Normal Life As We Know It

Hello guys. It's been a week since I came back and I have been living the same (depressing) routine that I have. I have been asked, "How's your trip?" and such. Somehow I found the question to be quite stressful to answer. I normally answered with, well I did get lonely, the loneliness kills but the trip was okay and I'm quite amazed that I did it. It's been a meaningful trip seriously. There were feelings that I had when I was there and there are feelings that I have now. Oshie was right (I knew he would be right) when he told me when I was making my decision that, wouldn't you feel proud when you look back and see that you've done it? It is really so. Right now, the word that I can use to explain the experience is just INCREDIBLE. INCREDIBILE!!! It's freaking incredible and awesome. I've been trying to remember what it was like there. The sky in Firenze, the running around Italy, the figuring out my ways, how I felt, what I saw. Other than trying to figure out direction, my other challenging decision over there was deciding what flavor of gelato to try and I do seriously recommend any of you who are going to Italy to have gelato every day :P

I have to say though that memories are fading. Things went in a blur because I did so much and I tried to see as much as I can that many details are lost *sigh* It's a good thing I have pictures and amazingly, when I looked at the pictures I didn't even realize that I saw such things but it's so cool to know that I was there. I was talking to Casryn today, saying that the bad thing about taking many pictures (I took more than 2700) is that I saw things more through the lens rather than actually enjoying the view with my own eyes. I guess that's the reason why, I felt such relief when I entered places that do not allow me to bring my bag, like the Uffizi and Basilica San Marco. I think I enjoyed the Uffizi a lot because I didn't have a heavy bag on my shoulders and I didn't feel obligated to take pictures. Anyway, the pictures are up (I actually paid Flickr for more space!) and you can see them here. However since I have so many pictures, let me also post them here :P These are not in the Flickr collection. I am reliving the experience peeps, so bear with me.

Let's start with Rome where I landed. It's perhaps as busy as any other city. The traffic is pretty chaotic. It reminds me of Jakarta. I've seen motorcyclists did some maneuvering, which is perhaps common in Jakarta but I know people like la Gioia will find it too crazy. However I found actually the drivers there are very nice. People are always crossing the streets anyway they like and the drivers will actually stop when they see people are going to cross. Even though it always happened, I still got nervous and couldn't help muttering "please don't kill me!". It's just they don't seem like they're slowing down but they really do, they really do! So you just gotta walk. See I guess Singapore has made me mentally soft that I lack the wit to do this because I am sure any Jakartans will see no big deal about crossing a busy street :P Oh the metro in Rome freaked me out because the stations look so dark and for me it's scary. However I met some New Yorkers who thought the metro system is actually very sophisticated in Rome simply because they tell you in how many minutes the trains are coming. They say in New York, it is scarier because there are "funky" people in the train itself while in Rome, everything is so decent. I told them I'm spoilt here in Singapore. Seriously, if they see the MRT here perhaps they will think it's so out of this world :P I feel I didn't explore Rome much. When I saw the pictures from Palatine Hill, I do see that they are quite boring but I like the time that I spent there. So relaxing. It was a nice walk and the weather was really cool. If you ask me if I was scared, how can you be when you were really at peace and felt joy and amazement inside your heart. That was really what I felt when I explored Palatine Hill. Okay pictures from Rome can be viewed here. Meanwhile, this is one of the many obelisks you can find in Rome. It actually was viewed as a symbol of paganism when Christianity was on the rise, so at that time to save it from being destroyed, people put a cross or the saints or angels on top of it. Hence you can see that the things on top have different colours or more obviously of different materials than the obelisk.

Next is the Vatican. I really like the Vatican! I don't really know why. I love St. Peter's Square and St Peter's Basilica. The Vatican museum is amazing. Many of the pictures there didn't turn out well because I couldn't use flash but then when I saw picture like this one, I just got amazed again. Don't you feel that the angel's wings are so 3 dimensional? And it's a painting on the wall peeps! Seriously people those days are so awesome.

With all the churches and buildings I saw, the ceilings, the walls, the sculptures, the paintings, I just feel rather sad that people these days don't do buildings like this anymore. I think the Gate of Paradise in the Florence Baptistry took 27 years to be made. A door!!! These days, especially in Singapore, you can see a whole building being erected in 1 year. Sigh. I kinda hope people will make more meaningful buildings, with details in everything. Sigh.

Moving on, it's Firenze / Florence. I didn't put the picture of Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in the Flickr set. So here it is. It took me 3 guides (Sandra, Laura, and Alessandro) but I remember this information really well. The churches in Firenze and nearby area are mostly built with marbles because they are close to areas that produce the marbles. There are 3 colours of marbles chosen, the white ones were from Carrara, the green marbles were from Prato, and the rose / pink marbles were from area near Siena. Laura was the guide which brought me and the New Yorkers mentioned above to Cinque Terre and as we drove, we could see the mountains in Carrara where the marbles came from. They were white on top. If you don't know about it, you would think that it's snow. So the white marbles are very good and if I am not mistaken that's also what Michelangelo used to make David (who by the way I think is really hot).

Next is Siena. This is Fonte Gaia at Piazza del Campo. I took a day tour to explore Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa, and the Tuscany area. Met 2 nice Taiwanese girls, Shirley and River, who kindly kinda adopted me to hang with them. River climbed up the tower Torre del Mangia with me. She's a lot more fit than me. I was kinda nice not to do the climbing alone :P

After Siena, we had lunch in a farm in Tuscany. I have pictures of cows and such, but I guess this is a more typical Tuscany view. By the way, the cows in the farm that I visited were reared purposely for their meat and not for milk. It was an organic farm. They make olive oils, chianti, and vernaccia, and some other things. You kinda can't help feeling that you could actually feel contented to live your life working in a farm such as that with amazing view and fresh air to greet you every day.

Then San Gimignano which I will never forget for the best gelato in my life! They had these very little cute promotion boards in Italian which have very romantic tag lines that I just fell in love with. I used one of them as my facebook profile picture currently :P

Last stop of the Tuscany day tour was Pisa. The leaning tower was smaller than I expected :P Anyway, this is from the inside of the Duomo / Cathedral.

As mentioned, I went to Cinque Terre as well. Not really a good trip with unforeseen traffic condition but did meet some very nice people. There were 2 couples from New York. They were related, a brother and sister. One of them has been married for at least 35 years. The husbands were funny and the wives were nice. I only remember the names of the wives though :( Judy and Anita. They were really nice. Then there were also a middle age couple from Canada. Then another wife whose husband was giving a lecture in Florence and so she took this trip alone. The ladies kinda thought I was very brave to be doing this Italian trip alone, but you see with people as nice as them that I got to meet, all are good! God takes care of you by giving people who will look out for you.

Last city that I visited was Venezia / Venice. I have to say that Venice is very very photogenic. When I saw the pictures, I have to say that it really looks good. Somehow when you had walked a lot, climbed and crossed many bridges, you kinda like it a bit less :P With all the nice view, can you believe it that this is my favourite picture of Venice? I didn't include it in the Flickr collection though.


Somehow this green window made me gasped. To think that I almost didn't take a picture of it! I actually walked some steps away before realizing that I should take a picture of it. Somehow I've only seen the window 1 time. I never passed it again. I don't know why. Maybe I did and the window was open and the view was different and I didn't realize it's the same place. Either way, somehow I just love this picture a lot!!!

I am so directionally challenged that even though there are many signs in Venice, I could still get lost as mentioned in the previous post. Some of the signs were official but some were like graffiti on the walls or perhaps on the street floor itself or A4 print out pasted on the wall that only if you were close enough, you can read it! So finding some of these "unofficial" signs made me feel like I was in a treasure hunt or something. To illustrate my point, here is an unofficial graffiti sign on a wall. Mind you, this picture is big but the actual sign is not that big.

Ferrovia means the train station by the way. Now after following that sign, I came across this official sign.

I wonder if the people living nearby got tired of being asked for direction that they put all the unofficial signs around :P

Well, that's pretty much it peeps. Oh yeah, something just suddenly came. The electricity plug in Italy is the same one as in Indonesia. Sigh. I was in doubt in finding a plug converter and yet it wasn't necessary at all! Yeah I know, funny things do jump in my brain :P Anyways, there are other pictures, like from Murano, Torcello, and Burano the islands near Venice. Murano is famous for it's glass craft. Torcello only has 21 people living there but they have 2 restaurants! Burano is famous for the lace craft and the place is so colourful! If you want to see me being a bit sneaky, you can see this :P

I transited in Amsterdam and it kinda made me wanna visit it someday. The entry wasn't all that pleasant but the exit was kinda nice ;) Anyways, these are 2 pictures I took from inside the plane which brought me from Venice to Amsterdam. In this one you can see windmills.

This one, well I just like it :P I have to say graphics softwares are so awesome. Fireworks did a good job in "helping" these pictures. I used fireworks because my vaio is too tired for photoshop :(

Long entry peeps? Carl said I would be a different person when I come back. I wonder if I am gonna change. I am still doing my depressing routine :( However, I have to say it's like there's a fire inside of me. I went to Italy alone!!! I did it and I actually can do this kinda thing! The "knowing" that you are capable of doing such thing is really liberating, really!!! Maybe the fire is small but I believe it's not gonna die. I had people telling me that they admire me for doing this. It's kinda weird because I thought what I was doing was normal and kinda long overdue, maybe because I know and heard of people doing this so I didn't really see it as anything big. It was big for me but I thought it wasn't really something big for like other people? Stella (my ex roommate) wrote that she saluted me for doing this. She said that if I really want something, I really do chase it. But that's the thing peeps, I haven't been chasing anything all this time. After I graduated from NUS, it's like I didn't really live and it's been a long LONG time to be just passing time. It's almost 6 years and I didn't fight. I didn't fight for what I want and this trip was me fighting and it was mentally hard but seriously when I was in Changi Airport, it's like fear started to dissolve because you knew that from that point on you couldn't have fear anymore, that you just have to experience this dream of yours. I have crossed the number 1 thing on my life list. I guess it's time to move things around and set new dreams to accomplish. I may not be a VP of a company before I turn 35 but I know what excite me and I have to pursue those things instead of doing what people think I should be better off using my time and life with.

On a more local news since I came back, I watched Monster VS Alien in 3D mode with Vivy. It was my first time watching a normal movie in 3D and I was actually quite in awe. It seems gone are the days when you choose a digital version of the movie over the normal one, it's the 3D version now. However, I wasn't really pleased because things do get darker because of the glasses shade but still I thought it was a cool experience.

I have also had dinner with NanSee and Starfish yesterday. Had some talk about stuffs. I was told and reminded quite repeatedly not to bother people about something if they are not bothered about it :P Okaaay! Anyway, same old life routine kinda involves people telling me their life "situation" currently. On some, I do welcome and hear them and give them my opinion but on others I just feel why is it always about you! How about me? Darn it! As such I promise myself that I will have a good relaxing time with myself this weekend, just myself!

I had a little talk with my brother this afternoon. We rarely talk to each other. I get an update of his life today. He's making decision about his life. One may argue it's that immature 20-year old something decision but one that I'm kinda jealous of because I am way too controlled to be doing similar thing. I have to learn the art of walking away *sigh* Seemed like I still have things to say, but it's already too long. So buonanotte my dears.

:) eKa @ 10:32:00 PM • 0 comments

Leg 3 - Venezia

Hello guys. I am actually back, so writing this post using my dear vaio. I am quite tired right now but I need to share some things from Venice and the wrap up of my trip.

The train ride from Florence to Venice was smooth because it was quite clear. I was able to find the train track by myself. When I had to go from Rome to Florence, I wasn't able to do that because Florence wasn't listed on the board since it's a stopover, not a final destination. So I had to ask someone but from Florence to Venice, it was clear. We passed Bologna, Padova, and Venice's other station, Mestre, along the way. I arrived safely, found the hotel easily too. The room made me feel better after the dingy one that I had in Florence. So my hotel was very near to the train station but that also means that it was somewhat like in a different island. So to get to the center of Venice, I had to walk a lot and cross many bridges.

I got a map from the hotel but it didn't help but I like Venice because there are signs everywhere and how silly this may sound I like it because there are many tourists. So everywhere you will see people following the arrows or opening up maps and that made me feel better and don't feel so stupid :P So I just followed the arrows but since I am so challenged with directions, I still got lost! So like last Monday morning when I had to go to Basilica San Marco, I still got lost even though I successfully went there alone the previous evening! I was getting panicky because I booked a time slot to get in and I was running late. So when I was already quite late, I decided to ask this very nice girl named Cristina. Man, my Italian is really not so good. It's amazing she could understand me and I could respond to her. She works nearby so we walked together there. Stupid me just rushed off without seeing which shop she works for. Anyway, so I went to the gate for people who booked, explained to the Signore who was in charge that I'd booked but was a bit late and I was sorry, all in Italian. He kindly said it's okay and funnily asked me if I am Italian :D which we established that I am not but I can speak the language. So he gave me direction on where to put my bag and then I could go in. There were seriously so many people wanting to go inside the Basilica. Prayed inside there and got a bit teary eyed because it was so called my last day in Italy and I couldn't believe that I actually did it. It's pretty amazing that God really gets me through this. I was very very touched.

After which, I refused to pay 1.50 euro to use the public toilet that I chose to go to Museo Correr. Although I had to pay so much more but at least I got to see something, perhaps I was more excited when I saw the toilet :P I really didn't plan to visit any museum there and if I had known I would have chosen Palazzo Ducale instead or if I had planned well, I would have gotten the ticket that allows me to go to all the museums instead of buying the tickets separately!!! I did go to Palazzo Ducale in the end to fill my last few hours in Venice. This museum is more interesting because we got to see the prison. Kinda freaky but I thought it was cool nonetheless. The prison was somewhat like in a dungeon and surprisingly it was cool down there instead of the hot rooms upstairs. Too bad that the Bridge of Sighs was under renovation. So I couldn't really see it or step on it.

Anyways, after the Correr Museum, I was supposed to go for a half day tour to Murano, Torcello, and Burano. I did read online that this tour wasn't so good because you are like being pushed to buy stuff and it's so true. However I met this Scottish girl, Sarah Jane, who was traveling alone as well. After the short day tour, we had dinner together. That's actually the first time I had dinner with someone of all my time in Italy. God kinda really sends people along your way :)

The next day was my last day in Venice, in Italy. Spent it by visiting Palazzo Ducale then went to be a bit of paparazza (since I am a girl) and took pictures of the kids having fun with the birds at Piazza San Marco. I don't like the birds by the way. I thought they were so not clean and I really prayed that none of them will poop on me. After which, I made my way back to the hotel. Took the vaporetto (water taxi) to Piazzale Rome (since I had a luggage with me) and took the bus to Marco Polo airport. The airport is quite nice.

Arrived in Amsterdam safely and I really have to add this bit. Went through the immigration where there were these 2 officers who were having quite a slow period. Not many people passed through and I was the last one having to go through the counter. The person who handled my passport exclaimed, "you're from Singapore!". To which his colleague (whom I thought was more handsome :P) said, "ni hao?". To which I said "I don't speak Chinese" in my best Chinese pronunciation :P which got everybody quiet and perhaps stunned. So I had to say in English, "I don't speak Chinese" :D The first officer said, "you live in Singapore and you don't speak Chinese?". "Yes", I said and the more handsome officer said, "English is the best!". Aye aye to that. Overall, it was very little human interaction but they made me grin nonetheless and I was really smiling from the inside, no matter how silly this whole thing sounds :P

Alright, back to real life tomorrow kids. You guys take care okay. I try to sort the pictures soon.

:) eKa @ 9:16:00 PM • 0 comments

Leg 2 - Firenze

Hello guys. Again waiting for the train to Venezia. Don't really have much time to write. So just in short gonna let you know what I did.

Had a Tuscany tour in which I visited Siena, a tuscanian farm, San Gimignano, and Pisa. The time given for each of the places were rather short but it was kinda the best day so far, I guess because I met nice people there. In the Tuscanian farm, which is Fattoria Poggio Alloro, I kinda had the best meal I had so far, but maybe because of the people and I was hungry. Not really a wine person but did try 3 wines there. In San Gimignano, I had the best gelato of my whole entire life! Stupid me didn't have second :( Then the leaning tower of Pisa was smaller than I expected :P

Then also went to Cinque Terre, but the day just didn't start well and so I don't think my experience there was amazing. I was in awe with the blue water though. That was nice but I guess Cinque Terre didn't live up to my expectation. I don't know maybe because we didn't have much time, having to catch the train here and there that we weren't able to see many things.

It's hot in Firenze and I am actually 3-4 shades darker or browner. I guess summer is really coming. I hope I am skinnier, I walk a whole freaking lot! In Firenze, did see Michaelangelo's David and did enter Gli Uffizi. The disappointment is I'm not able to see the tombs of Michaelangelo and Galileo Galilei. I tried like 3 times to go to Santa Croce church but because of some football stuff here that it's closed :'( Me and tombs, no luck all the time :(

Well, cannot elaborate more because I gotta go. Wish me well peeps. Ciao.

:) eKa @ 7:47:00 PM • 0 comments

Leg 1 - Roma

Ciao peeps. I'm painstakingly gonna try to blog with this Italian keyboard which is kinda confusing. In an internet rental place now ran by some people from Africa I think. Waiting for my train to Firenze which is leaving in like 1 hour plus. Nervous nervous but I think I should be alright?? Err ... the people here inside this internet rental place are kinda scary but at least there's a white girl on my left so I hope she is not leaving before me. Alrighty, here are the summary.

Arrived in Amsterdam early Sunday at 6. Schiphol Airport is kinda strange because there's an immigration line before you get to your connecting flight and the line was long and lucky me, I got flagged!!! Damn it! So the immigration officer had to escort me to one side and check all my documents and bookings and even counted my cash! When I asked why I got flagged, they printed out a generic statement saying that they needed to check my documents. It didn't really answered the question. I just saw that the person at the counter looked at my passport many times then called his colleague.

In the end, they let me pass but I miss my flight! The girl at the gate said that this happens a lot and I believe her because as I was waiting for my next flight, I heard the information calling for this person and that to go to the gate immediately otherwise their luggage will be offload. I'm sure they called my name as well. Anyway, so I got booked to another flight, didn't have to pay a thing, which is good.

Then arrived in Rome. Got confused because there was no immigration check. You kinda just got out and get your luggage. I hope I didn't miss a thing. First impression was that the airport was like Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta!!! I kid you not. Got my luggage. Tried to figure out where the train to the city center here. I walked here and there and found it. Got the ticket at the tabacchiaio and also got it validated, I managed to stop at the yellow machine though I was running and dragging my luggage :P The train was full but managed to get a seat and saw Roma and again my impression is like Jakarta!!! The sceneries kinda reminded me of the drive to the airport in Jakarta, yeah they don't have paddy fields here but all the fields and such was kinda similar. Dropped down at the Termini station, got the wrong exit and don't know here my hotel is. Asked direction in embarrasing Italian but I got direction and I got it. Praise the Lord!!!

I think I got to my room at 3 something so decided to walk around. Decided to see the Circus Maximus which up until now I don't know which one it is actually. Walked guided by my own intuition (I don't have a map in all my times in Rome) and somehow got into the Colosseum!!! Didn't get in because I wanted to do it on Monday. Did see the Rose Garden which was by right should be near the Circus Maximus. Went in, take pictures of the flowers and that was it.

Next day Monday, had my half day city tour which was booked as part of this trip. Went by foot to the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. You would think that I memorize the way but I didn't as explained later. Walking with the guide, everything seemed so near. Pantheon was kinda cool simply because I saw it in Angels and Demons. There's where Raphael's tomb is located by the way. He died of a young age because of TBC. There were other tombs, one of which was Queen Margherita which I think the queen that came out with the margherita pizza name. After which we went to St Peter Basilica. Big place. The scale of it is amazing for me. The statues are big and the artistry and craftmanship that went into these things are just amazing! After that finished day tour, I chose to be dropped at the Colosseum. Had lunch nearby and as guided by my research of Rome, proceeded to the Palatine Hill to get the ticket for it + Roman Forums + Colosseum and wiktravel was right. The queue was much shorter there while at the Colosseum is very long. I like the Palatine Hill + Roman forums more. So much things to see and the air was nice. So much nice view and yes they are just ruins but it's kinda very cool. Stupid me never get any audio guides for all the places that I visited that I didn't get to learn the history :$ After that I went to the Colosseum. Well perhaps since I didn't have the audio guide, I was just walking around without much meaning. It was still a cool place.

Second day, which was yesterday, started early at the Vatican. Wanted to go the Vatican museum and arrived there at 9 something, thinking darn the queue must be long. But it wasn't! Maybe it's not the peak season. Again didn't get the audio guide but did buy the guide book which was useful. Did the complete route and I think I visited all the places that can be visited there. Though perhaps my eyes didn't see everything. I bought a postcard of a painting that I didn't notice was there! :$ I am most impressed of all the marbles statues. So many of them, so big, and again the craftmanship was awesome. Oh yeah, saw a mummy at the Egyptian museum, of an old lady. I thought my thought was funny because I thought the lady is not much different than us, with 5 fingers and toes. Anyway, the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel was a bit anti climatic for me. Raphael rooms were still amazing because the paintings are humongous but somehow the Sistine Chapel wasn't as grand as I expected. I expected it to be bigger, brighter, and more grand. I didn't know why I'm suprised when it was similar to the one they showed at Angels and Demons. There were so many people there and though you have to maintain silence and no photo taking, the whole place was just abuzz with tourist and people snapping away, even with flash! All and all I spent around 4 hours at the Vatican Museum.

Then lunch at the Vatican museum and then went inside St Peter Basilica again. Wanted to make sure I took everything in. Did went to pray inside the sanctuary. I really prayed! I didn't just pretend to pray to see what it looks like :P then went to get ticket to get on the cupola! Carl suggested to take the stairs but I was too tired and saw that there were actually more stairs to take after the lift. So I chose the lift. Proceeded to climb the claustrophobic staircases to cupola but man there were just so many of them. There was a window at steps 309 and I decided to rest. At this point there were around 20 more steps to go and I thought I can do it but my hear was beating faster and my palm got cold and I did try but I couldn't and I stayed there for 15 mins or so with people passing me by including people older than me with grey hairs and fatter than me and I decided to just, no, I'm not gonna do this. I couldn't see the end light and I was scared that there wouldn't be anymore window to rest at and I just didn't want to collapse there! So I chickened out and went down and even going down got me dizzy. I am disappointed but oh well. Wanted to see Pope John Paul's tomb but darn it was closed when I reached it. Hope to do it today but couldn't :(

After the Vatican, I decided to walked around Rome and see the Trevi fountain again and here I got lost badly. Wanted to see Trevi Fountain and yet saw Piazza di Spagna first. Went to the church at the hill there. Then saw another piazza, then got back to Pantheon again and after lost here and there did find the Trevi Fountain. As I was lost, Carl sms me and said the beauty of being lost you get to see unexpected things and yet I did. See many nice buildings and all. Tired though walking on a cobble stone. Then came the a bit panicky moment of wanting to get to the nearest train station and somehow I just got lost. It was around 7 pm and the sun is setting at 8.30 something here, so I got a bit panic. Decided to get on a bus after noticing that 3 stops from where I board, I will get to the Metro station. Inside the bus an Italian told this Australian couple to stop at the next stop for train station. I foolishly got down with them and of course we were wrong. So here is where I met LeAnn and Fred and I don't know if it's my luck to meet them or their luck to meet me. Anyway, I told them to just take the bus we were on again and now stop at the correct place. We did and we stopped at the correct place and got to our metro. Kinda nice to talk with a human now. LeAnn was nice and told me to just stay together. Fred was I think tired with all the part about being lost. They're middle age parents who leave their teenagers kids for an European escapade. Kinda nice. The next time I go to Italy, I will have someone with me :P I promise. Kinda lonely being alone.

Then today, went to the Vatican again to get a glimpse of the Pope during his papal audience. Did see him a bit. He passed by in his pope mobile and yet I was busy with my camera so didn't really see him waving. Stupid me!!! Wanted to go see the tombs but the whole basilica is closed during Papal Audience. Disappointed but that means I have to go here again next time :)

Alright, long story. Gotta go soon. Rome is chaotic and kinda remind me of Jakarta actually. Do sms me peeps if you want to. I welcome all the unexpected sms and I have gotten a few :) even one when I was in Sistine Chapel ;) Haven't been speaking Italian much here, kinda too shy to do that :$ Food is okay, saw MacDonalds but haven't gone there :P Had pasta and pizza but haven't had anything that blow me away. To answer to your dying questions of the Italian boys and girls, yes they are a beautiful bunch that I think God is a bit unfair to give them with such good luck :P though I notice that many Italian men get bald! There is justice in this world? :D Okay gotta go. Ciao ciao.

ps: don't have time to do spelling, sentence, and grammar check, I hope you understand what I am saying :P

:) eKa @ 6:22:00 PM • 0 comments

Ready? Set ... Go!

Ciao peeps. Need to go to the airport in like 1-2 hours. So I will be leaving tonight. Will transit in Amsterdam at 5 something am Sunday morning and reaching Rome by 10 am Sunday. So that's like 4 pm Singapore or 3 pm Jakarta on Sunday.

Excited? Nervous more like it but at this point in time I just need to go :) Everyone around me are like totally excited about this, perhaps only mom is worried. However I have made my way to the temple this morning for blessing and protection and hope that God takes care my parents and so that they won't be worried so much. The temple was also kinda the place where I started this "walkabout" of mine and so I like to believe that all of this are within God's plans and permission.

I kinda would like to thank the friends and family who have been so nice to me and extremely supportive throughout this journey. Mom and dad are of course amazingly understanding. Gonna call them before I go. As for friends, these few are the amazing ones, Rista who's always been encouraging and Vivy who was there when I was preparing stuff and prayed for me. Ms. J and the Flying Nun were among the first I shared the news with and I still remember Ms. J voicing her worries because I'm going alone but half of her thought that what I'm doing is cool :P Then there was Casryn, whom I shared a lot of my worries with. It's very nice of her to hear me talk over and over again about the trip. There was Oshie who was always encouraging from the beginning. Gotta love him. His last advice was I need you to have fun and spend money and have a blasting good time :) Then there was Carl whose excitement are amazing. Her advices are valuable and the kind her told P that I was going to Italy and though I will not be going to Milan, P was kind enough to contact me and gave me his number in case of emergency. I really love my Italian classmates, they are so humbly friendly. Then there was NanSee who keeps asking me how I am over and over and reminded me again over and over of things to bring. She is nice. She gave the same advice as Gascoigne about me needing to be excited since I have spent so much money :P

Then the people in my daily environment have also been very nice and wished me well on this journey. Yesterday, I was kinda touched that YeeMaggio and Roo made the time and effort to wish me well for my trip. I don't actually talk to them often but they remember and they were so nice. All in all, all these kindness from all this people kinda make me have to do well on this trip and fight on and have a time of my life :)

Just for some trivia on this trip which plays in my head quite often. The number 3 pops up quite often on this trip. I'm 27 now so it's 33. It was 9 years ago, in the year 2000 that I took a plane alone. It was from Jakarta to Singapore. I took KLM and fast forward to know, again it's KLM that will take me all the way to Italy and in Italy I will be visiting 3 cities. This is another alone journey. The case is different from 9 years ago but I think both are kinda life changing (I hope). The person (I hope) is slightly more mature now. Eka was 18 and was alone when she first made her trip to Singapore and now at 27 she is also alone but she knows that she wouldn't want it any other way. See you soon peeps. Stay tune!

:) eKa @ 6:38:00 PM • 0 comments

Nerves, Nerves, Nerves

Just finished packing pretty much 75% for the trip. I'm flabbergasted that the suitcase is already quite full now. Darn! I need to figure out how to pack better. Getting really nervous now, after all it's like 3 more days, less than that?

Haven't been feeling much excitement about it even though people around me assume that I am excited or are more excited than me. It's just there has been some things that require my attention that I just can't focus on the trip. In fact these past 2 days have been pretty awful, my nerves are really tested and I really don't think I want to endure this kind of treatment *sigh* Yesterday, I found myself doing something that perhaps I shouldn't be doing. My judgment was really not in the best of state that I followed impulses *sigh*

So many things to do. Still have homework to do and I haven't even started yet. I have a good bye message to write and yet after 1 line, I really do not know what to say when there should be a whole lot of things to say. I did manage to finish reading Pinocchio, the original version by Carlo Collodi, yeah not all Italian because the book is bilingual :P I cannot believe that I am not over the moon about this trip. I should be bouncing off the walls and yet things that consume me are the shitty things that I have to deal with and the fact that they way I see it, when I come back I'm gonna be more depressed.

Speaking of being depressed, after looking into things, I realize how God has an amazing timing. I would have loved to go for this trip on a happier situation but it's not really so. However, I am blessed to have this trip because the way I see it, if I don't then I will be more depressed, perhaps suicidal depressed :P The blessed thing is that when I was planning for the trip, there was no sign that sad things would happen and yet they happen, totally unforeseen. God is perhaps the only One who sees it coming that He has planned everything for me, that He is taking me out (even though only for awhile) from this situation because I AM quite emotional about it *sigh*

I have many things to say and yet I have not much time, so just gonna write this thing which occupied my heart and head a lot on my way home this evening, even though the words do not come as easily as they came to me this evening and I forget what those words were that came to my head, aaarrrgghhh.

Mi piace lui ancora. Si, ancora. Mi rendo conto che posso sentire che il mio cuore è rotto. Provo essere la sua amica e forse lui pensa che io sia la sua buona amica che lui può dirmi tutto ma le storie mostrano che siamo molto diversi. Non posso accettare qualche parte dello stile di vita. Io so che quando ti piace davvero qualcuno, devi piacere la persona con il suo tutto carattere. Ma non posso accettare tutto di lui. Lui non è per me e neanche io per lui. Ma il sentimento non è come una formula matematica. Io so che sono stupida ma dopo tutto questo tempo, il mio sentimento per lui rimane. Forse perciò il Dio decide che ora è il tempo per noi per dire addio. Sono triste ma sarò più triste in futuro se lui è ancora vicino a me. Penso che il suo sentimento per me non sarà mai come il mio sentimento per lui. Ora non so se il mio cuore è rotto perchè lui andrà via o perchè lui non pensa a me come io penso a lui. Ma non è importa, si? Perchè non c'è noi e non ci sarà mai noi ... ah, come una canzone Indonesiana :P

:) eKa @ 9:23:00 PM • 0 comments

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