BACK IN NL

Hi everyone,

This blog post will be the last one since I'm back in Amsterdam for a couple days now. The past month has been so busy; I didn't even find the time to watch one episode of my favorite serie on Netflix. However, that's a good sign I guess.

BACK IN SOUTHAMPTON AFTER SPRING BREAK

Whenever I came back from my springbreak in Brazil, there was a lot of school work to catch up on. Luckly, I already started working on my finals before I went to Brazil. During the first week back in Southampton I basically just partied for almost seven days with my friends. The week after was the complete opposite: you would find me either in the gym or in the libary at the university. I started my deadlines for my classes which went really well. After I turned in all of them on the deadline, May 16th, I had a prom that night. It was located on a boat which was really cool, we sailed on the Solent, the river underneeth Southampton where the Titanic left as well. Nevertheless, I made it home safe.

The weekend after, I went to Torquay with my German friend Anne. We took the train for over 3 hours but it was so worth it. We stayed in a very nice hostel for two nights and shared a room with an Australian girl. The weather was amazing, lucky us. We went on a cruise to Darthmouth and Brixham, two really cute cities. I came back home late Sunday night and picked up my Dutch friend at the airport the next morning.

VISIT FROM MY DUTCH FRIEND

Melanie and I have been friends for 8 years now and I really appreciated her visit. The weatherforcast was around 25 degrees and sunny so we spent our first day at Bournemouth Beach where we took pictures and ate fries, nacho's and ice cream. OOPS.

The day after, we went to London. We started our trip off at the SkyGardens where we had a 360 view over London!

Visited Camden Market, did some shopping at Oxford Street and went for dinner at Fridays where we obviously ate burgers. We stayed overnight at a hostel and rent bikes the next morning. We biked to Nottinghill and Shoreditch, around 20 kilometers in total through the busy streets of London. We biked through Oxford Street with all the taxi's and red busses in between us. We ended our day at the Westminster bridge where we took a tourist picture.

Whenever we got back safe in Southampton that night, I continued packing since we were leaving to Amsterdam the next day. Thursday morning, I started cleaning my room and packed the last couple of things. We went to Southampton's Harbour and visited my university for the last time.

AIRPORT DISASTER

Our plane to Amsterdam was leaving the same day at 6PM. We decided to take an uber to the airport around 4 since the drive wasn't that long. Whenever we went outside to drop our suitcases in the uber, I found out that I locked the door and left the key inside. My bag with passport, money and my phone was in my room. SO STUPID. For the imagination; I was wearing five layers of clothes excluded my two jackets and the weather was really hot so that wasn't helping me either.

I started knocking on the doors but no one was home. In the meanwhile, our uber driver decided to cancel our booking and left. After a while, we managed to open the door and I finally had my bag. Of course, we got into a traffic jam so we arrived at the airport 30 minutes before our gate would close. Just in time, we thought so. Until I found out that my suitcase was 26kg instead of the 20kg I paid for. "6 additional kilos, total cost: 90 pounds" it said. I don't think I have ever been so stressed in my life before. In only ten minutes, I got my life back on track and decided what to keep and what to throw away. We had ten minutes left to go through security and find our gate. Just in time, we made it and flew back home where our family was waiting for us.

It was a big adventure. Not only leaving Southampton. Simply everything. I love United Kingdom. Its nature, the people, the culture. I would love to explore more of the country some day. For now, my semester abroad has ended but I already made plans with my friends to come visit them later this year so that's really exciting. :-)

I look back on a great time. First of all, great people and parties. A great university where I passed all my classes with good grades and nice and positive comments of teachers and last but not least: good and unforgettable travels.

Thank you for reading this blog. A book about my adventures and the whole story of my study abroad will be published soon and I can't wait to experience it all over by reading it.

Love,

Femke

SPRINGBREAK IN BRAZIL | BACK IN UK

Hey!

In the meantime, I'm back already in UK to finish my semester, but firstly I will write about my travel in Brazil. I've been so busy and we traveled so much with not having WiFi that much so I didn't find time earlier to keep you guys updated. I'm sorry!

Day 5, Tuesday April 11

I just arrived in Belo Horizonto and since my mom and I messed up booking flights, I flew on my own so I got a taxi to the city centre and found the hotel where the rest of the group already arrived earlier that day. The hotel looked very nice and we had a view on our balcony over the 'sky line' of Belo Horizonto. Whenever I settled down, we went out for dinner in a really good veganistisch restaurant. By the way, my moms cousin is vega, so I will be eating salads for the next two weeks. But I'm not complaining. The food over here is so good that I'm not even craving to McDonalds yet so that's a surprise to me. However, I'm not so sure whether to continue this vega trend when I'm home again.

Day 6, Wednesday April 12

Today is THE day: Inhotim. We will be celebrating Ron's birthday in this beautiful park located an hour from Belo Horizonto. It was amazing and emotional as well as the parc was really really beautiful. There were lots of musea with photography exhibitions and modern art and I loved it so much. It looked like we were just walking through a jungle. Unfortunately, I didn't spot any monkeys which was really sad. However, it was really amazing and it was a day I'll never forget. Shout out to you Ron. Thanks so much.

Day 7, Thursday April 13

My mom and I took the bus to Ouro Preto today to have some relaxing days in an old cute little town. We sat in the bus for about two hours and it was nice to catch some sleep without mosquitoes that keep you awake all night long. Ouro Preto was so pretty, lots of beautiful churches. We had dinner outside on this really nice terrace and drunk some tasty cocktails. So blessed to be here .

Day 8, Friday April 14

Today, we visited Mariana. We took the train from Belo Horizonto and had a beautiful ride with a panorama view. We saw lots of mountains, wild horses on our way. Whenever we came back to Ouro Preto in the evening, there was the Easter Concession going on which as so interesting to see. Ouro Preto is known for having lots of events going on during Easter so we were lucky to be there. It was a really great experience!

Day 9, Saturday April 15

Our alarm was set on 5am since we had to catch our flight from Belo Horizonto to Sao Paulo. We got a taxi from our appartment to the bus station, sat in the bus for two hours, got another airport bus to Belo Horizonto airport and waited over there for our plane to Sao Paulo. It was a day with lots of traveling and waiting. Whenever we arrived, we visited the appartment of my moms cousin. It's on the 18th floor and it has two balcony's with hammocks. So amazing. We did a little sightseeing through the city and celebrated his 50th birthday at 12am with some drinks in a bar.

Day 10, Sunday April 16

We celebrated Ron's birthday at another vega restaurant with a nice lunch. We bought him a huge chocolade cake so that was a nice surprise. Afterwards, my mom and I did some shopping for friends and family back home. We bought flipflops, Haviana's ofcourse, so much cheaper than back home. Each Sunday, they close the high way in Sao Paulo so my mom and I walked on the high way in the shopping street were a lot of musicians played their instruments. The atmosphere was so relaxing! The people here are so friendly. Suddenly, one guy came up to me and asked me where I came from. We started having a nice conversation and he asked me to take a picture with him. So nice! I made a couple friends here already, some waiters of (vega) restaurants who added me on Facebook. It will be nice to stay in touch and have good memories of this trip.

Day 11, Monday April 17

We had our first rainy day which was okay since it's actually winter in Brazil right now. We can not complain since the weather has been over 25 degrees every single day. We did some sightseeing again, visited market halls were we got some typical Brazilian fruits and went to a piano concert in the evening. I had my first meat burger in the evening, which tasted really really good obviously.

Day 12, Tuesday April 18

It's our last day in Sao Paulo. I've loved the city, however it was so crowed. So many people, so many skycrapers. People sometimes call it New York City 2.0 which I can totally understand. I've visited great things, spent lots of time with the group but it's time to say goodbye now. My mom and I will end our trip in Paraty, were I can finally see some beach. It was so nice to get to know each other and since they all live in different places in the world, I should start planning out some trips to go visit them all. However, I'm so ready for the beach. CU tomorrow tan!

Day 13, Wednesday April 19

I'm currently laying in the sun, on the sand and just had a dive in the water. The temperature is very pleasant compared to the beach back home in Holland. This morning, we visited some waterfalls in the jungle which was really cool to see. We will be having lunch on the beach shortly. They have lots of bars here, made of bamboo. And besides, lots and lots of palm trees. Really relaxing day!

Day 14, Thursday April 20

I woke up with a really bad sun burn from yesterday. The sun here is very bright as Brazil is close to the equator. So instead of getting a nice tan, I'm red all over. But it's okay. Yes. Really. Because I'm having a 5hour boat tour today to visit nice beaches where we can go snorkeling. So really excited. The weather was supposed to be bad but I guess they have a different definition of bad here. It was 30 degrees celcius and very hot so ideal weather to go swimming. We got food on board and there was a photographer who took pictures so I enjoyed it a lot.

Day 15th, Friday April 21

It's the end of our trip. We will be taking the bus to Rio today and fly back tonight to Amsterdam were we arrive tomorrow afternoon. This trip has been a huge pleasure and I hope to come back sometime to South America. I'm so in love with all the people I've met, so friendly, it was a blast to be here and go on this journey with my mom. Thanks to you too. Now it's time to go back to reality, back to uni, back to studying for finals.

And here I am, studying. Exactly. In two weeks my classes will be finished already. I've had my last day of classes yesterday and will be studying for my finals now. I only have to turn in portfolio, essays and the magazine I created so I guess I can deal with that. We threw a party with my roomies this week because of Kingsday which was fun since we bought orange snacks! Lots of people turned up wearing something in orange! Tonight, I'm going to my favorite pub with my German friends who are sadly leaving tomorrow already.

I've had a great time here in UK, met really nice people and most important; I figured out that I really enjoy writing and photographing for magazines so I hope to find a great internship next year to finish my uni with.

So far, until later. I will be posting one more blog in the end of May before I fly back to Holland. I don't get my grades until the end of June so let's just hope I pass because I will be traveling by then as well. (Obviously).

X

Femke

SPRING BREAK IN BRAZIL

Hi!

A new blog post, written in Brazil. I have spring break at my university in Southampton which means two weeks off. Lucky me!

My mom and I decided early this year to go visit my family in South America. I have never been to this continent so I am/was really excited to visit. We flew last Friday with an amazing airplane, very luxery! I watched all the new movies that are shown in the cinema right now so the 12 hour long flight didn’t feel that exhausting. We also got four different meals included ice cream and crisps so I was really statisfied. The view in the air was amazing, the sky was blue without any clouds so I took a lot of pictures. However, I was relieved we arrived safely!

DAY 1 RIO

Last night when we arrived at the airport, we took a cap to our hotel and met some friends/family. We quickly got to our room to put our stuff down and went to a bar in the neighborhood Gloria to drink my first Brazilian beer. Tasted really good by the way. It was 10 PM and it was still almost thirty degrees Celsius outside. Such a big difference compared to UK!

Saturday during the day, we had a nice tour through the city, which looks so much better than I expected. Such pretty archicture and some really nice buildings, modern and old at the same time. I didn’t feel unsafe which was a relieve since people told us to not wear any jewelry because people on the streets will just grab it. I noticed a lot of people live on the streets. They seem poor but whenever you smile at them, they wave at you and seem happy. I captured a couple of those moments.

DAY 2 RIO

Another day in Rio. Today, we went to Niteroi. An island with a beautiful view over the skyline of Rio. We saw some really pretty buildings and musea from architect Niemeyer, just amazing! From the inside, you had another view over Rio with the mountains and sea. I’m not sure if I have ever seen such a beautiful view like this. Really breathtaking.

Since the weather was so hot and humid, we drank a lot of coconut milk, which helps you against being thirsty.

In the night, we went to a concert on the beach with thousands of people. One thing I noticed is the fact that Brazilian people are SO nice! They are really friendly and smile all the time. They always ask me if I need any help. Most of them don’t speak English so they start a whole conversation in Portuguese and I will just nod and smile. After the concert, we had a really nice dinner all together. The food in any restaurant here is amazing, the waiters are all so friendly. Their personality is so much better, compared to most of them in Europe.

DAY 3 RIO

I slept till 11 AM, since I was really tired of walking so much, the heat and talking in all different languages – Portuguese, Swedish, English, Spanish and Dutch. We went to Favela, a really poor neighborhood in Rio. It was really sad to see those little kids living on the streets. Though, it was a beautiful place to photograpgh these young sad kids. People told me I shouldn’t since it was dangerous. Whenever I saw this little cute kid staring outside of the window, I just needed to take my camera out of my bag.

The neighborhood really impressed me. It gives you a view of the real, unfair world but at the same time, it makes me feel blessed that I can experience this by myself instead of watching the news on television. After we had lunch, we went to the Christ statue by train through the jungle, really cool! There were a lot of clouds but I finally got the right picture. Really cool experience for me and I’m glad I can cross if off from my bucketlist.

Today, we will fly from Rio to Belo Horizonto. I'll stay in Brazil two more weeks and go to all different kind of places; big cities, small villages and of course a couple days to the beach. I'm at the airport right now and we will be boarding in a couple minutes.

Bye bye Rio, you were a blast to me and I will definitely come back some time. For now, let's go travel to a new place, new journey, new adventures!

X

Femke

TRAVEL TRIPS IN UK / SAINT PATRICKS DAY

Hey Guys !

Traveling

Long time no writing. I'm on half of my semester in Southampton which makes me realize time is flying by so fast. I have been travelling again since there is just so much to see and I should take all opportunities. Visited Cardiff, Wales with some friends and went to Isle of Wight again with my boyfriend who visited me for a week in March. Did some hiking on the cliffs and took lots of pictures.

Besides that, I have been to London AGAIN, and it almost feels like coming home. I don't need a map of the city anymore since I know the citymap inside out. I visited Oxford last weekend which was still on my bucketlist. Such an amazing and pretty place! A friend and I had a city tour with this British student who goes to Oxford University and it was so cool!

University

Classes at uni are just going fine. I had my first pratical exam a week ago and got a pretty good grade for that. I needed to present a fashion bulletin at the television studio which was exciting to do (as you see).

Besides that, my other classes are going well and I have a couple hand-in dates coming up. It's sometimes hard to write essays in not your native language since they all need to be on academic level plus referenced in Harvard style. The uni has a big library of four floors which is open 24/7. I've been there a couple times now so I feel like I'm actually being a good student instead of only going to party's and exploring Southampton's nightlife.

St Patricks Day

Of course, I have been going out quit a few times this month. It was Saint Patricks Day last Friday 17th which is actually an Irish traditional holiday. It got of course also celebrated in the Brittish pubs which was a lot of fun. I went with some German friends to a really small pub were I danced with mostly 40+ age drunk people around me. However, it was a great experience and fun to celebrate. Next morning was pretty tough since I went to a vintage market for magazine production class. I'm creating my own magazine about fashion in Southampton and I did some interviews and took pictures of people. I'm shooting the cover this week in the library with a Germany girl! Exciteeeed for the result.

Bucket List

So well, I've seen so much already which was on my bucketlist. UK is pretty awesome as there is a really good public transportation. Cities are close by and really worth to visit. I'll go to the beach in Bournemouth this weekend since the weather is supposed to be really nice. Aaaand, I'm SO SO excited since it's springbreak in two weeks and I'm going on a roadtrip outside of Europe. Litterally cannot wait anymore, but first gonna study and pass my exams next week!

See you soon!

X

Femke

PS. Check out my Instagram for more pics! :-)

TRAVELING / PHOTOGRAPHING / FAMILY IN LONDON

Hi!

Okay, so I still haven't eaten full English breakfast after almost two months living in UK but I did travel these last couple of weeks. A lot. (Which I think is a lot better than eating bacon and eggs). First of all, I went to Isle of Wight with two flatmates the weekend of February 18th. The Isle was beautiful, also due the weather because it was such a good weekend for traveling. Sun was shining, no clouds and I didn't have to wear my jacket. We left Friday afternoon, right after I finished my presenting skill class. We took the ferry from the habor and it took about an hour to get to the Isle of Wight. We didn't plan anything, I only booked our accomodation for the night. So it was a big adventure for me as I normally like to plan my trip out and look for nice places to visit. We took a bus and went to our hotel, which was very pretty. It was located near the beach and inside, there was a swimmingpool, jaccuzi and sauna. After we swam, we went to have a beer at some bar at the beach. The next day, we took a bus to The Needles which is the most beautiful part of the Isle because you find cliffs. As we didn't plan our trip, we found out that our hotel was located at the other side of the isle. We needed to take the bus for about two hours which wasn't bad at all because we drove to one of the most beautiful nature I've ever seen. The landscape at The Needles was just breathtaking so I couldn't stop capturing it. Here a couple of pics I took.

Besides traveling, I also needed to attend classes at the university. Just normal schoolweeks, nothing special going on. I started writing my essay for Advanced English class as I didn't really have any homework or assignments. I attended sport classes which was fun and I went out with friends to some clubs. Oceana is one of them, really big and lot's of different music styles. Good thing here is that going out is cheap. I pay two pounds for a mixed drink were in Holland, I probably pay around seven.

Last weekend, I visited London as my family came over. We celebrated my brothers birthday with a tour through the Wimbledon stadium which was very cool. Besides that, we visited Camden Market, Covent Garden, Notting Hill and we went on the London Eye. I stayed for four days and we enjoyed our time together.

I came back late Monday night and was already at the trainstation the next morning to visit Eastbourne and Brighton with some German friends. Don't worry, I did not skip any classes as we had a break from school the whole week. We visited the Seven Sisters which is a really pretty landscape and walked on the beach in Brighton. We stayed overnight at a really nice appartment and made pizza's by ourself. In the evening, we visited Brighton's oldest pub (1455). Next day, we did some shopping in really cute vintage neighbourhoods. I fell asleep in the train for two hours because I was exhausted after traveling so much. Didn't know that was possible but probably a good thing.

Tomorrow, I'm going on a trip with other foreign students, visiting Wales which I'm really excited for. Next week, I'm having some exams so I should start preparing for that as well. Also, my boyfriend is coming over so I'll be traveling AGAIN.

X

Femke

BOYFRIEND VISITING / DUTCH HOUSEWARMING

Hey guys!

It's already February which means a new month with new exciting adventures in the UK! My boyfriend came over to visit me on Friday last week! It was really nice to spend some time together. We visited Portsmouth on Saturday which is a very nice city. It's a little to the east and close to the coast which means that we stayed half of the day at the beach because the weather was so beautiful. The sun was shining bright and the temperature felt really good so it made me very happy.

We also went to visit the Emmirates Spinnaker Tower which is a very cool building from the outside! There is an elevator inside and on top of the building, you find a restaurant so went to have lunch and had a nice view over the harbour and city.

On Sunday we did a citytour through Southampton which was ofcourse breathtaking - not. I showed him around the city, we did some shopping, walked up to the harbour and we had dinner. On Monday we went to visit Winchester, a cute and tiny city, north of Southampton. On Tuesday, we found out that there is a beautiful park, close to my house so we went for a walk. The weather was beautiful again so there were all dogs playing around. I didn't even have to wear a jacket so believe me: UK hasn't always shitty weather like everyone is saying.

I went to the airport to say goodbye to Jacco in the afternoon and afterwards I had one lecture at the university: presenting skills. I really like the new class! We have lectures on Tuesday so we learn how to become a good presenter and do practical stuff on Friday which means; writing a script for television, presenting in front of the green screen etc. In a couple of weeks, I will have my first exam in which I have to write and present a bulletin about the lastest fashion trends/news.

On Friday we gave our housewarming. We invited quite a lot of people because we didn't expect them all coming. We ended up with over thirty students in our livingroom which isn't really made for that many people. But we had lots of fun; played beerpong, listened to music and I talked to a lot of people I never talked to before so that was nice as well.

So far, everything goes well and I'm getting used to the new living situation. Brittish people are known friendly and they are. For sure. But the Brittish students don't really talk to the internationale ones so that sucks a little bit. By the way, I got a question on my lastest blog (shout-out to my dad ) if I could explain the differences between school and living in the UK and the United States.

Well first of all, I think most of the things in both countries are really similar to each other. While I spend a year abroad in the US (2013-2014), the American students were very interested in me and my country so it was very nice to share those things. The Brittish students obviously are not which is okay but just different. Besides that, there is a thing that both schools have in common: the schoolsystem is very informal. Teachers are so nice and friendly and not formal at all which I thought they would be. Especially here in UK. Besides that, the streetview looks quite the same which I told in one of my blogs before; a lot of fastfood chains in every single street. Difference; Southampton is a city with two big universities which means lots of bars and clubs. The drinking and clubbing age in the US is 21+ so the only thing I found on the streets were huge coke's and burgers. (Which was okay for me as well )

The nightlife is a lot better here and you get around easily, there is a very good public transport system were in America, the only transport you could use was a car which sucked for me because I wasn't able to drive over there. But so far, I like both experiences and I don't think that you can compare them to each other; I have grown up, got new interests and hobbies and I experienced new things and situations in the past couple of years. I think both experiences will end with really good memories and I'm just really thankful that I got the chance to experience this adventure abroad.

That's it for now. Many cool things coming up soon. I'm going camping with friends at the Isle of Wight, beautiful Island south of Southampton. Also, my family is going to visit London by the end of the month so I'll go visit them for a couple of days. So another update by the end of this month! See ya.

X

Femke

FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL / LONDON / PARTY'S

Hi Guys!

So this is my second week at the university already, which doesn't really feel like it because I only go to school on Monday's en Fridays. I got my timetable during my introductionweek and changed it a bit because I only had 3 units which meant 3-6 hours of school a week. I'll just give you a short look of how my week here looks like.

On Monday I go to school 9 AM till 6 PM which is really exhausting after a weekend of partying and going on trips. I start the day with magazine production which is fun. We are creating a magazine with a small group and get lessons on how to use InDesign. After having lunchbreak for an hour, I go to music journalism which isn't my favorite but it's okay. I write reviews, profiles and I need to do interviews with some artists/bands. I decided last week to take an extra unit: Applied and academic English. I think it's useful; I meet other international students and learn about how to write essays in Harvard style. Besides that, they teach me how to create a good CV and we practise with speaking tests for job interviews.

I used to have another class on Wednesday which was supposed to be my favorite; it's mostly filming and editing video's but it's going to take a lot of my freetime away so I decided to change the unit. Instead, I'm doing fashion journalism combined with presenting television programms. We have a very nice and professional television studio at the university so I'm excited for my first class on Friday.

So on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I don't do that much which is okay for now. I feel a bit like a house mommy; doing grociery's, some laundry, cleaning etc. But it's gonna botter me soon, so I decided to sign up for fitness classes during those days. Just working out with a bunch of other students so it's a great way to meet other people and stay in shape. I'm probably gonna need that because of all the fastfood chains on every corner of the street.

Besides university, the four other Dutch students and I moved in our appartment exactly a week ago and we really enjoy it. We share a livingroom and a kitchen, two bathrooms and five bedrooms. I take the bus to university for about ten minutes so it's not that bad. There is a grociery store close to our appartment and that's need because we kinda live 'far' away from the city centre (Southampton isn't that big) which means that Deliveroo (UK name for Thuisbezorgd) doesn't really deliver any good food to our house.

So on Thursday last week I went to Ikea because I wanted to buy some nice stuff for my room to make it cosy. I'm happy with the result!

On Friday, I went to London with two of my roommates. We just walked around, saw the highlights of the city, did some shopping, walked even more and went home late in the evening. It's only one and a half hour by train from Southampton railway station so I'll be in London a lot of times these months. On Saturday we went to the soccer match Southampton VS Arsenal. Southampton lost 5-0 so we ended up in the pub, drinking beer to forget about the defeat.

Yesterday night, we went to a welcoming party for all international students from both universities in Southampton. I met a lot of new people, we danced, had drinks and it was just really fun. We all wore white t-shirts so everyone could write something on it with a marker. It's a nice memory of a fun night!

This upcoming weekend, my boyfriend is coming to visit me and we are planning on visiting Porthmouth which should be a very nice city. I'll give an update about it soon!

X

Femke

INTRODUCTION WEEK IN UK

Hi guys!

So I finally got to the UK last Sunday. I hang out with friends the week before, went out for lunch, had some parties and I started packing which was - like always - an issue. I had one suitcase so my stuff for five months needed to be packed real good. I still had to pack a lot of stuff on the morning of departure but it worked out well.

I went to Schiphol Airport Sunday afternoon together with my parents and boyfriend. Suddenly one of my best friends Melanie appeared and suprised me. Everyone knew about it besides me so it was a really sweet surprise and goodbye. I got in the plane and my hand luggage didn't fit in the cabine at all. I decided to put it under my chair but the women who was sitting next to me didn't really like me I guess. All the other stuff like my jackets and backpack where half on her spot so at the end, I kinda scared her away and she moved to another spot in the plane which meant that I had her spot to use as well. Too bad the flight was only one hour.

Whenever I arrived in Southampton, I took a cap to my airbnb where I will stay for the upcoming ten days. It's a real nice room, only thing is that there's isn't a kitchen so I ate mcdonalds and Tacobell for the last five days. (You don't hear me nag by the way).

So first day in UK, I almost got hit by plenty of cars because I still have to get used to the fact that they drive on the other side of the road. It's so confusing, especially the roundabouts. Besides that, it feels like I'm back in the United States cause there are fastfood chains everywhere. We don't have most of them in Holland so I guess I will have to try all of them.

So on Monday, I went to campus for a lunch with two Dutch girls who have been here for the first semester. After, I did a little bit of shopping because the centre is really nice. There are some nice stores like Urban Outfitters, Topshop, Primark, Zara and H&M. I didn't have any expectations before so I was surprised to find out that Southampton is actually a really nice city. After, I went out for dinner with a Dutch guy Julyan, who goes to the same school in Holland as I do. We have all classes together so at least I know someone already which is nice.

On Tuesday we went to school for our first meeting. We got our introduction timetable and received information about the university and places around. In the evening, I went out for dinner with two Danish girls. Burgers again.

On Wednesday, I went to school to get my student ID card. Besides that, I needed to have some documents signed. We had a welcome party in the evening at a pub and it was nice to get to know some people. Found out that there were two other Dutch people and mostly Germans and Spanish students. Afterwards, we grabbed some dinner and left to a students flat to play beerpong.

Today, we had a city rally, event organized by the university. Just to get to know the city and new people as well. Fun fact; we thought that we had been finding the places very fast because we visited them already during the last couple of days. So we came back to the spot where we were supposed to meet again and everyone was already waiting for us. They even asked if we got lost and tried to reach us. After, we went to a pub again, hung out and drunk some beer.

Tomorrow, it's the last day of introduction and we will go out for lunch with a big group of Dutchies and Italians. Next week classes start. I actually got my timetable today and I only have classes on Monday and Tuesday which means that I can go on many trips if my bank account let me do so.

So well. First week almost done. I'm enjoying the city and people a lot and felt at home right away. The weather has been really nice; sunny and blye sky every day. I still put my umbrella in my backpack because you never know; I'm still in the UK.

Next Wednesday I will move into my appartment with the four other Dutch students. Very excited because it looks so nice and I'm finally able to cook something healthy.

So far, everything goes very well. See you next time.

X

Femke