Jiann Chyuan is wondering whether realisation of problems a sign of improvement.

Do we always call it problem? Or do we prefer to call it unresolved challenge? How would these two terms affect the way of thinking of people? Does it really sound more optimistic by labelling a problem as challenge?

What are your problems?

I have had a few conversations with Malaysian friends on the current hottest topic back home: general election. Many of them told me a change of course in the parliament is necessary and therefore they will vote for the opposition. I opine this is absolutely reasonable as I would also like to see how far the system can go in Malaysia.

But the problem (or challenge) is: Do we base our votes on the selection of parties or on the credibility of the candidates? Oh yes, you would say that they are evenly vital. But still, which one will you prioritise during the holy moment when you cast down your vote? Can we afford to gamble our future 5-year on two crosses?

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t imply voting against the so called mainstream is lethally risky. It is just that, are we truly prepared to face the uncertainties in the future before putting down our preference on a piece of paper?

Let’s leave the macroscopic view of problem. When the boundary of problems is constrained, we come to what we used to call personal problems. Working on a project in Zeeland, province of south Holland, I realise there are many problems (or challenges) within myself.

It is wise for me to stop blaming UTM because it didn’t arm me with essential and powerful weapons for post-graduate study. Because the utmost urgent task to be completed is to analyse how to increase my understanding in various fields within the shortest time possible. Oh yea, your bet on the plunging self esteem after studying in TU Delft is undoubtedly right.

I think it is similar to the English situation of Kin Fook. When you stop reflecting yourself in the mirror, you will tend to forget how imperfect you are. Staying inside the comfort zone wouldn’t do us anything good. Timely self check is therefore critical for everyone. However, I am wondering how much flaw am I able to bear before I give up permanently. Or will these cruel realities put me off at all?

Problems do exist. For example, I have zero idea about why visitors to this site hesitate to vote anonymously in the poll I have created on the right hand side. Are they not interested? Does this mean I don’t have to spend time writing and selecting the beautiful pictures from my photo album?

I am curious, and I would love to know what the problem is. Enlightenment is appreciated.

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If a picture is able to tell a thousand words, Jiann Chyuan thinks a video is doing a better job by telling you everything.

Being constantly moving in Europe literally means an inevitable periodically change of accommodation. After living in a staggering nine hostels within a month during winter trip, the non-stop sleeping on unfamiliar mattresses has finally come to a halt. Yes, I’ve finally settled down to my new ‘home’, for at least the coming six months.

They call it space box, not because it makes you float and feeling weightless inside the room, just like what one would experience in space.
Soon Hooi calls it microwave, which to certain extend forcing me to come to an agreement, because of its strange resemblance exteriorly to the aforementioned electrical appliance.
Most of my friends here call it container, which is literally referring to the construction material of such a room.

No matter what it is called, it is my new home. Living in a shipping container is undeniably a bloody brutal fact which I have no choice but to accept. However, the idea of living inside a container doesn’t seem to disgust me at all, at least not since I moved in.

The room is obviously bigger than the one I had in Trondheim, simply because this is a self-contained room: kitchen, toilet and shower room are all contained in this approximately sixteen metre square container. Oh yea, try to imagine the smell of cooking which lingers in the room for a few hours after cooking.

So what is good in such a room? Nothing can beat the extreme closed distance of the room to my faculty. It takes only a maximum of 5 minutes walking to reach my lecture hall everyday. Other than that, I couldn’t really think of anything else.

How about the drawbacks of living in space box? Noise from neighbours. Come on, it is container, don’t you know that steel is really bad serving as sound insulator? If you study closely the toilet-cum-shower room, you would have probably noticed how it is possible for me to literally sit on the toilet seat while taking shower. I would have to say that it is definitely handy if I have to take shower when I was deadly tired.

Oh yes, the smell of cooking. Indeed air ventilation system is installed. However, the reliability of the ventilation system in my room is absolutely questionable. And for your info, I am living in third floor, which in one hand is perfect since I don’t have to deal with stares from passer-by and saving my energy in closing curtain whenever I am changing in the room. But on the other hand, it is extremely susceptible to wind and induces frightening vibrations. To my structural engineer friends, column is an unthinkable idea in this building.

Despite of the outstanding number of disadvantages for living in a microwave, I find myself strangely like the idea of living in it. The feeling of sleeping on a mattress which is placed on a wooden platform inside the room provides me the ultimate pleasure of imagining myself as an artist living in the past. Absolutely stunning!

Okay, without any further ado, let’s watch the first video in this blog.

Note:
The room is only coming with kitchen equipped with an itsy-bitsy fridge (minus kitchen equipments), toilet-cum-shower room (minus all the toiletries), a writing table, an arm chair, a mattress placed on a platform, one bookshelf, one drawer, one notice board, one insufficient single person wardrobe., two coloured chairs, one standing lamp, one table lamp, one ugly framed painting on the wall and a trash can. Plants and pots, photos and decoration on the wall are the creativity of the current tenant, ahem, me. It is totally up to viewer to utilise his/her utmost creative imagination to visualise the original condition of the 396€ (approx. RM1900, which is VERY expensive according to standard of Delft) space box, or microwave, or container, or whatever it is called.

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After a month long winter trip, Jiann Chyuan is discovering study in Holland is just the beginning of another greatest trip.

Thank you everyone for the support during my absence.
I make sincere apology for the empty promise in my previous post.
Luggage didn’t come in on time and I had my laptop stuck in Trondheim.

Where am I now?
Study the title of this post and you will get the answer.
Yup, I’m in Holland, or the Netherlands, in the city of Delft, studying in one of the most prestigious universities in the world, Delft University of Technology.

First impression? Impressive.
I have never realised how amazing a world class university can be.
TU Delft has really impressed me in every single way.
Great facilities, crowded with multi-talented students and researchers, really multi-faceting every student.
What more can I say?

A lesson learnt from the university:
If a book can’t be judge by its cover, it is the same theory to buildings.
Concrete covered, dull exterior, except for extra-ordinary design of buildings.
However, it was a totally different world interiorly.
Colourful yet simple, neat and organised, and surprisingly filled with youthful atmosphere for this 160 year-old university.

About Delft? Lovely.
Small city, but bigger than Trondheim.
Historical city centre with modern shops.
Amazing student town atmosphere and lively business centre co-existing.

About Holland? Freedom.
No, not about drug and pot.
No, not about sex and window shopping.
It is about the freedom to live your own life.
It is about the freedom to explore your own creativity and to pursue your dream.
It is about the freedom that is not mentioned by mouth, but buried deeply in the soul of every person.

About Indonesian in Holland? Everywhere.
About food in Holland? Everything fried.
About study in Holland? World-class.
About red light district in Holland? Dying.
About tulip in Holland? Not yet the season.
About bicycles in Holland? Immense!
About cheese in Holland? Tantalising.
About Dutch people in Holland? Tall, really tall, really strangely tall!

About me adjusting myself in Holland?
Ik hou van het. (I’m loving it.)

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When it comes to probably the last post about Trondheim, Jiann Chyuan finds it impossible not to mention the highlight of his life in Norway, the house mates.

Four months is a relatively short period to understand something thoroughly. When it comes to understand someone, I am left with a question: Does it always has to be similarities stick together? Or is it possible to be oppositely attractive?

I specifically dedicated this post to my two lovely Norwegian house mates, DanErik Holmstrøm and Kasper Steen, the exclusive highlights to my stay in Norway.

Asking myself my first experience to living with foreigners (although I am the actual foreigner in this context), my answer would be: it could have been a lot better.

No fight, no conflict, no disagreements, but sadly, no chemical and no fireworks. Indeed, I was with high expectation that I would eventually walk away from this country, proudly telling everyone that I’ve made two great Norwegian friends. However, rocket high expectation turned out to be me being pathetically hopeful.

The disappointment is hard to hide. Should I console myself that making friends with Norwegian is harder than for human to put their first step on the Moon, judging by the fact that Stella is the sole successful example? Or should I blame myself for not trying hard enough? The latter case is a perfect illustration of me being absolutely hopeful again.

Well, at least there is something to cheer about. I have been answered: we are just different. When it takes one positive ion atom and one negative ion atom to bond together, this law of chemistry doesn’t really seem to be applicable in relationship.

I couldn’t help myself but wonder, does it always require similarities to get close? Or could differences become the driving force for being mutually attractive? Is it possible to have these two co-exist? The realisation to this endless questioning process: it is just a matter of taste.

No matter what the taste is like, I’ve to admit that I have had really lovely house mates over the past four months. It doesn’t really matter that things do not work out as what I would have expected. Kindness from locals to a stranger is the utmost important thing I needed in this very first leg of my grand Europe journey.

However, it is also of ultimate importance for us to not misinterpret kindness as a sign of friendship. Although I have been treated nicely, there was just without chemical that pushes the interaction to a higher level.

But what can I really expect from such a short period? Nothing. Similarly to what Professor Bratteland told us last night, I will end my journey in Norway with a gift bag filled with memories, good memories. At least the hugs from the people are genuine.

Thank you Kasper and Dan for these four months. It has been a fantastic voyage.

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When it comes to the end of time, does Jiann Chyuan needs fund or fun? Or does he need more funds for greater fun?

Being a university student is always good, because that would mean endless fun and parties. Indeed, I had been to a lot of parties and went to clubs for quite some times. However, as everything in life, to strike a balance between everything is more than crucial, it is part of life.

I was definitely having an absolutely good time in Trondheim and I’ve started to fall in love with this country. Honestly, I was not really a going-out guy in Malaysia, though I did do some movies thingy with friends occasionally. But I found myself to have such a great time living in Norway.

I’m in Europe now! Things should get a little more complicated and turning upside down even more, shouldn’t they? I had been to movies of course, although paying like 10€ to the superbad “Superbad” movie wasn’t something, and still isn’t something I would prefer to do. And hell yea, I didn’t miss the pubs too.

I was quite surprised to learn from my friend that I am actually starting to lead a European’s life the other day. I mean isn’t it bizarre if I did manage to transform from my rooted Asian lifestyle to a completely contrasting European’s lifestyle?

Yes, I’ve to admit that I did drink a lot of booze for the past couple of months, and had been drunk and yelling in a bus when I was on my way back home non-sober. But the thing is I was extremely lucky that I have never had to pay for anything. I appreciate this even greater especially when I am in country where alcohol could be freaking expensive.

Did I tell you that I was also bold enough (or plain idiot) to try on snus after being offered by some norwegians whom I accidentally bumped into a casual talk with in a pub which plays music that I would definitely label as noise?

And yes, the fact that I am having spaghetti more than rice (just 2 kilos) is also a sign that I am becoming more European. But then again, the truth is meaty items are only reserved for filthy rich people in this country and I can’t be a vegetarian if I am going to have rice.

It seems to be very convenient and easy to just use the I-didn’t-have-a-choice pathetic excuse for the enjoyments which I had let myself to indulge freely. But when it comes to the end of time, is it fun or fund that is what I am needing?

Obviously, I am thirsting for more funds so that I could have even greater fun. The fully immersed-in-bottomless-parties-mood-tiny-little-brain of mine has been struck by a serious wake up call lately after I had gone through my first final examination paper in NTNU.

Apparently I was having too much fun and had indulged myself loosely until I have forgotten my main goal in coming to Europe. Indeed, part of it was for cultural learning. But what is more important is to secure good grades in study and eventually graduating with a future-promising master degree.

However, my expected poor performance in my hardest paper of the semester turned out to be unexpectedly true. I was feeling extremely upset and angry to myself for not trying harder. And I regret so much that I am now putting myself in hot soup which might eventually put my feet off the ground of Europe in just a month’s time.

I refuse to leave this early and I reckon I deserve absolutely more than just one meaningless semester. I mean I haven’t really been to Europe and am only stranded far north of Europe in Norway. I deserve to really look at the vibrant livelihood of European in Mainland Europe, and I am going to Holland next year! I can’t leave and I refuse to!

But I need fund. And my fund comes from my study. I had put myself in one disaster and I promise myself not to let the disaster resurrects. The thing is, how much desire and concentration I manage to dig out from within remains unanswered.

Maybe it is time to ask myself again, am I asking for fun, or more funds that guarantee greater fun?

Caption: The truth is, I don't even know who the hell they are. The only thing I remember was I talked to some Norwegians and was offered Snus, forced to take a couple of photos and voila! Maybe it is time to ask myself again, am I asking for fun, or more funds that guarantee greater fun?


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Realising how ‘asthma’ attack would bring disappearance to Jiann Chyuan for such a long time, he decided to make a come back with genius reading post.

No, I’m still alive. Didn’t die of asthma, but am seriously juggling with time management which apparently appears to be management-less. I’m still competing with course mate on who is the ultimate time wasting champion.

Heartbeat is following the similar trend as life, up and down, which is perfectly normal of course. You don’t seriously expect my heartbeat to remain constant (time-invariant) in an oscillator, do you?

To cut things short (so not my style), here are a quick update list of my life in Trondheim:

Did a very bad if not worst group presentation on rail freight transport last Thursday and sincerely hope that it won’t hurt so much to my final grade.

Attended Greek’s evening and was weirdly pleased with traditional Greek’s food, after being forced to starve for 3 hours due to a football match between Turkey and Norway.

Learnt what does it really mean by ‘a lady never kisses and tells’ from an American after she exploded with much more information that I can handle when I (threatened) told her that human learn lesson from single sided exposure.

Missed two Northern lights in Trondheim because 1) no one calls or texts me during the presence of such phenomenon events and 2) I was sleeping like dead corpse.

Eagerly hoping to witness Northern light for at least once in Trondheim, but was disappointed by heavy snow which then brought much joy afterwards.

Slept on snowy ground with track bottom and surprisingly not feeling cold.

Finally fell down on the street due to slippery snowy ground. Four more times to go before buying a pair of winter shoes if according to Soon Hooi’s standard.

Helped a friend to break up with her Norwegian boy friend, which was of course successful after a long tedious process.

Helped the same friend to bake a cake of 30cm height and decorated it with shit-like marzipan because I was damn tired (primary), and because I was told that I will have nothing from the cake (secondary).

Planning to cancel the little dinner gathering with Norwegian house mates after one of them told me I’m a Malay after three-month living together, and Malaysia is located south of Korea (which is technically true) two weeks later.

Busy ignoring all the mini applications’ invitations in facebook because my Malaysian friends are apparently indulging themselves insanely in this new found wonderland, despite their loyalty maintenance to friendster.

Took a blog readability test and the result is:

Congratulations readers! Apparently it doesn’t take a genius to write genius-knowledge-level-required posts. What is the correct way for you to interpret the test result? You are a genius and not that my writing is hard to comprehend.

Have a fun weekend to all!
(I’m still waiting for Northern light although it is forecasted to be snowy in Trondheim. *puzzled*)

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This was no Bavaria, this was no Munich, this was, of course, no German. But here was where one of the most celebrated event in the Bavarian state held. Join Jiann Chyuan to discover Octoberfest in Trondheim, Norway.

UKA is a huge deal for Trondheim, and of course, for students from NTNU. It is a fort-yearly event which students organise various events throughout a week, and those events are in mega size.

UKA has been so successfully held and well exploited by various industries, it has now become a very commercial event which purchase of tickets are required for nearly every single event.

This year, the biggest UKA week ever, which apparently stretched for three-week long, has absolutely more than one climax to expect. The first of all was the Octoberfest.

You’ve got me right! It was the Octoberfest from Bavaria State in Germany. It is no wonder that Norwegians are eagerly enthusiastic to bring this huge deal from Germany to Norway since the drinking culture among Norwegians is enormously famous and common.

When it comes to beer, Norwegians just forget there is this ‘no’ in the dictionary. Welcome to Norway.

I don’t think I have the opportunity to experience the real Octoberfest in Munich for the coming few years. Therefore I bought the ticket for this ‘fake’ Octoberfest. 70Nok wasn’t that much for the ticket. But 150Nok for a litre of beer is really shocking. I mean RM90 for a litre of beer? Okay, it was time for me to say no more after a litre. Not that I cannot drink more, it is just that do I really need to poke a hole in my pocket?

I don’t think ordering several litres of beer in Munich during Octoberfest are a life-threatening decision, because it is comparatively cheap in Munich. Have you ever heard of the chain of alcohol in Scandinavia?

It says that alcohol is relatively cheaper in one country than the other, and therefore Norwegian goes to Sweden to buy alcohol; Swedish crosses to Finland to rob alcohol; Finnish steps into Denmark and get sloshed, while Danish happily travels to Germany for a taste of yeast.

This is no joke. Travel across border for nothing more than alcohol is common among Scandinavians.

I would have to say that Bavarian should feel extremely proud of the influence of their drinking culture. Imitation is definitely the best form of compliment. Inside the hall of Octoberfest, there was obviously a huge German flag right in the middle to honour the origin of this festival, which hardly remains unnoticeable.

Other interesting activities include performaces which were strangely in Norwegian, mega concert by the Norwegian to the Norwegian, which means everyone singing along with music.

I just didn’t have that much of desire to stay inside the tent for such a long time. It was such cold weather, and the beer was really tooooooo much to be served within such a short time, I just need to pee. Time to go out the tent and pee in public!

P.S.: Attending Muse’s concert tonight. Yup, one of the highlights in UKA weeks.

Captions:
(Above) Typical view in the Octoberfest
(Below) Ops, so peaking when I'm peeing outside. So cold! My penis is frozen!

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World renowned universities are the heaven to geniuses. But it is definitely the hell of average student, for example, Jiann Chyuan. In Norway, higher education institutions seem to be heaven to every Norwegian student. Why?

I always look forward to go to the city square on a Saturday’s morning, something is always happening there. For instance, the gay parade during early of September and the free live open air concert the weekend after that.

Last Saturday, determined not to trap myself in the wooden cage, and of course due to the literally perfect weather, I escaped myself from books to town centre for a few hours, just to check out what was the event for the weekend.

It surprised me when I saw two huge tents set up right in the middle of the square which apparently featuring my university, NTNU. Why? Because usually whenever there is any event, promotion within the campus compound is insanely immense. No, not always with a naked body. But not for this.

So I went into one of the tents eagerly and curiously. My eyes sparked instantly when I saw the exhibition inside. It was an implementation of technical knowledge exhibition targeting at children less than 10-year old.

Okay, I’ve to admit that I was equally attracted, if not more than those small kids, to every exhibition booth. They were so interactive. The idea for visitors to the exhibition was not to squeeze into different booths and to grab some freebies. Instead, they were invited to participate in numerous interactive experiments and demonstrations.

One particular demonstration that interested me greatly was the Ruben Tubes. I don’t really understand the physics theory behind the implementation (because I couldn’t study anything from the Norwegian banner), but I guess it has something to do with pressure.

So why was it interesting? Try to imagine the explanation of such invention was not by using lectures, but by karaoke. Sounds fun isn’t it? Children can actually participate in the exhibition by proofing to the world why World Idol was from Norway and not America, by showcasing their singing talent while observing the changes in flame along the Ruben Tubes.

The other exciting exhibition I found was the solar and heat generated Lego car. It was simple, by transforming energy from heat and solar power to mechanical energy that drove the car forward.

One other thing was of course, related to my major, coastal engineering. They had this micro-scale wave generator that explained the motion of water particle in a wave and also the response of vessels to this motion of water particle. It was a combination between live demonstration and one-to-one explanation via animated computer programmes.

Some other interesting exhibitions include, the primitive wood rotating fire making process, the computer programming cum chemistry like drink making exhibition, and also instant human model simulation via scanning.

So now you see the reason why Norwegians are strong in the mastery and implementation of technical knowledge. It is because the country cultivates their younger generation to become the next Newton or Laplace since small.

It is crucial to emphasise that the exhibition is not made to impress public, but to really deliver the knowledge by having immense amount of interaction between organiser and visitors. If Malaysia would like to achieve vision 2020, this might be something that our government, or at least our higher education institutions should learn from.

Caption (clockwise from top left):
Heat and solar power generated Lego car
Some wind power generation demonstration
Wood stick drilling for fire making, with "primitive" tribe assistant
Micro-scaled wave generator
Ruben Tubes with kid singing Linkin Park's song

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Who said they are shy?

Shut up and stop telling me the piece of crap about how shy Norwegians can be! It is plain bullshit! Jiann Chyuan frisked through the entire body of Norwegian and found only this 18SX (or PG) photo.

Who was the one telling me that Norwegians are shy? The international office.
Who was the one telling me that Norwegians are shy? The student Union.
Who was the one telling me that Norwegian are shy? My flat mates.
Who were the one objecting that Norwegian are shy? THE NORWEGIANS.

Okay, I honestly have to admit that I’ve talked about Norwegians for like a thousand times. But frankly, you will never feel bored of talking about Norwegians, because they are as unpredictable as the notorious weather of Trondheim.

I mean look at the picture. You got to be kidding me like I’m a three-year-old mischievous child and easily deceived by the statement saying that Norwegians are shy. It was about one in the afternoon, the peak hour for people to pass by the busiest corridor in Gløshaugen, and this bunch of ‘shy’ Norwegians were lying naked on the floor in the central building.

Wait, I forgot there was another bunch of obviously ‘shy’ Norwegians singing in their elementary pyjamas. Did I tell you also another bunch of ‘Tarzans’ in their sexy semi-transparent leopard skin dress climbing on top of each other?

Okay, they were just playing games. But weren’t the games were crossing a little (in my interpretation, too much) of the border lines? But definitely, I salute their bravery. It is definitely not as easy as you think when it comes to destroying the barrier of your shamefulness.

So the question is back to the origin. If they are really that shy, why would they choose to do this? It was totally contradictory to what they labelled themselves with. Are they simply just desperate for attention? I don’t know. But to choose to flash your I-suppose-defined body sculpture to the public, in the most crowded area, during the busiest time, there must be some hidden agendas.

Of course, I think they were very successful in giving a sight of sore eyes to the passers-by. I hope so. Because I noticed there was certainly an awesome amount of public couldn’t take their eyes off the round tight ass exposed in the air, while they were actually complaining about their confusion on Norwegians.

I’m not sure why they want to have these kinds of activities in the very first place. I heard that some student organisations are actually having all sort of outrageous recruitment methods for their new members. Of course, lying naked on the floor might be a common one after all.

Well, at least from the memories that I can recall, I have not really seen any Norwegians whom eagerly and sometimes constantly giving a free show to public was hanging in a pair of loose, worn out briefs. Commonly but not coincidentally, they are always with this cute and tight briefs, printed with colourful patterns. I just couldn’t help myself but wondering how much efforts they have put into selecting the right briefs to show off when they knew they are going to have some tiger show in the public.

It is kind of unfair if I stereotype all Norwegians with this incident. When I showed my Norwegian flat mate eagerly with my proudest snapshot of the day, I felt lucky that I have actually got a very positive answer.

He told me it was plain stupid for people to do this. Okay, at least I can tell that he is sane. Well, I think if he was the one performing this action, he will not loose to anyone of the ‘performers’. Certainly, he has got a cute face and his work outs in the gym have certainly increased his attractiveness by a lot. But that is not the point. The point is not all Norwegians actually possess the same acceptance level.

Outrageous or acceptable? I will leave it to you to decide.

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Matriculation Ceremony

It is sad to have missed my big day; graduation ceremony in UTM. But isn’t loss always come with gain? Join Jiann Chyuan to a completely different “graduation ceremony” in Norway.

Graduation day is a big day for most of the students pursuing a certificate in higher education. But in Norway, graduation day doesn’t exist. However, it is fortunate enough that there is a substitution to recognise this glamorous event.

It is called the matriculation ceremony. But instead of fare-welling successful graduates from the institution, it is actually a traditional way in Norway to welcome all new degree-seeking students, and to celebrate that they are going to begin their life in universities.

Well, to welcome students in orientation week is definitely not uncommon. But the supposed-to-be-formal event of matriculation ceremony is very unique if compared to the ordinary orientation programmes. It is big, too big that it is absolutely comparable to graduation ceremony held in other universities in the world. (Repetitive statement is meant for emphasis. And in this case, it means BIG!)

However, big doesn’t always mean bureaucratic.

In fact, it is so informal, casual, relaxing, and surprisingly, entertaining!

Firstly, you don’t have to spend money for this ceremony, not even a single cent. Why? Simple, no graduation ceremony fee, no need to register for photo taking session, and the most important and funny part is, you can even wear singlet and shorts to receive your matriculation certificate!

Okay, I’ve to admit it is too exaggerating to have mentioned singlet (but it is true for the case of shorts), probably because the weather in Trondheim is too cold for singlet. But a simple pullover will do the trick. Why would such a big event so tolerable to students’ attire? I’ve no idea. But I did enjoy it a lot, because it has less hassle (zero actually).

The matriculation ceremony was divided into two parts. As simplicity kicks in (as it is in this country), these two parts are simply called part I and part II. For the matriculation part II, it was just when everyone from the same faculty sitting quietly (and dressing casually) in an auditorium, while waiting for their names to be called for receipt of certificates. It was nothing interesting, except witnessing the head of faculty to shake hand and saying “good luck” for a few hundreds time.

The fun part of matriculation ceremony was, what else if not the part I. It was also in this part of the ceremony that makes me wonder the toleration’s limit of university in this institution.

It is not hard to imagine the fun. A huge stage in the middle of the field with thousands of audiences standing under the rare warm sun, and again, dressing commonly casual, and were accompanied by extremely entertaining performances. Still find it hard to imagine? How about a few “hot” guys dressing in tube-top and super tight hot pants, dancing in Pussycat Dolls’ remixed version of Don’t Cha?

Again, isn’t the toleration of Norwegian university is a bit excessive? But I have to agree that Trondheim is undoubtedly a very happening student city. Student activities are very active in this city. Want to know more what students do in Trondheim? Stay tuned in the future.

Back to matriculation ceremony (part I). Other than “hot dance”, there were also musical performances, musical drama and dancing, all performed by students. Of course, the inevitable ones were speeches from all the highest administrative officers. Provided that they spoke in English, otherwise I just shifted my attention to most elsewhere.

Event lasted for only 2 hours. Short and concise. Exactly! What is the p oint of asking everyone to sit in a hall waiting for a few hours for their turn to receive their certificate? Maybe institutions in Malaysia should consider such a lively event for graduation ceremony.

From left (click to enlarge):

Mascots? They are promoting student activities actually.

All the VIPs.

Pussycat Dolls, Male version.

One of the musical performances.

The audience. Doesn't this look like outdoor concert?

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