Stuff

Well after having had a small surgery to remove a suspicious-looking mole, 4 stitches later I am feeling a bit sore and weirded out that I'm not allowed to shower until next week! (too much info??) Plus I am supposed to disinfect the wound area twice a day, but I can't even reach it let alone see it - its just below the inside of my shoulder blade!

Tomorrow is Labour Day here (Dag van de arbeid), so ALL the shops will be closed. They have a really awesome policy about public holidays here, even friday is a public holiday 'just because' - apparently its not worth having thursday off and then going back to work for friday, so friday is a day off too!

I'm still working on my assignments. I have my (final) Dutch exam and oral exam next week, a field trip for Nature Conservation to a Flemish wetland area, and then my paper and presentations for Penal Systems and Nature Conservation are due. And then exams. Goodie!

Counting the days til I'm done! And til Mish gets here. 58 days, 14 hours, 19 minutes and 41 seconds to go!

Are you all well?
xxx R

ANZAC Day

Well I spent today in class doing my presentation for Organised Crime (which I think went pretty well). For those of you who are interested, here are some links to the NZ embassy events for ANZAC day in Belgium, and some info on the WWI battles here in Flanders. (don't knock wiki). There are some pretty special memorials here, where they still play the last post EVERY night.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Passchendaele
http://www.nzembassy.com/news.cfm?CFID=13754494&CFTOKEN=
10690403&c=24&l=70&i=4275

Last night I went to a chocolate fondue party!!! Thats some pineappley goodness dipped in some dark chocolatey goodness right there...


We had dipping fruit, cakes and candy, and three types of chocolate - dark, milk and white!!! Amazing! Before that, we had Low Countries studies which was really interesting this week - the history of Flemish music/polyphony. The lecturer played us all sorts of medieval music and it was really neat!

So now I have the weekend to relax (birthday party and Jenever party tonight) before getting back into work next week - more papers due!!!!

xoxoxoxox
R

Weirdness and Proudness

Found a map of the world in a travel centre today with the strangest interpretation of NZ I have ever seen...... I have no idea what strange lookin' country those people are booking flights for!

I got an A for my mid-term Dutch exam!! Proud o' that coz I've found it jolly difficult!

And I saw a guy who looks JUST like Brad Pitt at a restaurant near the train station... in fact I'm still not sure that it wasn't actually him. I mean, why wouldn't Brad Pitt visit Gent? So while I managed to walk past Brad easy enough, if George Clooney shows up I will be absconding. Just so you know in advance.

Happy ANZAC day to you all for tomorrow! I really wanted to visit Ypres here in Flanders where there are NZ memorials (esp for the Battle of Passchendaele) but I have presentations at uni so can't go. I will get there one day!

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— John McCrae

Ben in Gent II

Had an awesome weekend with Ben here in Gent! Last night we went into town and had some drinks with some other exchange students, and watched Belgian tv and looked at photos of people's home countries. There were also shenanigans involving a shopping trolley. We didn't end up going out to the pubs because the Porter House was closed for some reason (the Police were there and all)... which is a bit unfortunate but it was already 3am anyway so after Ben got some frietjes with meatsauce (gravy haha!) we decided to go home. However he did manage to experience; waffles, hot chocolate, Belgian fries, beer, Aldi (the cheapest awesomest supermarket), the mystic lamb, the city centre, smelly Gent streets, non-safety lifts, cooler temperatures and immersion in the Dutch language.

Sunday morning we went in to Brussels so Ben could catch the Eurostar back to London, it was really sad to see him go!!! But I was reeeeeeeally stoked that he came to visit :) AND he brought me some marmite :) Its a really beautiful day here today, warm enough for just a t-shirt!!!

Have a great Contiki maaaa!!

Ben in Gent!

Ben's here! He arrived friday arvo in Brussels, so I got to take a trip into Brussels after a long week of study. It is sooooo great to hear and see a kiwi!

We had a wander into the city centre and checked out Gent at night, but thats an hour and a half walk so we were pretty tired after that! But we did try Belgian Fries with Mayo. Mmmm.

Ben is still on NZ time so wakes up at 5am..... argh! Saturday we got up early, caught the bus into town this time and checked out some of the kool places around town. Unfortunately my favourite Belgian Waffle place has closed down! But we got waffles elsewhere so phew! We also saw all the main churches and buildings, the graffiti street (only place in Gent where graffiti is legal), and went to visit the adoration of the mystic lamb replica in St Baafs Cathedral. Then we went and got a hot chocolate, double mmmmmmm. I think half of the cup is actually liquid chocolate. Can't explain how good it was....

Bought some beer for the evening when we will be meeting up with some of the other exchange students. Yay for kiwis!

Two down, two to go

Well today was an interesting day;

* I did the 30min presentation of my Drug Policy paper this morning, which was incredibly nerve-wracking considering the brains that were present in the room... EU criminology experts and whatnot... but it's over thank goodnes :)

* I also handed in my written paper for Organised Crime in New Zealand (why couldn't I have been born Italian so I could have dealt with the real good stuff??) which I thought wasn't so good, but I did my best. Thanks to mish at least I had one book :) So I have handed in 2 of my 4 papers, and done 1 of 4 presentations. Getting there.

* I got my assignment printed free because the lady in the copy shop was nice

* I participated in a conversation IN DUTCH with real Belgian people!! Ok, so it was very simple, (talking about what time the organised crime paper was due, because the Masters students in my class mostly speak Dutch), but I understood them, or at least parts of the conversation, AND I could reply!!! Yusss!!!!!!! However this small victory is rather offset by the fact that I was so busy writing my assignment I completely forgot about my Dutch class on tuesday and now I've missed all the notes!! Dang it.

* Peanut butter here is weird. They don't take the thin husky layer off the peanuts so you get that funny crumbly brown papery peanut husky stuff dispersed throughout the peanut butter. And its really not very common, I can only get it at one shop! Mind you I thought there was a conspiracy against porridge here too, but then I found some of that, so conspiracy over.

* The 'Home Boudewijn Menagerie' is ever amusing. Outside my window there are chickens, roosters and baby chickens all feeding in the grass. Also, there are bunnies hopping around along side said chickens, also feeding. Said bunnies chase eachother, and sometimes said chickens, and sometimes said chickens even chase said bunnies. Hooooours of entertainment right there. That photo was taken from the 9th floor btw, 15x zoom haha!

* I have now officially reached the half-way point of my stay in Gent (2 and a half out of 5 months). That's a scary thought. I have to go somewhere else when I leave here, but I don't know where that is yet!

* I saw TWO freckly Belgians today. In the copy shop! But that still doesn't mean there are many freckly people in europe nean!

* TOMORROW Ben will arrive in Gent!! Yay!!! I'm having the weekend off from study, and I reckon there will be some fun NZ style

Have fun at the V8's!!
xxx

Ben's coming to visit Gent !!

Not much else to report really... have been holed up in my room the last couple o days working on my organised crime assignment. I'm embarassed to say I even missed the ESN trip to Amsterdam on saturday because I have so much work to do. But I hear it was a crazy trip anyway as so many people went. I guess Hamish and I will have to go in our own time :)

Ben has touched down in the Northern Hemisphere, and will arrive in Gent on friday woop woop! By then I will have handed in my paper, and also have done my presentation for Drug Policy. So there will be a fair bit o cellebratin'.

Took a photo of my sink plug chain coz it made a shape right when I was thinkin of NZ... and how typically NZ that it would be a sink plug chain haha


xxx

International Dinner III

The International Dinners have started up again now that everyone is back from their holidays. We had another great selection of food, Romanian green beans with cheese, Vietnamese noddles with ham, soja and cucumber, German pasta with mushroom sauce, Greek Souvlaki (like stick kebobs), French Quenelles (a kind of sausage thing made of flour). And I made dessert, a vanilla and chocolate trifle with a berry sauce. It was goooood!

We also met 3 of Orestis' friends from Greece, so there was a big group of 20 people for dinner! AND Stefan bought some NZ wine for us all to try, which I got very excited about of course.

Fresh Milk

Just when I thought I was gonna have to go to Switzerland and steal a cow to hide away in my room, I found fresh milk in a shop! Its skim milk, and its not even from Belgium, but its still real milk! It comes from Luxembourg. I love Luxembourg. They have hills and milk in Luxembourg.

I just had the best cup of tea ever. 2 months without proper milk has been hard! (I'll never get used to the UHT stuff...) Won't be buying it very often though as its almost $4 a litre :O

I have also been on a major high the last couple o' days because the skies are blue and the sun is shining :) which is nice, seeing how grey and rainy the last few weeks have been. And, I'm super super excited because Ben is coming to visit me in Gent next week!!!!!!!!

My Dutch exam yesterday went pretty well I thought (but I guess that depends on my mark haha), and we had a different lady teach us for the rest of the session too. She was really neat and told us all about the differences between Flemish Dutch and Netherlands Dutch, answered all our questions and even played us a cd of dutch songs. There is a lot of (friendly) rivalry between the flemish and the dutch, I guess much like NZ and OZ. So of course I am supporting the flemish :P

One Down... Three To Go

Well, yesterday I finished with illicit drugs, and now I'm moving on to organised crime. Mwhahahaaah.

Handed in my first paper (for Drug Policy course). It was one of the most challenging assignments I've ever done because I have no experience with drug law or policy, or methamphetamine treatment. So it was all very interesting. P.S see George's foot in the top of the pic?

I have my mid-term exam for Dutch today, so I'm now frantically studying for that. Then I start working on my paper for Organised Crime, which is due next week. I also will be presenting my topic for Drug Policy next week.

Other than that, not much is new here. Everyone is back from their Easter holiday so things arent as deadly quiet around here anymore, thankfully! The sink in my room got horribly blocked (just in case y'all wanted to know)... and a nice man just came and unblocked it... he found pencils and all sorts in the drain!!! I have no idea who the heck puts pencils down sinks but each to their own I guess. I even know the word for pencil in Dutch - potlood! Potlood in de gootsteen!

Missin' y'all... xxx nelle

Wednesday Nights

On wednesday nights, Gent is a different city
On wednesday nights, the 9th floor smells like a pub
Aftershave and perfume and spirits

On wednesdays there is a lot of noise
On wednesdays there are students everywhere
On wednesday night I had a break from study
because I was going insane sitting in my room for days, writing

On thursday I have a headache hehe. But feel much happier :)
Photo is of Limonada, a neat cocktail bar (bean bags AND light-up tables are super kool!)
Crappy photo but its actually a really nice place, and buzzing with people!!