:: Diary of a Global Nomad ::

:: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 ::

I came to the library (where I am now, supposedly working after my morning lectures with a really great american guy who rounded off his lecture with 'Ciao!', ha ha, and another session at the gym....awwww) and I swear I smelled Russia. I breathed in and there it was - if I closed my eyes I could have been back in Moscow. Scary. It turns out though that I wasn't mysteriously transported back to Russia - just that I am sitting next to a smelly Russian. Phew. I will just breath into the roll neck of my lovely new jumper.

It has been a day for Russia phobias it would seem - even early this morning I couldn't bring myself to get on the bus because there were too many people on it and it would have been too worryingly like Russia. Instead I waited in the cold for twenty more minutes until an emptier bus came along, in doing so making myself late for my lecture - one of my biggest fears. Is this normal to want to not live remember Russia so much?! Maybe not. I should seek counselling!

The hard part is the fact that I cannot really forgot and push the nightmares away because I still have one more year of this degree, and Russian plays a third of it. Actually it probably only is about twenty weeks left in total, taking into consideration all the holidays we get. And it is going fast. All the weeks seem to be passing by in one big blur, I am already only a week and a half away from my mid-term break. Worrying. More worrying is the fact that I have made no concrete plans to do anything exotic. Will need to get on the case, in amongst the studying of course.

There's a lot on, but it is interesting and varied - from post Stalinist Soviet cinema to French Womens studies to European Integration studies - so I am happy. I still never managed to find a decent time to blog, or to blog anything interesting. I need to re-think this whole blogging thing maybe, or put it on hold. Oh maybe I can go on strike. I am spending a lot of time with French people at the moment and so I am inspired to strike. What for?! Do I need a reason?! I am almost French... Ha Ha! No! It was starting to worry the Scandinavian in me (I even turned down watching a Swedish movie with the ScanSoc to go for drinks with the frenchie, hmmmm) but then I think I am on track again. Like the true scot I am, I have been eating porridge every morning. And as for the wannabe scandinavian inside.... Well,0 I got a parcel in the post from the man in Gothenburg and it inspired me again. It was jampacked with all things on Western Sweden (specifically Gothenburg) for my Swedish class presentation... Here is another worrying fact, I am looking forward to making a presentation. What a geek...

Anyway, I have a choir rehersal again. We are singing in Bath Abbey on Sunday evening and it is a bit of a big deal. Wish me luck?!
:: Fiona 10/23/2002 01:14:00 PM [+] ::
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In true British style (see, I really am British) I shall start off with the weather...

It is AWFUL. There is no other way to describe it other than this, or perhaps dreadful. It has not stopped raining in days and has become really quite cold and windy and miserable and grey and ugh, it is just horrible. I have jumped from wearing a light summery jacket to my heavy winter coat because it has a hood to protect myself from all the rain and falling wet stuff that has a tendancy to land on my head. Nasty. My feet are cold and my mood is bleak and, although I gleefully looked out my mittens and hat and scarf, I had hoped that the Autumn would last a bit more than those two weeks before Winter kicked in. This is really it, I am already into Winter. Where is the time going?!

Am a bit stressed out about that, there seems to be so much to do and so little time. I had thought that the Final Year would be fine, somebody once told me that if you did all the work they give you, you would be fine. It is just that there is so much work to do. Or maybe it is because I spent my first two years of university doing nothing. To attend all my classes, complete all the projects and read all the books I feel I should seems like an awful lot and I am swamping through it. It is hard work to actually work.

But fear not, it is not all studying and stressing out that has been consuming my time at the moment. I did have a great long weekend...

Friday evening I went to the cinema with the new guy in my class (French-Yugoslavian, he is over here on exchange from uni in Paris and has walked into the 1st Rugby team) to see the Red Dragon. Wow. Beautiful film. It was scary and freaky and did make me go 'eeeeeek' quite a few times throughout but it was good. Star-studded cast, good story line and bla bla, I am starting to sound like Jonathon Ross of Film whatever year it is now fame so I will stop there. How boring to tell you about my weekend in detail. I shall cut to the chase. My brother came to visit and last night we walked down memory lane, visited the eighties and went to see A-Ha in concert!!!

Two times in once year, first in Moscow and then in Birmingham. It is not like I am a big A-Ha groupie or anything (well maybe slightly) but my brother happened to buy the tickets for me and well, who am I to refuse the chance of seeing Morten Harket?! It was an excellent evening. The music was fantastic and those guys keep getting cooler by the day. We had great seats, I was within fifty feet of the man himself, but I don't think that was why it was so great compared to the Moscow concert. I think what was so great was that the ambiance was so very different. In Moscow the concert seemed almost subdued and they hardly spoke - perhaps because Russia is one of these countries where everything works in the home language and who is going to bother to learn Russian to talk to the audience?! I probably would but I am one of those exceptions, a person who likes to learn languages when they go on holiday (whilst my sister was sunning herself by the pool in Bali, I was in the shade learning a bit of Indonesian) and so I can understand why the only word Morten H, or any of the other band members mentioned at the Moscow concert was Spasibo / thanks.

Last night though... there was atmosphere and I generally just think that a British audience is more welcoming than a Russian audience. Again another mark on the negative side of the Russian list. I will make it my homework to think of a positive for tomorrow... In the meantime I have to dash. From one concert to another, only this time I am singing. I have two solos tonight and I am starting to get nervous and nail-bitey. Wish me luck... Break a leg!


:: Fiona 10/15/2002 03:59:00 PM [+] ::
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So, I know it has been a long time... What can I say?! I am busy and so my blogging habits have become sporadic. I have been doing good things though, like being sick (it has to be done asap so that I can enjoy the gorgeous Autumn that is just starting to get into swing with its misty mornings and crip sunny afternoons, ahhhh) then recovering from the 'freshers flu' (and seriously I never went anywhere near a fresher) and then getting back into some kind of a routine. It has been a whirlwind of filling in forms for my department and trying to remember how to be a student again - the transition has been a bit tough. Then there are all the people. Wow, I had forgotten about all these people that I know... Then there are new people about, which takes time and energy but has to be done. So, you get my drift?! Things have been a bit chaotic so the emails can stop as to where I have been...

Settling back into Bath life is fantastic, and it has been helped by the wonderful magazine that is 'Bath Life.' Now, as you may already know I am a confessed magazine junkie and so I will read any publication that comes my way. Particularly highly pretentious glossy maqazines - ohhhh. Now Bath life is a bit on the cheesy side, and a bit Town and Country but I have been enjoying that discovery. Hmmm, what else is new?! Well there are all the new bars and restaurants in town...

Did you know that Bath has more bars and restaurants than it does days of the year?! The population is only 100, 000 too! There is also the highest number of Michelin stars in the country in this town, outside London of course. In fact one of the newly opened restaurants is the venture of a Michelin star chef, the new Blini bar. Imagine that... I come all the way back from Russia to be faced with a blini bar! I need to check it out. The most amazing this has happened. Yesterday I actually had a craving for Russian food. This is me, who refused to eat in the last month there because the food was so bad, and I am having cravings! What?! It was probably inspired by a guy in my class who made an oral presentation about Russian cuisine - I could just taste those pilmieni (like the Russian equivalent of raviolli, mmmm) with lashings of sour-cream. Yum!

This is the thing, we have all really gotten to grips with our two countries (the majority of students studiying languges here do joint honors, two languages) and naturally we are all a bit excited. I have been keeping my mouth shut about the neagitve aspects so as not to get up the Russia lovers noses, but my time will come... I have presentations to make myself! There is also the indoctrination of up and coming new students!!! There is so much work to be done actually. Final year, yikes.

On top of that the goddess regime is still running and so I am spending a lot of time devoted to that - I just came back from an hour at the gym and I could have easily fallen asleep but I decided not to. Am pushing myself, will have an early night instead.

Oh and now it is time for a coffee with an old friend, then choir practice and then meeting some friends from my first year halls of residence for a few drinks. Actually I mentioned about the girl from my old school who now studies here. She is in her second year but in the first year she not only lived in my old halls but in the same corridor - it is a small world! Or maybe it's a case of lets send all the kids from Helsinki to level 2, Wolfson?! International halls, they were such good fun. A little chaotic but a lot of fun. I actually really appreciate the vast number of international students we have up here, they really make me smile. I mean just this morning I was on the bus to university for my 9.15 lecture on European Integration (really heavy stuff I must add) and a japanese girl got onto the bus. It was a double decker, on the top deck, and this was obviously a novelty for her as she was beaming the widest smile. It was so nice to see, it made me smile myself and remember how happy I am to be back!

Anyway... I will leave you with one of those email jokes... My sister sent it to me, its about the Earthquake and its devastating effects on the West Midlands town of Dudley. This is a typical example of Brisith Humour - yeah, lets slag off those less fortunate than ourselves. I will emphasise that I dis NOT write this!!! Enjoy anyway... Poka! Tschus! A bientot! Vi syns! Hei hei!


URGENT - DUDLEY EARTHQUAKE APPEAL
At 00:54 on Monday 23 September an earthquake measuring 4.8 on the
Richter scale hit Dudley, UK causing untold disruption and distress -
* Many were woken well before their giro arrived
* Several priceless collections of mementoes from the Balearics and
Spanish costas were damaged
* Three areas of historic and scientifically significant litter were
disturbed
* Thousands are confused and bewildered, trying to come to terms with
the fact that something interesting has happened in Dudley
One resident, Donna-Marie Dutton, a 17 year old mother-of-three said "It
was such a shock, little Chantal-Leanne came running into my bedroom
crying. My youngest two, Tyler-Morgan and Megan-Storm slept through it.
I was still shaking when I was watching Trisha the next morning."
Apparently though, looting did carry on as normal.
The British Red Cross have so far managed to ship 4000 crates of Sunny
Delight to the area to help the stricken masses.
Rescue workers are still searching through the rubble and have found
large quantities of personal belongings including benefit books and
jewellery from Elizabeth Duke at Argos.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
* £2 buys chips, scraps and blue pop for a family of four
* £10 can take a family to Stourport for the day, where children can
play on an unspoiled canal bank among the national collection of
stinging nettles
* 22p buys a biro for filling in a spurious compensation claim
PLEASE ACT NOW
Simply email us by return with your credit card details and we'll do the
rest!
If you prefer to donate cash, there are collection points available at
your local branches of Argos, Iceland and Clinton Cards
:: Fiona 10/09/2002 01:53:00 PM [+] ::
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