Goodbye!

Yes, it’s really true. Our five months in Manchester are over and we are already back home in Italy. Sorry, that we didn’t blog earlier but we were so busy packing and preparing our departure that we completely forgot about it.
Now we are back home and it’s strange to think that we won’t return to Manchester, at least not in the near future.
These five months were great! If you ever get the chance to study abroad for some time don’t hesitate to take it. It is a very special experience and a time you will remember all your life.

As we felt that we couldn’t live in England for almost half a year and not visit its capital city, we decided to spend our last weekend in the UK in London. We departed Thursday evening and spend 3 days there. London is really an impressive city. There are so many things to visit we didn’t even know where to start. We tried to pack as much as possible into our three days.

On Sunday evening we returned to Manchester and as we had only two days left, we had to sort out some formalities. After the paperwork was done we enjoyed the remaining time.

Now it’s time to say goodbye to all of you. It was great to live and study in Manchester! We hope you enjoyed our blog.

Goodbye and all the best!

Daniela & Monika

Monika 1:58 pm, Thursday, 12th Feb ’09 link

Unbelievable but true…

You may wonder about our title for this entry, but it is the feeling inside us. It’s unbelievable how fast time passed, it is only one week left and then we will return home and say good bye to Manchester and to the United Kingdom. On the one hand we are happy to go home to see family and friends and spend more time with them. But on the other hand we are a bit sad because we know that we won’t see Manchester for a very long time   and if we’ll see it, we are only tourists and don’t live here anymore.

But it’s better not to think about this. We have still seven days and we want to make the best out of them.

Two days ago we got a new flat mate, the French guy who lived with us for nearly two months went back to France because his Erasmus term finished. Our new flat mate is a medical student in his last year. He has to study for his last exam, therefore we don’t see him often. He is always busy with his study.

We have a lot of plans for this week. Tomorrow evening we’re going to watch the musical Marry Poppins and on Thursday, after our last class, we’re going to London for three days , we’re so exited because everybody told us that London is amazing and if you are in the UK it would be a shame not to go there. We found a cheap hostel, hopefully it is also good…

Enough for today, next week we’ll tell you about our trip.

Take care!! 

Daniela 5:28 pm, Tuesday, 3rd Feb ’09 link

Recipe

Today, we would like to share a recipe with you. It’s the recipe for Käseknödel (Cheese dumplings), a typical dish from our region.

Ingredients:

- 200 g white bread
- 250 ml milk
- 2 eggs
- cheese
- chopped parsley
- salt, pepper, nutmeg

Method
1. Cut the bread into cubes; place it in a bowl and pour the milk over top;
2. add the eggs and the parsley;
3. cut the cheese into cubes and add it to the batter
4. season with salt, pepper and nutmeg
5. shape the batter into balls;

You can now freeze your Knödel or prepare them immediately as follows:

6. poach them in water or broth for about 20 minutes;
7. drain and serve the dumplings hot.

Enjoy

Monika 10:17 pm, Tuesday, 27th Jan ’09 link

Hello everybody!

It’s more than a week now that we have come back to Manchester. It’s amazing how fast we got used to being back here. Even though life here in Manchester is quite different to our home towns. Living in a big city is so great. Buses run at least every 5 minutes, there are lots of interesting things you can do, so you never get bored and if you decide you want something to eat, even if it’s 3 o’clock in the morning, you can simply go to a supermarket as there are many which are open all night.

As we have already told you, there are only 3 weeks left and we will go back to Italy. It’s good that we are not very busy at the University at the moment, so we have time to enjoy the rest of our time here. We want to make the best of the time that’s left. It will be strange to be back at our home university as university life here is somehow different. Especially the relationship between students and professors. Here all the professors are very friendly and if you have a problem you can simply e-mail them or ask them and they will help as much as they can. At home it’s a bit different. Don’t get me wrong! I wouldn’t say that professors there are not friendly but students and professors keep more distance.

Well, enough for today.
You will hear from us soon.

Monika 10:39 pm, Tuesday, 20th Jan ’09 link

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYBODY!!!

Sorry for being late with our blog but the time at home was too busy and then there was a problem with the system. We are back in Manchester our last month and then we go back to study in Austria. We’ll miss Manchester for sure. But there is no time for bad thoughts we have to enjoy our last weeks here.

But let us tell you what we did in Italy on New Years Eve and during the time we were at home. I (Daniela) was on holiday, I went to visit my boyfriend and we went out with some friends to eat dinner and then we went near to the seaside, where there was a music event near the beach. It was great fun. Then when I went back home I had to work a bit as a waitress. Time flew by at home. I met my friends and my relatives and everybody was exited to ask me if I liked Manchester and how it was living in a huge city. On Saturday we flew back to Manchester and also my parents came to visit the city until today. A few hours ago I brought them to the airport. We visited the Manchester United Stadium as my father likes football very much and we enjoyed it very much, it was great. Unfortunately, they were here only for 3three days and today they had to go back home, but nevertheless I think they enjoyed Manchester and the city life.

I (Monika) was at home during the holidays as well, as I have already told you. It was great to be back home, but it’s also great to be back in Manchester now. Now I will enjoy my last month here. If you ever get the chance to study abroad, even if it is only for one term or one year, take the chance! It’s definitely worth it.
Nevertheless I enjoyed my time at home. It was a perfect opportunity to meet friends and to spend time with my family. Also my brother came from Vienna where he lives. So the whole family was together. That’s real Christmas!

I hope you enjoyed your holidays as well.

Monika 8:46 pm, Tuesday, 13th Jan ’09 link

2009 is near

Hello everybody!

I hope you’re all fine and you enjoyed Christmas.
I have spent Christmas at home with my family. We mainly celebrate on Christmas Eve. Every year, after dinner everybody puts their presents under the Christmas tree. Then we light the candles on the Christmas tree and sing Silent Night. Afterwards we wish “Frohe Weihnachten” and open the gifts. Then we eat lots of home baked cookies. Delicious!

Now the year 2008 is almost over. I wish you all a “Guten Rutsch” as we say in my language, which means, literally translated, a good slide into the New Year.

Happy New Year!

Monika 1:21 pm, Tuesday, 30th Dec ’08 link

Christmas’s coming…

Hi everybody,

today I’m writing you from Italy. Yes, after three months I (Daniela) am back home. On Thursday we flew back, the flight was perfect and the four hours journey from the airport to my hometown passed very slowly because I was so exited and wanted to see my family. Here, there is a lot of snow everywhere and the Christmas feeling is everywhere. This weekend I went out to the usual nightclub with my friends. Life here is rather different as I live in a small village where everybody knows everybody and life is completely different than in Manchester. Not so many people on the streets, not so much traffic, no stagecoaches and no magic busses. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we’ll have a big meal go to the church and we’ll get presents from the “Christkind”.

So now I have to go.

I wish everybody MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Daniela 9:13 pm, Tuesday, 23rd Dec ’08 link

Back home

As we said last week, we went home on Thursday. Now we are both back home in Italy in our hometowns. It is great to be back home again. Strange, but great. Now I finally see my family and my friends again. I have to catch up with all the gossip: this couple split up, these two got together …
It is also nice to have such simple things as one tab for cold and hot water and not one for cold and one for hot like in England
But I was surprised to notice that I also miss Manchester a little. I’ve never thought that this could happen. But it’s only 3 weeks and I will be back to England.
Nevertheless, all in all it is great to be back home. And further more there is plenty of snow here, something you hardly ever see in Manchester and Christmas is coming in two days.
Wow, only two days… I definitely have to go and buy the last Christmas presents.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and if you’re at home over the Christmas holidays enjoy your time with your folks.

Monika

Monika 10:02 am, Monday, 22nd Dec ’08 link

Christmas is in the air!

The last week of this term has started. It’s unbelievable how quickly all the weeks passed.   If we think about all the things that we’ve done so far (Edinburgh, Stonehenge...) it seems that we have visited so much, but there is still a lot to see here in the UK. Perhaps next term we will have more time for travelling around.

Yesterday we handed in our essays (we had to write two of them, but fortunately this time we organised our time better so that we weren’t that much in a hurry) so now we have all the time to enjoy the wonderful Christmas feeling and to do our Christmas shopping. Finally!!! 

And what could be a better way to enjoy the Christmas feeling than going to the Christmas market?! The Christmas market in Manchester is really great. There are stalls from different countries and at every corner you can buy different dishes. And everywhere you smell Glühwein.  It’s a real Christmas experience!
But Christmas is not the only reason why we are happy at the moment: we are going home on Thursday!!! 

We can’t wait to see our families and our friends again! It’s the first time for months that we see them. We have heard that at home there’s a lot of snow, so maybe we will even have a white Christmas.

So now we have to go packing! Because tomorrow there won’t be much time, we have to buy the last presents and at the evening we’ll go to a Christmas party. It will be great.

We wish you all a merry, merry Christmas!

Daniela 6:01 pm, Tuesday, 16th Dec ’08 link

Christmas shopping

Today we’d like to tell you how to do Christmas shopping in an efficient way.

Step 1: take a piece of paper and a pencil.

Step 2: sit somewhere where you feel comfortable and where you can think well.

Step 3: begin to write the names of the people who will get a present of you. Leave a bit of space under every name so that you can write the things that you want to buy under the name. NOTE: important people on the top of the list because these are the people who must get a present of you.

Step 4: Begin to think.

Step 5: write everything that comes into your mind on the paper.

Step 6: if you have all the presents that you need to buy on your paper, you’ll need a lot of time, warm cloths and a friend (to carry the bags).

Step 7: go to a hole in the wall and take a lot of money and the shopping tour begins.

Step 8: remember to tick on the paper if you have bought one present so that you don’t buy it twice.

Step 9: don’t hurry there are still 3 weeks left so think carefully and make the right choice so that everybody gets the right present.

Monika 11:56 am, Tuesday, 9th Dec ’08 link

Our salt

You may think that we are crazy but today we would like to tell you about our salt. Yes, we think we are the only people for whom salt has a special meaning and connotation. Now we’re going to tell you our story that we entitled:

Our salt - a never ending story!?

Once upon a time, it was September and two Italian girls came to Manchester to go to university there. They arrived and stayed the first days in a hostel. During these days the girls tried to find their new home and as they were hungry and missed the Italian pasta they decided to cook some pasta. So they went to the supermarket to buy salt and pasta and this was their first time when they got in touch with the English salt, everything was ok till the day when the girls had to move out from the hostel and went to their new apartment and the only thing that they forgot there was their salt, so they had to buy a new one.

Their time together passed very quickly until the day when their salt suddenly disappeared. Yes, the salt vanished and first nobody understood what happened. But after reflecting and thinking about the reasons why the salt has left the two girls, the girls understood that the salt didn’t like the girls and found a way to escape. It jumped into the bag of their flat mate when he decided to move out of the flat. And therefore the two girls angry and sad at the same time had to buy a new one.

This time everything seemed to be perfect. The salt liked the girls and the girls liked the salt, but one evening it happened again. The salt disappeared without a word, the girls tried to find it but it vanished. And so the girls tried to think about the places where the salt could have hidden and they found its hiding place, it was hidden in the bedroom of their new flat mate. The girls were very happy and from this event on they will always keep an eye on their salt….
And the girls and their salt lived happily ever after…

Monika 3:55 pm, Tuesday, 2nd Dec ’08 link

It’s time for essays and presentations!!!

Yes, as everybody knows the term ends in a few weeks, and this means that there are only a few weeks left for writing essays and doing our last presentations, so we are a bit busy. We have to search material; fortunately there is the Internet and the library has a broad variety of books, where we are able to find nearly everything we need for our essays. We have to write two essays and to do three presentations. That’s a lot of work, but nevertheless we find the time to go to the city centre and admire all the nice Christmas decoration in the streets and at Piccadilly Garden. You can see lights everywhere, it is really nice!

Now we have to think about Christmas presents. What are we going to buy for the people at home? It is sooo difficult to find the right things for everyone and we need to think about it carefully. But we will get something special for everyone, there are some weeks left to think about it.

Last weekend we were at the cinema to watch a German movie with English subtitles and the film was really well made and interesting to watch. It was a film about the terrorism in Germany and how the state acted against it. It is really worth seeing it.

Monika 6:00 pm, Tuesday, 25th Nov ’08 link

Arabic has priority!

The last week and the weekend we were busy studying. Yes, you’ve heard right! We studied because on Monday we had a writing exam in Arabic. You have to know that we are attending a class of Arabic for Beginners at UNIWIDE this term and we have to be assessed in this class like in every class. UNIWIDE gives you the opportunity to learn an additional foreign language and we have decided to go for a completely new language which is totally different from the other languages we speak.
As we are beginners and have no idea of Arabic, the Arabic alphabet is rather difficult for us and it took us some time to learn how to write and read the Arabic letters properly. Furthermore, we had to learn how to join the letters in the right way and we had to learn some basic vocabulary. This took us a rather long time so that we didn’t manage to do many other things.

But you don’t have to worry; as an English proverb says: “All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy.” So, on Friday evening, for instance, we went out with our friends to a club for dancing. There were a lot of people, but due to a flooding of the dance floor, the club had to close earlier but nevertheless we had a lot of fun. 

As you know some friends from Italy visited us, and you may think that now all of them went home, but this is not right. Another one came on Thursday. Unfortunately, we couldn’t show him everything we liked because we had to study, so we only showed him the city centre, the lovely Trafford Centre, the night life and Liverpool.

Monika 7:52 pm, Monday, 17th Nov ’08 link

Visitors from far away

As you all may know, last week was progression week. And we took the opportunity to show our friends, who made the long journey from Italy to visit us, our new home. We tried to show them the best side of Manchester and its surroundings. Together we visited all the must-sees, like the Trafford Center, Market Street, the Cathedral etc. In the Trafford Center we also had time to watch the latest James Bond film “Quantum of Solace”. It was a great film and if you don’t know what to do in your spare time and you like James Bond, this film is right for you.
We also managed to spend one day in Liverpool, the European Capital of Culture 2008.
Then, at the weekend, we went to Bath and Stonehenge with the International Society. Bath is a very nice town, with a lot of baths (as the name suggests ). We took the Sightseeing Bus to explore the city, because as we only had little time we thought that this would be the best way to see as much as possible. On Sunday we visited Stonehenge and allthough it was windy and chilly, we were fascinated   of this ancient English heritage.

Today our friends had to take their plane back home and now our flat is unfamiliarly empty. But it doesn`t get boring in our flat, as we got a new flatmate, an Erasmus-student from France. Now that our italian friends have left, we finally have time to get to know him.

Monika 9:01 pm, Tuesday, 11th Nov ’08 link

Hi everybody,

it’s high time to let you know what happened in our weekend. This weekend we were rather busy as our apartment was full of people. Monika’s family was here for 3 days and we were visiting Manchester with them, as you may know we live in a big city and it is impossible to show all the things in 3 days so we showed them the things we like the most for example market street, the cathedral and Trafford Centre. They liked it very much as in Italy the architecture of shopping centers is very different and not as special as it is in the Trafford Centre. Fortunately, also the weather was nice so that we didn’t need an umbrella.

On Friday (Halloween) a friend of mine (Daniela) from Italy came to visit me and we went out. We dressed up as zombies. It was very funny to see people dressed up because in Italy it isn’t usual to do it we only dress up on carnival but here it seems that people like it very much. We had a lot of fun!!!

Now there is reading week and we have a lot of spare time to show our guests, one who is already here and the other coming tonight, the city and life in Manchester. And we have a lot of time to improve our Arabic. Yes, we try to study Arabic this term but it is very difficult and it adsorbs a lot of time and energy as the writing is different and we have to learn everything from the beginning.

Daniela 12:30 pm, Tuesday, 4th Nov ’08 link