Photography in Laos

I just look through the camera and press the shutter, and its the kids, the grandparents, the families, the lonley man, all of them who are not aware that im capturing the miliseconds. Thats why i liked my Sony Camera so much. Small and handy, can be easily hidden and opened, take the picture without making noise and move on.
Generally I take too many pictures, i find it amusing the expression that some people have in their eyes. When its time to go through the pictures I go too quickly, just rotating them and not looking at the details. A few days ago I found this picture that I took in the Bolevan Plateau in Laos. And I realized I had never gone into the details of all the pictures I took that day. That was a fun photographic day, so much fun that both my batteries ended up dying...We went village by village and market by market looking at the different living styles. I remember these kids quite well. The one in the middle playing with his tape which later fell, the girl in the right smoking and smiling ... They are probably still in that small town which I cant remember its name.

This is so not fair. As a punishment to the behaviour of certain people thursday night, all my builduing has no warm water nor heating during the ENTIRE weekend. Thanks god i got my own heating. No Comment. We deserve some more normal conditions. Are we meant to have a cold by monday? Its cold,really cold...

No trobo una cosa i la he estat buscant i buscant i buscant..ara continuare la recerca, pero aquesta foto ha fet que la recerca fos mes lleu... Que fots amb gots tant grans??? Aiiiii BERGA FOR EVER :) Aquest cop ens ensenyaras les salomons i podrem pujar al pis?

Pa quando la prossima?

Studing in French takes a while longer than in English. Currently reading Les Marques, capital de l entreprise with an online translator infront of me and a dictionary by the side. Topic intresting but 15opages for next class in french is not amusing...and for marketing the luxe a case in french. Working with a super nice girl who speaks french at the speed of light, so im going to have to ask her to slow down or I wount get a thing... Preparing cases and studing that is what took my entire day. Together with some technical issues, bathroom is cloted and they need to come fix it or i cant really wash my face there...horrible! Also trying to find a job on campus, contacted the boss of the resaurant to see if I can work there...(not fun,but good money).

Last afternoon I went to Jouy en Josas with Alexandra, on our way uphill we found the door of the "shortcut to the town" closed, so we had to walk all the way around (15 minutes longer)...luckily we had no heavy stuff with us. I took the opportunity to go to the patisserie to buy myself a typical pain au chocolat. Currently also bussy updating CVs to find internships, buff! And today signing up in the associations of the university..... No Comment! Oh and planning my xmas holiday. Yeah, another trip :) Probably destination Doha,Qatar and somewhere else ...

And I was forgeting to mention that today Alexandra, Marlene,Marc and I had lunch at the chinese restaurant of Jouy en Josas. This time we got the privalege of getting a ride there its good to have catalan friends with cars :) No specific comments will be made on the restaurant, I will look for one in Versailles next time. Picture from the restaurant where Marc was starting to get a bit desprerate after the bartender ignored him everytime...he was a ghost, hilarious ...until he got up and went to give them the money...

Oh, and after luch short stop int he supermarket to buy a bottle of bailys.... Im not trusted enough so the bottle is saved at Marlene´s room..

Tommorrow night, Thursday Party on Campus plus dinner with the people of my class...woho! Together with 6 hours of classes during the day ( mentally getting ready)...

This was my aquisition in Tokyo.... better prices than in Europe impossible, and finally a chance to take even better pictures. Nikon lenses are meant to be one of the best... must just improve the technique. Im too used to carry the small camera which is always handy for hidden pictures .... Time to go capturing the world and the sights of the people around the world, to capturate the moments and the exactacy and problems....time to press the shutter!

My new baby Nikon D40x...

Un jour à Paris!

Hier nous sommes allees a Paris...and now im changing to english before more people complain about the language of this blog. Yesturday i woke up at 8.30. Wow, a sunday at 8.30! By 9 i was having breakfast in the cafeteria with Carlos,Sonia,Alexandra,Marta,Marta,Miquel etc...so we were meant to leave by 10 but that just didnt happened. Finally we arrived at the Jouy en Josas train station and waited for an eternity ( note to self for the third time : MUST LOOK AT SCHEDULES BEFORE LEAVING!) In Versailles (only 2 stops further) we had to change trains, got the right train...by then Minda who had left uni 30 minutes after us had already catched up with us. Everyone went to see the tour eiffel etc...but Alexandra and I headed to Monmatre, a beautiful neighborhood where you find the Sacre Coeur and the Moulin Rouge et tout ça... We did a lot of walking up up hill, up steps up streets. They were really beautiful with traditional shops. The worst of all, the tourist crowd. Yeah, I was one of them ...and walking with a map and my new nikon baby i couldnt seem more like a tourist...but it was a great day. In a way the tourist crowd made me feel like i was in the middle of Staromeska .... However the cute architechture, small alleys, narrow streets, specialized shops, and cafes made the neibourhood beautiful. The sun was once again shining so that added to the day... The way back to the uni involved another odissy, but we made it right on time for the cafeteria food opening times (7-8) you surely dont want to miss ur slot...And in the evening being quite dead,relaxing movie night in the room and then time to sleep...classes today started at 8..buah!

Plese note that a night at MoulinRouge with Show and Dinner costs 175 euros...there are a couple of cheaper shows but nothing gets cheap. Also, I found the location of moulin rouge not to be attractive. I thought it was going to be in a small alley but it was in one big boulevard...and it didnt look as "traditional" as I was expecting it to be...

I still have to learn how to use my Nikon in manual mode...i know how to do it, but i dont know exactly what should be the right apperture&shutter speed to put for every type of picture, thus if I go doing tries everytime i take a picture it takes too long. For now just working with "automatic" making some pictures not that great.

First of all I finally have a mobile phone. To get a mobile phone i had to present a photocopy of my passport, official statement that i live in France, Bank Statement, and a cheque or a bank card..buah! And then wait wait wait till they got the mobile phone and the sim card ready. For 1 euro i got an LG chocolate phone, so now i have a cool new technological phone. Im still in love with my old Nokia, but well im switching to LG now :) If you are in france you better be fashionable..hahaah jk! But yeah i love the color of my new phone. Miquel and Marlene also got the same phone but in black. So now i can send 500 sms per month plus talk 1 hour per month for 20 euros. Cant complain...There is also a french law that if u leave the country the contract MUST be stoped as the operaator isnt able to offer you their services. So afterall everything is great. Plus vodafone has great roaming and when ill be in Spain ill be able to call for quite cheap prices. So after a wasted friday where all i did was go to the supermarket. We headed to a party in Paris..in an awkward place. We were meant to be VIPs but it felt more like we were in a ranch. We left our rooms at 6 buses left at 7.30 got to the place at around 9, starving! Bearly any food until later....and then the good music only started at 1, but 1.45 we left... Not bad but not the best party in my life. So life in the middle of the forest remains calm....a bit to study and and internships to search for...buff!Cant believe THE SUN IS OUT STILL!!! NL suxs compared to this :D but I do miss the dutch ads :(

So I started the classes...all french and us the 4 foreigners, fede,francesca,miquel and I...Luckily im (up to now) understanding all that the teacher sais, even though he speaks at 400 words per minute. Will see how things progress... One of my courses "marketing research" (yuck) is in english, so that is great!!! Everyweek the schedule changes, but i have officialy holidays from the 26th of october till the 4th of november :D Planing a trip for at least a couple days during that week!! :D Some classes begin as early as 8 am and some finish as late as 7:30 pm..tsk!!!

Marlene has taught me to drink who knows how many liters of water per day which is making me run to the toilet every 10 minutes. I guess its healthy,plus it has made me walk around uni to discover every single corridor in search of a toilet...found a couple in very hidden places..

In the meanwhile i opened two bank accounts, one cuz i needed it, and another one cuz they were giving you 155 euros for free for using it. Read the small captions in the offer and it seemed fine so once i get the 155 euros im gona close the account :D I still dont have a french mobile, as to have that i first need to recieve some papers from the bank which i didnt get. Frustration. So tonight barbecue at the lake, yesturday shows made up by students and drinks at the bar, tommorrow Mindas party in Versailles, friday night club in Paris...Its hard to get a rythm here with all the partying of the last few weeks...but things should get a bit more quiet in the next.

So far the library in this uni suxs. Small and noisy, cant study there. The level so far of one of the courses seemed very low....but hej, its just the first class. We will see how things go. The food of the cafeteria is nothing extraordinary, relatively repetitive. The meat is always quite raw and the fish quite dry..but its cafeteria food so what can u expect?

No sabia que hi habia tot un moviment per ferme tornar a BCN...

Què hi has perdut a París? Saps que Barcelona mola mil vegades més que París (i Sant Cugat ja no diguem) i el Pi d'en Xandri ni et comento, i la cantonada dels dos carrers de ca nostre no és pot expressar en paraules!Podríem fer milions de truites de patates amb ceba, podríem anar al Joan Pros a comprar gelats, podríem anar a l'Altaïr plegades, podríem culturitzar-nos (i el més important fer intercanvi de culturitzacions), podríem recuperar gespeta i hores d'estudi, podríem anar a Manlleu, a Berga, a la Patum, podríem celebrar el 23 d'abril plegades i Festa Major de Sant Cugat!, t'estalviaries calers en economia domèstica... però el que és més important de tot... gaudiriem dels menjars gratuïts del poble plegades!Mil i una raons més per elegir Sant Cugat i no París.

----Mindru

I Xixi torna de París (o de mig del bosc on et trobes jajaja) torna a Catalunya, enlloc més del món trobaràs la nostra gresca, el nostre caliu i sobretot sobretot el nostre pa amb tomàquet, acompanyat d'una bona truita de patates o d'un bon bistec adobat, d'aquells per llepar-te'n els dits!

---- Marià


wau...potser si s adereixen mes de 10 persones torno...hahaha pero espero que com a minim em vingueu a buscar al Prat.

Paris

Paris,Paris,Paris....wow! Last nite was my first nite out in Paris and what a great city. Being here actually feels like being in Barcelona. Up till now i have had sun everyday...how amazing is that!! To continue the city is bigggg full of cars,people in the streets, big trees like in BCN and lots of food places open till late. And now add this to it, the city reminds me of Prague. Cablestone streets, churches,bridges, A RIVER!...So Paris is basically the best of Prague and the best of Barcelona together, I guess it couldnt remind me more of home. So so far a magnificent city! I have discovered almost nothing,but i love it! Yeah, in a few weeks i might be complaining about the french and about france, but this city seems impossible to be despised...

I did a bit of a cultural visit a couple days ago with Marlene and Miquel. I have to say that the uni is not sooo far away from Paris if you are lucky to get the trains on time. We missed two trains and thus it took us 1.45 h to get to tour eiffel, but on the way back we made it in 45 min..not bad!! The city is good, unfortunately Im not behind the bar anymore and thus have to be spending this year,which is quite impossible when you are not saving..tsk! I cant believe they didnt have Lonley Planet France/Paris in cambodia,cuz now i must go in the search for a new one...

Classes are starting next week, so these are my last days of holidays. Cant exactly complain after an around the world trip of more than 3 months...looking forwards to the start of classes and meeting new classmates. For the moment I have been hanging around with all the exchange students (Cems,Double Master, Normal exchange) that appear around my builduing...its cool. I dont think I had spoken this much Spanish or Catalan in the past 10 years. Always sorrounded by all nationalities but Spanish/Catalan its completely awkward now to live two doors away from catalan people....!!! The uni seems to have lots of parties...every thursday there is a big party, and today its the big one. I have heard the library is ridicolously small and that you cant study there. Thats not that handy as I dont really want to be sitting in my room studing all the time,specially since walls are thin and you hear every individual that walks through the hallway.

And Im listening to dutch radio relatively often, hahahaha im losing my dutch though :( But its always funt o have an update on the verkeer (however thats meant to be spelled...) of the Randstad and on the weer...! :)

So yeah I still havent seen Paris...and I do attend what they call HEC PARIS...My university is officially in the middle of the forest. If i hadnt said it its 20 min walk uphill from a town which only has a church,2 banks,a post office, a bakery and a train station...We dont have a common room which means parties happend in the hallways of the residence (not nice when u must study or want to sleep)...but its cool to bump into the same people all the time. Did I say that the uni restaurant made for lunch today the same they made for dinner..TSK.. by june I will officially be exhausted of eating cafeteria food...yuck! Plus they only open about 1 hour per lunch 1 per dinner...! But besides all the complaining life is good, enjoying my last summer beers and last days of holidays as I see how some have already begun classes. Getting to know more and more people and geting extremly confused as I hear and "talk" catalan,spanish,english,german,french,italian daily...this happens when the CEMS ppl live in the same appartment as you do.

Currently wondering who is in the party downstairs, so loud and im tiered, hopefully I fall asleep soon ....Next week I promise an update with how a class taugh in french is, and how my french class mates are. HEC is a very elite school in france, making its students belive that cuz they are in HEC they are the kings of the world..we will see how my classmates turn out, for now I have already met Fede (italian),Miquel(spanish) and Francesca (italian)the only 3 other foreigners that I think will be in my class...

New Home - Paris,France.

Wow!! I cant believe I left this in Singapore....after Singapore i had a 20 minute visit in China (running transit in HK) and then headed to Tokyo...then NL and since yesturday I officially live à Paris! Ulalalala too much to catch up on a blog. Japan definately deserves an entry and will soon come...but for now Paris.

First of all my good bye from Holland was very intresting, i didnt remember that mariastraat had so much alcohool stored in their house, trully suprising. Also being 5 and the last day 6 girls in a flat can be an experience.... As well I was well unaware of the disco that Irum had hidden in her room...but seems like things have changed a lot since the Womans have all formal jobs and are finishing or have just finished their internships. You can already imagine how things went if i mention that the last day in NL was spend in Ikea...but we had a nice celebration in Fiddler too...dinners and dutch traditions were involved in all days....

Paris, well i love to say i live in Paris but lets face it i live in Jouy en Josas.... No, sorry I live uphill from Jouy en Josas...but jouy en josas is a nice small town, tranquil and beautiful. Nobody would say this is close to Paris. Its basically 5km from Versailles...In fact by public transport it seems to take a long time to go to Paris they say about 1 hour...to be seen and soon reported. Well i officially dont have a kitchen, dont even have a shared kitchen or fridge, so I must eat all the time in the school restaurant. The restaurant opens from 7 to 9 for breakfast 1 hour for lunch and 1 for dinner...so better not mis the eating slot! The room is big, and im happy as I had to bring all my things from the Netherlands... A lot! Even unsufull things....but who knows when ill need them..i just dotn think im going to live again in NL so no need to leave things there. I still left a few behind that I shall pick up soon. So far the people ive met are quite nice so im not all alone, a lot more must come this week so lots more to know... Cant complain about the campus either, nice. Unforutnately there are only 3 toilets for the entire floor of rooms :S But everybody shares a shower and Ive got my own, so ive been lucky! Everybody has a balcony and I dont...but Whatever! :) So far only been to Versailles and just for a walk, had to take a train...you start valuing NS once you see the trains here but must say that so far so good...

aurevoir!