oh wonderful holland.

i was amused to receive this in my nus email inbox recently:

Dear Erasmus exchange alumnus,

Great memories, trips, exam stress, friends for life; we hope that you
can look back on a successful exchange semester (or year) at the School
of Law at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Perhaps you have even thought
about coming back to Rotterdam.
In this light we would like to bring to your attention the possibility
of following one of our English taught 1-year Master programmes:
* International and European Public Law (Legal Studies, LL.M.)
* Commercial Law (Company and Commercial Law, LL.M.)
For more information on these programmes, please check our online
brochure: http://www.llm-erasmus.org/content/downloads/files/llm.pdf.
Courses that you completed during your exchange and which are part of
the new programmes, will remain valid for 5 years, meaning that you can
save time to complete your LL.M. programme in Rotterdam. Tuition fee for
students from the EU/EEA is approximately EUR 1550/year, tuition fee for
students from outside the EU/EEA is EUR 9500/year
Please note that selection criteria are set for these programmes
(Bachelor Degree of Law, min. TOEFL 575 etc.)

Please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to welcoming you
back in Rotterdam!

Kind regards!

PS If you are interested in a post-academic LL.M. degree in Business,
Corporate and Maritime Law, please visit:
http://www.llm-erasmus.org/?do=programmes/BCML/index, tuition fee for
all students:
EUR 10950

great memories? yes. trips? 99% of the time self-arranged, thank you, because the only trip we had officially was to kinderdijk. exam stress? definitely, especially if you have only closed book exams. friends for life? elena and teresa are definitely two of them! this time, though, i'll make sure i stay in kralingen because it is so much nearer to school. boo you erasmus housing desk! :(

still, 9500 euros (its been a month since i've used the term euros to describe the notes that come out of my wallet) is rather pricey! and 10950 euros is even worse!

(and if you haven't noticed, i have a love-hate relationship with holland. love, because i love holland so much, and hate, because i hate the administration there. it takes you 1 month to open a bank account: 2 weeks to send you a letter that says that you'll be able to access your account in another 2 weeks.)

on a separate note, to all the lovely people still on exchange: have lots of fun, because we're all living vicariously through you, and most importantly, please, stay safe.

tot ziens, nederlands!

i'll be going home to my sunny island of singapore, but as to actually going home, that's not really true, isn't it? while singapore is and always will be home, holland is also my home, since home is where the heart is and you can't live in a place without feeling some affection for it.

i really appreciate the chance to go on exchange. even though its only a semester you really learn so much, and i really wouldn't exchange it for anything in the world. i've seen the places i really want to see, met so many people from all walks of life, and i've learnt to appreciate everything. that's something that's not really tangible, but its there all the same. i really love holland because i think it has brought out the best in me. i feel the same sense of acceptance that i feel in singapore.

i'll miss the language that sounds like you're spitting (het is mooi!), the strong winds that threaten to blow you into a canal and give you pneumonia, and the snack-of-the-century, patat speciaal (de lekkerste frites!). i'll definitely miss the happy friendly tolerant dutch, and i'll miss all the friends i've made and the friends i already know but will not see for another semester, both within and outside erasmus.

i'll even miss the canals and i'll really miss being able to travel to other parts of europe in a snap. i'll miss being on the same time zone as all my other friends on exchange. oh, there are so many other things in holland i'll miss, but i'm sure i'll be back one day!

i guess i won't be needing this blog anymore, and that makes me pretty sad. its been a chronicle of everything that has happened these past four months.

i won't miss the administrative red tape in holland though.

still, i had a great time on exchange, an absolutely smashing time in which i didn't find answers to the questions i had, but had more questions instead, but that's alright i guess - i had a lot of fun.

tot ziens, nederlands. ik mis je!

amsterdam love.

long overdue, but here we go:

canal/the shopping street/lift bridge/rembrandt's the night watch/canal/canal/canal/me along a canal/the palace/canal by night/canal/hello rembrandt again/all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey/pretty blue sky/in front of the palace/a shaky shot

me again/another canal/in front of the palace again/holding captain francis banning coq's hand/canal by night/lift bridge/canal/canal/canal and me/canal and me again/fountain with soap suds/AMSTERDAM!/alf and i (get it, get it?) /canal/baker & mckenzie/alf and i am.

i loved loved loved amsterdam. it is such a funky city - the red light district is just next to the normal areas, and the red light district is something you should go and see. honestly, i loved it better than berlin, and it was a last minute decision to go to amsterdam (i love making last minute decisions like these!) and alf was such funny and great company!

ironically enough, i think its the best thing i love about holland - little wonder its the capital.

dear tnt post.

please give my friends their postcards which i have mailed to them BEFORE i left on my holiday.

thank you :)

HOME!

sorry that was in caps, but as you can tell, i'm REALLY EXCITED TO BE FLYING HOME SOON!

this saturday i'll leave the netherlands, and fly home to SUNNY SINGAPORE! (i hear that its currently very rainy and cold, though, but play along with me. holland is getting colder; today the temperature in eindhoven where i was reached a max of 2 deg celsius. and that was in the day, mind you.)

i'm finally back from two weeks of solid solo backpacking/travelling, and i'll be squeezing in a last bit of travelling to amsterdam before i fly off.

anyway, see you on the 30th of dec at 4 pm, singapore and everything that it stands for! HOORAY!

xoxo
tar

in dublin's fair city.

DUBLIN! i'll let the pictures do the talking!

thanks ashanti so much for opening your home up to me!

ve speak zerman.

linz and stuttgart and tuebingen!

vielen dank, olga, philo und elena!