The flying time

It's the 27th Feb already and it's hard to believe that I'm at the end of the month! How could 1 month pass so fast? This month was basically used to settle down here in Copenhagen and I think we've done so. It's a new and refreshing experience in entirety and Ruo and I think we're going to get culture shock when we return to Singapore.

• The Setting

Copenhagen, in particular has a very European feel- Wide spaces, bare trees, nice brown bushes, and great architecture. Some say Copenhagen is the most beautiful because it's an old city. The winter, of course, added much to the European feel that I had always had in mind. The difference from Singapore was obvious, right from the moment we came out from the airport. It was relaxing and it felt as though I could spend the whole day walking leisurely in the streets. That, of course, was before school started. Even so, now that school has already started, I would say that it still feels quite good(:

• Winter

The danes say this has been a warm winter, though it's been quite chilly sometimes. I would say that the weather has been rather erratic. Sometimes it's windy, sometimes it's not. By windy, I mean wind speeds of 24km/hr and it feels like we'll be blown away if we don't hold on to each other. Sometimes, it's really cold, and at other times, it's quite fine. 'Fine' meaning you still have to have your jacket on, of course. Lol. One of the weird things was that it started turning dark around 33opm and by 6pm it was already dark and felt like 9pm. That took some days to get used to. There was another wind storm today and it drizzled quite heavily on our way to school. But we were already 1 hour late for class and we hurried on.

• Food

Now THIS is a big word. Haha. 2 reasons: Because I don't usually cook at home, and because I think food is very important. Lol. The most I've done is chopping garlic and slicing some meat, cooking instant noodles, and probably the dinner my mum and I cooked before I came here. It's actually good that Ruo knows how to cook a little so we just use our imagination to come up with something nice(: And I must say that the food we've cooked so far isn't that bad either. Some of it really tastes good.

Eating in is probably the best way to save money, and we're certainly doing that whenever we can. So far, we've only bought: Mexican cuisine from a restaurant (it was good), Shawarma (a kind of fast food outlet so frequently found), a couple of hotdogs from hotdog stands, and DANISH PASTRIES.

We'd probably visit the Mexican restaurant sometime again in March or April for some good food and ambience(: As for the Shawarma burgers, they're really good. I'd recommend the Shawarma and Kafta burgers. The Shawarma burger is actually pita bread stuffed with strips of marinated beef, lettuce and dressing, while the Kafta is minced beef patty in pita bread. But of course, you wouldn't know what makes the beef patty and I'd just close 1 or both eyes to that. Hotdog stands are a common find here. Hotdogs are great with the dressings and mustard(: Danish pastries are of course scrumpy-delicious! We've actually bought them quite a few times because they really make our day. So far we've gone to 2 bakeries and I'm quite happy having pastries once a week!

One big part of being a student here is packing lunches from home. That's big to me, at least, because we don't usually do the same in Singapore. There're too many choices and canteens to choose from in school to pack lunch. It's quite a good feeling to be eating the sandwich we prepared with love! haha.

* Ruo and I have decided that we haven't been really scrimping and saving. We've just been choosing the cheaper items and we buy the things that we want to eat. Like yoghurt and chocolates. But we limit our pastries to once a week:p And just by looking at the photos on facebook it seems like we've been eating quite a lot. So please look at the photos and see if we've grown fatter?!

• Transportation
  
  Travelling within the city is actually quite convenient because the buses come quite frequently. There are 2 kinds of buses. The A buses come every 5 minutes, and the S buses stop at fewer bus-stops. The S-train and Metro system works well here as well, so getting around is not much a problem. I've gotten myself a monthly pass that I can use for unlimited rides on the bus, S-train and Metros within 2 zones. It's definitely a good one!
  
  

Biking is the fastest way to get around in the city, but I'd might just rent a bike to ride around the park or a few streets in the spring just for fun! It's really the fastest because the buses stop at the bus-stops while bikes only need to stop at the traffic lights.

• Housing

We had some problems with our accommodation at first, but I'm glad we've settled it. The place that we're staying now is really nice and I'm glad we have this place. It's not very near to school, but bus ride is quite comfortable so it doesn't feel that bad:)

• Language

Language here is not a big problem at all. Most people speak English, and I mean most. They speak it well, in fact. In the supermarkets where some workers do not speak much English, they'd gladly find someone who speaks some English to help, and that's really nice. The danes are generally nice too- they smile back at you when you smile at them. Alright.. this isn't quite the reason, but they are generally rather pleasant people(:

• Gatherings, gatherings, gatherings

Gatherings usually mean good food and nice company. We've had quite many dinners at our place this past month and it's really fun. Big groups are good because it's so re4 nao4, but smaller dinners like 4-6 people is really good because we get to sit down properly at the table to eat and chat. Chatting over dinner and chilling after feels really good and comfortable. But as usual I don't talk much at this kind of events, but it feels good(:

What's more with the different dishes our friends prepare at our place. So far we've had: Bak Kut Teh, Chicken Curry, Fried Noodles, Ginseng Chicken Soup, Pork Ribs, and Apple Crumble. The apple crumble that Rani made was absolutely smashing haha. Sigh.. it really melts in your mouth! I'm glad we're having dinner together again and this time we're going to have apple crumble with vanilla ice-cream. That's so blissful~

I guess my birthday dinner paled in comparison because what we had was very simple. It was our first home-cooked chinese dinner at home so we had veggies with mushrooms, chicken filet with ginger, and some meat patty thing. Haha. Our first impression we gave to my mentor who came over to celebrate my birthday with us(: So he was our guinea pig. haha. BUT the company was just the best, and so was the chocolate cake they baked:D I realise I don't have many photos of the gatherings. Most of them are in facebook in Ruo's and Addy's albums:)