To Ride An Elephant

I should be studying at the moment since finals are approaching, but amidst procrastination, I stumbled upon a list of goals that I had made when I was in Grade 9 while cleaning my room (I would rather clean than study, that’s saying something…).

Funny thing is, it felt so odd to read through my to-do list. It was as if I was looking at a nugget of history, or rather, a reflection of my 15-year-old self. I was such a reserved teenager, and weird too. One of the things I put down was “to ride an elephant”.

Thinking back, I don’t think I even seriously considered that I would accomplish some of them. It was more of a list of goals which would be nice to accomplish, but I did not think I actually will.

Here I am now, well in my twenties. And I am so proud to say that I have accomplished many of my goals. Here are 5 of them:

1. Hike up a mountain.

2. Sew a dress.

3. Join a choir.

4. Learn a new language.

5. Travel all over the world. (Well… a good portion of it.)

Comparing myself between now and then, I feel that I have gained so much more exposure to the world. More confident, more aware of the opportunities out there.

Of course, there is always more to discover. I am very excited to see what is in store for the future!

As for that elephant ride – somehow, someway, I will make it happen!

Distraction

It’s going to be a bit difficult studying with a humongous travel book and a bottle of icewine in front of me.

Thank you for the birthday wishes, everyone! It makes having a birthday during the final season so much better.

Nostalgia

Tabor, a historical city in the Czech Republic

It’s been more than six months since I left Vancouver for my two month solo trip to Europe.

Since then, I’ve returned to Vancouver and started my third year at the University of British Columbia. Two of the biggest news are that I became VP of Communications of AIESEC UBC, and that I landed an internship position with KPMG for next summer!

Apart from these exciting events, my life has been ho-hum. It has been routine.

I miss traveling. I miss getting up in the morning, ready to explore a new city and not knowing what to expect. I miss immersing myself in a new culture, learning a new language and trying new food and drinks.

Recently, I’ve been perusing through some photos from this summer and feeling nostalgic. So I want to share some tidbits, with the mission of convincing you to travel. Now!

The crowd at Schönbrunn Palace during the symphony concert

During my interviews for a summer internship, I was often asked was, “What is your biggest accomplishment so far?”. And always, my response was traveling.

Many of my proudest moments come from my travels. Now I can say that I have:

• Jogged along the Rhine river
• Danced in a local Czech music festival
• Explored an abandoned train station in Berlin
• Improved my French and German
• Watched the Vienna Philharmonic Symphony (for free)
• Toured Europe by bus and train, exploring 15 cities in 2 months

When I was in Europe, I felt like I was in a different world that was separate from my routine life in Canada. I was meeting all these new people, exploring new places, and experiencing so much. Traveling gave me the opportunity to grow.

After giving a presentation at the local conferences for AIESEC SFU and AIESEC UBC, many students came up to me saying they were inspired to travel and go on an internship with AIESEC. I tell them to do it. Travel! Go on exchange!

Don’t let excuses get in the way, whether it be school, work, or money. When there’s a will, there’s a way.

I’ll end with an excerpt from Jeff Goins’ article, “3 Reason to Travel While You’re Young”:

So, young person, travel.

Travel wide and far.
Travel boldly.
Travel with full abandon.

You will regret few risks you take, when it comes to this. I promise you.

If this has not convinced you yet, I will be making more postings on why you need to travel. One thing I definitely needed to improve as VP of Communications at AIESEC UBC is being more active on my own blog! I have so many photos I want to share (thousands!), with so many stories behind each one of them. So, stay tuned!

Mladá Boleslav

As soon as I arrived in my host family’s home, Marek, the son asked if I wanted to see the castle close by. As we walked outside of his backyard, I noticed he was carrying this dense heavy kind of bread. Thinking it was a little snack for us, I asked, “What’s the bread for?”. He replied, “In case we see some sheep”. See, in Vancouver we have pigeons to feed. Here in Mladá Boleslav, we have sheep. This will be yet another interesting week exploring a new city in Czech Republic!

Mladá Boleslav at dusk

Goodbye, Dobruška!

Throughout the week, the four-year-old son in my host family, Honza, had been too shy to talk to me, especially since he did not speak English. Being my last day in Dobruška, I made a typical Canadian breakfast for them – pancakes with maple syrup! As we all took our place to eat around the table, little Honza said something in Czech as he got settled into his high chair. His dad turned to look at me, surprised, and said that Honza wanted me to sit beside him! I was quite moved with this little guy, and dreaded leaving even more!

With my wonderful host family in Dobruška

I have grown to love the small and quaint town of Dobruška, and will miss it very much! My week long stay here was an amazing and unique experience, especially because I got to live among the locals in the town. I was sincerely touched by how eager and excited all the students were to have us in their school, not just as visitors, but also to make us feel like part of the community.  I arrived here thinking that I was in the middle of nowhere. However, Nikola, the remarkably charming daughter in my host family, corrected me, saying, “You’re not in the middle of nowhere, you’re in the heart of Europe!”. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

To all the students and my host family, děkuji! I had an amazing time here, and will surely pass by again next time I am in Europe!

Sing Me a Czech Song!

On my last night in Dobruška, I hung out with some of Nikola’s friends at a local pub by the two-lane bowling alley. They were quite charming, and I was moved to see them making an effort to speak English with me. Eventually, I wanted a break from English and asked them sing me a Czech song. Although I did not understand a word of it, I was really happy they actually complied! Perhaps the pivo had something to do with it…

Teplické Skály

Nikola mentioned that we would go for a walk today at Rock Town, a nature park full of gigantic rock formations called teplické skály. Thinking that it would be a nice stroll in the park, I wore my Birkenstock sandals and a button-up blouse. Pretty decent choice of clothing for the park, I thought. When we met up with the rest of the people who were heading to the Rock Town with us, I was surprised to see them decked out in shorts, vests, hiking shoes, and backpacks.

Crazy rock climber at Rock Town

When she mentioned walking, I did not even consider that we would be hiking. Well, I guess I should have seen that language barrier coming. I survived though, despite a long climb up a steep ladder to get an amazing view of the surrounding region!

Climbing the steep ladder

The amazing view after the climb from top of the rock

Školní Výlet

All the trainees, including myself, went with the 6G class to their school trip to an outdoor museum which showed how people lived like in the past. Apart from the educational aspect of it, where they showed how to make ropes out of flax seeds, the most entertaining part of that trip was probably the museum owner’s little daughter, Barushka. Here was a little girl, probably no more than six years old, showing seventeen-year-olds and twenty-year-olds how to spin the flax into ropes. She would hog the equipment for herself and wouldn’t let anyone use it! Quite the farm girl, that little Barushka.

Little Barushka showing off her farm skills

Big horse with a big appetite

The Eurotunnel

The travelling portion is always the most stressful part of the trip, there is much to worry about – forgetting belongings, losing belongings, waking up on time, getting on the right bus or train, and so on. Today I was to travel from Brussels to London by bus, about a 7 hour bus ride. Morgan went with me to bus terminal, and we waited for my bus to pull up. I was a bit confused as I did not realize I had to check in and get a bus number, so Morgan went to get it for me, coming back with a slip of paper which with the number 12 on it. A bus then pulled up, holding a placard which read 12. I approached the driver, although a bit hesitant as the placard said that the bus was heading to Paris. I thought perhaps the bus would head first to Paris, and then London. The bus driver began to load my luggage, just as the man from the check-in office half jogged towards us – he had given me the wrong number! I was supposed to head to bus which had a placard which reads 15 instead. Good thing he caught us in time, otherwise I would have been heading to the wrong city!

The bus ride itself went by smoothly, I enjoyed the view of the countryside. Probably what was most exciting though was going through the Eurotunnel. The bus had to go inside a narrow train, which looked like a shipping container, along with other vehicles in a single file, and the train would then take us across the English channel. There was barely any space on the sides of the bus, so it was very claustrophobic! We then spent about 30 minutes travelling through the tunnel without any natural sunlight. The signs read, “Thank you for traveling on the Eurotunnel, let us do the driving”. The bus driver sure appreciated it, as he took a breather outside of the bus and joked with the other drivers in some Eastern European language.

Once across the channel, I experienced another surprise as it seemed that the bus was driving on the wrong side of the road! In England, the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, and cars drive on the left side of the road. The steering wheel of the bus was still on the left side, but he still had to to drive on the left side of the road. It was a bit hilarious seeing the many road signs which read, “Drive on the left side”. It became so repetitive, either too many European Union drivers got into many collisions with British drivers or British people really just want to get their point across.

Brussels, Belgium

I ventured into the city today with Morgan, which was great as I would have gotten lost otherwise. We made a stop at the Brussels Palace of Justice before making our way to the core of the city through windy streets full of patios. Eventually, we reached the Grand Place, a vast open square with beautiful historic buildings surrounding it. There were lots of people just milling about, lazing on the cobblestone. “I think I am probably the only Belgian here,” commented Morgan. She was probably right.

Inside the Brussels Palace of Justice, which is bigger than St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome

Huge pillars inside the Brussels Palace of Justice

Brussels is quite a small city, however they are big on food. I had waffles, chocolate, frites with tartar sauce, and beer, all within less than a couple of hours. If I stayed any longer in Brussels, I am quite sure I would gain weight very quickly from being surrounded by these absolutely delicious and tempting specialties of Belgium!

Waffles!

Inside a biscuit store

Pêcheresse beer