Sui Generis

This marks the last day of our tour, officially. This would also be the last time we'll ever see Howard or Peter, or all the others on tour with us. I was feeling rather reluctant to leave Europe, but we've all got to come back to reality when we're done frolicking. We changed buses at the other hotel. Peter and Howard would be taking the guests to the airport in Paris, while the other coach would take us to Calais and then back to London. Breakfast was super early at 6.30am but we had gotten so accustomed to waking up at 5.30am for the past 11 days that we had no problem waking up for an early breakfast. After breakfast, we went down to the lobby with a heavy heart. We were already bidding each other farewell and exchanging contacts while Howard and Peter dealt with our luggage. It would be the last time they wheeled and carried our bags around. That kinda has a depressing ring to it, don't you think? Everyone who would be leaving Europe boarded the coach one last...

This is it. It's the last day of tour (second last, but we're leaving for London tomorrow) We visited a few tourist-iconic places today: Notre Dame, The Lourve, and the Eiffle tower. We went to pick up our local specialist first - her name was Elizabeth - by the Arc de Triumph and we took a nice city tour on the coach towards Notre Dame. Only seven of us did not sign up for the optional experiences today (Notre Dame tour and going up the Eiffle tower). I didn't feel that we needed to ascend the tower as it was just to see the whole of Paris from a vantage point. Least to say, we didn't need to see Paris from a vantage point. Anyway, we were dropped off near Notre Dame, and while the others went on the walking tour with commentary, I became tour guide for us seven and also took them to Notre Dame for pictures. As I've been here before (MUSSOC Paris Tour 2015) I was kinda familiar with getting to Notre Dame from where we were. It wasn't very far anyway. We sna...

The trip to Paris was 9 bloody hours. From Switzerland, we made our way out of the Swiss alps and into the flat plains of France. We made toilet breaks almost every three hours. It must've been arduous for Peter to be driving nine hours during the day. We watched 'My Life In Ruins', fitting for our group haha. I think Howard purposfully screened that film to show what being a travel guide is like. Nothing much happened during the day, as you've expected, there was a lot of sleeping, and a film. Fast forwarding to actually arriving in Paris, I felt like arriving back at some place familiar, even though I've only been to Paris once for 6 days, just over 3 months ago. It felt nostalgic coming back here as a tourist instead of as a performer/tourist. It was 4pm when we arrived the very swanky hotel. Like some say, you start big you end big. After checking in, we left for Champ Elysee where we were dropped off to have some dinner. After taking some pictures at the ...

This one is gonna be rather short because I was too tired to write as we went around. In the morning, we went to the base of Mount Pilatus to ascend the mountain by cogwheel train. It was a slow ascend, and a cold one. Of course it wasn't without reward. The view was incredible! Vast green lands, sparkling lakes, open skies, it was all so picturesque. There were even cows grazing! We called them mountain cows lol. They had cowbells tied around their necks that sounded whenever they moved. So every time we heard the sound of bells, we whipped out our cameras and searched for the cows. However, halfway to the top, the scenic view transformed into that of ghastly fog. We couldn't see anything outside our windows! Upon arriving at Mt. Pilatus, we were given free rein to roam around, take pictures and shop at the gift store. But because of the fog, there wasn't exactly much to see. We were also ill equipped for the weather in the mountain. Luckily I brought a cardigan and a h...

I left my charger and adapter in the hotel :'( we noticed when my mum wanted to charge her phone on the coach and couldn't find my charger, nor the adapter. I was asleep then, and instantly was awake, feeling a creeping dread in my gut. I recalled not unplugging it because my mum's phone was still charging. And that's probably where it still is. "Did you unplug it?" I asked, hoping that she did, but, by the look on her face, I found my answer. The dread fell over me like a heavy weight. I don't like losing my things because I'd have to replace them, and many a time I'd have grown attached to them. Yes, I'm a hoarder. Also the international adapter wasn't cheap, which deepened my guilt further. I wanted to divert the blame, but obviously that isn't going to help with the situation except for making myself feel better. I swallowed my guilt and wallowed in it until I fell asleep again. When I woke up, there was a documentary showing about...

My dark circles are beginning to become more prominent. I look like I've not slept in  days. Technically that's true, I've not had proper sleep since the tour started. I had great sleep in pretty nice hotels definitely, but not solid sleep. I do sleep in the bus, but everyone knows the body only considers those kinds of sleep as naps. So every morning, I wake up at 5.30-5.45 while my mum wakes up at 5. Bless her. My eyes are constantly tired in the morning and my brain feels like thick haze. I can think rather clearly but my body is sluggish. I.e I'm still asleep. On the contrary though, I think my thought process is more critical in this state, as in, more judgemental. Maybe my subconscious hates the world for making myself wake up so bloody early in the morning, but early mornings are no place for war, especially when you're on tour. We stopped by a freeway stop at about five to ten. The place was freaking three storeys high, and of course the facilities had to...

Second day in Rome, I had a wonderful sleep but sadly not enough rest. Breakfast was uh.. pretty basic compared to the past few days: bread, cheese, hams and fruit. Reminded me of my trip to Paris a few months ago. Anyway, we left the hotel 7.20am on the dot so we could be the first ones into the Vatican. Trust Trafalgar to be the best in planning ahead. We met up with our local specialist again and she led us into the Vatican City. It doesn't look as ancient as I thought or romanticised it to be, but it was breathtaking nonetheless. The galleria filled with marble sculptures, incredibly preserved tapestries (cleaned in a large pool every hundred years) and intricate the fresco that adorned the ceilings and walls of the hallways. It was beautiful, and being able to see so much history was amazing. From the galleria we went to the Sistine Chapel where Michelangelo spent 4 years painting the ceiling of the chapel. It was glorious! We weren't allowed to take picture because the ...

Bonjorno! That's hello in Italian :D We got the back seat today! So much leg room!! And it's not bumpy! (Thanks Peter) Anyway, we're heading to Roma today. It's gonna be a long ride since we'll only be arriving at about 1pm where it'll be hottest, probably. -- Well, it wasn't so bad. It was hot, definitely, but it wasn't as bad as Venice. Venice was sweltering hot. The road to Rome was really windy and bumpy. I kinda felt woozy halfway through, but recovered after 15 minutes. We stopped by the first pitstop in the morning for a toilet break. I didn't go, and luckily I didn't as there were about 3 other coaches. A few of us chilled in the shade while the rest queued up for the loo. The next stop was 2 & 1/2 hours away so we slept. At the next stop, we had lunch. We had packed sandwiches from the hotel during breakfast and my mum bought a salad bowl (because we desperately needed greens). At least the toilet was free. So after lunch we we...

I had another post but aparently it just stuck to saving mode and I can't access it. Anyway, breakfast was delicious this morning but a tad bit salty, we left as usual at 7am and headed for Italy. We stopped at our first R&R for the day in Tentro I think, or past Tentro, I can't remember. I waited for the rest of the family near the bus while they went for a toilet break. I chatted with a couple of the other tour goers, took some pictures of the mountains and of the birds. When 20 minutes passed and they hadn't returned, I was beginning to worry that they were waiting for me, so I went to sought them out. Turned out, to my horror, they bought two bags of chocolate. Couldn't really blame them though, there was a sale going on and chocolate was going cheap. And so, they bought the chocolate. Because of the massive queue of Chinese tourists, we were a little late to going back to the bus. Anyway, we continued on our journey. We watched the scenery transform before u...

Breakfast as usual at 6.30 am and it was delicious. In my opinion, the food here us much tastier than the classy hotel in Amsterdam. At least the scrambled eggs didn't look and taste like the ones I had in halls. We boarded the bus at 7.30am and headed for Munich. The weather was brilliant, bright cloudless skies, warm sun and just wide open farmlands, mainly wheat and corn so it's very brown and green. Compared to northern Germany, there are more rolling hills. We stopped at a freeway stop at 9.30am for some coffee and toilet breaks. The toilet system is so high tech! So you pay say, €0.70 at a toll like entrance and it produces a ticket which entitles you to a €0.50 off for food and drinks that you can buy. So toilet entry is actually just €0.20. We returned to the bus at 10am to resume our journey. We arrived in Munich and drove past the olympic stadium and the Munich university, very fancy, then we stopped outside the opera house (?) and walked down the road for our own ...

We woke up at 5.30-6.00 am today and had breakfast at 6.30 am, then left the swanky hotel at 7.30 for Cologne. In the bus we watched a video on Anne Frank's short life, making my mum and I silently emotional towards the end. We slept through most of the way and arrived in Cologne about half past 11, but due to traffic and construction. The road, initially a two lane road became a one lane road, making the bus very difficult to turn, it being a very long 54 seater bus. The good looking driver managed to squeeze us through the one lane, one way traffic. We were headed for Kölner Dom - Cologne Cathedral. It was as magnificant as the Notre Dam. When I went in, I somehow felt overwhelmed, not the super excited kind but the overpouring, close to tears kind. I have no idea why I felt that way, observing the intricate architecture and the sermon happening in German. I also felt rather irked with the amount of flowing tourists that snapped away as much as possible, then leaving when th...

We left the hotel this morning at 4.30am by taxi. It was cold and drab - a typical London morning. Then we headed for the Trafalgar Reception on York Road. Unexpectedly met a friend from uni whom I thought would be attending the Europe tour with us, but unfortunately not so. Anyway, we left a little after 5.30 am and headed for Dover.  I'm not sure how long it took us, but it was definitely a shorter trip from London than from Nottingham. There's about 54 people on this tour, mostly Americans, a family of what I'd reckon are Indonesians and a pair of mother and daughter from the Philippines? A rough assumption. Anyway, yes, Americans - it's interesting listening to them talk, it's like listening to an American show on the tele, except they're right behind you and in the flesh. #jakunmoment From Dover, we took a ferry - Pride of Kent - to Calais, France where we switched buses.  Calais Boy is the driver good looking. He looks rather youn...

Since graduation - no, since my family touched down in the UK, I've been eating so much. And my mum complains I've gotten fat == Asides from the rain and chilly weather, graduation was, well, not as emotionally charged as I thought it was going to be. If anything else, I was struggling not to yawn so conspicuously during the speeches. Even made it across the platform without embarrassing myself, as seen in the 10 second vid I posted on instagram (wayhey!) Managed to toss my motar, and snap various pictures with friends who came (love you guys) and have some fancy cakes and champagne. Now that that's all over, it still doesn't really feel like I've graduated. Perhaps it has to do with doing masters in the next academic year. I do look forward to staying in the new house though - it's a place I've visited often enough to feel at home. We've finally left Nottingham after feeding my friends with home cooked food for two days, and by the looks of it, it...

Literally. I am surviving without internet. It's been 10 days since the internet has been cut off, but it has felt like 10 weeks (hence why I have not been updating). Friends ask me in shock how I'm coping and what the heck I could possibly be doing with my time, I just shrug and tell them, "hey, I can sit for 12 hours playing fallout 3/Skyrim/Sims 3. No problem." then proceed to roll my aching shoulder from sitting too long in one setting. After having a chat with a friend last night, only was I told and reminded I could still access the university libraries with my card and ID. I slapped my forehead in sudden realisation. 'Why didn't I even try the library?!' So here I am in the computer lab happily soaking and basking in the joy of internet usage and wifi. Another thing, at least my (now ex) housemates left me food in abundance (thanks guys!) Now I have more rice and spaghetti than I can ever eat in a whole year. (It's only 5 bags of 1kg rice a...

So it feels as though Summer has officially began in the UK. It's blazing hot, with recorded temperatures of 33 deg Cel this afternoon. It feels like home, but the only difference is that home has air-conditioning and at least ceiling fans in the house. Here, there's none of either and my room feels like an oven. Rooms in the attic are known to be the coldest in winter and hottest in summer - and I am experiencing the full force of the latter.  How do people survive here?! It's annoying because the body feels like it's being covered in some form of heat film that you can never get rid of except with taking a cold shower, then you rinse and repeat. Similarly, your insides also feel like it's perpetually parched, but I guess that gives you a reason to chug more water (especially for me because I hardly drink 8 glasses a day). Also, no internet!! *sad face* I've been spending time playing Sims 3 for the past 2 days and I finally ditched my room to hangout ...