So there I was, sitting on the plane. It was around 4 hours into the trip. I looked around the small, cramped compartment. Next to me was the German man, who's name I had yet to figure out, although he did resemble Bill Nighy. So we'll just call him Bill. But yeah, the low hum of the plane was strangely Cathartic, and with nothing much to do, and my eyes already feeling heavy, I shut my eyes and let the mild drone of the plane send sleep my way.
As I was leaving the plane, I looked at the small piece of candy that reminded me of home. With a small smile I popped it into my mouth, and then headed out of the plane, double checking to make sure I hadn't left my passport behind. I came out of the gate and quickly got my passport stamped, and then started to look for Winston, my friend who was on the same flight. It took me a while, but I finally found, first my bag, which was on the baggage train right in front of the gate, and then Winston. We came and sat at the coffee shop, and really didn't do much of anything, although I can say that the German croissant was amazing. Fast forward 2 hours and finally the rest of the group has arrived. I also met our tour guide, whose name is Tasso. His background is quite interesting. Although he is greek, he also speaks German, Italian, and French. So he's definitely a perfect guide as we venture through Europe. But yeah, more about Berlin. So we took the bus to the hotel, and wow it was so beautiful. Apparently it's the second tallest building in Berlin, but I really loved the area around it. Essentially the area used to be the heart of West Berlin, filled with plenty of coffee shops and restaurants. So since we had a few minutes until our rooms were ready, naturally we decided to go exploring to find a restaurant. I guess the area near our resturant was very touristy, but we couldn't find a German place to save our lives. So many American, Italian, and surprisingly Chinese restaurants. But eventually, we found a really nice place. With the clock running until we had to head back, we quickly ordered. I got something called Weigwurster, which translates to roughly white sausage. And it was really really good. Definitely worth it. But yeah after that we moved in, and then we met the rest of the group to tour the city. In roughly 3 hours, we traveled around 10,000 steps, and saw the Holocaust Memorial, the Brandenburg Gate, and some random churches. But it was so beautiful, and it felt amazing to walk so much. When we got back we were treated to dinner at the hotel, and after that we again headed out to walk. One thing I was surprised by was how different the atmosphere changed from afternoon to evening. It went from relaxed to electrically charged. Very cool. Also by the way, I'll be posting all of these pictures in the My Travels section tomorrow, and I'll probably add them into the post later too. But yeah, and then here comes my favorite part of the day. So after we came back, as I was really tired, I took some sort of weird dysfunctional nap. But after I woke up I met up with my friend Konstantin. A bit of a backstory, I actually met him when I was volunteering in Nepal, and we became fast friends. So it was amazing to meet him again. He took me to this very local German rooftop club, and we just relaxed looking out at the view. What a night to remember. But yeah I think I'm gonna end this post with that idea in mind. Two old friends talking to each other after several years, unmoored in the sky, as an entire metropolitan city moves beneath them. What a first day. Peace!
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Hi so today I wanted to post something interesting. This time it isn't an original work of mine! Today I Wanted to past the first chapter of my novel, Stargazers : The Deep Void. So this is a book that I spent most of the last year on. Essentially, it is a science fiction novel that revolves around a group of 6 friends. These friends initially think that they're going on a simple backpacking trip through Europe, but things slowly take a turn for the worst as dark secrets and a shocking death threatens to tear them apart.
So far I've written the first book, and am halfway through the second book, but I still feel like my first book isn't publishing worthy yet. Like I still want to do some hardcore edits on it to make sure everything runs smoothly. This is a project that is super close to my heart, so I Want to make sure everything is perfect before I formally try to publish the book. But anyways, enough of my talking, here's the first chapter in its entirety. Cold. Cold winds shivered through my body. Something was there. I could feel its presence. Rows and rows of dark spikes rose out around me...eerily like teeth. The deep pool of ink above me was shifting and tumbling, like a roaring ocean. I was on the ground, a rough gravel that seemed like it was moving! But no, not moving, rumbling, as if a terrible beast was awaking from its slumber. *Augustus...* The shadows seemed to whisper as an ominous shape drew out of the rotted and stunted shrubs that dotted the area. *Come to me...* I could see its eyes, it’s horrifying eyes as the area around me, the shrubs, the gravel, the very air seemed to dissolve. And in that moment my very essence was vanishing in a long and deep scream... The sounds, the sounds I could hear of an... alarm clock? I woke up the blaring noise of an alarm clock... no my alarm clock. Actually a more accurate depiction would be to say that I literally fell out of my bed, screaming as the ground reached up to meet me. “August! August are you ok!”, my mom yelled at me from downstairs. “Aughhhh”, was the wittiest response I could come up with. I pulled myself up from the soft carpet, and looked around, trying my hardest to forget the terrible things I had just seen. “It was a dream, just a dream”, I thought to myself. And I looked around at my room, at all the comforting things I had, the poster from a movie I’d outgrown so long ago, like five years ago, the stamps my grandparents had given me, a poster from London that my friends had gotten me, and of course my world map. Looking at the map made me feel confused. Soon I would be going, finally going on the adventure that I’d been planning for years. But after that I’d be leaving everything and everyone I’d known for all my life. But on this wonderful morning, at the beginning of my travels, it was hard to be sad about everything, even though the malice of my dreams was still etched into my mind... So that's it. That's the first chapter of my book. What you heard is the chapter from the perspective of one of the main 6 characters from my book, August. Essentially he woke up from a "bad dream". Who knows, maybe the chapter is directly foreshadowing the main evil for my book, yeah I have no clue, definitely don't know. Oh wait, I'm the author, so I definitely do know. And it is definitely foreshadowing something in the future. Anyways, I feel like in the future I'll post more chapters from my book, or maybe before that a rundown of the main characters and their characteristics and motivations. Yeah that does sound like a good idea. But anyways, within this chapter I tried to stuff in a lot of metaphors and imagery. And definitely a lot of foreshadowing. Honestly the way I tend this story is by knowing where I want the characters to end up, and then just making up how it happens as I write. It's a very spontaneous approach, but it's honestly led to some great moments. The funniest part about my writing process while working on this story was that I wrote most of the chapters at around 12-2 AM. Or during classes. Very little of it was written at a decent hour during my off times. I find that those not decent hours are when my craziest ideas are produced, which is definitely what this book is a product of. But anyways, next post will probably either be a short story or another traveling post. Goodnight everyone! Peace! Hey all, what's up. So I'm back home after a long long time in college, so everything is just great right now. I'm definitely super super relaxed. Also guess what? Game of thrones is currently in session. 3 episodes have streamed so far and the next episode is this Sunday. Now I don't want to spoil anything for any of you who haven't watched the entire shows yet, but I just want to tell you it gets insane. Like so freaking insane. Definitely the best show in the entire world and if you haven't watched it because you think it's lame you're just wrong. And if you're scared because of the violence and stuff it really isn't as bad as you think. But anyways, as you can guess from the title, today's blog is about my trip to Europe. So timeline of how this whole thing happened.
Sometime last April when I went to an info session at my university, I learned about this summer program that has me study in Oxford. But that's not just it. The first five weeks are spent traveling around Europe, while the last six weeks are spent fully immersed within Oxford. So my itinerary for the summer is a bit insane. It is... Berlin, Germany Leipzig, Germany Prague, Czech Republic Krakow, Poland Vienna, Austria Venice, Italy Rome, Italy Florence, Italy Chamonix, France Paris, France and finally I'll be in Oxford. This trip is definitely gonna be the highlight of my entire summer given that I'm not doing much of anything else in the like 3 weeks I have remaining. But regardless it's gonna be a summer worth remembering, which I hope to be able to document in my blog as well. I've already done one city profile on Florence, but maybe I can do like one or two more before I leave in two weeks. I bought a European guidebook which I'm sure will be super helpful. But anyways, yeah I'm super excited for this trip, and I better start packing soon. By the way, I'm really not sure if these notes should go under thoughts or traveling, although I feel like this one is better put within thoughts, while the rest of the blog posts about the trip will be in traveling I guess. Oh wow, Aakash's blog, where he literally talks about organizing his blog. Yay. But I also want to talk about a few more things, especially what I'm doing with the remainder of my summer break. Now it's been like 5 days, and I really haven't done much. I've spent most fo my time watching movies and playing video games. I've spent a lot less time on the blog than I'd rather have spent, something which needs to change. I feel like I should devote like at least an hour a day to just writing in the blog. That's not too much to ask I guess. But anyways, back to the Europe trip. Like I literally couldn't say how exciting this is gonna be. Like I'm actually going to the be studying in the second oldest university in the world. Like wow what an experience, not to mention the other various cities I'll be exploring. I also have a few friends in Oxford and Berlin who I'll be meeting, which will be very cool. But anyways, yeah. It is currently really late right now, and I just wanted to talk about a big event that's gonna be happening really soon. Tomorrow I'm gonna post about my novel! Peace! |
AuthorI am just a guy in my 20s trying to find my way in life. I love to write short stories and also document the wonderful world around me! Be prepared for a lot of pictures! Archives
November 2022
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