Just another rainy week in Belfast

Hi there!

It's been almost a week since I've wrote you another update... So here it is :-)

On saturday we went out for breakfast at Maggie May's, a really nice cafe. They have a really long breakfast/lunch menu, from bagels to gigantic burgers.
I took the New York breakfast, which was cheesy eggs, a bagel and some bacon. Some of the other students were more adventurous and went for the Titanic Burger! Which looked amazing :-)
After a while we heard some young girls screaming and shouting... We had no idea what is was for until we heard our waiter say that J.K.Rowling was sitting in the other room... So, we went to have a look, and yes, there she was... (I have to admit, I wouldn't have recognized here if they didn't tell me it was her... )
I wanted to go and take a picture or maybe ask for her autograph, but I felt a bit sorry for her with all the screaming girls around her... So I just went back to my place :-)
But really, those girl were almost hysterical, I saw one girl crying when she got her HP book signed!! CRAZY :-p

(J.K. Rowling is the one sitting alone at the back :-p )

After our breakfast we went to the Ulster Museum, the national museum of Northern Ireland.
The museum contains skeletons of dinosaurs, Egyptian Mummies, an art collection, ..... It was all very nice to see, especially because it was pouring rain outside!
Really, I thought the weather in Belgium was awful... Up here it's even worse! It rains nearly every day, sometimes just a little bit, 10'' later you get soaked, another 10'' later the sun is shinning....
So for those of you who come and visit me, be warned. Bring rain clothing with you :-)

After the museum we went to the center.
Just for a little while, because we were all pretty wet. There I had my first Primark visit... I've got to say, I'm not that impressed... The building itself is BEAUTIFUL! But for shopping... I don't know, maybe it was a bit disappointing because I heard so many great things about it...

In the evening we went to a very nice pub. It's hard to explain, when you go through the pub, in the middle, there is like a 'secret garden'. It has all these little cosy places to sit; you are sitting outside but it feels as if you are sitting inside... Like I said, hard to explain. If we go there again I'll try to take some pictures. And for those of you visiting me, I'll take you there :-)
After the pub we went to a club. Since it was the first club I've been to I can't tell if this is how they all look, but you definitely can't compare it with the clubs in Belgium.
You have to pay to enter the clubs (this one was £7) and all the drinks are pretty expensive. For a G&T I payed £5, but you could hardly taste the Gin, so most people take doubles here...
Anyway, it was a very nice evening. But at 3 O'clock the clubs close/stop serving alcohol (the pubs here stop serving alcohol at 1 O'clock)...

Yesterday we went to the cinema, on Tuesday you only pay £3,5. We went to see 'The wolf of Wall street'. It wasn't a bad movie, but 3 HOURS!!! Way to long! At one point it got really boring... And there was no break either...
But, it was nice to go the cinema :-)
The cinema is placed in the shopping center, it would be like having a cinema inside the Zuid... A bit weird, but very handy :-)

I think that's it for now :-)

Cheerio :-)

1st week at St.-Mary's

Hello everybody

So, my first week at St.-Mary's is nearly finished...
I gotta say, I really love that school! At first it took me some time to see what classes I could follow, what classes interest me and how many credits those classes are (so that I have enough credits).

I'm following three courses from the Erasmus program (Irish Cultural Landscape, Academic Writing in English and Reflective Journal) and 4 courses with the students of St.-Mary's (Literacy, Numeracy, Music and Art).
The Erasmus courses are very interesting to learn something about the Irish Culture and to improve my writing, but I'm really excited about my other courses. It's so nice to follow classes with the students at St.-Mary's and to see how they get lessons in numeracy, art etc.
It's interesting to see how they do stuff different and how some stuff is exactly the same as in Artevelde.
The thing I'm most jealous of is how well equipped there classrooms are. They have a numeracy and literacy center, a music room and an art class. The music and art class is similar to ours, with the difference that here it's all at the same campus, as for in Ghent we have to 'travel' to another campus across the city.

Today I got a chance to really observe the literacy center. Normally I had a literacy class at 9 am and a numeracy class at 10 am, but because of some reason (probably the upcoming school experience work ~stage) my classes were cancelled. So the first hour I spend in an empty classroom taking pictures and browsing through some of their work and resources.
They try to make the classroom look like a classroom in the primary school, with work from the students at the wall, lots of books to look in, some grammar and writing tips at the walls, .... Also the desks are placed in groups of 6, so not the classical positioned desks in a row like we have. This gives the class a very 'comfortable' feeling, and it makes it a lot easier to work in groups.
And because all the materials are always available in the class, it makes it easier for the students to do their work.
At Artevelde, we don't have classroom especially for literacy, numeracy, geography, .... So when we have a literacy class for example, the teachers always have to take the resources to the classrooms, which makes it harder for them and we get to see less.
I really think that's a huge loss at our campus.

At 10 am, when I normally had a numeracy class (which also got cancelled), I went to the literacy class of the other group (for some reason half of their class was in school).
But because only half of the group was there, the teacher couldn't give the lesson she prepared and we could go home.
So in a way, I got to school for nothing, 'cause I couldn't follow any of my classes, but it was so nice to look around in the classroom. And also, in the second literacy class there are two students who went on Eramsus last year to Artvelde in Ghent!! So it was really nice talking to them about their experiences. And of course they loved Ghent, who wouldn't :-p
So I'm looking forward seeing them again next week in class.

In a nutshell, my first week at St.-Mary's was very nice!

Aside from school, I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't done much yet, I haven't even seen the town center ...
But normally we're going into town this afternoon, so that should be good :-) Then I'll be able to tell you how the town is and perhaps I can show you some pictures...

So for now, that's all.

I'll post some pictures from the literacy class for those of you who are interested, or for my fellow OLO-students to show what we're missing out on :-/
(There are two classrooms in the literacy center, I took some pictures of both.)

Bye bye and take care :-)

B-day drink

Hi there

A very short blog tonight.

An Erasmus girl had her birthday today and we all went our for drink in a pub.
It was very nice, but going out for a drink is quiet expensive! A pint of beer easily costs £4, which is about €5...
The pub itself, again, was very cosy and so nice to sit in.

As I said, a very short blog this time :-)

Bye Bye

2nd day in Belfast

Hello again.

Just got back from an evening in a lovely pub. It was open mic night.
Basically what it is, is that people just bring their guitar, or flute, or some other instrument and sit together and play.
One of my flatmates also likes to play the guitar and sing, so after a beer or two he got up and sat with the other 'playing' guys and played with them.
It was such a nice evening!!!

Today it also was my first day on campus.
It's a beautiful old building, which to me, on the inside, is like a maze. It'll take some time before I know where all my class rooms are :-)
At St.-Mary's they have classes for the regular students (primary and secondary school) and some extra classes for International students.
I already followed two classes, British history and Irish cultural landscape. Two classes mainly for the Erasmus students. Tomorrow I'll have Numeracy, a class for the regular students. So then I will meet some local students. Very exciting!!

For those of you who knew that there were some problems with the housing placement, today I asked if I could stay in the house I was put in temporarily and they approved!! So now I'm staying in the best Erasmus house!! (a large kitchen, two showers and a bathtub, two toilets, and most important: Wifi!!) Whoop whoop for me!!


That's all for now.

See you next time ;-)

Such Fun!!

Arrival in Belfast

Hello everybody!!

This afternoon I arrived in Belfast! My trip here was very good and actually pretty fast, in 4 hours I was in town.

Now I'm staying in a house with 4 other Erasmus students; a guy and a girl from Germany, a Swiss girl and a guy from Belgium.
The house is awesome!
Normally this is just a temporary stay, next weekend there will arrive another girl, and I'm kinda in her room for the moment.
But we'll see how everything turns out.

I didn't do al lot today, a regularly relaxing sunday. I did some first grocery shopping in a place I like to call Heaven! It's like a big supermarket, but they have everything there... I think you can compare it a little with Carrefour, but cheaper and with more different brands and stuff.
Of course, it's only the first shop I've been to, so maybe my definition of Heaven can still change (Yes, they do have a Primark here in Belfast!!).

When I arrived here, it was very sunny, but as our lovely Belgian weather, rain is always 'round the corner.
My first impression of Belfast was rather 'dead' and quiet, but that's probably because I only saw one or two streets, and on a sunday all the regular shops are closed (shops in the town center and shopping centers are open). And the rain didn't help the scenery either  :-)
I'm excited to see the town as well, maybe that's for tomorrow. From the house I'm in now, it's about a 15' walk.
A very strange, but convenient thing, is the 'Black Cab'. They just drive up and down the main road to the center. You just stand anywhere at the side of the road and put your hand out when a Black Cab is passing by.
VERY COOL :-)


For now, there's nothing much more to tell you.
Tomorrow will be my first day in St-Mary's University College, so that's exciting :-)
I already heard that the campus is really beautiful and has a lot of nice teachers :-D

So, now you all know that I arrived well and that my first day here already was a bless.

Bye Bye.
And until my next Belfast-update!!

:-)