We are who we choose to be

Entries from May 2009

Travel Bite #3

May 31, 2009 · 9 Comments

First off, this kezboard is a bit different so excuse the mistakes. For example z = y Anzhow

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Berlin, 1am. Had 2 dazs in Berlin. There is so much to do in this citz. I could easilz spend more than a week here. But with how things are in mz schedule 2 will have to suffice for this trip. I saw the Berlin wall todaz. It was just 20 zears ago. Just have to stop and think about that for awhile. Here I am taking a picture of both sides at the same time. 20 zears ago ppl were dzing trzing to get to the other side. 20 zears isnät that much.

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I did a walking tour todaz. Walking tours in europe are great, i highlz recommend them. Fun, friendlz, energetic. 10mins after it ended though it was pouring rain. like crayz crayz rain so we ran for cover…….in the Reightstag haha. Bz the time we got to the top it had stopped though so we were freeying cold, but the view was great hehe

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There is a girl in mz hostel from……..well i forget. somewhere in the USA but shes travelled across most of Europe and lived in several cities in europe all on her own. And shes onlz 20! And shes in a wheelchair! Verz impressive!

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I just foudn out half mz room is Canadian! French Canadian, but still!

Tomorrow, Prague!

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Iäve talked to a lot of people and overall, thez tend to spend more time in each citz. Not all of course. But manz. Thez see less places naturallz. Again, not counting the Australians who are out here for months  hehe. At times I wish I could have more time in places. Or at least do it at a more relaxed pace. I enjoz everzthing but it does get quite tiring. But Iäm hapz with mz choices. I feel this is like a sampler platter of Europe. 2,3 and somtimes 4 dazs in each citz. I know i will return one daz inshaallah, hopefullz with mz future wife. So iäll see things again then. For now I feel i see all the major things, can a small sense of the citz and move on. later Iäll sit and absorb it a bit more and mazbe find more hidden gems within the cities. Anzhow, I should sleep. I have to get up in 4hrs for a bus……but…..i reallz want to read mz book……ok  a few pages……..

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sidenote i miss mz electric toothbrush….. i forget if i blogged that alreadz or not.

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I didnät reallz make manz notes while in prague. iäll didnt sit and reflect on mz own there too much. or have too manz quite downtime moments. iäll blog about it when i return. but so its not entirelz excluded let me saz…..its abeautiful citz in terms of its natural beautz. some of its buildings are quite wonderful as well. its unfortunate that the buildings look kinda run down. things are being fixed and rebuilt though. and i can imagine how amaying it was before the war. also, after hearing some stories. those  czechs are smart ppl! remind me to tell the dupcheck storz later on

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Iäm in Munich right now. Having an earlz dinner or late lunch, whatever zou want to call it. Its mz 2nd daz here. A bit chillz. I reallz like Germanz. Munichlike Berlin is verz nice. Lots of nice places to hang out. Lots of large pedestrian walk wazs. Numerous parks and lots of greenerz.

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I went on  a short trip to Dachau todaz. Its a concentration camp. In fact it was the verz first concentration camp. The whole thing was onlz 4hrs but it was a tiring, heavz and sole experience. It was verz different than I expected as well. Both nicer and worse than I imagined. Iäll blog more about it when I return.

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For the most part travelling is exciting and its trulz amaying to see the art and culture of different parts of the world. Everz once in awhile I stop and think how luckz I am to be able to do this. I also realiye how little I know. At times though, it also makes me feel quite sad. Iäm not sure how to explain it. Although I plan on returning one daz inshaAllah, part of it is that somethings I maz never see again. Moreover, even if I return thta moment, this moment, can onlz be lived once. From this, mz mind wonders to a tangent and I think about and remember how with some people, I will never have another moment.

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I also sometimes think, when I see an old uniform, dress, claz pot, anicient tool, hut, whatever. Some one lived here, used this. Thez lived. Had childhoods, grew up, had happiness, sadness, etc. I wonder….

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While German people as a whole are quite nice and friendlz, service at restaurants sucks! Seriouslz no tip for this guz. It almost annozs me enough to ruin mz meal.


Categories: Uncategorized

Travel Bite #2

May 23, 2009 · 5 Comments

Edinburgh, riding the bus bank from the day tour. The highlands were different from what I expected. But…..Amazing nevertheless. I didn’t see Nessie, I did learn more about Brazil though from this Brazilian guy I met. Seems like Lula didn’t do that much afterall, at least according to him. Interesting. Also met a Russian guy, a guy from rochester, and 2 girls from Michigan.

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Edinburgh Airport, Its about 6am. Checkin should begin shortly. Surprisingly I’m no that tired. Theres a rugby tournament going on and literally every bed in town is booked. So here I am sleeping at the airport. And by the looks of things, I’m not the only one. Its alright, I grabbed an entire bench and I’m sleeping ok. Well usually only about 1hr at a time till I wake up and fall asleep again. but overall not too bad. Kinda hungry now though, gonna go hunt for food.

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In Dublin, at the National Art Gallery waiting for the tour to begin. I’m a bit annoyed that they don’t allow pictures in these places in the UK. If Italy, the Vatican, France, etc do why not here?

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Listening to a free concert in the National Gallery for a short break. Some ppl didn’t like Dublin but I’m liking it so far. The gallery is great! I really love Carvaggio work. And now I like Eva Gonzales and Vameer as well. Makes me wish I had checked out the art gallery in Britain now. Ah well, next time!

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I’m eating a donut! From Tim Hortons! In Dublin!! haha who’d have thought its here? And that I’d just stumble upon it! hehe :)

Oh must go! ah well, I’ll write ther other stuff…..another time! :)

Categories: Uncategorized

Travel Bite #1

May 21, 2009 · 7 Comments

Hey all, I’m currently in Edinburgh, Scotland and so far the trip has been a blast! I’ll post pics when I can…or maybe just when I return, we’ll see. But for now here are some random thoughts I wrote down as I stopped here and there.

Before leaving I was obviously quite excited. But nervous as well. Would travelling on my own be fun or would I just be bored & lonely? For another part of me, it all just didn’t feel real. Till maybe the day or 2 before that is. Then, wow! I’m going to London. Not that just that but I’m going off travelling for almost a month! Craziness

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The trip right from the start has been great. I made friends with the girl sitting next to me on the plane, Elham. She goes to the same University as me and we talked for awhile to kill time.

Side note: I really don’t like red-eye flights, very exhausting.

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I’m sitting in Leicester square right now. Its about 8pm and |I’m freezing Brr.. London weather is really eratic. One minute freezing, the next I need to take my jacket and hoodie off. The only consistency is the wind. And all this stuff flying and hitting me in the face all the time.

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Its’s 3am. I’m at the hostel in London. I have to take a early bus to the airport and I’m worried if I fall asleep I won’t get up and end up missing my flight. So tired!. I surfed the net for awhile but got bored. And I don’t like to spend too much time online, other than at night here. Feels like a waste of time. I’ve been talking to random ppl here to stay awake and kill time. Just met this guy named Francesco. Despite the Italian name he’s actually a Brazilian guy studying graphic design in London. Quite interesting some of the people you meet here.

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‘m in Edinburgh now. Very beautiful town. Toured around for half a day but was exhausted from the early flight. Went for dinner. Nice places but food was pricy and nothing special so far. Its almost 1am now. Just sitting in the hostel. Theres a texas guy and a scottish guy here with me I’ve been talking to. Scottish guys pretty funny. Keeps losing his phone and room card every 2mins and then finding it at the bottom of his bag. Nice guys overall though, giving some tips about the city. I think I’ve already met more strangers on this trip than my last trip.

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Are the any Australians in Australia? I think they’re all out backpacking! The country must be empty. And they all go for like 6 month – a year at a time. I wonder how they afford it all. Its almost a joke amongst backpackers. Everywhere you go you’ll find at least 1 australian. People have said they’ve seen a fair number of Canadians around too, but I haven’t run into any yet. Maybe later :)

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Side Note #3: As you write, you think and hear the words in your head. Or at least |I do. These days I hear myself w/ a slight british or scottish accent. Its fun, I like it.

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Grabbing lunch in Edinburgh. There’s the following ad in the pub. “Credit Crunch, Lunch! 2 can dine for £10.99″  10.99! £! Damn, the UK is expensive…

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Ok, thats enough for now. I’m going to grab a bite somewhere then call it an early night. Tomorrow I have to get up super early. I’m taking a day tour of the scottish highlands and loch ness. Maybe I’ll even spot old Nessie! :P

Categories: Uncategorized

BRB Gone to Europe!

May 15, 2009 · 3 Comments

Sorry for being a stranger lately, just been quite busy with stuff this week. But I’ll check out ppls blogs when I’m back and I’ll definitely post pics! :)

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My sleep schedule

May 8, 2009 · 6 Comments

Is soooo messed up! And compared to Euro time? Man…..I’m like 10hrs off :S  I need to do some major correcting ….maybe if I stopped eating ice cream at night I could sleep earlier?

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I’m so excited!

May 7, 2009 · 10 Comments

I’ve booked my tickets to Europe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Woohoo!!!!!! I’m so excited!!!

Now originally, I was going to meet my friends in Berlin late May and explore some of Eastern Europe with them. Since I’m not doing anything right now, I wanted to go earlier! So I looked into Egypt! But alas, with Petra and Jordan right there and so tempting….I don’t have time…..even if I did just Egypt…..the plane tickets when combined with the other stuff….just too expensive…..sigh, I had many nights pouring over info till 4am trying to figure out if I could do it or not…..but not this time……I’m well prepared with info for it when i do go though!

So then I was like hmm….Russia! Wow, the Kremlin looks amazing! oh I can take a train from here to here, and that looks cool, I have enough time for this, its awesome, its fantastic, it……takes 30 days to get a visa……blah…

Hmm…maybe Sweden, Norway, Finland! That would be wicked……but it’d also be cold……maybe…..

Spain! Its warm its fun, Lets go there! Oh and Portugal is right there! Maybe I could go Porto to Lisbon to Madrid to Barcelona, omg that would be soo wicked! And I have enough time to pull that off, lets do it! Oh……wow, tickets there are that much! sigh….

Many many many nights I spent till 2,3,4 am trying to figure out what to do. Actually many friends probably got annoyed with me asking them questions trying to figure out where to go and how indecisive I was. But the world is so awesome with amazing things to see! Can you blame me?

In the end, a plan was formed. And I’m super super excited about it! What is the plan? It is:

Toronto -> London -> Edinburgh -> Dublin -> Berlin -> Prague -> Munich -> Vienna -> Bratislava -> Budapest -> Istanbul -> Toronto!

If any of you have been to these places and have any tips for me on what to see/do/avoid please let me know! InshaAllah I’ll be off in about 8 or so days :)

Also, if any of you happen to be in these cities, let me know! It’d be awesome to meet up. Particularly for London, Dublin, and Istanbul as I’m doing those places on my own. Exciting and scary! Mostly exciting! I can’t wait! :D

Categories: Uncategorized

Jersey Boys

May 6, 2009 · 3 Comments

I saw Jersey Boys tonight…..err…..last night……when did it become 4am? I should sleep…….ok, I’ll make this short.

It started off a bit slow, but after that it was awesome! By the end of it I was in a great mood, felt like I had energy, actually it felt like I had just been to a concert. It was a lot of fun and I definitely recommend it! I got rush tickets for $20 flat, but I’d even pay regular price for this show :)

I also have other exciting news! But I’ll write about that later…feeling pretty tired right now.

Can’t wait for 9 more days to go by! :)

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Its good to be done

May 4, 2009 · 4 Comments

I finished all my heavenly hash ice cream late last night….

Today my sister brought home a chocolate cake and other assorted chocolates :)

To counter all this unhealthy eating today I played basketball for 2hrs……on my xbox :P   And now I’m watching the playoffs! I love being done!!!

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Done!

May 2, 2009 · 9 Comments

GeekiSiddiqui, MBA! haha, I like it! :)   It feels sooooooo goood to be done. And its really like wow, 2 years are over like that…wasn’t I just in nyc a second ago…..wow. Theres also a big feeling of what now? I need a job :S  sigh…..but I’ll worry about that later, right now I just want to do nothing. Of course my parents want to me to find a job asap. And 1 aunty I just met for the first time was like, you should get married now. So after thinking it over.

The plan is to sit, eat ice cream, and play video games. At least until I can go travel. :)   And travel plans are still in a lot of flux, I really don’t know whats going on there. But inshaAllah I’ll know soon and be off and away. I’m giving myself until convocation (early June) to do nothing. After that I’ll start spending time on the job search. I’d actually like to take the whole summer off. But I don’t think that will fly with the parents. Its also quite hard rationalizing to them to take another vacation right after coming back from one. But then again……nyc in june anyone? :P

ps. I’m like a million posts behind in my google reader….its quite intimidating….I look at it….and then I click close and eat my ice cream…..I may get to it eventually…..or I might just have to mark all as read, sorry!

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