It is hard to believe that February is almost upon us and that we are in the third week of term. I want to take a moment to reflect on the winter vacation... my first at uni in Europe.
In October, I arrived to a bustling campus. There were people everywhere, and it seemed that as soon as you met someone new, you were bound to run into them on the squares again the next day. Come term end though, and overnight everything changed. The campus emptied out... the contrast was stark and I wondered how I’d survive the month long break mostly hanging around an empty campus. As the shock wore off though, the slower pace of life became a nice change in itself. The campus did not actually shut down; the library remained open, as did the essential shops and services. I received numerous emails letting me know about the modified opening hours and even extra events and services available over the break. And I slowly realized how many people were actually still around, I was routinely running into classmates in the library and friends sitting outside of Happy Days Diner, but the line ups at the SU shop were mercifully shorterJ. If I had been smart... I would have taken more advantage of that initial calm to get some of my coursework out of the way! But I guess enjoying the calm for a few days is not such a bad thing for your brain!...
Well, I did actually escape for a bit and flew to Germany to visit family for the days around Christmas.... and getting the ticket was an adventure in itself! I wanted to fly out of Stansted – it is by far the closest airport and there are buses leaving practically every hour of the day and night. I bought an £89 ticket well in advance – or so I thought. Then less than a week before my flight, a very observant friend noticed that the dates weren’t exactly what they should be. My flight had taken off – and returned – without me! In November! Back to the drawing board. There turned out to be quite a few flights still available, so that wasn’t a problem. The now £200 ticket set me back a little further than I had hoped, but it was worth it for a change of scenery and a well deserved mini-break! The next concern was getting a bus ticket. There are two buses leaving from Colchester to Stansted. One, a coach, leaves from the downtown bus station, the other, a city bus picks you up from campus. As the tickets are pretty much the same price if you buy them in advance, it is definitely worth it to make the trip downtown to catch the coach. I say this from experience.... When I booked my tickets the appropriate coach was sold out, so instead of a one hour trip in comfy leather seats I spent two hours in the most uncomfortable seat possible on a city bus bumping down all the backroads. Even worse, it was 3:00 in the morning, so half the passengers had decided to go out to the bars while waiting for the bus... the smell was unpleasant to say the least.. AND, the lights were on, bright as anything, so there was absolutely no chance of nodding off and passing the time away. Next time I will book the coach as soooooon as I have my ticket (providing I manage to buy a ticket for the proper month of course). Then comes Ryanair. Cheap, yes. Without headaches? Unfortunately no. If you want to bring luggage, you have to pay extra. Otherwise you have one 10KG bag allowed as carry on. That is ONE... not a backpack and a purse, or a suitcase and a laptop.... it all has to fit in one single bag. I don’t know about everyone else, but whenever I travel, things seem to expand and multiply... Well I did my best, and packed one small, light suitcase. Even ‘borrowed’ a scale from Tesco, bringing my suitcase into the store and balancing it on top of a plastic covered scale... Anyway, lots of effort, and despite the horror stories I had heard from all directions about Ryanair’s ridiculously strict baggage policies... they didn’t even weigh my bag. Well, all the better! Next Ryanair lesson... seat numbers! So, you line up and when they open the doors to the tarmac, everyone makes a run for the plane. Not really sure why my fellow passengers were all so eager to coop themselves up in the flying bus as soon as they could, I made my way towards the plane wondering which line to get in – the front or the back. I searched my ticket from top to bottom and back again looking for the seat number, and made it to the aisle of the plane before finally deciding to ask someone. The guy behind me frowned a little and informed me that I did not have a seat number. Aaaaah, the stampede towards the plane now made sense... Found a cramped little seat on the aisle with corresponding luggage space above and squeezed myself in... Upon arrival, the story gets a little bland, picked up at the airport and driven to my destination for a nice family Christmas... if not my normal family (I’m actually Canadian, it was extended family that I was visiting).
Well, back to campus and back to work. The first week of the New Year was still quite quiet and proved to be a good time to get some coursework done. The final week of break though, the library filled up and the stress level was noticeably high... everyone enjoyed their vacation – maybe too much even! And then reality hit...
Emily
