Erasmus LONDON 2013/2014

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Archive du journal au 11/10/2018.

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D-2 Almost ready

12 septembre 2013 à 0h22

Time to finish packing up so Dad can weight my luggage. We can only carry 20kg each.

I went to the drugstore : I'm set in case of headache, stomachache, foot-ache ... (actually any word that ends with -ache) for at least the rest of my live and to the bank because I won't need euros no more in a few days.
It's always funny to meet people you've been to school with, see how they physically changed (I bet they must have thought the same for me) and how we followed different paths : I praise whoever is taking care of me from above that I had the chance to do long studies that today lead me to LONDON instead of being already working 5 days a week, every week as a cashier or whatever for instance.
A funnier thing is how rare Asian people are in Normandy ;) I used to be the only Asian in primary school, in junior high, and one the 3 specimens in high school. I see in their eyes that they wondering "what the heck is she doing there? She must be a tourist. Where's her camera?"

I enjoyed driving around (cause I'm real pilot for sure) in my little village, saying hi to people I used to know when I was a kid.
There are a few people you don't see much but you still think of them and love to spend some precious time with them when you get the chance to. Thinking of Alice, who's been learning abroad a lot like me. She spent 1 year in Germany and she's actually in Amsterdam. Hope I will see her when she visits her family in UK.
I'm taking Gargamel with me, he fits perfectly in my bag's pocket. I found him in a 'Kinder Surprise' egg when taking my girls MC & Phil on tour in Normandy. I will miss them.

Normandy rimes with "cold n rainy". Unfortunately, I'm about to move across the Channel where it rains even more (sighs). I covered all my pair of shoes with a waterproof lotion but I might need some more when I get there.

Things are boiling up ! Night night.

D-1 Ready, set ...

13 septembre 2013 à 0h40

No much to report today.

Except fixing locks on my bags, weighting them then emptying them cause I forgot that the nail remover could not travel in the cabin with me and finally repacking. For the third time --'
Airports' rules suck : 20kg each in the luggage hold + 5 kg in the cabin + ZERO lipstick in the cabin. Like, seriously, have you ever heard someone taking the pilot hostage with a lipstick ? "OH MY GOSH ! She has a lipstick ! Call 911!" (sighs)

I though orientation day at Westminster University was lasting only one "day". But they lied : appointements almost everyday at the university. Though that'll be great to meet the other Erasmus students (lots of French and Spanish students and a few German, Greek, Italian and Belgian too) and get used to the place so I won't get lost all the time and won't break in another class (and feel dumb when I'll realize I'm at the wrong room 10 minutes after class began).

Let's have a long night sleep before D-Day. Night night !

D-Day ... and GO!

15 septembre 2013 à 18h55

I always loved customs : they know how to make people feel at ease The gate "randomly" sounds the alarm. Today I got lucky, I was the random individual. Surprisingly, I had no lethal weapons...

And here I am only one hour after we took off : like my Norman ancestor (must be a wayyyy distant cousin ^^) William the Conqueror, I'm landing on Great-Britain. Guess what : it's raining.
Taking a cab on a friday around 4pm to go to the opposite side of Greater London was definitely not a good idea even if Manny, the cab driver tried to avoid the traffic jam (that he called "congested traffic"). He has 3 daughters of my age, gave me advises about transportation, grocery stores, which cab to trust or not...
I must admit, I'm not as fluent as I thought. Actually, I'm not as "british English fluent'' as I thought. Manny congratulated me because he could perfectly understand me but I sometimes didn't catch every single words he was speaking. Despite everything, it could have been worse.

We waited a loooong time in a outside bar next to my future appartment for the contact of the flatshare agency to come give me the keys. James, one of the barmaid (ex bar-maid cause today was his last workday) is also going to Westminster but he studies arts. At the table right next to us, an old American man decided to have a little talk with us.
What started as little raindrops slowly turned into a real shower. The water was literally flowing on my coat. That's about that time the contact of the agency finally came to save us from an inevitable drowning.
I live a nice area, very cosmopolitan and above all, really close to a tube stop. I have 7 flatmates. I only met the 2 English girls. My room is really small but I know I'm gonna spend more time at the University's library than at ''home''.

To get to the hotel my parents booked, we took the famous tube. It is an exact copy of the Paris subway (or maybe the other way round). Traveling without a ticket is subject to a £80 fine. We couldn't buy tickets at the first station because the machine was broken but no worries because the "tube officer" John let us in and said we could call him if we had any troubles. Every single person I met since the landing is so friendly and always help me out anytime I'm lost and asking for a direction.

It was still heavy raining when we dined out in an Italian restaurant. A couple was leaving when we arrived at the table, the old man read "TEXAS AGGIES" on my shirt and smiled : "Are you an Aggie?" I said "not really because I only went to A&M Consol' High School and not to TAMU but in my heart I feel like I am". He answered "My sister and I both went to TAMU. If you feel it in your heart then you must be an Aggie" --> GIG'EM Aggies, saw the longhorns off <--
Night night.

D 1 It's NOT raining

15 septembre 2013 à 18h56

I repeat myself : it is NOT raining this morning. After breakfast, we came back to my appartment to see what was missing like cleaning products, lamp desk, light bulb... I found most of what I needed in the small Sainsbury store right at my door but for the furniture, Argos is the cheapest. I also bought an unlocked mobile phone and a ''3'' SIM card, now I can Viber, Whats'app and Facebook all the time (and become a no-life).

The bar next door is actually also a restaurant where they cook beer battered fish and chips : delicious !

After (late) lunch, we went to the University's spot located in Little Titchfield Street. Westminster area rocks. It looks like a trading/business area but in old fashioned buildings made of white stone. Beautiful. On the front side of my University, right under the engraved letters ''University of Westminster'' it is written ''The Lord is our strength''. I really didn't expect that.
At the end of the Great Titchfield Street, there a magical place called OXFORD CIRCUS. It is a huge crowded commercial avenue with huge sidewalks, where red double buses seem to come up from every corner, at every minute. Hundreds of people are going in and out of the stores, I can hear dozens of different languages, I see red-haired people, bald people, Asian people, Black people, Punks, businessmen, preppy girls... An incredible melting pot! Today is Saturday. I'm wondering if Oxford street looks the same the others days. There are shops everywhere, as far as my eyes can see. And all of them have at least 2 floors.
We took a double bus to come back to the hotel and luckily, it drove by Picadilly and Westminster Abbey (I must come back to visit it looks a-ma-zing).

There's no way I can get bored here.

PS : as I'm shutting my eyes down (#private#PAM#joke), it is still not raining :)

D 2 It's sunny !

18 septembre 2013 à 1h39

Am I really in London? I'm not lying I really can see a few sunlights. Though that's not enough to warm me up. It's freezing out here.

I finally found out the meaning of the "B" button in the hotel elevator. "G" stands for "ground floor" and "B" for... "Breakfast floor" :)

There is a cycle race today in Central London. All the buses have to take detours but it actually permitted us to visit a bit more the town.

The City Airport is in the suburbs, pretty far from the center : you reach it by DLR (Docklands Light Railway), the British RER.

D 3 Orientation week starts

18 septembre 2013 à 3h39

I'm starting to get familiar with the underground. That's a start. But the tube doesn't take me right at my Uni's doors and I'm still NOT getting familiar with Oxford Circus area :)
English people seem more polite and respectufl than Frenchies : older people will ALWAYS be offered a seat in the tube and when the driver announces ''ready for departure please clear off the doors'', no one will try to force his way through the gates. Or maybe they don't do it because there are policemen on the platforms ?

Previously, I was wondering if Oxford Circus was only crowded on Sunday : negative answer.

Titchfield Street building looks wonderful. Actually every building in Westminster City looks spendid !
There is a security officer at each gate and you can't access the Uni without badging your Student's Card. Security is a serious matter here.

"Orientation Week" is definitely one of the most boring thing on earth, regardless of the country or University (MCG & Phil can testify) even if I have to admit the Exchange Program Board members almost kept us awake giving useful (?) advises :
- know how to get back home when you go out and stay on the main streets, not on dark and narrow ways (oh really ?)
- don't feel forced to drink (I NEVER drink anayways)
- you are not allowed to carry ''things'' to defend yourself even if you're assaulted (use your bare hands, be like Chuck Norris)
- never get on a car without a taxi's license especially at night because you ain't no dummie naive little girl ! and also because if anything happens; before the law you are not under contract with a taxi company but just enjoying a lift given by a stranger
- flood infos : dozens of names, places to go, phone numbers to contact in case of dozens situations you hope you'll never have to face
- Internet and online services presentation WITHOUT slides because the computer was frozen.

Then I met the other ERASMUS and International Students, said 42 times "Hi, I'm Adèl, I come from France, nice to meet you, where are you from?", heard many cute different accents (french is NOT a cute one). It's always funny to see how easy going are exchange students. Most of them will be potential classmates for the rest of the schoolyear : YAYYY.
Can someone tell me why do Frenchies feel the need to speak French on an exchange programme in London, surrounded by many other students who can't understand ? RUUUUUUDE ! When they talk to me in French, I answer in English :)

£1coffee from the cafeteria, in other words 3 times the price of a french University coffee, you better enjoy it.

CRAZY LAW LIBRARY, spreading on 3 floors, group work rooms, silent rooms, computers everywhere, self booking service...

In the afternoon, I crossed the city to find a Volleyball Team, got lost (again), looking like a tourist with my underground + bus map (that I obviously couldn't even read). I felt like I walked for hours ! and finally I got to the gym.
I watched the Division 1 Team practice, I think I won't be able to make it in this team but I'm hoping I can make it to Team 3 or 2 (out of 5). Volley is not the most famous sport in England at all. Team 1 here has the same level than a "Pre-nat" team in France. We'll see on friday when I'll try out with Alicia (my french homie, on an exchange too in the City Uni). All I can tell by now is that there were 3 coaches for only 12 players.

The way back home was way faster : buses run till midnight :)

D 4 <3 University of Westminster

18 septembre 2013 à 3h40

It takes 40 minutes to go to the Uni' (when I don't get lost and when Bond Street is not crowded, what's rare before 9am).

Enrolment time : (ugly) picture for you Student's ID + write down your UK address on each of the 12 sheets they ask you to fill :)

Tour of the different campuses of the Uni :
- 101 Cavendish is more for Business School students, brand new building with large tainted windows
- Cavendish Library ... when I said yesterday the Titchfield Street Library rocks, well THIS one SUPER rocks !!! Same craziness but raised to the power of 3 !
- Wells Campus : THE place to hand in your work. We were told by our ''FANS'' (F? A? New Students) who were taking us around the campuses that if you need to hand in your work by 5pm, it means it needs to be in the right office by 4.59pm and NO excuses whatsoever are acceptable for any delays even if the Underground crashes, or even if you get stuck in the elevator in Cavendish for one hour like it happened last year :)
- Regent Campus : my favorite !!! Impressive building, with marble on walls (yayyyy I know, stop hating :p) gym, cafeteria, Student's Union office... It really reminds me of TEXAS AandM UNI. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

I finally can access my timetable.
Good news is that I have 3 out of 4 modules (per semester) I chose AND that each modules is divided into 1hour tutorial and 1hour lecture --> 8hours a week (yayyy, I told you, stop hating) **oh and of course, no lectures nor tutorials before 10am** AND that I only have class on Monday and Wednesday for Semester 1 and only on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for Semester 2.
Bad news is that I have to choose 2 other modules for Semester 1 and 2 but I have no idea when are the lectures and tutorials. That would really piss me off if I have class on Friday afternoon for instance. Another bad news is that I only have level 6 modules, ie more demanding but I'm gonna be alright, I like challenges.
I'm figuring everything out tomorrow with the Erasmus coordinator :)

Quizz Night tonight at the International Students House. We didn't do very well (blame on the Swedish dudes lol). The questions were hard : "Who initially played Hulk in the TV series?", "What were the firstnames of the Blues Brothers ?", "How many bonus point do you get when using all the letters at Scrabble ?"... BUT we don't care cause now we're getting to know each other better !

Weather's been worsening... I'm starting to feel that the lack of sunlight is affecting my mood, and that the polluted atmosphere affect my acne lol.

Tomorrow afternoon, let's get excited for Fresher's Fair !

D 5 Legal London

21 septembre 2013 à 16h59

Legal London Tour with a blue badge amazing guide/comedian who took us in the "lawyers district", near the City of London Uni where Alicia is going. It seems that Charles Dickens was veeeeery famous around here.
Barristers have to wear wigs ! The dustier the wig is the most considered the barrister is :) and it costs like £ 3,000.
City of London Uni is so beautiful ! It has been created around a church (which was a landmark for Templars) and all the buildings are red-brick made.
The royal justice courts look like a small World Disney Castle lol.

Subway, right in front if my Uni humm bad idea for my diet.

Changing modules, resigned myself to taking extra boring classes such as Human Rights in the UK (one more year of "HRA 1998 integrated the ECHR 1954 into the domestic law, considered as a English bill of rights blablabla...")

FRESHERS FAIR : free cotton candy (candy floss here) and a whole bunch of people in there. Every society trying to enroll new members but, they were way less "aggressively annoying" than UNEF officer ahahah. I felt like I was in Wall Street.
I looked for the volley and tennis team but they were already gone ! So I joined the Law society and Bar society : bar doesn't stand for Beverages with Alcohol Refillmyglassagainplease but its the short name for "barristers" so it basically organizes debates about legal issues.

Boat party with the Erasmus Student at 5.20 pm but I woke up from my little nap at 5 pm ... (I was mad at myself) so I ended up dining with Alicia ! Was so good to see her. She has amazing flat mates!

Clubbing @ Boujiis Club, invited by Brian & his girlfriend.
To go back home, bus right at the entrance ! Just one change and 45 minutes later, here I was in my warm bed.

D 6 Introduction with English Legal System

21 septembre 2013 à 16h59

Lecture with a funny "half senior lecturer half research fellow" about the English legal system : civil courts divisions, binding ratio decidendi for the lower courts, barristers v solicitors... And to finish, a dirty joke (fleas traveling in mustaches ^^)

Social event quiz with freshmen. Our "Legal aliens" team (Rafa, Margaux,
Carlotta, Emilie, Lucile, Swedish boy 1 Swedish boy 2 & Swedish boy 3) ended third place and we won teddy Uni of Westminster bears and mugs.

Looking desperately for FRESHERS fair again to catch the volley and tennis team but once again, they already left by 3.30 pm.

D 7 Taboo

21 septembre 2013 à 17h00

First late sleep since I arrived.

Rafa lives in an international student house by Great Portland Station with a refectory. For him it's really cheap ! He has a hot meal for £2 lol. I can eat there too but as his guest so he needs to sign me in and has to pay £10 if he forgets to sign me out.

So many papers to fill and sent back home. The international student board is in 101 Cavendish. Then I tried to catch the tennis and volley Uni team for the third time and it still didn't happen lol !! Fortunately I Facebooked them and magically, they answered. I have try outs for the volley team on Tuesday night and the next evening for the tennis team. So excited !

Our lovely FANS organized a little social event for us, based on little games like everyone standing and one person says out loud 1 and sits down, then another person says 2 and sits down and so on until everyone is sat, unless two people says the same number at the same time cause then we all have to start again from the beginning. Difficulty was that we were 21 ;)
We also played TABOO (loving this game) and there were like 3 Harry Potter, 2 Obama, Christophe Lemaitre, La Vache qui rit...
I couldn't stay till the end because I had VOLLEY trial !!

I was soooooo excited when I got there with Alicia but I saw there were like 30 people (and maybe 10 Frenchies) !!!!! For 1 volley net... And volley balls flying all over the place, only privileged that could touch the ball cause we were so many. More than 1hour warming up (like seriously ?!!) that actually was useless cause we were getting cold touching zero balls.
And above all, the coach that tells us we would go to "beginners practice" LOL. He just saw our warming up and then he went on the field behind the curtains where the men were also practicing. But he didn't miss a chance to tell Alicia "how do you do to be that sexy" lol ! And we paid 5 pounds for this cr*ppy practice.
Anyways we are supposed to come back on Sunday for a real practice with the beginners though and the team 4 coach is supposed to take a look and see if we can make it to team 4 (only remaining space). After this practice, we'll have to decide if it's worth to pay £125... I'm really doubtful...

I must prepare myself to be disappointed and frustrated too for my Uni try outs.

D 8 Lazy day

23 septembre 2013 à 4h15

Although we didn't play much yesterday we still were running jumping all over the place : my legs are sore today, I feel nauseous tired and don't feeling like doing nothing... Well I just stayed in bed until laaaate in the afternoon, reading "The Spy who came in from the cold" (John LeCarré), watching "Bad teachers".

Then I asked Brian if he was organizing any parties tonight. He was! At Drury Club by Covent Garden. I gathered the ERASMUS team (12 of us), we dressed up nice and went there.
We were almost in the club when, an Asian b**** (badgirl) decided not to let us in. She took Brian aside and they talked for a few minutes. Then Brian did the same with me. He was really annoyed and felt very embarrassed to tell me that the reason we didn't make it in is because 2 of the girls in my group were too ... FAT !! Yes this b**** (bad girl) used this word.
The Drury Club is a brand new and super famous club, hyper selective and even more on Saturdays... It reminded me that time we were told "these two girls look too young sorry" and I was so pissed that I wanted to talk to the boss and also read out loud the Civil Code (yep I used to be that silly).

A few of us went to another night club and the rest including me, went to a remooooote bar/night club that Rafa (Spanish boy 1) new. The music was weird to me but Carlotta (Italian girl) likes it.
The people there also were weird. One girl came to me and told me very seriously "you are so pretty". Another guy just walked in, grabbed a girl, kissed her (she wasn't reluctant) and then went with his friends. It was clear that they didn't know each other.

On the way home with Lucile and her flat mate French boy 1, I went on the second floor of the bus : what a view ! It looks like the bus is hitting the car it's following at every stop. Actually it did touch the "bike/taxi" (I need to find out how those vehicles are named) once ;)

D 9 Lazy day 2 (or almost)

23 septembre 2013 à 4h16

Did nothing again until Volleyball time cause I was still feeling a little sick. (Sun sick probably^^).

Alicia and me actually directly practiced with team 4 (lol we were supposed to play with beginners and MAYBE make it in team 4).
We had a REAL warming up this time. You know this kind of warming up that makes your sweat dripping all over your face and hurts your eyes ;) then the rest of the 2 hours were okay (better than Friday). A very few good players but a lot of passes and sets at every corner of the gym, and not many serves in at all. Now I do understand how the "bas du f'" (service bas du filet) can be embarrassing !
When our practice was done, team 3 arrived and we also played with them ;) ;) the level is better than team 4 but I really thought we could try team 2 (big coach Alan didn't agree tchip). Coach Yannis is GREAT ! He's from Greece and has been playing as an national player. He sometimes need one of the girl to translate in English, that's cute.
Anyways those 2 more hours were good. I'm almost at my level yayyy (serves, setter, hitting) except for defense but everyone who's been playing with me know how much I suck at defense (don't you Erwan, Chabby?)

Starting the season with four hours in a row is a good idea to have YOUR WHOLE BODY sore : THIGHS, calves, shoulders, back, butt... We'll see how bad this is tomorrow. Night night.

D 10 Back to school

27 septembre 2013 à 23h10

It hurts... I never knew I had so many muscles until today cause ALL of them hurt me. Including the one in the palm of my hands and the one underneath my feet. Walking like a granny, holding tight to anything I can to climb the stairs. Feels like my muscles turned into metal. Am I Wolverining ?!

12 inches beef melt subway today :) and DIET coke of course.

Joined UWSU (Uni of Westminster Student's Union) for £55 for the whole year and for ANY other sports + goodies ! Volley try out tomorrow but even if I'm not playing for the Uni team I can still try archery, cricket, jutjitsu (?) :)

First lecture : International Public Law. I've already heard about most of the things we've seen today like how the UN can be strong but limited at the same time because it is not a legislature, only politics, how the Security Council became more active after the fall of the Iron curtain, how the International Court of Justice has been an effective institution...

Went to the library and managed pretty easily to find the books for the mandatory readings. Then, morale vanished : 70 pages to read for 1 module. I have 4 modules a week. Should I cry of just NOT read everything ? I think I'll take second option :p and I can't afford photocopying so much anyways !

I started to read M. Dixon "International Law". It is so interesting but I realized how my knowledge of current worldwide event was incredibly poor. What a shame. Now I'll force myself to watch the news online every night (if my @ connection allows me to do so)

D 11 UWSU Dragons

27 septembre 2013 à 23h10

It's still hurting. In the tube, an old lady, with luggage, was climbing faster the stairs than I did. Shame shame shame.

Today's module is Human Rights in the UK. HRA 1998, incorporated ECHR 1954 into domestic law blablabla... But the Irish teacher rocks !!

Met some more French friends thx to Becky my FANS (actually I know what F and A stand for : Friends of Arriving -New Student-). I'm leaving for volley with Becky, new French friend and Lucile. Such a long way ! Down to Wembley Park zone 4.

Legs are still hurting but volley is so good ! We were around 30 girls but coach Daniel can only make 1 team. Fortunately, I'm one of the 15 lucky girls. Coach said we'll have goodies (sport bag, trousers, shirts...) yayyyyy. Some of us are staying only for a semester, some others have been in the team for 2 years. There is an American girl from Indiana : she is definitely the best player of the team. Sadly, she'll leave in 3 months. In general the level is way higher than the Lionhearts' team 3 but same motivation and seriousness.
Took the bus back home : almost 1 hour no jokes. I'll better play excellent because I won't stand those looong journeys if I'll stay on the bench.
Oh, I almost forgot to say that the University of Westminster's Sports' Union's members call themselves Dragons (cf title)

Tongue twister from M. Dixon, International Law 2013 Chap. 1 "a state may choose to ignore a blatant violation of International Law IF IT IS IN ITS INTEREST to do so"

D 12 Lazy day 3

27 septembre 2013 à 23h11

Is being crippled because my entire body is sore, a good excuse for a lazy day? Answer is YEAH.

Intellectual Property + Media Law. Problem is I need to be in Wembley Park by 2pm so I skipped Media Law and changed it to International Trade.

D 13 Lazy day 4

27 septembre 2013 à 23h11

I'm still not in the mood for reading my 70 pages for Public International Law nor my 50 pages for Human Rights in the UK nor my 50 pages for International trade nor researching what is a "interim injunction" (could this be as it says a temporary order from the court to cease the prejudice immediately, waiting for the definitive award - award means decision of a court -). Maybe I'll change my mind on Sunday night...

But I'd definitely take an Italian 12inches with hearty Italian bread, pickles, peppers, tomatoes, onions, salad and sweet onion sauce :)

Supposed to go to Alicia's place to pay the Lionhearts online but transfers issues. We'll just pay cash. Circle line is the WORST underground line ever ! It goes around zone 1 (downtown London) but today it took like 10 hours --'

First experience with PRIMARK : THE store to go for trendy/fashion shopping. I see at least 5 girls with Primark brown paper bags a day. No lies. Bought a long raincoat for 25 pounds.

D 14/15/16 Lazy week-end

4 octobre 2013 à 3h46

Wow... I don't feel homesick, I've never felt homesick but can't get to sleep without pills and have no energy to get my fat booty out of my soft bed...

All I did this week-end is going to the Lionhearts Volley practice on Sunday. My team is named the "Beats" but I think we should rename it the "BeaSTs", sounds more impressive :)

Shirts out : I got #12 ! My favorite number (cf Texas AandM, house of the 12th man). As usual the shirt is way too large and it looks like I don't have any shorts on --'

The readings for the tutorials are taking me HOURS. I barely had time to read 2/3 of them back in France so there is NO WAY I can read everything + answer the problem questions... I really hate it cause it feels like you can never "finish" your tutorial, you just try to complete it as much as you can :/

D 17 Mondays are the worst days in the week

4 octobre 2013 à 3h47

OK I know EVERYONE hates Mondays ("the only happy ends I know are the week-ends") but this is the only day I have almost like 4 hours in a row.

International Trade is so interesting I know nothing about it but I kind of understand pretty easily (same thing happened with French administrative law). We started with the Sales Goods Act 1979 : duties of the buyer and the seller, passing of property, delivery, passing of risks... Let's say it Contract Law but at the international scale.

International Public Law (Public International Law ? I don't really understand the difference for the moment) today was about "is this really Law even though there is no legal enforcement and the states are bound only if they want to" (rhetorical question indeed).

Then Library time with my new "Library Studying Crew" :
- Ghislaine/Riz from Morocco, French fluent, graduating this year in Chinese
- Tommy, from Pakistan (with Chinese mum), also graduating in Chinese
- Nadine from Germany but Creole looking (good-looking then), graduating in French :) She found a good help
- Emmanuel, from Italy, also speaking amazingly Chinese

Still haven't finished my readings for tomorrow's tutorial on Human Rights in the UK.... sucks...

Library closes at 11pm and when you've been there since 5pm, your brain is just not working anymore and you just start laughing out loud for no reasons. I think I'll stick with that Crew often cause they love the library as much as I do and I just DON'T see the other Erasmus students ! (Except Lucile and Margaux - go frenchies!) When are they working ? Do they even work ? Maybe I'm "overworking"...

D 18 Worst day since I got here

4 octobre 2013 à 3h47

** If you're not into reading a girl's complain for no real reasons, just skip the last 3 paragraphs ^^ **

Got to bed so late, trying to finish the readings (obviously I didn't suceed in doing so, fell asleep with the lights on...) until 5.30 am :/ really bad habit !

I woke up at 8.50, I'm supposed to have tutorial by 9.00 (you can't miss tutorial, they call the roll) : TROUBLE. I finally got there before 10.00 so I just waited to tell the tutorial leader I apologized and ask for attending another tutorial that same day. This Irish tutorial (and module) leader is really funny. Hopefully, Gorgia (from Greece) was late too so I felt less lonely, and that was the start of a new friendship :) Maria is also from Greece --> No more jokes about Greece cause those 2 girls are such sweethearts.

Well I had some more time to try to finish the tutorial about "What would you like in a Bill of Rights, does the UK need one ?" This tutorial group is great with Pierre-Yves (so brilliant, super smart French guy) and Swedish Boy 2 and SB3, we ended with figuring out that "sleeping" was a right after all :)

***
Bad news is that I should have left the Uni one hour before to get to Ark Academy (in Wembley Park) so I emailed Coach Daniel that I'll be late --' but I didn't expect to be 1hour15min late :'( To take the tube all the way to Wembley Park is the most convenient ways BUT it is so expensive cause WP is in zone 4 thus I have to top up twice (to go there and come back). So I stopped at Willesden Greene which is the furthest station before zone 3 and took a bus. Then waited for another bus. Until then everything was fine. Then this guy started to talk to me, complaining about how late the bus was, telling me he was getting down at WP station too blablabla. He got me so confused, and it was dark, and I was tired because I didn't sleep much, and I was a little bit pissed because I'll be late for the practice that I missed the stop !! I got down at Wembley CENTRAL which is NOT Wembley Park --' So I resigned to take the tube, top up for 5pounds (what I tried to avoid by taking the bus), swiped my Oyster Card and only then I realized there was only ONE line there : Bakerloo line and guess what, Bakerloo line doesn't take you to WP :'( So I just wasted time and money... Great. I finally made my way to the Gym. I was soooo late, so pissed, almost crying and then at the door, I rang the bell and this dummy girl next to me was like ''Oh don't do that, don't ring the bell, someone is coming!" I didn't even answer, I didn't want to be rude and then 'someone' came and told the dummy "oh SHE has the right , she's playing volley" OWNED !

So there am I, finally, at 7.15pm (practice ends at 8pm)... First drill was service. It is one of my best skills, well obviously not today. Got me even more MAD. Didn't pass ANY of them. Second drill, some more service, passed 3 out of like 15 --' shame on me... I just wanted to go back home but I couldn't cause I got there more than one hour late... Rest of the practice was pa-the-tic, like if I've never played volley before. The worst part is that Coach Daniel still believes I'm in the top 6 cause last drill was basically the "real team" against the rest of the girls.

Got out of the practice crying, took the right bus. I thought this day was almost over, just have to change on Killburn Highway. Well... at some point, after a long journey (more than one hour) the bus driver told me "Hey sweety, you gotta go now this is the last stop"... :'( Alright, took me like 30 minutes to find the nearest tube stop (I have to admit my thinking abilities have been gone for a long time and I was not in the mood of asking my way to strangers) and 30 minutes more to get back home... long sighs... And still had to finish my tutorial for Intellectual Property on "what is an Interim Injunction?" ...

D 19 Rebirth !

4 octobre 2013 à 3h48

Interim Injunctions are made to put an end to prejudices as soon as possible, waiting for the final injuction. Injunctions are orders but in Intellectual Property they are more often prohibitions and can only be given if damages cannot be granted. Then because Interim Injunctions belongs to the Equity law family, the court would look at the potential loss of both sides before giving out such injunctions.

Language Exchange Event during lunch time with mandatory stickers : the white one for the language you speak and the orange one for the language(s) you would like to learn. Still amazed to see how many people who want to speak French! They are so brave.

Library Crew + Erasmus students ! Here they are finally !! I'm not the only one to study :) Erasmus people were wanting to go to SOHO tonight, alright, for once I'm in ! Finally, they changed their mind. But nevermind, I still went to SOHO with Maria and some other freshers (Becky's friends) and my gay friend.

SOHO... is definitely my FAVORITE "neighborhood" (It's the place Rafa took us last week) ! That's were you want to go party but not party classy like at the Drury Club where you can't get in if you're too ''fat'', in SOHO they don't give a fudge about your weight, your race, your sexual orientation, the color of your hair, you get in bar/clubs for free drinks are cheap. You just chill, laugh, have a great time with your friends !

D 20 "Lemme see ya 1, 2 step"

4 octobre 2013 à 3h49

The elevators in Little Titchfield Street Campus love to make jokes like going up to the 4th floor, stopping at each floor but no one would get it or out because we want to go to be basement floor :)

Library on the basement floor is a silent zone. It is also a "NON wifi zone" a little bit like in my room : wifi turning on and off every 5 minutes. I didn't stand it long so I moved back to the 1st floor library : ALL THE LAW BOOKS (and shelves) are gone !!! They packed up everything to take them to the basement floor --' but they won't do it until Monday. Fortunately, some of the readings are available online.

I'm working on International Trade and INCOTERMS : FOB, CIF, FAS, DDP, C&F, DAS... This tutorial is going to be hard ! Basically Incoterms are NOT law but rules for contract in international sales involving carriers (all types of carriers, ship, railways...) : who should pay for the bill of lading, when does the property pass to the buyer, who bears the risks, pays for the customs fees etc...
- CIF stands for Cost Insurance and Freight which is the most used Incoterms because, to make it short, the seller pays for everything and bears most of the risks which is more convenient when the goods must be shipped for instance.
- FOB stands for Free on Board which is the second most used Incoterms, where the costs and risks are more balanced but consequently, the seller makes less benefits.
I didn't think about it until today but : the UK is an Island so shipping is the principal means for commercial trade :)
Wasn't done by 9pm but Naledi and I decided to meet the other Erasmus students at the International Student House (ISH) for a KARAOKE night yayyy !

And there we feel like home with the Erasmus family so sweet ! Pierre Yves is an amazing rock singer ! So many talents ! I think SB3 got it on tape, I hope the video will be released soon ;)
I still can't believe someone sang "Baby" by "you-know-who" and everyone knew the lyrics (including me :$)

Met some more friends ! Actually those new friends were just the best dancers ever : 2 American girls (Rachael and ??) and 1 American guy (Alfonso), we ended up on the stage singing Ciara's song "1, 2 step". Actually Alfonso is such a bad singer so he was performing a grinding dance while we were singing ahah !