Monday, 22 April 2013

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.

Monday, 15 April 2013

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.



Sunday, 14 April 2013

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.