Days to go.

Unfortunately this is my penultimate post about my Year Abroad. I return back to Britain on Wednesday, and I can't say I'm overly thrilled, I am going to miss Belgium. Like Darwin's Finches myself and the other English Erasmus have adapted to our environment and discovered the riches of being away from the anglophone world. For me personally, this has given me this perpetual feeling that I will return to Belgium one day and now travel, constantly travel. Being away from the UK has given me this new desire to see and experience more locations and places of interest. I will keep blogging of course. Provided I remember to; many apologies to those who do read this and for the lack of information/posts throughout this second half of the year.

Wednesday, Dad is coming to get me in the car via Eurotunnel and then I say Bon Voyage to La Belgique. I feel, unlike my Spanish, my French hasn't really improved as much as I would have liked it too. Here I seem to speak plenty of Spanish with my Espanolas and not enough of French, even when I am travelling in the North I will speak Dutch/Flemish/English and neglect my Francophonism. I've enjoyed being here nonetheless, despite my reservations after my "Spanish Ordeal" (as I like to refer to it), there have been so many opportunities that I've loved and taken up, and there are plenty more waiting for me (I hope) in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland, France, Luxembourg etc. Looks like my Summers are going to be  busy for the next few years...

What have I done recently? Well recently, since my last post, I have been travelling quite a bit as per. I have ventured far north again with Miss Friend and saw the Flemish city of Antwerp (Anvers/Antwerpen), which I can safely say is the most Germanic looking city I have encountered in Belgie. It fast became my favourite Belgian city, mainly because of the usual reasons; Architecture, Language, Shopping facilities, the museums there are fantastique with beautiful paintings by some rather famous Flemish and Dutch artists, such as Reubens, whose house we visited. There are some beautiful examples here (much like the rest of Belgium) of Baroque churches, demonstrating this style mainly through the belfries and spires of the Cathedral. I found my favourite bookshop EVER in Antwerp (as we all know I do love a good bookshop - bookworm...) called Othello. I highly recommend giving a look if you're ever in the area, it is located just by the Cathedral.

Travelling has also taken me to Liege, a city which I have as little to talk about as there is there to see. Liege (Luttich/Luik) is definitely a city you need to do your research for before you visit. I found it rather boring, despite the blazing heat (heat in belgium? Shocker eh?) that I had when I visited, I wondered the streets with my maps and guides without any idea of what there really was to see. I saw the general sites, Montagne de Bueren and Guillemins Station among others. It was highly overrated in my opinion, nonetheless with some research and some cultural intrigue I'm sure you reader would find it interesting and enjoyable.

My next adventure was only last week and was to Lille, France. France has become the 5th country I have visited on my Year Abroad, and unfortunately Lille is the only place I have had the chance to visit. Nevertheless, Lille it's is a glowing example of a Northern French City. The architecture surrounding the city is very typical of the region Nord Pas-de-Calais (or so I read). A very busy city there was plenty to do and see, so with myself only being there a day, I decided to go for a bus tour, rather lovely it was too, I managed to see everything I wanted and more, however, my damn camera ran out of battery. So not may pictures from Lille reader. You'll however be pleased to know, or at least take interest in the fact I swear I saw Hercule Poirot on my train back to Belgium! (If you don't know who Poirot is, read an Agatha Christie Novel!)

Yesterday I ventured with Charlotte again to another hot spot of Belgian tourism, and visited the town of Waterloo. Not much to see in Waterloo, but what is there is (for me at least) extremely enlightening and educational on an area I wasn't very clear on in not just Belgian, but British history too. We looked around Wellington's Head-Quarters and saw a delightful little Anne Frank Exhibit, then caught a bus to the Butte de Lion (The Lion's Mound), which we climbed all the 200 steps, so that we can see the battlefield of Waterloo, what a great sight that was, we could see for miles. A truly glorious view of the natural field of the low countries which seem so untouched by industry and change.

Sadly, last week, I was ill with the flu, and I wish I could say it was Man-flu, but no way was this that. I was soo ill that I couldn't go to Luxembourg City in Luxembourg (of course). Which is such a shame as I long so badly to visit the small Grand-Duchy, the last one in Europe. I have developed quite a fondness for the little country as I have been reading about it, quite a history it has had and how little people know about it. I will go, definitely, I just don't know when right now, but I'll find some time soon I hope.

Mons has given us some rather nice events this last week. Preparations had been made recently around the town for a festival called le Doudou or La Ducesse de Mons. A large festival that I must admit I haven't fully grasped the concept of, but there is loads of drinking initially, for about 5 days all the bars, restaurants and eateries in Mons open up outside and the Grand'Place, Marché-aux-herbes etc. are full of people from all over Wallonia. Saturday there is a large service in the Collegiate Church near the Gare (train station), and then there are processions on Saturday and Sunday, and finally on Sunday there is battle called Lumecon, which is the Battle of St. George and the Dragon. The Dragon has on it's tail some horse hair, which is dangled over the crowd surrounding the arena in which the battle is taking place (Grand'Place), is considered lucky and people scrounge for it. I caught one.

More soon readers, for my last year abroad post.

Cheeky Update

Bonjour tous!

Well... not much to report on Mons front recently, it's been very plain sailing since going back to uni last week. However, we have had some fantastic weather this last week! My large bedroom window has let soo much sunlight into my room it's been just marvellous. This weekend just gone the weather has been soo nice that Charlotte and I were invited by Emily and her housemates to a lovely Barbecue which we made Potato Salad for. Loads of fun there, particularly for me due to the fact they all speak different languages... Italian, English, French, German, Catalan, Spanish, Arabic and more... it's like our very own L'auberge espagnole.  Lovely day we had, we unfortunately didn't have Catriona with us this weekend, as she's been living-it-up in Roma, lucky thing she is.

Plans for the future. Off to Antwerp (Antwerpen/Anvers) this weekend, and once been there, I have further journeys planned to Liege and Waterloo in Belgium, and then all my Belgian based travelling is complete! With seven weeks to go before I live good ol' Belgique, plenty of travelling is needed! Particularly as the term officially ends for me in 3 weeks time. Where has the time gone. Besides going around Belgium still, I have further trips organised to Lille in France, to Luxembourg City in Luxembourg, and to finally Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Now, I have been to Amsterdam before, and it was fantastic, but despite this I did not have the time to see everything I wanted, so Charlotte, Cat and I are going for a long weekend to see the sites.

Wish I had more.... :/

Unfortunately, I have had to cancel trips again because of lack of funds. Bangor has very kindly removed our (SML 3rd Year) bursaries and thus I missed out on a grand this year... making money very tight. Belgium is not cheap. So when my loan and grant came in I ended up losing a lot of it to the dreaded overdraft, and unlike other times before now, I am refusing to touch it. So, after all necessary monetary requirements (rent and credit card) were removed for the next two months, I had what was left. Which wasn't a lot... manageable, but I could have done with a few hundred more, without sounding greedy of course. Thus, as a result, my trips to Paris, Italy (Pisa and Florence etc.) and Poland have been cancelled. Which I'm disappointed about to say the least.

On another note, my dissertation is not cooperating... silly thing. I'm hoping it will stop throwing it's strop soon and that I can get it sorted.

More soon readers.

Recent Video from Berlin.

Hi all,
So recently (March), I was in Berlin, Germany, where I was with a few friends for a mate's birthday, just enjoying ourselves really, and whilst we were there, we went to the East Side Gallery, among many other attractions of what I would consider my favourite european city. The East Side Gallery is one of the remaining parts of the Berlin Wall, or Die Berliner Mauer if you speak good ol' Deutsch, and is quite famous for it's artwork and for the fact that it is part of the ominous Berlin Wall, standing there as a reminder of Berlin's, and of course Germany's past. However recently there have been plans ahead to remove it and build apartment building. In my personal opinion this is wrong and the gallery should be preserved. I hate to see history being wiped out. When we arrived at the gallery, there was a demonstration/protest against it's demolition, and I took two videos (not fantastic). Have a look if you want.

More soon readers.

Video Blog

Hi all,

Please watch the video!

If you would like to see pictures, please go to the Photos tab at the top of page and have a rifle through my albums which I have uploaded for all my Year Abroad Adventures.

More soon readers.

Santiago de Compostela

Well I've been travelling again.

This time I went to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. I went there with the aim to meet up with 3 of my Bangor friends and a school friend. The flight was easy enough, I'm very well acquainted with Alicante Airport now, it lasted 1hour and 20minutes with Ryanair and Santiago Airport was simply to get through also.


The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was the cold. My goodness, I could see my breath, and also, the landscape. I got on the plane in Alicante and got off in... well I dunno really... I immediately thought that I was not in Kansas anymore. It felt like I was in Dublin or Bangor! The hills were literally of rolling trees, definitely in a Celtic Nation. I questioned Franky and Lyd several times whether I was in Spain or Ireland. Needless to say it was beautiful.

Franky met me at the airport, 2 hours late though, which wasn't her fault, the buses were a nightmare, and my phone was locked due to being never turned off since I bought it. Thank You Elaine Spillane by the way for coming to my rescue. Once I'd put all my stuff down in Franky's hall, we went for little walk, in the rain (Welcome to N. Spain), to the old town and got something to eat. After our mountain of food, we met up with Lyd and Jack and went to a house party which was full of Erasmus and Spanish from Santiago! Met some great people there, quite amusing and drunk also.

After a late night in a club, Franky and I went back to her Halls of Residence and got some kip. Cue Hangover. What a stinker it was. However in my opinion I clearly had a good night! During the next day, Franky, I and her German pal Jessica, went for a walk to show me the sights of Santiago... or the lack of them. There isn't much in the way of sightseeing there, however I will say this, The Cathedrol of Santiago is amazing. Truely breath taking. We also went to Alameda Park which is very picturesque and has a great view of the city. Then later on, we went to the Shopping Centre "As Cancelas", and there I saw Camilla Dorothy Schmid, so strange to see her in Spain, but very exciting to see her and her sister Elsa who was visiting too. I highly recommend Santiago for Erasmus if anyone is considering or has chosen it. 

Soo little time left!

Hola todos.
So it's been a shockingly long time since I did one of these so I'll do one now. It's gonna be a long one so I'd sit down.

MONEY
Eeekk, so it's happened, in the overdraft. I've been pretty terrible with money whilst at university, and this year I decided to be good, which I have been, or at least I thought I had been. Checked the Bank Statement today and in the overdraft by 400GBP. So so so disappointed in myself, particularly with such little time to go and all the travel arrangements I have. It's going to be a a boring few weeks for Lukas. I'm avoiding spending, as I'll be so far into it that I won't get out. I received a cheque from Insurance for my stolen items, but due to payments going through for Santiago de Compostela and going home and Valencia and Rent, alongside general spending. I'm back into it. So very annoyed with myself. I feel like I can't do anything because of this.

HOLLY
So my buddy from Bangorland came to visit my flatmates and I from Mons, seeing as she will be taking over my room when she comes to Alicante, it was a good idea for her to come visit. I'd been hyped up for a while as I have nobody else from Bangor here with me and it would nice to see a friendly face. We had a ball! We went out and had a few drinks, watched the EMA awards.... but sadly the stupid bloody 14N Strike meant her flight was cancelled and she has to go back to Belgium two days earlier than planned. Was annoyed to say the least, but we had fun whilst she was here, and my flatmates really liked her too! So there's a bonus.

FLAT
Internet is still not present in my apartment. *insert annoyed and fed-up comment* We have two new flat mates in the form of our Irish girls. Ella and Elaine, moved in two weeks ago and are in the double room. That's right, they're sharing a bedroom, the room is fairly small and is generally taken up by the two beds but nonetheless they like it and seem to be getting on fine. Nora has been in England for nearly a week, so the flat isn't quite full at the moment. Having the girls move in though has added soo much banter to my daily life, which is good as I'm missing my Bangor banter. The purchase of Board Games too has added an extra feeling of home in that piso at the moment. Farrell and I bought Monopoly and Twister, which we played during the Huelga General (The 14N General strike) as Uni was closed and everywhere was basically shut. However playing Monopoly in Spanish and not sober isn't easy, especially when you don't remember the rules, needless to say I was the first to lose.

IRISH
As you might already know, I have a few friends here who are Irish. Well I've managed to spend pretty much all my time with them now and it's awesome. I love Ireland as many people know, and these girls are like Spanish connection to good ol'Éire. Particularly loving my nice little supply of Barry's Tea that I'm receiving from them! I spent a whole weekend in Kate and Gemma's apartment three weeks ago. What a blast! Will miss them grately when I leave here.

UNIVERSITY
Nothing much is happening in Uni, other than I will have finished 3 modules by the end of this week! Woohoo!! I will only have my Catalan course left, which isn't going well I may add. For some reason I just don't gel with the lecturer and the language itself isn't easy, but after this week it's all I have left, which means only two lecturers a week, yay! However, they're both at 8am, nay!

TRAVELLING
So I have 3 journeys planned for the next 3 weeks! Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (TOMORROW), thursday to Saturday. Madrid, the capital, the week after, Wednesday to Friday. And finally Valencia, the week after that for the day on the Tuesday. Santiago I'm feeling really excited about! I'm going to visit some friends who are also on Erasmus there, Milly (a friend from School), and Franky, Lyd and Jack (from Uni). Santiago seems like a city which is rich in culture and architecture so I'm quite excited to see what it has to offer. Next, Madrid, Madrid being the capital of Spain, was an absolute must in regards to visiting, My friend Claire and I are organising it and we're hoping for about 2 more people to come with us, it's just finding them first. Whilst there we hope to see the Royal Palace, the Plaza del Sol, Toledo Gate etc. All in all, very thrilled about this one! :) Then the week after that, I'm heading to Valencia to visit another friend from Uni, Steph, seeing as Valencia is the capital of the region and not to far away I thought it would be ideal for visiting. I hear there is a lot to do in Valencia. I will keep you updated on my travels. Hopefully with some great photos too!! :)

Money, Money, Money....

Firstly, apologises for not being in Spanish... but I didn't have time to do the whole thing in both languages and I wasn't going to use a translator... I refuse.

ANYWAY....

Money. Money is such a big thing whilst living abroad, as it is in Britain too. However, when you're me, you're more worried as I have terrible money management, but HALLELUJAH!! This year, so far, I've managed to manage my money quite well! It's October and soon to be November and usually by November 1st, I'm waaayyy in the Overdraft worrying about Xmas. This time however NO! No no no no. I still have all my overdraft and a fair bit of money in my account! To say that I'm delighted with myself is an understatement.

So what has Lukas done with his money... trips. Having worked out my finances so that I couldn't touch my overdraft I decided to book a trip to Santiago de Compostela to see some amigos who are there. Also I've got my ticket home for Christmas. 22nd December I will arrive in Luton and hasta luego España!

Trips wise though has taken a down turn. I unfortunately could not afford a trip to Lille and Geneva to visit friends due to the expense. I planned to got to Geneva a while ago for around about this time, but the expense has got too great and I cannot afford it, but I plan to visit Switzerland some day, maybe when in Italy? ¿Quizas? I'm more annoyed about Lille as it was cheaper than Geneva and I wanted to Surprise my 4 friends who are living there at the moment! :( So very annoyed and sad about that.

Alicante wise, the weather is awful at the moment. Rain, cold. I have two blankets on my bed now. TWO!! I live in Spain and have TWO blankets on my bed... damn aclimatization. University is same old and no new annoyances have appeared. Laptop new! I have money now for my laptop (well not yet but I've been informed it's on it's way), so a new will be bought presently. I just wish I could say the same about the internet in my apartment... oh yes. You guessed it. Still no internet in my flat. Enough said, as you can probably imagine how I'm feeling. Stealing internet is still happening, but with two new flatmates moving in at the end of the month, our own Wireless is needed.

That's all for now readers! If anyone has spare €100 knocking about send it my way so I can visit my amigos por favor! ;)