Final Call for Mr. J Fennell

Well, that’s the end of that chapter. And what an exhilarating chapter it was! There are certain periods of your life where you just think: ‘Wow, this it. This is what life is all about.’ The kind of moments that you look back on, as you flip through the photo albums at the back of the cupboard (anyone actually still have ‘’real’’ paper photo albums anymore?!), the thousands of Facebook pictures or indeed my marvelous little film(s) (Even if I do say so myself ;)) and then instantly feel the need for a time machine. I’m not dreading my time in Germany, I’d just rather it be postponed until, well, like, indefinitely…

The Germans have already started annoying me by not letting me move into my room when I wanted to, which, might I add, I’ve already paid a hell of a lot of money for! So we’ve not started well Germany and my feet haven’t even touched your Germanic soil yet. But I’m willing to forgive you if the rest of your bureaucratic nonsense runs more or less smoothly. Maybe. It’ll take something special to beat Nederland, but anything is possible.

But, something exciting happened last Friday. To round off what has been a stunning 6 months, I had the enormous pleasure and honour of showing two very special guests around the legend of a place that is Nijmegen! Did Queen Beatrix and a friend put in a surprise visit? Not exactly, she was busy that day, but I got the next best thing: Yeti and Roel! It was the perfect finale to my short stay, the icing, and also a cherry aswell, on the cake. Maybe even two. It was fantastic. It started at 9am, which is by the way the earliest I’ve ever been at the university here, but sometimes you just have to sacrifice a good night’s sleep/long lie in, so that you can do things for the greater good. And this was both great and good. A dramatic end if ever there was one and, of course, the squash courts were the highlight of the tour around the university!

I’ve not got much more to say. The tear drops on the keyboard are making it somewhat more difficult to type. But there is one thing I would like to say: Thank you Nijmegen and thank you to everyone that I have met and spent many happy hours with. You’ve all played a fantastic part, but the curtain is about to come down for the halftime interval. So get yourself an ice cream, pop to the loo (toilet) and make sure you come back here for what I’m sure will be a just as thrilling second half in Germany. Now, I can’t perform miracles but I’ll try and make it as thrilling as possible.

Until then,

It’s goodbye from me, and its goodbye Nijmegen.

Over and out

xxx

P.S. I've released TWO new videos!!! Go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flV8Be1fims for the Nijmegen Special (Remix coming soon) and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhorc9SlNRQ for some German scariness :)

All Change Please

Evening all,

My fingers were itching to write something this evening so I’m unleashing them here and to quote a dead legend/paedophile/all-round weirdo: ‘This is it’.

The journey started way back on 19^th July, but it feels just like yesterday. (And yes, I did just use that cliché) For those of you that really know me, you’ll know that seriousness isn’t really a part of me and you only have to read the drivel in the previous blogs to appreciate that fact. Life is too short to be serious! But, for one blog only, I’m digging deep to find that serious part within me. Honestly, it’s there somewhere.

It’s been a hell of a journey; I’ve enjoyed every second and want to do it again! I’ve met some amazing people who have really made my time here fantastic and form the front cover of the book. I’ve met some proper weirdos, the sort of people who you ask yourself how they managed to find their way out of the womb, let alone to Holland. They form all that small text in books at the beginning which only ever gets read by other weirdos. The late nights, the insane amount of beer, the fretting about the Dutch presentation in front of all those scary Dutch people... All these things are now ingrained in me and I’ll never forget them (Cliché number 7).

But I want to talk about an affair. Or more specifically, maybe even a slight bit of incest. I have to admit that 2 and a bit years ago when I first started learning Dutch, I wasn’t all that into it. It was a sort of ‘Yeah, why not’ decision that, at that time, wasn’t really going to make a difference to me. After all, JUST WHY DOES AN ENGLISHMAN WANT TO LEARN DUTCH?! (Oooohh, if I had a euro cent for every time someone asked that one...!) My love at that time was German. Dutch just didn’t even come close. The two languages are incredibly similar, but yet at the same time, so different. It was a sort of Aunt that you know you should get along with as she is family after all, but she was just so annoying and you just couldn’t get rid of her. At parties she’d be the drunken one, embarrassing everyone.

But over the last 6 months, Dutch and I have got on like a ‘fiets on fire’. (Fiets is bike in Dutch by the way) It has grown on me so much that it now proudly takes place as my 2^nd language. This is something that I didn’t think would happen. And to complete the analogy: I’m now in love with my Aunt. Sounds wrong, and it is, but you get the picture. My German is pretty much non-existent or dangerously Dutchified. But I can't imagine my life without Dutch. It's simply 'leuk'.

Since coming back to Holland after a quick festive break, I’ve lived by the motto ‘Carpe Diem’, or its Dutch equivalent: ‘pluk de dag’, literally ‘pluck the day’ or in simple English: Seize the day. I’ve been here, there and everywhere doing all sorts including the most surreal experience of my life: An amateur game show in a pub including a round of connect 4, Loopin’ Louie and a quiz round where apparently Stoke-on-Trent is bigger than Nottingham! (It’s not) And all that in Dutch.

So, it really is almost time to say goodbye. And it really is going to break my heart.

But all good things must come to an end, so that other good things can begin.

And that, my friends, is about as serious as I’ll ever be.

xXx