Exploring Europe

Since I am an ardent traveler, the most important thing besides my thesis (maybe more) was planning the much cliched trip to Europe after graduation. The saying that travel really does broaden and mature the mind became so true, when you have to plan where to go, how to get there and get round with the cheapest available means.
The adventures and the fun-filled and hilarious little incidents started way before we started the trip. A Maldivian, a Malaysian and a Thai trying to choose countries where neither of us has ever been was an exhausting task (or more an ordeal, sorry guys: p), the language barrier and the looming thesis putting more strains on the planning.
Paris, which was supposed to be the starting city of our trip, was no more part of our itinerary, when we reached the Schengen visa application point. In all the excitement of planning and booking tickets and accommodation, we forgot to make the much needed visa appointment at the French visa processing office.
After that minor setback, we had to opt for a country where a prior appointment was not needed to apply for visa. Belgium was just the perfect choice, after a smooth walk-in visa application in London, we finally got the visa for the trip of the year. Belgium with its mouth-watering chocolates and waffles, Netherlands with its windmills and wooden shoes, architecture from all major periods of European history rooted in Prague (Czech Republic), Germany (I could only think of Oktoberfest and the Holocaust when I started the trip) and the beauty of Switzerland, and the much awaited shopping in Italy were just perfect ingredients for a memorable trip.






To be continued

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Dancing up the aisle

This is so sweet. Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz and their entire wedding party dancing down the aisle to Brown’s “Forever.” This became an internet sensation with over 12 million views.


I am back to my blog after a long time, having done my dissertation for the past couple of months. I missed blogging and reading some of my favourite blogs. But i guess i would officially be back after another month.

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What is the deal with married men hitting on single women?

Why do married men hit on single women? It becomes really awkward when a best friends husband continuously approach you with sly and degrading remarks when you have never given him the slightest hint that you are interested in him. It comes to a point where a guilty conscious (for no reason at all) impedes the friendship since it becomes almost impossible to tell the friend about her husband’s roving eyes. Do they think that single women are easy targets just because they happen to be single? If so, it doesn’t get any more pathetic than that.

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Pride of Addu

Of course there is no place like home, that is what I realised when I went back home last year. Home, sweet home, is what Addu is to me. And there are those things that you always took for granted when you were young or never appreciated the value. Once you have seen places or islands other than your own, then you begin to appreciate what you have, that is what happened to me.

I never knew how much I missed the chirping of the White Tern or Dhondheeni until recently. It gave me a sense of peace, as I listened to the twitters of dhondheenis perched high on the branches of our mango tree. This angelic white bird, found exclusively in Addu, gives a sense of uniqueness to the atoll and enhances the aesthetic beauty of the island environment. No wonder I always felt that something was missing from the other islands I happened to visit. It is the sounds and songs of Dhondheeni that has been with us Adduans for a long time and for me the island environment is only complete with a white turn flying above me. Dhondheeni is truly the pride of Addu Atoll.

White tern was the first bird protected in the Maldives on June 05, 1999 and many locals believe that the population of the bird is declining rapidly. While many theories exist for the causes of decline, there is an evident lack of both data and monitoring programs to support any of these theories and to provide a fully accurate assessment of their current population. For my ecology and biodiversity conservation research, I am hoping to carry out a study to analyse the abundance and habitat preference of this bird in Feydhoo. If everything goes according to plan and if I get some field volunteers, I would be done with my project by the end of June:):).


Photo: www.erc.gov.mv

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