Entries Tagged 'Travel' ↓

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Remembering summer vacation, now that it’s way over.

Pompeii ruins, near Naples, Italy, 12 July, 2008

Effects by Poladroid

As per the post title, the summer break is over. I’ve been in Leganés for about a month now, doing on-and-off-semi-quasi-research on my thesis project. I hope to write more about it later. More as in around 12,000 words more in a dissertation book :p

As I wrote in the previous entry, I’ve spent most of my summer break traveling. To travel is really not my high-point, as in I have never travelled much before, but nonetheless I enjoyed my 7 countries and 17 (I think, I’ve lost count) cities travel.

My friend, who is an avid traveller said that traveling is his passion because he needs the “constant change”. I’ve certainly changed quite a bit of my daily life (and the mystery is that did I gain or lose weight?) for these couple of months, but now it is time to yet settle again and focus on my thesis.

For a gimmick, I’ve taken this picture as a souvenir on my travel. Can you guess where it’s taken? Clue: from this angle, it’s not leaning that much.

It’s been a while since I wrote something a little bit serious. Let me try to do just that now.

I spent two weekends watching two concerts and went to a museum in Madrid. The concerts were held by Escuela Municipal de Música Pablo Casals, a municipal music school in Leganés, while the museum is one of the biggest and most important museum in Spain, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. The first concert was a percussion concert, the second was a flute concert, and in the museum, there was an exposition of Pablo Picasso which showed joint collection of Museo Reina Sofía and Museé National Picasso, Paris. I didn’t have to pay anything to enjoy the concerts and Picasso’s artworks, they are “gratis” (Ha! A Spanish and Indonesian word at the same time).

Being concerts from a local school mean that most of the spectators were also locals, families of the performing students or teachers. When I came to the concerts, the hall of the school and a public municipal hall were full of people, they were “sold-out” concerts. The performances were also great, they held the percussion concert to give honor to a percussion teacher who just recently passed away, while the flute concert was held in collaboration with another public musical school of another city.

The admission to a museum in Spain mostly is free on weekends (for Museo Reina Sofía, it’s free on Saturday afternoon and Sunday), and tourists and locals do make use of this policy. There were lots and lots of people: young and old, boys and girls, men and women, families and singles, international tourists and locals, all of them visit the museum. I almost felt overwhelmed by the number of people visited the Picasso’s exposition.

At the back of the programme sheets given to spectators in the concerts, there was a logo of Ayuntamiento de Leganés, Delegación de Cultura, while on the museum’s brochures there was a logo of Gobierno de España, Ministerio de Cultura. What does this tell us? At least for me, it shows that Spanish have access to public spaces where they can meet their fellow Spanish and, at the same time, enjoy art and culture. It also shows that Spanish government do something that ensure people in their area have access to cultural events.

Can we make this in Indonesia? As a country rich with different cultures, I think the government should do something like this as well. They should provide us with a “public room” to held cultural events, and make sure that most of us (if not all), have access to experience that.

One of the main hurdles for a “Unit Kegiatan Mahasiswa Kesenian” (Art and Cultural Students’ Activities Unit) in ITB, to do a cultural event, is the fund. They have to raise the money themselves to do a show. They have to seek for themselves a place to do rehearsals. They sell tickets for their show because they needed the money, there’s no (or very little) fund from the campus. I’m not ignoring the assistance of ITB (if any is given), but I think the campus can do more. ITB, as a public university, is changing to “privatised-public university”, a step that is hated by many but also defended by others. Hey, if you are a member of these students’ activities units, tell us your story (and probably correct me if I’m wrong) in the comment.

I went to college and worked in Bandung, a prominent Sundanese city in West Java. I lived there for almost 6 years and I have never visited the Bandung Geological Museum, one of the most important museums in the city. This is mainly because I have the impression that local museums in Indonesia are old and forgotten buildings with unmaintained collections. And generally, that is the case. Only recently, there have been some interests by locals to visit museums and it probably forced the government to renovate several of these museums.

Am I the only one who is hoping that I can also enjoy free cultural weekends in Indonesia?

*) Image for Picasso’s painting is shamelessly taken from Musée National Picasso, Paris’ site.

Hola a todos!

I arrived at Madrid, Spain, safely yesterday, and currently I’m staying at Luthfi Darmawan’s place. He was my senior in my undergrad years.

Today, I’m going to Leganés, to see my campus, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and to search for a room nearby. Hopefully I can have a room today. If not, I’ll still stay in Luthfi’s place.

Adios!

Three months passed by so quickly, and it’s time for me to, yet again, move. It has been a very busy three months for me, but it’s definitely unique compared to Reading, UK. All the problems with language, food, assignments have all passed now. Several issues are still with me:

• I haven’t submitted one assignment (from Reading!) yet
• I still haven’t secured any accommodation in Madrid, Spain, yet
• Probably I will experience excess baggage for the first time, ie: I think my luggage is overweight!

But before I go to Madrid, Spain, to continue this journey, my next stop will be Rome, Italy. I will spend several days there to relax (and to finish my assignment!)

So, see you when I see you.
Yia sas!

Tonight, while I was having my dinner in the university cafeteria (Greek students have lunch and dinner for free), I saw a man reading a French newspaper. After I finished my potatoes (my first serving) and beans (second serving, we can have as many food as we can, I’ve seen a guy had 4 servings!), finally I managed to say “Excusez-moi, Monsieur, vous etes francais?”

It turned out that he is a Moroccan. When we exchanged few words, I kept using “Ne” (Ναι), which is “yes” in Greek, instead of “Oui”. (Sigh) I must practice my French again.

Basically, we agreed that living in Greece is very difficult mainly because of the language. I told him that I am an Indonesian student and just arrived one month ago. He told me that he came to the cafeteria because the food is free (they don’t even check who you are, I can see a lot of people who I think most definitely not student). We talked for just a brief moment.

What amazes me is that, minutes before I finished my dinner and spoke to the Moroccan in French (and mistakenly used a Greek word), I listened to a learning Spanish podcast (from CoffeeBreakSpanish) taught in English with a heavy Scottish accent. So how’s that for an international environment?

(And I can still remember my IELTS teacher told me that I am too old to learn a new language)

Well, here I am, in Thessaloniki (Θεσσαλονικη), Greece. I am tempted to write some more Greek letters, but not now (not that I know how to do it).

I am writing this from a lavish Internet cafe (very comfortable chair!) down at Egnatia street since I can’t get access to the Internet from my studio. After spending two nights here, first few impressions of this city are: vandalism, big (wild?) dogs, and small studio. More details and other first impressions after the jump. Continue reading →

I am moving to Thessaloniki, Greece, where I will continue my study of Network and e-Business Centred Erasmus Mundus programme in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. I am currently at Gatwick Airport still waiting for my flight. Earlier tonight I managed to pack my things eventhough I was not sure I could do it. At the airport I found out that I have 30kg of checked luggage and fortunately the British Airways limit is still on 32kg for checked luggage. Thank you for a certain someone that accompanied me through my packing process.

Moving is usually something that I am reluctant to do, but for this programme I should move often and quickly. I will certainly miss Q Unit people (the ones that are not in my class, and they include you too, Katiuscia), KampoengReading, and Reading itself. Hopefully I will return.

On a sidenote, I broke my glasses while sleeping in Gatwick Airport. I brought spare glasses but I think I should find the replacement in Greece, soon.

That’s it for now, I am signing off, see you in GMT+2 time zone.

Update: Some of pictures are now available, if you want more, please comment

• Bus ticket to Reading Station from Whiteknights bus stop: £1.50
• 5 days return ticket Reading-London-Reading (with Young Person Railcard): £13.80
• 2 1-day travelcards (off peak, with Young Person Railcard): £9.60
• 1 night for 4 bed en-suite room (2 bunk beds) at Piccadilly Backpacker Hostel: £28
• London souvenirs (I shouldn’t tell this, but…): £5.98 in total
• Admission ticket for London Walks: Jack The Ripper Haunts (student price): £5
• Bus ticket to Sports Park, The University of Reading from Reading Station: £1.50

Continue reading →

Kind readers, sorry for not updating this blog for quite some time now. So without further ado, here is a quick recap about what I have done in UK. Continue reading →