Thursday, 27 February 2014

My final week: Anxious times and a fond farewell to BMPH3

So today is my final day in Brussels before I return to the UK. This post serves to document the last week and a bit of my time here and I've gotta say it hasn't been the most spectacular ending to my time here but one I will share with you nonetheless.

Our story begins last Tuesday night. Towards the end of the previous week (My Awesome Week) I hit a spot of bother. Having gone out on Friday night for Valentine's Day with BMPH3 I woke up the next day hungover and not feeling particularly well. I was feeling a bit sick, granted that's quite a common thing after a night out for anyone, but throughout the day I had persistent pins and needles in my left hand which prompted me to see a Doctor who then subsequently told me there was nothing wrong. I was slightly pleased by what the Doctor had to say yet I couldn't help worrying about it even once the pins and needles had left my hand the next day. I started feeling chest pains and breathing became slightly difficult.

That brings me to Tuesday night. I'd actually been feeling much better on Tuesday and the chest pains were much more infrequent so I took this as a signal that I was fine again. After doing my daily exercises and having a shower, I got into bed to spend the rest of the evening doing various stuff on my laptop when all of a sudden something didn't feel right. My heart started beating really fast and it felt as if someone was pressing down on my chest. The pins and needles returned except this time they were all over my body and various muscles suddenly cramped up. "Shit, I'm having a heart attack" I thought to myself. I have never felt more scared in my entire life. Somehow I found the ability to run downstairs before Renaud sought medical help. I was taken to hospital and given some medication which relaxed my muscles and heart back to normal. It turns out that what I'd just experienced was my very first panic attack.

In the days that followed I understandably took things easy but I couldn't help worrying about what had happened. I entered a phase of general anxiety. The chest pains returned, I became easily startled by things, I became tired out by the most minimal of physical exertions. It all just felt so alien to me. I always pride myself on rarely being ill or having any serious injuries so to be dealing with this kind of illness, a mental illness of all things, was a real shock to me. It also appeared I was low on magnesium which is potentially what caused the pins and needles in the first place so I've been drinking lots of mineral water ever since my panic attack.

It's safe to say that this was one of the lowest points in my gap year and I just felt so weak and defenseless, afraid of when my next panic attack was to come. It is actually my Gap Year mentality that has saved me from further suffering. I decided I couldn't go on living in such a sedentary way especially not when I'm supposed to be having one of the best years of my life and trying out lots of new things. I did my research on general anxiety and found that the best way to break the cycle was to continue life as normally as possible. I watched videos on youtube from people who had suffered from Anxiety and Panic disorder which I found really reassuring. The best one by far was a video by the well known Youtuber Zoella/Zoe Sugg who in her videos talks about her experience of panic disorder and what she did to cure herself. The link is here if you want to give it a watch:  ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-iNOFD27G4&list=LLvl7smKUqRI6I6F-0_RmPng&feature=c4-overview . I found that I had to suppress my feelings, stay hydrated and put on a brave face. Panic Attacks are nothing more than heightened security actions in your body that are all created by your mind. I have found that by fronting up and saying 'Bring It On' to your nervous system is the best way to ward of those feelings of insecurity.

Over these last few days I've used this tough state of mind to ward off my fear and I feel completely normal once again. Free from constraint and it feels great to be back to the way things were.

I hate to sound like a preacher or that I'm being overly dramatic but this incident has really opened my eyes. Until now I associated mental illness with depression and PTSD-things that happen to people through a series of shocking or unfortunate events. I didn't think it was something that could just happen to ordinary people. I may have fought it off for now at least but I can really understand how mental illness is something people struggle to cope with. It is for this reason that for my next charity event, be it during this year or in the following years, I will do fundraising for MIND, the mental health charity.

Well now I've made you somewhat depressed, I will now hopefully lift your spirits up as I tell you about my final weekend. Due to obvious reasons I didn't do a great deal on Friday or Saturday apart from watching the 6 Nations (England's narrow win over Ireland certainly got my heart pumping again!). On the Sunday however, I found the determination and decided to go on my final BMPH3 Hash Run to prove to my body and myself that I was perfectly fine. The run was Estonian themed to celebrate the country's anniversary of independence (or something along those lines) so I dressed in my finest White, Blue and Black-the colours of Estonia. The run took place in the foret de Soignes like many of the runs I've been on with BMPH3 and I must say it was by far the most comfortable I'd felt running since I'd arrived in January. The customary circle capped off the day and I had a last chat with everyone who I've gotten to know over the past two months. I've really enjoyed running with BMPH3. Despite my relative youth in comparison with much of the group, I have found them to be an excellent bunch of people who I wouldn't mind visiting again in the future.

Okay I better leave it there for now. I leave for Brussels Gare du Midi in about 15 minutes so I better do my last minute bits of preparations. Photos will be up on this post soon once I get home.

FP

Saturday, 22 February 2014

MY AWESOME WEEK! Bruges, Gambino, Valentine's Day, Lille and Vance Joy. In that order

Wow, what a week!

It feels like quite a while ago now I'm actually getting round to writing about it but I can assure that between Sunday 9th and Monday 17th was an action packed period for me and here's why.

Thursday started with an afternoon trip to Bruges. Upon telling Will, my ex-politics teacher about my trip to Belgium during the A level certificate back in December he described the place as 'the most romantic city' so I felt it was the right time to visit; being the day before Valentine's day. Following my calamitous visit to Ghent the week before, my trip to Bruges went swimmingly and I found the city much more enjoyable. It truly is a lovely city that reminded me somewhat of Amsterdam and the Netherlands in general with its waterways, cobbled streets, bridges and windmills. I only spent 2 and a half hours in the city but from that alone I can confirm that it is a must-see when you go to Belgium and I'm sure with all the museums and little shops that there is enough to do to last a full day.













After taking my first BlaBla Car* ride back to Brussels, I attended concert number two out of three during my time in Belgium when I went to see Childish Gambino at VK. Childish Gambino is the rapping alias of actor, writer and comedian Donald Glover famous not just as a rapper but also in his roles in hit US TV shows Community and 30 Rock. Gambino was in town promoting his new album, Because The Internet, which I'd purchased a few weeks earlier so I thought I'd check out his live show and what would also be my first ever rap gig. I have to admit that as an Indie/Rock fan I felt a bit out of place at first but I soon found a friendly group of American students who were great company for the night and we quickly became friends. With no support act, we were kept waiting in anticipation for over an hour but when Glover appeared on stage he most certainly did not disappoint. I've never experienced any gig quite like it before. The combination of a frenzied crowd, special effects, the live band and Gambino's unbelievable stage presence and energy made for an incredible show in which he played through (rapped through?) much of his two albums worth of material including personal favourites 'Sweatpants', 'Heartbeat', '3005', 'Telegraph Avenue' and 'The Worst Guys' before finishing with an encore accompanied by another MC in which he did an original freestyle. As hard as my new American buddies and I tried we didn't managed to meet Donald Glover in person afterwards (damn) but it was a gig I won't forget for a long time and I managed to get the set list as a nice little souvenir.

*BlaBla Car is a car sharing website that puts drivers and passengers in touch with each other. I paid three times less for my BlaBla Car journey back to Brussels than my train ticket to Bruges so it is something I'd recommend if you've got plenty of time to travel and you don't want to spend lots of money. Perfect for students!








Our friend got a backstage pass and met Gambino, so jealous!

The drum stick I co-caught, I let one of my American friends have it

Got the set list instead!

So after a great Desperation Day (to non-How I Met Your Mother fans- 13th February is officially called Desperation Day,the day before Valentines), Valentine's Day reared its ugly head. Personally I've never really had a reason to celebrate the day and as a holiday I find it quite OTT so I wasn't really excited for it. For me, the main significance of the day was that it was the deadline day for Americamp applications so I spent much of the day rushing around the house sorting out my application to get it completed. I've applied to work as a Camp Councillor in America during the Summer in which I hope to specialise in teaching Swimming before travelling around the US afterwards. To sort this out, I had to finish my application, retrieve references from my three referees (Brian, Patrick and Lucy. If you're reading this now, thank you very much for helping me out as my referees), print, scan and sign documents and film an entire candidate video before the 3PM UK time deadline. Apart from uploading my video I pretty much managed it and my application is now being viewed by various camp directors stateside as we speak so fingers crossed I'll have an American adventure sorted for the summer. I'll keep you updated with the process and of course the experience if I get any further than this point.

Anyway, back to actual Valentine's Day stuff. After finishing all the hard work of sorting out my Americamp application, I decided to reward myself by joining BMPH3 on a Valentine's Day Pub/Bar Crawl through Ixelles, an area just south of Brussels city centre filled with many great bars. Like the hash runs I've grown used to, it was just as fun and silly as I'd expected and I must say I had a great night experiencing some of the nightlife Brussels has to offer even if it was Valentine's Day and most of the bars were filled with loved-up couples!

A random selection of photos from the pub crawl




On Sunday, we drove an hour South popping over the border into France for a day trip to the Northern city of Lille. While Marie-France and the kids spent the day with friends, I took the opportunity to have a look around the city. As a tourist there isn't a great deal to do in Lille meaning I had to resort to killing time by playing Piano in Gare Lille Europe for about 30 minutes (yes, they have a piano in the train station!) and using the WiFi in McDonalds however I did find enough things to do to last an afternoon including wondering around the Citadelle, Lille Zoo, the Grand Place and the Palais de Beaux-Arts. In the evening, I met up with Ollie and his sister Jess. I've mentioned Ollie before in Review of 2013-Part 2: The FOT! Awards but as well as writing an awesome blog (which you can view by following the link in this page's sidebar) he is also my Mallorcan host family's first Au Pair, a lover of all things sport and come September I'll follow in his footsteps by becoming a Southampton Uni languages student so we have a lot in common. I met up with him and Jess, who was also visiting over the weekend, before we joined Ollie's friend Charles for a drink. For me this was the most enjoyable part of the visit and considering it was the first time I'd met the three of them we got on really well together as we talked about such things as our issues as Brits living/working abroad, cultural differences with the French and our differing experiences of Au Pairing for the Torres Bustillos in Mallorca. Seeing how Ollie is enjoying his Year Abroad as a Third Year language student renewed my excitement for starting my degree in September and come the end of day I didn't really want to leave. Guess I miss being around students!




Playing Piano in the train station

Lille Zoo



Me with Jess and Ollie

Same again except in front of the Porte du Paris

Monday night capped off an excellent week or so with my 3rd gig in 8 days when I returned to Le Botanique, the venue in which I saw Bombay Bicycle Club, to see Aussie singer/songwriter Vance Joy for the first time. Vance Joy's (A.K.A James Keogh) popularity has soared through the roof in recent months back in the UK thanks to his catchy single 'Riptide' and at less than 10 Euros for a ticket, I couldn't really say no. Despite arriving about 15 minutes into the set (stupid public transport), I found the gig really enjoyable as Vance and his band played through the entire contents of his new EP 'God Loves You When You're Dancing' as well as tracks that will feature on his debut album set to be released this year. The gig had a very 'festival crowd' vibe about it as not many people knew his songs that well but when he finished with 'Riptide' the crowd really started getting involved, singing and dancing to the one song they recognised making for the best moment of the whole set. People were so fired up by the set closer that many stayed for a good 10 minutes after chanting "WE WANT MORE!" yet not receiving any, a reaction I'm guessing they weren't expecting. No encore but no encore was required. I too hung around afterwards to chat with the band and meet Vance himself who I can honestly say are some of the nicest musicians I've ever met and I hope they get all the success they deserve in the near future.






Meeting Vance Joy after the gig

Vance Joy's drummer has one of the best mustache's in the music industry

So that was my awesome week. Like some of my posts tend to be, this has come out as a bit of an essay but well done if you got to the end of it, give yourself a sticker. One more week left before I return home so I have at least one more post lined up for you before then.

Speak soon!

FP

#FraserOnTour



Louise got the face paints out on Monday. She's a clown and I'm Harry Potter!










Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Bombay Brussels Bicycle Club

Hi,

Here's my latest goings on from my time in the Belgian capital. This past week I entered into the second part of my two month stay in Brussels and began what looks set to be quite an exciting month ahead. 

On my weekly Thursday day-off I decided to venture out of Brussels for a change having seen pretty much most of what the city offers. I was up late the night before trying to work out the best place to go but to little avail so I decided to 'wing it' and go with whatever I felt like once I got to Brussels-Midi train station. When I got there at around midday I spontaneously chose Ghent, the start of a chain of travelers errors that made me feel, well, a bit stupid to say the least. 

First of all, I bought the wrong train ticket. I arrived at Gare du Midi with 10 minutes to spare before the next train to Ghent was due to leave and in my blind hurry to find a ticket machine, work out how to use it and then purchase a ticket I instead bought one to Genk PRESUMING it was the same place. I can tell you now guys, I've looked it up since and it turns out they are NOT. In fact, Ghent and Genk are about 92 miles apart from each other so you can imagine my surprise and sudden panic when I presented my ticket to the Dutch speaking Ticket conductor only to be told I'd booked a ticket to the wrong place! Luckily, he was nice to me and instead of making me buy another ticket he gave me a special note to change the destination of the ticket as the price was roughly the same. I doubt I would've got away with that in the UK!

Secondly, for this trip I really went in cold and by that I mean I did hardly any research on the place I was going to. My decision to come to Ghent was based on a few pictures on Google Images and on Marie-France describing it as 'nice' but for some reason that was good enough to persuade me. When I arrived I had no idea where anything was, what to see or even how to get to the city centre as the train station is a little out of the way. Cue 30 minutes of bewildered wandering before giving up and finding a tourist information point.

Thirdly, the ticket man probably should've given it away by now but I hadn't actually considered the language issue. Brussels may be a bilingual city however Ghent is further North and is a predominantly Dutch speaking city. I suddenly became even more awkward in the various social interactions I engaged in while in Ghent as I have never and probably never will learn Dutch so I got by speaking the little bit of German I learnt in Primary School as well as speaking French with a slightly Dutch/German accent to help the locals understand me. 

Anyway, moments of an idiot abroad aside, Ghent was quite a pleasant town with a traditional town centre containing many churches, Belgian styled buildings, a river and a castle. I mainly just had a walk around the city as I didn't fancy paying for some of the museums  or other attractions (10 Euros to enter a castle?!?) which meant that I got ridiculously soaked and had to spend an hour browsing for CDs in FNAC just to dry off. Was Ghent worth the 30 Euro return train ticket? Not too sure. Had I planned my day better then I probably would've enjoyed the day more plus I'm sure it's a much nicer place when it's not pissing down with rain!








Apart from watching the Six Nations on TV (great first win of the campaign for England vs Scotland. Wales getting battered by Ireland, lol), there was nothing too special about Friday or Saturday however Sunday was probably my favourite day so far in Brussels. After being away in Alsace the week before, it was back to the Hashing with BMPH3 for another Sunday run. The run started in Auderghem on the South East side of the city before leading us into a brutally fast paced run through the Foret de Soignes (the location of the Burns Day run) followed by the usual drinking, singing and chatting afterwards. I feel really comfortable with this group now and it will definitely be one aspect of Brussels that I will miss when I leave. I'll definitely have to go on one last hash before I leave at the end of the month.




Now for the main event.

The evening of Sunday 9th February was one I had been looking forward to pretty much since I had decided to come to Brussels. 9th February was the day that Bombay Bicylce Club, one of my favourite bands, came to play in Brussels. If you're not familiar with them already, well you should be. Bombay Bicycle Club are an indie rock band from Crouch End, London. As mentioned, BBC are one of my favourite bands as they are one of those bands who constantly manages to evolve their sound album after album. Their 2009 debut album 'I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose' is one that I often describe as an optimization of the Indie Rock genre (also one of my all time favourite albums), 2010's 'Flaws' is an excellent acoustic folk based album featuring female vocals from the incredible Lucy Rose and their 3rd album 'A Different Kind Of Fix' is more of a return to the sound of 'I had the Blues...' but also containing bits of electronic music influenced by frontman Jack Steadman's solo side project. Last week they released their fourth LP 'So Long, See You Tomorrow', a yet further venture into the realm of electro, which became their first UK number 1 album on the night of the show. It was also their first gig since the release so it was already a special one not to mention it was the second time I'd seen them live.

Gig poster

The venue-Le Botanique

The concert was at Le Botanique, a venue inside a converted Botanical Greenhouse overlooking plenty of leafy green gardens, making a nice change from the basements and bars in which I attend most gigs. After a 30 minute set from support band the Ramona Flowers, the band came on stage at 9PM and played an excellent hour and a half long set. The small venue allowed for close proximity to the stage which made for a more electric atmosphere amongst the crowd as they played through hits from 'A Different Kind Of Fix' and 'I had the Blues...' as well as about half the songs from their new album. New tunes such as ''Overdone' 'It's Alright Now', 'Luna' and 'Carry Me' were excellent to hear live and they brought really energy to every song played including old favourites such as 'Evening/Morning', 'What If' and 'Always Like This' which made me fall in love with their music in the first place. After the gig, I had to wait in a massive queue to retrieve my coat from the cloakroom however once I'd collecting it, I noticed the band were waiting at the door! Naturally I went over and congratulated them on another excellent live performance and on the success of their new album as well as bit of standard chat and a picture which you can see below. It was a really special moment for me to meet them in person as they have made such a big impression on my taste in music. Had Bombay Bicycle Club not existed as a band then perhaps I would enjoy a completely different genre of music, completely changing me as a person. Their music inspires me in a big way and if I could ever create anything that's even half as good as what they do then I'd be happy. Before I went away I pre-ordered their new album and I really can't wait till I get home so I can listen to it all the way through.






Set list

Me with Jack (lead vocals, Guitar, keys,percussion, main songwriter), Jamie (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Ed (Bass and backing vocals). Suren the drummer was in the shower...

Well that's enough talking for now. You've learnt about my haphazard trip to Ghent, my latest Hash run and you've learnt all about my love for Bombay Bicycle Club and their music. I've been busy with many different exciting plans and projects which I will be able to tell you about pretty soon so stay tuned.

Until then.

PS-I took a video of BBC playing 'What If' which you can see by following this link here
I have also done a review of the gig for Pyramid Online which you can view here- Bombay Bicycle Club @ Le Botanique

#FraserOnTour

FP