Last week in England

The last few days or even weeks were really silent around me and I have to apologize for that. It was not that I did not want to write nor was it because I did not have anything to write about; on the contrary, so much was going on that I had troubles finding some spare seconds.

My London trip is long gone yet you did not hear from it which is not so bad seeing that London is a city everyone should visit and everyone has heard a lot about it already. Needless to say going there with my good international friends was even better. The week after that, I visited Anna Lena in Coventry. We were really indecisive about what language we should speak and spoke a funny mixture of German and English. After going clubbing on Friday night, Anna Lena and I went to the Christmas market in Birmingham because, and I quote, "Coventry is a bit ugly". The Christmas market was fun, the university of Warwick in Coventry was big - just big - and obviously I had to miss my train and return an hour late. I do not know what it is with me and trains....

The Travelling Time

I do not seem to come to a rest, time runs past me, and I don't know where to find another second to really breath. Last week was a pretty good week, I am really happy to play handball again, even if it is just training at the moment. Coming up tomorrow are the last two English assessments and then there's only some maths stuff left for me to do before Christmas. In fact, thinking about it I do have a lot of work to do, and by postponing it, it actually gets more and more.

Never mind. This weekend I was in London with all of those people:

Edgar, Lara, Jan, Bea, Pauline, Jimena, Valeria, Clotilde, Christopher and Chloé

and the two people missing from that above picture, Mathilde and I (plus random passengers)

Chapter 23: Sooooo Cold!

I cannot believe I will be able to give you two posts in one day, but that is happening and yes, if you have not read the first, do that now, and keep this one for later.

If you have already read the last post, you will find yourself prepared to go on a short journey to Wales with me. The plan was: 

• Getting up on the Saturday, getting a train to Newport and another train to Abergavenny.
• Enjoy a fun day there, sleep at a small hotel, get up in the morning and get a train to Cardiff.
• Haste through Cardiff, take a lot of pictures, and take a train home in the late evening.

Carols, Mulled wine and crêpes

Starting my blog with a post about Thursday seems a little weird to me, but it was such a busy week, that I could have posted every day on it's own. So Thursday arrived, and I'll jump ahead right to when the plot begins. Marian, my English teacher, invited our group to see a Christmas concert of the Primary Schools of Bath in the Abbey. It was beautiful, and full of true Christmas spirit. In fact, one group managed to put on a performance, that even for grown ups would be difficult. After the Concert, we went to the Christmas market to drink a mulled wine, and walk around the town, which was lit in so beautiful colours. Again, since my descriptive style is no where near good, let me show you:

Invitation of the Mayor

The week started great with me finishing most of my studies on Monday during the day. Also I decided to try to get into the handball team, which obviously won't be easy, but it can't hurt. So I had to buy indoor sport shoes on Tuesday after my lectures finished. I went to the City Centre which really is a brilliant place to shop, if you want designer clothes. As you can imagine, it took me some time to find a shop that. In the end, I found a nice shop, and I was greeted like a king. Needless to say, I got some shoes without having to spend much time trying different shoes on. I spend a lot of money for them, but that was al right. When I got home, our landlady who did a house inspection again was already gone, and all she left was a note, that we would have do decide whether we wanted to rent the house next year again or not. That was not really a question for me, and I did not do very much the rest of the afternoon, apart from eating my first McDonald's menu in England. It was delicious. My plans for the evening were exciting. The mayor invited the international students to a reception. All you needed to do is show up in your national dress or smart clothes, and bring your invitation. The reception was in the Pump Room (see picture below this paragraph), which is a beautiful room, with a big chandelier in the centre of the room, and a grand piano on a podium on one side of the room. Since my description is nowhere close to what the room looks like, just enjoy the pictures, that convey some of the beauties of the room. In my opinion it was even more beautiful than this. After speeches by the Mayor, a student representative and a spokesman for the Roman Baths we were invited into the Roman Baths at night. While it is supposed to be a wonderful place at daylight, I have not been in there, so I can not judge myself, it is breathtaking at nights. For pictures, see below again.

the Pump Room

Christmas and Sightseeing

As Christmas approaches at an enormous speed, Bath has turned itself from a shopping paradise into a Christmas wonderland. It's not snowing yet, although I hope it will soon, but the streets in the city centre are flooded with lights, and being as beautiful as it is without the lights, it is just magical now. I have not gotten any decent pictures of this yet, but I will have magnificent pictures by next weekend, since the Christmas market will start on Thursday and I will definitely be there. Not much has happened this week, mainly because the university thought it would be fun to load up my schedule with unnecessarily hard essays, coursework and revision homework, but I have managed to go to a Bath Abbey tour, from which the new pictures (top right and below this paragraph) are. Bath Abbey is just amazingly beautiful, and I plan on doing the tower tour soon, to finally get a wonderful picture over the city centre of Bath.

Media Overload

After two weeks of silence, I strike back, more dramatic, more realistic, more brutal, more live, more....

Well, to be honest, not quite. The reason why I didn't write last week, was just the lack of time. I was away a lot, I had a great week, I have fallen far behind in my studies, and I have to do a lot for them today and tomorrow. But that's not for you to worry about. Instead, why don't you enjoy the beautiful Bonfire Night Firework of Bath - which actually was on the 6th of November instead of the 5th of November. I have not quite figured out why it was.

House Guests and How to Talk to British People

So here I am again, totally tired and yet still awake. Why should I be sleeping, it's only half eight. Which, by the way is 8:30 and not 7:30 as it would be in German. So why am I so tired? Good question, and I do not really have an answer to that. But let's go through it in chronological order. Sunday after I finished writing I spent the rest of the day doing nothing, in the evening Dan's brother Jase and his friend Paul came by to stay over this week, and Paul's brother came for a short visit on Sonday as well. We played poker, and drank some beers. On Monday I got up quite early, in order to do some work before my lectures, but the state of which we've left the kitchen on Sunday, and the fact that the landlady was about to come by in the afternoon left me no choice but to spend two hours of cleaning the kitchen. The landlady came, and checked if we would not leave the house in a total mess, that really confused my quite a bit, I cannot imagine something like that happening in Germany, but maybe I am totally wrong there. So I went to uni without having anything done for the week yet. I came home at 7 and was just looking forward to go asleep, when Dan convinced me to join him, Jase, Paul and Anton for a pint of beer, naturally I was up for that, and so we went to a pub that served beer for a pound a pint, which is a ridiculously good offer. So we've had quite a few. I had a great time talking to Jase, Paul and Dan. Wait, not with Anton? No, because they did not let him in because he didn't have his passport with him, and the ID was noch accepted as proof of age. Weird, and really annoying.

Bristol at Night and a Tea afterwards

Last week went rather slow for me, I did not really do much for university, but what I did was decent work. On Wednesday, I had great fun at my English classes again, and I suppose for meeting people, those English classes were by far the best choice. I had to write an Essay for my Cambridge class, and I was quite satisfied with the result. Hardly any mistakes, and Marian, my teacher, really liked my humorous humour. Needless to say, for me as a rather terrible student of all languages, I was quite proud of that fact. It was great fun again, but I was really tired afterwards, and yet I had to wait for another hour for me second English lecture of the day. In that time, I enjoyed talking to some students, one of whom will be more important later on, so I will introduce her now.

Between Proficiency Certificate and Problem Sheets

Hey all,

The second week of uni is over now, and I just wanted to give you a quick summary. I had to chose a different forth subject, which is quite nice up until now. I am quite happy with my maths unit choices so far. The problem sheets we get each week take up a lot of time, much more then in Germany, so basically I end up with the same amount of work as in Germany for the maths lectures.

Just some (useless) stats

Obviously I am a little bit bored right now, so after finishing my practice exercises for this week, I startet reflecting on what I did that week. I had three hours of lecture on Monday, two in Tuesday and two on Wednesday. That makes a total of seven hours in three day's which isn't that much. On Thursday I'll only have two hours of lecture as well, and on Friday I have four hours. That gives us a total of thirteen lecture hours a week, which compared to what I did in Germany seems like a bad joke.

And it somehow is... In Germany we have far more lecture time, and the lectures are helt at a different level.

As you would expect, there is a "but"...

First week conclusion

Hey you all.

It had been a funny and exciting Fresher's Week for me. Although I did not really attend much of it. I went to the maths introduction and to the exchange student introduction and of cause I met my personal tutor and my studies tutor. So let me start talking about that first.

The maths introduction was made for first year students mainly, so I did not really get any information I would have needed. The exchange student introduction was more useful, as I got information on travel around the UK and about English language courses. I will apply for those tomorrow, and hopefully I will be allowed to attend both I want to apply for.

just some more small stuff

Hey, you all! I just wanted to let you know my debit card finally arrived, so I was able to order my iPhone and activate my sim, which was even more important!

Tonight I guess we're heading out to the pubs again, maybe I'll make some pics. But you should not rely on that. As soon as I get to my laptop, I'll share a pic of one of the 6 computer rooms in the Library. The view out of the upper ones is truely amaizing, if the weather is nice, which it wasn't today...

computer room

view from the building of mathematical sciences

Cheers!

Fresher's Week

The uni started with an induction week on monday. Nothing much happened there, since most of the information they gave where for 1st years, and do not really differ from the rules and regulations in Germany.

But I've figured out my timetable, my English lecutures, and I've bought my bus pass.

Right now, I am just waiting for the last lecture of today, which is just to confirm my attandance. After that, I'll enjoy the wonderful British weather on my ride home, and try to figure out what to do tonight. You literally cannot see more than fifty meters due to heavy rain. All my housemates have arrived by now, and it is getting really full and lively. I like it. We've had a little poker tournament started a few days ago, fortunately I won.

Dusk

I just went jogging an hour ago or so. It was just beautiful to see the city of Bath in the twilight. This morning I've had the pleasure to see the dawn, too. Nothing much happened, the rest of the day. Why did I go out at 9pm? Well, I had to buy electricity in the supermarket. Nope, I am not joking, you actually buy electricity kind of the same way you top up your pre-paid mobile phone. For that to work you have something that looks very similar to a USB stick and take that to the supermarket. You give it to the cashier and tell him how much you want to top up and you pay the money directly with your other goods.

That much for the informational party of my story.

Finally the british weather has arrived...

Well, after two weeks of brilliant weather here at Bath, it was time that the weather changed. Yesterday it was raining cats and dogs, and I was finally able to see the whole city go down in a beautiful fog. I suppose I will not be so euphoric after another 2 months of this, but I enjoyed it yesterday. And since I went to the city centre on Monday, I had the last really great and sunny day to enjoy at the Circus.

You can see the Circus in the picture.

New photo's online

Well, that's all I think.

Sitting in the Library

I'm just bored, so I've decided to write some things. Today I really wanted to go to UoB, well, I had to since I had to finish up with my bank account set up. What an adventure. First a good twenty minute walk down to the bus stop. At least I caught an early bus, then a thirty minute drive to University, seems like the fast Buses only drive during semester, but I don't really mind that. We drove through the entire city centre, just like the red buses the day before yesterday, which was kind of good, since I've seen the connection between my home, the city and the university finally. Not that I'd say I wouldn't still go all the wrong way sometimes. Setting up my bank account was as easy as ever, German banks should do it the same way and not the "if the form is not complete, we cannot help you" kind of way. But that isn't that important I guess. I have an account finally, and I am really happy about it. Also it is about time, since I am stuck in England with about twenty five pounds now, and I really do not want to pick money from my master card.

...and now for the first time ever...

So finally, my first post from Bath. It was supposed to be a all happy, "everything's perfect" post, but it's not. Instead it's a post, for which my oldest English teacher would love me. It builds up suspense it has a climax and it has a turning point. And since ladies are reading this, it has a happy end in which the beautiful daughter finds the love of her life and they live perfectly ever after.

Finally, my last post from Germany

For the last time for at least four months, there's going to be a post from Germany. Well, not so much a post but a postie ;)

Tonight I will be heading to Calais, then take the ferry to Dover and after a short break there, I will drive the last few miles to Bath. Most of my room is in brown boxes right now, which is kind of sad to see. I had to get rid of so many things I thought I would keep forever (e.g. my small collection of whisky bottles). Of cause you can say "it's only for a year", "you'll be back", "nothing's gonna change in this short time" of stuff like that, but that's not exactly true, everyone knows that.

I tried really hard to write down everything I want to take to Bath, and all the things I have to do once I am there, but I am sure I have missed something, hopefully nothing to important. I'm always thinking "remember to pack your ID", "remember you need British money" (which in fact I do not have yet), "remember to pack your charger" the list continues infinitely.

It's going to be a long drive for me and my dad, especially for my dad, because he has to work today.

So, yeah, that's about it from Germany, I'm giving over to myself in England (very soon)

Good Bye!

Oh, yeah, and I've installed Skype (ID: chris.in.bath) feel free to add me.

fun news

Since I now have my new address, I was able to look up the exact distance between my home, and my new home, and it's just amazing since it is 477.6 miles. I guess that was a pretty good guess.

I won't change the name of the blog though.

Cheers!

It's getting serious

I am only 11 days away from departure. But it is getting harder each day. I guess you only realize what you have when your about to lose it. Don't get me wrong, I am really really excited to go to Bath, and live there, but it's hard to leave my dear friends, and my family behind for nearly one whole year. The last week was amazing. First my short trip to Hamburg with a friend was legendary, the following day just wonderful, die days followed by that where superb, and I guess I am losing myself in adjectives..

I would like to take at least some of you with me, but that won't work.

Still, let's go back to some interesting news: Most of my room is in brown boxes already, but I have no Idea where my bed and my sofa should go. I wrote a list of things to do and things to pack for England, and it has gotten huge. I bought a nice Senseo, so at least I'll have coffee in Bath, that'll be good. I met a friend yesterday who is going to the UK for studies as well. We talked about problems that might occur and things we should not forget. It is a good thing to know, she's in England with me, even if she is 110 miles away.

I am hoping for lots of visits from you all, and you can take that as an serious invite.

For the next few days, I have to install Skype, especially on my mom's Laptop, and that's about it. Minor tasks like packing, clearing out my room, finishing with all the bureaucratic stuff and so on will be done shortly before departure. I am just hoping not to forget anything important in Germany, but anyone who knows me knows I will. 

I'll try to see you all one last time, stay tuned for more information on my farewell party and especially for my first post from the United Kingdom, of cause.

final steps to Bath

So, Chris finally found a place to live for the next year.

I did not see anything of the house but the front yet. This didn't really suit me at first, since the place could be a real dump. Nevertheless I am excited and I'm sure it's beautiful.

Thanks to facebook I've at least seen the pictures of my room mates and chatted a bit with some of them. Can't wait to meet them in person, they seem like a lot of fun. Since I was in Scotland for a week, I was not able to solve all the banking and insurance issues last week, but tonight that'll be done, I'm sure.

Everything that's left to do in Germany now, is to pack my bags, decide if I'll go by car or by plane, clean up and clear out my room. And of cause say goodbye for 4 months. I plan on being back in Germany for Christmas only.

I am really happy about the fact that it is made easy to study abroad by pretty much every firm. E.g. o2 offered me to freeze the contract for whatever time I wanted for only 25€. That means instead of paying 180€, I'm saving 155€, thanks to the consideration of them. Thumbs up for that!

I'll report on anything new

apartment hunting

Big News!

Naive Christoph thought he'd be the only one looking for a new home in Bath. 

WRONG!

It seems like there are lots of people looking for few houses, and that does not make my search any easier.

477,7?

Hello readers,

I am a student of the Technische Universität Kaiserslautern. By the end of may I decided to apply for an exchange student program for February 2011. As I searched for more information, I got a hint of one of my professors that one space for an exchange student at the University of Bath was open, and that I could apply for this year September. Without hesitating I gathered the information and applied. The next month should become a test of character for me, since whether I was accepted or denied would change the way the next 11 months will be for me.

Yesterday I received the offer, and of cause, I immediately agreed.