hmm. i think this is a myth. at least for us here at ETH Zürich. It's my Week 4 of school here in ETH. and i have tonnes of work piling up. :( probably cause i haven't exactly started work. haha. 

i've been trying to stay back to finish up my work at the library. love the library. so much nicer than business library in NUS where i practically spent my undergrad days. the chemistry library in ETH has a nice scenery, much more high tech, nicer seats, better study environment. but somehow, my productivity level is low. i miss my study buddies back in NUS. people like cindy who knows which corner of the library i'll be at every time. people like tianglim who i can call to buy me coffee whenever i crave for one. people like cylysce who goes for lunch/dinner with me. people like val, jf, edwin who distract me all the time. people like pek who will call me just to ask me to take a break or buy her supper. people like eddie who will crash NUS library on weekends just to keep me company. i think i've been too comfortable with the group of people that i hang out with for the past 2.5 yrs. without them around me, i feel super lonely. no doubt there're 15 other NUS students on exchange in the same uni as me now, it still feels different without my gang of friends.

it was nice to speak to val, jf and edwin on skype the other day. alicia and szehui popped by too. ah, i miss those cavewoman in hall! haha. nice to hear gossips, and a lot of typical val moments. 

i can't have the best of both worlds. and i know that i should cherish the time i have here. i'm just whining, as usual. :) cause i haven't really been whining to anyone lately. and i still need to put in some effort in my work, cause it's easy to fail here! 

shall look forward to greece and east europe in april! my current motivation. wheee! :D 

few days after my birthday was matthias's bday. and since they put in so much effort to make nice dinner for me, i thought it would be nice to make them dinner too! but the master chef is the birthday boy. so we decided to do steamboat, chinesische fondue (directly translated as chinese fondue) as what the swiss calls it! easy and nice! 

i went skiing at flumserberg! my first time on skiis. it was fun, despite the fact that i fell down numerous times. as beginners, we only tried the gentle slopes, meant for kids. but i don't think i'll dare to ski on those steeper slopes. i'll freak out. haha. cause i still can't control my directions. 

andreas managed to exchange ski passes with some couple. with that ski passes we could take the cable car to the peak of the mountain. more than 2000m above sea level! we only had 3 passes. so we were supposed to take turns. some of them didn't manage to go up cause we were running short of time. the view up there was just magnificent. and we were fortunate enough to see some sun when we were at the top, considering the fact that the weather that day was not very good. it was snowing throughout, so visibility was quite poor. 

this year's birthday is another memorable one. thankful to have great friends around me to celebrate my birthday with me every year. this year, the group of people around me are people that i've only known for 2+ weeks. was glad that they spent so much effort to celebrate my birthday.

it all started at 12am when someone knocked on my door. when i opend the door, there was candles which spell YC at my doorstep. then there were one whole big group of people singing happy birthday, the english version, chinese version and german version! it was accompanied by andreas on guitar. davina with the flowers, ruili with the present and card, and yaowen with the cake. was really sweet of them.

the flowers, swiss army knife with my name engraved!, candles and cake.


people who were there that night, tamisa, davina, matthias, may ee, erlin, anitha, yaowen, andreas, ruili, bernard, sherlock.

and the best thing of all, i had no lessons that day! :D went to Uetliberg with ruili and may ee. Was 871m high, the highest point of Zürich. pretty view!


and they had a surprise dinner for me!

chefs for the day, matthias, davina, tamisa and erlin. got the behind-the-scenes pictures from davina.

there were a lot of food! grilled chicken, pizza, green curry, vege, and CHOCOLATE FONDUE! :D super yummy.

THANKS everyone! and not to forget the 2 special guests, teddy and yi bing.

had a class outing with german classmates to the zoo! it was coldddddd. like wat my bro said, i pity the animals in the zoo. haha. the whole place was covered in snow. but the penguins were cute though! haha.


went to a nearby city, winterthur. it was still snowing when we were there. walked around the old town and shopped! made another mini snowman at a nearby park and had snowball fight! :D

what is swiss without chocolates? hehe. i love the choc from this store, merkur. being the cheapskate ones, we always go get free samples from the store. love the dark chocolates! :D

some outdated pictures from the first two weeks in zürich. internet has been crappy. so sorry for the lack of updates.

taken on the first day of school. in front of ETH Zürich's main building.


river at dietikon, the small town where i live in right now. it's only 20 mins away from zürich city by train. i love the swans! they always come in pairs. and those ducks with green head. haha. i just love them. ocassionally i'll take a stroll to the river before going back. and i fed the ducks too (when i have leftover bread)!


and the 2nd week here in zürich, it was snowing! me and ruili made snowman! a tiny one though.

Now that it's all said and done,
I can't believe you were the one
To build me up and tear me down,
Like an old abandoned house.
What you said when you left
Just left me cold and out of breath.
I fell too far, was in way too deep.
Guess I let you get the best of me.

Well, I never saw it coming.
And I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure.
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better.
And now I'm picking up the pieces.
From spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.

You took a hammer to these walls,
Dragged the memories down the hall,
Packed your bags and walked away.
There was nothing I could say.
And when you slammed the front door shut,
A lot of others opened up,
So did my eyes so I could see
That you never were the best for me.

Well, I never saw it coming.
And I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure.
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better.
And now I'm picking up the pieces.
From spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.

Well, I never saw it coming.
And I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.

Well, I never saw it coming.
And I should've started running
A long, long time ago.
And I never thought I'd doubt you,
I'm better off without you
More than you, more than you know.
I'm slowly getting closure.
I guess it's really over.
I'm finally getting better.
And now I'm picking up the pieces.
From spending all of these years
Putting my heart back together.
Well I'm putting my heart back together,
'Cause I got over you.
Well I got over you.
I got over you.
'Cause the day I thought I'd never get through,
I got over you.