Getting down to business

As it would appear, I have not written anything for a while. This is because of a couple of factors. Firstly, I have had a huge amount of project work to do and hand in, as well as revising for an exam I have on monday 25th, when I think Ethel also has her last exam and Jordi has his birthday (although, he informs me that this year he will not be dressing up as a woman).

For anyone that is interested, my arm is getting a lot better as well, I think I might even take off the sling during some of the day as well. I will have to see how this weekend goes first, as I am going up to the lake district with a load of other students where we will climb, walk and be merry (or just sit at the pub watching the others walk by). When I come back I should be meeting up with Jen (birmingham student studying physics in Mainz this year) who will be in Birmingham before her trip to Finland. Hopefully we'll have enough time to chat properly and to take my mind off the exam I have the following day.

Since my last posting quite a few things have happened. Most notably, Nuria (on ERASMUS in Birmingham from Salamanca) had 4 of her cousins come and visit her here (all female). We met up down the pub, and I also went with them to london on sunday, and pointed out some things they wouldn't normally see. I had a great time, and I hope they did too, despite the fact that they couldn't stay in the pubs later than 11pm :)

On a finishing note, a couple of news titbits. The Brit Awards were held last night, and saw acts like Dido, Destiny's Child and Kylie Minogue taking home prizes. On the awards theme, Great Britain took back their first medal (bronze) from the winter olympics yesterday, and are guaranteed either silver or gold in the curling tonight - well done to them.

I will duly keep you up to date on what happens over the weekend when I get back.

Fin.

Kung Hei Fat Choi

Or, in english, "Happy New Year".

Yep, you've guessed it, today begins the chinese year of the horse. Hence anyone being born in 1978 (after feb 12) should wear something red for good luck (chinese custom).

On a different note, Princess Margaret (sister of the Queen) died a few days ago. Condolences are offered.

As some of you may have noticed, the guestbook area has been closed due to renovation. Also, if the website was not working properly last night for you, don't worry, I was updating things and accidently 'went live' before I had tested it properly. Plans are in motion for improvements, but due to high project workloads, it might take a while yet. I will keep you posted.

On a final note, if anyone knows anybody from last year's ERASMUS year that I don't have an email address, please tell them to send me an email, as there will be login procedures for the website sent out to you once everything is upodated.

retiring for tonight...

The Reason

As some of you have been slowly finding out by reading my spanish page, I have been out of action for a bit. Now for those of you who require an english translation, I will spill the beans.

On saturday afternoon, after sleeping off all the caffeine of the borret that I drank before going to Mike's birthday, Andy and I made our way down to the gym on one of our weekly trips (it would be tri-weekly except we have commitments that clash). Helen came along too for a swim. Time seemed to fly by as we had spent nearly 2 hours exercising on the various equipment. There was a TV hanging down in the corner of the room, which was showing the England vs Scotland rugby match. If you positioned yourself well on a machine you could exercise whilst viewing the game. This is what I was doing as I reached up to grab the bars to pull down on. Just before my hands clasped around the metal, I heard a familiar (it happened 3 years ago as well) click as my shoulder dislodged itself from the socket. Waiting for the ambulance, supporting my arm as the muscles contracted and in so doing, spasmed, I could see people deciding that they rather wouldn't do any exercise any more.

To ease the pain whilst in the ambulance I was given a gas inhaler. I haven't yet found what the gas was, but it sure did work. Every time I could feel some pain I would just breathe in some more gas. In the end I couldn't actually feel my arm let alone the pain. Getting to the hospital I was enticed into different positions by being allowed a few more breaths of the gas before moving myself. If they could sell this stuff over the counter, there wouldn't be a single pharmacy that could keep pace with demand - it really worked !!

As happened last time with me, the shoulder couldn't be put back first time, and so I was given the extra dosage of 40ml of morphine. This therefore made any further recounts of what happened completely useless as I was on a different planet entirely. As I had so much morphine in me, I had to be kept under supervision overnight at the hospital. The advantage of this was that Accident and Emergency Nurses are really good looking. The disadvantage being that I couldn't get to sleep because of the other people in the ward crying out all night.

So, after 20 hours in the hospital (and a sunday lunch) I was set free to roam the streets again (ok, to go home and lie in bed).

Now you know why I haven't been able to write as much/quickly as before. I am slowly learning to clothe myself with one hand (shoelaces still being a problem), wash myself (had a full shower this morning), and cook some of the basics. But I think it will be some time yet before I can make myself a tortilla, and longer still before I return to the gym.

I will endeavour to keep up my postings, but if I do not get to write as much, you'll know why.

Let it be.

Breaking the Silence

OK, I just had to stop my concentrated studying mode that's gone on for the last week in to impart some essential news. Firstly though, I would like to wish all those in Valencia and Mainz the best of luck for their exams. I know that they have had a few already, but still they have more, and therefore need the wishes to keep them going.

OK, lots of things have happened in the news recently, so I'll just give a brief rundown.

Zimbabwe has yet again managed to pass a law to curb the freedom of the press and of any opposition against the present government. Yet another sign of decreasing human rights being perfectly displayed there then. Gold star for president Mugabe then (yes, that was meant to be in an ironic tone of voice).

On to Germany now, where two satanists have been sentenced to 15 years in jail for killing a man because 'the devil told them to'. In fact the girl claims to be a vampire who honed her skills in london 'bite clubs'. Haven't been to one of them yet, but when I do, I'll let you know.

Something a bit closer to home now, and the Queen was delayed in her trip to visit an RAF base when her car got stuck behind a tractor for 2 miles, and then a learner driver. The timed fly-past had to be redone as she missed the original one. Imagine looking in your rear-view-mirror during a driving lesson and seeing a parade of cars, with the Queen in one, trying to get past you. Wouldn't you just want to put your hazard warning lights on and try the three-point-turn right there and then?

Another blight in Belgium's system is the new sex-case scandal in Neufchateau where a man allegedly raped his three daughters (one when she was a baby) and prostituted another one at the age of 12 to the local townsfolk. Apparently the town was very close-knit and liked to help each other out. That would be why an electrician, a lumberjack, a car-repair man, a train driver and an antique salesman have all been accused of raping the girl. It just makes you think, if all the townspeople were involved (and I'm not saying that they were - legal statement) who could you turn to? It appears that her schoolteacher was the first person to be alerted. Of course it is not known whether the teacher accepted this excuse for not doing her homework (more fiction - legal stuff again).

Another clippet from good ol' Blighty is that a 26 year old biology teacher has been taken to court after allegedly having sex with a 14 year-old and 15 year-old pupil. It just brings a whole different meaning to practical lessons...

And lastly, but by no means leastly, two students in Manchester have started a website to petition against tuition fees, and to make Tony aware how many people are affected by leaving Uni with over 13,000 pounds debt (about 20,000 euros !!! ). The site is amusingly called "PayUpTony.com".

Now you've had your weekly read of what's been happening in the world, I will depart in the knowledge that Friday night is the birthday party of my friend Mike Kendel. So I will be partying long and hard tomorrow night in case you wonder where I am.

Ciao

Busy Day at the Newsroom

OK, 3 news clippets for you today. Smog from car fumes has become such a problem in the northern cities of Italy that they have actually banned cars completely on some days, and have an alternate-day policy depending on the car's registration number for the weekdays. All I can say is that it's going to be interesting to see who turns up at the office there. The best current method of solution seems like we're going back to witchcraft again: "Church leaders, led by the Bishop of Turin, have been praying for rain".

In the Basque region of northern Spain there are protests under way by the inhabitants against the bombing campaign that ETA terrorists are currently undertaking against journalists. More info from the this BBC page.

And finally, on a lighter note, an american woman on a plane to New York flushed the toilet before getting up and as the vacuum cleaned out the contents, it also stuck her in that position. Cabin crew could not get her out, and she had to wait 2 hours before landing when the ground crew gave a hand.

A quick change of topic; I signed up for the gym yesterday, and will now be getting back into shape after 6 months of doing nothing more than sporty writing notes during lectures. Oh, and if anyone is interested, I have put up my new timetable here so that you can SMS me during my lectures. Just don't do it during my exam !!!

New week, new labour (work, that is).

Some Other News

I thought I should also add a little news that wasn't about me, so checked up on a few websites I hadn't seen for a while.

The BBC reports that an AS-Level maths exam (taken by 18 year-olds) had an unanswerable question. It didn't just stop there, however. When the teachers phoned up the exam board to ask what they should do, they were told to make an announcement in the middle of the exam to correct the mistake. This would have been fine, it it wasn't for the fact that the correction was wrong as well !!!
Older generations might be complaining that the exams are getting easier each year, but did they have to contend with Maths examiners that couldn't add up? Or IT ones who distributed the results to the wrong people !!!

On another note Geir's website is introducing some worrying trends. In amongst the icelandic he writes in, the words Latex, Plastic, and Freud appear. Furthermore "Björgvin" seems like a locally based wine, based on the melodic charms of Iceland's most famous musician. I expect an explanation Geir !

As they say in the southern states, "Keep your piece". Handy, that is.

Free Weekend

Far away from the celebrations that would be going on in Valencia for the birthdays of Gloria and Agueda, I also had some fun this weekend. Nik, a german friend of mine, came and stayed for the weekend. We met up with Sophia and Rebecca and their lovely housemates for a balti (indian meal typical of Birmingham) at a local restaurant. Apart from us all drinking quite a lot, and Sophia telling a joke that nearly got us thrown out, we had some great food. We then went to a local pub for last orders where I met up with lots of people from my uni course as well. Afterwards we went back to theirs where we sat around chatting for a bit before leaving with Rebecca for a private house party, which a friend of a friend knew about :)

Saturday was spent mostly in front of music television and reading. The evening, however, was far from lazy. We started off at the local pub again with friends from my course. We stayed there chatting and drinking for about 2 hours. When everyone felt they had enough energy inside them, we descended on a club (discoteca for the spanish where club means something completely different) where they were playing rock and indy music. Despite the title most of the music was more popular than hard-core. Having never been to this club we were pleasantly surprised to see that there was lots of floorspace and there were places you could talk to each other (albeit shouting). Leaving at 2.15 in the morning we got a taxi back to where we live. Not to sleep, mind you, we went to 'Subway', a local filled roll shop. Here a special offer was on until 3am. Buy a drink for one pound and get a six-inch (15cm) roll with whatever fillings you want. So at 2.45am we promptly bought 2 drinks and a foot (30cm) of roll with various meats and salads. This was then taken back to Andy's, Griff's and Ben's where we consumed it whilst watching TV and chatting. At 4.15 we left the house and finally got to bed at 5am. 10.30 saw me wake up and watch even more music television whilst finishing my magazine. After dropping Nik off at the coach station I returned to do some more reading, washing and chatting on the internet.

The reason behind this escapade was that we had just handed in our project on the friday, and before the new one starts (this week) we wanted to be able to enjoy ourselves.

Well, I'll await more emails detailing what you have done this past weekend as well.

'til the 'morrow

Important Virus Warning

This posting is mainly to warn you of a hoax virus warning spreading by email. The email claims that a file sulfnbk.exe in the windows directory is a virus and that you should delete it straight away if you find it. This is not true. It is not a virus, but in fact a file windows needs to recover after the computer crashes or it has been infected by a real virus. DO NOT DELETE IT. You can find more information about it at the Symantec Antivirus Website.
Furthermore, you should contact the person that sent you the email and tell them this information so that they can warn the other people they sent it to before they all corrupt their computers.

I hope you all sleep better at night now :)

Films and Timetables

Just come back from the cinema now (well, midnight anyway). Saw two great films. The first one was a french one called "Doberman" which was very brutal but amazingly produced, and starring Monica Bellucci. The other was a mexican film called "Amores Perros" which was really well scripted. Needless to say I came back in a very good frame of mind, just cooked myself two mini microwaveable pizzas and eating some chocolate.

As always, but definitely more so this year, my timetable has been messed around and there are some very important clashes. Namely that they coincide with my Catalan lessons. This is a problem. I'm hoping they will change again so that I can still go to the class, but more likely than not I will only be able to attend the final thirty minutes after my lecture finishes. Fingers crossed that this will not affect my learning too much.

Have been busy chatting to lots of people this week with MSN Messenger. Namely Jordi, Alberto, Elena Carasco, Javi (the guy that moved into my room) and another Alberto (friend of Jordi), oh and last but not least, Ethelvina. It really brightens up my day to do this, I only hope it continues further on into the year.

OK, I should really get some rest now so that I can do some revision in the morning.
Sleep tight.

New Photos and Weather Report

Still sorting through the huge pile of photos I have in front of me, but did find the ones from the final party in Hechtsheim where Ethel's mum came along. You can see them at Photos->Parties->Final Party.
There are also some other photos taken in the final weeks that might be of interest, go to Photos->Others->Final Shots to see them.

Although you might be outside sunbathing on the beach or wearing shorts, I am pleased to announce that the temperatures here have increased to a massive +10 degrees ! This is, admittedly, only because it is raining, but at least it's not so cold any more.

The new term starts tomorrow so back to revising now. Ciao.

Happy New 2002 !

Yes, it's finally here, another year goes by and we ask ourselves what we have actually managed to achieve in the last 12 months. This is usually answered with a resounding "nothing". However, this year I want to stand up and say that I finished an amazing 12 Erasmus months and got to know some really nice people. In fact this new year will signify a new beginning to me - I don't know how yet, but it will.

I am finally up in Birmingham for good now, managing to chat with Jordi, Javi, Alberto (Jordi's friend) and Elena Carasco over the internet at night. In fact I seem to be chatting all the time...

Apart from working at the international office of my university again, I am basically trying to catch up with work for this following semester, which promises to be very hard considering it's my final one.

Went and saw "The Lord of the Rings" tonight with Rebecca. We both enjoyed it very much. Despite not having read the book yet I have to say it really was a good film. Worth seeing.

Another question is up in my poll section if anybody is interested in voting, and Jordi is updating his website on a regular basis as well.

OK, got to go and get some shut-eye.

Wishing you all the best for this year.

Extra Bits and Bobs

A few more things that I have now remembered.
Whilst in Rome we visited a school to pick up a friend of Daniella who was visiting her sister. However, it proved difficult as the gates were locked. After ringing the bell, and telling the operator who we were visiting we were allowed in. On entering the school I was in for a bit of a shock. Children were running around the corridors, standing around, doing as they wished. And there were no teachers in sight. Later on I was informed that it was a student occupation, that occurs about once a year in Italy. I can't remember what they were protesting about, but they basically took over the whole school and wouldn't allow teachers in. Even though this action is illegal, nobody seems to mind as it always lasts only 5 days, generally right before christmas so that they have an extended holiday. This got me thinking that we never have any decent student revolts in England any more (remembering those TV pictures of the 60s).

As everyone knows, I like my food. So I decided to bring back some typical products from Italy for my parents for Christmas. This included a Panettone (light bread with raisins and orange in it) which we are currently eating, some Turrone which is yet to be started, some coffee which I will be drinking on returning to Birmingham, and a bottle of lemon liquor. I also managed to cook Spaghetti a la Carbonara for my family last night, which turned out really well.

Any of you wanting to know what I'm doing for new year (yes, Jordi, I got your 3 SMSs sent from my website) I am still awaiting a cheap price offer on tickets, so cannot guarantee anything yet. However, as some of you have mentioned in the voting page of this website that you want to spend new year with me, if you see any special offers, please let me know. I am open to going anywhere (well, not Afghanistan) as long as someone else will be there (it's a bit boring on my own).

OK, that's about it for now. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (if I don't see you beforehand).

Rome and Lots of Other News

After a few time problems, I am now able to update you on what has been happening over the last week or so.

Rome

So I spent 7 days in the capital of Italy. So what? These were no ordinary touristy sightseeing days. These were friend-keeping days !
I arrived at Rome airport to be met by Giulia and Daniella in her car and started what was to be an insight into their typical lifestyles.

Most mornings were spent at the the Second University of Rome "Tor Vergata" studying alongside Giulia. When I say studying I don't mean in a library in silence with no breaks, oh no, I mean in a classroom being able to talk, play cards, smoke and go to the bar for some lunch whenever you want. Of course, a lot of studying did get done by us (yes, I too have to study on holiday), but in a much more relaxed atmosphere than in England.

Daniella was working most days (not the weekends), but still managed to go out to pubs with us in the evenings. Chiarra works some days too (3 a week, I think) but came out with us, as did many of their friends.

It is hard for me to remember everything that happened on this trip, by I'll mention the most memorable moments here.
I slept at Daniella's for the first 4 nights (the bed kindly being donated by her grandmother), where I picked up a lot of italian, and practised a bit of english with her mother and brother. In fact, I got to talk quite a lot here as her mother managed to ask about 20 questions a minute, which got divided between Daniella and myself.
The following 2 nights I stayed at Chiarra's as Daniella had to get up early to work. Here I got to talk about football and politics with her father and take her dog 'Oliver' for a walk in the local park.
My final night I returned to Daniella's whilst my bags were left at Chiarra's (ie had to wear the same clothes again).

We visited a few of the pubs in the city centre, including a discopub called Geronimo's where Chiarra and I managed to put on a very fine dance.
We also got taken by Cynthia (I know I've spelt her name wrong, and apologise in advance) to a pub she said was always full and really cool. We were the only people there. Afterwards, she suggested a nearby bar where we would be able to find some people. We arrived there to find it closed for the night. We decided that her suggestions were not on the recommended list.
However, she did redeem herself when on my final night she took us to a pub underground called 'Transylvania'. This was themed on vampires, offered metre-long tubes of beer, and had semi-naked women getting the clients (male and female) to drink beer off of their bodies. Unfortunately, I was stuck with my back facing them whilst Cynthia and Daniella looked at them all night. They didn't get to our table though. Pity. After this we were then taken to a Bingo hall. We stayed for a few games, got very close, but didn't win anything in the end.

I got taken to many houses of friends, for the belated birthday of Daniella (Happy Birthday, by the way), and for some cream cakes just been brought back from Napoli (where they don't speak italian proper - only kidding). Got to know lots of new people, who I would all like to thank for such a great time whilst I was there, even if I can't remember any of there names.

Traffic. Now this is something that always causes great debate to foreigners - how bad is the traffic in Rome. Well, I would like to go down on record as saying that although it always seems chaotic, busy, disorganised, it is in fact a great factor that makes Rome what it is. Without the traffic the city wouldn't have as much of it's charm. I really enjoyed myself being driven around the city by the 3 italians, especially when Chiarra took me on her 'motorino' through all the traffic to the city centre and back to the university. If I thought that going on Jordi's 'Moto' at high speed through Valencia was an adrenaline rush, it was nothing compared with weaving in and out of some of the busiest traffic in europe on a small yellow scooter. What fun !

Trying desperately to think what else to talk about, the problem is that I enjoyed myself so much, even though it was not as action-packed as my last visit to Rome of 3 days. I ate some great italian food, both at the houses of Daniella and Chiarra, and in some of the local restaurants. We played some great arcade games in the games hall (including spot-the-difference from Mainz).
And of course the women. If it wasn't for the fact that I am a sensible young studious man, I would have run off with any one of the thousands of beautiful women that I met in Rome (known and unknown). It certainly proved that it wasn't just the hot summer weather that made them look good.

I also managed to take a few hours out in Bologna. Well, it actually took the whole day because of the train delays, but I did manage to see most of the city, the university buildings and the ambience that the city encases.

Well, as you can see, I really had an excellent time, and would like to thank all people involved for providing accomodation, food, chauffeuring services and great company. As I've said before, the offer is always open for you to visit my home country too.

A bit of other news

Laurent has got in touch to say that things are going well for him, he is studying, and still managing to keep on partying, but he is not intending to visit afghanistan in the next few weeks.

El Gordo, the biggest lottery in the world, was drawn yesterday. Unfortunately I didn't have a ticket. If however, any of you did, and it happens to be the winning one, please don't hesitate in contacting me so I can buy you a beer :)

Also, due to time and money pressures, I will only manage to send out email christmas greetings this year, but nevertheles wish you all the best for the coming year, and hope we will all meet up again soon.

Off to the grotto.

When in Rome, do like the Romans

As you can guess, I am now on my way to Italy. Well, I'll be leaving to get the train to get the bus to get the plane soon.

This semester officially ends on friday the 14th of december, so only a few more days to go anyway. The weather is definitely looking like it will be snowing soon ( -2 degrees predicted for friday in Birmingham ).

That's it for now, hope everyone manages to get back to their homes ok.

Later

Swiss Birthday

Yep, that's right, no sooner had you packed away the candles and finished eating up the cake, when along comes another birthday. This time in the form of our man Laurent's. Whatever he's doing, and wherever he's doing it, we will celebrate with him (okay, maybe we won't hitchhike from the middle of the road, but we'll give it a good go :).

So what have you been up to recently? Anything interesting you want to tell the rest of us ?
Just send me an email/SMS/phonecall and I'll let the world know.

Anyway, got to go, lots to prepare tomorrow.

Loves and kisses.

Birthday Wishes and Christmas Market

OK, I admit it, I have been a bit inundated with lots of things to sort out before this term ends and the snow starts falling.
But now I'm back with avengence.
Today is the birthday of Pili, Fernando, and Elisabetta, so all together now:

"Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Pili, Fernando and Elisabetta,
Happy Birthday to you"


I know we would all like to be there to celebrate with them, but unfortunately flights aren't that cheap (although I am working on that - look out for 'marcus lloyd tours' soon ! ).

What else then...oh yes, quite astounding, this. If any of you who were in Mainz last year visited all the christmas markets, you will know that the frankfurt one wasn't very good. Well, I now know why !

In Birmingham we have the Frankfurter Weihnachtsmarkt at the moment, which is really good (excellent Gluehwein and Thuringer sausages), which means that in Frankfurt is probably the Birmingham Christmas Market. That must explain it :)

Anyway, went to this market tonight straight after uni, met up with Sophia and Rebecca beforehand, and had a great night there. Spoke to all the stall owners in german (even the ones that didn't speak it !), bought lots of german sweet foody things, and had a few mugfulls of Gluehwein. Mmmmm. The market is here until December 20th, so hopfully I'll get chance to visit it again.

Well, that will be about it then, except to say that it looks like I have found my perfect course at the Universitat de Alacant. I am now just trying to sort out application procedures and a bit more course detail, but it looks like my most viable/preferred option.

So, off I trot, bye

Timetable

Due to the recent circumstances (you know who you are), I have decided to put up my timetable of when I am in lectures and when I am at work. This is not to discourage you from SMSing me at these times, just to warn you that I will not be able to reply until I have finished the lecture.

I am still getting up at 7am every morning, so if you really feel the urge to SMS me before you get out of bed, feel free. And anytime up until 1am as well. Just remember these times are GMT. You will have to add on another hour if you are in mainland europe.

okay, that's it for now, good to here Luca passed his english exam,

bye,

Only Me
Yep, that time of the week again when I say what's up, what's down, and what's just not making sense.

The project was finally handed in, so the stress has gone down.
My flights are now booked, I'm off from 13th to 20th to Rome, so less worrying on that account as well.
Have not got any emails recently, which is slightly worrying. Is anyone still out there? Anyone want to talk to me?

As I have yet to receive information from anyone abroad, I have no more news to publicise.

Till next time.

Catch-up

OK, where do I start? Am in the final week of my C++ project, which those of you who have programmed, will know, is a very stressful time, especially trying to get anything to work !!! However, despite missing a brazilian party on friday, and a spanish trip to cambridge, I finally did manage to take time out and see a video with Sophia and Rebecca on sunday night. Got back home to find I had been locked out of the house. Oh, what fun.

Looks like Jordi has been a bit busy lately. It's just a pity that Jen can't understand spanish, otherwise she might be able to elaborate on what Jordi mentions on his website :)

As for holidays. Some of you may remember me talking about going abroad for new year. Well that isn't going to happen, seeing as the prices are a bit high, and I'm trying to get myself out of the debt I've built up over the last months (mainly interrail).

However, I will be going to Italy around mid-december (13th-20th). This is mainly because of two reasons:
1) I am probably going to study a masters in Bologna next year, so want to visit the city before I decide.
2) To see the italians (Giulia, Daniella, Chiarra) in Rome, as it's been a long while without their company.
The specifics are yet to be worked out, but this is likely to be my last holiday until I finish my degree in July !!!

The only other opportunity to see any of you is if you come and visit me here in good ol' blighty.

Whilst chatting to Giulia about my trip, she got a phonecall to say that she is now an aunt !! Yep, we can now all offically call her "aunty Giulia" or, if you prefer "zia Giulia". So why not send her your wishes with an internet postcard.

Have luckily managed to find someone from Barcelona on the internet who is teaching, or rather letting me practise, my catalan. Hopefully I should be able to see the results before my first written exam next week !!

OK, that's about it for the moment. I'm sure more will happen to be told soon. In the meantime, sleep safe.

More Photos

Even though no-one sees fit to write to me any more, I have managed to put up some more photos from last semester. Go to Parties->Astafest to see the Mainz Student Union's summer party, Parties->English Girls Leaving to see how we celebrated Sophia and Rebecca going away, Birthdays->Diana for photos of her birthday party, Others->Wakeup Call to see the reactions of people when you wake them up the morning after a party, Others->Random Hechtsheim for various photos taken during the year, Meals->Mexican for Laurent's culinary delights, Meals->Big Breakfast to see how many people can fit round a breakfast table, and Meals->Roast to see Jordi's Roast Dinner he made us.

So enjoy.

Hold your horses

Just thought I'd write a quick note to explain that I have a lot of work on at the moment, in particular finishing my computing project for 10 days time. However, I am also making changes to the website. Some of them you will notice straight away (for instance the new layout of the photos pages - still being improved), and some of them won't become apparent until another feature is added that utilises the previous one.

So take heart, not all is lost. However, to scan in and publish about 500 photos from my interrail trip is going to take a bit of time, especially as it requires more server space than I can currently afford.

I do notice, however, that I haven't received any emails for at least a week, which means you don't have much time either (or you just don't want to talk to me).

Anyway, this wasn't a moaning entry, only an informative one.

So good writing.

Moi

Phoneline and Icelandic

Well, finally we got our house phoneline sorted today. That means we can now phone people without taking out a second mortgage (not that I've got a house of my own). This also means that I now have access to the internet from home, so no more late nights at uni trying to research something for my course, now I can do it from the comfort of my bed with a cup of coffee/hot chocolate.

Whilst taking full use of this internet access, I came across a webpage of icelandic slang. Take a look, and then send Geir an email :)

Brrrr

It's freezing here. Forecasters aren't expecting it to get into double figures (ie it will stay about 7 degrees maximum). Our back porch is now acting as a second fridge as we are able to keep milk and eggs out there. Will try making ice-cubes later on in the month...

Well, I'm off to warm myself up,

keep snug

Snow

So how's the weather by you? As anyone who has been in England over the last few days will know we are now in the grip of winter, temperatures barely going above 5 degrees. Snow has hit most parts of the country today, and Birmingham is definitely feeling it bad.

Might have to start wearing clothes (winter ones, that is).

As can be seen, Jordi has got his website running, but alas Jen (from Birmingham) is not yet ready to write one in English. Let's hope she changes her mind.

Lots of my time seems to be spent programming my C++ project and doing things for the web, but I should try to concentrate more on learning some of the physics this year, before it's time for the exams.

Got a great portable sundial (compass included) from Mavi. Unfortunately due to the snow there doesn't seem to be any use in the winter. Or maybe that's just another excuse for me to go over to Spain and use the sun there to tell the time. Or I could use it to help me get to lectures, although I think it may not be accurate enough to 5 minutes.

Posts on how I get on with telling the time this new way shall be forthcoming, so watch this space.

Well, that's about it for now, have fun,

Back in the UK and Jordi's Webpage

Well, after packing my bags (only took 5 minutes due to the lack of bringing anything with me because of the security at the airport) managed to get off to Uni on the local transport system that has been the curse of people arriving late for lectures all of last year. Subsequently checked times of the trains from Mainz to Frankfurt Flughafen, and then the buses from there to Frankfurt Hahn. It actually takes as long getting from Mainz to Frankfurt Hahn as it does from London-Hahn-London !!!! And nearly as expensive.

Met up with Jen (english girl from Birmingham - my replacement), Javi (guy from Madrid - replacement for my room), Jordi, and most of the other Erasmus people from last year (Fernando, Natian, Alberto, Jordi...) and this one (Eva, Nuria, Anna...) in what was to be my last meal in the institution that is THE MENSA.

As only the old Erasmus students will know, the dearly loved upstairs cafeteria was closed. Well, not any more. It actually opened on the monday I left !! Had a very nice capuccino (even if you do have to pay in Euros).

Then the fun started.

Caught the bus back to to Mainz Hauptbahnhof (no problems there). Got the next train to Frankfurt Flughafen (the station has changed - it's got an upstairs now and looks really new, but still not finished). Then waited for the bus to take us to Hahn. It arrived full, nobody got off, and so there were 20 of us standing in the isle, with our bags (no room underneath) as the bus drove for nearly 2 hours along the motorway (yes, one without speed restrictions). So by the time we had arrived, I could no longer feel my hand, and my legs were attached to the floor. I then got back to London in time to see the train to Birmingham leave without me, so had another 3 hours to wait at the airport (some of the time spent talking to my parents who had brought me my post and a cake). I then had a 3.5 hour train journey and finally arrived there at 00:40. Getting a taxi, I managed to make it home by 1.30, and took about another hour unpacking all my stuff. Still got in for my 9am lecture though !

In order not to let Jordi get bored by another year in Mainz, I devised a cunning way to get him to actually do some work for once, and to stop him telling me to keep on updating my website. Yes, that's right, Jordi now has his very own, brand-spanking-new, donkey-punchingly fantastic webpage !!
You can check it out at http://www.uni-mainz.de/~garciajo.

OK, that's it for now, as I have just come out of spanish class and need to get home and eat something finally. Oh, in case you didn't know, it's national curry day today, so do your bit for the nation and eat a vindaloo tonight.

I think condolences should be handed out to Mavi though, as when we phoned her as the clock struck midnight for her birthday, she could hardly talk properly as a result of having her wisdom tooth taken out the day before. Another one comes out just before christmas, so you can feel even more sorry for her then.

Anyway, got to grub, see ya

Birthday Wishes

Thanks to all of you who sent me wishes for my birthday. Unfortunately my phone refuses to let me read my messages abroad, so I have to use someone else's phone to find out if I have received any.

Well, Having a fun time in Mainz at the moment. Good to meet up with a lot of last years ERASMUS students. Of course the moment I arrived here I got stuck in the backlog of paperwork and bureaucracy that is Germany. Never mind, I've officially signed out of the country now. So I don't care.

Have fun.

Marcus

Bon Dia and SMS Function

Em dic Marcus, soc de Anglaterra i visc a Birmingham. Tinc vint-i-dos anys. Aquest es el meu diari:

Yep, that's right, the catalan classes have started, and oh what fun they are. I really am considering doing further study in this field as it interests me so much.

As you may have gathered from the title, the SMS function is now working again, so you can send me messages to my mobile phone to keep me awake during lectures.

Well, got lots of other work to do now,

ciao

Busy Times

Managed to phone a few of you last night with my new international telephone card. Didn't last long though. I talked to Elena P, Gloria, Giulia, but everyone else was engaged all night !! That is, all except Mavi, who sounded like she was in a bar or a disco (new job or just partying?) because I couldn't hear a thing she was saying (although maybe the phone was at fault).

Well, you may not have noticed anything new on the website yet, but I promise you will soon. In the meantime I can tell you I have signed up for Catalan lessons (not just the language, culture studies as well), am still working at the international office every spare moment, and have lots of physics classes to go to and work to do for them.

All going well, I might even manage to sign up for the gym this week!

Apparently, Jordi's computer is now working again properly (until he installs those games again :)
Classes have started in Valencia, and Gloria, Pili and Ethel are now going in to lectures. Mainz apparently doesn't start for a bit yet (2 weeks?), but I will be keeping you up to date when I hear anything.

OK, that's it for now. Have a great time wherever you are, and drop me a line (or email) to say what's happening where you are.

Signing off.

Lacking in time

So, I even managed to beat my last record for not writing for over a week. This could be because of one of three reasons:

1) I have too much work to do and never seem to find the time to enjoy myself.

2) I am going out too often and am not sober enough to see the computer, yet alone use it.

3) I forgot.

Well, in fact it's a mixture of the three. Time seems to be flying by and I have lots of lectures to attend, but also seem to be managing to go out a couple of times in the week, but whilst trying to keep up to date with emails as well, I really haven't had a restful moment.

This will change.

From now on (as much as I can) I will be doing as much of my work as I can in as soon as I can, and not be spending too much time on the internet searching for things that I aren't that important. Also, I will be devoting more time to updating my website (which seems to be on the back-burner at the moment).

So, if you have any ideas how I can improve the website please email me and I'll try to incorporate them.
Also, if anyone knows of a free Email to SMS service out there that works could I be informed, as my old one stopped working.

Well, that's it, there (hopefully) will be more going on in the near future, and I will not have to listen about how lovely the weather in Spain is whilst I'm stuck here in Birmingham.

Bye for now,

Stress

OK, a short rundown on what's been happening recently. I have moved into my house in Birmingham where I am living with four lovely ladies (they forced me to say that). Am presently working all day at the international office of said uni. The phone company hasn't given us a line yet, so we can't access the internet at home (nor phone anyone), and my mobile phone company has cut off my phone so you can't contact me either.

So, I'm not having too much fun at the moment. In fact, I barely have time to cook when I get home before going off to bed.

To completely top off the week so far, the company who I gave my photos of the 'Tomatina' and all the parties in Valencia to have now closed down, so I might not ever get my photos back either !!!

So, I'm just going to go back home and sulk, I think. Nothing else to do really.

Hopefully the next update should be more positive.

OK, my excuses are running out now, I think I might just apologise that I haven't written here for a long time and let it be.

I did arrive back from my holiday on Lundy (an island in the Bristol Channel) a few days ago, and have since been sorting out all my things to go up to birmingham once again. But seeing as I still haven't unpacked from returning from germany, let alone spain, it needs a lot of time.

There are some great things in store for this website, all I'm hoping is that I can get most of them done before term starts and I have to study again. My photos of Spain are finally back, yes, all 1000 of them ! There will be a careful selection procedure before putting them up on the web, but as you can see by the shear number of them, it might take a couple of weeks to get them sorted.

So I'm going up to london tomorrow evening to see a few friends from uni and school, and then friday I leave for birmingham. Suppose the weather will be just the same there as her, namely raining all day, and no sun in sight.

OK, that's about it for now, let's hope everything goes smoothly.

Over and out.

Back in the saddle

Well, finally got on a bike for the first time in over a year, and am addicted once again. Will have to get mine fixed though before I get to uni.

Now a big thank you to all the (ERASMUS) people in Spain that made my trip out there so memorable. It really made a great occasion at the various parties, meals, cinemas (?). I hope we will be able to arrange a repeat in the near future. As there were so many of you I will not mention names now, but leave that for my diary of my holiday, which I will put up once I get back from my other holiday in 8 days.

Well, goodbye for now, and don't forget to check back soon for the full lowdown on this holiday (or send me an email if you would like to ask any questions that I won't cover on the site).

Back in Blighty

OK, time seemed to go by a bit too quickly so that in the end I couldn't put my diary online. So I'll just have to have it linked to soon once I've typed it all up.

I am now back at home (South Heath) until I go on a little relaxing holiday with my parents from friday. I had an excellent time in Spain, and really am going to miss all the people that I met up with (and those that couldn't make it). I only hope that some of you are also going to be coming over to see what England has to offer (Gibraltar not included).

Well, with the sadness still running through my mind, I will return to tell of great tales in the country that is Espanya.

Interrailing in Spain

Well, a brief note to those of you unaware to what is happening with me at the moment.

I am presently underway across spain with my brother with the famous interrail ticket. We have seen a lot of spain already, and have plans to see the rest of it before the 31st of August, when we return to England.

A more detailed note will be sent shortly

A few brief notices

Yes, it is still raining here in England, mind you not the whole day, just the bit when you want to go outside.
So what has really happened to the summer weather then? Has good old Tony gone and sold it off to some third-world nation just so that he can say we are giving aid? Then again is the lack of support for reducing the cost of medical treatment/drugs in poorer countries just that? - we are keeping them with AIDS, not helping to get rid of it.

Another news clippet you might have seen or heard today is that the "Real IRA" have yet again viciously bombed our capital trying to maim and kill as many people as possible. This time they packed a car with so much explosives that it blew away an area of over 200 metres !!! And to think I was passing nearby soon afterwards.

And Bush manages to ruin another pact of 56 nations that has been going on for 7 years with a simple "no". He doesn't agree to a biological weapons treaty. Nice to know that the world's richest and most powerful country doesn't care about the environment nor cares about the sick nature of these sorts of weapons.

OK, that's me over and done with todays little voices. I will be back, hopefully with something more pleasant to say, tomorrow. Sleep tight.

As you can see by the reduction in frequency of me writing here, there has not been that much going on here. I am busy organising all sorts of things, and still haven't unpacked any of my bags.

And just to make things even better, it has been raining all day. Yes, that's right, we're at the height of summer and tonnes of water are coming out of the sky. Just as well I stayed at home then.
To make matters even worse, I can just imagine all the people in their respective countries relaxing in the sunshine on the beach. Unfair.

Well, a bit of news for you anyway. Apparently we're not drinking enough beer (we're still drinking more beer than soft-drinks, but less than before). Find out more from the bbc.

Okay, that's it for now, I'll let you get back to your fun in the sun.

Back Home

After a long 2-day journey in the car, going through germany, luxemburg, and france to england I arrived back home this evening.

I hope friday night was good for everyone. Unfortunately, I was dead due to exhaustian from packing all afternoon, and so did not get to see all of you before you left. I did come down and see as many people that were left, and was even visited in my room as I was finishing packing. However, despite all that, I still enjoyed myself, and wish you all the best for the following year - wherever you may be. I definitely will remember this year as the best one I've ever had, and will never forget any of you.

Signing out for tonight

Last entry from Germany

Not wanting to say very much (I know that's very unlike me) I thought I'd just inform you all that this is my last day at the Uni here in Mainz. Tonight my parents are coming to pick me up and we return tomorrow morning to the beautiful country that is England.

Therefore there is a big party in Hechtsheim tonight. Everybody is invited (although I have to draw the line at the police), and if they could bring a bottle it would definitely be a good thing.

In the possibility that I don't write anything on this site for a while, don't fret. It takes a couple of days to get back home, then I've got to unpack, but I will be here again beforenext wednesday.

Hope everyone else that's leaving after me has a good trip, and we'll see each other soon.

And if you haven't given me your contact details, write them in the form that is on the "Email" page of this website.

Signing out.

Sooner than some people would want, I suppose, but here I am

OK, a very brief summary, as you will find out I don't have a lot of time today. There is a picnic in Sudbahnhof which is probably happening right at this minute. I will be getting down there as soon as I've collected my schein. Tonight there is a cocktail evening at Ethel's place, with guest appearance from her mum. Last night Mavi came round and cut my hair again. Send your condolences/congratulations to her/me now.

And onto some news:
A catholic priest has managed to clear someone from a murder charge in America by claiming that someone else confessed to the murder 16 years ago. There will almost certainly be an appeal, but that's not the end of it for the priest. In doing so he has sacriliged the art of confession. It seems like an interesting topic, so say what you think.
It has also now been proven in Japan, that 30 minutes of passive smoking harms your heart, giving it spasms and stopping it from functioning properly for a while.
So do you think smoking should be banned inside all public buildings? Find out in the new poll section.

You may notice that I'm quite busy at the moment, and so don't have a lot of time to write here. This is because I am leaving on saturday morning for the good old UK.

I do, however, have time to read emails and messages in my guestbook. Also I'm managing to keep up to date with the news. Speaking of which, I would like to bring your attention to a nwe virus/worm that is circulating the net. It is very clever, and it's for that reason that I'm talking about it here. It's called Sircom, and it only requires a windows machine for it to infect it. Also, because the name of the file and message randomly changes, it is quite hard to track down. The best way to avoid it, as always, is not to open attachments from anyone you know unless they refer to them in the email, and the email looks like it has been written by them. Anyway, more detailed information can be found on the link above.

As a total surprise Blanca is back here until the 15th of August, so if you're around come and see her again. People are leaving tomorrow as well (eg Elisabeth) so better say goodbye before it's too late.

Well that's me done for the moment. I'll be back again soon.

Now you will definitely be wondering what I'm still doing on the web. Not too long a story, so here goes:

Whilst leaving the ZDV, I met Geir on his way in. I duly summoned him to give me some help with the problem I was having with my guestbook. He put me in the right direction, and after a few trial and errors, I came up with the result that is now linked to under "Guestbook".

So, after my 12 hour stint in front of this computer, I think it well and truly time that I leave this building and try to get some colour into my skin once again.

Website Update

OK, you may not know this but I've just been in the uni computer room since 8.30am on a saturday, and it is now 5.15pm.

What have I been doing, you may ask?

Well, I've been changing the site behind the scenes that it works a bit better, and is less reliant on Mainz Uni. This is important, as when I leave to go back to the UK I will no longer be able to use anything on the uni website. Nearly everything has been changed now, just the guestbook to go.

I have also bee implementing the project that Geir and I completed. You will not see the effects of this until it is completely set up, but keep your eyes peeled, it'll be up within a week.

Also, as a new feature I have a poll section. This means, that each day I can put up a new question for visitors to my website to vote on. The example one asks if this is a good idea. If you think so, I will improve it and change the questions on a regular basis.

OK, my brain's been drained now, got to find some sunlight.

Job Search

Due to his previous company going into receivership, my dad is now currently looking for work. If you are interested, or know someone else who might be, please forward a copy of his CV and covering letter to them.

Yesterday saw the farewells directed towards Sofia and Rebecca when we went out to have a drink. Starting off as Geir, myself and them two, we were soon to be joined by Laurent. We did a short pub crawl, yet drunk enough for a long one. Well, Sofia will be back at her home now, having eaten a roast dinner cooked by her mother. So I don't think she'll be missing any of the german food then.

Slowly piling up my stack of 'Scheins'. Today I was presented with the particle-detectors one, as well as my Dutch one. Only another two to go (and a little work for one of them).

However, tonight we have the semester-end party in the Muschel and the medicine students party in the Studihaus. So we should have a great time with the people that are still around.

Anyway, being slightly pressed for time, I will endeavor to return tomorrow.

Byeeeeee.

Sleeping and leaving

Got to bed at a reasonable hour last night, only to wake up at 11am. Seeing as my last spanish class started at 12, I quickly got ready and left. Whilst waiting for a bus to take me to uni, I bumped into Sandra who told me about a factory that had caught fire close to the Wohnheim. The police came around with loudspeakers at 5am telling everyone to shut their windows and doors to prevent the toxic fumes from coming in. However, seeing as I, along with lots of others, slept quite well without hearing any of this, our windows were left open.

Well, it's time to say goodbye to a few people this week. Sophia and Rebecca both leave on thursday and friday respectively, Laurent disappears on friday as well, as does Pili.

Slowly the circle dwindles until it is no more.

One last thing. On the 20th-22nd July there is the 3rd annual beerfestival in Mainz, so if you're in the area, pull up a stool.

It was Diana's birthday on saturday (26), and so after having a bit of a birthday party at her place we then went out to the Mainzer Kollege Bar for the evening. Fun was had by all.

Well, seems like everybody is busy revising for exams, and desperately trying to finish off their essays to hand in this week, so nothing much more to say.

Todays events

Woke up today very early to try to finish one of the books, and read the other one on the tram. Talk about last minute revision. Had an oral exam on Friedrich Dürrenmatt at 9am on Friday 13th. Great. In fact, it was. I got a 1,0 which is the highest grade there is. Anyone ever feel like they are studying the wrong subject???

I even ate some nice food in the Mensa !!!
But that's where the day stopped being good to me. But I'm not going to spoil things and say why it went bad after that.

This will be the last weekend here for some of the erasmus students (including Sophia and Rebecca). So there should be some celebrating/mourning going on tonight.

Monday should see Geirs and mine web-project come into being.

Small but perfectly formed

This entry is only to say that people are suddenly realising how little time they have got left here, and are desperately trying to finish off all their necessary work before the week is out. Of course this means there are also exams, of which my german one is this friday (13th) at 9am, which should be fun, especially conisdering I haven't read the book about which I have to talk. Never mind.

On another note, there has been a sudden spurge of cases of Legionnaire's disease in Murcia, which, if you had see all my photos, was a place that I visited on my trip to spain this year. The disease is said to be pneumonia like, but carried by polluted water. Well, considering the smell that wafts up from the river in this city, I'm not surprised.

Anyway, going to try and get some work done.

Just to keep you updated, I had a great time in Munich, despite no-one coming on the saturday to meet up with me.

Also, it seems like there is a big problem in the email messaging system, and I reckon that no-one understood my last email (even the bit that said if you wanted it in your own language) so I will have to do something about that. Also, I get back to Mainz only to wake up this morning with the biggest hay-fever symptoms ever. My eyes and nose have been giving me nothing but pain all day. Anyway, enough of my moaning (ok, one more - I can't log into my email account today to check any messages).

Hopefully tomorrow will bring better news.

End of work and Coincidences

So I just came up out of the bunker that was the MAMI. It is presently being disassembled to make way for a better set of magnets. After spending a good 10 minutes cleaning my hands and getting all the grime out of my hair, I am now a free man. Yes, that's right, I have now finished all the necessary hours for the month of July, and therefore for the rest of my contract. At last I can rest a little during the week in the knowledge that I won't have to get up too early.

Last night was the Fiesta Latina at the studihaus. It could have been good, but I wouldn't know, as I had to get up early this morning. IInstead I went out to the cinema with Mavi. Originally intending to see Lara Croft, but ending up getting there too late, we went instead to have an ice-cream in the town. Walking along to Schillerplatz we sat down on the benches (usually used for the drunken old men to leer at the people going by during the day), and were chatting, when a man came up to us. Without spending too much time I suddenly realised that this man was in fact my head tutor of physics of my university (birmingham). It was quite a surprise too see him there, especially as we were not originally going to be there. Coincidences are always happening. The thing to think about is - are they just coincidences, or is fate having a go at organising your future. You decide.

This will probably be my last entry until monday when I come back from Munich. Should be fun. Have a good weekend.

What a load of Crepe

As mentioned before, last night I made some crepes. Not just a few, but a lot. I even managed to eat one :)

Despite the amount of work and exams people have got, we managed to get together once again and enjoy an evening of eating and drinking before we were forced to get some sleep to be able to get up for those 8am lectures.

Tonight sees the Fiesta Latina in the Studihaus, but it doesn't seem like many people can make it, as they have exams the next day. I have got to work at 8am, so that'll be me out for the count as well. I'll probably just end up going to the flicks.

A few interesting stories in the news today:

Even though the SE of the UK are having a 29° heatwave, in the west they have had huge storms and lots of rain, with cars being abandoned.

Also, apperntly new evidence shows that STDs can be transmitted through oral sex as well. Check out the info here.

And one last piece is that engineers have figured out why wind turbines don't work well at high speeds - the bugs get stuck to the blades.

that's all folks.

My Name

I am not going to continue to complain about nobody replying to me, except that geir was the only one who did, and he requested his email in icelandic. Now I've got problems as I only know one phrase in that language, and it's not the most polite of ones either.

On another note, it has been brought to my attention that some company has now bought up the rights to the domain www.marcuslloyd.co.uk, which makes it a bit annoying for anyone to find me in the search machines.

But, looking at their website, they seem to be saying some very nice things about me:

"Marcus Lloyd is able to work with clients at any stage of their Internet marketing campaign"

"From entry level online brochures to full-fledged e-commerce centres, Marcus Lloyd has worked with some of the largest corporations in the world to develop Internet marketing programs which yield results"

...commitment to quality and service has led Marcus Lloyd to a reputation among the top in this still fledging industry"

So now you know what other people think, why don't you tell me what you think?

Anyway, got to go and get some more stuff for the crepes tonight.

Surprise, Crepes and a bit of News

Well, despite a lengthy, thought-out, intellectual and mentally stimulating email to update visitors about this website, I have received a total of 0 replies, which even I, in my pessimistic capacity, didn't think would happen. So what's up? Did no-one receive this email? Or does no-one have an opinion? Or maybe you didn't understand it? If so, send me an email saying that you would like it in your own language and I will sort it out. That's what a nice guy I am :)

Another reminder about the Crepes evening tomorrow. People are invited to arrive from 10pm, having already eaten dinner, and bringing along something to drink (soft drinks are allowed as well). I will be slaving away in the kitchen until the wee hours of the morning helping to fill you up with some ingenious new concoctions that are crepes. So make sure you get off work/school/sofa on time and get yourself over to room 1145, building 4 of the Wohnheim Hechtsheim.

And finally, a brief look into the the world as it is today will inform you that the Co-op chain of supermarkets in the UK are taking on the might of the EU about the size of peaches. Yes, it really is that interesting.

So, tuck yourself up tight in bed tonight, cos tomorrow you ain't gonna get no sleep :)

Advance notice that on wednesday I will be doing crepes at 10pm, and you are all heartily welcome (although you are invited to bring along drinks).

That's it.

Last batch and Latest News

No need to hold your breath an longer, the rest of my photos from Rome have now been put up. I might have taken a bit of time, but as you can see, it has been worth it. Also, there are photos from Osnabrueck, more from Haarlem, and also ones from my trip to Berlin.

As mentioned before there was a big party here on friday night. We descended on it and kept it company until the light hours of the morning (6am for me). We had a great time, and although I didn't have much time to take any photos, the ones I do have should be quite interesting.

Well, as it's a sunday, I reckon I deserve my rest.

So that'll be goodbye from me.

More Photos and Prizewinning

Yep, as you can probably gather from the title, I have managed to put up more photos from my collection.

Now you can see photos of Haarlem, Rome (at night), Birmingham exam celebrations, and Sofia's birthday party.

By monday I should have the rest of the Rome photos for viewing.

Got a piece of post today, saying that the photo I entered into a competition has reached the finals. If selected it will be put into an expensive book ($60) and I could also win up to $10,000. Now which photo do you think it was?

Apart from that, we have the big one tonight. "Asta Sommerfest" is hitting the streets (well, the campus) and fun should be had by all.

On the news front today, it has been found out that the people helping to clear up the foot-and-mouth mess have themselves been infected by Q-fever.

Well, that's it for now, have a good weekend, and let's hear some of your thoughts.

Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, going to the wedding in Grenoble didn't happen in the end, as I would miss too much time off Uni and all the organising I have to do before I go back home. However, this does mean that I can use some of the time to sort out some website things as well.

So, the photos of the last big party and the various city visits are now available, I just need to get the load from Rome up (maybe tomorrow).

Biology party tonight.

Oh, any ideas for things to put on my website, or features to include, just send me an email from the supplied page, or send it directly to marcus.lloyd@gmx.net.

Photos are up !!!

Just a very quick log to say that the photos of Heidelberg in the snow, Koeln, Trier, Wiesbaden, the Hechtsheimer Sommerfest and my work are all now up for you to view.

More when I finish my class of Dutch.

Parties

OK, now you might have thought that the Johannisnacht party was the last for the moment. Well, it isn't. We now have the Forum/Inter-I+II halls of residence parties tonight on campus. Thursday is the biology departments campus party, and friday is the big Asta (student union) party. Sometime in between I presume people will be studying :)

L8r

Working Hard

As much as it's hard to believe, I have actually been working quite hard today. Apart from having lectures start at 8.30am (ok, got there at 9.30) I have managed to do some of the computing homework for one of my classes, half done excercises for another class for next monday, and am hoping to get somewhere with my website project with Geir.

Aren't you proud !?!

Update

Just found some of Geir's faithful coutrymen. Check out their page here.

Other interesting log of Caterina, a prawn porn site (yes, really !), and a bug-recipe site. All courtesy of this page.

Bye for now

Well, as you can all see, the photos are still not up. I didn't have much time over the weekend to do anything, and seeing that we have a Mainz festival going on at the moment, not much is getting done in the evenings either.

Never mind. I am hoping to get a new system set up by wednesday which should allow me to put up the photos easier (I know I've said this before, but this time I mean it), before I go off to a wedding on wednesday night (no, not mine - haven't found that special someone, you see). This should be fun in itself, as we are having to travel to Grenoble in France, and I probably won't get back until monday afternoon.

The only other thing is that there are fireworks tonight on the Rhine at 10.30pm which , although never going to be as spectacular as those in Valencia, should be fun anyway.

Well, that's it from me, off to my triathlon training before getting a swifty (drink, that is !) at the Taverna.

Quickie

Just a brief note before I leave to go to Haarlem to visit Olaf and Valentina Schippers for her birthday.

I had prepared a nice long entry (ok, not THAT long), but whilst I was at work the computer system crashed (bringing down all the equipment that is useful) and so everything was lost (as well as the MAMI not being able to work any more).

Anyway, more when I get back from this little excursion, and hopefully I'll have time to put the photos up that I've got developed from the Hechtsheim party and from Rome.

bye for now

Website Update and News

Unusual for me to be writing at this time of the day, I know, but I got called in on an emergency to cover a shift at work for someone who is ill, so I'll be here til 11pm tonight.

Firstly, my website is now in the lovely language of italian as well (as you can see by the links on the left hand side of this page). So, there is no excuse now for Giulia, Daniela, or Chiara not to visit this site :)

On the News front, scientists have discovered that if they play with the genes of mice, they can get their fur to change colour depending on what they eat. This must be great as a birthday present for your cat, although I dread to think what will happen to its fur once it has eaten the mouse !!!

On another side, apparently in london yesterday a 6-year old girl was held at gunpoint by 2 youths who demanded she hand over her ice-cream. Anyone get the feeling that the youth of today have just taken a little too far???

OK, that's it for now, I'm going to have to start doing something at work soon :)

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering (Mavi, Marilo...) I have now got all the photos from Rome, Berlin, and the Hechtsheim party from last week. Payments not to display certain pictures will be accepted in cash only :)

Geir and the S-Bahn

Finally Geir has managed to update his website again with his usual hilarious style, although I don't know if many of you will be able to understand his bit in icelandic (I'm still looking for a translator, by the way).

He does bring up a serious point to attention, though. That is that the public transport system here in Mainz has turned (at least semi-) private !
You can now hear little adverts when you stop at particular stations (which should be interesting for the stop outside 'Das Crazy' - "for all your physical needs").

So I thought it was my job to investigate further.

Apparently, the Stadtwerke Mainz has recently teamed up with Entega (a water/gas/electricity company) to form a semi-privatised company.

Delving deeper into the layers of sketchy information and reasons for conglomorating (basically - money), I discovered a few interesting facts.

Firstly, there is nothing stopping us from putting up an advert for Kurmainz Kaserne (although I think Geir's proposal might not be permitted). So I have emailed the person in charge and should hopefully be hearing soon how much it will cost for our little 'announcement'.

Secondly, amongst all these money-making ideas comes a little gem which is - hiring out a party tram for a few hours. It can take up to 35 people and would cost about 15 DM each for 2 hours, but we can choose the route - and therefore go straight through the Hauptbahnhof drinking bottles of beer with our music on loud. Anyone interested give me a bell, I think it would be agreat way of finishing the year off !!!

Getting back to the subject of privatisation of the trams, do we know where it will stop?? Will we get on a tram one day to find that instead of seeing the cars go by we actually see whole walls of video screens full of adverts with music playing in the background. It might get so bad that you just have to get off at the next stop to avoid a headache (and that's where you'll find yourself inside the newly built shop-in-path-of-tram).

What if they started spraying a buying-gas into the carriages whilst you were travelling? You would get off and buy the first thing that you saw (which happens to be really expensive and you don't need it).

Thinking more into the future, what if people started hacking into these advert systems, you could end up seeing a porn-film on every wall and have sex-gas sprayed around (although that sounds like a quite good idea :)

Enough of thinking - my head has done too much for today. Update as soon as I get a reply.

Nothing has happened?? What do you mean nothing has happened ?!?!?!

This is what happened:

Roma won their scudetto yesterday !!!

That means they are good !

Just thought I'd let it be known :)

Back from the city

So, I got back from my trip to Berlin eventually. Unfortunately, lke most places I visit, they seem to put all monuments that I want to take a photo of under repair, so for instance the Brandenburger Tor has a big Deutsche Telekom advert covering it so that you can't actually see the monument. Well, at least the government should be getting a load of money for it.

Am presently trying to change the format of photos, seeing as I have another 7 films to put up on the web, I need to find a quicker way. This should be resolved soon. Anyway, that's it for now, as nothing too interesting seems to be happening at the moment.

Goodbye.

Sommerparty and Music Tips

As mentioned before, last night was the big Hechtsheimer Sommerfest, and it weren't half big !

A stage was erected, lots of pub benches set up around the buildings on the grass, and a disco was organised in the bike-cellar. The music then started at 6pm, and if you were in your room at that time, you couldn't help but notice the cups and books on your desk starting to fall off. Yes it really was that loud. I pity anyone who needed to work during this time (i.e. Luca), as you could hear the noise from over a mile off !!

Well, the spanish group met up in Mavi and Marilo's place where we (I'm adopted, ok!) had some Borrett (cafe-liquor with coke) and sangria. Listening to the music through the opened window we chatted and generally enjoyed ourselves until everyone had arrived so that we could go downstairs and meet up with everyone else. So much for that. I have no correct statistics for the night, but suffice it to say that 2000 people were expected. It was therfore extremely difficult to find anyone amongst the crowd. The best way was to stay up on the bridges and send text messages to each other to say where we were.

The music wasn't bad, the food was definitely welcome, and the atmosphere was buzzing. At around midnight we ventured down into the disco, beating back the heatwave that was the non-air-conditioned underground room, and started to dance.

Up until about 3am everything seemed normal. Then we managed to get near some benches, and Mavi and Elizabeth (italian) took it upon themselves to introduce their shoes to the aforementioned furniture. Dancing on top of the benches, we were definiteley in the party spirit, and therefore were surprised if not disappointed when at 4am the music was switched off.

Needing no further help, we then continued the party by singing the famous spanish songs (Bomba, para no ver te mas, maricones...) as loud as possible. It wasn't long before the rest of the room were around us clapping as we went from one song to the next (still dancing, of course). Eventually, when the room had almost been cleaned out, we fell back to some oldies before finishing our performance. Some of us then thought, seeing as it was 5am, it would be a good time to get to bed, which we duly undertook. Or rather, we would have, were it not for the others deciding instead to continue the singing outside our windows.

So, all in all, this must have been one of the best parties that's happened in Mainz, and was very much helped by the fact that the following day (thursday) was a national holiday here :)

The photos will be put up as soon as they are all developed and I get any spare time (not much of the semester left now !).

Music News

Now on a not so dissimilar topic, there have been some tunes that I have listened to recently that I would like to recommend. Firstly a song that I first saw being performed on spanish TV in Valencia, and have subsequently heard it quite often on the german radio. It is called "Goodnight Moon", and is by a band called "Shivaree". It really is something different, and just lifts me up whenever I hear it.

The second song I would like introduce you to is one that I heard every night of my holiday in Rome when I was returning home with Giulia's in her car. It is by a man called "Vasco Rossi" and the song is called "Siamo Soli" from his album "Stupido Hotel". This piece of music really has to be a memory of my trip, and I am presently listening to it at least once a night. I recommend you go and listen to it right away (even buy it if you feel like it :)

Bits and Bobs

Well, I'm off to Berlin this weekend with Martin Kortüm (a friend from Stuttgart) and so will have even more photos for you to goggle at when I get back.

Crossing fingers for the people who have exams later today (friday), including Luca, Pili, Gloria and Ethel. Hopefully everything goes well.

Signing out for now,

Sophia's Birthday

Last night it was a certain english girl's birthday party. Her birthday is actually today, but she celebrated it last night in Gonsenheim (where she lives).

The alcohol was well catered for, and most people were taking advantage of this, and we had an all-in-all great time.

So if you happen to bump into Sophia today, wish her a happy 21st !!

The Wohnheim Hechtsheim big party is tonight, so there is no chance of me getting any sleep, but never mind. Report will be up tomorrow.

Caio

The last week

As you might have gathered by now, I went off back to the UK to see all my friends from my home uni finishing their degrees (and partying), before going off on a short holiday to visit some friends (and the city) in Rome.

Getting to Rome

Well lets start at the beginning. I had to catch a flight from London-Stansted airport at 7.25 in the morning, This meant that I would have to be there by 6.25, and there was no transport from where I lived at that time in the morning. I therefore relied on my good old contacts list, and organised to stay at William Garroods flat in Kentish Town (not far from Liverpool Street tube station, and therefore easy to get to Stansted airport early in the morning). Went out for a drink with Will and his flatmates (who are currently trying to organise a place to stay for the coming year).
Got to bed at about 1.30am but couldn't sleep very well because of all the police cars with sirens blazing going past the window. I did, however, manage to rest for a bit so all was not lost.

I caught the plane without any hitches (actually, the very nice-looking girl sitting next to me fell asleep on my shoulder for the 2-hour flight) to Pescara (directly east of Rome on the other coast), and landed around 10am. I then came across my first problem; to get to the train station. To achieve this one needs to catch a bus from outside the airport. Unfortunately, the airport being smaller than that of Frankfurt Hahn, there was only one cash machine. And it had run out of cash. So, needing to get money to buy a bus ticket, I went into the bank that was there as well. They were offering a 'special' rate of 2400 lira to the pound. Seeing as the actual rate was 3150 for that day, I politely declined. Eventually a member of the customer service personnel came round, and I managed to ask where I could get any money out. I was pointed in the direction of the hypermarché about 300m away from the entrance. After precariously crossing a main roundabout, I went into the Auchan and got my money, only to arrive back at the airport to find the bus had just left.

After waiting about 30 minutes for the following bus, I boarded and awaited to be taken to the main train station (which I was told would be the last stop). My suspicions were first arisen when the signs started showing the town Pescara crossed out, ie leaving the place. I managed to pluck up my courage and uttered my first quasi-italian phrase, asking a local kid where the station was. He looked a bit bemused, but eventually I got it out of him that we had passed it about 30 minutes ago. So I got off the bus, crossed the road, and waited for the next bus back (not bothering to buy another ticket, seeing as it would obviously be too much hassle in this desert-like area I was now in).

Not making the same mistake again, as soon as I saw we were arriving in Pescara I asked a man sitting behind me if he could tell me when I needed to get off for the train station. He said something along the lines of he's getting off there as well, so I sat back and enjoyed the rest of the journey. After arriving he took me towards the entrance, and on the way asked me where I was from and where I was going. He understood the "England" bit ok, but would not get that I was trying to say "Rome". I then tried explaining in spanish that I couldn't roll my 'R's, but he got even more confused. So I asked him if he spoke any english. "No" was the answer. Spanish? "No" again. He suggested french, which I gladly nodded my head to (even though I was desperately trying to bring back the words into my head). I then told him where I wanted to go, asked him why he could speak french, and whether there is anything in Pescara worth seeing. The answer to all of these were a face of bemusement. He didn't even utter a word of french. So much for that then. He did, however, take me to the counter and I managed to write down the word 'Rome' so he ordered my ticket. The only word he uttered after that was the platform number ("uno" is not that difficult to understand from the cashier, but never mind).

I then had a good 2 hours to wait before the train arrived to take me off to Rome. The journey should have lasted 4 hours, going through the mountains and across fields showing off the beautiful countryside that is Italy. However, I forgot the transport system was italian, and having never been in this coutry before, did not expect the 30mins delay we had before Rome. Giulia and Daniella were waiting for me on the platform when I arrived, and so obviously knew that it would be late.

Rome

From the moment I was taken by car back to Giulia's place, I was instantly in love with this city. The monuments that we passed were astounding, and I really felt there was definiteley a future for me here. I met Giulia's parents (the father being able to speak both english and spanish, and the mother just italian), had some lovely home-made spaghetti, before being taken off in the car by Giulia to meet Daniella and Chiarra and other friends of theirs.

We also met up with 4 germans that had driven all the way from Mainz to visit Rome, and we went together into the centre of the city for the night. Traffic is not a word that can be used to describe Rome (like fish don't say water). This is because there is so much of it, and it is so chaotic that you can't help but notice it everywhere you go. It took us about 10 minutes to get within the city limits, but about another hour to find a place to park. It really was busy.

Anyway, we went to a square called "Campo di Flori" where apparently there used to be a flower market. Here we bought some bottles of wine and celebrated one of the germans birthdays that was on this day. Lots of people in the square, all sitting around talking and drinking, and the atmosphere was really alive.

The following days I went off through the city visiting as many monuments as I could in the little time that I had in Rome. For the nights we met up with Daniella, some friends, and also with Chiarra, and visited some of the local night spots like the "Isola Tiverni" (very romantic).

There will always be certain things that summarise a place for you, and Rome is no different. The things that for me were the most typical of this city were the traffic, food, drink, ice-cream, stylish sunglasses, and the women. It really does have a lot of good things within the city walls.

Getting back home

Well, my plane back to the UK was at 11.30 on the sunday morning, and so on the saturday I decided to go into the train station in Rome and ask for the times of the train that I needed to catch to get there on time. The first one on the sunday morning was at 7am obviously arriving too late for me to check in, so it would have to be the night train then. Another problem. The last train on a saturday night going to Pescara was at 6.30pm arriving there at 10.30pm. Oh. It was now 3.30pm and I needed to get back to Giulias place, pack my bags, and get off to the station, buying presents to bring back on the way. Not very relaxing. We did, however manage it, even having a fish soup that Giulia's mum had prepared for me, before leaving, and buying a 1kg sack of italian coffee to take back home with me.

The train ride back was pretty uneventful, except that there was a guy sitting further back in the compartment playing his guitar and singing some traditional italian songs, which made the journey very pleasant indeed. I was able to stay awake throughout the trip by the fact that the coffee that I had bought manages to permeate the bags it was in and gave off a lovely smell for me to take in.

Arriving in Pescara, I was to find out that I was just in time for the last bus of the night going to the airport, and that all the youths were going into town (it being a saturday night). This information was given to me by a guy at the bustop from South Tirol who was now working in Pescara. He also told me that there was a restaurant at the airport, so I would be ok for getting some dinner.

Going straight up the stairs to the dining area, I ordered my fish-pizza (being a coastal town and all) a half bottle of local red wine, and sat down writing my postcards that I hadn't had time to finish in Rome. As I was finishing the meal I noticed that lights were being switched off (hinting to it closing), so I ordered my coffee, and after paying the bill I went back downstairs to organise where to place myself for the night

A security guard managed to catch me as I left the stairs pointing me towards the exit. He said that the airport closes for the night. So I asked if it was possible to stay over as my plane was the next morning, and being the kind man that he was, he pointed me to where two girls also seemed to be waiting for the night.

It turns out that these two girls were from Ireland (lovely accents), and had been working in a youth hostel-type place adjoined to the vatican. Well, we had a great time chatting about all things under the sun until they were feeling tired so got out their sleeping bags and went to sleep on the floor (the seats having annoying armrests making it impossible to lie down on them). Having been put up in beds throughout my stay, I did not have a sleeping bag, and so just sat down and wrote more cards and a read a little of my book. When the wine and coffee had finally worn off, I thought I'd try lying down on the ground and getting a few hours sleep. No sooner had I settled down when the local mosquito patrol had located me. They then proceeded to bite my legs, neck, and any other exposed parts of my body whilst making an annoying buzzing sound. So I got back up again and just read my book for the rest of the night.

The flight went okay, and I got back to london to drop my bags off at Will's place before going out into the city to meet my parents, brother and cousin. After awalk along the river, a chinese meal in chinatown, I went back to Will's (or the pub) and eventually got to bed at midnight. Only to wake up at 3.30 to get to stansted in time again.

Got back to Mainz via Wiesbaden (falling asleep on the train and missing my stop), and met up with a few of the friends that I hadn't seen for a while.


So, now that you have a headache after reading all of this, and you think you know all about Rome, why not have a rest whilst I get the photos up onto this site :)

Back in town

This is just a very brief update to let everyone know that I'm back from my glorious holiday in Italy, and the partying in the UK as well.

Tomorrow I will start telling you all about it, but lets just say that at the moment I am in euphoria about Rome, and really dissappointed to be away from it now.

Keep your eyes peeled for my story...

Exams, weather, and old friends

Now residing in Birmingham, England, I am on the first stage of my holiday, and enjoying it already.

Exams
Unfortunately, despite being told that everyone finishes their exams on the first of June, I arrived on that day to find out that a lot of people had already finished a week ago, and some more won't finish until the 5th. So much for celebrating with them all. Never mind, I always manage to find people to come out for a quick drink, which is what we did last night (the night before being taken up by watching a movie with one of my future housemates (Sarah, to be exact)).

Weather
The weather here, as always in birmingham, is changeable. We have some excellent sun during parts of the day, a bit of brease to dry out the washing, and then a shower of rain to make sure you get wet whilst returning from a night out at the pub. Never mind, apparently the weather isn't too much better in the rest of europe.

Old Friends
Just a short note for any people from birmingham uni who are leaving this year into the wide world of jobs, to send me their contact details (which can also be sent by visiting the 'Email me' page).

Well, better get back to the fun that is uni, next update probably from Rome :)