people are leaving leuven. and the goodbyes have definitely begun. andy began the trend on wednesday when he returned home to england, with leigh and ian following not long afterwards. dan's left for the states, and luke and dermot have headed back home to ireland. and as for those of us who will not return home but instead be travelling over christmas - morna left this morning for austria, and before the weekend is out, the majority of my friends here, myself included, will have up and left this little town. and a nice little town it is. i've grown very fond of it to be honest.

but yes, so this may be my last entry for a bit. i have to be up bright and early tomorrow morning to catch a 6:30 train with eric, sandra and sandra's brother peter... 12 hours or so later, eric and i will arrive in munich. everyone else seems to think that 12 hours is a long time. i suppose it is. then again, none of them have ever embarked on a plane ride from new zealand to europe, which took a grand total of 37 hours if i recall! and there's far more space in a train.

and after a few days there, we head to salzburg for christmas - the home of mozart and the sound of music...

it's 6pm and the bells have begun ringing at st peter's church (i still think it is a cathedral though frank!). i will miss the bells when i finally leave this place. they were playing 'hark the herald angel sing' earlier on this afternoon, which put me in a very 'christmassy not wanting to study' mood.

so i'd like to wish you all a wonderful christmas - wherever you are in the world. and especially to my family - mum and dad, stephen, rachel and regan - sitting at home in henderson, eating turkey and wearing hats from christmas crackers, while no doubt reading out those useless jokes that are never funny! and to my grandparents down in nelson with my aunt and uncle and cousins. thanks to everyone for keeping in touch and i'll be back in 2004 with plenty of stories to go around.

take care,
lots of love,
bex