Week 6: Studying, first exam and I think I love cycling!

I have started cycling to school. My verdict: One you start cycling, there is no more turning back. Ever. I cannot believe I tried to convince myself that I did not need a bicycle. I do! A bicycle can not only save you a lot of time, but a lot of money as well. It is a worthy investment. Now I just need my bicycle lights to come over from Singapore and I will be all ready to rock and roll! 

It seems like breakfast will always be granola with either milk or yoghurt. So unless there is something special about it, I think I will skip taking pictures of breakfast. I am totally dreading the 0800 exam on Saturday. Groans. And the Swedish oral next week. I tested one sentence on my corridor mate, and he totally did not have any idea what I said. So mortifying. >.< I will work harder. I wanna get at least a B. Or something. Hahaha. Reading it is so much easier than pronouncing the words because even though it sounds like I am doing it right, I am doing it wrong. T.T Not the best reaction I can get, but I will try harder next time. 

First time making dumplings, and I tried to premake them. Turned out that it does not work when you put them in the fridge because the skin will stick together. So I ended up with one big dumpling. Hahahaha. It was not enough for a meal, so I decided to have sauteed bacon with potatoes as well as corn and cheese. It was so good, I decided to put more cheese on the potato and heat it up. Hahaha.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are HUNGRY days because it would be about 8 plus before I reached home. :( So sad because I was sooo famished, I was starving! Thank god for the one packet of instant noodles I had in my cupboard. It tasted so good with peas and corn. Hallelujah! Now I understand why they pre-cook their meals and microwave it. Hahahaha. So much faster. 

Finally learnt the correct way to fold a dumpling. Can you tell the folding skills got better and better? Hahaha.

I tried out different methods of cooking the dumplings. Looks like the best way is the pan-fried/boiled/steamed way. Makes the dumplings so delicious! Yay to having vinegar as well. Hahaha.

End product! 

Of course, five dumplings was not enough for lunch. So I finished my pasta as well. Tummy was finally happy.

Wednesday dinner cooked in 10 minutes! I usually take a lot of time to cook my food. But I was so hungry, I decided to just eat the fast food. Hahahaha. Thank god I had the foresight to bring out my salmon. Hahaha. 

Dessert was Vanilla ice-cream with marie biscuits! So good.

Rare delicious yoghurt! It tastes so good with granola! :) I cannot even begin to chose between yoghurt with granola or milk with granola. Granola being the fixed factor here. I have only tried one brand of granola, and it got me as a loyal customer ^^

No more snow, just wet Sweden :(

Decided to jump in and purchase 1.6+kg of minced meat. It was on offer(39.90 sek per kg). I do not know why, but it seems like I am the only one who stockpiles my food. I like having a variety to choose from! This is good for 4 portions of pasta sauce! :)

The next batch of dumplings I folded froze up very well! I put them in the little bag. Hehe. Tom yum with glass noodles and dumplings, corn, peas and an egg. Actually, I cannot remember if I added an egg. But I bet I did. Hahaha.

Deluxe Aglio Olio. I remembered that on that day(yesterday, the day before my 0800 exam), there was ice hockey winter olympics airing on the TV and my corridor mate(s) were watching it. I felt so awkward trying to decide if I want to go in to cook. I decided not to and I had to eat my lunch at 1600+ in the late afternoon. I was so hungry I ate a ton of marie biscuits and one bar of Kex and half bar of Daim and drank my Thai chicken curry soup before I ate a proper meal. :'( On hindsight, I must have been quite stressed because I ate wayyy too much comfort food. :(

Happy happy face when nomming on the amazing aglio olio I made. I am not praising myself, but it really tasted super delicious with the crunchy bacon and the cheese I added in it. >.< I have to say that although I was happy that Sweden won the hockey match against Finland to get into the Olympics semi-finals, I was even happier when the living area was cleared so that I could cook my meal. Hahahaha. I am not that thick-skinned to walk past the TV while they are staring intently at it. HAHAHA. 

After completing the notes for almost one whole module, my NTU pen died. :( R.I.P pen.

I think I am on my tom yum phase now. I feel like eating tom yum every other meal. Thus, the amazing variety of food. Hahahaha. The egg noodles they have here is like fake instant noodle noodles. I did not get the satisfaction at all. :/

Lunch today! 12 Swedish meatballs(trying it at home for the first time!), soba sauce salad and tortilla! I have quite a collection of condiments by now. Lingonberry jam and pickles and hamburger sauce? Bring it on yo!

People on horses in the city centre today (Sunday) After taking this picture, I decided to muster my courage and ask a random lady (I was alone) why were they walking around in horses. It turned out that they are from the military band and they are having a concert.

Saw this at the second hand shop! There are quite a few treasures there I think! None of the clothes caught my eye this time round, but I saw this vintage genuine leather belt selling for 30sek. I hesitated and the next time I turned to that side, IT WAS GONE! Oh well! It was really nice, but it had a little torn spot and I was thinking if I should get it. :/ Now I have to go beltless for a while more because the belt I brought here was not doing its job.

Went to the Siam shop, the Asian shop in the city centre and got myself soy milk for 10sek! I miss soya milk! :)

Cheers with Vanessa. who was also in the city centre!I have eye bags because I did not sleep enough the night before.

The view when I cycled back to Ryd. :) I love the feeling of the wind in my face. It makes my eyes tear sometimes, but I just adore the wind on my face~~~ This was downhill on the way back to Ryd, the place where I stay. :) In a sadder note, there is no more snow :( I asked my corridor mate if Spring was coming, and she said it might be if the temperature goes up to 10 degrees. :( So sad! On the other hand, I finally had a proper conservation with a corridor mate who is not a male. Hahaha. The males are generally friendlier. But it is not like I have a lot of female corridor mate to speak to. There is only two other girls other than myself in the corridor of 8 people. Quite an interesting experience :)

Because I was enjoying my conservation with Anna, My egg noodles was a little softer than what I would like it to be. Hahhaa. When I went out to wash the bowl, I saw Alex, the corridor mate with longer hair than me working with a mortar and pestle. I bluntly asked him why did a significant number of males in Sweden have long hair. I did not get the full answer I wanted, but I could not continue the conservation since I finished washing my bowl already. Apparently it is a trend. That's really interesting. I thought they kept it long because the hair salon was so expensive or that it kept their ears warm. HAHAHA.

I finished my exam of 4 questions in one and half hour. I only had 3/4 of content per page. I am shocked because their questions were descriptive and not argumentative at all. Hmmm.

Culture shock #2/3: I forgot how many I wrote already! But I was shocked when I saw students bring APPLES and YOGHURT and SNACKS into the examination hall. I understand that it is a 4 hour paper, but I am shocked that you can bring food into the examination hall. The most I brought into the examination hall was my sugar-free mints. Hahaha. I saw a cute old man taking his exam with an ORANGE. Seriously? How to peel your orange while doing the paper? :) They also have this system where you have to write your name and time you took a break (e.g to the toilet). Hahaha. So now everyone will know if you pooped or pee-ed. HAHAHA.

Looking back at the week, I think I have gotten better at taking the first step to start a conversation with the other corridor mates! :) Let's keep it up yo! I think I should have wordier posts as well! In addition to all the food I am posting. Hahaha.