L’automne arrive

J’adore toutes ces couleurs d’automne. Il y en a tellement ici à Louvain la Neuve, vraiment j’adooooore :-))

Il y a un arbre juste devant ma fenêtre et j’adore observer comment il change de couleur du jour au jour. Avant, c’était tout vert, maintenent cela deviant de plus en plus rouge. Mais quelle rouge!!! C’est exatement la couleur que j’adooore. Cela me fait plaisir, même s'il fait mauais temps.

LLN live #2

I just realized that last two posts were maybe not so positive. And as I always try to be really positive thinking and optimistic, I should balance that a bit :-))

People are really nice here. My two kotmates are friendly and we get on well perfectly. Next week there is some kind of kot rally organized in our building. It means that we will go from one kot to another, everywhere we have a drink and finally we end up to know each other :-))

In addition, there are a lot of trips and events organized by ESN (Erasmus Student Network team). There is always something going on. It means that one is never alone if he/she does not really want to rest for a while and stay at home.

I am getting used to the weather. I do not really mind if it is raining, the attitude is the most important. And in addition, I am already looking forward to some courses, it seems to be so much interesting.

Well, actually, I do really have a nice time here :-))

Baptism in LLN

Yesterday we went to the theater, some kind of comedy written by Shakespeare. It is said that if you understand joke in foreigner language, then you can say that you really speak the language. Well, I hardly understood anything. I should work on my French though.

What I wanted to write about is more about LLN and atmosphere that is here at the moment. It is week of baptism. It means that the newcomers are being accepted to different cercles. Every time there are groups of young people doing what the older and more experienced ones tell them to do.

There is one cercle next to my kot. Newcomers called blues here are wearing green T-shirts and panties on their pants. I wonder if they are obliged to put diapers in that as well. But the point is, that I see this group most of the time on their knees or sitting on the wet and cold ground or even lie on that according to what the others say. They are doing "funny" things. Even Nancy, our coordinator, warned us. We should not take that for serious, it is just for fun.

And if I pass around a bit later, there are always some people puking all around the wall. Too much alcohol I suppose. This is probably student life here. But I suppose that I am maybe too old or to stranger to have fun doing that kind of stuff.

On the other hand, it is tradition here, way to get to know a lot of people. As it was said so many times, to open to each other and to become friends there has to be something that connects us. And I suppose that if they all go through this procedure, there is really SOMETHING that connects them.

Well, I am not judging as it could seem. I am not saying if it is good or bad. I am just trying to understand (ehm ... while avoiding pukes on my way home).

How are parties in LLN ... (quite long post)

In this very special moment I just want to scream very loudly ... DIRTY!!! NASTY!!! HORRIBLE!!!

Before coming here Cedric warned me a bit. But you know, when I heard that Belgians are crazy and that they party like animals, I just laughed. After today's experience I see, what Cedric was trying to tell me.

There are several cercles here. Each faculty has its own place to party, some kind of student pub, where students go and get beer for 80 cents. We heard that there is very dirty party going on in cercle des ingenieurs, beer for free. Nobody really wanted to go there, but Hanna and me, brave girls, decided to have a look inside. We heard that the place is full of water, people even puke and pee into that. I just could not imagine, how some pub can be filled with so much water reaching your knees. We put on the oldest clothes that we have here and we went there. The others were waiting outside the pub, holding our purses and jumpers.

At the entrance there was basically no water. The salle was full of drunk guys, most of then half naked, one in rubber suit :-)) We had a look around. There were some guys peeing next to the wall. Nobody puking, not yet probably. Then we realized that if we want to get some beer, we have to step into the small "swimming pool" and cross it to reach the bar. Actually, it was the space limited by stairs, filled with cold water. We did not want to get wet, so I made horrible mistake. I asked one guy, if there is any possibility to get beer without stepping inside the water. He probably called the others, as in few minutes there were some guys running after us and trying to throw us into that water. Hanna manage to escape. I did not... Firstly, they just pushed me inside. I was wet till my knees. But as it was probably not enough, they take me and threw me in that nasty water. I was TOTALLY wet!!! Even my hair was a bit wet. Can you imagine that???

Probably, it would be funny if I was drunk. But as I was not at all, I did not really appreciate that. Even though after that I got my beer. I kept the glass, I really deserved that one.

Well, going to other country is about trying to understand the others and all these cultural differences and specialties :-)) Now, after having arrived to my kot, taken off all the wet clothes and taken the shower, I feel fine :-)) I actually remember that when I got to Peru, I was so desperate about those parties, where they played only salsa (I could not dance that at all). Now I love it :-)) Maybe if you ask me in January, I will tell you that in LLN there I experienced the best parties ever :-))))

Today's classes

French classes at 10:15 am: our teacher is ill, so no classes during the whole week

German classes at 1:00 pm: our teacher did not show up

What is going on here??? Well, I was so eager for those classes, really :-))

What does it mean to be crazy

It means...

• to spend the whole night dancing with the same guy without having a break
• to dance with him the special dance called "šunka" (translation of the word šunka is ham, well, this SPECIAL name comes from funny story :-))
• to leave the club as the last ones
• to climb fence of the park, sit on the bench and make fun of each other
• to dance waltz in the morning in the street standing on someone's feet
• to ask for a mineral water in the cheese stand
• to be happy about seeing some rabbits on the way home (they were preparing this place for some kind of environmental or agricultural event, that is why they brought even some rabbits there)
  
• to consider the 5 flow road romantic place hehe
• not to sleep at all the whole night
• to ENJOY THE MOMENT, every minute of that, knowing that probably there will be no more possibility to see each other soon ... :-))
• to feel so happy and not to analyze anything, just take what one can get

These are exactly moments when one realizes why it is so good to be here and alive and why it is worth to enjoy every minute of that :-))

Thanks for such a nice time!

After having chatted with Palo on Saturday I decided to go to Brussels again. Unbelievable :-) We were supposed to meet some Slovak stagiares and then we wanted to go dancing. In the end just Marek and me spent the night dancing at Havana Club, the others were just too tired to join us.

We stayed till the very end, what means that we were basically the last ones leaving the place at 6:30 am. Yeah, il faut profiter de la jeunesse et de l'energie qu'on possede encore :-)

We had so much fun together, that even now, when I look back I have to laugh. In addition, at 8 am we said good bye to each other and then met again on Slovak mass at 9 am (yes, I had at least some time to take the shower in order not to feel so stinky after the whole night spent in club). Afterwards, as we were chatting with others, he mentioned something that just two of us understood. It was as having something special that connects only two of us.

Marek and his family left for London in the afternoon. I wonder if I meet him some day again :-))