; cfa, aaaaaaaaa, gonna fail~~~... seems not a single tiny thing could make me happier~~~

must plan my scheudles for the rest of mth~~~ ppl, pls urge me on those tasks which i need to accomplish~~~ lacking of self-discipline can't be overcome at all!!!

1. looking for jobs: submit CV 5 times per wk

2. CFA: must study 1 chapter per day!!! (cos haven't finish even 1 book)

3. fyp: must finish by next week!!!

4. no more heavy dinner!!!

5. no more shopping for facial products for next 2 mths!!!

 

self-discipline

finally going to gradute. but gradute = jobless in this yr's context. but generally speaking i still feel quite happy, cos too slack & escape from the reality...

Academic

guess i keep "whatever" attitude in my study alr, cos study hard still can't change my grades. poor student in ntu, too possessed by the FYP things. although my CP was totally in a mess. haven't started the 150 survey yet. sigh... but actually quite worry abt my CFA stuff. annual concert on 6th june, cfa test on 7th june....aaaaaaaaaaa.

career

every time i try to ask myself, which area i m interested? i found none. i m interested in $$..yk was saying in yr 1997, due to the financial crsis, all scholars are allowed to go back to China w/o serving the bonds. don't know whether this yr will be the same, if yes, i guess i will be super regret that why i didn't take the scholarship! if let's say i m happy that i m going to graduate, while graduate = jobless, in other words, i m happy that i m going to be jobless...

btw, my mum kept saying she wanna come my commencement in july. still thinking where i should bring her to tour ard, any suggestion? hope i could find a job b4 my commencement...

my life is too boring, can't think abt anything to write. if you all have any activities, do remember to call me up~~~

Some friends were asking me my trips in europe in order to plan their graduation trip. i realize that i haven't started writting my travelling notes in Europe at all!!! maybe it's the time to rewind my memory to provide some wat-i-felt-useful information here. I am budget traveller, so everything i want is CHEAP. i stay in hostel, eat cheap food (maybe sometime a bit more ex) and also a non-organized backpacker. if you are still interested, maybe u wish to continue reading. I spent 1 yr exchange in Europe, so i got more time to travel ard. Following is the list of place i visited or just passed-by, can refer to my FB album photo if you wanna see how the place looks like. of course, can also ask me on MSN. If you read Chinese, the best travel forum i like to recommend is http://www.go2eu.com/bbs/.  

 

1. Where to go?

France: Paris, Strassbourg

Spain: Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Cordoba, Granada, Malaga, Serville

Portugual: Lisbon, Porto

Belgium: Brussels, Bruges, Leuven, Oostende

Netherland: Amsterdam

Sweden: Stockholm

Italy (incl San Marino): Milan, Lake Como, Verona, Rimini, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Rome (Vatican), Naples, Pompeii, Mt Vesuvius

Austria: Vienna, Graz, Salzburg

Czech Republic: Prague, Kutna Hora

Hungary: Budapest

Switzerland: Zurich, Baden, Berne, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne, Interlaken, Shaffenhausen, Mt Jungfraujoch  

Germany: Berlin, Munich, Bremen, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Dresden, Heidelberg, Mannheim (my SEP place), Konstanz (Bodensee), Berchtesgaden, Koenigsee, Baden-Baden, Tuebingen + numerous small towns

 

the cities in bold in my top 5 list. But guess most of people wanna keep their journey short and sweet, maybe focus on 3-5 countries are enough for a 2-weeks trip. of course, that will depend your own decision of choosing the most wanted place to go! If you have some budgets for travel guide book, can go to book store to grab some. My personal favorite is lonely planet. There are quite a lots other choices. You can also search online, wiki travel has almost every general information. Of course, can also consult me (but must treat me first loh~~~)

 

2. Transportation within Europe

By Air: http://www.skyscanner.net/ the website help you to search several budget airlines within Europe. After checking the cheapest price, better go to the airline own website for double checking. Sometimes their own websites could have better price or same price on better date.

By Train: usually for youth under 26 yr have discount on train tickets in Europe. Normally people purchase Interrail (for European Residence) and Euro rail (for Foreigner). http://www.eurail.com/. can purchase online or in STA (got 1 near NUS science co-op). If you are travelling within less expensive countries, like Spain, Italy or easten European countries, don't waste your eurail pass there. Cos you can buy cheaper bus or regional train tickets in local bus/train stations.

By Bus: quite number of my friends take euroline (http://www.eurolines.com/), you can grab some really cheap tickets if they have promotion. There are also other cheap bus companies within each country. For example, my favourite bus companies travelling in Spain is ALSA (http://www.alsa.es/ ), faster & cheaper.

By Car: I didn't rent any. But the expressway in German has no limit on speed. 1 friend was saying their rule as long as your wheels are on the ground, you can drive. so go & try it out. You can also try some hitch-hiking thing, but i didn't dare to do tt. http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/ this is 1 website offering such web 2.0 platform. if you are adventurous enough, just go for it.

BY Ferry: esp. for Nordic countries, such as from stockholm to helsinki. unfortunately i missed the chance of taking the free ferry from Viking. must try out next time. you can find more offers from the website http://www.cruisedirect.com/.

By Foot: BEST WAY. Most of time, the attraction sites within 1 city are usually located near to each other. Just walk around. Cheap & environmental-friendly.

 

3. General daily schedule

many peopl may ask where to go/eat/sleep. if you are scholarish kind of person, print out all information & study it beforehands. If you are as lazy as me, go to the local tourists information center and ask for free map/direction or even recommended resturant. Usually tourist information centers are located near to main train station, and with the sign of i outside. it's not difficult to find at all. But sometime some officers charge you for the city map, for instance i remembered i paid like 2 euro for amsterdam map. 

if you are  good at reading map, tt will be great, cos you won't waste your time searching for route. If you have headache reading the map (such as me), maps won't help much. Just ask around. Imagaine I can even climb to the wrong hills to visit the waterfall...

If you are travelling alone & fearless & have nothing to do, feel free to join local people for drinks; most of them are quite friendly. If you are travelling in group, then your schedule should be quite delayed cos too many things to see during window shopping~~Or if you are lazy & relax person, you can also enjoy your nice afternoon in a cafe. If you are sporty enough, tons of things to do, cycling/hiking/swimming... In other words, you can do lots of things while you visitng, no need to visit every attraction. Enjoy your journey is more important.

 

4. shopping

If you are going to Europe in Summer, you feel you come to shopping paradize esp. you are budgeted. The entire europ got summer sale, most of time starting from late June to July. More discounts in July, but less items. The sale covers from top-end luxury goods to low-end products. if you are running out of budget, don't blame my tips for travelling, ask for self-discipline. Since I m so budget, of course i like CHEAP stuff. My favorite is H&M & Promod, very common throughout Europe. For guys, maybe can try out New Yorker. If you happen to visit Spain, you can stroll around in Desigual, much cheaper than SG. Don't ever think abt ZARA in Spain, even MNG is much better. But if you eyeing at luxury goods, maybe can try some outlets in Europe, esp Italy. Usually outlets are far away from main city, don't even think abt going to outlet for half day, then back to tour the city for half day.

Several outlets:

Zweibruecken (Germany) designer outlet: i like MNG there. Levi's not cheap enough. Esprit & Polo OK. can refer to the website: http://www.zweibrueckenoutlet.com/ 

Metzingen (Germany): near Stuttgart. lots of ppl go for Hugo Boss there.

http://www.metzingen-best.de/en/factory_outlet_stores/outlet_centre_areas/ 

La Vallee (France): near the Disney in Paris. 1 friend bought several agnis b there. aaaaaaaaa.. i wanna a longchamp bag!!! http://www.lavalleevillage.com/LaVallee/home.asp?lan=en 

The Mall (Italy): almost everyone talking abt this one in forum. didn't have time to go. http://www.outlet-the-mall.com/en/index.html