Brussels, booking trips, sorted.

 Okay so I'm not gonna hold my breath, but i think, think, I may have got my shit together and sorted out my timetable. *insert fist pumping action while jumping into the air*

 First things first, I should be making vlogs soon, but my editing skills are shit at the minute. As much as I would love to talk about whats been going on, the vlogs will have to wait as I don't have the patience to argue with my laptop about editing software. My bad.

 So I've been here for 5 weeks now. HOLY HELL! I honestly don't know where the time has gone.

 What have I been doing? Pretty much attending lectures and getting on with work, getting used to the Belgian lecture working format and getting to grips with Belgian life. It has been so much fun so far! As I said in an earlier blog, my one weakness as that I am a massive home bird and really missing my family. Oh, and British food! I would pay good money for some cadburys, a portion of chips from the chippy and a decent brew.

  So last weekend me and a few other ERASMUS students went  to Brussels for a night out. One of the best nights of my life! This special night had been organised called 'La Nuit Blanche' with loads of different things going on like street performances, ping pong tournaments and concerts just to name a few. We managed to get wristbands for 12 Euros that get you into the 5 biggest clubs in Brussels, and it was money well spent. To the left is one of the pictures I took that night, as are the two following pictures underneath.

 This wonderful image is myself enjoying my usual rum and coke, and also a beautiful Belgian beer. A note on the beer here, it is so much stronger than the stuff in the UK, and probably cheaper! Great stuff. I have no complaints. Except that I find I can drink it way too easily making me buy more! We ended up in an Electro/Techno club which was amazing. Great music all night, well, it must have been if we didn't leave the club until 6am. Plus the only reason we left was to get the train back to Mons!

This is me and some of the ERASMUS girls. (Here comes the soppy part) These girls are such a good laugh! I'm so lucky that I have made friends with them. Even though they all live together and I live on the other side of town, they always invite me and make me feel welcome in their home. This was taken just outside of a small cinema where this really weird silent German film was being played. I didn't understand it, at all.





So finally, my great news is that I am going to visit Mr Luke Hodgson in 3 weeks! Eeeeeeeek! I am so excited! (check his blog out http://lukesyearabroad.blogspot.co.uk) I'm hoping to get loads of pictures and videos footage to edit and hopefully put onto here to give a better feel of the ERASMUS life.

Until next week mes amis!

h, x

Getting my arse into gear.

Shit guys, it's been 3 weeks since I made a post. My bad.

I will explain why it has taken me so long to post this one:

1. My first week was spent moving in, meeting other Erasmus students and going to meetings at the Uni
2. We were told to attend any lectures we wanted in order to make our own timetable (which is a fucking ballache, I'll go into that later. . .)
3. I considered making this post as a video but seem to have lost all of my patience in the last 3 weeks


Before I go on, not everything I have to say are complaints. I'm having an amazing time! It's just the main reason I'm here, going to Uni, seems to be taking a long time to get sorted.



Making Friends

To meet people, I found a group on Facebook for Erasmus students to join who would be studying in Mons. People keep posting different events going on around the city so it has been really easy to get out and meet people. Luckily the first gathering was my second night here so made friends straight away, all from different countries. Some of us organised a trip between us and went to Brussels last weekend.

URGENT NOTICE: While you are here, travel as much as you can while you have the chance, you might as well :)




The Timetable Kerfuffle

As I mentioned, we have to organise our own timetables. Each module is worth a certain amount of credits, and we have been told by our Universities from our home countries how many credits we need to make up for. For me, it's 25 credits for the semester, yet some modules are worth 3 credits for the year and as I'm only here for one semester I have to half that amount of credits.

Does your head hurt yet? Mine too.

However, before I can ever start looking into adding up credits, I have to attend lectures and see if I like them. This would be okay if when I turned up to lectures they were actually meaningful to my degree, enjoyable, or there was actually a class and teacher in the room when I get there.

Now that we've figured out the system, I'm hoping to have a finished timetable by tomorrow.

I'm only worried about it because I have to send off a learning agreement with all of my chosen modules back to my University in the UK so they know I'm definitely here. 

BRAIN ACHE!




The Living Situation

I applied for halls of residence, and my room is huge! I have my own bathroom which is great, and a fridge which has come in handy seeing as the kitchen situation is diabolical. Basically, there is one set of hob rings in the kitchen. That's right, 4 pans can be on there at once, that's it. No oven, no microwave. Oh, and there are 20 of us on this corridor, so picking the right time to get in there and cook is a task in itself.

On the other hand, I am right in the middle of town so it takes me literally 2 minutes to get to the main meeting point or the high street full of shops (I timed it). The University is on the other side of town and takes longer to get to, but it's much better this way, I prefer being closer to the center of town.

To conclude, I'm having an amazing time! It's just that these difficulties on top of my homesickness has been getting to me. I'm sure when they get sorted I'll stop whingeing :)

h, x

1 day left.

Holy shitballs. In 24 hours time I will be heading towards the airport ready to embark upon my Belgian adventure.

I felt that for anyone reading this that is planning on doing a similar thing like a year abroad, gap year or whatever, I should explain all of the feelings that I an having right now:

anxiety - that I won't cope
sadness - that I'm gonna miss my family and friends so much
shock - that this is actually happening
realisation - that this is actually happening
worry - that I'm gonna get robbed, miss lecture or forget all my French

However, I'm hoping that all of these feelings will be overcome tomorrow bye the feeling of. . .

excitement - that I get to live in Belgium!

I feel thats it's just all come around so quick, and realising that I have to say bye to people for such a long time is saddening, hopefully Belgium will kick my arse into gear and I'll stop whingeing :)

Lets see how I get on. . . 

h, x

Don't leave things to the last minute.

I learned a very important lesson this week.

It has taken us ages to find time to book flights and a hotel for the two family members coming with me. When we finally get time to sit down and search and book things, turns out no hotels are available in Mons the day we plan on arriving. Perfect.

Solution to the problem, we find a hotel in the town over. Luckily, cheaper than any other hotels we'd been finding, so the money we've saved on hotels can be spent on the travel :)

So, this segments moral is "don't leave things to the last minute". Seriously.

PS. I'm thinking of doing vlogs and uploading them onto here instead of the mass typing and reading. For those who are genuinely interested (if there is anyone haha) let me know if I should stick to the typing or if the vlogs would be better.

Peace

h, x

The countdown continues

3 weeks until I move now, it's becoming all the more real. Having friends move out recently has also helped set the mood of me having to get my arse into gear. One friend moved to Germany 2 weeks ago and looking at her pictures on Facebook have made me look forward to jetting off even more! Another friend is heading to America on Sunday too. Saying my goodbyes to them has been hard enough, who knows what I'm gonna be like saying them to my family!

After 2 months of working, my working weeks have come to an end, giving me time to get myself sorted before Belgium and giving me the opportunity to spend time with family and friends before I leave. I'm quite the home bird, so having this time is especially important to me because my biggest worry about moving is how homesick I will get. I got homesick being at uni in the UK with an easy train ride home to see family, I'm really worried about how I'm going to cope over the next few months. Hopefully the Belgian beer will be a helpful comfort haha.

I've also been gathering skype addresses in order to keep in contact with friends moving abroad and staying in the UK.

I'm so nervous! I'm so excited! 

h, x

Saving my pennies. . .

I can already predict that the next year will include me socialising, expanding my language and visiting as much of Europe as I can while I'm out there. 


With this in mind, I got a job for the summer to make things easier when I'm out there. I was advised not to rely on the dates that are given to me that ERASMUS will send money, so having spare cash should help so I don't get stuck and have to beg parents to lend some money haha.


Although having this job means I've had less time to socialise this summer with mates around here, while everyones out partying and being hungover, I'm leaving early and working. I'm sure this will all be worth it though to have spare pennies in Belgium and Spain, and I'm sure the partying will be made up for!


h, x

Accommodation, check!

FINALLY. Accommodation is sorted for Belgium and Alicante, makes it feel all the more real now, I don't know if I'm excited or scared, bit of both.


Belgium:
Decided to check my e-mails last minute before I went to bed last night, only to find one from Mons University telling me I've been placed in University halls! So excited. Hit the jackpot as I've got my own bathroom with my room, internet access etc. Only 'downside' is the kitchen is shared between 15 people! I shared with 7 others in my first year of Uni at Bangor, but I don't care, more people to meet, more friends to make, more chance to practice my languages.


Alicante:
Thanks to my wonderful friend Luke (check out his year abroad blog www.lukesyearabroad.blogspot.co.uk) I have accommodation in Alicante. We're going to the same Universities but in opposite semesters, so when he moves out of the apartment in December, I'll take it over in January! From what I've heard so far it sounds great, double room in the middle of the city living with 4 or 5 other people, not sure exactly at the minute.




So, accommodation is sorted, which makes me extremely happy indeed. I'll keep the blog updated when I know more :)


h, x