ok, i kinda recieved complaints that my blog is hardly updated, so i shall now present to you my journey through europe 
27/6/07, Day 0 - Departure
the day started out cool; i went swimming with my mom, had some lunch, then i went home and lugged my stuff out. passed the mace to cloud, my hero (haha), at punggol, then travelled back to sengkang to teach NCWO. did a bit of work on some piece (i don’t remember which), then auditioned a few people for the concert master/mistress post together with mr png. went off after a short discussion to the airport in my dad’s car, met the rest of the NUSWS people! checking in was rather ok, but dear and i went in early after a meal while the rest were still outside. met up with the rest and took a group photo before boarding the flight to bangkok. transit was 3 hours and we slacked around, played UNO and stuff. boarded the disgustingly long flight to milan and there goes 13 hours -_-
28/6/07, Day 1 - Milan!
after 2 movies, many rounds of Metal Slug 2, cloud watching and finally finding out 100 over unsuccessful ways to sleep, we finally arrived at milan! got off the plane onto a bus, went into the airport. love the weather! checked out, waited for the whole group, went to get our luggage. which took gazillion years to come out through the belt. after we claimed our luggage and then our flight cases, we went out to the bus waiting for us and off we went to Besana in Brianza! and after trying more unsuccessful ways to sleep on the bus, we arrived a few hours later, to the Besana town square, where we were welcomed and ushered into a sheltered area. the reception was cool! we had drinks (sparkling water… erm…) and snacks, while waiting for our host families to claim us. cloud and i got a host who stayed really near the town square, and it’s so convenient! after the band dispersed to their respective homes, cloud and i followed our host, lauretta, to her place nearby and settled in in her kids’ room. soon was lunch and then we went to Courtenuova to look for dear and xinhui. we walked around Courtenuova! and we had the world’s best gelato! life’s great met lauretta’s family: alfio (her husband), tomasso and lisa (her kids). the kids are so cute!!! had dinner together. tomasso wanted to hear us on our clarinets cos he’s crazy about clarinets so we played a little for him. after dinner, nothing much worth mentioning. haha.
29/7/07 Day 2 - Rehearsal, Lecco and Opening Concert!
our first and only rehearsal in Italy! we rehearsed in a small hall in the morning, and it was really quite an inefficient rehearsal with logistic problems, missing double bass, tired people and interrupting people. went to Lecco after that with the tour bus and had fun walking around the place! quite a nice lake and the small town surrounding the lake was pretty cool too. did a little window shopping, and bought mineral water for 13 cents euro! that’s about 27 cents SGD! CHEAP. lost our way, went back to the bus slightly late! haha. then we went back to our hosts for dinner, and then went to Besana square to watch the opening concert. concert was ok, didn’t really like it too much, a few of us went to the park near lauretta’s place to chill out. very nice place! and dear and i talked a lot. romantic! after dear’s host took her and xinhui back, cloud and i went to recce the marching route for the marching segment in Besana Square and we took the timing. 10 mins! we had 7 mins worth of marches only. so we decided to repeat stuff.
30/7/07, Day 3 - Ceremony, Medolago Marching segment and Concert!
went to the big garden for the opening ceremony for the festival, but only the committee members were allowed in, so we hung around. took photos INSIDE a huge tree (haha) and then walked around the cool garden. lunch was a buffet reception in the garden, and we had much fun going for 2nd rounds, trying strange cheeses. during the free time, dear xinhui and i went back to lauretta’s place for a power nap while cloud went for a rehearsal. after that we went to Besana Square, where we were transported to Medolago for dinner, marching and concert! FIRST CONCERT! marching was pretty alright, we ‘paraded’ through the small town. played national anthem and then was dismissed for concert. i enjoyed my first drum majoring job after 9 years! there was some misunderstanding regarding logistics and we eventually went up the stage in an unglam manner. haha. BUT! the concert that night was superb, and the crowd loved us! we recieved our very first standing ovations ever! and we were really touched. thoroughly enjoyed our performance! my solos for merry widow and postcards from singapore went ok, and i’m quite relieved, cos i was so worried that my reed would die. we went for a reception after that and the Medolago band presented us with some pretty tokens of appreciation fantastic night! surprised dear with a ring on the bus journey back; our 23 months
1/7/07 Day 4 - Besana performances!!
arguably the happiest day of our lives! we slept in late for once, and then went to Besana Square to prepare for our marching segment. so excited! we could be on national television! prepared myself mentally for my biggest drum majoring job yet; all went pretty ok, except that things were a little different from our expectations. we coped with it pretty well; my only regret was that i didn’t throw or do stunts with the mace! marching was pretty successful given that we ain’t a marching band played national anthem and hymn of all nations, which sounded super cool (so good i had goosebumps listening to it). everything was successful! job done dinner back with lauretta and her family, then back to Besana Square for our biggest performance! warmed up under not so ideal conditions, went on stage unglamly as usual, but once we started, we played our hearts out, and it was arguably the best performance of our lives! we put our heart and soul into the music, and the audience appreciated! Mr Tan worked his magic with us and the crowd, and we soon mesmerised the crowd into 3 standing ovations; 1 for Merry Widow, 1 for Bahn Frei and 1 for Music of the Beatles! it was great; i wouldn’t trade anything for the experience i had performing in that concert! the Besana’s local maestro came up to conduct us Radetsky March after being sabo-ed by the emcee, and we did well (we were well-trained :D) went back to lauretta’s place feeling great
2/7/07 Day 5 - Milan Tour, Mosquito Feeding, Bad pasta and Aglio Olio
cool day! we toured Milan, going to the local university where one of our tour guides studied, heard a live pipe organ and walked the place. went to the Duomo Cathedral and the big shopping place where one of our members bought 900 euros worth of Prada; cloud, xinhui, dear and i hung around with Mr Leonard Tan and we had some pasta at a cafe (the pasta was horrible). talked a lot about music and the music scene, and i talked of my intentions to pursue a career in band conducting. Mr Tan is very supportive but he also warned me against the bad parts of the job. he’s a great man! entertaining too had another meal in a bar, tried the Aglio Olio (which was also rather bad), Mr Tan treated the 4 of us! i paid 50 cents euro eventually. haha. that evening we went to Navigli, a nightlife area. nothing much was open cos it’s a monday night (dunno the logic) and we eventually settled down somewhere cheap (1 drink and free flow food for 5 euros!!). the place was nice except for the many ‘zanzarra’s (mosquitoes) excited at sucking asian blood. we’re probably exotic food to them. didn’t do much, talked a lot, drank a little non-alcoholic stuff and went back early cos the place was pretty boring after a while.
3/7/07 Day 6 - Tour, last concert, Conducting Experience!
we went to the Science and Technology Museum for a tour and we saw the works of Da Vinci. he’s a genius! took loads of pictures of his inventions and his ideas. rather eventful but difficult to put in words. Mr Tan asked me if i was willing to conduct the band for a piece the day before, and i was thinking about it. i agreed and took Amparito Rocca, which i already conducted for the Sultan of Johor performance. wanted Mr Tan to give me critical comments on my conducting and how i can improve. eventually conducted the piece and had good reviews; Mr Tan said i had technical issues (way of holding baton, technique), but he said i had stuff. that gave me quite a boost; technical issues can be corrected, but musicality can’t! the piece went on quite ok except for 1 scary part where we almost fell apart near the beginning of the piece. Mr Tan blamed it on the strange acoustics! fun experience, one that i’ll never trade for anything else too as usual, Bahn Frei was the piece the crowd liked most. lauretta was there with her family! and they loved us
4/7/07 Day 7 - Visit to Mr Tan’s hotel, Band of Festival concert
highlight of the day was visiting Mr Tan at his hotel and chatting with
him while enjoying the world’s best gelato from Courtenuova of
course! the usual suspects: cloud and i, dear and xinhui, went to Mr Tan’s hotel Fantello to look for him. cloud and i got quite lost and we were just praying we were in the right direction, cos we were walking downslope all the way! if we walked the wrong way, we’d have to go back up (argh). got to the ‘creepy’ hotel and crammed into Mr Tan’s small room where we had a good chat. learnt so much about the music scene! and Mr Tan gave me more reviews on my conducting and expressed his wish to help me out if i needed it. i asked if i could borrow his books and dvds and he graciously agreed that night was the Band of the Festival concert, where a few members from each band will get together and form a huge combined band, conducted by the local maestro, Armando Salderini. the concert was pretty alright, some great bits from Tin Tin and Soul Bossanova. chatted in the park after that with dear
5/7/07 Day 8 - Lake Como, Military Band Show
we went to Lake Como with the tour bus and took a ferry to a small town called Bellagio. it was a really nice ride and the sights were really breathtaking! the packed lunch wasn’t to my liking, so as usual i went to look for Mr Tan to search for nice hot food. we had a 3 course meal that filled us to the brim and left us rather satisfied (we paid 15 euros!). finally some good pasta! the salmon they served on the boat was rather dry though. had trouble with it! when the ferry finally arrived at Bellagio, we explored the place on foot, looking at the small shops and taking in the sights. cool place! dear and i had some quiet and romantic time together when we went back, we had dinner with lauretta and then went out for the military band show. the military bands were great! and one group was very unexpectedly impressive. my last night in Besana; i’m rather sad to leave the place! cos somehow lauretta, alfio, tomasso and lisa have edged their way deep into my heart. i miss them so much now! such a warm family, and they made us feel so much at home :~)
6/7/07 Day 9 - Venice!!
the day for us to leave Besana came, and we reluctantly went on board the bus to Venice. i missed the family already! long bus ride to Venice, and we spent the whole day there. great sights, great tourist attraction! lunch was with Mr Tan and the usual suspects. 5 of us explored around together, and it was quite fun! saw a huge mask shop where i saw the mask used in Phantom of the Opera!! so excited! but it was 34 euros so i took a long time to decide whether to buy it. bought a few gifts for my friends, bought pasta for my students! sorry, i wished i had more money to get you guys better stuff! the usual suspects decided to get a Gondola ride, and so we scouted for a cheap (well, they were all expensive) one near the Saint Marco’s Cathedral. found one affordable one, 20 euros each, and we got on! the Gondolier took us to the inner canals in the city and it was really a worthwhile experience. Venice from the inner canals is just totally different! the Gondolier was extremely skillful; he claims he’s been at it for 30 years! took photos and stuff. eventually we went back to the area where our bus was, and it was time to bade goodbye to the rest of the band. start of our journey! my journey with dear and the hai sing group. we bade goodbye after a few photos and we were on our own! got to our hostel where we had instant noodles for dinner. we were split up into 3 different apartments! erina and xinhui had the biggest room near the reception desk, daniel and cedric had a big room a block away, and dear and i had a small ‘prison cell’ far from the rest! so sad. and they had double and individual beds while we had bunk beds. well the stay was ok, and the first night was ok
7/7/07 Day 10 - More of Venice!
we went down after breakfast to the supermarket near our hostel to buy things to cook for dinner. picked stuff and ended up with a total expenditure of 69 cents euro per person! that’s our cheapest meal ever lah! packed the food back in the hostel and we travelled to Venice again (our hostel is in Mestre, a town off Venice). visited the Rialto Bridge and Market, bought fresh blueberries, shopped! the whole day was in Venice. hot day! the weather was terrible in the afternoon. i hunted for the Phantom Mask and i finally bought it! took another Gondola ride for the benefit of the rest of the hai sing group; still very enjoyable! very tiring day lah. cos it was so hot. dinner was settled in our kitchen; daniel, xinhui and i cooked, dear and erina did the laundry while cedric did the dishes. the spaghetti was pretty ok, quite nice for a first try! we were happy eating it, cos we saved so much! went to bed rather early cos i was quite boat-sick. was ‘floating’ man.
8/7/07 Day 11 - Getting lost in Mestre, Stoning, Munich and the Shock of my life!
we got up rather late, had our last breakfast, and checked out. put our luggage in the reception storage area and we set out to Mestre town! unfortunately, everything wasn’t open because it’s a sunday, and we really roamed about aimlessly. even our favourite supermarket wasn’t open! so we decided to get to the airport early to seek entertainment and food. the journey to the airport was rather tough; we had to find our bus stop and wait for a bus which comes once an hour. reached Marco Polo Airport early, but other than the eatery, it was really boring! ate a lot to keep myself busy, played PSP, wrote a postcard, sent it to samantha. finally got to our turn, checked in, walked into a closed check in area, and stoned at another eatery. boarded the plane for Munich! the scariest flight i ever had man; when we ascended the engine boomed loudly and at a point the engine sound suddenly stopped and there was a little descent. my heart missed a few beats man! got to Munich, got to our cool hostel through the S-bahn. our hostel room was really cool! it’s for 6 people and has its own bathroom i got the shock of my life there; i was trying to fit in a travel adapter into the power socket (without taking good precaution) and i nearly died when i pushed it into the socket with my left hand. the only thing i remember was that a HUGE electrical current went through my body and i was jerked violently backwards by the shock. my hand went numb, and after a while, it was hurting like crazy, and i was still pretty traumatised by the incident. i successfully wiped out the power from our room! argh. looking at my hand now, i can still see the burn marks 
i thank god that i’m alive man. luckily i was wearing my rubber soled slippers! i traumatised dear too, she was so worried. oops.
9/7/07 Day 12 - Wonderful Munich!
free and easy tour of Munich with daniel and xin hui as our guides. shopped! H&M is everywhere man! walked around, explored some sights, went to a few places. Munich is cold! stark contrast to Venice. cool day, simple and nice. uneventful though, can’t remember much now. except exploring a 100+ room palace museum for many hours. haha.
10/7/07 Day 13 - Munich Free Tours!
went on the free tour thingy offered by Free Europe Tours. it was really great! the tour guides are so well-trained. we got an interesting guy at first, joined by a hyper girl called sandra, who brought our group around. they’re really good! and they know their stuff. they work by tipping systems so we eventually tipped them a sum. anyway, the most interesting stories i heard was of Hitler and the Nazis, the Hofbrauhaus beer hall and the church the devil helped to build. apparently there’s this church in Munich, when you go in through the front door and stand before the inner gates before the benches, you will not see any windows. legend has it that the devil came to this church through the front door, saw no windows, and decided to offer a deal to the architect. he helped to build it on the condition that the architect cannot add windows. the architect agreed and upon completion, the devil came back through the side door and got a great shock. he saw many windows! furious, he demanded the architect gave him an explanation. the architect told the devil that he really didn’t add the windows, it’s just that the devil didn’t see them when he first came! so the devil retraced his steps to the front door and true enough, he couldn’t see any windows; they were blocked by the columns! he was so angry that he stomped his foot on the ground and left a smoke of sulphur. the footprint is still there today! cool. he’s about size 12 
cool story!
11/7/07 Day 14 - Dachau and Berlin
we checked out and decided to take another free tour to the Dachau former concentration camp site, and boy we never regretted! the tour guide was really good; he gave us accounts of real people trying to survive in the concentration camp and also gave reports on the living conditions there. very disturbing; people were sent there to be slowly tortured and worked to death! and they were sent there because of who they are, not what they have done wrong. we were glad we followed the free tour; by ourselves the camp wouldn’t have much meaning. gloomy moods, cruelty of mankind, stories of hopes dashed etc. it was an amazing experience. got me so interested in the history of World War 1 and 2! after Dachau, we went back to our hostel and claimed our luggage from the lockers. went to the airport, where we wasted less time and flew to Berlin. this time the flight seemed safer! Berlin was rather cold and we checked in to a really great hotel with a really hospitable man manning the operations. had the most interesting instant noodles ever! cooked on a plate with only hot water. haha. tasted interesting! we had triple rooms so the guys and girls split evenly and we really rested well
12/7/07 Day 15 - Short Berlin and Stockholm horror!
we went out early to tour the place. got to this really nice building (think it’s a parliament building, don’t really remember) where we got up to the rooftop artistic structure and saw almost the entire city from there. walked around and joined the free tour organised by the same tour group. checked out the Berlin Wall and other interesting stuff like the bombed church and the chocolate sculptures of buildings in Berlin. saw the Holocaust memorial and learnt more about Hitler. a short day; we left for Stockholm reluctantly. the flight to Stockholm was on SAS Lufthansa, and the plane had its propellers on the outside. looked pretty scary. someone commented that if we hit brainless birds we’d crash. the plane is really small! reached Arlanda Airport (really cool place) late at night, and took the Arlanda Express down to Stockholm city! really really fast man, that train. then we were given the wrong directions to our hostel and we walked a huge round with our luggage! so irritated. then when we finally found our hostel, we realised the room we were given was extremely small. and ventilation was virtually missing. we had to sleep with the door open lah. that night daniel, dear and i walked around the area and found a 7-11 (very expensive…). didn’t buy anything, went back early. saw the other extension group back at the hostel! talked and stuff, went to sleep early. i didn’t catch much sleep, because i happened to wake up after everyone has slept and i realised our room door was ajar. i was worried someone might just come in so i stayed up to guard the door. sharks. i was so tired the next morning.
13/7/07 Day 16 - Gamla Stan, Djurgarden and Soldermalm!
we took a walk to the old town, Gamla Stan, where we did our major sight-seeing and shopping! very cool place with great architecture, had lunch at a really cool restaurant under candlelight (in the afternoon; strange). we had swedish meatballs! they were really good! we just kinda roamed about freely that afternoon. bought loads of stuff and walked around a lot. ate slightly cheaper stuff that evening and then we went back to our hostel to put our stuff. walked to Djurgarden to explore and to cycle! we rented bikes from a shop there (very expensive leh) and we cycled around. saw a few attractions and an amusement park! after we returned our bikes, dear and i split from the group to have some 2-people-world time for ourselves. we went over to Soldermalm and explored it a little. sat down at a bench facing Gamla Stan. everything was just beautiful! and so romantic. haha. we went back earlier than the rest of the group and rested, vowing to finish our shopping early the next day.
14/7/07 Day 17 - Last day in Stockholm!
dear and i went out early as promised after a disappointing breakfast buffet. we did our final shopping, went to H&M again, and went to the Zara sale! nothing caught our fancy; when it did, they didn’t have our sizes. sharks. went back to check out with the rest from the hostel, and we travelled together to the airport! time to leave Stockholm and head home! but we were so reluctant to leave the beautiful architecture behind and get onto that disgustingly long flight home eventually we did, and we found some new ways to fall asleep. haha. perhaps we were really very tired!
15/7/07 Day 18 - Home Sweet Home! HOT!!!
after some 15 hours of flying and 2 hours of transit, we were finally home! the journey was rather torturous. ran into much turbulence somehow. i couldn’t walk straight when i got off the plane! my parents mistook the timing of my flight and unfortunately they were at home when i called them at Changi Airport. sharks. went to duty-free, bought some stuff, bought some beer to appease dear’s dad! there was a huge misunderstanding the day before, and i just wanted to clear things up and regain their trust. went out after getting our luggage and finally! we’re out. saw a few people from the non-extending group! and we had a meal with dear’s parents! i had fish porridge! missed the food so much. got home in dad’s car, and had a really powerful nap. that night we went to watch Mus’Art’s concert! they sounded great! and it felt special because i wasn’t playing with them, but watching them instead. a few other NUSWS people went too. then after the concert, i sent sweetie back to eunos where her dad fetched her home. i went home on train. and from then the jet-lag insomnia started… :S
woah, ok, that was the trip! rather summarised. yes, i really enjoyed the trip, and i really didn’t mind missing commencement for this!! best experience of my life man!! wanna know more? come ask me! haha. now to cure my current insomnia…
