The past few weeks

Me and some of my cool friends



I have been here for more than one month here and I'm still feeling as if I'm in a dream, the experience has just been so fantastic, although there have been many up and downs, overall its very very positive :) So what have I been up to? I have completed my first module which was Fundamentals of Multimedia and for me that was very difficult, in fact I am a bit worried about the other module we have later this semester called Computer Vision, because it builds upon the things we've done in this first module. Alot of Maths and programming was involved, and I can't really say that these are my strong points so I was struggling a bit. However we managed to get through the group project and now I have to study for the exam which is around 30% of the mark for that module, and for which I have to sit in January after the Christmas holidays. Now I've started another module this week called Object oriented development for E-Commerce, which is basically about UML diagrams and systems analysis. I'm actually finding that I like this topic although I always fall asleep during the lectures. I guess I'll just have to learn it on my own following the notes and other resources as usual.














Anyway I've also been meeting lots of new people and going out pretty regularly :D There are some fantastic parties at the Students Union and also in town, and I've made myself a regular patron of these clubs :D Together with the other European guys we have really rocked some parties, and I'm really enjoying spending time with my two party buddies Rafael and Alex as well as the rest of the group. I've also been to some places such as the National Space Centre in Leicester, next up is hopefully Oxford next Saturday, but I'm not sure if I'll get a place on the trip as it might be fully booked. The weather here has been bearable, with many cloudy and rainy days but not too cold. There have also been some really nice days, when the sun comes out here it really makes this place look beautiful as there's lots of greenery and there is a feeling of positivity in the air. My bike is proving to be the best thing I've bought since I've arrived here, being my main means of transport and also a recreational tool. Unfortunately I lost one of my padlock keys a few days ago, and my chain broke yesterday and I'm still trying to fix that. It's really frustrating when things like that happen, especially when you have to dig deep in your pocket for a replacement as things are so expensive here :(

My language craze is getting crazier, Im still happily learning Chinese and Spanish, and these last few days I also bought and downloaded some books and audio files for learning Arabic and German, but those will have to take second place after Chinese and Spanish. Some of my Spanish speaking guys are helping me out by talking to me on MSN in Spanish, and Im very thankful for that as I find it very useful.

I'm also started going to Mass regularly every Sunday with Rafael, the English mass here is actually very well attended and it is quite hard to find a place if you go late. However next Sunday I think I'll try to attend the italian one, to make a change and also because it is at 4pm which makes it more convenient than the English (11AM).

Sports: Im playing table tennis regularly now and have found some good players, however I'm not really being very much challenged till now. I enquired about joining the table tennis club but it was too expensive (around 60quid), so I'm trying to find more players who can play at harry french or university. Tomorrow I'm playing against a guy from Pakistan who says he's really good so that should be interesting :D
I've yet to play football although I'm trying to start organising some matches in the coming weeks, should be quite easy to find players as many people have told me that they're interested in playing :)

Anyway I think that's all for today, as usual watch out for new pics at www.jpgalea.com and I'd like to say a big HI! to all my friends in Malta and to the rest of my relatives back there :) Hope to see you in December for the Christmas holidays! :)