The rest of Wednesday 10 November was fortunately a lot more fun. From 12:00 till 14:00, I attended the English language course for writing, listening and speaking, during which we watched and discussed a very interesting video about North Korea. Thereafter, I took part in a workshop about confidence in group work, although I mainly attended this workshop to find out more about dealing with group members who are not very confident themselves. As there were only two participants in this workshop, we had ample opportunity to talk to the coach. I received some great tips and will try to use those as much as possible from now on. At 17:00, I again went to the English Language course instead of going to the swimming pool. In the evening, I invited some friends for dinner, including my Chinese friends. We talked about our day and my friend told me that her boots were stolen at the swimming pool. As I already expected, the university is not as secure as it seems to be.
The next day, I was extremely tired due to my busy schedule, so I decided to stretch out in my bed and watch a movie. In fact, I even learnt something from this, because I watched a Chinese movie which I got from my flatmate. After a few hours of sleep, I went to the Amnesty International meeting during which we made the final arrangements for the charity event the week after. As always, I visited the Bradford Student Cinema and this time I watched ‘Monsters vs Aliens’, which is an extremely well animated film. At 22:00, I went to the ice rink with one of my best friends to see an amazing ice hockey match. This was actually the first time I saw an ice hockey match in real life and despite the aggressive playing style I would love to learn this sport. It is probably more fun to watch it though, since you can still feel part of the game by actively supporting your favourite team.
I started off the following day a bit slowly as I came home late from the ice hockey match. After I survived all of my lectures, I got onto the bus to the airport in order to pick up my parents. They were already in the foyer when I arrived and I could immediately recognize them as the only tourists at the airport. Upon arrival in Bradford, we first dropped off their luggage and then went to a curry restaurant. I chose not to eat a spicy curry this time, which was definitely a wise decision. After our dinner, I showed my parents around my house and then we went to one of the most famous pubs in Bradford, the Fighting Cock. I soon found out that the English atmosphere of a pub was not completely in accordance with my parents’ expectations of that night, so after we hopelessly tried to have a drink in another pub, we decided to go home for a well-deserved rest.
The next day, we went to Bradford Forster Square, which is one of the two big railway stations in Bradford, and took the train to Skipton. I have been to this place before to visit the castle (see my post from last September), so we decided to explore the surrounding area and ended up in a beautiful forest behind the castle. Later that afternoon, we continued our sightseeing in Leeds, where we discovered an indoor market place, visited a Christmas fair, and had dinner in a luxurious restaurant. The day after, we made a trip to York (also the second time for me) and started our day with a Sunday Mass at the beautiful York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. Afterward, we discovered the many narrow streets in York and had a hot drink in a cosy coffee shop, since it was too cold to stay outside all day long. My parents went to visit a medieval castle tower, while I explored the city along its walls. It was amazing to see how much was left of the city walls, which led me all the way through the residential district of York. We met again after half an hour and I introduced my parents to the one and only British-style Sunday Roast. We finished our day with a visit to the National Railway Museum, where we learnt a lot about both very ancient and modern trains. Back in Bradford, we ate a small dish as the Sunday Roast had taken away most of our appetite for that day.
My parents would leave around noon the following day, so we agreed to meet in the town centre for a quick sightseeing in Bradford, since I did not show them my hometown yet. My father told me that the city looked ‘better than he expected’, which is hopefully a good sign. Even though public transport in the UK has never disappointed me before, my parents were unfortunately forced to take a cab to the airport as the bus did not arrive on time. All in all, I very much enjoyed my parents’ visit and I hope they got a better view of what my life in the UK looks like (as if this was impossible with such a massive blog).
Upon return at University Halls, I met with a few others to play a quick game of ‘Cluedo’, since we obviously did not know how to play it properly. I spent the rest of my day preparing for the International Market, which would take place on Wednesday 17 November. I collected a lot of photos and music from the Netherlands and I was glad to have a lot of Dutch food in stock thanks to my parents and girlfriend. In the evening, I went to a nice pub with the BURACS, where we spent too much money on a pub quiz machine.
On Tuesday, I finally had a normal day again. I went to my lectures during the day and visited Student Central in the evening. Nothing special really, except for the fact that this was the first time I called Marleen since she left me a week ago.
As already stated before, the International Market took place on Wednesday. After three hours of lectures in the morning, I set up my stall and displayed all the Dutch items I could possibly find in my room (including, of course, my collection of photos and music on my laptop). Once I was settled down, I realised that I was not the only person on this market. There were three (3!) other countries represented, namely Liberia, Uganda, and China. Try to fit in the Netherlands within these three and I will give you a free chocolate letter! Luckily, my free candy attracted many students and although the market was not a ‘big’ success, I am certainly proud of myself for showing such patriotism towards my country. During the day, there was also a Costume Parade and one of my best friends was dressed up in traditional Chinese clothes, which looked really nice. After we cleaned up, we did some shopping in the supermarket and a Chinese store. I had a very bad experience at the supermarket, but I may tell you more about this later…
When I got up at 10:30 the next morning, I realised that it had not been a wise decision to join the BURACS for a drink in the pub the other day. Neither was it a wise decision to go to the club afterwards. Nevertheless, I had to get up in order to create awareness for human rights amongst students. Is there any better reason to get out of bed? The event was called ‘iPledge’ and addressed environmental and human rights issues. We tried to get signatures for a petition about Sudan and during the Amnesty meeting at 17:00, it was announced that we collected over a hundred signatures. Good job! I watched ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ after the meeting and then had dinner with a Chinese friend. She taught me some interesting facts about the Chinese language and I realised that it is not impossible to learn this language as long as you use the correct tools, such as this video: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjIyMTY3MzY0.html.
On Friday, I had my usual busy schedule during the day, although something extraordinary occurred that day. There are typically about eight to ten students at the seminar of ‘World Economy Since 1945’ on Friday afternoon, but this time I was the only student. As the lecturer did not mind teaching me one-to-one, I got an Oxford style class. In the evening, I had dinner with an old friend from Romania. More precise, I met her in the introduction period, but this was the first time we met in a lapse of two months. It was great to hear about her experiences, because it turned out that, although we started off in the same way, we made many different friends and went to many different places. After our dinner, I worked on an assignment for Supply Chain Management. I concluded the week with an amazing Friday Night Disco. This time, the Students Union had organised a Silent Disco: everybody wore headphones and you could listen to two different channels throughout the night. This led to hilarious situations and me catching another FND T-shirt.
I learnt that it is very important to get out of bed as soon as your alarm goes off. And thus I was standing under the shower at 8am the next day. That day, we made a trip to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which is a city in North East England and is well-known for its seven famous bridges across the Tyne. Almost everybody was extremely tired, so we walked slowly and only visited those attractions that interested us most: the castle, the art tower with panorama view, the shopping mall, Chinatown, the Quayside, a cosy restaurant, and the Grainger market. I still remembered most of the buildings from my last visit with my parents a few years ago, but this marvellous city was certainly worth another visit. Unfortunately, it was raining all day and we did not fully wake up until we got onto the bus back home. Upon return, I ate some noodles and soon made my way over to a birthday party close to my flat. After one hour, the room was packed and we decided to continue the party somewhere else. We went to a so-called ‘Greek party’, which actually means a great party in a private flat and we enjoyed the music till late.
Some days should be spent useful, others not. I spent my Sunday very useful talking to my girlfriend on Skype and taking a good rest. In the evening, I went to the cinema with some friends and watched the new Harry Potter movie. It was definitely worth its money, besides the fact that I still have to pay my flatmate for the tickets. On Monday, I only had to attend the English Language Course like any other week. Next to that, I also cleaned my room and took care of my photo administration, since this becomes a big mess if not updated properly. At 18:00, I went to a Chinese restaurant with my flatmates and a couple of Chinese friends to have a so-called Chinese Hot Pot. Next to the regular Chinese buffet, there was a hot pot in the centre of the dining table, into which food is put and cooked for everybody at the table. I had a great time talking to my friends and experiencing this new taste, although it was a bit more expensive than the standard food in Bradford. Nevertheless, I can recommend all of you to go and find a Chinese Hot Pot Spot near your town.
Well, that is it for now, but stay tuned as next time I will tell you about the visit of my sister and her boyfriend.
Yours truly,
Frans
ARRIVAL PARENTS
SKIPTON
LEEDS
YORK
BRADFORD
INTERNATIONAL MARKET
AMNESTY & I-PLEDGE
FND SILENT DISCO
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE
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