Appeltaart! ^-^

I just made myself a big apple pie and it tastes great! ^-^
I bought flour and eggs today and just got the final, steaming, sweet smelling, hot pie out of the oven about 15 minutes ago. The kitchen smells so nice right now! XD

I'm tasting the pie now as it is still warm inside and I realised that I really missed this. Not only the eating of the delicious pie, but the making of it was really relaxing as well :D Apple pie really reminds me of home so as I'm enjoying this piece of sweet, cinnamon coated heaven I'm thinking of Fudge, the smell of home and everyone in it (XD okay I'm exaggerating now, but it really is great considering the stuff I've eaten in the last few weeks O.o; Mostly yoghurt with cereals (no dad no surreals) and tosti's).

I'll probably enjoy this pie for a couple of days to come 'cause, believe it or not, at least 2 of my 4 flatmates (a guy from Dubai just moved in) don't like apple pie! O.O OMG! how can anybody not love applepie! (sorry Lotte, but I just don't get it XD)

Anyway Love you guys!
blog ya later ^-^
~xxx~ Fleury

Flying home for Christmas!

When I came home yesterday after a long Lab session I was very tired. I got some left over sheperds pie, put it in the microwave and watched Heroes with my food on my lap. I was tired, but also slighly relieved because I got the grades of my first 2 labs back. I got a B and an A+!!! I got the A+ on the Lab I did when Mom and Dad were here and I thought I had totally messed that one up. Still I don't really get what they want from us in our labreports, but I guess it'll come in time O.o;

So after I finished season 2 of Heroes I decided to see if Wendy was online and ask her about our trip to London (which is still in the planning stage). We started talking about loads of stuff on MSN, about times and dates and about our flights home for christmas too. We thought it would be really cool to fly home together, so we started looking up cheap flights. After a lot of searching and asking each other again and again about times and flights I remembered my conference call with Lotte and my parents. Wendy was skyping with her father, who was searching for flights too and we could discuss our plans easier if we could actually speak to each other....

So we skyped for quite a while and actually booked a flight home!!!! We're going from Cardiff to Amsterdam on Dec 15th. Cardiff was cheaper, so I told Wendy I could come to her place so we could go to the airport together ^-^ I booked a few busfares as well to go from Soton to London to Cardiff and the return journey on the 2nd of January as well. I'm so looking forward to flying back with Wendy! It'll be a real adventure XD

So, when we finally decided that we should go to bed (1 am) we brushed our teeth together, which was very funny, almost like a sleepover, but further appart O.O .... :D
Then when we'd said goodnight and I was about to jump into bed the friggin fire alarm went off! *-* It almost gave me heart attack! We had to wait in the cold fr 15 minutes untill the stupid thing was turned off..... Almost everyone was drunk when we were outside and everyone stank of beer and cider O.o; I guess that's what Friday night is all about *-*

Anyway when we could go back inside I was wide awake of course, the firealarm and the cold made sure of that and now I had to get myself back to sleep.... It took a while, but I had gotten up at 7 and it was already 1:30, so I really WAS very tired XD

Thus, my B and A+, the prospect of going to London with Wendy and then a few weeks later flying home for christmas with her left me in a very good mood :D I hope to make an apple pie today, but I'd have to get some ingredients first O.o; I'll have to call my friends and ask if they want to go to ASDA with me XD

Key so I'll keep you up to date on my apple pie debacle :D
Love you guys!
~xxx~ Fleury

One of my Moods O.o;

This afternoon (4:30 pm)I was in one of my moods again, which is a very good sign! XD I was in my kitchen and was staring at the kilo's of apples my parents brought me and I just had to do something :D

I started thinking about recipes and I realised that I didn't have any flour to make an applepie, so that was something I would probably buy in the next few days and make apple pie for my friends in the weekend. Thinking about cooking made me really WANT TO COOK! It was like a little voice in my head was telling me to eat the potatoes and carrots that were wasting away (sprouting new life actually ^-^) in my cupboard.

I made sheperds pie! Lotte's recipe XD (Love you sis!) And of course after all my time in the kitchen I'm sitting behind my computer with a burnt tongue... O.O It just looked so delicious! O.o;

Having one of my cooking moods, however, is not only a very good thing for my stomach but I'd also like to see it as a sign that I'm settling in. I like it here, but I've been thinking a lot about home since my parents left. I realised in the last couple of days, however, that home is not where my head is supposed to be; It's here that it's supposed to be, studying and having loads of fun! I'm going to live here for at least 3 years, maybe even longer, so I have to see this place as my home now; I have to live here as if it's my home, because this place, it IS my home now.

Thus after this long philosophical blabbering of mine I'd like to leave you on the good note that I am very happy here and my playstation game arrived today! Yeey!!! Thanx Mac! It only took 2 days to arrive and I'm going to try it out this weekend, with a piece of apple pie on my lap hopefully :D

Love you guys! Hope to cook super delicious and complicated dishes for you at Christmas!
~xxx~ Fleury

Weekend with Mom and Dad

Mom and Dad just left, journeying back home on a cloudy day. They left me on a good note, but still I could not, of course, hold back my tears. Tears of love for them and for the fear of being alone again. I know that I'll be just fine, but saying goodbye knowing that you won't be able to see them and hold them for a long time is still very hard.

I'm sitting in my room now, crying and listening to Ja Zuster Nee Zuster: "Duifies, duifies kom maar bij ons, wat een mooie veertjes wat een lekker dons. Duifies, duifies wat zijn ze mak! 17 duifies boven op het dak!" My tears are of joy and love and they just need to flow for the time being ^-^

So, on a more joyful note I will recap the last few days for you now.
On Friday they came, they arrived between 9:30 and 10 am I think. I'd already been up since 7:30, anticipating their arrival and preparing for the days' lectures. When they finally came (the morning seemed to take ages! O.o;) I was super happy and I couldn't wait for them to get out of the car XD

We started by unpacking the car and the amount of stuff that came out was insane! I think I'm the one with the most stuff in Halls on the whole campus O.O We unpacked the whole car and most of the boxes in about 2 hours. Then mom and dad dropped me off at uni, because I had lectures from 12 to 2 and then Labs from 2 to 5:30. I don't mind my schedule that much, but on Friday I just could not get my mind to focus. Luckily the lectures where mostly stuff I had already covered in IB, but my Lab was horrible. I just could not focus on the experiment and during recrystallisation I made a huge mistake, which cost me a huge loss in yield (meaning that I lost a lot of products, because of my mistake). When I was done I couldn't get home fast enough and walked to campus in record time *-*

When I got home we did some more unpacking and started preparing for diner. We made raspberry (frambozen) tiramisu and tika massala for a big diner with most of my friends and my flatmates. During cooking I was a bit careless and cut the top of my thumb off while cutting onions... It was bleeding so much! All this blood, the shock and the frustration of this having to happen today caused me to burst into tears of course.... O.o; (I'm so emotional when my family shows up!) The diner was a success nonetheless though :D The friends that came were:
Iman, from Libanon studying Artificial Intelligence; Verena, from Germany studying something very difficult involving ship science, saying she's going to quit all the time; Peter, from Poland studying first year ship science; Sheena, from Hong Kong (but living in the UK for already 8 years) studying 3rd year psychology; And my flatmates Dionysia studying accounting/finance and Jazine studying politics and spanish. Unfortunately George (from Zimbabwe) couldn't come, because he was ill. But it was a very lovely evening and in the end my baby photos came out causing lots of laughs and awwwww's ^-^ We washed up and left for the B&B.

The next day, after having slept very well in the B&B we got an English breakfast and left to the city center to do some more shopping. We bought a TV, printer, blender/mixer and a long network cable. When we went to look for some Brahs for my sister (which of course were not in stock..) we walked by a clothes shop showing some very nice dresses. Dad said I should try them on, so after some cauxing, I did. I tried on a very cute red dress, which was perfect for christmas, but also for summer. Dad said he wanted me to have it, so he bought it for me ^-^ I will have to search for stockings (panties) but when I find them I'll wear it for him XD (I'll send him a photo of me in the dress).

After shoppping we drove to Lindhurst and walked in a very pretty park and had tea and cake in a cute tea house (I stupidly forgot my camera, so no pictures this time O.o;). Unfortunately I was starting to get a bit ill as the flu was going round and my voice was protesting.... I could only talk in whispers..... very annoying O.o; After our walk and snack we drove back to our B&B where Dad took a nap and me and Mom watched some "Brothers and Sisters" and "Coast". I love watching TV with Mom; Cuddled up against each other, acting like little heaters for each other under the blankets. After having rested a while we went out for diner at the Italian restaurant where we had deserts last time we were in Southampton. The diner was very nice, but the organisation of the kitchen and staff lacked a bit. Afterwards we went back to the B&B, watched some "Little Britain USA" and went to sleep.

Today, this morning, we had another English breakfast, dad payed for the room and we drove back to my room. We did a little more organising and we went to my friends' flat to say goodbye to them, but they didn't open the door, so they were probably still asleep. We walked back, hugged each other in the sun (tears flowing from my eyes of course, because I had to say goodbye again...) and then after saying goodbye a million times when Mom and Dad where already in the car, they drove off. I had no tears, but when I got to my room they flowed readily, realising that I wouldn't see them for a long time and missing them already.

Now in my room, tears still flow, but they are happy tears. Tear of love and in the memory of the last few days. I have some more unpacking to do today and I'm going to try out the new game my sister gave me on my playstation. I'll probably won't come to much studying, but at least I can really settle in now that I have all my stuff with me.

I'm thinking of Mom and Dad, hugging each other in the car and on the boat, missing me already as well ^-^ And I'm thinking of Fudge, his soft fur against my skin and his loud purring vibrating through my belly as he's laying on my lap. These are happy thoughts and memories. I'm holding on to them, loving all the people I left behind and looking forward to chirstmas, when I can get home again.

Introduction to Chemistry

On Thursday and Friday the 2nd and 3rd of October, I had the real introduction to my studies. I was very nervous at first, because this would be the first time that I'd be in Uni without my International friends. In hindsight, it was nothing to be worried about really and I knew that all the other people would feel the same way as I did, but it's still very nerveracking...

Thursday we started with a Welcome to Chemistry, which was very general and included another lecture about safety and security on the uni grounds (which I heard like 3 times before already...O.o;). Actually I can't remember much about the lecture really (it's somewhere inside my head, but it won't come out. I guess the nerves took over and erased it from my memory O.O Maybe this is how people feel when they've been kidnapped by aliens *-*!?).

So after that lecture we were put into family groups and met our "parents"! (2nd year student who showed us the Uni (again!O.o;) and who we can turn to when we need advice) We had lunch and asked them loads of questions XD. I got 2 new mothers and a daddy :D Louise, Martina (I'm not sure if I got that one right, though) and George. They're all really cool, Louise is a really good mother who really looks after everyone and organizes everything, Martina (?) is more there for answering questions about going out and George is a cricket-playing-daddy who does a bit of both :D

So after lunch we went back to another lecture about what we expect from the uni and what is expected of us and about plagiarism and of course about safety.... There was another lecture in which we were told what the optional courses are and we'd then have to register for 3, but when we had all just taken our seats (120 people!) the firealarm went off.............. We had to of course evacuate the building. This was not a drill! We had to walk slowly to the grass behind the library, no need to panic O.O According to my daddy this was actually the first time he'd experienced the fire alarm going off, so apparently it WAS serious. (Later it turned out that an electrician had accidentaly broken the glass on a firealarm switch with his elbow, setting off the alarm and making us all evacuate the building for nothing *-*! When we had gone into the building again (after we'd waited in the cold for 15 minutes) we did our registration for our "electives", the optional courses of which we had to choose 3 and had another break.

Lastly we had to go into the lecture theater again, this time for a zapper session and survey. We'd all get these small remote controls and had to answer a question after which the answers would be put into percentages, so we could see how many people answered what, which was actually quite cool, but after the long day (it was already 4 pm and we'd been there since 10 am) we were all quite tired and didn't actually feel like answering questions for another 1.5 hours... It was fun, but sleepyness and a headache made me really want to go home.
I made some cool friends in my family group, but I think I'll make some real and permanent friends when we start the practical labwork, as you really need to work together to make it the experiments work.

Friday was worse then Thursday....... First off we had another safety lecture O.o; The 4th one of my stay here. Then we had a quiz with zappers, cool but very pointless. We had another break, 2 mock lectures about curly arrows and physical chemistry (history on the atomic model), which were not very interesting, as I already knew most of it, but it was especially nice to experience an example of a "real" lecture. We had lunch and then the real treat started:
We were going to get another tour of the chemistry building (of which I'd already had 2), but my parents decided to show us a few rooms and then have another break, as we had like and hour and 15 minutes to kill. After this long break we had our ID checking. We were getting our student ID cards, but because of new rules, we had to prove that we were who we said we were by showing 2 ID's (my ID card from home and passport). This was done in 10 minutes after which we had yet ANOTHER 1 hour break, because we had to wait for the other group to finish "pipelining" before we could do so. Thus, after 1 hour we went to pipelining. This is an activity to improve teamwork and social connections. We had to do pointless things and listen to pointless talks, after a long day in which we did a lot of pointless waiting around.... In other words: we were tired of waiting and annoyed that we had to wait for THIS, which we saw as a pointless, activity.

All in all, I made some friends and learnt some new things (not that much). I got way too many safety and security lectures and went to bed early each day with a headache and the radiator high (cause it was freezing outside!). I watched some Joan of Arcadia and really missed mom crying beside me (cause something sad and dramatic happened), so I cried alone and watched some more ^-^

Tomorrow (monday the 6th) I'll have my first real lectures, I hope to write up some more fun stories for you XD
Love you all!
~xxx~ Fleury

Trip to Winchester

On the 28th of September we went to Winchester. In hindsight, the trip to stonehenge was much more exciting as we had a real programme, whereas this trip just consisted of dropping us off in Winchester, showing us the Cathedral and letting us roam around for a 4-5 hours..... O.o; The Cathedral was really amazing, but I think all Cathedrals are great actually :P When we'd seen the whole thing, we had a sandwich and had to decide what to do.... We got a guide with the touristic places, so we decided to go to Jane Austin's house and Wolfsey Castle. Jane Austin's house turned out to be a house with a plaque on the front saying that it was the house she died in, but it had a sign on the door saying it was a private residence and admission was impossible...O.o; As we had expected a tour trough a great writers' house and some history on her works we were a little disappointed, but Wolfsey Castle was not far away, so we walked on. When we got there, it turned out that they were castle ruins, not a magnificent fortress with flags, horses, lackeys and homely smells... Another fluke... (Later it turned out that we read the guide wrong and that it actually said that they were ruins, but at that time, we were unaware of our dyslexia and actually quite disappointed). As we had loads of time to kill we decided to simply have a picnic on the grass that was formerly the stone floor of the bakery house in the castle and waited until it was time to get back to the bus ^.^

The rest of the day was nice as we had diner at Verena's new place and played cards in the evening. I'm glad I have such a nice group of friends and I hope we can still find the time later in the year to keep playing cards in the evenings, coocking together and all that.

Again, I still miss ou guys!
love you!
~xxx~ Fleury

Stonehenge and Salisbury

Okay so I've been quite busy so far. During International week we got tickets for trips on the weekend of 27 and 28 September, yeey! finally we get to see more of the neighbourhood than just the Halls and Uni :D So we went to Stonehenge and Salisbury on Saturday the 27th :P The bus left later than expected, but then the busses are almost always late, just like in Holland O.o; First we went to stonehenge, but we only had 40 minutes to look around the stones, which we thought was quite short, because the audio tour takes longer I think. SO we decided to just watch the stoned from outside the fence (they were still very visible and huge-looking, so we complemented each other on our decision ^-^). Next we went back into the bus (it left late again! O.O shocker!) and left for Salisbury, which is about half an hour away from Stonehenge. Salisbury is a lovely looking town :D It is very relaxed and we basically just strolled around there and saw the Cathedral. We also bought some groceries and I got some touristic cards for my family.... just a few, but I got a great one for Inge and Harold (good friends of ours) I think Inge will really laugh when she gets it XD. I haven't actually gotten around to writing them yet, as I keep myself quite busy cooking and playing cards with my newfound friends. So that's about it for Saturday, of course we made loads of pictures of the place and of each other which are in a slide show to the side :D Love you all who are reading this! Miss you (give a hug to Fudge for me!) ~xxx~ Fleury