It’s finally here. The final month of my exchange program.
(Disclaimer: Please bear with me, this will be a lengthy post.)

As my iCal suddenly turned its page to a brand new month, I can’t help but feel the chills down my spine. ‘Has it really been 1 year already?’, I begin to reflect once again… Then I look out of my window where the empty tree branches sway outside in the cold. I start to think back of the days in August when I could air my armpits in short sleeves or a tank top without looking like Michelin right now.

Then again, with all my horrible eating habits, I actually do look like Michelin without the thick jackets too. -_-

So anyway, just as with any sports race, there is an end. A finishing line. At the end, that’s when most people will look back at their performance and the effort they gave during the race from the start of the air horn till the very moment they...

I have to admit this post is stimulated by a highly narcissistic reason. I was chatting with Choobs (one of my secondary school long time best buds) on Whatsapp for about an hour unknowingly. And at the end of our conversation, she casually said she enjoyed reading my blog. :‘)

I will not lie. I have been intending to blog, but I had no compelling reason to. Nor did I have any specific topic to blog about anyway. I mean, I could’ve just shown you guys my sloth lifestyle as I sit in front of my MacBook from dusk till dawn in my PJs. Or, proclaim the things I ingest at every meal (which is a lot by the way). Oh how boring that would be!

Then there’s my Berlin and Paris trips that I have yet to blog about, but scrap that. I get so tired uploading all these pictures and telling you about a place which probably 900,000 other travel sites/blogs already do. So why not take a peak into my...

Disclaimer: This is going to be a highly emotional post

I feel like I’ve lost a friend.

Or rather, I feel like a part of me just shriveled and rotted away. It’s like a sprout that was trying so hard to break out of the fertile soil, but slowly dies away due to the lack of nurture.

Sadly, nobody is to be blamed. Things just changed over time, and it was apparent others overtook and gave me a secondary role in the grand scheme of your life. I don’t know about you, but the grievance is not easy. I find out about your life through our mutual friends and they realized that I don’t know a single thing. They said ‘blood is thicker than water’, but is it really?

We used to wear matching attires, and laughed at the same jokes. We used to watch MTV together, and sing the latest hits at the top of our lungs. Now, we are instinctively and vastly different. They said ‘opposites attract’, but...

I miss Asian food so much. It hurts like a heart ache. :‘(

So here, I will dedicate this post to the one and only instant fish soup packet that I received as a trade with Saint Beatrice Noober Chiang Hi-Chew. (I traded my Korean jajangmyeon for this!) On a side note, I think both of us are turning semi-Korean with our incessant and uncontrollable addiction for Korean shows recently. I’m not complaining. Are you?

So prior to this, I posted a photo on instagram regarding my hopes on becoming an aspiring food blogger (I secretly was just tryna be hippie):

But it was so well received or I just have overly courteous friends, but come on! Look at all the positive feedback! :’) It only got better after that and I didn’t want to come off as a snob so I left out the other RAVING reviews hahahahaha shameless

Without further ado, let the aspiring food blogger Cam begin!

Featuring the Prima...

“Ain’t nothing but a heart ache
Tell me why, I never wanna hear you sayyyyy
I want it that way.”
– Backstreetboys

Jokes aside, I am having immense trouble trying to complete my 3,000-word essay that is due in two week’s time. It baffles me because if you asked me to blog about something in great detail, I am sure I could easily hit the 3,000 word limit. But when it comes to academia, let’s just say I have always been a slow learner!

Anyway, so All Hallow’s Eve was last night and the Chinese girl from SMU kind of randomly Whatsapped me asking, “hey are you in Belgium today?” and I was pleasantly surprised to receive a text message because I was honestly quite lonely after Momma Tan left. So I replied, “Hello! Yeah I am haha. Are you? :)”

and she replied shortly thereafter,
“yes. im asking you whether to go to any parties tonight?”

Now I know what you must be thinking. But no, I...

So Momma Tan has made her departure from Leuven this morning.

Even after 11 hours, I am still on the verge of crying when I think about it. That moment when I held her tiny frame in my arms, before the train conductor blew the whistle to signal the retreat of the train from the grey-scaled platforms. That moment when we embraced each other with a seemingly suffocating hug to bid each other farewell. That moment when tears unknowingly streamed down our cheeks…

Gawd, I am such a loser (runs to grab some tissue)

And of all days, I have a full day of lectures in school spanning across 7 hours. It was tough to constantly fight back any sudden whirlwind of emotions. But anyway, my mind kept drifting off to ponder about many things once more. And then I realized I have no friend who was close enough to know of every single thing that has happened, and is happening in my life. Nobody except...

I don’t know what this feeling is supposed to be. I haven’t drank any alcohol, nor smoked any weed. But my mind is in such a state of trance, I am starting to wonder if the air in my room is a tad too stale…

Either way, today has been another soul-deepening day. I know, I know. Sometimes I can get a little overly cliché for you guys. I surprise myself too, don’t worry. Momma Tan and I had the opportunity to accidentally bump into an Indonesian priest who has been living in Leuven for the past 7 years. Both parties were actually just queuing for coffee, and somehow, a simple question of, “Where do you come from?” turned into, “Why don’t you drop by for lunch?”.

Father Ferry (yes, that is his name, don’t be evil) explained many things to us. From the history of his order to their patron saint, Saint Damien. He further shared St. Damien’s way of life and how he gave of himself for the...

So my anger has subsided since my previous post…

I’m starting to wonder if it’s all part of the bloody cycle.
But nah, I shall dismiss that thought because I don’t ever want to use my uterus as an excuse for my sporadic behavior. Well, but my view with regards to the whole issue remains.

So anyway, I have decided to compile some of the things that the people I have met here have said to me or asked me. Both directly and indirectly. I hope it brings a smile to your face as it did to mine. Happy TGIF!

1. The Classic
“Oh you’re from Singapore! That’s nice. You guys speak English over there? I never knew! Which part of China is that from?”

2. The Unknown Equator
“How can you guys possibly have summer all year round?”

3. The Raised Eyebrow Coffee-shop Talk
“Yeah, I heard of Singapore a'right! I heard they’re really rich with all the sky-scrappers and their citizens have lots of...

Seriously, what in the worrrrrrrld???

It is currently 01:05am here and I have a morning lesson tomorrow today, yet I have to entertain people who have differing view points from me. Just FYI, I don’t even need to explain myself to be honest. You either take it at face value, or you jolly well explain to me YOUR BELIEFS instead of attacking mine with no substance. Committing so many fallacies and yet you want to win the argument?????????

SORRY, NOT SORRY.

Most of the time, people spurt rubbish out of their mouths either because
A: they are riled up with emotions (ahem like how I am feeling so angry now that I may regret this post in the future, or maybe not…) or,

B: they have not been in the same situation as the other party, so they blabber on about non-existent idealized beliefs.

Let’s set things straight. Firstly, I was annoyed to read about a man cheating on his relationship...

Before I begin, I just want to clarify that I am not getting paid to do this.

So prior to my trip, since I am such a Mommy’s girl, my very own beloved mother was helping me to pack my luggage right up till the 11th minute. Truth be told, she told me a couple of times,

“Oh I bought this _________ for you! You can wear it when (the weather gets cold. Or if it’s raining. Or if it’s sunny etc.)”

& I would always just respond with, “Okay, thanks! You can just dump it in my luggage.”

I did not even know exactly what the contents were, until I travelled 10,522km away from home.

Source: Google

When I unpacked and unravelled this nice smelling clothing that reminded me so much of home, I was eager to put it on. This Uniqlo Heattech thermal wear has been something that my parents so often raved about in China. (No, I am Singaporean and so are my parents.) I was always a skeptic and I tend...