At 1 PM I have my appointment at the tattoo studio, allowing me to become extremely nervous beforehand. I did some reading up on how to reduce the pain during the session, and the main recommendation is to drink lots and lots of water. So all night I've been drinking water, causing me to go to the toilet every 15 minutes.

Excited I walk into the studio, trying to keep my sweaty armpits and shaky knees hidden. The session will be about five hours, on the feet, supposedly one of the most painful places on the body. Xuong, my tattoo artist, greets me friendly and for the next hour, he is focussed on getting the tattoo perfectly fitting on my feet. One of Xuong's colleagues walks by, he has a compass tattooed on his left knee, I stupidly ask him how painful it was. He answers with a big smile 'Oh, yours will hurt much more'. Let's do this.

For the next five hours, I go through all kind of emotions. Happiness, anger, appreciation, rage, pride, sadness, acceptance, denial. Below a small sketch of thoughts during the session:

'This will be worth it!'
'Will it? No, it won't. Let's stop!'
'I can't stop with half a circle already tattooed on my foot.'
'Oh really?'
'I could always come back another time to finish it up...'
'Stop it! You know you'd never come back'
'Do these guys think I am badass now?'
'Probably not'
'What would my face look like right now?'
'Hey, not one of the employees here has a tattoo on the feet! This should be a sign'
'Maybe, I'm kinda badass'
'AAAAAAAAAHRGGGG!'
'I can do this'
'WHAT THE FU... THAT FEELS LIKE A HOT KNIFE ON MY FOOT'
'Oh, that looks pretty'

Brent, the Jesus-looking-guy with a broken leg who sleeps in the dorm bed next to me, has shown up to keep me some company during my tattoo session. He is barefoot, has long hair and a messy beard and is wearing a shirt with holes. Brent starts rambling about a Vietnamese man on the street giving him money. I can't stop laughing, distracting me from the pain.

In the end, I am incredibly happy with the result and Brent and I go for that well-deserved bowl of phở.