I had a very privileged childhood. I played until late in the evening in the street, I spent long Summers on the beach and had plenty of friends to play around within a walking distance. But when I see a bunch of schoolchildren in their uniform sitting around a Roman godess in the British Museum, I envy them too.

Many people say London is not a place to grow up. But I think a child will receive so many cultural inputs there that you can consider that as a privilege as well. I went as a child to see the exhibition on China's first emperor terracotta army. I admit I was a prey of their huge marketing campaign (long queues, sold out tickets, banners everwhere), but I'm glad I fell for this in a city saturated with commercial messages.

A few days dater, we saw the fire going up Camden. The night before I had been in the area seeing a band where a friend of a friend plays. I loved it (yes, I pouted a bit, but that's for different reasons). London is becoming slowly part of me. It's becoming a bit a home (with Diptis I put up our brand new bathroom cabinet yesterday). I am enjoying it. I am ready to take the jump.

I have just been to my International Politics exam. It was quite informal (basically we chatted about my dissertation) and I expect a positive result. If that is the case, I guess I have earned my right to feel proud of myself. The past few months have been crazy with work, studies and travelling. I have a lot of things that have been put aside which I now finally have time to do. To read my brand new book with the complete Persepolis. Maybe go and see the film. Try to catch up on the Ingmar Bergman, Betty Boo and Iceland cycles in the Cinématèque Royale de Belgique. And so much more. A trip to Costa Rica is waiting around the corner. A lot of plans for after the Summer.

Yes, the Master in International Politics is over. But I don't think I'll have much time to remain iddle.

Again, New Year in London. This time, eating grapes to the Big Ben.

I have no New Years resolutions. I'll go with the flow and see what happens. A new gift to be open...

Emma Clarke has been sacked. And you may wonder, who the hell is Emma Clarke. For those of you who have experienced the joys and myseries of travelling in the London Underground, she is the woman announcing the stations and reminding us not to put our foot between the train and the platform (the famous Mind the Gap).

The alleged reason for firing her is that she's critizised the London transport  services (those famous buses that arrive three at the time after waiting for twenty minutes, those crammed tube carriages at peak hours!) and for spoofing her announcements in her website (today temporarily offline due to the many visits). Apparently, in the website you you can hear her saying things like: "We would like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loudly" or "Here we are crammed into another sweaty Tube carriage ... If you're a female smile at the bloke next to you and make his day. He's probably not had sex for months." or (this is my favourite) "Would passengers filling in answers on their Sudokus please accept that they are just crosswords for the unimaginative and are not in any way more impressive just because they contain numbers." in her Tube-announcement voice.

I think she should go back and make the announcements to the day to day commuters. I'm sure she would make their day!

Eurostar has launched an intensive publicity campaing in Brussels for their new (shorter) route to London St. Pancras. Its main line is "Watch out: London is around the corner". The campaing has caused quite a controversy in the UK for the image it gives of the country (see below the skinhead peeing on a cup of tea).

I find the ads  utterly funny. And I look at them and cheer myself up saying that my life in London is just around the corner too. But at the same time, the winter seems so long, and taking decisions is so hard...






Some other funny (and irreverent) Eurostar ads:

At last someone publicly appreciates "curves in all the right places"!

Feels like I'm exiled in this hotel in Luxembourg. I see the portier far more often than my boyfriend. That worries me. Talking about exile, I have already written 10 pages of my thesis. Still other 30 to go, but at least I'm doing something.

Busy. October and November is always very busy, but I try to convince myself that I'll read all those books and see all those films once I'm done with my master, in January.

Days go really fast. I try to enjoy each one of them, but sometimes I spend the whole week missing Diptis or sitting at boring meetings. I met a new colleague the other day. He's new and blind, so I accompanied him to the canteen and found out how difficult it is to describe cakes that look delicious. I chose one that looked great, with a white chocolate coating that turned out to be lemon. He hated it, and I felt awful. I guess there are situations where your sight doesn't help much. I tried to close my eyes for a bit. Even though he explained to me many of the tricks he uses for getting round I think life gets so difficult in the darkness...

I've seen it all, I've seen the dark
I've seen the brightness in one little spark.
I've seen what I chose and I've seen what I need,
And that is enough, to want more would be greed.
I've seen what I was and I know what I'll be
I've seen it all - there is no more to see!

A grey day, a melancholic afternoon. Thinking that I it's going to be difficult to face a long winter here, on my own, not knowing exactly where I want to go.

I still like the rain. I wrap up and get a cup of tea. But there are still so many things to change, so much I want to do away from here. I want to look at the rain, but not on my own.

It was a nice break. To enjoy good weather and good food, breathe clean air and put all problems in perspective. I am knackered, but happy. And it was a lovely wedding where everyone (including me) participated in one way or another.

I live in an old flat, and these days, when I'm on my own, I can hear my neighbours almost as if they were here. The passionate nights of my upstairs neighbour. The baby who cries next door. Someone playing some notes on a piano.

Funny to hear things I never see. It helps to keep lonelyness away.

I'm waiting. For something to happen to decide my future, for things to change, to hold on to something that gives me some stability.

And I try to remember that whatever happens, this is not the end of the journey, just one more stage. Life is so dinamic that you can never say: this is where I want to stay.

I'm in a kind of limbo where I'm ready for whatever comes.