Another early start but hey- students never say no to freebies!

Today ISTI provided us with another free trip, this time it was to Blegny Mine and then to Liege.  It meant another early start as we had to be there for before 8am again but it was FREE.  I'm sure one of the first things Uni has taught me is that if it is free you accept it because it probably won't be coming along again any time soon!

First stop was Blegny Mine where we had a tour for about 2 hours, I didn't take any photos actually in  the mine (mostly because I left my camera in my handbag, above ground...) but there wasn't really that much to be taking photos of anyway.  It was quite refreshing to get in the cool below ground though seeing as it was so hot today, I can't believe that on the 30th of September we're hitting 28 degrees- in Belgium!  After the mine and a nice long lunch break in the sun we headed to Liege where we had a walking tour, our guide was very nice but it was just too hot to be concentrating on what she was telling us!  I understood the majority of it but retained nothing! (Except for the fact that the group of Spanish girls with us need gagging because they talked the whole way round which I thought was just plain rude....)

 The journey home took longer than anticipated but when we got back into the city 2 of the teachers just hopped off the coach, soon enough everyone was hopping off where they wanted to which meant that I got dropped off at the tram stop I usually arrive at-saving me the trip back from ISTI.  The driver wasn't best pleased I think but muttered something along the lines of if I do it for the teachers I'll have to do it for the students and so opened the door and let me off.


P.S Could Covis (?) tell me who you are, I'm intrigued as I know all my other "followers" and seeing as you follow Jack too I guess I know you from Uni?  Ta!

Brussels- European capital of repetitive radio!

Come back Heart Essex, all is forgiven, I have found worse radio.  I listen to Radio Contact here in Belgium but seriously, I hear the same songs everyday. 3 or 4 times.  Add to this the fact that there is a hell of a lot of British 90s music (Fine at Sugar on a Friday but everyday?!) and Heart radio actually becomes quite appealing.  I stick to it for the French practise but if anyone can reccomend something better please do.  Having said this whilst writing I am being treated to a song I've never heard before!

This week there has been a real lack of anything interesting going on really as far as ISTI is concerned.  Getting into the swing of classes and even starting to get given work to do which for now is actually a bit of a novelty but no doubt it will wear off soon enough.  In the end I've taken 29 credits which is just 11 hours of classes and means that esentially I can afford to fail a few credits (namely the Law module and the English to French translation as they're the only non Erasmus modules I'm doing) because Lancaster just take our best 22.5 credits per semester.

It would be nice just to have a straight forward week or 2 without getting stressed about other things but the other day my mind turned to semester 2 and my plans to go to Granada, possibly the Uni in Spain with the most Erasmus students and the biggest "party" atmosphere.  Doesn't sound exactly perfect for me does it?  Why this has only just occured to me I'm unsure but I am now seriously considering starting a fan club for one of my Spanish tutors who even offered to Skype me to talk about it.  I'm hoping to switch to Girona where I think I'd be more comforatable, I know someone already there and someone who would be starting at the same time and I'd get to improve my Catalan at the same time, bonus.  (Another added bonus is that I would most likely be back in England in time to say good-bye to people at Grad Ball which would be quite nice but that really would just be an extra).  Nothing is at all confirmed about this at the moment but hopefully I'll hear back soon and know one way or the other.  I have nothing against Granada, it's a lovely place and I'm sure I'll have a great time if I do go there, I just think I would be more comfortable in Girona, despite meaning that I'll more than likely have to fly out straight from Brussels with my Mum bringing a case of "Spain clothes" to swap with me- not ideal!

I'll keep you updated with it all!

Got an exciting trip tomorrow down a mine and then around Liege, not got any exciting plans for the weekend other than discovering a shopping centre and town and hunting down a cheap but small case for my trip back to Lancaster.  Wish me luck and I'll blog again soon!

Sometimes you just have to do what you want to do and not what you feel you should be doing.

This weekend I have ummed and ahhed and ummed some more about whether to use my days off from ISTI in October to be cultured and make the most of every opportunity open to me being out here or to go back to Lancaster and check my friends are all still there in one piece, haven't forgotten me and that I haven't just imagined them!  I spent a lot of time thinking that going back to Lancaster would be the cowards way out, and it's not a "Year Abroad" if you come home and speak English for a weekend.  I really wanted to do it but I was fighting with the part of myself that has to always do things the right way and do what they told us to do in year abroad week.

Well, why should I?  I've taken the chance to do what I want to do and not what I think is right.  Instead of potentially spending my days off thinking of what I'm missing out on in Lancaster I'll be there.  Yes it will be hard to see everyone, settled in and enjoying their final year of course it will.  But that's going to happen regardless of whether I'm there or not.  If it is going to make me feel better and give me something to look forward to then, so what? Plus I'm using the money I earnt on my first little YA adventure to Valencia to pay for a break from this one!

I can now forget about it for 5 weeks, enjoy Brussels, enjoy French, try and improve, try and learn something, see the sites and have a nice little break in store.

Here's to week 2 at ISTI, wish me luck!

"Tell your friends they can get the train back to Brussels, we're leaving without them"

First off, apologies for lack of blogging, I just didn't have the motivation to do it on Friday after our trip and didn't really get the chance to do it yesterday so here comes a bumper edition lol.

Friday, up at 6am to be at ISTI to leave at 7h50...I knew from then on that it was going to be a long day, but I'm not complaining, it was a totally free day trip and I got the chance to see parts of Belgium that I hadn't had the chance to go to yet.  We started at the furthest of our three destinations, but bearing in mind this is Belgium it still wasn't that far away, at Ostende. In my personal opinion Ostende seems to be the Belgian equivilant of Southend/Great Yarmouth without the arcade (a.k.a there isn't really much there other than the beach! -please don't be too offended Katy!)  Whilst we were there we went to a Modern Art Museum and saw works such as this:

Modern art really isn't my thing...

After our very enthusiastic guide had finally accepted that we were bored and no we did not want to see just one more small piece and released us we had a little bit of free time to explore.  When we came out of the museum Nikki and I decided that it was a good idea to stick with the grroup (Remember this...)because then if we got lost we'd be in a huge group and they couldn't possibly leave without all of us.  We presumed that everyone was heading to the beach as that seemed the most obvious place to be going but sooner or later it became apparent that they were just leading us in one big loop so we decided to split from the group and go our own way to find the beach.  That went fine, found it without an issue and got the essential photos:

Then we realised that we'd gone against our own advice and quite possibly had no idea where we were or quite where we were meant to be heading back to and the map they'd given us was hardly precise.  So, in fear that we'd be late and be left in Oestende to find our own way back we decided we'd best start heading back towards the coach.  We'd been told to head towards a huge boat called the Mercador and that the coach would be parked just down the road, unfortunately Nikki must've had both her eyes and ears shut at this point and I just don't have a mind for navigation, just ask the girls about when we went to Spain...  Turns out in the end that we were there significantly before everyone else and ended up waiting for 30 mins for a group of Chinese students to get back.  The woman in charge was not happy and told us that next time we would be leaving whether we had everyone or not which I thought was probably an empty threat because you'd never see that happen at home.  In Bruges we didn't really get a chance to see anything because the staff lead us round like a flock of sheep, clearly worried they were going to loose people again.  It seems like a nice place though and I'll have to go back at some point.  In Gent we had a chance to visit the Chateau des Comptes and enjoy some of the views, once you've climed all the stairs that is.

This time we had a bit more time to explore Gent and have a look at the numerous churches that you can see in the photos above.  We still hadn't learnt about navigation though and someone trusted me with the map, soon Jenny and Nikki learnt that lesson and Jenny did most of the navigation to get us back.  Once we were on the coach one of the Spanish girls got a phone call from a couple of the other Spanish students that weren't on the coach, presumably they were lost somewhere in Gent.  About ten minutes later over the speakers came words to this effect "to the girl that was just on the phone, please tell your friends that they can get the train back to Brussels as we are leaving without them" and off we went! We were shocked, they really did mean it!

Once we got back to Brussels I did the really lazy thing and went to Pizza Hut on my way home, it would've been just as quick for me to cook for myself though and it was expensive so that will serve me right really!

Saturday morning held an exciting trip, I went to what must be the biggest Carrefour known to man!  I needed to get a few bits and pieces and it seemed like a good way of using the time.  I know now that I can't keep going there though, I'll end up spending a small fortune on things I don't need!  I did manage to get a travel mug though which means I can take my good old british cup of tea made with PG tips bags to ISTI with me.  I also invested in a couple of little grammar books that I need, there were a whole range and if I was made of money I'd have got them all, but seeing as I'm not a Grammar book and a Conjugation book will have to do.  Annoyingly I have some at home but didn't pack anything so useful to bring out here...

I've got the flat to myself this weekend so I invited Jenny and Nikki round last night for dinner and to watch a film.  As far as I know I didn't poison either of them so I count it as a successful evening!  Despite the fact that the film we watched was a bit odd and pretty much in Franglais which was a bit annoying.

I'll apologise now for any of you that are following both Lucy and I as this last bit could be a little similar to what she wrote as you may have been able to guess seeing as she was speaking about a conversation I had with her!  2 weeks in it finally begins to sink in that this isn't just for a few weeks, I'm not going to come back and start Michaelmas term at Lancaster in 2011 and everyone else is.  It's a very strange feeling and I think has bothered me more than I had expected.  As I said to Lucy it's a shame that we are spending our time here wishing away the days until we get to go back and see everyone again but as she quite rightly said it doesn't mean we're getting any less out of this great experience.  I'm thinking of popping back to Lancaster mid-term, just not sure if seeing everyone settled in will make things worse for me or if seeing them all is just what I'll be needing by then.

I should think that is enough blog for today, apologies that it's been quite a long one!

Break-through

Don't get too excited, I've not discovered a cure for the common cold or anything, but I did go out for coffee (see, said it was integral to life here didn't I?) with some other Erasmus students, only one of whom was English, I'd say that counts as a success!  I'm not really sure how it happened if I'm honest, I just know one minute I was standing outside a classroom with Jenny and the next we were walking to a cafe with 2 girls from Slovenia and an Italian girl.  The even better part was that *Shock Horror* we spoke in...French.  This may seem quite normal considering where I am but you'd be wrong, it is actually very hard to break out sticking with people of your own nationality.  Everyone sort of drifts together and it can be hard to start up conversation with someone, that or they try and practise their English on you instead which of course is not helpful!  I'd say half way into the first real week of classes that is a good start, next stop- speaking to actual French/Belgian people, wish me luck!

Look, I'm wearing a Lancaster University Glee Club hoodie do you really think I can give you directions around Brussels?

Today it has become clear to me that I must walk around with some sort of air that makes people think I know where I'm going, which generally is because I do, but I don't know the way to where they want to be!  The previous episode of this caused me to get caught in the rain after being helpful and sharing my map.  Today however someone pulled over in their car to ask me for directions, my helpful hints includes "c'est Rue General Jaques" *point* and "ca, c'est Rue Juliette Wytsman" *point* "Je suis desolee!" I was even wearing my Lancaster Glee hoody, it shoud've been a hint to him that I wasn't exactly a local!

Coffee. Something I've never exactly been the worlds biggest fan of but round here you're some sort of alein if you don't drink it!  I survived Valencia without touching the stuff but I don't think I'll get through the next year without being thought of as some kind of stange person without drinking it.  Step one- McDonalds cappuccino I actually quite liked it.  Maybe I can get into this coffee lark after all....

I also had my first class that I might actually be able to say was successful after yesterday with the useless lesson and the lesson where class and tutor were in different parts of the building!  Despite having said I had no intention of doing any literature classes I appear to have signed myself up for 2 but the tutor is good and his classes are enjoyable so I reckon it might have been a good move.  After queueing like a propper British person for my student card I appear to have purchased a blank card...I think it means I can top it up with cash and buy things but nothing useful like sign up for classes, use the internet or get on their version of LUVLE- helpful.  Especially as I got back to an email saying my real card is ready to collect but because of some funny rule I think I can only get it on Thursday afternoon?

I went to Carrefour and got some supplies for my cordon bleu cooking... after a year of cooking well with the girls I am back on my own and cooking for one isn't that much fun, I'm back to student style pasta and frozen delights.  I did have to take a bit of a guess at what nail varnish remover is too, its got the word ongles in it though so it's a good start I guess!

First day of classes

I say first day of classes but what I mean is that I had 2 classes in the afternoon.  After wasting time going into ISTI this morning thinking I was going to get some forms signed/given back to me so that I can get my hands on that lovely Erasmus money (one day in the next decade...) and not actually achieving this I was just about ready to get stuck into my first class when the time came around.  Problem one- 50% of the class were English Erasmus students, nor exactly the way to practise French!  Problem two- "Hello Class my name is Matthew Langlesley, I'm British and I will be taking this class..." and so he continued, in English.  An easy two credits would be one way to think about it but by the end of the hour I'd decided it would be a really boring class to stay in and on top of that he clearly didn't want us English students there.  So back to the drawing board with the timetable it is then!

I'm now going to be taking 2 literature classes when I'd intended not even to take one but I like the tutor, we had him for another class today, and I'm doing my best to avoid Spanish because it will totally confuse me!

Found out this week just how varied Unis can be with Year Abroad work.  We have to do an essay (between 4000 and 8000 words depending on if your working etc) and those of us studying have to have at least 22.5 credits that go towards, all be it a very small part of, our degrees.  Some unis don't set any written work, some very little, some you have to take 30 credits but they won't count for anything, some let you take as much or as little as you want... End of the day-Lancaster students seem to have more work to do than everyone else, typical!

That'll do for tonight!

P.S To all DELC students- I miss Annik and Birgitte and Anne and their efficient replies to emails, I won't take DELC for granted again lol!

1 week, three museums and a day "sans voitures"

I have reached the end of my first week in Brussels and it feels like I have been here so much longer than that now.  My parents only left on Friday and that feels like an age ago too.  I've had a bit of a geeky weekend, you might have gathered that I'm not exactly the usual "party-animal" Erasmus student!

On Saturday I went to the Musical Instruments Museum, it was good but not quite what I was expecting- but I don't know what I was expecting really.  All in all an ok way of passing some time though.  After that I decided to take a wander and try and find myself some lunch, I eventually found a shop a bought a salad that was labelled "Ready to eat", perfect I thought, except for the lack of fork...  After making a mess of eating my lunch I was fed up and decided to come back to the flat where I spent the afternoon watching French TV that I didn't really understand and doing some cleaning.  I did manage to fit in a quick Skype session with the parents whilst I was eating my healthy dinner, it had fish AND vegetables!

I decided that today was to be a better day than yesterday and decided to go to a couple more museums.  Today is "Dimanche sans voitures" in Brussels which means that cars are not allowed in the city from 9am until 7pm.  All public transport is free for the day and there is lots going on.  My first geeky visit of the day was to the BELvue museum which is all about the history of Belgium.  It was interesting and I might have learned something-hopefully!  After that I went and found my self a bench to eat my (2nd geeky thing) packed lunch-seriously, you would if you saw the prices of things round here.  I then decided to take a walk around but went quite a distance so decided to get the tram back to where I started!  So that Luke can't tell me off for not going I thought I'd get it over and done with and so I went to the Royal Museum of the Military, after some slight navigational issues that is!  I was actually very impressed by it, it was huge!  I wasn't paying too much attention though I must admit but as entrance is free a return visit will be on the cards.  The museum is in Parc du Cinquantenaire and today, along with the lack of cars, there was an Olympics event, London came to Brussels for the day apparently, there were even a group of police officers, I thought they were Belgians dressed up but they weren't, they were there as part of some Home Office thing promoting safety at the olympics...?

I have also decidedthat I need to stop being nice when people ask directions, this time I had no clue but showed them my map, it took them a while to find where they wanted and by the time they had the torrential rain appeared...typical.  If I hadn't helped I'd have been pretty much home and dry before it started!  Never mind!

First day of classes at ISTI tomorrow and my very first class is a non-erasmus class doing French to English translation so it is a bit scary that I'll be going totally on my own, I hope there are more Erasmus students there, but there are lots of groups so they might not be.  Wish me luck!

DIY Timetables

Today began with a French test (I say began, it wasn't until 11 but you don't want to hear about my breakfast I'm sure).  It was...interesting?  I must say parts of it I didn't have a clue about in the slightest  but other parts I think I did ok at.  We never actaully get the results, we just get put into groups 1-3 and A-D, well I'm in 3D so potentially the bottom set but who knows (all the Lancaster group are in the same class so I'm not bothered!).

I never thought I'd say this but UK unis spoil us, we don't have to work for what they give us, e.g we expect a timetable.  Think again.  Out here it is DIY timetable, although I must say at least ISTI is in the 21st century and everything is available online!  But still, it is more work than just logging on to LUVLE.  I've chosen the courses I think I want to do, got some French language, French to English translation, 20th Century French literature and then first year courses in Law and Philosophy.  28 credits (of which Lancaster will only take my best 22.5) and 11 hours a week.  Not bad when you see I start at 2 on a Monday and finish by 3 on a Thursday, nice long weekend there :)  At least that is the plan, just wait until something comes along to shatter it all again!

As this weekend is potentially the last one where I can do what I like without feeling guilty that I should be doing something else I'm going to make the most of it.  Some museums are free entry this weekend so I'm going to have a geeky weekend under the guise of DELC 310 prep (except for the musical instrument museum, that's just for me :P )

Well, bye for now!

"Welcome to ISTI...you have a French test tomorrow"

Today was a big day for two reasons, one, it was the last time I will see my parents until Christmas and two, it was the first meeting at ISTI.

I now totally agree with Lucy about the organisation of the Unis and will try not to call DELC disorganised again as we were told that as of yet there isn't actually a timetable.  This for a uni that has roughly the same amount of students as Furness college...  Basically the key to life at ISTI is the all important student card, that can only be collected at certain times on certain days and even then you might not get it!  We have to go in tomorrow for a French test in the morning, and in the afternoon we'll find out what groups we've been put in (if you're in the same group as me you know your French is bad!) and a timetable for the French classes.  The rest of our credits have to be made up from non Erasmus courses.  I'm looking at an introduction to law, a philosophy course and something economics/politics related but there are so many and we don't have to confirm our courses until the first of November so I might just go along to a few and see what takes my fancy.

Saying goodbye to Mum and Dad was as hard as ever but things will get easier once I'm stuck into classes I'm sure.  Signed my contract tonight for my room too so there's no going back now!

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

"Do you have any friends in Brussels?"

Last night whilst watching Friends (yes, bad French student...watching TV in English) with my flat mate and her boyfriend she asks me a question (again in English, I'll get better, I promise...!)  Now all I really heard of what she said were the words do, you and friends so excuse me for presuming that she was asking me if I watch Friends.  So I proceeded to tell her that yes, indeed I do, and in fact I probably know all the words as I used to watch it after school all the time.  She looked so confused and I wondered why, until she said "my question was actually do you have any friends in Brussels!"...oh dear, doesn't bode well for my French if I can't even understand English!

This morning Mum, Dad and I went to the Atomium, after braving my first solo trip across town on the tram.  We spent the morning there (I'll steal some of the photos off of Mum at some point).  In the afternoon we went to see the Manekin Pis, Mum and Dad were dissappointed at the size, take that as you will... Afterwards I headed off to meet James and Jenny from Lancaster and a girl I met on the internet called Nikki, coming on Erasmus from another UK uni as well as her friend Vera from Portugal.  We even attempted French for a bit, even if just for 10 mins before digressing back into English!  Off to ISTI tomorrow so maybe we'll get going with things, at least I hope so.

Tonight holds another proper tea with Mum and Dad and some essential Waterloo Road viewing on the BBC (Which I won't be able to watch the rest of unless someone can tell me a cheeky way of watching it without iPlayer?) before heading back to my flat.

Night all :)

"Je suis anglaise...."

After my first night in my new home I met Mum and Dad to go to ISTI to get proof that I'm a student there- so I can get 50% off my travel card, well worth doing!  On the way there a girl tried asking Mum for directions, Mum of course said to her "Je suis anglaise", it's a standard way of getting out of helping someone! I told the girl that I spoke a bit of French but she said not to worry and went on her way.  We continued to ISTI, saying that actually, even if we had said we could help her where could we really direct her to? McDonalds? Carrefour? ISTI?  That is about the sum of what we knew about the area.  Having decided it probably wasn't any of those places that she wanted (bearing in mind we'd been standing outside 2 of them) we were unlikely to be able to help her.  How wrong could we be?  When I was at reception at ISTI, who should I see but the girl!  She'd found her way there and found the situation just as funny as I did.  She is from Italy, I guess she is on Erasmus too.  Met my first non-English ISTI student then.

After our first little adventure for the day we went off to Carrefour to fill up my cupboards a little bit, beginning to feel more and more like home, at least for the next few months anyway.

We spent the rest of the afternoon queueing to get my travel pass and going on the sight-seeing bus.  Picked the wrong time to go though, a 1.5 hour trip took just over 2 in the rush hour traffic...

A place to call home

Lets just start off by saying that for those of you that don't yet know- I have somewhere to live!!! Yipeeeeeee!

I'm not sure there is really a huge amount to tell.  This weekend I visited 2 flats, but remember I visited 8 when I came out here with Mum before.  Rather than waste your time telling you about the one I didn't pick I'll tell you about this one!  I'm living in a 2 bed flat with a girl from France that is working out here.  I have a nice room which I have added my own touches to after a trip to Ikea! (Quite exciting getting a flat pack desk, a chair, a rug, a mirror and other bits on and off the metro/tram!) I have internet (essential!) and a dishwasher, washing machine and dryer which is great.

Going to spend some time with Mum and Dad over the next couple of days.  I have to go to ISTI for a meeting on Thursday and they leave on Friday.

I'm sure there was plenty more for me to be telling you but it has escaped me so that will do for now :)

Night x

♫ Adieu, adieu to you and you and you ♫

The time has come for me to write my last blog post from the UK until I come back at Christmas.  Ideally I'd like to be writing this knowing that I'm off to Brussels to move in to my new home and can worry about other things like making sure I have a mobile phone etc but as you'll know by now that just wasn't to be!  Instead I'm off to spend at least a few nights on the sofa at the apartment my parents are renting for the week.  I have a few flats lined up, one tomorrow, one Sunday and one Monday so fingers crossed I'll be able to have one of them.

I'm looking forward to it all now, but I won't be happy about it all until I'm sorted out, I just want to get started on the basis that the quicker I start classes etc, the quicker it will be Christmas and the quicker I'll be home again (or so that is the theory).

I guess I don't really have anything much to say.  I don't know when the next post will be but it will no doubt be when I actually have somewhere to live- without that there won't be much point in writing!

Aurevoir Angleterre.

♫ It's the final countdown ♪

I'm going to have that song in my head for a long time now I'm sure but never mind.

In 2 days time I will be in London waiting for the Eurostar to take my parents and I to Brussels.  Luckily for my lack of housing situation my parents are coming out and staying in an apartment for a week so it at least gives me half a chance of finding somewhere and moving in without resorting to a hostel.  We've (and by we I mean mostly Mum whilst I've been in Stafford-Thank you Mummy!) been looking on all the websites we can find for rooms.  We've got one appointment booked up and have sent some more messages so hopefully another few should come out of it.  I'll spare you from the nightmare-ish stories I've heard about other people trying to find accomodation, but just put it this way, Brussels is not that easy for an Erasmus student only staying for 5 months- believe me!

I guess I better get started on the packing tonight, very unlike me to have done as little as I have so far but I just haven't been at home enough to do it- which I'm fully aware is my own fault, but worth it because I got to see Nicola, Katy, Henry and Luke before I leave which is nice.

I'm just looking forward to getting out there now, finding myself somewhere to live, meeting people and getting on with it!  The fact that I'm going to have to speak French at some point is in the back of my mind but it may come sooner rather than later as some of the adverts I've been replying to are just in French.  In fact I think my only confirmed appointment is French.... wish me luck!

Now you see it....now you don't!

Yesterday I recieved a message telling me that, despite the guarantee that the room was mine, despite the phone call and despite having sent me the contract my landlady-to-be had let my room to someone else.  The best part was that she said "I know you'll be dissappointed" "Good luck in your search" and sent me a link to a B&B website!  As if that is going to help me for 5 months....

Angry, upset, frustrated it doesn't even begin to cover it.

So, I'm back to square one and on the search again.  At least I'm making the most of my appartager membership that we paid for... Wish me luck everyone!

I will be in Brussels a week today.

Nothing is ever quite as straight forward as it seems...

This is going to be a quick one today but just to keep those of you that are interested in the loop.

I recieved a 7 page long contract, in French, for the room.  Well, I do say I want to go into Legal Translation, maybe it's a good start?  All well and good I thought, but some things are a bit confusing and a bit akward, one of them being setting up a standing order, easier said than done to an international account.  I also found out I've not seen a  picture of the room I will actually be having, so will be waiting a little longer. The rest of what I have seen looks really nice and I've spoken to my potential landlady and she sounds very friendly.  Fingers crossed all goes well, I should know pretty much by the end of the week!

As far as other progress goes I have a small pile of things to pack so far, not including anything essential like clothes. Leaving in 9 days and probably less than 50% ready!