Migrating

 'I am not a bad person for doing this, I am not a bad person for doing this...' - this is what I keep repeating myself for being such a bad, bad person and leaving my Blogger blog after so little time. The thing is, I think the WordPress platform suits me more and also it seems like a more 'serious' foundation. I've imported all of my blog posts into my WordPress account, and fortunately, since I didn't have that much traffic, followers etc, I didn't 'lose' much. For the 3 followers that I had here, THANK YOU for reading everything and I hope you'll join me over on the dark  other side! (I might have cookies?)
I will post the link to my new blog below (the title is the same, just the ending is different) - by the way, should I consider the fact that the title wasn't taken a good thing (lucky me?) or a bad thing? (no one else had thought of this original,creative  kind of weird name?)

www.serendipitiesofastudent.wordpress.com

Creative moment

Just a quick post. I was browsing through my ' Notes section ' on Facebook and I came across this rather rambly, but poetic (only in my head?) piece of writing I posted like an year ago. I think I was single at the time / probably going through a rough patch / my boyfriend had disappointed me / I was tired of guys. Anyway, I quite like the way it sounds. It's in Spanish, so I'll post the original version and then a translated into English version, although I'm not sure how dramatic will it sound in English.

Yo no sé qué es amar a alguien de verdad. He oído tantas definiciones del amor. ¿ Y el mío? No consigo encajarlo en ninguna. ¿ Será que es defectuoso ? ¿ Habrá que devolverlo mientras sigue en guarantía? ¿ Estoy pasando de él, no lo percibo, o es que está huyendo de mi? ¿ Por qué lo necesito y por qué a veces me basto yo sola para sonreir ? Acaso no sabemos qué hacer de nuestras vidas si no nos convencemos a nosotros mismos que hay que enamorarnos para sentirnos plenos, para que se adjunte a la mitad de nuestro corazón otra? Un turista pasajero,eso es el amor , y nosotros le damos una visa permanente. Ni siquiera sé si habla el mismo idioma que yo. No me gusta el amor. Es demasiado egoista, te pide que cambies, que cierres los ojos ante un camino por el cual sabes que hay que caminar con los ojos abiertos. Y no te da la mano, sólo te empuja a veces, o camina delante de ti para darte un sentimiento de falsa seguridad, pero al acercarte al primer precipicio hay que valerte por ti mismo, él mantiene la cabeza en alto y los brazos cruzados. Te critica si te caes, te mira de reojo,desconfiado, si te levantas.

Querido Amor, ¿ qué es lo que quieres de mi ? No quiero ofenderte,pero...sin duda prescindiría de ti!

Translation:

I don't know what loving someone truly really means. I've heard so many definitions of 'love'. What about mine? I can't seem to enclose it in one. Could it be broken?  Will I have to take it back while it still has its warranty? Am I not seeing it, am I not perceiving it, or is it trying to escape from my grasp? Why do I need it and why am I, sometimes, enough to make myself smile? Can it be that we don't know what to do with our lives if we don't persuade ourselves that we have to fall in love to be complete, that another half has to be attached to our already existing heart? A passing tourist, that's what love is, and we give him a permanent visa. I don't even know if he speaks the same language as I do. I don't like love. It's too selfish, it asks you to change, to close your eyes before an unknown road, that you know deep down you have to walk with your eyes wide open. And it doesn't take your hand, it just pushes you sometimes, or walks in front of you to give you the false feeling of safety, but when you're close to a precipice , you have to make it on your own. He just keep his head up high and his arms crossed. He will criticize you if you fall, he will look at you defiantly if you stand up. 

Dear Love, what is it that you want from me? I don't mean to offend you, but...no doubt I'd gladly rid myself of you.

Film night - 'Magic Mike'

I don't think I've stressed this enough on the blog until now, but I'm a really big film addict. I mostly enjoy comedies, romantic comedies and romance films, but if I come across a good drama or a kick-ass SF now and then, I gladly accept that. Shamefully , I've kind of missed out on a lot of films this year, since it was such an important one, what with the finals and all that, but there's plenty of time to catch up. I enjoy going to the cinema as much as the next person, but I also like to watch movies at home, in the comfort of my own bed. It's not that the film tickets are expensive here, they're about 15 RON (less than 3£) and Orange also has a special discount on Wednesdays - 2 tickets for the price of one. Bargain, I know. Movies used to get here pretty late, they'd premiere and then, 2 months later, our cinema would showcase them. But, lately, we've had a pretty good run, films actually get here in time! (well, about a week or two later, but that's nothing).

So, after reading so much on the internet about this new film , 'Magic Mike', I thought I'd give it a go and see what the fuss was all about. Typically, if I like an actor and his acting style, I'd pretty much watch his entire filmography and see how he gets into character in different roles and whether he's evolving or not. I've seen quite a lot of Channing Tatum's films (the lead actor in the above mentioned film), mostly romantic comedies, and although I can't say he has a real talent (he certainly does not move me to tears), he is charismatic and he's got moves (dance moves, that is). So, there I sat, in the theater, waiting for the black screen to come alive. I didn't know much about the plot , but the words 'stripper' and 'inspired from Channing Tatum's life' kind of painted a picture.

Basically, the film centers around Mike's (Channing Tatum) life - he's a 30 year-old stripper, but not a shallow one, although he has casual sex whenever, does occasional drugs and really likes his alcohol. Deep, deep, deep, deep  down, he's a lonely, emotional guy, with feelings, whose wish is to make enough money to open his own custom furniture business. He becomes the mentor of 19 year-old Adam (Alex Pettyfer), whom he meets on his daily job on a construction site , and introduces him to his stripping club, where Adam becomes the new acquisition and takes Mike's place later on in the finale. Of course, Mike finds a love interest in Adam's sister, Brooke , who eventually makes him 'come to his senses'. Throw in ' the bad guy', Dallas, portrayed by Matthew McConaughey, the owner of the strip club (and also a very talented actor, in my opinion) and you've got yourself a comedy film.

All in all, I'd rate this film as a 5/10. It was quite bad, the only thing I can say I liked were some of Mike's scenes, where he mostly danced, not took his clothes off. Reminded me of his role in 'Step up', which I enjoyed, because the guy's a good dancer. Of course, if you're a strip club regular, jock, or a horny, screaming lady looking to feast her eyes, then yes, this is the right film for you. There's quite a lot of nudity,sex innuendos and visual images related to this, that personally made me laugh because they were far from exciting. I think the more suitable word would be LAME. I can't even think of 5 actually funny scenes from this film, although I suppose there were a few. This film's slogan - ' Funny, sexy, cool...A MUST SEE' - only applies if you're either bored out of your mind or,as a girl, looking for an excuse to watch handsome men undress on a big screen , without your boyfriend minding.

Absence makes the blog grow fonder

The thing I was most afraid of reared its ugly head - I procrastinated! It's been a little under a month since my last post and I promise I have some good reasons why I didn't keep my promise to update frequently. These past few weeks have been chaotic. I still haven't accomplished what I said I would last - signing the tenancy agreement and buying myself a plane ticket - only the last half of it. I am now sure that I will be boarding a flight to Luton Airport on September 14th, thank God! The bad news is..will I have to sleep at the train station?! That's right, I still haven't found a suitable accommodation,my previous plans fell through (again!) and I think I now know how to access the Flats/Houses classifieds section of the Gumtree website with my eyes closed. I don't know whether I'm too pretentious or finding a place to live really is that hard - I'm only asking for a bedroom that's within a reasonable distance (public transport included) from my university campus. I think spending 2 hours everyday (best case scenario) traveling back and forth between Uni and home would not reflect good on my studies, unless buses in England have separate compartments and a powerful laptop socket. Anyway, I promise I'll settle on something as soon as possible - worst case scenario , I can move after?

The reason why I've been so absent, besides my frantic searches, is one much more pleasant. I was on vacation in Greece! I spent 8 lovely days in the Moraitika resort, on the island of Corfu. It was amazing, even so because I had mentally waved goodbye to any vacation possibility this summer. I traveled by car, which can have both upsides and downsides, but 14 hours of driving later and ta-da! I was on the beach, sniffing the breeze and being caressed by the warm sun. We tried to do something different each day, like sight-seeing , museums, bathing in the sun in different resorts etc. I have just returned home this morning at 6 am, and I already miss it. Except for the day I got sick (just once, thank God, my boyfriend was not so fortunate though) from a mysterious stomach bug, flu or insolation , I can consider this one of my best summer breaks so far. I'm still wobbly and tired from the drive, even though I already slept for 6 hours today, so I'll spare you any useless commentaries of my own and leave you with some gorgeous pictures from my trip.

Have a great weekend!

Blue Lagoon, Corfu

Paleokastritsa, Corfu

Ordering pizza in Greece - wrong?

Sunbathing and Cosmo -  only the magazine though

Chicken souvlaki 

Souvenir

Accommodate me , please

If any of you have ever moved or switched houses, (or even if you haven't, you can still imagine) you should be fairly familiar with the hustle and bustle of a move. I have never been in this position - I've lived with my parents all my life and we only moved once, twelve years ago, to a bigger apartment, but I was six years old so I don't really remember the details. Now, not only am I moving to a different house, I'm moving to a different house in another country. Cue endless searches for the perfect place to live, countless e-mails to far too patient sales people and the dreadful decision making process, based on other people's opinions and the oh-so-accurate website pictures. Thank God for the World Wide Web, I'm just saying.

As the fairly organized, well-documented, not-wanting-to-leave-everything-for-the-last-moment freak that I am, I began browsing the Internet for proper accommodation last October, immediately after sending out my UCAS application. I know, don't count your chickens before they're hatched, but you can still do a little mental count, hypothetically. Anyway, after tormenting my poor Google Chrome with thousands of open tabs ( mind you, he didn't collapse once) and some very helpful people in the UK (that have put up with my endless questioning) , I settled on a central Bristol accommodation, in the 'heart of the city', as it was convenient both price-wise and distance-wise. I read all the terms and conditions stipulated on the website, about paying a deposit and the possibility of paying rent in installments, as that was the ideal (and pretty much only) payment method for me.

Despite my precocious search, I could not 'seal the deal' until mid July, which is when my exam results were coming in, because who knew what might've happened to me and the Universe on the day of my exams that could've prohibited me from getting the required grade. Exam results came in on July 8th  - all had gone well. After the well-deserved celebrations ( that got me sunburnt like a sausage in a frying pan - oh , how I love 40 degrees Celsius weather), I procedeed to clarify a few remaining doubts with the accommodation people , before paying my deposit and breathing in relief. Although their website clearly stated the possibility of a 8-10 installment plan, I thought (probably enlightened by a divine power) about asking them again ( who thought stressing people out with questions might come in handy? ) . Imagine the utter shock and disbelief on my face when I found out International students were only entitled to a maximum of two installments. Two questions squirmed in my head : 1. Why hadn't I asked sooner? and 2. Why don't these people specify the differences between UK students and International students, if they are bound to differentiate the two categories? This happened yesterday at noon and ever since I've been frantically looking for another accommodation, in the second phase of my alarmed, stressed and panic-y process. 

Fortunately, I found rather quickly a suitable alternative , kind of a back-up plan I had a while ago ; I had considered this other option for some time, but due to other factors I chose the first one, trying to convince myself that it'd work better and there was not much difference. I'm seeing things clearly now - there is a HUGE quality difference. I don't know if it's been brought to my attention in light of the recent events or I finally opened my eyes and decided to stop fooling myself. Bottom line is that I am now considering a hundred percent this second option and if all goes smoothly, the next time you hear from me, I would have already signed the tenancy agreement and bought myself a plane ticket.

Can you see the name of my blog reflecting in my post already? I'm telling you, serendipity works in mysterious ways.

PS: Header photo credit goes to Wikipedia, it's the view of Bristol's skyline. Kind of cheesy , you might think, but I quite like that picture and until I can master some Photoshop header of my own, this'll keep my lonely title some company.

Newbie

Well, hello there, non-existent readers. As you can see, this is my first ever blog and blog post. I've read and followed blogs 'from a shadow' for a long time, but I haven't had the time or guts , I assume, to make one of my own. Fast forward to today, and I've decided to give it a shot, what's the worst that could happen ?
In my head, this blog would be about the student life, moving to a different country, university, food, style etc. Oh and also, to explain the name of the blog, the word 'serendipity' fascinates me, because it expresses something that happens to me quite frequently and also , there's no Romanian equivalent for it.

Here's some  fun  facts about me:
My name is not actually Madison ; that's a translation into English of my Romanian name ( Mădălina) , because foreign people find it hard to pronounce those weird sounds with the symbols above;
I've lived in Romania all my life (being born here) , but I've decided to move to the United Kingdom , Bristol more specifically, to study a degree in Journalism and Public Relations;
I've graduated from a Humanistic course in high-school , I took the Romanian equivalent of A-Levels/SAT/Selectividad (that's about it regarding my knowledge of foreign examinations) in Romanian Language and Literature, History and Geography ;
I have a passion for foreign languages, I've only studied Spanish and English (obviously) until now, but I'd love to learn Italian and Portuguese ;
I'm a big book,music and movie lover and also I like to write sometimes in my spare time, I've entered some short-stories competitions up until now;
I dream everyday of being a magazine journalist , that lives in New York City and makes a difference in the world with her writing ( I know - too much Sex and the City-esque fantasies in my head ) ;

..and that's about it for now, I'll try to update frequently and write interesting things, my life is pretty fast-paced right now since I'm trying to put everything in order before my big move in September.