I'm going to continue in writing just as I promised.
I bet I should start with yesterday. We've been to Lichfield with our good old historian friends. Lichfield is a nice little city close to Birmingham. It has a great cathedral. (Actually, I really thought it was bigger than St Vitus, it is not, but there's not so much difference. Vitus is only 10 metres longer and the spire is less than 20 metres taller. Anyway, Lichfield Cathedral is really huge too.) It is also the birthplace of Dr Samuel Johnson, author of "A Dictionary of the English Language" - my sweet fresher year at university.
Later that day we went to Derby Cathedral as Jana and Lucka are into bell ringing. We tried as well, really great thing. Pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/marinov.jane/20070921II. I have an opportunity to learn more of bell ringing, but I'm still not sure if I should. Something inside me tells me: "It is a Christian church, run away." But I guess it could be really fun. Well, I've not made up my mind yet.
The funniest news - I won an iPod. I opened a bank account at Lloyd's TSB and actually I didn't know there was a competition. Then I go to my branch to check if everything is okay and my consultant tells me I won . I was soooo surprised. Finally I had luck at least in game.
And that's about it, I should better go to bed, tomorrow I'm getting up at 6am 'coz it is the car boot sale day. I hope I'll have some money left after that.
Another week is almost over and I haven't had so much time to write about what happened. Hopefully, I'll describe everything right now.
I'll start with Sunday, the party. At the beginning it seemed the organization would be as poor as the preceding. We got our wristbands, we headed off, nobody had clue where to go. We got to Sadler Gate, a street in the city centre which is supposed to be the best place for night life. Well, all the clubs that were open at that time were expensive and played shit. But yeah, I and Kate tried our best to enjoy the night as much as possible.
Next day the rush started. Today is the first day I can actually sit for more than an hour and I don't have to run somewhere else. Mondaywas fine. We were to the Meeting Place at St Alkmund's for the first time. It was originally formed for the Chinese people to help them settle in, but later it became meeting place for various international students. Although I like churches more from the outside, apart from saying grace before meal nobody really started with the Christian stuff. We had loads of pizza (I forgot to mention that it was a Pizza Party), salads, sweets, yummy And also we made new friends and were forced to speak English, that is what I missed so much back in Prague. The next Meeting Place is set for tomorrow - we're going BBQ!
On Tuesdaywe started attending history events (remember my subject The Atlantic World - I'm a history student now). The first trip was to Kedleston Hall, an estate a couple of miles away of the Uni. You can find the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/marinov.jane/20070918. It was really nice trip and if the wind was not freezing cold, I would really enjoy that. After coming back to Derby we went for a beer with all the students (you can see them in that album I posted above) to make friends with each other. They are very friendly.
In the evening we went with some of them (Andrew and Nick, they are close above me in the group pictures) to the club First Floor. Finally something for me. If I ever said Hvezda was perfect, First Floor is heaven. They actually played Nine Inch Nails, P.O.D., Korn and more . I really felt like I'm going to die with joy. Definitely not the last time I've gone there.
Wednesdaycontinued with history. We went through Derby and the museum, but than we decided rather to go shopping and to settle a couple things at Keddie Rd Campus. In the Evening I finally got my Unibus vouchers so I don't have to walk everywhere and I can go by bus for free (Czech nationality plus Jewish ancestor, what would you expect).
On Thursdaywe went for a trip to Peak District. Pictures to be found here - http://picasaweb.google.com/marinov.jane/20070920. I and Katie went there with Jana (wrote about her already), Pavel and Anka, Jana's flatmates and Lucka, also last year's Erasmus student who came for a visit. We bought a zigzag ticket (basically a one-day-ticket) so we could travel to various places. We started in Matlock Bath and climbed up to the Heights of Abraham. "Heights" is definitely the right word 'coz I thought I would die after the first half of the walk. Then we moved to Matlock, and then to Bakewell. It was too late for the museum, but at least we went through the church. Than we had the world famous Bakewell pudding (we found out that it is world famous about two hours before we arrived to Bakewell) - about two mouthfuls are really nice, then you start feeling your teeth are going to explode and then you end up oversugared. But after all, the whole trip was really great, another part of England that I've colored in my map of the UK (I it my tradition to highlight all the towns and cities I went through when I am in the UK and it starts to be really colorful ).
That will be about all for now, I'll write more as soon as I process all the pictures from yesterday.
Well, the Welcome Week is over. Today we were to Chatsworth. Fabulous! Pictures can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/marinov.jane/20070915and again, I'll add the descriptions later. It was really perfect, much similar to my previous visit to Blenheim (http://www.blenheimpalace.com/), again really great house and marvellous gardens. I was totally amazed by the maze . We were stuck there for twenty minutes before we found the way to the centre. Thrilling.
The whole week was really great. Basically we had lectures on every aspect of our new university life. We were warmly welcomed by the whole International Office. We've been given information on living in England, particularly that it is a really safe country but we should be aware anyway. Well, I guess they've never seen Hlavni nadrazi in Prague.
I've especially liked the lecture by Mr Kevin Bampton on Students' Rights and Responsibilities. The guy was terrific. He could sell charisma and wit. Strict to some extent, but also very pleasant. He told us some really important things the way we could laugh, but we also knew it is really serious.
All the people here are really nice, I'm afraid coming back to Prague is going to be a shock. I'm actually very much looking forward to the start of classes on 24th September. I think I didn't mention the dates, did I? The Autumn Semester (here are autumn & a spring one, not a winter & a summer as we have) starts on 24th September and ends on 14th December. The exam period takes only 10 days starting 7th January and ending 17th January. There are three balls during the year - Freshers Ball on 29th September (I'm definitely going), Graduation Ball on 19th January (I'll go if I find a job) and May Ball in May (obviously). Loads of things to look forward to.
Also, our flat is finally fully inhabited. Nacho had to move (the same problem as me, he was given the wrong room), but there are two new girls - Louise and Asha, both from England. Tomorrow there is another Welcome Party, this time for all Halls of Residence. I guess it'll be pretty great. The last one was fine, the only problem was that they drove us there and we had not a single clue where we might have been. And there was the last bus on 10 pm. So we finished a little bit earlier than we supposed. That won't happen this time BTW, the prices - my beloved Smirnoff vodka has gone a little bit up, it does no more cost £1.50 but £3.20... Beer is a little bit cheaper, at that place it was about £3.00, in our Students' Union Bar I can get a pint of Stella for £2.00. Also buying alcohol in shops is not so bad, you can get a bottle of wine at around £2.50 - I have to check this first, we haven't bought so many things yet.
Pheeew, how come it is half past twelve again? Tomorrow I'm meeting Jana, girl from the C.R. that comes back to Derby for her second year (I'm soooo envious ). And then the paaaaaartyyyyyyyyyy
It's about the right time to write some more. Well, it's quite late again and I'm getting up early - tomorrow we're going to Chatsworth House (there will be a lot of pictures later, for now you can have a look at http://www.chatsworth.org/).
Today I've finally enrolled for what I'm going to study. As I mentioned before, there are just two days in school for me. Tuesday morning I'm attending Atlantic World, a subject dealing with American studies and American history. It'll be pretty difficult but I'm pretty sure I'll find out lots of interesting stuff. Tuesday afternoon it's Fiction Post 1900, contemporary British writers, yummy. Thursday morning I'll be writing my heart out 'coz it's the Writing Workshop. At last but not at least, Thursday afternoon I'll be Reading American Literature.
The rest of my days here will be devoted to hard labour and travelling. I've got already loads of plans, so I hope money shortage won't be a problem.
I'm still finding my way through the city. Today we were to Mickleover, which is a suburb of Derby (thanks to Steve, coz we would probably die walking there, it's quite a long journey) and also to Normanton, which is a quarter way south from the city and is absolutely fabulous! It like a multi-faith multicultural part of town where most of the Asian minorities live. Thus, you can find there Chinese, Indian, Pakistan, Kurdish (wherever it might be from) etc. cuisine, shops selling just and only saris, lots of interesting people in all the colours you can think of. That's definitely where I'm coming again!
Well, after all the enthusiasm, that'll be probably all for today. It's almost 1:00 am, as I said, I'm getting up early.
. I was soooo surprised. Finally I had luck at least in game.
'coz it is the car boot sale day. I hope I'll have some money left after that.
. I really felt like I'm going to die with joy. Definitely not the last time I've gone there.
).