Erasmusblogs

This is the end

mortiziia — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 12:20:08 +0000

…my only friend, the end! My flatmate Cinzia is going back to Italy tomorrow, after six great months living together. It makes me sad, I don´t have such a good relationship with my other flatmate (though she´s nice as well) and feel this is the end of an Era. Right now I´m on holidays: it´s unbelievable, [...]

Le Malentendu

manu_cz — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 16:53:21 +0000

I have started reading a play by Albert Camus, Le Malentendu. The story is set in a small Czech city. In the preface of the book I read as I wrinkle my brow that the play was meant to be called Budejovice — the name of a city in South Bohemia, not far from [...]

11. Washing Machines

manu_cz — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 22:57:05 +0000

It is marvellous to be definitely settled, to have eventually found a nice, comfortable place. It is an indescribable moment when you take the keys of your newly found apartment, or when you put your name on the letter box, or specially when you realize that you have a washing machine for yourself. Those [...]

10. An Apartment in Prague (II)

manu_cz — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 22:46:20 +0000

In November I finally got a flat. One day I find an ad on the net, "Space Age Gargantuan flat to share in Dejvicka." "Kitsch, huge rooms." Cool. "Well-situated." Cool. "Open-House Venue on Thursday. Everyone invited." Cool. I’m there on time. Hey, this is the hugest flat I’ve ever seen in Prague. Some people [...]

Going Under

mortiziia — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 13:17:30 +0000

I hate this month. I´ve already finished all my exams and have only one translation more to be delivered next week, so I´ll be sitting here for the next two months, hand in hand, while everybody else flights back to Spain or travels all around Europe and Germany. For me, it´s just not possible. I [...]

9. An Apartment in Prague ( I )

manu_cz — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 15:43:50 +0000

To find a flat in Prague is not easy. To find a huge confortable inexpensive flat is almost impossible. I tried it hard in October and first week of November. I have succeeded, but only after many frustrated attempts. For instance… I get a meeting with a Polish girl to see her flat. She [...]

8. Czech Republic, Prague, Ikea

manu_cz — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 15:42:09 +0000

"I make movies," Buñuel once said, "cause we are not in the best of the possible worlds." So I look for a flat cause I’m not in the best of the possible dorms. But first I need a lamp, because my room is completely dark. Then I need a flat because this dark dorm [...]

Songs for the Sinners

mortiziia — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 21:13:42 +0000

Here I am once again, I don´t seem to get enough! This goes for finnish metal music fans in Berlin and surroundings: CHARON live in Berlin! When? 24.02.2006, from 20 h Where? Alte Feuerwache Club, Berlin Schöneweide (S8, S9, M17) How much? 6 € in advance, 8 € straight on entrance If you don´t know Charon, don´t let the [...]

The Shining

mortiziia — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 21:12:03 +0000

Berlin glows under the charming winter sun. I arrived on Friday and we´ve had four days of sunny and however cold weather. Snow piles see you home as silent, shining and serious friends. Much have I written about Berlin´s autumn beauty, but even more could be said of its winter, especially in these sunny days [...]

7. Anything Wrong? Yep!

manu_cz — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 10:40:30 +0000

Here´s a simple example of what´s wrong here. The dark side of the Erasmus experience, if you want. Ana and me need an English grammar book for our proficiency course. We have searched for it in some bookstores but failed. So we go to the Rectorate where the Central Library is supposed to be. [...]

I´ve got to move

mortiziia — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 12:09:41 +0000

I´ve bought an internet card for the call center in Tierpark. I just couldn´t resist myself, even though I´ve tried hard not to do so for over two months; now that I´m going back home in a few days, I felt the need to come and get used once again to this dear old friend. [...]

6. National Day Celebration Walk

manu_cz — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 10:38:38 +0000

National Day Celebration Party. Let’s do some sightseeing. Ana, Maria, Pilar and I leave early to see the city. We start in Wenceslas Square where there is a medieval theatre show, Braveheart style. When the knight in shining armour defeats his enemy and get the princess, we clap and go for a stroll in [...]

Gorgoroth, the KZ and concerts for free

mortiziia — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 19:43:09 +0000

On Saturday I went to my first KZ (concentration camp), Sachsenhausen, which lies only a few kilometers away from the capital. I should have written about this a few days ago, but I didn´t have the time, so now I´ll have to squeeze a few things more together. My apologies. Well, Sachsenhausen is at the [...]

5. Receptionists Are Our Enemies

manu_cz — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 11:36:48 +0000

In the first week we must visit some offices and deal with hundreds of papers. Frustating. These days I have met Czech students capable of speaking three, four or even five languages, but in these offices few are those who speak English. Receptionists are our enemies. No receptionist can speak English in Prague, I [...]

Slaving away

mortiziia — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 15:40:59 +0000

"The Fall has come to hurt". So sings Charon´s vocalist in one of their tracks, but more than fall, it´s winter that has already come to Berlin, hurting all the same. All the leaves in the trees are almost gone and I´m anxious, thinking of the forthcoming weeks of bitter wind and perhaps snow. This [...]

4. First Parties, Sit-Ins and Throw-Ups

manu_cz — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 15:35:11 +0000

The week before the classes started, there were parties every night in this dorm, till someone called the police because of the noise. Next day we had notes by the European Office reminding us our duties as "ambassadors of your countries." Nice way of saying "were you raised in a barn?" Here parties start [...]

Burning

mortiziia — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:37:12 +0000

These days I´ve been following with great interest what the papers said about the turmoil in France, and surprisingly, no Spanish newspaper says that the revolt has spread over more countries, luckily, because my mother could die of a heart attack. On Monday, on the street where I live, there was an accidental (?) fire [...]

The Hole..

mortiziia — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 19:35:37 +0000

…or Das Loch in German, is a bar we´d been hearing of ever since we arrived in Berlin, and eventually we went there. As its name claims, it´s a hole, a hole in the ground, and much better than I had imagined, for it´s supposed to be an illegal punk dump. It looks like a [...]

3. Lost In Translation

manu_cz — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 14:31:05 +0000

People working in this dorm can´t speak English. The first days you have 1000 questions to do and all you get at Reception are shrugs. "Can you give me more sheets? Why don´t I have a reading lamp while many people do? Is it true I have to pay for the washing machine, the [...]

2. Sweet Home Kolej H.

manu_cz — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 22:29:19 +0000

Think I have the worst room in the dorm: no bedside tables, plumbing problems, dubious central heating, haven’t got a reading lamp -this is really dark! My Italian room-mate, Giuseppe, has stomach ache. He’s gone to Bratislava this weekend and, although I have lent him some pills, he hasn’t taken any. So there they are [...]

Games and classes

mortiziia — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 13:26:01 +0000

My first month in Berlin has passed me by and I feel like if I had living here for my whole life. It costs me more and more to talk, write and think in English as the days go by, but I´ll keep on writing even though you´ll find greater mistakes in every submission. I [...]

1. Kafka and Couscous

manu_cz — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 22:26:03 +0000

I was packing some more clothes, memorizing digital camera advanced functions, trying to decide which books to take and copying the Fabuleux Taboulé recipe from the couscous box. Meanwhile I was recalling that my first meal in France last summer was also a taboulé. "Well, not exactly," said to myself, "Actually it was your second, [...]

Goodbye, romance

mortiziia — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 17:40:36 +0000

On Monday and Tuesday I didn´t have any classes at all, but yesterday I started with Translation for Intercultural Communication and Translation: Technical Texts, both with Herr K. Lorenz, a nice little man. I was supposed to be at my International Relations and Comparative Politics Science class, but there was a sheet of paper on [...]

Forgotten English

mortiziia — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 11:35:59 +0000

I can’t believe that I can’t almost think in English right now. I’ve been in Berlin for over a week and my structures are already changing. I don’t have the time to write as much as I’d like, and moreover I don’t have a laptop to save all my late night writings. I´m at the [...]

Saturday: wish me luck!

mortiziia — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 20:34:50 +0000

At this very time tomorrow I will be in Berlin. My plane arrives at 10.15 am and I’ll have to head to the airport at about 4 am. No time for farewell tonight! I don´t feel like writing at all, and I don´t feel like…nothing. My fingers seem to move automatically, I almost can’t sense [...]

Chronicle of an announced departure: Monday

mortiziia — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 21:31:43 +0000

If you’re about to leave or you’ve already arrived at your destination: don’t you think that the suitcase shrinks just before you start packing? In a while, loads of things have slipped into my head, things that I didn’t even think I would carry with me: for instance, the hairdryer, which my mother wants me [...]

Bureaucracy II

mortiziia — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 21:30:20 +0000

I was so bored this morning after I had picked my new European Health Insurance Card, which was to replace the E111 form from the 1st June 2004 onwards. It´s been faster than last year, when the proceedings took me a few walks to and fro. In the remaining time before lunch I have been [...]

Bureaucracy I

mortiziia — Sat, 17 Sep 2005 16:29:02 +0000

Last Monday I wrote my last exam, and I´m afraid I didn´t do my best. I won´t be granted the state education scholarship that I´m supposed to get every year in order to pay my expenses at University, including the fees for matriculation, around €1,000. This is a personal tragedy to me, but let’s face [...]

Half-lidays

mortiziia — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 21:27:57 +0000

Last week I wrote two of the three exams I had. Apalling, to tell you the truth: one of them was Psychology and the other was Computer Science in Translation Studies. Now I´m trying to study French, for I have an exam on Monday, but I´ve got the feeling that I already know everything I [...]

Heaping praise on Teresa

mortiziia — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 21:24:47 +0000

Yesterday I met my friend Teresa, who’s been in Berlin for the last ten months, to talk a while about her experience privately. It´s funny that I´m going to tell mine every Tom, Dick and Harry, isn´t it? Teresa brought me her Mensa Card (the Mensa is the refectory in Germany and perhaps other places in [...]