Stuck Inside

I woke up, turned on my computer and got ready to watch Blue Velvet by David Lynch. It's exactly what I like to do to start a Saturday, but at the end of the day, I have to say it wasn't quite the same. No place like home. But I enjoyed the movie, which exceeded all my expectations. Today I know my parents are going to a free screening of the film Michael Clayton, which hasn't been released just yet. If I wasn't here, of course I would have went with them, or actually I must say, they would have come with me. The movie is said to be very good so I can't wait to find out what they think about it. I didn't leave the hosue at all yesterday. Part of that had to do with me taking a shower just at 2.30 pm, so the afternoon was already over for the biggest part. When I was all dresses up i spend some time working on my essay, not too much, though, and then cleaned up my room by using the vacuum cleaner. I had the same dinner as I have been having for the last couple of days. Nothing wrong with that, because I like it immensily. At night we were supposed to go out and dance, but eventually plans changed when Marion turned out to be very busy. And because there was a chance Clément would call us later on that he was too tired afterall, because he spend all day in Dover, Alice and I decided to just drop the whole idea. So again I ended up talking a lot to Alice on MSN which is always lots of fun. Too bad her connection keeps failing and when we want to use our webcams our computers start to act weird. It was actually good that we didn't go out anymore, because last night I wasn't feeling too well, I kind of felt lightheaded, as if having some kind of headache. But I'm okay now, so don't worry. Today I will get out of the house, because I need to return a book to the library, so I have no choice. Have a nice day!

Not So Amazing

I didn't like our seminar yesterday. It was quite dissapointing, especially after Alice and I received an e-mail by Clément about how amazing he thought his seminar had been and what a beautiful day it was. The thing is that we didn't have our seminar by our usual 'teacher', Keith. Apparently he had more important things to do so we were left with his replacement. An American guy who looks as if he could have been Keith's brother, because of the same red hair. Of course the guy and the girl I have mentioned before couldn't keep their mouths shut. I don't really mind about the girl, but the guy is just there to act all funny, or at least he thinks he is. I don't like him at all and Alice either. I just don't get him. He really thinks he's all that. Walking in the class room late with his sunglasses on, trying to look all important. And sometimes on the day of the lecture he walks in wearing nothing than a tanktop. And I'm thinking, go wear some normal clothes. Get yourself a T-shirt or sweater, at least something different than a tanktop. So stupid. And you know that he just wears it to draw attention to himself, because everyone would find it ridiculous to just wear a tanktop, especially when you go to your lecture and it's freezing cold outside. Come on, you're not on the f*ing beach! I'm sure he thinks so highly of himself. of course I don't know him, he probably is a really normal guy and maybe even nice, but I don't care, it's his own fault, he should just change his appearance if he wants to be taken seriously. But the thing that struck me the most was when last night when i was with Alice and Marion at Woody's, Alice actually said that she thought he actually looked pretty good and she already checked him out form top to bottom. And I was thinking noooooo, please don't tell me that even though he act's all tough and stuff, you don't actually think that besides all that he does actually look nice. Nooo, come on, that makes it even worse. But i can't stand him. Witht he girl i have no problem. She is actually really nice and she turns out to be the president of the film society, which explains why she was there when I went to go watch The Third Man. She had arranged everything. I don't know, but she's nice and she desn't try to be funny. 'Cause yesterday we were looking at trailers of horror films. There was this whole list and after watching one the guy said, hmmm that last one looks pretty interesting, i would like to see it. And what does our stupid teacher do, he actually shows it, just because our stupid boy asked for it. What the...?! Can't stand him, really. Who i really like though is this other girl who also speaks quite a lot, but she makes herself less noticeable than the other two. But i really like her, because she always says interesting things. She is really sharp, she comes up with stuff that i had not thought of before. It's so good listen to her. I actually really learn something from her. She is cool and I think that she also has a good sense of humour. But the boy, blaaaaaah. Can not stand him. I'm so happy he's only in our British Cinema lecture and he doesn't do Documentary Film. he would ruin the whole course. So no, my seminar was far from amazing. At the end, when we came to the most interesting bit, I was already too tired to pay any real attention. And I so hated the questions our replacement teacher asked. 'Cause he started by asking if we could notice any improvement, any changes from the old Hammer horror movies and the new horror movies that are made in Britain. But he was asking this without ever wndering about if some of us had even seen any Hammer films. And when he finally thought, hmmm, let's ask if they have seen any, it turned out only one or two people did. Just so stupid. How are we able to compare these films if we have never seen all the old ones. But no, he just expected we had all seen them. Ridiculous. I thought he was so bad. Didn't like him either. I'm not really fond of Keith, but this guy is even worse. After the seminar I walked back to Park Wood with Alice. Alice went home, but I didn't. Instead I took the University bus to go downtown to get myself an English phonenumber. I found one, I was very happy, and it seems to work. I also went to Tesco to do some shopping, but not that much, because i already have enough to eat. I really liked to be in the center again. I didn't realize I needed to go out. Because whn i got there I felt so nice. It was so good to be away from campus and everything. So I'm really glad i went. And I like to go by myself. Of course I brought my ipod with me, so I listened to my music while choosing which muesli to buy and which drinks. I spend quite a lot of time at Tesco. I didn't want to spend too much and I had only 7 pounds left. Eventually I had to pay something like 5,50. But every time I;m there I take a lot of time to choose whether to buy the cheapest products or spend a bit more for soemthing of a bit more quality. 'Cause last time I bought some drinks. You could buy three packages of juice and only had to pay for two. But the drinks were soooo sweet. So this time I made sure i choose different drinks. Still 3 for te price of 2, but I went with regular orange juice. At home I made cous cous. The only problem was that i put too much water. First i didn't put enough, so i decided to add some, but then it was too much. I wasn't able to save my cous cous anymore, so i decided to just throw it into the pan in which I was cooking the corn with tomatoes. It still tasted good, but next time I shall pay more attention to how much water I need to add. Fir the second time this week, by the way, i found myself having dinner with Patricia. She always eats a salad as dinner, but for lunch she has things like rice or beans with vegetables. But I always like to talk to her and we always have lots of things to talk about. She later on went to a party, but it was a costume party and she didn't have any real costumes, so she wasn't sure what to wear. I;m not sure she eventually wore her strawberry coloured shirt to pretend to be dressed as a strawberry or just wore her basketball shirt to pretend to be a basketball player. But she probably just put on a nice dress. Because we didn't have any real plans, Alice, Marion and I decided to have a drink at Woody's. Clément wasn't in the mood to go out anymore, so he stayed home. But it was really cool at Woody's, as always. Always a pleasure to talk to the two girls. I of course drank only water, because it's for free. And really, I don't need to drink anything else. I could order a coke or a beer, but at the end it's all the same to me. drink is a drink, i don't really care what it is, so then why not just have a glass of water which is totally free. Today is my off day. I woke up, watched Blue Velvet, awesome film, have to take a shower now (I know, it's already late in the afternoon) and then i will work on my essay and et the vacuum cleaner to tidy up my room. Have a nice Saturday!

Don't Look Ever

Yesterday has been quite busy. I didn't end up going to boxing class, as it would have been too much, but I still went to the movie meeting which was very interesting. Our film will become so great if we manage to get it right, just exactly the way we want. I started by going to the library in the morning. I expected to see Marion, because she told she would be there as well, but I didn't manage to find her and because I don't have any credit anymore on my mobile phone, I try not to send text messages or call. It's strange, cause I never thought it would happen, but it did, and in quite a short amount of time. Because before I came here I my credit was like 150 euros or more even. And now all of that is gone. I know it's more expensive here to call when you don't have an English phone number, but I still think it's a great achievement, especially for someone who never used his phone so much. Right now I really can't live without one anymore, so I will try to get an English number today. I went to the library to read the text for British Cinema we needed to read. The text wasn't that interesting, but i always read the text for the lectures and seminars, just to be prepared a bit. The lecture was a bit more interesting than normally, especially when Keith, that's the name of our professor I found out last night, started to speak about the use of colour in horror movies and showed us some really cool examples. but overall it was the same as every week, meaning he was reading us a bedtime story instead of giving an energetic presentation. We then watched Don't Look Now, which i already saw before just once. I remember I didn't quite like it back then, but I have to say this time I liked it more, even though the ending is still ridiculous and near the end the movie becomes kind of a drag with nothing interesting events taking place. Alice was joking how she wasted two hours of her life watching this crappy movie. They should better change the title from Don't Look Now to Don't Look Ever. Because the film builds up to something that isn't there. You end up with this big anti-climax and feel cheated on. Because you think, this is what I get? This is my reward for sitting through this whole film? After the lecture I walked home listening to my Ipod, as Alice had to go to the shop and Clément needed to take money from the cash machine. I didn't do much when I got home, because there wasn't much time. It was almost 6.30 already, which meant I needed to go to the Film society meeting. Upstairs in a seminar room, the three of us, Clément, Euan and i started to discuss our film again and whereas last week we already managed to get our story more clear, this week we really came with terrific ideas and I'm sure we won't have to change a lot anymore, since I'm sure we all agree that what we have right now is really good and really what we want. Next week Euan won't be there, as he will be in Finland giving a short presentation during a conference, lucky him. And the whole flight is paid for. So cool. I wish I could go there. So after the meeting Clément and I got to Alice's upper-class mansion to have dinner together. Marion joined us, as well as Cecilia, one of Alice's housemates. And to Alice's great pleasure one of her British housemates joined us, which marked the first time of them having dinner together. The other British guy had to leave, but because he doesn't speak very clear anyway, it wasn't such a problem he left. I did understand what he said though, but the others didn't, what I can quite understand. He needs to articulate more. It was cool that the other housemate at least tried to show some interest, but he also had to go and meet up with friends later on, so eventually they both left. I understand why Alice maybe wants to switch rooms, since on Sandra's floor, there's one room that isn't used right now. At my house it's very different. We talk a lot. And it's so normal in my house that, I believe it was on Wednesday, I wasn't even aware that Patricia and I had dinner together, because in my house, as it should be in every house, it is just really normal to end up eating together when you are preparing your evening meal at the same time. The only one who still prefers eating in her room, even when the kitchen if full with people, which gives you the opportunity to eat together, is Liz. But yeah, she has to know for herself, if that is what she wants. We were supposed to watch Brief Encounter, but because it was already past 10 pm and everyone was a bit tired, we decided to just go home. Alice made great risotto. It always tastes so good. I could eat it everyday. I love rice, so risotto is a real treat. Today i have my seminar at 2, so i still have some time to work on my essay and drink some tea. Yesterday was a really nice day, i enjoyed it a lot.

Wednesday Once Again

Yesterday was Wednesday once again. The last couple of days have gone by so fast, it doesn't look like it's already a week later, but it really is. I didn't went out much yesterday. I decided to stay at home and work. I finally had some good night sleep. I woke up around 11 and got out of bed. At 3 I would be having the meeting with Tamar, our co-orinator of Film Studies. Noone really knew why she wanted to see us and when we got to her office it turned out that she just set up the meeting for us to ask we had any questions or needed any help. It was quite good, because I had the chance to ask her about staying longer, which she once again told me was possible and now someone from the European Office will set up a letter to confirm I can stay. We also asked about the changing of our deadlines. Because some of us Erasmus students find it hard to write an essay in English or because some us have never written any essays at all or just aren't used to writing them, we asked if some deadlines can maybe be changed. And surprisingly Tamar told us if we would find that to be necessary she woul try and look what she could do for us. So it might be possible, which would give us some more time to write our essays. But I have already started and so far it goes quite alright. I think i will have it finished on time, but you never know. Before I went back home I saw outside the library for a while, on the steps, together with Alice and Clement. It had been pretty cold, but right at that moemnt the sun was shining brightly on our faces, which was very nice. Clement decided to go study in the library, so after a while we split up and Alice and I went off to go to the cash machine, because Alice needed to get some money. Because every week we read on some signs that on Wednesdays you can get fresh fruit at The Venue, Alice and I decided to have a look. The signs were right, they really have this kind of fruit/vegetable market in The Venue on Wednesdays. And to our surprise it's not that expensive. You can buy a lot of food just for 1 pound. Like a oranges and apples. The thing is, though, that one the packages it doesn't say when they were packaged and until when you are able to eat them. But if you just do a bit of inspection and make sure the food you buy looks good, then everything I guess will be alright. I bought some cherry tomatoes and a sack of apples. Then we walked off home and I didn't leave the house ever since. I have to say i spent quite some time behind the computer yesterday. I worked on my essay for British Cinema and did some cooking. After her salsa class Alice stopped by my house to ask me if we had any plans to do something that night. But because Marion and Clement spend a lot of time at the library, both were a bit tired and it was already a bit late to go and watch a movie. So we didn't do anything really interesting yesterday, except for talking a lot on MSN. Alice and I tried to use our webcams, but because Alice has this really weird internet connection, she is kicked out of MSN all the time and has to go and sign in all over again all the time. We also exchanged some music. later on I also spoke a bit to Marion and Tania and then around 12 I decided I really needed to go to bed, because I was very tired and it was sleepy time. Today there are a lot of things. Lecture, maybe boxing class, film society meeting and afterwards we will go and watch Brief Encounter again, after Alice received her DVD that she bought.

Another Happy Day

Woke up way too early yesterday, which didn't make sense as I wasn't planning to go to the library anyway. I had seminar at 2, so instead of going to the library to read I decided to read the text at home. They weren't so long and very easy, so it didn't take me very long to read them. The seminar was very interesting. We spend some time analyzing clips from When The Levees Broke. We had to look at how the documentary provides us viewers with information, how it tries to convince us and what emotions it tries to evoke. In groups of three we had to do this little 'exercise'. I think When The Levees Broke is a very good documentary to analyze, because it uses a lot of interviews and different ways to tell its story. It's really interesting and I felt I've learned a lot by doing the excercise and by looking how others start off going into the analyzation. After the seminar I walked home with Clement who was going to the centre with Claudia and her mentor. When I got home something very cool was waiting for me. After finding out Tamar, our co-ordinator, had sent me an e-mail saying that the European office here in Kent is happy to let me stay for the whole academic year, I got even more happy when I noticed the big package in front of my door. Patricia had been so nice to sign for me as I was not there when they brought it. Because it was very heavy she decided to just sign for me, 'cause else I would have gone all the way downtown to get it, as they weren't going to leave it at the reception. So now I have a webcam, an extra sweater, my jacket for the winter, drop, lots of stroopwafels :), some bread, red beets and my bowl in which i normally eat my muesli. Around 6.30 i went off to the Grimond Building to watch The Third Man. It was the weekly screening of the Film Society, and because I never saw the film on a big screen I really wanted to see it. I only had seen it ocne before and really liked it, especially towards the ending when it becoems very exciting. When I got back home I cooked some cous cous with brocolli and tomatoes. It was pretty crowded in the kitchen as Patricia, Victoria and her friend Come, Farhad and his American friend of which i forgot the name, were all there. It was really nice to have so many people in the kitchen. Some days there's noone and on other days it's filled with people. After eating I went on MSN to look how my webcam worked. It was really nice to see my dad and my mother and Feroz my brother. And really cool that they now could also see and hear me. It has already been 5 weeks since I left. This week will be the 6th. I was also speaking to Alice and later on to Clement. When it already got over 12 pm i decided I really had to go as i was very tired and I actually wanted to go to bed early. But this morning I managed to sleep until 11, so i feel pretty good and well rested. Now I'm going to get to work. Adios!

I Ran Out Of Inspiration For Original And Highly Inventive Topic Titles

Lately my days here have gotten more simple. No pub every night or a night out downtown. I just go to class, study a bit, do some boxing or running, visit the cinema and have a nice drink at Woody's or at someone's home. Yesterday fitted into that image completely. First I went to
the Documentary Film lecture. I walked together with Clement. Alice had to do something before the lecture, so she joined us at the Grimond building. Again, the lecture was really interesting. it was about the use of interviews in documentaries and the different sorts of interviews that can be used. The examples Elizabeth shows are very good and clear. Overall her whole lecture is just so much more interesting than the lecture of British Cinema. The lecture of British Cinema is a real dissapointment. The seminar however is quite good, even though the ones from Documentary Film have been very good as well lately. So Documentary Film for me easily wins it from British Cinema, at least for now. I've read online that my package has arrived in the UK. Don't know if it's actually here yet. I will check the reception. I really can't wait for it, which became pretty clear to me last night, because I dreamt about it. After the lecture Clement and me talked for a while about When The Levees Broke, a documentary by Spike Lee of which we watched the first two parts. Then Marion, Marina and Alice walked our way. They were going home and because I had nothing else to do in the library I went home with them, while Clement stayed to do some things. When I got home I had my lunch and then put some ideas and thoughts on paper about my essay. Then i decided to watch Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho starring the late River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves. Because the boxing lesson that normally is on Friday was on Monday this week, I Had to go to boxing class at 7. Claudia and Isa went with me and Clement as well this time. And if I'm right, they will now join us every week. So really cool. The boxing class still is really fun. i have to say I enjoyed last night more than last Friday, because we did less exercises and more actual boxing. At first i wasn't sure about watching Paris je T'aime again, because I had already seen it ocne, but I decided to go anyway. I expected to see Marion at the cinema, because you told me Marion, that you wanted to go. But I guess you were to tired after visiiting the Canterbury cathedral. A lot of people ended up going, besides me and all of Clements housemates. So after the movie I walked home together with Veronique and two other girls. Today I have the seminar of Documentary Film and theI'm done. Tonight I will be watching The Third Man witht he film society. I have already seen it once, but I can't wait to watch it on the big screen.

Untitled

I just came home from my lecture Documentary Film which was very interesting, just like last week, so i'm really happy. Yesterday I didn't do much. Around 12 I went to the library, even though I didn't have any real reason to go there. Because Alice told the night before that she really needed to read and would therefore go to the library as soon as she woke up, I thought it would be nice to join her and maybe the others if they were already there as well. But to my surprise I was the only onr and Alice wasn't even there yet, so then I didn't have any real purpose anymore to come. So I just went to the computerroom, did some searching on books about writing a screenplay or a short story which interest me quite a bit and then I also wrote the post for my blog from yesterday. Afterwards I looked for some of the books. I have to say I'm really happy with the library here. They have lots of interesting books. For example, you can find a lot of books of screenplays from films and which also the whole film process is being discussed and cetrain choices are explained. Very interesting to read and lots of fun as well. Because I sent Alice a text message I knew she would be in the library between 13.30 and 2 pm, so I looked for her and found her reading on the second floor, the same floor where I was. I started to read a bit too, but not so much, as my work was actually at home. After a couple of minutes someone came to ask Alice something, who turned out to be Clement. He was also on the same floor, but in the back. I don't know why but when I left soon thereafter I just went home saying goodbye to Alice and then went. But I didn't go to where Clement was sitting to say goodbye to him as well. Don't know why, sometimes you just do things. But we already went over it. At home I tried to work on one of my essays a bit and then had dinner. I had some soup again with a piece of bread and then afterwards I went to Marion's house who wanted to show me something about The National, a band of whom we're going to a concert. of. Clement and Alice joined us later on and then we went to drink something at Woody's. I just had some water, because I didn't feel like drinking anything else and water is for free, so why not. But we didn't stay too long because all of us were pretty tired, so we thought it was a good idea to go to bed. And now I'm home again, eating my bread. Tonight there is the boxing class. Normally this one is on Friday, but they changed things. I'm not sure yet if it will stay like this or if it's just like this for this week. So that's on my to do list of today. See you!