Travelling Solo

15.07.2016 Venice, Italy

17 things I learned while travelling solo.

1) Trust yourself. You are the only one who can get yourself out of a jiffy right now.

2) Learn to sit at a Café alone and enjoy it. Take a book if it is dinner time. It will help you not feel so out of place.

3) Learn to let go and do what you want to do. You are alone amidst a sea of people, whom you shall never meet again. What is holding you back? Do what you feel like. Who cares what they think?

4) Take time to discover where you are. I do not just mean the tourist attractions, I mean the places where the locals go. Try to get a peek at the local life here. Roam random streets. Discover antique book stores that you have only read about in books but have never really seen. Visit coffeeshops that the locals frequent.

5) Try the local food.

6) Make sure you know how to get back to your accommodation late at night. Look up the public transport timetables beforehand. Find out if the trains, buses, etc. work according to the same timetables at night.

7) Dress sensibly. Try not wearing sandals that will make your feet hurt after walking for 30 minutes. Put some goddamned sneakers on.

8) Walk around with your headphones playing some local music. When I was in Verona, I did not speak the language, I was tired and I did not have a lot of time in that city. For some reason I just felt as if I was missing out on something. I then decided to google top 10 Italian love songs and play them. Voila! I finally understood why Verona was also known as the city of love. It is often hard to see why a place is considered amazing with throngs of tourists around one. So put on those headphones and be ready to be transported somewhere else.

9) Do not trust anyone and everyone. I know it sounds mundane. I mean how many times have we heard our parents tell us this very exact thing, but it is easier said than done. Gauge a person before asking them for help. Not everyone is a nice person trying to make sure that you reach your destination safely. Ask families. This applies especially at night when you are asking someone the best way to get to your accommodation because the chances are that the person might remember the address.

10) See the city at two times: one, early in the morning when all the tourists are sleeping in their hotel rooms, two, at night when the street lamps finally come to life and the entire city is lit up.

11) Strike a conversation with a few locals and try to see their perspective on their city.

12) Accept that you will not be able to check everything off of your To See List, and be content with what you have seen.

13) Take a few moments to think about what this trip taught you or made you feel.

14) Try to take back with you not a load of souvenirs but rather memories and experiences that will last you a lifetime.

15) Find your favourite place in that city. The one place that calls to you and makes you feel calm.

16) Imagine how it would feel like to live there.

17) Accept that you will not fall in love with every place that you visit and that it is okay.

Honesty.

05.07.2016 Parliament Building,Vienna

Do you know that feeling when something feels right?

You just know that no matter what happens this thing will happen..that you will find your way to that thing. It is unavoidable. There is no rush in the world because at the end of the day you know..you know that it going to happen, or rather that you will make it happen. 

There is no doubt in your mind as to how and when. It will happen, when it needs to. You might not be ready for, it might not be what you imagined it might be, but in the end it will end being much more than you could have ever hoped for. 

And that emotion that will overcome you when it is actually happening is something that no amount of money, power or success could ever buy.

A few months back as I was alone in the washroom in school, I remember the regret making it’s way into my head. A part of me knew that what I had right now is more than anything I could have had at any Ivy League, had I gotten in. At that point although I knew that, the desolateness creeped in for a few days. Now I realise that sometimes you really should listen to that rational voice inside your head. 

Over the course of the past few months quite a few friends of mine told me that I wasted my two years coming here. The problem is that in these two years I learned more than I could have hoped to learn in ten years time, had I not come here. To normal logic it makes no sense but I have realised that most people just need someone else to put things in perspective in them. Sure, there were times when I hated every minute of it but it never occurred to me in these times to imagine a life where I had not chose to make this crazy life changing decision to come here for something I did not even understand well. These things really show one if they made the right choice.

When people think of going abroad or living alone, the first thought that comes to mind was party. I was trying to run after this stereotype for a long time, wondering why I was not doing what I “supposed” to be doing.

Somewhere along the way I let go of this need to do what I “thought” I wanted to do, and then something absolutely amazing happened. I started doing things that I actually LOVED doing- travelling, writing, etc. I found people that loved doing that. I still have friends who do not understand why I would save up so much money just to spend it on a day outing somewhere, but that no longer stops me or makes me feel self-conscious about pursuing my passions and interests. After a while even the people who did not understand starting accepting it.

At the end of the day being able to be honest with yourself is all that matters.

At The End

HTL Dornbirn

As I sit for the last time as a student by the lockers, a lot of memories come rushing back to me. Memories of all the people I met, the late evenings spent studying here, the songs sung in these very corridors, tears that have been shed after a tough day, when I felt as if everything around me was crumbling, and the joy felt after I aced a test.

There were times when I thought that if I left, there was not anything or anyone that I would leave behind, whom I would miss. Oh, how wrong I was. There are so many people here, who showed me love and kindness. They helped me even when they did not have to. The past few weeks have made me realise that there are so many people and things that I will miss about my time here.

Firstly, I will absolutely miss meeting Selinay in the bathroom every once in a fortnight, when I have come to school early enough to be able to put some make up on. Secondly, the people in my class, whom I swore a few months back that there would be nothing to miss about them. The fact is although most of us are not the best of friends, there will always be things that will remind us of each other. Then come the second years who always managed to make me life with their silly arguments and their not so perfect english, especially on Fridays, when I would spend a little extra time in the Werkstätte.  I will miss Lucas, who always cleaned up the mess I made while punching, even when he did not have to. He taught a very significant amount of things in my one and a half years of having knowing him. Mostafa had a warped assed sense of humour. One would have to know him to know why something so mundane could turn out to be so funny, when said by Mosti.

Now come the really important people. Lalita being the very first friend that I ever made here, is also the one, who got me hooked onto Inuyasha! We spent hours talking about conspiracy theories, boys and the universe. Seli, with whom I have gotten into countless arguments, who gets pissed off at me so often but still loves me. We have made our own traditions of going to eat Döner, which started my love affair with Falafel.

Lastly, I shall miss my soul brother, Kevin, whom I am already trying to convince to come with me next year to the Dominican Republic (falls du das liest, ,,bitte!''). He stayed with me through all my anxieties and my matchmaking skills of trying to set him up with someone I know. I love you so much soul mate. Always be your stupid self, who sings french/italian songs with me, when I decide to stay in class until 7 pm)

Not all bonds made here are going to be lifelong, nonetheless they are bonds at the end.