Uni took away the summer

The rain is beating down on the windows and the wind is howling around the house as I'm writing this, like it's been doing every day for the past week or so. Summer is really over now, pretty soon the leaves will start turning pretty reds and yellows before falling off the trees, leaving them bare and wintery... Only two weeks ago it was still warm enough outside to wear short-sleeved T-shirts and leave the house without a coat on, but this week I had no choice but to wear jumpers and jackets to keep warm. Already miss summer!!

So what's been happening?? For me it's uni what has been happening for the most part... Got back into it about 4 weeks ago now. The new course I'm doing is keeping me a lot busier than last years and I'm enjoying it a lot more too. I love the opportunities it offers and I actually feel like I'm doing something real at uni now instead of just doing the work and getting the marks :)

With going back to uni it also meant the uni-life got back on track. After having spent the two months of summer holidays at our parents' places, it felt like normal living with my flatmates almost immediately again. We seem to be doing more stuff together though these days and it's so much fun with these girls!! Besides our usual "Tuesday girls nights", watching Grey's Anatomy and Gilmore Girls on TV together, we've been going out together quite a bit recently and been having random TV/movie nights from time to time. I love it :)

The past two weeks Utrecht was transformed into the "Dutch movie capital", as we had a Dutch film festival on in the city. So we had to go see some movies then too of course. Most of you will have never seen a typical Dutch movie in your life, but they're usually pretty crappy if you ask me. Still, we went to this horror movie called Dood Eind (Dead end), and indeed it was a pretty crappy movie :) But it was good to be out... Afterwards we were supposed to go to this uni-party that was on as well that night, but when we came to the club where it was held, there was this massive line in front of the entrance. We lined up for a while anyway, thinking maybe it would go pretty fast, but after having moved only a few steps forward in over half an hour and no prospect of getting in in the next hour or so, we decided to instead pay our beds an early visit. (Or at least earlier than planned :))

This week we went to another movie called Zwartboek (Black Book, some of you might have actually heard of it, coz it has had international press and stuff), and that movie was actually an exception to the "crappy Dutch movies" rule :) Though most of it was German spoken anyway, as it was on WW2, so I got to test my understanding of German too :) But yeah, it was really a good movie!! And a very welcome break from the studying I had been doing the days before, coz I had my first exam of the year this week...

The past week has been a really busy week anyway. After getting up heaps early (5.15AM!!) at my parents' place in Hengelo to go to a 9 o'clock lecture in Utrecht, I found out it was cancelled that week. I seemed to be the only one who didn't know about it, probably because I had slept through the previous lecture of that subject the week before, haha. Tough student life :) So I had the exam to study for and then I had to finish an essay for the next day and I was so glad when it was done with everything Wednesday night!! Then Thursday was spent arranging someone to write me a letter of recommendation for this project i'm applying for (more about that later), and I got sent from one place to the next, so eventually it took me pretty much the entire day to get it arranged. Then Friday was finally a day where I didn't have to do a thing, and it seemed like that was the case for all my roommates too. There was a strange quiet around the house until at least 10 o'clock (apart from the beating rain and howling wind) and I don't think any of us was out of their pjs before 11, haha. Everybody sleeping in and taking it easy. Weekend at last :)

So what project am I applying for?? Well, it's really exciting!! About two or three weeks ago I found out about this really awesome exchange program for which my uni offers 7 scholarships of 4,500 euro ($7,500) to go study on globalisation/international relations in either Adelaide, Sydney or Melbourne from early Feb - end of June 2007!! So I'm in the process of writing my motivation letter and getting everything done before this Monday, when the entire application file needs to be handed in. I'm heaps excited about it, coz I had this info meeting on it last week and there were only 16 people interested (including me), so in theory there's almost a 50% chance of getting one of the scholarships!! I don't really meet all the criteria though, so I don't know how high my chances really are, but I'm trying to make my motivation letter the most convincing letter the selection committee has ever seen and I'm giving it my very best shot :) It would be so awesome if I got selected, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high :) I'll keep you all updated on how it goes...

Anyway, that's more or less what's been going on in my life lately. I've tried my very best to keep it short, so it wouldn't be too much for you to read :) And I don't even have any photos this time to illustrate the story. Can you believe that... me not having taken a single photo for an entire month?? Must be something wrong with me :) But enough for today :) I always love hearing from you, so please leave a comment if you feel like it :) Hope everyone's well!!
-x- Love Carine