The day I flashed my boobs to the whole of the university campus…

I was so glad to meet some of the other students on the evening of our arrival before our induction at the international office at 10am the next morning (it always seems less daunting when there’s more of you in the same situation). We also made friends with one of the local guys after he came over saying he had never seen so many white people on the beach and had to see what was going on! I guess we kind of do stick out a little…

Thankfully, my French wasn’t quite as bad as I was expecting after being out of practice for so long and the German’s spoke such good English that we were able to converse in Franglais with the odd German word thrown in. I was so glad to finally be here yet I was so tired I couldn’t wait to get showered and go to bed. So Nicola kindly walked me back to the uni halls where I saw not one but two cockroaches in the hallway (eeep!) and then another half floated up through the plughole when I took a shower. Thank goodness I’m not squeamish…. much!

However I was so exhausted after 38 hours of travel and then an afternoon arranging accommodation and meeting some fantastic people that despite the heat (and a fear that cockroaches were going to eat me in my sleep) I was out for the count as soon my head hit the pillow. Although there was only one problem. My room had no curtains. Therefore this morning was… early. Thankfully I’d taken the eye-mask they give you on the plane so I managed to pop it on and roll over back to sleep without giving it another thought. However, when I woke up a few hours later I noticed a few things were wrong…

a) I could see. I was so tired I’d ended up sleeping with my contact lenses in. So not only was I squinting due to the bright sunlight pouring in but my eyes had now become a gooey red mess.
b) I could therefore see out the window. Which meant I could see the queue of students outside my window waiting to get to the hall’s office located just down the corridor from my room.
c) It was so hot. So I’d slept topless. And without sheets. And there were no curtains.

Now I’ve heard about making a good first impression, but waking up topless in front of a load of students I’m going to spend the next four months at uni with was not what I had on the top of my list. Sometimes I wonder what I did in a previous life to deserve this…

Embarrassed doesn't even cover it. 

Love, a bright red (and thankfully now fully-dressed),

EmJx

Update: latest news is that a British Erasmus student has been spotted stripping in public. And it’s in the local newspaper with pictures. Thank goodness someone is out there taking the limelight! Unless, oh it doesn't even bare thinking about. I need to get my hands on that paper!