Alrighty, this is part 2 of amsterdam: Duck Noodle Soup!! Went to this bar near our hotel, something outback, must be australian...the music was damn gd (better than zouk!)...wonder if it means that clubbing in australia is fun?? Anyway we had quite a bit to drink... Another pic of the two of them on a high...really laughed ourselves out watching their silly antics while they were drunk... 
On our first night in Amsterdam, we were in search of Nam Kee, a cantonese restaurant that Mic's friend celine recommended to us...for that famous roasted duck rice that we craved...but we couldn't find it after like more than half an hour's search n we were all starving, so we went to the next best restaurant we saw: nam tian restaurant...From the left: Johannes, Tim Hui, Jovia, Kx, Me, Mic & Tim John...the reason for so many people travelling to amsterdam together was because jovia's bdae was on 18th may...
Her friends from HKUST on exchange in netherlands, Kevin and Joe, came to join us as well and bought cakes for her bdae...the owners of the restaurant gave her a huge ice-cream combo with a sparkler on top of it as well...
After dinner, we meet up with more int'l students from ESSEC, people like Eugen, Monica, David and Sara. Eugen, whose home uni is in netherlands, brought us around the red light district in amsterdam. We saw scenes that were obscene and degrading, cuz the prostitutes were housed side by side in rooms with a transparent door and neon lights, and they stood by the transparent doors showing their wares and trying to attract customers to have sex with them...
There were also many "coffeeshops" along the red light district, selling magic mushrooms and marijuana. Apparently everyone smokes that in Amsterdam, so you actually see alot of people looking stoned n behaving weirdly..
Went to St. Christopher's Inn for drinks after the tour...Amsterdam is just all about beer, beer and more beer...so we ordered drinks and started playing games...Each of us poured a little of our drinks and mixed it in a glass, then started playing cards, supposed to take a card and guess whether it was red or black, if it was right, u can get people to drink from their own glass and if wrong, u will drink from your own glass. After which, u put the opened card on top of the glass of drinks we mixed with 2 edges on the outside...so as more cards are being piled, it will go outwards until the cards collapses when one card is put on top and the loser will have to down the entire glass!
A demostration against Musharaff, some country's dictator for his oppression of a chief judge who was against him...in the middle of dam square, the heart of amsterdam...
Finally found the Nam Kee that we were looking for....on the last day...we had it for both lunch and dinner, how mad can it get ??
Duck Rice
This is mic on a high~~
OrAnGeL was fuming at
4:33 AM
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Man, haven't been blogging for so long that my tag board has been removed! But it has been a bz time this past month, had 2 important presentations, been to Nice, Amsterdam and just came back from Belgium yesterday... Another thing not to be missed is the Heineken experience in Amsterdam...cuz that was the origin of Heineken beer and it's interested to see how it is made, experience urself as a bottle of heineken, the history, and the experience of drinking 3 glasses of beer (for me it was 3 glasses within 1/2 hr...madness! cuz we went in only 1 hr b4 closing) and a surprise at the end...overall it should be a must go... but not too late a time ya...haha Oh ya, we found this interesting monument after we visited the Anne Frank House (another must go! - it is like the evidence towards the holocaust of the jews which some people are vehemently trying to deny now, so that it will not exist in history!). What's so interesting about this homomonument is that it commemorates all men and women ever oppressed and persecuted because of their homosexuality. It also supports the lesbian and gay movement in their struggle against contempt, discrimination and oppression. Demostrates that we're not alone and calles for permanent vigilance. Below is a pic of the homomonument with past, present and future being represented by the 3 sides of the triangle. The I amsterdam sign in front of some museum near the van gogh musee...
Now that there's barely 1 mth to end of term, and i'm be back in singapore in 2 over months, i'm kinda reluctant to leave...wishing that i can do an extra term in ESSEC, even though trying to do a pass/fail term is kinda sian and aimless...but you do get alot of exposure studying overseas...i bet i know more about the EU than i know about Asia right now, after doing european economics and geopolitics...all that stuff about religions, ethnic minorities, human rights...
But in ESSEC, trying to pass a course can be pretty daunting as well, u're graded upon 20 and 10 is pass grade, but there are courses that you actually hear people failing...and that is pretty scary taking into account we only want to pass and not get top or anything la...last term there was this girl taking international marketing and she failed both presentation and final exam...and for the e-business that i'm taking right now, alot of people failed that last sem...and me n mic are kinda scared even though we're probably one of the hardworking ones...haha
Everyone else from smu doing exchange are probably missing hell lot of classes and travelling most of the time, contrary to us cuz the standard in ESSEC is considered pretty high in France or even Europe..must make sure we do pass man...hehe
Well enuff said, let's go thru some events for the past month: 
Went to Musee Rodin on 6 May, the first sunday of the month...Entrance to most museums are free on the first sunday of the month, and i just learnt that shops are opened on the 1st sunday as well! (Well, shops in europe are typically closed on sundays...argh!)
Then i went to Chateau Auvers with my french language teacher on 11 May, which portrays the impressionist period in france. Auvers-sur-oise was also the place at which Vincent Van Gogh spent the last year of his life before committing suicide at the coffeehouse below his place at the age of 37...
In Auvers-sur-oise, we walked to places where van gogh painted his art pieces like Mairie D'Auvers, Le Jardin de Daubigny, L'Eglise de Auvers (shown above), La pluie, and La Champ de ble aux corbeaux etc....could really feel the atmosphere which he painted, esp his last piece of the wheat fields in the stormy, gloomy weather and crows flying about, painted just days b4 he died....
We visited his grave at the cemetery as well, apparently he committed suicide cuz his brother Theodore, whom he was extremely closed to , got married and so he was lost becuz he sorta lost his brother to the new wife...he was disillusioned and had mental probs...was committed to a mental facility and finally committed suicide in 1890. But it was kind of amazing how he managed to paint so well and become so famous within the span of 10 years of painting without any prior art background...An interesting fact is that his brother passed away just 6 mths after vincent died, if you read the gravestones clearly...
This field trip was so sad and meaningful that it got me into gg to the Van Gogh musuem in Amsterdam...:)
This is amsterdam...was there from 16-20th may, and above are statues of Rembrandt and his cronies (kidding, not sure what it is, but must be sth he painted i guess), we stayed in the hotel just next to it...
Chilling out with a glass of heineken at the bar
The Heineken bar...Does this scene look a bit like it's from an advert?
OrAnGeL was fuming at
5:54 PM
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