Sunday, September 8, 2013

Post-trip reflections

I am still living in the past. It is close to a month since I returned from the trip but I still exhibit withdrawal symptoms. Haha.. but it is time to reflect on the good and the bad.

Firstly, I admit that I sort of fall in love with Europe. In fact, I was thinking whether I should consider taking up a higher studies there. Haha.. I love the generally slower pace of life there. Yes it can sort of suck when shops already close by the time you leave work but I can live with minimal shopping. Based on my aunt's testimony, I think it will be cool to have like 40 days of leave every year. I love her house too. Yes it is sort of small but it is big enough for one person to stay. And according to her, the house prices are dropping and they can be cheaper than a condo in Singapore. And for the Netherlands, I think it is very cool to be able to have bikes as a mode of transportation. I also love the fact that I can travel around to neighbouring countries to experience different cultures and sceneries. Would be lovely to be able to visit famous places of interests often :) Yearly trip to Disneyland would be awesome too! Yeah!

Weather is a big dilemma. I love the windy and cool weather of the Netherlands even at summer time. It simply unimaginable to have a summer temperature of less than 20 deg C. On the flip side, the weather can fluctuate very fast too. On the days before I arrived from Singapore and returned from Vienna, my aunt shared that it was as hot as 40 deg C. Lol.. Not to mention if the summer can be that cool, I can't imagine how freezing the winter will be. At other places, like Paris, Swiss, and Vienna, it is sort of scary when the summer hits 40 deg C. Well, the good thing about the wide range of weather is that there are plenty of clothes to wear. Talking about fashion, I had a good laugh at my sister. She was mocking my fashion style with green top and green pants. I saw many people, in different countries and from different countries, were in green-green combination too! I saw a lot of green pants in shops too. It is a summer style of 2013 I guess!! Lol..

On the less appealing side, learning a new language will be challenging and it sucks to live somewhere where you can't even converse in local language. Not to mention that people are generally unfriendly there. Not sure if that is the normal or I got all of the nasty encounters because of me being an Asian or perhaps a Chinese (yes.. thanks to the PRC tourists for the global "branding" of "Chinese" tourists). I find food can be quite boring too haha.. At the same time, I find it quite intriguing that food which are considered fattening here (eg. sandwiches, salami, pizza, pasta, cheese, etc) are sort of normal food in Europe.

Anyways, it is premature to talk about living at places which I only visited ONCE as a tourist. I hope I can return there, preferably with friends, preferably with guys too. Haha.. No offense to the ladies but I hate to spend time for shopping. When I travel, I would like to see things and experience things. Yes, I still dream of returning to Switzerland for a hike or for a skydive. It must feel heavenly. And hopefully I can find someone who can take good photos of me.. and someone with similar interests and food. But seriously, I also don't mind to be able to stay there with the locals to experience more of their daily life. Aaah.. if only my job allows me of such things.. It is only a dream with my current job.

**SMACK!!** Okay it is time to return to reality and stop my wishful thinking.. Monday is coming... This ends the series of my Euro Trip posts. It will be back to the same old boring things again for the future posts: either bitching about work.. or showing off my toy collections. Boring...

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