Y1-13: Weeks 21 & 22, Christina Grimmie live, V Team, getting a house & more!

You should feel special because I am destining some of my precious time (as you will find out later on, I have been – and still am- really busy) to keeping you updated, so please don’t forget to follow the blog and give me your feedback!

You Canarian folks will have realised that my Week 21, was your Carnival Week. Well, in Ol’ cold England there is obviously no Carnival so I got to get increasingly homesick while I saw all your pretty pictures on Facebook and was told about the great time you were having while I had to deal with truck-loads of coursework and CPE preparation. Thanks. It was not very nice. But I am glad you enjoyed the week for me.

Instead, I had to deal with my Internet not working on my laptop anymore. I hate technology and I’m not good at it. I had had problems with the wi-fi earlier last semester, but it had been solved by getting a cable and connecting my laptop to RESnet. Well, from one day to another that didn’t work either. Thank-God there is the free Computing Services at the Library to solve this. They found out that the problem was the antivirus I was using, so after a lot of investigation and program downloading and setting up, they fixed the issue and I now can connect to both networks YAY!

Tuesday the 17^th was Pancake Day in the UK, so we obviously had to celebrate. Amélie had her day off so she made tons of batter in the morning and cooked crêpes for us as dessert after dinner. They were delicious as always. Another nice thing that happened was that I Skyped with the girls back home. I miss them a lot and it was great to be able to talk to them, despite it being only just a little bit because I had class. I managed to connect with them during my break and have a chat. Hope to see you girls soon xx

 Although Wednesdays are my “free” days, I had tons of work to do. And for some reason I also agreed to take an online course to get my Level 1 Food Hygiene Certificate to help out V Team on Sunday, because they were organizing a party for a local charity called Time2Share and needed someone with the certificate to run the kitchen. So yeah, more things. But now I have the certificate and it was paid for by V Team, so who is the actual winner, hey?

 Thursday was incredibly busy, but really awesome. I had class from 11 to 5pm, with only my lunch break which I spent in my room eating take-away and doing work. Sad, pathetic life until 5, when I got out of class and rushed to pick up some food and drop my stuff and go with Amélie to Thekla, in Bristol, to see Christina Grimmie, Before You Exit and Hannah Trigwell live! We had got tickets for their European tour and it was amazing! Although we caught all the rush hours (literally, bus in the middle of traffic jam, extremely packed train and busy traffic in Bristol), it was so worth it! When we got to the club, it was only half full and we managed to sneak to the second row. There were more people than when we went to see Box of Light, but still it was pretty empty. First, it was Hannah Trigwell who performed. I had never heard her before, but she was really good. Here is her youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/hannahtrigwell She is also very sweet: we went to take a picture with her while we waited for Christina to come out later on in the night, and she took the time to actually get the perfect picture and fiddle with Amélie’s reflex camera haha Before You Exit (https://www.youtube.com/user/BeforeYouExit) went next. To be honest, because they are a boy band, I thought I wouldn’t really like them but the truth is I actually did. They had such energy and good vibes on-stage that it was impossible not to like them! Even the mothers that had come with their minor daughters were dancing! (And stepping in the way of our cameras, which was utterly annoying…). I also got one of the guitar picks they threw to the audience because the crazy fan-girl that had got it in front of me dropped it whilst jumping madly…Sorry for her but good for me… And, finally,…the star of the show… Christina Grimmie! It was so cool to see her live! Her vocals are breath-taking and, even though she is famous and has been to The Voice and met loads of celebrities (Adam Levine was her coach guys *o*), she is still down-to-earth and nice. Check her awesomeness for yourself on her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/zeldaxlove64 and her audition on The Voice USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGuVKMUwgE8 After the gig we waited for Christina and BYE to come out, but the security guy ended up chucking us out of the club, so we waited outside in the cold for a while and, just as we were about to leave, Christina came out! We were the firsts to talk to her and take a picture and get her autograph, and Amélie was so happy because she has been following her videos for years! A little bit later, BYE came out real quick heading to the bus, so we only managed to take a picture with Connor and get both Riley and Connor’s autograph, but it was still worth the wait. We were really happy (and tired) coming back from Thekla to get the train back, we had had an unforgettable and wonderful night. Concerts are always awesome!

 On Friday we had an appointment with the advisor at the SU to check our contract for next year and solve our doubts, so that was great. I am amazed by the amount of support that is given to the students in the university here! And then after the check I decided to go into town to buy some things I needed, what turned out to be a massive fail because 1. they had run out of the things I needed so I couldn’t buy anything and 2. there was a car accident that altered the bus route so I had to walk half the city to another bus stop and wait for what seemed like forever in the cold until a bus finally came. The whole thing was an absolute waste of time.

Saturday was not too interesting, I spent the whole day working because I had a lot of reading and class work to get done. The only relevant thing that happened was that it hailed out of the blue. Like, literally, I was working in my room and suddenly I hear this really loud noise outside and look out of the window and it was hailing! The sky was completely blue and there were no clouds, but it hailed for about three minutes. Don’t ask me why or how, I have no idea.

Top right, don't even ask...

 On Sunday I made my way to Bath City Football Club in Twerton, where the party for Time2Share was taking place. Here is the link to the organization’s website in case you are interested: http://time2share.org.uk/ Jo, the leader volunteer, showed us around and distributed the chores and activities. I spent all morning in the kitchen preparing the food, with help of other volunteers. We had so much food. Bags and bags of food. We made sandwiches, prepared trays of food, cut fruit, served crisps… It took ages but, once we brought the food out at four, it was all gone in a blink of an eye, and was even taken home in doggy bags. We volunteers also got the chance to eat, and then after the job in the kitchen was done I stayed outside for the bingo and raffle and then helped to tidy up again after the party ended. Everybody had a great day, both the volunteers and the guests. I was able to make new acquaintances and be satisfied with my work knowing that the people from Time2Share were enjoying themselves! Volunteering is definitely a rewarding activity. +1.

 This last week however, Week 22, has been far less interesting. I have had a lot of accumulated work to get done (particularly reading “La Peste” by Camus, which I finished on Tuesday), and so have been spending my days pretty much trying to get things done bit by bit. I still have quite a lot to do but such is the student life… Nonetheless, some things have happened.

On Wednesday, we finally signed the contract for the house. We are no longer homeless for next year and Begoña, Amélie, Joel and I will be living in Oldfield Park. It is such a massive weight off our shoulders to know that is finally done. One more thing to cross off the list.

On the more reflective side of things, spring is coming. It is weird to actually be able to appreciate the change of seasons, whereas in Tenerife the only difference is that in the winder it rains. Full stop. There are loads of bulbs sprouting here and there, the temperature is slightly warmer, the sun tends to shine (although it also rains haha), there are more animals to be spotted around the campus… I even saw a wild cat the other day!

And, lastly, this week has been Go Green Week, so the SU has organized a range of different activities related to environment and recycling and that sort of thing. I was too busy to take part in any, which is a real pity, but on Friday they organized a Cycle Cinema by the lake. They showed “Mean Girls” and “The Hunger Games” and, although I didn’t go because I had other things to do and it was too cold for my liking, I did go out to take a look, as you can see from the pictures. It would be great if they did another one nearer to the summer…

Yep, top right, holes in my jeans...

 Oh, I nearly forget, on Friday our marks came out too. Mine were great! I am really proud of myself; hard work does have its reward. I got 70, 71 and 77 overall on my first Semester modules, being all of them First Class marks. And 80 on my Italian History exam, which made me really happy because I didn’t expect such a good mark. I am really pleased because these results mean that I am doing the right thing and should keep going like this J

That is all for now. Wish me luck for my CPE exam which I will be taking next week and, until my next post, hope everything goes well for you all. Please bear with me if the posts come late, but as you can see, lately my student responsibilities have been pretty hectic and it looks as if the situation will continue for a couple of weeks…

Zoe

PS: I am going to Paris after the end of the year. Check that out! B)

Y1-12: Weeks 19 & 20, back to the routine and tonsillitis...

Hey y’all! As I said, this is a shorter post than my previous ones. Only two weeks, so hopefully it won’t take that long to explain what I’ve been up to.

So, Week 19 mean back to the routine. First week of the second semester. It wasn’t that bad, but it did take some time to get up and do something with my life. My timetable this semester and I have a love/hate relationship. I tend to start quite late; being 10:15 the earliest my classes start throughout the week. This is good because I get to sleep, but bad because I’d rather have to wake up early to go to class at 9am and then have the rest of the morning and afternoon to actually work. Because I start so late, my classes usually finish at five or six, which is pretty late and makes me be fairly tired at the end of the day. Also, some days the classes are really spaced, some days they are all in a row. And then there are Wednesdays, when I am totally free (except for the fact that Wednesdays are usually match days), and Fridays, when I only have one class at 11:15 and then I’m free the rest of the day. Therefore, I wish my classes were earlier, but I can’t really complain, can I? I guess I will soon get used to the new timetable.

New semester also means new teachers. I have two new lecturers and my first impressions of them are very promising. My Italian lecturer seems very keen and interested in the students actually being interested in the subject. She is also very kind. The only drawback is she is always behind the time… And my new French lecturer is great. He makes the classes funny and interesting, and reminds me a bit of Dad (at least that is how I picture Dad as a teacher, because I never really attended any of his lectures). So, overall, I’m quite pleased with them all.

Week 19, at least the start, was not particularly interesting. It was quite cold, what is to be expected in January, with snow again. I ran some errands and also started to realize the amount of work I will have to do this semester. Not only do I have my regular weekly assignments, but I also have a lot to read. Two of my new units involve a lot of reading, one as preparation for the lectures and the other because the unit itself is focused on culture and, therefore, literature. So, every week I have to read about 100 pages or more only for those two subjects. Plus the compulsory reading for the different seminars which I am doing at the same time. In addition, I signed up to take the Cambridge Proficiency Exam for English on the 6^th and 7^th of March, meaning that I have a little over a month to prepare the exam. To be honest, now I feel it is work on top of my work and at some point I have regretted signing up, but then I re-evaluate my options and it was the best moment to do it. So I just hope I am ready when the time comes. I am trying to do exercises but it takes a lot of determination and organization to juggle all the work!

I have previously said we had started with our house hunting for next year’s accommodation. On Wednesday Amélie and I went to visit a House Begoña and Khumbo had seen over the ISB and were happy with it so we decided to secure it. However, the following day Khumbo came up to us saying she could no longer live with us and left us having to look for a replacement asap otherwise we would lose the house. To be honest, it was not a very nice experience and it involved a lot of stress and frustration, but at the end we did find a replacement and will hopefully sign the contract soon. This is one of the most daunting and exasperating processes I have had to deal with since I am here…

On Wednesday I also went to SCORE, the themed night at The Tub (SU club) for the sports societies in particular. In this case, it was the first SCORE of the semester and so it was pretty packed. This is what it looked like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bi7V9KPeFA We went to celebrate Katy’s birthday, so there were pre-drinks in Norwood. I had a nice night with my course mates and SCORE was crazy with all the people dressed up!

Thursday evening, after a very long day full of non-stop classes, I went to a Danger Awareness and Self Defence Skills Training with Amélie. I genuinely enjoyed it. Not only because you gain skills for your CV, but because I found it really interesting and practical. The teacher, Paul Johnson (http://www.backtobasicsselfdefence.co.uk/), was very professional and after an introduction to the theory we passed on to the action. The fact that we were only four students meant that we actually got to practice and try all the techniques ourselves and repeat them until we felt confident about them. I would totally recommend the course to anybody. I feel like now, with a little bit of practice, I can actually react and defend myself if the need arose! Empowerment!

Friday, however, started well because it was nice and sunny, and then in the afternoon I started feeling unwell and in the evening, I fell ill. That night I went to sleep very early, feeling very cold, with shivers and temperature, and slept really bad and intermittently. The next morning I was still feeling unwell and so I could not go to Stonehenge and Salisbury, which left me gutted as I have been wanted to go to Stonehenge since I was a child… I basically spent the whole weekend in my room, only going out to do the washing because I really needed to have clean linen put in my bed. The girls checked up on me which was really nice of them, and Alex and Amélie brought me food and drinks. I spent the weekend resting and trying to get work done, but I felt really bad so I worked very slowly. I also felt kind of depressed which did not help at all. On Monday I was feeling a little bit better and went to class but I phoned the Medical Centre and asked for an appointment with my GP for Tuesday anyway. She told me I had a slight tonsillitis and prescribed me some antibiotics, which I went to pick from town straight away so I could start taking them asap. I have been taking the antibiotics and paracetamol, along with a lot of liquids, for a couple of days but my throat still feels uncomfortable. At least I have no temperature anymore. I just hope I am fit again for Monday, because I have a French oral presentation…

Apart from the amounts of piled work I have had to do and resting to recover, other things have been going on during Week 20. To start with, I watched Mean Girls for the first time. I had heard so many people talking about it lately that I just treated myself to a break one evening and watched it. It was so stereotypical! But I thoroughly enjoyed it! I laughed a lot! On Wednesday I had a meeting for the BIB (https://bathinternationalblog.wordpress.com/about/), and then attempted to attend a Translation Session organized by MUN (Models of the United Nations). It was a total fail due to lack of organization so I ended up just leaving, but they supposedly debated about Ukraine in different languages while the MA Translating and Interpreting students translated them. The good thing is I got to see the interpreting labs in the Library, which I didn’t know existed. On Thursday I went to the volleyball training, which was quite soft, but I ended with sore muscles anyway. Oh, I also got some marks back: 70% on my Seminar write up for Images of War and 73% for my Introduction to European Studies Essay! And, lastly, my Italian teacher Enrico has the flu so his classes at 11am on Thursday and Friday were cancelled, meaning that I GOT TO SLEEP IN! Hope he gets better though.

And finally today, Valentine’s Day. Not that I care, really. If I am honest, I realized it was Valentine’s because it has been all over the social media for about two weeks. I didn't plan anything special, because it didn't really mean anything to me. To be honest, I am more depressed about missing Carnival back home than about not having a date on Saturday. Whatever. I hope my friends have fun dressing up, while I spend the rest of my week reading and doing work…

Y1-11: Week 18, ISB trip to Brussels!

During ISB (intersemester break), we had a whole week without class or work to do, so Amélie and I decided to go to Brussels.

On Monday the 26^th we got up very early and took a taxi to the station because our train for Paddington left at twenty to six. We slept during the trip and then took the tube to St Pancras. It was the first time I took the Eurostar and the process reminded me of an airport because of the passport and security checks, although they are slightly less strict. The Eurostar is basically a normal train, the only difference I found was the fact that my ears blocked because of the speed and height variations. You don’t really realize you are under the Channel… 

 We arrived via Lille at la Gare du Midi or Zuid Station in Brussels at midday. It was a grey day and didn’t look much different from England, but it was definitely Belgium: the north of Europe styled buildings and French and Dutch everywhere. We took the metro line 4 to Anneessens (2,10 euros one journey, quite expensive!). And then found our way to Madame Chapeau’s, the little loft in Rue du Midi where we stayed the six days. The flat was so pretty, it looked like IKEA! It was also very complete, except for the lack of a microwave and oven, but I guess not everyone expects to cook while there. Also, it was on the fourth floor, endless stairs up an old building with fairly bizarre decoration, but it was a loft, so yeah. Kike, the landlord, was very nice. He spoke both French and Spanish (he was from Venezuela), and he welcomed us into the flat and gave us the keys and all that.

Once in the flat we ate our packed lunch and then rested for a while. There were some flyers and information around the place so we found out where the supermarkets were and went out to Carrefour and Lidl to buy some basic things to cook throughout the week. After leaving the stuff back in the flat, we went out to explore Brussels for the first time. The city is fairly small so you can walk your way around the centre and we were literally across the corner from the Manneken Pis or Peeing Boy, Brussels’ icon. We walked around the Grand Place, the Galleries Saint Hubert, … We also stopped by the information centre in the Town Hall and, of course, ate a waffle. It was the first of the endless amount of waffles we consumed during our stay… Once the sun came down it got cold and we just came back, took a shower, ate a quick dinner, planned the following days and went to bed. We were so tired! 

 On Tuesday, we got up an hour later than we had set the alarm because we were so tired we just decided to keep sleeping. Then we got ready and made some sandwiches for our packed lunch and went sightseeing properly. We left at around midday and spent the day walking and taking pictures: la Bourse; la Monnaie; Rue Neuve, where the shops are- there was literally a twenty-metre queue to get into Primark!; la Place des Martyrs; l’Église de Notre-Dame du Finistère; la Cathedrale de Saint-Gudule; Brussels Park (where we had lunch); le Palais Royal; la Cathedrale de Saint Jacques; la Place du Sablon and the cathedral; the Palais de la Justice – from where we saw a very pretty sight of the city and the towers in the evening sun; Manneken Pis;… Back at the information centre we bought a Brussels Card each to go to the museums the next day. And then we went to Maison Dandoy, which was a tea room recommended by our hosts, to get a waffle. Not for the last time, because the waffles there were so great we just came back over and over: coulis de fruits, jus de citron, glace, chocolat,… Endless toppings, endless joy and endless weight to be gained. After that we went to Gare Centrale to find out where to get the bus to the European Quarter and then walked around Mont des Arts and came back, stopping at some second hand shops and friteries along the way back to the flat. That night we cooked dinner, which took forever because the hob would not work properly. But in the end we managed to cook the chicken and had a proper feast after a long day.

  On Wednesday we woke up early to make the most out of our one-day Brussels Card. It gave us free entry to 30 museums, free transport and some discounts and offers for the day, for 24 euros. We had chosen the museums we wanted to visit the day before, so we just hoped to have enough time as most closed at around five or six. We managed to visit many of them. We started at Mont des Arts and our first museum was BELvue, about the history of Brussels. Then Coudenberg, an ancient palace that is now underground, under the Place Royale. After that we visited some arts museums: Magritte Museum and the Musées des Beaux-Arts where I got to see David’s painting “La Mort de Marat”. Then we went to Grand Place again and looked for Jeanneken Pis, the female version of Manneken Pis, but didn’t succeed. We had lunch next to la Monnaie and then went to the Museum of Chocolate and Cocoa. The best thing? Free chocolate tasting. The bad thing? We missed the chocolate making display three times because we decided to go to Maison Danoy while we waited and took longer than expected. Initially, we were only going to get some hot chocolate, but then we were tempted by the waiter and got ourselves some waffles too. Honestly, that place serves food from heaven. The waffles are perfect and the chocolate… Oh my, the chocolate… It was so good and creamy I will not be able to appreciate normal chocolate again after that. We had the waffles with lemon juice and vainilla ice-cream and the combination with the sweetness of the Gofre de Liège (sweeter than the Bruxelles one) and the chocolate was the perfect combination. Then we went to the Museum of the City and saw Manneken Pis’ closet, which was kind of eerie and bizarre and funny at the same time. The little kid even has a mago costume! The traditional clothing from Tenerife! How cool is that? After that we went back to the Chocolate Museum and just waited there for the next display. The chef looked so happy with his job, it was really funny. We learnt how to make Belgian chocolate and tasted some more. We were both chocolate-overdosed! The two other museums we saw after that were the Musée du Costume et de la Dentelle and the Comic Strip Museum. We saw so many museums in one day we were very tired ;) There was a proper thunderstorm going on while we were in the Comic Museum, but it stopped just in time to walk back to the flat, cook dinner and have a chilled night-in watching The Theory of Everything.

On Thursday we had some train tickets to go to Brugge. Fortunately, they were not timed because we ended up sleeping over an hour more than planned in the morning because we were so tired. We woke up at around ten and then went to Gare Centrale to take the train to Brugge. We had to ask at the guichets which train we had to take and I must say the man that answered us was extremely rude… Other than that we had a great day. Once in Brugge we went to the information centre where they gave us a map in which were marked the ten must-sees, so we walked according to that. It was a lovely little town with its channels and old buildings and we were lucky enough to have good weather, even if it was really cold. The forecast was snow but it didn’t even rain! We visited: Beginhof (monastery), Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (church), Rozenhoedkaai, the Markt, the Burg,… We took all the compulsory pictures (even the one with Donatello the Suricat https://www.facebook.com/DonatellotheSuricat) and then we had lunch (fries and waffle included) and kept on sight-seeing: the Hanzekwartier and the Concertgebouw. We finished quite early so we just took our time to walk back to the station… and even do a little bit of leisure shopping at Pimkie, Six, New Look,… Once back in Bruxelles we went to Carrefour to buy some more food and then stayed back in the loft.

On the fifth day we focused on the places that were further away and required transport to get there. We bought a JUMP day pass for 7 euros which is valid on all STIB transports: metro, bus and tram. We ended up using all means and definitely got our money back. First, we got up early and took the bus from Gare Centrale to the European Quarter. We went to the visit of the European Parliament which was really cool. Hopefully one day I will be in one of those interpreting booths! Then we visited the Natural Sciences Museum which was awesome. There are loads of dinosaur squeletons and stuffed animals and interesting stuff. After that we walked to the Palais du Cinquantenaire even though we were starving, because we didn’t want to have to come back after going back to the city centre for a proper lunch. We took the metro to Gare Centrale and had lunch in a small restaurant in one of the alleys around the Grand Place. We had fried, moules, beer, waffles,… Proper Belgian meal! The metro took us then to Simonis where we walked the park that lies in front of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur. The building is simply beautiful! It is strange because it is a cathedral in Arts and Crafts style, so it looks somewhat odd but it is impressive. We were lucky to get inside and the building is honestly breath-taking. I loved it. Then we took the tram to Simonis in an attempt to get to the Atomium in time before the sun set, but we went into the wrong metro station and ended up going around the whole city once more before coming back to Simonis and then getting to Heizel. Beware if you ever go, Elisabeth and Simonis are different stations but very close together and the tram leaves you at Simonis, which is Elisabeth metro station! We took line 6 and cruised the city’s metro stations. Once we arrived at the Atomium we got our tickets and went up. It is an amazing construction and the view is breath-taking! We were actually lucky enough that because of getting the metro at the wrong station, we were delayed and ended up in the sightseeing sphere of the Atomium while the sun went down and the city lit up! It was gorgeous! The only drawback was a little fog, but in January we couldn’t have hoped for better. Once back in the city centre, we ate at a Steak House near la Monnaie, and then we had a waffle (ofc!).The police were blocking some streets and had guns and everything around La Monnaie though, and nobody seemed to know what was going on. The next day we found out that there had been a bomb menace! And we had literally been eating outside the place lol 

 Saturday was sadly our last day in Brussels. We got up early and finished packing and getting ready. Then we had breakfast at a nearby café, Le Temps des Tartines, which was really good and filling. The hot chocolate is really cool: they give you warm milk and the chocolate is a cube of proper chocolate in the end of a stick, you just put it inside the mug and stir it until it has melted. It is so creamy it’s amazing! That morning we did shopping: first, we walked to Place du Jeu de Balle where there was a flea market. I love those places; there were so many cool things! I bought a jumper and looked for a vintage camera case but did not find one cheap enough and in good condition. Then we went to Place du Grand Sablon where there was an antiques market and there I got a really odd ring. After that we walked to Grand Place and I bought some postcards while Amélie got some new Vans. We finally found the Jeanneke Pis and then went to Carrefour to buy some salad for lunch and food for the trip. We had to leave the flat at around half three, but we were able to leave the suitcases at Kike’s flat. We roamed around the city for a while, watching the street musicians and shops and making time, but then it got too cold so we decided to go to Maison Dandoy for a farewell hot chocolate and waffle. The queue to get a seat was insane but we had all the time in the world so we waited and it was definitely worth it. After saying goodbye to Manneken Pis, we got our bags and went to the station (not paying for the metro ticket, and panicking a moment when we got off the metro at opposite sides and then had to cross the mechanical doors, but we managed!). We arrived there pretty early but it was alright (and actually helpful because we got kind of lost in the station). The trip back was tiring but fortunately we had enough films and series to watch and not get bored: Face-Off, the Maze Runner (cinema session on the Eurostar under Amélie’s scarf/blanket to avoid the annoying light), Modern Family,… The trip back was quite peaceful and when we finally arrived in Bath we literally crashed into bed of exhaustion.

To sum up, I had some AWESOME holidays! First time organizing a trip on our own and traveling alone. And I genuinely loved Brussels. It is strange mix of old buildings and alleyways with wide open spaces, massive New-Classicism buildings and state-of-the-art Futuristic constructions in the newer European Quarter. And, as you can probably tell from this post, the food is great (Speculoos, chocolate and Bruxelles waffle forevah). So it is not goodbye, it’s see you soon.