Erasmus Year - Part 12 (The End)

Erasmus Year - Part 12 (The End)

So after a week of revision, the Media Law exam went well and I achieved another 12. The Synopsis questions were simple and straight forward. The second question related to a case I learnt in my second year and needed for Human Rights in the EU last semester (Schmidberger v Austria) so it rolled off my tongue.

After the Media Law oral exam I had nine days to write my Legal Culture & Legal Pluralism essay that had a maximum character count of 35,100 characters (about 6,500 words). I had the plan and sources already so it was just a matter of typing until my fingers bled.

My worries were an over exaggeration in the end as I was able to complete and submit it two days before the deadline (yesterday). As soon as I clicked the send button of the email which had the essay attached I had finished my Erasmus year in Denmark.

I now have a few days to sort the forms, packing etc out before I leave Denmark, as an Erasmus student, forever.

Erasmus Accommodation - Håndværker Kollegium

Erasmus Accommodation - Håndværker Kollegium

Throughout my stay in Copenhagen I have been living at the Håndværker Kollegium in Emdrup. The accommodation is standard with a single room and sink (like Nixon Court in Leicester). There are two kitchens per floor shared between ten people each and each floor also has three toilets and showers.

The layout of the floor is a lot different from what I have experienced before, as the whole floor forms a single corridor across the entire building with rooms on both sides (22 rooms per floor). This is quite different when compared to Nixon Court where the floors are separated into flats consisting of six or ten people.

There are two washing machines and dryers in the basement. The washing machines charge 10 kroner per wash (about £1) but the dryers are free. In addition to this, the basement also has the Kollegium's bar and a TV room, which can be booked out.

After living here since August 2009, I have found the accommodation to be fine for how much I paid for it and I have met a few nice people whilst staying here.

Internet is available in the Kollegium and every room has access.

There have been kitchen meetings once a month but as attendance wasn't compulsory and that I did not have any issues to raise myself I didn't bother attending after the first two. This wasn't a finger up at the floor but more of a sign of disinterest as some people in these meetings spoke in Danish knowing myself and other members of the floor could not understand them. Most of the Danes on my floor have been quite reserved in social interactions but with other Erasmus students in the building and my girlfriend on Skype it didn't really matter.

Transport was either by bike or the s-train (you could also use the bus but i didn't due to the rudeness of some drivers). I had a bike for the whole year and I used it most of the time except during the winter (the snow caused slippy conditions). It takes 30-40 minutes by bike to get to the centre and the S-train takes about 15 minutes (see blog entry on transport for more information).

So all in all, I've found the accommodation to suit its purpose and I've really turned my room into a place I called home.

Erasmus – Part 11

Erasmus – Part 11

In the last few weeks I’ve been quite busy with this semester’s assessments. There is less pressure as this year doesn’t count for me but I still want to get good marks. Why? Because this year shouldn’t be seen as a complete holiday and besides next year will be the hardest yet so a bit of warming up wouldn’t hurt. Those who stayed in Leicester have had the delights of final year and now panicking over their exams (worth 60% of their degree). I know I’ll be in the same position next year so I might as well enjoy my time here while it lasts.

In the meantime I’ve been dealing with the weird and wonderful Danish system. The Media Law synopsis went without a hitch and was sent in two weeks early. I also had time to start writing my Legal Culture & Legal Pluralism Essay.

It all seemed to be going well until the revision season kicked in.

I had a week to revise for my Introduction to Danish Law exam. I stressed myself out more than I needed to and ended up with another 12. So one down, two to go!

I’m now in the middle of my Media Law revision for the oral exam next Tuesday (18th May 2010). The material isn’t too bad. The biggest challenge is getting some sleep as the Danes are partying quite a lot recently in their usual annoying way – loud and on the floor beneath my room. All I can here is boom-boom-boom like I’m in the trenches.

Anyway, with three weeks left I just want to make the most of my time over here. The assessments finish on the 28th May 2010 and my flight is on the 10th June, so I should have enough time to make the most of it without exam or deadline worries.

Erasmus – Part 10

Erasmus – Part 10

So I’ve been back in Denmark for about two weeks and a half now and it’s good to be here! Despite the failed musician upstairs and an annoying guy called Thomas (who plays music loudly in the kitchen and sings like an idiot), I’m glad to be back in the sanctity of my room.

To be completely honest I have been taking the last two weeks off to rest after the heavy slog of the weeks before. I now feel completely at peace with what happened and all of it just seems like a blur to me. During these two weeks, I have also been able to get some work done, including the rest of my notes for Introduction to Danish Law (something that I will probably never use again after this semester). I have also got some more done on my Media Law synopsis, although this still has a long way to go!

Whilst I was back in the UK the Introduction to Danish Law course has been going on quite quickly and we changed tutors for the public law element of the course. It is unbelievable how different the two tutors actually are in the way they try to convey the knowledge we will need for the oral exam in May.

One other leap forward has been my renewed attempts at cooking (something I abandoned after the fiasco just before the Indigenous Peoples’ Exam last October).

The key priorities now are to get my synopsis and essay done (and hopefully get a few nights sleep). Fingers crossed!

Election for the Ripple Editor - The Whole Story

Election for the Ripple Editor - The Whole Story

My two weeks in Leicester can be summarised by an incident that occurred on my first day back. I went to Dominoes Pizza on London Road at around 10pm. As soon as I left the shop a deranged homeless person (a lecturer from DMU) approached and harassed me for change. After a ten minute chat with DMU’s leading academic he grabbed my chicken strippers and ran off. So with this instance in mind as a good starting point I’ll let you know what happened during my time in Leicester.

The last time I was in Leicester was before the start of my Erasmus year in Copenhagen so I was keen to see what changes have occurred during my time away. The Percy Gee building was a construction site and the only other difference I could see was the new food shop in the Charles Wilson Building (‘Delicious’), another over-priced place to get your fill before a lecture.

During the first few days I also found time to injure my leg! This subsequently led to me hopping about like a kangaroo for the first few days (it wasn’t a campaign gimmick – honest!). So with a limp I continued on my quest.

My Concern over the Elections and Rules Committee

The Elections and Rules Committee supervised the elections which caused me some confusion as to why this is so. It was clear (particularly from a conversation I had with one of them in the Library) that they were not going to be fair when it came to my candidacy.

As a result of these issues I sent a letter to the Independent Returning Officer (IRO) to discuss the issue. The entire letter is produced here:

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Concern: Elections and Rules Committee

supervising the part-time officer elections

It is common knowledge that the Independent Returning Officer suspended the Elections and Rules Committee (ERC) from their duties over fears of other leaks during the elections. These leaks were organised by myself as well as a source within the ERC. The suspension of the ERC, during the Sabbatical elections, has been something that the Committee members not involved in the leaks would be resentful of. As the public face of these leaks, I shall be the subject of most of this resentment.

These factors above should logically come to the conclusion that, as I am a candidate for the Ripple Editor, I will be put at a disadvantage when compared to other candidates. My complaints against other candidates will not be taken on an equal footing, the pricing of particular items may be higher than it would have been and overall the election’s democratic merits will be in doubt as a result of this tarnished committee still supervising elections.

May I remind everyone why I brought these issues to the attention of members of the Student Union. I felt morally obligated, as a neutral party, to look into and publish questions over particular aspects of the Sabbatical elections to ensure that the elections were as fair as possible. A number of positive actions occurred as a result of my articles, including: a reduction in voting times and the Student Council Handbook’s photo of a candidate seeking re-election not being published (as it would have been in the original draft).

The fact that the ERC was suspended for the Sabbatical elections but not for the Part-time elections implies that the Part-time elections are of less value. An election is an election and if the ERC’s reliability is in doubt it should not be allowed to resume supervising elections. Democratic legitimacy is not something that can be played with for convenience; it should be the keystone to any election.

You may not agree with what I said or my views in general but I am a member of the Student Union and I have a right to free speech. Furthermore my views or publications should not be an excuse to hinder a fair and free election.

As a result of the above I hope the ERC shall step down voluntarily or that they are removed. There is no other solution to ensure an election without democratic doubts.

Nathan Woodcock (nw67@leicester.ac.uk)

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Despite these real concerns, the IRO (an ex-student) decided that he wanted to keep the Elections and Rules Committee supervising the elections for his own convenience. Nothing in his reply to this concern led to a cohesive argument as to why he decided to keep the ERC in place. The problem is that there is no appeal after the IRO so I was stuck with this unreasoned decision.

However, this did not stop me from carrying on the campaign (it just meant that I’d have to work a little bit harder).

The Campaign

After taking the sites in and settling into my new surroundings the candidates meeting took place on the 4th March 2010. There were a few familiar (and unhappy) faces in the meeting. After being briefed on the ground rules of the election we were lucky enough to listen to the Campaigns and Involvement Officer. Owen gave us tips on how to approach campaigning, which were really really helpful. I honestly don’t think my campaign would have been as effective if it wasn’t for the PowerPoint slides and the talk we were given. No doubt in my mind about this at all.

During the meeting we got to know who the other candidates were. It’s safe to say that my jaw probably dropped when I found out that SEVEN people were running for the Ripple Editor. I knew that the post was going to be heavily contested but the number seven was a major shock to the system.

As soon as the candidates’ meeting was over I jumped on the computer and published my Facebook group in order to gain publicity for the elections and, of course, my candidacy for the Ripple Editor. After sorting the Facebook, blog and youtube stuff I was ready to go out and campaign. At this point in time it was two years ago since I ran for a post so I felt a little bit rusty at first.

One thing that I knew I had to master was the lecture shout out schedule. I scheduled a shout out (or two) for every hour and emailed the relevant tutors. The vast majority of lecturers (over a wide range of subjects) were incredibly accommodating. The only problems I had were with two tutors from my own department (law) that used the old excuse, ‘if I let you I’ll have to let everyone or make a transparent system in order to determine who can and who can’t depending on how worthy the topic is’; only a lawyer could come up with such an excuse!

On Monday I began campaigning. I first erected my wooden displays around campus. These were a huge asset of my campaign, providing a permanent outside display. Campaigners stay in the cold for a few hours (and usually only on the voting day), whereas these displays didn’t need food, hot clothes or love (PERFECT!!!).

What I like to call the ‘Battle of the Paternoster’ was one highlight of the campaign. Out of the seven candidates running for the Ripple Editor, three of us engaged in a fight to control publicity on the paternoster in Attenborough Tower. From Monday to Wednesday the three of us waged war using a barrage of posters and fliers (and balloon animals) to attack one of the last remaining paternoster lifts in the UK. I was the first on the scene by fliering the individual lifts on Monday, by Tuesday the other two tried to gain control of this territory. I spent about half an hour each day adding my fliers to the lift only for them to be taken down later in the day.

An interesting aspect of this election is that we were all using different tactics and methods (which is unusual for part-time officer elections). I threw every conventional tactic at the campaign and added a degree of originality in the scrap wood displays. In addition to this I put ‘Nathan Woodcock aka Nate Dogg’ as my name on the ballot paper which added a bit of fun to the campaign. I didn’t make this up myself but I was persuaded to go with it.

One candidate used the pretentious idea of freeze-frames, where her campaigners (or cult followers) engaged in standing like statues pointing to her whilst she pretended to read a copy of the Ripple. A friend of mine actually summarised this in an articulate and appropriate way, stating that ‘it was so fucking sad!’ I couldn’t agree more.

Other tactics included animal balloons, which I found to be a quite creative and effective way of individualising a campaign. Each balloon animal had writing on it asking for the reader to vote for that candidate.

Another tactic that got my attention (as a male) was a poster that showed a photograph of a female candidate naked only covered by torn up copies of the Ripple! It was done in a classy way that reminded me of the use of rose petals in the film American Beauty. Although I doubt a similar tactic by myself would have helped (it would probably have deterred people from voting for me at all!).

The campaign was always going to be harder for me because I have not even been in the country this year as I’m studying at the University of Copenhagen on Erasmus. This meant I had to work a little harder and through sheer luck that I found people to help me campaign. I cannot thank them enough for the help they gave me. After people rallied to my cause I felt more confident in my campaign but definitely not complacent. I prefer talking to people just as people. I don’t see them as walking votes! So a vast number of campaigners can hinder rather than help a campaign, especially if they’re just standing there and not engaging with students.

This bad campaigner issue was something that came up during the election day where a group of 5-8 campaigners were just standing around and talking to each other outside the Library. They handed the odd flier out to a passerby and that was it! To be honest, if I had campaigners like that I would have told them that I appreciated their time but as they’re not helping me get elected (which is the idea at the end of the day) then they might as well find something more useful to do with their time.

The Complaints

During the week of the election two complaints were made against me by two people that were supposed to be neutral and that didn’t want me to win so that they can have an easier life next year as Sabbatical Officers. It really is pathetic how low some people will go to try to stop someone that only wants a better Student Union that actually does something for the students.

I went to see the Deputy Returning Officer and the Student Development Officer about these two complaints and laid my case on the table in an honest and open way. It was clear by the reaction I was getting that they knew these complaints had no legs to stand on but due to procedure they had to investigate them. I told them that I understand this completely and highlighted to them why they were a pathetic attempt at trying to undermine my candidacy. I even said that I knew who made the complaints (even though they were anonymous) and that these people have been subject to comments in my previous Lecture Boredom Buster articles. It was clear that they had a motive as to why they were bringing these complaints. On the day of the election I was told that there was no evidence and that the complaints were discarded as false.

The Result

I knew from the start I was going to be the underdog due to the fact that I’m usually 500 miles away. In addition to this my previous comments about the Elections and Rules Committee (who were counting the votes) made me a lot of enemies.

The results were as follows:

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Ripple Editor

Laura Blumenthal - 434 Elected

Nathan Woodcock - 400

Emma Howard - 302 Excluded

Jamie Megson - 178 Excluded

Clara Probert - 136 Excluded

Lisa Prahad - 91 Excluded

Robert Ward - 48 excluded

Re Open Nominations - 21 excluded

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As it was quite close, I was offered a recount. I thought I might as well take another roll of the dice seen as it was quite close. The results of the recount were:

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Ripple Editor - Recount 1

Laura Blumenthal - 432 Elected

Nathan Woodcock - 402

Emma Howard - 303 Excluded

Jamie Megson - 180Excluded

Clara Probert - 136 Excluded

Lisa Prahad - 92 Excluded

Robert Ward - 48 excluded

Re Open Nominations - 21 excluded

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I may have ultimately lost but 400 or 402 votes isn’t too bad when you put everything into context. Laura was a good choice and I hope to work closely with her next year to make the Ripple better than ever.

So, like I said, the two weeks in Leicester can be summed up by the instance with the homeless person stealing my chicken strippers. They’re both something that I will not forget about and they both put a smile on my face when I think about them.

I would like to thank everyone who voted for me, supported me and campaigned for me during the elections. I didn’t win but I learnt a lot about myself as a person, I met plenty of new people and I really enjoyed being back in Leicester for a few weeks.

Student Democracy? Make mine a double

Student Democracy? Make mine a double

LEAKED Minutes highlight problems of discrimination and non-students participation in Student Democracy

I’ll be as BRIEF AS POSSIBLE. Don’t stop reading! This will shock and irritate you. Do you use the Student Union shop? Are you a member of a Society? Then THIS APPLIES TO YOU.

This information was forwarded to me from someone who did not wish to publish it themselves and who wants to be kept anonymous. This information made me feel truly ashamed of how STUDENTS ARE TREATED BY THE STUDENT UNION.

Problem 1

DISCRIMINATION in Extended Elections Times

The Student Union holds elections every year to ELECT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES. The upcoming elections are going to prove controversial as they will DISCRIMINATE AGAINST STUDENTS THAT DON’T DRINK ON STUDENT UNION NIGHTS OUT.

The Elections & Rules Committee is responsible for elections and recently agreed ‘that voting would be extended on Wednesday evening till midnight.’

This creates a favoured group of people ie those who like to drink alcohol and go on Student Union nights out. This is a minority of the students (both under- and postgraduate) that study at the University of Leicester.

This decision also BENEFITS THE PEOPLE IN THE MEETING. I am not going to mention any names but ALL OF THEM DRINK AND GO TO NIGHTS OUT regularly. Some of the members of this meeting WILL BE GOING UP FOR RE-ELECTION as well. They are playing with the rules they are supposed to be protecting.

Some students cannot drink alcohol on religious grounds. Therefore this is religious discrimination for extending voting times ONLY IN A DRINKING ENVIRONMENT. I have no problem with drinking. In fact I drink myself. The problem I have is that THE STUDENT UNION IS SUPPOSED TO BE A DEMOCRACY! HOW CAN SUCH AN EXTENSION IN TIME BE JUSTIFIED?

Those in favour of this extension will argue that it ‘allows more people to have the chance to vote and it will increase turnout of the election, making the election itself more democratic’. THIS REASONING IS FLAWED BECAUSE in a democracy you need to have the same available voting times for every member of the electorate on equal terms. By extending voting times to Red Leicester YOU ARE EXCLUDING HUGE CHUNKS OF STUDENTS ON RELIGIOUS GROUNDS AND OTHERS THAT CHOOSE NOT TO GO ON A NIGHT OUT AT THE UNION.

Problem 2

Non-students campaigning for candidates

One question asked was whether a particular well known person (not a student at the University of Leicester) could campaign for a candidate. The E&R Committee again rubberstamped WITHOUT REALLY THINKING OF ITS IMPLICATIONS. When people leave Uni and still want to join student elections only one thing will be on their mind (MONEY). Inviting outside influences is against the rules FULL STOP! So why is this person allowed to campaign when he is well-known to be affiliated to a particular nightclub? Did it matter that this person is personally known by the entire E&R Committee?!! You tell me.

I would like to ask the E&R Committee to reconsider these two issues SO THAT THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS ARE AS LEGITIMATE AS THEY CAN BE.

There are going to be people who read this and slag me off. One thing is for certain though. I will never give up the person who leaked the information. I hope that this will encourage more people to speak out against bad decisions such as these.

Written by: Nathan Woodcock

Who has Student Council been working for so far this year?

The Lecture Boredom Buster - First Edition

This edition was printed with 300 copies available around campus on the 27th January 2010.

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Who has Student Council been working for so far this year?

I’m going STRAIGHT TO THE POINT so that you don’t drift away whilst reading. Are you still there? Great!

Do you use the Student Union shop? Go on Student Union nights out? Are you a member of a Society? That’s right I’m talking about the Student Union and how it is run!

The Student Union has a body known as Student Council (think of it as a Parliament or Assembly). This body has the role of scrutinising the Sabbatical Officers and representing YOU! I was a member of this student body last year. This year I’ve been observing it from a far (Denmark to be specific) and I am disappointed to be honest. And this is why...

YOUR representatives on Student Council this year have not been passing nor debating any relevant proposals, making it more of a social event rather than real representation.

One of YOUR representatives even had the audacity to propose that they should all get five free drinks each on Student Union nights out. I don’t think they deserve the free entry they get for SU nights out, never mind free drinks on top of that!

YOUR representatives have not made their own presence clear to you. Do you know who to go to if you had an idea as to how to make the Student Union more beneficial for you and your friends? I don’t think so.

In this article I am not criticising any member of Council in particular. I am blaming the Student Union and how the institution of Student Council is organised.

I hope that the STUDENTS AT LEICESTER UNI can get the MOST OUT OF THEIR TIME AT UNIVERSITY AND GET REAL BENEFITS FROM THE STUDENT UNION.

Written by: Nathan Woodcock (nw67@le.ac.uk)

Reflections about my time as President of the JCRC

Reflections about my time as President of the JCRC

At the start of the previous academic year (2008-2009) I was elected President of the Nixon Court & Freemen’s Common JCRC. I wrote the following comments at the end of my term as President, which finished in July 2009. I would now like to share them in the hopes that they will help others in similar positions. The JCRC system is also currently under threat and I would like to share my experiences so that everyone can see the full benefits in participating in their JCRCs.

During the summer of 2008 I was allocated a room at Nixon Court by the Accommodation Office. I decided to set up a Facebook group with the aim of finding those people who were going to be living in my flat. The group gained popularity after a few weeks with over 150 members. I was shocked at this sudden surge of new members so I decided to advertise it on a few of the larger University of Leicester groups in the hopes that more future residents could find their flat mates.

After chatting to a few people on Facebook, it became apparent that there was nothing planned for the residents of Nixon Court or Freemen’s Common for the first week of term. I was really disappointed about this because I remembered the start of my first year at GMS, which was full of activities and bar crawls designed to get people to socialise. This spurred me into organising the ‘Moving Day Meet Up’ with the help of the Dry Dock for the first night at the halls. The manager of the Dry Dock (I’ll call him ‘S’) was quite accommodating and provided free cocktails on the night for the residents.

On the night of the Moving Day Meet Up a few people were talking about the JCRC and how I should run for President seen as I had organised this night and had a large group which could be used to promote events. I didn’t know much about how JCRCs were supposed to work but had the general idea that they organised events. During my time as President I found out that JCRCs do much more than organise events. JCRC’s are meant to represent their residents as well to a number of other organisations, including the University.

The internet problems at Nixon Court were one issue I tried to resolve, as this was the something everyone mentioned as the major problem at the halls. As part of the campaign for a better connection I brought a proposal to the Student Union Council for the Student Union’s support and I also spoke to the University’s Welfare and Accommodation Offices about it. Despite a slow start (mostly due to the lack of a response from the Accommodation Office) we finally made some improvements to the connection by December 2008 and again in February 2009. However, Internet problems remain a problem at Nixon Court and I would suggest to future JCRCs that they should make this an issue from the start.

During the course of the year the JCRC helped organise the Nixon Court and Freemen’s Common football team, which before our year in office did not have a football kit. After consultations with the Committee we were able to get some good quality kits which are still being used today. The kits had the logo of the JCRC on it which was designed by the Committee. This gave me a sense of pride as it people now had the opportunity for the first time to play football for this hall of residence.

The JCRC helped organise numerous events during the year which included a £1 all you can eat buffet at Zucchero World Buffet, the Comedy Nights in the Nixon Common Room and the Pizza nights. However, the Alton Towers Trip was the highlight of the year for me as President of the JCRC. The Committee wasn’t pulling its weight by this point due to exams so rather than disappointing everyone I decided to organise the whole thing myself. I used the JCRC budget to subsidise the tickets and travel expenses of the trip so that the tickets were really cheap in order to give everyone the opportunity to go. I had to keep increasing the number of places available until it got 125 people on the trip due to the great demand for the trip. The last few tickets were snatched as soon as I mentioned them on Facebook.

The day itself went quite well all things considering. I was put in charge of 125 people and had to ensure they all got on the coaches. The start was rather chaotic as this mass of people piled on the coaches. We left around 20 minutes later than schedule but everything seemed to be on track so we left the Nixon Court car park and set off for Alton Towers. When we got to Alton Towers I handed out the tickets and told everyone to be back at the car park by 5pm as this was the time the coaches were going to pick us up. After going on a few rides and filming with the help of Matt (follow this hyperlink to see the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnZYVNScdbM) it was finally time to get back to the coaches. Most people got to the coaches on time but we were still missing one or two people. Some of the group told me that a few people were finding their own way back as friends were picking them up. This made the initial head count irrelevant as we were not going to have the same number of people coming back anyway. After half an hour later than the expected departure time I decided to leave Alton Towers almost sure that everyone was accounted for. Before leaving I even asked both coaches whether anyone they came with were missing.

As soon as we were on the motorway I received a phone call from a few residents that missed the coach and just found their way to the car park. This pushed my patience to its limits as these residents, who were 45 minutes late by this point, were being quite rude on the phone. I kept as calm as I could and resolved the situation by asking a taxi firm from Leicester to go on a mission to Alton Towers to pick up these residents (who said they had no money for a taxi – to this day I doubt they were telling the truth). The taxi was paid for through the JCRC budget. The reason why I helped them was because I did not want to leave people somewhere with no chance of getting back despite the fact that it was their fault. I think I did the right thing by helping them get back rather than just leave them there (as a few people told me to do).

Lessons learned as a result of the Alton Towers trip is that it is human nature to be late so it would have been better to ask everyone to get back half an hour before the coaches arrived in order to do a head count. I would have also told everyone to inform me if they were going to make their own way back to Leicester so that there wouldn’t be as much confusion as to numbers coming back. However, everyone enjoyed the trip that went on it and had a great day out. A lot of international students went on the trip as well which to them was a unique chance to see one of the UK’s most famous theme parks.

At the end of the year we put a tab of £250 for all the residents at the Dry Dock so that everyone could celebrate a year of success with the JCRC. The tab went in an hour as more and more people flooded in and everyone had a good night.

After reflecting on my experience with the JCRC I would like to sum up by saying that I really enjoyed my time with the JCRC and I hope others will have the same opportunities as I did in the years to come.

Advice to future JCRCs:

1. Do not think you know what is best for the residence. A dialogue is always needed in order to ensure everyone benefits from the budget.
2. It is best to realise at the start that being part of the JCRC makes you know different from anyone else. Sending messages with phrases like ‘as your president’ (something I never did) will not help you connect with the people that you are supposed to help and many may see this as patronising.
3. Events are important but they are not the whole function of a JCRC. JCRCs should be there to represent their students and start campaigns for particular issues.
4. The students at Nixon Court and Freemen’s Common are not a homogenous group and so different types of events should be organised so that no one feels isolated.

I’d like to thank all the residents of Nixon Court and Freemen’s Common of 2008-2009 for helping making the year a success for the JCRC.

Erasmus Year – Part 7

Erasmus Year – Part 7

After submitting my International Law of the Sea essay I had less than two weeks to revise Human Rights in the EU. We were told that assessment would be on the textbook and case materials only. I hadn’t done anything for human rights since mid-October (just before the Russia trip) and at that point I only read a few chapters of the textbook. I had not read anything in the case materials as yet (in fact I only printed off the case materials when I went back to the UK because I was not willing to foot the bill for printing an entire tree!!!).

The case materials spanned 440 pages, which seemed an Everest of a task when I started. After four or five days of hard work I was able to condense these 440 pages into 12 pages of summary notes. This was exhausting work but I was nowhere near finishing.

After this I frantically made revision cards. I organised and summarised the cases to their most minimum. This took another day or two, leaving another two days left to read and learn them. I had the cards to take in with me (we were allowed notes) but I didn’t want to spend most of my time reading at them. I knew I would maximise my marks by talking with the least notes as possible. Still it was nice to have the safety net of the notes right in front of me.

On the day of the Oral exam (7th December 2009) I woke up early and got ready. When I got to the centre it was at 10am and the oral exams started at 12:30pm so I went to Subway for something to eat and rehearsed my cases in my head.

I then decided to check where the room was. In order to get to the building I had to pass some of the ‘Hopenhagen’ campaigners and attractions, which were to celebrate the global talks on climate change being in Copenhagen.

Five people turned up (including me) for the exam. I remembered at the start of the course there were at least fifteen of us. I found it funny how week by week people disappeared due to the quality of the lecturing we received. I didn’t mind that these people left though because as my initials are NW I was always going to be last. At least with less people I wouldn’t have to wait as long. However, these four people still collectively represented at least two hours of my life in this waiting room.

I walked into the waiting area in my suit and looked around the room. Everyone else were in jeans and t-shirts! I felt conscious about it for a few moments but I passed with the thought that it may help make a good first impression with the examiner I didn’t know.

So after a moment I took a seat. It was like a doctors waiting room with whispers and the odd cough. Everyone was either writing notes or avoiding people’s eyes. When the door opened everyone looked up at once hoping it was his or her turn. There was a poster with different kinds of lamps on the wall (what a dull idea for a poster). Whilst I was waiting at least I found out what kind of lamp I had (an Olympen lamp if you wondered).

At one point a girl was heard crying from one of the rooms. Something to come for me? Unlikely. I doubt it was my tutor. He couldn’t make an infant cry if he wanted to.

As the last one I heard what the others scored one by one. The scores went as follows (in Denmark’s weird 7 point system): 10, 7, 12, 7 and then it was my turn!

Armed only with a bottle of water and my revision cards, I walked in with a smile and was asked to sit down. I answered two questions:

1. the relationship between the ECHR and the EU
2. UN measures and the ECJ.

I forgot to mention Article 53 of the Charter in the first question, which states EU Charter will not affect the Convention’s status… oops it was right in front of me in my notes!!!

In the second question I mentioned the relevant cases after a moments pause and was able to answer it completely even adding an additional point the examiners didn’t envisage.

In the end I achieved another 12, which I feel I really deserved due to all the work I put in during the last week or two.

So that concluded the academic side of my first semester at the University of Copenhagen. It was hard work in the end (not the holiday I envisioned), but I feel I got a lot out of the experience so far.

Erasmus Year – Part 6

Erasmus Year – Part 6

Something I forgot to mention on the last Erasmus Diary entry is that I found my results out for the Indigenous Peoples take-home exam.

Before I tell you the grade I might as well explain (in a nutshell) how the marking system works in Denmark.

In the UK you are given a percentage mark and this is then converted into a grade (eg 70%+ = First; 60-70% = 2:1; 50-60% = 2:2 etc).

In Denmark it is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT and takes the form of a ‘7-point grading scale’, which actually goes from 12 (the highest mark) to -3 (the lowest mark).

Confused? So was I when I first came across it. In fact the use of a white board and marker pen was required for me to understand it.

The University sums the grades up (in a leaflet from the International Office) as being:

__________________________________________________

12 – For excellent performance – Like an A

10 – For a very good performance – Like a B

7 – For a good performance – Like a C

4 – For a fair performance – Like a D

02 – For a minimally adequate performance – Like an E

00 – For an inadequate performance – Like an Fx

-3 – For an unacceptable performance – Like an F

__________________________________________________

(If you want to know more see: www.karakterskala.ku.dk)

In order for me to pass the year and gain the additional part of my degree I need to score at least 02 in all my modules.

So in the Indigenous Peoples exam (despite the food poisoning) I was able to achieve a 12! I couldn’t believe it! Especially how ill I was feeling at the time!

This gave me a morale boost like nothing else and drove me onto writing my International Law of the Sea Essay and thus finally snapping me out of ‘holiday mode’.

Erasmus Year - Part 5

Erasmus Year - Part 5

So I read Crime and Punishment and waited for Katie (another student from Leicester who lives in the same building as me) to wake up so I can use her laptop to book a flight home. Thanks to Katie I booked my flight for the following day and spent the rest of the day packing and preparing for my trip. I also took this opportunity to take back all my Indigenous Peoples stuff back.

I also made a phone call to the said acquaintance and she told me that she had indeed kept the file in her ‘Nathan Folder’. At this point on she was my saviour lol.

I arrived at Stansted and made my way back to Barnsley. I arrived in Wakefield and was greeted by my mum and grandparents and spent the next few days home. I left home a few days earlier than my flight and saw this acquaintance for a great reunion. I really missed our time together and it was good to talk face-to-face, rather than Skype-to-Skype.

I returned back to Denmark for a day because I had a lecture and then came back to England for the second time in two weeks. This second flight and visit back home and to Manchester was arranged weeks before and it was good to see everyone again. This time I brought their gifts from Russia.

I then came back to Denmark to finish the semester after an eventful two weeks and continued with the Law of the Sea essay. After a week and a half of writing it was done! The tutor told us we were allowed an additional 10% for the word count and as such I left my essay at 4700 words.

There was some confusion as to how we submitted our essays, as it was not stated on the instruction sheet. The tutor was new to the University of Copenhagen so was also unsure. After finding no answers, I decided to visit the Education Services office in order to find an answer. To their surprise the course was not registered for examination and so could not give me an answer straight away. Then after a day or two they sent out an email telling us that we can hand it in to that office and also that the maximum character count was 23,000 characters.

This caused me some difficulty as these new rules changed our instructions as to how long the essay could be. After sending a few emails to show my grievances (which I forwarded to the University of Leicester’s International Office – as yet no reply from them) I reluctantly cut the essay down and submitted it today.

Two modules down, one to go for this semester. I have my Human Rights in the EU oral exam in less than two weeks time so I better get a move on with revision…

Erasmus Year - Part 4

Erasmus Year - Part 4

It's been awhile since I last posted and a lot has happened in the last month.

So where we left off was when I returned from Russia on the 18th November 2009. I was really tired after the trip so I spent the next day or two sleeping and getting my strength back after a long and enjoyable journey.

Although after this rest and re-cooperation I knew I had an assignment to do for one of my Erasmus modules (International Law of the Sea). I wasn’t looking forward to this essay for a few reasons. First of all the law of the sea wasn’t that interesting, proving my fellow Erasmus student, Renike Williams, right. Secondly the assignment was 4,500 words, which proved not to be the case in the end, but seemed a lot of work when I began. Finally, I was in ‘holiday-mode’ again and the last thing I wanted to do was to research for an essay!

So after these first two days back from Russia I really needed to get my act together, which took two weeks to do!

As soon as I began to work properly DISASTER HAPPENED!!!

On the 1st November 2009 (Halloween) I had a frightful night, which made me ask ‘what the fudge!!!’ This story has nothing to do with ghosts or ghouls but a giant spider did make an appearance. As usual I was obsessing over work and couldn’t sleep. At 4:30am I decided to get up and go on the laptop for a bit to relax.

As soon as I turned my computer on I did what every student does, I checked Facebook. I was in the midst of updating my status with the words: ‘Nathan Woodcock is having a restless night’ when the horror occurred. I clicked send to update my status but it didn’t work! So I tried to close windows explorer to try again and this also failed. After a few minutes of frustration I decided to perform the most technically advanced technique I know (holding down Control, Alt and Delete in order to get Task Manager up). This also failed! At this point I was getting annoyed with the laptop so turned it off manually in order to restart the laptop.

When I tried to turn the laptop on again, to my horror and dismay, it came up with a black screen with the words: ‘OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND’. In a desperate bid to regain control I tried to restart the laptop again but the same screen came up.

My beloved shiny new laptop died on me for no apparent reason! What’s worse is that most of my Russia photos (those not on Facebook) and a number of other photos were deleted along with my work (most of which were backed up).

Then it hit me, the Law of the Sea essay I started that very day had been deleted too! I was more bothered about this than anything else.

At this point I did what any rational thinking, independent 20 year old would do at 5am (4am UK time); I called home! During all this time a gigantic spider made its way to the corner of my room closest to the desk. So I was trying to explain my problem to my computer-illiterate mum whilst attacking the spider by spraying deodorant at it. At this point the beast scurried at break-neck speed from one side of wall to the other close to my bookcase where I keep my cutlery and crockery as well as my coffee making facilities. Great improvement to the situation!

After a while discussing the problem, we decided that the best thing I could do was to book a flight and get home asap. There’s no point staying around here without a computer for a number of reasons:

• There’s nothing else to do around here!
• I needed a pc for my work
• The library computers are limited in number and not that great to begin with
• When I put the phone down I realised that the Law of the Sea essay wasn’t lost after all because during the course of a conversation on Skype I sent it to an acquaintance to have a look at. This boosted my morale as now I had a hope that the file remained in existence hundreds of miles away in Manchester, England.

Russia Trip Diary - Part 1

Russia Trip Diary - Part 1

After the Indigenous People exam I felt like I really needed a break from Copenhagen and studying for a while, so my trip to Russia was timed well. I submitted my exam at 2am Thursday morning and was due at Copenhagen Airport for 7am Friday. This gave me enough time to relax after the exam and prepare my bag for the next day. Full of excitement about the trip I packed happily getting ready for what was ahead of me. I didn’t have a full programme for the trip, I had something for each day but I also had a lot of free time to explore two major cities of a country I’ve heard so much about and at one point studied.

Day One – 9th October 2009

The beginning of the trip had its own stories. Because I am not used to waking up early on Erasmus, I decided to stay awake Thursday night and get to the Airport early. I live in a place called Emdrup in Copenhagen which is about 8km from the centre of the City and the Airport is located on the other side of the city completely which meant that I would have to leave earlier than many of the others.

I decided to leave my room at 5am and walked the short journey to the S-train station (part of the City’s internal transport network). I was way too early! The first train of the day arrived at my stop at about 5:45am. Rather than going back to my room that I had already said farewell to for a week and a bit, I decided to wait at the station. I was wrapped up well in my multiple jumpers and trench coat so the cold did not bother me. The only thing that did bother me was the question of whether my crinkled kilpperkort (a card that you get a machine to stamp to get on the train legally) would work.

The train arrived on time and so I began my journey to Russia. I stayed on the train until the Central Station. I didn’t want to risk the Metro system not working at this time to get off at Norreport. As soon as I got off the train I checked the board and found the next train to Kastrup Airport which was to leave in 5 minutes. I quickly moved to the platform and sat amongst the tourists on the train to the airport.

I reached the airport at 6:30am, half an hour before we were due to meet outside the Metro entrance of the airport. So I waited there and took on the role of the welcoming committee for the other soon-to-be travellers. This is when I met E who I would continue to bug for the whole trip. We chatted about the lack of student societies in Copenhagen and our own involvement at our home universities. By 7:15am everyone was accounted for and we were distributed our travel papers and told to meet outside our gate for 9:30am.

The plane journey wasn’t too bad. I don’t get anxiety from flying so I was fine. I chatted to the people around me and read the International Herald Tribune.

As soon as we arrived in St. Petersburg we were greeted by the passport control people. I remember the encounter quite vividly due to the difference in approach the Russians have. We queued and when it got to my turn to enter the country I smiled and said hello to the passport control officer. I didn’t even get a hint of a smile from the lovely lady (I found out later that not smiling was part of Russian culture). I was surprised at this lack of greeting due to the warm welcome I received from the staff in Copenhagen.

After passing security we were put on a coach and taken to the Hotel, which later would be remembered as a paradise compared to Moscow. On the coach Mie and Anna, our guides, talked to us about Russian culture and some history which would put the Russian mindset into context. When we got to the hotel I was pleasantly surprised. The Hotel looked quite western in design; there was a bar, the reception desk and even a tourist information booth. We were allocated rooms in pairs and I shared a room with W who seemed a nice guy from the start. The room we were allocated was on the fifteenth floor so we took the elevator and unpacked.

A group of us then went exploring the surrounding area. After wandering around for a bit a few of us decided to go hunt for a supermarket so that we could get supplies. On the coach to the hotel we were told about one of the problems that St. Petersburg has, namely its water had some sort of bacteria living in it called the ‘St Petersburg Amoeba’. This aptly named thing would basically cause diarrhea and vomiting to anyone who drank tap water in St. Petersburg. This spurred many of us in getting a supply of bottled water as soon as we could.

At the supermarket I found something else that I missed since being in Copenhagen, Red Bull!! Red Bull is illegal in Denmark because they are worried about its negative effects. The negative effects on the body is no concern of mine though and I missed it :( So it was worth going to St. Petersburg just for that.)

At 7pm we had to meet in the lobby of the hotel so that we could go for a welcome dinner at a Danish owned restaurant in the centre of St. Petersburg called Cafe Jam. In order to get to the restaurant we had to use the Metro system for the first time, which used fairground-like coins. These coins gave you access to the metro system and after you got into the system you did not pay anything extra unlike in Copenhagen where the system is divided into zones. The Metro coins cost 20 roubles each (less than 50 pence).

The underground stations were well decorated, making it look like going into a lobby of a nice hotel rather than an underground rail network. The escalators were quite long going down in St. Petersburg, mostly due to the fact that the city was built on a swamp and so constructing the Metro required the builders to go underneath the swamp to build the metro system. Despite the nice surroundings of the stations the trains were like tins. At this point we saw the extent to which the non-smiling rule in Russian culture operates with all the natives looking as grumpy as each other.

When we finally got to the restaurant we handed in our coats and sat down. Whilst we ate the Danish owners told us about their experience in Russia and the problems of corruption with the authorities. After many free vodka shots and a few sips of cognac I was feeling sleepy so didn’t go to the jazz club later. We were two hours ahead of Copenhagen (three hours ahead of the UK) so I think I had a valid excuse to collapse as soon as I saw my bed.

Day Two – 10th October 2009

I got up at about 8am and had my shower fearful of the St. Petersburg Amoeba. The split second a drop touched my lips caused me to think of what was living inside the water. As time went by and with the realisation I haven’t died from showering yet I stopped thinking of the little living things in the water and enjoyed my shower.

After getting dressed I went down to breakfast. The hotel had a huge range of things on offer for breakfast. It was a buffet type continental breakfast in the normal European way. They even had scrambled eggs and bacon. I am not much of a breakfast eater so I was satisfied with my porridge and green teas for the time we stayed there, although in hindsight to the helpings in Moscow I should have pigged out whilst I had the chance!

At 9:45am we met up in the lobby for the day ahead and by 10am we were on the coach ready to do some sightseeing. We first went to see St. Isaac’s Cathedral which was huge in design and a magnificent building. Then we went to see the statue of Peter the Great, the Russian tsar that not only enjoyed collecting deformed foetuses but also built the city. The statue depicted him on a horse whose hoof was on the body of a snake which represented the church. It was built by another tsar who had the same ideas as Peter and who wished to continue the modernisation of Russia.

After seeing the Statue, we went to the Peter and Paul Fortress which was built to defend the City from attack. The Fortress was used to imprison political prisoners rather than defend the City as the army was situated around the area anyway due to the fact the City was then the capital of Russia. In the Fortress we saw Russian troops and I bought my Russian hat for 350 roubles (£7).

The tour finished at 2pm and I decided to go back to the hotel to rest because I was still recovering from the Indigenous exam. In the evening I made up for it by going out to the Russian club, Achtung Baby which was a really good night. I got to know more people in the group, spoke to a few Russians and danced the night away.

Day Three – 11th October 2009

Woke up at about 8:30am and had breakfast (still not taking advantage of the variety on offer). The Russians do not really know that much about working in the service industry. I asked a waitress where I could get a cup and I got the reply “What?! Over there”. I thought that was funny seeing as in most hotels in Western Europe would have had a different response to the one I just received.

We had the morning free to do as we wished so a few of us headed to the centre using the Metro. We had a closer look at St. Isaacs Cathedral and then we moved on to the Souvenir Fair where I bought a few presents and souvenirs for myself. Whilst at the Souvenir Fair I really enjoyed the bargaining with the stall owners I was able to get one price 100 roubles less than the asking price which I felt proud of myself for.

After the Souvenir Fair we went to a nearby cafe that served Russian food. The Cafe was called Cafe St. Petersburg so we knew it would be good. The interior design of the Cafe was really modern and compensated to some extent the small portions you get there.

At 2pm we all met outside the Hermitage Museum and had a tour of the museum and its exhibits which was really good. After the tour ended I walked around myself to have a closer look at a few paintings that took my interest such as one from Leonardo Da Vinci known as Madonna and the Child.

In the evening we went to the bar on the 18th floor of the hotel and enjoyed a few drinks with great company and a fantastic view of the City below.

Day Four – 12th October 2009

At 10am my group went on the walking tour “behind the facade” with a journalist called Paulina which aimed to show the group the other side of St. Petersburg that tourists do not see. We met Paulina at the Metro station and split into two groups for the tour. One group was with Paulina and the other group was led by Paulina’s sister. I was in Paulina’s group for the tour and she was full of knowledge about the history of the place in addition to the contemporary situation. She was fun to talk to and always willing to answer questions.

As the tour began we first walked nearby the Finnish embassy where we saw a long queue of people waiting. Paulina told us why these people were waiting for such a long time in the cold – for a visa to get into Finland (a member of the EU). The Finnish and Russian governments have an agreement that provides Russian citizens with the opportunity to easily get a Finnish visa which subsequently acts as a gateway to any of the EU countries due to free movement of peoples. For Russian citizens other EU countries, such as the UK, make it almost impossible for them to get a visa so Finland is used as a means to gain access to these countries.

After this interesting fact, we walked through the St. Petersburg closed off yards which act like an internal labyrinth of streets usually closed off by residents so that no one else can come in and perhaps cause problems such as burglary. Paulina told us that due to recent terrorist scares the yards have been locked more often than they once were so we were lucky to find an open one. Once in this labyrinth we were told about the housing situation in St. Petersburg which was typical of most Russian cities. As there is a lack of opportunities in rural areas many have moved to the cities causing a huge housing problem. We were also told that during Soviet times, apartments owned by the rich that had multiple rooms would be taken and a family would be put in each room of the ‘noble’ apartment. So a large apartment with 12 rooms, one kitchen and one toilet would be shared by 12 families! Even today the housing problem is so bad that a number of people still live in such conditions. Paulina told us to look at the contrast in the windows in the courtyard as well which highlighted the disparity in wealth that has occurred and the fact that so many people from different backgrounds remain to live in the same buildings. Some windows were double-glazed and modern looking whereas others looked like they have been there since the building was constructed. As it was cold that day this difference would have had a huge impact on the comfort the people living in these flats had.

After this we walked to a nearby doughnut shop which was more typical in Soviet times. As the housing condition was in the condition described above many did not invite others to their homes especially if they have had an argument with a family in another room. Instead males (mostly) met friends at such doughnut shops. One doughnut was 8 roubles (approx 20 pence) and reminded me of those that you get at fairs and theme parks that usually cost you £1 for a few.

When we were warmed up from the doughnuts we braved the snow once again and walked to a nearby indoor market where people could still bargain for their food. Paulina told us about the only Russian food that was original to Russia, namely pickled vegetables! Any vegetable you could think of was pickled and ready for sale. The stall owner gave use some to try and we bought some for later when we got to the bar but before we did that we went to look at a place that was established by Beatles fans which had the sign: “In The Name of JOHN LENNON The Temple of Love, Peace and Music”. The wall just next to the door was full of Beatles memorabilia and messages from fans, which I found quite odd to find in Russia.

After this we moved on to a bar that Paulina took us to where we had vodka shots with the pickled vegetables we bought and warmed up from the snow by having the soup the bar sold. I had the meat soup, which was quite weird as it had a slice of lemon and cheese in it alongside the meat. I still had it and it was really nice when compared to its peculiar look. I still wasn’t warm enough so I had a green tea whilst we waited for the second half of the group led by Paulina’s sister to join us.

After everyone had their vodka shots and soup we braved the snow and cold once again to get to the homeless shelter which was the second part of the tour. As the weather was so bad we took the bus. We said our thanks and goodbyes to Paulina and got on the bus to the nearest stop to the shelter. After we got off the bus we found ourselves in a place that resembled my stereotype of Russia, cold and full of concrete buildings (this was where my Facebook profile photo was taken).

When we got into the shelter we were taken to a classroom where we were given a talk by the shelter’s director who told us about the shelter and the homeless problem that St. Petersburg has. The shelter itself could only house 50 people and the authorities currently had no shelters of their own leaving the thousands of homeless (according to the 2002 census) in the cold of winter that I couldn’t stand for more than a few seconds.

Whilst we were having the talk about the homeless problem we were told about the internal passports that all Russian citizens must have on them all the time. These internal passports have the aim of controlling population movements so that people do not all move to the major cities, such as St. Petersburg and Moscow. These internal passports allow the holders state healthcare and other state benefits within their regions of origin. If a Russian citizen wishes to move to another area they must re-register there in three days of moving there otherwise they lose all state benefits. If you lose your internal passport then you can only get it renewed at your region of origin which could be thousands of miles away. You cannot buy a train ticket because you need your internal passport for this so you would be basically left with no options in the place where you found yourself. This is why there are so many homeless people in the major cities.

After a while of asking questions we finished at the shelter and moved back to the bus stop and subsequently the metro system to get back to the hotel. As soon as I got back to the hotel I took a long hot bath which was interrupted twice. First by E who asked whether I wanted to go to the bar on the 18th floor later – I replied I’ll be there in an hour whilst I was still dripping wet. The second time was randomly by a Russian woman who worked at the hotel and let herself into my room to give us our new towels. She knocked on the door of the bathroom which I replied “Hello. I’m in the bath!” She giggled then left which finally got me out of the Amoeba inhabited water. When I got out of the water I realised it was yellow! I knew that I hadn’t done anything I shouldn’t have in the water lol. So I wondered what the hell was going on. I then noticed a sign on the bathroom wall next to the mirror which stated in both Russian and English that there was a problem with the pipes leading to a discolouration of the water. We were told though that it wasn’t a health risk to which I sighed with relief.

After getting out of my discoloured bath, I got ready and then went upstairs to the bar where we spent most of the night all sure that we did not want to face the cold outside.

Russia Trip Diary - Part 2

Russia Trip Diary - Part 2

Day Five – 13th October 2009

We had to wake up a little earlier than usual today because this was our last day in St. Petersburg. After getting ready and breakfast I took my stuff to Mie’s room by 9am and then joined the others in the lobby and chatted until 10am. At 10am my group (and a few stowaways) walked to the Metro and got to the centre where we met a Russian contemporary writer, Alexander Skidan, who took us on a walk talking about the works of Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky is most famous for his book Crime and Punishment, a novel which I have been inspired to read as a result of the tour. The story, based in St. Petersburg, basically revolves around a murder by a young man who justified it by using the money he gained for good. The tour itself was interesting and I really enjoyed looking at the different parts of the city we found ourselves in.

After the tour Mie took us to a cafe that she regularly went to when she lived in St. Petersburg on exchange. The cafe was very modern in style and I was surprised that the people working in it spoke English to some extent. We happily chatted whilst eating and then planned what to do for the last afternoon in St. Petersburg. I had two priorities for the afternoon, a canal tour and a museum that had some weird and weirder things in it which we were told about by Mie and Anna. I was ready to get out there and explore but some of the others were still eating so me and E decided to go by ourselves and walked towards Nevsky Prospekt (the main street of St. Petersburg). It took us to where I thought the canal tours took place and was glad to find it. We had to watch our balance on the wooden planks in getting to the canal tour’s platform next to the river but once we got there we asked for a tour in English and we were told that the next tour would be in an hour and that it would be 400 roubles (about £8) so we bought our tickets then and decided to walk to the museum.

The museum that we were walking to was established by Peter the Great who wanted to bring the enlightenment seen around Europe in his time to Russia. He decided to do this by setting up this museum, among other things, but no one wanted to go so in order to attract people he gave people a free shot of Vodka for entering. Bringing the Enlightenment to Russia through VODKA! Sounds like a good idea to me. Anyway the name of the museum is Kunstkamera which is located on the banks of the River Neva in the centre of St. Petersburg and has a number of strange exhibits. When alive Peter the Great, an emperor of Russia, collected abnormal human foetuses and these are now found in the museum. It was quite bizarre walking into a room full of foetuses that had two heads, no arms or legs, or were cyclops. It was hard to understand at the time that these exhibits were real and not plastic or fake in one way or another. One particular exhibit was a baby’s head with its eyes open which to this day remains a haunting image with me. So the prize of ‘best place to be traumatised in St. Petersburg’ goes to this museum.

After being traumatised at the museum and shouted at by an old lady who worked in the museum we walked to the canal tour. On the way another old woman noticed the Soviet symbol on my hat and started smiling at me. I politely smiled back and she suddenly said with a wider smile in a thick Russian accent, “You look like Soviet soldier!!!” She seemed very happy about this fact, so happy in fact that she said it a second. I responded by saying “Yeah but I’m about two decades late”. Anyway after street banter with the old women we got to the canal tour which was a great way of seeing the City. During the tour we were told about the history of St. Petersburg and some interesting facts about the people that lived there. We spent most of the tour on the top deck facing the elements but by halfway into the tour the cold was too harsh to bear and we decided to go below decks for the rest of the tour. I found it a great opportunity to take photos and learn more about the city and the canal tour remains one of my main highlights of the trip.

After the canal tour was finished it was about 5pm so we had time to do something else before we all met to go to the train station bound for Moscow. After the canal tour we were still feeling the cold so we decided to find a cafe to warm up and decide what was next. After another green tea and a meal of meat and rice I felt ready for anything. The cafe itself was quite weird in style kind of Turkish or Egyptian and it was on Nevsky Prospekt – I can’t remember the name of it. Anyway after being warmed up E insisted that we walked home and I had the job of navigating us back to the Hotel. This task was relatively straight forward as I found a main road on the map that would take us straight to the canal and from there I should be able to work out where to go next.

So we walked down the street and found a market which was way larger than the one we saw on the tour with Paulina. We walked around the stalls and found ourselves at a stall that sells various types of tea. Unfortunately for me and E the stall owner could not speak a word of English so when it came to my turn to buy boxes of Russian tea as presents there was some difficulty in communication. I basically wanted to purchase three boxes of tea. The thing that the lady could not understand is why I don’t want to purchase a larger box which is cheaper. This stalemate between me and the stall owner lasted for about five minutes until another lady that could speak English came and offered her assistance. I said my thanks and bought the three boxes I wanted. The stall owner even gave me an additional box of tea for free due to my large purchase which I thought was really nice of her.

On the way out we saw another pickled vegetable stall and got free samples. E insulted one of the stall owners by not accepting the free pickled vegetable. In E’s defence she did not understand the situation and would have happily taken free stuff if she knew what was going on.

After the market with tea in hand we continued with our walk back to the hotel. It was getting darker at this point so I didn’t want to walk around more than we had to. We found ourselves at the canal as I thought we would on the map and continued up the street to a coffee shop. We went in to make sure that we were going in the right direction. When we got inside I decided I needed a hot chocolate like you get in England. There were two types of hot chocolate on the menu, cocoa or a hot chocolate, so on E’s advice I decided to go with the latter. Big mistake! The cup was filled with molten thick chocolate. Nothing like the drinkable hot beverage I had envisioned. This was quite a disappointment and I haven’t forgiven E to this day although she did pay for half of it due to the omission and the fact that she drank most of it so no grudges.

When we finally got back to the hotel we collected our things from Mie’s room and waited in the lobby for an hour until 10pm, the time when the coach arrived to pick everyone up for the train station. As soon as 10pm came we handed in our cardkeys and said our goodbyes to the hotel and St. Petersburg.

When we arrived at the train station we had about an hour before we were moved to our train and to what became one of the longest nights of my life. In this time I realised that my padlock from my bag was missing and that I should buy another memory card for my camera so that I don’t miss out on anything. Two simple tasks that took me an hour to do. First the train station was designed in a way that had seats in the middle of the hall where people could wait and there were shops all around these seats. I went into a camera shop and queued. When I was first in line I asked the shop assistant if he could speak English. He responded with an unsmiling ‘No’. I then pointed to the memory card behind him trying to tell him that I wanted to buy it. I got no response until a woman behind me started telling him what I needed in Russian and then asking me if this was OK. I thanked her for her help. She responded by telling me that schools aren’t as good as back in her day, which I found interesting. After this I walked into another shop to try and get another padlock. This first shop had no one in it that could speak English again. At this point I wished that I had a translator that would just follow me around for the whole trip! After some frustration the guy in the queue behind me uttered one word, “Zamoch”. I then went to another store nearby which was more a souvenir stand and asked for a Zamoch in which she pointed at the padlock and this my job was done. I was ready for Moscow.

Before entering the train we had to show our tickets and passports to an unsmiling face and then we were left to find our ‘rooms’ for the night which I would more liken to a communal coffin. The conditions in the train bedrooms (or couchettes) were cramped with a small path in the middle of them and bunk beds on both sides. My experience in these cramped conditions will never be forgotten due to the frustration that was felt and my fear of cramped spaces. I shared my couchette with R who was a nice guy to talk to and two Australian girls that were more like two squawking hens than people you could reason with.

After a philosophical discussion with R and E the two squawkers (as I would aptly call them) squawked in and demanded their territory which consisted of the lower bunks. E then left feeling her presence was only wanted by 50% of the room – I would call it a lucky escape rather than being kicked out. The thing I hate the most about girls like these is that they are so in love with themselves that they actually believe they are the centre of the Universe. One asked us at a ridiculously early time to turn off the lights so that she could go to bed. Whilst in communal living spaces people must tolerate those around them. So in the spirit of toleration we turned the main lights off but I kept my small reading light on. In a fake smile that only this type of fake girl can do so well one of them squawked that they could still see the light. I reject this argument on two grounds: 1) the light was on the other side from her and I was covering the majority of the light and 2) she was facing the other way whilst sleeping and started to complain the second the main light was turned off. Now I’m not the type of guy that looks for or promotes conflict but this girl was annoying to the extreme so much so that I rejected her request and only left when I had the realisation that there was a cafe on the train.

Upon this realisation I took my book and pen and left for the train’s cafe. The cafe was a full carriage of the train and reflected the Russian stereotype in my mind – something that had passed its time but still in working order. I had a can of Red Bull from before with me so I drank that and wrote some notes about the trip. When the waitress came towards me I asked for an omelette, which turned out to be two fried eggs with bacon and ketchup covering one side. Despite the weird mixture it was nice and so I was happy to stay there until we got to Moscow. Later three Russian men sat on the table next to mine. One asked if I smoked and I replied “No” with a smile and the Russian replied “Your mother taught you well” and began laughing. I found the comment quite hysterical as well and I began chatting with them about their trip and then later mine. By 5am the Russian who was taking the orders for food before told us that the train cafe was going to close. At this point I left for my room and had a two hour nap.

Day Six – 14th October 2009

When I woke up to find myself in these cramped conditions it was 9am. I checked the programme which said that the train would arrive in Moscow by 9:52am. I took the remaining time to read over what I wrote the night before and add to it where necessary. I abstained from the breakfast of crackers and jam but I kept the water bottle for later.

We finally made it to Moscow! A city that I’ve heard so much about and seen in the news countless times. The programme at this point had changed from what was stated originally. The Kremlin was brought forward a day because the Russian authorities decided to close it a day earlier than what they told us before. So as soon as we got off the train we were told that the coach that was going to take us to the Kremlin was just across the road. We walked to the coach and in this time a short man with a leather jacket bumped into me which I later realised to be a pick pocketer. Luckily for me I had all my belongings either in my luggage which was padlocked or in my small man-bag so nothing was taken. However when we got on the coach about to take us to the Kremlin there was some delay and so I asked what was going on. The message came through that a French girl (from now on called V) on the tour had her camera stolen by a homeless person on the way to the coach. Another member of the tour (R) saw this and then chased after the homeless person. This got the attention of the Russian police who caught the homeless person and was talking to V, R and Anna. After a while they were taken to the police station and we were taken to the Kremlin.

The story of the stolen camera had nothing to do with me but it is an interesting story that will be remembered as part of the trip so I will write what happened. After the incident and the capture of the homeless suspect, R, V and Anna were taken to the police station for questioning. They were there for twelve hours being interviewed, then re-interviewed and it was only when they called the French embassy something was sorted. By the time the French consul was on the way to the station the police handed over the camera and allowed the three members of the tour to leave. The whole story was full of frustration at the bureaucracy of the Russian police and their ineptitude in performing what would be in other countries a simple task.

So whilst those three were enduring this, the rest of us went on a tour of the Kremlin which was way different from what I envisioned. Our guide showed us around and told us about the history of the fortress. We saw the presidential offices, the Tsar canon that never was fired in battle, the Tsar bell which had never been rung and the numerous cathedrals. The guide joked that the canon and the bell were named after the Tsars because they never worked well, which historically is true.

At 12pm the tour had finished and we were given half an hour to wander around the Kremlin ourselves before we had to meet outside the Kremlin walls. During this time I went into one of the numerous cathedrals and heard a Russian Orthodox choir which sang beautifully so much so that I bought a copy of their music before I left.

At 12:30pm we all met at the entrance of the Kremlin and walked through the park to get to the Red Square. The Red Square was larger than I imagined. Around it you could see Lenin’s Mausoleum, Rym which was a large shopping centre nicknamed the Russian equivalent of Harrods in London and St Basil’s Cathedral. After a few minutes we walked to the other side of the Red Square and made our way to the coach which then took us to the hotel.

The hotel in Moscow was beyond belief and not in a good way! The place made it feel like we were in the 1970s and there were paintings of Christian symbols everywhere. To make it worse we were told that it would be three to a room and that there would only be one key to share. The receptionist wanted to do one room at a time but the list of names who we shared the room with was lost. Another logistical nightmare due to the large number of people on the trip! At this point I decided to take the initiative and quickly asked E if she and K would want to share a room together with me. They accepted so I asked them for their passports which I took to the desk in a hurry. We were the first room to be organised and I was more relieved than anything else because I knew if I didn’t do anything we would be stuck there for an hour and even worse I could be potentially stuck with Australian squawkers, which I would avoid at all costs!

After we received our weighted key to our room we took the elevator to the third floor. The corridor looked like it hadn’t been redecorated at least since the 1980s and the rooms were the same. In the rooms there were three beds in different corners of the room and a few tables dotted around. To my surprise there was also a picture of Jesus in the corner watching our every move. I somehow found the picture creepier than the head I saw in the museum in St. Petersburg. After a few minutes to adapt to our new surroundings – a standard far below the one we got used to in St. Petersburg – we unpacked and dared ourselves to try the food in the cafe on the ground floor.

The cafe itself was decorated in the religious style that we saw everywhere else in the hotel. The far wall had a large map of Israel painted on it which pin pointed religious sites. We sat down and waited for the Russian waitress to take our order. After a few minutes she came and we pointed to what we wanted on the menu. I ordered ‘meat in a pot’ which turned out to be surprisingly good when compared to our surroundings so much so that we had pancakes for dessert and a tea that i didn’t order but drank and paid for anyway. Whilst we ate others from the group nervously looked at the menu and considered whether they would dare to try the food for themselves. A group of Australians came in and asked us whilst we ate if it was nice and whether they should eat there. I think we only spoke to one of them at the beginning of the trip and so it was obvious that they were only trying to use us a guinea pigs to see if the food was to their standards. To be completely honest even if the food was awful I would have probably told them that it was good but in any case the food was delicious and authentically Russian so I couldn’t say anything to the contrary.

By this time my money supply was running low. I had about 310 roubles left (about £6). I didn’t want to use my card without calling my bank because they would freeze it for security reasons. After realising that I didn’t bring all the information I required in order to make the necessary changes with my bank I did what any independent 20 year old does in a time when he has no means to get money – I called my parents. My dad found a different UK phone number to try to get hold of another human being at the bank and I was saved. He definitely deserves his presents from Russia after this! So I had to wait twenty-four hours before I could get money out which was hard for me to do especially when we walked around the souvenir stands the next day.

In the evening, myself and K decided to go back to the centre of Moscow to do different errands. For her it was to try and mend her camera and for me it was to try and change my Danish kroner into roubles so that I had some money for the next day. The Moscow Metro system worked a little differently from its St. Petersburg counterpart. For one thing the fairground-like coins had disappeared and instead used a card with a magnetic strip. The price however remained the same so out of my remaining 310 roubles I spent 200 on a card that gave me access to the metro ten times. Seven stops on the red line later we were in the centre and immediately went to Rym then went our separate ways after agreeing to meet back at the information desk for 7pm. We both failed in our tasks. I went to three different exchange places and then a bank. None of them would change anything but Euros and US Dollars.

After the failure we decided to go back to the hotel in a time bubble and call it an early night.

Russia Trip Diary - Part 3

Russia Trip Diary - Part 3

Day Seven – 15th October 2009

According to the programme we were supposed to have gone to the Kremlin at 10:30am but since we had done this yesterday we had the morning free. I woke up about 8:30am and went down for breakfast for the first time in the Moscow hotel. When we got to the ground floor we needed to get a small white piece of paper from reception and then give it to one of the women who were working in the cafe. After this I was handed a bowl of porridge and some sort of egg dish. It was hard not to compare this to the wide choice we had in St. Petersburg, a fact that depressed us even more.

Over breakfast Anna told us about what happened at the police station (see above). We also decided on what we should do in our free time. I really wanted to go into Lenin’s Mausoleum and see the body of a figure that I studied about during my A levels. I always took an interest in reading about the Bolshevik Revolution so this was the top of the to do list for me. So we rode the Metro and found our way to the Red Square. You were not allowed to take any bags into the Mausoleum so we took it in turns to go inside. I was first and so I left my things with K and passed through security who was keen for no cameras to pass. I walked by the Kremlin wall looking at the signs in the memories of individuals key to the Soviet State. After this I walked inside the Mausoleum which is built completely from marble. The main chamber where Lenin’s body lays was a square room of marble. Looking at him through the glass I walked around the room following the permitted path. He was white as a ghost and looked as if he was just sleeping. I’ve never seen a dead body before so this was a first for me. After a few moments in the square chamber it was time to leave with a memory I will not forget. After I left the Mausoleum there were the graves of the other leaders of the Soviet Union including Stalin. This was another experience that I will not soon forget. I enjoy history and this was a dream come true (as sad as this sounds).

When it was K’s turn to look at Lenin I perused around the nearby souvenir stands and the nearby restaurants with E. After we were reunited we had lunch at the American pizza chain ‘Sparro’ – keeping with Russian culture of course. After a few slices of pizza and being compared to a 15 year old American boy we had a look around the shopping mall which the Sparro formed a part of.

By 2pm we met the rest of the tour group and went over the trip to the Kremlin and then waited for the Russian students whom we would be spending the evening with who came at 3pm. I was put in a group with D from Austria who seemed a really nice girl to talk to and one of the Australian annoyances from the train. As on the train, her fakeness shined through like the sun but everyone could see through it and even the Russian students commented on her the day after.

Our Russian students were really friendly and showed us some parts of Moscow that we had not seen before. We went to Christ The Saviour Cathedral which was styled in the traditional lavish Orthodox way. After this we went shopping and made dinner at A’s apartment which I enjoyed. By midnight just before the Metro was about to close we said our goodbyes and thanks to the Russian students and looked forward to seeing them the next day.

Day Eight – 16th October 2009

This was the day when we were supposed to talk to the political opposition Liberal Party but unfortunately for us there were elections to the Moscow City Council the week before and this led to a political row. Both the Communist Party and the Liberal Party accused the governing United Russia Party of electoral fraud. Under this cloud it was clear that the Liberal Party was too busy complaining about the results of this election to talk to us so they cancelled two days before we were supposed to talk to them. I was disappointed about this because I am interested in politics and would have liked to hear what they had to say about the political dynamics of Russia. However, this was not meant to be so instead we had three choices. I took Mie’s choice which was to go to the Novodevichye Cemetery which housed the graves of a number of famous writers and politicians and then we went to Novodevichye Monastery right next to it where Tsars would send their wives when they wanted a new one.

After this we walked along the river for some distance until we reached Smolenskaya which would take us to Arbot. Arbot is a street where artists would show their paintings and put them up for sale. There were also a number of souvenir shops as well in which I bought some of my gifts and souvenirs. Before we reached Arbot we came to the Russian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Trade which are housed in a huge Soviet building. The magnitude of this building was breathtaking particularly as it still had the symbol of the Soviet age in concrete on the large building.

As soon as we reached Arbot the group dispersed to look at the artists’ works that mostly consisted of paintings. I had a close look at a few of the paintings and even had a short discussion with one of the painters who wanted to practice his English. As soon as I was done looking around I realised everyone else had already left. Rather than catching up with them I decided to hunt for souvenirs and gifts and then meet up with them later. This is what I did and after I was finished on Arbot I walked straight to the centre using my trusty map.

When I reached General Zhukov’s statue my stomach was empty despite the lavish breakfast I had. I had two choices, either Sparro again or McDonalds. I went for McDonalds to keep in the Russian cultural spirit of the trip and also I haven’t had McDonalds in a while so why the hell not! I ate it in the nearby park close to the Kremlin wall and then met up with a few people from the group.

By 8pm we were meeting up with the Russian students again. The Australian decided she’d rather go drinking than go to a restaurant with us – a fact that I was very pleased with and may have shown this fact a little too much. Anyway, with the ‘tragic’ loss of one of our group we plodded on to Arbot and saw what it looked like at night. A few children, none older than twelve, played the violin in the street busking for money. One was selling masks to passersby. I was shocked that children so young were doing this so late by themselves. We then went to a pancake cafe where we ate and chatted until the cafe was closing. After this we went on the Metro to one particular station that was decorated more so than the others. The station had bronze statues of idealistic looking workers. We were told that people rubbed these bronze statues for good luck. One statue had a dog whose nose had been rubbed to such an extent that it was a different colour to the rest of its body.

After this we said our goodbyes and exchanged emails. It was raining heavily that night so I finally took the bus in Moscow to the hotel rather than walking the 2km. On previous nights I walked back with the people I was with and on one occasion we saw a pack of stray dogs and a number of rats near a construction site. Unfortunately for me it was raining so I wouldn’t get to see such sights of Moscow that night.

Day Nine – 17th October 2009

After a breakfast of porridge and egg once again and dealing with the strange rules of where you could sit we all met at 11am for a coach trip outside Moscow to Sergiev Posad, a small monastery town over an hour away from Moscow. The coach ride had its own interesting events. The night before, E drank way too much and spent a while vomiting in the toilet of our flat. It was quite an impressive puking session that lasted for the majority of the night. K got up and helped E to bed. In my defence I was half asleep and nice and warm under the covers I couldn’t physically get up to help. Anyway, I’m writing this because it provides background to the coach journey. I was sitting next to E on the coach and E was really hungover and looked ready to vomit at any time. I did not want sick on my favourite coat so I was keen to sort the situation out in a way that would keep my coat (and the rest of me) vomit free. When things got bad I proposed that she sat at the front where it would be less bumpy and got a bag to her with the help of those around me. I had the window seat so I was trapped between glass and E who was about to puke. So despite the fact that I think E is a cool person and I hope to keep contact with her after the tour, I was glad that she moved to the front of the coach. As it happens she was vomiting quite a lot which gave me less of a reason to feel guilty.

When we got to the Monastery town two hours later the breakfast was wearing off and we needed something to eat. Once again there were two options McDonalds or a Russian Cafe that was some distance away. As we parked right outside the McDonalds and nature called I had no other option but to have McDonalds for the second time in a week. It tasted so good but I know it was wrong.

Anyway, after eating my BigMac we walked to the Monastery and had a tour which was quite informative. After the tour we went into an Orthodox ceremony which is different from other branches of Christianity. People lined up to spend a few moments nearby a Saints silver coffin. Many kissed it and there were a lot of cross sign making with their fingers too. The room itself was well decorated with paintings on the ceilings and walls depicting stories of the Saint of the Monastery.

After this we went back on the coach and took the ride back to the concrete of Moscow.

At 8pm we all met in the lobby and took the Metro to a really nice cafe for our farewell dinner. We talked about the trip and what we would take from it. It was sad that the trip was coming to an end but I was glad that I came on the trip saw what I always wanted to see and met some nice people on the way.

The Last Day – 18th October 2009

We had breakfast for the last time and handed in our keys. The coach picked us up at 11am and we travelled to the airport. I took a few photos on the way and took my last few glimpses of Moscow. When we got to the airport we had an hour before we could get through security so a few of us went to TGI Fridays for something to eat after our filling breakfast (not). I had the burger but was denied my last vodka shot in Russia. The waitress could not serve it to me because of a law that came into force quite recently about serving pure spirits in airports and train stations.

After this it was time to pass security. During which we had to enter this huge x-ray machine which I hope to god hasn’t given us cancer! We then got on the airport and left Russia.

When I got back to my room in Copenhagen it felt really good to be back. When I left just nine days and 9000 words ago I couldn’t wait to leave so the trip was just what I needed. The trip will not be forgotten any time soon. Yes there were logistical problems due to the size of the group but every trip has its hiccups and the two guides did an excellent job in showing us both sides of Russia in its two major cities.