A walk around the neighbourhood

Yesterday I decided to get out of the house. I wanted to go either to Liberec or to Jablonec. I had a bit of a hard time deciding which to visit first so I decided not to decide for now but to take a walk around my little town. I'll leave the big visit for another weekend. The two towns are connected via a tram and thus are accessible. There's interesting architecture and there's a jewllery museum in Jablonec. So I'll have plenty to see.

For now, I'll share with you some photos from the small town I live in. I really like the houses in the region and gardening is like a national sport around here and everyone has splendid gardens. But I feel weird taking pictures of people's houses. And so I cheat and I take pictures of streets instead. I can capture the house in context this way.


It was just a short walk through the town but the sun was up and it was a really nice spring day so I enjoyed it. People were out riding their bikes, playing with kids, doing chores around the house. Picture perfect suburbia. For a moment I wanted to live on one of those streets, in one of the houses with a beautiful garden and blooming trees.

Not many comments to make, I'll take more photos these days, when I hope I'll discover more (yesterday I had to get back a bit quicker than expected).

Wherever the road may lead you

I've been working for two weeks now, I'm already starting to feel tired. It's not yet very challenging but we're getting there.

I thought I should show you my road to work. Every morning I walk about 20 minutes to work and another 20 from there to my house, unless I make a detour in the town for some groceries.

This is where I start my journey. I open this door and I face the outside world.


I had to cross a dangerous street every day but I discovered a shortcut behind the house. This creek passes nearby.

The town is quite well kept, with beautiful houses and gardens, people here seem to have a passion for gardening. I'll try to take pictured of the houses I like best, like this one.

A big part of my walk takes me along a road outside of the town.

And the road goes on... It's usually quite busy, bikers, trucks, cars and me, walking along.

And here we are, our stop for the next 9 hours or so:

At the end of the day, I can go home, or take another road, into town. This is the road I took to get from the train station to the plant, on my very first day. I don't really need to go into town anymore, I discovered that there is a bus stop and a grocery store behind my house, so I don't even need to move that much.

And finally, home. Or at least, my home away from home. A nice place to rest after a hard day's work.

Having a destination is just the begining

I just came back from work. It's been almost a year since my last job so it's a bit hard to get used to the schedule, especially since I didn't keep straight hours then. The Master's was a bit like a job but also a big party/family so although I did work a lot during these last six months, it didn't seem that hard or that bad, at times it was even fun.

My moment of glory was definitely the conference we organized, for which I did a lot of work but also in which I actively participated. (Yeah, I am bragging). It was a turning point I think, for all of us, it could have destroyed us as a group or make us closer, fortunately I feel that we only gained from it. It was an interesting experience, lots of lessons learned, hopefully we will apply them as well. It's something to be proud of, all of us.



And now we are spread all over Europe for our Internships.

I am working in the automotive industry, crunching numbers. For now, it's been boring, I don't yet know what I am supposed to do, I just got my missions and they are challenging, so I won't get to be bored for long. I'm not yet sure if this is a subject of interest to me on the long run, but it could jump start me for something greater.

This is just the beginning, six months are behind me, yet six more are in front of me. Have to make the best of it.

"I like eggs with my ham, when starting on a journey: fried not poached, and mind you don't break 'em"

Said Thorin the dwarf, before the start of the amazing journey that would lead to the discovery of the Ring, in Lord of the Rings. My breakfast won't be this big tomorrow morning as I leave, very early, for my internship in the Czech Republic.

I'll travel by coach, with Eurolines, the same that took me to my first experience abroad, as an Erasmus student in Nantes, almost 4 years ago (seems like an eternity). This time, the trip we'll take a day, departure at 5.30 am from Bucharest, arrival in Prague the following day at 7.30 am. The ticket was about 80€, a lot less expansive than the plane, as there are no direct low costs going to Prague. It's a bit uncomfortable but still manageable.

Once in Prague, in Florenc bus station, I'll have to take a train from Hlavni Nadrazi, the main railstation, that will take me directly to my destination, Bakov.

So right now I'm packing, only the basic, but already my suitcase weights 20 kg, and I'm not finished. For 6 months, I'll need a lot of clothes and stuff, some that I'll have delivered to me, some I'll take with me in my suitcase, backpack, and laptop bag. Another plus of traveling by coach is that the weight limit is 35kg and the extra charge is a lot less than for planes. And I'm taking advantage of it.

Next, i'll talk about my actual trip. Stay tuned, there are more advnetures after a short pause. And boy, some adventure it'll be.. Bye for now.