22 may: school finishes
1 june: hand in thesis
7 - 18 june: exams
19 - 1 july: continue to explore europe
2 july: graduation
3 july: fly to turkey
29 july: fly back to belgium
and after that things get more blurry... hopefully i'll get to see my dad who will be over in this neck of the woods... might also try to get to england to see friends there... and then it's fairly definite that i shall be heading to canada for a little while... before returning home to new zealand (shall certainly be back before christmas, if not earlier)
Monday, April 26, 2004
so how about some highlights eh?
driving: it's such an odd feeling, after so many years of being able to drive without really thinking, to getting a fright when the windscreen wipers go on instead of the indicator. the hardest part for me wasn't the road, but the car itself... just having all the gadgets opposite, and having to look out the left window. also slightly un-nerving was the 120km/hr highway thing, where some cars were passing us at least at 170km/hr!
countryside: very different from anywhere i've been. a lot of barren rugged hills, very jagged and prominent. incredible variations in wild flowers - combinations that could never be reproduced so perfectly as done by nature herself. compared to all other places i've been to in europe - with the trees in straight lines, and parks bordered by fences - spain's countryside felt far more real and beautiful in that natural reality. interesting to see so much of the land covered by glasshouses for irrigation, covered in olive green material - deemed by us to be due to the salt spray from the ocean.
beaches: gorgeous coastlines once we escaped the built up cities, with an aqua-marine blue ocean. the rocky shorelines were a sight to behold, from high up as we drove around cliff faces, to down on the beach itself.
barcelona: gaudi is incredible! a city i shall definitely return to one day.
overall favourite part? watching the sunrise over the mediterranean, perched on top of a cliff with an old ruin of a fortress behind me and nothing but the ocean infront of me. birds soaring. ocean calmly lapping at the shore. sun rising in elegance. peace.
driving: it's such an odd feeling, after so many years of being able to drive without really thinking, to getting a fright when the windscreen wipers go on instead of the indicator. the hardest part for me wasn't the road, but the car itself... just having all the gadgets opposite, and having to look out the left window. also slightly un-nerving was the 120km/hr highway thing, where some cars were passing us at least at 170km/hr!
countryside: very different from anywhere i've been. a lot of barren rugged hills, very jagged and prominent. incredible variations in wild flowers - combinations that could never be reproduced so perfectly as done by nature herself. compared to all other places i've been to in europe - with the trees in straight lines, and parks bordered by fences - spain's countryside felt far more real and beautiful in that natural reality. interesting to see so much of the land covered by glasshouses for irrigation, covered in olive green material - deemed by us to be due to the salt spray from the ocean.
beaches: gorgeous coastlines once we escaped the built up cities, with an aqua-marine blue ocean. the rocky shorelines were a sight to behold, from high up as we drove around cliff faces, to down on the beach itself.
barcelona: gaudi is incredible! a city i shall definitely return to one day.
overall favourite part? watching the sunrise over the mediterranean, perched on top of a cliff with an old ruin of a fortress behind me and nothing but the ocean infront of me. birds soaring. ocean calmly lapping at the shore. sun rising in elegance. peace.
Thursday, April 22, 2004
photos not yet ready but check out the map to your right. we landed in jérez de la frontera then head south west to cadiz. then up to seville, across to granada and down to the south coast (motril). across through almeria, up the coast through murcia. past alicante to the eastern tip (calpe). then all the way up to barcelona. nearly 2000km in 4 days.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
day one: destination - cadiz. south-west coastal town. swam in atlantic. watched sunset. put up tent on the terrace roof above a hostel.
day two: destination - car. ridiculously small silver vechicle, named 'thecar', with a lot of power and a cd player. drove from cadiz up to seville, then across to granada. unable to see the alhambra, we headed up into the sierra nevada mountains and witnessed snow. continued driving southward to motril on south coast.
day three: destination - south coast. beautiful blue sky, rugged cliffs, rocky coastline. unbelievable variation in wild flower species. huge waves that drenched us. tiny roads that led to nowhere except straight into the middle of the most powerful wind i have experienced! ended in a little place which for the moment i have forgotten the name of... but a little campsite with our own rocky beach on the south-east coast. watched the stars come out. listened to the waves beat against the shore and the wind howl between the palm trees. yes. palm trees. spain is full of them.
day four: destination - east coast. continued to drive up the coast. but not until after watching the sunrise and walking along the clifftops and staring out at the ocean. made our way up past alicante to a beach resort town called calpe. swam in the mediterranean. fished off the rocks with a spaniard. ate three full fish at a seafood restaurant. lazed on the beach under palm trees.
day five: destination - ifach rock. this rock, towering 332m into the air is incredible! shall show photos as soon as they get uploaded off the digital. eric, joe and i climbed it - with the help of a tunnel, some ropes in places, and the onlooking and cawing of seagulls nesting less than a metre away. spent the rest of the day on the beach before driving up to barcelona to drop off car. as this occurred nearing midnight we took a vote and decided to camp out in the airport instead of paying for accommodation. ha. the life of poor students.
day six: destination - barcelona. floors of airports are not as bad when you are with friends. headed into barcelona. amazing city! sad we only spent a day here. climbed the sagrada familar and wandered in the park guëll - both designed by gaudi and both so refreshingly different from everything else i have seen in europe. wandered down la ramble - the main street - to the port. then off to a different airport to have another floor night's sleep.
day seven: awoke and bordered ryan air plane back to belgium.
highlights to follow soon...
day two: destination - car. ridiculously small silver vechicle, named 'thecar', with a lot of power and a cd player. drove from cadiz up to seville, then across to granada. unable to see the alhambra, we headed up into the sierra nevada mountains and witnessed snow. continued driving southward to motril on south coast.
day three: destination - south coast. beautiful blue sky, rugged cliffs, rocky coastline. unbelievable variation in wild flower species. huge waves that drenched us. tiny roads that led to nowhere except straight into the middle of the most powerful wind i have experienced! ended in a little place which for the moment i have forgotten the name of... but a little campsite with our own rocky beach on the south-east coast. watched the stars come out. listened to the waves beat against the shore and the wind howl between the palm trees. yes. palm trees. spain is full of them.
day four: destination - east coast. continued to drive up the coast. but not until after watching the sunrise and walking along the clifftops and staring out at the ocean. made our way up past alicante to a beach resort town called calpe. swam in the mediterranean. fished off the rocks with a spaniard. ate three full fish at a seafood restaurant. lazed on the beach under palm trees.
day five: destination - ifach rock. this rock, towering 332m into the air is incredible! shall show photos as soon as they get uploaded off the digital. eric, joe and i climbed it - with the help of a tunnel, some ropes in places, and the onlooking and cawing of seagulls nesting less than a metre away. spent the rest of the day on the beach before driving up to barcelona to drop off car. as this occurred nearing midnight we took a vote and decided to camp out in the airport instead of paying for accommodation. ha. the life of poor students.
day six: destination - barcelona. floors of airports are not as bad when you are with friends. headed into barcelona. amazing city! sad we only spent a day here. climbed the sagrada familar and wandered in the park guëll - both designed by gaudi and both so refreshingly different from everything else i have seen in europe. wandered down la ramble - the main street - to the port. then off to a different airport to have another floor night's sleep.
day seven: awoke and bordered ryan air plane back to belgium.
highlights to follow soon...
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
as brenda pointed out in her comment, i'm off to spain. in a few hours. and i have a very long list of things to do before i get there. writing on here was not on the list. but don't worry because once i'm done writing this, i'll add it to the list, and then have the joyous feeling of achievement by crossing it off again. ahhh, i get it from my parents you know. the love of crossing things off a list. indeed.
anyway, nothing like flying for 2 hours and ending up in a new and foreign land with another language to attempt and with beaches along the mediterranean sea to explore. and to top it off, no need to think about bus timetables, no need to think about train schedules, no need to think about booking hostels... this is the classic road trip in hired car with borrowed tent scenario.
hurrah!
for those interested in particulars, here's the scoop. heh. what a word - 'scoop'. me and joe leave belgium at 8pm tonight and arrive in stansted london a few hours after that. we then get to play cards and draw pictures and keep ourselves amused by making up stories about the people in the airport - until the next morning. yeah, i know, yet another night in an airport. why do i do this to myself you might ask? because this way we save money, and get to spain faster. heh. i'm such a genius at travel arrangements.
right, so we then arrive in jerez, southern spain, 11am on wednesday (that would be tomorrow!), where we meet morna and eric, who have previously been wandering about in the sahara desert. from there we pick up our nissan and hit the road. we've got four days to drive up the coast of spain to barcelona.
then we spend two days in barcelona looking at, um, stuff? to be honest, the only thing i know about barcelona is the olympics and that olympic theme music. heh heh. but i'm sure there must be some stuff to do there. then we fly directly home to belgium early on tuesday 20th, getting back about 8am.
anyway, nothing like flying for 2 hours and ending up in a new and foreign land with another language to attempt and with beaches along the mediterranean sea to explore. and to top it off, no need to think about bus timetables, no need to think about train schedules, no need to think about booking hostels... this is the classic road trip in hired car with borrowed tent scenario.
hurrah!
for those interested in particulars, here's the scoop. heh. what a word - 'scoop'. me and joe leave belgium at 8pm tonight and arrive in stansted london a few hours after that. we then get to play cards and draw pictures and keep ourselves amused by making up stories about the people in the airport - until the next morning. yeah, i know, yet another night in an airport. why do i do this to myself you might ask? because this way we save money, and get to spain faster. heh. i'm such a genius at travel arrangements.
right, so we then arrive in jerez, southern spain, 11am on wednesday (that would be tomorrow!), where we meet morna and eric, who have previously been wandering about in the sahara desert. from there we pick up our nissan and hit the road. we've got four days to drive up the coast of spain to barcelona.
then we spend two days in barcelona looking at, um, stuff? to be honest, the only thing i know about barcelona is the olympics and that olympic theme music. heh heh. but i'm sure there must be some stuff to do there. then we fly directly home to belgium early on tuesday 20th, getting back about 8am.
Monday, April 12, 2004
right. so what's going on with me? you may be asking. or may not. i wouldn't know. but if you were, here's my answer. and if you weren't, here's my answer anyway.
in the midst of recovering from jetlag (which i find a ridiculous concept because a) i was only in new zealand for four nights, and b) i never adjusted to new zealand time so c) why am i waking at 4.30 every morning??), i suddenly became very aware of the amount of work that needs to be done before the crunch-hand-in-thesis date at the end of may (perhaps one good point about the jetlag is that i get many more hours in the day to work). my supervisor sadly did not make me feel any better when he suddenly announced that part of my data was 'wrong' and that he had some 'new ideas'.
data being 'wrong' is not what one (heh, would you have ever imagined me using such a term mum, after all those years of not liking it!!) likes to hear when the thesis is due in 6 or so weeks. and as for 'new ideas'. i think i have come to loathe such a term. especially when they involve graphs. and maths. and things that i did not spend four years at university studying.
so a not-so-happy girl talked to her ever-loving father and it now seems that, thanks to good internet connections and a wonderfully supportive family that all can do maths, i quite possibly shall be okay after all!
very good news.
i have been gorging myself on easter eggs from new zealand. and i have my eye on the four one litre bottles of l&p that i put in my hand luggage but so far have resisted temptation. apart from that, leuven is still overcast, my room is still a mess and i still like the colour orange.
in the midst of recovering from jetlag (which i find a ridiculous concept because a) i was only in new zealand for four nights, and b) i never adjusted to new zealand time so c) why am i waking at 4.30 every morning??), i suddenly became very aware of the amount of work that needs to be done before the crunch-hand-in-thesis date at the end of may (perhaps one good point about the jetlag is that i get many more hours in the day to work). my supervisor sadly did not make me feel any better when he suddenly announced that part of my data was 'wrong' and that he had some 'new ideas'.
data being 'wrong' is not what one (heh, would you have ever imagined me using such a term mum, after all those years of not liking it!!) likes to hear when the thesis is due in 6 or so weeks. and as for 'new ideas'. i think i have come to loathe such a term. especially when they involve graphs. and maths. and things that i did not spend four years at university studying.
so a not-so-happy girl talked to her ever-loving father and it now seems that, thanks to good internet connections and a wonderfully supportive family that all can do maths, i quite possibly shall be okay after all!
very good news.
i have been gorging myself on easter eggs from new zealand. and i have my eye on the four one litre bottles of l&p that i put in my hand luggage but so far have resisted temptation. apart from that, leuven is still overcast, my room is still a mess and i still like the colour orange.
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
i got home to leuven late last night to find a letter, written 18th of march, from my grandad. he always liked to finish a story. i suppose it's his way of getting the last word after all.
my trip to new zealand was mixed with happiness to hug all of my family again, and sadness at not being able to hug my grandad. but i'm so glad i went home because i got to say goodbye properly. and even though i was unable (due to upsetness factor) to speak at the funeral, i was able to spend time with him on my own beforehand which i am very pleased i did. the six of us grandkids were given the difficult honour of being the pallbearers.
my grandad was an incredible man who loved me and who took such a genuine interest in my life. i am so fortunate to have had the last 23 years of my life with him. the memories i have will be always greatly treasured and never forgotten.
i love you too grandad.
my trip to new zealand was mixed with happiness to hug all of my family again, and sadness at not being able to hug my grandad. but i'm so glad i went home because i got to say goodbye properly. and even though i was unable (due to upsetness factor) to speak at the funeral, i was able to spend time with him on my own beforehand which i am very pleased i did. the six of us grandkids were given the difficult honour of being the pallbearers.
my grandad was an incredible man who loved me and who took such a genuine interest in my life. i am so fortunate to have had the last 23 years of my life with him. the memories i have will be always greatly treasured and never forgotten.
i love you too grandad.
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