Nothing Lasts Forever by Sidney Sheldon

My Review: 4/5

Another great book by Sidney Sheldon about love, hate, society, murder, profession and ambition. The main characters are the three young female doctors who are just starting their way to 5 years training in the hospital. 

Dr. Paige Taylor: She is a natural born doctor. She is enthusiastic, hard working and adventurous but when she inherits a million dollar from a patient that hated her guts, she is in trouble. 

Dr. Honey Taft: A society victim! She is from higher class family and because of her family status; she was forced to become a doctor despite nurse being her ambition. With her not being so intelligent, Dr. Honey decides that there is only one way to get into medicine school: by selling her body.   

Dr. Kat Hunter: The most serious one! Because of her bad childhood, she vowed never to let another man touch her again but as an author suggested, nothing last forever and she trapped herself into a deadly challenge that cost her life.  

The reason I am giving 4 stars is because I have read other better books from Sidney Sheldon. It is a simple and straight forward book with no suspense. Its good but not the best. Still, it’s a great page-turner. I guess its a magic of Sidney Sheldon. It describes the normal everyday life of doctors. Even though the story was bit slow in some cases, I really enjoyed it that I had no idea when I finished this book. The author is right. Nothing last forever..... not even a good book. 

Sidney Sheldon is certainly one of my favourite authors :).

Copenhagen, Denmark

Another long weekend, and again a perfect opportunity to step outside Germany. In summer like this, there is no better place to go to than one of the Scandinavian countries. We chose Copenhagen, Denmark.

Beside Netherlands, Denmark is the most English friendly non-English speaking country I have visited so far. Every age group spoke fluent English that made me think whether English is really one of their official languages.

The first impression: the layout of the city was bit similar to Finland but most of the houses looked like the mixture of Manchester and Netherlands. From outside, the houses looked really clean and tidy as if all the houses had been smoothed by a trowel by a same person with accurate measurement after construction. Copenhagen has a target to become greenest city in the world soon and by the look of it, they are actually not far away. The city looked very clean. 

Amagerstrand Beach

On the day we reached there, we decided to spend time in beach area. I was quite surprised not to see many people there. Only few people who came for evening jog/walk were seen and few other individuals who looked like they came to forget their hard day. I remember in UK, at time and weather like this, most of the beaches are overcrowded. The water was really clean though. It was evening time but the reflection of the visible lights from the depth of the sea resulted the outcome of green, pink, blue and purple colours. It looked like a rainbow. 

 

Nyhavn

Nyhavn is the most popular place in Copenhagen. Nyhvn means New (Ny) Harbour (Havn). Similarly, Copenhagen means buying ( Copen) and Harbour (Hagen). Nyhavn was built in 1670. During that time, Copenhagen had lots of international visitors to sell their stuffs. Most of the businesses used to take place in Nyhavn. It is known that it once used to be a red light district as well but all changed in 1970s and now it has become one of the most popular harbours without of course red light district.

Apparently, the famous Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, who is popular for writing fairy tale stories used to live in this street because the national theatre was so close to this place.

There is a cruise running frequently in the river that spreads and finds its way through the city, just like Amsterdam. It costs 40 Krone but free with Copenhagen card. You can explore and relax at the same time. If you indeed decide to go for cruising, I would recommend not to miss Black Diamond building and Christianhavn. The Black Diamond building is one of the Royal libraries built in 1999, with black granite and glass. It stands by the lake and on clear sunny day, the sunlight gets reflected from the material of the building. Hence, it sparkles like a diamond. Not only that, the reflection of the building can be seen in the water, just like Macchapuchre's in Phewa Lake. You can actually go inside this building. Christianhavn, on the other hand is a 17th century neighbourhood. When Christian IV first built it, people didn't want to live here because it was so far away from the city centre. So the King decided to make this place tax free zone that appealed many people to live here eventually. Now, things have changed. Everyone has to pay tax because its not far from the city due to the improved transportation facilities.

After a cruise, sit by the harbour and have a coffee or beer, there is nothing better than that. If you want to see Denmark's narrowest house, its house number 4 in Nyhavn. By the way, there is one famous tree by the harbour, which is known as the most photographed tree in Denmark. Shame I didn't take picture there :(.

                                     

                                              The Queen's Palace

Just like UK, Denmark also has the Queen because King Frederick IX (father of the Queen) only had daughters. The Queen's Palace is one of the attractions in Copenhagen but I was quite surprised with the location and operation of the palace. I was expecting it to be something like Buckingham Palace (Grand and surrounded by tall walls) but the palace is quite small and people can actually step up to its doorstep. There were other similar houses around it and these houses with a palace are located in a round shape, making a big open ground in the middle. People can go in the ground and take pictures whichever angle they want. The house shown in the picture below is where the Queen lives. Apparently, she is a heavy smoker and that's why the house has 5 chimneys. Another interesting thing about the royalties in Denmark is, every king is called either Frederick or Christian. If a father is Frederick, a son is called Christian. Royal daughters are also given classy and royal names like Elizabeth, Emilia, Louise or Margaret.

The Round Tower

The Round tower is also one of the attractions built around 17th century by the King, Christian IV. The tower is 34.8 metres tall with spiral way as shown in the picture that takes you to the top. From there, you can see the whole Copenhagen. Most of the places I have been so far, I was always excited to visit these kind of towers but this time I wasn't that interested. In Berlin or Prague or even Hamburg, I went to the top but I couldn't actually see the difference between them. Only if there were famous places like Eiffel Tower or Statue of Liberty or even Sydney Opera, it is worth it otherwise, its like looking down from the plane. Everything looks same. We only went there because it was free with Copenhagen card and we heard we can see even Sweden in blue and sunny sky like this. However, watching Sweden from there was like watching France from Dover Cliffs. Nothing interesting apart from a murky horizon across the sea where the sky meets the land.  

The Blue Planet- National Aquarium

Near Copenhagen airport is the home of 20000 aquatic animals of about 470 species. It was actually the first time I visited any aquarium and I was over excited. However, compared to how big the building is from outside, I couldn't see much inside. I thought may be they need extra room for the operation of this building. Its free entry with Copenhagen card and without, it costs 160 Krone. The only bad thing is, the nearest train station is in an airport which is about 15 minutes by walk. This is one of the main attraction and there is no proper transport service? I couldn't believe it, but later I found out that there is a regular bus service. So be familiar with bus route if you are going there.

The Little Mermaid

This statue is known as a symbol of Copenhagen. The Little Mermaid is actually a fairy tale story written by Hans Christian Andersen. It is known that Andersen was very fond of ballet dancing that inspired him to write this story.The story is about an aquatic creature woman who has a fish tail. She attempts to live like a human once she sees a prince and falls in love. The statue built in 1913 sits on the big rock by the harbour, making me think what happens to it if ever the water level increases. The statue of Little Mermaid turned 100 years last year. During this century, her head and hand were chopped off twice. The 2nd time, they couldn't find the head so they built it again. Apparently, on her 100th birthday, 100 virgins jumped into this lake (but not sure it's true).

Overall, it was a good break. Weather was really good and I am tanned a lot. Just that the city was too expensive compared to other European countries (except UK). At some point, I felt like I am actually eating money there. We had altogether 2 days. So we thought 48 hours Copenhagen card would be good investment but it is too expensive ( 67 Euro for 48 hours :( ) and most of the Museums (which are free with Copenhagen card) are closed on Monday. We also had bit of difficulty in understanding train time tables and destination. In the information centre, they say one platform and when you go there, the platform screen shows something else. Later, we came to know that the train actually separates during the journey and goes to different destinations. There was no train numbers and destination written in front or at the side of the train but only 'Free internet' everywhere. The 'free internet' logo was as big as people from Sweden can also see it but its actually only free for subscribed customers. However, Metros were really good. Be extra careful if you are travelling via train. 

Inferno by Dan Brown

My Review: 4/5

Dan Brown is one of my favourite authors. I was actually badly waiting for his new release and when this book came out, I was so excited (Robert Langdon is back!). It’s been nearly a year since I got this book as my birthday present but I don’t know what took me so long to finish it.

As much as I love to, it is difficult to write a review about this book because it is a suspense story and if you are planning to read it, I don’t want to ruin the suspense. So here is just an overview of the book:

'The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis' - Dante Alighieri 

The whole story is based on above quote. A genius genetic scientist Bertrand Zobrist is very obsessed with Dante Alighieri’s Divine comedy, a great poem describing Dante's journey after death through hell to heaven. Dante's hell has 9 rings for different type of punishment and the darkest place in there is for those who don't react in crisis as the quote suggested. 

It is shown that Zobrist is concerned about overpopulation and believes that according to the size of the earth, the population should be around 4 billion. He sees population growth as a major crisis world is facing now. So, in order to react to the crisis, he has plotted a virus to decrease the population growth. To stop this destruction, the World Health Organisation hires a symbolist Robert Langdon to crack a code that is believed to guide them to a place where Zobrist has hidden his virus. Now, Langdon has 24 hours to crack the code and save the world. Still, I don’t understand why Zobrist had to leave the code behind for finding the virus if he didn’t want anyone to find it.

There are obviously things to criticise but…. I still love to read Dan Brown. I like to read for all his hard work he spends researching his plot and time he invests in deciding what to put in this book. His books give me a feeling that I am watching a serial, where there are similar characters and genre but different plots. I love them because they belong to the category where you know what’s going to happen but don’t know at the same time. I love them, also because once I am done with reading for a day, I still think about the story in bed and assume what’s going to happen after that. Even if Dan Brown writes a worst book ever, I will still read it.

The best thing about his books are, it describes the history of the places in such an interesting and adventurous way. The book is fast paced and has suspense from 1^st page till last page. That makes the whole story more interesting. Overall, a great read. Just wondering when he is writing next!

Surviving Engineering Degree!

It is actually a long due post. When I first started Chemical Engineering, I was quite nervous like any other students. Then I started searching tips to pass this course on internet. That led me to this article, which actually motivated me a lot. At that time, I promised to write my own version of it once I graduate. Now, exactly a year after leaving University, I am fulfilling a promise I gave myself 5 years ago.

So many students ask me about Engineering life, mostly “How difficult it is?”, “Can you give me some hints how to pass it” and “What are the future prospects of this degree” are the very common questions students ask me. Here in this post, rather than saying do this and do that, I will mainly write about how I completed Engineering degree and what are the things I had to do to survive this course:

1. Managing time efficiently

University is not school anymore. You are responsible for managing your own time. At the start of the year, you will be given a yearly plan for all the courses. All you have to do is make your own plan one step ahead of a professor. Especially, in terms of coursework, do not procrastinate! You cannot leave anything for the last minute.

2. Team work

Since our first year, we were encouraged to work in a group. We had group in every lab session or problem based learning session because Engineering is all about group work. I actually found few people being uncomfortable working with opposite gender. In that case, I would worry.  There were so many times when I was the only girl in my group. Just be comfortable working in group. This is Engineering.

3. Increasing the network

When you are stuck, ask for help! More people you know, more help you get. Specially in my case, there were so many times when I was standing outside lecturer’s office just to clear some doubts. If you have a good friendship with your teacher and colleagues, they will happily explain you. Also, communicate well! You can’t stay in one corner and finish 4 years of Engineering degree. Communicate with others. Talk about academic or non-academic things. Get involved in societies. After all, its all about improving your interpersonal skills. 

4. Staying awake whole night 

There is always a room for improvement. There was not a single time in coursework when I was happy to submit or felt I had done everything. No deadline was enough for anything. So many times, me and my friends stayed up whole night to finish the coursework. Many times, I was still writing until final 10 minutes to submission deadline. At the end of the week, you are completely worn out but the important thing is, you should be able to say ‘I couldn’t have done anything better’. You shouldn’t regret. 

5.  Multitasking 

I don’t know about other countries but from where I graduated, students are piled up with coursework and exams all the time. Coursework from different subjects are due at the same time. You just have get used to it. It's hard to find happy Engineering students who has done everything on time. You are mostly running behind but work smart and remember, this is very common.

6. Making library my second home

I wrote library here because library was like my second home when I was at University. It totally depends on where you are more productive. The main thing about this point is, you have to have a strong work ethic. You have to read but not get bored. So, improve your reading habits. Most importantly, stay focused on your goal. 

7.  Teaching

Everyone knows teaching is the best way of learning. Whether it was me teaching my friends or my friends teaching me, we have found this method really effective way to improve our own knowledge. Mostly I found it an effective way of remembering in exams. So, when you are helping others, you are also helping yourself.

8. Attending every lecture

I never skipped any lecture until final year. Final year was filled with dissertation headache and there was a time when my dissertation appointment clashed with lectures and unfortunately, I had to skip some of them. Still, I suggest not to skip any of it. Even though you are yawning in the class, you are still picking up something and when you are revising it later, it is not totally stranger.

9. Attempt all past papers

There has been a time during my Engineering degree when I left out past papers due to shortage of time and exam was similar to past exams. Then I promised myself that I will never leave past paper out again but I think my teachers heard my promise and they never repeated that mistake.

10. Be independent 

I said earlier to be a team worker but now I am saying to be independent. What I mean here is, you cannot rely on others to do all your coursework. You can discuss in a group but at the end of the day, it’s your work and your degree. This point is especially applicable when you are doing dissertation. During this time, you are completely alone because everyone has different topic. If you are trained well to be independent, you will survive.

The Empty House by Rosamunde Pilcher

My Review: 2/5

A sweet story about love and life! This book is about getting a second chance.

It is known that every girl has to have one unhappy love affair before she finally meets the right man and settles down and gets married. Virginia, a 27-year-old widow and a single mother of two children goes to Cornwall to recover from flu but instead, encounters with a man she fell in love 10 years ago. At 17, she was too vulnerable to fight for her first love and in distress, chooses a wrong person to marry. It is already too late before she realises her mistake but God give her second chance. This time, she is strong and doesn’t want to repeat that mistake.

The reason I am only giving 2 stars is because I thought an author spent too much time describing something, which is not relevant to the story. I found her writing style quite boring as well. Story is good but not memorable. Overall, it can be a good one for anyone who is looking for a quick read.