Lisbon, the start of thinking about traveling

Although this is not really my first journey, I want to start my travel reports from here, Lisbon. This is the place where I started to think about travelling. Last weeks I took the time to find out what I really want to do and one of the things that I always had in mind is travelling the world. So, the conclusion was quite simple: I gonna travel, in itself a big decision but there is much more to keep in mind when it comes to travelling.

Although I'm still thinking about how, what, where and when exactly, I decided that it shouldn't be a problem to travel on my own. Maybe it's even better to experience how it feels to travel totally independent from others. The advantages are that I don't have to take into account what others want to do on the journey and it's said that if you travel alone, you'll be more open to meet other people than if you travel together with someone. I think that that's a vital advantage, cus meeting people means meeting new friends and views (as I found out when I went to the Intensive Programme (IP) in Albir, Spain in the beginning of this year).

The similarity with joining the IP and travelling alone is that both experiences began/begin 'alone'. Before I went to Albir I already had had some contact with the other Dutch students who went to the IP, but I didn't know a lot about them. After two weeks I didn't only become good friends with them, but I also met many other people, with whom I shared great joy and interesting conversations. The IP, but also these weeks in Lisbon taught me that being open to others, being myself and sharing experiences are the main ingredients for enjoying time together to the fullest.

The last important dimension of travelling alone is that I'll get time to think. I've always worked very hard to graduate. This September I'll present my master thesis and then I'm MSC, Master of Science; Sociology. For the sake that I'm not sure about what I want to do after my studies, I've decided that it's important to give myself time to think about this.

So, the next step is to find out how I'll fill in these three months. I'm free to do whatever I would like to do and that feels great. There are several things that I keep in mind, now I should consider the possibilities to make these dreams come true.