flying over padova/ readiness

it's been frustrating that i couldn't push myself to write recently...

the other day, i flew over Padova with David. He's learning to fly. it's amazing seeing the city i have called home from a different vantage point! we were in a small plane with the propeller in the front! it was too cool, i couldnt stop smiling for the whole duration of the trip!
i was able to see prato de la valle, my residence, the malls i frequent and all the landmarks i only see on land!
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bittersweet...as i have written before, i've postponed technically getting out into the real world while all my friends either have graduated or will graduate by tomorrow. the question is, are they ready? and if i were there, would i be ready? as of now, i dont feel like it.

in my second trip to belgium, i got to taste the real student life, not the erasmus one. my friends, Gert-Jan and Lotte hosted me in Antwerp and Ghent. they both have to pay for their own stuff! they struggle to cope up with the bills and learn to manage the house! and this is what i think is missing back home. im grateful and all that i dont have to worry about it but it's such an early trial for life. i guess one can argue that back home, we have a tight-knit family and moving out seems too radical a move but to me this actually is holding the progress back! one does not cut the umbilical cord soon enough.

next week, i have yet another trip to write about. but the trips keep piling up that i have to write them not consecutively! beehh...

goes and wanders

hitchhiker´s guide to hitchhiking

this post is not really a guide...not that i would have enough experience to do so.

yesterday, i spent most of the day on the road. walking, riding the car, riding trains, sticking my hand out looking for a ride, smiling at every car, wondering...all on the road. from Amsterdam Centraal, i walked to Amstel Station for more than an hour. here, the place in the picture was the designated place for hitchhikers to catch a ride. Liftsplaat=Lift Place. Good thing there was another guy hitching at that time. He was on his way to Rotterdam and did not take the same car as i did. but he helped me with the confidence of actually continuing to hitchhike.

the first driver who picked me up was this moroccan dude heading to Utrecht, a town south of Holland. he was a cool guy and shared quite inspiring stories especially about his life. i was really thankful and he said he was also once a hitchhiker too. his story is he started school late as he first worked before going to university but one day, a guy he knew from school came in the kebab place he was working at and this guy was a big shot and was earning so much more than him. this made him want to strive more for his family, overcoming obstacles and all the hassles of starting school late, etc. now, he is a succesful engineer. he proudly shared that story and it is quite amazing that he was not sucked in to what his other relatives were into. as he shared, some of them were into the not-so-good businesses around the area.

he dropped me off in some gas station a few exits after the one he should have taken but extended to find me a better place to wait for my next ride.

the next one who picked me up was this lesbian exconvict. this was what she shared to me at least. she´s 26 and part indonesian and she does some braderies all over Holland selling clothes and other stuff. she just happened to mention that she got jailed in Breda, the town i was going to go to catch my next ride from. and when i asked her for what, she just said, `oh nothing, something stupid. i did not do anything, they released me after no one claimed the body of the hitchhiker i killed ´

at least that was what a thriller movie plot would go...she just said it was for some stupid reason and i just did not bother to pry more. anyway, she was on her way to Breda for a date with this new girl after just breaking up with another girl a few days before. she was actually really nice and it was her first time to pick up a hitchhiker too. she offered to drop me off in the train station and said i should just ride the train black but i decided i´d try to hitchhike again. after being dropped off in a gas station plus a few hours of trying and walking towards the highway to Antwerp, i decided to just go to the train station and follow her advice. i took the train with no ticket from Breda to Rosendaal then to Antwerpen Centraal. the first connection, someone actually checked but he got distracted when i started asking what the next station was and probably just assumed i had a ticket. my heart was pounding so fast during that time especially with what i still might have in my blood from the day before in Amsterdam. LUCKY.

more to come for the whole of the trip. now in Antwerpen! in Gert-Jan´s place.

goes and wanders

packing light

i have a draft here for the Sicily trip but im just too lazy to finish it off...and now, i've come to another flight. i fly to Germany tonight to see Miriam, drive to Luxembourg then take a train to Amsterdam on Wednesday. Friday, i go to Belgium yet again. meeting Lotte, Gert-Jan and Katrien!

anyway, i'm packing and somehow, it seems my packing skills have been getting better. for Sicily, i managed to bring a small duffel bag instead of my backpacker bag. this trip, im bringing my north face spire just because i'm flying to a colder place and it's not as full as it was when i traveled before. this is making me uneasy though, thinking im forgetting something!!! but yeah. im sure, ive packed enough. :D

goes and wanders