Why I Love This City

Since my travel around Europe ended, I've stopped writing on Blogspot - plus I recently attempted to start a new blog via Wordpress. But this morning, for no reason, I opened this site again and was surprised to see over 80,000 views in the past 6 months and 100+ followers for this blog. I mean, really, all of these are just some random thoughts that I wish to convey in writings; I'm flattered that people are actually reading it. And just like that, I'll continue my writing here.

Now, it's officially a month since I moved to New York City. Friends and family often asked "How is it there? Is it different from Seattle?" My default answer would be "It's great!" or "It doesn't rain much". Well, that doesn't describe anything, does it? But in all honesty, I have to say that I love the city. 

I love the tall buildings, or the concrete jungle you may call. I love the diversity, you can find Colombian to Turkish to Taiwanese town in the city! I love the arts. I love the amazing food, busy streets, accessible transportation, everything. Picture worth a thousand words, so here they are.

  

It's quite amazing that an iPhone 4S can produce decent pictures like these, of course with filters from Instagram and Path. Though I do wish I have a better camera, a DSLR for example or just a better camera would be nice.

Oh and I do take a lot of pictures of buildings, skyscrapers in particular - I marvel at those man-made structures. If people are intimidated by the concrete jungle, I don't.

Cheers!

They Say Travelling Makes You Wiser

Warning: This is gonna be a long post. Once you start reading, continue 'till the end!

So they say travelling makes you wiser. Well, I literally acquired wisdom during my travel. It's an actual wisdom in concrete form. And no, I'm not kidding.

Last Tuesday, I got my wisdom tooth pulled out. Here, in Berlin, when I'm away from home and travelling and barely have enough money to sustain myself. This tooth of mine conveniently poked my gum and the pain, oh the pain, was excruciating! I'm used to have a round face with hamster cheeks (thanks, Dad) but imagine my horror waking up to one enormous cheek. Well thanks wisdom tooth!

I know, I know, wisdom tooth doesn't actually make you wiser, the pain itself is quite atrocious. But here's a fact, travelling does make you wiser. And before you stop reading, I'm telling you, this is not another 'go travel because it will change your life forever' yada yada talk. I only speak the truth and the truth you shall get.

Let's face it. We live in a society that is based on stereotypes. When you were a kid, there must be at least this one kid that you had to 'ignore' because your friends/parents told you he/she was a bad influence. Now you're all grown up and want to explore the world but society said "You wanna go there? But the people are mean/violent/grumpy/stingy/greedy..." and the list goes on.

No. You don't get to judge how people are if you haven't even met them. It's universal truth that people will be nice if you're nice to them - and of course you will need to be careful to whom you're talking to. Stereotypes/labeling are ignorant judgements. Along my travel, I've met tons of amazing people; kind and generous people; even strangers that took me in and welcome me to their home even though we just met for 2 hours (thanks to CouchSurfing).

Stereotypes are ignorant judgements. Understand this and you'll discover a whole new different world.

Don't you sometimes think that the world is just moving too fast? Well, I do. After high school, there's SAT to study for, then college prep, then finally college. But it doesn't end there. There are loads of course works, exams, volunteer works, clubs, internships, and so on. When will this end? Probably never. You do realize after college ends there's job hunting, then 'the job' itself, then promotion then there's family to think about. There is NO friggin' end.

Travelling makes you pause and think. What have I been doing for the past years? Is this what I want to do for the next 5-10 years? Am I 'living' my life the way I wanted it to be?

Sometimes you need that moment of silence to recap a few years back and reflect on your life. Solo travelling is always a good plan to do some self reflection. This is good especially for a fourth-year college student who is still not sure of what to do next after graduation (that's moi!).

As the wise Buddha said, "If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment and all wisdom and virtue will come to him". You should be in control of your life, not the other way around.

This is to everyone who are privileged enough to receive great education yet still travel the world. Congratulations. You're better off than most people in the world. Maybe it's because of the proverb "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"; we rarely appreciate what we have. We tend to want more; travel to more countries; buy more souvenirs or whatever. You are already better than the rest of the world to have the opportunity to travel; what more do you want?

When you travel, don't just see what's on the surface (which is usually the good touristy thing); go deeper. Volunteer for a local NGO. Work with kids at the orphanage. Support local food banks for homeless people. You can do this through a trusted volunteer organization, i.e. AIESEC. And yes, even in a well developed country, these still exist. There is no such thing as 'the greener grass'.

Truly appreciate life, and you'll find that you have more of it.

That is all the wisdom that you can get from me today. I was actually inspired to write this because of my wisdom tooth that is sitting next to my laptop (hahaha). But anyways, I hope you make it to the end of the post and this will inspire you to travel! It doesn't have to be to another country, you could go to another city/state/province. 

Wherever you go, JUST GO. Get lost and find yourself again.

Cheers!

The Thing About Berlin: Tech Open Air 2012

This post is long overdue. And yes, I'm twenty two. I do feel old with some occasional back pain and soreness here and there - or maybe it's just because I'm working 8-10 hours a day in front of a computer (yay online marketing job!).

Fifteen days. Roughly 2 weeks is the amount of time I have left in Berlin; in Europe. Honestly, I'm not too excited about going back to Seattle. I will miss this unique, wacky, out-of-the box, hipster, techno environment - that is Berlin!

The thing about Berlin is, the city is hip, modern, urban; but at the same time it has a very heavy history. As we walk around the city, we are always reminded by monuments, museums or even a small signs about the history of the place.

But the thing about Berlin that I love the most is their wackiness; as if their level of creativity is beyond measure. Where else can you find an abandoned building turned into a labyrinth? Or a technology conference hosted in a night club (yes, an actual night club)! Even better, a music festival in an airport. Pictures or it didn't happen, right? Well, here they are.

Here's Tech Open Air Berlin on August 23rd-24th at Kater Holzig, the craziest night club in town. I volunteered and met many brilliant European start-up founders. Guest speakers line-up includes Podio CEO,  Tommy Ahlers; YouTube co-founder, Jawed Karim; TechCrunch Europe Editor, Mike Butcher, and many, many more.

The club itself is kinda open and by the river. So attendees can chill outside and sit by the river while tweeting and chatting with others. And this is only what the outside looks like. Wait until you see the inside.

There's circus room, graffiti room, and other wacky room. Odd, but good odd. There are plenty of places to charge your electronics and WiFi is available all day long.

There were music performances and start-up idea pitch during lunch break. After 6PM, the conference officially ended and we party. That's right - we party at the coolest club in town! 

Food were overflowing. We were definitely well fed. Free frozen yogurt! And don't forget about the free beer, thanks to the fine guys at KPMG and Careers 2.0.

Pictures and it did happen. Next post, I'll tell you about the Berlin Festival in a freaking airport, no kidding.

Cheers!

PS: My fundraising is still on. One week left! Hat's on everyone!

23 DAYS: For the Love of Prague

Note: It's been an extremely hectic week. Wrote this a week ago but never had the chance to finish it. So let's keep the countdown to 23 Days, shall we?

On August 3rd (yes, that was about two weeks ago), John, Mike, Brian, Anna and I decided to take a break from our hectic life and go to Prague for the weekend. It was a total blast! Great city, awesome travel companions - best weekend ever! We traveled by train for six freaking hours, but it was totally worth it.

Prague, Prague, Prague... How do I begin to describe this city? It is absolutely beautiful from every angle. The architecture, the music, the view, everything is just breathtaking.

I was a tourist for the weekend. John & Mike had a list of places to go and things to do. Being map blind and all, Anna and I followed them around gladly. Off we went to the Old Town, the famous Charles Bridge and the Canal for a boat trip.

It was really, really sunny that day and I only brought my UGG boots - yeah, imagine that. This is the Old Town Square where tourists gather; yes, I was one of them. In the middle of the square there's the Jan Hus memorial, while the buildings around the square are mostly churches, museums, art galleries and cafes. 

The famous Astronomical Clock is also at the Old Town Square, attached to a tower. It plays a song when the long hand strikes twelve. This clock is apparently one of the oldest mechanical clock and astronomical dial - it was installed back in 1410.

 The entrance of the Charles Bridge. As always, you can see people everywhere.

Honestly, we all fell asleep during the boat trip! We were so exhausted from walking around the entire day and being on a boat was just relaxing - they even gave us free beer and ice cream, so of course we'd fall asleep.

Back to the Old Town Square, see how crowded this place is?! On the second day, Ana and I decided to stop being tourists and have a classy weekend instead. From window shopping at Cartier and Swarovski to being art critiques at Salvador Dali art gallery. Followed by an afternoon tea in front of St. Nicholas Church and a Vivaldi concert at the Mirror Chapel to end our day. Now that's what I called chilling in style.

I can keep going on telling you about how much I love this place. Even Mozart loved this place. There's a memorial for Mozart in the middle of the Old Town. If I'm not mistaken, he wrote Requiem in Prague (?)

Finally, last stop was the Prague Castle. It's actually a really complicated church complex with a gothic-style cathedral as its main building. But the view of Prague from the castle was just absolutely amazing and apparently many couples took their pre-wedding photos there - save this idea for future reference!

I can keep talking about this city. I love Prague, the city and its rich culture. People also genuinely love to preserve their old classic culture - if you love classical music, this is your place. Instead of Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber concerts, they have classical music concert almost everyday. Some major organizations/universities even host classical music composition competition for serious musicians. Last but not least, here's the renowned Lenin Wall.

Prague has been a dream destination for me since I was 16. Back then, I was living in my own bubble in Jakarta and could only dream of travelling the world. Who would have thought that I could actually do it - and even better, actually went to Prague! This city is now ticked off from my list! I am so glad that I went on this trip - and especially thanks to my friends who made this trip the best weekend in my entire life (kinda exaggerating here, but really, thank you so much for coming with me!)

With that, I think it's appropriate to end this long post with a cool graffiti that I found somewhere in the city.

PS: For those who come from nothing, we have nothing to lose - so go out there and become something you've always wanted to be.

Cheers!