University

So today I will tell about my university life and experience.
As for those readers who don`t know - previous year I started my degree in UCLan, in UK (BA International Tourism Management) and this year I am doing my Erasmus exchange degree in University of Malta.

The biggest difference I have noticed is - time/planning etc. If in UCLan everything was organised till the smallest detail, then here I feel nobody knows nothing sometimes. People are not in rush, you know as in south.. everybody is relaxed and take everything easy! For me, as I have always planned my life it is bit hard to adopt this lifestyle.

Studies are a bit harder and more work to do - if in UCLan I had 6modules per year and 12hours per week, then here I have 9 modules and 18hours per week + each module is only per semester, so I will have about 18modules per year. If in UCLan per week I had 1hour lecture and then 1hour seminar related to lecture`s topic, here in UoM I have 2hour lecture and no seminars, so amount of information is much more. Sometimes I have 2hour lecture without break and the I feel my head could explode, haha :D Also, few days per week are crazy busy - from 10am-8pm and sometimes lectures starts at 8am!!!

In UCLan I had only 1 exam and about 15assignments per year, then here I will have about 5-6 exams per semester + about 8-9 assignments per semester (some of them 6000 - 10`000words) what can I say CRAZY!!

What I enjoy here the most is modules - they are interesting. University campus is small, so I don`t have to walk sometimes 20mins from one building to the other. Library - can I say, no comments? I love UCLan`s library.. so overall there are + and - in each uni, but still I miss UCLan :)

UCLan

 UoM

               our lecture! lecturer is seriously teching us :) well facebook is important!

 this in university :) cute duck and this little cutie cat, which all the time try to steal your dinner :D ahaahh

Malta

So on first Saturday in September I left my second home - Preston with the one way ticket to Malta.
First weeks I spent settling in, enjoying unbelievably hot weather, swimming, relaxing etc.

Actually on my first night at Malta I experienced the biggest thunderstorm Malta had in past 10 years. Realized its really bad, when saw rain-water coming through hotel`s window and had to change room. Yeah, I can say that in Malta thunderstorms are totally different from Latvia`s/UK`s. Totally don`t enjoy them - better to be under big, fluffy blanket, drinking something stronger and trying to fall asleep : haha

So my verdict so far about Malta - weather is amazing (in autumn :D summer is bit too hot and humid for me, but from mid of September till this moment and hopefully all winter is perfect - I even went to swim few days ago, and its November.. about +22 in a day time.
Architecture/nature - I do like it, could be more palm trees and huger mountains and I would love it. Gozo island is really wild and beautiful.

Living - rent is cheaper than UK and you can get something really good, modern, close to sea for good value-if you look for it, but its not easy . Other living costs like food, utilities, shopping are bit higher. Transport is extremely cheap, night life varies from cheap to medium and eating out in most of the places are in average prices. I would say - with UK wages everything is affordable, but salary in Malta is quiet low, so for Malta I believe everything is expensive.
So average living costs would be: (and this is my opinion)

• Rent (3bedroom flat) - in the most expensive areas, which are Sliema/St.Julians for decent flat varies from 500Eur - 700Eur, modern one is hard to find below 650Eur-700Eur (most of them are with 2 double bedrooms and 1 single). About 1-2 bedroom flats I don`t know so much, but as I know 1 modern bedroom flat would be possible to find in these areas around 400Eur +. For 800Eur+ you would be able to find something ultra modern and with possible sea view
• Utilities depends how economic you live. 
• Food also varies, but if I spent in UK for my weekly food shopping without much looking what I was buying around 25pounds (30Eur), then here 30Eur can easily go with careful looking for only necessaries.
• Clothes etc. - besides assortment is limited, prices are about +20-30% of UK prices.
• Transport - one thing that is cheap! Day ticket to all buses 2.60Eur/student monthly ticket 21Eur!!!
• Nightlife - drinks starts from about 1.50Eur, entrance everywhere for free, from age 17

So here are pics from my first weeks :

Next time I will tell little bit about my university life :)

Summer 2012

One day I realized - people start so many things and then just leave them - this is what happened also to my blog. Started it with passion and the due to lack of time started to be lazy and did not upload nothing here. But sometimes I miss writing and I will try again :D haha.
This time, I will start with apologizing to all my Latvian readers, that I will most probably post only in English as it takes twice more time to post in two languages.
Again - I am not native English speaker, so sorry about my language. 

So what have happened during the summer and since that time I last posted here:

As some of my readers may remember, I left sweet sweet home and went alone to explore Greece (Rhodes Island). It was not so successful as I wished.

My plan was to work there for 3 months - 'Summer Job Experience for Students'.
I ended up living in the kitchen with unbelievable heat, humidity and mosquitoes biting me all night long :D
This of course was not the only problem, but I do not want to go into the details and I am also not gonna mention neither the company I went to this venture, nor place where I was suppose to work etc.

So, after dealing with many problems I realized it is not worth staying there and working all summer like a slave so I packed my things and left!
Of course, my problems did not end before I actually went into the airplane, but this is a bit personal story and all I can say about Rhodes - it is amazing island, beautiful and I would definitely recommend it for the holiday destination, but I will never sign for nothing like that, got my experience and luckily got out of the country.

soo, packed my 2 suitcases and left Rhodes! Had 3 seats at the airplane, yeee :)

So thanks to few helpful people and especially two, I ended up back in Preston, spending few days in student halls, then few days somewhere else till found proper room to stay (for 3 weeks :D).. so this is how my amazing summer started! Met so many amazing people and moved so so many times, but I had great company with me :)

Little overview of my summer

my 546459 moving time this year :D loved this apartment!

You know my girl, I miss you!

Met this awesome guy this summer :)

and this amazing lady :) miss you

and my guest in Preston! You know, I am missing you lots, thanks for supporting me. Always :)

 And then September came, it was time to leave Preston second time this year to move to Malta, where I will spend almost a year doing my Erasmus exchange programme about which one I will tell you next time, my reader :)

Paris ♥

Par Parízi man daudz nav ko teikt - tá ir vienkársi járedz! Es laikam neieteiktu uz Parízi braukt, ja nav celjots pietiekami daudz, jo péc Parízes var iestáties - já, ir jau skaisti, bet nu Paríze.. vismaz ar mani tá notika. Paríze mani pársteidza it visá - grandioza, gaisa, plasa, arhitektúra, francu bohema, viss, viss.. ja mana pilséta vienmér bija bijusi Londona, tad tagad esmu Parízes meitene. Varbút Roma vél varétu mazdruscin sacensties ar Parízi (lai gan nav labi salídzinát).

Celojums bútíbá noritéja diezgan neierastá veidá, ieméginot couchsurfing /www.couchsurfing.org/ un iepazístot patieso francúzu dzívi. Ar celabiedru palikám pie francúza Deivida un tad nu vins mús iepazístinája ar ístu francu bohému. Dienas lielákoties pavadíjám klístot un baudot Parízi ar Parízé dzívojoso Margaritu! Ja nu kádam nepieciesams padoms maná pirmajá couchsurfing pieredzé, vai nu ká, tad drosi jautájam!/atvainojos par garum-míkstinájum-zímém, mans dators nepiedává :D


Paris-there is nothing much to say about, just need to see it! I wouldn`t suggest to visit Paris, if you haven`t travelled enough, as after seeing Paris there may be feeling that nothing stands near Paris. Almost after every city it will be like - yes, its beautiful, but Paris...with me it happend, everything else is beautiful, Paris ir amazing! Paris suprised me with everyting - so light, so grand, architecture, boheme, everything.. if my city has always been London, then right know I am Paris girl. Probably, Rome may stand near Paris, although its not right to compare.


Trip was in quite unusual way for me. We tried couchsurfing experience/www.couchsurfing.org/ so in this way explored real french life. With my travell friend, we stayed at David`s house and he was really welcome and showed us how french people are living. Days we spend walking around Paris and enjoying every part of it with Margaret :) If someone has any questions about my couchsurfing experience or anything else, just ask and I will be happy to help!

Dusty

Te jau zirnekļu tīkli iemitināties sāks, ja neiepostošu kaut ko nebūt. Principā mani nodomi regulāri rakstīt un tēmas, kuras vēlējos šeit apspriest ir palikuši kaut kur nebūtienē, jo man laika pēdējo pusgadu nav bijis pat īsti atgulties dīvānā un noskatīties labu filmu, bet nu tad varbūt arī sākšu par to un par sekojošo.

Kā tad es aizvadīju savu pirmo studiju gadu/Atskaite

Prestonā tika nodzīvoti veseli deviņi mēneši. Pabeigts pirmais kurss Tūrisma Menidžmentā, pastrādāts divās darba vietās (Moka Cafe,Bar and Restarant un EastzEast Restaurant). Nomainītas pāris dzīvesvietas un iegūta lieliska pieredze it visā. Protams, satikti forši cilvēki un iegūts cits dzīves redzējums un citas intereses. To nu var panākt deviņos mēnešos. Paspēju paciemoties vienreiz Latvijā, pabaudīt Vācijas Bavārijas ziemīgo dabu un redzēt romantisko Parīzi.(par Parīzi man ir daudz ko stāstīt, ceru iepostot).
Visnotaļ varu teikt, ka, ja līdz šim mani pēdējie 2 gadi nav bijuši diez cik veiksmīgi un neesmu dzīvojusi saskaņā un harmonijā ar sevi, tad šis gads man solās tīri labs, līdz šim esmu radusi dvēseles apskaidrību, sapratusies pati ar sevi ko es vēlos un, ko man vajag. Tāds pārmaiņu gads. Bet gada atskaite jau vēl nevar būt, gads tik ir sācies.

Šobrīd uz mēnesi atrodos dzimtajā Latvijā, ciemojos, baudu laiku ar saviem mīļajiem, cik nu man sanāk un gatavojos brīvdienām Ungārijā.
Tālāk man priekšā seko dzīve Rodas salā, kur smelšos pieredzi un sauli! Un oktobrī, ko nevaru vien sagaidīt turpinu mācības Maltā!

Its been a long time since I posted here previous time. To be honest, I have been so so busy, that I even did not have time for a movie. So, briefly, how I spent my first year of uni and nine months in Preston. I finished my first course/International Tourism Management. Worked in two places - Moka Cafe,Bar and Restarant un EastzEast Restaurant, changes a few living spaces and experiences a lot of wonderful things. I met amazing people and my view of the world has changed compleately. Also I had few little trips during those months- visited my home Latvia, enjoyed snowy Germany/Bavaria and falled in love with Paris! Hope, I will find a time to tell about this trip. Overall, I can say that my last 2 years haven`t been so good and successful, I didn`t have harmony with myself, but in this year I am trying to find myself, what do I want and what do I need. Till this time, I ve been doing quite well. Its year of changes.


Right know I am in my homecountry - Latvia, waiting for my Hungary holidays and meeting my lovely friends. After, I am going to seek experience and sun in Rhodes and in october I will continue my tourism studies in Malta!

Drošvien, ka jēdzīgāk būs postot šeit kā man ies tālāk, nekā par to, kas bijis, lai gan bija man pāris tēmas, bet nu neliels atskats uz pēdējiem mēnešiem :

 Hippie partie

 Avenham park/A week long summer in England/April

 One of my fav Preston`s pub

 My 21st @ EastzEast

 Goodbye dinner with my girls

Paris :)

Avenham Park

Avenham parks Novembrī! Dzīvoju tikai 5min gājienā no mīļākās vietas Prestonā :)
Avenham Park in November, my fav place in Preston :)

Iet man labi, mācos cītīgi un gaidu šīs un nākamās brīvdienas, jo dodos mājās&uz Minheni :) Piedošanu, ka nepaspēšu satikt visus šajā reizē, jo ciemošos tikai 3 dienas, taču ceru visus, visus redzēt Lieldienās.