Edinburgh Exchanges

Wow, so this week has passed by in a complete blur, but definitely a very happy one!

Last sunday's erasmus night at Nelson's bar saw the start of a week of erasmus parties and discovering our local - Charie P's, an irish pub across the road from halls which plays fantastic music (the entire pub was staring at us as we gave a very loud and bouncy rendition of 500 miles on thursday night), has a great, studenty atmosphere and real irish barmen who we made friends with and consequently ended up with free drinks! Other nights out included Erasmus Karaoke and an outing to a tiny wine cellar in Stammersdorf (half an hour from the centre of vienna by tram, or 'bim' as the locals call it) both of which were good nights.

Other than that this week has been fairly quiet in comparison to the weeks before it. Or perhaps not quieter, just a bit calmer. I have finally managed to sign up for classes after a 5 hour wait in a queue on monday although I still don't have a student id card, a semester ticket for public transport (something I have discovered would be handy) or a bank card; without these things I cannot: take books out of the library, print anything off, wash my clothes (luckily I have borrowed my friend's card to do some washing) or collect my really awesome free gift from the University (an official uni wien bag!) So hopefully after tomorrow I will have all of these things, although I seem to have said that a lot recently.

Last wednesday was supposed to be my first class but the tutor didn't show up and so the class (Einfuehrung in die Lyrikanalyse) was cancelled. I atleast now know that the class is small (only 10-12 people) and that there are two other erasmus students in it. Tomorrow is my first lecture and I'm looking forward to finally getting started on some classes after an amazingly long summer holiday (exactly 5 months!)

Saturday night was the annual 'Lange Nacht der Museen' where every museum in Vienna (and I think nationwide) is open until 1 am, you buy a ticket for 11 Euros and it lets you in to all of them. I went along with a big group of friends and so it was really banterful. We started off in the interactive Haus der Muzik where you can conduct an orchestra and experience what it's like to be inside the womb (strange, that's all I'll say!). We then moved on to the slightly more grown-up Naturhistorisches Museen and Kunsthistorischesmuseen; the buildings themselves were an attraction and there was so much to see in both of them! We spent most of our time in the Naturhistorischesmuseen but still didn't manage to see everything and then went to the Egyptian, Roman and Greek exhibitions in the Kunsthistorischesmuseen after a well deserved coffee break! It was an amazing atmosphere with so many people there and it was good to do it all with friends - I definitely think I'll be back to all three museums at some point this year.

This week I have also booked flights to visit my best friend in France at the end of the month and I really can't wait! Even though I've really settled in here and met some really awesome friends, I still really miss my Edinburgh friends and my family - so it'll be so cool to catch up with Hannah. A group of us have also decided to take a trip to Prague in November since it's only 6 hours on the train and we can spend a long weekend there. There's so much to experience this year and I want to do it all, I just hope my funds will stretch far enough!

So this week I've really started to feel at home here - I no longer need to take my map with me every time I step out the door; it's so much easier to just laugh about the crazy admin system when you know that everyone is going through the same thing, and even though I've been struck by the dreaded freshers' flu there are movie nights, hot chocolate and mutual sympathy with new friends to cheer you up!

So until next week...
Ciao!

Firstly, apologies for this hiatus in blogging efforts!

Things have been busy here for the past while: academic deadlines creeping up slowly, various social ventures to look forward to, and the cold weather becoming a daily feature! This morning whilst taking a walk around Sognsvann lake I noticed the first frosty patches underfoot, and the evenings are crystal clear, the cold is cutting! It's beautiful though; last week or so a few of us ate together and then went up to the same lake around 9.30pm, it was so black and dark, but the skies were amazingly clear, I have never seen so many stars in my life! We all froze to death lying on the ground and looking up at the sky for goodness knows how long, it was incredible to see such a clear view of the night sky, satellites, shooting stars and all.

Anyway, asides from the inevitable cold creeping up on Oslo and my previously untapped love for nature somehow making its way into the world (entirely unexpected trust me), things have been calm whilst also being busy, as silly as that sounds. The academic term is in full swing here, and we are half way through semester, unlike many of the universities in Europe! As such, I have important deadlines looming: two of my subjects require large essays which will be graded as a very simple pass or fail, and which I am required to pass before I can take the end of term exam. I have been working on these slowly, hoping that it really does pay off to begin these things well in advance. I have also found a lovely Norwegian friend who is willing to reprimand every grammatical error that I make, which despite sounding like a horrific basis for a friendship, is exactly what I need.

We have planned a November trip to Streptokåken hytta: a hyttetur is a Norwegian institution! It is almost impossible to explain, but almost every Norwegian family owns a second home, most often situated in the heart of nature somewhere, perhaps by a fjord, in the grandeur of the mountains, etc etc (they really don't do these things by halves). They are most often very simple, some without running water or electricity, and families take every possible opportunity to spend long weekends and often weeks on end during the summer months staying in their hytta together. The University of Oslo own at least one large hytte for every faculty in the institution, and we will be renting the Veterinary faculties hytte in November for a ridiculously good price. There are at least 10 of us heading out, including a friend who studies in the Swedish department who will be traveling to Oslo from Uppsala, and I can’t imagine that we will be having anything other than an almost ridiculously typically Norwegian weekend together in the middle of a freezing cold forest, with a massive log fire and lots of good food, drink and company! We are also already having to think about renting another for next semester when the snow comes, as the competition is fierce; these weekends are incredibly popular. A weekend of snow and skiing with new good friends would be the perfect thing to look forward to returning for next semester! And rather scarily, next semester is already on my mind a lot when i realise how quickly this semester is flying by. I have endless decisions to make concerning subjects for both my time here and my final year in Edinburgh, and it almost feels like thousands of things that I want to experience before returning home. I suppose these thoughts should motivate me, rather than depressing me slowly, ha ha.

Oh, and last but not least, rather importantly I have now changed my University degree: having previously been a Joint Honours student in English Literature and Norwegian, I have decided to go ahead and pursue Scandinavian Studies as a Single Honours degree. My so-far short ERASMUS experience has been the best thing to ever happen to my social and academic life, and my interests are far and wide when it concerns this area of the world and all it has to offer (barf, I know, how overly keen of me). Truthfully, the decision almost made itself.

Saturday morning again- this is a tradition in the making, I can tell. I’m still in bed in my new studio enjoying the space and the shower with actual taps rather than a push button. I’m also somewhat worse for wear after last night.

This week has been strange, I feel like I have just arrived again but this time it as more successful. Last weekend was wonderful, the weather was amazing; so sunny and warm (for Lille- renowned for its constant cloud cover, just like Edinburgh) and I spent the entire weekend enjoying it and completely relaxing for the first time. I sat outside whilst my clothes were in the laverie and just enjoyed the feel of the sun on my face.

But as always the weekend was far too short- I had to sort out all of the admin. for my move and just like before I was shunted from pillar to post concerned about the accuracy of my French; as a result of this I wasn’t in labs as much as usual, and it was useful to only have two lectures.

Labs are going much, much better; I still sometimes feel on edge and the lab itself is disturbingly quiet and sometimes people come and talk at me and I panic wondering if I understood correctly and then worrying about what they told me I would be doing. Although this week Lydie- my ‘maitre de stage’ (tutor)- said that I was doing alright so that cheered me up and I managed to collect dry solvent from a big scary machine (and the fact the instructions are written clearly on the front does not detract from my happiness.)

I have been thinking a lot about the work I have to do for Edinburgh this week; the literature survey and the essays, I know there will be a lot of reading for both but I’m excited about the literature survey because I might not have to do it on my project here, I would like to look into drug development for mental illness and am hoping it might be possible.

So, I moved into Gustav Eiffel on Wednesday with the help of Rachel and Andy (my new neighbours) and Sarah and Rob. They all came gallantly to my rescue and helped me cart all my stuff across campus in two Auchan trolleys, feeling very stupid I hasten to add, and running up and down stairs was tiring. The glass of wine (okay bottle-[alright bottles]) was well deserved although when I went to sleep I felt like I was in a bric-a-brac shop having to climb to my bed through the stuff that had just been lumped everywhere.

It feels like I’m back to square one though, needing to buy even more things for my room.

French classes started again yesterday, it made me realise that I actually have improved since I arrived. Not with grammar but the way I speak is more natural, more colloquialisms and not worrying as much about saying the wrong thing but I don’t think the teacher likes me very much. She asked everyone else loads of questions but only asked me one in the whole three hours.

We, I say we, I mean Rachel and Andy really (I let my room out to be the cloakroom) had a cheese and wine party- it had to be done, we’re in France after all! I got very confused about what language to speak after a few glasses and even came out with some Russian which the Czech people understood. Most people speak very good English, which makes me feel wholly inadequate but it is odd to hear yourself say something in French when you don’t expect to.

Anyway, it’s the weekend again, I think my Japanese class starts this week but I don’t know where, Andy agreed to give me piano lessons which he may live to regret but I’m excited about that too. I want to try to get a topic for my literature survey this week and my parents are here next weekend so it should be a busy week. Hopefully not as stressful though.

(The title is just because tea and biscuits is the best combination and no matter how many French things I adopt it can never be replaced. The stereotype is actually, quite shockingly, true…)

Until next time….

Thank Goodness the lab has the internet...