Studying @ Edinburgh University

Farewells

2006-12-12T13:59:00.002+02:00

Everyone saying goodbye and moving on the the four corners of the earth. As much as I loved seeing all my friends again, I couldn't help but feeling sad once more. When are we meeting again? Are we ever meeting again? Anyways, I am glad I preferred saying 'be seeing you' instead of 'goodbye' to everyone. I hate goodbyes!

Graduation

2006-11-28T13:55:00.000+02:00

Back in Edinburgh for finally getting this so wanted paper! I also stole a few extra days to remember what it was like living in this beautiful city! Chris, me and Hugh in this picture.

Good bye for now

2006-10-03T13:52:00.000+03:00

All good things come to and end and everything always comes full circle. This last year was a fun adventure, with its good and bad moments, with fears and stress, with laughter and tears. Strong emotions are better than no emotions I always say! Watching the new people coming here made me think of the circle of life. So be it! I will be back for graduation!

The newcomers

2006-09-04T13:46:00.000+03:00

Like the good hosts we are, we decided to welcome some of the newcomers to the University! Meet Eirini (far left) and Vassilis (second from the right). Kostas and Kristina are always in my pictures these days! The funny thing is that I met Vassilis through this very blog, him descovering through the jungle of the net and asking me all those questions before coming here. Glad I could be of assistance!

RBS Fireworks Concert

2006-09-03T13:43:00.000+03:00

Having finished all official obligations to the UoE, we decided to take a month off our lives and continue staying in Edinburgh! Why? Many reasons! First of all, the Fireworks Concert! Fireworks dancing in the Edinburgh sky to classical music and thousands of people all over the city admiring the show. Me among them.

Festival

2006-08-17T13:40:00.000+03:00

The sun was up and the famous Edinburgh festival was on! I mean, one should really walk this city these days right? Lots of street performers and lots of activites and shows. Not enough time to see things. So be it, it's still a great time to be in Edinburgh!

Coffee

2006-08-17T13:39:00.000+03:00

Yet another cup of coffee with Kostas and Chris. One might think where did we ever find enough time to finish our MSc dissertation, but we actually did!

England vs Greece @ Manchester

2006-08-16T13:32:00.000+03:00

Travelling from Edinburgh to Manchester and back via coach in one day, while trying to see the city and a football match in a day can be quite tyring, I can assure you! When your team loses 4-0 to the other does not make things any better either. Good thing it was a friendly match. Me and Thanasis really enjoyed this quick trip though and the Old Trafford was an amazing experience!

Calton Hill

2006-08-14T13:30:00.000+03:00

Sunshine in Edinburgh! And what better way to enjoy this than a (short) climb to Calton Hill! Here you can see a replica of Athens' Parthenon (and not a very good or complete for that matter). Nice view and generally a nice place to gather your thoughts together (mostly by lying on the grass like I did here)

Frankenstein

2006-08-13T13:27:00.000+03:00

Another great place to eat, drink or have a cup of coffee is the Frankenstein. The funniest thing about this place is the show that involves a robot-frankenstein coming through smoke and lights every now and then, takes a look at us and going back in right in the middle!

Back

2006-08-13T13:24:00.000+03:00

The final (official) month of my MSc and what better way to live through it than a cup of coffee at the Elephant's House. This coffee place became famous because J.K.Rowling was writing Harry Potter here, gazing at the Edinburgh Castle through its windows. I didn't come up with any masterpiece while in there, but the coffee and background was great as always!

Ireland Trip

2006-08-07T13:02:00.000+03:00

Having lived in Edinburgh for so many months, a trip to near-by Ireland was in order. Belfast, Dublin, Cork, the Giant's Causeway, the Old Bushmill's Distillery (World's Oldest Licensed Whiskey Distillery where I also got a 'qualified Irish Whiskey taster' degree), Waterford Crystal and so many more things made this week one to remember! Enjoy the photos!

Edinburgh Military Tattoo

2006-08-05T12:58:00.000+03:00

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo is a show that is being on once every year. It is really hard to get in since the seats are quite limited outside the castle where the whole thing is taking place. Not having tried hard enough (me and some thousands more), we enjoyed the fireworks display from Princess Street. Quite spectacular!

Back in Edinburgh

2006-06-21T22:18:00.000+03:00

Back in Edinburgh for the last things before (hopefully) graduating! The exams didn't go as well as planned, but at least they were good enough for me to pass. The photo you see was taken at 3.30am, explaining in the best way why Edinburgh is called "Reykjavik of the North" among other things.

My first squash game

2006-06-18T22:21:00.000+03:00

I played my first game of Squash today, and I can tell you it can really wear a man out in less than 30 minutes. Ok, the truth is that it can wear ME out in less than 30 minutes. The photo was taking during my (long) break and depicts, of course, Daniel playing Chris. It was really fun and it like a good workout.

Patra

2006-06-10T22:16:00.000+03:00

My next visit was to my friend Thanasis (or Tanassen, he answers to both) in the city of Patra, south-west of Athens. We had fun as usual, although the visit was quite short, and of course I beat him at Unreal Tournament! I am sure he will be furious when he reads this!

Greek Nature

2006-05-28T22:15:00.000+03:00

...can be quite beautiful at times! I wish we had similar scenery in the big cities where we actually live!

Prousou Monastery

2006-05-28T22:12:00.000+03:00

Built in a magnificent location, this monastery houses yet another 'miracle making' picture of Mary. Other legends of the area include steps on walls, supposingly made by her walking on there, and more. Interesting visit though:)

Back in Greece

2006-05-28T22:09:00.000+03:00

While back in Greece, I took the time to visit a couple of places I've never visited before. This included some villages outside Karpenisi, and the nature was magnificent, providing quite a few photo opportunities for my blog. Here are some.

Amsterdam

2006-05-23T22:01:00.000+03:00

With the exams over, it was time for me to return to base for a couple of weeks. This was a good opportunity for me to visit Amsterdam for a few hours, since I was flying with KLM and there was a few hours wait there between flights. So I took the train and walked around for a bit in this quite interesting city, filled with canals with boats and with people that speak 'something like German - but not quite German':) If it was German, I might actually had a chance to understand something, but nope, I didn't understand a word! The walk was nice though, and the weather helped, I took a bunch of photos and returned in a hurry to catch my connecting flight back home!

Birthday

2006-05-19T21:56:00.000+03:00

This year I threw a birthday party at our place in Edinburgh. It was really fun, and all my favourite persons were there, some of which had to leave for their home countries a few days after that (like Rike and Igor - miss you guys!). As usual the maltese guys dominated in numbers, Vishen dominated the spot in front of the PC which was playing the tunes and everybody made the beers disappear quite quickly! Anyway, at least I hope everyone had fun! I have no clue where my next birthday will find me, but I guess this is what makes it fun and interesting. If anyone told me I would be throwing birthday parties at Edinburgh a year before, I would surely say he is crazy!

Firefox Videos

2006-05-07T23:05:00.002+03:00

Mozilla asked the fans to create nice 30 seconds videos for promotion of its very popular web browser, Firefox. The results were hundreds of well made home videos, some of which were really top notch quality. You can view them here along with the winners (I love the one that took 2nd place, can't stop watching it.)

Blonde Jokes?

2006-04-16T04:46:00.000+03:00

I would not normally post just another blonde joke, but this one is really good:) Enjoy!

Spring

2006-04-05T16:32:00.000+03:00

With the assignments behind me, we have the final exams to think about. This is usually the worst part of the year, and this is no exception. On the other hand, Edinburgh is finally warming up a little bit and Ican actually see flowers blooming around me, when I have the chance to go out and get some fresh air. It makes me feel a little more relaxed though, which is always a good thing!

Dynamic Earth

2006-03-11T17:24:00.000+02:00

Inside Dynamic Earth, another fun place to visit while in Edinburgh. Especially educational for children, but I had fun too:) Everyone is a child inside, right?

Swan Lake

2006-03-11T17:13:00.000+02:00

When I was up Arthur's seat (see relative entry) I saw a lake which I wanted to visit since. I managed to do so today, and it proved to be a beautiful swan lake. Since I adore swans, you can possibly imagine how much I enjoyed it.

Castle

2006-03-10T17:22:00.000+02:00

Me, outside the oh-so-famous Edinburgh Castle. Maybe next time I will go inside as well:)

Tourist Session

2006-03-10T17:19:00.000+02:00

Playing the role of the tourist for once, I visited Edinburgh's Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre and had the guided tour about the production and appreciation of Scotch whisky. While not being a huge whisky fan myself, I rather enjoyed the ride.

Another night at Bannerman's

2006-03-08T17:16:00.000+02:00

Bannerman's is the meeting point for Tuesday nights for students in Edinburgh. A fun place, with always at least one familiar face to look for. In the picture, you can see Vishen trying to pass his wife's purse as his own. Look how proudly he poses!

Brrrrr...

2006-03-05T04:32:00.000+02:00

The last few days have been quite cold in the capital of Scotland:) And just at the same time than it's about 20 degrees over in the homeland, Greece! Well, the snow keeps falling and the
temperature keeps falling! The view out of my windows is beautiful though! Anyone for snowfight?

Estonian Party - The Host

2006-02-27T05:05:00.000+02:00

That's Kristina in a traditional Estonian costume. And a proud Estonian girl, I tell thee:) Thanx for a great time K:)

Estonian Party

2006-02-27T04:02:00.000+02:00

The Maltese gang posing along with my flatmate.

Estonian Party

2006-02-27T03:03:00.000+02:00

That was a first! An Estonian Independence Day party was held at Kristina's new place, which finally has a great view to Edinburgh Castle, and was really fun! There was drinking (of course), dancing, playing with balloons, xbox and guitars and also a Estonian History/Culture pop quiz! What else could anyone ask for?

2006-02-07T00:26:00.000+02:00

This was the final stop before heading home. A momentum to World War 2 commandos, who used to train at this very place.

2006-02-07T00:25:00.000+02:00

Here I am again, just outside of Loch Ness. This is a channel built to allow boats to travel between different Lochs. The funny thing is that the level of the water is different between the lochs, so this channel must actually lower and raise the water in order to achieve that. Nice:)

2006-02-07T00:24:00.000+02:00

Really cute creatures, most of the time

The swan lake

2006-02-07T00:23:00.000+02:00

Another monster the lake featured was a swan, here depicted attacking my roommate, trying to eat his shoe!

Nessie?

2006-02-07T00:21:00.000+02:00

And, surprise, surprise. We actually found Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster who was swimming right next to the boat. Pay attention, this is a half-a-million-pound picture:)

Speaking of Lochs

2006-02-07T00:20:00.000+02:00

Of course, the most famous of the Lochs is Loch Ness where the, also famous, monster lives. So we decided to take a close look taking a boat trip around it.

William?

2006-02-07T00:19:00.000+02:00

This place is supposed to be near the place they filmed the first scenes of the film Braveheart. But where exactly? OK, the place was quite big to search all of it!

Scenery

2006-02-07T00:18:00.000+02:00

The scenery was quite stunning at times, like this little bridge we stopped for lunch.

Lochs

2006-02-07T00:16:00.000+02:00

Wrong! The Highlands are also famous for their Lochs, or lakes if you prefer:) Big bodies of water, some of salt water and some of sweet, but all magnificent and cold.

Mountain terrain all around

2006-02-07T00:15:00.000+02:00

Yeap. Mountains and fog. This is what the Highlands is all about, right?

Bulls and stuff

2006-02-07T00:13:00.000+02:00

Say hello to Hamish. He is a pretty famous bull who we found next to a cafe we stopped. The funny thing is that Hamish is more of a tourist attraction than a pet, since, as we were told, work went up 25% at the cafe since they got him:) Well done Hamish!

Next stop...

2006-02-07T00:10:00.000+02:00

Next stop, the famous Highlands of Scotland. We were travelling through them for about 12 hours with a couple of stops. A very interesting ride, which tooked us from Edinburgh up to Loch Ness and back from a different route, giving us the chance to see much and really get into the spirit of the Highlands.

Sunderland

2006-02-06T23:56:00.000+02:00

Now what could I say about this one. Sunderland, a cute little city by the sea just south of Newcastle, was the place I stayed between 27 and 30 of January 2006. Although the stay was quite short, it will always stay in my heart since I had such a good time there:) Special thanx of course for everything goes to Alkistis, who was my host for the weekend. I also had the chance to visit Newcastle, but my favourite spot there will always be the harbour area, and more specifically the Marine Walk of the Pier(satellite image), which, as I was told, is like the city is embracing the sea in a huge hug.
Most likely I will never visit the place again, but this one time was special.

2006-02-06T23:41:00.000+02:00

The city of Edinburgh view is magnificent from up there.

2006-02-06T23:40:00.000+02:00

Being on top. It was quite cold but we made it. Wheeee:)

2006-02-06T23:38:00.000+02:00

The whole climbing gang. Kristina is missing but she must be the one that is taking the picture. Damn cameras cannot just flow and take pictures by themselves!

Arthur's seat baby:)

2006-02-06T23:36:00.000+02:00

It has been a while since I updated my blog, so I'd better catch up:) This is me on Arthur's Seat. No, it's not an actual seat, but a famous hill in the city of Edinburgh which we climbed to admire the view. In this picture you can see me showing off my castle, which in these days they call the Edinburgh Castle for some reason:)

2005-11-19T04:44:00.000+02:00

Birthday presents:)

2005-11-19T04:43:00.000+02:00

Next stop... DRINKS

2005-11-19T04:42:00.001+02:00

"THAT much!"

2005-11-19T04:42:00.000+02:00

"How much was dinner again?"

2005-11-19T04:41:00.001+02:00

Surpriiiiiiise

2005-11-19T04:41:00.000+02:00

Dinner time! Spicy but great food!

2005-11-19T04:39:00.000+02:00

Kostas, my flatmate, celebrated his birthday the other day and we had fun as always. I actually managed to tricked him into a surprise dinner, pretending I was attacked downtown and needed help:) That was THE only way to get him out of the house and lure him to the restaurant where all out friends already waited for us. Happy birthday Kostas!

2005-11-19T04:37:00.000+02:00

The last few days have been an endless stay at the vision and robotics labs. I feel really tired and I had me, Daniel and Al managed to do a decent job with the stupid little Kephera robot. I am almost glad it's over, but we also had lots of fun with it (and with each other).

2005-11-19T04:35:00.000+02:00

Edinburgh is preparing for the christmas season! Too bad I won't be hear to enjoy it since it certainly seems like it's going to be a lot of fun. The city is organizing many many events like Santa's Reindeer Garden, Horse & Carriage Rides and The Edinburgh Wheel of which I at least managed to take a picture:)

2005-11-12T23:31:00.000+02:00

Ok, this one is quite interesting. Found in numerous bus stations in Edinburgh. Please take a close look at the 'linked with criminal activity part'. Because it is worldwide known, and I would like to thank the creators of this thing of reminding us, that if a person has copied DVDs, he is (almost) always linked with drugs, prostitution and is (of course) a really violent person, DANGEROUS TO SOCIETY! Please people, spend the money you spend on THIS campaing in fighting real crimes and give us a break:)

2005-10-11T19:21:00.000+03:00

Yeah, it was fun!

2005-10-11T19:20:00.001+03:00

Here's the honey honey!

2005-10-11T19:20:00.000+03:00

Mmm.. this Thai food looks delicious:)

2005-10-11T19:19:00.001+03:00

...him singing:)

2005-10-11T19:19:00.000+03:00

The women of the company enjoying...

2005-10-11T19:18:00.000+03:00

Happy Birthday Daniel:) I hope you had as much fun as we rest did:)

2005-10-11T19:12:00.000+03:00

OK, things are a little worse today:) I got a very nice fever and I am feeling like shit. The weather is not helping either, since there is fog out there along with continuous rainfall. Well, I guess every day cannon be great:)

2005-09-30T23:31:00.000+03:00

On a more serious tone, but parallel to the Kitt thing below, we also had the chance (pleasure) to listen to an one hour speech from Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web. He talked to us about the basic principles of another big idea/project, the Semantic Web.

2005-09-30T23:29:00.000+03:00

Even the interior was what I remember from the series. The only thing that wasn't there was of course the AI of the car:):) Anyway, it seems that they brought it there just for our viewing pleasure, which I really don't mind:) They actually drove it there and you can imagine my surprise when I saw Kitt driving by me:)

2005-09-30T23:27:00.000+03:00

Curious, I wanted to see the classic license plate, or I wouldn't believe it. And yes, it was all there:)

2005-09-30T23:26:00.000+03:00

One of the great things about studying at a great university is that you will never know who (or what in this case) you will meet there. So I was rather surprised to see Kitt, the original Michael Knight model parked outside Appleton Tower when going for a lecture.

2005-09-27T23:48:00.000+03:00

...and of course Kristina from Malaysia, who was the one complaining about me not saying anything about my new friends on my other blog:) Cheers everyone and thank you for a wonderful time!
You may find some of their blogs in the links list!

2005-09-27T23:40:00.000+03:00

Carla from the Netherlands and Daniel from Malta.

2005-09-27T23:39:00.000+03:00

Please meet a few of my new amazing friends here in Edinburgh. From left to right we have Chris from Malta, Kostas (my flatmate) from Greece and Anne from Germany.

2005-09-27T22:45:00.000+03:00

Been in Edinburgh for 20 days now. After running around trying to organize my new life and do all the formal stuff for the University, tempo seems to calm down a little bit. The city is beautiful, most people are very polite towards us and the university is a wonder. Order rules there and they seem to be struggling to provide us with as many resources as they can to make our academic life easier, which I really appreciate. Courses have also started, showing all of us what it really means to study here. I am really enjoying my self so far!