Leaning tower

 Bonjour!

I'm glad to report that I have succeeded taking 8 exams this week. I only have four exams left before I can finally go home, kiss my parents, hug my grandma and run around the house with my dog. Although I'm a bit worried my dog might not recognize me anymore. 

Even though I haven't felt homesick since I got here last year, part of me still wishes I can be with my family again. However, I think being reunited with my siblings and parents is quite challenging. As you know, my siblings and I are very blessed to have received good graces such that we are now on our solo flight in conquering the world. My big brother is in the Philippines. My older sister is in Thailand. My younger is in Japan. I'm here in Belgium. The thought of having a reunion anytime soon isn't achievable. My parents and grandma are at home, preoccupying themselves probably so they wouldn't miss us too much. The other week, I have learned that, since we left, they have started making a "zoo" at home. They have collected numerous animals I really don't know if they are planning to have our zoo open to the public. Almost a year ago, when I  left home, they only had 4 dogs, 1 cat and 1 tarantula. Now, they have 4 dogs, 4 cats, 1 tarantula, 2 chickens, 2 turkeys, 2 fishes and 2 rabbits. My siblings and I are probably so difficult to handle such that, after we have all left, my parents suddenly had the luxury of time to take care of so  many animals. But I'm sure none of the animals are as hyperactive as me. haha

I travel here and there whenever I have time. Last April, I also went to Pisa to see the infamous leaning tower which probably would never have gotten famous if Galileo didn't drop a feather and a stone to demonstrate the effect of gravity. The tower isn't as tall as it looks like in pictures. It's one of those edifice which has gotten "beautiful" because of some historical events. An ordinary Belgian mansion is probably way more beautiful. But then again, the mansion is nothing but a structure. If the mansion crumbles due to an earthquake, after a few years, it will soon be forgotten--unless of course E. L. James was there and she was buried alive. 

Keukenhof, Holland- The Largest Flower Garden in the World

Hi everyone!

Our series of exams commenced this morning. I spent two weeks studying. I think I read my entire immunology book! I never thought I could possibly read an entire non-fiction book. My travelling escapades have temporarily ceased and will resume next month. Definitely! Meanwhile, I need to get through 12 exams so I can move on with my first year of master's degree.

Several weeks ago, my friends and I went to Keukenhof to visit the largest spring garden where 7 million tulips are planted. I think it's the most beautiful place I have seen on earth! 

When I was still in the Philippines, I have always wondered how a tulip looked like. I've heard from quite a number of women that tulips are so majestic. I thought, can any flower be more beautiful than a pink rose (pink roses were my favorites)? 

Roses are so soft and fragile, I can't help but feel weak when I see one. Tulips, on the other hand, are so hard and resilient, it felt like feeling weak when I see one was never an option. 

I think I love tulips more than roses now. Unfortunately, they only bloom in Spring. :-(

Commercialization of Florence

Il Duomo

Replica of Da Vinci's paintings.

Last time I briefly narrated what happened in the romantic city called Venice. The following day we hopped on a first class train to Florence. We booked really late that's why we got the first class seats. It was a bit expensive. But as they say, you can never buy experience. True enough, when we sat down, what greeted us was a gorgeous Italian model with skyscraper shoes! She happened to be our seatmate! Although I really love shoes and dresses, I have never (not once in my whole life) attended a fashion show! Just looking at her made me imagine how lavish fashion shows can be like. She looked so "fancy" with her Louis Vuitton luggage and Louis Vuitton tote bag. Anyway, we spent 3 hours sitting beside her. The whole time I was reading my lectures while she was making bracelets! She must have thought reading was boring. Well, that's ok because I also thought that making bracelets was boring either.

A big tulip pot in the middle of the street.

We got off the train with the desire to have a normal day. We were hoping we'd immediately find our hotel. We were quite positive because the map said it's only about a hundred meters away. We just walked straight for 15 minutes and made a left turn afterwards. We found the hotel! We found the hotel! I wanted to jump so high with my arms stretched in the horizon! I was the happiest traveler!

But here's the twist. After we checked-in, the front desk staff told us, "you have to go to this apartment one block away..." I interrupted, "I thought this is the hotel?" "Yes, it is. But we have an apartment one block away which is bigger..." 

We felt robbed again. We booked the hotel but the hotel booked us in their apartment. Isn't that weird? Only in Italy!

Carousel!

Nevertheless, it was ok because indeed, the apartment was bigger. The only thing was that, the apartment didn't have wi-fi. To access the internet, we still had to go to the hotel which was one block away.

After dropping our backpacks in the apartment, we immediately  wandered around Florence and tried to feel the Renaissance vibe. Unfortunately, all that we could feel was the typical energy exuded by avaricious fashion capitalists. Most areas were lined with boutiques!

Someone's buying vino!

Nevertheless, there were still some areas where I could somehow feel "peace." For instance, we went to a square with lots of people selling various homemade goods. I tried tasting almost all of the food I found appetizing. There was this store selling honey from different kinds of flowers. I tasted all of them and I have thus, proven that different  flowers produce different tastes! I was so happy, I nearly grew bee wings! haha.

We also visited the Da Vinci museum. In that museum, they displayed the different machines Da Vinci conceptualized. I liked the museum in general but it definitely isn't the best...

Arc.

If I have give Florence a grade, it would be a  B!  But it's a relatively a safe place to go to. 

B for...Byebye! XD Tomorrow will be a beautiful day! Why?

I'm going to Keukenhof to see the biggest Spring Garden in the world!

Remembering Venice

My favorite focaccia!

 Hi Everyone! 

We saw this when we got lost.

We are currently having practicals in different laboratories and I barely have time to sit down and write about my thoughts. The past two weeks was extremely exhausting for me because everyday, I had to travel from Brussels to Leuven (and back) just to do lab practicals there. I did learn a lot about different techniques concerning protein-protein interactions, chromatin immunoprecipitation and RT PCR. This week, I will be studying molecular techniques concerning protein-DNA interactions. Now, I'm really beginning to feel I'm being honed to become a competent "molecular biologist." I am definitely pursuing PhD! 

Took my breath away.

Meanwhile, let me talk about my other activities outside the classroom and the laboratory. Last Saturday, I was scheduled to go to Netherlands to visit the Red Light District. But I was so exhausted, I cancelled and forced myself to forget about the money I spent on booking my ticket. I wanted to just stay at home to recuperate physically and mentally. I have no new trips to talk about, so let me just narrate what happened during our second day in Italy. 

Strolling in the preserved area near the Grand Canal.

Recall that in my previous post, I talked about our misadventures in Milan during the first day. The next day, we hopped on a train going to Venice! We arrived around two in the afternoon filled with the hopes of not encountering another bad spirit. With a map in hand, we started walking towards our Hotel. My friends and I are so bad with directions, we spent an hour perpetually looking for the hotel. Somehow, we managed to read the map. What we did not realize earlier was the fact that there was no way for us to reach the Hotel without riding a taxi! We thought taking the taxi would be more expensive than booking another hotel! To cut the long story short, we booked another hotel! Our wallets cried.

Just some random photo.

Around four in the afternoon, we started worrying about the sunset. We had to reach the Grand Canal before the sun would vanish otherwise, we'd never be able to appreciate the true beauty of Venice! So then we rode the bus the Hotel Manager instructed us to take. Luckily, we didn't get lost! We found the most enchanting and romantic part of Italy: the Grand Canal in Venice! I imagined myself reading a book beside the Canal or having candlelight dinner with my bf in one of the restaurants nearby! Fancy thoughts XD

My friends and I explored the narrow streets in the preserved area near the Grand Canal. Everything looked so old yet so stunning. For the first time, we got lost in the beauty of Venice--and not due to our shamefully poor path-finding skills!

Milan, Italy

 Hi everyone!

I've been unimaginably busy after our 5-day adventure, which, by the way, was more of a misadventure. Nevertheless, I enjoyed every bit of memory I have imprinted in brain. From our escapade, I have gleaned numerous lessons in life which I can never learn inside the four classroom walls. I learned how to read maps! I also learned how to act tough and look cool even though I felt so lost (literally) and betrayed by the whole world. 

Our misadventure started in the dirty and noisy Milan Central station. My friends and I were looking for the Hotel which, according to the website, was located a hundred meters away from the central station. True enough, after walking a hundred meters, we spotted the lovely hotel. Before checking in, we decided to eat at the nearest cheap restaurant. The nearest cheap restaurant happened to be serving Chinese food. My friends and I love Chinese food, so we all decided to sit down for a bowl of noodles and platter of spicy pork with tofu. The taste wasn't what we really expected! And I can cook better! So you can just imagine how bad it was. We ate hastily because our taste buds could no longer stand the weird Italian-Chinese food. And I was also dying to leave because I broke the toilet flush. The flush wasn't working, I hit it hard and accidentally broke it! HAHA! I hurried out and urged my friends to move faster so we can leave the exotic restaurant.

Bringing our luggage, we slipped inside the hotel and presented ourselves in the information desk. Then our friend, with all pride and honor, told the staff, "Good afternoon. We made a reservation in this hotel." The staff glared at the reservation document. Then after a minute of scrutiny, he blurted out, "I'm sorry but this is not the hotel you booked." It turned out there was another hotel with exactly the same name but built in a different location! It was miles and miles away and we had no idea how to get there. We took the metro and got lost, then got lost and lost again. We were also fined for not using the correct metro ticket! We had a ticket but we bought the wrong one because we had no idea we had to use different metro tickets for different metro lines. We got used to the organized metro system in Belgium where we only have to use a single ticket for all metro lines. There were also no English translations in the Italian metro ticket machine (unlike Belgium). We tried to explain our situation but they never listened. It felt like they only wanted to get our money. And they did. Unfortunately.

In general, Milan isn't tourist-friendly. Very few people are willing to help. They don't speak good English and there are no English translations for many  significant instructions. There are also lots of pick-pockets and swindlers especially in tourist sites. 

I don't think I will go back to Milan again! I think it's the ugliest city in Italy. But I can't conclusively say that though because I've only been to 5 Italian cities. But yes, among the five, it's the ugliest and the nastiest. And I'm never going back. 

 Nevertheless, the best pizza I have ever tasted in my whole life was in the expensive restaurant somewhere in Milan. So when you go to Milan, try their pizza. Preferably eat at an expensive restaurant. They often serve high-quality pizza and pasta. 

So that's one story of the the many stories I can share regarding our Milan misadventures. I did learn a lot of things which, at that time, nearly broke my heart. But now, every thought makes me smile. It was one hell of an adventure! haha

Good night Everyone!

The Eiffel Tower

 I'm sitting here, basking on the torrent of memories which has not left my mind since I went to bed. 

I remember the day I decided to become a researcher. 

It's an occupation which isn't highly-esteemed in my country that's why I did my best to fly here so I could conveniently unravel the mysteries of molecular biology. However, I need to work harder again so I can obtain a doctorate degree. Hopefully my brain capacity will enable me to obtain another scholarship because I am financially incapable of sustaining myself in this unimaginably expensive western world. That's my plan; but let's leave it for now and concentrate on the present.

Before I start cleaning my room and breezing through my books, I want to tell you about my encounter with the stunning golden Eiffel Tower. I have always dreamed of seeing the Statue of Liberty. But I honestly haven't imagined climbing the "piece of metal" everyone wants to see.

I never cared until I saw the tower and I was swept on my feet. I trembled in excitement and fear when I saw "the piece of metal" erected before my eyes. A burning edifice of brilliance and ingenuity! 

The lattice of iron carefully welded together stands 320 meters tall. When I saw it, I couldn't imagine what it be like to reach the peak. I have fear of heights that's why I couldn't imagine what it would be like. The line was rather short when my friends and I arrived because it was nearly midnight. They close at 11:30 pm, by the way. People swarm the area the entire day; but the busiest hours are probably around dinner time. Like the Louvre, you also have to patiently wait in line to be admitted. If I remember correctly, we only paid 8 euros each--that's probably because we look young. They give discounts to young adults. I remember the inspector at the entrance baby-talked me when he was asking me to open my bag. My friends said he probably thought I was a little girl. I am tiny so I can't blame him. Plus we got the discount for looking young, so that's ok.

To get to the top, we had to ride the elevator. I  had a funny feeling in my stomach as we were ascending. I could see the view outside and that made me feel really sick, I wanted to cry. There were two stops: the middle and the peak. It was nearly closing time that's why we didn't reach the peak. My friends wanted to go there and ride that scary elevator again. Time did not permit it so we just spent the last few minutes taking pictures and looking at souvenirs. The view of Paris at night was breathtaking. Despite my acrophobia, I drew all my courage to turn my gaze on the sparkling city. I thought the shiny buildings looked like stars and that, I was on top of the world!

Pizza Party!

Chicken barbecue

Alsace

 My "brain" has nothing to boast tonight. Reading a chapter of a basic immunology book was the most difficult task I have accomplished since the sun stung my sleepy eyes and forced me to roll off my cozy bed. Nevertheless, I somehow got my hypothalamus working when my girl friends and I feasted on four types of pizza somewhere in Brussels. If I were a plant cell, my walls would have ruptured due to vacuole expansion. If I were a balloon, I would have popped, flew in the air and landed nowhere. If I were a trash bag, I would have vomited my garbage and spread foul odor all over the room. Fortunately, I am a human being with around 5-7 meters of intestines buried deep within my deceptively tiny belly. haha

Hot N' Spicy

While some people find eating extremely pleasurable, I must say, I'm a bit indifferent. In fact, everyday, I content myself with a bowl of oats for breakfast, a layer of chicken and cheese sandwich for lunch and a platter of raw spinach dipped in vinaigrette for dinner.  And when I'm studying, I often don't eat because when I do them simultaneously, I consume lots of energy drastically and eventually fall into a deep slumber.

Super Supreme

But today, like some rare special day, I found pleasure in eating. I unbelievably devoured 5 slices of pizza! I cannot remember eating that much in my whole life. I ate as though I have been famished for a year and that I won't ever have the chance to eat again. I can only blame the Pizza Hut in Belgium for making one of the best pizzas I have ever tasted! They are definitely incomparable to the pizzas in the Philippines. I remember. My boyfriend used to complain a lot about the pizzas in the Philippines. He told me they're too dry and too bland. I never really believed him before. I thought he was just being fussy about food because he has already tasted various dishes around the world. But after I ate the pizzas in Belgium, the sad truth just dawned on me. He was right. Pizzas in the Philippines are nothing compared to these. But I understand, because the Asian restaurants here in Brussels serve the worst Asian food in the world. I remember clamoring about the fried noodles in an Asian restaurant. It was unimaginably disgusting, I wanted to tell the chef to do a better job so as not to disgrace the Asians in Europe. 

Oh! Sorry if I have to cut this short. I have to attend another dinner. This means, I have to eat again. Waah. It's better than not eating anything though. I hope one day the people in  the Philippines will be able to enjoy this abundance of food in Europe. 

Bye. See you next week.