Finally a change of subject title! Anyway it's NYE again and as always, I would definitely reflect on 2011 and come up with new resolutions for 2012 (whether fulfilled or not). I should be rushing out my brandstorm report but the fact that I haven't typed out my annual reflection post bothers me.

Recalling back last year's resolutions (actually I just clicked archive and searched through not much recalling needed haha), I would say I fulfilled quite a bit of my resolutions! (: So just a quick recap on the events in 2011.

Exchange in Maastricht! Best experience ever that I would never trade for anything else (even if forgoing exchange would have helped improved my grades and a possibility of a second upper, i still would never regret it). 

Traveling around Europe. Amazing (:

Year 3 Sem 1. Start of onslaught of seminar classes and heaps of projects and insane workload! At least my hard work paid off (:

Turning 21. Another milestone in life. Finally an adult! (:

Start of 6 months internship. Let's hope it would be an enriching and awesome experience! (:

Resolutions for 2012:
Perform the best for internship. Gain invaluable experience and make new friends! (:
Study hard upon returning back to school and improve CAP!
Treasure family and friends even more
Work on flaws that we all have and be a better person than in 2011.
Be strong!

New year, new beginnings. Let's go 2012!

You have to experience the fragility of life to truly appreciate and treasure everyone around you. The past week has been insane. Everyday has just been an uphill battle mugging for exams that I just didn't have time to stop and think and reflect. News that my grandma passed away came too sudden that I think I chose to block it off in order to focus on my exams. Did it help? Yes it did but I feel terrible about it. It's like I didn't even have time to stop and reflect and everyday I have just been caught up in my own world studying for exams. It makes me feel like I have lost all humanity and the feeling of kinship because of this super competitive and dog eat dog society.

Popo, my biggest regret would not be the fact that I haven't gone back to China to visit you often after you moved over but rather not being able to fully grasp cantonese and spend more time talking to you in the past. You were the only grandparent I had left since my paternal grandfather passed away when I was very young and was aware what life and death was. In fact, you were my only grandparent staying in Singapore and whom I actually had frequent contact with. The sudden passing of my uncle this year has also made me realise that I haven't visited you in a long time and I was hoping that I would be able to find more time to travel back to visit you. But I guess I took it for granted that you were healthy and fine and that delaying another 2 more years or so wouldn't make any difference. However, age is not just a terrifying number. Age deteriorates your health and I guess this was what I missed out.

I miss you popo, really, but I am sure you have gone to a better place.

Oh God, not this again.

Location: Maastricht

FINALLY BACK IN MAASTRICHT!!!!! :D officially 2 more days before reaching home :D Checking out of our hostel tomorrow afternoon and spending a night in Amsterdam before catching the flight back on Thursday afternoon! (: Anyway quick summary and update of the last few countries!

Lisbon: REALLY BEAUTIFUL PLACE! Reminds me a bit of Greece actually. A pity we spent too little time there and the day we went to the beach, it was cloudy/raining :\ Food there is cheap especially their seafood and the people there are also very nice and honest (: We stayed at this hostel and the hostel owner is DAMN NICE!!!! It's like he converted his place into a hostel so it's really cosy and warm (: And we ate the BEST Portuguese egg tarts in our entire life there! Seriously the crust was super crispy and delicate and the egg filling was very custardy and AH JUST PLAIN AWESOME! I missed it the moment we left Lisbon ):

London: MY FAVOURITE PLACE! Partly because it's english speaking and it made our lives SO MUCH EASIER!!!! Spent the first 2 days with Kai li's uncle in Corby and their family is super duper nice and hospitable! Love their house cos it's so cozy too! (: Went off to central london on the second day where her aunt and uncle brought us around to see the sights and we finally had dim sum! OMG I MISS CHINESE FOOD SO MUCH! Their chinatown is also super amazing you really feel like you are in China/HK etc etc. The chinese food is also very authentic so we were happy (: Went to Harrods and I was super overwhelmed because it's super huge and nice but everything there's very expensive ): But still bought some biscuits and bears cos it's Harrods heh. Went for old city tour to explore the old london and it's history and went off for pub crawl where Kai Li and I were terribly late so we checked for the various pubs/clubs that the pubcrawlers would be going and ended up combing the entire Leicester square and Covent Gardens just to find the pubs and the pubcrawlers. In the end, we didn't even join them because we found them at their last pub and they would be heading towards the club next. So we went off to the club straight and along the way, there were many 'promoters' trying to get us into the clubs at a discounted price or for free etc etc. London club scene was good but I think Zouk is still the best. Singapore pwns in clubbing I swear (: There were also damn a lot of guys trying to hit on us in the club and when we finally left there were even more promoters trying to get us to go to their clubs. But some of them are really nice when we told them we were heading off and even gave us exact directions on which bus to take and how to get home. How nice right!!!! And then there was this random duo who met us along the way to the bus stop and started chatting us up but at least they helped us to get home although they wanted us to go over to their place etc etc but yeah nice people!

Went Oxford street for shopping the next day and omg it's impossible to finish it in one day. A lot of sales but sale items were quite disappointing :\ Primark was a mess but it was really cheap but hence the quality was compromised. Tried the clothes in front of a random mirror because the fitting room queue was too long. Caught wicked later at night and I LOVED IT! Damn nice!!! Went off to Windsor, Bath and Stonehedge the next day for a full day tour before rushing back to shop at Harrods one last time and also to help Karwee buy his wallet! Spent the night at the airport because we had an early flight to catch to Paris! Not to forget the most epic thing that happened in London, we walked around without a map for one day because we forgot to bring it and omg WE DID NOT GET LOST (BECAUSE PEOPLE SPEAK ENGLISH YES!!!!) And I even navigated around once alone to Harrods without a map and thankfully I didn't get lost because EVERYTHING IS IN ENGLISH!!! YAY!

Paris: I can only say I love the Eiffel tower. Even though many might say it's overrated but I really think it's damn pretty! Spammed lots of pastries and MACAROONS!!! Verdict: Pierre Hermes is the best HANDS DOWN! Best macaroons ever tasted anyone who goes to Paris have to try it! Went to longchamp to buy bags and went into the lourve for free (because we were considered EU citizens yay!) Saw the mona lisa and last day we went to Disneyland which was sadly quite disappointing because we didn't get to see many of the characters walking around for us to take pictures with. We saw goofy once and we were planning how to get close to him so that we could take picture BUT when it was almost our turn, goofy turned around AND LEFT OMG WE WERE SO PISSED CAN!!!!! :\ Rides were not very fantastic except for the tower of terror where I really screamed my lungs out cos rides consisting of free falls are scary :\ Queue was also very long cos it was a Sunday hence packed with people! But I enjoyed the souvenir shopping and bought a VERY PRETTY dress for my niece and 2 VERY CUTE shirts for my nephews (: Bought my dad a very cute mug as well and that completes the whole family. (bought mum a hard rock cafe shirt in london and brothers and sister-in-laws have chocolates and coffee and nuts as well!) Spent the night in Liege train station which was the biggest mistake cos it was SUPER DUPER cold we were all shaking and freezing our asses off. And we met this China lady in the train and she was telling us that it's very dangerous to spend the night in Liege train station as well cos there were a lot of drunkards :\ Thankfully Dezhi and Ryan were with us so we were safe (:

Came back to Maastricht on Monday and leaving tomorrow! Can't wait to go home and conclude my Europe exchange/adventure!!!! :D