Portuguese Beauty: Porto and/or Lisbon?

The Thieves Market, Lisbon

My Portuguese classmates asked me, “Which one do you like the best? Porto or Lisbon?” First time I heard that question was before my visit to Lisbon. They said that in Portugal there are two capitals. Lisbon as the capital of the southern Portugal and Portugal itself. Porto as the capital of the northern Portugal. They told me also that the one who loves Porto usually doesn’t like Lisbon, and vice versa. Each city also has its football team, Lisbon with Benfica and Porto with FC Porto (my little brother is a fan of FC Porto!) Even for beer market segmentation: Super Bock is more for the north and Sagres is more for the South.

The World is This Beautiful. Why do We Ruin It?

Boston Marathon Bombings: Victim Martin Richard, 8, With ‘No More Hurting People, Peace’ Hand-Made Poster (Taken from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/)

A bombing at Boston Marathon event is a sad news, indeed. My deepest condolence for those victims, families, friends, and everyone in Boston. After that attack, these past days, there were some news about how those FBI already killed one suspect of Boston bombers (The other one is now still in coma state, isn’t he?).

Then yesterday, some of my friends on facebook shared a link about “Boston Truth Revealed“, which says that those two previous suspects aren’t the real suspects. Ok, one is dead and one is in coma and the truth finally revealed? I don’t know if that new news is a new media manipulation or it is a real truth.

Sight(s) of Porto from my Phone Part 1

The downtown of Porto, Avenida do Aliados

You know I love this city and enjoy living here. And taking picture of every corner of Porto has always been my favourite thing to enjoy this city. Those photos had been posted on my Instagram.

My Week in Catalunya: La Bella Girona

Pont de Pedra (the Stone Bridge)

Taking the low-cost flight such as RyanAir to Barcelona can bring you to this beautiful yet mysterious city named Girona. By RyanAir, you can get into Barcelona El Prat, which is indeed in Barcelona, or Barcelona-Girona Airport, which is 1.5h by train to Barcelona. Girona as a part of Catalunya Area offers you the old and modern part of the city itself. From my friend, Wulan’s place, I followed the path along the river to take me to the old town. The old town starts from the Pont de Pedra (Spanish. translation: stone bridge). Same as Barcelona, Girona has Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas street that also full of people and shops.

Happy Birthday, Uni Intania!

Me & Uni (2010)

Olá! Boa tarde (Portuguese-good afternoon).

Today is March 15th, 2013 and it is a special day because one of my best friends was born on this date 23 years ago. This post is dedicated to that friend of mine, who  has been one of the precious friends and also being a sister (Uni– Padang language for big sister) for me.

and her name is… Intania Rahma Sani.

The Video: Erasmus Mundus 2012 Award Ceremony & Pre-Departure Briefing

Thanks to Pak Denny who shared the video on Facebook. It is nice seeing the video and reminiscing about those memorable days preparing Erasmus Mundus application, waiting for the announcement, receiving the scholarship acceptance, preparing the VISA, and leaving Indonesia with those dreams in my head! Europe was in front of my eyes!!!

and now, I am in Europe.

[Video courtesy of Delegasi Uni Eropa's Youtube]

The complete story of my days in Erasmus Mundus 2012 Award Ceremony & Pre-Departure Briefing was posted here. Then, who will be featured in 2013 video? I hope it will be you

Beijinhos,

 

My week in Catalunya: Besalú

Hola! (Hello in Spanish)

What comes to your mind when you plan a trip to Spain? For me, the first time I planned my trip to Spain, one city that came to my mind was Barcelona. Yes, Barcelona. Thanks to the famous FC Barcelona–my little brother is a soccer fan and my best friend, @jengririz, poisoned me with Lionel Messi thingy during my internship two years ago. As a result, I booked a flight ticket to Barcelona and also planned to visit my Erasmus Mundus friend, Wulan, in Girona (1.5h by train from Barcelona).

Before my Catalunya trip last week, I have been to Barcelona last year for an impulsive quick trip with my friends. and thanks to unlucky accidents there, I spend only less than 24h last week. Last year accident in Barcelona is so traumatic for me, haha.  Okay forget that.

I just knew this medieval small city of Catalunya from Wulan. She recommended me to visit Besalú. To be honest, the name didn’t sound familiar for me. Then I googled it and here they were. Those pictures of Besalú that made me said “let’s go there!” To visit Besalú, we took the bus from Girona. It costs around 7.5 euros for round trip and took about 40 minutes to go there.

Welcome to Besalú

Travelling

 

Travelling. One of my favourite things to do in my spare time.

Travelling. Makes me broke so easily. Sad because I’m broken. But deep inside of my heart: I’m happy! and looking forward to it.

Travelling. Sleeping at the airport? No worry. I am getting used to it.

Travelling. Enjoying the city & the people, trying the local foods and drinks, taking pictures, and getting lost.

Travelling. Being a stranger. Meeting strangers. Get along with them.

Travelling. Opens my eye of the greatness of the God.

Travelling. …

(You can fill in the dots.)

 

Beijinhos,

 

Jadi Bule di Negeri Bule Part II

Aveiro, the Venice of Portugal

Hello Indonesia, apa kabar? I miss you. A lot. 

Tak terasa, sudah hampir lima bulan saya meninggalkan Tanah Air. Sudah hampir satu semester saya menjalani perkuliahan di uPorto dan selama lima bulan ini juga, saya jadi sering membuka Facebook untuk sekedar melepas rasa kangen kepada Indonesia, terutama keluarga dan teman-teman saya. Really happy knowing that they are doing well. Saya juga sudah mulai betah di Porto. Jika diukur kadar kebetahannya, 90% sudah betah lah.

Mari saya lanjutkan kembali kisah saya menjadi bule di negeri bule.

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

2012 has been a big leap for this blog, huh? This blog woke up from its long sleeping due to my (past) laziness in updating it. Hopefully in 2013, this blog will be more active (Read: the writer).

Muito obrigada, reader(s)! See you in 2013.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 27,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 6 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.