School Daze

It dawned on me while I was doing my readings that I haven't really mentioned much about the school on the blog, so just to reassure my parents that I'm REALLY on an exchange and not squandering their money on some extravagant holiday - Dad, Mum, here's a post on the school.

Universiteit of Maastricht - Faculty of Economics & Business Administration

Registration booth during orientation

My Orientation Group: From Top Left: Rachel (Singapore), Ci Rong (Singapore), Carrie (Hong Kong), Me (Singapore), Carlos (Hong Kong), Wilson (Hong Kong). From Bottom Left: France, An Thu (Canada), OGL (Netherlands), Nikzad (USA), Sandra (Sweden)

The school to me is a blend of our very own SMU & Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. Its SMU'ish mainly because of its strategic city centre location, high ayo-technology networks,

Interior of school

and it simultaneously jolts back memories of Hogwarts because of its grey brickalicious, cobblestoned, fortress-like exterior. Think Ikea's modern minimalistic interior and a Hogwarts exterior! Minus the moving staircases and changing passageways of course. erm hurhur okay shuts.

See, the combination of bricks and glass!

So, we definitely got cold feet after hearing all the horror stories from both SMU students who did their exchange at Universiteit Maastricht, SMU students who heard stories from friend of a friend who did their exchange at UM, UM students who did their exchange at SMU...blah blah blah. The common consensus - It won't be a breeze at UM, this was evident when some UM exchange student who did his exchange at SMU told me, and I quote him, "Well, from my point of view tis more stressfull then SMU, but you can really learn a lot." (Seriously, to be honest, learning alot was one of the last things on my mind when I was there for an exchange!) Now I'm in my 3rd week of school, I can safely say that it is indeed true that UM's workload is about SMUx(100000), the amount of readings they do here is INSANE! For example, even during our weekend trips to Amsterdam, whatever quiet opportunity we got on the train to and fro all of us will expeditiously and diligently whip up our notes (however you'll see our heads having a life of its own - swinging 360degrees after sometime..zZz) and try to absorb. In terms of competitiveness and coping with pressure, I think its comparable to SMU.

Let me lay out the similarities/differences so you can get a clearer picture.

Academic Calendar: Here at UM, the semester commences from Feb-Jun with 2 blocks, 7 weeks per block. Each block, we can take up to a maximum to 2 subjects and have an exam 7 weeks later (equivalent to 14 lessons). Then there's about a 10 day break before the next block starts with a different 2 modules. So here, its less modules per block but the downside is a very rushed academic schedule.

Class size: At SMU its like 35-40 people in a class. At UM its 12-14 people in a class. Imagine if you don't read your literature, don't participate and simply be a mouse. Its obvious as daylight I tell you. Quoting Ian Kwoksish when I told him about the system, he said in jest, "Oh I see, so its 80% class participation, 20% final exams!?" Haha

Self-study: At SMU (well for me at least), its goes like this
1) attend class
2) learn things/participate
3) do homework and hand up
4) repeat process #1-#3
5) 2 weeks before exam study like one mad dog86.

At UM, it goes like this (for everyone):

1) read the relevant chapters and literature assigned before class
(UM recommends allocating 8 hours aside for each module per week)

...and because UM strongly believes in the PBL (Problem Based Learning) system
which is rather intriguing I might say...

2) for the whole 2 hours of class, the tutor will skip the teaching and ZOOM into whatever problem you encountered in the readings. So, its more of analyzing and doing post-evaluation of literature rather than it being the first time you are looking at this material in front of you. The tutor will post questions about the readings where you will have to take this opportunity to prove that you indeed read the articles! Its usually a heated discussion with all the 'I beg to differ' and 'To add on to what he/she said...' so you really have to keep the Guides motto "Be Prepared" at bay and don't even think of being a mouse!

3) Assign readings for the next lesson and repeat steps 1+2

Gui face with the tons of readings!

Presentations: Here at UM, there are 14 lessons per block and about 14 people in a class which means - EVERYONE gets a chance to present! There are some classes which still believe in group projects, but the norm would be individual presentations where you would have to play the role of the teacher and tutor the class in depth about the respective chapter you were assigned to. Attire here for presentations are casual-every-other-day clothes and if you dress to impress for presentations like at SMU you'll cause an unnecessary commotion.

Class composition: Because the modules that were available to us were mainly the courses conducted in English, we have a good mix of regular and exchange students. Its interesting to gain different international perspectives from this experience and also to contribute Singaporean perspectives. So to all those who lied during the first meeting that they knew where Singapore was and what our little island is all about, now you Really know! The classes for me are very 'Oh, I didn't know that, coooool!' About the tutor, its very different from Singapore. Back home, the Professor is revered more I feel because basically he/she teaches us through powerpoint slides etc, and we are confident beyond a shadow of doubt that he/she knows her stuff (note: knowing your stuff and knowing how to teach is a different issue altogether). At times, the learning system here gets so individual with you presenting the chapter and you learning everything beforehand, with your classmates involved in the problem based learning and the tutor as a mere facilitator, you can't blame your mind for straying and thinking 'What is this person doing here in the first place?'

But Poh and I are staying positive like we always do :) Its all about proper time management I guess.

On the first day we got our printer, even before school started, I printed out little motivational quotes for us as the test print. His was a simple:

and on my magnetic board I had:

Bloody Singaporean nerds, mmm hmmm I know!

Now, please take a moment to wish us both all the best because we've decided not to let UM scare the daylights outta us. The word 'fail' is in neither of our dictionaries. Only words like 'Pass', 'Travel', 'Explore', 'Fun', 'Enjoy our exchange experience', 'The time of our life!' exist.

ams ams AMSTERDAM!!

We're off to Amsterdam the city of vice for the weekend so to all fans of our blog, we'll be back tomorrow night with stories to tell! so...Watch this space! :)

Today's trip to Amsterdam will be my 2nd. In fact, I was there just last week with Hail & Violeta (our nice Bulgarian friend) where we planned to meet Cherylicious Tansters and her friends Gerald and Kee Yeh there. It was indeed good company for the 2 days we were there! :)

To prevent backlog of pictures and Tansters from nagging me, here are some shots from my 1st Amsterdam trip last week! Enjoy!

Crossing the River Maas with my barang to get to the Centraal Station

Amsterdam is a 2.5 hour train ride away from Maastricht

Our hostel for the 2 nights, it was rather dodge so I slept in my trenchcoat on the bed heh

Dinner at some awesome Italian restaurant Hail recommended

Sweet Violeta and I

Look who I found!! My favourite Tansish!! xoxo

Cheryl's super amused at the Small Talk Cafe behind! haha

We're suckers for giant clogs!

6 of us all enthused at the Rijksmuseum

6 of us at the Van Gogh Museum


ps: not all pictures are appropriate to put on the blog so I'll send you all by email k! :)

Leaving for Amsterdam again now with excited Poh! See you soon!

we heart KORTINGS (discounts)!

My partner in crime has been spotted!

too bad we didn't bring our cameras out today!




*WARNING: this is gonna be a bims entry. bims level 7/10*

While queuing to pay up, it just randomly came to my mind that everyone has different shopping habits, and to find a good shopping partner is like finding a perfect heart donor (okay gees morbid, i know) . Some fall into the look-see look-see category, some are into the i-only-buy-branded (Pdubs), some are the i-hate-sieving-through-crazy-piles (organized_lil_lamsters), some cannot tahan and get tired and moody after half an hour- 45mins (exhausted_lex)...

Cirong, one of the other Singaporeans (from NUS) and I, have a similar shopping philosophy. We believe in always getting the best deals (for now at least) especially when we know we'll be here for a long 4 months and we're aware there we'll regret it big time when we see whatever regular priced item we buy now, sold at the spring/summer sale at 70% off just before we leave. So now its just digging and digging and digging! Haha we call ourselves the meticulous diggers with an eye for the little red banner! We had a wonderful insightful lunch and then shopped for a good 4 hours continuously and got SUPER dehydrated. So on the way back the two of us furiously gulped down 1.5 litre worth of water!! The girl can really shop!

To date some of my best shopping buddies would have to be Lamsters, Michaela, Kams, Poh (sometimes), Steph and hello Rong new found buddy!

After all thats said and done, my BEST shopping kaki would still have to be my everdearest Mum. She's truly the #1 shopaholic! My mother can shop anytime of the day, anywhere. Forget that its dirty, forget that its dangerous, forget that we're inconveniencing people (Dad and Brandon), forget that we're running late, forget that people are angry with us (Dad and Brandon), forget our Majesty of The Seas cruise ship is going to sail off leaving us both stranded on some random Caribbean island, forget that we need to pee, forget we have missed breakfast, lunch and now dinner. Mum, think shopping Every chance we got, trading shawls with money in plastic bags over the River Nile, shopping at dodgy Shenzhen till 8pm even though we were warned it was dangerous at nightfall , shopping at airport transits like nobody's business etc etc.

And I, I guess I'm just a chip of the old block :p heh thanks mum for everything. Love!

embarrassed

As usual I was ever-ready to show Lucy off to the world.

But today something Freaking embarrassing happened when Poh and I were on the way to this budget supermarket called Aldi.

The ordinary procedure was as such:
1) At the Guesthouse bike shed, unlock bicycle lock and free Lucy
2) Hop on and sling handbag over shoulder
3) Heads up, chest out, glam-ly/proudly do my thang (like what Alexis would say acting Amilie)

...never did i expect...

4) Lucy's wheels to get stuck in some serious accumulation of gravel deposit which caused my bike to fall to the side. This translated to me losing my balance and tumbling off the bike in a clumsy fashion (it was like a scene out of an action movie, rolling on the gravel, leaving behind a whirlwind of dust in the horizon)...in front of 4 other exchange students walking back to the Guesthouse.

Gravel pavement

* A big thank you to the nice American guy who helped a disoriented me pick up my things which were thrown all over the gravel pavement. Appreciate it!*

I don't usually turn red but I swear I felt my face burning up despite this 3 degree weather and I just kept on muttering to Poh as we calmly cycled off (like nothing happened) "so embarrassing, so embarrassingggggg..."

My gross badge of courage - SCARRED UGZ LEGS FOREVER! :(

When Poh was cleaning my wound with some random tissue

Can you fathom the fact that we still headed down to do our grocery shopping at the supermarket?? What the!

Oh and I'm so sad this freak accident caused a ginormous hole in my favourite purps leggings. mao

yes Poh i know i know... "DISGRACE!"

Lesson Today.

Today was the first time we had our class for International Investments also known as International Finance back home, last week when i thought there was a class and actually turned up at 4pm on thursday, there was no one there except 3 other puzzled students. In actual fact, we saw the timetables wrongly.

Well, in Maastricht University, class size is about 10-14 people per class and we sit in a square facing each other and basically what happens is that a student each lesson will become the prof, teaching the topic and stuff and after the teachings, there will be like a massive discussion on the topics. With only 12 people in class, class part points were definitely up for grabs, everyone was just going at it, it seemed even though who just rambled about some random statement in their quite muffled germanic/polish/whatever ascent could get away with it. Luckily being an asian, it comes easy for me as all i have to do is always say " back in asian, back in singapore, back in korea .." and its works pretty well for me and i figured even if i mentioned something random, everyone would just agree as they dont know much shit about asia and most of them would say " oohh really, didnt know that", the funnies would reply " oh really, yeah i definitely heard about that one about asians".

well okay back to my finance class, so today at 4pm, all of us just sat there one by one people trickled into class and then all of a sudden this really young guy who looked like he has some disability because of the way his eyes look ( this is true, everyone noticed it from the moment he entered but kept quiet lah cause they all also thought he was disabled or something, so normally these sort of things people just hush about it) he just stood up and said okay guys lets begin and everyone was like wtfff.

He said " i know i look like 15 but i am 22, i got a phd in finance " and blah long list of finance achievements which made him seem like he won the nobel prize for black scholes model", there i was 24 years old thinking what the hell. well age doesnt matter but i was like quite shocked at what this fella has achieved. Everyone was also in shocked, this HK guy next to me was like "was he for real" in that high pitched honkie voice.

Well that was my day.

Poh

Our crib!

We've been asked time and time again to display our show home...and this time round, we've agreed to participate.

This entry is to provide family and friends back home a visual of our living quarters. The Guesthouse is where we eat, sleep, play, bury our heads in readings, but more importantly this is where we have MSN and phone conversations with you back home :)

Our building is a very vibrant international one crawling with exchange students studying at UM too. The Guesthouse will be our refuge for the next 4 months. Its a 10 minute bicycle ride to our University, a 13 minute ride to the city centre & a 5 minute ride to the nearest supermarket.

Thanks Cake and boyfriend for recommending this room, we love it and everyone's envious!! :)

The Guesthouse

Acting condominium with the sports facilities- tennis & basketketball courts

Welkom! :)

Our camera can't capture everything so you can get the full picture from the map above!

Poh CHOPE'ing his side of the room

My half of the room

Poh all dressed to impress in the kitchen
2 weeks later: Our room looked like it went through the eye of a tornado storm!

a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do.

Coming to Maastricht just before the 14th of Feb. poses an interesting situation for any male having any plans for a female. Its simple, its Valentine's Day and basically its a day for a male to take responsibility into his hands and prepare a good swinging time for his lady. But, when you just arrived in Maastricht, unfamiliar territory, nice romantic restaurants go at 200 euros pax, weathers too cold for a nice picnic on the beach, you know you had your work cut out for you especially for me.

Thank goodness, i did some preparing before arriving here with some useful gifts and skills. I suggested i do like what most budget guys do but try to pass it off as really sweet; cook in. Its easy, its economical, its sweet and its from the heart, especially if your lady is present to watch you cook the meal, thats what its all about. The way to her heart is through her stomach especially for cheryl. (joking!).

I decided to make her my special and world famous steak (bought from the supermarkets and already marinated, guys, please dont attempt to marinate it on your own, its easier to buy it marinated and then try to pass it off once again as your own preparations), accompanied with some fried potato slices which are so delicatedly fried in natural oil and with the right timing, it comes out crisp brown at the sides. Now you need some greens to go with the meat, just make some salad, its easy, pick the right type of leafy crunchy vege and find some awesome tangy sauces to go with it, but if you too lazy, once again go and buy the ready-made salad but the trick is in mixing the sauces with the vegetables to give it the right balance all around, its all about presentation. I cooked some bread, yeah literally cooked the bread.

*This is Lee editing this post: ahem I bet Poh didn't mention that I tossed the vegetables in the tangy sauce, provided red wine, ice cream, chose the perfect V-day tunes and picked up bits of rubbish on the floor.

Poh: Once all done, dim the lights, take out the candle you bought at the 1.99 store, wait its not the 1.99 singapore store, its the 1.99 euro store so its more classy. light it up and then get some wine and alcohol to go with the mood and red meat, and VOILA! poh's guide to the budget but sincere v-day cook in , in a foreign country.

We ended off with a ripped- off version off the net of P.S I love you.

Thank you for everything babe. Love.

mixing with the locals.

couple of nights back, lee and i finally had a chance to mix with some locals in Maastricht! it was what we came for, the last few nights have been rather stale for us; staying cooped in the dorms though the asian dinners were once again world class (thanks to our singaporean counterparts!).

Just for your information, there are more Germans in the school than Dutch and in UM, the 'first year Germans' seem to be quite notorious. They are basically like your chiong-sters back in SMU but the problem is there are alot of them around. Its only my 3rd day of school and i am pretty stressed out. I paid 55 euros for Int. Finance book already and decided to photocopy another book that i felt wasnt worth paying 66euros for. Anyway back to mixing with the locas, Lee had a chance to meet her mentor and i tagged along bringing out friendly 'Mr Popular Thohir' around. According to Lee, her mentor Chloe looks like Nicole from our school but i think she looks more like a younger Jennifer Love Hewitt! (Photos Included). That night in all, we had 3 rounds of drinks, yes first time in my life, ooh by the way Chloe's German and she invited us to hang with her friends, all germans and they were bloody fun. When we first met, we went for a short drink, then we headed back to her apartment, then headed out to the supermarket, there were 5 of us and each one just bought a 6 pack of beer so there were like 30 beers in all. After that headed to a friends place also German and then continued with the German Version of Circle of Death (Pictures Included).

Rules of German Circle of Death

2- Deuce ( Find someone to drink with)

3- three is me

4- for whores

5- social, all drink

6- for dicks

7- point to heaven

8-Find a Mate, whenever you drink he drinks and since there are like 4 cards, there will be

any linkages throughout which in the end everyone will drink!

9- rhyme

10- i forgot

J- a rule

Q - question queen

K- category

A- waterfall!!!!!