Confession 1: I am only making this blog entry because I haven’t been feeling well since yesterday.

Since last night, at around 10:00PM, I haven’t been feeling well. No, not emotionally or psychologically, but physically. Headache, sore throat and the regular feeling of just being lethargic when one doesn’t feel well. It hasn’t really been helping me accomplish the remaining tasks I have to accomplish before we go back to school and it also doesn’t help that my phone of almost 4 years now, just died.

My phone’s death is really a sad thing for me because:

1. It’s our org’s project next weekend and crunch time means a lot of mega communication time 24/7 this whole week.

2. I don’t know how to coordinate with my mother with sudden schedule changes

I’m just praying I get the new phone soon early this coming week. More than wanting it, I really need it.

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Confession 2: I have not really explored the Philippines….yet. I have only been to a few places like Tuguegarao, Cagayan de Oro, Boracay, Tagaytay, Baguio and a few other places. 

Going back to the original topic of this blog…I miss not being in the country, or just in Manila at least. There is always something about traveling that excites me. I always learn something about myself when I’m not in my hometown, when I’m not in my home country. There’s always the sense of freedom, of being a modern-day Peter Pan sans Captain Hook, Tinkerbell, the Lost Boys and Wendy. I’ve also been really fueled with my peers wanting to travel like Krista Caballero and David Lozada. Right now, I don’t have much plans to travel around the country because even though I know we have a lot of beautiful sights to see along with things to do, there’s something within me that wants to explore other cultures, to be lost in trying to understand foreign language and, most importantly, a great part of me wants to experience thrill and excitement I can’t seem to get here.

I miss the tiny streets of Venice and this mask will forever remind me of my memories there.

These magnets as well will always remind me of some of the places I went to for JTA. The three mask magnets were given to me by my cousin when she went to Venice late last year. And of course Singapore will always be in my mind because my brother works there and because of these ribbons—I got them from the Esplanade October 2012—which are displayed in my room.

I don’t know about you guys but I like the thought of being in another country and adapting to their customs and not being a tourist. I think traveling is much better when one attempts to be like a local and to not just go to the “Top 10 Tourist Attractions” as Lonely Planet or other Travel books/guides/sites/apps recommend. But to get lost and find your way around through your gut feel, by conversing with locals, by understanding their maps. It’s better that way, in my opinion.

And… I like how kind people have been to me to places I have been to. It makes me reconsider if Filipinos are really the most hospitable people. I’m not saying we aren’t, but, I have received better treatment from people in France, for example, than people here. I guess my theory is true that sometimes, some people are just more accommodating to foreign people…like because I’m just another Filipino, there is no “branding” needed much for others to be friendly towards me? I do hope my theory is beyond flawed but, just basing it on experience.

To each her/his own, as people would often say. I have friends who will be going to the Sinulog Festival on the 19th and 20th of January—and are the reason why our project in the org is moved earlier. I have friends who are really advocating Filipino culture and Filipino lifestyle. As for me, I am excited to travel around the world when I am finally earning my own cash. I can’t wait to revisit France, to go to Japan, Thailand, Brazil, Malaysia, Spain, London and so much more countries. I want to experience everything the world has to offer, to initiate conversations in public spaces and to be approached by people I don’t know and ask me how I find their country. I can’t wait to once again have that feeling of being someone new and to have that “And so another journey begins” feeling once I step out of the airplane or train. And also that feeling of not knowing what to order in a restaurant because there is no English menu, and you just take a risk, and you step out of the restaurant with a happy tummy! Haha!

Until then, here I am in my bedroom, wondering when will be the next time that I will fly and have more fun elsewhere.