During the time I've been in England now I have noticed that the first year students are extremely promiscuous. They come to university with the idea to have as many sexual partners as possible and aren't afraid to be open about it. Coming to university while being in a relationship becomes almost a crime. I wonder, though, whether this attitude towards sex is healthy. In the time of King Hendry the eigth it was a crime to divorce the woman you married. When king Henry wanted to divorce his first wife Catherine of Aragon, the church still had a lot of power. In order to divorce Catherine he had to part with the believes of the church. The discussion about whether his motives were pure is one I'm not going to hold right now, but King Henry's divorce was a turning point in how people looked at marriage. Modern society doesn't solely part with the Catholic believe but with believe in general, it therefore holds only a few values. We all see it as a natural evolution in the trying to become free, yet the question is whether this freedom has done us more good than wrong.We are driven by desire and lust which used to be seen as sins. We take what we want without thinking about the consequences of our actions. Like King Henry followed his desire to be with Anne Boleyn, most of us follow their desire to be with whoever we think is fit and crosses our path. The unthoughtfulness of King Henry can be seen as the cause of Catherines' death, who loved him with all her heart untill the day she died and even though he treated her with no respect she respected him until her last breath. Respect, do we really know what it means? Can we still see the beauty of things if we materialize everything. Sex is supposed to be something magical and personal, it's about giving your body and soul to the person that you love. It's a gift we should treat with the utmost respect and loving care because it is the most fragile and personal gift one can give. I wonder what happened to courtesy and Love, in the past a man had to court a lady by reading poemes to her, holding the door open, respecting her and caring for her. Most of us don't care at all about who they sleep with, it is a one night thing, without emotion. If you ask me that is the biggest rubbish I have ever heard! You can put on a mask, a façade to the world and let others believe that you do not feel but deep down inside we all do. Sex is something so intimate it is almost impossible not to feel something during it. I'm not saying that we should go back to the times where sex was only allowed within a marriage but I do believe that we should stop lying to ourselves and the people around us. There is nothing wrong with showing your emotions and being honourable. Let's start treating eachother with repsect again and stop hurting the people around us. Let's stop abusing the people around us for they are people we love and we might love one more than another but we need to be honest about it, because you might be taking advantage of someone that truely loves you. Let's restore some of the magic that once surrounded making Love to someone, for I have to admit I would be the luckiest girl if I found someone I love as much as Catherne loved Henry and he would equally love me back.
I havent
been well today, one second Im freezing cold the other one Im sweating
because its too hot. Afraid of getting a cold I decide to stay in tonight
watch a film and crawl into bed in time. So at half past eight in the evening I
settled myself with my laptop in bed and started watching Remember me with
Robert Pattinson. If there is anything that can help me feel betterits a romantic film with a gorgeous man in
it! A half hour into the film I can hardly keep my eyes open, so I decided to
put it off and go to sleep. See this would have been a good plan back at home
but it isnt when youre living in a student hall. See its a Friday night and
one of my flat mates decided to invite some friends which meant that every ten
minutes someone was banging on our front door. On top of that there were cars
honking, fire truck sirens, ambulances and just busy traffic going on just
below my window. I desperately tried to ignore everything but I just couldnt.
See Im used to sleeping in a room where you dont hear any noise accept for my
own breath maybe. After an hour of fighting my surroundings I really started to
miss my own room with my big bed that feels like a perfect cloud when I lay
down in it. While I was picturing my room and trying imagine the feeling of my
own bed, it hit me. A tear went down my cheek and I suddenly missed you so
much. I missed your soft little ears which I always squeeze when Im lying next
to you, your hairy bottom and your big belly. I missed the feeling of your head
against mine. Ive known you since I was nine and its the first time weve
been separated for such a long time and Im having a hard time with. And the
worst thing of all is that you normally always there for me when Im sad and
now Im so sad and I cant hold you. No matter where we were in the past I
always felt home when you were with me but now home seems so far away.
I come home from school, I'm beat from paying attention the entire day and all the information that I had to absorb. When I walk into the living room I throw my bag into a corner and drop myself into the couch, finally I can relax. Mom is in the kitchen preparing dinner and I can hear my dad coming down the stairs eager to hear how my day has been and looking forward to dinner. He cheerfully walks into the living room with his empty cup of coffee in his hand and smiles at me before he says: "So, how was your day at school?". I can't wait to tell him about what I've learned, how weird some of my teachers are and how annoying that one person in class was acting. See that's the great thing about coming home, being able to spill all the emotions, thoughts and frustrations that have been going on in your head. In the meanwhile dinner is ready and my mom asks us to have a seat at the dinner table. hmmm dinner smells awesome, fresh soup and vegetables from the kitchen garden, is there anything better than that?! The following 30 minutes we talk about everything we've done that day and how we felt about it. After dinner I go up to my room to work on some tasks for school and around eight o'clock my dad comes knocking on my door asking if I want to take a walk outside. Our own sacred hour in which we philosophize about the world and tell each other our dreams and wishes. When we get back home we put on our pyjamas and gather into the living room to watch midsommer murders, lewis, zone stad or so in silence. In the middle of the episode my brother comes back home and ventilates about his day at work. This entire ritual has such a comforting feeling about it. When you come home to your family it doesn't matter whether you talk a lot or don't talk at all, it doesn't matter whether you're happy or sad. No matter what, your family is there for you, they know you through and through. they know how you'll react, how they need to react, when they have to say something or just listen, they know what's important to you and what isn't. They are you're own little Cul-De-Sac crew with whom you feel safe and at ease. When you live in halls with people whom you've only known for 4 weeks everything is entirely different. You don't feel alone because you're surrounded by people who are busy and making noise. Allthough a lot of them became friends in the last few weeks, they don't KNOW me like my family does and therefore you aren't that comfortable around them, you can't just sit and be quiet with each other. Your family won't judge you no matter what you say or do but your flatmates will so you can't really ventilate with them. I'm having a really could time here at Greenwich university and in the four weeks that I've been here I haven't really been angry at anything or anyone but the weird thing is that I miss being angry and being able to yell and scream to my brothers. I think this is something only people who have brothers and sisters can understand but allthough you hate the fact that you fight with your brothers it is one of the things you miss about them. The fact that you can yell at each other for no real reason but perhaps letting off steam can be so liberating sometimes.
The journey from Greenwich to oxford circus takes a while and if you have to stand up the entire time it's deathly.Though, finding a seat on the DLR isn't always that easy so when I finally discovered and conquered myself a seat, I felt like Columbus. It's a saturday afternoon and the underground is packed as usual. If our municipality already thinks that Antwerp is overpopulated they clearly haven't been to London yet. In comparison to London, Antwerp is an oasis of peace and tranquility. When I came out of the tube at Oxford circus I felt like Mufasa in the Lion King when he gets caught into the rush in the ravine. Trying not to get trampled we headed towards Trafalgar Square. It isn't that easy for a Belgian girl and a Scot to find their way around this massive city but thank god for smartphones with GPS functions! Despite the help of the smartphones we took a little detour but we didn't really care. It gave us the chance to look around. Striking to me were all different little bookshops you find. I couldn't help but think; I want those too in Antwerp! Arriving at Trafalgar Square we noticed that the place was packed with thousands of people. Apparantely the annual japan festival, called Japan Matsuri, was going. Trafalgar Square was covered in people, music and stalls where you could eat japanese food and participate in several japanese activities. After enjoying the japanese music we continued to Leicester Square.
One of the must sees at Leicester Square is M&M world, so that's what we did. The second I walked into the building my inner child came out everywhere I looked there were statues of the M&M characters, paintings, clothes, teddybears and off course lots and lots of M&M's in every colour of the rainbow to chose from. The place has a very disney like magic going on.
After that we walked back to the underground via picadilly circus, where I have seen the phantom of the opera earlier this week, and regent street. While I was walking down Regent street I felt like I dead and gone to fashion heaven, I walked by the Michael Kors shop, Karen Millen, Chanel really all the big fashion designer are there. Even the H&M store looked more glamourous than the one we have in Antwerp.
When I came home at the end off the day I had the feeling that I had shared ths experience with a lot of people but in reality I only had really shared it with my flatmate Ryan. Even though you are surrounded by thousands of people you walk the streets alone. In a way it gives you the feeling that you are not alone in the world but when you think about it you are. While I was looking around in awe of the beauty of the city I was in, the majority of the strangers around didn't even notice that beauty anymore. I realised then and there that beauty is transitory after a while it's just a city. And no matter how many people surround you, in the end it is just you.
money money money it's so funny in a rich man's world
Don't we all dream of being millionaires and billionaires! A lot of people say that money won't make you happy and they are right in a lot of ways but it does make life easier. Our society is obsessed with money, we live for profits, big numbers, sales and so on. This resulted in the fact that you can't get anything for free anymore, except for the air we breath and the sunrise in the morning.
When I was still at home the only things I had to pay for myself were my clothes and the drinks on a night out. It is now when I have to handle my own budget that I realize that I took a lot for granted back home. Untill now I never realised how expensive the basics in life are and the shops don't make it easy on you. Marketeers will make sure you definitely notice the chicken that will cost you six pounds but have to search for the chicken that will only cost you two pounds.
In modern societey we all are materialists and everyday we get confronted with things we really would like to have but cannot afford. Do we hate that feeling? Absolutely, it sucks! It seems pretty stupid though to desire things that are out of our reach but it's perfectly normal. The entire day we hear and see nothing but things that we don't have, take facebook for example, I have dozens of friends who write about doing things or having things I wish I had. Social media, advertising and television work as a constant reminder of what we don't have in life in comparison to others.
When I arrived on Monday the 17 of September I didn't meet any of my flatmates, it took me a day and a half to see someone in the kitchen. I didn't really mind because that day and a half gave me the opportunity to be a real tourist and explore my new campus and village. The first one I met was Ryan. He looked a bit dazzled when he suddenly saw me cooking in the kitchen and he thought I was french but it worked out eventually. He lives right across from me and he is from Scotland. I don't know about you guys but I secretly have a crush on Gerard Butler ever since P.S.: I love you came out and the main reason I have a crush on him is because of his super sexy scottish accent.
That night he asked me whether I wanted to come with him to this kitchen party and after that to whetherspoons. I immediately said yes. I had so much fun that night, I met so many people from different places in the UK. I mean there were girls and boys from Canterburry, Essex, Basildon,... The funny thing was that even though everyone came from different cities and even countries we all knew the game 'Never have I ever' (Ik heb nog nooit).
Since that first night I got to know people from Sweden, Finland, Spain, Germany, France, Brasil, you name a country and it will be represented at the University of Greenwich. There are almost 5,000 international student at the uni, pretty amazing isn't it? You know what's even more amazing, everyone gets along with each other, respects each other and is really hospitable. I mean I'm here for only two weeks now and I already got invited by Ryan's sister to have dinner at her home after seeing her once. 9 went wednesday and when I walked into their appartement She immediately gave me a hug and a kiss and showed me the entire flat because they just moved in. t really touched me because they really make you feel as if you are a part of something here.
When I got off the train at St. Pancrass station in London I didn't know where to go, so I decided to go with the flow. It was as if I had been dropped into an anthill where everyone knew what to do except for me. When I walked into the hall of the tube all I could see were men and women in black and blue suits walking around towards different directions. When the wirlpool of suits around me calmed down I went looking for the nearest ticket window to ask for directions. The lady behind the desk was really nice and she gave me a map on which she indicated which tubes I had to take. First line was the northern line to morden, get off at bank and then take the DLR to Lewisham and get off at cutty sark. It was like I had fallen into a rabbit hole like Alice not knowing where I was or where I was going. Thank God for me that in comparison to Alice I was able to simply follow the arrows on the wall. When I was sitting on the DLR towards cutty sark I was actually really proud of myself, everything had gone smoothly. Seeing that everyone else was listening to music I put mine on too and relaxed a little. When my stop came onto the screen I took off my headphones and when to one off the doors. I was almost there, yes! When suddenly a female voice announced that the escalators at cutty sark station were broken and I had to take the stairs. When I got off the DLR and got to the stairs I just stood there for five minutes desperately looking to the thousands of stairs. After that I said to myself; "Come on Astrid you can do that, one staircase at a time but you can do it!". I was in the middle of the second staircase when a man in a fluo vest came down and saw me struggling. He offered to carry my suitcase to the top. Now, that was the best welome present a stranger had ever given me!
