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.