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.