Natalia
"I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."natalia_dmorias
Ayn Rand
Travel Blog Posts
July 16th 2007
Sawat dee kha By far the most rewarding experience of all my travels has been volunteering in Thailand with Macquarie University. As most of you know I came to Thailand to volunteer with the Tsunami Volunteer Centre (TVC) in Khao Lak - a tsunami relief organization which helps rebuild Thailand’s tsunami affected areas. For the last two weeks I’ve been stationed in the Phang Nga province where Thailand’s highest number of deaths and heaviest damage occurred. As I hitchhike through Khao Lak or walk through the streets or stand on the beach looking out to the Andaman Sea all I can think about is the 11 meter wave that caused havoc on that fateful day in December. Remnants of the tsunami past still stand in Phang Nga as a constant reminder. One kilometer from the beach ... read more
January 6th 2007
Who would’ve thought that I’d end the year of 2006 flying down the Austrian Alps with a Finnish Flask? To end my ‘whirlwind exchange year’ 6 exchangies and myself road tripped down to the Austrian Alps for Christmas week and made house in one of the cosy cabins up on the snowy hills. This was my first White Christmas- no thongs, bikinis, beaches or Santa wearing a Bonds singlet with a stubby in his hand- this was a true blue, fair-dinkum, fully legitimate White Christmas. We had the snow, the sleds, the fireplace, the personalised stockings, the Christmas carols including Jim Reeves, the presents (my KK got me a Pearl Jam DVD and a Dr Seuss Book- thanks Loz!) the “white” tree (a fresh one with fresh snow that was ripped out from the side of ... read more
Ten Tips for a Tilburg University Exchange Student
Published: December 5th 2007Europe » Netherlands » North Brabant » Tilburg
January 2nd 2007
1. Learn how to Communicate on a ‘Universal Level’ - The lack of a universal spoken language amongst exchange students calls for all students to practice communication by utilising broken words from different languages, facial expressions, verbal noises, hand expressions & various impersonations. Every day on exchange becomes a game of Charades. Entertainment at it’s best. 2. Become a Tailor/Seamstress - The Tilburg Erasmus Student Network (ESN) will adopt you for the whole semester & will keep you busy by organizing excursions, cultural activities, weekends away & brilliant theme parties every week. The theme parties - the crux of a Tilburg Exchange Students life- will impel you to be creative with costumes & designs. 3. Learn how to Ride a Bike (the Dutch way) - The Dutch are Biking Legends as they manoeuvre through the ... read more
June 6th 2006
Yesterday Brenda and I met the devil in the form of Dutch train-inspector. We were minding our own business on the train heading to Rotterdam for the Australia vs. Netherlands pre-World Cup soccer match. The train-inspector (the devil incarnate) walked past & mumbled some obscenities about being Aussie. I am not too sure how he knew we were Aussie or honorary Aussies (Brenda) - the Aussie hats, the Aussie flag that was draped around me, the inflatable kangaroo & my Green & Gold outfit might’ve tipped him off but I’m not entirely sure. Anyway, we arrived at Dordrecht (the station just before Rotterdam) & he casually walked up to us & told us that if we wanted to go to the game we needed to get off. Although I was confused (as the game was undeniably ... read more
April 27th 2006
Hello my Darlings! As you know I’ve seized every opportunity to travel extensively within Europe. Easter Break provided me with another opportunity to hop on a plane & discover a new region of Europe- namely the cities of Prague (Czech Republic), Krakow (Poland) and Budapest (Hungary). Without a doubt, the highlight of the whole trip was how cheap everything was. McDonald’s cheeseburgers were less than a Euro ($1.65 AUS)! Now I know that $1.65 is more or less the price of a cheeseburger in Australia but after dealing in Euros for so long and paying over 6 euros ($9.90 AUS) for a medium cheeseburger meal in Holland Eastern Europe provided a sanctuary of cheap guilt-free greasy food. My spiteful relationship with the Euro led me to spend alot of Czech korunas, Polish zlotys & Hungarian forints ... read more
March 31st 2006
So what happens when you travel with a crazy Mexican girlfriend to Denmark? You end up in Sweden. Now that may be a surprise to you but after knowing Brenda (the crazy Mexican I mentioned previously) for more than 2 months I’ve quickly realized that anything is possible. You see, I have a tendency to verbalize wild ideas. This is normally not a problem as most friends, family members or strangers either; ignore me, think I’m joking & laugh at me or take me seriously & consider me crazy. Brenda is the first person I have ever met to take my wild ideas seriously. So when I voiced my wild idea of visiting Sweden for some Swedish meatballs after being in Denmark for less than an hour I thought it would fall on deaf ears. To ... read more
March 25th 2006
Normally ‘travelling’ doesn’t feel as good as a ‘vacation’. In fact there is a huge difference (which a lot of people don’t recognize) between ‘travelling’ and taking a ‘vacation’. Taking a ‘vacation’ normally involves a guilt-free way to spend time doing whatever, whenever with whoever. With vacations there is no concept of time or money and it is essentially driven by the seven deadly sins- namely sloth (lazing around is primarily why people go on vacations in the first place), lust (people have this crazy thing about finding ‘holiday romances’), greed (everything is about souvenirs & shopping), pride (beauty treatments-manicures, pedicures & massages are always on the agenda) & gluttony (who are we kidding? The best thing about being on vacation is the food!) Also, with vacations sightseeing is not strictly on the agenda. So while ... read more
March 24th 2006
My friends and I made our way over the tarmac towards the plane. We all embarked, found our seats, not difficult as, in spite of my deepening premonitions, they were all on the same aeroplane. We buckled our belts and found a comfortable position to fall asleep for the next hour and a half. ‘Comfortable’ by plane standards basically means at least 20 minutes of sleep without losing the feeling in one’s hands, feet or buttocks. The flight was routine: the flight attendants were selling overpriced snacks & drinks and while my friends played cards I nodded in & out of sleep. Later, as we circled in on our destination I remember looking down through the mist upon the blurred landscape beneath me to see the city lights and surrounding cliffs. John Locke’s quote crossed my ... read more
January 29th 2006
Greetings from the land of windmills and hashish! I arrived in the Netherlands just over a week ago and to my absolute delight I have already found life-long friends and a place to call ‘home’. Much to my amusement I have also learned the intricacies of brewing a good beer, swear words in German, Spanish, Dutch and French (y’all know I love swearing!) and the reasons why I shouldn’t ride my bicycle while intoxicated (I learned that one the hard way). I share my apartment with 7 other people. We all have our own rooms (my room has a couch and overlooks the campus) and we share the living room, bathroom and kitchen. There are over twenty-five different nationalities participating in the exchange and despite our differences we all have a common denominator -a passion ... read more
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