first stop in my journey: Portugal
almost 6 months have passed since i started my journey to the West...
first stop: portugal...
hmmm....some stereotypes of portugese people before actually coming here: errrr................. actually there is none, why? i mean, no one i know ever said anything about this little country to the far western tip of europe... no one i know had ever stepped foot into this country, not to mention about staying here...
my first day here was a blur....
weird language, weird everything... think i was just simply tired.... because i spent more than 16 hours inclusive of transit time trying to get to lisboa..... after which i waited 40min waiting for a bus to the train station before finally giving up and took a cab instead... followed by almost 3 hours of train ride to get to the little town known as aveiro... then it's another taxi ride for me again, this time to get to the university... more waiting followed... waiting to go up to the international office (yes, the security here does not allow free access to the international office), waiting to speak to Niall (who has been most helpful to us- and the only reason i remembered his name is his name.... Mr Niall Power) after which, there is MORE waiting.... arghhh!!! cos leandro (didnt know his name at that moment in time) only finishes his work around 8 pm... so another 4 hours for me...
by the end of the first week...
happily settled into my new life here.... weather is perfect, food is yummy, leandro didn’t turn out to be some freaky old man, got to know my classmates... so what else could i expect?
by now....
almost too sad to leave this place afterall... hahahaha...
didnt expect this cos i knew from the beginning that i will be moving around in europe for the 4 semesters.... almost, i had targeted to go to germany for the 2nd sem, which luckily for me, managed to persuade the coordinator to send me over...
but still, when the expected happened, i am still unprepared to handle it... hahahaha.... reasons why:
(i) nice apartment with everything (inclusive of my beloved yellow washing machine) where i spend more time in than leandro... so based on the time spent in house, i am the "landlord" and leandro is the "tenant"
(ii) nice food, nice weather, nice chicks, nice friends, nice everything... codfish is my favorite fish now... i am so going to miss eating it...
(iii) leandro didn’t turn out to be some freaky old man after so long... in fact, he looks and behaves younger nowadays...
(iv) chicks with little feathers (better known as babes with bikinis) in summer
(v) chance to go to Estádio do Dragão Stadium again (Porto FC stadium)
but nevertheless, there are other "compelling" reasons to leave this little heaven of mine...
(i) not-so-student-friendly lecturers... ok, that happens everywhere, i will take my chance in germany
(ii) possibility of taking up more technical modules (something that i really want... too much chemistry and physics are killing me....)
(iii) chance to study a higher level of german (not very positive about this... considering how i always get a mental block when my german teacher spoke to us in german)
(iv) bier gardens in germany in summer
(v) fatter pigeons (hahahahahah.... similar to the built of the germans)- ok, i take this back... this is not what i am looking forward to...
(v) chance to visit sebestian in stuttgart - more get-drunk sessions
(vi) chance to visit more football stadiums
(vii) nearer to singapore... hahahaa... lufthansa flies directly to singapore, so no more transit and missing my flight only to wait for another 6 hours before catching the next available flight to lisboa... (happened in dec 2006)
(viii) chance to visit the eastern european countries
errr... actually if you look at the "compelling" reasons, most of them are pretty lame... but i have to make it look like i will like to go to germany more than staying here in portugal.... otherwise i will be too sad to move on with the next phase in my life... be strong... i am a tiger, remember?
first stop: portugal...
hmmm....some stereotypes of portugese people before actually coming here: errrr................. actually there is none, why? i mean, no one i know ever said anything about this little country to the far western tip of europe... no one i know had ever stepped foot into this country, not to mention about staying here...
my first day here was a blur....
weird language, weird everything... think i was just simply tired.... because i spent more than 16 hours inclusive of transit time trying to get to lisboa..... after which i waited 40min waiting for a bus to the train station before finally giving up and took a cab instead... followed by almost 3 hours of train ride to get to the little town known as aveiro... then it's another taxi ride for me again, this time to get to the university... more waiting followed... waiting to go up to the international office (yes, the security here does not allow free access to the international office), waiting to speak to Niall (who has been most helpful to us- and the only reason i remembered his name is his name.... Mr Niall Power) after which, there is MORE waiting.... arghhh!!! cos leandro (didnt know his name at that moment in time) only finishes his work around 8 pm... so another 4 hours for me...
by the end of the first week...
happily settled into my new life here.... weather is perfect, food is yummy, leandro didn’t turn out to be some freaky old man, got to know my classmates... so what else could i expect?
by now....
almost too sad to leave this place afterall... hahahaha...
didnt expect this cos i knew from the beginning that i will be moving around in europe for the 4 semesters.... almost, i had targeted to go to germany for the 2nd sem, which luckily for me, managed to persuade the coordinator to send me over...
but still, when the expected happened, i am still unprepared to handle it... hahahaha.... reasons why:
(i) nice apartment with everything (inclusive of my beloved yellow washing machine) where i spend more time in than leandro... so based on the time spent in house, i am the "landlord" and leandro is the "tenant"
(ii) nice food, nice weather, nice chicks, nice friends, nice everything... codfish is my favorite fish now... i am so going to miss eating it...
(iii) leandro didn’t turn out to be some freaky old man after so long... in fact, he looks and behaves younger nowadays...
(iv) chicks with little feathers (better known as babes with bikinis) in summer
(v) chance to go to Estádio do Dragão Stadium again (Porto FC stadium)
but nevertheless, there are other "compelling" reasons to leave this little heaven of mine...
(i) not-so-student-friendly lecturers... ok, that happens everywhere, i will take my chance in germany
(ii) possibility of taking up more technical modules (something that i really want... too much chemistry and physics are killing me....)
(iii) chance to study a higher level of german (not very positive about this... considering how i always get a mental block when my german teacher spoke to us in german)
(iv) bier gardens in germany in summer
(v) fatter pigeons (hahahahahah.... similar to the built of the germans)- ok, i take this back... this is not what i am looking forward to...
(v) chance to visit sebestian in stuttgart - more get-drunk sessions
(vi) chance to visit more football stadiums
(vii) nearer to singapore... hahahaa... lufthansa flies directly to singapore, so no more transit and missing my flight only to wait for another 6 hours before catching the next available flight to lisboa... (happened in dec 2006)
(viii) chance to visit the eastern european countries
errr... actually if you look at the "compelling" reasons, most of them are pretty lame... but i have to make it look like i will like to go to germany more than staying here in portugal.... otherwise i will be too sad to move on with the next phase in my life... be strong... i am a tiger, remember?
posted by YongQiang at 9:58 PM
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