Holland

My good friend Harry O once told me that the first country you go to outside of your own would be truly memorable. It is Holland for me or formally, the Netherlands. And indeed my first trip outside of Philippines to Holland in 2000-2001 was very memorable. I got a scholarship or fellowship then from the Netherlands Ministry of Development Cooperation in order to pursue a Master's degree at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague. There were 8 of us Filipinos in our batch but only 7 of us left together via Malaysia Airlines on 2 September 2000. Niuna na mn didtos Europe si Fr. Jovic Lobrigo of Legazpi, Albay. He had a Ford Foundation scholarship mn pud. Since it was my first trip outside the country, I learned A LOT from that experience. I was able to visit some places also during study breaks or holidays from school. Unfortunately my father died in October of the next year so I had to go home for 2 weeks to bury him and join my family in their grief. Then I had to fly back to Holland again to finish my thesis and graduate from the program. Gibisita pud diay ko ato ni Manang Bebie, my first cousin who is in Liverpool. Shortly after that she got married to Rod Reyes, also a Filipino in Liverpool. I was able to visit quite many places in Holland too. I made it to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delft, Utrecht, Nijmegen, Enschede, Friesland and Groningen, Giethoorn, Maastricht, Dordrecht, Voorburg, Gouda, Zoetermeer, Keukenhof, Heemstede. I love Holland. I really do. Thank you Lord for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I would forever be a Dutch ambassador of goodwill. Hup Holland Hup! ;)