Ciao Italia : parte una

Setelah SIM card NL ke-blokir accidentally, gak bisa ngehubungin host gw di Italia, gak punya duit receh untuk nelefon (dan gatau gimana caranya pake telefon umum karena petunjuknya pake bahasa Itali), kesasar di Bologna (juga di Venezia), ampir ketinggalan kereta, ampir bayar denda 50 Eur (karena lupa validasi tiket kereta) ......... after all those unexpected things ........

it is glad to be back here in Deutschland.

Walopun dingin (cuacanya maupun orang-orangnya), tapi menurut gw Jerman sangat feasible untuk cewe traveling alone, karena smua petunjuk dan fasilitas bisa dimengerti biarpun orang gak bisa sprechen Deutsch.

Catetan #1.
Bologna lebih murah daripada Amsterdam.
Seperti contohnya, untuk beli tiket naek bus di Itali, menurut buku petunjuk (dan kata orang) mestinya bisa pake tiket untuk 8-10 kali pake, jadi turis gausa beli tiket 1 Euro yang berlaku untuk single journey/ one-way dalam 60 menit.
Tapi teteup aja tiket ini gak bisa didapet di mesin otomat, dah coba beli juga ke toko tabacchi tapi orangnya gak ngerti bahasa inggris.... akhirnya turis (or at least gw+ temen) mesti selalu beli tiket 1 Eur ini. Yang sebenernya lumayan murah dibanding single ticket-nya Amsterdam seharga 2.60 Eur.

MacDonalds disini gw lebih murah dikit dibanding McD Amsterdam, tapi mungkin tergantung juga beli apa sih.
Yang pasti lebih murah lagi beli pizza pinggir jalan, walopun mesti liat juga tokonya, kalo di tempat turistik dia bisa pasang tarif lebih mahal (yah sama seperti di tempat-tempat turistik lainnya).
Kata temen gw, kalo mau beli barang di Italia jangan cari yang ada di tempat lain (maksudnya beli barang yang emang diproduksi disini, or yang ada diskon) soalnya pajak di Itali termasuk tinggi, lebih tinggi daripada Jerman malah (beda 1% persen doang sih, 20% versus 19%).

Catetan #2. Kemana-mana di Jerman lebih gampang daripada di Itali.
Mungkin ini terlalu di-generalisasi juga, karena gw cuman ke 2 tempat di Itali (Bologna & Venezia).
Tapi yang gw liat, dan rasakan, kalo cewe traveling bawa koper agak susah untuk kemana-mana easily.
Di station kereta contonya, gak selalu ada lift atau elevator untuk naekin koper ke tempat peron, dan juga ini berarti akses untuk orang yang punya keterbatasan fisik (pake kursi roda) juga susah untuk kemana-mana sendiri tanpa dibantuin orang.
Dan juga banyak petunjuk di Itali cuman pake bahasa Itali doang, yang pada akhirnya turis mesti ambil option laen (either dapet harga lebih mahal, or nanya ke turis informasi, ngantri lagi & akhirnya suru bayar mahal juga).
Paling enak tentu aja traveling sama orang lokal, atau orang yang ngerti bahasa Itali.

Catetan #3.
Security check di airport Bologna gak seketat di airport Jerman.
Karena gw travel pake Ryanair (promo 23 Eur pp) dan tanpa checked baggage, jadi mesti membatasi bawa cairan dalam jumlah 1 liter.
Aturannya bisa diliat di website Ryanair, dan biasanya Jerman selalu strict soal ginian (ya iyalah, apalagi udah pake tiket murah, masa mau macem-macem).
Eniwei, pas balik dari Bologna ke Weeze, gw nitip 1 botol cairan ke orang juga terbang balik ke Weeze tapi ngambil check baggage (botolnya lebih dari 150 ml soalnya, jadi daripada dibuang di security check).
Ternyata di airport Bologna gak ketat juga, malah cairan gak mesti dipresentasi kaya waktu di Weeze, juga karena yang ngantri banyak banget, airport-nya bener-bener crowded ama orang (mengingatkan gw sama airport di Selaparang, Mataram. Kecil tapi banyak turis yang dateng..... hehehe).

Catetan #4. Cowo-cowo Itali lebih menarik (buat gw) dibanding cowo-cowo Jerman.
Entah kenapa, tapi orang Itali itu menurut gw sangat 'classy' (walopun engga semuanya juga) tapi style polisi di Bologna menurut gw sih udah mirip sama model iklan Giorgio Armani, dan pas naek bus, gw juga ngeliat banyak cowo-cowo kantoran yang pake kemeja+jas sangat potensial untuk jadi model iklan kalo di-impor ke Jakarta.
Juga si cowo-cowo ini lebih hangat dalam bergaul (ya iyalah!) agak mirip sama cowo Spanyol/Portugal, tapi menurut gw so far Portugal masi the best.
Malem terakhir di Bologna, gw sempet nongkrong bareng ama temen-temen CS ala anak-anak mudanya di Piazza Francesca dan karena ampir setiap sudut kota Bologna ini bagus, rasanya jadi asik aja dan keren.... padahal mungkin kalo dibandingin, yah mirip ama nongkrong di jalan Braga, Bandung or kota tua-nya Jakarta .... hehehe.

Amsterdam: unfinished

Should have working on my assignment today, but I just can't !

They (KIT) has arranged the opening ceremony for World Cup and guess the international students will be there ... would be a great opportunity to hang out with other people (even though I am not a big fan of soccer)

Glad that I was there !
It was located on the cafe, they put a big screen in the front.
And it was South Africa vs Mexico (there's a huge group of South Africa's fans and a small group of Mexico's fans, that's including me :-)


I really love Amsterdam so far, I like my place where I'm studying, the city, people I that met and their dogs (if they have it :-)

And the course ! The reason why I am here !
Today, I walked with one of the lecturer about how complicated it was to deal with interventions even (or more) if you know what kind of HIV epidemiology in one's country.

Glad to be here before I start my master on September, just can't wait to get back again.

Amsterdam: student housing @Diemen

Since I got the fellowship from NFP, which is very nice, the course also provide me with housing, allowances and all that stuffs.

When I arrived here, in Ams, it was a bit cold... let say 14C degrees, but its now getting warmer (the wind still strong thou')
But I really like the weather couple of days ago, it felt like summer already, people going outside (I mean the streets were crowded with people, also because they had a big match)

Anyway, I was staying in a student house, I know some of the students in my class also staying in this place.
It take approx 10 minutes with the tram to the institute where we're studying, I was thinking to also buy a bike when I'm coming back on Sept..



My room located in the 13th floor, so I get a niceee view of the tennis court also I have my own balcony ! Birds are hanging right on the front of my balcony when it rains outside.

And the weather is nice, it's very difficult to keep doing the assignment because I will start to take the picture of the beautiful sky or city light at night *sighed*

Today, I met holland student in the pantry (I don't my own fridge or microwave like other international student, since I am here for a short period) and she told me that she's gonna come to Bali for holiday.

It's always nice to know that there are people here who actually know where is your country and what does it looks like :-)


Again, this what it's look like at night.
Nice eh? It's just I haven't mastered my SLR yet.... hahaha...

Here, during summer, I hardly sleep early because the sun set later at 10 pm, so people will be go to bed probably around 11 or even 12 (I didn't do any survey yet).