Netherlands with Paolo Llige (ETA - UNKNOWN)

The plane for a stop over at Abu Dhabi was delayed and then it was delayed again going to my final destination — The Netherlands. Yes, you read it right; total time travel was a day and 4 hours instead of the normal 16 hrs duration. And since I am travelling alone, I fought boredom and eventually ended up enjoying the long trip by talking to people who don’t know how to get around the airport, people that were also like me-- bored, people who were curious what’s inside my hard case stroller and just merely exchanging conversations with them; unknowingly, time was flying by so fast.

It was a surprise that I didn't feel tired at all and never experienced jet lag maybe because I conditioned myself very well or maybe I’m just excited what’s ahead for me in Amsterdam.

It is my first time to travel to Europe and I’m blessed that YSDA (Youth for Sustainable Developement Authority) chose me for this trip through the Cazalla Intercultural for a Job Shadowing project by the Youth in Action Programme (EU Commission Project). I’m clueless about the term Job Shadowing; it sounded peculiar to me at first. What immediately came to my mind was sort of following around the person that you will be working with and make a surveillance on what they do. I didn’t have time to Google it either because of the tons of fieldwork and projects to finish at work before I make it to this trip. Then, YSDA and SeeS Foundation explained to me that basically, all I need to do is just to observe how people work in other countries like here in The Netherlands. But hearing the word “observe" hit my nerve. I travelled so far coming from another continent just to observe??? But then, it’s not all that observing after all. I am fortunate that SeeS Foundation prepared loads of activities that are very in line with my passion —videography and photography. And it’s definitely something I’m looking forward for. I finally arrived Schipol Airport at around 15:00hrs CET. I was met and greeted by two of the volunteers from Sees Foundation; Sven Jense and Nichon Glerum. We took the train going to the city of Amsterdam, which is about 20 minutes ride from the airport. The train station is just nearby the airport. And then we catched the subway going to Nieuwmarkt which is a very “structured” place. We walked for about 50 meters going to SeeS Foundation office. Then they gave me a bike and accompanied me to my flat, which is 15min away (3km) from the SeeS Foundation.

I got a big flat and I will be staying there alone, which I didn’t expect. After that, they showed me where I can buy some groceries. And then they left me to rest since they would be going to attend to some other engagements. So I headed for the grocery and looked for something authentic in Amsterdam. I bought sausages, bread and milk (the milk is very cheap compared to water). As I got back to my flat I fixed my stuff, checked my equipments and emailed my family that I arrived safe and already in Amsterdam. It's still very sunny that I thought it's a typical afternoon, when I looked at the watch, it's already 9:00 pm! I took photos of the sun because that will be my first time to sleep at night while the sun is still shining so bright.

I can’t even sleep with this condition and I feeling wide awake, since there's nothing much to do, I laid down my bed and wandered until finally I felt asleep.ations with them; unknowingly, time wat all and never experienced jet lag maybe because I conditioned myself very well or maybe I’m just excited what’s ahead for me in Amsterdam