The fist snow in Notts

I didn't think I'd get the chance to say this in the UK or see snow this year, but finally these past cold days finally paid off:
IT'S SNOWING!!!

..very peaceful...
like it should have on X-mas :)
Evidence on the car and white ground.

More images of Nottingham...

...thanks to Pawel's camera :)

I invite you to have a masala tea with me :) (which I just got thanks to Lucas, one of the indians I work with at the restaurant)...and enjoy the pretty and windy Nottingham in January.

...Anglican church...

...the city caves..that served as shelters during wars...

...Pitcher and piano- pub in a church...

...the old market square...and the city council house...

...our very own dome...

...castle pavement...

...church interior...

David Gray-This Years Love

Such a Sunday song...
Had to be the first I post.
Disregard the video, because it's a bit weird, but enjoy the song! :)

Today...another holiday

And another picture story...


I had a mini vacation today to roam free around the city...and I spent it with trainees: 2 from Nottingham (one from Turkey and one from Venezuela)...and several from London (Pawel from IC, Poland, 3 romanian trainees- 2 from Bu and one from Iasi, 1 from Hungary, one from Brzail, a Czech guy, and 2 MC girls).

It was so refreshing...and amazing to see how AIESEC brings people together...yet again...and how small the world is...
(for Anca: I met Alma today, the girl from AIESEC Bu who got into the City Bank traineeship...and I realized I knew her from before).

We all started it off with a tour of the Castle....

...went by the city center to see the famous Notts lions...

...and an old trolley exposition in front of the City Council...

...went by The Tales of Robin Hood...which is like a Robin Hood museum...for 9 pounds you get to go on an interactive tour. Which I passed on...and stayed instead with some of the trainees in the equally interactive cafe within the museum. Here, some guy dressed in a costume told us stories of weapons used in the day and age of Robin Hood and of how their usage, and what happened to the injuries soldiers got...(maggots that cleared the bad flesh..yuck) . An interesting thing he told us also was that the most common injuries back in those days on the battle field were not broken arms or legs, but noses!!! being cut off.


...we wanted to go to the Nottingham Caves, but the place was closing, so we ended up in Tasca- a spanish restaurant, where Johnny, the Venesuelan guy was our guide :).

..after dinner everyone went to have a drink at the Notts' trainee house..and I went to end my day with work :)

Life...goes on...

Whenever in a foreign country, with more work for school than ever in your life, there is nothing better to cure your uncontrollable fears...than to worry about you social life...and your entourage.

I realized that a very important thing for me is the environment I live in and the people around me. I can draw so much energy from my surroundings and the people I spend time with influence my mood so much...So I think that the key to my mental health in the next period will be to manage these two things as best as I can...

I started out by wanting to get to know the british pub culture better and having a night out with the girls...bloody hell...finally! ...
I ended up in a spanish place instead, having patatas bravas, tortilla, chorizo criollo and pan fresco. For desert, beer from 3 places around the Globe: Tiger from Singapore for me, Brahma from Brasil for Maria (Italy) and Cusquenia from Peru for Erica (Honduras/US). I liked the peruvian one best :P
...so many cultures to discover in UK...so surprising to me...thai restaurants are next...
...for some reason the 2 british pubs we went to before were closing...

The conclusion (in the middle of my post) is that just because these will be a tough 6 months, that doesn't mean I have to become a nun....and more importantly..I realized that no part of your life has to be "just a phase"...that you let pass without enjoying and exploring. These past few days I have discovered more places and pubs in Notts and talked to more school colleagues than in the 2 months I had previously been here.

Another ground breaking thing: studies can be fun too...today I went to a library with Erica- the ones you can have a very huge cup of coffee and sit around and read books...only we hanged around for 5 hours doing decision techniques coursework...in a pleasant and inspiring sorounding...enjoying a foaming, steaming and yummy cafe late.

And since the people in my house can be a souce of inspiration too..I had my first lessons of french and chinese...and hopefully convinced the girls to do a Hong Kong pictures presentation one of these days...

Never a boring moment...and every once in a while my favourite hobby is to quarrel with Adi about my future...I think one of these days one of us will have a heart attack for sure...:)

Now...what I became so painfully aware of is..is that my Nottingham life goes on with or without me...

...so I can sit in my room all day and pretend to be busy...or I can get back on top of things...and keep up with the rhythm...

...and be ready for whatever comes my way...2 dissertations? bring them on!

...and MoSt importantly...follow my heart in choosing my way and taking decisions.

Back in Notts and kicking...

With my mind connected, as I finished work for today on my first deadline, and excited after a one hour long conversation using the web cam mic that actually works...I return fresh to my blog.

Although I've been back here, in Notts, only for 3 days...I feel like it's been a week. Coming back has been at least bumpy...as I miss everything that is home...but I am starting to slowly readjust and the good news is that I'm not as stressed out about my coursework anymore.

As I'm battleing decisions about my next year and driving some people crazy with it...like my parents and Adi (nr Boruz) and Antonio whenever I get the chance...and my view on things keeps changing even faster than I change my sox, I do manage to make breakthroughs for my life...

For insance...I cooked my very first soup on tuesday..and it was actually yummy...and yesterday I made my first Boeuf salad...which I proudly present below. And I'm reading things about the 20s and the 30s and so on, and I'm watching movies and I'm still resting..so I pray that I'll have the intelligence to keep doing bohemian things like these for the whole period I'm here which will be tough with decisions, studies and 2 final papers.

And I hope that I can show you more of the British culture as I see it. A special project that I'm planning and that amuses me greatly is to do a series of pictures with pub names. Like "The tap and the tumbler", "The slug and the letuce" (melcul si salata)...who in their right minds would name their pub like that? :)

The boeuf half-eaten salad, that was yummy: even the hong kong girls admitted...:P

And for my dad...a limo humvey truck...if that's what it's called..in the distance...at Luton airport.

Second new year's

On the 1st in the evening I took Anca to my parents' and friends' party to show her what a real dancing party is all about...

My parents and their friends are just a crazy bunch I always admired...Most of them have been friends since highschool and stayed friends ever since...partying like crazy every chance they got in a special room in Gili's house, they hand painetd at one time...

That's my dad playing DJ as usual...and mom dancing around...:)

And now they still party when they can, and they dance more than me and Anca together...and that's a lot...And when they don't party, they meet every week-end to play cards or talk. I guess I was gealous when I was little. I always wanted to have a group of friends like that...

The road to EU integration (new year's eve 06/07)

I began the day thinking about my great 2006:
I started it in Germany, with the decision to get a schollarship for the 4th year in the UK...afterwards, I got a job, was 3 months still VP ER in AIESEC, got the schollarship, applied for IC and got accepted, had exams, went to IC, won Raiffeisen schollarship, came back and did Plai festival with friends, went to the UK, saw London and went to Portugal twice...

This kind of a year deserved a hell of an ending...so we met at Liana's place...

... and went to the city center, where all the celebrations were taking place...
... first of all we saw a Blazzaj concert...

... then some strange blue men and women waved their sheets around in what they called a show...

... then smart lights started to emerge and color the buildings around...

... and fire popped up...

...and Easter balls, although it wasn't Easter...:)))

...and then at midnight, the Opera house caught fire...

... and fireworks sparkled everywhere...

... and we were happy...because now we were finally "integrated" in the EU...and I was happy because from now on I'll be passing customs through the "EU citizens" gate and not the "other passports" :P

ROMANIA IS NOW IN THE EUROPEAN UNION!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAAAAARRRRR!!!

... later on we celebrated with tequilla...

... and the special liver receipe my mom makes every year...

...MMMMMmmmmm!!!....

... after which we got completely silly...

... and messed around with pieces of a poor girl's dress...

... just like true "uan cius fri" girls that we are...aaaa...and Tako...:)

... no comment...
... and to think that all four of us fitted in there...

... and this was it for the first party night...more to come tomorrow...good night and only good wishes for the next year...


May we live challenges and adventures that will make us better people... may we learn a lot and remember 2007 as the year where we dared to do everything we dreamed. :)
Oh...and may we have at least half as much fun as I had tonight...