A lot has happened in the past two weeks. So let me get started with the biggest journey of my life so far.

It was still not even close to dawn when I was already dressed up and packed to go. Can't turn back now! My mind was running faster than my feet actually could ever hold possible. "Did I bring this? O, where is my belt ?!" Anyway, after an emotional trip through Belgium and part of France, we arrived at Lille. I have to admit, emotions pulverized my bravery at that moment. It fell onto me like rain during a storm, suddenly I realized I was really leaving the place that had been my home for over 20 years now... My parents saying goodbye really darkened the day, as if the clouds itself weren't enough...

After a long waiting period inside the terminal, where my luggage and me were extensively checked to exclude any minor possibility of us being bomb-experts, we finally got to board the Eurostar. It's a rather funny event. We were still storing our incredibily oversized luggage, when it suddenly hit Elodie..."O my god, we're actually moving!". Not long after that, we finally found our seats. Well, actually we just swapped them with a lady who was feeding her baby or something. I still fail to see how the Eurostar is the best place to do such things, but whatever.

And then we rose above the ground again, blinded by the sight of English soil. It really has something, it's not the same as Belgium. For some reason you feel the ground shouting out "This is not the mainland anymore!". After a rush to get off the train, we found ourselfs in the biggest hall I've ever seen : King's Cross. Indeed, this is the station where the Hogwarts Express is bound to leave at quarter past eleven on platform nine and three quarters...

Anyway, so we were in London. I was feeling pretty Brittish already ! The hole in my heart where "itty bitty Belgium" belongs was slowly filling itself with curiousity for what was to come. If only I had realized a bit earlier that the distance between King's Cross and Paddington Station was too big to be marching on, dragging along an equivalent of 4 full grown men on my back. And then it happened. My first real encounter with a genuine Brittish Bobby. He kindly helped us get on the bus with all our luggage. The police really is your friend in these regions.

The second train was to calm to be bothered. The only thing I was concerned of was my big red suitcase. That thing is big enough to break someone's foot if it would tip over! (It didn't offcourse, but cautiousness never killed the cat). 

As our destination slowly drew closer, my urge to look out of the window grew bigger. I was zooming in so far, my head hit the window of the slowing train. Every meter it got brightened up in my head. Time to get off this old silly train ! Again, struggling with all the luggage, we made it to the front of the station, where our traintickets (the only REAL souvenir of our ordeal so far) got stolen by the machine. Not to worry though, they are actually supposed to do that, but nevertheless the dissapointment was clearly visible in both of our red, sweaty, huffing, puffing and wheezing faces.

They say fortune favors the bold, and so it did ! "Where is that hotel again?" "Oh, not to worry Kenneth, it's just 10 minutes walk from here" "No it' not Elodie, it's right over there..." And yes, God bless the inaccuracy of Google Maps, it really was closer...Finally , a night of wel earned sleep after a big lasagne deal in the Prince of Wales...

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Well, at least one problem was solved that day, we even got to Cardiff with our wardrobes ! Now the hard part, getting to school. Our first attempt was actually quite nice. We took a walk along the river and I have to admit, although the distance to UWIC from Cardiff Central is not to be underestimated, it was the nicest walk I've had in years. I learned to appreciate the small things in nature. Some squirrels immediatly popped in sight. We don't really have those in Belgium you see, or at least nog in those numbers...

After, again, asking directions to the Llandaff Campus, we arrived. It felt so maze-like. We did get to the reception, it was pretty fun actually. Near the end of the morning, we were introduced to our savior, so to speak : Richard Webb. From the first minute we spoke to eachother, he took upon himself the task of helping us through administrative as wel as practical problems. (God, someone give that man some chocolate because I can't thank him enough for what he has done or us already !)

The second day went fairly well, we got a security badge, some reading at our temporary desk, went house-hunting. Oh about the househunting, you can't imagine how many crap-shacks there actually are in Cardiff, hidden behind a perfectly good "classic" facade. So no luck...but our courage inspired everyone here and in the end we did find something.

The hardest part about finding a permanent place to live was the fear of failing at it. Especially since we were trying our very best to leave a good impression on UWIC and its inhabitants. This place is really special and I'm actually getting used to "not being in Belgium". And as my brother told me right before I left : "You won't be in Iraq or something...it's only 500km away!" Might have some truth in it...

Anyway, after nearly 2 weeks of hotel-based hard work and hard house-hunting hours, we are getting settled in and are coming to the point where we can say "Let's do this". We're making our own meals, doing reading on our topics and even enjoying some time off. Two days ago, Richard and Andrew, along with other people (I hope I don't offend anyone by not writing down the names), threw us a real welcome party at the Sunset Palace. Yeah, that's right, I had a party in a Chinese Restaurant! And I loved it, it was the best welcome anyone good give us AND it had deep-fried pork. What more could I ever wish for! There's more fun stuff to come though. We have sit out some long, boring lectures about the psychology of Health, something with UK-government information slacking (Why would he think it's different anywhere else in the world?) and something about feet I didn't fully understand. However, it has to be said the latter wasn't as boring, in fact the speaker did really well. The only problem is, I'm not as lectured in podiatrics as most of the audiance might have been...

Either way, I suppose we'll be all right (again, thanks to Richard). The real blogging will start today, as from now on I'll have stable internet and more importantly...a place to call home.

P.S. Don't mind my lousy cooking, I made it with nothing but pots and pans, no spoons, knives, forks or whatever !

Een eenmalige kans kan je niet laten schieten...