Just a reminder...
Just a reminder...
Taiwan is not that cold...
Shorts on New years eve...like a swedish late september...
However the buildings are not that isolated...so inside and outside temp is more or less always the same...more or less...
New years eve plan...
There is a new Swedish restaurant in Taipei...
I will go there tonite with my swedish friends plus european exchange students etc...
Its gonna b interesting!
Interesting Italian restaurant visit...
I went to an Italian restaurant yesterday...
They were almost closing when w came...so there were alot of dishes that they did not have...
Their bread was good though...with cheese and meat inside...
Dessert was included, some cakes had tarrot in it...not my favourite...
They main dish was suppose to be spagetti...but was some pasta pipes...
They didnt have lasanga this evening...
I ended the downtown visit by going to the frozen Yoghurt place...it was nice...
Foreigners in Hsinchu downtown
I met some foreigners in Hsinchu down town last night...
2 guys from USA...who lived in Taiwan from 12 resp 6 years...the one who lived here for 12 years didnt even speak chinese...
thieir mom used an over protected raising method...
The short guy to the left, (16 years old, worked as a tatoo designer for the maffia he said)...so interesting...
The hunt for 7-11 ear phones...
I went to the customer service oriented 7-11 at campus yesterday evening...
I got to try out the weight of the packages...
I picked the lightest one this time, instead of the heaviest...
And voila! Not speaker...so happy, finaly I got ear phones!
Glögg in da lab...
I finished one of my 2 Glögg bottles yesterday in the lab...
Since I planned to to exercise I didnt take the one with alcolhole (not so much from it anyway). And I mixed it with hot water...so the flavour was not super strong...
Fish burger to breakfast...
Today I ate a fishburger to breakfast...
It was ok...and I also heard that their coffee was awesome...maybe I should try it next time...it was bought neat NTHU's south gate...
A full 7-11 sticker chart again...
Last night I got a full 7-11 sticker chart again...
This is my forth one...usually I get 3 before they change...but then I also use some of them for cold stone ice cream...
I went to 7-11 to get ear phones...but it was the same non custmer oriented cashier as last time (at the boys dorm)...so i decided to leave, and try the other 7-11 where they are much nicer...
A dry plastic bag
I brought a plastic bad from Sweden last year...its originally from Holland...
Yesterday it fell apart...
I guess it was old..but I never seen this before...
Late night meeting for retailing presentation
I had a meeting for a retailing presentaion some day ago...
The whole class, 10 ppl had a presentation for the teacher...
It was interesting, some latinos never show up on meetings...maybe its culture?
A visit at the burger bar...
I went to the burger bar at Qing hua night market some day ago...
It was fun, the owner recognizes me...
It was cold, but the burgers are ok...
The burgers are often very big, however the lettuce takes alot of space...
I saw Marcel active today...
We have many people in class who work part time or have otherinterests than hanging out in school...
Marcel was having a presentatio in class...so impressive. Some friends never seen him before they said, even if they were in his group in some class...thats unique.
Entrepreneurship presentations
We have presentations in our entrepreneurship class. Either we finished a business plan, with financial statement, or we interviewed an Entrepreneur...
Most groups interviews an entrepreneur...
Most of the entrepreneurs were friends of the groups...some groups faked their interviews...
Jay and Jerry
In taiwan people usually get their english name from ther teacher in school...some times their parents gives them theri english name...
We have classmates who often hang out togetter, their names are Jay and Jerry...it is a good name for a couple like them...
Presentation in E-commerce class
We had a presentation in E-commerce class some day ago...
Pablo, who I presented with had taiwanese style slides, with alot of text...
Same same but different...
Same same but different...
Pablo and Kuai-shou had the same shirt today at school...
At the indonesia trip we will make in some weeks we all plan to buy Disco shirts...
Energy waste culture?
I often come to the lab seeing that the AC is on, some one left it on...
And no one cares to turn it off...so wasting...
Even in my culture class today they had the heater on, while the window was open...sometimes the logic in this country really is interesting...
The machines at the ceiling works as a heater...
The window was open...letting the warm air out...
Chocolate frenzy...
I opened a chocolate box in the lab some days ago...with exclusive chocolate...
It was awesome...
kust like Aladdin in sweden, but international style...
you're doing bad in class, cuz u r not having capital letters in the assignment
My culture teacher claims that I did bad in class, becuse I did not always have capital letters on each sentence in my assignments...
I think I used "etc" instead of "etcetera" and word added a dot due to the abbreviation, but the teacher didnt understand the conscept of abbreciations...and tried to lower my grade in cultural knowledge due to this...
To ensure not to make my "capital letter" fixed culture teacher disapointed, i changed the size of each initial letter in the sentences to a larger size...maybe I will get higher grades now...my experience here in TW is that it might work... :S
Green label in the lab...
I just had a green label shot in the lab...
It almost taste the same as black label...I should buy a black label and taste both in a comparison...so I know the difference...it feels like the green one has a deeped flavour...but im not sure...its just 3 years older...
I put some M&M's in my glass...(blue and green coloured) and it melted...so the whisky looked strange...more like a halloween drink...aiyo...I still have to finish it...to exclusive to get wasted...
Free Clementine at food court 1
They were giving away free Clementine at food court 1
I bought a ginger tea, and took 3...so nice...more christmas feeling...
Hotpot in the lab...
It was time for another hotpot yesterday...but in the lab this time...
There were alot of classmates showing up...
It was crowded near the pot...
I also made some fried carrots, with onion and garlic... it was good. however it didnt tasste as good as when i do it at home...it mght havebeen the butter I fried it in...
I also brought a cheese cake from a party the day before...it was really good.
The hunt for a pink family mart mug
I got a blue family mart mug some time ago...
I went to family mart on campus, thye said it was out of stock, however it will b avalable in march next year...
So I took of to another family mart...and they had a queing list for people who wants to have their mug...I said i wanted a pink one, but this family mart is not as friendly as the one at campus...where I could pick my colour...
Disappointed students at the Research method class
More and more studentsgets dispointed with this GMBA program...
Yesterday people complained alot about the inconsitency in the review of advisors own students and the lack of objectivity when grading...
Each advisor have different grading preferences...and some teachers are corrupted...
I got a full family mart sticker chart as well...
I got some family mart stickers as well...but they dont promote their stickers in the same extent as 7-11...
I got icecreams for the stickers I had...I think the offers expires today...
I got another 7-11 speaker...
Oh, no!
I got another 7-11 speaker...
So boring...and the staff at the 7-11 near my dorm is not that service minded...this time i could not fel the weight of the box...
My chinese teacher had a cute Beret
My chinese teacher had a cute beret yesterday...
It was fun, whe also said whe have a green one...
I found it rare that people have berets here in taiwan...
I got a full 7-11 sticker chart again...
I got a full 7-11 sticker chart again...
Lets hope I will get earphones this time...since I got the same boring speakers 2 times in a row now...
Turkey dinner at Cory's
I had alot of things with me to corys place...where he had a turkey/chirstmas party...
His room mate also invited people...many south africans...
Asians often think we all look the same...
And Miss Lee thought a guy looked like Adrien Brody, the actor in "the pianist"...and so did we...
We had alot of food on the table...we even needed to put some dishes behins us...to make things fit...
Cory even wanted me to say a pray...but i never dpone it before...I said "hallelujah" and "amen"...so he had some compensate...
I prepared a banana cake, with M&M's on it...but i never got the bonbons to melt :S
It was alot of food in total...however, we almost finished the turkey...
I broght 1 kinds of Glögg...one wine glögg and one non alcoholic...
I found myself spending to much time in the kitchen...so I went back to mingle around with ppl...
We also hada chirstmas gift exchange here aswell...
I painted my package to make it more attractive...
I took Stpehens package...he bought it from Costco...
There after we played some name games...the same as we played during thanksgiving...
Turkey party preparations
Cory had a party with Turkey...and everyone were ased to bring a dish...
I didnt know what to bring...but I figured out my own swedish christmas cake...
I put Glögg in the dough...
And then put ginger breadcrumbs on the top...
The gingerbread melted on the top...it was ok...however, the Glög flavour was not strong enough...I have to put more of it next time...
I also made another cake but planned to prepare it at Corys...
BaiBai Maarten...
On christmas day Maarten took of, to Malaysia, continuing his trip..
We got some gifts from Maarten, he planned to gambe with them..ut we had no time to do that...
He ordered his special taxi for going to Taipei airport...he said he didnt have any intention to return to taiwan in a recent future...however we will meet in Europe...I will walk the Nijmegen march for sure in the future...
Christmas eve...
This Christmas eve I hanged out with the swedes...as usual...
We started at the Chalmers office, watching donald duck and eating some food. I was kind of late...since they made changed the time to 1 hour earlier...
It is almost the same every year...but still entertaining...
We continued with gift exchange by playing some gift roulette, throwing dice...
(using a guys Iphone application)...
Since someone traded the gift I had in the end, with the gift I brough, I got my own gift...
I treid so find Aladdin chocolate,b ut didnt, so I bought some taiwanese substitute...
AFter the lunch we headed to some of the swedes appartment...
My friend robert showed his mocassins...made by his mom...so exotic...
AFter passing by the lab quickly we met at the swedes appartment...
Swedes from Taipei also showed up, and a german girl...
There were alot of christmas food...so nice...
We drank Julmust...from Ikea...
It was like a traditiona swedish "julbord"...
and als some Beijing duck was served...so make the table more asian...
I also bought some 7-11 beer and some japanese beer with a christmas label...
Also Glögg and gingerbread was served, as well as a ginger bread house...
We also tried different kinds of wine...
We concluded, stay with international wine...or only drink taiwanese wint, cuz the difference is huge...the Tai wine is super sweat with vinegar flavour...
Might be used as cordial...
After the christmas dinner we went to Plur...in Hsinchu downtown...
They also had entertainment...as usual...pourng tequlia in ppls mouth...
They also gave away gifts...easy for my swedish friends who are 1-2 heads taller than the rest, they picked many of the presents that was thown out to the audience...
MY freinch friend enjoyed the dancing girls alot...
After plur we went to Tokyo, which is said to be a crappy place for people to pick up someone if they didnt get anything at the club...
However I have a classmate who are DJ there once in a while...so it cannot b that bad...
We stayed in the smokey bar fr a while...lookngat maffia guys and foreigners...
AFter some while the DJ classmate went home...so we left as well...
We took of to Mosburger that was nearby...
I ordered the same dish I alsways order...however...the moron cashiergave me 2 rugers and 2 fried potatos...and 1 drink...
I should pay more attention to the price in the future...at NCTU it is 144 NTD, I know...and if they charge more o know they misunderstod...
This ended my chirstmas eve...Merry Christmas!
A day to party with Maarten...
Maarten wanted to go to hotpot...since its a such a Taiwanese style of eating...
We started the day by visiting the NCTU swimming pool...and SPA...
We there after went to a hotpot in Ximen in taipei...
As usual I started with the ice cream...they had Mövenpick...
They also had a chocolate fontain, it was nice..but it is tricky when the chocolate gets hard...i prefer when its chocolate sauce in the fontain...
As usual the pot was separated in 2 parts, in order to have different flavours ni the pot of the water...
I ate alot of corn sticks and fish...
We knew we were about to go to thenight club afterwards so ppl tried not to eat to much...
It was kind of crowded in the MRT...its convenient that mMaarten is so tall, so we cen see him from everywhere, and ensure that he wont get lost...
When we came to Luxy it was super long queue, maybe 40 mins...
But we knew ppl who were in the front...however, time passed 23 before we passed the entrance...(the entrance fee usualy gets from 300 to 600 at 23), but they still charged 23...which was good...Maarten was happy, since he promised to pay for the girls...
So fun to hang out with the classmates...
Even the entertainers were dressed up for chistmas...
EVen if they soon threw of their clothes as usual in Taiwanese Night club culture...
We stayed mostly at the trance dance floor since the DJ at the house dance floor played to much hiphop...
MY friend from Czech republic picked up a Lady boy...that was funny...
These are the drinks I drank the whole night...more or less...beer and some pink cherry drink...
The Czechguy pulled down some christmas decration...and used it as a hat...
There were some egressive americans aswell...who wanted to tack picture...
It was fun...and pablo was also fun..he seldom joins to the night club nowadays...so it was fun...
Photo shoot in the lab...(part 2)
We ere asked to take more photos of our selves in the lab...
It was the program administration who asked us...
They also benchmarked other brochures...
We were 4 people...bolivian Natalia, a Taiwanese ITI guy, me and the american guy Stephen honored us...
We even got payed this time...which is strange...but some ppl seems to always get financial support by the program...for wahtever they do...
so inconsistent...or unfair?
Food left overs...
The lab is full of food left overs from the party..so awesome...!
PIzza, chicken, bread, soft drink...etc...
GMBA Christmas party...
The GMBA arranged a christmas party...
It was alot of food there...
Alot of people showed up...
First and second year students...one teacher with family and Maarten...
Then there were alot of games and entertainment...
And gift exchange aswell...
And ofcourse Mr Pablos porn dvd's had to go to some one...this time Henry got them...(even though it was kind of a set up, since they arranged so that a guy would get them)...
Afterwards, many of us went to the lab...
The first year students were still doing the finance part...to try to make it even out...
Hooters was there...he is a funny guy...
The first year tai-people took of kind of early...they wanted to go to KTV...
But we stayed...
Its always nice to hang out with classmates...
Alison promised to join to Luxy the day after...along with other girls in class.
Later on we also joined the KTV...and it was super crowded...cuz KTV is what taiwanese ppl do, then they wanna have fun...
It was Holiday KTV in Hsinchu downtown...usually I only go to KTV when they offer "all you can eat" since its boring to not be able to read the characters when the tai-people since their chinese songs...
But this KTV-event didnt use the all you can eat facilities...
Hooters took his shirt of, again...
The rest of us had some drink...
However, the people who came here some hours erlier had already started to drink and eat alot of food for some hours...I guess we contributed alot, when we later on split the bill...
In singapore KTV they offer pinyin for foreigners...but here in taiwan u better know your characters...
Alfonsoe was in the mood to do something...I wonder what...
After KTV we went to McDonalds...unfortunetely this McDonalds never sell beef after 2 am...so we had to order chicken of fish...
So some ppl didnt was to order anything...
Alfonso took a Mcchicken.
I had Mcfish, and Chicken Mcnuggets...
X-mas gift exchange in the lab...
Me and some classmates had gift exchange in the lab...
Most time went to how to distribute the presents...
We had this special chart...but it seemed to b to advanced for some ppl to handle...
In the end we made a lottery, and it seemed to be the easiest way out...
I got a sponge bob mug...(interesting, since I got a sponge bob jar last year..., and some friends use to call me sponge bob since they think my skinn is yellow...)
Since its only guys, and only classmates in the exchange...the gifts were more interesting...
One guy got porn movies...
Another guy, a vibrating doldo...
Ice in the urinal...
Ppl are puting ice blocks in the urinal at the lab...
Strange...and waste of energy...
but its fun to pee on them...to see them melt...
Eating 湯圓 (Glutinous rice balls) in the lab
Today we ate Glutinous rice balls in the lab...since it was the shortest day of the year...
They are stuffed with sesame or peanuts.
We needed to boil them first...
I heard that ppl eat these in Lantern festival usually...
The Financial Management teacher passed by to taste some of them...
She was popualr...many people gathered around her...
:'(
:'(
Maarten in class
Maarten joined our class today...
So exotic...
It was presentations today (of group final projects)...maybe boring for him, but I think he enjoyed the atmosphere...
Maarten is back
Maarten, my dutch friend who lived in taiwan last year is here for a short visit...
He lives in my dorm.
It is fun to have him here...
We went to our lab, and hanged out there for a while...
We later on went to the christmas party...and found out the the food was already gone :(
We stayed outside the party room, mingeling around, my roomate was considering if he wanted to join or not, since there were not food left...
The DJ club was there...to make the party feeling better...
People were complaining about that the food was gone, so they ordered 20 more pizzas...that disapeared within 2 minutes...
We went to 7-11 to buy beer after a while...and I bought some fish and nuts...again...
People were suppose to bring gifts, for gifts exchange...
These 2 characters who were dressed uped as yellow clowns were arranging the exchange session...
I brought a gift, but gave it to my roomate instead of exchanging it..
My dorm mate Zongo played for us with his band...
And after that the gift exchange started...all people who gave gifts didnt get one back...it seems like some people either took more than 1 gift or took one without giving anything :S
Some friend gave a porn movie...it was appreciated among the guy who got it...
After the party, we waited outside 7-11 for the time to pass by...
Later on we went to Deluxe 72...
The queue system there is very strange...
My classmates were discussing interesting topics within the field of business...
There were alot of people there...
Some people were dressed as santa claus...
I joined a funny dance floor activity, and some classmate took my shoes...?!?!
All my roomates were there...it was fun...
Never the less it was "all you can drink"...people got very drunk as usual...I had to help some friends home...
And then head back, picking up my bike, Deluxe is kind of far from the city center. I prefer Plur...
I went to 7-11 to buy fish and nuts...
I went to 7-11 to buy fish and nuts...for my diet...
7-11 are always open here in Taiwan...
Its convenient that they have fish and nuts in a bag...
My new mediterranean diet (2/2)
I continued my new mediterranean diet for dinner...however, it feels fake...since the word "diet" makes it feel like u have to stop eating things...however, my diet means I need to "start" eating things...
I went to Burger King after class, in real "new mediterranean diet" manner...and ordered a Whopper meal, but added a "BK FISH"...to ensure the diet...
I really need to buy red wine soon...
And olive oil...and legumes (peanuts), and other since things that I use to eat...in sweden on friday nights...(pizza is from neapels...).
Funny class (2/2)
Since some weeks ago the second year students at GMBA have to present a thesis proposal for the class...
The students presentation dates are separated depending on which advisor they have...
Today it was my advisor's students time...
He litarary said that he didnt care about this presenataion, it is just a course that he'e not involved in...as far as I know, all 5 of us who presented the topic we will d research about next semester, decided topic last week, and some just made a fake presentation to have something to present...
Ronny, the sixth guy, was already done with his thesis, and gave hope for the rest of us...he puts a good standard on what they expect from us...(or atleast what our advisor expect from us)...
The strange thing was that our advisor didnt say a shit in the feedback session...he really must think that this course is crappy...or an administrative joke...
I was more surprised about the other teacher who graded us...she was kind of inconsistent, since they never told us the requirement for a good presentation, what we should focus on...and still she graded us...
Many people presented their scope, in order to get feedback...however, each advisor has different requirements...meaning that my advisor might not care about using advanced Chi-2 analysis or thirds grade multivariable regression, but still the thesis is good, while others teachers gets goose limbs the more statistical name dropping and bullshitting you use...
Funny class (1/2)
We had research method class today...
Last time a professor threatened us byt saying that they will lock the doors after the class started...
So even 10 minutes before the class started, many people sat in class, even the professors...that was an interesting result...the professor who stated the threat is very strict, but very good...
My new mediterranean diet (1/2)
I really miss mediterranean food...like wine, cheese and oily bread...
I read an article yesterday about the food and hwo good it is to the health (compare to eating hamburgers every day, literary).
I started the day by eating lunch...I bought fish...
So healthy...
Now I just need some red wine...to complete my diet...
GMBA schedule for next semester is announced...
I talked to a professor abouttheir Chiense skill requirements to be able to graduate...
He said that he changed the requirements, by passing a course at NCTU's chinese language center...
So now it seems like the program secretary just merged "chinese classes" into the schedule, still creating alot of schedule conflicts...not solving much of the problem, since schedule conflicts was the problem we faced before...regarding that we needed time to study chinese...
Noisy Christmas music at campus...
I dont know why...but today the speakers that usually announces when it is break and when class starts, started to play Chistmans music...
As usual here in taiwan, taiwanese ppl try to embrace to western culture, but they never do it 100%, so "playing Chistmas music" might be a nice gesture in their point of view, but with that noisy and bad speaker they used, ppl started to close the windows and hopeing that it will be over...
The music continued for maybe 20 minutes...and some chinese voice introduces the music list shortly before it began...(its a pick from my lab window before a lab girl closed it)
Taipei marathon
Some students in school told me they were aboutto run Taipei Marathon...
So me and my classmate Pablo also signed up...
There were someperformance at Taipei main station when we came there...I find alot of this in Taipei...
The marathon started 07.00, but were had to be on place 06.40...
There were alot of acvtitivies going on at the starting area...
The start was near Taipei city hall, and thre were alot of stands there...
It was near Taipei 101, a landmark in Taipei...
It was super crowded near the satrt...all distances startet at the same time (marathon, half-mara and 9k, etc)
The elite runners started a little bit ahead of the rest of us...
It was a gap of some 200 meters between us and them...
I didnt practice that much for this marathon...my goal was to get a faster time than last time, which was not that good...I got 3 hour-something as time...so it was ok...
The winners were, as usual (also in sweden) africans, I dont know their time, but I guess it was around 2 hours.
At the finish we got some 7-11 food...
And some red bean thing...I will ask some taiwanese person if they want this...im not a big fan of sweet beans...
I also met another NCTU student, Oscar, who ran, and his supporter, a GMBA alumni Fernando...
I saw alot of people with interesting outfits...the Super Mario bros...
A bee, I also saw skeleton, some Taiwan beer super hero and people with traditiona clothing...
After a while I met Pablo...he was tired...
Since I already wlkted around for som ehour at the finish, I knew exactly where to go...so we picked up his food, returned time timechips and left...
On the way back, we saw people from the marathon on the street still running...
Another one...
And some other ones...
They closed the finish after 5 hours and 30 mins, so I guess they asked ppl on the field to go directl back to the finish, since they cannot finish in time...
After a quick shower, we went to Ikea...we had some problems walkingin stairs, dirctly after the marathon...
I bought as usual meat balls and mashed potatoes...(20 balls as a change...)
I also got to try a Daim-tårtbit...
We also passed by the store, where I bought some normal swedish stuff...however the milk chocolate was gone...to bad :(
BTW, thanx to everyone who supported our run!
Where do all the Harvard cases go?
We have hardvard case studdies once in a while, man course uses harvard cases (Taiwan loves USA).
Not only mine, but other peoples cases disapeared some weeks ago, so we need to copy from our friends every time we have a new study...
Soo annoying!
Dinner in Taipei (baibai Ronny-party)
Some classmate tried to arrange a farewell party for another classmate...it was very restricted...
I remembered Zhishan to be kind of boring, since i use to wait at thatMRT station for my classmate to pick me up last semester after my taipei class...
But this area seemed very nice, it had parks etc, and even a Sogo...
The restaurant beside our restaurant had nice christmas decoration...
We were 7 ppl initially...
As usual there are some bimbo tai girl who tries to sell the more expensive beer to the guests...usually I insist to have the cheapst one since it is often big difference in price...
Today the guy who invited us decided beer, and the final bill was not super low... :S
We were kind of hungry, so we ate very fast in the beginning...
More and more food came...
It was good taiwanese food...
No sweet'n sour sauce though :(
It were many strange dishes...
And also stinky tofu that was actually kind of good...
On the MRT to the main station I saw Vincent, a GMBA alumni...
He went home from work...
But he didnt get home...he joined us to a german bar, that we often go to at the taipei bus staion...
As usual they were wearing ttiroler outfit at the restarant...so exotic and sexy
On their TV they showed scandinavian TV...
It was a MC gang from stockholm on the first show...
and later on it was some icelandic competition...so interesting...
Then we ordered alot of snax...
Of different kinds...I like the cheese sticks...
And we added some ectre beer...from their pinguin bottle...
Beer withhoney flavor...it is very nice beer...so soft!
Spending an hour finding master thesis
I went to the library today, trying to benchmark some master thesis...
OMG!!....everything in chinese...and super hard to find...
even the website is in chinese when i searchedfor electonic papers...
I spent 1 hour or something just finding my departments thesis...
After finding it, i concluded that the standards are not that high...
at least not after a 2 minutes reading impression...
Lunch in Qinghua night market
I ate lunch after my morning meeting at Qinghua night market...
We went to a restaurant that my classmates been to before, but that was comparatively new...
I took a coffee in the mrning, and at this place i drank a coke...so even if i had many things on my mind,, and partly stuck in my thoughts...I speeded myself with caffein, hopeing i would reach a normal state...
I ate some pesto with noodles...it was "italy meets taiwan"-food
Its was good...
Nice burgerbar visit in Hsinchu downtown...
Me and my friend Duck went to a burgerbar today...
They had student discount...and no service charge...and free refill...can it be better?
The waitress was super cute and reminded me of my classmate Momo...
They had many different burgers...I ordered an Elvis Aaron Presley burger...
Duck ordered another burger...
Usually I ask what they recommend at the place...to make it easier to chose...(which the taiwanese ppl usualy has hard to do for som reason)...but this place had a "most frequently ordered meal" table...it was convenient...
Included in the meal was also soup...
The waiter gave us advice how to eat the burger in the best way...
MY Elvis burger had peanutbutter, bacon and banana...soo elvis presley...
The name of the bar was "table ten" since they only had 10 tables...including the one outside...
Strange emergency meeting
My Entrepreneurship class is funny, and my group in that course is strange...
They wanted a meeting after class, I was asked to email group members who did not know...about this meeting (with super short notice)...
After class, they ppl who assigment the meeting suddenly wanted to go else were and do something else...aiyo...so strange administration...I needed to cancel the invitation...but I insisted that the person who arranged it solved it (i've been working with this ppl before, and dont wanna end up in the same mess)
I dont know if it is taiwan style or just foreigner style...but some meetings are so inefficient, when people want to use 1 computer to do a "many ppl" job...
The german guy was not happy, since we didnt even have an interview date set...it feels a little uncertain...and was asked to attend an interview held in chinese, on his birthday...
And the process of carrying out the work was not super smooth either...after a while; I brought my computer and tried to finish the work before my class started...
Financial Management nights...
Many people were struggeling with their FM assignment last night...
We ordered hamburgers...since I did not have time to eat before our meeting with the group...here are 2 other groups who joined the burger meal...
Some groups are hiding in a class room in Management building I, since 1 of their group members has access to the key to that room...
My iron group was carrying out the assigment efficient as usual...
I was feeding them with M&M's, and we also shares some tequila's...
After some hours we considered ourselves done, and went to Hsinchu downtown, to thered bar...
I started of with Guiness, but stuck to pink drinks for the rest of the night...
I went back to the lab after a while...kind of hyper since I drank a rebbull shot at the bar as well...
It ended kind of late...but this is how this Financial course is treating us...
An interesting observation is the people who tried to drop the course, more or less got a guarantee from the teacher that she will let them pass...
That is kind of strange...since that can cause minimal effort from these students...and the rest of that class has to do their job :S
People with laptops have to present
The teacher in todays class acctually did something to make the classmore interesting today...
EVeryone who was sitting with their laptop, had to present one of his slides...it was fun...I felt that I could surf on internet during class with good conscience.
But people in the back were not slow with putting the laptops down, and started to surf on their cellphones instead...
This is not a common scene in our classroom...many ppl are watching the computer...
I got a cafe cup...
I changed 12 cafe stickers to a cup at family mart today...
We often have to few cups in the lab...so we can use this one here...
This one even had my name on it...so exotic!
A visit at NTHU EMBA environment
I visited NTHU's EMBA's floor TSMC building this morning...
It was exclusive...
Not sure if they are using all of the equipment and facilities though...
Lucia event at the chalmers office
I was asked to come to the chalmers office yesterday, and tried to invite people...who were currently online on internet...
It was alot of people there...
The chalmers student sang alot of X-mas songs...
I was asked to separate their audience, when the lucia "train" entered the room...
My friends Kai and Yi-Ni were there...
Aswell as Allen Chang...
Also Anders Frick, who recently came to Taiwan for a Christmas visit passed by...it was fun.
Glögg, pepparkakor and lussekatter were served...totally awesome!
Santa himself was barefeet...its how we like him...
A visit at BK
Yesterday I did neither eat breakfast nor lunch...
I ordered double meal at Burger King...it was good. they have free refill on drinks...
And they also had some new spicy burger, that I tried...last time it was to hot...today it tasted like Mosburgers hamburger, but 2.5 times larger in size...(almost same price, but free refill and chicken included)
A visit at my advisor...
Yesterday, me and some classmates paid a visit to my advisor...(our advisor)...
We have problems with picking our topic...
Since we have a class next week where we need to present a topic, i guess I will just make something up...
Its a pity that the advisors in the GMBA program havnt syncronized their deadlines...
WiMAX speaker in globalization seminair
The professor of our globalization seminar, is writing a master thesis togetter with a classmate...
I have not picked a thesis topic yet, but I wish my advisor could serve a speaker for me.
It would be an advantage.
Beer that's encouraging "study for fun"
I had a beer after class today...
It is kind of in line with my life now..."study for fun"...
And the big 7-11 beer has been sold out for some days now, and the japanese beer is to bitter...so this suited me fine...
New 7-11 gift try out
I had a speaker from 7-11 and really didnt want a new one...I wanted ear phones...and spent 10 minutes measuring the weight of the packages at 7-11 at campus...
I picked the most heavy one...but NOOOO!, I got the same speaker...Mr "open"...
Its ok...i will give it to a friend whos speaker broke some month ago...
I fixed my bike this morning...
Today I fixed my bike...
it was ok...
Didnt take so long time...
Felt like back in sweden...
Flat tire on my bike
This morning my bike was a mess...
Not only was my chain jamed, my back wheel was flat aswell...
Lucky me, that I got so much extra equipment, to fix it...
Even though I feel kind of handicapped.
Unique Receipt lottery outcome
OMG!, its unique...
First time ever in my,...eh...many years long life...I didnt win at all in the receipt lottery...
Its so rare that it feels like a victory...
I celebrated by not picking up the receipt after I checked them...I solely left them on the floor as a mess, since I've moving back and forth trying to finish my financial management assigment...
And I also drank some liters of milk, that I bought at costco...mixed with bailey's...
A day in the lab...
I spent almost all my day in teh lab today...
Except for a short visit at Costco, where we bought pizza etc...
My classmate checked her eyes, abd bought contacts...I was also about to buy (the ones with cat eyes, a smile or a cross on)...
Else I bought M&M´s and milk...(since my old M&M´s is finished)
We also bought 4 pizzas...I accidentally bought 2...but it is ok...now I have pizza for 2-3 days...
GMBA alumni event
I joined a GMBA alumni event...we plyed paintball, barBQed and had fun...
It started 13, I think I came 13.30...and people kept dropping in...
People were introducing themselves...starting from the first graduate year and so on...
We went to Neiwan, it is near Hsinchu, but still in the country side...
We got som "militairy look alike" clothes...
And we also had some information session about safety rules...
After the paintball we BarBQed...
It was fun...and it is always nice to barBQ even if taiwanese meat always are slized super thin...
I also got to see my old infroantaion managemetn teachers wedding inviataion...so exotic...he is running for beeing the next vice presidant of Taiwan...
They also ahd a couple of parrots...
Ofccourse the GMBA program started to argue bout the expenses and changed the regulation during the night...
and the administration to collect money was not 100% water proof either...
We had alot of fun in the bus both on theway to and on the way back from the event...
The even ended around 20, so the foreingers went for a after party...at 7-11, but it was so windy, so we ended up at Tarry´s place, he lives near the north gate...
I got alot of 7-11 stickers from Terry...
he is nice...and he also has a super big dog...that is exotic...
He also collects money in a bottle...here is Ramoro, who checkes the weight of all the cash...
After this we went to PLUR...they have reopened at another location...
They had alot of entertainment as usual. but not in class with the one in Taipei...
Jacques got a girl...so strategic...
Late in the night after PLUR...we gathered at the GMBA lab to watch "El Clasico" between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid...it was fun...
More pics will be uploaded later
Armin van buuren
Yesterday I went to Armin van Buuren...he is a top 10 DJ on Mag top 100 DJ chart...
He played im Taipei.
As usual there were alot of people buying beers in a near by convenient store...outside the arena...
We were suppose to go with some indian guys to tpe, but they were late, so we met them up at the place in Taipei where Armin played...
Alot of people waited outside, if you lefter the building before 00.30, you cant leave.
Armin used a display and had a light show, just like Tiesto...
And there were designed music videos to the trance songs that Burren played...
Some looked like screen savers...
I found a guy who looked just like my classmates Stephen...it was fun, he looked a litle bit younger though, so it felt like i travelled back in time...with stephen...
We met people from Hsinchu at the place as well...Stephen danced with some of them...I guess he was alittle drunk...
They usually have a screen at the entrance of bug partiesin Taiwan, where people can take pictures...
Buuren played for almost 4 hours...I think...
And Stephen found a girl to dance with...
Its very common that gymmers take of their shirts here in taiwan during big parties...
This gy also exercised his ass...so exotic...
Then, later on we took the taxi back to Hsinchu...
Then site where Buuren played was very isolated from MRT connections, I never understand why they always put these concerts in the middle of nowhere...
However, the concert was awesome...just like tiesto...and other euorpean DJ´s who does not only provide music, but a whole party night experience...
Mongolian/Russian restaurant
Yesterday I went to a recently opened restaurant...
It had a mongolian name, but was more russian style, not far from school...
I went there with some classmates...and it was all-you.can-eat!
It was free refill of soft drinks...
And the same great russian ice cream that I also tried in Taipei at another classmates birthday...
They had many kinds of ice cream and desserts...it was great!
New fresh menu, but not in english
NCTU, this international school...just had a dumpling place that has a new menu...
And since everyone in Taiwan understands chinese characters, it is enough to have it in only chinese...
So embarrasing...I spent 5 mins, just to figure out, what it said...
I feel sorry for the other foreigners who doesnt understand chinese, either...
Leakage in the lab...
It is raining outside...
And as usual the lab is leaking...
I talked to the program secretary to do something about it...I wonder if anything will happen...
"Please be aware of the puddles" it should say, because it is easy to step at the wrong place...
AC waste in the lab...
We have free AC in our lab...however, there is a remote to turn it on and off...and some ppl just dont care to turn it off, when they leave the lab...
Some times the remote disapears, and even if I asked the GMBA to get a box to put the remote in, so people can find it...nothing is done about it...
The lamp on the ceiling is red...meaning the AC is on...
Dinner with exchange students.
Last night I had dinner with exchanges students.
It was an all-you-can-eat. IT was nice...almost like the japanese BarBQ in Hsinchu downtown (this was in Jhubei).
I was about to go for a movie at 20 in NCTU, but got a strange phone call that inspired me to stay for a while with the students...
We ate fish...the whole fish including head...
It was also normal BBQ things like meat and vegetables...
As usual they have ice cream at the restaurant...in this case they had Häagen-Dazs ice cream...
It was awesome...
A visit to the pool
YEsterday lunch I payed a quick visit to the NCTU pool.
It is smaller than NTHU´s, but it also has a spa...
The pool is 25 meters...
The spa contains od a warmer pool with some massage, high pressure water streams...
And sauna...
As usual here in taiwan, you need to have swim cap...and stupidly enough, everyone needs to wear speedos...(tight wear)...which no one knows why, not even the decision makers...
Another strange thing is that the steam sauna is separating genders...while the dry sauna is mixed...I guess no one knows why here either...
I got free tickets, so it was nice to relax for a short while inbetween the classes.
Dinner at Friday´s
I had a dinner at friday´s lst night with some classmates...
They had some interesting rules at the entrance...
I had the same thing I had last time I was there...burger and mud slide...
We went for some beers afterwards...
It was my classmates Birthday, he was super wasted...so exotic...
However, I knew I had to go back and printmy FM report...so I tried to not make it a to late night...
Sports day
There was a sportsday yesterday...
As usual all the clubs were there...moreor less, as usual I didnt see the moutina climbing club...it was annoying...especially since I know they recently made a trip to a 3000 meter high moutain. And that I specificly asked them to inform me when they do these trips...
There were alot of tents at the running court where the sportsday took place. The reason why the school call it sportsday is becasue they have sports for under graduate students...
Most studentsare free that day, but some graduate students have class, due to their teachers policy...
Saamet and Vlad were serving food for the chalmes office...
I had a köttbullemacka and a semla...I also picked the new issue of asia magazine.
The DJ club was represented as usual...
I also passed by the swimming club...(I took a pictrue with the president)
They had chocolate fondue...and fruit. it was nice...
Meeting in the lab
It is a sports day for most students at NCTU today. So we had gourp meetings more or less the whole day...
Starting in the morning, with presentation preparations, and later on fixing program stuff, and finally Financial Management.
Energy waste...
I often see energy waste here in Taiwan...
People turning on the AC, and still let the door be open...meaning the cold air is leaking out...(as if that is a better solution to get it warmer, than turning of the AC)
Or in this case...a window open to let the air out...
Still struggling with brochure and financial management
Here I am, in the lab, still struggling with brochure and this weeks financial management assigment...
Ofcourse we also have an E-commerce presentation to finish...
And seminar report...
I´ll take a shot to ease up my miseries...
OMG, I cannot believe it...
OMG, I cannot believe it...
So inconsitent, so childish? i could never believe...what is the message? to cheap?
We will c what happens now...
I got a new phone...
My father got a new phone this summer, and I asked if I could borrow his old one...
It took me 4 month before I got an approval...
I went to the ICS to pick up my package...
All the envelops from sweden looks the same when I get some things...
It was the whole set of Sony Ericson Experia X (old version)...just like I want...good enought for me...cheap enough to not be afraid of break...
I can now have my old phone signal "gigi d´agostino´s l´amout toujours" as my phone signal...my favourite song...
Questioning Taiwanese rules is impossible
U cannot use other swim wear than speedos at the NCTU swimming pool. I asked the ISC andadministration "why", and now, 1 month later, when they promised me to deliver an answer, they just gave me a printed paper, showing the rules...
so pathetic...I ask "why cannot u use other swim wear than speedos" and their answer is a paper of ruels stating "nothing else than speedos". Taiwanes organisations can truly not handle people asking "why" not even on a professional level...
Every one follows stupid rules, but no one knows why... :S
Elias Ek from Sweden visited our class today
I invited Elias Ek, who is a swedish entrepreneur from sweden. Brother to "Grynet". Who is very entertaining to listen to...he also have alot of marketing awards and is vote to be the most successful international entrepreneur in Taiwan.
I think most europeans are more skilled in talking infront of people...using a more rhetoric approach when conducting their presentations...
A meeting on monday morning
Not was only my whole weekend full of meetings...
Even monday morning started with a meeting...
It was interesting...alot of free riders in their group so I kind of filled out their blanks...
I had similar meetings later on...but without free riders...
Some people thinks that a schedule without classes is a schedule full of breaks...well, since there are project meetings filling out the blanks...im busy more or less allthe time :S
Swedish song at Mcdonalds
I went to Mcdonalds 2 days ago...
And there was this background music that they usually have...
At first I could not tell, but it really sounded familiiar (the language), even if i never heard the song before. However after looking for the speaker, that I found in the cieling. I recognized some words and could conclude that it was a swedish song played as backgroun music at McDonalds in Hsinchu (sounding like Monica Zetterlund, no wonder I never heard it before)
A visit from the Risk lab...
Me and my classmates use to pay a visit at the Risk lab, that is almost wall to wall from our GMBA lab...
But some night ago, we had the honor to get a visit from them...
We treated them Bailey´s and they gave us some taiwanese cake...
So interesting...
from right: Dada, dede, Jessie and Pablo
A visit at the hell temple...
I did a visit to the hell temple today, it was my retailing class that had a group project that was dealing with this place...
It was mostly first year GMBA students who showed up...
They were burning alot of smoke sticks...
There is a food court side to side with the temple...and the customers there have to deal with this smoke...
It was Dayi, a guy from GMBA who receommended a noodle place...
The place seemed to be popular...since the staff worked very hard, and still it took a long time for the food to arrive...
Firts we got some meat soup andsoy cream...
Then we got noodles in some peanut sauce...however the plates were over full so there were soup all over the table...
It was nice to find a new local place in Hsinchu downtown...it useto taste much better here than in campus...
Now i need to fix brochures...
Swimming competition at NTHU
I was suppose to participate in a swimming competition at NTHU today...but since my skills are not good, and my friends decided to skip it, and I didnt hand in the right document in time...I didnt participate.
It was warmer today than yesterday...but I brought alot of clothes...
My El salvadorian friend Enrique texted me and asked me to drop by...it was nice, we havnt seen each other outside the night clubs for years...he did one year exchange in Belguim last year and has also been to Sweden...
He joined the competitions...
I dont know how he did, but he was one of the fastest when he competed...
We decided to meet later on this week...I told him about my schedule...hopefully he will join up to tpe next weekend...
Architecture buildings tower watch is broken...
We have a tower at NCTU...
Many ppl claim that it is on the administration building, but since there is no activity of "administration" in that building I claim that it is the achitecture building...(even organisations in NCTU claims that it is the administration building), the basement in that building is for the achitect program...and so is the rest of the building...
Anyway...it is very convenient to see the time everytime I enter campus from the north...buttoday I concluded that it was broken...I hope they will fix it soon...
Charity run in Jhubei
Today I ran in Jhubei...it was a charity run that a football team arranged...
It started 14...
I was the map reader to find the location...
However, pablo didnt have a fast bike, so we came a little late...
It was a little cold...and windy...but it was ok...
I planned to run for 10-12 hours...but my friends said something about 2-4 hours...
After 2 hours they quit, so I joined them...
We might get a chairity run T-shirt...it might b interesting...
Later on we went to a burger bar...it was nice...but hard to eat somethimes directly after running...
Photo shoot in the lab...
Instead of cleaning the lab, as scholarship holders suppose to do (even if barely anyone is doing it...), me and my classmate were asked to fix brochure for the GMBA program...
We needed tai-people and foreigners...well dressed up...but people often say "yes" but forget to bring the outfitt...
We had a good camera...and a first year student also brought his camera later...so we had very professional equipment...
We drank tequila later to celebrate that we took picture...(or whatever reason)...
Later on that night I sat with photoshop, editing the pics and writing brochures...
Snoop Dogg at luxy!
I went to luxy last night...
As usual there were many people outside 7-11...
It was ok...even if the tickets were a little expensive...2500NT...(I guess in this RnB and Hiphop loving country, they made quite a profit)
It was me and a big bunch of exchange students who came from NCTU...
I came to tpe about 22.40 (the others pre partied at the Beer facotry), and I entered Luxy at 23.00...
It was super crowded and super hot in there...people were sweating alot just by standing up and wait...
And some guy were telling people that Snoop will enter they stage soon...I assumed he would come late...since thye said to ppl that if they left luxy, they couldnt enter until 1 am...but as usualy they were very inconsistent about that...
Snoop didnt enter the stage until 01.30 and sang for 1 hour...but he was entertaining...
Dr Dre enter the stage fr a while and sang 1 or 2 songs...
Many taiwanese people were recoding the whole performance on their cellphone blocking the view of the people behind...so annoying...
He played Guettas remix of "Wet", and also sexual seduction (but I couldnt hear Robyns voice)...
Then, when he left the stage...everyone wanted to go out...it was super crowded...I was happy there were no fire accidents...like in Taizhong some years ago...
Then we took a taxi home...a 6 seated cab...we came home about 4...it was good, I expected to b home at 7, which was tricky since I had class at 9...
A trip to costco
I ate lunch at Costco some days ago...
They sell sundae there...it is ok...but expensive compare to their other products...
It was nice...I love Hawaii pizza!
Night market at campus...
There was a nightmarket in Campus this week...
It was exotic...
I bought some sour plum juice, andwanted to mix it with lemon, but the seller refused...so I had to say "STOP!" when she scoped it up, and then ask her to change flavour...
They also offered wunder baums...so exotic...
Tired in the class...
My classmate was very tired yesterday in class...
It is stressy times nowadays...
Free Pizza at FA...
The Financial Accouting class offered free pizza...
It was nice...
They also offered chicken...
