Whoops...

I can't believe it's been 2 months since my last post on here, time flies aye? It is now the end of February and I am 6 months into my exchange, over half way! it has gone so fast. The last few months have been pretty hectic. Let me tell you about it.

On Christmas Eve I caught a plane from London to Copenhagen to visit Yo, Sara and Ogi. I had spent the three previous days alone in our flat as everyone had already left for their Christmas destinations, it was pretty lonely and I think if I'd have stayed any longer I would probably have gone mad. Yo greeted me at the airport with a nice sign that said "Albus Wulfric Purcival Brian Dumbledore", it made me laugh a lot and I was very happy to see her even though it had only been a month. She took me back to her house where I saw Sara for the first time in 5 months, I love reuniting with friends!

I realise that I probably should write about everything I've done in the past 2 months because that would be a really long post.

I had a nice few days in Copenhagen. On Christmas day we (mostly Yo) spent all day cooking and we had our Christmas Dinner. Some guy came to clean Yo's apartment ON CHRISTMAS DAY and we were all pretty weirded out by that. I can't really remember which days I did what now so I'm just going to talk about the highlights. We went to Tivoli which is this really old amusement park that was decorated with thousands of lights for Christmas. Saw the Little Mermaid statue renamed 'The Disappointing Mermaid'. Ate some Smorrebrod. Ate a hotdog. We went to Rosenborg Slot and smashed a lot of icey puddles.

An Anal Tour that we went on, it was great!*

Karamelflødeboll, literally the most delicious thing in the history of the universe.

Sara, after an unfortunate Karamelflødeboll incident.

We got an overnight train to Amsterdam that was like 15 hours long so we entertained ourselves with cards and word games which resulted in much hilarity.

Our number one priority when we got to Amsterdam was to get bagels from Bagels and Beans. We weren't disappointed. I really liked Amsterdam, the buildings were really cool and it was really pretty and it made me want to purchase a bicycle! We went to a ridiculous amount of Museums, some better than others (Do go to the Bols Genever Museum, Do not go to the Torture Museum).

Woaaah Maaaaan.

I accidentally apologised to myself for bumping into my own reflection in this mirror.

New Years was a bit of a fail and slighting terrifying due to fireworks being completely legal in Europe. It rained like crazy and we all got soaked so as soon as the fireworks finished we went back to the hotel and watched episodes of QI until 3am. 

A cute restaurant called Moeders that served dutch food, it had pictures of peoples mums all over the walls and mismatched crockery.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

We parted ways with Sara and Ogi and Yo and I continued on to Berlin. Berlin was a really interesting place and I enjoyed going there, we went to a lot of museums and I learnt a lot about WW2 that I didn't learn in school.

Ampelman and I 

After Berlin Yo and I headed back to Copenhagen for the rest of my time with her, we also spent a day in Malmo, Sweden which I really enjoyed. She did get a surprise new room mate who practiced a speech at 7am.

Copenhagen looking very hygge

I need reminders to update this more often!

Love,

Sarah

*We didn't go on a Anal Tour, or a Canal Tour for that matter.

The past few weeks in photos.

 I went to Rome with my Graphic Design class from University

I went to Spitafields Market with Marthe

It got really cold for like one day (I think 10 degrees is warm now)

I went to see 'Our Boys' with Annie, Marthe, Ellie, Liz and her friend Elsien.

Neville, Anyone?

Got a deliciously large amount of salad from Annie's work.

Sang Happy Birthday / 'Lang zal ze leven' to Liz on the tube

Made delicious pizzas for Liz's birthday. 

Swapped shoes with Annie on the tube.

No Comment. ahha.

Ate a amazing Christmas dinner at the B05 Christmas Bonanza!

As well as a delicious dessert!

It's very close to Christmas now and I am off to Copenhagen to visit Yo for Christmas and we are going to Amsterdam with Sara and Ogi, then to Berlin and back to Copenhagen. It has been a fantastic few weeks here in London and I've been having a ridiculous amount of fun here!

Love,

Sarah

University: Here and There

Today I thought I would discuss the differences between my home university and my host university and in general universities in the UK vs. universities in Australia. Specifically: the Design course.

I have noticed quite a big difference between how things work in Britain compared to Australia. First of all the price is triple what I pay at home, the classes and teaching is more intimate, the facilities are fabulous and the students are way more committed than they are at home!

The Price: The price is definitely one of the main differences between the two universities. At home I pay around $5000-6000 a year where as here the students pay almost $15,000 for a year. This is a huge amount for a graphic design course. Each course goes for the same amount of years, you do similar modules and you learn the same things. But it is worth it, as you will find out!

The Classes: In Australia I attend university for around 12 contact hours a week, 3 of those hours being lectures. In the UK I in class almost 20 hours a week. We don't have set weekly lectures here, occasionally we have professionals come in to give us lectures which is good because you pay more attention! The class sizes are a lot different, there are 60 students in second year and we all get taught by the same 4 teachers. At home there are 350 students and we all have lectures together and then are split up into groups of 25. I really like my host universities way. You get to know your tutors and your class mates a lot better and you are with them for the entire year unlike at home where you are only in a class for 13 weeks and you get changed. I guess the cons of the Australian way make it hard for shy people like me to make friends because you are constantly getting changed about.

The Teaching: Even though there are only 2 tutors for a class of 60 students each lesson, I definitely feel like the amount of time you spend in each class makes up for this. Maybe its just because I'm an exchange student but I feel like the tutors put more effort into getting to know you and helping you out than they do at home.

The Facilities:All I can say for this one is, oh my gosh Australia needs to pick up their game! The amount of facilities here actually blew my mind when I saw them. Laser cutting, wood work rooms, metal work rooms, 3D workshops, letterpress, screen printing, jewellery workshop, ceramics...Just to name a few! This is obviously why the fees are so high!

The Students: It seems like the students here really want to get their (parents) moneys worth here, they don't leave class early, they stay till way after class is done, they come in on weekends and they just generally seem more committed. I can totally understand that since they are paying this huge sum of money to be here. At home students can't even stay three hours without wanting to leave!


I sound very Pro-UK in this post. Its true I really do like university better here, maybe its because I have fully immersed myself in university culture, I don't know. If I could stay here for the rest of my degree I would! If you ever get the opportunity to go on exchange, do it. You get to receive this amazing education for a fraction of the price. If you think that you can't afford exchange, you are wrong. Fee-wise it is cheaper for me to do a year abroad than it is to study at home. But seriously do it, get a OS Help Loan, put everything on HECS let your future self deal with it because this is an experience that you will never get again so do it!



PS. My host uni has Bee Hives on the roof! How cool is that? extra points for you MDX!

Apologies

So I've missed 4 days of blogvember which is unfortunate. What can I say? things got busy.

On Monday it was bonfire night although I didn't get to see any fireworks, I did head into Oxford Street to see the Christmas lights get turned on! Robbie Williams was playing a concert for the event although I was so far back and I was by myself I decided to go into McDonalds to get a chocolate sundae, much to my dismay they do not have these on the menu here. I waited for Ellie to arrive and we had £2 meals from a voucher and headed home. I thought the lights were really cool and I might go in again at night to have another look. Here I am in front of the Marmite lights.

Yo comes to visit me in six days! I am unbelievably excited.

Hopefully I am back on track with the blogging thing now.

Love,

Sarah

Sundays aren't exciting

This blogpost is brought to you by: Uneventful Sundays.

As expected I don't have much to say for today, but here goes!
Today I was going to spend the day having a boring study day locked in my room, but it turned out quite lovely in the end. I wandered out of my room at about 12pm after sleeping in and Skyping my parents to find Marthe and Annie studying together in the kitchen. Marthe made me an omelette and toast for brunch, Liz brought her Boyfriend over who is visiting from Holland, Ellie came down to help* me with some animation, and I had a delicious quiche for dinner. Earlier in the day Annie, Marthe and I decided that we would go see the new James Bond film: Skyfall at the Odeon in Camden. I really enjoyed it! I haven't seen an action film in ages and it was really good.

It's quite late and I need to be up early tomorrow so I shall bid you goodnight and hopefully tomorrows post will be more exciting.

Love,
Sarah


*in this case, I mean do my work!

Winter, chocolate, spending and musicals!

Today was the first day I've worn gloves, you can really tell that winter and Christmas are just around the corner here in London. As soon at November 1st rolls around all the shops put up their christmas displays, the decorations start appearing and Starbucks change their seasonal menu. It just feels so much more festive here!

Ellie and I got up and into Leicester Square reasonably early this morning so we could purchase tickets to Shrek: The Musical for tonight. After which we intended to head home to do some of our assignments, but no we ended up staying in central London until quite late in the day. We browsed M&M World and then we ended up at Anthropologie, an amazingly expensive clothing and home wares shop. They were having an end of season sale and we picked up a few bargains. We then headed to Monki on Carnaby Street where I did a bit more spending. My bank account is sad this week.

We finished off the day by seeing my first ever musical, Shrek. I liked it very much but I didn't love it, the costumes were really cool and Lord Farquuad was hilarious. I think I need to see a few more to shows to decide which kind I like. I think I might take Yolande to one when she comes in 11 days! Maybe the Lion King? I also really want to see Our Boys, but mainly because Matthew Lewis and Arthur Darvill are both in it.

Today was yet another good day in London, but I think tomorrow will be a rest and study day for me, so hopefully I can think of something mildy interesting to blog about for the 4th day of Blogvember!

Love,

Sarah

Food, Glorious food.

Day two of Blog Every Day in November, which from this point will be call 'blogvember', has provided me with an interesting story to tell. Today Ellie and I decided that we would go to the Borough Market, an amazing food market in London. I've heard many great things about it, but seriously it was so good.

We started our adventure off at Kappacasein by ordering and devouring the best toasted cheese sandwich I have ever eaten in my life. It was just enough cheesy and just enough crunchy and oh my gosh it was so delicious! Well worth the £5 that I spent on it!

We then had a wander around looking at all the different stalls, I can't believe I got away with spending under £10 because I wanted to buy everything. Thank goodness I restrained myself. 

I should probably point out that the purpose of our visit to the market was to take some photographs of bread for one of our design assignments for uni. We were taking photos outside one of the bakeries there, when a 70 year old Irish man, Jim, began chatting to us. He invited us inside to have a look at his autograph wall where chefs such as Jamie Oliver had signed! He then offered to give us a little tour around the market. This guy knew pretty much everyone. He bought us a punnet of strawberries and then took us to the pub and bought us a pint of lager where he bid us farewell to went back to sell bread at his bakery! 

Today was a really fun day, lets hope tomorrow is just a good!
-Sarah