Hallo-ween

From all of the titles I have chosen before, this one is probably the most far-fetched. The entire title refers to the celebration of Halloween in Bradford, which was definitely the biggest event up till now. The first part, however, also refers to the Dutch word for ‘Hello’. So how about the second part? This is the Dutch word to say someone is crying out of emotion, and more precisely: me. It describes the way in which I experienced my girlfriend’s visit a few weeks ago: hello… not much later: I cry. We had a great time, but I would love to have had more time together, since there is so much to tell, to show, and to do in Bradford. I did not have much time to be sad though, since my parents would visit me the next weekend. Can I ever get bored here?

Exactly one month ago, the International Office organised a trip to Chester, which is a city close to the border with Wales and was founded as a Roman fort in the year 79 (Wikipedia.org). Although everybody was still very tired because of FND, we hopped onto the bus at 9:00 am. There was no predefined programme, so we could just wander around in the streets without getting lost, since the city centre was not very big. This was indeed the case, so I wonder why we bothered to make a two-hour bus trip to visit this city in the first place. The highlights were as follows: 1) Excavation of Roman Amphitheatre, 2) City walls, 3) Second-most photographed clock in England, 4) Chester Racecourse, and 5) Chester canal. I think it took us one hour to visit and photograph each of these tourist attractions. So how did we spend the rest of our time? I bought an elephant balloon hat (see photos), we had lunch in a small restaurant (i.e. we occupied all the available seats), we visited the Chester history museum (the only free museum in town), we drank chocolate milk in a medieval coffee shop (you know what it means in English), and visited the University of Chester (which was unfortunately closed). All in all, we had a lot of fun and did not learn anything about Chester at all.

On Sunday morning, I went running up a hill close to the university. When I got on top of the hill, I had a magnificent view of not only the city of Bradford but also the surrounding moors. In the afternoon, my Chinese flatmate and I went to Dennis Bellamy Halls to have lunch with our group mate. The lunch was delicious and there was certainly enough food for everybody. I am sorry to say that I was not able to finish my rice, which frustrated the girl since “growing rice is a very difficult process”. After lunch, we worked on our assignment and we made some serious progress. Unfortunately, when we practiced the presentation, it turned out that each of us required ten minutes, whereas we were only allowed to have a presentation of fifteen minutes in total. As we had been working on the assignment the entire afternoon, we decided to edit each part individually and hopefully we would be able to give a fifteen-minute presentation on Tuesday.

The next morning, my flatmate knocked on my door asking for my help. He wanted to show a video during the presentation and asked me whether I could help him with editing this video. After one hour of basic Windows Movie Maker modifications and with a satisfied feeling, we watched our one-minute video. Indeed, a lot of work for a small reward. At 13:00, I attended an English Language course and it soon turned out that the university could indeed offer me some more help with improving my English. There were two sessions. The first one was aimed at improving our writing skills and the second was designed to improve our listening and speaking skills. The latter, however, was taught by a non-native speaker and I soon found out that I could not learn any pronunciation know-how from him. In the evening, I modified my part of the presentation and was able to cut it down to only six minutes. While I was working on this, my Chinese flat mate came in and we had a nice chat together. It is great to have friends here, who you can tell about your concerns.

On Tuesday, we had to give our presentation. In the morning, we printed handouts for the students and lecturer and during the lecture we discussed the last-minute problems, which unfortunately did occur. Nonetheless, our presentation was a great success and we got a grade of 72%. For your information, 72% is equal to a Dutch grade of 10. In the evening, I planned to go to the cinema with the Bradford International Group and I convinced my Chinese friend to go with me. When we got there, however, it turned out that we were the only ones interested apart from the guy who organised the event. Nevertheless, we watched ‘The Social Network’ and could go to bed early after a tiresome day.

I do not know how often I have said this before, but Wednesday is my shopping day. Therefore, I went to the city centre with one of my flatmates and we visited many shops to look for presents for our girlfriends. Eventually, my flatmate bought a rose in a box and I bought chocolate for Marleen. Thereafter, we went to the local supermarket, but I could not stay long as I had to go home and prepare some Dutch food for the International Erasmus Dinner, which would take place in the evening. Together with another Dutch exchange student, I made Brussels sprouts and pork sausages, which are closest to Dutch food I could think of. The dinner was a great success; there were students from many different countries, such as Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Italy, France, Germany, and the variety of food was accordingly. I especially liked the pizza made by the Italians and the Portuguese fried sugar balls, called Bolinho de Chuva. Unfortunately, it was too busy in the living room, so I ended up in the hallway talking to some Spanish people who were not even students anymore. At that time, I realised that you do not have to be an exchange student to live in the UK, although I would personally prefer to live in another city after I finished my studies. Bradford surely is a great place to study, but apart from that the city is not attractive at all.

On Thursday, I decided it was time to wash my clothes, since I had not done this for a few weeks. After I hung up my clothes, I went over to Student Central to help the Students Union with carving pumpkins for the Halloween party. A short introduction was enough to teach me how to cut my pumpkin in the right way. Although I did my utmost to make a scary pumpkin, I ended up with two silly looking pumpkins, which would hopefully look a lot scarier with a candle inside.

On Friday morning, I again did some washing because I forgot to wash my bed linens the other day. After a relaxed day (one of my modules was cancelled because of the phenomenon ‘Reading Week’, which is in fact a holiday for students at the School of Social and International Studies), I got myself a sandwich from the Subway and hopped onto the bus for another BURACS trip. This time we were going to the Saltaire brewery to taste the ales right from the source. In contrast to my expectations, we did not get a tour through the brewery and instead just drank a few of the local specialities in the brewery pub. Upon return in Bradford, I invited my BURACS friends over to my place to ‘kill’ the time before we would go to the Halloween FND. In my opinion, this FND was the best one up till now. Many of my friends did not recognize me at first, since I was wearing a satanic mask and it was nice to see that almost everybody tried to look as scary as possible. After the party, my flatmate and I brought some of the girls home and in return we received Chinese noodles. As you can understand, I was really tired the next day and did not do anything except for playing a few games of pool in the sports bar. Nevertheless, I think the party was definitely worth all my energy.

On Sunday, I had regained most of my strength and used it to run in the park with my flatmates. In the afternoon, I tested my nerves in the BSC Hitchcock afternoon. They showed two of his best movies, namely ‘The Birds’ and ‘Psycho’. I can tell you that even these classics can sometimes make you feel very frightened. As nobody in my flat had been worrying about dinner, we looked in the fridge and ended up making curry with Chinese dumplings. I ate dumplings before, but I have never tasted such good ones. Maybe it is a good idea to never worry about dinner ever again!

As always, the next week began with a quiet day on which I only had to attend the English Language course. I was not bored though, since I used my time to plan my girlfriend’s visit. Everything had to be perfect and I even included a social with my flatmates in the programme. In the evening, I again watched a film at the Student Cinema and went to bed early. The next Tuesday was not very exciting either. I decided to join that week’s tutorial of Understanding Strategic Management, since I would have to miss the tutorial the week after to bring Marleen to the airport. Apart from that, I spent most of my time working on my laptop and getting to know Facebook, since this network is the best way to stay in contact with both friends from the Netherlands and Bradford.

Wednesday, on the other hand, was a very busy day for me. It started with a very interesting talk with the academic quality officer, whom I told that I do not like most of the students’ attitude towards the tutorials. The problem is that many students do not read the recommended material and hence it is impossible to have an educated group discussion. At 13:30, I went to the library and took part in a very useful workshop about Excel. Thereafter, my flatmate and I ran a few laps through the park, but we had to return early as there would be a debate with the Vice Chancellor of the University of Bradford at 16:00. I expected this to be a great experience, since we were told that our questions should not be too serious. Unfortunately, nobody in the room complied with this setup and eventually we ended up discussing the rise in student tuition fees in the UK, which is not even a problem for international students. Nonetheless, it was nice to meet the man who is in charge over here.

The most important day finally arrived: November 4th. On this day, I got up early only to find out my lecture was cancelled, I bought some games at the huge Toys “R” Us store in Bradford, I attended a workshop about managing deadlines, and I went to the Amnesty International meeting at 17:00. All of this, however, is trivial compared to the fact that I welcomed Marleen at the airport that night. Although I had many plans for this night, we stayed together ‘like two pigeons’. Even if we wanted to stay up all night, we soon had to sleep on my undersized bed as I had to get up early the next morning.

On Friday, I had classes throughout the entire day and sadly spoken, Marleen was alone even though we were in the same city. At 17:00, however, we cooked dinner together and soon got onto the bus to see the bonfire and fireworks in Leeds. I would rather not write too much about this night, but it boils down to missing the fireworks, illegally entering the field, and walking back three miles to the bus station. Upon return in Bradford, we finally got the opportunity to enjoy ourselves in the FND, and so we did.

On Saturday, I took my beloved girlfriend to Bingley for a nice walk along the canals. We actually saw a five rise lock, which was really cool. I can definitely recommend everybody to visit the canals in the UK, because they are just lovely! In the evening, we joined the BURACS for a trip to Hebden Bridge and this time we actually saw some real fireworks and a really nice bonfire. This English tradition is celebrated with the whole family and I can confirm this after seeing all the children near the fire and the lack of beer at the festival. It was funny to see the disappointed faces of my BURACS comrades. Therefore, after we got back to Bradford, Marleen and I decided to have a drink with them in the pub and of course some fast food afterwards.

The next day would not be any more relaxing for Marleen, since we planned to go to the bowling centre with some friends. Luckily for her, we had to cancel the event as more people were interested in Chinese food in the evening and hence, we watched the film ‘Wall-E’ in my room. This was by far the most romantic moment during those days, so you can imagine what she must have been through meeting all my friends and stuff. Even though the Chinese restaurant did not meet my expectations, I enjoyed myself eating as much as I could possibly eat, whereas some of my friends were having an all-you-can-eat ice cream competition. Thereafter, we went over to Student Central and held a mini pool championship. Although I lost most of the games, this was a great way of spending time with friends, since each round you talk to someone else.

On Monday, we had to get up early and get onto the bus to Liverpool. After two hours, we reached the west coast and spent most of our time in the museums, shops, and restaurant. The museums were too big to explore entirely, but I was able to find a masterpiece in one of the rooms as shown in the photos below. To prepare myself and my room for Christmas, I bought a nice Santa Claus doll, which could even sing a beautiful Christmas song (only six pounds at Primark). We concluded the day with a delicious four-dish meal at an Italian restaurant.

As Marleen’s visit was turning to an end, I decided to show her the best Bradford has to offer: the National Media Museum. We went up to the floor about animation and stayed there for almost an hour. This was all I could show her though, since it was now time for her to go home. We kissed each other goodbye at the airport and I quickly got onto the bus back home, because I had to attend a lecture at 17:00. Sadly, we both have a different life these months. Nevertheless, I am still very glad I chose to study abroad. In the evening, my sister and I planned a trip to London on the 30th of December to celebrate New Year’s Eve together with our boyfriend and girlfriend. It seems like I keep pulling Marleen towards England. Perhaps this is because I am starting to like it over here?

Yours truly,

Frans

CHESTER

CHINESE LUNCH

INTERNATIONAL DINNER

PUMPKIN CARVING

SALTAIRE BREWERY

HALLOWEEN FND

VICE CHANCELLOR

LEEDS BONFIRE

HEBDEN BRIDGE

CHINESE RESTAURANT

LIVERPOOL

Food, Friends, and Films

The past weeks can best be described as a period of discovering new food, watching nice films, and making good friends. Right now, I am no longer making a lot of new friends, because I simply have too little time to meet new people. Instead, I like to hang out with the people I met in the introduction week or in my course. A few weeks ago, I discovered Bradford Student Cinema and together with some of my friends I usually visit the cinema two times a week. Furthermore, my English flatmate recommended a British television series, called ‘The Inbetweeners’, which I really like to watch too. Next to this, I have also been introduced to a variety of ‘cuisines’: from Chinese barbecue to Italian pizza and from English beans to Indian curry. Now, let me tell you more about friends and events (it is funny, because it rhymes).

As I was really tired from the previous weeks, I slept late on Saturday and used my weekend to work on my subjects and relax. On Monday 11 October, I went to the BURACS meeting in the evening, but in contrast to the first weeks I did not stay very long as I wanted to make a good start of the week. On Tuesday, I attended the first tutorial for Understanding Strategic Management and in contrast to the lectures, these tutorials are very interactive and challenging. We were told to form groups of three and prepare a presentation for one of the future tutorials. I joined two Chinese students and we decided to make a presentation about steel companies for the next session. In the evening, I went to the General Meeting of the radio station of Bradford University, called RamAir. It was interesting to see the differences between this meeting and the ones of my study association (Asset | Econometrics) back in the Netherlands. Although the RamAir meeting was more fun, it was less to-the-point and afterward I had the feeling we did not discuss anything at all. Besides, I decided that a radio station is not really my cup of tea.

Wednesday afternoon is usually my shopping day, so I went to the supermarket and bought some pasta and pesto to cook for my flatmates. As I was a bit afraid of my Italian flatmate’s reaction, I tried to make this the best pesto-pasta ever. Luckily, he liked it except for one missing ingredient: salt. Honestly, I was flabbergasted. My pesto pasta does not need any salt, only better ingredients (for instance, the mozzarella I used was only thirty pence). After dinner, we went to the sports bar and played a few games of pool. I think I am becoming a good pool player, so if you ever want to challenge me… then please pay me a game, because I have already spent over ten pounds on the tables!

Thursday is sometimes a busy day and sometimes not. On the 14th, it wasn’t. Nonetheless, we went to Leeds in the evening and had a great time in some of the better pubs in this area. This time, there was definitely no need to get back to Bradford for a good party! On Friday, I was a bit tired but that did not keep me from participating in the seminars. We always have a group discussion from 16:00 till 17:00 for the module ‘World Economy since 1945’ and even though this is a first year module, the level of these discussions is very high. At 18:00, I met with my Chinese colleagues in order to prepare our presentation. My Chinese flatmate and I promised to cook for the Chinese girl and we ended up serving her pasta. She probably already knew we were incapable of making a good meal, so she brought some nice Chinese food with her. She called it Chinese barbecue, but it is incomparable to the burnt meat we eat both in terms of preparation and taste. We started working on the assignment at 20:30 and because of efficiency considerations we worked until 22:30. The teamwork was very good and I think these were the most productive hours up till now.

On Saturday, I worked on my part of the group assignment and took some rest. Unfortunately - wrong word – Luckily, I made an appointment with my friends of BURACS at 17:00 to go to a real ale festival in Huddersfield, which is a town fifteen miles south of Bradford. It was very quiet at the festival, because most of the people already came there in the afternoon. Nonetheless, we bought a curry dish and ale, which eventually led to a great evening for most of us. Before you get me wrong, it was in fact the curry that caused this, since everybody was entertained by me trying to eat the extremely spicy food. Upon return in Bradford, we went to our president’s flat to taste “the best Scotch whisky” (according to him) and play on the Xbox.

On Sunday morning, I went running with my French flatmate and in the afternoon, we saw a film in the Student Cinema. I also met a new guy in the kitchen that day and to my surprise, he told me that he would be our new flatmate. He is not a fresher at Bradford University like the rest of us, but he does come from another country, namely Eritrea. In the evening, I met with some friends in the pub and we listened to a jazz band, which had this amazing lead singer. Afterward, I walked home with my flatmate and on our way we noticed someone playing the piano in the main building. Our Chinese flatmate was playing and we stopped by to listen to a great performance. All in all, this had been a night full of music.

I had great plans for Monday, because earlier I heard about this Game Day on campus in which you could win loads of chocolate. Therefore, I went down to Student Central with a friend from Portugal and we ‘checked it out’. What we found over there was mere disappointment: the games were no fun at all, there were only eight people when we arrived, and all we got was this lousy chocolate bar. So, after fifteen minutes we went back home and I decided to make some useful contributions to Tilburg University’s very own discussion page called ‘Talk of Tomorrow’. It is nice to take part in the global talks posted on this website (www.talkoftomorrow.com). After dinner, I went to the weekly BURACS meeting, but everybody was still tired because of the festival, so we decided to go home after one drink. Back home, my French flatmate and I watched a very funny movie about a guy who calls himself ‘the Dude’ but is also known for his name ‘Lebowski’. Does anyone know what movie I am talking about?

On Tuesday I again met with my Chinese group mates to have dinner together and work on the assignment. I think we spent almost twice as much time eating and talking than working on the assignment (also because I cannot eat very quickly with chopsticks). But honestly, I think the first is more important in this stage of my exchange. I really enjoy learning more about other people’s background and making true friends right now. Nonetheless, we made some significant improvements in our research and planned to meet again on Friday.

Wednesday 20 October was a very busy day for me. After my lectures, I shared a pizza with one of my flatmates and I prepared myself for the afternoon programme. Indeed, my lectures were finished at 11:00 and we ate pizza at 12 noon! At 14:00, I went to the city hall and attended the Lord Mayor's Civic Reception, during which the mayor welcomed the international students and told us some interesting facts about the city of Bradford. Afterward, we got a tour through the city hall, which is extremely beautiful compared to the depressing square in front of it. Of course I also did my traditional Wednesday shopping and later that day, I joined a group of students for a football match. Although I did not play football for a while, I did score a few goals and hence gained some respect from the group. In the evening, we again visited the pool tables. No wonder one of the French girls calls me a ‘pool addict’.

The next Thursday was in fact a busy one. I helped with a cake sale organised by the Amnesty International Society. I think we sold over ten different kinds of home-baked cakes and raised over a hundred pounds. I really enjoyed the co-operation with the other Amnesty members and it was a nice way to test my English language skills as a sales person. After five hours of selling cakes, we wrote letters for several Human Right matters abroad. Unfortunately, the fire alarm went off before I could finish my letter, so I decided to go home. On my way home, however, someone told me that the Student Cinema would show a good film that evening. Together we watched the movie ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’, which is by far the best film I have seen in Bradford up till now.

On Friday, I had to get up early for my lectures and get home immediately to work on the group assignment. What I had not expected though, was that my Chinese friends had decided to make a Chinese lunch, which meant that I had some great noodles at the expense of valuable working time. Therefore, we planned to meet again on Sunday to finish the presentation. After my final lecture, I made myself a light meal and headed over to the sports bar to join the BURACS for what would be a great night out. During the evening, we enjoyed all kinds of ales in some of our favourite pubs and after our tour, we went to a fast food restaurant. This is where I continued a family tradition. I ordered a pitta with kebab and decided to add some extra sauce. Unfortunately, the bottle of ketchup did not agree with its designated position and flung itself onto my shirt. Thank you, genes. After a quick change of clothes, I went to FND and soon I was dancing with everybody on the dance floor. Except for this one girl. She looked exactly like an old friend of mine, so I asked someone to take a photo of her. As one would guess though, she did not really like that and soon we were ‘on the run’. Furthermore, he only succeeded in taking a photo of her hair, so our stupid action was in fact a total waste of time.

As you can see, some of my days were useful and others were not. I think it is now important to find a good balance between such days, because I sometimes get really tired of my irregular way of life. Fortunately, it is all in my own hands and since the last couple of days I always take my agenda and write my plans down. It really helps, although it is sometimes still difficult to stick to my planning. On the other hand, an exchange always stays an adventure!

Yours truly,

Frans

HUDDERSFIELD

CIVIC RECEPTION

SPORTS BAR

So-Dzai-ET (In other words: Society)

Yesterday I realised that I have been in Bradford for more than a month now. Time goes quick when you are having fun, even though I enjoy every minute of my exchange. As my last post was two weeks ago, I realise that I have some catching up to do. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to write down everything that happened, so I will only tell you about the events that impressed me most.

My story continues on Saturday 25 September. On this day, the International Office organised a trip to York, which is famous for its medieval sites and city walls. Together with my Chinese flatmate, I discovered the city with a camera in one hand and at the end of the day a German Bockwurst in the other hand. On my way back home, I met some other friends and found out that exploring the city with the two of us had been a wise decision, since most of the people stayed in the city centre to do some shopping, whereas we visited many of the medieval sites including a tower with great panorama view of the city of York.

On Sunday, I joined a trip to Haworth, which is a rural village in West Yorkshire mainly known as the hometown of the Brontë sisters. Apart from a church, the Brontë Parsonage Museum, and some magnificent views of the English countryside, there was not much to do in this small village. Therefore, we looked for a nice restaurant and enjoyed a great British meal. In other words, we ordered roasted meat, roast potato, Yorkshire pudding, vegetables, and gravy, or in short, Sunday roast. It was a rather good meal to be honest.

As my timetable told me that I would have no lectures on Monday, I decided to wash my clothes. This was not an easy task, as I found out that I had to buy detergent first, before I could start the washing machine. Eventually, my socks were hanging on a clothes rack, my shirts on clothes hangers, and my boxers on the radiator. In the evening, I went to Delius pub, where I met with the members of the Bradford University Real Ale and Cider Society (BURACS). After having paid the membership fee, I was ready to be introduced in the world of ales and ciders. The chairman of the society informed me about the best brands and we visited around four pubs and a fast food restaurant. It was a great night out, especially because most of the members were English students and in this way I was finally able to get into contact with the ‘locals’.

On Tuesday, I went to my first lectures and was amazed by the large number of students in the lecture room. As a matter of fact, I did no longer feel like one of the few econometrics students, but instead felt like a number among all these students. Fortunately, I was able to answer a tricky question from the lecturer and she has therefore remembered my name. I think she asked “What do you expect this lecture not to be?” and I had a rather straightforward answer “Interesting”. At least she got the joke.

The next day, I attended the first lecture for the module Supply Chain Management and afterwards we had to work in teams to describe the transformation processes in a supply chain. This is definitely my favourite module, because there is usually a lot of discussion between students and lecturer. In the afternoon, I went to the bowling centre with some people I met in the introduction week, but as I was not able to get a score of more than one hundred points during the first game, I decided to go home early. Back home, I met my Chinese flatmate and he offered to cook me a Chinese dish. Of course, I could not refuse this offer and soon we were eating chicken with soy sauce, in one word: delicious. He told me about Chinese habits and culture, while I told him about my experiences with Chinese students:

_ “Why are Chinese students always in their rooms?”

+ “They are usually gaming or working on their laptop.”

_ “But you are almost never in your room?”

+ “Not everybody is the same; it only holds for those who are ‘Dzai’, which means that they are ‘at home’.”

Well, I do certainly not want to be ‘Dzai’ in Bradford, ‘so’ that is why I joined the BURACS. My French flatmate joined us and at that moment, Mr China (as he is sometimes called) proposed to have a snack. Who does not love snacks? He offered us something called ‘chicken feet’ and as I like drumsticks, I did not refuse. But once I took the meat out of the package, I found out that he was actually talking about the FEET of the chicken and although I was a bit scared, I tried to eat it. Unfortunately, the food was very spicy and I therefore did not like it that much, which I honestly admitted to my flatmate, who was not very surprised. All in all, I discovered that in order to get to know another culture, you do not have to go to another country, you should just meet the right people, which I luckily did!

One of my flatmates is from Italy and during the week he introduced me to his Italian friends. On Thursday, one of them celebrated his birthday at a place called Kashmir at 8 pm. My lectures finished in the afternoon and I cooked dinner at 6 pm so I would be on time for the birthday party. At 7 pm, however, my flatmate walked in and asked me “what the hell I was doing”. I explained to him that I wanted to eat before going to the party, which was quite obvious in my opinion. Still shocked, he told me that the place we were going to was a RESTAURANT, so nobody would have had dinner before going there. Thus far my knowledge of the local restaurants in Bradford. Although I did not order any food in the restaurant, it was a great party and we stayed in the pub until closing time.

On Friday, two French guys and I made plans for a trip to Leeds on Saturday. Nonetheless, we still went to the Friday Night Disco, which was even better than the week before. On Saturday (I think it was 12 noon by then), we got on the train to Leeds. This city is situated a mere fifteen kilometres from Bradford and is probably also fifteen times more beautiful than Bradford. We visited several museums, the town hall, and Starbucks. There was an art exposition in one of the museums, which showed objects that even a child could make; I wonder who paid the artists (hopefully their parents). In the evening, we went looking for a cheap restaurant and eventually found a bar with hamburgers for only two pounds. As soon as we entered the bar, however, it turned out to be a gay bar and we did not feel very comfortable with all the men investigating the new arrivals, so we decided to go somewhere else. After a good but more expensive meal, we went to a pub with live music and met some other friends who came to Leeds for clubbing. Unfortunately, the city was very busy and we decided to return to Bradford and have a beer in one of our own clubs. Afterward, we went to a friend’s place to have some pizza. As one of my friends is Muslim, he was quite disappointed to hear that she only had pizza with pork in the freezer (luckily, she still had a Pizza Margherita, too).

As my first lecture week had been very tiring, I slept late on Sunday and in the afternoon I went to the park with my flatmates. Bradford has some wonderful parks, but you have to know your way around to find them. Initially, I did not have any plans for Monday, but some of my friends wanted to go to Ilkley, a village in the beautiful Yorkshire moors. It took us half an hour to get there by train, but it was certainly worth it! We took many photos and drank a cup of tea while we saw the sun setting behind the hills. In the evening, I again joined the BURACS to drink some beers I had never tasted before.

On Wednesday, I made an English Language Test to check whether the university could offer me some more help with improving my English. In the evening, I went to a cocktail bar with two friends and although the music was not great, we enjoyed looking at the drunk men trying to dance with the (usually also) drunk women. Afterwards, we went to my place for a nice slice of pizza.

On Thursday, my flatmates and I went to the ice skating rink and although I forgot my student card and hence entered the ice rink half an hour later but accompanied by my Portuguese/Brazilian friend, it was great to skate on an almost empty lane. In my enthusiasm though, I fell on the ice while trying to do so-called crossovers. Nevertheless, I also learned to skate backwards, although I still need to figure out how to get any speed… At 5 pm, I went to Student Central for a meeting with the people from Amnesty International. I already met them the week before, but this time we formally decided to set up an Amnesty International Society, which will organise educational film nights, fund raising parties, and human rights events. It is great to be part of a team that tries to make other students aware of their responsibilities as a global citizen, which I think most exchange students intend to be. After the meeting, we asked the head of the Bradford Student Cinema whether it was possible to show films at the university and he told us that we can show virtually every film as long as we ask him for permission. Perhaps we can show ‘ET’ to make students aware of Extra-Terrestrial rights?

My timetable for Fridays always consists of many lectures and therefore I had to hurry in order to be on time for the International Student Get Together at Student Central at 17:30. I soon found out that I knew almost half of the people and hence I had no other choice but to talk with the people I already met before. After half an hour, we were supposed to play some games in order to ‘break the ice’. Thanks to my flatmate, I was one of the volunteers in a rather silly game. Everybody had to name a part of the body, so I chose my belly button and the person next to me chose her big toe. The rules were simple: kiss the person next to you on the spot he or she just named. No wonder the girl next to me now calls me ‘belly button boy’ (funny name though). Nice way to break the ice… At the end of the evening, everybody got the opportunity to become a member of the Bradford International Group, which is indeed a society and brings my society membership to a total of three. Later that night, I went to Friday Night Disco, but this time it was not much fun as most of my friends went clubbing in Leeds. After FND, I went over to a friend’s house and we talked until the early hours.

It looks like I wrote about nearly everything that happened the past few weeks, but as a matter of fact, these are still only the events that impressed me most. I hope that the upcoming weeks will impress me a little bit less, because I should also give my mind some rest and take time to reflect on what happened up till now. I think writing a blog is certainly a good way of doing this!

Yours truly,

Frans

YORK

HAWORTH

ILKLEY

LEEDS