Holiday

So relieved today, finally the winter break has come.

I haven't posted anything for some time now. But I think I want to put some thoughts into my subsequent postings. It feels rather plain to post just about trips.

In the meanwhile, here is Edinburgh Castle. It was taken during autumn period.

It gets dark quite fast these days. Missing more sunlight. .

Stirling Castle

Another town just around an hour from Edinburgh, Stirling is famous for its castle.

The castle is pretty much preserved. It is built on a hill, which contribute to the amazing view from top. You could see things miles away in all direction from the outer wall.

Decline

While in Italy, church buildings are still functioning normally, it is not the case with Scotland. Some of the churches in Edinburgh have closed down and used for other functions. Here are some examples.

Although the name is faith, it is not a church anymore. It's a disco.

The one below has become a theatre

And also some more other usage. Old folk's home. Party venue, etc.

Arthur's Seat

The first excursion we have is the Arthur's Seat. It is the highest point in Edinburgh. The view was nice from above. Plus it doesn't take so much effort to go up. It is not so far from the city center.

And so we went. In the city, there were already lots of wind. But apparently, the wind above is much much worse. Sometimes we have to put some effort to move against it.

Edinburgh

After the pause, I guess I'll start writing again. Edinburgh is a beautiful city. Apart from the unpredictable wheather, that is.
Now there's a feeling of relief after staying in Italy for a year where people generally don't speak english. Here everybody speaks english. I find it rather interesting to hear the thick accent.
Also there is less sense of solitude as it is a big city. Unlike Trento for which everything closes early and we stayed up in the mountains.
So far the excitement is still there. Lots of students from different backgrounds. There's also a huge number of Sports and Societies there
where the non academic stuff are.
On weekends, there are always be events organized by resident assistants or trips around the area organized by international students centre.
For cooking and stuff it's probably easier since there are a lot of chinese shops around.
The problem is that transport is not as cheap as the one in Trento. Almost everything here requires money. But that's also a good point as people tend to walk then. More exercise.

Pause

Coming back to Singapore, readjusting with the life here. Experienced some jetlag, but managed to force myself to stay awake until sleeping time. Being unemployed, days are slow as compared to when I was working. I mean I had liked my job even in the fast paced Singapore and days were running so fast back then.

Now, I could just walk slowly in the midst of rushing crowd. Days are reduced to lunch and dinners to catch up with friends, some of whom I never had contacted during the past year. Probably won't have much chance like to be like this in the future. So I just pause and relax . .

Foodies

Went to travel to Munich and Barcelona last week.
The food was excellent. Spent much time eating. In Germany, most of the food will involve meat. Big meat. Veggies are not many. On the left is a duck dish. We also ordered a pork shank and tried Munchen's white sausages. So much sinful food.

Althought it is delicious, the problem is that you can get bored easily. Not easy to eat a large amount of meat everyday. Alternatively, you can go to Spain.

Spanish food has a lot of gravy inside. Rice with gravy. Noodle with gravy. Meat with gravy. And the spices are quite nice. Below is a Paella. Much more expensive than your average kebab, but worth a try. The pan is not deep at all, it's just wide. Seafood abounds as Barcelona is just by the ocean.

Permesso di Soggiorno

Finally, after waiting for some time I got my permit of stay last week. It was rather a pleasant surprise since the collection date given to me was on 15 July. And the news of other people getting their stay permit delayed did not help as well.

I went to the Questura thinking that I might be able to get them to work on my stay permit faster since, without the stay permit, I would not be able to go to the Schengen states. Yeah, Indonesian passport holders aren't so privileged.

Apparently, after waiting for an hour, they told me to wait again. And then after some time, I got the stay permit. Maybe the people in Questura really start to improve the quality of service. Maybe because I have been waiting longer. Anyway, it's probably time to go out from Italy again.

Summer Holidays Coming

The good part about being a student is the amount of vacation we could get. Working life entitled people of some 14-21 working days of paid leave, some of which could not be taken depending on the project demands.

Being a student is different. The summer exam spans from early June to end of July, some subjects even can be taken in September, but finishing early would mean more holiday at hand. So at one time you work even on weekends to finish the exam all at the first shot.

Academic here tends to be more forgiving, than the UK system for example. This would mean that you can get multiple chances to do your exams. You can take again when you are not satisfied with the grades. If you cannot do during the published date, you can even ask the professor for appointment for exams.

In one way this is good as students do the exam not pressured about the marks but to really understand. They can take as many exams as they like. UK system ( and Singapore included) is more competitive, you only have one chance to do exam. If you are sick or some of your close relative pass away during those dates such that you could not do the exam, too bad, you will have to take the exam next time.

I completed my last exam today. So that means I can start fixing my Thesis, finish my share of part time project and then off for holiday.

Church Website

One of the early problems when I came to Trento is that it's not easy to find a church in English. Initially I managed to get one which is in Italian, with service translated to English. After some time, by chance, I got to know that there is one in English, the one I am attending now.

Although it is yet a small church, we thought that it would be good to have a website for the church. The first version of the website is hosted in geocities Trento Church. It has still some problem, however, that queries from Google would not bring the page as result. So I put the link in this blog.

Paris Trip(3): Versailles

Versailles used to be the palace of the French monarchs prior to the French Revolution. Now it is just a tourist spot. The grandeur feeling of the setting still remains. The garden at the back of the palace was really huge and so it was even tiring to go around by foot.

Paris Trip (2): City of Light

The image of Paris being the City of Light is as expected. The lights are beautiful seen from the top of Eiffel Tower.

That is after an hour of waiting in queues below the tower. A combination of dim sunset and city lights.

Heroes Finale

I watched the first season finale a couple of days back. All along it has been a rather interesting series. The last episode, however, I think was rather disappointing.

- The battle between Sylar and Peter could have be better. Peter didn't use any special abilities then. I would rather expect telekinetic battle. Otherwise why would Peter be the only one who can stop Sylar?

- The way Sylar got stabbed was too easy. He should have been able to avoid that as Hiro didn't appear close enough. I rather expect that Hiro could use more teleportation ability to confuse Sylar.

Overall, I think the battle scene five year in the future was more interesting.

Barber Business

Labor cost has been always more expensive here in Italy. And so it affects the services sector. It is also true for haircut. It took me some time to adjust with the price of S$8-10 for haircut in Singapore. And now it is 13 euros at the lowest.

In December, I got scissors and with a friend cut each other hair. Didn't work so well. That makes me appreciate that hair pruning business is not so easy afterall. Now in May, I went to a proper Italian barber.

Went in Monday afternoon. The barber was closed. No sign whatsoever.

Went again Friday morning. It was open. As I approached the counter, the guy (who does not speak much English) start opening the appointment list. Not bad, so here people make appointments for haircut. I got to go back after 3 hours.

I only know the word 'taglio' to cut in Italian. So he showed me a photo album letting me choose the hairstyle I like. After half an hour, we were done. And now as summer approaches, my head sure feels less bulky.

Cooking Chronicles 6: Rendang

For this I don't really know how to make the spices. What we did was we order some Indonesian food stuff from www.tokoindonesia.de and have them sent to Italy. Thus we share the shipping cost.

With readymade spice, it is really easy. Just dump everything they prescribe and boil. It takes a long time though waiting for the water to dry under small fire.

Tried twice, one with beef and another with pork. The beef version tastes better because pork did not absorb the spices as much as beef.

Paris Trip (1): Disaster

It's already quite outdated as the journey was last month. I was busy (and lazy) to write anything till now. The plan has started as long back as December for the trip and waited with expectation.

All the energy seems to fade away even before we reached Paris. The reason being the six hours flight delay which made us depart at 12 midnight instead of the scheduled 6pm. And they delayed the flight in block size, every one hour. Enough of flying with myAir.

So we reached Paris Orly at 2-3 in the morning The hostels were already closed. Metro closed. Few night bus in operation. And we dropped somewhere in the city with our luggage.

And then we walked around Champs Elysses at 4 am while waiting for the morning sun. And by the time we reached our hostels, we need to wait(or sleep) for some time before we can actually check in. So much for a budget travelling.

Italian Beuraucracy

Before coming to Europe, I thought that the more advanced the country is, things can be done faster.
Not here in Italy it seems.
Just went today for the police to do formalities for Italian permit of stay. It was quite a long wait.
I arrived in September, submitted the application. In December they told that there were processing changes and we need to submit to Rome instead. Some 60 euros extra were taken in the process. So I submitted the application to Rome and getting back an appointment in May.
In July, I will (hopefully) be able to get the permit of stay.
This is not of much use then as I will be leaving after two months. Had I not have the Schengen visa, I may be locked inside Italy.

Back to blogging

It's been a while, last month many things happened. Went to Paris for vacation. Had some first and really bad experience with budget carriers. Got feet blisters which turned into infection. Stayed at home for a week. Catching up with work. And courses. Yeah a fine month it was.

Counting Years Passed

It's a small midnight party involving fruits and cakes. Thank you everyone for coming!

Pick Your Apple

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, that's a slogan people used to keep you eat your share of fruits. And anyway, apples are common and inexpensive.

These apples, however, are different. I took a snap of them at the Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds) in Innsbruck, Austria. They sell high class stuff, many with 3- 4 digits price and there I was wondering which things I could get as souvenir.

Perhaps now I should start taking oranges instead.

Lucca: Behind The City Walls

Italy has been divided into small villages for a long time. During medieval times wars between villages are not uncommon. For this purpose some of them have walls built around.

Lucca is an example of such village ( or city now as the population increases). They were once at war with Pisa. Compared to Pisa, the walls around Lucca is more well preserved.

Within the city stood some watchtowers. Too bad we did not make it before the closing time to climb one of those. The city itself look similar to the other Italian cities. But having these walls around sure has added to the sense of being in medieval times.

Pisa: The Leaning Tower

Pisa is probably more famous and become tourist destination because of the leaning tower.

The tower is supposed to be a bell tower for the city cathedral. We were able to get on top of the tower through a spiral staircase within, for a limited time of half an hour only and saw the nice scenery from there.

Would it be better that the tower was straight instead of leaning? I thought of that, and see if I could push the tower back to normal. But then on second thought, the world already had so many straight towers. Let this one be lean then. So I stopped pushing.

But apart from the tower, the city of Pisa is really a small peaceful city in the middle of Italy.
Clear sky. Green grass. Vast view. Those things relaxes the mind.

Florence (2):Da Vinci

Among the most famous in Florence is the Gallery Uffizi. It has large collections of paintings and sculpture made by Italian artists.

Unfortunately, I'm not a really big fan of art.

First half an hour: 'wow cool' ( stood one minute and observe)
Next hour: 'err. . did I see this painting before somewhere?'
Remaining hours: 'I guess we've seen enough art for the week'

One of the most interesting section there was for Leonardo Da Vinci's works. Prior to coming here I thought of him as just a painter. How I was wrong. He was also a sculptor and scientist at that time. There were physics experiments, mathematical conjecture, architectural designs and even dissections of human body conducted by him. A man of wide interest.

Another interesting place in Florence is the Old Bridge ( Ponte Vecchio). A short bridge with houses built on top ( mostly shops) and one of the main tourist attraction.

Snowfall

So finally, right the next day after I complain for the warm winter, snow fell near my apartment. And I thought to myself, "here comes winter".

The snow was thin. Almost feel like raining except that I could catch the falling snow. Roads were covered in thin layers of ice, making it slippery. Much of the snow in the road has been removed when I went out though. The normal sorroundings with snow looked somewhat beautiful white.

But it seems that I expected too much. The snow fell only that fateful day. There has been no more hint of snow since. It rained but not snow. Perhaps it's already spring now. One month early.

Warm Winter

It was a beautiful day. The sky was clear. The sun was shining brightly. A bit warm. Green trees. Fresh atmosphere. Still there was something amiss . . well what was it . .

Oh, it's supposed to be midst of winter now . . well aren't winter supposed to be freezing?
And yes where is the snow? Some of the days there are a glimpse of snow on the mountain summit, and that's all. Just when I thought I had a chance of playing with some snow. Well, fat hope that was.

People blame it on global warming. But winter throughout europe this year would be one of the warmest in several hundred years. I once asked my Italian flatmate:

me:Is the warm winter a good thing?
Tommasso: Of course not
me: why? it's not so much cold now
Tommasso: Many reasons, people cannot ski, that's one
Then the bears do not go to sleep. Bugs that's supposed to be dead are still alive.
Nature's balance are affected.
me: (nod) ic . .

Well the only thing I miss from this winter was the snow. The ideas of whether bears get much sleep or not does not appeal much to me. Yeah, people tend to be selfish.

Hope the winter will get colder these days.

Florence (1):David

Florence(Firenze) will appeal the most to art lovers. There are dozens of museums in the city. Many famous artists have made their marks there in Florence.

Among them is the artist Michelangelo famous for his "David" sculpture. The original sculpture was displayed in the Gallery Academia and the replicas were around the city.

I am not really 'artistically inclined'. But viewing the sculpture still bring about majestic feeling. Too bad that cameras were not allowed in the academia. It made the 7 euros felt too expensive for entrance. Well, once in a lifetime maybe still ok.

The other two replicas we found was outside the old palace and in the piazza Michelangelo. The sculpture was a bit vulgar and obvious, in the name of art, perhaps. That's why I thought I should crop some of his parts.

Cooking Chronicles(5): Meatball Soup

Meatball soup is widely available in Indonesia. It can easily be found from small moving stalls to restaurants.

As I had some extra prawns, I just mixed it in. Dismantle and cut the prawns and mix it with the meat and green onion, adding a bit of flour. Shape the meat into ball shape by hand.

Boil the water, then put the meat inside. Add salt. When almost cooked, put the vegetable and green onions in.

Fireworks

New year is often associated with fresh start. People everywhere celebrate the coming of the year.

This year also in Trento people gathered in the city square Piazza Fiera for the new year countdown. Accompanied with fireworks, singing, dancing and free flow wine amidst the cold wheather, people crowded the place.

It was not easy to get back home though, at 12.30 am, the cab were fully booked. We had to wait and arrive home around 1.5 hours later. So much for a new year celebration.

Happy new year 2007!