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...

Music makes the people come together or hate eachother :D

Firstly sorry I am a day late posting this monthly music (no one really cares right?) but I have a legitimate reason: I was in Germany and did not have internet but had a lot of happenings lol :D i will soon tell you about them too i promise! ;)

So lets kick off:

My favourite singer of all time (and a person I hugely dislike yeap i hold grudges :D) but just to hear the awesome voice of Aaliyah Im willing to tolerate him...

Swedish awesomeness:

Feelgood awesomeness:

Oldie awesomeness (dont get the worng idea, at the moment im happier than ive ever been but i just like the song so much and recently heard it again and it brings back memories):

Estoninan awesomeness:

Thank you for listening :)

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Obvious Tours co.

Miss Mean and Mr Special went on holiday and believe me it consisted of me being really mean at times and him being extremely special (both good and bad terms) at times.

Before I met my mister special I had planned to spend most of August in Estonia but since he came so special to me I couldn’t do that so I had promised him a week in August, when I did not have to work, before I went away, sad face. He conjured up a masterplan – he likes to plan and pla and plan. The Lake District! I was fine with everything as I just want to go everywhere. Aaaand Chester, because he is from a little town near Chester and therefore the latter is kind of his hometown – does not need a map or anything when going around town – wow right. + the last time we went to Chester (Zoo), we stayed at the most awesome and fancy hotel I’ve ever stayed in. My jaw literally dropped and I kinda felt out of place in all that fancyness. Did I want to go back there? Hell yeah! That was the initial plan – 4 days at the Lake District and 2 in Chester.

Why the title Obvious Tours co.? Well because of the fact that while walking around Windermere – he knows that town too and was acting like a tourguide – he pointed out that to my right is a Tesco (wow I would never had guessed that when there’s a sign : TESCO, there is actually a Tesco store there) and then the next pearl came: this is a bus stop. OMG mindblowing!!!!! There is a bus stop in town. And we are standing in front of it???? How do you know these things? So I thought that he should share his knowledge and start a tour company – taking tourists around town and pointing out the obvious to them – like where the bus stops are and tescos, never mind about the history of the buildings or the sights people came to see – that’s obviously too mainstream and so done by everyone now. He liked the idea J Btw did you all know that if a 4-star hotel gets another star it is then a 5-star hotel. Yeap!!!!!!!!! I know unbelievable right! -.- Like really. Obvious Tours co.!!!!!!

Highlights of our trip included:

• · Going to Edinburgh – Awww yeah. I would never had imagined going to Scotland (for some reason it’s a big deal) anytime soon and we decided to go the day before we actually went. Spontaneous. I’m so happy we went thoug – got to see the castle which is HUGE, I totally recommend that to everyone, it is worth paying for. It’s like a small town all on its own. We saw the Royal Yacht Britannia.
• · „You break my glasses I break your face“ – a nice start to our trip J
• · Mr Special: „Honey!“ some weird noise followed by a very quick „Jasmine!!!!!!!!!“ while we were cycling and he was behind me. So oh no something had happened. I stopped and looked behind and guess what? He had fallen over HaHa. And can you guess what the first thing I said to him was? Are my sunglasses ok??? Since they were in his bag :D Girlfriend of the year award! Thank you J
• · He arguing with a woman with a child because of train seats – we were sitting in their reserved seats...
• · Some old people stole his Daily Mail which is like a bible to him so the entire trip we had a vendetta against old people.
• · At Liverpool Speke Hall he was trying to look for the eavesdropping hole but genuinly thought that since it was marked red on the map he has to look for a red spot on the building tooo!!!! OMG
• · Another obvious moment: after we had walked out of Speke Hall house and then around to the back gardens he proudly showed me that this ise the back of the house. I never would’ve guessed taht on my own. Thank you so much J
• · Trying to find Sizergh Castle and taking an early right turn that resulted us in wasting at least half an hour, me stepping into a puddle and trying to go through fields to get to the castle, in short we got lost big time on foot and with baggage :D We so special :D
• The minute I wasn't paying attention while being on a motorboat, he almost crashed into a buoy.
• The time he actually ran away from me because he thought we had been sitting at the wrong bus stop. And he didn't just tell me oh I think this is the wrong bus stop etc but he suddenly got up, got his bags and RAN away. Unbelievable just trust me ok? Ps! I was at the right bus stop.
• 
  

We had so many laughs about small things that can’t even remember anymore, so in order not to drag this post out for too long I’ll end now with saying that my travels have not ended by far and yet again I’ve had to pack my whole life into one suitcase and start all over again in a new country.

Bye-bye from Manchester Airport for now!

Jazzz...

Erasmus bureaucracy

Continuing where I left off weeks ago... sorry :(

Anyway finally got confirmed that Corsica was my destination for next year. Now to fill in all the documents. Fun fact - the deadline for he first one was about a week ago but got extended because of the French departments inability to make a decision about where to send its students. So yeah, on Wednesday night we were finally told and on Friday we had to give in the application for the erasmus grant (give me money!!!!!), there was a catch though... The dates, we had to give the dates when the uni starts and finishes there. Ummmm how should I know a this time? There was nothing on the site and they change each year.... Soooo bullshit something together: 1st sept - 6th June is what I put down, hoping it would be oukay. Luckily the person from the study abroad office said that will be fine and it can be changed later on if necessary since the grant is calculated in weeks and it does not matter if my dates are a few days wrong.

Why didn't I write all this down while it was happening?

Next I got an e-mail from my Corsica Uni welcoming me and saying that they can provide me with accommodation which is only 146€ per month - successs!!!! :) was looking at some flats and rooms on websites before and they were around 300-400€. They asked me to download an application form to send back to them by post. That was easy to do just state who I am, where I'm from how old etc, what I'm currently studying and what modules I'd wan to take next year. Easy-peasy :) Though the choosing of the modules was a bit painful. At the moment, here I had 6 modules per year. For my Erasmus year I had to choose 60 ECT credits for the year and guess what, the max ECT's a module had was 4!!!!! and there were'nt many of them. so yeah most of my modules were like 1,5 or 2 credits each you can do the math yourselves, next year I'll be taking about 40 modules? OMG that sounds so many when you put it into a number like that. Anyway I decided that I'll pick up Spanish when I'm there. Yeah I came to Wales to study French and am going to France to studi Spanish - Brilliant :), some mediterreanean history, geography and surprise surprise actual tourism modules like new trends, destination management, hotel management etc. I might even learn something new from that year ;)

Meanwhile the application for my Uni accommodation arrived. And guess what? That needed some notorious French bureaucracy things. Jeesh... I showed it to my French tutor and even he said that it is ridonculous and mainly applies to the french and all in all is outdated. So in short I needed to provide them a copy of my parents' incomes from year 2011-2012 (let me remind you that this is the application for accommodation only, I've already been admitted as an Erasmus student to the Uni), a copy of my high school diploma, a family book !?!? we don't have anything like that in Estonia so I just skipped that (actually there were a couple of documents I didn't send because they were blatantly stupid - like my dad's last three payslips - you already got the general income document - how many of them do you need?), to cut this short - it was a hassle and a headache. Finally got most of it done (stated that i'm not an orphan and wrote down all my siblings' birthdays and names etc) and went to the post office for one last requesr: 3 envelopes of a certain size with my address and an international stamp on them. Welll fuuuuu.... The size they wanted does not exist lol :D so got the closest ones and just wrote my address on them, no stamp either. Do some work yourselves toooo!!!! Jeeesh! Anyway sent it off and the nervous wait began!

In July I got a letter confirming that my application has been receive BUT it is incomplete - mini heart attack at this moment, as it said before that if something is missing well tough shit find yourself your own place to live. I've forgotten to add my guarantors electricity bill for proof of address. Where was that written? Literally the first time I've heard of that! Oh no oh no oh no. Luckily they let me sent it via e-mail which I did (a week later :D coz i'm that cool) (my dad made a little joke: "I can send you all my bills every month if you want to pay them" HAfreakingHA - it's crisis for me right now!

About two weeks ago I got another email (why on earth did they request the stupid size envelopes??????) congratulating me on getting a place in uni halls wipiiiii!!!! Happy Happy days. Writing this I vaguely remember that a deposit is needed, but when? OMG. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that I wont f this up and manage to pay my deposit on time and will not lose the room because of my stupidity and laziness. Thank you :)

Ttyl ;)
Jazzz...

The song I have played over and over again fo the past two days

Song I heard yesterday on the radio, was trying to memorize as many lyrics as possible, but luckily they said the name of the song in the end

Song I discovered from my iTunes while having it on shuffle

And traditionally something from Estonia :)

Ems

Erasmus saga

Finally I've managed to bring myself to writing this post :P

When I first applied to study French in the UK I noticed that every course has a compulsory year abroad. YAY was my first thought, especially as back home it was said that taking an Erasmus semester is recommended but everyone can not go anyway. Ok so I was happy a year in France.

This year has been pure horror in trying to sort it out though. We have 4 choices in what we can do

1. Teaching assistant - only for native English speakers
2. Erasmus - limited number of places
3. Find a job - (no bar/pub etc jobs) + not allowed for ex beginners
4. A language course - you have to pay for it yourself (reimbursed to a certain extent later but no income at all)

And since I am a poor Eastern European student who does not speak English I only have one option basically - Erasmus placement that is. We had a number of general meetings until they split us up depending on our choice for next year. And then all hell broke loose. They found out that they had too many applicants and not enough partnership places. Well I couldn't care less you fix it! because that is my only option!!!! Btw they figured this out after the teaching assistants had already applied meaning that no one could change their minds anymore and apply for the previous (we had a couple who would've done just that). Our co-ordinator actually tried to scare us away saying that we have to take a language course and whatnot. Blah blah blha yeah it would be better for my language skills BUT how the hell would I support myself financially??? At least with Erasmus I'll get some kind of bursary, nothing much but still a little something.

Then choosing where I want to go, initially we had about 12 places in 5 universities - La Rochelle, Nantes, Geneva, Paris and Besancon. Like I didn't want to live in London I do not want to go to Paris - too expensive, Geneva is the same, Besancon is in the middle of nowhere, so that leaves Nantes and La Rochelle, the last one being near the sea :) So for the whole year that was my first choice. And we had to give him our choices for about 5 times, omfg no one is going to change their minds until you actually start telling certain people to get the ffff out we do not have a place for youuuu!!!! But no he tried to indimidate people away, and he succeeded. For the whole year I was ready to hear a sorry, no, you will not get an erasmus placement and then freaking willing to fight for it with threats, tears and whatnot. Do everything I could to get it. As I heard that was a popular choice after Paris and we had about 20 people more than places. You can understand why I was worried right?

Fastforward to April this year, when we had our final meeting and finally the placements were to be revealed. The day before that he sent us a list of new placements. OMFG there were so many new places, especially in South France - where I'd wanted to go from the beginning. Toulouse, Montpellier, Corsica, Toulon. As soon I saw that Corsica was on offer and their webpage was quite decent - updated regularly and actually had all the information on it (trust me it is so rare to find a proper webpage for French universities). I wanted to go there with Montpellier as my second choice - who cares about La Rochelle anymore (I'd been telling people all year long that I'd go there). So sent him an e-mail stating that. And of course I got an answer back saying that he can't guarantee anything but good luck! When the hell are you going to be in charge and make the decision on who gets to go where and who's left out?! There is no more time to wait for people to drop out themselves! 

I was holding my breath during the meeting - the usual mambojambo we've heard a zillion times already cut to the freaking chase already!!! People want to know where they are going! And finally we had to make a list again to say where we want to go. I've done this 10 times already!!!!! And basically everyone got their forst choice! Unfreakingbelievable! I was so happy! And guess what! He had scared away so many people that there were actually more places than applicants by that time - it was left quite late this year - due to the high number of applicants. So finally he said why doesn't anyone want to go there and there???? I've worked so hard for this partnership and wouldn't want to see it go to waste. Well shouldn't have told people off earlier then!!!! And forced them into taking a language course!!!!!!!

I'll write a follow up shortly since the saga is not over yet, lol, the next part will focus on stupid bureaucracy and filling in documents.

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...