Did the last 4 months even happen?

I realise it's been quite a while since my last post, but seeing as I've been at home there hasn't been anything year abroad related to write about.  I had a lovely Christmas and then for New Years Eve 4 of my friends from Uni came down and we went into London to see the fireworks which was nice.  Since then I've been quite unfortunately revising for the exams I have to take when I go back to Brussels, and my return to Brussels is what I want to write about today...

The idea that I'm going back currently seems very odd to me, I think the problem is that this is the longest amount of time I've been away from Belgium for, yes I've been away for 3 or 4 days travelling or visiting Lancaster but never for more than that, now I've been here for 2 weeks and I'm not leaving until Monday.  I think I've got used to being here, it's not that I don't want to go, it's just that the whole idea feels very odd!  I think my mind has decided that I've moved out of the flat in Ixelles and won't be returning to ISTI again, especially not to take exams, and that the next move for me is to Granada.  In fact, to be totally honest, coming back here has just totally wiped my memory, the last 4 months seem so distant that it's hard to realise I've not just imagined the entire thing!  I think it's just because the time is passing so quickly, and it is only now that I am beginning to wish it would slow down a little!  When I go back to Brussels I will be there for just 12 days before my parents come out in the car to take me and all my stuff home, at that point I really won't be going back...! (Well not as part of my YA anyway, I'm not psychic, who knows about the future?)

Being home has given me a chance to have a good think about the last few months, what I wish I'd done differently etc, but I'll tell you all about that later, I'll write a Bye-Bye Brussels blog or something and bore you all with it then.

Whilst I've been home I've started up on the 365 (although this year 366) project, which means taking and uploading a photo every day for a year.  I have no idea if it will last but I didn't think that I'd manage to keep up this blog and well- so far so good eh?!

Here is the link to the project-
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365

♫ Driving home for Christmas ♫

Within what can have only been an hour of posting yesterdays blog it was already out of date.  The problem being that I found out that the Belgians are going on strike tomorrow and bringing pretty much the whole place to a stand still including cancelling all Eurostar between London and Brussels.  Cue me flying into a rather large panic about how on earth I was going to get home.  Thankfully Eurostar were allowing people to exchange their tickets for another day and so...here I am.

I was due to have 2 classes today, including making a presentation in one of them, dedicated as I am I made it into ISTI, early in fact, only to find that the teacher couldn't make it in, so my last day in Brussels was spent watching DVDs.

All in all I am back in England, ready for Christmas and that is about all I have to say for myself!

"Attention all passengers, there are meercats in this station"

This weekend, as many of you know, was my last weekend in Brussels before I go back to England for Christmas (2 more sleeps!).  I could've spent it making the last minute finishing touches to my coursework or doing some proper work on my essay for Lancaster but instead I got to be a tourist again for the weekend showing Henry everything that Brussels has to offer.  On Thursday I wasn't even sure he was going to make it with the snow in the UK and the meltdown it seemed to be causing at Manchester airport, as per usual!  Luckily, seeing as I had to make the epic journey out to Charleroi airport armed with magazine, kindle, tea and cereal bars- the flight only came in a little later than it was due to.

This weekend the snow arrived in Brussels too, it wasn't that impressive but I wanted to have proof of it.  Apologies for the awful photo but there is only so long you can keep the window open for- it was freezing!

On Saturday we went to the Atomium, tip: don't bother going to Mini Europe when you can just see the whole thing from the Atomium! 

I'm not sure if I wrote about the Atomium the last time I went so for those of you that don't know it was built in 1958 for the world Expo, so that basically makes it Belgiums answer to the Eiffel tower.

I don't know the area around there very well but we decided to have a wander, we were just looking for somewhere to stop for a coffee but actually what we found were the following:

 I don't even know what this is I'm afraid...

The Chinese pavillion, and opposite this.....

The Japanese tower.  Not the sort of thing you'd usually expect to stumble across in Belgium.

Saturday also brought with it a bit of a navigational fail.  We headed to Place Saint Catherine for the Christmas Market and were very disappointed when we got there and just found a few stalls, a creepy looking carousel and a little band playing.  We were sure we were in the right place though, after all there was a sign that said Place Saint Catherine...  Jenny then told us later that if we'd have just carried on walking we'd have made it to the real market which I must say was significantly more impressive than what we'd seen!

We were going have a look around but there was a service going on at the time, I can't believe I've not actually been in there yet!

Usually when you stumble across some road blocks and a significant police presence including helicopters, a water canon and riot shields your first reaction probably wouldn't be to investigate would it? Well we did, on the basis that curiosity only killed the cat so we should be pretty safe.(For any worried parents/family members reading this, don't worry!  We wouldn't have been stupid enough to get into the thick of it, we just wanted to know what was happening...)  From what we could tell there wasn't much going on, just a small group of protesters so the police reaction seemed to be a little OTT.  I asked a man if he knew what was going on, annoyingly he did tell me in English after having asked in French... but he told me something that roughly adds up to this.  Clearly there was a lot more going on than we had seen.  As I write this I have seen a lot more police around again today and more road blocks and things so it must still be going on.  On our wander we stopped for a chat with the king...

We went and watched the light show on the Grand Place, we were going to hang around and see a woman dressed as a butterfly do something but it was wet and cold, I'm not sure we missed out on much anyway.

On Sunday we went to the Christmas Market (the right one...) in the afternoon.  I totally forgot to take any photos, I think I was somewhat distracted by the huge hot dog I was eating.  We got to see some people showing off on the ice rink and look at all the stalls.  Before we headed there we went to a museum, I've already been but if we hadn't gone Luke probably wouldn't have spoken to Henry for about a week so we had to really.  I will happily admit that I didn't enjoy it when I went on my own, but I now realise that was just because I had no clue what I was looking it, when someone else is telling you what it is you're looking at it makes it a lot more interesting.  Can't promise I've retained much of it though, other than something about why the edge of some guys hat was folded up...

Yesterday we went to see the Palais de Justice, considerably more impressive than the equivalent in the UK.    

This photo was just taken outside, the inside is worth looking at too.  It's a shame that I'm not going to get to see it without scaffolding though. 

Seriously, how hard is it to find somewhere to eat in Brussels that isn't a tourist trap?  Very, I'm telling you.  Vietnamese food however = good (although I could've had the exact same thing in a Chinese...)

That basically brings us to the end of my last long weekend in Brussels for 2011.  It's been a bit of an epic blog today but I thought including the photos rather than just telling you to look on flickr was kind of me.  I really am on countdown now though, I have my suitcase here ready to pack, I've been cleaning the flat and doing the washing- I just want to go home!  Wish me luck I have a presentation tomorrow, or at least should do... fun times! 

[Oh yeah, and about the meercats (and lets face it the only reason a number of you are bothering to read this), it was just a simple case of misunderstanding on Henrys part when there was an announcement at Midi station warning about pickpockets.  Have to say the meercats would be a lot more fun though!]

Just 6 more sleeps to go.

Being just 7 days (and 6 sleeps) away from heading home for Christmas I thought it was about time for a blog. Since getting back to Brussels from Lille nothing particularly noteworthy has happened other than having now got everything lined up for Granada, the deposit is paid for the room, the flights are booked and Mum is coming with me for the first few days.  One of the best things about having the room sorted is that I have a nice 3 weeks to spend at home after my exams are over in Brussels and before I head off to Espana.  (Lancaster, beware, I'll be heading up on the last weekend in January!)

The weather here has been terrible for the last few days, and it's a great time to discover a lack of shoes that are watertight, indeed it was actually my Uggs that kept my feet dry the most effectively, but I'm not sure the rain did them much good...I'm not actually sure where the rain is worse, Brussels or Lancaster, either way attempting to use an umbrella is futile.

Tomorrow sees me once again making the epic journey out to Charleroi airport and I'm not even leaving the country.  Please cross your fingers that the weather will be ok tomorrow because I really don't feel like hanging round in an airport that is pretty much just a shed on the edge of a field.  There is only so much reading I will be able to get done and work I will be able to do sitting at arrivals.

Today all the students in my now to remain unnamed department (although it hardly takes a genius to work it out) received a Christmas Greetings email.  Two problems with this, one was that they actually managed to get our departing Vice Chancellors name wrong, he is no longer Wellings but Wellington it seems, he has clearly had a great influence on the staff of the department.  They also mentioned a piece of work this is apparently optional but they say they advised us to do- no one has a clue about it, interesting!

Any work that hasn't been done and doesn't get done tomorrow will now have to wait until Tuesday afternoon (and lets face it, with only 2 sleeps until home at that point nothing particularly productive is going to get done) as I will be spending the weekend showing Henry the sites of Brussels, although if the recent weather continues we may have to swim everywhere.

Sorry that this post hasn't been very interesting, I'm sure I'll have another one or two posts to share with you before I head home for Christmas, then I'll go quiet for a while as I presume you don't want to hear all about my Christmas/New Year celebrations, revision and essay writing!

6 sleeps until home!

The penultimate weekend. A visit to Lille.

This weekend brought with it my last weekend away from Brussels before the end of my time here.  This time it was off to Lille, mainly to see the Christmas market.  The first strange thing is getting on the London bound Eurostar and getting off a Lille, it feels wrong!  I've passed through Lille Europe Station 3 times now either London or Brussels bound, it was rather strange actually getting off there and not carrying on to London.

Lesson number one- don't trust Google maps!  It had told us that it would take 20 minutes to walk a 1.2km distance to our hotel, I'm sure it wasn't that far and it couldn't have taken us more than 10 minutes to get there.  When we arrived we find our hotel, which is actually inside a shopping centre, and check in.  The room was ok, a bit rough around the edges you might say, and with the one and only plug socket in the entire room having the TV in it things like phone chargers, hair dryers/straighteners etc weren't exactly easy!

I decided to carry on my "cultural eating" and had snails for my starter on Friday night, I won't be bothering with them again I must say...I also had mussels, quite an adventurous meal for me really!

On Saturday we headed out and had a really nutritious brekkie to set us up for the day-NOT! I had 2 pain au chocolate and a croissant... (it was cheaper to buy 3 I promise).  We spent our morning walking around Lille including a walk round a park where I saw more runners than I have ever seen in my life.  After lunch we went for a quick nosey round the house Charles de Gaulle was born in.  Next stop-Christmas market, first off we went on the ferris wheel, I'm fine with heights usually but I must say this one felt a lot lot higher than I thought it would and we were sharing our "carriage" (for want of a better word..) with a lady who seemed to not realise until we were half way up that she suffered with vertigo...  Once we came off of the wheel we took a stroll through the market, I say a stroll, it was more of a shuffle as there were so many people you could hardly move.  We had mulled wine and what was essentially a hot dog before heading back to the room really rather early to escape the cold.

Sunday morning we headed out, had another nutritious breakfast and then went to explore one of the markets a bit further out of the town.  Then we went to the Lille Natural History Museum which was interesting, even if it did have a few too many stuffed birds for my liking!  Afterwards we headed to the bell tower and paid for the reward of climbing what seemed like a good few hundred stairs at the time, and now my legs feel like a climbed a good few thousand...the view was good though.  In the afternoon we went back to the markets to try and see the things we couldn't see on our previous shuffle and then had a wander round the shops as we had a fair amount of time to use up as our train wasn't until 6.30.  We also went to another museum, the name of which currently escapes me...

And here I am, back in the flat, preparing for my last full week in Brussels!  I'm really not sure where the time has gone to at all but I really can't wait to be back home for Christmas.  Before that though I get to do all the touristy stuff round here for a third time as I have a friend staying for a few days this weekend.  I still haven't seen the Christmas market on Place Saint Catherine, so I really mustn't miss that before I head back home!

11 sleeps until home :)

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Brussels video number 3, and the last of 2011

My last video instalment of 2011, I hope you enjoy it and please let me know what you think!

So hungry I could eat a horse...

I realise that what I have done is something that a lot of people I know will quite possibly never forgive me for, but I decided that not to do it would just be hypocritical really, I'm happy to eat Beef, Pork and maybe this is because we've helpfully given it another name so we don't say I'm eating Cow or Pig but it's just the same difference.  This said I decided to try horse last night.  I was attempting to be adventurous and cultural, or at least this is what I'm telling myself.  The funny thing is that I stood outside looking at the menu and saying "oh horse, no, I couldn't do that" and this gradually evolved into "but I am curious..." and then "I wonder what it tastes like" and finally "well, maybe I'll just try it then".  I'll be honest, it tasted like beef.  There was a hint of something I couldn't quite put my finger on but that could've just been the sauce.  That's enough about my horse eating experience, the reason we'd gone out was to see what was going on on the Grand Place, during the Christmas markets they have light shows and music and things and then on Saturdays they put on these extra shows.  Last night was essentially 2 people in a bubble (Snow globe) dancing whilst some rather freaky looking other people crept around the outside in a manner that I can only say reminded me of something like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  Stupidly my camera ran out of battery, which is fine, I'll just pop back another time, but it did allow me to take this photo:

Inititally I was very confused as to why it was necessary to fence in the nativity scene, surely they're not worried that someone is going to kidnap the baby Jesus or something?  But then Jenny pointed out, and I'm not sure how clearly you can see it in this photo, there are real sheep in there, real live sheep.  But I'd like to wish good luck to the shepards as the sheep seem to be about double their size...

It does seem out here that they go all out on Christmas, I suppose my foundation for comparison is Maldon (the lights were switched on last night and I hear it was all of about 2 lightbulbs) (and I hope she doesn't mind, but if you want to read more about the Maldon Christmas lights read it here on Julias blog) but they seem to really go all out for it, can't help but wonder what it could be costing them though!

On an unrelated topic I've decided that the world really must be a lot smaller than we think, I've been looking at flats in  Granada and the landlord for the latest one suggested I might want to contact the people currently living there, so a quick search on Facebook and I'm there.  Well it turns out that there is a guy leaving when I get there, not only is he also from Essex but he goes to uni in Portsmouth with one of my friends from school.  In the summer I met someone in Valencia and we had a mutual friend that she went to college with and I met at Lancaster.  I'm getting used to having random mutual friends with people but I can't help but find it very weird and just makes the world feel like a very small place!

Well this  has been a brillant form of procrastination from the essay that I'm meant to be putting the finishing touches to, the presentation I'm meant to be learning and I'm sure there is more I could be doing.  So that'll be all for now!

The surprise test, the essay extension and the holiday to Mallorca

Great news when the first thing the teacher does when they enter the room is say the word "Test", especially when they have a grin right across their face when they say it!  English to French translation about the King James bible... so that was fun.  Not holding out a huge amount of hope for that one!  He did take pity on us English students towards the end and gave us dictionaries though.

After this would normally be the culture lecture but as I've done the essay I decided it was pointless to go, I later find out that he told them today that the deadline is now extended to January, when I've already finished it, just typical really.  I've got one more to write that I've not been given a deadline for yet, no doubt once I've written it he'll say January too...

The best part of today is that I've booked my flights for my easter holiday break to Mallorca with Katy, Charlotte and Vicki,  I just get a week off from Granada at easter so it will be a nice way to spend it.

Home in 3 weeks and 3 days, which I'm really looking forward to, and bearing in mind how fast time has been going lately it will be upon me so quick.  In terms of weekends I have this one to do work, the next in Lille and the following Henry is here, the weekend after that is Christmas!  Sorry, I know I've said the C word and it's not even December yet but it's just so close.

Apologies for the rather boring post, not 100% sure why I even bothered to write it...

36 sleeps to Christmas

Someone I follow on Twitter informed the world this morning that we now have just 36 sleeps until Christmas.  I have to say I've not really been thinking about Christmas, I've been thinking about the fact that I'm coming home but not connecting it with that big event everyone talks about.  In fact I've been paying more attention to my plans for new year if I'm honest... I don't think it is going to feel like Christmas for me right up until the last minute.  Of course I'm going to need to do some shopping and the markets in Lille that we're going to see and the ones in Brussels should help make things feel a little more like Christmas but there'll be no decorations (my flatmate goes back to France on the 18th and so neither of us are actually here for it), I've got no advent calendar (Despite Charlottes lovely Mum buying one for me, I just couldn't get it in my case back from Lancaster) and I'm missing out on the Coca-Cola and John Lewis adverts that everyone is going on about! But all of that doesn't really matter, I reckon I'll hardly notice at all the way time is flying at the moment, soon enough I'll be trying to squeeze as much as I can in my case and making it weigh 10 tonnes for the journey home (Thank goodness for the Eurostar, I'm going to be lost when I'm back to 20kg or whatever it is for Granada!)

There hasn't really been much of note this week, hence the lack of blog posts until now.  I've finally had a "normal" week.  But that all gets thrown right back out the window next week when I'm off to see Ellie in Madrid.  I'm wondering what is going to come out of my mouth the first time I try and speak Spanish, bearing in mind the weekend I came out here straight after Valencia I kept saying "si" I can see a similar thing happening this time, I'll probably say "merci" to everyone...

The other day I was looking for music that is similar to the Corrs, I am now worried about the internet, it informed me that I should try listening to Atomic Kitten....I'm all for a bit of old school cheese, but I don't really see the resemblance between the 2?!  I eventually found something myself, Lady Antebellum, I'd previously thought they were a rock band....oopsie.  I'd recommend them though as something happy to listen to, they're more country than I'd usually listen to though admittedly.

I think I used up all my motivation to work yesterday, I wrote the majority of my essay (although I'm not convinced it will be long enough...) and now just can't bring myself to do the conclusion.  I did some cleaning late last night and have been to do my food shop this morning, I probably just need to stop procrastinating and get on with it now... instead I'm writing this blog quelle surprise...  

The realisation that you're more than halfway through first semester...

...and therefore already a quarter of the way through the year abroad (not including Christmas and the gap between semesters).  Scary stuff.

I realised this when I said goodbye to my grandparents today and told them I'd be home in 6 weeks tomorrow, 6 weeks actually sounds like a short amount of time to me now, I've been out here for nearly 9 weeks I think and that has flown by like you wouldn't believe.  I remember booking all these trips and things to give me something to look forward to and I've been back from the first for nearly 2 weeks and going on the next one (Luxembourg) this weekend!  I've got into quite a little habit of crossing the days off on my D.I.Y calendar now too.  Call me sad if you want, I'm used to the abuse, I'm hardening to it...

I was hoping to do another video (yes I know the music has been removed from my first one, no worries I have a cunning plan to get round Mr Copyright Police next time) but lets face it, time is not on my side at the moment!  I'll try at some point but there are no promises!  There'd be no point at the moment anyway, it wouldn't be pleasant to listen to, my lovely germ infested, sore throat and bunged up nose have seen to that one...

In other news I've got myself an interview for volunteering at the Olympics, not doing anything exciting, in fact I'd be on the wrong side of the gate taking tickets and not seeing anything at all, but hey, it's something.  I might not get it anyhoo.

Since when did I become so unfit?!

Sitting here with 3 apples and a bowl of grapes on my desk and a chocolate chip cookie in my mouth I'm trying to work out when it was I became so unfit!  Do I blame the YA? It would appear to be the easiest thing to do, and after all everything else gets blamed on the YA, but I don't think I can this time.  I am going to shift blame and say that it is down to University.  Don't get me wrong, the intention was there, I signed up for a membership, went swimming a few times and enjoyed it, but at some point it just went out the window, probably around the time that Glee, Swing Group, LUSU and work started taking more of my time!  I love to be busy, that's one of the things I miss most here.  I have a lot of time on my hands, I could be doing work of course.... That's how this whole thing started actually, I'd reached the point where I want to chuck this Faux Amis list out of the window and decided that a quick stint on the exercise bike would be a good idea.  Well, a quick stint is what I got!  I knew I was unfit, but I've never been this bad in my whole life!  From today I eat better (when this box of cookies is done that is), use the 4 flights of stairs (with the exception of with shopping) and work to lasting more than a couple of minutes on that flipping exercise bike!

So that was a little unrelated to the YA but hey!

Back to the YA stuff, so Jenny and I have booked our weekend in Luxembourg, I've not looked into it at all, I have no idea what we should do and see but we have a hotel booked for 2 nights so off we go! I'm trying to book up weekends to keep myself busy after realising this weekend that 3 days off is great in theory but you have to fill time, and even if you have plenty of work there is only so much time you can spend doing it.  I so far have a weekend back in Lancaster, some time here with my grandparents and the trip to Luxembourg.  I'm also hoping to pop over to Madrid to visit a friend (may as well as it is cheap!) and I might have a friend come and visit nearer Christmas.  Just going to see how much I can pack in!

♫ 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.