First night out

Yesterday evening I met up with Marta, a Spanish girl I know through Maria a good friend in Brussels. Like with all Spaniards it was kind of a fuzz to meet up ;-) but finally there I was in a crowded bar-restaurant in the North of London looking for a girl to seemed familiar with the pictures I'd seen of her. There she was, sitting with a bunch of (what later prooved to be) Australians and an Irish girl.
To get started with a somewhat homefeeling I took a pint of Hoegaarden 'van het vat', couldn't be too bad... Ok, at least it was cold and they put a slice of lemon in it but hell, it was a half a liter bucket, pressure-free beer that they filled it to top. So long homefeelings. And the worst thing is it's not the ignorance of the bargirl who served it, it's official Inbev instructions 'cause there's a little line 3mm below the top of the glass indicating untill where to fill it. But ok, I'm not a difficult person and it took away my thirst.

Afterwards we went to this Spanish party in the basement of a Spanish restaurant (a bit hidden because officialy they can't be open that late). Loads of Spaniards thus. It's funny how you can recognise them from a mile away by their haircut and clothes (boys even more than girls) even when they have been abroad for years. But it was good fun: loud Spanish classics everybody was singing along and "cheap drinks" or that's what they told me in advance. £3 for a simple beer, that's 4.5 euro!!! You can have a very good trappist for that back home in Belgium!!!
But the next day at least you don't wake up with a huge hangover (although a little one I admit), only with a huge leap in your budget.

Afterwards I had to find my way home with the nightbus system, busses and me that no good combination... I'll have to figure it out before I get my first visitors.

Ok, the internet shop's closing. Tomorrow I can go into my university flat where I should have regular internet acces. Now of to a Mexican party where I was invited to yesterday. Bye

Strolling around in the city

With the most important thing for this week done, that is getting registred, I am taking my time to get around in the city.
Well, what a city it is, Brussels seems like a smalltown village next to it, London is huge, it is crowded and buzzing all the time. Now I'm still just going along with the crowdsm trying to find my way but I hope I can leave my little map at home pretty soon and start discovering the itchy side of London. So I can impress my visitors with the cool spots I discovered. But that's for later on.
Ik zal van tijd tot tijd ook eens bewijzen dat ik mijn Nederlands nog niet kwijt ben, maar bon, ik wil mijn Engels oefenen op alle manieren en zo kunnen degenen die het Nederlands niet kundig zijn ook af en toe eens meepiepen op deze blog.

So till now I stayed at Soetkin and Sebastians' place. The were living in a little house owned by imperial college where Sebastian is doing his PhD. Soetkin I know from the BTC course on development co-operation in June. She studied Germanic languages and International Relations in Leuven, and then a Master in Human Rights in Manchester. My kind of person thus. Currently she is doing somekind of a payed internship at the Belgian embassy 'cause they need extra people for the UK presidency of the EU.
Sebastian is from Mexico and he met up with Soetkin in Manchester last year, than he came London for his PhD (doctoraat in het schoon Vlaamsch).
They were kind enough to let me stay at their place for a couple of days, but tomorrow they have to move out because Imperial college only provides rooms for first year students. They had quite some trouble finding a new place but now they'll (temporarly) rent a room from a colleague of Soetkin some 8 km out of the centre.

So tonight I'm moving again with my two too heavy backpacks to Helga's place. She's incredible, I only saw her for the first time yesterday and she already gave me the keys to her flat. I know her through my cousin who lived in London several years ago and he got us into touch. After couple of very helpfull mails on how to get started in Londen she offered me a spare sofa-bed in her place. I saw her for 5 minutes yesterday, she seems like a very nice person, I'll get to know her better very soon. Tonight though she won't be in, so I'll even have her place to myself!

I should get somekind of a digital camera to freshen these pages up with some pictures of the people and things I'm writing on.

I'll leave it with that for the moment, time to go.

First day

My mission today was to get registred at LSE. After a good night sleep -which I really needed after the last couple of weeks- I got on a bike, that Soetkin so kindly lended me, and took off to the city. As I'm quite into cycling as a means of transportation in cities, I was very happy to discover London on two wheels. In fact there seem to be quite some cyclists here, more than in Brussels though I think traffic is heavier and more dangerous around here. Not for the least because they all drive on the wrong side of the road (sorry that one's obligatory).

Currently, I'm kinda squating in Soetkins' and Sebastians' place, that's in the South West, near to Harrods, you know the warehouse. It was a nice biking tour to LSE through Hyde park, I passed the Queens' little residence (in fact I think Alberts' place in Brussels is nicer) and then to Trafalgar Square. There I had to step down from my bike 'cause I don't feel that confident yet biking in a reversed way with heavy traffic. And just a bit further is the LSE campus.

There I got registred alright, mission completed for today.

well, Soetkin wants to go to sleep, and I'm in her room, so I better take off. I'll fill the blanks later on.

Leaving my beloved Brussels - Arriving in the big unknown City of London

September 21, 2005 - The day my new London adventure starts. I left Brussels as a wreckage
> working till the last moment, moving all my stuff, arranging all the necessary and of course goodbye dinners and parties.
It all teared me down but it was great, the best summer I have had in years and I didn't even leave the country. In fact, why should you, Brussels is really great in the Summer, with the right friends, a bit of sunshine from time to time and too many things going on, you already have an explosive mix for having a great time.

And then Summer ends, automn starts and thus I took off. Partly with mixed feelings, I was feeling great in Brussels, why would I leave?
But then again, I think you have to take advantage of the opportunities you get offered in life. I got the chance to go to London, to have a brand new experience, my moment had come. So I took off, I go with the Flo ;-)
I'll just see what this adventure brings me and of course keep you posted from time to time.

So I welcome you to my blog, hope you to visit it regularly and invite you to post as many messages and commentaries as you wish. London's Calling, here I come!!