by Matt Stuart
by Rene Burri
by Riccardo Bagnoli
31 January 2010
Korean food, whiskey & a broken toilet seat.
Last weekend's party, at Gwak & Ashley's appartment. It was fun.
29 January 2010
28 January 2010
Update!
So... finally an update on what shenanigans I've been getting myself into over the past weeks.
Obviously I've kept myself busy almost everyday after school; i've 'joined' the film club, took part in a mock IELTS examination, went out pubbing and had lunch with some friends a couple of times, went to some free gigs, and one great party (last weekend). On top of that I drink too much alcohol, eat unhealthy food and spend way too much money. I still haven't found a job, but that's probably mainly because I didn't make any real effort to find one, yet.
London is still amazing, but living here makes you quite tired, partly because of the commuting for me, I think. The snow in London made place for good old English rain and it's still cold, well that's obvious in winter isn't it?
The school is slightly more challenging, we actually get homework now and then, but still easy peasy.
I've made some great friends in school. I went to the pub with 2 swedish and 1 korean friend, I hadn't laughed so much in ages, one of the swedish guys struggles with his English and is extremely deadpan, it's absolutely hilarious, just to make conversation he will ask you these odd questions that make you go 'What?', for example: 'what do you think of the sound of the ambulances?' or 'do you like mr bean?', the best part is that the other swedish guy pisses himself laughing everytime the deadpan opens his mouth.
One day I had quite an unfortunate day of travel, I left the house at normal time, and it took me TWO BLOODY HOURS to get to school. The tube stopped at every station for about 10 minutes, because there was a train ahead of us, or the doors didn't work or something, eventually I was 45 minutes late for school, so I didn't even bother going up to the classroom to ask if I could still join the first lesson, because they just wouldn't let you in and there's no point if you missed half the lesson.
I took a mock IELTS exam, which went rather well. I had a total score of 7.5 (maximum is 9.0), which means I could go to any university I want, as you mostly need 6.0 or 6.5 to enter a British University. I was particularly suprised about my speaking, for which I scored 8.0, amazing. I was advised not to study for, nor actually take the IELTS exam, as it's not challenging enough and obviously too easy. In addition, it's only valid for 2 years. I've decided to do the CPE exam (Cambridge Profiency English) instead. This would mean I have to buy the books myself and study for it autonomously, as the school doesn't provide any classes for these exams. I'm willing to do it though, because this will be the only opportunity to challenge myself doing something more difficult, and at the end of the year I'd like to come home with something useful. The CPE cerfiticate never expires, and is recognized internationally as proof of your level of English. I still have to find out if it's valid for University as well.
Another day I went to a bar in Soho with a teacher and some people from school, was quite fun. The swedish guys showed up a while later and we went to some other pubs as well. The unfortunate part was that when I went home afterwards, I fell asleep on the tube (yes I was maybe slightly tipsy, as well as I was very tired from the long day) and woke up two stations after I was supposed to get off.... with no tube going back... Luckily I found like one last nightbus that went to Kingsbury.
Like I said, London makes you quite tired, especially if you have long days were you wake up at 5 or 6 am and are home at 9 pm or later, not that school lasts so long, just meeting with friends, and I can't exactly quickly go home and go back to the centre.
A teacher at school set up an after school 'film club', which I think is a great concept, as I wanted to set one up in the school when I was in Oxford, but it never came to it. You pay 50p, and the guy buys some dvds at a cheap store, then we enjoy a film on a thursday afternoon in a classroom, and afterwards 'discuss' it and do a quiz, so you can win (one of the) dvds that were options for watching. The second time we did film club we started this quiz thing, and it was quite awkward, I assumed the questions were going to be about the film we saw, but actually the questions were just random; we watched Up The Junction, not such a great British film from the 60s about class differences and abortion, and the questions were as followed:
'How many people did Jason kill in total in all of the Friday the 13th films?'
'How many different outfits did Carrie Bradshaw wear in the movie Sex and the City?'
..........
But nonetheless, it's a good way to spend a thursday afternoon.
In the last 3 days I went to 3 gigs, which resulted in me only having slept a total of about 17 hours over the last 3 nights, so I'm going to catch up on some sleep now......
'I'm out'
Obviously I've kept myself busy almost everyday after school; i've 'joined' the film club, took part in a mock IELTS examination, went out pubbing and had lunch with some friends a couple of times, went to some free gigs, and one great party (last weekend). On top of that I drink too much alcohol, eat unhealthy food and spend way too much money. I still haven't found a job, but that's probably mainly because I didn't make any real effort to find one, yet.
London is still amazing, but living here makes you quite tired, partly because of the commuting for me, I think. The snow in London made place for good old English rain and it's still cold, well that's obvious in winter isn't it?
The school is slightly more challenging, we actually get homework now and then, but still easy peasy.
I've made some great friends in school. I went to the pub with 2 swedish and 1 korean friend, I hadn't laughed so much in ages, one of the swedish guys struggles with his English and is extremely deadpan, it's absolutely hilarious, just to make conversation he will ask you these odd questions that make you go 'What?', for example: 'what do you think of the sound of the ambulances?' or 'do you like mr bean?', the best part is that the other swedish guy pisses himself laughing everytime the deadpan opens his mouth.
One day I had quite an unfortunate day of travel, I left the house at normal time, and it took me TWO BLOODY HOURS to get to school. The tube stopped at every station for about 10 minutes, because there was a train ahead of us, or the doors didn't work or something, eventually I was 45 minutes late for school, so I didn't even bother going up to the classroom to ask if I could still join the first lesson, because they just wouldn't let you in and there's no point if you missed half the lesson.
I took a mock IELTS exam, which went rather well. I had a total score of 7.5 (maximum is 9.0), which means I could go to any university I want, as you mostly need 6.0 or 6.5 to enter a British University. I was particularly suprised about my speaking, for which I scored 8.0, amazing. I was advised not to study for, nor actually take the IELTS exam, as it's not challenging enough and obviously too easy. In addition, it's only valid for 2 years. I've decided to do the CPE exam (Cambridge Profiency English) instead. This would mean I have to buy the books myself and study for it autonomously, as the school doesn't provide any classes for these exams. I'm willing to do it though, because this will be the only opportunity to challenge myself doing something more difficult, and at the end of the year I'd like to come home with something useful. The CPE cerfiticate never expires, and is recognized internationally as proof of your level of English. I still have to find out if it's valid for University as well.
Another day I went to a bar in Soho with a teacher and some people from school, was quite fun. The swedish guys showed up a while later and we went to some other pubs as well. The unfortunate part was that when I went home afterwards, I fell asleep on the tube (yes I was maybe slightly tipsy, as well as I was very tired from the long day) and woke up two stations after I was supposed to get off.... with no tube going back... Luckily I found like one last nightbus that went to Kingsbury.
Like I said, London makes you quite tired, especially if you have long days were you wake up at 5 or 6 am and are home at 9 pm or later, not that school lasts so long, just meeting with friends, and I can't exactly quickly go home and go back to the centre.
A teacher at school set up an after school 'film club', which I think is a great concept, as I wanted to set one up in the school when I was in Oxford, but it never came to it. You pay 50p, and the guy buys some dvds at a cheap store, then we enjoy a film on a thursday afternoon in a classroom, and afterwards 'discuss' it and do a quiz, so you can win (one of the) dvds that were options for watching. The second time we did film club we started this quiz thing, and it was quite awkward, I assumed the questions were going to be about the film we saw, but actually the questions were just random; we watched Up The Junction, not such a great British film from the 60s about class differences and abortion, and the questions were as followed:
'How many people did Jason kill in total in all of the Friday the 13th films?'
'How many different outfits did Carrie Bradshaw wear in the movie Sex and the City?'
..........
But nonetheless, it's a good way to spend a thursday afternoon.
In the last 3 days I went to 3 gigs, which resulted in me only having slept a total of about 17 hours over the last 3 nights, so I'm going to catch up on some sleep now......
'I'm out'
25 January 2010
21 January 2010
20 January 2010
18 January 2010
17 January 2010
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