My Life

Photos

2008-12-10T19:30:00.001+01:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/tantespook/RigaErasmus?authkey=kdc_b409FEk#

Summary of the past weeks

2008-12-10T18:05:00.002+01:00

I wasn't in the mood to write a new blog entry... but here it is. The last weeks were good. My dad, my brother and his girlfriend came to visit me mid-november. We did the usual things: skyline bar, belgian pub, lido, walking around Old Riga and shopping. We also did some unusual things: drinking vodka-cola whilst playing card games and swimming in the aquapark of jurmala. We had a good time! I definitely enjoyed that extra long weekend... thank you national holiday!

My mother came on 5/12 for a couple of days. We did the usual things: skyline bar, lido, walking around Old Riga, shopping, shopping and shopping. We also did some unusual things: trip to Cesis, watching opera on TV and going to the Nutcracker. I think we visited over 20 shoe stores... :) In the end I found 2 pairs of shoes! Hooray! We even saw snow in Cesis. Luckily there is no more snow in Riga! I hope it stays this way... I'm not really fond of slippery pavements. We had a wonderful time together!

The third module is already finished. I had enough time to relax because I had no short module. I wrote my final essays, went to the final lectures and enjoyed my spare time :) Today I had a presentation about Belgium in Latvian. According to the teacher it was perfect. Ha! Friday we have an exam for Latvian, written and oral. I mostly fear the oral part! I think the language is way too difficult :) Apparently we would be able to speak Latvian fluently after another 6 months... Sure! Wednesday 17/12 I have my last exam in International Political Economy. I hope I will pass... I'm not a fan of open questions and lots of materials to read :) After that I have HOLIDAYS till 9/2/09! Woot!

What do I still have to do: pack my bags, go shopping, watch the final episode of popstars, get drunk, go shopping, get drunk :)

I'll be so glad when I get on the plane and fly home :) I enjoyed my time in Riga, but it was a difficult period. Moreover, it was definitely not a new experience... I learnt more during my 11 months in Australia. Anyhow, it's about time that i'm going home. I finally start to miss my boyfriend :) All I want for Christmas is a big hug from him and lots of presents of course :)

So what have I learnt in Latvia:

I have great respect for students at the Riga Stradins University. The uni is not really known, but the students there work like crazy!
'Sorry' or 'excuse me' don't exist in the vocabulary of Latvians. They rather like pushing in crowed trams or in shops.
I like public transport in Riga: it's so frequent and so cheap! Belgian public transport can definitely learn something from the Latvians! It is also necessary to buy a ticket, because there is a lot of ticket control...
Movies, opera, ballet and food are cheap in Latvia, which is nice of course.
Riga is shopping heaven! I think there are more than 7 shopping centres, which have more shops than the whole of Leuven (which is not so big, but anyways.

Sooooo, that's it! I think this might be my last blog entry :) I don't think someone will regret it!
Uz redzesanos!

The past weeks...

2008-11-10T16:52:00.003+01:00

were rather boring. I spent my days reading chapter after chapter and writing several essays. I did not really have the time to go out and enjoy myself. Besides, I also had an exam coming up. This exam turned out to be very difficult. The questions were mainly aimed at little details, which I should have read in one of the 800 pages I had for this course… of course. When I handed in my exam the professor said: ‘you did good… it’s all over now’. That day was one of the happiest days in my life! I could finally start enjoying my Erasmus. No more short module, no more intensive reading and writing… I chose to do an extra language instead. This module I will therefore only have Latvian, German, English and International Political Economy, which only requires another 3 small essays of 500 words and 1 big essay of 3500 words. And because I have no short module, I will have an entire week at the end of the module to prepare for my exam of International Political Economy, which then implies that I can merely relax during the duration of the module. Heavenly!

After I handed in my exam, I went to the airport to pick up Zuzana. For you who don’t know who Zuzana is: She is one of my colleagues at COST (European Cooperation for Science and Technology) in Brussels, where I work as a job student during the year. After her arrival we went to my apartment to drop off her luggage. Then we headed off to Old Riga, were we had lunch in Double Coffee. After our delicious lunch, we did a quick tour through Old Riga. Because of the cold and the darkness, we went back to my apartment for a relaxing evening in front of the television (Thursday night still is Popstars night :)). I will not mention the piano debacle, I will not mention the piano debacle…

On Friday morning I had to go to my Latvian language course. Zuzana was left on her own for a few hours, but she enjoyed herself by walking around Old Riga and taking pictures of the pretty buildings. After my Latvian course we met in town and headed off to the Central Markets. After strolling around, we took the tram to the big Lido. I enjoyed my crumbed pangasius filet with cooked vegetables. The evening was filled with going to the opera and to the Skyline bar. Together with Nadia and Julija we went to see a modern version of the Magic Flute, once composed by Mozart of course. It was great! Our evening in the Skyline bar was also amazing. Although I drank the same amount as the previous time, I managed to keep my hands safe from getting stuck between the door. I think it was around 2AM when I finally got Zuzana and Julija off the dance floor! Ha!

Getting up on Saturday morning was rather painful, but it was for a good cause. Zuzana and I would go to Sigulda, which is also known as the Switzerland of Latvia. We took the train to Sigulda, which was also a good experience. Getting in the train is not so easy, compare it to climbing a steep mountain. I don’t understand how all those old people get on the train… Taking the train in Latvia is really cheap; we paid maybe 3LVL each for a return ticket. After an hour or so we finally arrived in Sigulda. My first impression: Sigulda is empty, empty, empty. Without going to the tourist info first (which we better should have done :)), we started walking in the direction of a castle.

Our day in Sigulda can be described as a day in which we mainly took the wrong decisions! It all went wrong when we took ‘some thing I cannot name in English’ down the hill. We should have taken the cable lift instead, but we kind of didn’t see it immediately. So, we took ‘the thing I cannot name in English’ and we asked a guy working there where to find the castle we were looking for. He gave us some directions, but he didn’t really have the same castle in mind. So, we followed his directions. We crossed the Gauja river and ended up in some kind of forest. We nicely followed the arrow which said something about a caste. On the way up to the castle, we had to take a lot of stairs, which was amazingly tiring. When we finally reached the top of the mountain, we thought ‘what a **** hole’. The **** hole even had a name: Krimulda. There was nothing, except for one shop/bar and a building that once was a castle, although it didn’t even look like a castle. We decided to have a drink chez Milly. Zuzana’s coffee was all right, but my coke came out of bottle which probably stood there for a very long time…

Anyhow, we wanted to go to the pink castle, which we saw in the distance during our walk up to Krimulda. But how? Luckily there were 3 Krimuldian men chez Milly, standing around a freezer containing ice-cream (it is definitely something different than standing around a bar). Zuzana asked them kindly how to get to this pink castle. Surprisingly one of the guys spoke English and explained to us, well he mainly explained to Zuzana, how to get there: you go down and you go back upstairs, it’s a long walk, about 5 kilometres. The guy really invaded the personal space of Zuzana, at one point he came really close. But it was for a good cause :)

We left Krimulda and left for Turaida, where the pink castle is situated. It was a long walk :) We went down the serpentine way and walked in the right direction this time. On the way we even saw a cave, which is told to have healing water. There was also a lady selling gingerbread cookies and cones with caramel inside. The lady was really friendly and surprisingly also spoke English. We continued our way to Turaida, but this time with something nice to eat in our hands. The way up to Turaida was rather steep and we discovered that the pink castle is actually made of red bricks :) We were glad to have reached the top. In Turaida is some sort of open-air museum which contains old houses, an old church and an old castle. After having paid an enormous entrance fee, like 1.5LVL, we visited the open-air museum. The main thing we wanted to see was the castle and we even ended up climbing the tower. At the top of the tower we had a great view over the area, so it was definitely worth the hassle.

After that, we were hungry. There was only one funny shop/bar in the neighbourhood and we had to wait too long for the bus, so Zuzana bought something small to eat and we decided to walk back to Sigulda. Gosh, that was a long trip :) Instead of taking the cable lift back to Sigulda, which was one of the decisions we could have taken on the way back, we walked back into the direction of the ‘thing I cannot name in English’. But Zuzana had the amazing idea of taking some staircase which was built ages ago on a hill. The way up was extremely long and painful (I might be over-exaggerating a little :)). We eventually ended up where we had started in the morning. If the end is good, all is good! We headed back in the direction of the train station and took the train back to Riga. We were still hungry, so we went to the Lido in town. The food there is always great... To celebrate her final evening in Riga, we went back to the Skyline bar and enjoyed another cocktail. We were very tired, so we didn’t stay too long this time. I was glad to be in bed, because I was freezing during the day… it getting really cold in Latvia.

The next morning we set our alarm clocks at 6.45AM, which is very painful on a Sunday morning. We wanted to go to Jurmala, the Ostend of Latvia. We took the train and ended up once again in a **** hole. Jurmala was empty, empty, empty. Luckily, it was worth the trip. The beach was really calm and it just looked great. We had a little stroll along the beach and then we had to hide for the rain. I warmed myself by drinking a nice hot chocolate. We took the train back to Jurmala because the weather was too bad. Once back in Riga, we visited the National Museum of Art and surprisingly we went back to the Lido in town :) Then it was time for Zuzana to pack her bags and go to the airport. At the airport we had a final drink and then it was time to say goodbye. We had a great time together! So Zuzana, if you read this, thanks once more ;) Unfortunately in the evening I still had to write an essay for the next day. At 11PM I finally turned off the lights and went to sleep… and I still need sleep :) The weekend was great but very tiring.

So yeah, that was my adventure of the past weeks. On Friday my dad, my brother and his girlfriend are coming to Riga. That will be another adventure! I’m already looking forward to it, especially since I now have the time to enjoy their visit.

Some other thingies:

Handshoes are really useful when it is cold :p:p:p
Ticket controllers in the train are scary people; you wouldn’t want to mess with them.
It is cold, cold, cold, cold!!!
I found a studio in Lanaken for next year! Hooray!
Did I already mention that it is really cold here?
I’m glad that my exchange is nearly over. Riga is a nice city, the university is difficult but okay. However, I’m extremely annoyed by something... and this I can't name in any language.
I should become a cleaning lady. I always seem to be ending up cleaning up after everyone else. Cleaning ladies at least get paid for their work.

That’s it for now! Hope you didn’t fall asleep whilst reading this huge blog entry :)

Visit!

2008-10-19T17:17:00.002+02:00

Another week has come to an end :) I had a great week, because Andy was here! Whilst I'm writing this blog entry, he's floating in the air... I kind of already mis him :D

So... Saskia's parents were here last weekend. I joined them on Saturday evening to the Skyline Bar and on Sunday evening to the Lido. On Saturday I discovered a huge shopping centre near my apartment! Nadja and I found a shopping heaven :) There is even a bowling alley!

On Sunday night Andy arrived! Hooray! We could spend a whole week together... On Monday morning Saskia officially left Riga... And on Monday evening I was getting drunk with Andy in the Skyline Bar :) I only had two long islands ice teas, but the effects were drastic :D I managed to hurt my hand by leaving it between the door and the door post :) Luckily I didn't have a hang over and I didn't feel my hand the next day! I have no idea what we did on Tuesday. I only remember having a lecture in the afternoon... Oh yeah, I managed to be too early in school, because I changed the actual time on my mobile phone instead of changing the time on my alarm clock... After my lecture we went to eat something in the big Lido. Hm, the food is so nice there!

What else have we done? On Wednesday we went to the movies with Julija, a Canadian-Latvian girl who studies full time sat the Riga Stradins University. We saw a 3D movie called A Journey Through the Earth, based on a story of Jules Verne. It was great! Afterwards we went for a drink in Double Coffee and for something to eat in the Lido in town. In the afternoon I had a lecture. I don't think we did anything useful in the evening. I had to finish an essay...

On Thursday we went to the shopping centre :) But we didn't buy anything, we only had something nice to eat... We didn't do anything in the evening, because Thursday night is popstars night! Popstars is my favourite show :D Afterwards I also have to watch 'Wir sind schwanger', which is about a singer and a fashion designer who are having a baby... Haha :) Interesting!

On Friday I spent most of my time at school. After school we went to the movies with Nadja and Birthe. We saw some strange movie with Brad Pitt and George Clooney. It was worth the money, which luckily wasn't much :) In the evening we went out with Julija, Lelde (who is coming to Maastricht in February), Nadja and Birthe. We started in the French Bar for a shot of wodka, apple juice and cinnamon. Then we visited Tequila Boom, a tequila bar of course :) We ordered a meter of tequila, which basically meant two tequila's each... I learnt that there also is brown tequila which you have consume with an orange slice and cinnamon... After the Tequila Boom we took the girls to the Belgian pub, where they could discover true beer! We also visited a Czech bar, but we didn't stay long there. Too crowded and too smelly :) We ended up in the pub of a hostel, where we spoke with a guy from Moldova... Unfortunately he was not really interesting :D Before taking a taxi home, we went to eat something at Pelmini... At 4 o'clock we finally went to sleeeeeeeep...

On Saturday we went to Domina, the shopping centre, again :D This time we, I mean Andy, bought a lot of things :) I have a new pair of shoes, 2 new jackets and 1 sweater. Andy found a new jacket as well. Ieha! And today he left again :( But in two months I will see him again :D

Tomorrow I have a mid-term exam. I better start studying :D Sooo, that's it for now! Ciaaao!

Module 2

2008-10-10T17:34:00.004+02:00

I survived my exam! However, I don't know yet if I have passed it. Anyhow, I won't have a 10 :) I'll already be glad to have passed the course! The first week of the second module is already finished... Time flies! But I have still a bunch of work ahead of me: for my new course 'European Politics, Economics and Constitution' if have 4 more essays to write, good for another 34 pages, and around 600 pages to read. For International Political Economy I have to write another 3 essays and I also have a mid-term exam in 2 weeks. For German and Latvian I only have to do my homework... I definitely won't be bored in the coming weeks :)

What happened in the past week? So, last weekend I went for a drink with Nadia on Saturday. On Sunday I went to play frisbee... the wind also played along with us :) Gosh, frisbee and strong wind don't really go together. In the evening I was invited at Nadia's place to eat some real Italian pizza. After we prepared the ingredients together (there were 3 other German Erasmus students and 1 French one), an Italian Erasmus student made us some nice pizza... It was an adventure :) But it was a good opportunity to meet some new people!

That wasn't the only adventure on Sunday. I took the bus to get to Nadia's place. It was not enough that I took the wrong bus... I ended up right, but it took a different route... No, 4 guys, of which 3 were totally drunk, had to get on my bus as well. One of the guys started talking to me in Latvian. So, I said to him: I don't speak Latvian, hoping he would leave me alone. Unfortunately his sober brother started talking to me in English. This is how our conversation went: (guy) So, where are you from? (me) Hm... Germany. (guy) And how long have you been in Riga? (me) Like a week or so... (guy) That's my brother you know... whilst pointing at one of the drunks (me) Oh, nice... (guy) He's a bit drunk, you see (me) Really? I haven't noticed... of course I said this in a very sarcastic manner :) Then they finally got off the bus... The final words of the sober guy were: Welcome to Latvia :) Jee, thanks :D

The rest of the week was quite dull. I started a new course (the European thingy one), got annoyed about the amount of work we have to do and I slept, ate, read and wrote some stuff :) Very interesting... The weather was really good! Although it wasn't really warm, the sun shone practically every day! Heavenly! The sun shining above the Daugava is the prettiest thing to see in Riga! It is really picture material... Of course, I don't have a picture of it :)

I saw a miracle on Tuesday :) Picture Jesus splitting the water in order to get to the other side of the land... I guess on Tuesday he came back to split the fog... There was a huge amount of fog; you could barely see a thing. When the tram drove over the bridge, I could not see the Daugava on either side of the bridge! Maybe it was playing hide-and-go-seek. Anyways, it was a really strange sight :)

Some big news: Saskia is going home... She is leaving me behind in cruel Riga :) She decided to go back home, because she is too homesick... Noooo, it's not my fault :p It's sad, but she made up her mind. Bad luck, I'm not coming home yet ;) I will return in December... after my exams are finished. Ieha! I can't wait... HOLIDAYS!!!

Some thingies I've learned recently:

You cannot sit on two toilet seats at the same time (a professor trying to explain the situation of Latvia regarding Russia and the European Union)
'Prot' means 'know' in Latvian... strange people! So mummy, from now on I will call you knowz ;)
Walking around in Old Riga on high heels is dangerous :) There are too many 'kasseien' (for an English translation please visit http://www.mijnwoordenboek.nl/)

That's it for now... Uz redzesanos mani draugi!

Oh oh oh... Andy is coming on Sunday!!!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!!!!!!! Zuzana is coming in less than a month... double hooray!!! My daddy, brothery and his girlfriendy are coming in a little bit more than a month... tripple hooray!!! Finally, my mumsie is coming in 2 months... fourple hooray???

PS: don't mind spelling and grammar mistakes :D Oh another funny thing... I explained English grammar to a Canadian girl... what a funny world?!

HOLIDAYS... NOOOOT!!!

2008-09-30T18:02:00.004+02:00

My task for this week: pass my exam on Friday! I don't really feel like studying, but a woman's got to do, what a woman's got to do! 621 pages of interesting reading material to go through and hopefully remember something along the way! Apparently my short-term memory can only store 5 to 7 items... So, why even bother? :D Luckily the exam only counts for 25 percent of the grade!

We can cook! Hooray! We have an oven, but that one obviously doesn't work. We are not that lucky you know :) However, thanks to my wonderful cooking talent we figured out how to bake pizza in a pan... I just attempted to make my spaghetti sauce à la mama... it turned out to be delicious, of course :)

The past week we had approximately 7 times ticket control. We managed, knowing our luck, to get a fine! Another 2LVL down the drain... The real controllers don't really look at the back of your ticket (where you have to fill out your name and student number) and they are already satisfied if you show your ticket and your student card. The not so real ones always have to look at the back of your ticket (I guess it's a way to earn more money... which they did in our case). We didn't fill in our student number, so bad luck! Payé! The controller himself wasn't too smart, because he was pointing at the wrong number on our student card... He wanted us to fill in the start date of our student card :O I don't speak Latvian, but I could at least figure out immediately which number he actually meant... I eventually just pushed the 2LVL into his hands, so he would stop talking (he kept trying to explain things in Latvian although he knew that we didn't speak a word of his beautiful language)

We had a nice weekend. On Saturday there was something going on in town… it was some sort of festival to celebrate autumn. There were several food and souvenir stalls and there was Latvian folk dancing. It surprised me that so many handsome boys were dancing ;) I can’t imagine Andy hopping around like that :D Saskia, Nadia and I definitely enjoyed ourselves there for a couple of hours. On Sunday we went to another opera: Madame Butterfly. The beginning was a bit lame, but the end nearly moved me to tears. It was actually a sad story… If you want to know the story, Google it ;)

A peculiarity: Finding herbs and grated cheese in a supermarket is difficult, but finding alcohol is no problem at all. In every supermarket there are at least 3 rows filled with all sorts of alcholol.

That’s it for now! So long…

The sequel...

2008-09-24T13:11:00.002+02:00

Frisbeeing on Sunday was great, but afterwards I was aching everywhere :) I never knew frisbeeing could be so intense! It's not only throwing the disk around, but you also have to run like crazy! The goal of the game: the first team who reaches 10 points wins! The rules are a mix of rugby, basketball and handball. It was fun and we are definitely going back on Sunday! We will also see our second opera on Sunday: Madame Butterfly. Hopefully it will be as good as the one we saw last time...

Tuesday morning Saskia went to the office to find out what was wrong with our alarm system. She came back with the owner of the apartment to take a look at it and after a few calls he told us that the battery was low and needed to be replaced. Before he left, he told Saskia that we could always find another apartment if we weren't pleased with it. He was probably annoyed because Saskia mentioned our kitchen again, in which we still couldn't cook a decent meal! He did say they were coming to fix it on Monday, so we decided to wait until it was fixed before taking any decision. But later that afternoon I received a message from the office: With alarm system all is ok now. I supposed to give you an information that at 25th at 12 the agreement is finishing and Sveta do not want to prolong it, you should call the agency they do find some other option for you. Sorry! We were being kicked out of our apartment and we were only given 3 days to find a new one! Really funny... Luckily we weren't completely on our own, because many people offered to help us in our search for a new apartment.

We already found a new apartment yesterday! We now live together with Ellen, a full-time medical student from Norway. The place is bigger and the rent is much cheaper! So, we are very pleased with it! Hopefully we can stay in this apartment until the end of our Erasmus. If not, we know now that we can pack our bags in less than 2 hours :) I will take some pictures of the place soon! This is our new address: Brivibas iela 183 – 9, LV-1012 Rīga, Latvia.

We handed in the keys of our old apartment today. They wanted us to be there on Thursday morning for inspection, but they can stick that... Afterwards I went with Saskia to her new employers: the second important guy of the Italian embassy in Riga and his wife. Saskia is being asked to babysit their 14 year old daughter, because they have to go to Lithuania for a couple of days. So, I accompanied Saskia to their apartment: wow! It would be perfect for one of those interior design magazines :) She'll enjoy herself there for sure!

Module 1 is nearly finished… only 3 more days to go! My exam of Foreign Policy Analysis will be on 3/10 at 10h00. Wish me luck! My first essays of International Political Economy were ‘really very good’ Funny guy!

That’s it for now! Atā!

Murder on Stabu Street?

2008-09-20T23:23:00.003+02:00

Nah... We just coloured our hair :) The points of my darker hair are now pinkish purpelish. Mummy and Carla don't worry, it sounds worse than it looks :D I will definitely not repeat my Australian hairdo :) We did commit one murder though. Picture this: 2 women and 1 spider in the same room! War! We showed some nice teamwork... I killed the beast and Saskia cleaned it up!

The week passed quite peacefully: I wrote the last 3 essays due for this module. In 2,5 weeks I have written 8 essays, good for approximately 17000 words. Yay! Next week I will be able to relax more or less, because I only some reading left. The week after I will have to do 1 exam, but I don't know the exact date yet.

On Friday after school we went for a drink with Maria and Nadia, two Erasmus students who are in our Latvian class. After 0,8 liter of beer, I already felt high :) You can now imagine why I decided to colour my hair :) In the evening we had a visitor: Amy, an American woman who lives in our apartment block, came for a drink. It was a nice and relaxed evening!

Today I spent the entire day working for school. I finished 2 essays and did some paperwork for my school in Maastricht. Yay! To break the day, we went to eat something in the city centre. On our way to the Lido, we heard a band playing in the park. So, we went for a look. It was nothing special, but it was a nice surprise. The food in the Lido was great and my weekly vegetable and fruit levels have risen with 100%.

If the weather is okay tomorrow, we are going to play frisbee in Uzvaras Park with Amy and some other foreigners. In any case it's a good opportunity to get to know some other people!

Some thingies:

Read on the site of one of our professors: no essay, no final exam. No final exam, see you again next year :)
The alcohol rayon is the busiest place in the entire supermarket.
People can't wait to get off the bus. When they have to get off at the next stop, they practically stand up immediately as soon as the doors of the bus close. Really annoying when you sit next to someone who likes to get up too early and you're in a bad mood because it is too early in the morning :)
Never try to vacuum your socks (to get the dust and the hairs off them before putting them in the washing machine) right after you get out of bed... you might accidentally suck one of them up :D Luckily the vacuum cleaner was blonde-proof :)

That's it for today! Don't mind the spelling... it's 1AM (or should I say... Pulkstenis ir viens no rita?)

To exemply...

2008-09-16T21:31:00.003+02:00

... a new word I learnt from paying attention in a lecture. Another new word is subisitute... My English will definitely improve here :) Yay! Apart from that, the lectures are still very interesting! Module 1 is nearly finished even; My first exam is in 2 weeks! Schoolwise everything is still the same... lectures, essays, lectures, essays! But I'm learning to live with it :) Double yay!

What happened for the rest? Saskia's parents and boyfriend came to visit us in Riga. They stayed in our lovely apartment from Friday till Monday. It was a full house! (literally even, there were 2 men and 3 women... haven't lost my sense of humour yet :)) I joined the whole bunch for dinner on Friday and Sunday (stoofvlees on Sunday! but it was not really yummy). Whilst they were sightseeing, I was of course writing an essay :)

We also met Vladimir and Tatiana on Friday. Together we went for a drink in the skyline bar, where I drank a lovely long island ice tea! Afterwards, the 3 of us went for another drink in the Bon Vivant, where I had a Stella of course. It was nice to see them again! If everything goes well, we might go to Sigulda together at the beginning of October. Everybody says it is really lovely there at the start of autumn. I'm curious...

Today we went to see La Traviata! My first opera experience ever... It was great though! I always thought it was dull and only for older people... but there was even some sort of striptease on stage :) Andy would have loved this scene for sure! Sometimes I missed the plot a little, because I was distracted by the musicians (no there was no handsome one, it was just interesting to see how some of them were completely bored) This won't be the last opera we'll see, because there are still 9 on our wishlist :) Luckily it is not too expensive! For 5 LVL you already get a decent seat!

More facts about life in Latvia:

I found a subisitute for a 'Limburgse hooooooooooond' ... Because Latvians don't really have a word for 'in' they stress the final letter of the word which describes the place. To make this sound less blonde: Es studeju dzivokli (read: dzivokliiiiiiiiii)
Older people expect young people to give their place to them on trams and busses. Lucikly for them I am a very friendly girl :)
Ticket controllers on trams and busses smell money as soon as the doors close. They always seem to jump up out of nowhere :) Thank Santa, I have a monthly ticket!

That's it for today! I will update my photos tomorrow... if I don't forget at least! Oh yeah, our stove is fixed (depends on how you look at it) and internet still works! Tripple yay!

Ata!

Latvian life....

2008-09-11T14:27:00.004+02:00

Sveiki!

We finally have internet! Hooray! This weekend we are going to buy a router though, so we can go on the internet at the same time. However, our kitchen problem is not yet solved. We also found out that if we try to cook now, our stove could catch on fire. Lucikly we have a good insurance!

So, what has happened lately? NOTHING! We don't have much time to go out. Besides sleeping, eating and going to school, we basically read and write all day long. Could you imagine me not being able to sleep at night, getting up and writing an essay? No? Ask Saskia ;) Work hard, party hard mentality? After working hard, I'm already glad to place myself onto our comfortable couch to watch some German television :)

I guess our travelling plans can be place in the freezer next to our chicken legs. We will at least try to go to Lithuania when Zuzana comes! After our exams in December we will, hopefully, also have some days left for travelling (which we will have deserved by then!). Erasmus is so much fun :) I now understand why students of Riga Stradins like to go on Erasmus :)

At the uni everything is going well though. I finally decided on the courses I'm going to take during the next 3 months and my first 7 is a fact (it's not what I want, but it was for participation in a seminar only :) If everything goes well I will come home with 28,5 or 30 ECTS. Hooray, yet another problem solved!

Foreign Policy Analysis
Ethnopolitics or Crisis Communication
European Constitution, Law and Politics
International Political Economy
Latvian
German

We have met some nice people at our uni and in our building. So, that is a really positive thing about Riga! Hopefully we will find time to do some nice things together... This weekend the parents and the boyfriend of Saskia are coming over. This might also be a nice distraction from studying!

I don't know what else to write, so I give up for now. I will return to my materials on France and Germany and their foreign policy. I still have 5 essays to write by the end of the month, worth together about 11.000 words. Hooray!

Oh yeah, some peculiarities about Latvia and our uni to end with:

If you need to receive change after having paid something, Latvians never put it in your hand. You can pick up the coins one by one, hoping the people in the line behind you are very patient :)
Some teachers don't know a lot about how their course is organised. A teacher asked to his students: Is this a long module?
One of my professors happens to be an important person in Latvia. He happens to be a well-known foreign policy analyst.
Some people take walking straight very literally! They just keep on walking straight ahead, practically bumping in to people.

Ata!

Sveiki!

2008-09-05T13:09:00.003+02:00

Thanks to an unexisting internet connection, I can't regularly post a blog entry. So, take a seat and enjoy...

Back to Friday evening... We eventually didn't go to the party, because we were too tired. Staying at home and doing nothing much of interest turned out to be a good choice! Our weekend was also kind of relaxed: walking a round in Old Riga, getting a fine for not having paid whilst using public transport anyways, going to a party, watching a movie, doing the laundy, accompanying Saskia to church, watching a 'ter land, ter zee en in de lucht-wannabe' near the Radisson SAS hotel organised by Red Bull and of course taking a nice hot bath and sleeping!

Big day on Monday: first day of school. Latvians seem to have a nice tradition on the first day of school, because all students of elementary and secondary school bring flowers for their teacher. Anyhow, we had our first lecture: Political Economy. The teacher is a Latvian who emigrated to Brasil and came back eventually. His English is quite funny Could you please make silent? but it is understandable and he seems like an interesting guy. Reverse side of the medal: 9 small essays of 500 words each and 1 final essay of 3500 words. Of course there is also a midterm and a final exam... Luckily, the subject is spread over 3 modules.

We arrived in hell, without a doubt! Our theory of gaining more credits than necessary, turns out to be a complete disaster! We would now be excited by gaining only 25,5 credits :)

Tuesday: Political and Economic Anthropology. Nice teacher, but speaks too slow in English. Subject is very interesting, but of course he also expects several essays of 3 pages and a final exam. This subject is luckily also spread over 3 modules.

Wednesday: Foreign Political Analysis. Interesting subject and teacher. Reverse side: 4 essays of 6-8 pages, 1 final essay of 3500 words and 1 final exam. This all in ONE month only! We also had our first Latvian lesson... teacher is great but the language is very difficult!

This is worse than hell! Writing several essays per week and reading a lot of different texts for each subject: AAAAAAH! People saying erasmus is partying and relaxing: come and see us at Riga Stradins University! We would be glad to have some free time left over... (and no, we are not exaggerating!)

Thursday: We didn't have a lecture, so we spent our time reading... Our first essay is due on Monday, so we'd better hurry up a little.

Today we had another 3 hours of Latvian. We have already learnt quite a bit... Sveiki! Mani sauc Ellen. Kāds ir tavs vārds? Man iet ļoti labi. Get it? Now I will try to make a start on my essay for Foreign Policy Analysis...

This is it for now. If you want to cheer me up: leave a message or give me call (zuz, you made my day yesterday by calling!) I'll need it :D

Can't wait until January... holidays! Oh, we'll finally have internet on Monday! First see, then believe! Our stove is also broken... we can't cook anything for the moment... Nice erasmus... it keeps getting better...

Day 7 - Registration

2008-08-29T15:29:00.002+02:00

On Wednesday we all went to the Lido restaurant to taste the national cuisine. It is a really cosy restaurant and the food is very nice! We are definitely going back one day! Afterwards we went for a drink in the Skyline Bar of the fancy Reval Hotel. We enjoyed Riga by night from the 26th floor with a nice cold beer. We could even see fireworks at the other side of the river! If you ever come to Riga, go to the Skyline Bar! You will have a nice view over Riga, and more importantly: your feet can have a good old rest…

On Thursday we went for a boat trip on the Daugava river. The plan was to make a trip to Jurmala, where the beach of Riga is, but it turned out to be a trip around the port of Riga. It was kind of really boring, because we only saw a ferry and some old rusty containerships. Besides, the weather was bad: rainy, very windy, cold. To warm up, we sat on the deck freezing to death of course, we went to eat something local at Pelmeni. I have no clue what I was actually eating, but it wasn’t too bad. After dinner we went to the bowling alley across the river. Bowling, hooray! I even managed to throw 192. I only lost the last game, but I blame that on a sore hand. The evening was okay, but I should have consumed some alcohol to get in the mood. I was in a very lazy, ‘I don’t care’ mood yesterday. To end the evening we quickly met a friend of Saskia who is visiting the Baltic States at the moment.

Today was also a big day. We had to register at the university… We signed our Erasmus contracts and we got our timetable as well. In theory we can get all our credit points in one month, but I will at least try spread my credits over 3 months. There aren’t many subject to choose from, but we will survive, I guess. From September till October I will definitely take Political Economy (2 lectures of 1 hour each), International Political Economy (3 lectures of 1,5 hour each), Political and Economical Anthropology (4 lectures of 1,5 hour each) and Latvian Language (4 hours per week). This is already good for a total of 18 ECTS. I might also take Globalisation (3 lectures and 1 seminar of 1,5 hour each) and German Language (4 hours per week). We will visit a lesson of every subject next week before making a final decision. Sadly though, the choice for the next two modules is even smaller…

Tonight there is a big party for all international students, so I’m going to rest a little! Later alligator!

Photos follow as soon as I have a proper internet connection!

Day 4 - D-Day!

2008-08-27T11:31:00.001+02:00

The first day of orientation week! We were finally going to meet all the other exchange students at the Riga Stradins University.

Something else first: we still have to pay a fee to the real estate agency. The woman in charge, however, doesn’t seem too interested in the money, because she failed to show up already 3 times. She always happens to forget our appointment: oh sorry, I forgot and now I’m outside Riga. Today we have yet again an appointment. She ‘d better show up this time… because we might forget to pay the money. UPDATE: she just sent a text message saying she wants to meet us today at 1pm. I’m curious…

Anyhow, back to day 1 of orientation week. After an other unsuccessful meeting with this lady, we left our apartment at around 12 o’clock; enough time to get to the uni, where we had to be around 13h30. We didn’t know which bus or tram we could take to the uni, so we went to the tourist office for some help. The guy behind the counter helped us, but afterwards he said he wasn’t from Riga. Bad sign?

So, we took trolleybus 8. 15 minutes later we reached its final destination… but where is the uni? After having asked some young guys, who obviously didn’t even know about the existence of Riga Stradins, I asked the bus driver how to get to the uni. In the end he was so kind to call a taxi for us, with my mobile phone of course. I really don’t want to know how high my mobile phone bill will be…

Just as we thought the taxi would never show up and started walking in a random direction, our yellow taxi with cute taxi driver arrived. The company, smile taxi, hasn’t stolen its name, because it definitely put the smile back on our faces! We eventually arrived 5 minutes late and had to enter a room full of exchange students, approximately 30 students and 5 organisers.

We got some basic information:
- The minimum passing grade is 4, the highest grade is 10.
- We only have holidays on 16, 17 and 18 November.
- Only illness is a valid excuse for not coming to lectures and practical classes.
- The lessons start September 1 and end December 19.
- There are 3 modules of 4 weeks.
- After each module there is a week for possible exams.
- We will have to write a lot of essays, a possible 40 pages per week.

We also got a tour around the uni and it seems to be really nice. It definitely looks better than the first time I saw it in June. Most of the exchange students happen to be full-time students or they are studying medicine/stomatology. Some of them are even planning to stay 6 years to get their medicine degree! There are not many students for the European Studies department, we are at the moment with 5 only, but there will be some more later on.

At around 6pm we went into town for a drink with most of the exchange students. Everyone drank alcohol, but Saskia and I drank a nice coke. Some of the students even ordered a water pipe. It was a very cosy and cheap bar; the second floor was filled with cushions and small tables and a coke costs only 1EUR.

We had to be back at our apartment around 9pm to meet the lady, who of course failed to show up. Afterwards we went back into town to go to the French Bar, the place to be for exchange students and for people who like cheap beer! A litre costs around 2,8EUR and a 0,33l around 1,4EUR. I drank 2 beers (0,33cl of course) and 1 shot, a Latvian specialty with vodka, apple juice, cinnamon and a slice of orange. It’s called an apple-pie, or something like that.

Conclusion of the day, the group of exchange students seems nice and I guess we will have a lot of fun together! Today is the second day of orientation week and we will go to the Lido, where they serve Latvian food. We are also going to buy a Latvian sim-card today; I will give you my number in my next blog.

Take care!

Day 3 - Apartment hunting

2008-08-25T20:27:00.002+02:00

My health is bailing on me already: I have a terrible cold. Hopefully it will disappear soon, because tomorrow orientation week starts. I wouldn’t want to miss all the fun :) Luckily I brought enough medicines with me! I’m curious to see who the other exchange students are…

Today we went apartment hunting. It didn’t start of well… We had to ring a guy back today, because he wasn’t in Riga during the weekend. His lack of brains and my lack of patience didn’t mix well. Luckily yesterday I checked the internet again for long term rental apartments and noted some contact details in my little army green notebook (reminds me of Blue’s clues :D)

After a little misunderstanding (the girl on the phone understood we wanted to see an apartment which costed around 1050EUR/month – we are just 2 students you know) and we actually just wanted to meet her to look at other apartments) she took us to an apartment on Stabu Iela. Bingo! This would definitely become our apartment :) We looked at it, left the hostel and signed the contract! We now officially have a place to live in Riga (if you are planning on writing me a letter: Stabu Iela 105-29, Riga, Latvia – postal code is a mystery) Pictures will be made soon… Internet connection should be installed by the end of the week, fingers crossed!

The weather here is bad: rain, rain, rain… The streets are like swimming pools! I’ve learnt a big lesson today: never walk close to the street during heavy rain, you might end up with wet pants :)

That’s it for today! I’m going to read a little and then I’m off to dreamland! I hope I finally sleep well… Ciao x

Day 2

2008-08-24T19:09:00.005+02:00

Sunday, the day God created to rest. We denied His advice and went downtown to do some touristy thingies. We didn't completely ignore it though... I woke up around 10.45 :) We first went to the tourist office to get some more information on what is going on in this crazy town, but the poor guys ran out of information booklets. They said we could go to a bar or hotel to get such a booklet. So, don't blame us if we come home as drunks :) It was a good opportunity to revisit Double Coffee for a coke and something nice to eat. We then wanted to take the hop on, hop off bus to do some lazy sightseeing, but of course it turned into an active sightseeing. We were always running after the bloody bus because it didn't stick to its time schedule. I also partly take the blame because we were standing at the wrong place thanks to my wonderful map reading abilities. After 2 hours of running around, we finally managed to get on one of those 'wannabe a London double-decker bus' busses. We saw a great heap of the city: the old town, the parliament, the bowling, 4% of the entire 19% of parks, the Daugava river, the national theatre and opera, the circus... A lot of things I've seen already previously, but I did discover some newbies. I will discover all the city's secrets in no time!

We had dinner in the Bon Vivant, of course! It is a Belgian restaurant, which serves a lot of Belgian beers. This will definetely be the first place where I'll take my beloved boyfriend to when he comes to visit me here :) We even managed to get a 10% discount on our meal, because we were so kind to swap tables :) Apparently they needed our table for the big boss who was coming for a meal. Finally, we quickly visited one of the many shopping centres and bought a good book to read (i guess it would be appropriate for you to think 'duh' here) The weather was pretty okay, we only had rain when we sat in the tourist bus. Unfortunately I have my first cold :(

What have we learnt today:

We can take Russian lessons in Riga. Sponsoring wanted... any volunteers?
19% of Riga's surface is covered with parks and only 17% with industry.
Pardaugava, the region where our university is situated, means 'over the Daugava' or something like that at least :D
'Actipiens' is way cheaper over here! If you are wondering what my beautiful word means: piens = milk, so... actipiens = actimel. If you don't know what actimel is, please go visit your nearest supermarket as soon as possible!
We can take the boat to Sweden from the port in Riga!
We will weekly visit Double Coffee and a bar where they sell Belgian beer :D
Saskia and I think alike... which is very good!
Biting fingernails is a good thing: long nails aren't useful when using zippers! So, start biting!
'Au ciel il n'y a pas de bière, buvons la sur la terre' and 'wilt gij oud begraven zijn, drinkt bier in plaats van medicijn'

Yesterday we bought a bowl, a spoon and a glass at Stockmann, because we didn't have anything to eat and drink from. We then also decided to ritually demolish the bowl and glass with our lovely spoon when we leave Riga in December. Of course we will clean up our mess afterwards :D

Tomorrow we will check out at least 2 apartments. Hopefully one of them is okay! If not, we'll have to stay here longer. Luckily our neighboors seem very nice!

Ciao!

Day 1 - the sequel!

2008-08-23T19:08:00.004+02:00

Day 1 is slowly coming to an end... Nothing much has happened, but it's worth a blog entry :) We spent the entire day looking for an apartment. Our search wasn't very succesful, but we already saw a whole heap of the city centre! Unfortunately the weather is not too good: rain, rain, rain. Luckily being Belgian it doesn't bother me too much. We better get used to it, because it won't really get any better! Tomorrow we are going to do some sightseeing and on Monday we are going to look at 2 apartments in the centre. Fingers crossed! Orientation week starts on Tuesday and the shedule is pretty busy. Hopefully the group of exchange students will be great...

What have we already learnt during our short stay in Latvia:

McDonalds is way cheaper here. A medium Big Mac Menu costs around 3EUR.
Older people don't speak English. We got spoken to in Russian on the bus. Maybe we should take some Russian lessons, so we could at least say we don't speak Russian :)
Being dumb is no longer a privilege for blondes! Brunette Saskia has her moments too! We decided to make a 'dumb-list'. Saskia already possesses places 1 and 2 :D

Our hostel is not the most interesting place ever... it is situated in a rather boring area. So we really want to move closer to the centre of Riga. The rooms are quite small. Saskia and I share a room of 11m² and we also have to share our bathroom with 2 other persons we haven't met yet. I will add some pics soon, so you can judge for yourself!

Finally I will introduce the 'dumb-list' top 3 which will probably be updated very often :D
1. Saskia: I was standing in 'de Aldi' with messed-up make-up and clothes. Ellen: People must have been looking to you in a very strange way? Saskia turns around to a group of people passing by: where they looking at me? Sure Saskia :D
2. Saskia who drops her basket of goodies in the supermarket... Doesn't sound funny, but it looked very funny to me :)
3. To be announced!

That's it for today! Bye for now... !!!

Day 1

2008-08-23T08:38:00.003+02:00

Saskia and I landed safely in Riga last night! After having said goodbye to our parents and boyfriends, we could start our new adventure! And we already had an adventure... :) It started by sitting at the wrong gate. Saskia noticed it when she wanted to take a picture of the airplane... 'Do we fly with Hungarian Airlines?' A quick look on the screen, which said 'Budapest', made us move really quickly to our own gate :) Never trust the boarding ticket... Luckily our flight was delayed!

We left Brussels at 21.oo and we landed in Riga at 24.00 local time. We had to wait 30 minutes for our bags. They also arrived safely in Riga! Then we took a taxi from the airport to our hostel... taxi driver was not drunk, but didn't drive straight either. Maybe it was the time of the day? We arrived at the hostel around 1.00... We checked in and went up to our room, which was already quite an expedition, with 4 heavy bags, stairs and a tiny elevator, Saskia opened the door and a guy in boxershorts jumped up from a bed in the room... total shock :D They forgot to enter his check-in into the computer... 30 minutes later we could finaly enter an empty room and fall asleep :D

Today we are going to discover Riga... I'll keep you posted!

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Impression of my summer holiday...

2008-08-16T14:06:00.013+02:00

My flight to Riga is already in 6 days. This also means that my summer holiday is coming to an end... I didn't have much time to really enjoy my holidays, but I spent my time wisely :)

I've spent most of my time at the COST-office being a slave :) It was great though: great colleagues, good atmosphere and an opportunity to actually do and learn something useful. I especially liked the ESOF-part: working in Barcelona. Tiring but good fun. A minor downpart: I discovered cava and sangria :) The best summer holiday job ever!

Besides that I did some other great things... great birthday party, volleybal tournament, baking hamburgers for 3 days, hanging out with friends and my boyfriend of course! And lots of other things...

It's always sad to see holidays coming to an end... but back to reality :) I'm nearly completely ready for my new adventure... I only need to pack my bags and take the plane next week! Sadly I will have to leave some things behind:

My boyfriend Andy

My precious friends and colleagues!

And of course my family, my fellow band members and my cute little doggy!

But no time to cry... time's too short for that! I'll be back before Christmas, which feels like tomorrow :D So, see you later alligator!

Nog 15 dagen...

2008-08-07T16:06:00.005+02:00

Het dringt nog niet echt tot me door, maar binnen een dikke 2 weken zit ik al op het vliegtuig richting Riga. 4 maand lang zal iedereen mij weer moeten missen :) Ik heb er anders wel heel veel zin in: nieuwe omgeving, nieuwe mensen, nieuwe uitdagingen... Ik hou jullie wel op de hoogte van mijn avonturen ginder!

Mijn reispas en verzekering zijn eindelijk in orde geraakt. Dat werd stilaan tijd! Het vliegticket is al lang geboekt en de valiezen staan klaar, weliswaar zijn deze nog redelijk inhoudsloos. Nu rest mij nog enkel te genieten van mijn laatste werkdag op maandag, Plein-Kermis dit weekend en nog enkele andere kleine dingetjes...

Mijn volgend bericht volgt waarschijnlijk wanneer ik al in Riga zit... Ciao x

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I can't imagine leaving Belgium in like 2 weeks already. I'm excited though: new environment, new people, new challenges... I'll keep you posted on my adventures in Riga!

I finally managed to get my passport and my insurance. It was about time :D My flight ticket was booked in advance and my bags are ready to be filled with all kinds of stuff. For now I will enjoy my final working day on Monday, working @ Plein-Kermis and some other minor thingies.

My next message will probably be written in Riga... Ciao x

Fotoimpressie: Weekendje Riga

2008-07-01T20:35:00.002+02:00

Foto's vind je hier

Had ik beter opgelet, wist ik ook welke gebouwen het allemaal waren. Zal het binnenkort nog eens moeten opzoeken... Alleen spijtig dat ik de naam van de gids zo meteen niet weet...! Veel kijkplezier!

VAKANTIE!

2008-07-01T19:56:00.002+02:00

Vandaag heb ik mijn laatste tentamen gemaakt en de vakantie kan dus officieel van start gaan! Hoera! Hier heb ik lang naar uitgekeken! Volgend jaar mag ik naar jaar 3 :) We zijn dus over de helft... Donderdag weet ik al mijn puntjes!

Vakantie is een groot woord: het wordt SUPER druk! Het begint morgen al en eindigt ongeveer 22 augustus :) Vrijdag, zaterdag en zondag sta ik als security op Rock Werchter en daarnaast staat er de eerstkomende weken nog veel meer op het programma. Van 14/7 tot 13/8 zal ik mijn dagen doorbrengen op het kantoor van COST in Brussel, waaronder ik van 17/7 tot 23/7 in mee op een beurs in Barcelona sta. Nadien heb ik nog een goeie week om mijn valies te maken voor mijn grote Riga-avontuur en om eens lekker te gaan eten in d'Hoogeschool in Leuven natuurlijk!

22/8 is het dan zover: Sas en ik laten België/Nederland/Luxemburg achter en vertrekken met het vliegtuig naar Riga rond 20u15. Spannend! Wij keren op kerstavondmorgen terug naar België. Rond een onmenselijk vroeg uur in de ochtend zullen wij, behoudens enige overmacht, weder landen op Zaventem. Ik heb nu enkel nog nood aan een reisverzekering, een reispas en geld :) Giften zijn altijd welkom op… ;)

Nog wat nieuwtjes: ik ben met grote onderscheiding geslaagd in mijn middelbare graad van het DKO *glunder* mijn bollie en ik zijn 3 jaar samen en het aperitiefconcert van onze fanfare was heel leuk :)

Nou ga ik even uitrusten zodat ik donderdag goed kan feesten op het feestje van de FIC :D

Nog 5 weken...

2008-05-28T11:38:00.008+02:00

... en dan is het vakantie! Eindelijk! Gelukkig gaat het blok een beetje vooruit, we zitten al in week 4. Vrijdag heb ik mijn laatste presentatie van het jaar en daarna kan ik rustig beginnen lezen/leren/samenvatten.

De papieren voor Riga zijn op de bus gedaan... Mijn uitwisseling begint dus al een beetje concreter te worden. Nu moeten we nog op zoek naar een woonst en de verzekering regelen. Spannend... NOT! Ik hoop wel dat mijn vakken worden goedgekeurd en dat ze mekaar niet overlappen... Als het goed is volg ik ginds: Lets, European Political Culture, Political and Economical Anthropology, Baltic State Politics, European Union Law en Crisis Communication. We gaan voor de volle 31,5 studiepunten :)

Voor de rest is er niets boeiends gebeurd... enkel... ik heb eindelijk mijn middelbare graad van de muziekschool voltooid :D Iehaaa! Ben best tevreden met 83% voor dwarsfluit! Hoe AMC en samenspel verlopen zijn weet ik nog niet... maar dat boeit ook niet echt! Nu kan ik lekker naar de hogere graad! Dat was het voor deze keer... Vanavond feesje bouwe in M'tricht! Ben es benieuwd...

Een dagje naar zee ...

2008-05-05T18:14:00.005+02:00

Gisteren zijn Lore, Diede, Andy en ik naar het zeetje getrokken in Oostende! Het was super mooi weer en heerlijk warm! We hebben goed gegeten, gedronken, gewandeld en genikst! Het was echt een super relaxed dagje! We hebben ook een les geleerd: het openbaar vervoer is niet altijd sneller :) Dit is zeker voor herhaling vatbaar!!!

Diede met magische plakballetjes en ikkeuh.

Loretje en mijn bollie en ik.

Blauwe lucht.

Tzeetje, m'n vriendjes op't strandje en Diede poseert samen met Lore.

Paris!

2008-05-05T17:19:00.013+02:00

We hebben Parijs overleefd en het was heel fijn! Mijn voetjes daarentegen vonden het wat minder leuk :) Hier volgen enkele vakantiekiekjes:

De Eiffeltoren en de Australische Ambassade in Parijs.

De Moulin Rouge en ik aan Space Mountain in Disneyland.

Paris by night vanop de Eiffeltoren, de Sacré-Coeur met zijn vele trappen en Centre-Pompidou.

Vechtende eendjes, Pauline in haar Opéra Garnier en de Stravinsky Fontein.

De koude Seine, Disneyland en de Notre-Dame.

Laat blok 4 nu maar komen!

Lenteconcert: een impressie!

2008-04-26T20:42:00.007+02:00

Wat fotootjes van ons voorbije lenteconcert ...

Lore en ik in onze belspelact, een overzicht van het orkest en Billy die het in ieder geval oké vond!

De eerste rij en mijn bollie in actie!

De bugeltjes, een overzicht van een lege zaal en ik met m'n hobo!

Evelyne, Lore en Anneke

De saxies

Meer foto's en filmpjes: check http://www.harmonieorkestholsbeek.be/

Riga it is ...

2008-04-26T19:44:00.003+02:00

De kogel is door de kerk, het gehakt is doorgeknoopt ... Sas en ik gaan naar Riga! Nou, hopelijk valt het ginds wat mee :) In ieder geval kunnen we daar al 6 studiepunten halen door enkel Lets te leren ... Ben es benieuwd! Rest ons nu enkel nog te wachten op al het papierwerk ...

De tentamens zijn eindelijk voorbij! De vakantie kan beginnen! Maaaar ... op dit moment zit ik aan de antibiotica in de hoop dat ik tegen maandag weer helemaal fit en 'gezond' ben :) Ah jaaaaa, want ik vertrek dan naar Parijs met Paultje tot donderdag! Duimen maar, want dat reisje hebben we dubbel en dik verdiend :)

Weet al dat ik 6 van de 7 tentamens gehaald heb! Hoooraaaay! Nou hopen dat die laatste ook een aardig punt oplevert! Laat blok 4 maar komen :)

Het einde van HEBO2 nadert ...

2008-04-19T16:53:00.005+02:00

Nog een weekje en dan zitten mijn tentamens voor dit blok erop! Eindeluuuuk! Moet enkel nog Europese Cultuur, Briefschrijven en Access doorstaan. Gelukkig is enkel cultuur nog pittig, de andere 2 zijn stukken eenvoudiger. Daarna heb ik n verdiend weekje rust! Allez, als je n reisje naar Parijs met Pauline rustig kan noemen tenminste ;)

Daarna begint blok 4 :) Heb al 3 leuke presentaties en een essay in het vooruitzicht. Ik ga weer weten wat doen! Maaaaaaaaaaaar dat betekent ook dat het schooljaar er bijnaaa opzit! Enneuh dat ik tot half februari niet meer in Maastricht moet zijn! Waar dan wel? Praag of Riga, ben eens benieuwd wat het uiteindelijk wordt...

Na mijn tentamens (mogelijk tot 11/7) begin ik aan mijn vakantiewerk bij COST in Brussel tot 13/8. Gelukkig mag ik mee naar Barcelona! Das toch n klein beetje vakantie :) Daarnaast wordt het ook errug druk: security staan op Rock Werchter met mijn schoonzusje, mijn verjaardag, volleybaltoernooi, Plein-Kermis, openluchtfuif...

Na mijn vakantiewerk heb ik waarschijnlijk nog een weekje rust in België en dan vertrek ik richting buitenland! Tegen eind augustus zit ik terug op sjoool! Hopelijk wordt het een onvergetelijke uitwisseling *fingers crossed* Een voordeel van dit alles: van Kerstmis tot half februari heb ik gewoon vakantie! Daar ga ik zeker extra van genieten!!!

Maar eerst dus nog genieten van het Belgische leventje :) Te beginnen met vanavond: ons Lenteconcert! Gisteren viel goed mee, dus hopelijk vanavond ook! Ik zal in ieder geval het belspel-gehalte hoog houden :D Foto's volgen weldra! De ontnuchtering volgt als ik morgen alweer achter mijn boek van cultuur zit :D

Ola Barcelona!

2008-04-10T17:36:00.005+02:00

Vandaag een leuk telefoontje gekregen uit Brussel: ik mag voor het werk mee naar Barcelona!!! Ik heb er alvast zin in ... :)

Een ding heb ik geleerd van vorig jaar: Drink nooit iets op de Ramblas, tenzij je geld genoeg hebt of Spaans kunt!

Dit wordt me het jaartje wel, want met wat geluk ga ik ook nog naar Zeeland en Dublin voor de grote vakantie! Europe, here I come! Wooooooooot!

Ah Paris!

2008-03-31T11:10:00.021+02:00

Nog 28 keer slapen en dan gaan Paultje en ik naar Parijs! Hoera! Eindelijk vakantie: lekker wat cultuur opsnuiven en shoppen ;)

Seine - Hier gaat Pauline een duik nemen, na een duwtje van mij natuurlijk ;)

De Eiffeltoren - Hier ga ik NIET af geduwd worden :p

Centre Pompidou - Naturellement! Even bestuderen voor mijn presentatie in blok 4!

Wel eerst nog even door de tentamens ploeteren ... bah!

Pauline goes Montpellier

2008-03-06T13:01:00.003+01:00

Mijn allerliefste vriendinnetje Pauline gaat naar Montpellier. Als je haar avonturen wil volgen: klik op de link hiernaast :)

De avonturen van Sas

2008-03-04T11:50:00.004+01:00

Als je de avonturen van Sas ook wil volgen, moet je even op de link hiernaast klikken!

Ellen goes blog

2008-03-03T19:49:00.006+01:00

Binnenkort laat ik België weer voor wat het is. Ik vertrek eind augustus namelijk weer op uitwisseling. Geen paniek, deze keer ga ik heus niet naar de andere kant van de wereld :) Via deze weg zullen jullie iig mijn komende avonturen in Letland, of wordt het toch Tsjechië, kunnen volgen ...

Wat zal ik moeten missen: mijn vriendje, mijn hondje, mijn oudjes en een hele hoop vrienden. Maar ja, 't is weer zo'n once in a lifetime experience. Daarenboven is het dit keer verplichte kost :)