Invisible Paths
27 September 2006
life is made out of...
...conversations. Thoughts, exchanged, thought all over again, analysed, modified, combined... and exchanged again.
And best of all: in my world a good conversation is only a word away.
And best of all: in my world a good conversation is only a word away.
25 September 2006
smells like autumn
michaelmas - part of the title of an email that reached me on Friday. The word reminds me of the feeling I had when I used it for the first time consciously four years ago. The first term of the academic year at the LSE is called Michaelmas Term. Going back to school, new classes, books, stable routine of the rythm of lectures, searching for material in the library, hot toast and tea in study breaks with Dama in our charmingly crappy house in King's Cross, London and its mysterious darkness as days shorten rapidly.
I am not going back to classes, even though I feel like I should, same feeling as last year. Moreover, I am living in a place that knows no seasons, so I am missing out on watching leaves turn yellow, red, brown, picking up chestnuts and keeping them in my coat pockets to play with.
But amazing Colombia presented its Autumn to me this weekend: I spent two days camping in the wilderness of Parque Chicaque with its mystic "Cloud Forest" south of Bogotá. Constant beautiful fog formations quiver up the mountain, trees reach out for clouds and pull them down, llamas look on over soundless open spaces. We climed up and down mountain paths, relaxed on a wooden terrace overlooking a green valley, observed a busy hummingbird, and protected the bag with our food from a herd of hungry horses.
michaelmas - part of the title of an email that reached me on Friday. The word reminds me of the feeling I had when I used it for the first time consciously four years ago. The first term of the academic year at the LSE is called Michaelmas Term. Going back to school, new classes, books, stable routine of the rythm of lectures, searching for material in the library, hot toast and tea in study breaks with Dama in our charmingly crappy house in King's Cross, London and its mysterious darkness as days shorten rapidly. I am not going back to classes, even though I feel like I should, same feeling as last year. Moreover, I am living in a place that knows no seasons, so I am missing out on watching leaves turn yellow, red, brown, picking up chestnuts and keeping them in my coat pockets to play with.
But amazing Colombia presented its Autumn to me this weekend: I spent two days camping in the wilderness of Parque Chicaque with its mystic "Cloud Forest" south of Bogotá. Constant beautiful fog formations quiver up the mountain, trees reach out for clouds and pull them down, llamas look on over soundless open spaces. We climed up and down mountain paths, relaxed on a wooden terrace overlooking a green valley, observed a busy hummingbird, and protected the bag with our food from a herd of hungry horses.
22 September 2006
lifestyle
when I passed by sometime last week on my way to the office, the guy who lives in the car just got up, stretched outside and proceeded to comb his hair.
when I passed by sometime last week on my way to the office, the guy who lives in the car just got up, stretched outside and proceeded to comb his hair.
communication...
... when far away in terms of geography, is not necessarily easy. generally eloquent, one case of recent communication has proven to be the opposite. and now communication has stopped.
so how will we learn from this if we do not continue to share those thoughts?
I want to learn. I need to learn. and I believe learning needs communication.
so how will we learn from this if we do not continue to share those thoughts?
I want to learn. I need to learn. and I believe learning needs communication.
12 September 2006
a month...
exactly 4 weeks ago I was in the airport of Bogotá, fighting with the ground staff of Delta, trying to convince them not to check in my hand luggage. How vivid are these minutes. Remembering how JuanK walked me down to Calle 64#11 to catch a bus to the airport, throwing my suitcase through the back door of the bus, me through the front door, and waving him clutching both hand rail and suitcase as the bus rattled on further (actually it never really stopped).
The 28 days that followed were all I could have wished for. The post below gives the right impression, I think, of the first 6 days. What followed was of course what is now saved in AIESEC's memory as IC 2006 in Warsaw, Poland.
I like to compare the conference to my time at the LSE, at least in so far that you may be "taught" by well-known specialists, but at the end it is from your peers that you take your greatest learning from.
Rob, Zuzi, I miss you even more now.
And then some 5 days of traveling back to Bogotá. It took me to the most amazing people in the world, my continuous source of strength and support.
Parents.
And to some of my favourite places on earth: Düsseldorf (of course) and Oosterschelde in the Netherlands.
Meltemi (my parents' raison d'être...)
My Papilio..... ...chilling...
Mami
Finally I discovered a place I will have to explore in more depth: Madrid.
MC Spain, thanks for your hospitality and great conversation until dawn!
The 28 days that followed were all I could have wished for. The post below gives the right impression, I think, of the first 6 days. What followed was of course what is now saved in AIESEC's memory as IC 2006 in Warsaw, Poland.
I like to compare the conference to my time at the LSE, at least in so far that you may be "taught" by well-known specialists, but at the end it is from your peers that you take your greatest learning from.
Rob, Zuzi, I miss you even more now.
And then some 5 days of traveling back to Bogotá. It took me to the most amazing people in the world, my continuous source of strength and support.
Parents.
And to some of my favourite places on earth: Düsseldorf (of course) and Oosterschelde in the Netherlands.
Meltemi (my parents' raison d'être...)
My Papilio..... ...chilling...
Mami
Finally I discovered a place I will have to explore in more depth: Madrid.
MC Spain, thanks for your hospitality and great conversation until dawn!
