Whaaaaaaaa!? Yeah, I know. Traveling is exhilirating, addicting, and mostly wonderful. But I'm not just talking about traveling. I mean internships, study abroad, etc etc, as well. Maybe it's just me, but we are coming to an age when most of us don't stay in one place for all of our lives.
I mean, after high school, here's been my life. Started long distance (4 hours by plane) relationship with my high school girlfriend, started U of I, lived in San Francisco for 3 months, lived in Baltimore for 3 months, both summer internships. Made tons of friends. Had to say bye. Left Champaign after college. Said bye again. 4 months in Asia, made many temporary friends. 9 months in lausanne. Met so many great people, one of them being my recent ex-girlfriend. Painful, very very painful last few days. 2 more months in South America. Again, in the words of Tyler Durden, Single-Serving Friends.
Of course, all of these have been my choices, nobody was forcing me. But thinking about how I'm completely homeless (my family is in Japan now), it just kind of makes me long for stability. Relationships where the end is not in sight. A place I can call home.
As great as traveling is and has been, I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to starting a new life in Boston.
..........And now that all of that has been said, here's Argentina!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Oh the Dutch, the lovely lovely Dutch
How I love thee. Could not have asked anything more from my last European destination. The people, the culture, the city - no wonder why people love Holland so much, aside from pot. And let me take back what I said about Venice. Amsterdam is the most beautiful city in Europe. And it most certainly is the most tolerant city.
So I stayed in Utrecht for 4 days with a friend I met in Vietnam (connections connection, thank you Facebook). I made the short 20 minute train ride to Amsterdam almost everyday, and I was able to see much of what the city has to offer. The Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank's House, the city walking tour, and the Red Light District tour.
Btw, thats the bookcase door behind which the Frank family was hiding.
Being with a local also made the experience that much more special. knowing all of the right places, a very comfortable bed, and meeting other locals. It really sucked to say bye again (and again and again and again, yeah it sometimes suck to travel), but I know that I'll able to see them again, just a matter of time. But well, I'll talk about this later.
Some notions that I found out or been reconfirmed about the Netherlands or the Dutch people.
1. Bikes. Bikes everywhere. I mean, everywhere.
2. On average, they're the tallest people in the world.
3. Everybody speaks perfect American English - most probably because movies and TV shows are not dubbed into Dutch.
4. Every inch of the city smells like marijuana.
5. Some prostitutes are REALLY hot.
6. Dutch (the language) is kind of cute - compared to German.
7. People get off work really early on Fridays (I mean, really early) to go to pubs.
A shop dedicated to condoms and the first ever Coffee Shop.
But yeah, Holland rocks.
So I stayed in Utrecht for 4 days with a friend I met in Vietnam (connections connection, thank you Facebook). I made the short 20 minute train ride to Amsterdam almost everyday, and I was able to see much of what the city has to offer. The Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank's House, the city walking tour, and the Red Light District tour.
Btw, thats the bookcase door behind which the Frank family was hiding.
Being with a local also made the experience that much more special. knowing all of the right places, a very comfortable bed, and meeting other locals. It really sucked to say bye again (and again and again and again, yeah it sometimes suck to travel), but I know that I'll able to see them again, just a matter of time. But well, I'll talk about this later.
Some notions that I found out or been reconfirmed about the Netherlands or the Dutch people.
1. Bikes. Bikes everywhere. I mean, everywhere.
2. On average, they're the tallest people in the world.
3. Everybody speaks perfect American English - most probably because movies and TV shows are not dubbed into Dutch.
4. Every inch of the city smells like marijuana.
5. Some prostitutes are REALLY hot.
6. Dutch (the language) is kind of cute - compared to German.
7. People get off work really early on Fridays (I mean, really early) to go to pubs.
A shop dedicated to condoms and the first ever Coffee Shop.
But yeah, Holland rocks.
Clams and Fries
I guess Brussels was nice enough of a city, I guess. The one thing that I can say is that it's a really random city. The main attractions are a peeing boy and a giant metallic Iron (Fe) atom enlarged 165 billion times. The people (apparently) do not dress to impress, just whatever it comfortable. Many homes on the street talking nonsense. Beer and chocolate (huh?) as national claim to fame. Ziggy Marley and Martin Solveig at a street fair for free.
3 days, 2 nights. I came away more confused than the first morning when I arrived at the city at 5:00am.
But that's enough about the city. Let's talk about more important aspects of these 3 days. Friends and beer. In the European Capital (hah!), I met up with 2 friends I met in Cambodia, a guy from liverpool with whom I went to Munich, and a girl from Portugal doing an internship in Brussels. A bit of a Siem Reap reunion (sorry Megan, Australia is too far, and dammit Mark, you should've come). Basically all we did was go to Delirium Cafe to try out several of the 2004 beers that they sell (world record).
So what am I trying to say about Brussels? Random city, great friends, and a lot of beer. What else can I ask from the capital of Europe?
3 days, 2 nights. I came away more confused than the first morning when I arrived at the city at 5:00am.
But that's enough about the city. Let's talk about more important aspects of these 3 days. Friends and beer. In the European Capital (hah!), I met up with 2 friends I met in Cambodia, a guy from liverpool with whom I went to Munich, and a girl from Portugal doing an internship in Brussels. A bit of a Siem Reap reunion (sorry Megan, Australia is too far, and dammit Mark, you should've come). Basically all we did was go to Delirium Cafe to try out several of the 2004 beers that they sell (world record).
So what am I trying to say about Brussels? Random city, great friends, and a lot of beer. What else can I ask from the capital of Europe?
European cities, my very subjective rating
I thought it'd be fun to give some kind of a star system to the major cities in Western Europe that I had visited. Of course, it's really subjective and it REALLY depends on the people I was with or met there.
So here it goes... lowest to highest.
Innsbruck 2/5
Geneva 2/5
Strasbourg 2.5/5
Brussels 3/5
Munich 3/5
Milano 3/5
Lyon 3.5/5
Granada 3.5/5
London 3.5/5
Venice 3.5/5
Koln 4/5 (at least from what I remember...)
Dublin 4/5
Stuttgart 4/5 (I think it was a nice city...)
Zurich 4.5/5
Barcelona 4.5/5
Rome 4.5/5
Amsterdam 5/5
Paris 5/5
Lausanne 5/5 (I told you it was subjective)
Man, that's quite a few cities...
Maybe I'll do one for Asia and South America soon.
So here it goes... lowest to highest.
Innsbruck 2/5
Geneva 2/5
Strasbourg 2.5/5
Brussels 3/5
Munich 3/5
Milano 3/5
Lyon 3.5/5
Granada 3.5/5
London 3.5/5
Venice 3.5/5
Koln 4/5 (at least from what I remember...)
Dublin 4/5
Stuttgart 4/5 (I think it was a nice city...)
Zurich 4.5/5
Barcelona 4.5/5
Rome 4.5/5
Amsterdam 5/5
Paris 5/5
Lausanne 5/5 (I told you it was subjective)
Man, that's quite a few cities...
Maybe I'll do one for Asia and South America soon.
...and the rest of Europe
So I had said goodbye to all of my friends, packed my backpack, shipped things home, closed my Swiss bank account (unfortunately), and I was ready to go explore again. For the first 10 days of my trip, I decided to hit up the remaining major cities in Western Europe - London, Brussels, Amsterdam!
So first up, London.
It was an intimidating city, just from the number of sights and museums that the Lonely Planet had listed. Of all of the cities that I had visited in the world so far, I think London has the most recognizable must-sees, as popularized by novels and movies. So the first obligatory wander-around of the city on the first day...oh wait, yeah I can't get anywhere without getting on the tube. Problem #1. At least it was sunny...oh wait, it's raining every 30 minutes. Problem #2. So these were my first 2 sentiments about London. But maybe I was being a Negative Nancy because I was sad to leave Lausanne and was just taking it out on London.
To be completely fair, looking back, the 5 days I spent in London were rather spectacular. I met up with a friend from U of i who is now studying in London, and I met all of her friends at a lovely picnic - in the city center! So many huge parks! And it's absolutely fantastic that all of the museums are free. Hell, I even went to the National Gallery just to pee one time.
And another side note. Mom, Dad, if you're reading this, I want you guys to know that A LOT of childhood memories flooded my mind when I saw the painting at the National Gallery that used to hang in our living room growing up.
As always with many of the European cities, the Free Walking Tour turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Though disappointed with the city tour (can't really walk the city), I was very pleased with the old city tour. The London was we know it now is a congregation of small districts, and only a part of the city is really London. This was much more copact and do-able in 3-4 hours. I learned a lot of random facts about the Millenium Bridge, the Beefeaters, the London fire, the Bank of England, etc etc.
The nightlife was so-so. I went out 2 of the 4 nights, one of them being a great pub crawl. It was just so damn expensive! But I'm glad to say that I partied at the Ministry of Sound until the wee hours of the morning.
Oh yeah, and I found some guy in a Star Wars costume planking.
All in all, it was a city of extremely highs and lows for me. Loved the museums, hated the weather, loved the atmosphere, hated the enormity. I'd give the city a 3.5/5.
So first up, London.
It was an intimidating city, just from the number of sights and museums that the Lonely Planet had listed. Of all of the cities that I had visited in the world so far, I think London has the most recognizable must-sees, as popularized by novels and movies. So the first obligatory wander-around of the city on the first day...oh wait, yeah I can't get anywhere without getting on the tube. Problem #1. At least it was sunny...oh wait, it's raining every 30 minutes. Problem #2. So these were my first 2 sentiments about London. But maybe I was being a Negative Nancy because I was sad to leave Lausanne and was just taking it out on London.
To be completely fair, looking back, the 5 days I spent in London were rather spectacular. I met up with a friend from U of i who is now studying in London, and I met all of her friends at a lovely picnic - in the city center! So many huge parks! And it's absolutely fantastic that all of the museums are free. Hell, I even went to the National Gallery just to pee one time.
And another side note. Mom, Dad, if you're reading this, I want you guys to know that A LOT of childhood memories flooded my mind when I saw the painting at the National Gallery that used to hang in our living room growing up.
As always with many of the European cities, the Free Walking Tour turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Though disappointed with the city tour (can't really walk the city), I was very pleased with the old city tour. The London was we know it now is a congregation of small districts, and only a part of the city is really London. This was much more copact and do-able in 3-4 hours. I learned a lot of random facts about the Millenium Bridge, the Beefeaters, the London fire, the Bank of England, etc etc.
The nightlife was so-so. I went out 2 of the 4 nights, one of them being a great pub crawl. It was just so damn expensive! But I'm glad to say that I partied at the Ministry of Sound until the wee hours of the morning.
Oh yeah, and I found some guy in a Star Wars costume planking.
All in all, it was a city of extremely highs and lows for me. Loved the museums, hated the weather, loved the atmosphere, hated the enormity. I'd give the city a 3.5/5.
St. Patty's Day in Dublin
So I guess I forgot to talk about St. Patrick's Day in Dublin before so here it goes...
Friday, June 24, 2011
Goodbye Switzerland
Now that my fellowship is over, the time to leave Lausanne has regrettably come. The last 9 months absolutely flew by. A lot has happened. I've made many great friends, with whom I shared a lot of laughs and even some tears. Research proved to be fruitful - we are submitting our manuscript very soon. I became addicted to skiing. I partied hard. It was absolutely gorgeous everyday.
Ali and Alister left first. Then Lauren. Now, I need to leave people behind. Thank you everybody for coming out for my last night. I'm in London now, soon Brussels, then Amsterdam, before I fly to South America. I'm missing all of you guys, and I'll always remember you guys for giving me a wonderful year. Sante!
Ali and Alister left first. Then Lauren. Now, I need to leave people behind. Thank you everybody for coming out for my last night. I'm in London now, soon Brussels, then Amsterdam, before I fly to South America. I'm missing all of you guys, and I'll always remember you guys for giving me a wonderful year. Sante!
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