The Netherlands - Rotterdam Centraal Opening Day

My morning today was greeted by a lovely live performance of Bob Marley's song "Every Little Thing is Gonna Be Alright".

There was definitely something going on in Rotterdam Centraal Station. There were multiple live performances at the station, covering a wide range of music like pop, jazz and classical. The spirit-lifting mood began early in the morning. I came around 8 AM today, and it was already quite lively.

Activities were usual: during the rush hour, there was a stream of incoming and outgoing people going to school or work.

But still, it was very nice that people would stop to listen to the performances, even for just a couple minutes.

Today, the 13th of March, was the official opening day of the central station. The station had been going a series of renovations and sometimes I found it annoying to have some paths outside the station partially blocked due to construction works. Well, now it's finally done!

It seemed that the King also came to celebrate the opening of the station. Too bad I was at work. It seemed that there were a lot of people coming to celebrate.

On the way home from work, I had to stop by at the station again and there was an even bigger band performance starting at 6 PM.

And of course, the smaller performances closer to the train platforms still continued. This time, there was an opera performance, which I found very captivating. I stayed to listen to 3-4 songs they performed.

I left the station around 7, and the station was still pretty lively from simultaneous musical performances. It was a very joyful moment for me, especially after getting mentally exhausted from work.

Until I found out that the bike I parked behind the central station was stolen. Ah, bike thieves, thou art heartless bitches. I locked it against a pole with a chain, and also locked the wheels with an additional lock. And it was still gone :'(

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UK - Live Football Match @ Old Trafford, Manchester

I don't really follow football matches but I do get excited watching football games. And by football, I mean what North Americans would call 'soccer'. 

Since my brother is a big fan of Man United, I therefore automatically become a Man United supporter, and there is no better place to watch the match other than the Old Trafford.

My first live match was actually a big one: Man United v.s. Arsenal. We were standing (yes, not sitting) on the West Block 3102. That's directly behind the goal post of Man United on the first half of the match. Which means... there were no one else around us other than the hardcore fans of Man United. We pretty much did not sit down at all throughout the entire match. It's a 'standing seat'.

If you come about 15 minutes before the kick off, you can also see the Red Devil mascot wandering around the VIP area.

Soon after some warm up exercises, the players entered the field. 

And ready for the kick off!

Now, unlike watching the match live behind the TV, you don't hear any commentators at all throughout the match. There is no replays, too, so if you missed something... you just miss it. That's why it's much more engaging than watching American football where there are plenty of advertisement moments in between the match and that people are easily distracted with beers and cell phones. There is no time for you to lose focus on the match. Unless it's a really boring one, I guess.

So, you came to the stadium, watch the game, and... that's it?

NOPE!

One crucial part of enjoying a live football match is the singing and the chanting, which was annoyingly replaced by the buzz of vuvuzela in World Cup 2010, South Africa. You should also prepare to memorize the songs and chants before you go to a game, especially if you sit in the 'hardcore fans' area. For Man United's chants, you can check them out in websites like here and here. The most commonly chanted one was 20 Times!, and I even memorized the gestures now :)

And have you ever heard pounding sounds of drums throughout the match? Ever wonder where the drums are located? Well, here are the 'drummers':

See the men standing at the corner? They're the 'drum' bangers. They bang the aluminium structure they were leaning against throughout the game. 

The nicest part of watching a live game on site? When the team you support won the match!

Your first time watching a live match on site? Here's a few of my tips:

1. If you're watching the game in winter, make sure to dress warm enough. Chanting makes you feel warm, but when the game is not very exciting, sometimes people don't cheer that much and you'll feel cold. But if you forgot to bring your scarf or hat, you can always buy their official merchandise from the mega store just outside the stadium. Or if you prefer to save money, you can buy scarfs with Man United logo or faces of the players for 10 pounds.

2. Get some food before the game.

 There are hot dogs and burgers, and if you are the curious type, you can also try roasted pork with stuffings and gravy in Yorkshire pudding. I don't know if this is also available in other areas, but at least they are available in Old Trafford.

To be honest, I don't like Yorkshire pudding that much. It's spongy, it tastes unusual, it's rubbery, it's chewy... well, it just doesn't suit my taste. But hey, I tried it! :)

3. You can't bring drinks from outside, although you can buy it once you're inside. Of course, the drinks are more expensive than if you buy them at the supermarket, but I think the prices are not too bad.

By the way, because of my curiosity and because I trust my brother too much, I was led into buying Bovril because... I haven't heard of it and my brother pretended to know what it is. Chocolate drink, he said. Bah.

I feel like drinking a cup of beef bouillon from a coffee cup. Not the best drink to have in a football match.

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Sweden - Eurovision Grand Final Live at Malmö

I've officially been 2 weeks in Sweden but I haven't had the chance to update my blog!

I had to write something today because... it was the Eurovision Grand Finals! I am currently living in Lund, Sweden, which is about 10 minutes away by train. Yes, it's very close. And what a great timing for me as well!

There have been celebrations in Lund and Malmö throughout the week, but we were so busy with projects and meetings so we didn't really participate in the festivities on the weekdays.

Lund, with the slogan "We party too!", organized great performances at the city centre.

My friend and I decided to go to Malmö around 4 PM to walk around the city for a little bit.

I went to Malmö last week, but I still don't know many places in Malmö. It's not as big as Paris, but it's definitely pretty big.

The streets were filled with supporters from all over Europe. They were wearing their flags, had their faces painted... the city was really lively.

Just across the Central Station of Malmö is the Eurovision Village.

Thank God the weather was so beautiful! It was sunny, around 23 degrees C and a little windy.


It was a really pleasant feeling to see people enjoying the festivities on the streets, looking forward to cheer their countries, and perhaps just to watch the Eurovision grand finals (like me).

We wanted to buy the ticket at the Arena but of course they were sold out. Fortunately, we could watch the Grand Finals live on the screen at the City Centre.

When we came around 4 PM, there were magnificent dance performances filled with energy and passion of the youth from various dance studios.

Their dances made me feel energized after a long week of meetings until 11:30 PM. Living together with your project team members is nice, but it means that you can have a meeting at any time of the day, including close to midnight.

But anyways, aside from the performances and the buzz around the city, there was also the Street Food Corner, featuring traditional dishes from the area.

To be honest, I was very disappointed when my friend appeared to be disinterested to try these foods because she was craving for sashimi. In the end, I managed to try one of the foods served there:

It has a really unique flavour. The flavour itself is not in particular strong, but what makes it unique is the radish-looking root vegetable they put in the dish. I wasn't sure if it was radish, but it looked like radish and maybe it tasted like radish. I haven't had raw radish before, so I'm not entirely sure about this.

And we also went to a cheesecake cafe called Pronto. My friends from the program and I really liked the cheesecake here, but my friend who came all the way from Ireland didn't have a good impression of this. I still think that the raspberry white chocolate cheesecake was wonderful and if I ever go to Malmö I will definitely eat it again.

Back from the food business. Around 6-7 PM, the city became even more livelier than ever. I encountered these passionate supporters from Denmark:

Even though I'm in Sweden, I felt that 50% of all the Eurovision contest supporters in Malmö were Danish. Aside from the fact that Copenhagen is just across the bridge from Malmö, it seemed to me that they really love their country :)

My friends then texted me, saying that you can sit down on the grass at Folkets park while watching the big screen outdoors. It was quite a long walk from the City Centre.

It was really crowded with people from all over the place. I think my group kind of stood out a little bit because we were a mix of different countries: Guatemala, Italy, Indonesia, Singapore, Argentina, the Netherlands, China, Colombia and Greece.

Most people who came there were people of the same country. Nevertheless, we had so much fun, as usual :)

By the way, the Danish are powerful drinkers. Look at that 1 litre beer can! It's HUGE!!

We were having fun at Folkets Park until the Eurovision Grand Finale started. Why? It was because the sound system there was horrible and was beyond salvation. All we heard was boom boom boom boom and we heard nothing like a human voice. Everyone there looked so disappointed, and many started to leave the park - for home, or for the city centre. In our case, we tried going back to the City Centre because we heard that the sound system there was much better.

And that was actually a great decision.

The crowd was lively, and it was surprisingly peaceful to be amongst the crowd. There was no one pushing you and there was no big fear of pickpockets or dangerous drunkards. Even if it was not your country, you still cheered for them (the Swedish and Danish flags never ceased to wave no matter which country's song it was).

It was a great night, and a really awesome experience. I'm glad I didn't decide to watch it from the TV at home.

By the way, the Danish won. I thought Sweden would win again, but I can see why Denmark won :)

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