Yellow-tinted Autumn @ Copenhagen

Copenhagen is my favorite city so far (well, I've only been to Amsterdam and Prague...). The tree leaves turned red and yellow falling down on the grass; sunshine projected through the branches and created patterns on the pathway; ran into a nicely-designed cafe where the choice of lighting, pillows and furnitures was just right; hanging out with my friend who is a contemporary dancer I met in Berlin and also the reason why I traveled to Copenhagen.

Night bus is 8 hours ride including getting on the boat for about an hour. I would suggest booking the flight earlier so you can get a good price and it's only an hour. Copenhagen is quite a small city that you can just walk or bike around. 

Walking in this beautiful park is like a dream for me since there's nothing like this in Taiwan neither LA. Everything is just beautiful in Copenhagen. (Some people even complain it's way too beautiful)

Yellow, yellow, yellow.

Christiania is an interesting place that you can buy weed on the street. I didn't know much about it but it seems like an independent municipal. You can bring your sleeping bag there and find a free place to stay.
I would suggest going to Paper island, just at the other side of Nyhavn. There's a building where you can find street food from all over the world. Sitting on the bank while enjoying good food and the view towards Nyhavn is quite enjoyable.

My fav cafe so farrrrrrrrrr

Copenhagen is more expensive than Berlin for sure. But it's still acceptable. I've lived in San Francisco for 4 months this summer so I feel the price is reasonable. Paris, Zürich, Oslo are the places that I can't afford to travel right now...

oh ho ho ho.... I love this! It seems not hard to make it by yourself. I'm gonna try to make this for my lunch! (Please let me know if you have a good resource of recipe / ingredient / tips!)

Previous article: Listen to my Berlin diary (my drawing)

Listen to my Berlin diary

This is the visual and audible diary of my Berlin story. Instead of writing thousands of words, I sketched while listening to music to record my life. By presenting sketching, music, photos and some notes, hopefully I can bring you into my life and imagine how I felt at that time.
*You can find the original music piece at YouTube or Soundcloud by clicking the img.

Sep 1
Tiergarten
At the first day of exploring this city, I walked around Tiergarten. Surprisingly found some nude guys laying on the grass. Unlike the nude beach in SF, there were some young naked guys. I only saw them from far distance and felt interested that some of them had bikes aside.
José González is a Swedish singer currently stays in Berlin (there's a concert at Nov 3rd @Tempolhof). His music makes me feel very hipster. 

Sep 9
Oblomov Kreuzkoelln
My friend invited me to this open mic event in this cozy bar. There were 5-6 singers from different places. This guy’s voice was so intoxicating that invoked me so many memories. Instead of literally drawing out what I was thinking of, I used different materials to visualize the different memories. 

Sep 12-13
Tempelhof
European has very different style than American in music festival. Water bottle was not allowed to bring in but the juice box was ok? Almost everyone used the tape to carry the juice box. Flower headband is a must-have item! Can’t miss it next time! BTW not many Asian there. probably only 1/100.

Sep 17
ZOB
My unforgettable birthday trip to Amsterdam started from missing the night bus in ZOB in a cold night. I couldn’t speak any German and not many people spoke English there. Waiting there for another 3 hours, I felt I was incredibly stupid and miserable. However, I didn’t expect it was just a start of my adventure. Happy 27th birthday, Princess C.
遠くの君のもとへと 届けよう

Sep 23
Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen
Before going to this notorious prison, I watched the movie “The lives of others” and that made me mentally immersed into this space more. The sketch was inspired by the lighting in the prison. Lots of eyes represent the the fear of prisoners, victims, suffered families as well as Nazi surveillance. Paradise Circus is the song I would listen over and over again when I feel depressed. 

Sep 26
Berghain
This is definitely the must-go in Berlin. I went there around 3am since I fell asleep quite early on Friday night. Surprisingly there was no line
and I had no problem getting in. It was a crazy place but I was not really into techno. It was very funny that the shutter was opened for
few seconds to remind people it was bright outside. When I got out of the club, it was 8 am. Having a coffee and start my day.

Everyday
OTA
The wifi in my apartment is just way too incredible! It was never stable even though we had complained at the very beginning. It caused lag everytime I videochated with my friend as if I was living in Indonesia. (I’ve lived there so trust me, it was the same quality) Now I can’t even watch Taylor Swift’s vedio on YouTube, how sweet!

Sep 27
Dock 11
I didn’t know it was Butoh show until I got there since I couldn’t read German on the website. It was avant-garde, untraditional and provocative but I was really touched. I projected myself in it that how I've struggled in my life and felt very depressed. “You are manipulated by others, you are no longer free.” 

Rainy days
Schönhauser Allee
This is the street I walked to Hekersher markt station everyday. Walking is like meditation for me. It's like a morning ritual putting on my earphone and thinking about philosophy. Sometimes the depressing weather triggered the sad part of me. I didn't try to escape the feeling; kinda enjoy indulging in the peaceful and sentimental feeling. This song is like my Prozac. I used to listen every day.

Sometimes
On the street
No description needed.

Oct 7
Flying Step Academy
I got into the room which was supposed to be intermediate house dance. However, they switched the classroom and that was my first ever advanced Hip Hop class, taught in German. So much fun. I had no idea what I was doing.

Oct 16
://about blank
It was the first night going out party with other Art Center kids. Absolutely fun night. Wearing heels was the biggest mistake because I was very painful when I walked home at the next day's morning.

Oct 17
Kesselhaus
This is my first time going to street dance battle event. Well, not the one dance in the middle but an observer. It was really cool and some kids were very impressive. I’m gonna let my kid learning dancing (if I have a kid).

Oct 20
Einstein Kaffee
There was only two weeks left. I felt so stressful since there were tons of things to be completed and I was not good at coding (so I gave up). I usually came to this cafe in Bikini Berlin so I could be more concentrated. Snapchat was my fav when I needed to relax. Normally I listen to deep house or jazz while working but I like EDM when I’m extremely stressful. Jauz is one of my fav DJ.

Very often
Studio
I didn’t know Haribo is German brand until I saw Haribo everywhere in Berlin. There are much more flavors here, so does Ritter Sport. It’s very hard to resist the temptation when I walk by in the supermarket. I love binging sweets especially when I’m stressed out. (It's just an excuse)

Oct 22
Cafe Einstein
At the final day of German class, we went to this fine cafe with teacher Krestin. It was surprisingly a nice place and everyone looked elegant and relax. But my friend's and my cake never came so I asked the waiter if we could cancel it. He just said: "TALK TO ME! I'm very busy" as if it was my fault not reminding him. (The cake shelf was just right next to me) Or maybe it's just his English. 

Oct 23
Cafe Savigny
Found this nice cafe when I was wandering around zoobanhof (which our studio is located). No wifi, classical music, sophisticated people, well-dressed waiters, beautiful sunshine projecting through the trees and window... can't help imagining myself as an elegant lady sipping coffee. Well, the real fact is I was wearing glasses, sports top, legging and spread the eraser litter all over the table because I was drawing crazily. How attractive! To be honest, I played piano (classic) for 7 years when I was a child. My father is also a classic music lover so this music reminds me the old time at home.
The third picture on the right is not my photo. It's my friend, Stella, and she's a fashion blogger based in New York. Go check out her blog (written in both English and Chinese): http://satelierofficial.com/ 

This diary totally reveals who I am and what I'm doing (I feel I'm naked now woooooo...) I just realized the comic still strongly influenced my style even though I haven't drawn comic for more than 10 years. I've been trained to practice industrial product sketching since I studied in Art Center and that helps the perspective and composition a lot. Anyway, hope you enjoy reading and listening it ;-)

Next article: Yellow-tinted Autumn @ Copenhagen
Previous article: Walk into the fairy tale - Prague

Walk into the fairy tale - Prague

Prague is definitely beautiful and I really enjoyed this trip. However, my credit card was stolen there and the fraud guy spent 3000 euro online in a day... I already canceled the card but it made me have a mix feeling. 

Kutna Hora is a small town one hour away from Prague by train. I would recommend you to check it out if you have some free time. Bone church is what it's famous for but there are more to be explored. I went there on Saturday and it was relatively quiet since some of the shops were closed. 

Trdelník - This is the Bohemian traditional dessert you can easily find on the street. I LOVE it!! So delicious but it's very sweet (since there's tons of sugar on it). Must try if you travel to Prague. 

Previous article: The beauty of aerodynamics - Porsche and Mercedes museum @ Stuttgart

The beauty of aerodynamics - Porsche and Mercedes museum @ Stuttgart

When I visited Munich last weekend for Oktoberfest, my friend, a car lover, mentioned the Porsche and Mercedes museum in Stuttgart which is 2.5 hrs away from Munich. He had a car but too bad I couldn't drive manual so he had to drive all the way there and back haha. Although I'm not a car designer, it's very fascinating to see these beautiful curve and transition. (I'm not really into mechanical part even though I was an engineer)

This model was created before second world war. The designer is a nut!

Oh yeah I wish I had it... I even didn't have a chance to sit in it... You can rent a Porsche car at museum but it need 2 weeks ahead of reservation (a month if you want to rent it in the weekend). The price is not cheap so I didn't think about it. There's also Porsche factory allowing people to take a peak of how it's manufactured. But it only opens in weekdays and reservation is also required.

Then we decided to visit the Mercedes Benz museum nearby.

This museum is huge. The interior is very well-designed in terms of user experience. 

I love the design of elevator. It represents the time capsule taking you back to the history.

It takes you from the very beginning of the history from the top floor to the modern cars which located at the lower floor. At the end, it takes you back to the classic cars again.  I'm wondering who designed this museum. A lot of details are well-crafted.

If you are really interested in car, BMW museum is in Munich. I didn't have chance to take a look but my friend said it's also very cool.

Previous article: Drinking, Singing and Dancing in Oktoberfest @ Munich

Drinking, Singing and Dancing in Oktoberfest @ Munich

I'm pretty lucky to get a seat in Oktoberfest @Munich thanks to INSEAD people. A lot of people said it was very touristy (especially German) and yes it was. I still had a lot of fun since this was also INSEAD 15J reunion. (I was an exchange student earlier this year)

I haven't been to any Oktoberfest before so everything was interesting to me: people wearing Dirndl got so drunk (everywhere! U-Bahn! on the street!) ate, drank and danced in the huge tent. Mostly white people there and I was the only (Eastern) Asian girl in that tent...

Previous article: Design Project - Berlin Underground

Design Project - Berlin Underground

A lot of people ask what I'm doing in Berlin. Of course I'm not just traveling around and writing blog. I'm in a study abroad program held by Art Center College of Design and doing a project until Oct 30. There are 10 students in this program and most of them are from graphic design. Each of us has individual project and it has to related to Berlin underground (not main-stream culture, alternative). It's great coming back to school surrounded by creative kids and have so much freedom doing my own design project. (In my previous intern, clients had a lot of saying. )

It's not easy to see underground culture and figure it out what we want to do for our project in a week especially most of us came to the US as the first time. We don't speak any German either... We have German language (jaaa!) and culture class which the teacher, Michael, will take us around the city or into the museums. So we understand the Berlin history more than the average tourists. We also have Tuesday German movie night which made me very, very depressing because it was really messed up... 

To have our own perspective towards this special city, in the first week we were asked to explore as much as we could and gave a subjective presentation as group.

We use the cool website called "New hives" where you can mix and overlap the different media on one page. Check out our page (Michelle / Franco / me) - http://newhive.com/jaaaaaaaaaa/profile/feed

At the beginning of the second week, each of us pitched three ideas and then decided one to work on. 

Normally I won't talk about my project until the final presentation because it changes all the time lol I'm pretty sure what I'm doing now and I've been here for a month so it's good time to take a record. Next week will be the midterm presentation so the concept is getting solid. 

Let me introduce the new experimental dancing studio - EMOSCHÖN

SCHÖN = Beautiful in German. So it's a kind of dance about emotion and beautiful. That's how much I can tell you now haha. Will keep it posted after organizing my research.

When I pitched the three ideas at the second week, apparently dancing was the strongest one because I love it. (Previous article about how I love dancing) Before I went to dancing studio when I wanted to take a break from the academic work or design projects. Now going to the dancing studio is also part of the research. How great is that! But I started to try different genres of dance that I never thought I would try such as modern dance technique, contemporary dance (gaga, contact improvisation). I still like street dance so I go to different dancing studios every week. Also see some dancing performance to get some inspiration. 

Here's the list of the dancing studios I've been:
Flying steps academy (the monopoly of street dance studio in Berlin. really nice studio)
Tanz Fabrik (contemporary)
Motion Tanz Berlin (contemporary / street dance)
Marameo
DanceWorks (Modern / contemporary)

Some classes are taught in German and that was really..... challenging.... Seriously, German is so HARD!!! I really like to live in Berlin but I don't want to learn German...(I never practiced speaking German with Berliners because I don't think anyone will understand what I'm talking...)

Follow us on instagram : @artcenter_testlab_berlin

Next article: Drinking, Singing and Dancing in Oktoberfest @ Munich

Previous article: Eat Pray Fun @ Bangkok Thailand

Eat Pray Fun @ Bangkok Thailand

This trip happened when I was studying in INSEAD, Singapore earlier this year. (It's a 4 month exchange program) The flight from Singapore to Bangkok was dirt cheap and we stayed in hostel which cost like nothing. We tried different sorts of street food and took tuk tuk or public transportation. The trip didn't cost much and the experience was amazing.

Here's the list I would recommend you to try in Bangkok:

I don't recommend transgender show because I'm not into that and I watched it when I was a child. (I've traveled to Thailand several times.) 

I also have to put something straight: there are lots of scams in Bangkok. TONS! Taxi drivers, tuk tuk drivers, random people on the street, travel agency, jewelry store, hospital... That really pissed me off after a rough day of being scammed. Most people are nice and it's safe in general. Just do some research on google (such as *tuk tuk / jewelry / scam*) and you still can have fun in the trip.

Definitely take a train to Ayutthaya! The package offered in travel agency is overpriced and they will tell you it's impossible to rent a motorbike there. (I asked them why and they couldn't answer.....)

I would recommend renting motorbike because it's pretty hot there. I often rode motorbike when I was in Taiwan so it was lots of fun for me!

Cooking class was lots of fun! The teacher was funny and explained every ingredient patiently. I'm not gonna lie: the dishes I made that day were so delicious! But I never try to make it by myself afterwards haha. (They also provided the printed recipe.)

Silom Thai Cooking School @ Bangkok

Floating markets near Bangkok: http://www.bangkok.com/shopping-market/floating-markets.htm

Previous article: Afternoon wandering @ Potsdam

Afternoon wandering @ Potsdam

After studying German in a cafe, The Barn, near my apartment, I decided to do something to relax myself. (Seriously, German totally fried my brain...). Potsdam is one hour away from my place. I didn't do any research before I went there so everything was surprise. 

It's an adorable town with brick buildings, nice cafe, and also beautiful garden.

It was a very satisfying short trip ending with breathtaking sunset.

Previous article: Happy 27th birthday @ Amsterdam

Happy 27th birthday @ Amsterdam

This solo trip has been pretty rough. Lots of unexpected happened but luckily I still got through and came back to Berlin eventually. It's truly an adventure. I'm happy to share it privately haha. Anyway, Amsterdam is a beautiful city but now it's really touristic and commercialized. 

Now I like to go explore a city without any solid plan. I did mark some spots on Google map and I think I marked this store Raw Materials when I found it on Pinterest or Cereal. 

I love the vintage furnitures and accessories in this store. Too bad I'm moving around all year long so I can't take any with me.

I've seen hoverboard many times on Skrillex's snapchat and luckily I had chance to step on it thanks to my friend! The first try was pretty scary because it started to run before I balanced myself. I threw my phone to my friend and asked to take a photo of me RIGHT NOW!! (before I fell down haha)

I did successfully maneuver the hoverboard eventually ;-) It's very nimble and looks cool on the street.

Although this trip was not as smooth as I expected, I did learn a lot of lessons during these three days. Life is never easy but I grow after overcoming some difficulties. The most important lesson I learned while traveling solo: The faster I can find the solution and adjust myself when shit happens, the more I can enjoy the journey. Life is too short to complain about something you can't change. 

My 26 has been amazing! I've traveled around, experienced a lot of different things that I've never tried before. I resumed dancing and had more confidence than before. I met awesome people who are passionate about their career, interests and life. I had dark period of time so I appreciate what I have even more. Keep searching another local min in mindquake ;-) 

Cheers!

Rock in Serene beauty - Hamburg

Don't be deceived by these wonderful sunny photos. This is NOT what I experienced when I got here from Berlin for 3-hrs bus ride! The rain was pouring and I didn't have an umbrella (well... I come from California...). I bought an 7€ umbrella in the train station and it broke in 10 min.... I was standing under the highway and pondering what I can do. Then I decided to go to Kunsthalle art museum to dry myself out. 

Personally I prefer modern art than classic oil painting. There are both in the exhibition to cater different taste. The old building is currently under modernized reconstruction and will reopen in 2016. The student ticket is only 6€.

The rain stopped pouring around 2 so I happily ran outside and wandered to the historic district. The great thing about this trip is that I didn't have solid plan when I got here so everything is unexpected. The view along the river is breathtaking!

It happened that a rock music festival was held in the Mitte district. Lots of beer tents and street food were crowded along the river. I sit at the bank while having a falafel and raspberry ice cream and enjoyed the sunshine with brief drizzle. 

It turned colder in the late afternoon and started raining again so I ditched out heading to a lovely cafe. 

Hamburg is a beautiful with historic old buildings compared with Berlin. Lots of young and old couples wandered along the river kissing each other. Don't worry if you come here alone, they city will make you fall in love with it.

Previous article: Oblivion - Berlin East Side Gallery