Back to the… past (for a change) – Part III: Stay at the seaside

What can I tell you that's worth sharing about my holiday in my favourite coastal town?

First I arrived there on 30 June, in the evening. We went there by car, my parents were just staying that night because they had to take care of Curtis (our cat) the following days. From 1 July to 6 July I rode my bicycle with my uncle and my brother on the smooth and safe coastal roads, and it was great fun: 300 km in total. I could have ridden a little bit more if there had been less wind and rain.

Apart from that, I saw a dozen of new Belgian licence plates, i.e. three digits preceding three letters, such as:

This one was the very first one I saw, hence the picture. Such plates are given out by the DIV (Direction pour l'Immatriculation des Véhicules / Dients voor de Inschrijving van de Voertuigen) since 25 June, but just for car owners that apply for a plate via the Internet. Plates with the now older code (e.g. YRJ-983, the newest plate I've seen so far) are still issued in local DIV offices. If, like me, you prefer that older code, you know what to do if you want to get one. I'll tell you more about these new plates in a forthcoming blog entry.

On 4 July (Independence Day, I know) my brother and I decided to go to Knokke. In Zeebrugge we got to see this amazingly huge ship:

We couldn't resist going to the "Place M'as-tu-vu" (as we nickname it, instead of Place Albert) and act as chavs in the middle of obviously rich people wearing white trousers and shirts with awful pink stripes. We ate a "Luikse wafel" and made silly comments about the city. I was surprised by the number of vanity plates I had seen, e.g. SAY·007, IJS-101, GRA-004, TM-865, OOO-200, RAP-001, BOB-004, etc. "Spekje voor m'n bekje", as I can recall from Konnex.

Notice the yellow stickers with a Flemish lion on both our bikes…

We also saw an old Russian submarine that we visited some ten years ago in Zeebrugge harbour. Admire this symbol of the communist warefare!

Another day, I saw this interesting vanity plate:

Maybe the owner works for Toys'r us or something…

An interesting photo for trainspotters: 78 + 13 + 16 (these numbers representing the locomotive's type, or, as we say, the "series").

Well that's about all I have to tell about my trip. I'm already looking forward to my next stay at the Belgian (or should I say "Flemish"?) seaside.

Back to the… past (for a change) – Part II: Results

On 27 June we had the opportunity to take the train to go to Ypres for a bike excursion organised by Prof Mettewie, Mrs Lievens and Mr Van Mensel. Most of us took the train in Namur and we arrived some three hours later in Ypres. We visited the In Flanders Fields museum, which focuses on the different origins of soldiers who fought during the First World War. Later we took a bike and visited several places such as graveyards, riding along canals. We were back in Namur For more details (and pictures) about this excursion, I refer you to the unofficial germanistes blog, germanamur.skyrock.com.

On 28 June we were "kindly invited" to go to the faculty to get our exam results. Just like a year ago (time flies!) the L4 room was crowded with students and parents — let alone the teachers. First the names of the first year students who had passed: out of the 45 students that had taken the exams, only 13 of them had passed — which is not a surprise: same rate as last year. Then the three deparment heads gave the names of those who woudn't have to resit exams in August. Fortunately I was amongst them. Here is my full results:

Formation générale
Critique historique : 15
Initiation à une troisième langue étrangère moderne
Stylistique et maîtrise de la langue allemande I : 17
Approches linguistiques
Stylistique et maîtrise de la langue anglaise II : 14
Stylistique et maîtrise de la langue néerlandaise II : 15
Linguistique anglaise II : 18
Lingisitique néerlandaise II : 16
Approches littéraires
Histoire des littératures et des civilisations anglophones II : 16
Histoire des littératures et des civilisations néerlandophones II : 18
Analyse de textes littéraires néerlandophones II : 18
Formation générale à caractère philologique
Linguistique générale (en anglais et en néerlandais) : 15
Théorie littéraire : 16
Résultat : Grande Distinction
Moyenne : 16,18/20
Les crédits correspondant aux activités d'apprentissage de programme de cette année d'étude sont octroyés par le jury.

That's it. I was sure I wouldn't get the greatest fulfilment: it's really difficult to get four times 18/20. Next year it'll be totally unthinkable to get the greatest fulfilment: you need to have an average of 17…

After getting my marks I stayed on the fifth floor to talk with fellow students. Later in the day I went with some friends to a pub in order to have a drink. After that, we went to Mellet, where Melissa had organised a party to raise money for her Erasmus stay in Leuven.

Join me tomorrow for the account on my stay in Westende!

Idiots of the Year

Many people get awards for their performances in their disciplines and areas of expertise, but we often forget those idiots who do silly things and never get such things as a prize. Here are final contestants to the title of Idiot of the Year:









I like that grandma's face when she gets pulled…