Settling in & Ready to Roll

So, I’ve got a gorgeous place to live, in a neighbourhood with its own little community, the orientation week has started at the university so I have met the people I will be studying with and we are getting around a bit to do our shopping so I get to know the city better day by day. Alex is not a complicated city to get around in. She is a narrow strip stretched out along the Mediterranean for some 30 kilometres and is only a few kilometres wide so the sea is always very near. I grew up in a city that is 150 kilometres removed from the sea and in a country like the Lowlands that is far away. Going to the seaside was a proper day trip which only happened once or twice a year. And now she is just around the corner, literally. Not that you can swim there. Alex has got many beaches but only the private ones are pleasant and clean. Not sure if they are bikini proof. I have done none of the touristy stuff yet because I reason that I will be here for another 9 months and will have plenty of time to go tourist mode. This is true of course but on the other hand because I feel I have got so much time I will not do it or wait until I have friends over from Europe or do it all in the last week and then I get stressed about it and don’t do it after all. In the 7 years in London I have never done the London Eye, London Dungeons or Madame Tussauds. In the 7 years I lived in Lowlands Capital I used to go to school opposite the Rembrandt House. Right opposite. I only went for the first time last year because my dear mother wanted to see a particular exhibition. I haven’t been to another particular tourist attraction in Lowlands Capital which I won’t mention, too ashamed to confess!

I don’t have time for tourist attractions! Or to phrase it better, I don’t want to make time for tourist attractions just yet. I am too busy becoming fluent in Arabic, getting into the habit of writing and leading a disciplined live in general.