I’m embarking on my final eurotrip tomorrow.
This all seems so surreal.
6 months gone just like that.

Once again,
nostalgia,
heavy-hearted-ness,
an awkward kind of peacefulness

Goodbye then Eindhoven.
You’ve left me feeling
happy,
sad,
angry,
excited,
disappointed,
carefree,
and probably a million other feelings.

Goodbye Eindhoven.

Just as I sit down to write this, I’m suddenly overcome with that feeling of nostalgia, that ‘heavy-hearted’ feeling. I guess the saying really is true, that all good things must come to an end. 6 months have flown by just like that. As I look back, I can only ask myself, have I achieved anything worth mentioning? Have I left behind a legacy in Eindhoven? Have I managed to make a difference?

While I might not be able to answer the above questions with much gusto, I can say I’ve made friends who just might last a lifetime. (Pardon me if this post sounds a little too ‘emo’ for your liking.)

Zhenyuan, Zhiyi, Fulin, Shoonghong, Kumar and Wing. These have been the people I’ve been living, eating, gyming, travelling, partying and cooking with over the past 6 months. One might even be able to call them family.

From top left: Zhenyuan, Daniel, Yannis’s friend, Yannis, Valerie, Kumar, me
From bottom left: Shoonghong, Fulin, Zhiyi and Wing
Fulin’s birthday party.

Just thought I’d do a little thank-you style writing as I write this. To show how much I really appreciate you guys, to show how much it meant to me.

Guess I must say the biggest thank you to Zhenyuan, the guy who gave me 6 months of luxury. (Now don’t think funny.) He literally gave up his comfort so that I could spend 6 months sleeping on a queen sized bed. Thanks man. Probably one of the easiest going people I know, which makes many things many easy to do. No unnecessary fuss, no unnecessary quarrels and squabbles.

The other person has to be the person who has been literally feeding me for the past 6 months! She’s been cracking her brains day in and day out, thinking what to cook daily for dinner. Boy am I going to miss her cooking when I get back to Singapore! Thanks Zhiyi! Thanks also for always keeping us both boys in your mind when you travel! Thinking about it, you always seem to come back from you hols with something for us! (Erm… sorry we never got anything for you… supper k?)

Fulin. Fellow marist, fellow NUS pageant 2004, fellow exchange student! The funny thing was that I didn’t even know he was in Eindhoven with me until I saw his msn nick! (FL in holland…) Small world huh? Fulin is THE party-man! Parties are never parties without him! The funny guy, the guy who can joke almost about anything and everything. Thanks for gym sessions, I’d prolly not be able to lift as much if it weren’t for you! =) (and yes, you can still make fun of my white singlet.)

Shoonghong. This might sound shallow but thanks a million for the superbly done sweet and sour chicken! If you know him, you have to get him to cook it for you! It really rocks! Thanks for being the guy who cares. A little sentimental, a little ‘kan-cheong’, but overall very good company who listens to you. Mr. Nice Guy. Thanks for showing concern when I was down.

Kumar. Thanks for the ****. (you really have to go figure this one out yourself.) I’m smiling to myself as I’m writing this part about Kumar. Thanks for always being a sport! Always have a great laugh when I’m with him. Thanks for helping me out the other time when I was stranded at Kinderdijk. Almost had to spend the night out in the cold if it had not been for you!

Wing. Thanks for being the other ‘cockster’. =) Thanks for all the gym sessions we’ve had although I know I must have ‘put you aeroplane’ alot of times? (I cancelled on him probably about 5 times. All last minute. My bad.) I still vividly remember what you said in Amsterdam when we were lost. It was so funny all 6 of us laughed for at least 5 minutes non-stop! Thanks for being a great shopping partner and for always joking with me during gym!

That’s not all the thanks I have for them but you kinda get the point. These past 6 months, I’ve been really lucky. I’ve found a group of friends whom I’m really thankful for. Wanted to write a bit more but I guess that will have to wait for next time?

Warm sun, gentle breeze, crashing waves. Need you ask for more?

Cinque Terre (5 villages) is the place to be if you want to sit back, relax and take a breather after visiting bustling Rome. It is located only a train ride away from Florence so getting there isn’t going to be a huge problem. Despite its close proximity to the other popular parts of Italy, Sienna, Florence or Pisa, the towns are not overflowing with tourists! Another plus!

The region is made up of 5 villages, each with her own little special quirks. Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. These aren’t names of famous italian babes, rather, they are the names of the villages of Cinque Terre. Each village is only minutes apart, all accessible by trains. Alternatively, you can choose to hike between the villages each only about 1-2 hours apart. The toughest part of the hike has to be between Vernazza and Corniglia and the easiest, probably between Riomaggiore and Manarola.

18km of coastline, with vineyards decorating the hills and a spectacular view of the Mediterranean Sea. Also a part of the UNESCO world heritage. Here’s a couple of pictures I took while I was there! Enjoy!

Levanto

Sunset at Levanto. Pardon my camera skills.

this is the morning view of the beach. absolutely stunning!

It really was much more beautiful! Our base. We made Levanto our starting point and our base because it wasn’t as crowded as the other villages. I have to say that the people, namely the locals, here were really friendly. Everyone seem to know each other and greeted each other even along the streets. Everyone seemed to know where everybody else worked, and they were able to give directions to practically almost every place we asked! Splendid! It really did make us feel so at home, as though we were a part of them!

Farinatas and Calzone! What can I say… really tasty stuff!

If you happen to be there, make sure you do not miss the restaurant Nuova Pizzeria Bruna! The farinatas were to-die-for and the calzone was excellent! We had dinner there every night!

Monterosso

Monterosso.

Look at the Statue! I didn’t notice it at first. Pretty awesome!

The first of the Cinque Terre villages from Levanto. This town is divided into 2 by a tunnel and the mountains above. Both sides have equally good beaches so it’s really up to you to choose! Didn’t manage to dine here so can’t really give any great food recommendations.

Vernazza

Along the way to Vernazza. The Mediterranean Sea.

Vernazza with the Castle and the Stone Jetty

The Stone Jetty. (The waves were huge. Look at the next pic!)

Waves crashing down on Vernazza

This village was filled with throngs of tourists as compared to the others. The area around the stone jetty is an ideal spot to sit down, have a bottle of ice cold beer or sip on a cuppa italian coffee! Bought pizza from a pizzaria, can’t recall the name of the shop, but the pizza was so good! It was a simple pizza with pepperoni but the spicy-salty taste of the pepperoni was simply fantastic! Here’s a few photos with the waves crashing down.

Corniglia

The view of Corniglia

On my way to Corniglia

The little red dot tells you where we are! (And that’s really a long way up!)

Long way up to the top! (I think there’s a lift in construction)

Vineyards of Corniglia

Unfortunately, I can’t say much about Corniglia because I rushed through it. Probably the only thing I can say is that it has a beach located about 20mins walk off the hike trail. Rumor has it that it is a nude beach, according the 2 Americans who I bunked in with. If I’m not mistaken, Corniglia is located higher up the hills, thus missing out on the beach action.

Manarola

Manarola and me!

Again, several guides have suggested visiting the church here, church of San Lorenzo. However, Zhenyuan and I rushed through this village as well because our other walking partner, Macerena, from Chile, was literally running through all the villages! We didn’t have time to take a slow stroll like for the later villages. Apparently I think she found us walking too slow she carried on alone.

Riomaggiore

Hidden Riomaggiore

This was the village we started our walks at. We took a train from Levanto here. We didn’t even walk around this village. All we did was hop off the train and head straight for the hiking trails. Alas, what a waste. I’ll definitely go back again.

Just realised that it’s really been awhile since I last blogged. Not too sure why but words don’t come as easy nowadays. There was a period of time when I just had so much to say, so much to comment about. These days however, I’ve been doing more thinking than anything else.

Perhaps it’s because I’m reaching that age. I’m almost a quarter of a century old. And yet, I still do not see my legacy. We are all capable of achieving greatness. I know that. But, what is this ‘greatness’ I’m supposed to be doing?

That aside, here are some pics from my last trip to Italy. Pictures are really just a fragment of the real thing. If you get the chance, you have to go to Rome! (My roman history isn’t really up to date. Don’t kick up a fuss if I’m wrong!)

The Colosseum. Rumor has it that once upon a time, almost thousands of animals were killed here daily! The Romans were poor and the King, in order to placate the masses, organised daily fights and battles.

This might also have resulted in the extinction of many species of animals from Africa and maybe Asia. Not too sure if you can picture this, but how the colosseum works is brilliant. Animals and humans alike are placed below the stage. When it is their turn to fight, elevators, powered by humans pulling on pulleys, raise the fighters up the stage to meet their fate.

The arch of Constantine. If I’m not mistaken, Constantine was the Emperor who made Christianity the official religion of Rome.

The Trevi Fountain. Tonnes of tourists visit this fountain and toss coins over their shoulders for what proves to be an ancient tale. According to legend, if you use your right hand and toss a coin over your left shoulder, you will return to Rome. The larger the amount, the faster the return. Two coins signify romance and three coins signal wedding bells.

Another interesting fact. If you look closely at the rightmost window, you will find that it isn’t exactly a window. In fact, it was bricked up because someone who stayed there attempted suicide by leaping out the window!

During the tour of the Palentine Hill, our tour guide told us a couple of interesting facts. I will attempt to relate them as close to what I heard as possible.

Fun fact #1
Do you know the reason behind bridegrooms carrying up their wives and stepping into their bridal rooms? Before Rome was what it is today, Romulus held a party and invited all the warriors of Sadin (not too sure if I got this spelt correctly.) He and his army got all the Sadin soldiers drunk, went on to ‘pick’ up their women, locked to doors to his city and commenced populating his city.

Fun fact #2
Do you know the reason behind the colours of wedding costumes - white for females and black for men? Well, in the past, women didn’t have money to buy luxurious gowns. So what they did was seek help from the priests and borrowed their garments for wedding, hence the white colour. Men were typically dressed in black because men were seen as sinners. In fact, in the past, men used to stand on the left during the taking of vows because the left was seen as the side of sin!

Fun fact #3
Do you know the origin of the phrase ’something up his sleeve’? Apparently, during Roman times, people didnt shake hands when they greeted one another. Instead, they ’shook’ forearms. In other words, you grasped the forearm of the person you were going to greet instead of his hands. Businessmen used to even grasp the upper arms to make sure knives were not carried hence ‘nothing up their sleeves’!

I’m sure most of you didn’t know alot of that! I was super surprised when my guide told me all of this! Interesting isn’t it? That we are in a way still behaving and living like Romans!

The Vatican City. A scared place of worsip - tonnes of visitors, a lifetime of luxuries. A hidden conspiracy? I’m not being blasphemous but one really has to wonder where the church managed to amass its wealth and still keep it running like a country on its own.

Hot and sunny Vatican

A huge pity because I didn’t manage to get into the Sistine Chapel to see Michelangelo ‘The Creation of Adam’. Apparently entry closes early on Saturdays. Who would have known. Bah.

Here’s just a few photos of us having a little bit of photography fun inside the Vatican. Not really appropriate considering that it was inside a church but hey… life’s short!

Is it technically possible to jump so high? Even I’m amazed!

From left, Ivan, me, Wenyi and Cheryl. Members of a non-existent pseudo band!

Wonder what the big guy above said to Ivan. (Be a priest? Perhaps.)

That’s all for this post. I really have to get back to Spanish. Oral exam tomorrow. Wish me luck! Till next time, take care, stay healthy and see you soon!