Sep
16
A perfect transition!
Filed Under Daily
The internet was working just fine in my room. That was the first and most important thing. As soon as I plugged in and I saw my connection working I was relieved. YES! that was really my very first action when I moved into my new room. I am a true nerd!
The check-in at the airport was very simple, my luggage was 22 kg and my carry-on was not even checked. I was extremely careful this time to avoid the repetition of the dramatic check-in at Brisbane Airport. I was also 2 hours and half earlier for a domestic flight. The flight was quite an adventure. I had to transit throuh London Heathrow before getting to Manchester. The first connection was delayed for one hour and I thought I could not make it for the second flight. The second flight was delayed as well so I was perfectly on time. I arrived here about 40 min later than my initial estimated arrival time (6 pm). It was a bit hard to find the building due to a misleading mailing address. To my good surprise, my mobile phone was working just fine and I could call someone to help me out at the hall. A spanish girl, called Claudia, helped me to find the building in the end. I took a shower and went out to buy some errands and had my very first beer in a pub in Manchester city. Very nice trip and I really had a good impression.
Finally back to a civilized modern city. Dublin is a bit 3rd country like compared to Manchester. Everything is going so smoothly I still cannot believe it.
Sep
15
Well in 2 hours I will take the plane to go to Manchester. Everything ended very smoothly here. I swam for the last time in the big swimming pool and I had a lot of fun. I pushed myself as hard as I could and it was awesome. I went hiking last Saturday and the weather was exceptionally good: Flickr.
Now the stress of the airport check-in! I hope everything will fit and I do not have to throw away anything or pay extra for luggage excess. My room is waiting for me in Manchester as well. Maybe with a bit of luck the internet will be up and running for me! We shall see in few hours.
Sep
13
Smooth Transition!
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So I was able to get a room even though I will arrive early in Manchester which makes things easier here since I leave right in the middle of the month. We hav found a new french girl to take over my room here in Dublin and everyone is happy. DHL came right on time today to pick up my box to deliver it to my Hall next week for 44.5 Euros. I paid 70 Euros for 3 months mail forward at the Post Office. I do not trust my flatmates here when it comes to forward mail abroad. Also Claire is about to leave and Rallez is not keen on handling others mail. I could wait for ever… The new flatmate will move part of her stuffs on Sunday afternoon and she will move in on Monday after I leave.
I will also attend my last hike n Ireland tomorrow. Let’s keep fingers crossed for the sun! It is something so hard to have here in Dublin. Unless I have to I do not think I will ever come back in Dublin. The weather is just too bad! Manchester is probably about the same but I have something to do there. Combining the bad weather and the fact I was jobless with a depressed mood, I am lucky, I survived these 6 months!
HAHA! Things that do not kill you always make you stronger!
Sep
12
24 Weeks In Ireland!
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Time goes swiftly away. No regrets, not even one second of these 24 weeks here. I took time to think. I went somewhere and looked for something else, maybe I have found it, maybe not! The future will tell. None of the hard choices I have made in my life was made in a peaceful mind set.
Sep
12
In the Mall!
Filed Under Daily
Usually I discover good songs in the shopping center, Michael Buble has two songs that are wonderful to listen to when you go shopping.
Lost and Home from Michael Buble
Sep
11
Duplicates!
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Alright, this is the VERY LAST TIME, I will ever have to make like 4 copies of my pictures in my two laptops and my two Hard Drives. As soon as I am in Manchester, I will order an online storage web space and I will put my precious data on a server. This is too stressful to carry on. I cannot rely on physical devices to handle my data. At least on these servers, they have regular backups!
Today the new and expensive tool that is supposed to reveal the god particle is all over the news. All I was looking for is the number of asian/chinese workers among the team. I do not want to be mean but I do not trust chinese researchers/post docs anymore. I believe the work is mainly copy/paste if there are more of them. Surprisingly there aren’t many Asian researchers among them. Maybe hidden somewhere in the labs.
My box is wrapped and ready to be picked up: 16 kgs! It contains my skiing suits/glasses/gloves..etc and my old laptop. I cannot find the courage to throw away this old computer. It has been with me for more than 4 years now. It is so slow compared to the other one. I am getting too materialistic. I give feelings to non animated objects!
Sep
10
The burden of my life!
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Every time I am about to move to a new place comes this feeling of an ending: everything that precedes that final week, is considered as the “last” event that I will do. Today is my last crowded Tuesday in the pool. That was great! It is funny to think few years back. I would never expect myself to be traveling that much. Was I lucky? I do not know, there is a big burden in being homeless anywhere in the world but I cannot think of doing anything else or being different. Once you start getting used to my lifestyle, you just keep on traveling and searching for happiness in a different place every now and then.
I was invited to join the next hiking event on Saturday and I already agreed. It would be my last hike as well. I hope I will get some pretty pictures. Howth, the coastal city where we will go, is one of the nicest place here in Dublin. Maybe the sun will be out?
Sep
8
Rah Rah Rah!
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I wish time goes faster. I am so impatient to be in Manchester and start something new. That’s the first lesson from this “life change operation”, it takes time! There is nothing to do here but swimming and this continuous rain is really annoying! There is no more good and new movies to watch. I think I have seen all the good movies the last 5 years!
I am waiting for the Australian Superannuation check to come next week and I hope it will be here! I am moving three days earlier than expected just so that I only pay half of the rent here. Therefor I had to request three days early arrival to my hall and it has been accepted. It was cheap anyways, only 10 GBP per extra night. I am also looking for a part time job in Manchester.
Sep
7
Big Mouth!
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I am known as a “big mouth” person when it comes to social relationship. Today, when the owner of the apartment came to talk about the bond and the conditions of my departure, her husband, herself and one of my flatmate could “enjoy” my simplistic and direct way of speaking. The tone of the conversation became immediately colder after my very first sentence: “The room is overpriced and we could not find a suitable candidate to take it”. I hate to explain to stupid people the gap between their perception and the reality. Anyways, I let my flatmate do the politically correct talking. I doubt they like me even after the explanations but none of them could contradict me…same for my flatmate who had the pleasure of witnessing my “true” nature. I bet he did not expect me to be that direct. He had a handicap, he was not saying the whole truth whereas I was simply telling the facts!
All the same to me as long as I get my 250 Euros back :). I wonder why people lie all the time even when it’s not worth anything? It is like an exercise. The more they practice the better they are! Consequently, I am not very good at it since I rarely practice this “social” game!
Sep
6
It feels Good!
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To be able to shave normally again! Bye Bye Painful Blisters! Friday relaxing evening for me. The room is clean, the drawers are empty, the box is made, and finally the transition promises to be smooth. I also sent a SMS to the owner asking for my bond. This is always something tricky to recover…we shall see. I do not mind loosing 250 Euros but I think I can have 4 or 5 nice dinners in Manchester with that money if I ever manage to recover it.
I am also exhausted because of the intense swimming workout. I do swim 36 kms a week and if I am racing the team squad like I did last week, my arms an shoulders are completely dead by the end of the week. Luckily I do not swim on Saturday, too crowded!
I cannot wait to leave Ireland. I really really hope it will not rain that much in Manchester! I know that the UK is like Ireland concerning the weather. I will see it by myself in 10 days anyways. They do have a nice high tech swimming pool there too :). That was one reason why I chose Manchester!
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