Cool in Norway: Trondheim (August 19th-21st, 2012)

Okay! Finally i have mood to continue 'my travel to Norway' story! :D

It was Ied al-Fitr on August 19th, 2012. We prayed in local mosque. There are 2 mosques in Trondheim. I do not remember the name, but the one we visited is the newer one. The next event was Halal bi Halal with Indonesian who are in Trondheim. It is an event where people meet to celebrate an event. It was held in Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) or NTNU for short. My cousin told me that people there call this university as Hogwarts because of the building architecture. :D

NTNU is the huge building on the left.

After full with many delicious Indonesian food and meeting with many people, my cousin family drove me to see around Trondheim. This city has mountain area and amazing fjords. I enjoyed a lot the scenery while i always had visited big cities as my travel destination before. I did not take pictures during this trip because we just drove through and everybody was really tired on that day.

Cool in Norway: Oslo & Røros (August 17th-18th, 2012)

It was summer in Bremen, but it was not as hot as i expected. My Italian friends told me that in their country it was almost 40 degree Celcius. Yet in Bremen 26 degree is considered really warm.

At first i planned to celebrate Ied al-Fitr in Bremen. However many Indonesian students celebrated it in Indonesia. Because of it and feeling sick attending many good bye parties, i decided to go to Norway! My cousin and her family live in Trondheim. I was really lucky that i could stay in her place and she paid the transportation. *fufufu*

I took Ryanair from Bremen to Oslo Torp. My plan was stay a night in Oslo, then took train to Trondheim. Actually there was direct flight from Hamburg to Trondheim, but how could i miss the capital city? ;)

In Oslo i stayed in Anker Hostel. I think there is also Anker Hotel. It is about 10-15 minutes walking from Oslo Central Station. Near the hostel there is tram/bus stop named Hausmanngate. This hostel has very good location and the 8 beds room is really nice! :D I was so glad i stayed there because i traveled by myself.

I arrived in the hostel around 4 PM. After i put my luggage, i decided to see around the city center.

Lucky that i was able to see Oslo Jazz Festival 2012 too :)

Actually i walked until Aker Bridge. However my camera ran out of battery, so i didn't have any photos on that day. On the way back to hostel i looked for dinner and decided to buy food in Supermarket. Food is more expensive here ( i heard Oslo is the most expensive city in the world). A bar of Freia chocolate is around 3 Euros. However i ate this chocolate several times during trip.

(Yes, Another) Life Update

(writing the title i felt like someone famous :p)

Hello! Guten Tag!

Yes, i was too busy lazy to write again. Many things happened from August until now, but the saddest news is the fact that i am in Indonesia now :( My amazing student exchange program ended and arrived home on October 7th. My parents and sister were in Mecca from beginning of October until beginning of November. Yes, i didn't see them before they went there and met in November instead.

I went to travel before i went back home. I celebrated Eid al-Fitr with my cousin's family and her mom (my aunt) in Norway, i went to Italy visiting my friends, then went to Turkey as a transit from Hamburg to Jakarta. :D I am going to write my travel stories, so i will not forget about them.

When i arrived from abroad, i missed already 3 weeks of classes in University. However i take only 4 courses, so i managed to catch them quite well. Quite well because i managed the mid-term exams properly (just finished them last week). Because most of my friends are writing their BA theses this semester (plus i took different classes), i rarely see them. Sigh..

I don't know what else i should write under this title. I still have a week off before courses start again. I might have inspiration to write again :p Ciao!

Summer Holiday Song: AKB48

Hello~~!

This week is the third week of my summer holiday. Many ERASMUS students go back to their countries and i am still in Bremen, because in September i still exam (a bit grateful because it is a good reason to stay longer ;) ). I see more videos than usual on youtube. Now i really like to listen to AKB48. Since last week i can not stop myself to listen to "Manatsu no Sounds Good!". My friend, who stay with me for a week, even can remember its melody, because i played it a lot! xD

However my favorite video of this song is not sung by AKB48, but by other person. A Japanese guy covered this song and i looooooove his voice! You can see his cover here and check his youtube page too, because his another covers are also very good (i also listened to his covers of Ikimono Gakari and Nishino Kana)!


I found the music box version here! For me it is better if i can see Japanese video with English sub. I found AKB48 performed this song with English subtitle here.

Happy summer holiday! :D

Summer Dishes

Hello~~!

Finally summer comes back to Bremen! \(^O^)/ Ramadan (or Fasting Month) starts already since last Friday. I have not started yet because of girl's 'privilege' xD To celebrate the summer, i ate 2 scoops ice cream in Mensa (it's German word for canteen) and one bowl of spaghetti ice cream! aaah... as if i lived in paradise 口(・∀・ )

Spaghetti Ice Cream <3

Another food which i like to eat lately are strawberries with plain yogurt and honey. Few days ago i ate Apricot for the first time. Oh my... it was very good! I never found it in Indonesia (or maybe i never paid attention in fruit section before :p ).

All i want are ice cream and fruits from refrigerator~! Btw i would like to try asparagus. However it seems like that its season is already over :(

nb: no idea why i have mood to write about food :p

Younha: Supersonic

I do not listen to Korean music much, maybe only some which are soundtrack of Korean drama i watched. However i do really like to Younha. She's amazing Korean singer. I knew her from Bleach anime. She debuted in Japan first, then debuted in Korea as well. These two years (two or three years? not remember exatcly) she had problem with her label. After waited for looooong time, finally on July 3rd she release her new album called Supersonic! Horaaaaaaay! *yes, i am THAT excited*

Album Cover

Track List:

01. Supersonic
02. People
03. Rock Like Stars(Feat. Tiger JK)
04. Run
05. No Limit
06. 소나기 (Shower)
07. 우린 달라졌을까(With John Park)
08. Set Me Free
09. 크림소스 파스타 (Cream Sauce Pasta)
10. 기다려줘
11. Driver(Feat. 박재범)
12. Hope

You can listen to her album here. Younha's first MV of this album is track number 4: Run. Check it out! :D



I love this MV! Hope to find the English sub, so i know the meaning. Oh, i do wish that she will release new Japanese album soon!

edited: wow! there is the English sub already! i found MV in color version :D

Narcissistic Lunch

Good afternoon! :D

What a great weather in Bremen! June was ended with super nice weather. July is started with nice weather too. Hope real summer is really coming to Bremen! :D

Today i woke up late (it isn't sin to wake up late on weekend! xD) and decided to have lunch on the backyard. I was also in 'taking pictures' mood! ;)

Because i was not really hungry, i decided to cook rice. Why? Because cooking rice takes at least 30 minutes, so better cooking it when i can wait for the meal ;) I also fried the fish fingers and steamed broccoli. I ate them with Kecap Pedas (spicy soja sauce) that i brought from Indonesia. The bad news is that it is the last Kecap Pedas i had! I can not find it in any asian shop. I think that the company need to export them to Germany! >.<

Last Lunch with Kecap Pedas T_T

Nobody is at home today. My flatmates have holiday this week. Yet i was accompanied by Sibille.

Is she watching my fish fingers?

I tried to take pictures of glass of water and quite happy seeing the result.

Drink more water!

I also took several pictures of mine, but i am worry that no one will not read my blog anymore after seeing my pictures. haha xD

Enjoy the sunshine! :D (ooh.. i can't believe that i said it. In Indonesia i don't like sunshine. Too hot and i don't like tan! >.<)

Being Close while 11k Apart

This afternoon i wrote a summary of a detective book for my German tutorial program. I am always lazy to bring my dictionaries (2 dictionaries, exactly — Indonesian-German and German-Indonesian. The pocket dictionary is not enough when i write something — i always look for some strange words which are not on that small dictionary). That is why i always find myself sitting down in front of the computer near the window (my favorite place lately!) in Self Language Learning Center in university. There i can use internet and borrow books for improving my German (err... most of time i use internet to check my accounts in some social media webs, though :p).

Okay, back to main story :p

Based on the book, i wrote that the character was drunk and drove his car. Because of his stupid action, the car accident happened. My problem was that i was not sure whether it is right to say 'he hit on someone by his car' or not. I thought that the verb 'hit' is like an action that you hit someone with hand, not with car or bicycle. I checked on google translate and i found 'hit'. Because sometimes i did not believe that website (well, we can not believe translator for 100%), i wrote a tweet asking to my friends. In less than 5 minutes my friends in senior high school, a college classmate, and a friend in flashmob replied me and said that 'hit someone by car' is right.

I find that it is the good thing being connected in social media. I can keep touch with my friends, although we are 11,087 KM apart. I can get fast response, finish my summary soon, and write a blog post like now. :D

Cheating Baking

Tonight an Erasmus student from Slovenia celebrates her birthday. I alwasys have a good time talking with her, so i decided to do something for her. I wanted to buy a present, but really bad choosing it (really difficult to find a good present, but not too expensive :\). Bringing cake sounds better for me (hope for her too). I baked brownies and it is successful! I always failed baking this kind of cake in Indonesia. I tried twice and both of them were disaster. Yet today, the first time i bake in Germany, the brownies looks very gooood. Well, actually the volume was increase uneven (like a hill), but still looks good.



How could it turn so well? Hmmm... actually i cheat. I used the cake mix. Just put the mix, eggs, water, and oil. Then bake it for 40 minutes. Voila, i have the good looking brownies! :D Fast and good. I feel like doing cheat in baking. Hope it tastes good! Let's see in the birthday party!

Today is Blueday

Since yesterday i feel very uneasy. Today i feel even worse. A good friend left Bremen today. Before the train was coming, i just kept quite. I was sad, but could not say anything. I bursted into tears when she hugged me. I never thought that i would cry like that time. The only thing i could say to her was a good luck wish. Few days ago she asked me whether she will be successful in her home country or not. I said yes. I do wish her many good things will happen to her. I am just too sad, because i do not know when i will meet her. We visited Celle, Stockholm, and Paris together. I hope in the future we can meet again and travel together again.

This is what she wrote on her facebook status:

What a perfect quote from Dr. Seuss.

Long Lazy Weekend

I love May!

Why? Because the weather is super and Germany has 3 official holidays which are "accidentally" really match with my schedule! :D I had one May 1st. It was on Tuesday and my lecturer cancelled his class on Monday. So i was free from Friday to Tuesday! (don't have class on Friday until May 3oth). Other holiday was on Thursday, May 17th. The other fabulous long weekend is this week! Today was holiday too.

Not many things i did on those long weekends. Soooo relaxing!

Start my day with having lunch on the backyard, then sit down like almost an hour. Really enjoy my long lazy weekend~! :D

Weekend in Amsterdam (April 21st-23rd, 2012)

If someone ask me 'how was your weekend?', i would say 'it was super!'. This weekend my friend and i visited Amsterdam. We planned our trip in early March, so we could get two-ways train ticket for 38 Euros! Really cheap, wasn't it?

Our trip took around 4-5 hours by train. The hostel is near from the central station, but we did not like the smell in the reception room :( On our first day, we visited Keukenhof Park (or Garden?). It is a famous park which opens every spring. From Amsterdam central station, take train to Schiphol Airport. Then take the shuttle bus number 58, which is free, to Keukenhof. At first we planned to see the Flower Parade, but we missed it :( When we were in a queue a lady gave me her ticket for free! I did not understand why, but waas really grateful of my luck :D

The park itself is super beautiful! No wonder so many people visited this park. The color of the flowers are like a special mixed. For example the pink color. It does not look like the usual pink. It is like that you have to mix a certain amount of white and red to get that color. Really amazing!



On the second day, we took the cruise trip for 8.5 Euros. I checked on website that the price's range is between 7-10 Euros normally. The cruise took about 75 minutes. It is such a nice way to do a tour. They took our pictures before taking the cruise and sold them for 5 Euros. Too expensive for a photo, but i still bought it :p



After that we walked passing through the Leidesplein and Museumplein, then visited Van Gogh Museum. My suggestion is to buy the online ticket. The queue was awfully long! On our way to Van Gogh Museum, we saw some places offering the ticket. I thought that the price was higher than the normal price, yet in the end i found that they were same price (14 Euros). There is extra fee if you want to have the Audio Guide (5 Euros). I did not know much about Vincent Van Gogh, but i would say that i enjoyed visiting there.

On our way home, we had our 'tea time' in so-called-as-coffeshop ;) My friend had the space cake and i enjoyed my choconut cake which was delicious. Then we met someone who recognized me as an Indonesian (finally!). He was adopted by Indonesian woman and last year visited Indonesia. He gave us many practical tips for our stay (don't show your wallet in red district, you can take pictures in blue district, if you want to 'smoke', do that in coffeshop).

In the evening around 9-10PM we planned to see around the famous red district. Yet my friend was dizzy because of the cake and i fell asleep, so we woke up around 12AM. Afraid being not safe, we decided not to visit it :( Schade...

We took early train to go to Bremen and ended by sitting together with an ex-ballerina mother and her daughter. I was glad that we had a nice chat on our way home.

Btw, here i saw many Indonesians here. I also find restaurants serving Indonesian cuisines :D

Bremen: Extended

Hellooo!

I planned to stay in Bremen only until April 2nd, yet i decide to extend for one semester more! yeay! \(^O^)/ So, what am i up to these days? (yes, this will be another quick-update-about-daily-life post)

In February i was busy wondering email from my home-university whether i could extend my stay or not. When they agreed, i did those bureaucratic (whoah.. i used the word checker to type this word :p) things to extend my stay.

In March i did exam, extended my residence permit and traveled to Stockholm! Finally travelling again! I think i'll write about this trip later ;) Then i took German intensive course and met many new Erasmus students for summer semester. I don't know why, but i think it was easier to talk with new people now than the first semester. Maybe that's because i get used to it now :D I also visited Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg with my study buddy. It is such a really cool place to visit! :D

In early of April i thought to travel somewhere in Southern Germany, like Munich, but did not manage to do it :( After intensive course finished, i join the new Erasmus students visiting Hamburg and going to Spring Prom. Nice.. nice.. nice! This week the summer semester begins. Let my college life starts again...

Lovely Paris (Dec 16th-18th 2011)

After our short trip to Barcelona, we flew directly to Paris. Yeaah.. i was really excited, because this city is famous for the beauty.

From Girona the flight took off at 7:20AM and departed in Beauvais at 09:10AM. Then we took airport bus to Paris for 15EUR. We arrived in Paris around 11AM and planned to joined a walking tour named New Paris Free Tour. Too bad we missed it because we had to be in a very loooong queue buying tickets. Many tourists were confused buying the subway ticket. I wonder they checked about it before they came here. So in the end we decided to see around by ourselves. We saw Arc The Triomphe, Notre Dame and of course the Eiffel Tower. Beautiful!



At night we stayed in Hotel Cheap Beds Paris-Rosny. The hotel is far from the city center. Yet it is comfortable in my opinion. We stayed there only for sleeping though.

On our second day, we spent whole day in Paris Disneyland! Such a great place to remind yourself to the childhood. When i was kid, i always saw those Disney princess films. The castle was really beautiful and the Studio Tram Tour was awesome! :D



The last day we decided to join the walking tour. I think join walking tour is good. So we do not have to look for the main attractions. Unfortunately i did not really statisfy with the tour itself. The tour guide was walk too fast. Well maybe that was because we brought our luggage along (we checked out already). However we managed to see The Louvre, Tuileries Gardens (is it where Nodame fell down into the pond?), The Pont Neuf, etc. We also visited the christmas market! There were so many people and we were left behind :( Because we did not where the tour already were, we decided to go to Paris Eurolines Bus. We took the bus to go back to Bremen.

Although the trip ended a little bit unpleasantly (being left behind from the tour), i thought my trip was really awesome. Paris is really beautiful. No wonder people love this city. Lovely Paris! ♥

Sending Postcard

Yesterday, one of my good friends in senior high school wrote on twitter that she received my postcard! She posted also the picture of the postcard.

The postcard she received

Today my cousin also told me that she received my postcard already. I am so happy! Before i sent one postcard for my brother wishing him a birthday.

The last time i sent postcard is when i was kid submitting a quiz in magazine. lol xD I am surprised knowing many people in Germany still use post service. When i enrolled this exchange student program, i was shocked when the university would send the document via air mail. When will i receive it if you send it via air mail?! The distance is 11,087 kilometers!! That's what i thought. When my flatmate was in London, she sent a postcard too. That made me want to send a postcard. That's why i decided to send one to my brother. After sending it, i felt happy (?), so i decided to send others to my friends, cousin, and my little sister.

It took about 10 days sending those postcards from Bremen to Indonesia. To send it i need international stamp. On Deutschepost web it said i need the 0,75 EUR stamp. Yet i bought in a shop in university only 0,6 EUR for each stamps.

I feel like wanting to send another postcards to my other good friends~ :D

Sneak Preview: Seeing a Movie Earlier than the Others

Last Sunday my study buddy asked me to see Sneak Preview. What is Sneak Preview?



In German cinemas there is a program called as Sneak Preview. There visitors can see movie which will be played in next few weeks. The other interesting fact is that the visitors does not know what movie they will see. It can be English, German, French, etc movies. Before the movie starts, there is an MC who will give quiz with another Sneak Preview tickets as prizes. Interesting, isn't it?

We went to Schauburg cinema to see Sneak Preview. When we bought the ticket, we found out that it would be an English movie. hahaha lucky me! :D The movie we saw was Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In Germany it will be played on February 2nd, 2012 with 'Dame, König, As, Spion' as the title.

Too bad in the end i barely understood how this movie went. Being dozy and having to listen without subtitle (there was subtitle, yet in German. I didn't understand >.<) made me difficult to understand this movie.

However for me seeing Sneak Preview is an interesting experience, because i like seeing movie. This was my first time went to cinema in Germany. Actually the first time i arrived here, i wanted to, but i doubt my German ability. All of movies are dubbed in German, except the Originalfassung (original version) program.

Christmas Tree

Last weekend i looked for new boots. So i went to the city center, yet walked not take tram as usual. I wanted to see the neighborhood. On the way i saw many Christmas Trees thrown away. Poor the trees...



At first i thought that it was such a waste that people cut the tree, used it as decoration for a month, then throwed it away. That tree need to grow up for several months! I thought it is better to use the artificial tree, so people can use it on the following year.

Then i googled about this Christmas tree matter. I found that the trees are planted specially for Christmas. People doesn't cut random pine trees (which i thought before). The artificial tree can not be recycled naturally. The real trees can be recycled as green fertilizer.

Well, seems like the real trees are still better for the environment than the artificial ones. Yet it is still sad seeing those trees thrown away in front of people's houses.

Kaseifu no Mita

This is first jdrama i watched in 2012!



genre: family, mystery
episodes: 11
original run: Oct 12th, 2011 - Dec 21st, 2011

Preview:
This drama is about Asuda family who just lost the mother. They have a mysterious housekeeper named Mita Akari. She does the housework perfect, never smile and does whatever the family members ask including killing someone...

My Comment:
Before i didn't know the actors and actress except Aibu Saki who played in Buzzer Beat. Yet i could not miss this drama. In DramaWiki, the average rating in Kanto was 24.8 and for the final episode itself was 40! Matsushima Nanako who acted as Mita Akari was awesome. Her expression was really 'expressionless' (lol, is it a word? xD)! The one who played as Asuda Kakeru (the oldest son) played well too.

Each episode is very exciting. I couldn't stop until i finish this series (finished it in 2 days). The story was fast, not boring at all. While watching, i kept wondering: what will happen next?!

Happy New Year 2012!

Well, the first week in 2012 is almost finish, but i'd like to say Happy New Year to all of you~! (like there's someone reading my blog :p)



I wish this year will be great for me and you guys~ ♥

I celebrated new year in Berlin with my friend. Berlin is a huge city. Somehow it reminds me to Jakarta. Bremen is little bit quite and Berlin is more crowded. There are many tall buildings too. Okay, last sentence sounds strange, doesn't it? Yet the buildings and the crowds made me remember about Jakarta.

Like in Paris, i joined a free tour from SANDEMANs New Europe. The tour was great. I was more statisfied than the one i did in Paris (well maybe because i was rushed to catch bus to Bremen, so i couldn't really enjoy it).

I also visited Sans Soucci Schloos in Postdam. It takes about one hour from Berlin. My suggestions are going early, buying the photo permission for 3 EUR because the palace is really beautiful, then visitting another palace and using the same photo permission (it is valid for one day in all of palaces in Berlin and Postdam, i think). At first i planned to visit Charlotenburg Schloos too. Unfortunately it was closed already :(

I celebrated new year behind the Brandenburger Tor. It was like sea of people! If you happened to read my old post about new year, you would notice that i always celebrated new year at home. I was too lazy to go out to places like Monas, for example. It is because too many people there! It happened also in Brandenburger Tor. At first i planned to celebrate new year in Bremen. Seeing fireworks near Schlachte or maybe joining a party (my study buddy inivited me). Since my friend asked me to join her celebrating new year in Berlin, i changed my plan. I don't regret, though. It was great with music and fireworks and also really exhausting. We arrived there around 7PM. So almost 5 hours we stood up seeing music performance. Great yet exhausting. Poor me who is a girl-celebrates-new year-at home type.

Since i celebrated new year not with usual way and usual place (until know i can't believe that i am in Germany now), i expect more great things happen to me this year. Once again: Alles Gute zum neuen Jahr 2012! :D