My 1st post here

Sorry for the lack of updates here. I've been wanting to blog, but the wireless here is really slow. I tried uploading just 1 photo on blogspot today, and it failed for 3 times until i gave up, so there hasn't been any pics here. Facebook is better, but i can only upload 10 pictures at a time which would take like 15 mins at least. Bleah. It's so slow, it's so hard to surf the net haha.



But anyway, i'm slowly adjusting to the new environment here. There has been ups and downs. Thank you all who took the effort to come down to send us off and also those who called and msged. I'm really so touched, i held my tears till i entered the departure gate. I was quite homesick for the past few days but it's getting slightly better now. I really do miss home; miss the convenience back home where i don't have to think about my meals 3 times a day; miss the conveniece of leaving the dishes in the sink and my maid mabel would nicely clean for me; miss the fact that i don't have to wash my own clothes; miss the days where i don't have to worry how messy or dirty my room is cos i know my maid will clean it everyday. Life is different now, and i've got a roomie....it feels weird still cos i haven't shared with anyone my room before. There's less privacy and i've got to learn to accommodate.



Things here are extremely expensive, which is a main concern cos we would always think thrice everytime we buy our groceries...and that's a headache. We have to think of the expiry date, look at cheaper alternatives, think about the storage space blah blah blah. Every single meal. It's TIRING. And washing up is a chore also. I guess we have to get used to it.



The culture here is really different, and we realised switzerland is not as democratic and transparent as what we thought / learnt in social studies. Double standards are common here, and it gets really frustrating. Many times it depends on luck and the person serving you. Some of us had to pay 120 CHF for our residence permit, some others juts paid 20CHF, some got it free. And it alll depends on luck. Sounds stupid, but we really couldn't argue our way through...it depends on your luck. And studying at ETH is not nice....everything is so rigid, and the exams are so subjective...since it's oral exams, whether you do well or not depends largely on the professor...and i heard they can be very biased.



Weather here has been nice. It snowed on the very first day we arrived, which was a prayer answered by God as i really wanted to see falling snow. Strange because Andreas said the weather is getting warmer and it'ld be unlikely for us to see falling snow...but we did on that day. Subsequently, it hasn't snowed so far... So, that's a dream come true. Snowing is beautiful, and we were all so happy and excited. It's gradually getting warmer, but it's still cooling and nice (about 3-4 degrees).



Hope everything is fine back at home. Being away really makes me realise how fortunate and blessed i am in singapore. I miss my family, I miss my friends, and truthfully, I think NUS might be better than ETH. We shall see. We haven't travelled out of zurich yet, but hopefully, we tog with erlin can go visit Lucerne next monday. Despite the downs, switzerland is a really nice place. It's pretty and the people here are rather friendly and



Will try uploading pics till it's successful (depending on how patient i can get). But i'll cont uploading pics on facebook (cos at least it works!)...so visit my facebook for some pics! :)