Explore the possibilities.

Never be afraid to choose a road that nobody chooses.

Challenge new boundaries

Nobody knows what lies beyond.

There is always something new every day.

Pay attention to little details in your life and appreciate them.

Share the knowledge.

It is always fun to talk to someone who knows the subject as well as you do.

Be excited, and remember the excitement.

Never say you're too old to do something.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

International Habits I Picked Up

Being almost 24/7 with people from 13 different countries aside from mine for about a year developed some habits in me.

The Italian gesture
When I feel like saying WTF, I do this sign:


Cooking rice like pasta
Boil rice in a pan with lots of excess water, just like you boil pasta. I do it when I'm too lazy watching over the pot and when I don't want to scrub the pot.

Adding salt to rice
Just like how my friend from Ghana would do it.

Greetings by kisses
On the cheeks, like the Dutch and most Latin people. Twice, and sometimes three times.

Words in other languages
In Paris, I had the habit of saying bonjour, sil vous plait, mademoiselle, monsieur, and merci even to my friends (and none of them are French). In Sweden, we often say hej hej and tack as well. Also, I would greet my Spanish speaking friends with ¿cómo estás and thank them with muchas gracias. And occasionally, I would spit out chingao.

Forks and knives on the table

Instead of spoon and forks. I'm kind of used to eating rice with a fork now. Not very intuitive for me, but it works.

Sunbathing
I still don't like sunbathing but I would occasionally join my friends for a sunbathing session.

"What did you learn today?"
It is a phrase that my dear German friend would ask at the dinner table.

Late lunch and late dinner
In the Latin culture, lunch is at 3 PM and dinner is at 10 PM. Fortunately, this did not happen too frequently.

Sweden - Lund Botanical Garden (Botaniska trädgården)

*Warning: heavily loaded with pictures.



Just to the east of Lund city centre is the Botanical Garden, run by Lund University. There is no entrance fee, I had not been there, and it was the last Friday I will spend in Sweden. Why not check it out? :)

The opening hours of the Botanical Garden is as follows:
15 May - 15 Sep: 6:00 AM - 9:30 PM
16 Sep - 14 May: 6:00 AM - 8:00 PM

And the greenhouses are open daily only from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM. I was there around 4, so I did not get the chance to explore the greenhouses.

Before spamming you with pictures of flowers and plants that are exotic to me, I'll show some interesting things you can find in the garden. I entered the garden from the west entrance.



From the west entrance, keep going towards the south of the garden. There is a collection of rocks from the province of Skåne.



And one of them is a meteor stone :D



If you walk further on, following the path of the trail, you'll see a path with various colourful flowers on the right and left of the path. It's a really nice path to take a stroll :)




And oh, don't get too close to the bee farm. See those red boxes in the picture below? If it's not clear enough on the photo, you can also see bees swarming around those boxes. 



And, as I explained before, there are greenhouses too.



Just next to the greenhouses are the garden cafe.




When the weather is nice, sitting down and taking a sip of coffee is great. Unfortunately for me, I came rather late and all the seats were occupied.

And lastly, you can have a picnic there!



And that's it! Enjoy the rest of the pictures :)