Bon Voyagé!

I have many things to tell. But first things first. This post is being written in the train trip from Lyon Part Dieu to Geneve. Last three days were unbelievably intense. I spent almost whole friday to travel from Turin to Marseille. It was tiring as you can imagine. Just to prove: Our last moments in the train with Chiara:

Train trips are absolutely more fun than plane trips. Both are exhausting yes, but it is enjoyable to see around during the trip. Well, you are seeing mostly country sides and rural areas but better than clouds definitely. We had to take an evening train when we were heading for Marseille, so unfortunately I could not see anything around after 4.30-5 p.m. Today, for example, my day again passes with a train journey from Marseille to Lausanne, but since I took an early train, I will be in Lausanne around 5.30 p.m. Therefore, I can clearly see around instead of my face when I look at the window.

Plus, seeing mountains, forests, fields and lakes is on the contrary quite motivating when you are writing in the train. But you know, I still couldn’t get used to these awkward moments when the other train from the opposite direction just passes you by. Its sudden noise scares me. And I got caught in a terrific idea recently. I think I will make a long train trip such as Trans-Siberian just to write while moving for days and days. It might be an amazing experience, which I cannot forget.

Back to topic: Marseille reminded me of two cities: Istanbul and Çanakkale (Dardanelles). Well, it makes sense, since Marseille is a harbor city and in fact beautiful because of exactly this reason. I stayed at Chiara’s dorm room at first night. Next day, we walked around the city and even took a bike tour to a beach and the neighborhood called Malmousque. It was amazingly a warm day of January, which was quite counter-intuitive to our seasonal memory. I especially loved its non-parallel and complicated streets! It was exactly opposite of Turin in that sense. Well, as a person who likes randomness and stochasticity in life, Marseille became one of my dream places to write my stories. By the way I am increasingly getting more motivated to start writing my stories in English. I believe, during my PhD studies in US or Canada I can do that, but probably not earlier than that. I am curious what Chiara might say about this idea, who is quite skeptical about my made-up English expressions :p make some noise Chiara, if you are reading this!

Some unforgettable captures of time from Marseille:

Last thing to share in this post: I will never and ever again book a bed in a mixed dormitory in the future. It was a very hard night to sleep due to the orchestra of male snores, farts and sleep talkers!

Bon voyagé!