Brexit or Stronger In?

Hello my fellow readers,

it has been too long. I've spend most of last year finishing my degree, and after graduating (yes, I did finally graduate) I had to move for my job. I am currently living in Cologne while doing a graduate programme at a Fortune 500 company. Travelling is part of my job now, and it is so to an extend where being at home becomes a rarity. This however is not what I want to write about today. I will gladly write more about the people I have had the pleasure of meeting during my many travels in the last couple of months and about the experiences I have made. Today I want to write about something that is close to my heart, maybe closer than it should be.

The upcoming referendum in the UK - the Brexit.

Why Did You Go?

Hey fellow readers,

After due consideration, I have decided to try and keep this running despite the obvious lack of internationality at the moment. Which obviously will not be all that interesting for some of you others however might still enjoy it.

I tried to really give an insight of what a German person would experience going to England - what's different, what's similar. Whilst I was living with people from England, others do not. In fact a lot of the ERASMUS students do keep to themselves in the foreign country. They create their own little states and live in their old little worlds. Do not get me wrong, by all means, this is not necessarily a bad thing. To a certain extend, I did this as well. I travelled with other international students a lot, I spent loads of time getting to know their countries and their customs. I enjoyed it almost as much as I have enjoyed spending time with my room mates and the guys I met along the way and to be quite honest, I never really cared where they were from, I wanted to meet people and with a bit of distance to it all, I finally understood why. It was about the challenges that changed me along the way. So why was it such a unique experience for me and why should you want to go?

Summer Trips and Rain

Finally it's time for yet another entry in what has become a rather inactive blog. Exam period and my time in Germany was surprisingly time consuming. Luckily there was not a lot happening in this time anyway so I'll skip straight to the good part or well the part after exams.

Naturally you would think, the second you finish your exams you'd want to have a couple of drinks. Surprisingly enough I did but let's not get into that.

Photos of the Recital

So here we go again - might overplay my hand today a little bit but I just wanted to bring this out there, mainly because people want to see how gorgeous (yet badly compared to everyone else who was there) I looked.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.