Finally, after a night with no sleep I am back home. Everything went well and my parents picked me up from the airport. But I didn’t expect it to be that hot in Germany..

Thank you to everyone who came yesterday to see me a last time, it was a good evening! I still have some last pictures to share before I will leave this blog for good.

Thursday, we had a last BBQ at Lisa’s place. Lots of good food and company. =)

Elena and Leonie.

Ronaldo, Karina and Raphaelle

Grillmeister Alex.

I also have a last picture of yesterday night, taken on the piazza.

Guess I will get some more sleep now before football starts and then have a look around Dresden in the evening, hopefully seeing some friends. I’m not a fan of big words and saying goodbye, so I will make this short.

The last ten months have been amazing! I met a lot of awesome people I definitely want to see again. And again and again. =)

Am curious what the next year will bring. Well, I wish everyone all the best and whoever makes it to Dresden is very welcome.

Byebye, Anne.

Fotosession with Tiger #1

#2

#3

#4

The last couple of days consisted of meeting people, many of them for the last time. Mar, Bart and Eric are already gone, so the house is mine now. I took a lot of pictures with friends and am basically enjoying the rest of my time here, so there’s not much to say.

With Mariko and Nicole.

Mariko gave me some Japanese sweets her mother brought her. They look like mini water mines.

With Tobi and Julian.

With Dani.

With Eric and Kathi.

The Drumming Society had a last social. We met for drinks and food on a grassfield on campus, took a couple of Djembes outside and enjoyed the sun.

Dave and Rob.

Buzz and Kate.

With Buzz.

Cat.

Dave too chilled out to play the drums.

Dave #2 brought a guitar. It was a really nice jam session.

A couple of days ago Dimitris tried a friend’s special dessert recipe. It was whole elderflower heads (Holunderblüten) dipped in batter and then deep-fried. I never heard of this and wouldn’t have considerd it to be edible but it was very good.

Dough and elderflowers.

Frying it.

To eat it you just take it by the stem and bite off the fried flowers in dough.

Yesterday, Kathi, Pascal and me went climbing for a last time and I finally managed to take some proper pictures of the hall. It was quite practical to have it on campus, so close that you could always pop by during the day. I will miss it a lot.

The competition wall.

Kathi.

Me.

Pascal.

Yummi. =D

I guess the next entry will be written in Germany and be the last one on this blog.

So see you in a bit and have a nice day!

Anne.

Good evening everyone!!

I finally finished my exams with the last one on Friday morning. Wohooo!!! So my last week at Warwick has officially started, the plan is to see as many people as possible as often as possible. Even now that the end is so close, it still feels unrealistic, I guess I will not realise that it’s over until I’ve been back home for a week.

I have a lot of pictures for you from various occasions. =)

With Lisa at the first match of Germany against Australia.

Ronaldo and Jason, in a Shisha-Bar called Habibi, what a coincidence.

Nino, Katerina and Julian.

With Julian.

Friends. =)

With Fabio and Jason.

A lot of students on the piazza.

See what’s going on live.

With Kathi.

This weekend the Warwick Students Arts Festival was taking place and a lot of student bands were playing on campus, for instance Buzz’s band Digital Earth.

Digital Earth.

Cannot remember their name.

Another band.

Kathi and Buzz sceptical.

Hot Magenta.

With Buzz.

3=car. I love them!!!

They have a myspace-page, but not much is to be found there: http://www.myspace.com/3equalscar

With Pascal, my climbing partner.

Ackbar.

Today I saw the match Germany against England on campus. It was really exciting and a hell lot of people watched it. I guess the German fans are the majority after the English. Good that we won with two goals ahead, otherwise the English would not have excepted that they were defeated!

Public screening in one of the pubs on campus.

After the match.

So the evening I’m back in Dresden Germany will play just to welcome me back home!!

Tonight is the last house party at our place, because tomorrow we’re going to clean the house. As I already said, the end gets pretty close now..

The next days I will definitely try to write more often and take lots of pictures.

So see you soon!

Anne

Hello hello!

3 of 4 exams done now, I had my politics exam Saturday morning. The next one will be on the 25^th of June, so quite a lot of time. It is a seen paper, which means I will get it a week before the actual exam date and basically have to write it and try to memorise it. I am a little bit afraid of that one since it is on 17^th century literature and culture (and I’m not a fan of literature studies) and the lecturer definitely expects us to write something that really has depth and is based on intensive research. Thus, I will live in the library for a week researching and writing this exam to be able to just write and not think when I am actually sitting it.

Last weekend was served for relaxing though, after the exam on Saturday morning. My study group and me went out for some sushi. It’s the people I met every other day to revise for World Politics. It was a really nice evening, closed with some wine on a grass field on campus.

In the sushi place.

With Nicole.

Mariko and Alice.

Yummi.

Until the next post, whenever I manage to write one. =)

Byebye, Anne.

just some additonal pictures of last weekend… =)

Anne.

Hello everyone!

My Russian written and oral exam went pretty well. So 2 of 4 exams are done now, next one is World Politics and will take place this Saturday 9.30.

Last week me and a few friends had our first BBQ this year (angrillen! ) with self made burgers and other tasty food. Ronaldo made Mochitos for us, with fresh lime and raspberries, which we enjoyed in the sun in Lisa’s backgarden.

Ronaldo preparing Mochitos.

Hmmm that looks good.

I also went to see Pendulum in Birmingham with Buzz, which was amazing but rather short and they didn’t play an encore. Since it was tropically hot in the venue and we were dancing all the time, Buzz and me sweated enough to look as if we just had a jump in the pool.

Before it got started.

The support act. (Forgot the name =X)

Pendulum. Apologies for the bad qulality of the pictures.

Afterwards.

The last weekend I spent in London with my mother and sister. They arrived Friday evening and after we finally made it to our hostel to drop our luggage, we went to the city centre for dinner and some first sightseeing. It was good to see them again after such a long time and we were talking a lot.

Mom and Lisa.

This one again.

Saturday we first went to Camden Town and had a walk around the market. In the afternoon I took them to Covent Garden, Harrods, Tower Bridge and other things you would show people who’ve never been to London before.

On the bus to Camden Town.

Trafalgar Square ahead.

Horses have to wait for the green light, too.

The horse tunnel market.

Haha..

Racing.

Hot.

In Harrods.

Tower Bridge.

Interesting clouds above Westminster Abbey.

Of course we had to take a picture like that.

We also had a walk along the Thames and eventually, after some dinner, ended up in a fancy bar near Oxford Circus. Lucky circumstances helped us to get some free drinks and perfected our weekend.

Yummy.

Not the last drinks for tonight...

Quite a few drinks later, posing in the newly purchased top.. ;D

Hopefully, I can show you some more pictures, depending on when mom manages to send me hers. =P

Now they’re back in Dresden again and it’s only one more month for me to go back home as well. Astonishing, how time is flying..

Until next time, Anne.

I apologize for being so inactive lately, but then this is the time of the year when many students are busy writing their last essays and revising for their exams. For my politics module I meet friends every other day to discuss the topics we’ve covered, which is really helpful. A lot of students seem to live in the library at the moment. I have a Russian exam just ahead of me, so fingers crossed please.

There are rarely any socials right now because of the exams. A couple of days ago though, we had elections in the climbing club. Since clubs and societies on campus are run by students, every end of the academic year a new execution has to be elected. We had the whole basement of a pub in Leamington for us, a lot of food and drinks. The climbing club possibly consists of about 300 people (just a rough guess ), but usually you see only about 60 of them for socials etc. Besides going climbing I wasn’t very active in the climbing club during the year either.

The positions to be run are for instance president, social sec, secretary, captain, treasurer, … everyone who was running for a position had to give a speech and make a fool of him or herself by singing a song in front of all the people. I was amazed of how creative people actually were as performances varied from breakdance and rap to stripping. It was a fun evening! I have some pictures Nick took, unfortunately it’s not that many and I forgot to take my camera there.

Dan and Jasmin.

Miles.

Nick.

Eryn and Ursa.

Old and new exec. Some people just sneaked in there when they actually don't belong to them.

Since I got bored one afternoon in the lirary and coulnd’t concentrate on reading anymore I decided to do something geeky and went for a geocache. For all who don’t know yet what this is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocache or there is also a nice explanatory youtube clip on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4VFeYZTTYs&feature=player_embedded

And this is the official homepage: http://geocaching.com/default.aspx

Here you can check whether there are any caches near your homeplace: http://geocaching.com/map/default.aspx Type your city in the “Zoom to address”-box on the right.

There are a few around the nature reserve just next to campus, and the one I did was a very nice one. You first had to find one cache containing coordinates again to get to the final. The idea about the first one was really smart and it took me a while to find it. It was hidden in a snail shell which was pinned on to some metallic bit of a wooden post with a magnet. Since I have no navigation system I had to get back to a library computer with the coordinates for the final and have a look on google maps for where to search. This was my first cache in the UK, although I’m here for quite a while now actually. But then, there are other things to do with one’s spare time than caching,

Well hidden.

The final.

Nature Reserve #1.

Nature Reserve #2.

Nature Reserve #3.

Goslings on campus.

And last but not least, I stumbled accross an amazing video of a male a capella group interpreting Lady Gaga. They’re hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8PAuvxCZuM&feature=player_embedded Hope the link works, otherwise search for “On The Rocks – Bad Romance – 4/23/10″.

Have a nice weekend everyone and see you soon,

Anne.

The last time I was mainly writing essays (which are done now, yay) that’s why I didn’t post for quite a while. The last term started which is mostly for revising for exams, there are classes only the first three weeks. For me it will be three written exams: in Russian, Politics and English Literature and one oral exam in Russian, all rather scattered throughout the term. The last will take place 25th of June, so still quite far away. Then it’s only one week and the term is over and also my year abroad, the accomodation contract ends 3rd of July. Though I’m planning to go straight to the Alps from here with friends.

This weekend was a really busy one. Friends and me went out in Birmingham Friday night to see an awesome house DJ (who’s interested: http://www.myspace.com/philweeks ) and yesterday I went on a Mountain Club trip to the Peak District and a party on campus afterwards. It was called Pressure and is organised regularly by the Rave Society. Music they play ranges from Drum and Bass to Dubstep, so only electronic. Among others there were High Contrast, Andy C and the Scratch Perverts. Not everyone’s taste of music but I really enjoyed it!

Contrary to the weather forecast we had rather good weather in the Peak District with no rain at all. Since many people are revising for their exams, nobody really had the time to spend a whole weekend off somewhere. The Peak District is perfect for just a day trip since it’s only about two hours from Coventry. I got some nice pictures for you. =)

We were heading to a small village called Edale from campus with two mini busses and about 30 people at 8 in the morning and started our walks about 11. I went with Louise, Nick, Fabian, Gareth, Robert and Leonie.

Louise and Fabian.

Paragliders.

They weren't really successful.

Nick, Fabian and Leonie coming from behind.

Tiny Gareth.

Robert.

Leonie.

Robert and Fabian.

Towards Kinder Scout.

Kinder Scout is the highest hill in the Peak District. I avoided the word “mountain” on purpose, it’s only 636 metres high, so rather sweet.

Me taking a picture of Nick taking a picture of Fabian.

In the evening we had some food and drinks in a pub in Hathersage and got back to campus about 10pm.

I wish a nice rest-Sunday to all of you!

Anne

P.S.: Nearly forgot I also have some duckling pictures I took on campus. =)

So sweet! =D

With mommy.

Bye bye.

I was visiting Buzz in Gloucester last week, where I spent a very nice time.

Tuesday, the weather was awesome and we took a walk along the Cotswold Way from Gloucester to Cheltenham Spa.

The Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling hill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper%27s_Hill_Cheese-Rolling_and_Wake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOyQBSMeIhM (if it’s not working search for “Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling 2009″)

It’s hilarious!

Devil's Chimney.

Wednesday, I had my personal tour through Gloucester.

The docks.

Beatrix Potter clock.

Cute lane.

Gloucester Cathedral.

Some Harry Potter scenes were taken in here.

Thursday, we went to visit Bath. This is a spa town and has been an important cultural place from ancient times because of the hot sources to be found there.

Roman Baths.

Mosaik.

The Circus.

The Royal Crescent.

Sorry for the little text, but I’m in a rush at the moment. Next time you’ll get more details again. =)

Have a nice evening, Anne.

The last week at Warwick consisted mainly of working for some essays, but for Easter Sunday, Ronalso, Lisa and me took a day off. We decided after having been here for more than half a year now, it was time to eventually see the Warwick Castle. So we had a nice walk to there from Leamington. We were quite lucky with the weather, considering that it was raining the last days.

It was raining a lot.

With Lisa and Ronaldo.

What seems wrong in this picture?

A swan nest.

Oh those tourists...

Warwick.

As there was a special Easter event going on, many knights were around.

This Easter weekend (2nd – 5th April) will see the River Island transformed into a Mediaeval Battle Scene, recreating the famous Battle of Barnet. Re-enactors will spend four days eating, sleeping and living the conditions of a real battle. Castle visitors will be able to tour the site and see how an encamped army would live, how they would cook, amuse themselves with arts and crafts and prepare their weapons for battle.
As the re-enactors take up arms to defend the Castle, Warwick’s siege machine, the mighty Trebuchet, will launch a flaming fireball and treat guests to a spectacular display of mediaeval firepower.

http://www.warwick-castle.co.uk/entertainment/events-calendar.aspx?css=1

We just had a look from outside, ticket prices were horrendous and the queue far too long.

In the souvenir shop.

On our way home we went shopping for food and got back to Lisa’s place in Coventry, where we spent a very relaxing evening with good food, drink and talk.

Ronaldo preparing a delicious Brazilian dish for us.

Cheers.

So it was a nice Easter, even though many people are back home right now to see their families.

I wish everyone a nice day,

Anne.

The English and the German get on quite well together. =D