End of the year

Christmas is a strange time of year. You can buy mince pies from September, all the Christmas lights are up at the start of November and you go to carol concerts in early December. The build-up is so long that it inevitably feels a bit anti-climactic once it arrives. This year was a bit strange in that way. The day before I left Bruges was very Christmassy - the lights everywhere, the shops bustling and everyone rushing around. Getting back to London, there was the "Chris"tmas party at Chris's, was was also quite Christmassy, but also a bit like any other gathering of friends. But then when I went back to Liverpool, it was all quite low key. Don't get me wrong, I quite like Christmas to be low key. It was great to spend it with the kids and to just relax and eat too much... but it sort of felt like the aftermath before it had already begum - Boxing Day before Christmas.

Having said that, it was great to go to church on Christmas Eve, first in the early evening with the family for the Christingle service. Scarlett and Josh were very excited to get their oranges and candles (though Josh was most interested in the marshmallows). The Midnight Eucharist was a really lovely service too - the church was much busier than last year (probably on account of the much milder weather - as I was walking that same route I only ever seem to walk on Christmas Eve, I remembered vivdly how incredibly cold it had been the year before) and the music was beauitful. It was great to belt out all of the carols I had missed throughout December, being away in Belgium.

Christmas Day itself was nice - Mum and my grandparents came over, and we had lots of nice food and drink. The evitable sleepiness struck late afternoon, however, and I hit the sack at 9.30. No sooner was Christmas day over, than it felt as if the whole of Christmas was over. It's strange how the day after Boxing Day can feel much less Christmassy than a random day in early December... but it's hardly surprising when the TV is full of adverts for the sales and New Year.

The remaining time in Liverpool, I didn't go out too much - on account of the poor weather. Though on Wednesday I did go to the pub first with Dad and Jamie and then afterwards with some school friends. It was a really nice evening, though I did allow myself to drink rather too much. On Friday, Dad and I decided to have a day out in Liverpool. We were originally planning to go walking in the Lake District, but the weather was so poor, we decided against it. We went to the Pier Head, Albert Dock and Tate Liverpool before lunch, and then the World Museum Liverpool afterwards.

Now I'm back in London for the next week, staying at Chris's (I'm using his computer to write this). This evening - New Year's Eve - there's a party at Ben and JM's in Archway...

... Happy New Year!

Christmas at last

We made it! We've been here four months now and we've survived an extremely hectic semester, rounded off by a tough exam period. Never have I felt a Christmas break was more deserved, except perhaps in my first year of Teach First. I had my last exam yesterday morning - which in the event wasn't so bad: the questions in the first section were quite Britain-focused and so I was able to waffle about the euro and Blair's lack of popularity.

After the exam, Helena, Lavinia, Antonio and I finished off the 5th season of 24 which we have been watching in our revision breaks over the past month. It was quite a nail-biter all the way through, and quite a twist at the end (I'll say no more for those who might want to see it). In the evening, we headed to De Versteende Nacht - a bar I'd never been to before. Pretty much the whole college was there, in a space way too small for them. The post-exam atmosphere was great, and people generally got a bit drunk, some people pulled and there was a lot of crazy dancing. At one point, Jo and Skander decided to teach me a "Belgian dance" which basically involved each foot always trying to step on the toes of the other, but not being able to... at high speed. There are photos - if and when Sophie lets me have them, I'll add them in. In the meantime, here's a photo of me and Jen (there you go Jen!)

This afternoon, Claire, Valerie and I went to the snow and ice sculpture exhibition. It was really cool. The sculptures were amazing and there was even an ice slide!! We had Glühwein afterwards, which is always welcome! On the way I found a new area of the city I'd never been to before, the Benignhof - a sort of convent area, where you can walk through but in silence. Claire was astounded I'd never been there before. I was saved from the shame by the fact that Valerie hadn't either. After the ice sculpture, I then went and did some Christmas shopping, and saw some quite disturbing displays in one of the chocolate shops on the high street (to do with male genitalia...) In the evening, we took wine and Christmas pudding to the canteen :) - and then ended the evening at the college bar.

It's strange for the semester to be finally over, and to be half way through the course - even if the second half is much longer (6 months instead of 4). I think we've all got a sense of the finite nature of our stay in Bruges - up until now, it seemed as if it was stretching out indefinitely before us. It will be strange spending two weeks away from the people I'm used to seeing multiple times a day... but then, it's not as if Cambridge was any different in that respect.

It just remains to say - Merry Christmas everyone!

R.I.P. Belgium?

There was quite a funny hoax (though perhaps cutting a bit close to the bone given the current political climate) on the state TV channel in the Francophone part of Belgium this week.

Here's the BBC report on it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6178671.stm

And for those of you who speak French, here's the TV report: http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/versie2/mediatheek/video-061214RTBF/index.shtml?play

It makes for quite gripping viewing!

PS: 3 exams down - only one to go!

Christmas in the College

The College of Europe never misses a chance to be European - and Christmas is no exception. The festivities started in earnest on 6th December as we celebrated in Belgian and Dutch style with the visit of Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet to the canteen. Sinterklaas - as I was repeatedly told by Belgians - is NOT Santa Claus (even though the word sounds exactly the same, and he is a man in a red costume with a white beard). Apparently this is St Nicholas (but then isn't that who Santa is?), the bishop who cared for children at Christmas. Well, anyway, the Belgians insist he's a different person - because Father Christmas comes on Christmas Eve as well. If you ask me, it's all a big collective denial so they can get twice the presents. Anyway, the weirdness doesn't end there. Sinterklaas is helped by... no, not elves or reindeer... but Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) - you can see him there dressed in yellow. And why is Sinterklaas's helper black? Because he's from Spain. Obviously. So Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet went around the canteen, giving out sweets and telling people to study hard for their exams.

The next installment of European Christmas came on 13th December when the Scandanavians put on a Santa Lucia parade in the canteen. This was really lovely - they all dressed in white and carried candles and sang Swedish Christmas songs - though the men did look slightly ridiculous. The best part was when they sang Silent Night in Swedish and then had everyone join in, singing the song in their own language. This sounds cheesy, but for me that really said what the College is all about - we may not all speak the same language, but we sing the same song. Unity in diversity and all that...

Now it's only 10 days until Christmas and I still have two exams to go! Economics tomorrow, so better get down to it...

update (17/12): after our Economics exam my discussion group went around to our assistant Ugo's flat for dinner.

Half way there

Half the exams are now over - and without a doubt the worst half. Now I've done Law and Politics, I just have Economics and History to go. The next exam is a week today, so it allows for a bit of breathing space.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, it was decided that we should go out. A few of us went out straight from dinner - a normal occurrence in the UK but unheard of in Belgium. We arrived at the pub at 8.30 and it was absolutely empty (on a Friday night!) for the next hour or so. By 11.00 we decided to move on to B-in, the lounge bar/club that everyone at the College has suddenly become obsessed with. It was a nice place, and certainly a lot cooler than what Bruges generally has to offer. The music was a complete mixture from mainstream UK/US stuff through Eurotechno to Latin (i.e. Salsa, not Benedictine chants...) - it meant there was something for everyone though it was perhaps a bit too eclectic to be consistently enjoyable. Nonetheless I had a good night.

Today Helena and I went for a long bike ride: after three weeks being broken, my bike was finally fixed yesterday and the coincidence of that fact, no work to do today and a sunny day made a cycle ride the perfect choice. We went from Bruges to Damme along the canal and the went to the coast at Knokke, and cycled westwards as far as Blankenberge before returning to Bruges - 45 km in total.

Less than two weeks until I go home for Christmas!

What not to give me for Christmas...

I was just surfing around on euobserver.com (online EU newspaper) and I came across an advert for this - it's called "Eurocracy" and it's a board game.

The blurb says:

Eurocracy is a game about democracy in Europe.

The rules of the game form a fair reflection of the Constitutional Treaty. As a leader of a political party you go on the election campaign through the European Union. You have to win elections, faces challenges and secure control over member-states in order to become PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.


And people worry that the EU wants to become an all-encompassing superstate...

One down, three to go...

Yesterday was the fateful much-dreaded day of the Jacqué exam. I'm not sure I have ever worked harder for a single exam, but I think it paid off. It's obviously impossible to tell, and you can always think of things you could have / should have done, but largely it was better than expected. I felt like such a weight had been lifted off my shoulders afterwards and the rest of the day was fantastic - went for Glühwein in the Markt then had a relaxing afternoon at home. In the evening, we went and had more Glühwein (it's the thing to do in Bruges in December!) and waffles (mmm...) and then went for a drink in little bar I'd never been to before. It was very red and the music was loud, which was annoying at first (difficult to hold a conversation) but the longer we got there, the better the music got and with David around, it was always going to be funny - the highlight must have been when the song from the Lion King "In the jungle" came on and he decided to act it out, much to our amusement and much to the bemusement of most of the other people in the bar. A close second was definitely "Don't Stop me now" by Queen (obviously). A good night all in all. I'm being quite lazy today... I think I'll leave starting Nugent revision in earnest until tomorrow. Next exam: Friday 8th.

Bruges tourist for a day

Yesterday I escaped from my books for most of the day while Frances came to visit. STTers among you need no introduction - for the rest of you, Fran is a Cambridge friend - she did languages at St John's and got involved with Selwyn Touring Theatre in 2nd and 4th years. She's working in Brussels as a journalist and when we found out we were both in wonderful Belgium, we decided we had to meet up. After quite a lot of organising, we finally decided on yesterday. We went for lunch in the pitahuis restaurant, which was really good. After that we wandered around, looking at the Christmas market, the ice rink, just generally being tourists. We visited the cathedral (I had never been there either) and the Hallen, where there was another indoor Christmas market. We went for some very good beer, first to De Garre and then to Republik, and we even bought some chocolate butter truffles and ate too many of them. It was a great break from revision and great to catch up with an old friend.

Frère Jacqué

You see this book? It may not look special to you, but it's a source of misery and torment for about 100 students as I write this. 759 pages of painstakingly detailed information about every nook and cranny of EU institutional law. And it needs to somehow be transmitted into our brains in less than a week. Can it be done? It better be! But then if I spend time surfing the net and writing my blog, it's not looking promising...

I was walking down the street yesterday and about 30 six-year-olds singing Frère Jacques (NOT to be confused with Jacqué), walking along in crocodile formation. I stopped and stared. They were soooo adorable (there is nothing cuter than little kids speaking French - and happy singing ones is even better).

The ice rink and Christmas market is finally open in the middle of the market square - Bruges is looking amazing at the moment. I'm looking forward to making a fool of myself on ice skates very soon. The whole place smells of Glühwein and waffles and all of the lights on the buildings look amazing.

I had the oral exam of my TCF (Test de Connaissance de Français) today. I don't know what I got yet, but I saw the woman write 92 on a piece of paper - I'm hoping that's my percentage! I hadn't thought it went that well, but the woman said at the end "Vous parlez fortement bien français pour un anglais" (You speak really good French for an Englishman) - I didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or an insult!

This weekend has been a time for seeing old friends - Swiss John was here in Bruges with his girlfriend today and we went for lunch and STT Fran is coming tomorrow for lunch - I feel very popular all of a sudden!

Oh, and here is a gimpy photo of me with my new glasses on.

Right - back to the books! Only another month (eek) to go.

London

What a great time I had in London! I was really looking forward to the trip before I went, and I knew I needed a break, but I can scarcely remember a better few days.

Before I went it was stress central: I found out on Wednesday lunchtime that I had to give a presentation at 9.30 on the morning after I was due back from London, and that I had to email the outline for it to everyone 48 hours before. So that meant that it had to be finished before I left. Given that I was leaving on Thursday morning, that made for quite a hectic Wednesday afternoon and evening. But I got it all finished, and was finally packing at 12.30. However, things were not so straight forward: there was still the small matter of the discussion group to attend before going on Thursday morning. Elena, Helena and I went there with our bags, spent over an hour debating about the democratic deficit of the EU and then... we were off!

The train journey was relatively uneventful. As we came out of the Channel Tunnel, I started getting ridiculously excited about being back in England, a feeling which stayed with me for the rest of the evening. As we arrived at Waterloo, Elena and Claire left Helena and me and we decided to walk into town. The weather was very nice - it was a crisp, fresh autumn afternoon. We walked down to the Thames and then along, past the London Eye as far as Westminster Bridge. We crossed, admiring Big Ben in the sunlight and then took a route up Whitehall, past Downing Street to Trafalgar Square: the politics students' introduction to London.

We left our luggage at Charing Cross station and then went for a walk around Covent Garden. There's always a carnival atmosphere about the place, and this was perfect for the mood I was in. We watched the street entertainers and then listening to a fantastic opera singer doing an extract from Carmen in the market itself. We wound our way along Long Acre, stopping off at Muji to pick up some pens (we are students, you know!), through Leicester Square, Chinatown, Soho, Piccadilly Circus and then up Regent Street to Oxford Circus - the whistle-stop tour of the West End. I was struck by the vibrancy and buzz of the place, full of office workers and shoppers, the twilight enlivened by the friendly glow of Christmas lights along the streets and in the windows. After 13 weeks in Bruges, where the most exciting thing that happens is the Belfort playing Ode to Joy for twentieth time that day, London was a metropolis and I looked upon it with an excitement I can remember feeling the first day I went there aged 18, coming out of Piccadilly Circus tube at 9.00 on a Saturday night.

I left Helena to wander around by herself for a while, and I went to meet Jules, Mel and Sarah (Marylebone colleagues) at 1888 just off Marylebone High Street. It was great to catch up with them and to remind myself of why I left teaching (tales of my old form and of Year 9 shenanigans did not make me mourn my loss). This was a great tonic, because until then I had been asking myself why I had left such a fantastic city. In fact, that was a theme of the weekend - but I had to remind myself that visiting the city for a few days and spending the whole time meeting with friends and going for meals and coffees is not the same thing at all as doing a busy full-time job there!

I met up with Helena again at Charing Cross, we collected our luggage and then we went back to Alex and Nicki's flat, where we were staying. When I arrived, I was very pleasantly surprised to find Chris there (I hadn't known he was coming). Alex cooked a fantastic dinner (Thai Red Curry), and it was great to catch up with everyone, and it was great for Helena too - she felt very quickly at home. After dinner we went to a pub on Kilburn High Road and soaked up the atmosphere (live band, log fire...). All in all, a great first night.

On the Friday morning, I went with Helena to have an sight test and contact lens fitting and bought some contact lenses and some new glasses. Then after that, we met up with Elena and got lunch at Pret (Christmas sandwich!) and ate it in Hyde Park. From there, I left the girls, who went to see Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. I went and had my Civil Service e-Tray test. It was hard. I'm not optimistic.

After the 4 hour torture session, I met up with Ella for a drink... We tried a few different places, but finding a pub with a table at 6.30 on a Friday night in the West End is a slightly tall order, so a drink actually turned out to be coffee and cakes (tarte tatin... mmm...) at Le Pain Quotidien - it was like reliving those Marylebone lunches (not). It was great to catch up with her and with the Marylebone news. We had the world's most incompetent Italian waiter - we had to seat ourselves (despite the sign telling us to wait), ask for menus and ask if we could order. Ella had to order 3 different things (with 10 minutes between each) before there was something that wasn't sold out. I had to remind him twice to get my coffee. In the end, he came over and apologised for being so bad, and promised it would be better next time. It was sweet, in a pathetic sort of way.

From there, it was on to Aldgate East, where I met up with Elena and her friend Cagda, Helena, and then a whole troupe of Selwynites: Alex and Nicki, Chris, Lad, Hannah and Dave, Rach. We went to the White Hart, which seems to have become the pre-Brick Lane pub (well, we've been there twice now!) It was great catching up with everyone. Lad was particularly happy (though he'd never show it) when I gave him the article with him in from E-Sharp magazine. I know that article is blatantly cut way down Brick Lane. Nicki suggested going to a particular restaurant she'd heard about. As we were outside, we were trying to negotiate a table. Meanwhile the waiter from next door was trying to negotiate with Alex and Hannah to get us to go there (25% off, no service charge and 2 free bottles of wine!) I was trying to ignore them - anyone who has walked down Brick Lane knows out and on his wall by now. We were met in the pub by Rita and her Brazilian friend Julia. We then braved the quite heavy rain to make our the spiel. In the event, the preferred restaurant had no space and so we went to the next door one. We had a nice big table and ate a decent (if not so spicy) curry. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and it was good to introduce the 'foreigners' to the great 'British' tradition of curry!


After the curry, we headed down Brick Lane in search of a pub. I hate trying to find places late on a Friday or Saturday night. It's impossible to find somewhere good/open/free to get in. Eventually, we walked to Spitalfields market and went to Spitz, which was perfect. After that, we'd missed the last tube, so it was a case of getting soaked on the walk to Liverpool Street, taking the night bus to King's Cross and then waiting 45 minutes for a Thameslink back to West Hampstead... but that was ok - the train was already in the station, was nice and warm and comfortable, so we just sat back and listened to some Jack Johnson to pass the time (very relaxing).

The next morning, we were very lazy: I didn't get up until 11 and then Helena, Alex, Nicki and I went for a fry-up at Ciao Ciao's (very yummy!) - the perfect lazy Saturday morning. By the time we finally got into town to meet Elena, it was quite late. We met her outside St Paul's Cathedr been for 5 years, and it was al and then we went in to visit. It was great to go there, as I hadn'tthe first time I'd been up to the Whispering Gallery and then out on the top of the dome. The view from there was fantastic! It did make us very late, however, to meet Chris, Alex, Nicki, Rita and Julia at Borough Market (40 minutes late, in fact!) But it was worth the wait when we got there - just walking around, looking at all the fantastic food and trying all the samples is my idea of heaven! I had a pint of hot spiced cider, which was just what I needed on a cold autumn afternoon.

After an hour or so rest at home, Helena and I came back into town and met Elena and Nick at Covent Garden to go for dinner. We had some trouble finding a place to go (again, the Saturday night problem) but eventually went to Wagamama's. Although we had to queue for about half an hour, service was very quick once we were in there. It was great to go back to one of my old favourites! After going there, we went for a drink at Gordon's on Villiers Street. We had to stand outside, but it was quite pleasant anyway. I had a really good port (it's a wine cellar - no beer!). It was great to see Nick too - he got on really well with the girls and they proved a good judge of character when they noticed very quickly how chivalrous and polite he was. After Gordon's we stood on the Queen Elizabeth Bridge and admired London by night - it's always at its most beautiful then.

At the end of the evening, we were so late that we missed the last tube (again!) We walked Elena back to King's Cross and then took the Thameslink home again.

Sunday was a day I spend mostly without the (H)elenas. I went to Chris's flat for 11, and then Mike and JM arrived too. We bought some food from the supermarket, cooked it and had a great lunch. It was a really great afternoon - I spent so much of it laughing. It's times like those when you remember what great friends you have and you don't have a care in the world. After a great afternoon there, I met up with Kate for a coffee - probably the first time we've been together one-on-one for about 2 years! I didn't realise how I'd just got out of the habit of meeting up with her. But it was really nice to just go for coffee, chat and catch up. From one coffee meeting to another - at 5.00 I met Aly, Glenn and Rowan and we went for coffee (well, actually I had tea then apple juice) before church.

Church was fantastic. The (H)elenas came along and both seemed to really enjoy the atmosphere and songs etc. It was so nice to be in a church with a congregation in triple (as opposed to single) figures - where the singing is loud and uplifting and the preaching is solid. I felt a bit like a celebrity, as people kept coming up to me and saying hello. When we could finally get out of the door, over an hour after the end of the service, we went (Glenn, Rowan, Mark, Helena, Elena and me) to the King's Arms for a drink. I was able to catch up and have a good chat with Mark there, which was really great. Also I saw Tina and Aaron, and they promised to visit in Bruges (no getting out of that now, guys!) It was a real homecoming - I really felt at that point that I definitely want to try to be back in London next year if I can in any way.

From one pub to another, we met Rita and Julia at Henry's on Piccadilly for a last drink before bed.

Final day (are you still reading?) Helena and I took the tube to Canary Wharf to meet Glenn for a coffee and have a look around a completely different (but very impressive) part of London. The busy-ness (is that a word? are you supposed to just say 'business'?) of the place was quite overwhelming, but it was really nice to meet up with Glenn, even if he was skiving off work to see us (what a joker!) But he obviously wasn't missed - when he got back to the office, he texted me to tell me he was off for a pub lunch! Some people!

From there, via Oxford Street and West Hampstead, we arrived at Waterloo for our train back to Bruges :-( We didn't want to come back! When we were in the departure lounge, Rita saw Eddie the other side of the room, stood up and screamed "Eddieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!" Well, he had his earphones in, so he didn't hear. The rest of the station, however... My reaction was to lecture Rita on some things you "just don't do in England"... which reminds me - a few minutes earlier, coming out of Waterloo tube station, we had seen a man and a woman going down the escalator next to us, and the man was stood behind the woman with his hands over her breasts. I commented to Helena "I bet they're not English." Honestly. What ever happened to common decency?

The train ride home was quite a dull affair, mostly consumed by trying and failing to study. And then we were back in Bruges - it was all over. A fantastic weekend, but now it's time to study - exams are far too soon!

Procrastination

What to do when you're putting of getting on with something productive? It's amazing what you can fill your time with. I got back from lunch almost three hours ago. Since then I have listened to a documentary on the BBC World Service about the 1956 Hungarian uprising (very interesting it was too), downloaded some photos to my computer, been to the supermarket, surfed around on Facebook for half an hour, checked my email about 50 times, got the German lesson ready that I'm teaching later, and now... writing on here. Anything to avoid work. The problem is that I go to London on Thursday and I have an absolute mountain of reading to do before then, as well as typing up law notes and getting my presentation outline ready. I had high hopes of doing my history essay, but I think that was just wishful thinking. So, if I've got so much stuff to do, why am I squandering the whole afternoon? Why can't I just get down to it? Perhaps a cup of tea might coax me...

I thought...

...this was quite funny

http://www.whathaseuropedone.org/

I have decided it is finally time...

...to join the inane dribblings of millions of other people all over the world who have decided to write down what they ate for tea to a yawning, uninterested cyberspace.

Reason: I have been vraiment crap at keeping in touch with people since I dove head-first in the unrepenting acronymic utopia that is the College of Europe. This is because I have been spending so much time trying to figure out my CAP from my CFSP that I have been neglecting JHA (Justice and Home Affairs: i.e. all of you).

Anyway to start us off, today we had the opening ceremony of the academic year. I thought it was quite fittingly eurocratic that we had the "opening" ceremony 10 weeks into term. As Claire wittily pointed out, "at least we can get down to some real work now that the academic year has started".

The opening ceremony was held in the Hallen of Bruges, which is the building here in the picture. It's a really old (even by Bruges standards) building with a oak-beamed ceiling etc - very medieval. The day was full of pomp and ceremony, with the college rector (there he is!) giving a typically trilingual (French, English, Dutch) welcome and then exhaustive history of the life and times of Nicolas Copernicus (the patron of my "promotion" - we can't be normal and just have a yeargroup, we have promotions instead - who knows why... but then Cambridge wasn't exactly normal either. Why did weeks begin on a Thursday anyway?). Did you know he was the figure who moved us from a geocentric to a heliocentric view of the universe? So did I.

After that we then had a speech from the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker about "the need for Europe". It was a very pro-European discussion about how we need to ratify the constitutional treaty and how we need to make advances in the establishment of the AFSJ (Area of Freedom, Security and Justice) - bread and butter stuff at the college. We were all very glad that he saw a "need for Europe" - after all, no Europe = useless degree and no gravy train.

Afterwards we went to a reception where we had the best and most abundant canapés ever. Teach Firsters will know what I mean when I talk about quality canapés - well I had 26(!!) of them in total and felt a bit sick afterwards. But I was so excited that it was good quality, non-canteen food, that I just couldn't resist. People here seem to be novices in the art of the socialising/canapé eating balance... I had a couple of trainees and in the end we developed a quite cooperative - pouncing at each new tray we saw and bringing back three of everything to share.

I fear I have painted a slightly atypical of college life here... I promise to bore you with accounts of 3 hour law lectures in French and the varieties of ham and cheese served at dinner in my next post