A couple of hoarders???

Who kew that I have soooooooo much stuff? I sure didn't. Seriously I think I have a problem. managed to fit all my clothes finally in the wardrobe and then went to pick up a huge box with more clothes in it :S And the sad part is that I don't wear even half of them... but I can't give them away either because what IF I need them???? Oh god I have to man up don't I? Because believe me it is getting ridiculous.

The other thing we have lots and everywhere is souvenirs... As you might have noticed we did a lot of travelling last year and every time got a little something. Now is the first time I see the little somethings all together in our flat... EVERYWHERE. It's like tourism came and threw up... There are photos and post cards on every wall, little figurines and whatever on every surface, not to mention different mugs and glasses fitted between them... I would love to put at least half of them in a drawer somewhere and then take them out later on putting other stuff in the drawers. A nice rotation :) But how on earth am I supposed to choose which ones to leave out and where???

Mr. Special with his endless dvd and vcr (who watches them anymore) isn't helping either! And I'm not even going to mention the thousand books we have... (actually I could give some of the crappy ones away... just joking I only have 2-3 crappy books that my heart will let me give away). Should I call a tv-show to come and help me?

Ttyl ;)
Jazzz...

Homebound for 2 weeks

Every time I go home the stay keeps getting better :) It is harder and harder to leave each time... :( The first year I was pretty much content with just one week, now 2 weeks is not enough by far. And what did I do then? Well nothing much to be honest :) Chilled at home, went to the zoo: we were lucky to see the polar bear and leopard cubs and the famous Zoo man in Estonia happened to walk by while we were there and he stopped to tell his wise tales next to us :):):):) The best part about it was when he told the momma bear to leave the cub alone and she did! WOW! :D

As always I "woke up" near the end of my stay and started contacting everyone then :D The first week I don't think I even left the house :D I just watched "The vacation in Mexico" which is something like the Jersey Shore but a Russian twist on it. And then the Russian psychic challenge. I wonder where I could watch them with subtitles?

My brothers are sooo cute and that's the hardest part of being away :( They grow up soooo fast! H went to school now and C is just soooo cute and wants to cuddle all the time. The last morning he came to my bed after waking up just to chill and talk :) Dad took me out to a pub - probs the most we've spoken to each other in a couple of years :)

That's about it... Needless to say I am not especially looking forward to returning Aber :D

Ttyl ;)
Jazzz...

Venice

I've been to Venice!!! Ou yeah :) To be honest for some reason it's different in real life than in my imagination :S Yes, there are canals, yes, there are bridges, yes, there are narrow streets. But for some reason I had thought that you could walk along the canals more than you actually can... And every house needs a new fresh layer of paint. Otherwise it was pretty perfect :)

It didn't smell as some people say :) Or maybe we were just lucky. It wasn't awfully expensive. But you do have to be aware of the cover and table charges: usually the lady/man who is inviting you into the restaurant tells you about it so there wouldn't be any surprises. If they don't be aware though! God knows what other surprises the bill may hold ;)

The masks!!!! The masks are everywhere!!!! Cheap stuff looks pretty much the same but there are a couple authentic ones in town and their work is proper art :) You could get a cheapy one for about 10 euros or even less if it's a smaller one. For the real ones (and you pray that it is actually the real deal because all of them have some stickers or tags on saying they are real :S ) expect to cough out something in the range of 40+ euros. Even if you don't want to buy them, they are still interesting just to marvel at ;)

When going to Venice you should definitely go check out the little island of Burano nearby (waterbus takes you there). Now there you can see some bright and happy colours :) Murano, where they make the glass, didn't impress us with anything though :( 

The gondola ride is €80!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for 30 minutes. When I saw the price I said hell to the no! I'm not paying that kind of money for a boat ride! There are plenty of others who do though, but I think it's ridiculous

The food was great, as expected :) we found a little outdoor smoothie bar that offers you free samples and they were deliciozo!!!! So we kept going back there to try different flavours :) The carbonara didn't have a raw egg on it... Maybe that's a French thing?

Street vendors are rather pushy. The minute they see you even glancing their way they're on you like flies shouting hey Mister!! even when you're gone past. One guy freaking grabbed my shoulder so I would look back to the other guy far away in the distance! I don't even know what he was selling! But if you're into gucci-mucci and getting it cheap then be quick because not only selling them is illegal but buying too!

Last thing! When choosing a hotel make sure it is not in the middle of town! Think how the hell are you going to get there! With all the bridges and turns and dead ends! Yeap, choose wisely :) No buses (except for the water bus on the main canal) or even cars in the actual islands so walking is your only choice of transport.

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Time to say goodbye

It's my last night in Aber. All my stuff (6 boxes, 1 suitcase) has been sent back home. I totally overestimated how much I can pack into my hand luggage, so fingers crossed that having my handbag with me on Monday won't cause any problems.

I knew that I have to leave this week, but it still came like a surprise and there's never enough time to do everything or say goodbye to everyone, not to mention getting together properly. At least I had a walk around town, even walked up this awful hill to go to library to donate some books and had my last meal at my favourite place. Then went for a walk on seafront and randomly met someone who to me is one of the greatest people I have ever met. It was really nice to have the chance to actually say goodbye to her before I leave.

Other than that...it is so weird. So much has changed since I first came here. Time has passed so fast. Yet, 3 years of life was worth only 78kg.

Finally, this is for you, Jazzz, another great person, who I wouldn't have met without coming to this uni, or who knows, life has its ways. Anyway, cheesy couples have this special song, at least in films :D Well, this song to me is our song, brings back so many happy memories...

That's it for this chapter in life.

Emma

Departure

I must say when Mr. Special said that we were going to Venice for a few days I was not the happiest person in the world... Because of the luggage situation... Moving from one country to another is a challenge all by itself, just think what 2 flights + weight restrictions add to it... Did I overreact over nothing? The initial plan was to go back to the UK with a car (I'll bring it, I'll bring it, oh no point bring it now, I'll bring it later etc etc etc). Now planes are involved...

I think this time was the hardest departure yet :( When I left home I started my uni life in a totally different country wow amazeballs etc. When I left Aber I was headed for Corsica, new experience bring it on :) When I left Corsica, well I went to Paris (need I say more why I was super excited for that????????). Now when I'm leaving Paris though... no new experiences, just the same old Aberkijaidjhfnheu :) Lets just say it's not my favourite place in the world... Not really looking forward to going back to uni there (btw had my timetable already - so early :S and turns out I can't choose language groups anymore!!! Why oh why that was like the highlight of the year :D). Kind of looking forward to going back to my old job but at the same time am terrified about the prospect of it...

Anyway what I miss:

• Taking the metro 
• The policeman (or whoever) who was at the crossing making sure pedestrians wont get hit by cars. He was only there on school mornings
• Saying Hello! :) to bus drivers when entering
• Just saying Hello! :) to basically everyone when entering a room etc
• My newly built neighbourhood :) Fort d'Issy where we lived :)
• Fresh baguettes :) mmmmmmm fresh bread is delizioso :P
• The chance to see the top of the Eiffel Tower pretty much from my window (ok I had to go out to the entrance to the Fort)
• PARIS on the whole really...
• and the French too ;)

I really thought I had a more poetic way of describing this :D

Will I ever get a chance to go back and live there again? Please please please someone find me a flat there because finding one is a complete nightmare...

Ttyl ;)
Jazzz...

Do you live here?

I was asked that question by the British border police and for a second I panicked... :D

Obviously I've watched too many Border Control episodes where they question immigrants etc but hey! I remembered this is the EU I'm legally allowed to enter and live in the UK even if I'm not their citizen.

The other thing bouncing in my head at the time was the same question or rather confusion: do I?!?!?! Do I live in the UK? or do I live in France? or Estonia? well... different establishments know different things :D Oh god I look like an undercover spy with 7 different passports that have my pic but different names etc :D But where do I live? At the moment nowhere to be honest: Moved all my stuff from France to Wales but at the same time never went to Wales and will be spending 2 weeks in Estonia in my home-home instead (and obviously using all the benefits that people of Tallinn get). Can you say yes I live in the UK? 

My French bank for example still thinks I live in Corsica :S I didn't bother to change it because I thought it would be too much of a hassle (French bureaucracy :/) and since I had no access to the post box in Paris (didn't have the key no biggie) thought it best just to leave it be... My Estonian bank (and every other institution here) knows I still live in my home-home. Which isn't technically wrong, since my parents live here and if anyone needs to send anything it's better to send it here rather than me changing my foreign address with them every time I move :) My UK bank knows I have some Aber address where my friend lived last year... who knows who lives there at this time though :/

So what would you have answered? (Mind you I haven't been there for a year)

And every time I travel with my passport all the officials look at it like its fake :D They bend it every way possible and scan it? and god knows what else then look at me like da fudge is this? Then usually let me through. I was once asked how old am I and the other time where am I going. And now well this existential question that has no one clear answer.

I heard UK was on high immigration/terrorist alert maybe that raised the question? Or the fact that Mr. Special came with me that time and two different nationalities travelling together is weird or suspicious?

By this time (as there was no answer) the official was playing ping-pong with his eyes that darted back and forth from me to Mr.Special...

Bloopers

Maybe you've noticed by now that I'm not a completely normal person :) So now I'd like to share some of the funny moments of the summer that I haven't written down anywhere. I'm sure that there are way more but these are the ones I can remember

• We were at Val d'Europe shopping centre and decided to have a frozen yoghurt for dessert. It was one of those places where you could add cookies and berries etc to it yourself and pay by weight. We had to choose from 4 different tastes and for the love of god Mr. Special could not understand what the third flavour was. The poor girl said the word about 5 times by now when he looked at me confused and said something completely different (Malibu? he said something else but I can't remember what exactly) so I joined the girl and said the word Mojito about another 5 times until he finally got it -.-
• The buses only stop here if someone has pressed the stop button (or someone's waiting in the stop obvs). There are always a couple more people wanting to exit at the same stop as me so I don't usually bother pushing the button, although I always check that someone has indeed pushed it (you can see the light). One day I was so deep in my thoughts that noticed that I wanted to exit here when the bus had stopped to let someone in. So I ran to the doors that were closed - because no one else had wanted to exit there that day and I'd forgotten to push the button -.- So immediately pushed the button - nothing - and then was about to start shouting la porte s'il vous plait! (like they do sometimes when the doors have been closed too early) but then stopped myself and only a mere quiet eeek came out of my mouth and an attempt to move closer to the driver... :D A couple of people looked at me funny. I decided that I'll get off at the next stop... (It doesn't really matter) and then to not make myself look like a fool when I got off I started walking the same direction as the bus so the people on it would think that I did actually want to still stay in the bus... The bus took too long to go past me and I had to walk what felt like forever before I could turn around and go home... yeap I'm a genius :)
• I think this happened the very next day even :D At porte de Versailles metro station there is one narrow staircase for exit - two rows: one for normal people and the other for rushing people. So for the very first time I found myself rushing past people and made to the top door just before a "slow" man. All would've been very fine if I could've gotten out the freaking door! No! They have some freaking system in place there that I didn't know about (because usually the door is always open due to someone being in front of me ALWAYS). So I pushed it, even kicked it with my foot until the man gently said pardon and easily opened the door!!!! Awkward!!! Turns out you have to push at a certain place (the middle) and it opens... Magic!
• A couple of times I've gotten a text before work starts that my supervisor is ill and therefore I have the day off :) Both of those times I've been outside the office door reading it -.- And I always read that text a hundred times to make sure it does say that I get the day off :) So I make my way back home... and scare the hell out of Mr. Special. The first time I phoned the interphone (I do not know how it's called) from downstairs - no answer (I have no idea how to answer either because it's not like a normal phone but some high-tech screen etc :S) so made my way upstairs and rang the bell. Still nothing. Then tried the door - it was locked. (It's usually open because he always has to go outside to make his phone calls :D he has no signal inside a building EVER). Damn he must be out!!!! Then I heard a Hello?!? from the flat. Success, so I stayed quiet until he opened the door terrified that it might be the landlady (he doesn't speak french).
• The second time I just went and rang the bell a couple of times. Another Hello?1?! then Jasmine?!?!? damn he got me this time?! He didn't open the door though, so I rang again and stepped away from the door, so he wouldn't see me immediately when opening the door. He finally opened the door and obvs didn't see anyone so started yelling something along the lines of: "So who's the silly begger playing games here eh? I'm locking..." by that time I was dying of laughter already so I stepped in front of the door literally scaring him sh**less :D :D :D :D :D :D :D How can a grown man be so scared? :D :D PS! I told you I'm not a normal person ;)
• One day at work the two other interns went to have lunch just the two of them leaving me with the "bosses" (or just normal people who work there full time) and then my supervisor ran out to the post office. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to wait (didn't really want to but it would be weird if I just left on my own leaving the office door open). So I did until I heard the guys upstairs saying "Should we go for lunch now" my supervisor wasn't back and I didn't want to go with just the two of them so I panicked and ran out the door :D It's less awkward to eat alone - which I didn't because the two other interns and their friend had decided to eat at the park as well...
• At work I have a perfect view to the door that has toned glass window so I can see people standing behind the door but they can't see me unless they really look inside. One day there was a weird man standing there trying to peek inside, (the other girl who is closer to the door but has her back to it said later that she heard him trying to put his hand through the letter box), then tried opening the door - luckily it was locked :) Then he rang the doorbell, the girl went to open as usual but as soon as she saw him she backed down and waited for our supervisor to come downstairs to open the door herself. So she did and stood right in front of it to ask what he wanted. He was desperate to get in the room for some reason and asked for a piece of paper (hoping the supervisor would step away from the door to get it probs), so our supervisor asked the other girl to hand her the piece of paper. The man was so close to her trying to peek through and see what and who's inside. When he got the paper he just left :S :S WTF just happened???????????????????????? 
• Today when I went upstairs to have my lunch I felt kind of funny. Thought my bra strap had fallen or something so tried adjusting it and guess what? I couldn't find it!!! I don't have a bra on!!!?!!?!! What??? How?? and how did I only notice that like 5 hours after leaving my flat????? Luckily it's kinda cold and I had a sweater on so no one could hopefully tell. I want to die right now!!! How did this even happen???????
• This reminds me of a time when Mr. Special went out to take his phonecalls and then 10 seconds later came back rushingly. He was only wearing a t-shirt and boxers!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA btw he had put shoes on though! which made it even funnier!
• In Belgium he forgot to put shoes on. Unfortunately we didn't make it far :( just to the hotel lift :D :D :D :D :D :D
• My french techer from Aber sent me an e-mail in the beginning of summer if we could meet up in Paris (just a normal procedure for him to check my progress etc), I said a couple of times that I don't really have time (which is technically true). but when he proposed a time I just didn't respond to him.... Still haven't... Hope that he forgot.... Please? I'll just say I had problems with the e-mail otherwise :D

That's it for now although I'm sure there are more happenings like those above I just can't remember at the moment ;)

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...