Becoming a proper student

Registration for being a proper student took forever. About a couple of hours most of it due to waiting in a queue in each checkpoint. So the first day I was here went to the first checkpoint, waited waited waited and waited some more until I got to see the lady and she told me that first I have to go to the International Office. -.- Why the hell did I waste my time waiting there??? Because the International Office is behind the second checkpoint. So went there she gave us all the information packs that Aber sends its students months and months in advance and a regisration pack. Then she led me to the accommodation office to sign the contract and blah blah blah and since the rent is a euro higher than advertised I should have my guarantor sign the guarantor paper again, all because of an euro. Well... thank you very much, I will send it to my dad (I don't even know where the paper is - that's how much I was going to do that and if they start demanding it I'll just say it got lost in post). I asked if I could pay the deposit and the first rent now. Yeah I could, so I waited and waited and waited and waited some more until finally they directed me to the lady who was able to take payments.

Got my registration pack and started filling it out slowly. Back to the first checkpoint. Surprise-surprise did some waiting and saw the lady again. I couldnt fill in some of the questions because I didnt really understand what they wanted from me but she said it's not important, had a look the folder, checked my european health insurance card - they're freaking addicted to students health matters and insurance. Filled in some gaps and sent me to the next checkpoint. There was a confusion since the man hearing I was an Erasmus student sent me back to the International Office. Ok tried to explain there why I was there :D She sent me back to the second checkpoint but to the lady now and asked herself if I was supposed to be here, and voila I was. In the second checkpoint she filled in a bit more of the registration folder - or asked me to fill in certain parts. Onto the third one where I had to pay for the sports and cultural activities - 35 euros per year and I could do as many sporting activities as I could and wanted. In the next checkpoint they took my folder and started typing it in the computer, there was confusion because I am an originally from Estonia but at the same time I am an English Erasmus student. I could see the queue forming behind me :d before it was literally non-existant lol :D oops. The last stage was collecting my student card - they did a picture there and then. Someone could've warned me, I would've made myself look better but it's  not that horrible luckily :D

So yay after all this I'm now officially a student in this University all I need to do now is choose all my modules and get them approved and as you already know I've had some problems with that but I'll tell you all about it in a post of its own.

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

So, what's been happening

I'm still alive :D but obviously not a blog person, but should post something before Jazz asks someone to kick my ass.
Oh shhh, just remembered it's playlist time too, bugger.
Let's get that done first then...

And as the tradition is:

Other than that, I have uni from Monday, yaay, not really, last year ahead and I don't even know what my dissertation is going to be about.
Have been up in campus couple of times, to register people, as they have this stupid system here, which is that you can only register through uni computers. And also went to freshers fair, I know I know, I'm not a fresher, but couple of free pens won't hurt anyone, right? So, this year it wasn't in the sports cage anymore, instead of that in a huge tent, and as always, freshers were lucky to have a ridiculously nice weather, so on my way up the hill I remembered why I hate this hill, because it makes you sweaty etc, so, up in campus, let's find the tent, looked quite nice, so in we go and WOW, it was so HOTTTTT and small, one person stopped for something, everyone else had to stop too, so I couldn't stand being there more than 5 minutes, walked only one way and out we go again, phew, I was so sorry for the people who had to stand there for the whole day to introduce their companies or shops, gees, respect for them. As you can expect now, I didn't even think about going to the other fairs they had there.

Ems

Raw eggs everywhere

Like I mentioned in the first post about my new life :D I was starving the first day, yeah not a very good start but hey, I think all the excitement and nervousness kind of pushed the feeling of starvation away. Since it was a Sunday night I had little hope of finding anywhere to eat but I did, a nice little underground pizza place. And let the surprises begin :) In a good way of course. I didn't understand all the things that were on the menu so I picked the pizza that's toppings I could understand - mushrooms, ham, cheese AND egg. Weird isn't it? I didn't really know what to expect but I certainly didn't expect the pizza I got. There was a raw egg just cracked on top of the pizza. Well this is strange. I've never in my life eaten a raw egg... Is it safe? I mean regards to the salmonella disease? Who knows - I don't... But it must be. They can't serve diseases to their customers. Well lets try this then. And guess what it was really good, a bit strange yeah but I could definitely get used to it. The huge pizza cost about 8 euros - not too bad but it was huge and I couldn't eat all of it - left like a quarter of it. I always feel really bad not eating all the food - the staff might think there was something wrong with it or I didn't like it but I did, I just can't eat all of it okay!!!!

The next day we went to have a look through the town - Corté and decided to have a snack in a cafe or restaurant or whatever you call it. At first I thought I'd get a sandwich but then again it was in the middle of the day and I didn't know where the kitchen in our accommodation was yet, so I could do with something more substantial then a sandwich. I chose tagliatelle carbonara - carbonara sauce is my all time favourites but the love for it just grew to a totally different level. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Surprise surprise there was a raw egg next to it! What is it with the french and raw eggs? Or is this how it should be properly done? This was the first time I took a photo of my food, because I was just so amazed - it was layered - sauce at the bottom, then tagliatelle, on top of it bacon strips and on the edge of the plate an egg cracked open. WOW!!!!!!! I didn't know what to do so I hope I do not sound very stupid now :D I poured the egg on the tagliatelle and mixed it a bit - but not all of it because I liked the layers :D And it was delicious!!!!!! And yet again I couldn't eat everything - I think it's a little due to the heat - when it's that hot I do not want to eat a lot.

 Here's the photo of the meal I crave for now and trust me when I say I think about ALL the time but at the same time I'm a bit afraid that if I go back there and order it again it won't be as good as the first time was :D 

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Frustration

Argh... this is my first and hopefully only negative post about France. Its just all the little things that aren't going according to a smooth plan and one big thing :D

• The transport here: it is nearly impossible to go somewhere for a day to chill, the beach for example or a bigger town since there are basically only 2 trains per day. But thats a minor detail obviously since my town is pretty and has a little beach thingy of its own, but you know I'm a restless soul and need to go to all the places.
• To go to the uni cafeteria to eat for only 3.15 euros per proper meal I have to top up my student card, esy right? Oh hell no! The french has this stupid electronical money system which does not accept foreign cards. You would think that there would be at least one machine that tops up my card with cash but no, they all require a bank card, khm sorry a french bank card. Then they told me I could do it online, previous Erasmus students have done that. I was like Yay okay I'll do that then. But nooooooo it still won't accept my card. Spoke to other Erasmus students and they can't top up their cards either so it isn't just me. Luckily I found out that I can pay cash for my food, so 2 proper meals a day now :D the student life for me. But no this is not the happy ending for the card top up saga since I can only use my student card electronical money to wash my clothes. What a stupid system!!!!!
• I have to log in to the internet every freaking time and it just does not only redirect me to the login page but first gives me warnings that this redirection is unsafe etc etc etc are you sure you want to proceed etc etc. Freaking remeber my computer and give me internet all the time!!!! Plus it occasionally throws me out so I have to log in again.
• One of my bathroom lights and the light above my bed do not work -.- Freaking why didn't the man who checked that everything works, when I moved in, notice those?????????? Plus my shelfcase is upside down so it's superweird and unpractical. Tried putting it the right way round but then nearly broke a leg off because it has gotten soaked with water so is very fragile. FUDGE why do these things happen to me??????? Other roos have normal shelves and walls are newly painted and some even have hooks to hang clothes etc. Yeah my room is the crappiest. I haven't gotten round to go tell the receptionist that the lightbulbs need changing because I still haven't packed properly so it's a bit of a mess right now and I don't want anyone coming in to see this :D It's not that bad :D
• I can't freaking sign up to a step aerobics class without a freaking stupid medical certificat that no one told me beforehand. Ok fine I'll go to the uni doctor. Oh no wait they do not give out medical certificats. Why the hell are you there then?????? Freaking now I probably have to pay loads of money to go see a doctor in town. I just want to do some exercise and get my stupid credits from that!!! Why are you making this so difficult for me!!!!!!!???????
• And the cherry on the top of the list: Yesterday while I was sitting in the spanish civilisation class and introduced myself (the teacher said I have good french - i only said two sentences -.- hy my name is and an erasmus student from... you can't judge my language skills by only two basic sentences, but dont get me wrong I was flattered :D), the teacher then announced that this class is not for beginners. Why wasn't this written or said somewhere before!?!?!?!?! OMFG now I have to change all my modules because I worked everything around spanish. It took me an hour and a half to come up with a new timetable and module choices because I want to make life harder for myself and not just plainly choose all the modules from one course but do one module here, the other one there etc. And it's not easy!! Especially if some of the module times change in October or November, like why????? Why can't you have the class at ONLY one specific time???? Anyway today I'll go to the international office and ask if they see any problems with my newly proposed module choices and if they do well, I don't know what I'll do tbh. The reason I don't take just one course is because I think some of the modules might be too difficult in french etc.
• I'm just so tired every evening. My brain is literally working full-time just trying to understand what the lecturer is talking about and it is so exhausting! But I'm not complaining about this. I knew it would be difficult at first and my french will only get better in time and that is my main motive to be here :)

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

A new start again

In case you do not know I´m spending a year abroad in Corte, France. It is a fairly small town in the middle of Corsica. At first I thought oooh, in the middle that's nice because I can go everywhere and it wouldn't take too long but as I soon learned the hard way that the transport here is pretty crap and that kind of destroyed all my big plans of travelling around the island.

But from the start: How I got here:

Last Saturday I was in Manchester enjoying the last days before the big adventure. My flight was due to leave 7.10AM Sunday and the gate closed at 6.40 meaning I should be there 5AM. This time I had a big suitcase too to drop off so I couldn't just walz in and go straight to security. Looked at the train times to the airport and guess what: the first train left at 5AM and got there 25mins later. Not too bad right? Is it? technically that would've left me about an hour to stand in the bag drop off queue, the security and actually finding my gate. My flight was in terminal 1, that made it worse because I have never flown from there so I don't know how big it is or how long the queues could be etc. Checked the bus times just in case but that took 46 mins so I decided to take the chance - yeah yeah some would say I'm worried about nothing as it's still 1h45min before my flight leaves. I just like to freak out a bit when everything does not go according to my plan. It was around 10PM, i had just bought a proper on-board suitcase and was worried that it wouldn't fit as much in as my previous bag had. As I glanced at my phone I noticed I had 2 new messages, from Easyjet. Guess what they said! The Manchester Airport will be working on its full capacity and I should allow more time to get to my gate, basically freaking me out more and saying that I should get there as early as possible while I had planned to get there a bit later than 2h before. And in my defense I must say again that I did not know the terminal and had to stand in 2 queues. After a lot of stressing I decided fudge it, I'm going with the 5 o'clock train, what's the worst that can happen, I'm only 15min later than the suggested 2h before the flight departure.

When I got to the airport the sihgt I saw was a surprise - there wasn't a huge mass of people everywhere, just a normal flow of people in the airport in my opinion and the first queue moed rather fast so after that I could breath easily. It's not as bad as they deemed it to be. The security queue took a while but not a ridiculous amount of time as well so when I got through there my flight's gate wasn't even announced yet, so early no need to worry anymore. The check-in lady from the bag drop off desk said that my gate is 15 so I decided to go there immediately and not wait in the lounge as the screens told people to. I got to gate 12 and that was the end of the hall! What??? I can't be that stupid that I can't follow signs that definitely said gate 11-15 this way, but no gate 12 was the last one and full of people waiting to board their flight so I tried to squeeze past them to see if I'm just being blind and stupid and can't see the corridor leading to gates 13-15 but no there wasnt one. What the heck? This can't be true. Retraced my steps back to the last sign and it definitely said gates 11-15 pointing to the way I just came from. Oukay... well the gate number was displayed on a screen so maybe it's the same gate but the gate number just changes, what I think is a bit stupid, why can't it be just gate 12???? And I was right the number shortly changed and became 15. Meanwhile I saw how people actually ran to their flights and the crew got a bit anxious because everyone wasn't there yet though they had checked in and passed through security etc.

The flight went alright, but when we got off and had to enter the airport I got stuck in the security gate. What a stupid system. I got stuck between the door and the gate. So me. Luckily a guy next to me got stuck too so we were both like oh well... The security guy game in a couple of minutes and got the guy out, I was still stuck there. Finally I figured out why neither the door or the gate opened - it was because my bag was just in front of the gate and the sensor must've thought that it was someone trying to go through the wrong way and voila as soon as I pushed my bag out of the sensors the gate opened, thanks for nothing useless security guy - you should be familiar with your system.

Got my big suitcase too and went to the information desk to ask how to get to the train station at Bastia. I already knew we had to wait like 4 hours for the next train but thought it wouldn't be a big deal as Bastia was a big town so I could eat and drink something while waiting. The receptionist said that the next train would actually go in 10 minutes and we should take the taxi to the nearest station which is only 5 mins from the airpot. I was happy like wow yes I can get to my room quicker than I thought. We raced to the station and guess what, never trust stupid people, the receptionist had told us the train time for weekdays but we were there on a Sunday so the next one was the one I had been planning to take anyway and in that station we had to wait 5 hours now. And when I say station I mean just a station in the middle of freaking nowhere!!!!!!!!!!! I hate people so much!!!! I didn't have anything to eat or drink and the taxi here was already 20 euros so I wasn't going to spend more money on that + I had a ticket from that station now and I didn't know any taxi numbers even if I wanted to. So yeah a great start isn't it?

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Continues

So I left when I decided that no I will not wait an hour and a half at a presumably safe main train station and instead take the tram that won't take me all the way to the airport. I'm so awesome. Noticed another girl with a suitcase so when the last stop came I started following her :D she went a bit off-track but I prayed that maybe she knows a shortcut or something. Well no, luckily I managed to follow her for a couple of minutes only before she went to a building that probably was her home. Smart move just randomly start following someone. I am definitiley going to get killed tonight... Back to my initial plan of following the tram tracks. It was dark, there wasn't anyone else around - yeah a totally scary place. On the way I noticed that I've lost one jacket - I'm sure I just had it. Fudge, what should I do go back or continue without it???? I decided to go back a bit and see if I can spot it and luckily I did, it was in the middle of the road :D picked it up and continued my journey in a rush, yeah I was a bit scared, a bit is probably an understatement. The road seemed to last forever and I got so sick and tired of carrying my stupid suitcase around that made a horrible sound, basically screaming please come and attack me and steal all my stuff. There were still no people around.

Somehow managed to get to the airport safely. But as Jane-Ly had said before it is closed and only one insignificant door should be open somewhere, tried to look for that but couldn't find it... I could see people inside though. Decided that I'll just go and wait when the last tram is here, there's bound to be some people on that. While I was waiting a creepy homeless guy came there too, to eat. What have I done to deserve this? Finally the tram came and there was a young couple there, I immediately went up to them with all my problems :D Turns out the creepy homeless guy knew how to get into the airport - but he spoke german so wouldn't have helped me anyway. We had to go through a police station door, later we found out that the door is open and we didn't have to phone them and ask them to let us in, but thanks to that we realised that we were all estonians, lol :D So spent the night chatting away and playing cards.

In the morning another big shock came. Ryanair is weighing handluggage. I had just managed to put everything into one bag and now fudge fudge fudge fudge. I was about 3 kg over the limit. Luckily the estonians had some room in their bags so I randomly put the heaviest (small) things I could in their bags and got mine to 10.3kg. I have to mention that my pockets were full of stuff as well and when I got to the security the lady was actually annoyed - at first she laughed a bit - at how many stuff I had to take out under my shirt, pockets etc. But hey I got through without having to pay extra or throw anything away so I'm not ashamed of anything! :D

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Nerve-wracking travelling

My travels continue with the same streak of fail and mini heart-attacks, cause I'm that awesome :)

Two weeks ago (yes I have a serious problem writing things down as soon as they've happened) I packed my bags yet again. This time to leave the lovely Aberystwyth behind for a year. And I mean the word lovely in every sense. Wonder why? Well I finally realised that a lot of my happiness pretty much depends on the people around me and this summer has just been amazing. The weather's been nicer - I've actually gone swimming in the sea (3times!) and the people. Literally the last shift I worked I was on till telling everyone I kinda recognised that I'm leaving (sad face) and they actually cared (the customers that is) and wished me luck. Awwwwwwww so cute :) And a thank you to Deary, who gave me a place to live when I was homeless :) not that I spent much time there, if you know what I mean ;)

Finally got all the essential packed in a suitcase + hand-luggage and the first trip could begin. I left the large suitcase behid for now since I still have a couple of weeks holiday left that I intended to spend in Germany and Estonia + my flight to Corsica is going from Manchester so it's less hassle and cheaper to leave my big suitcase to the UK for now. I had bought the train ticket last minute and since it was an anytime day one I was nervous about the changes since I briefly looked that I have to change trains in Wolverhampton and Manchester Picadilly. I've never been to the first station before because normally we change at Shrewsbury. At the end I had to change the train 4 times -.- First in Machynlleth, then Shrewsbury and then Wolver and Manch. From Mach I sat in the coach where I could barely hear the announcements and since it was dark I was worried that I might miss my stop at Wolverhampton - like I said never been there so no clue what it should look like or when it is (you can usually realise you're at Shrew before they announce it). But the unexpected change at Shrew eased my journey a bit since now I could hear the names of the stations being called out. Yeah it might not sound like a big deal but I'm really really nervous when travelling alone thinking I'm on the wrong train, missing my stops etc. Luckily all went well and I even got some internet time in one train :)

Now at the airport. Ryanair strictly allows only 1 handbag per passenger. I had three :D Yeap... You think I could relax there and just sleep for a bit or something? Oh no!no!no!no! After some readjusting got rid of my smallest handbag, but then spent at least half an hour in the toilet wondering how I should hide the slightly bigger one. Carryt it on my hand under my coat? What if they ask me to put my coat on? Too risky. Wear it on my back under my coat? Too big of a bump... Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabies.... Well I still have a couple of hours to make up my mind :D Are they even allowed to ask me to take my coat off? Well lets hope that they do not see or aren't allowed say something :D. A fun happening at the security gate: I was busy putting all of my stuff in the crates when I moved a bit and I heard someone saying behind me: "Someone's left their bag!" Omg relax will you? It's mine and I haven't gotten the chance to put it in the crate yet ok!!! Gosh! Let me live :D Now made it to the gate and put my bag strategically on my left shoulder because usually they are on the right. Well nope. First he walked and checked the tickets on the left telling everyone to put their handbags away - woman in front and the one behind me had their handbags out, me too?????????? No, I won't to anything just yet. The queue started moving slowly and by the time I got near the gate the third guy had nothing to do anymore so he just looked at people and guess what he was on my left hand side... Awesome so I stood there like a crazy person trying to face him and not the queue, moving sideways :D but no one said anything and I got all my stuff as they were on the plane. Wipiiii :D

I had instruction what to do once I get to Bremen. Go out of the terminal, turn right and go to the tram station. Get the Statdmitte tram to the main train station Easy right? Well not so much if the tram is not operating that day....

Got on the bus, the bus driver said 2 stops and then go on the tram and not to worry everyone else is doing the same. Ok that put my mind at ease a bit. The next thing I know a helpful man told me to get off the bus because this is my stop. Thanks dude, so I ran to the tram which was right there luckily but guess what not everyone got on that, especially the ones I had presumed tourists and would go to the main train station like I wanted to go. As I bought a ticket on the bus I didn’t buy one from the tram... See I make it stressful myself because at any time the ticket officer could´ve come in and fine me. Since I had no one to watch and follow I became more nervous about being in the right tram and going the right way etc. I suddenly realised I should be on the tram going to statdmitte but mine had said universität. Decided to go out and get on the train going the other way then. It’s not like I’ve bought a ticket or something ;) As we were getting closer to the next stop I noticed the same number tram going the other way and guess what it said: airport so I was on the right tram after all! I later told Jane-Ly about that – the girl I was going to visit (HaHa) and who had told me statdmitte and guess what she said to that: It’s the same thing anyway. Khm Khm Khm how the hell was I supposed to know that???? Luckily I didn’t get fined and found the train station.

Everything went smoothly there: bought my tickets to the train going in 9! Minutes, got on that J Double-decker train woop woop! For me it is a big and awesome deal ok! Got my connection sorted but the last stop was worrying me because the previous one had the same name just something added to that so I was like hmmm... I still have 2 minutes left before we should get to my station but trains could be late. So yet again I was beginning to get a bit nervous that maybe I’ve missed my stop. But luckily I’m a calm worrier and indeed my stop was the next one in 2 minutes so got off J

Now had to wait for Jane-Ly who had texted me that she was going to be a bit late. Ok no worries. When she finally arrived she was out of breath and practically shouting oh here you are! Apparently she had parked on the other side of the station and running while screaming my name there LOL LOL LOL :D I’ve been here all along.

It was great seeing her and how she lived and the fancy stable she worked in and the little town with the perfect gardens where she lived. On the last day of my stay there we went to a bigger town nearby and since she wasn’t sure when my train would come to take me back to the airport we went looking for a tourist information centre. It took us nearly 2 hours to find it :D I blame us because well yeah :D But the town was really lovely and full of horse statues. In the tourist information they told us that I can buy the ticket on the train. Since I didn’t know my connection platform we decided to pop to a travel agent and ask there. There they told us that we have to buy a ticket there because otherwise it is going to be like travelling without a ticket. Since the station had no ticket machine I decided to play on the stupid tourist card and say well I got here late and everything else was closed blah blah blah.

Got to the main train station in Bremen and somehow had missed my tram back to the airport for like a minute or so. Why do these things happen to me????? Saw that the next tram had some letter behind the number, oh shit what does that mean now? I was there about quarter past 11 and the last tram that did not have a letter behind the number went 00.35, I wasn’t going to wait that long so I checked out the info and maps in the stop and yes it turned out that the tram that has the letter after it does not go all the way to the airport but terminates like 3 stops before that. Since it was only 3 stops and the timetable said 3 minutes I thought I could walk it. 3 minutes by tram, how long could it be walking then? Not too long my logic said. Checked out the route – I was planning on following the tram route – the safest option in my opinion in the dark.

Wow this is turning out to be a looooong post and I have another exciting one just waiting to be written, so I’ll continue this as soon as possible :D 

Oooh a cliff hanger lol :D

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...