Arriving in Bali – an Intern’s adventure

Bali, February 4th, 2013.
And so it begins. I suppose this must be how Bilbo Baggins felt when he decided to leave the Shire. Without the mortal peril that is… hopefully. I embarked on my journey by jumping on a city bus to the city centre followed by the train towards Copenhagen. Fortunately, I was accompanied by my fellow traveller Kirstine (who’s engaging in an adventure of her own as  she’ll be travelling to Hawaii where she’ll be spending the next six months). We were therefore able to enjoy each other’s company as people of our generation usually do these days – by staring unresistingly into our smartphones with music in our ears. Godspeed to the both of us.

The train trip gave me time to reflect upon the past couple of weeks, where most of my time has been spent making the last arrangements for my trip. For that reason, in sheer excitement, I packed my bags two weeks prior to departing. Furthermore, my night time reading comprised of checklists to make sure I’d remembered everything and a basic Bahasa Indonesia language book. I’ve already learned the word ‘Kanan’ (right), so providing there are no roundabouts in Bali, I should be just fine.

I figured I’d crunch some numbers, in terms of what you’ll experience when travelling from Denmark to Bali… probably:

• 25 frigid minutes walking from the train station to the airport in -7 degrees.
• 1 Ham’n’Cheese sandwich constituting a healthy morning breakfast.
• 4 hours of downloading every game on the entire Android app market while waiting to board the plane to Dubai.
• 6 hours flying to Dubai whilst indulging yourself in movies not yet released in Danish cinemas.
• 5 hours of finishing every downloaded game on the entire Android app market while waiting to board the plane to Jakarta.
• 8 hours of shifting between being half-awake/half-drooling on the person next to you on the plane.
• 214 people in a line at Jakarta airport NOT telling you you’re in the wrong queue for visa approval.
• 2½ amazing days of being introduced to Jakarta by a friend from home.
• 3 other interns welcoming you to the house in which you’ll be staying for the next six months in Bali.
• Definitely not enough shorts packed for your stay.
• 100.000 rupiah fine paid to avoid going to the police station with the policeman kind enough to remind you not to make a left turn without signaling.
• 8 people without helmets on two scooters, not giving one single care in the world about the aforementioned policeman while driving past you in the previous scenario.
• 1 phenomenal work environment.
• An innumerable amount of dedicated and cool people associated with the Blue Season Bali dive center.

While this list is but a minuscule amount of what has happened, it briefly summarizes my trip so far, with experiences varying from both ends of the spectrum. And intimidating as some of these numbers may sound, to me, they all add up to an exciting start of my internship.

Also, if my next entry is not up within a week’s time, it doesn’t mean I’m becoming lazy or anything. I’m merely adapting to driving on the left side of the road and may consequently still be lying in a ditch somewhere.

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