Aye Mate!

Chapter 15: A weekend to remember.

Good evening boys and girls, thanx for stopping by.

Okay okay, so the end of week 6, means the beginning of week 7. Seeing as week 7 is reading week, the end of week 6 can be called the week 6 weekend, or the pre reading week party fiasco!

Saturday: I'm preparing myself and my suitcase to go to belgium. I take a shower, get dressed, have a quick microwavable mac & cheese, then rush out to take the last bus out of St andrews, with as destination... Glasgow. I arrive at Glasgow Bus station at about 11pm. As i wanted to make sure I got the right bus and the right time for my bus to Prestwick Airport, I asked someone around for confirmation. The answer the old, fat, short, glasgean(?) man gave me was "Aye!". And I smiled, thanked him, sat down and thought about the fact I felt like i was in a modern day pirate movie. of course, without the water, the boat, the parrot, de stealing, the jewellry, the sea monsters, the chests... Ok, basically just the Aye! made me feel in a story :)

I took my bus to the airport, got there. Dead Silent. I mean, there isn't much in Prestwick except for a WHSmith, a souvenir shop, a Starbucks and a Café. All of which were of course, closed.

You might wonder why it was important for me to have a more diverse environment. Well dear readers. I arrived at Prestwick Airport at about midnight, my flight was only leaving at 12, Half a day later.

And no, I am not a masochist, there was just no option for me to take an early bus and make it on time for my plane, as on sundays buses leave at 10am. And it takes me 3h to get from St Andrews to Prestwick. That was not an option.

Sunday: Well yes, after midnight, it's another day! So anyway, what I did, was sit down against a pillar, pluged my computer in and watched Planet Earth until about 3:30. Then I saw two men sleeping on the cafés couches. Luckily for me, there was a free couch! I then slept there until 4:30 and at 5, the café turned the music up so loud, in order to get us to leave. I of course, was too tired and too hip to understand what the hell they meant. So i just stayed there, lying, and enjoying the music -which i must say I thought was a bit loud- until someone came and knocked on the coffee table to signal me to leave. I never understood why. There was nobody that was at the café, so I wasn't bothering anyone, but even so, I moved, waited for Starbucks to open, and bought a latte and a muffin.

Then started the "stuff your barbour pockets with things that weight" because there was a 10kg limit, and when I weighted my luggage at home it was about 18. Sooo in the end, my coat weight as much as my suitcase. I had everything in there, nearly litterally, I had my computer cable, my phone cables, my adaptor, my wallet, a tshirt, biscuits, and so on... IT was amazing :)

Thankfully the plane was on time! and When I landed, as I hadn't checked my luggage in, I was out in a second. Saw my mother waiting for me there, and rejoyced at the fact my long journey was about to be over.

I got home, texted Olivier a couple times, still with my not-so-much of lie that I was going to Glasgow on Saturday. Only thing I told him was that i was staying there for the weekend and coming back on sunday afternoon. So i was still talking to him in a general way, asking him what he was doing and such...

At first my plan was to wait for him after classes, wait for him in front of his uni. But I was home, and it was 3pm, and the thought of being so close, distance wise, to him and not seeing him for over 24hours did not please me. Soo I asked my mum to bring me there and, after making sure he was home, I rang on his doorbell. It took him a while to get down, at first I thought he wouldn't open because he wasn't expecting anyone, or that he woould look through the eyepeep hole thing, so I kindof hid. And eventually he opened up. Stood there, silent, holding the door with a facial expression that looked roughly like "ö". And then I kindof move inside the house (omg i invited myself in!) and then he grabbed me and kissed me. Then said something like "when I was coming down the stairs I thought "could it be her" but then i said "nah what am I thinking, she's in glasgow" and now, you're here!". IT was an amazing moment. being surprise and surprising is something i love. When the surprise is actually something you would be happy about.

I slept there that night because we were going to do something the next morning.

Monday: Well that thing, was horse riding. Well no. I lied. He was going to do have his dressage coaching, and I was going to watch him be pretty on horseback.

we get there, I enter the piste and I see his Godfather, who, not knowing me says "I'm Pierre!", so i replied by "Hello, I'm larissa", so he said "aaaah so it's you. Sorry about that, it's just that i asked him yesterday when you were coming back and he told me the 20th of december, so i was quite confused as to what girl he was bringing in!". It was quite funny.

Anywhoo, after proving myself right, and seeing how well Olivier actually rides, we went back home, ate, and then we went to his lectures. Accounting. Truth be told, it was immensely boring. So what we did along with Raphael, was do sudokus and crosswords.. for two hours. Also, we were scheming an evil plan to disgust "the redhead". (nb: the redhead is a redheaded girl who was hitting on olivier, and dissing me openly to him. anyway...).

So when the lecture was over, olivier went and talked to her, went outside and talked outside the uni building, I came after along with Raphael and Paula, a university friend of theirs, passed in front of the redhead, interrupted their -certainly very deep- conversation by kissing him. The whole thing was to look at her face. Apparently it was amazing and undescribable, i'm just dissapointed i didn't see it. :(

The rest of the week: was just me catching up with friends, going out, having fun, and not working, at all. Despite the fact that I had taken my two heaviest books with me, which probably would have saved me 5kg, had i left them in st andrews.

Friday: I was leaving today to go back to St andrews, i chose friday instead of sunday, because i have an essay due monday, and i knew i wouldn't do it during reading week, so i gave myself a weekend worth of writing.

Olivier came with me to the airport and, it was, yet again, very hard to leave him there.

I got back to st andrews at about 7ish, and as hard as it was to leave belgium, i was happy to be back. That's because it's St Andrews.

Saturday: I was supposed to work, and i can't work when it isn't tidy, so i tidied my whole room and then went to the library and got the movie i was about to analyse -Titanic- and a few books to help me. That night I watched titanic and wrote the front presentation page for my work.

Sunday: I wrote my essay, procrastinated, alot, drank about 5 liters of tea, and watched my titanic moment probably about 23 times. It was not the good way to work, and I am not expecting a high mark. I'm not expecting anything. :)

Well, that is finally it!

Have a tight night Boys and Girls, and Stay Classy!

Buff yourself up, smile, stand still...Click!

Chapter 14:  a rush of blood to the brain.

It's week six boys and girls, I'm half way trough my semester! It went by so fast, I seriously feel like i've only been there 2 weeks. So much happen, and there's a world wide famous sentence that states "time flies when you're having fun". Well well, I guess I can say that I'm having great fun at this amazing university.

To be honest with you, everyday I say to myself, that I couldn't have picked a better university or lifestyle for me. This was the best decision I've made for my life so far. And it will influence it greatly, and positively!

Tuesday, I had my first photo shoot for the calendar. The shot was really hard to take. well no, you just had to put the model where she had to be and press the little black button. What I meant by that is that the surroundings and mise-en-scène, if I dare say, were really un-photogenic! In the end I think the picture turned out quite well.

At about 3 on that same day, I figured since the NHS is being such a sweetheart to my health, I'd return the favor. And so I went and donated a pint of my sweet sweet blood :)

I felt the needle go in, but it was just a split second sting-y feeling, nothing to worry about. At the end of the bloodsucking, if I can say so, they keep you lying down to make sure you don't make sudden movements right after, and then they send you off to drink sodas and cold drinks along with eating cookies. you have to recreate all that blood you just gave away!

I was expecting to feel like fainting or something like that, but nothing. I was pretty impressed at myself. although I felt a bit week for german, but that might not be because of the donation! 

later on, before dinner the two callums wanted to have their shot taken in the Eden Court staircase. the shot was really funny to take and I find it comes out amazingly good/funny. :)

Callum H was so excited about it, he couldn't stop telling everybody he met that they were going to shoot for the naked calendar.

I went to rent some dvds at the library that I would watch during the night until 5am, when the results of the us elections would come out. I watched billy elliot and letters from iwo jima. And then at 501 I looked online, and to my greatest pleasure saw that the world had now turned a new blank fresh page, as Obama had been elected President of the United States. I could now go to sleep in peace.

As a matter of fact, I slept in such a peace that I forgot I had my film tutorial and so, missed it. And that was the stupidest thing I could do, ever. It was probably the most important tutorial, THE thing I shouldn't miss, and I missed it. Now I don't know how I'm supposed to write my 2000 word essay for week 8. Doomed I am, Doomed!

But wednesday wasn't all bad, apart from missing my tutorial, not going to archery and having a semi town-wide blackout that caused me to not have tennis, I had a good day! I finished my Arabic assignment, and I passed an audition for a film. It was pretty funny. I don't care if I'm taken or not, I had my go at the audition, had a nice time, and the film looks really funny so I'm looking forward to watching it.

Thursday I had three extra calendar shots, including in the one of my own roommate.

First one was a shot with the rand piano, the second was in the green room, with only a book to hide the genitalia. The third one was Chrissi behind the kitchen counter right next to our master chef Don. The best part of this shoot was not the actual Chrissi getting naked and Don most probably seeing her so, no. The best part was when Chrissi was dressing up again and Don went "well, I guess I'm going to need a cold shower now". You should've seen the look on Ben and my face, it was amazing. an unforgettable moment.

Friday before lunch I had my very last shoot, it was meant to be in the tv room, but it was just too uninteresting that I took my male model upstairs to the bathroom and I opened the window and had him stare out. I'm quite, very, satisfied of this photo. 

I will end my post here because from friday onwards, it doesn't belong in the same chapter, as it's not the same atmosphere AT ALL.

Cheerio!

xx Lar

Its that time of year, when you can be a nature smoker.

Chapter 13: Brr.

Yes boys and girls, it's becoming quite chilly in St Andrews! It's still pretty nice weather, but since there are no clouds, it's a wee bit cold. Time to get your gloves, mittens, hats and scarves out!

Monday nothing really interesting happened apart from the fact that I'm now an official photographer for the Naked calendar. Exciting!

Also, Arabic is becoming harder and harder as we speak. the plural forms are mostly "irregular", or Broken Plurals like the teacher prefers us to say. We're actually starting to make sentences now... sure it's nothing particular but it's a start!

Tuesday's screening was The Conversation by FF Coppola, very interesting film, quite long but it did indeed help understand all the different sounds there are in a film.

At Wednesday's archery we learned how to "perfectly" hold our bows by making slings, or however they're called, out of shoe laces. Now that's what I call recycling!

Later I had an Arabic study group with Joely, Rachel and Travis. Truth be told, it was actually useful, and fun. So that works out well. :]

Also I forgot, today I had my presentation on Sound. I don't think it was amazing, but at least it's not graded, and OVER. 

Thursday I had a great Polo lesson. We were only three, that means that we had more time on actual horses. I find this is important. Sure it's important to practice on the wooden horse, but on there, the horse doesn't move, and neither does the ball. So you don't really get the challenge polo actually is. You can do great on the wooden horse and be shit on an actual horse, because they don't always position themselves how you want to according to the ball.

Saturday I visited a flat on Howard Place, and I fell in love. with it. It's so beautifully lit by the sun, it's got three sides, so there is A LOT of light in it. It's newly refurbished with 3 rooms, a bathroom and an en-suite shower room. Basically, it's amazing!

The agent was really nice too, that's always a good thing :)

Then I had my eye test, for free, because the NHS covers it. Long live studying in Scotland!

Truth be told, I'm glad I had the good news of not having to pay, because I had the bad news of knowing I went from -.5 to -1.5.

But then I got another GREAT news: I won't have to pay £83 for the glass lens! because I'm under 19 and, yet again, the NHS covers that. NHS <3

As you can tell, I didn't have too much going on this week.

I would like to give kudos to both Oliviers for sending me a letter each. Seeing that I have post lights up my day, it's crazy. It truly is an ego booster, hehe.

Anywhoo, that's it for week 5. only 7 more to go.

night night,

xx Lar

Get ready, set, Work!

Chapter 12: All work, and...play!

Who are we kidding boys and girls?

I'm at university now, it's not school anymore, where it sometimes had to be all work, no play. but here, nuh uh, that's not even an option! you'd depress without some fun in between your work. Or more likely, some work in between your fun. :D Even the nerdy/geeky kids have their fun by playing their video games or whatnot. No, I tell you, University isn't work, work, work. Sure, you've got to do it, and mostly you don't (I do, don't worry) unless you know it's going to be graded, then you do. Still, if you need between a 5 and a 7,5 to pass, you're not too worried ;)

Yeah, about that, who said uni was hard as sh*t? Not here! It's not easy, and it IS challenging, but we can't really call freshman year "complicated" or "hard", unless you're talking about your relationship status. Because, yes, for most people here, it will be complicated, or hard to get/keep someone. Anyway, I won't have that problem either. I've got all I want, and all I need in a wittle town called Brussels. Number 194 in the avenue of the... wait, I won't tell you where my one and only lives, you might stalk him and try to steal him from me! I wouldn't let it happen anyway :] I'm too attached.

Anyway, 4th week, and yeah I'm getting more work. There's the usual german homework, like you would get when learning a language back at school. And then there's that Arabic homework, which is not actually given to you. This is the tricky part about uni, you've got to invent your own homework in order to follow up. But if you get a good rhythm since the beginning and follow up to what you've told yourself to do, then you're just F-I-N-E. Except sometimes, I don't. But then I catch up. :) I had a 16 in my previous class test and the one from week 4  I got another 20. I improved! Anyway..

I'm going to be a photographer for the McIntosh Naked Calendar, which could be quite a big laugh. I'll tell you more about it when we get to it. Or even decide what the theme will be. Because at our meeting we vaguely had the idea of doing  "a night out in St Andrews", which would involve taking naked pictures in our favorite bars and at Empire, our local kebab, pizza, fries place for incase you get the munchies late at night. 

My tuesday screening was Alfred Hitchcock's "The conversation", really good movie, great actress, you should watch it. It's not scary like "The Birds" :P

Wednesday's Archery was cool because there were less people, so more play. I mean, more shooting. :) We were also explained all of the parts and functions of the Bow and all those extra accessories. Needless to say that I can't remember any of the names, and I might remember half of the functions. Anyway, our coach's point was : A good bow, costs a hell of a lot of money! (all in all hers was +£1000)

Tennis this time was rather fun, even if it did start drizzling in the end. I tested out my new super skill of the good raquet holding position, which worked like a charm, and that rubbery thing to stop the vibrations (that Tom nicely bought for me. I mean no, he went to buy it for me, and then I paid him back) works great!

I played with Maria-Christina, a lovely Italian girl who's also in my Film tutorial group.

When the two others left, we actually continued playing, and since we're not pros we kind of hit the ball to the far left/right, causing us to run, A LOT! That's how I hurt my left leg. GREAT!

Thursday I went to rent some dvds because I thought it was about time for me to start my Film tutorial presentation. I only watched them on Friday morning.

Oh sorry, I watched Mulholland drive (if anyone understood this movie, please post a comment). That was the weirdest and most confusing movie of all times, that I have seen. and the music just puts you under a lot of stress. Gee, thanx David Lynch, that's just what I need!

Then I watched Rosemary's Baby, which is referenced as a Horror movie, and so, if it is, I am proud to say that it might actually be my favourite horror movie. You should know I don't like horror movies and thrillers, and I make it clear to everyone that if you want to watch one of those with me, I promise you I will ruin it for you. They're so predictable (except for mulholland drive, crazy shit right there) and stupid.

Anyway, long story short, none of these worked for my presentation about sound.

Friday I had my Polo lesson with Laura from last time, Joely and Harriet, and a new acquaintance Tom something. really nice guy. Smiley too. That's always great!

After coming back and not missing the bus (btw we took the exact same one to go and come back, nice driver we had!), I went to hall to save my radio text and just took my computer to the station.

It was a fun experience actually being in a closed space with plenty of microphones and having to read the news for XX of people to hear! I had too much to read and too little time though, so in the end my throat was so dry and I was in a desperate need for water.

On sunday I collected 3 new movies, Ucho/the ear, for my film thing and Saturday night fever and Manhattan for my own pleasure. but if they actually seem more interesting to use, I might do that.

Anyway, that's all about my week. :)

Good night,  dear people!

xx Lar

Not so fresh anymore..

Chapter 11: Uni's becoming more uni and less summer camp.

Good Day Boys & girls!

It's my third week of Lectures here at St Andrews!

Monday, Second Arabic CT, this time it wasn't just joining the letters, there was an additional dictated word, which I failed because it's so damn complicated to decide which s, t, d or h to use because there's two of each! I ended with a 16 though, it's not too bad, except that i'm really dissapointed with myself because 3 of the mistakes were identical and just so so stupid. But at least now I know i'll never make them again!

Omg, then at lunch, I picked up a parcel with my name on it. Of course it was sent by an angel living in Belgium but I was NOT expecting it. Oh how good I felt! 

See Olivier sent me a Tshirt that says I heart you, just like those I heart NY ones. And he has one, and then I totally didn't connect that fact with the one where he asks me my size. what a dumdum I am!

Anyway, the tshirt fits great, and now me and him have matching tshirt. So cheesy, yet so adorably sexy. :P

With the parcel, a cute little letter that smells of him. It's magic.

Also, I look pretty stupid in the dining room, when I pick up my letter and smell it like I'm some sexual deviant. But I just can't help myself (for loving yououououou...).

At my RP meeting I gave my idea of a parody of a suicidal student  movie and the president Naysun and others thought it was a good idea, so now I have to write the script and off I am. But first, I have to write the script, I know I just said it, but I insist on this crucial part of making a movie. I'll get to it sometime, don't worry, I'll tell you when. :)

Then Tuesday I had my Child Protection training for Families First, now all I have to do to get started is ask my Family (notice how the word family doesn't take a capital letter, in english, in German however, each and every noun takes a capital letter, and we're so brainwashed to "NOT forget the capital letter for nouns" in class, that now I even do so in english!) in Germany if they're willing to be my referees and then off I am! I can't wait to have a Befriendee!

The screening was Nobody Knows, a Japanese film, the plot was awful, as in "omg that's awful what's appening to you", and it was actually based on a true story, but I didn't really like the cinematography. It also was just too long.

Wednesday, sports day! I went to Archery for the first time, it was pretty good! Clearly i'm not shooting in the gold just yet, but i hit some red and blue! The target hierarchy goes as follows from best to "worst": yellow/gold, red, blue, black, and then whether you hit the hay or hit the floor it doesn't matter, it counts, or doesn't count, as the same.

I left a little early to be able to go back to hall and get my iPod, because I had to go to Polo and i was in a for a one hour bus ride to Kinross. I had already changed into my attire before going to Archery so I didn't have to worry about that.

We got there and I only had my rugby shirt and it was freaking windy, so Thom Bell, our Polo instructor, was nice enough to lend me one of his jackets. After all the paperwork was filled, and I had written down for the millionth time who my next of kin was, we all went to the stables to mount the wooden horse.

I, the newbie, got the privilege of going first. It's true, the stick is indeed heavy if you hold it in any angle other than 90° or 270°, that's why you see a lot of Polo players with their sticks resting on their shoulder whilst getting to wherever the ball is.

This time I learned only the off side swings (off side= right side when mounting, near side: left), the half swing, the forehand and backhand swings.

Anywhoo, after each of us (4 of us) had our turn on woodie the wooden horse, how i like to call it, we had a small, arena Polo "match", and my partner and I won! I actually scored too!

We were done by 6.20 and we had to rush off our horses to get to the bus station, but we missed the bus, so we had to order a very expensive taxi to get back to our dear little St Andrews. Of course that means that today I didn't go to Tennis...

On friday, I had a 6 hour long Sexual Health seminar in order for me to be a Sexual Health advisor and Condom distributor. I now know all forms of contraception, in different shapes, sizes, tastes and colour. As well as I know most of the signs for STI's and on top of that, I know exactly how a pregnancy test works, and if someone asks for one, I have to assist. 

Gotta love all that extra necessary knowledge! (ps: an advice for people, chocolate has a very strong and very very chemical scent.)

I also had my News Team introductory meeting for Star. Nothing too special but I'm really gonna get involved in the radio.

I think either Friday or Saturday I got my third letter from Olivier, Oh joy, joy, joy! I think I might've sniffed it so hard that all the small went away. Oh well! omg it's so divine though. 

I wrote back and had my mum be the mailwoman and bring it to him. :) Kudos for mum!

Then on the weekend, my mum came! I showed her around and we had a little scottish shopping, this means she got some pleads and I got me a barbour-like jacket! We tried out a couple restaurants and cafés, which was really cosy and nice, and of course, it's my mother, so we had to look at houses and flats for sale! We saw some pretty nice ones that I'm going to have to visit some time. It would be great if we got one of the ones we saw, they're just B-E-A-utiful!

Also, on saturday night, I played a little Twister with Eilidh and Guy, it was  pretty funny. Guy kept pushing me so I would fall, but in the end I won, Yay!

And saturday night, Ellie had the great idea to propose a swim, so I went along as Photographer, and we ended up taking illegal pictures on the Swilken Bridge, probably one of the most famous bridges in the world! It's tiny and cute :) But you're not supposed to step on it at night.. Of course rules are there to be broken, and we're young and mostly stupid, so what the heck! Let's live life on the Wild side, we've only got one!

I didn't get much sleep this week, so it felt more like what people said uni felt like, you feel like taking naps all the time, and you do! 

I ♥ naps!

Anyway, tootles!

xx Lar

Oh Wow there's a difference between 1st and 2nd

Chapter 10: Week 2.

Hey hey Boys and Girls! 

It has been 6 days since I've written here. There's just too much going on, all the time. I find it hard to take just a few minutes to write about my day, so I'm pretty sure this is how it's gonna be for a while, me writing about my week. I'm going to try to only tell the stuff that might actually interest you, and not the whole of what I've been up to for the week. So just because I only tell you "on tuesday there was a huge fight and I was involved, and I sent to guys to the hospital. Wednesday..."(this didn't happen), it doesn't mean that is ALL that happened. No. There is so much happening in a day in the life of a St Andrews student, you could probably write a book about that day.

So far I must tell you, there hasn't been much drama to be honest. None to be precise, or at least, as far as I'm concerned. However, gossip there can be. Alot. And people LOVE it! :]

Alrighty, here goes nothing.

I'm terribly sorry, I can't tell you what I did the previous weekend, as I simply can't remember it. No, I wasn't drunk. So much happens to me everyday, it's hard to remember it all! I find I should be forgiven.

Oh yeah I remember, I went with some friends to watch the end of the Championship. 'twas niice! And after that, I escorted tom for his Sunday swim, and we met Sarah on our way there. 

later he and I went around St Andrews to take some pictures of the Quad and such places...

Monday I had my very first Class Test (CT), and it had to be in Arabic. I didn't study too much, just went over the letters and what they look like in each position. I thought it went well. And I had a great feeling, because when my tutor gave me my test back on thursday (i'm writing this here instead of under Thursday, because yeah I can.) I saw a bright red 20 sitting there, at the bottom of my page. And yes, marks are always out of 20. Just like my good Ole' days at the Lycée!

Then, I went to my first Rogue Production meeting, and I'm getting quite excited about filming and making a movie, only problem is, I don't feel like writing the full script. So there might be a problem there... But no worries, I have confidence that during Reading week or everyday I will write a bit of it. I just need to get my plot right and start. That's always the hardest part, the start...

Tuesday I had my Fire Warden meeting, and yes I will be a Fire warden which basically means that I get a board and a pen and I go "room number please, Check" and so on and so on until I've gotten everyone on the floor I was assigned to. It's not a complicated job, however seeing "Fire Warden" on a CV, is pretty intense. :p

The screening this week was Singin' in the Rain. I love that film! And of course the Singing in the rain scene, it's just brilliant. Gotta love Gene Kelly!

Wednesday, after lectures and lunch I took Tom's camera, that he so kindly lend me, and I walked about the whole of St Andrews taking pictures until there was no space left on his memory stick. I was at it until 6 using my sunglasses as a filter and climbing walls in order to take "that perfect shot". It was quite fun, I love it, and I'm quite satisfied with the photos I took. I'll try to post them here somewhere, sometime.

Also, I had my first Tennis session. It wasn't, and won't ever be anything special. As it is freestyle tennis, by that I mean, there is no coach, so you're just playing with whoever is there, and you're not even playing a game or anything, you just hit balls.

And since I haven't played tennis since I was 12 (because that one time in Carqueiranne doesn't really count:] ), so I couldn't hold my raquet properly, and so, hurt my wrist.

But luckily, my dear darling of a boyfriend explained and showed me the proper position of the hand on the raquet via Skype. How adorable. I also need a little thingamajig to stop the vibrations. whatever they're called!

Thursday, apart from my lectures and tutorial, I went to RBS to enquire about the £13 that were taken from the money that my father wired me, turns out and intermediate bank thinks it's fine to just take some cash from the total sum that is supposed to get to me. What bitches.

Friday, I arrived at the end of the EuroTrash magazine meeting, but still the guy was nice enough to explain to me the criteria for writing and such. I'm thinking about writing about Belgium. :) It was foreseeable! I'd talk about all the good stuff, ie. cheap beer, amazing chocolate, DJ Tiësto... 

This time, I don't know what i did during the 11-12/10 weekend. No clue, what so ever. It mustn't be very important I guess. :)

Well that's all for Week 2, which was, alot fuller than week 1, but still, I didn't have that University stress feeling. Not yet... I'm sure it'll come, even though I don't want it to!

Good night sweet peeps, I'm off.

xx Lar

This Is How It'll be for A Semester

Chapter 9: Week 1.

Alrighty boys and girls, my first week of lectures is nearly over (I only have one lecture today, at 4) and now I know how I'll be spending my weeks. Well not exactly.

Week 1 was the week of enrollment, first sessions, introductory meetings, sports trainings etc. So my weeks will never be as filled up as this one was. I had so much to do, I didn't know how I was gonna manage doing it all.

Monday I had my three classes and the Riding meet. Nothing much, not too hectic.

Tuesday, 2 lectures, 1 screening and 4 activities (as I call the meets/sessions/etc.). How to manage to do it all. Let me tell you this now, I couldn't. However, I managed to do all but one, which I can postpone: screening. I can just rent or watch the DVD in the Library.

After my second Lecture, which was German, I head up to the Union for the introduction to STAR (St Andrews Radio). It lasted about 45mn, and was quite helpful/useful, whatever.

I came back to drop my stuff in my room and immediately after I arrived, Tom came in. Then he wanted to drop his stuff so we both head down to his room. It was 6 O'clock. For some odd, odd reason, that I can't figure out, we started looking for the longest and highest bridges in the world and locate them on Google earth. At 6h55 we decided to head out for dinner. Problem was, dinner is from 6h15 to 6h45, and we totally forgot that, we inverted it with the lunch times which are from 12h45 to 1h20.

We meet Alex on our way who tells us it's no use to go because all the food will be gone. He also didn't have dinner. Never mind Alex, Tom and I ran the E corridor, up the stairs, D corridor, down the stairs to the dining room. And we enter it just as they ring for seconds. We were so happy.

As we sat down I remembered that at 7 I had the Polo meet (and the screening, and the go meet.) So I swallowed my dinner in 5mn, ran out of Hall, to the Rule on South Street.

I get there on time, because it wasn't a meet, it was more like a pay and sign up thing.

When that's done, I don't stay for the drinks and fun, I run to the Union for my go meet. I learn and play a little go and at 9 I'm pretty knackered and decide to head back to Hall.

On my way back I decide that I'm not going to sign up for Go, as I already have so much to do as far as sports, societies, volunteering, and I should eventually and occasionally work too.

I also meet people who told me the film was crap (Night Watch) so it's not like I missed a movie to see on the big screen, on a computer it should do just fine!

Wednesday before Arabic I go to RBS to pick my debit card up, but they are so friggen slow, that I only got it at 10h57-ish and so had to run out and run to my Arabic lecture. I hate being late. I came in after everyone was seated, but before Fabio was in, so that was good timing too.

After the lecture I signed up for my tutorial and immediately went to the Union to audition for this "professional film" that some people are filming in association with Rogue Productions.

'twas pretty fun, I had to be insulted by two drunken idiots with no future(NB:that were their characters, not the actual guys). It was great fun. I don't expect to be chosen though. hehe.

Then I come back at about 12h50, I change to my riding stuff and am ready to head down to get a packed lunch. 

I didn't know you had to sign up for them, so it was a little bit of talk before they actually gave it to me, but eventually the lady was nice enough to give me the wraps.

I ran out for the sport center as I had Archery training for novices from 1 to 3. It was 1 when I left and I made it to the science buildings at 1h10 by running. Then I stopped and figured there was no way I would have time to do archery and run back into town for 1h30, when we were gonna leave for team trials. So I just immediately walked back for that.

It was a 5mn drive there and we each got an average of 5 minutes on a horse. They only had 5 horses for about 25 people. Plus they paid £15 per horse (ie £75 total) and we EACH had to pay £15 for trials. We were ROBBED!

I head back into town, and Casey (the girl who drove us there) was nice enough to drop me off just in front of Baptist Church where I had my Training for Befriending at 3. Wasn't late. Woot!

It lasted two hours, was quite interesting, and I'm looking forward to being a befriender. I must tell you right now that I won't be able to give details of my time with the kid, or about the kid itself, because I have sworn confidentiality and I don't want to be kicked out of the program. So yeah, sorry about that. You'll know some things obviously... don't worry.

Later in the night I had the Rogue Production (RP) meeting, and that was quite interesting too. I talked to members of the committee and they're absolutely adorable (as in nice) and one of them actually proposed I get on the committee. This would be really rad as I'm really into this society. I want to try EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. I've sworn to that. Editing, acting, producing, directing, whatever, you name it, I'll do/try it!

In the evening I just sat in the common room, quoting Anchorman with Hannah and watching Eilidh and Kirsten be drunk, and wasted, and pass out on the couch, and other really funny things.

Thursday I just had my three lectures and my Arabic tutorial. German for beginners is beginning to annoy and bore me, it's going to slow for me. The problem is they can't put me in the intermediate class as I have not studied German at school, so I'm stuck with reciting the alphabet and such right now. Yawn.

I was meant to go to trampoline but I decided not to go as the trampoline training times were clashing with tennis for example and as I thought "when will I be able to bounce other than at uni?". Instead I stayed home and talked to my beautiful lover. <3

And some "Newsteam assemble" in the common room.

So now I have 4 sports, 4 societies and 1 volunteer work. Oh and 3 modules. :] let's not forget what we're here for.

Friday, after breakfast I get dressed, and Chrissi, Camron and I head to the Dunhill Links Cup. We are on a quest. A quest to find three people: Luke Wilson, Hugh Grant and Samuel Jackson.

I saw them all! omg yes!

First I saw Hugh up close. He was standing 1 meter away from me, on the other side of the barricade. I tried not to stare but I did smile at him and he smiled back, so he's not one of those who think so highly about themselves and so low about others.

Then Samuel had to tee off, it wasn't a really good shot to be honest. He was hiding, well no, actually maybe he was realllly cold. After all, they ALL had mittens on. And I can tell you, as I was freezing my hands off, that it was pretty windy and chilly. BEAUTIFUL day out, but icy cold.

I was making my way back to Hall when I noticed it said "WILSON" on the teamboard, so I figured he was playing. And indeed he was. His ball had landed in the bunker. It was the funniest thing. 

He goes in to hit, hits the ball, gets all the sand in his eyes and sadly, the ball falls right back into the bunker as it was kind of a cylinder, not a bowl or a little pond shaped thing. Second try. He learns from his mistake as immediately after hitting the ball, he turns around and curls up in a ball, as to not get any sand, and he didn't. On top of that, this time the ball was out. yipee.

After that I seriously made my way back into Hall and had a nice hot water bottle (HWB) waiting for me. aaaah the joy!

Also, totally unexpected, my Lover came online. Such a cutie, made a t-shirt in thought of me. (yes, yes, I know the "You" stands for me.).

Anywhoo, after lunch, we're heading out to see the Fab3 and take photos with/of them.

St Andrews, a student's paradise.

Chapter 7: Fresher's week.

It's saturday today. I've been here exactly 1 week and for some odd reason it feels like I've been here for a month or so. Those seven days we're quite busy so I didn't have much time to post anything, but today is a "quieter" day so I'm taking the time to summarize what's been good in the hood.

Saturday 20 September: I've already explained this day in the previous post but I missed out the whole evening part. Chrissi and I came back from our tour in time for Dinner, which was relatively early 5h45, and there was a HUGE line (it went till C floor.[A is the top floor] and the dining room is on E floor), like everywhere else in QueueTown, I mean, St Andrews. I don't remember what was for dinner, but it was surprisingly good. Everyone always said Hall food was only edible, not good. But then again, McIntosh was voted best food Hall, and it really deserves its title. So there is always one meat, one fish and one vegetarian dish, salads or sandwiches from which you choose one of, and then there's an open salad bar for all. Desert is either a cooked one (like melon meringue pie, rhubarb crumble with custard,..) or a piece of fruit. Then all of the meals have a "healthy living" tag and they have "foods for the mind", which basically mean a healthy choice for both your body and mind. Then, because that is not good enough, they have so many fairtrade things like tea, coffee, sugar, etc.

This reminds me that I need to tell you that St Andrews has so many charity shops like Oxfam, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research Uk, and much more, it's quite nice to see a whole town caring about such things.

Anyway, after dinner, Chrissi, Ellie, Andrea Tom, Alex, John and I went to the beach for a swim (Andrea and I didn't swim, we were holding everyones clothes, bags, towels..), 'twas pretty cold to be totally honest.

Then there was the Pub Crawl, which as its name clearly indicates is when you go from pub to pub until you finally nearly(or not) have to crawl to get to the other. We didn't have too much walking to do as when going out of one pub, you merely have to walk a meter or so to enter the second one. I don't know if I've written this already but St Andrews has a surplus of pubs, cafés, hotels/b&b & Golf Shops.

After that we went to the Bubble event in the Students Union. I was paid my entrance by a guy who probably felt like he had to pay for me (and Ellie) if he wanted to cut the whole line. After paying he immediately left. That's the way to go! haha. I didn't stay there too long as I stupidly got some of the liquid of those phosphorescent bands all over my sweater, and I was a bit tired from the Journey. I had a Gin & tonic that night in a cool flashy transparent plastic glass, which I took back home. I decided that each time I have a drink in one of those glasses I'd bring it back.

Sunday 21 September: I missed my first breakfast. It's from 9 to 9h30 on the weekends but I just slept in. 

My father arrived at about 12h20 and I brought in my extra luggage and then immediately went with him to Woolworths (or WW as I might later call it) to get some useful stuff for my room like pots, cutlery (yes I'm in a catered hall but Sat & Sun nights we have to cook for ourselves), food boxes, etc. We also went to buy some binders and other things I will need for working efficiently and in an organized way.

After lunch we walked about town a bit and then I went to my room to unpack whilst he went to the pub to watch the Ryder Cup. We met again for dinner, but we had to walk around for an hour before being able to be served at 9pm. Why so late? because my father insisted on eating some place with a TV to watch his Cup. How anti-social, since I'm in no way interested in watching that.

Anyway, at night I just went to the Union bar and hung out there.

Monday 22 September: My first breakfast, 8am-8h30: those chocolate rice crispies. (they also serve the normal ones, weetabix, bread rolls, sausage w/ smiley face potatoes and then you can take bread slices, porridge, or stuff from the salad bar if you wish too.

Today I had the welcome from the principal & Dean of Arts. What I remember from that speach: I was chosen from a total of 11 other students, which means by accepting me they rejected 10 people. You feel special but kinda bad for those unknown folks.

I also had the Film Studies talk. The lecturer, Elisabetta Girelli, was realllly into her thing, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be an awesome course.

I didn't do much today apart hanging out in the common room.

Oh by the way, I don't know if I explained this already but the Common Room is a very special place. There's a piano(actually two, but the wing one needs a key in order to be opened) and ALWAYS someone playing it beautifully, which is pretty amazing. all we need is a fire in the fireplace and it looks like a typical Posh common room. Well we might need to repaint the walls a beige-ish tone instead of the faded green that it is now, and have a bear rug and some moose heads hanging on the walls. But yeah.

There's always someone in there, like James who keeps reminding me of my origins by yelling "You're a Fleming" every time I pass by, at all times of the day and you can eat, drink (alcohol too), sleep (if you can with all the noise) play, talk or just sit there and do nothing. It's pretty cool and I'm not far away at all! Again, my room=> great location!

Tonight there was a party on E floor, in Alex's Room. It was cosy mosy.

Tuesday 23 September: today, the academic fayre. I went to try and figure out what course I'm going to take as a third module. I, was hesitating between computer science, psychology, sustainable development, music, geography and art history. 

Then I bought my books for Film Studies and German. The Film book looks amazingly interesting, it catches the eye, weighs a lot, but thank God I don't need to take it to class! And the German book, since they had to put me in the Beginners class because even though I could speak it, I didn't take German in school, looks like I'm going to have an easy semester. Super!

After that I had the welcome speech for International students. I yawned about 14 times during that speech and felt like sleeping, or leaving, but then I heard they were gonna give out a free sim card, so I stayed until the end. I also ended up taking 3 sim cards, just in case. 

They are the most amazing thing on earth! They were made specially for International calls so those cost less than national ones (for example, a landline or cell call to the USA is 4p/min whereas it's 13p for a landline/cell call in the UK, and even that is below average price!).

At night there was a party, this time on B floor (Boys Floor), in 3 different rooms. 

I was talking to Jake about the rumor of Emma Watson being in Sallies and all and he went mad crazy about it. He's in love with her and it was so cute/funny to hear him talk about it. 

later I was talking to Travis about modules and such and he said he was taking Arabic, so I thought "hmm Arabic, lots of countries speak that, it could come in handy". So, at about 10h30pm, I deliberately decided I was going to take beginners Arabic as a third module! As you can tell, I didn't look up Arabic whilst at the Academic fayre!

Wednesday 24 September: I went to WW to get those boxes for under the bed and in the cupboard. But I went back a little later with Chrissi, Sarah & Ellie to get some more for me and for them as well. Now it's so much easier to find things, and it's much much more organized. YAY!

After that, we went to East sands, which is a "long" walk, to do the sandcastle competition. Initially we wanted to make a cheese with holes in it and a mouse. then we thought of a doing a rocket, as our cheese wasn't looking like one really.. but that was for a split second before we thought of doing a hedgehog. Finally I proposed to do a turtle, and Ellie added that we should build his underwater kingdom too. We made a HUGE turtle, 3 baby turtles, 2 fish, an octopus and a "wall" of waves. We were really into our work of art and expect to be in the top 3. results are monday. dun dun duuun! 

On our way back we went to the catholic union's free tea stand to have something hot in between our hands and then head off for the Hall.

At night, I stayed in my room, talking to Olivier, as he wasn't feeling too well (my poor baby). There was another party at Alex's but it ended up being stopped by the wardens as there were people outside his window smoking. So I really didn't miss much. I'd much rather comfort my boyfriend in a period of hard moments, then being caught by the wardenial team and get something bad happened to me. (In the end nobody got anything, thank god!).

Then I went to the raisin, the Victoria, The union bar where I met Sarah and Tessa, and we went back to the Vic.

In the late night, I hung out in the CR (common room) with music and drinks, and some crips (chips for you non-uk people). Quite nice.

Thursday 25 September: Went to the careers center to get some info on getting a part time job. They didn't help much, they just sent me on a their site for more info. But! I got a goodie bag out of it.

then I went to the library to see if they knew what books I needed for Arabic. They did, but they weren't sure those were the ones for Beginners Arabic, so I decided to leave the £57 worth of books in my wallet and get more info on Monday. And I head of on the quest to find the post office, which is weirdly enough located inside WHS. From there on I went to Mermaids' tea party (the drama society) where I met Melissa who I now present as my Academic mum. She looks like a true 70's mum with the short necklong haircut, the pearl necklace, the clean look and the fact she's a redhead. Funky. She's reaally nice but I'll see if we get along and talk much. Otherwise I'd have to get another one, with whom I find more common things. Because I don't think Melissa and I have that much in common, but I mean I couldn't reject her after she asked me in public in front of 3-4 people, that would've been harsh and painful, and I'd feel bad. Anyway, I'll see what happens.

Later, in the common room James, Guy and I were singing "Rock Lobster" and "Peter's Gay Cowboy Song" from family guy. This led to us three watching "Blue Harvest" the star wars episode of family guy. At the end of that we were about 13 or so. Much fun!

I really should contact Gregor for the opening of our Family Guy Appreciation Society, It'd be PACKED with members, honest. That would be rad.

After dinner, 11 people and I were playing blackjack but we got tired of it so I proposed a game of Corsican War(with two decks of cards obviously), which was AMAZING! The first round lasted really long and in the end it was me against Dilara, I ended up winning, and my thumb was starting to be red. We immediately played a second round and this time there were quite a couple of people around us, just watching and commenting on the speed and force of the players. Seriously, corsican war at many is so much fun. In this one Guy totally scratched and opened his arm on the wooden table from when he reached out in speed to hit the cards. Again it was Dilara and me in a duel, I won in pain. My thumb was purple and really hurt! It goes with the game, you only notice the pain in the end. haha.

In the late evening, the Black event in the Students Union. I took a massive amount of the Glow bands and had about 9 on one arm, the others being hidden in my bag for later events. At the end, at 1am, I went out to the union bar when everyone was leaving, and I met a guy called Joe who had THE coolest tshirt, and there was this thing on him being my Academic dad, but first I had to answer some questions. In the end, I don't think he is, because we didn't quite have the chance to finish our chat as we were ushered out of the place. I had 2 drinks that night, but ended up with 5 glasses. yay, my collection is growing pretty fast.

I ended the night in the common room, and went to bed at 2h45.

The problem with the common room is that when I'm out, I come back and I'm knackered, but as I have to walk through the CR to go to my room, I always end up sitting on a couch and be there for another hour or more before I realize what time it is.

Friday 26 September: I went to the Volunteering fayre after breakfast and decided to join the "Families First" program. The point is to provide friendship and confidential support to families with children between the ages of 5 and 16 who may be experiencing stress and difficulties. I'm quite excited about it really.

That's pretty much all I did today. That and I also replied to a letter.

And and and, I talked to my lover, omg! :)

I didn't go out tonight, because there were no more tickets for the event and because I felt like staying in. So instead I did my accounting, calculated all I've spent, all I need to be reimbursed and such, and other fun stuff like that. 

Saturday 27 September: My first weekend breakfast! 9am woot woot! Its the same as the others, except it's later! I don't know if I already explained this, sorry if I did, but McIntosh is the only hall in which students are allowed to go to breakfast (or any meal) in their pyjamas. It truly is THE BEST HALL! 

Since I came back from B-fast I've been writing this post, whilst my roomie was still sleeping away her late night :)

Then we went for lunch and after that we all went to the sports fayre.

It took us 20 minutes to get there, that's the furthest part of St Andrews x]. It was cramped there and really warm.

I signed up for Archery, Polo, Riding, Tennis and Trampoline. They are not expensive at ALL! I think I'm gonna pay about £82 for all of these for a full year, plus the additional £33 for sports membership. But still £115 for five sports for a year is NOT expensive!

Then I'm back home, finishing this post before gong to the common room and see what's good over there. Or maybe quickly go to the post office, yeah I'll do that to get some Nomi credit :)

Anyway boys and girls, sorry for this HUGELY long post, but it's the same amount of reading had I written a bit every day. :)

I'm out, peace kiddos! Much love.

Scotland, dear Scotland.

Chapter 6: Arriving

Sooo I finished my bags at 22 past midnight and then decided to sleep for a bit even if I really didn't feel like it!

Then, as planned, I woke up at 5am, got ready and greeted Olivier and Raphaël, who woke up at 5am too to escort me to the airport, two of the most important people in my life!

At the airport, I got pretty freaggin' lucky because one bag was 31kg and the "carry on" one was 10kg, and I didn't have to pay the over weight AND could check in my second bag as the nice lady at the check in is the mother of a girl I used to go to school with. This kind of thing was THE thing I really needed. It would've been a bitch to carry a 10kg bag plus my backpack with my computer plus my blue beany pillow.

So the goodbyes were hard, but not as hard as I thought. The worst part came not too long after they left; when passing baggage check my stomach hurt and everything was all tight and cramped and when I walked into the aircraft I felt my eyes getting watery. Basically the Brussels-London flight is rebaptised "the emotional flight" and the London-Edinburgh one is "the excitment flight". It's weird but yeah, that's how/who I am!

Then I get to Edinburgh and I have to wait like 40mn till the luggage start coming out, and then it was pretty easy finding a way to go to St Andrews as there were like 10-15 students wearing bright blue shirts with flashy pink writings on them. All this for the bus ride to St Andrews!

It was not too long actually and when I got here, the three Chattaneers(McIntosh is commonly called Chattan) who were in that bus (that includes me) had to wait till 3:40ish for our luggage to arrive.

In the meantime I've had quite some hassle with the rooms, I'm in D15, but McIntosh hall has a D15 and a D15a room. Obviously, I was put in the D15a and the girl in D15a was put in D15. But we can't swap, so she had to move all of her stuff in the other room. For this I was lucky, again, I hadn't unpacked, as I didn't have anything to unpack really...

So the room has amazingly high ceilings, a GREAT view of some old houses and the beach + sea. However we are going to have a better view of that last thing in the winter, when leaves of the tree "blocking" our sight fall off! Overall it's a pretty good sized room, closet space is soso but there IS a possibility of installing drawers under the bed, so I'll do that.

It's greatly situated. This means if we open our door, we do one footstep, open another door and we are in the showers! So it's kind of like en En-Suite bedroom :) And the kitchen, who was recently redone, refurbished and all, is 5 meters away and AMAZING!

Last but not least: My roomie! Her name is Christine (but we call her Chrissi) and she's really nice. okay that sounds cheesy but it's true! plus we have at least one thing in common, she's about the same height as me. Mwahaha I won't be the smaller one now(I'm not the bigger one either..)!

We went out and she toured me through St Andrews in about an hour and a half, which was time enough to see everything there is to see! And I LOVE ST ANDREWS!

I'm pretty positive I'm going to have a hell of a good time here. And I can feel time is going to fly by so fast I'm not even gonna notice it's already summer holidays. This is amazing. I love it.

Start Spreading The News, I'm leaving...Tomorrow.

Chapter 5: Goodbyes

Any last words? Oh I've got plenty. There are so many things I'd love to say to my best friends, my boyfriend, my family... But it just doesn't all come out. This doesn't mean I don't love them all so much and will miss them greatly whilst I'm striving against the cold Scottish weather. 

It feels like I don't have enough time to trip and have some random jokes with friends before I leave, like I'm being torn apart to leave them. WHY THIS AWFUL FEELING?

I don't know why, going to St A was, IS a dream, and I'm DYING to go, seriously I can't wait to go and study, live and have fun there. I just wish I could have some of the people from Belgium there with me, at least 3 of them.

Today had the last night with my Beau. It gets me emotional to always have to used that stupid word, "last", I seriously feel like I'm dying. My "last" night, my "last" dinner. And today I had my "last" miniature shopping tour with Sasha (best friend). Man I'm going to miss our hour long talks about everything and nothing. But yeah, I'm not going to isolate myself in Antarctica or anything, so phones, internet and such will ALWAYS exist for communicating! yay to that.

I also saw Mathieu, one of my best friends with whom I've had some tensions since december, but we both agreed that I couldn't leave Belgium with us being on bad terms. And it all works out great. a little chat and some will made it all better.

I had such a great day today, I can tell it's my last one.

I don't want to think about tomorrow morning at the airport. But I'm glad Sasha is not coming, because that would have been TOO many people I love to be left behind all alone in Belgium.

Anyway,  my suitcase is full, but there are no clothes in it... that could be a problem. So I'm off figuring out how the hell I'm going to organise myself for that! xx