I dont know exactly how it happened and why, but since yesterday Canterbury all of a sudden has become cold, and I don't mean just chilly, but really ice cold. If you look at how cold it is right now, you almost wouldn't believe just a few days ago I was sitting in the grass eating lunch, enjoying the sunlight. Today I got up very early. I almost forgot, but we have a meeting that all Erasmus student have to attend. Jane Short from the English Language & Study Skills
Course will be there to give a presentation which I believe will be about the English classes students can attend throughout the year. I actually already signed up for it. It's free and I'm not sure if I really need it, but I thought, because most of our group from last week will sign up it would be cool for me to do the same so I can see them there. Yesterday I had a really nice day, like every day so far, it seems. Like I mentioned before there was this meeting in the library cafe which I had to go to to meet the co-ordinator of the Film Studies department. After that Alice, Clement, Farrad and Hana or Ana (I''m not sure about her name just yet) headed to the computer room to take care of some things. After a while Clement and me where the only ones left. I helped him to scan some documents so he could print them out. But I guess it's typically Clement to forget where he has saved the picture of the scanned files, so when we went to print it we couldn't find it on the computer. And we didnt try again. Then we got ourselves this card for the bus of Canterbury that is valid for the whole year and got to the Gulbenkian theatre. I had to get some cash from the cash machine as well, so we got to the bank. We met Thomas earlier who was with friends and who told us there was a free lunch somewhere. We didn't find out where the free lunch was, but we did manage to ask two people in blue shirts (which means that they help arrange things for freshers week) what it means to be part of a college. Because Clement and I both are Film Students but are in different colleges. But so far there isn't a real answer. As far as I have understood they just pick students randomnly and say like: you belong to them, and you belong to them. You know, just like Draco Malfoy
is from Slytherin and Harry, Hermione and Ron are all part of Gryffindor. Yes, i'm talking Harry Potter right now. But no free lunch. And I actually didn't want to go home so it was nice that we then went back to the theatre to eat a panini, which was really nice, even though Alice who I met later, didn't really agree. But then again, it seems that nothing 'Italian' in Canterbury could ever compare to the real thing. While eating Alice called to tell me she wanted to meet at 4 pm instead of 3. I already forgot about our meeting for the laundry, so i was glad she called to change it, as it was already 15 mintes to 3 when she called. So afterwards Clement and I went back to Park Wood. I washed some clothes that couldnt be put in the washing machine by hand and wrote some message to Clement via MSN, which apparently he didnt understand, because it was too English, but it really wasn't lol. It was nothing difficult. But maybe, like he thought, it was because he was sending an e-mail in French and thinking in French and then reading something in English I guess don't really fit together. So at 4 I met Alice at the reception. She thought I had to do some laundry as well, but I told her no. She then said she wouldn't have asked me to help, because she didnt want to be sort of a burden. But I really have nothing to do and I like to help, i really do. And just to meet Alice is already a wonderful reason to come. But i was there only to pass on the knowledge. Eventally it turned out Alicie didn't really need some help as she knows very good how to do the luandry. She even taught me about two different kind of soaps, or actuall
y one soap and one other product that is not for cleaning but only to make the clothes soft when put in the washing machine. So I ended up learning something new. We then just talked a bit, since Alice thought she would just wait all the 37 minutes it took to was her clothes. I only left before like the last 10 minutes. i had to because I still had to arrange some things like writing e-mails to all these important people at the UvA to make sure I can still take the courses I want and maybe stay for the year. But it's so stressful sometimes and I get confused and sometimes make tiny mistakes. like all of a sudden thinking Documentary film is a 30 ECTS course, which isn't true. It's a 15 ECTS credits course, which I knew, but for a moment I thought was compeletely different. So then you have to send an e-mail again, saying no I made a mistake after already blaming Brechje of the European Office to have made the mistake, when it was actually me. But I had to get ready to make dinner, since I wouldnt eat at soemone else's place that night. So the meeting I had with my housemates was really cool. It's so nice to have people from all different countries and cultures. Liz, she's only 20 like me and Patricia. Victoria is 21 and Farrad is 24. It was funny cause a friend of Victoria said, aaa then you're like a father. Daddy Farrad. And then Patricia said, noooo, grandpa. Grandpa Farrad! Aaah, poor Farrad, and 24 isn't even that old. Victoria has a lot of humour by the way. Her English is very good, very good, which shos
not every guy or girl from France has trouble with the language. So everyone don't give up, it could be done. French people can also speak good English, just keep trying and improving yourself. If you ever need help, i will be there for you. Everyone just hand me over all your essays and I will check if everything is correct, even though I might not always know myself either. We also talked about the imae we have of Americans and especially the youth. For example things like spring break when they go to Cancun and drink lots of beer. It really is the image we have and Liz had to agree that it is actually also true. That's what a lot of Americans do when they're young. I really liked what she said though about the age of 21 in the US so legally drink alcohol. Because the people you see go to these Spring Break parties are already far in their twenties. They are adults and you expect them to know and act better. But she then said it is just because of the age. Cause when you are allowed to drink from 21 you totally go wild when you reach the age and celebrate your birthday with lots of drinking. It's what you've been waiting for for so long. So for like maybe 3 years you're still like, wow, I can drink, i can drink! How great! And you go to every party and end up acting like a 4 year old.
So then when you look at some countries in Europe where you can drink from the age of 18 or like in The Netherlands, 16, it's different. People who then are like 21 already went throught the phase of I can drink. Woohoo! So when they're 21 they already calmed down a bit. And for me, a boy who was allowed to drink from 16, it's very different. I never even had the feeling that being allowed to drink was something special. Because at that age I never really felt the need to drink. I was still very young. So when I got older it has always been like I've been able to buy alcohol all my life and be allowed to drink. So everything with me went more gradually. When you want to drink you drink, if not, then you don't. But I never had this sudden outburst where I went toall crazy because I could finally drink without having to do it secretly. But it was a very interesting night and my hosuemates are all very sweet and cool. So I'm really glad. They're also very flexible, noone is is taking charge or bbossy and starts to make a list of things we have to do like cleaning etc. We're just all very nice and don't mind to lend someone a pan if they need it, things like that. So i'm happy. Then after our dinner it was still quite early and I decided to go to the centre of Canterbury to meet the whole crew. Marion and Clement went to see the cathedral, cause they dont participate in the orientation events, and then later on were joined by Alice, Sandra, Marina, Heidi and some of their roommates. I'm very proud of myself because I walked to the centre all by myself and didnt get lost. I was very sure of myself, cause I felt I really knew the way, and apparently I really do, which makes me happy. I didnt get lost and just walked as if I'm walking home to my house in Haarlem. No worries and all of that when it was already compelety dark. Well, i have to admit that I actually did got a bit lost, but that was at the end, but then I immediately walked into the crew, cause they were heading to a different pub. So I joined them had a beer, another one. Which isn't good, i know. But it was a Cralsberg, and that one is really nice. And last night I also ate some carrot cake when I got home and I never eat so late. But you know, when you have a box of cookies or choclate and it sits on your desk staring at you, seducing you, screaming at you to have a little bite. I just could not resist. Just like I also drank another capucchino that morning. But overall it was agin a nice day. Only when we left the pub we had to wait a very long time for the bus to finally arrive. And it was cold. cold with a capital C. And today in my room, it's cold. And last night in my bed it was cold. Like a freezer cold. So in a few minutes I will meet at the reception. Oh, and before I forget, my food was pretty good. The rice worked out fine, put it in the microwave, it was nice. The vehgetables were a bit more diffuclt since I decided to make red cabbage, only I dont have real pan with a lid on it. So I put it in a saucepan. But it was nice. It tasted doog and I finally had some rice which was perfect. But now I'm going to join patricia in the kitchen who is eating cereals.
Course will be there to give a presentation which I believe will be about the English classes students can attend throughout the year. I actually already signed up for it. It's free and I'm not sure if I really need it, but I thought, because most of our group from last week will sign up it would be cool for me to do the same so I can see them there. Yesterday I had a really nice day, like every day so far, it seems. Like I mentioned before there was this meeting in the library cafe which I had to go to to meet the co-ordinator of the Film Studies department. After that Alice, Clement, Farrad and Hana or Ana (I''m not sure about her name just yet) headed to the computer room to take care of some things. After a while Clement and me where the only ones left. I helped him to scan some documents so he could print them out. But I guess it's typically Clement to forget where he has saved the picture of the scanned files, so when we went to print it we couldn't find it on the computer. And we didnt try again. Then we got ourselves this card for the bus of Canterbury that is valid for the whole year and got to the Gulbenkian theatre. I had to get some cash from the cash machine as well, so we got to the bank. We met Thomas earlier who was with friends and who told us there was a free lunch somewhere. We didn't find out where the free lunch was, but we did manage to ask two people in blue shirts (which means that they help arrange things for freshers week) what it means to be part of a college. Because Clement and I both are Film Students but are in different colleges. But so far there isn't a real answer. As far as I have understood they just pick students randomnly and say like: you belong to them, and you belong to them. You know, just like Draco Malfoy
is from Slytherin and Harry, Hermione and Ron are all part of Gryffindor. Yes, i'm talking Harry Potter right now. But no free lunch. And I actually didn't want to go home so it was nice that we then went back to the theatre to eat a panini, which was really nice, even though Alice who I met later, didn't really agree. But then again, it seems that nothing 'Italian' in Canterbury could ever compare to the real thing. While eating Alice called to tell me she wanted to meet at 4 pm instead of 3. I already forgot about our meeting for the laundry, so i was glad she called to change it, as it was already 15 mintes to 3 when she called. So afterwards Clement and I went back to Park Wood. I washed some clothes that couldnt be put in the washing machine by hand and wrote some message to Clement via MSN, which apparently he didnt understand, because it was too English, but it really wasn't lol. It was nothing difficult. But maybe, like he thought, it was because he was sending an e-mail in French and thinking in French and then reading something in English I guess don't really fit together. So at 4 I met Alice at the reception. She thought I had to do some laundry as well, but I told her no. She then said she wouldn't have asked me to help, because she didnt want to be sort of a burden. But I really have nothing to do and I like to help, i really do. And just to meet Alice is already a wonderful reason to come. But i was there only to pass on the knowledge. Eventally it turned out Alicie didn't really need some help as she knows very good how to do the luandry. She even taught me about two different kind of soaps, or actuall
y one soap and one other product that is not for cleaning but only to make the clothes soft when put in the washing machine. So I ended up learning something new. We then just talked a bit, since Alice thought she would just wait all the 37 minutes it took to was her clothes. I only left before like the last 10 minutes. i had to because I still had to arrange some things like writing e-mails to all these important people at the UvA to make sure I can still take the courses I want and maybe stay for the year. But it's so stressful sometimes and I get confused and sometimes make tiny mistakes. like all of a sudden thinking Documentary film is a 30 ECTS course, which isn't true. It's a 15 ECTS credits course, which I knew, but for a moment I thought was compeletely different. So then you have to send an e-mail again, saying no I made a mistake after already blaming Brechje of the European Office to have made the mistake, when it was actually me. But I had to get ready to make dinner, since I wouldnt eat at soemone else's place that night. So the meeting I had with my housemates was really cool. It's so nice to have people from all different countries and cultures. Liz, she's only 20 like me and Patricia. Victoria is 21 and Farrad is 24. It was funny cause a friend of Victoria said, aaa then you're like a father. Daddy Farrad. And then Patricia said, noooo, grandpa. Grandpa Farrad! Aaah, poor Farrad, and 24 isn't even that old. Victoria has a lot of humour by the way. Her English is very good, very good, which shos 
not every guy or girl from France has trouble with the language. So everyone don't give up, it could be done. French people can also speak good English, just keep trying and improving yourself. If you ever need help, i will be there for you. Everyone just hand me over all your essays and I will check if everything is correct, even though I might not always know myself either. We also talked about the imae we have of Americans and especially the youth. For example things like spring break when they go to Cancun and drink lots of beer. It really is the image we have and Liz had to agree that it is actually also true. That's what a lot of Americans do when they're young. I really liked what she said though about the age of 21 in the US so legally drink alcohol. Because the people you see go to these Spring Break parties are already far in their twenties. They are adults and you expect them to know and act better. But she then said it is just because of the age. Cause when you are allowed to drink from 21 you totally go wild when you reach the age and celebrate your birthday with lots of drinking. It's what you've been waiting for for so long. So for like maybe 3 years you're still like, wow, I can drink, i can drink! How great! And you go to every party and end up acting like a 4 year old. 
So then when you look at some countries in Europe where you can drink from the age of 18 or like in The Netherlands, 16, it's different. People who then are like 21 already went throught the phase of I can drink. Woohoo! So when they're 21 they already calmed down a bit. And for me, a boy who was allowed to drink from 16, it's very different. I never even had the feeling that being allowed to drink was something special. Because at that age I never really felt the need to drink. I was still very young. So when I got older it has always been like I've been able to buy alcohol all my life and be allowed to drink. So everything with me went more gradually. When you want to drink you drink, if not, then you don't. But I never had this sudden outburst where I went toall crazy because I could finally drink without having to do it secretly. But it was a very interesting night and my hosuemates are all very sweet and cool. So I'm really glad. They're also very flexible, noone is is taking charge or bbossy and starts to make a list of things we have to do like cleaning etc. We're just all very nice and don't mind to lend someone a pan if they need it, things like that. So i'm happy. Then after our dinner it was still quite early and I decided to go to the centre of Canterbury to meet the whole crew. Marion and Clement went to see the cathedral, cause they dont participate in the orientation events, and then later on were joined by Alice, Sandra, Marina, Heidi and some of their roommates. I'm very proud of myself because I walked to the centre all by myself and didnt get lost. I was very sure of myself, cause I felt I really knew the way, and apparently I really do, which makes me happy. I didnt get lost and just walked as if I'm walking home to my house in Haarlem. No worries and all of that when it was already compelety dark. Well, i have to admit that I actually did got a bit lost, but that was at the end, but then I immediately walked into the crew, cause they were heading to a different pub. So I joined them had a beer, another one. Which isn't good, i know. But it was a Cralsberg, and that one is really nice. And last night I also ate some carrot cake when I got home and I never eat so late. But you know, when you have a box of cookies or choclate and it sits on your desk staring at you, seducing you, screaming at you to have a little bite. I just could not resist. Just like I also drank another capucchino that morning. But overall it was agin a nice day. Only when we left the pub we had to wait a very long time for the bus to finally arrive. And it was cold. cold with a capital C. And today in my room, it's cold. And last night in my bed it was cold. Like a freezer cold. So in a few minutes I will meet at the reception. Oh, and before I forget, my food was pretty good. The rice worked out fine, put it in the microwave, it was nice. The vehgetables were a bit more diffuclt since I decided to make red cabbage, only I dont have real pan with a lid on it. So I put it in a saucepan. But it was nice. It tasted doog and I finally had some rice which was perfect. But now I'm going to join patricia in the kitchen who is eating cereals.
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