Romme Alphine

Woke up early to catch the 6.30 am bus from City Terminalen to Romme Alphine, a place for skiing and snowboarding. The bus ride was 3 hours long. I decided to try out snow-boarding because I thought I had skiied before and should try out snow boarding this time. On the ski-slope, I started feeling a little apprehensive. We just kept going higher and higher. The ski slopes I went to in Korea are nothing compared to this! This was like 5 times the height and I heard that skiing in Sweden is nothing great and nothing compared to the Alps. Siao lah... For a non-experienced skiier and snow-boarder, these slopes are already too much to conquer. Who needs the Alps...


Upon arrival


Went to rent a snowboard for 270 kronors




Feeling all cool and funky posing with the snowboard. Imagine myself to be cool and stylo when snowboarding... haha... I thought wrong... Did not know what was in store for me YET!!


Dom and I posing with our snowboards

Once I put on the snowboard, I know its going to be harder than I thought. I don't feel very comfortable and have problems balancing and moving around. Still, off i go on the ski lift.
The trip on the ski lift seems forever, and we just keep going higher and higher. The slopes are longer than I expected when I was looking upwards from the bottom. We look out above everything and try to assess which slope looks the easiest.

Check this out... This is where you get off the ski lift and start your skiing/snowboarding. This is also the place where I first fell. Yeah, I fell once I got off the lift, Jenley fell on top of me and the guy had to stop the lift so that we could get up and away. Right... Great start...


Some scenery from the top.


A photo of me after I have just fell. Notice that I am all smiles... Haha... this was only at the beginning. Along the way down the slopes, I fall countless number of times. At first, everytime I fall, I would get right back up and laugh it off. But after a few times, instead of laughing it off, my laugh is like a half-cry, cos I was so damn tired and hurting all over the place. I scraped by butt and back tons of times, and whacked my knees over and over again. You fall so hard and so often that you're dreading the next fall even before it happens. I think it kind of hinders the learning process. Another super irritating thing is how we keep snow boarding into the sides of the slope and almost fall off track. That's cos the slope itself is not usually level from right to left and being the amateur I am, I cannot control where I am going half the time and am in perpetual danger of falling off the slope itself and into the woods. I think to myself "why is snowboarding so hard compared to skiing? I should have just skiied and saved myself all this pain. I probably could have done the slopes 8 times or something. Sucker for punishment. How come it looks so cool when others are doing it. This is not how it's supposed to be!" Sigh... I think it gets harder and harder to learn something new as you grow older.

Luckily, somewhere halfway down the slope, I begin to catch on a little, and have moments of actual snow boarding. Sometimes, you don't fall for a long stretch and am able to switch from left to right and then from right to left again. And these are the moments when you feel super happy and inspired to continue your agonising journey down the slopes. The bad thing is, when I fall, I fall even harder than before, probably because I am going faster or cos I somehow changeed my posture a bit. Instead of just plopping into the snow on your butt, you start falling forwards more and semi-tumble forward in a heap for some distance. Ouchhh! Finally, after 2 and a half hours, we reach the bottom of the hill. Yippee! I know we are supposed to make full use of our ski time and all, but I was in too much pain to continue immediately. We decided to go for lunch break.


After our first attempt at the slopes


I like this photo. Look cool, nice scenery, all smiles, yeah yeah... I feel like I busted my knees.

After lunch, Qiang, Dom and I summon up our courage to head up to the slopes again. Jenley is not feeling up to it and stays back to rest. I am dreading the falls already, but some thing at the back of my head tells me I didn't take a 3 hour ride just to snowboard once, so here we go again...


The ski lift


There seems to be a loong wait for the ski lift, but it doesn't really matter. It's not really that long a wait. And once I get to the slopes, I'll spend more than an hour coming down, so I don't think it matters.

I thought that the second time would be easier cos I felt like I was catching on during the second part of my first ski. I think the first part of the hill is harder and I was still falling like mad. I think to myself "this not how it's supposed to be, second time already!" plus, my knees were still sore from my first ski, so once I fell, they hurt more than previously. In a way, I did do better the second time round and made it down like in an hour and a half instead. You suffer from a lot of mixed feelings along the way. When you're travelling at high speeds, smetimes, you feel a sense of exileration, and at other times, a sense of dread for the awaiting tumble. When you eventually fall, sometimes you wanna cry from the pain, other times you can't wait to spring up and start again. Okay, enough of analysing my emotions. Here comes the really exciting part...

Guess what... We missed our bus...

Right on...When we reach the bottom of the hill, we still see4/5 buses waiting in the carpark. Then we return our equipment, head back and tada! All the buses have disappeared and the whole ski resort suddenly looks a lot more empty. We panick cos we are stranded at Romme Alphine. Then, luckily, we managed to hitch a hike from this young Swede, called Daniel, who was in Stockholm visiting his grandfather and came skiing on his own. We thought everything was ok, but in the end, it turns out he is heading to a town just 20 minutes away from Romme Alphine, called Borlange, instead of 3 hours back to Stockholm. However, we think it is no problem, as he is bringing us to the train and bus station of the town, where we can always find some form of transportation back to dear Stockholm.

At the bus, train station, what else can happen to us? Yes... We just missed the last train to Stockholm for the day and there are no busses and trains till the next day. You'll be really amazed at our bad luck, because it seems on the schedule, there are buses and trains at some approprate timings everyday, except Saturdays, and yes.. it was a Saturday.

So what do we do? The next train is at 10am tomorrow morning and next bus is at 12.30pm tomorrow morning. We decide that tough luck and we end up playing cards in the train station at 4.45pm. At 6.30pm, some security guard comes around to lock up the train station. We ask if the bus station is going to be locked up and he says no, so we proceed to continue our wait there. Finally, we play cards until 11pm and decide to rest for the day on the benches in the station.


My bench for the night.

It's going to be a long night, cos I am still feeling cold from the ski-trip. Basically, my back and butt is still wet from all the falling. I'm wet from ski pants, down to thermal and underwear. Qiang had huge chunks of snow stuck to his sweater at the back. Then what else can go wrong? A security guard comes to lock up the bus station too, and tells us to leave. Great... So it's 11.30pm, dark and freezing like mad outside!! And we are 4 homeless, freezing souls. We have no clue where the student hostels are and the only place we see is Park Inn... It's a 4 star hotel and Dom goes in to ask for the price. It's 650 kronors. We try to look for another place, but we can't find a straight route there and head back to Park Inn. There, Dom goes in to check-in to a one person room, while we hide away from sight in the cold. After that, we go in at separate intervals, so that it is less obvious that we are going to cramp 4 in a room.

Semla all around

Semlor can be bought all year round, but in February, you suddenly see lots of semlor on sale.


Semla offer at 7-11.

Today, Qiang and I decide to take this opportunity to fatten ourselves up with Semla. But instead of 7-11, we went to Hemkop in T-centralen to buy Semla at 2 for 20 kronors. This is quite a good deal, cos the other time I bought one for 35 kronors in Uppsala when it wasn't during the season.


Boxes of semlor for sale






Semla! It tastes very good. Feel very satisfied after the semla, but you feel that you've just eaten a whole lot of fats, which is probably true. You can't eat too much of this without getting fat because it is a traditional pastry well-known for its decadence.

Haha... Read on...

A semla is a traditional Swedish pastry. The name derives from the Latin semilia, which was the name used for the finest quality wheat flour. There are several different ways to eat a semla and several different names for it, but the most common way today is to have the bun filled with almond paste and whipped cream and a lid of the bun covered with icing sugar.
It is traditional that the pastry is consumed on Shrove Tuesday, which in Sweden is known as Fettisdagen or "Fat Tuesday", but it is seasonally available from New Year's until the start of Lent. This is the last day before Lent begins, which is always on a Wednesday. There are traditionally forty days in Lent which are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities. Each Swede consumes on average five pieces of the pastry each year, not including the ones that are home made.

King Adolf Frederick of Sweden died of digestion problems on February 12, 1771 after consuming a meal consisting of lobster, caviar, sour cabbage, smoked herring and champagne that was topped off by 14 servings of his favourite dessert hetvägg, which is a semla served in a bowl of hot milk.

Danderyds Sjukhus, Nobel Museum and Hemköp

“What is the sweetest thing a guy has ever done for you?...” “He ***** ** ** *****-***”
I see this line somewhere and it makes me wonder if I’ll have the same answer to this question a few years down the road. If we are not meant to be, I’ll make sure I never say this to you ever again.

Today, I head down to Danderyds Sjukhus. Danderyds Sjukhus is a hospital which my course, Radiation Detectors and Medical Imaging Systems is visiting as a field trip. We are there for 2 hours as the guy shows us around the hospital and introduces a lot of high-technology equipment. However, after a while, all the equipment looks similar and he starts to lose me. In the most impressed by the CT reconstruction. The only thing I learn from the field trip is that I have to start reading up for this module like real soon!


Danderyds Sjukhus Building


Within Danderyds Sjukhus


The tunnelbana station

After the field trip, we rush off to another excursion at the Nobel Museum in Gamla Stan organized by our Swedish Cultral and Society course.



In the train we pretend to be reading the tidning (newspaper). It's actually all in Swedish and we hardly understand a thing. I can appreciate the pictures though. Front page features a picture of 2 Swedish blonde-haired(of cos =P), female ski champions, complete in their yellow and blue ski outfits. The picture hits me as being very cheery and very very swedish. I turn to their story in the tidning for this picture, but Qiang doesn't manage to shoot the whole page!

At the Nobel Museum, we spend most of our time watching films instead of walking around the museum like I expected to. However, there is not really much to see and maybe their films tell more about the Nobel Prize Winners anyway. The curator seems to know absolutely everything about the Nobel Prize winners and he goes on and on enthusiastically. We watch films about creating environments for creativity and about some Nobel Prize winners, like Marie Curie and the 3 guy who discovered super fluidity in helium. Finally after one and a half hours of films and talk, we are given half an hour to explore the Museum.

Works by Harry Martinson, Nobel Prize winner for Literature.



It says:
If you own two coppers, said Li-Ti on a journey,
Buy one loaf of bread and one blossom.
The bread is there to fill you.
The blossom you buy to tell you
that life is worth the living.

The first time I read it, I think its a beautiful poem. Then the more sensible me shows. Why do you need to buy a blossom anyway? You pick it from the road side or something. Just buy 2 loaves of bread. Qiang says buy fishing rod, which I think is even more sensible. It's like that other saying that it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish, or something like that. I'm sure I haven't gotten it completely right.


This one is kind of hard to read, but check it out.


Nobel Prize for the discovery of Plastic


Some other Nobel Prize works over the century.

After the Nobel Museum, I have an urge to eat and take photos of Semla. It suddenly came to mind and it occurred to me that the season for Semla is ending soon. I ate it once in Uppsala, but not during the season and I haven’t even written about it yet! I convince poor Qiang and Eric to accompany me to Hemköp in T-centralen to look for my beloved Semla. Things in Hemköp aren’t exactly cheap, but it has a wide product range and a good place to go if you are in the mood for some grocery adventure. If you are looking for something different or fresh fruit and vegetables of good quality go to Hemköp, else you can just shop in Netto, which is like a no-frills supermarket with limited products.

Along the way, we pass by John Chris café and I decide to take a photo of the café. I’ve been to this café twice with my exchange friends. Nice place to accommodate a big group and have some coffee and dessert.


John Chris cafe

Finally, we reach Hemköp and I discover there is no more Semla. I hope it’s only sold out for today. I will come back when I’m free, hopefully in the week. We decide to take some photos.


I'm a sucker for bread. That's why I'm so happy in Sweden. Si gu calls me lo di mui (bread girl). You'll never get such a selection back home.


Check out Hemkop

Let me intro you to the most common Swedish products!



A whole selection of crispbread.

Swedish crispbread, or knäckebröd comes from the middle region of Sweden, where the flour could only be ground in the spring and autumn, when there was enough water to drive the mills. It was normal to do a huge baking once or twice a year in connection with the grain harvest. It required bread with a long shelf-life and which allowed the grain to be stored over a long period of time. This type of hard and dry bread was known as crisp bread and was baked in large round cakes. The hole in the middle was added to make storage easier, with the bread being threaded onto long rods and suspended below the ceiling. The northerners ate tunnbröd, or thinbread, because the only crop which would grow there was barley and it could not rise. The everyday loaf, or limpa was only eaten in the south, where crops were better.

Wasa is the world's largest producer of crispbread. Every year the company sells around 60,000 tons of crispbread in 40 countries. The Swedes eat more crispbread than any other people in the world, almost 4 kilograms per capita.


Roslagsbröd is traditional hand-baked Swedish rye crispbread from Gimo. They retain the original shape.



Yoggi is a very popular brand for yoghurt-based products in Sweden. I tried it on the second day I was in Sweden cos I observed that both Alvis and Erkka were drinking it.


Arla is the company understudy for one of the project groups in my business course. Therefore, I know a bit about Arla. Basically, Arla is the leading dairy brand in Sweden. It’s market share for dairy products is incomparable. They basically have milk or 3%, 1,5%, 0,3%, 0,01% fat, butter milk, cream, vanilla yoghurt and loads more. In fact, Yoggi is a sub-brand of Arla. As discussed in my class, Arla tries to portray itself as a product of simplicity and well-being, and its sub-brand Yoggi tries to portray a youthful and modern image. You can seek a stark contrast in their packaging.

Recycling is a big thing in Sweden. They don’t use plastic bags freely like in Singapore. In fact, they only provide these flimsy plastic bags for free. You have to pay for the bigger and more durable plastic bags. Here is a glass bottle returning machine. Whenever you return a bottle, you get some money as an incentive. You can check out the rates at the bottom of this machine. There's a machine for plastic bottles next to this machine.


Environmental friendliness in Sweden.

There’s a pretty different system for buying your condoms, cigarettes and tobacco. I think it saves the trouble of trying to point out what you want at the counter. Basically, you pick up the card showing what you want and pay for it. Then you proceed to the vending machine, insert your card and pick up your buy.

Choose the card for what you want and pay.

Collect your buy.

After Hemköp, we head home. I fry rice and use up the remaining eggs for dinner. I then edit our third group assignment for Design and Innovation.

From Lappis to Konstfack, Design and Innovation class, and Dinner

I’m in the blogging mood today. At 5.15pm, I have to go to Konstfack in Telefoneplan for my course on Design and Innovation in Context. I decide to take some photos on my way to the train station. So… this is my usual route to the train station Universitetet. I leave my building, pass ICA and walk through the bicycle stand.


Then I walk down these steps.

Down this slope.



You can go to the right to go through the underpass or choose the left path to cross the road. I usually cross the road cos its faster.

Walk walk walk. Once, we saw this rabbit running around here.

Take the right path. It's the unofficial path, but it cuts diagonally through and is faster.

Nice sky today. I'm lucky! Makes it seem like I'm such a professional in photography. Haha!





Turn right to the station. Turn left if you wanna go clubbing!

Reaching the station.

To the left of my path. People on their way to their own businesses.

Lappis is a student hostel and many students own bicycles.

The Universitetet Station!

The train platform

I didn't dare to take any photos in the train cos it was during the peak hour and the train was filled with people. Finally, I reach Telefone plan after 30 minutes.

The main Ericson building is right next to Konstfack. Ericsson is a Swedish brand.

Konstfack! A design and art school. My course is in this school. I travel a good half hour on the tunnelbana every Tuesday and Thursday from KTH or 45 minutes from Lappis.


Last photo before I go into the building for my lesson.

Today we have a guest lecture who talks about Product Positioning. He sucks big time. Sigh! The lectures for this course are getting more and more disappointing. Initially, I was really excited about this course and it was really interesting. Today's lecturer had a major pronunciaton problem, he kept eating his words and it didn't help that his seminar content was disoragnised and boring either. I had to concentrate very hard on his voice to understand and follow his train of thought and I stoned for half the lecture. My friend Michael next to me felt asleep half way through lecture and Kati next to Michael exchanged bored looks with me. Argh!! And I am aching in the abdomen and shoulders from yesterday's Ultimate Fighting.

After lessons, I take the tunnelbana back home again. This time it's less crowded and so I manage to take a photo. I'm not satisfied with this shot. More to come next time.

In the tunnelbana.

I meet David at the busstop outside the station and cook dinner with David. It's a real coincidence that I have David as my corridor neighbour and my project group mate. I'm also very lucky to have him around because he is always helping me out and he is a very responsible person. He helped me stay in the project group, take attendance and hand in work. He's kind of doing the most work for the project, partly because he is one of the only ones who the course counts towards his grade. But I also think it's because he is a good student in general. Another reason is because he is one of the only guys who is taking marketing in our group. Most of us are actually engineers or whatever else trying to be entrepreneurs. He ends up writing up most of our assignments, although I do try to help out when I can. The other day, he, Kati and me spent 8 hours on the assignment in the library and he finished up the rest at home. Right now, as I am spending time on my blog, he is working on our next assignment. I'm supposed to edit it after he is done, but I'm aware that he is doing the meat of the work. Sorry David!

Okay, that is beside the point. I have chicken for dinner with some fries. My other corridor mate, Mary gives me 4 eggs cos they are expiring today and she doesn’t want them anymore. So I am happy that I have an additional ommelete for dinner. I spend too much time on chicken and egg, and end up with burnt fries. Best… David laughs at me for being hopeless in the kitchen. Haha… The last time, I tried frying fries in the frying pan when I was supposed to put them in the oven. Now, I put them in the oven and end up burning them. Right…

First time I cook chicken on my own without premix, so of course I have to record what I do ya?
Oregano Chicken
Throw in some butter with garlic. Throw in the Chicken. Add pepper, salt and oregano. Yum… You can do the same to the eggs.


Check out my dinner. The fries are a goner.


Check out David’s pro noodles. Thai noodles in fact…

During dinner, I mention Christian, and David immediately starts smirking. He asks me somewhat knowingly about what Christian talked to me about and goes red. And immediately we are off. So, apparently as I hear from David, Christian tries to hit on girls all the time. He tried to invite another neighbour’s friends to his room once when they were visiting her. So now I get it.