Back!

Am back! Since yesterday evening in fact.

Corsica is a breathtakingly beautiful place, which I did not expect - all my previous knowledge of the island came from reading Asterix on Corsica as a child (for the non-Europeans: Asterix is a very long-running French comic about a village of Gauls in Roman times.) The weather was fine, the beaches snug and fascinatingly rocky, the coastline full of winding cliffs in all imaginably colours, the wilderness full of ripe figs and strawberry trees, the mountains wild and seemingly untouched. My sole complaint was that I wasn't there with hiking boots, a tent, a month of time, good friends and nothing else on my mind which is CLEARLY the only way to truly appreciate such beauty. Also, I was as sick as I have never been in my life on a tiny boat, and I tried to speak a lot of French. Somewhat fascinating experience: travelling with a group of Frenchmen and Germans mostly above the age of fifty - I never expected it to be so peaceful and jolly, but dear me, old French people are as charming as I've always been told French people are supposed to be. Clearly this is a trait the French have lost in the last few decades. I even danced rock-n-roll with an elderly Frenchman, which was funny as hell, as he did it very well and I did not, but had fun anyway.

Eight days to go until England: next Tuesday I'll be there. I'm only a little bit nervous, but I expect that'll change by next weekend. Next week is packed with saying goodbye to everything - my parents, my job, my friends, my pets. It is very, very ridiculous to make such a great deal of it when by Christmas I'll be back for a visit.

Durham is obviously a university that fusses about its students way more than Heidelberg, as it keeps sending me emails about this event and that event and sign ups and schedules and reminders, and has crammed the first week full of welcome-y stuff, whereas Heidelberg just gives its first years a cursory explanation of how the library works and then throws them straight into normal university life (which might be the reason my very first semester was wholly useless).

Back!

Am back! Since yesterday evening in fact.

Corsica is a breathtakingly beautiful place, which I did not expect - all my previous knowledge of the island came from reading Asterix on Corsica as a child (for the non-Europeans: Asterix is a very long-running French comic about a village of Gauls in Roman times.) The weather was fine, the beaches snug and fascinatingly rocky, the coastline full of winding cliffs in all imaginably colours, the wilderness full of ripe figs and strawberry trees, the mountains wild and seemingly untouched. My sole complaint was that I wasn't there with hiking boots, a tent, a month of time, good friends and nothing else on my mind which is CLEARLY the only way to truly appreciate such beauty. Also, I was as sick as I have never been in my life on a tiny boat, and I tried to speak a lot of French. Somewhat fascinating experience: travelling with a group of Frenchmen and Germans mostly above the age of fifty - I never expected it to be so peaceful and jolly, but dear me, old French people are as charming as I've always been told French people are supposed to be. Clearly this is a trait the French have lost in the last few decades. I even danced rock-n-roll with an elderly Frenchman, which was funny as hell, as he did it very well and I did not, but had fun anyway.

Eight days to go until England: next Tuesday I'll be there. I'm only a little bit nervous, but I expect that'll change by next weekend. Next week is packed with saying goodbye to everything - my parents, my job, my friends, my pets. It is very, very ridiculous to make such a great deal of it when by Christmas I'll be back for a visit.

Durham is obviously a university that fusses about its students way more than Heidelberg, as it keeps sending me emails about this event and that event and sign ups and schedules and reminders, and has crammed the first week full of welcome-y stuff, whereas Heidelberg just gives its first years a cursory explanation of how the library works and then throws them straight into normal university life (which might be the reason my very first semester was wholly useless).