Velkommen and Moshi Moshi!!...
I've had virtually no connectivity over the past month since I left for Tokyo. And for the moments where I could've had internet access, well, I wasn't about to use it - and who can blame me? I’m traveling so much, there was no way I was going to sit in an internet café and e-mail or blog while I’m halfway across the world, or spend USD$0.35 per minute using the cruise ship computers. The past month my trek around the world has marked the following cities:
- Tokyo, Japan
- Boston, USA (bloody Americans lost my luggage here)
- Munich, Germany
- Copenhagen, Denmark (by far my favorite European city that I've been to)
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Tallinn, Estonia (finally got my luggage back here)
- St. Petersburg, Russia
- Helsinki, Finland
- Gdansk, Poland (still bitter the Polish consulate robbed me of $100)
- Berlin, Germany
- Helsingor, Denmark
- London, England
- Oxford, England
Mea culpa for not keeping in touch with anyone...but it’s really tough to do so – especially since I can’t use MSN or ICQ while I’m at school here in Oxford, and I can’t even use my laptop to send email.
There’s so much I want to and need to blog about, but as always this summer, time is against me. At least I was able to post up my pictures with Hong Kong and Tokyo in the World gallery and the Baltic Sea Cruise in the Family gallery so far. But anyway, I’ve gotta cut my points short:
Hong Kong was amazing. As usual. Though it’s funny, it’s amazing for a different reason than I was there two years ago. Last time, school was alright; but the thing that made my trip special was hanging out with our NPAC crew. This time, between working overtime like crazy (but learning SO much), Uncle Hubert & Aunt Bernice’s 20th wedding anniversary, HKU field trips, and the crew scattered all over the place, I spent the majority of my time with friends from school. I had an absolute blast, meeting a lot of really nice ppl, and I think the fact that I already knew a lot of ppl going on the trip this time helped matters a lot.
But simply put, words cannot possibly begin to say how much I miss those times and the friends already.
The program at Oxford is incredibly small compared to the HKU program, and to Amy, yes, "the peeps in HK are a lot cooler"...LOL. There’s really not much else I can say about the good times in HK without getting overly cheesy and rambling on and on.
Tokyo was incredible. Of course, that should come as no surprise to most people that have been to the Land of the Rising Sun. I wish I could’ve stayed longer there – partying with Tina, Hanna, Ava, Judy and Poria while trying to figure out how to use the friggin’ Japanese keyboards so we could signup for our courses on ROSI was hilarious. Sushi anywhere else in the world is forever ruined for me after having the most incredible and fresh sushi EVER. I just can’t have sushi anywhere else now. Keep your pants on, I’ll have reviews of the restaurants we ate at soon enough. I already have HK and some of England’s finest up there.
Traveling with family, extended family, and family friends can really get on my nerves. By the end of the cruise, I was ready to kill. Waking up everyday at 6 or 7am to spend a whole day on a tour bus in a city, trying to get organized, having everyone go crazy, always losing somebody or forced to wait for somebody buying something or taking extra pictures holding up the group really tested my patience. I desperately wanted to just spend a day in a city alone or with Tianne and Jon and not our big-ass group, just going wherever we’d want to go. I was itching to start school. But if you remove that factor, I had an awesome time on the cruise.
All in all though, all I can say is this summer, I am incredibly blessed. But for some reason or another, I’m also starting to feel a little homesick – living out of a suitcase, constantly moving around, is exciting and exhausting at the same time. I miss a lot of people dearly, especially now since I'm virtually cut off from the rest of the world, I even miss just seeing my friends online. Sigh.
Anyway, time's up for now...my UK cell is on my MSN contact name, so if you wanna get a hold of me just find it there. =)
[sotm] 3 Doors Down's Here Without You.
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