Londen in foto's

7 januari 2011

2011. Vreemd om te denken dat er alweer een jaar voorbij is en hoe verschillend mijn leven er nu uitziet ten opzichte van januari vorig jaar. Sinds dit jaar heb ik opeens niet één, maar twee werelden: een wereld in België, met een hoop geweldige vrienden en fantastische herinneringen, en een wereld in Londen, waar ik alles zelf heb op moeten bouwen en waar je opeens geen verleden meer hebt. Dat is eigenlijk het grootste verschil met studeren in België: je hebt geen enkele kans zo maar ergens mensen tegen te komen in een cafeetje of op de trein (denk: de lijn kapelle-mechelen voor STK'ers), noch heb je mensen die weten hoe je leven er vroeger uitzag of wat je de voorbije 17 jaar met je leven hebt gedaan. Alhoewel, mensen plakken al vrij snel een stempel op je, zoals ze mij de 'bohemien artsy girl' noemen omdat ik nu eenmaal van theater, muziek, dans en allerhande andere artsy dingen hou. Maar wat ze dan compleet vergeten is dat ik de voorbije vier jaar -en vooral de laatste 2- gespendeerd heb in een zeer wiskundige omgeving, in een klas met 4 meisjes. Om dan opeens gekatapulteerd te worden in de Humanities-afdeling, waar de meeste meisjes op all-girls schools zaten en waar de meesten de voorbije jaren enkel literatuur gestudeerd hebben. Het is misschien een cliché, maar er is (althans hier toch) een groot verschil in het soort gesprekken dat er gevoerd wordt in mijn KMT-repetities (de musical society van de Humanities en Arts-campus) en de MMT-repetities (die van de geneeskunde studenten).

Ik weet eigenlijk niet meer hoe ik op dit onderwerp kwam. En besef dat ik enorm ben afgedwaald. Wat ik eigenlijk wilde zeggen, is dat ik telkens enorm dankbaar ben als ik terugkom naar België en iedereen weer terugzie. Mensen die weten waar je vandaan komt, die je volledig kennen en niet slechts labelen voor één facet van je persoonlijkheid. Het was echter niet mijn bedoeling om te klagen, want ik zou liegen als ik zou zeggen dat ik hier niet enorm veel plezier heb met de mensen hier. Het was gewoon een bedenking over waarom vriendschappen hier anders zijn. Ach ja.

Verder gaat alles hier goed: de repetities voor mijn volgende musical lopen weer en waren tot nu toe al weer erg fijn. Het is stiekem ook leuk om weer in mijn eigen vertrouwde kamertje te zitten - het spijt me, mamsel, maar alleen wonen is toch één van de leukste dingen van het studentenleven. De komende weken staan er heel wat verjaardagen op de agenda, maar ook heel wat werk. Ik moet toegeven dat er toch wel wat stress begint te komen voor een redelijk belangrijk essay dat ik eigenlijk al lang geschreven had moeten hebben. En dan zijn er nog die oefeningen Grieks. En die vertaling voor Latijn. Nu ja, het is een algemeen feit dat ik tijdsdruk nodig heb om efficiënt te kunnen werken.

Wat ook altijd fijn is aan een tweede term, is de verandering in het lessenrooster. In plaats van een vrije dag -lees:uitslapen- op dinsdag, heb ik nu les om 9u 's ochtends. Wat betekent dat ik nu elke dag, behalve maandag, om 9u start, wat hier redelijk uitzonderlijk is. Hopen maar dat het mij lukt om vroeger in slaap te vallen dan normaal.

Verder heb ik niet veel te zeggen. Eigenlijk was deze post al redelijk nietszeggend. Het spijt mij bij deze voor het verspillen van vijf minuutjes van jouw leven.

Liefs,

Elise

December 21st

Hi everyone!

In the past few days I have learnt that snow and London don't go well together. It has been crazy trying to do anything at all, let alone trying to get home... Today I spent the whole day walking from station to station, queueing in airports, waiting for some news about my flight, all while carrying a 31 kg suitcase. All of this because Eurostar decided to cancel loads of their trains and not let me get on my train because there were too many people waiting. They were right about too many, though: all the way through the station and outside, up until the British Library, people were waiting to get on a train, in the freezing cold. I decided to walk back to my hall, or maybe 'slide back' is a better way to describe it, because an 8 hour wait wasn't really my idea of a good day. I ended up taking a plane today, for which I had to take 3 trains and queue for another 2 hours to check in, but I got home safely and that's really all that matters.

The past week I've had loads of Christmassy fun: I went to Covent Garden, I went to a Christmas A Capella concert by All the King's Men - King's all male a capella group, check them out on Youtube! - , had snowball fights, fell a lot while trying to walk on icy roads and bought Christmas presents for the family. I also saw Dirty Dancing, the Musical, and ended up being in a 'I-can-touch-you'-distance from Johnny, the actor, who played Johnny, Patrick Swayze's character. And I knew the show was worth it when he walked in and said: Nobody puts baby in a corner!

5th December 2010

I know, it's been a while, but as you all know, life is busy...

The past few days have been great fun, since I had three days of West Side Story performances. The last two weeks we had been rehearsing non-stop, which was very tiring and very demanding, but it lead to a great couple of shows which everyone enjoyed doing. Backstage in our dressing room the girls ended up re-enacting all the scenes the boys did on stage -seeing as WSS is basically a boys' musical- which lead to hilarious results {which can be found on my facebook}. We even managed to make a four-layer pyramid - to be fair, it only lasted for five seconds, but hey, we did it! It was a great time: the rehearsals, afte-show drinks at the Rose {the pub opposite our Greenwood Theatre}, the tube-rides and chilly walks home with Ollie in stage make-up -even in London people tend to stare at guys wearing make-up- , but after two intensive weeks it'll be good to have some free time again to get on with my work and catch up on everything I've missed here in my halls.

The production of course ended with a post-production party at someone's house instead of the usual after-show pub, but because the whole team as a bit too cheery, the party ended abruptly due to noise complaints. I ended up sleeping over in a cosy house in Stockwell, which was the first place in London where I felt unsafe walking around in the afternoon, but this probably had something to do with the fact that I saw someone getting arrested for dealing drugs at a time like that. Mum and dad, don't worry about me, I got home safely as I always do.

Another interesting thing here is the student revolts, of which I am sure you've all heard at least something. It has most certainly led to some strange and sometimes hilarious situations, e.g.: During a lecture on Languages and Literure, the lecturer suddenly started laughing and pointing to the window, where around 50 policemen in fluo-vests were chasing one protester, who was obviously way faster at running. Or the occupations that are being held at most unis: students occupy a certain lecture theatre and give speeches, hold debates and sleep there as well. I'm curious as to how the hell I will go to a Greek lecture when the students are still occupying it.

Christmas has also arrived here in London: the lights are everywhere, since it's already dark at 4 pm, we have Christmas decorations and lights in halls, there was a good amount of snow this week, Somerset House has its ice skating rank and everyone's in a romantic, Christmassy mood. I'm looking forward to doing some utter cliché things, such as going to Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland and pretending to be able to buy presents while strolling around in Harrods.

I have also written my first in-class essay, which was frightening as hell. Having no experience whatsoever in writing essays, let alone a timed in-class one, I stared at my blank paper for a couple of minutes before picking up my pen and starting to write. I managed to write a 3,5 paper long-one and, although I forgot the nice conclusion I had prepared and ended up repeating my introduction, I am quite pleased that I can finally stop saying that I've never written an essay before.

I also wanted to apologise beforehand for forgetting people's birthdays: I do not have my phones with me at the moment and my computer hardly ever works, which makes it hard to contact anyone. Plus, I do not have my calendar with me and am not that good at remembering all the dates - hence the calendar. So please do not hate me. I love you guys and I feel horrible to have to say this. I hope I can make up for it with nice Christmas presents and cards and a very, very big hug. I can't wait to see you all around Christmas and New Year's. Which reminds me, if you have any big plans for New Year's, could you let me know, so I can decide whether to stay in Belgium or come back to London to celebrate.

I hope you are all okay, please know that I think about you a lot and miss you. I still smile when I think about the awesome week I had in Leuven during my reading week. {But so much for the way too sentimental notes. }

Love and all that jazz,

Elise

19th October - 30th October

I must admit: I am a terrible blogger. First of all, I have a chaotic mind. I always think: this is something that just needs to be written down. However, a second later my mind is fully occupated by something else, like purple canaries. Which are very interesting, in case you were wondering. Secondly, I forget things quite easily. And by quite, I mean, all the time. I don't even remember what I was going to write about. *sigh*

What happened to me the past few days/weeks? Basically, I have been:
1. Getting to know everyone in my hall. By the way, the address is
Elise van Lil
Room 614
College Hall
Malet Street
WC1E 7HZ
London
United Kingdom
for those who are eager to write me a letter. Or those who feel obliged to send me some Belgian chocolate. Or Nesquick. Or Special K. Or "De Standaard". Or all of the above.

It has been great to meet all these people. The Brits may be "odd islanders", but they are - generally speaking - extremely friendly and nice. Also, they are very huggable, which can be a useful feature when one feels homesick or a bit lonely. Or too tired to stand up straight because the lift was being annoying and made one walk up the stairs {Note: "one" lives on the sixth floor}. Our hall is really a big family. Although incest isn't illegal here.

2. Working, working, working, purple canary, working.
Uni is uni. Wherever you go, whatever you study, there will we work. Unless you're name is Zach and you're my next door neighbour who's studying History at UCL and never has to do anything. And will remind everyone of this if needed.

3. Doing some more extracurriculars
Rehearsals for Little Shop of Horrors {Medics Musical Theatre} and West Side Story {King's Musical Theatre} have started, which means I'll be spending some time dancing, singing and eating pizza. Because apparently, that's what happens after rehearsals! Not that I'm complaining...

----------------------------------------------------

The past week I've enjoyed a wonderful West Side Story rehearsal, which was 8 hours long, but such fun! We learned the mambo, the blues, the chachacha... And were all extremely sore the next day, which led to extremely funny movements while I was trying to get up the stairs. The LSOH-rehearsals are also going really well: we finished the song 'Skid Row/Downtown', but it still needs a lot of work. Dancing and singing a high B is not the easiest thing I've ever done...

This Monday was a great night, we finally found a place where drinks are affordable, and where the music is good. Yay. As you can see, I don't really have a lot to write about, because after all, I am just a normal university student, instead of a person who's travelling in Uganda or doing all sorts of weird stuff in Thailand. So a lot of my time goes to following lectures and writing essays... However, some can actually be hilarious, like the last Languages & Literature seminar. One girl randomly started talking about how ridiculous it was that Oedipus "just poked his eyes out. Because, why does one just randomly decides to poke one's eyes out? Instead of just killing himself, no, he had to be special, and POKE his eyes out!" Which lead to the whole class, including the seminar leader, to start laughing until he finally got everyone to shut up by shouting: "Order, order!". Which was quite funny too, actually. The last Greek seminar was also very interesting. We changed classrooms and ended up in a room with - wait for it- bouncy chairs. So we ended up bouncing the whole hour and talking about the bouncy chairs and their awesomeness, while some unfortunate peasants groaned while sitting on their non-bouncy chairs. Even our weekly test seemed fun while bouncing up and down. After a democratic vote it was decided to make this classroom our regular one. And, again, there was much rejoicing.

4-9 oktober

Hi iedereen!

Dit berichtje schrijf ik vanuit mijn vertrouwde kamertje in België, want daar vertoef ik op dit moment. Het was een erg zware week; deels omdat dit meteen twee weken zonder thuiskomen {en dus geen Nederlands spreken} waren, deels omdat de lessen nu anderhalve week bezig zijn en het werk al enorm is. Mijn excuses dus voor de weinige updates. Ik weet dat twaalf uur per week voor de meesten onder jullie weinig lijkt, maar in het Engelse systeem is dit echt wel heel wat. Twaalf uur les betekent ongeveer zes uur lectures en zes uur seminars, en die laatsten veroorzaken heel wat werk. Seminars zijn lessen waarbij we in nog kleinere groepjes {zo'n vijftien man} de geziene leerstof 'uitdiepen', lees: presentaties geven, literaire vertalingen voorstellen, extra boeken lezen, ... Dit zorgt dus voor heel wat werk naast het gewone bijhouden van de leerstof die je ziet in de lectures.

Gelukkig is er naast het academische gedoe ook wat leuks te doen in Londen: ik speel Minnie in West Side Story, waar ik heel dankbaar voor ben. We waren immers met 200 {!} man voor een cast van 25. Tijdens de eerste audities {zang en acteren} durfde ik zelfs niet te luisteren naar de anderen omdat ze gewoon stuk voor stuk ongelooflijk goed waren. Daarna volgde een callback, waar ieder met een nummer op de heup zijn best moest doen om een choreografie over te nemen, waarna de choreograaf enkele nummers afriep die mochten blijven en de rest zijn dromen opgaf en naar huis vertrok. Competitie is dus wel degelijk erg groot hier.

PS: het spijt me voor mijn weinige verslaggeving, maar de voorbije tijd bestond vooral uit heel veel werk en regelingen, waardoor er 1. geen inspiratie en 2. geen tijd was. Zoals je ook kan merken aan dit bericht was er ook niet veel gevoel voor stijl en witty puns. Mijn excuses.

September 21st

Today {the 21st} I got up, went to Starbucks {Do you see the pattern already?} and then straight on to the Macadam Building, which is kind of the KCLSU - King's College London Student Union- building to try and get some information about King's radio station. After getting lost a few times - and by a few I mean a lot -, I managed to find the studios, that were situated next to the 'Roar Hole', the room where King's student magazine Roar is written. I had a nice chat with the people running the radio station and am really looking forward to getting involved in that society.

Then I went on to Guy's Campus, to 'Get active' with all the Medicine and other brainy student who study there. I did a taster session of pilates, which is a synonym for 'torturing yourself with stretches and muscles exercises on relaxing yoga music'. After an hour of that jolly good fun, I did a taster session of Kung Fu, making a complete fool of myself while trying to resemble a bad ass Asian heroine of one of my friend Lieselottes manga novels. At which I terribly failed, in case you were wondering.

I rushed back home, threw the stuff I didn't need out of and the stuff I did need in my bag and ran-literally- to the tube station to go to my evening course of Musical Theatre at Arts Educational.

I arrived there way too late, and was utterly embarrassed because I also arrived sweaty and heavily panting, because I ran all the way from the - wrong, because one too early - station. And so began my dance class, which was even harder after the two hours of 'Getting Active' and all the running in and out of tube stations. I am going to have to work really, and I mean, REALLY hard to keep up with this class, because I am the youngest one {most of the people are in their twenties and much more experienced}, but I'll do my best and hope I don't look too much like a fool while trying to do the right moves and catch the right notes.

On the way back on the tube, I met my first group of drunk Londoners trying to be witty and flirt with me at the same time, at which they miserably failed. But at that point, they didn't really care - thanks to the alcohol-, and neither did I - thanks to the extremely tiring day. And although they were drunk, smelly and kind of irritating, they warned me about 'London freaks who come out at night' and even offered to protect me, since I was 'this good looking girl all alone on the tube'. I kindly thanked for the offer and got out at the next station, which luckily was exactly the one where I needed to be. And even if they had tried something, I was prepared: remember the Kung Fu lesson earlier?



I know I promised to put these things up in Dutch and in English, but right now I'm way too tired to translate them. I'll do it tomorrow. Probably. Maybe.