Maggie and I picked up a leaflet from STA last Thursday showing accomodation fares. We were delighted to see a hostel in Prague going for just SGD25 per night! We're cool with hostels and dorms after surviving Gilligans and its bedbugs in Cairns.
So, I googled 'Hostel Vesta Prague'. The first hit I got said this:
"The Vesta Hostel is located in the very centre of Prague in the Art Nouveau building of the Wilson Railway Statation - on the fifth floor of the Southern Tower. The Wenceslas Square is a five - minutes walk from there, and the underground station is directly in the Wilson Railway Station building (metro line "C"). The hostel has a capacity of 60 beds. Each bedroom has two to six beds with a shared bathroom and two doublerooms with private shower and toilet. There is a 24-hour service at reception. The hostel provides refreshments, breakfast, and a safe is available for valuable items."
Not bad at all! Good location!
Then, I decide to google "Hostel Vesta Prague reviews". This is what I got:
"Hostel Vesta is situated in a very good spot for easy quick access to Wenceslas Square. However, it is right on top of an area referred to by the locals as "Sherwood Forest" due to the amount of crime there. The only real way to access the square safely is via an underpass that was filled with drunks and drug addicts every time we went through it. The hostel itself is clean and cheap (the cheapest in Prague I think) and the dorms were nice and roomy, but the staff, although not rude, are totally uninterested in providing any kind of service. We were forced to carry around all our cash and passports on the first night, as they were unable/unwilling to open the safe for us to store them. I would not recommend this hostel to groups of women, large or small. I would recommend it to groups of blokes/stag parties looking for a cheap place to sleep and nothing else. Don't leave anything vaguely valuable in the dorms."
"Very unfriendly staff, unpleasant area, and not safe for women. They have very basic facilities, and no electricity. "
Scary!!! There are loads more of scary comments like people shooting up at the underpass etc.
To be fair, there were a very small number of good comments, which makes me wonder if they are talking about the same hotel. +shudders+
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Made a booking for my ticket!
At long last, I finally made a booking for my ticket!
KLM student fare - SGD1080 Amsterdam Return Ticket. That's hmmm... class Q I think? The 3rd cheapest. I didn't expect seats to be snapped up so quickly, how could there be so many students flying to Amsterdam?!
But there's still a hurdle before I confirm the ticket! I need a letter of acceptance by the university/hospital in order to nab the student fare! The agent at j3travel has kindly offered to request KLM to block the seat for me whilst I wait for the letter. I hope I get it soon!
Oh by the way, in case you're also looking for airtickets, you can try these 2 websites (both have student fares):
1. www.airfares.com.sg
2. www.j3travel.com
Though both offered me about the same price, the staff at j3 was much more friendly and efficient, I felt, so you can try them.
KLM student fare - SGD1080 Amsterdam Return Ticket. That's hmmm... class Q I think? The 3rd cheapest. I didn't expect seats to be snapped up so quickly, how could there be so many students flying to Amsterdam?!
But there's still a hurdle before I confirm the ticket! I need a letter of acceptance by the university/hospital in order to nab the student fare! The agent at j3travel has kindly offered to request KLM to block the seat for me whilst I wait for the letter. I hope I get it soon!
Oh by the way, in case you're also looking for airtickets, you can try these 2 websites (both have student fares):
1. www.airfares.com.sg
2. www.j3travel.com
Though both offered me about the same price, the staff at j3 was much more friendly and efficient, I felt, so you can try them.
Oooh. Conspiracy.
It’s 8.44am!!! 16 minutes to lesson and I’m going to do a zippity-zip blogpost!
Yesterday I finally got the SEP confirmation email about the hospital placement. The last line mentioned the name of the Prof that had been contacting Maggie and is the Prof in-charge of our exchange.
When Maggie told me that he’s quite a renowned toxicologist in the Netherlands, I was like “oh, cool!” But this morning I googled his name and TA-DAAAAA!
One of those plots u see in a movie with a plot based on conspiracy. Based on the articles, Prof Uges was involved in the autopsy of the ex- Yugoslav President! Like how cool is that. If I become a toxicologist, I also want.
Here are two links to the story!
http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/3468/43/ - Has a tiny picture of him too.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/03/13/milosovic/
Okay. 8.51am. 6 minutes to write that. So slow!!!! Time to pack my bags and fly to class. Tata!
Yesterday I finally got the SEP confirmation email about the hospital placement. The last line mentioned the name of the Prof that had been contacting Maggie and is the Prof in-charge of our exchange.
When Maggie told me that he’s quite a renowned toxicologist in the Netherlands, I was like “oh, cool!” But this morning I googled his name and TA-DAAAAA!
One of those plots u see in a movie with a plot based on conspiracy. Based on the articles, Prof Uges was involved in the autopsy of the ex- Yugoslav President! Like how cool is that. If I become a toxicologist, I also want.
Here are two links to the story!
http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/3468/43/ - Has a tiny picture of him too.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/03/13/milosovic/
Okay. 8.51am. 6 minutes to write that. So slow!!!! Time to pack my bags and fly to class. Tata!
Where Am I Going?
For someone with a sense of direction and geography as bad as mine, I’d better check out early where I’m headed to!
Map of Europe
There there! Netherlands is there between Germany and the North Sea! Gosh, I’ve never heard of the North Sea before. My geography is really inadequate.
Map of Europe
There there! Netherlands is there between Germany and the North Sea! Gosh, I’ve never heard of the North Sea before. My geography is really inadequate.
Map of Holland
We’d be going to the city of Groningen for our exchange, which is what everyone seems to describe as a ’student city’. It’s seems quite far away from Amsterdam tho!
Alright, just this little bit of information for the day! I’m having a little trouble navigating and posting these pictures up. More trivia and information coming up I guess soon!
Originally posted: 30 March 2007
Thursday, April 5, 2007
The Great Air-Ticket Hunt
As the title suggests:
I’ve been keeping tabs on all the possible avenues of getting a cheap air ticket.
Last friday, Sarah, Maggie and I headed down to Suntec for the NATAS fair. But it was so crowded and chaotic, plus with a $3 admission fee, we just decided not to go in at all.
Instead, we went to the exhibition below for some “Branded Goods” fair. Stuff there were really cheap, but alot of them were just quite “lup chup”.
Back to the point, we wound up at Marina Square’s PriceBreaker and I was quoted $1600 for a return ticket! Gosh. That’s a tad too ex. In the end, after scouring all the websites, I didn’t find anything good from the NATAS fair.
At least, I spotted something at airfares.com.sg today. $930 KLM student fare without taxes. I guess with taxes it’ll add to about $1400 still. But it’s ok, I guess I’ll hold out, knowing that at least there’s this offer. Most agencies I’ve called told me to wait till May for July’s promotional prices. So, I’ll wait.
Originally Posted : 26 March 2007
I’ve been keeping tabs on all the possible avenues of getting a cheap air ticket.
Last friday, Sarah, Maggie and I headed down to Suntec for the NATAS fair. But it was so crowded and chaotic, plus with a $3 admission fee, we just decided not to go in at all.
Instead, we went to the exhibition below for some “Branded Goods” fair. Stuff there were really cheap, but alot of them were just quite “lup chup”.
Back to the point, we wound up at Marina Square’s PriceBreaker and I was quoted $1600 for a return ticket! Gosh. That’s a tad too ex. In the end, after scouring all the websites, I didn’t find anything good from the NATAS fair.
At least, I spotted something at airfares.com.sg today. $930 KLM student fare without taxes. I guess with taxes it’ll add to about $1400 still. But it’s ok, I guess I’ll hold out, knowing that at least there’s this offer. Most agencies I’ve called told me to wait till May for July’s promotional prices. So, I’ll wait.
Originally Posted : 26 March 2007
One Step Closer!
The past Tuesday was a thrilling day!
I received the email for the offer of my industrial internship! I called back and we managed to confirm the dates for my internship! Whoopeee! 10 weeks,from the 2nd of May to 6th July.
Maggie emailed Job, the Netherlands SEO that evening and ever so efficiently, he replied that same night, saying the dates we’ve requested are available. He’s always been so nice and fast So there there, 9th July to 3rd Aug for my SEP.
The feeling’s really great and different right now, knowing what I’ll be doing for the coming holidays. Although I’ve been in a dreamy state lately, drifting off to Holland in spirit ever so often, I do feel a rush of excitement everytime I think of the holidays. (To my dear classmates, thank you very much for trying to Zhao1 my Hun2 (meaning ‘call back my spirit) during class, please continue to do so. Hurhurhur.)
Above all, I’m just really thankful everything’s been smooth so far. I know that I’ve been lucky, because everything turned out so well. I’m glad I made the right choice not to wait for USA to offer a place, despite it being my first choice. If I’d waited, I would not have been able to confirm my internship so quickly, or perhaps even get it.
Well…. this is really just the first step! I’ve yet to book my airticket, or plan my post-SEP travel! I am so thankful to Maggie also, who has constantly been nudging me all the way to make up my mind, and liasing with all the people overseas. (I think I’ve sent only 2 emails vs. her 20 emails to date. I promise I’ll buck up from now!)
Originally posted : 24 March 2007
I received the email for the offer of my industrial internship! I called back and we managed to confirm the dates for my internship! Whoopeee! 10 weeks,from the 2nd of May to 6th July.
Maggie emailed Job, the Netherlands SEO that evening and ever so efficiently, he replied that same night, saying the dates we’ve requested are available. He’s always been so nice and fast So there there, 9th July to 3rd Aug for my SEP.
The feeling’s really great and different right now, knowing what I’ll be doing for the coming holidays. Although I’ve been in a dreamy state lately, drifting off to Holland in spirit ever so often, I do feel a rush of excitement everytime I think of the holidays. (To my dear classmates, thank you very much for trying to Zhao1 my Hun2 (meaning ‘call back my spirit) during class, please continue to do so. Hurhurhur.)
Above all, I’m just really thankful everything’s been smooth so far. I know that I’ve been lucky, because everything turned out so well. I’m glad I made the right choice not to wait for USA to offer a place, despite it being my first choice. If I’d waited, I would not have been able to confirm my internship so quickly, or perhaps even get it.
Well…. this is really just the first step! I’ve yet to book my airticket, or plan my post-SEP travel! I am so thankful to Maggie also, who has constantly been nudging me all the way to make up my mind, and liasing with all the people overseas. (I think I’ve sent only 2 emails vs. her 20 emails to date. I promise I’ll buck up from now!)
Originally posted : 24 March 2007
And so it begins.
This blog isn’t going to be about my life, well not for most part of it. This blog is dedicated to the IPSF Student Exchange Program that I’ll be going on this July ( I do hope that everything goes well and I indeed will get to go to Holland).
I’m starting this blog because I know (and hope) that I don’t wish to forget anything about this SEP (which I am going to spend a few grand on….) . Also, I hope to share with all about what I’ll be doing, the entire process from application to the trip so that those who are interested may be inspired to apply next year! Hur hur. Sounds corny uh, but no kidding.
Perhaps I’m counting my chickens (or chicks?) before they hatch, perhaps my SEP will turn out to be the suckiest ever. I doubt it, for if anything at all, I’m going to have some serious fun there. Hurhur.
Aite, the first post and I’m going to spare you from the grandmothers’ stories. Done with the intro, check the blog for more updates!
Originally posted: 12 March 2007
I’m starting this blog because I know (and hope) that I don’t wish to forget anything about this SEP (which I am going to spend a few grand on….) . Also, I hope to share with all about what I’ll be doing, the entire process from application to the trip so that those who are interested may be inspired to apply next year! Hur hur. Sounds corny uh, but no kidding.
Perhaps I’m counting my chickens (or chicks?) before they hatch, perhaps my SEP will turn out to be the suckiest ever. I doubt it, for if anything at all, I’m going to have some serious fun there. Hurhur.
Aite, the first post and I’m going to spare you from the grandmothers’ stories. Done with the intro, check the blog for more updates!
Originally posted: 12 March 2007
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