Year abroad choices, the ones I made and what I'd do differently. My summary of studying in Brussels and Granada.

Having come to the end of my classes once and for all here in Granada and so being just a matter of weeks from the end of my YA once and for allI think I am now in a good position to be able to write this blog about studying on the year abroad.  The study/work placement/language assistant debate is one that every languages student goes through when making their plans for the year abroad, and everyone has their own reasons for the decisions they make.  I personally didn't want to be a language assistant as I really wanted to split my year between the two countries without having to spend my summers away if I didn't want to.  Also, as a French intensive student my French tutor advised me that teaching would not be the best way to improve my French and strongly recommended that I studied.  I think she was right with her suggestion as the language assistants spend most of their time in school pretending they only speak English, meaning they have to find other ways of getting out and practising, which of course is fine for some people, but for those like me that as I said on a previous blog seem to have regressed into their shells somewhat this year it probably isn't ideal.  The other choice was to find a work placement, but I decided I didn't want to do this and was told repeatedly that placements in both countries would be very hard to come across anyway.  So the decision was made that I would study.

When it comes to French we had Brussels, Geneva, Lyon, Rennes, Poitiers or Montpellier, the first two are specialist translation schools which appealed to me and so I opted for Brussels.  Let's talk about that decision first, the main thing I'd not really considered when it came to Brussels was how international it is.  I'd considered the bilingualism with Dutch but did my research and found that French was the dominant language in the city anyway. What I guess hadn't occurred to me was that with the presence of so many international organisations everyone spoke English, it didn't matter if you spoke to them in French because 7 times out of 10 they'd reply to you in English, usually thinking they were being helpful not knowing they were being quite the opposite.  The other thing with ISTI was that because of the size of the school in comparison to the amount of Erasmus students they took on I found that I was in a lot of classes with just Erasmus students and it was very hard to integrate with the Belgian students and get any language practise.  I signed up for a tandem programme and met up once a week with a Belgian girl where we would speak for the first half in French and then in English, but in honesty this probably was no where near enough.

As far as Lancaster is concerned we don't have a huge amount of choice when it comes to where we can study for Spanish.  We can go to Mexico, Bilbao, Granada, Girona and Lleida.  So, that leaves you with the choice of going thousands of miles away, to two Catalan speaking Unis, to the Basque country where you may be faced with a second language as well or Granada.  I toyed with the idea of Bilbao but settled on Granada in the end.  My concern about Granada was that it is known as a really big party city because of the amount of Erasmus students and that isn't really my thing, but this hasn't really been a problem, I've found it's been easy enough just to do what I want instead.  Although there are lots of Erasmus students in Granada there is also a huge amount of Spanish students so I wasn't ever in classes with just foreign students.  You do however have a totally free choice of what you take and there isn't really any guidance on what is too hard for Erasmus students so I have found that two of the courses I've taken haven't really been suitable and I'm sure that is going to show in my exam results- it's a good job that they don't really matter!

Studying does have its pros and cons.  The good thing is that even if you're not speaking the language as much as you'd like you are hearing it, taking classes in it and writing in it all the time which has to be good practise.  It also keeps you busy, for me I need to keep doing things so I don't feel too homesick, so having a good amount of contact hours and work to do outside of that time kept me going and it wouldn't if I'd been teaching for instance.  The cons obviously are having to take exams, not really knowing what courses to take and the difficulty of integrating with native speakers.  It is also worth considering your unis rules on exams, as far as Lancaster is concerned we have to take them and the marks count towards our grade for the year, but we don't have to pass them, this works in two ways.  It is first and foremost a really good thing because there is no need to panic and stress about the exams, what happens, happens!  The problem with this is that my motivation to revise is pretty scarce so I find myself half heartedly revising and just wishing away the hours until they are over, possibly not the way I should be spending my final weeks here, but that's how it is!

Sometimes I do wish I'd worked, it would have given me a different experience for the year and I might have felt like I'd achieved more, but the issue with that for me is that I'd potentially be totally alone and unsure of how to meet people, especially other students because it is important to have that sort of "homely" contact from time to time.  I did however work for 6 weeks last summer in Valencia, I met all sorts of people and really enjoyed myself, but the work was boring because there just wasn't much of it so I spent a lot of time doing nothing.  That's the hard thing about picking what to do and where to go, unless you know someone that has done the exact same thing before it is all very much unknown.  I couldn't have spent the whole year, or even 6 months in that job, but it was good for the summer and to give me an experience of working in Spain.

So what am I concluding?  I'm not really sure if I'm honest with you.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it?  And maybe with it I'd have seriously looked into finding work placements that interested me and would be relevant to what I want to do in the future, but this time last year I didn't know that, and we had to make decisions in the November before we left!  For any future YA students reading this, it is important to remember that YA decisions are all about you, don't feel influenced by what other people are doing, and why they are making that decision, because they're not you!

Ah, got to love a good puente.

Last week finished off without to much excitement really, I've now settled on History of Women, Spanish Dialectology, Linguistics of Teaching Foreign Languages and Introduction to Latin, so long as I can register for them all this week then that's me set for the year.  I'm finding them all interesting and actually enjoying what I am learning which is more than I can say for the courses I did in Brussels.  That's the advantage of being here, I've got so much choice!

This week I have also written an article for Third Year Abroad about Granada which is intended to help people that want to come here next year, I did one about Brussels too and they can be found here.

For those of you that don't know what a puente is it's basically an excuse for the Spanish to take another day off of work/class etc!  Puente literally means bridge, and that is because if a holiday falls on a Tuesday they generally choose to take Monday off too.  Today is Andalucia day, not that you'd know it, in a very un-Spanish style nothing has actually happened to mark the day other than everything being closed.

What have I done with this lovely 5 day weekend then?  I have to be honest and tell you I've not actually done all that much!  On Friday after having spent the morning inside I went for a wander with Jack, we didn't go anywhere in particular but we did stop for a drink and end up with one of the stranger tapas dishes I've had, literally a fish.  I have no objections to fish at all, in fact I really like sea food so the fact that my food was looking at me didn't really bother me, I just can't help but think it was a bit of a strange tapas dish though!

On Saturday I went out with Aimee, Michael and Jack for another walk, this time up into the hills of the Albyzin where Aimee lives to appreciate the great views as well as while away a couple of hours at a bar where we once again were provided with whole fish for tapas, maybe it's not as unusual as I'd thought it was.

Sunday was a nothing day, I went through my notes from all my classes this week to try and get some sort of understanding of what I had supposedly learnt!  I think it helped... I hope it did because one of my classes is split into 4 parts which means I actually have a test next week that counts towards my end result for that course, bit scary this early on!

Monday was, to be honest, a fail of epic proportions... we had decided to make the most of the weekend and do something worthwhile and thought we should head up into the Sierra Nevada to appreciate the views.  This would've been a great idea, if we had booked our bus tickets.  Unfortunately we turned up at 9.30am just to find there was only one seat left on the bus, and for 6 of us that wasn't going to work.  We decided to make the most of actually being up and getting there by having a coffee in the bus station cafe, how exciting are we?!  After going back to the flat and realising nothing productive was going to get done I went to the shop to stock up on food etc and then went out for a wander again.  We went up to the monastry near the uni as well as up a hill that seemed to head to no where (it didn't, we just turned around and went back down) and then a lap around part of the city.  Tapas called yet again, but this time it was bread and meat followed by fried squid.

Which leaves me with today, and if I'm honest I'm not really sure what on earth I have spent my day doing!  I've read through my French essay for Lancaster and marked on the corrections I want to make but that can't have taken me all this time surely?!

Well, it's a hard life for an Erasmus student so tomorrow I have to head back to classes again, but don't feel too sorry for me now will you, I may have 6 straight hours of classes tomorrow from 8.30am but I only have 1 class on Thursday and then I'm done for the weekend again!  Maybe next weekend I'll actually get some of my dissertation done like I'd intended to do today...?

Lots of walking, lovely tapas and a new French flatmate.

After arriving on Monday and getting moved into my flat nice and quickly I have spent the last few days getting to know Granada as well as shopping for bits and pieces and making my room feel more homely.  Mum and I have done loads of walking and I reckon I've pretty much got to grips with where things are, I've put up a map of Granada on my wall in the hopes that I'll some how just magically absorb it and instantly know where I am, if only things worked like that, a bit like the theory of sleeping with a dictionary under the pillow, although I must say I have been tempted to try it!

Mum left yesterday after we'd spent our last day doing yet more walking (we decided to go up the hill to the Uni, no need for a gym membership with that walk every day, usually more than once...) as well as having a nice meal up by the Alhambra.  Saying goodbye was hard as it always is but I know she'll be back out again in less than 3 months and I have plenty of other things to look forward to before then.

Today I had a meeting at the Uni in the morning, it wasn't particularly exciting so I won't bore you with any details.  Later in the afternoon I met with Jack, Aimee and Michael for a wander around the city.  This short wander turned into a rather long walk when we decided to head up to Albyzin to some tapas bars.  We never did find them, to cut a long story short we walked up hill a long way and then back down again but it was through a very pretty part of the city so I'm not complaining.  When we got back to the bottom we had a drink, tapas and some more food in a street literally off of one of the main streets we'd started on!  We may not have achieved quite what we'd intended but it was a nice walk and a good way of using up a few hours whilst we can, this time next week we will have started classes.  We've decided that we'll try again next week and head up for a wander round where near Amiee lives as apparently there are some really good views, which there should be considering the climb to get there!

When I got back tonight I discovered that I have a new flat mate, and she is French.  I think I have already spoken more French with her than I did with my flat mate in Brussels the whole time I was there!  She doesn't speak much Spanish or English so this is the best way for us to communicate, good for me as I really need the practise, I shall make the most of it before she realises she is in Spain and so should really have a go at Spanish a bit more!

Tomorrow brings another wander in town and then we are going out for tapas in the evening so we can say we have been nice and cultural.  Maybe on Sunday I'll get around to looking at my translation for my dissertation?

¡Me encanta Granada!

I know I said it would probably be a few days before my next blog post but sitting here watching the Simpsons dubbed in Spanish (I'm sure I'll never get used to it along with Friends, Two and a Half Men and Sex and the City) with my Spanish flat mate I thought it was maybe time to update you all about how I'm getting on!

I left home yesterday at 3.45am so as you can imagine it was an early start!  All went well, the snow stayed away and we got to the airport without an issue, the bags weren't overweight and there were no delays to the flight, in fact the winds were so favourable that we we 30 minutes early.  When we arrived in Malaga we were early for the bus so went and had a coffee and bought our expensive lunch, but what else do you expect from the only bar/cafe at the arrivals of a busy airport?  The bus ride to Granada is 2.5 hours because it makes a stop at a few little towns on the way there, it was a pretty journey- at least for the portion of it I managed to keep my eyes open for!  I managed my first conversation on the phone in Spanish when we arrived and arranged with my landlady-to-be that we would meet her at the flat when she was ready, this involved more waiting around than intended but luckily it was warm outside so it wasn't really a problem.  By the time I'd got unpacked and sorted everything out there wasn't really much time to do anything else so we headed over to Mums hotel to drop off her stuff and then out to find some food.  As it was a long day I had an early night, at least I'd intended to but by the time I'd actually got in bed I'm not sure it was that early after all.  The nights here are really cold in the flat so layering up is 100% necessary, hopefully now as we're heading out of the winter and into the Spring the weather is going to improve.

Today was my first full day here and what better way to start than by getting up at 6.20, meeting Jack and Aimee and heading off to our first "event" (just a welcome meeting) at the Uni!  It is quite convenient for me with Jack living in the flat literally below mine as it meant I didn't have to struggle with finding the building today as we could go together.  The meeting wasn't exactly life changing but it was nice to actually go to something to do with the Uni and I even got to meet someone that knows a friend of mine from home that goes to her uni, it really is a small world after all!

After the meeting and a trip to Mercadona I met up with Mum and we spent the day food shopping and getting various other bits and pieces that I need to make my room feel a little more like home.  I'm holding off putting up all my photos and things yet though because I might be moving rooms when one becomes available in a week or so and if I put up my photos there is no way I will bother going anywhere, even if it is a better room!

Tonight Mum and I had a great meal in a restaurant near her hotel, basically it was a huge plate of grilled vegetables and then a bowl of really strong garlic prawns but it was a lot nicer than I am making it sound.  It was all washed down rather nicely with a jug of Sangria between us too.  We even had a dessert that we really didn't need, and I'm not even sure I particularly wanted it, we made a good team though because it was crepes with chocolate sauce, bananas and cream- I ate the banana and Mum dealt with the crepes.

I'm really pleased with how my Spanish is going so far, and it really proves to me how much better my Spanish is when compared with my French, unfortunately for me in Brussels I really didn't have ample opportunity to speak French and in fact here I have probably already spoken more Spanish in less than 48 hours than I did in a week, or possibly a month in Brussels!

That's all for now, the next couple of days I'll spend exploring with Mum before I head off to the Uni again on Friday and classes start on Monday.  There will be another blog from me again soon I'm sure.  Adios!

♫ I left my heart in San Francisco ♫

So I didn't leave my heart in San Francisco, I've never been there, but I do feel like I have left a significant portion of my brain in England and another part of it has already packed and left for Granada, not hugely helpful when I could do with a generous portion of brain remaining here to get me through these exams!

I realise this is my first post for 2012 and the first post since I have been back out here, but I've not really had anything interesting to talk about, anyone that is following my 365 project certainly knows that nothing has been going on in my life that doesn't either involve revision, cough "potion" or anadin!

Being as this is my last weekend here I guess I could be spending it doing exciting things, but why change the way I've spent all my time out here?  I've enjoyed my few months in Brussels but there are some things that I wish I'd done differently that I will be trying to learn from in Granada.

1) Speak the lingo!  It is what I've come out here to do and I've hardly done it.  I've been too easily pushed into just speaking English because that's the language other people insist on speaking to me in.  Well I should've just kept replying in French until they got the hint.  Granada change 1: Speak Spanish as much as possible (living with 3 Spanish girls this should presumably be achievable...) and make some French friends to make up for lack of practise here.


2) Get out and see things.  When I got picked up in the taxi to go to the station before Christmas it dawned on me how little of my own area I know.  I know the area around me if I turn right from my flat, the route to ISTI and the supermarket, how to get into the centre and where the public transport can take you but what if you turn left?  It became quickly evident that I didn't have a clue!  There were shops and all sorts that I'd never seen before.  Granada change 2: Wander round the area, get to know where I'm living, take it all in!


3) Get a social life.  One of the hardest parts of being out here has been the lack of social life.  In Lancaster I do plenty to keep me busy and meeting people all the time, last year I was doing something most evenings whether it was work, LUSU, Swing Band, Glee etc I was meeting people and I had a social life.  This concept became alien here, I didn't just instantly make friends and for some reason gave up really easy.  I've also managed to build this image of myself as someone that never goes out, which actually isn't true and I'm not sure how I've managed it.  At the start I think I was too worried about spending too much time with English people, well now I've just ended up spending loads of time on my own instead so that was a silly decision! Granada change 3: Socialise with people,  if invited out for the stereotypical tapas and sangria go for it and enjoy the chance to meet new people.


But despite the changes I want to make in Granada I don't regret the way I have spent my time here, I have still seen plenty of what Brussels has to offer, as well as making the most of being able to travel to other places by visiting Lille and Luxembourg and flying to Madrid to see Ellie.

As much as this appears to be a bit of a round up of my time in Brussels I am sure there will be another post right at the very end/once I'm back at home next week preparing for that next chapter!

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...  

"Essex girls" "bimbos" and "cougars". Standard translation class really...

What began as a very normal English-->French translation class soon descended into something quite different.  We were looking at a text on Cornwall, all very thrilling, about the poor economy, it's rolling hills and ragged cliffs... when somewhat from nowhere the teacher starts explaining to the class about "Essex Girls" and my head drops onto the table in shame.  Especially as the train of thought that got us there was:

Bar work-->Young women-->Bimbos-->Blonde-->Essex Girls

(This later lead onto the teacher questioning the use of the word cougar in modern day English and also now French it seems)

I wasn't aware the Essex Girl stereotype had crossed the channel, well isn't that good news everyone?!  I hope all you The Only Way is Essex fans are pleased with yourselves!

In other news my year abroad tutor still has not emailed me back 3 weeks down the line, I am not impressed...

Tonight is all about procrastination.  I should be essay writing, or doing exercises on the subjunctive or... well anything but what I am doing.  Instead I am researching what on earth I should be studying after my degree to get me where I want and also trying to find myself somewhere to live in Granada.  Joyful times I assure you.

A weekend in Luxembourg- we did a lot of walking!

Walking.  This seems to have been the theme of our weekend, and don't get me wrong, I enjoy wandering round and discovering places but I have a limit, and I think my legs have found it this weekend as they are no longer functioning at full capacity I must say....

The journey to Luxembourg city from here isn't too bad, just over 3 hours on the train.  It all went swimmingly, until the little screen on the train started saying "Terminus Arlon" (a town in Belgium...) and we started worrying just a little!  Luckily it must have meant that Arlon was the last stop in Belgium as the train soon continued onto Luxembourg.  Phew!  We arrived in a rather cold Luxembourg in the early afternoon and headed off to the hotel to dump our bags.  After filling in a form that seemed to want to know everything but my inside leg measurement we got into our room.  We decided that the best thing for us to do first would be to go to the tourist information centre to get ourselves a map (as you will later learn it obviously wasn't good enough...).  Seeing as it was still mid-afternoon we wanted to wander over to the European area and see everything over there and it made sense to get it over and done with first as it was on the other side of the city.  So off we went, in the direction that according to our map and the signposts would lead us to the area with all the EU institutions in it.  After a while we were faced with a long path, leading uphill, through the trees.  For some reason this didn't strike us as odd, I just remarked that they must send the tourists the scenic route as presumably all the people that work in the EU institutions don't walk this way!  So up we went...it didn't take too much longer for us to realise that we clearly weren't going to get there that night.  The problem was this being abound 4.30-5pm in November it was starting to get dark and we were on a rough path, through the woods and round an old fort, with no lights.  Brilliant.  The choice being either to turn back where we'd come- hardly a short distance, or continue we decided to march onwards.  Eventually we ended up at what you could loosely term as civilization.  I hesitate in calling it this as there seemed to be no people, shops or anything of the sort.  By now it was too late to be heading for the EU stuff and about time to be searching for food.  Problem.  Luxembourg is basically on 2 levels, the high town and the low town.  They aren't very well linked-other than by a great many stairs and you'll have a job locating them.  So this is how we spent a large part of our first evening in Luxembourg, trying to "escape" the Ville Basse and get back where human life could be found.  We managed this - via an epic flight of stairs and a series of rather steep hills.  Nice relaxing welcome to Luxembourg....  Food was soon located, and you know you're in a posh expensive restaurant when they take your coats and give you some pea-mousse thing whilst you look at the menu.  It was a fish restaurant and all the food looked (and tasted) very nice.  We did feel a bit like (bad pun coming....) fish out of water though as we were most certainly the youngest people in there.

Saturday-
On Saturday we had to head to the European area, after all the mess of the night before we had worked out where we'd gone wrong and how we'd ended up underneath the bridge we'd actually wanted to be crossing.  As it turns out it is probably for the best that we'd not made it there the previous night as there was a lot to see, it took us a good hour or so to walk round and wouldn't have been so good in the dark.  The geek in me wants to go and see the rest of it in Strasbourg now seeing as I've seen the European Commission and all the other bits here and now (here comes the list...) the European Investment Bank, European Court of Justice, European Court of Auditors and the European Chamber of Commerce in Luxembourg.  I'm pretty sure we also saw where the main translation centre is too.  I've been looking into all the types of translation jobs they need in the EU, I'd love to translate for the Court of Justice but that would involve some form of Legal qualification which I don't have, well I can dream can't I?

After this we did a hell of a lot more walking!  I've put some photos on Facebook but for those of you not on there I'm about to stick them on Flickr too so I'll give you the link, just give me a chance to get them up there.

2 observations about transport in Luxembourg- there are loads and loads of Audis, especially in the European area where at least I'd say 1 in 3 cars were Audis.  Also Luxembourg, despite being tiny seems to be the European Capital of busses or something, there were hundreds of them, often with the very useful destination on the front of "Luxembourg".

After exhausting all the views and monuments of the city, writing postcards and drinking expensive (but very nice) coffee we went to the restaurant next to the one we'd been to the night before.  Whilst we were looking at the menu outside the waiter from the other restaurant came past and said hi, 2 young female students were probably a rare occurrence for that place, must've been easily recognisable or something!  When we were inside we were offered the English menu and caused some confusion when we asked for the French, and one of the waiters clearly wasn't sure as he insisted on speaking to us in English each time, although the others did at least stick to the French.  When we ordered the waiter asked me if I was sure that was what I wanted, did I know what it was?  I thought I did having read the English version of the menu outside but evidentially it was a different thing entirely.  What I was ordering, the internet now tells me, was part of a pigs large intestine.... yuuummmmm :S  I'm glad I didn't go for that in the end then...  As the exciting, party-animal, Erasmus students we are, we then returned to the hotel, got into our PJs and watched Danse avec les Stars.....

Sunday- To round off our trip we headed to the Museum of the History of Luxembourg City, presuming that the museum would be some what relative to the size of the city itself, it was surprisingly big though but a nice way to spend our last morning before heading back to the station and returning to Brussels.

I know I've already told you how much we walked, but seriously, my legs really really ache now.  I've had my exercise for the week.  Maybe I don't need to climb the stairs every day?!

My Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bexnobes/ 

My 30th blog post

Well here it is, my 30th post, milestone eh?  Somehow we've arrived at the second week of November and I have little to no recollection of where October disappeared to...

Before I tell you what I've been up to I'm going to have a little moan about Ryanair and their lack of geographical skills (which frankly, for an airline, is rather worrying).  They fly into an airport that they call Brussels, but it isn't Brussels main airport.  Indeed it isn't even in Brussels, no, it is an hours train journey followed by a 20 minute bus journey away!  That's about the same length of the flight back to England!  Very annoying!  Especially as I'm flying from there to go to Madrid and I have a friend flying in there in December.  Cheers Ryanair! Your flights may be cheap but the costs add up afterwards don't they?!

Sorry, now I've had my little Ryanair rant I'll continue...

Where did I leave off?  I reckon the last thing I wrote about was probably going to Lancaster?  Since then I've been spending time with my grandparents as well as trying to cram in some work.  We visited Bruges for a day and also went to Antwerp.  We also went to the EU Parliament visitor centre which I did in English this time to pick up the things I missed when I did it in French.  Also discovered a room which we missed last time and that I actually think was one of the best bits because it explains how the parliament actually works etc.

It has actually dawned on me now that I only have 2 clear weekends in which I can do any work because for all the others I am either away or have someone visiting.  Basically I need to put my foot down and get cracking with it now.  The ISTI work is going to have to take priority and DELC 310 can take a back seat, but I really don't want it hanging over me in Spain...

Today I need to get some planning done for my Law essay, although not too much as I've not had the go ahead for my topic yet, and then I have a couple of classes to go to this afternoon.  Then I'm off out for a meal with my grandparents.

I leave you with a photo of a common scene across our days out this week and another to bear in mind:

It's all about trying something different.

One of the key things about going on a year abroad is doing something different.  Experiencing new things and doing things that you wouldn't normally try.  Or so Jenny and I kept telling each other when we decided to go to s "Speedy Friending" even that the ISTI Student Council (literally run by 3 student volunteers so I hesitate to call it a Student Union or anything similar...) were putting on.  We got there and went downstairs to find them still setting up and were eventually (when they noticed us there) asked to go back upstairs and join "the others", at which point we were a little confused as there weren't really any "others" there to wait with.  We did as asked though and waited upstairs.  When the time came for them to ask people down we were very hesitant to say the least and said on more than one occasion that we would quite happily leave .  One way or another we eventually decided to stay and give it a go.  I have to say I was expecting something structured where we all went round and introduced ourselves to different people but what actually happened was we all sat round tables and had to get up and tell everyone who we were, by about the 10th person that got up and said "Je suis anglais(e)" I wanted to be of any other nationality just because we totally outnumbered everyone else, with close competition from the Italians though!  After this we were just told to talk, well we'd all sat down with people we already knew and no-one moved to mingle at all and that was pretty much the end of it.  Afterwards there was a party, we didn't stay, but it reminded me of a school disco, just needed them to play a bit of Steps and for the boys and girls to split to other sides of the room!  The only plus side to the evening was that we got the chance to buy ISTI hoodies!

Today I have no classes but as I have loads of work to do this weekend I decided to avoid it at all costs and use today to do all the other bits and pieces and get cracking tomorrow.  First, and thus avoiding anything useful, I went with Jenny to the European Parliament as they've opened up a new visitor centre.  It was very good actually, and if I'd not been carrying my coat, and my impulse by new shoes I'd have stayed longer although we were there for a long time!  I can see why it has cost them so much though!  You all get an iPod-esque thing that you use to read and listen to the information as you go round by swiping it against a panel next to the thing you're looking at, very clever.  There are all sorts of interactive elements to it, well worth a trip-especially as it is free!  I did it in French this time, much to the confusion of the huy at the desk who kindly told me to bring it back if I didn't understand it...thanks I may be English but some of us to bother to learn other languages...  I might go again and do it in Spanish, it may take a 3rd and final English trip to get there though!

Got to get on top of all my work this weekend because I've got some busy weekends coming up and I won't get the chance to do it. In for a fun couple of days...wish me luck!

I think we can call that Bex 1-0 Spanish

Today I have the two classes that are potentially the most beneficial to me but yet that I dread the most, the written and oral French classes.  Today we had to work in groups of mixed nationalities, so how I end up with myself and 3 Spanish people I have pretty much no idea.  I find the Spanish accent really hard to understand when people are talking in French and this became evident.  It basically went like this:

Spanish girl one: (Says something in French)
Me: Blank look-laughs
Spanish guy 1: (In Spanish) she doesn't understand
Spanish girl 2: (In spanish) She speaks spanish!
Me: (In spanish) yes, I speak spanish and I understand it better than French

Take that annoying Spanish guy that was trying to make fun of me!  More fool you, should've been listening earlier in the conversation when I told you I study Spanish too.  So after initally being embarassed that he was pointing out my lack of comprehension I feel I won that one, don't you?

In other news I've had an email from someone that is interesting in doing the Tandem programme with me which is where she practises her English and I practise French, worth a try I reckon.  Also, after sending quite a few emails yesterday, yet failing to attach my CV as I'd said I did... I've had replies from 2 schools already, one of which is a specialist languages college so good start I think.

Weather has finally turned bad, rainy and horrible today... never mind, it's Wednesday already, I have one more class today and 2 tomorrow and that is the end of the week- roll on the weekend, I've got plenty of work to do....

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!

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 :)

♫ 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!