Fernweh ≈ Wanderlust pt. IV

If you read the previous part, you might notice the irony at the end of the post. Who knew that within a month afterwards, I'd pack up my things to go home to Indonesia? Well, I didn't. I wasn't going to let that be the end of my adventures, though, I'm still going to roam about one way or another so you better watch this space. Outside of traveling, a lot of things have happened since then—like a lot!—and it has allowed me to acquire more friends from various parts of the world. It's still a dream of mine to visit them someday, but for now I'm just glad to be able to meet up with some online friends from my own country. My life has caught me off guard for years, but this development is the most unexpected incident to have ever happened in my whole life—not even joking—so traveling has taken a backseat like never before.

Bruxelles (Brussels), Belgium (June 2014)

Freiburg, Germany (August 2014)

Before I left Germany, I made sure to do some intense travelling. I made sure to visit one last country in Europe—outside of Germany, of course. It should be fitting that it's Belgium, which houses one of the world's Art Nouveau capitals, and it was beautiful! What a better way to bid farewell than to visit a tiny piece of heaven, am I right? Then two months afterwards I also visited Iva's turf—finally visiting Freiburg—and said goodbye to her and Kynann. We even had a blast at Europapark that I'd never thought I'd visit. When I came back to him, Firu finally kept his promise and took me to Hamburg—a city I've been dying to visit for years. The weather was terrible but it was still a trip we both would love to remember. All the while, I didn't even realise that I was terribly down with tuberculosis—even after I fainted in front of Iva, oops!

Europapark, Germany (August 2014)

Hamburg, Germany (August 2014)

Kudus, Indonesia (October 2014)

The past three years I haven't been travelling much, due to financial issues and other obligations. I can't believe how much harder and pricier it is to explore my own homeland—compared to, say, Europe. In fact, it's apparently cheaper to go abroad than to visit certain parts of Indonesia—especially the less populated islands, like Papua and Maluku. But I do want to explore more of the country, so I decided to start small. I started exploring more of my parents' hometowns, Surabaya and Semarang, seeing all these sites that I never even bothered to check out before. Then I started to explore more of my own hometown, Jakarta. I started to discover so many historical sites—which is a given, since the capital city is obviously the hotspot for history. It's gotten me to appreciate more of my own country. I was so surprised to find the various museums and landmarks I never even knew before—and sometimes even the locals haven't necessarily been there too.

Semarang, Indonesia (June 2015)

Surabaya, Indonesia (July 2015)

Jakarta, Indonesia (2016 onwards)

This list makes me rethink my definition for traveling. What qualifies actual traveling for me, anyway? Usually, it's when I've been somewhere and seen pretty much all the tourist landmarks, tried the local food and learnt a bit about the local culture—which, ideally, takes several days. However, sometimes even in Surabaya or Semarang—or Jakarta, really—there are still plenty of landmarks that I've missed or haven't seen yet, but I obviously know the place rather well to say I've traveled there several times before. And, sometimes, to do so requires less than a day—like in Ambarawa—or that without having seen the landmarks I've gotten a feel of what the local culture is like—as is the case in Kudus—or maybe I visited all the landmarks but didn't eat any of the food—such as in Madura. And I really think I don't have to decide right now.

Madura, Indonesia (July 2017)

Ambarawa, Indonesia (August 2017)

It's taken me three years, but this list is finally complete to create one whole post. My hope for the future is simply to be able to take as many chances as I can in regards to traveling and exploring. For now, I feel like I can only afford to travel nationally—financially, if nothing else. I think at the moment it's best to just visit nearby cities and towns, which often comes with cheaper transportation fare—some can even be visited with the commuter line. Although, of course, if the chance ever arises, I wouldn't mind visiting a different country or farther destinations within the country. It would be swell if I could at least leave the island and seek an adventure on different parts of the archipelago altogether. It may take another three years to finish the next list—maybe longer—but I will be sure to document it here, for anyone who might be interested.

Fernweh ≈ Wanderlust pt. III

Though I wasn't thinking about it when I first wrote this list, now I want to make it my mission to list the places I have visited (here's the second batch). As I probably have mentioned many times before, traveling is one of the reasons I decided to study out here anyway, one of the reasons why my dad was up for it. In fact, my dream is to have friends in different parts of the world. Who knows? Maybe someday I'd need a place to crash when I'm visiting their country. For now, though, I am quite content with having friends all over the country and crash at their place whenever the need strikes me.

Bonn, Germany (March, 2013)

Wuppertal, Germany (March, 2013)

Compared to the previous years, last year we ventured less to new places and tended to go back to places we've been to before, such as Karlsruhe and Düsseldorf (though I've never lived there, the Japanese majority keeps luring me in). There were other cities we kept coming back to out of necessity, which are normally located around Firu's current hometown. He has the NRW semester ticket now, which means he could go to any town/city in North-Rhine Westphalia at any given time. During certain hours, he could also take me with him...but only so far. Despite that fact, I could still hang out in a lot of new places and see some old friends, like the time I saw Lucy Rose in concert and crashed over at Cindy's place or when I meet some new friends on Firu's birthday. Those are the best moments.

Frankfurt am Main, Germany (April, 2013)

Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany (May, 2013)

Oberhausen, Germany (July 2013)

Since I refrained from splurging on traveling last year, discovering new places got harder. For the most part, I happen upon these new places by chance and/or necessity. Like the time I had to accompany an acquaintance to the airport or when Firu had some errands to run. It's so strange since these places have always been just right there, I could probably have explored them sooner. But there's nothing like coincidental happenstance to get you moving, am I right? Earlier last year Firu moved to another town, though actually very close by to where he used to live. I get to explore this town more too, though, and it's kind of nice. Plus, he's got some amazing friends there. So there's more reason to stick around. Major changes have happened as well, like Firu's sister coming to Germany or a friend of ours going back home for good - which probably have nothing to do with traveling but still somehow changed our lives.

Aachen, Germany (July 2013)

Bochum, Germany (August 2013)

Esslingen, Germany (August 2013)

I've been here for so long that traveling has found a different meaning to me. It's not always about visiting the touristy landmarks but also about checking out the culture and places to hangout in or admiring the beauty of the town in its entirety. Upon traveling, I really prefer small towns with admirable architecture or a story worth telling to big cities with tons of places to shop in. I'd rather have loads of time in my hand for exploring the place I'm visiting than for going to stores for items I probably could get anywhere - except for traditional getup or subcultural goods (you know, like getting some mori girl getup in Japan). That being said, I haven't seen much of these places because I was too confused on what to see there.

Bielefeld, Germany (August 2013)

Fulda, Germany (March 2014)

Frankly, I don't foresee many traveling this year. My goals have totally changed since the first time I came out here. Now I'm just trying to survive - which I should have tried to do the minute I got here. It's time to be a grown up and earn my own living. I don't want to get to 25 years of age and never having worked a day of my life. Well, actually I've worked before but not on a daily basis. Right now the future is kind of blurry to me. There are more things other than traveling on my mind and more aspects to be worried about. I've been to more places than I could ever dream of - though I have yet to be in places I've always wanted to go to - and that is enough to satisfy me for the time being. But, of course, I want to discover more places. Fingers crossed for 2014! Let's hope it's not going to be the last you hear of my adventures!

Fernweh ≈ Wanderlust pt. II

Sometime last year, I made a list of places I've been to since I moved out to Germany. Although it has yet to be exactly a year, it occurred to me that I've traveled enough places to make another one of such lists. Aside from my actual desire to go and see the world - or at least Europe, so far, boredom also had a hand in the matter. With the inability to see Firu for four months, I had the freedom to go elsewhere and see more friends, traveling and exploring different sites in the process.

Kassel, Germany (May 2012)

Sächsische Schweiz (Saxon Switzerland), Germany (June 2012)

Ever since Godknowswhen, traveling has been one of my life-long passions. I dream of going around the world for my honeymoon - unrealistic, I know. Knowing that would probably not come true, I am using the opportunity I have now that I'm still young. Little by little, slowly but sure. Having friends from all over the world is also one of my main goals in life. For now, at least, having friends from all over the country is quite enough. This is also the reason I love having a short-distance relationship with Firu, living in different towns. It gives me a reason to travel more. Plus, Firu lives in probably the biggest state in Germany, with a semester ticket to take me around it. Yippie!

Halle (Saale), Germany (June 2012)

Göttingen, Germany (July 2012)

Berlin, Germany (July 2012)

Last year, I totally splurged on traveling. All these trips done in a short period of time. Not to mention, I actually went to Weimar, Hannover and Bremen in June, Dresden and Leipzig in July, Frankfurt in August and any other cities in NRW as well in October and November. It was crazy! Although some of them don't even cost money for the transport. There are various reasons, mates, methods and stories to each trip but I enjoyed each and every one of them to the fullest. Some trips lead to destiny in the near future - like Kassel, per se - while others are simply trips. This year, I think I'm going to lay low on the traveling side, though. Use my time and money to do something useful for my future maybe.

Düsseldorf (Dusseldorf), Germany (October 2012)

Duisburg,  Germany (October 2012)

Venlo, Holland (October 2012)

The best part about traveling is being able to do it with your loved ones. Which is why we went back to our first hometown nearing the end of the year, to gather with our closest friends in the country. I guess we were blessed, after our trip earlier that year, to have another trip together again. It wasn't a month of work together, though - we did that once in Hannover two years ago. With all the years to come, I hope we could spend more time together, exploring different places, creating more memories and inside jokes. Oh, these friends of mine.

Karlsruhe, Germany (December 2012)

Paris, France (December 2012)

Apparently, going abroad has become a sort of annual thing for me by now. Last year was Italy, this year was Holland and France. I have only seen one city of each, though. But it's okay. To dedicate at least one full day to appreciate a city is better than to shift through a number of cities just to say you've been there, not knowing the place at all. Iva and I are so excited to make plans again this year. There's a good chance we might go to Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg since Firu lives near there now. I'm still pretty much interested in visiting Prague, though - I have to see Mucha's last hometown! - so we'll see. I have so much hope for what this year holds, though. In the meantime, I'm going to have a blast staying put. You guys go have a happy midweek! Cheerio!

P.S: I put Halle in as well because it was the time I started exploring the place for real. Plus, now I don't live there anymore and it was another town to put into my list. I put Karlsruhe in because Firu and I took a trip to go back there.

Fernweh ≈ Wanderlust

Time moves awfully quickly these days, doesn't it? Already it's a week before May and two weeks before my midterm exam week. But it's still weeks before my final exam and I get to see Firu again. I just can't wait for it to come before my eyes. Have I mentioned that I got a couple gift certificates from WWF Germany? Yes, yes, I did. They are for many nature-connected places, such as science centres, zoos and nature parks, that I have never even heard before. They seem pretty exclusively exciting too and I'm already planning in my head of using them together with Firu. Traveling is one of the reason I decided to go study in Europe. Ever since I landed here, I've always wanted to do that. And, yes, I've done some traveling over the year but there are still a lot more to explore. Since I've become a student in Halle, though, I feel like I don't have many friends to travel with. That's another reason why I am so psyched that Firu'll come to visit, as oppose to me usually going to him, to Karlsruhe.

Heidelberg, Germany (February 2011)

Stuttgart, Germany (April 2011)

My university has this Kulturkalender (Culture Calendar), which involves two traveling trips. What is Kulturkalender? Well, simple, just students gathering to learn more about other culture or Germany's own.  This calendar holds many different cultural events, such as tandem nights -- where two or more students from different countries sit together and exchange informations about one another's cultures, field trips, and going to the opera. Firu has once done a tandem with a german student named Markus. It was funny how hard he tried to learn Indonesian although it has less grammar than German. He was so used to the different tenses and cases and articles that he had a bit of a culture shock.

Mannheim, Germany (May 2011)

Dresden, Germany (October 2011)

Anyway, more on this Kulturkalender, there are two field trips scheduled before my final exam. One of them is on May 12th and the other one on June 2nd. The first field trip takes place within my midterm exam week and the destination is Weimar, specifically the concentration camp there. Oh, wow! This'd be my chance to actually see the camp. The second field trip takes place on the weekend RIGHT before the final exam and the destination is Sächsische Schweiz (Saxon Switzerland). I don't exactly know this place but my teacher said it is a beautiful place. I checked it out on the internet and, oh, God, yes! It's mega beautiful and very natural! I think I want to go there.

Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany (October 2011)

Roma (Rome), Italy (December 2011)

Metzingen, Germany (January 2012)

A few days ago, I leafed through -- how sad this term cannot be said for the following -- Abi's blog, vanilla & lace and spotted her travel photos with her husband while they had a vacation in Germany for a month. Oh my God, she's even gone to places I've never gone to -- or even heard of, such as Bielefeld. That gave me an idea for a new travel destination.

Leipzig, Germany (January 2012)

Drachenfels & North Rhine Westphalia, Germany (February 2012)

Weimar, Germany (April 2012)

Whoa, look at how many places I've been to in the (more or less) one year I've been here. That's probably more places than I've been to in my own country. Next stops: Prague, Paris, Berlin -- I've been here but barely seen anything -- and Hamburg! Oh, man, looking at these photos make my wanderlust grow even bigger...anyway, hope you'll have a blast of a midweek!