dang it.

am so behind my readings. and no matter how hard i try, i can not understand our political science readings.

gah.

pero ang gwapo nung international relations committee head kanina. sayang alis na sa december. (oops, may multiply nga pala mister ko.)

kababawan. pagbigyan ang ngarag.

BONFIRE!

ONE BIG FIGHT! GO ATENEO!

siguro, pakiramdam ni chris tiu ngayon yung pakiramdam ni oliver wood nung nanalo sila ng quidditch cup.

maierhofer... ewan ko na lang sa iyo.

casio... you will forever be my favorite lasalle player.

pero, ATENEO!!! win or lose, it's the school we choose. At masayang manaloooooo!!!

to my dear eco professor, pasensiya na. mahal kita, pero you're not my number one priority. haha!

i love you jai. i love you eric. i love you nonoy. i love you jobe. i love you chris. so happy for you! so happy for me.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

ano ba mahalaga sa buhay?

classes o championship?

may clash sa eco class ko at ang pagpanalo ng championship ng ateneo sa thursday. yes, i am that confident. so ang tanong... will i skip class and watch the game or will i go to class, makinig sa tanders pero poging kong sri lankan prof pero di nauunawaan ang nagaganap dahil iniisip ko na ang bumabagsak na blue and white balloons habang binubuhat si tiu at iba pang graduating players?

malinaw naman ang sagot di ba.

pero bad trip pa din. misteryong nanatili ang laptop ko kung bakit ayaw tumanggap ng internet. peste.

admu-dlsu

yeeeessssssssss!!!

i lab you nonoy. i lab you jai. i lab you eric. uh... sige na nga, i lab you ryan at rabeh. hehe! i lab you ateneooooooo!!!

WAMBIGPAYT! ONE BIG FIGHT!

admu-dlsu

yeeeessssssssss!!!

i lab you nonoy. i lab you jai. i lab you eric. uh... sige na nga, i lab you ryan at rabeh. hehe! i lab you ateneooooooo!!!

WAMBIGPAYT! ONE BIG FIGHT!

updates

internet: none. the freakin' internet connection still won't work wheter with wi-fi or cable. what the hell is wrong? it is frustrating and irritating because most of the readings for class are online. i can access to the library but it is closed on weekends.


classes: we started yesterday. i like all my professors. they all seem to be very kind in the sense that they are trying to make it easy for everyone. all the ones i took were the intermediate even if i did learn some of them in college. that was ten to twelve years ago, so i bet i forgot everything now.

netherlands: i was already able to go to amsterdam and rotterdam for free because it was an official school or course activity. some of us did stay behind in amsterdam since the field trip was done by 4PM. there were actually only eight of us, but it was nice to see amsterdam on foot and not just on a boat.

i'd have a more decent story if only i had decent internet. hay naku.

i do have some photos on my multiply page (a link is on the sidebar) and facebook page. i actually have to update facebook now because some international friends prefer that to multiply. oh well. :D

frustrated

i still dont have internet connection in my dorm. and i'm the only one who does not have. either by cable or wifi. the tech support already memorized my password because they have been trying to figure it out. and the only thing they can come up with is it's because i'm using vista. heck! a lot of people are on vista as well, and their internet is working fine.

the irritating is i cant get to watch UAAP. the main reason why i even got a credit card is so i can subscribe to tfc so i can watch the games and maybe ateneo grab the championship. but nooooo. gah.

and i have not talked to jan for days. who has not changed even with the distance. texts me every two or three days. and usually for official notifications. hehe! but yeah, i'm missing the dude.

thank God things have been pretty busy so far. and i have not time to mope. classes start tomorrow and i have not read anything yet. i dont have the readings and have to search the library for that. gah. i have a few hours to try. but all the nerds seem to have gotten the books out. :(

anyway, i'm enjoying the yogurt, muesli, salad and sandwiches. my meat intake is considerably lesser.

but mehn, i went out a couple of times and the damage is often 12-13 euros. it hurts like crazy when i convert it to peso.

but i'm fine and having fun so far. i feel like i'm 20 again. ;p

how apt

my dailyOM horoscope couldn't be or feel more apt than this.

Present Sense, Future Success
Leo Daily Horoscope

It might be easier for you to handle your business affairs with greater ingenuity and acumen today, which might be because you recognize that by being organized and forward-thinking, you are much more likely to achieve your goals. Having a concrete plan for what you wish to accomplish could be one way for you to combine your real-world savvy with your hopes for the future. Making a list of the things that you not only know you have to get done but also that you wish for today might help you attain this end. You might find, for example, that thinking more carefully about your life situation, noting the things that you immediately need to attend to, and then doing a little more research into how you can broaden your resources can give you more ideas about how to do the things that you have always wanted to do.

Merging our know-how with our greater aspirations helps us to think not only about what we can do today but also about what we are able to achieve in the future. When we frame our goals in this way, we are much more likely to see that what we do in the present allows us to manifest greater abundance later on. It is not only being organized that counts but also setting the intention for our growth, development, and evolution that factor into the equation. Letting your dreams guide your actions will lay the foundation in which you can better enhance your life beginning today.

What do you think?

united colors of iss

the afternoon was an interesting trip to the open market. basically, it's just the netherlands version of our palengke, but closer to mindanao's taboan. open market days are MWFSa, but fridays (vrijdag) and saturdays (zaterdag) are busy with people.

love, my classmate from Ghana who has gone in and out of NL for the last six years, was kind enough to give us a tour. us meant andrea and john from canada (one from vancouver, the other toronto), lola from nicaragua and myself. the five of us alone already represented four continents, the opposite ends of the color spectrum and the height range of 5'3" to more than six feet.

the tram station from the centrum to the groete market was absolutely gorgeous. i can't describe it as i'm terrible with architecture and i don't have a photo to prove it. but it was beautiful. even john says so.

we rode the busy tram, with the middle school kids on the way home from school. i forgot which street we went down in, but we just had to cross the table to get to the open market. and lo! tiangge! coats, shirts, shoes, electronic gadgets! so many stuff.

having too many companions really made it hard for me to look around, so i just went straight to what i came for. fruits. i also wanted to buy vegies but love told us it would be better to buy from albert heijn because it stays longer than those from the groete market. so.

i ended up with a euro worth of carrots. which is a lot! good for a couple of weeks, i would think. but i intend to make it my junk food for studying. i also bought grapes and kiwi which i split with lola. i really had no idea how to eat a kiwi or what it tastes like fresh. but hey! 50 cents for 5 pieces is good for me. it costs P100++ in the philippines, noh! i also had to buy chicken and pork for the welcome dinner for our late pinay classmate (we pinoys are too nice. i might not have thought about it if the others didn't tell me. haha!), as well as garlic. finally i was able to get salt and also some apple juice. but dang... sugar still eludes me. the one that i found was too big and i didn't have a container for it. so.

all-in-all it was a pretty good experience. more than the trip to the open market, it was actually the interaction with the others that i enjoyed. it was my first trip with non-pinoys, and that is always exciting. i really find these people interesting!

overwhelmed

by the mini-united nations.

i just came from my orientation with the entire 2008-2009 batch of students at the institute of social studies. there are 200 students from 50 countries in that one auditorium. wow. there are people from uganda, ethiopia, sudan, egypt, canada, united states, indonesia, pakistan... and so on and so forth. simply amazing!

and truthfully, i'm quite intimidated by the intellectual level of the people i will be with. gah. i'm not just intimidated, i'm really scared. quivering in my boots scared. i'm not sure if good intentions and a good heart will get me to the finish line like it always had in the last thirty years of my life. however, i am here and i will work as hard as i could (why, i will even bring reading materials to study on the train WHEN i visit camille in france!).

i mean, it's exactly that diversity of cultures that drew me to the ISS in the first place. the professors in the institute are impressive and they seem very supportive of the students. but i know that i will be learning as much from my classmates' experience as well. there is a student activist in ethiopia and we know how difficult the situation is there. another one comes from the most volatile region of uganda. another one is a canadian who has worked in kenya. it's so rich in diversity! imagine the tons of information that could eventually guide me into the direction i want to take as well. i really feel i know so little about my work and i may not have enough to share. which makes me feel a whole lot better about our country compared to theirs. but comparing wouldn't really get us anywhere, right? there will always be somebody better or worse that our situation. so.

gah.

i definitely have to work doubly hard than i intended to. but if i just take this really seriously, i know there is much to reap.

i'm in europe! and studying in europe's premiere social development institute. how cool is that? way cool! how scary is that? way scary!

kaya natin to, pinas!

meet spot

he's my new familiar which i coerced jan to give me so i can take him with me so i can practice my witchcraft to use while conjuring ideas for papers and such for school.

he's already had quite an adventure. he met jack (who i like as well) who was a fellow pinoy's familiar as well. they like the same color palette.

he also enjoyed the wonderful in-flight entertainment of klm. we were able to watch four movies and played several games, plus learned a few dutch words as well.

when we finally got to netherlands and was on board the train, i was finally able to take a picture of the two of us since we were wearing the same skin that day.

yes, i do have terrible eyebags. the in-flight enterntainment was too addicting that i did not get any sleep. and i only got 3 hours sleep for each night previous to my flight. so yeah... i've got panda eyes up to now. spot still has his nice brown beady eyes.

we didn't get to see a lot of windmills. just a couple on the way to leiden, but i didn't notice any more after that.

getting to kortenerkaede, the street of our school, was a chore. with 37 kgs of luggage to tow along, it was absolutely hellish. but we made it and the filipinos from the previous batch met us and fed us with adobo and sinigang sa miso. mmmmm.... anything would have tasted good as i was sooo hungry! even if the airplane food was delish. the last meal was too light.

finally, we were able to settle in our rooms. the school actually had welcome food packs for us. yey! because i was so thirsty. and it fed me for breakfast. or else i wouldn't have known where to get anyting to eat.

spot got to inspect the closet and the bed before he snoozed on me. hmph.