Amsterdam!!

I went to Amsterdam this weekend from early morning Sunday 13^th February to Monday 14^th late at night.  I don’t think 2 days and 1 night is enough to get a good feel of Amsterdam, however, if I had to spend another day there I would have gone completely crazy. 

First – Going to Amsterdam is just one of those things that most University Students feel they need to do at least once. It’s fairly cheap to fly there and to pay for accommodation. However, everything is super expensive once you’re there. We ended up spending more money than we thought we would, and I don’t exactly have anything to show for it!

Second – It felt as though everyone living there doesn’t live in reality. Yes everything is relaxed and calm, but I think people need to snap out of it too and try to make something out of their lives. But perhaps I misunderstood what I saw.

Third – Everything is about Sex and Drugs. Everywhere you go, that’s what you see. It is a very adult city to be in; there are no children around, which is understandable but also strange. We probably saw about 3 babies, but they were really small and recently born, taking that out, no children and nothing there that appeals to children in any way.

Fourth – If anybody decides to go to Amsterdam, just make sure you have the right company to go with. It can very well ruin the entire trip otherwise, trust me.

Fifth – There are cats in so many of the shops and coffee shops!! It’s so cute, but they do all look high, which is funny but cruel. It’s not surprising with the amount of weed around there.

Sixth – In terms of transport!!! Wow...I mean...the majority of the people there ride bikes!! Instead of car parks, we saw bike parks, which is crazy!! It’s brilliant, I love it. However, being a pedestrian is like being at the bottom of the food chain!! There are specific roads and crossings for bikes, cars, buses, trams, so while you’re walking you literally have to look everywhere at once! I don’t know HOW I didn’t get run over!!! The trains are super cool too!!! We were so excited because the trains and double-decker trains, so sitting on top was awesome!

Seventh – Red Light District, perhaps the most degrading, humiliating thing I have ever seen in my life. Maybe it’s because I’m a gender egalitarian who fights for women’s rights at every turn, that it was so difficult to witness. It’s so sad that women are literally in a shop...behind glass windows waiting to be sold....just like the sex objects that are literally only good for that – Sex...objectifying women as always. Feels like the battle I fight for will never be won. It goes against everything I fight for. I’m glad I saw it though...but heartbreaking nonetheless.

All in all..it was definitely an experience.

What’s going on?!

I have had a pretty interesting few days. My boyfriend had a gig on Thursday at the HalfMoon in Putney – everything went great, lots of people, good company and good music!!
Friday, his Russian friend came to the UK we took him to the National Gallery, which was interesting, but to be honest...I expected better, but the company made it cool. We had dinner at Frankie’s and then went to classical concert in a Church in Trafalgar Square where they played some of Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi and Handel. The church was lit by candlelight and the musicians were aaaaaamazing, I absolutely loved it!!! The weekend was pretty chilled out..but now its Monday..and the rat race begins once again...

Okkk, so on the ‘business’ side of things: I have a new subject this term called Contemporary Issues in Management – so far it seems pretty cool, I like it. We have to do an Essay on something that is in the headlines these days that is interesting and that has to be managed one way or another. I have been checking out some contemporary issues – I am going to present a few of them here:

TODAY!!! AIRPORT EXPLOSION IN MOSCOW!!

This one would involve global issues, its pretty recent seeing as it happened today. Apparently 23 people died and 130 people were injured...a suicide bombing. I would have to analyse how the airport would manage this situation to get things up and running again and how to prevent such things from happening in the first place. Could be interesting...

PROTESTS – HAPPENING IN THE UK (TUITION FEES) AND IN PORTUGAL (WAGE CUTS)

This one is interesting too! Tuition fees are going to affect us all, not just the students. Do these protests make a difference...how well are police managing these protests – NOT WELL AT ALL!! I was there, and violence towards students who are just being peaceful is simply ridiculous and inhumane. How well have these protests been managed by the people actually organising them?

There’s also the Protests in Portugal..this is interesting to me seeing as I’m also Portuguese and lived there for 13 years. It seems Greece is also protesting – they have a good history with being successful in this, maybe we should learn from them?! Recession is causing major wage cuts – how is the government planning on managing this one?!

WIKILEAKS

Now this one is juicy...spilt secrets...important secrets that organisations want to keep on the low. Firstly how does Wikileaks manage its information and how do corrupt organisations manage a crisis when all their dirty secrets are out in the open for everyone to see?! Hmm..

Of course there are many other things going on... I will have to keep an eye out and do my homework, hey?! :P

The End of First Term...wow! So, what happened..

So!! This term, in my case, has had some serious lows but some pretty cool highs too, not worth mentioning the negatives so I’ll focus on the positives!

In my previous blog I mentioned the awesome group of friends that proves the effects of Globalization in the 21st Century and I mentioned Ice Skating – so yes we went to Hype Park, Winter Wonderland - it was AWESOME!!! Bearing in mind that in that group of friends I was the only one who hadn’t been Ice Skating before and there were 2 Russians who should really be amazing at this..however, I didn’t fall ONCE!! Yes, you read it right...I did not, but one of the Russians did..several times, this obviously makes me bubble with pride lol (not a huge achievement, but an achievement nonetheless). The unfortunate part of this was that I had the crappiest pair of skating shoes which left my feet with huge disgusting blisters that I still currently have (Eww, right?) But oh well...No Pain No Gain ! :D

The other thing I did this term, for the first time in my life was Paintballing! I’ve always wanted to do it! Not gonna lie...I was pretty scared, everyone who talks about it, goes on about how painful it is when you get shot, but that just means there was even more adrenaline and excitement!! We got there early at about 9am and we only finished at 4.30pm, it was a long, exhausting day but it was a great experience and I definitely recommend it to everyone. But I particularly recommend it to people who are competitive, and love to shoot the ... out of things without actually causing real harm of course :D but that’s the fun part. We got there, I was the team leader so I had to wait in a huge queue to get the paint balls and get everything organized, then it’s kind of like a product chain line as we get the full body clothing, and ‘bullet-proof’ vests, the bullet containers that look like kidneys, the helmets and of course the guns.

Below is a picture of us all kitted up :))

I also celebrated ThanksGiving for the first time in my life to make our American friends feel better about not being back home. That was an interesting experience; I really enjoy it and definitely wouldn’t mind incorporating it in my yearly traditions!

Anyway...the main point of all this is to show how going to University has allowed me to meet people from all around the World, people who are just like any of us, with the same fears, goals, insecurities, anxieties and desires. We have all been open minded in experiencing new things and new places which have provided us with memories for life!!!

My First Blog!

I just canooott believe it is the last week of first term ALREADY!! This is insane - 6 more months and Uni is OVER for me! Done! Finito!! How scary..what does that mean? It means I need to try and make the most out of every second left here, except thats kinda hard considering I'm in my 3rd year and have ridiculous amounts of work. Yes...most of the fun days are over, but its ok, let's not forget the whole Work Hard & Play Hard!! Last week and this week consist of finishing off all pieces of coursework due for this term including my Literature Review..I can't believe how many hours I spend doing that!! However, the sense of relief when it's submitted is wonderful :) So along with all the work there has been some partying too. You see...being in a University in London means we meet people from around the world, I myself am foreign as I am South African and Portuguese...and my whole group of friends are from all over the world too, countries like:

- Russia
- Germany
- Turkey
- Brazil
- Albania
- Malta
- Greece
- America (one from New York, another from Texas and another from Pennsylvania
(This was funny when we all went to an Italian restaurant, in England to celebrate the American tradition 'Thanksgiving' .. is that cross-cultural or what?!?! Ahh the wonders of Globalization! )

This basically means that this weekend, they are all leaving back to their countries leaving me on my lonesome..this sucks but we are trying to get everyone together as much as possible before they all leave - last Saturday we had a nice flat party at my flat and tomorrow we are going Ice Skating (never been before, and yes, its gonna hurt lol), and friday going to Ministry of Sound and Saturday going to central to go clubbing it up - HELL YEAHH !!! Hehehe It's nice to keep busy. The only sad part about this is though we have an amazing group of friends, and we love the fact we are from all around the world, most will leave for good eventually, and one girl the one from Germany is an Erasmus student which means I'm losing a very good friend, but thats life - Everything is just so fleeting... the key is in LIVING IN THE MOMENT ! :)