Yesterday was the first advent, and tomorrow it will be December already! Time really flies!
With only 24 or 25 days to go until Christmas (depending on whether you celebrate on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day), the hectic shopping season has well and truly begun.
Personally, I am still working on a present for my other half - but it will be the only present I create myself this year, as it is more time-consuming than I thought it would be.

However, just like every year, the question remains: What to get everyone? Especially since this is the first year that I will celebrate Christmas with my boyfriend's family (and repeat it all once we get to Germany to celebrate New Year's with my folks).

The Cecil Street Project opened its doors for a fun Christmas Market. Next to the existing shops at the Project, which obviously did a good job of promoting themselves, artists, jewellers and fashion designers from further afield were also invited to showcase their work.

Today, our last, proper Informer came out! So go aorund one of the Carlisle campuses (although your best bet is the Brampton Road Newsroom) to pick your copy up!

And I am proud to report, that all six stories I submitted were published as well!
They were:

• Wild Wolf Publishing
• "When the Wall came tumbling down" about the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's demise and my personal experience
• Former student David Simister met the Prime Minister
• Former student Rashid Adamson - from writer to PR Manager
• Former student Claire Lewis published her first novel "A sick work of Art"
• and former student Kirsty Wood was crowned the first-ever Spirit-Catch European Women's Wrestling Champion

I actually got Kirsty's story on the backpage - the main Sports page, which is almost as important as the front page! And the other success stories are all on centre spread!!

Although the rivers in Carlisle are still high and it continues to rain, the water level is actually lower than it was yesterday.

Finally some good news!

I've just got a letter from the University of Cumbria, informing me, that I am going to receive a small bursary in form of their Cumbria Bursary for EU students!

This is the first response I've had from the university, since I wrote a letter of complaint to their Finance Department last month, after they tried to take out my tuition fee without warning or approval.

I discovered in October (embarrassingly when I wanted to pay for Sunday Lunch), that all my money was gone, although I had just paid money into my account. It turned out, that after two years of me paying my tuition fees myself, the UoC had decided to take two payments (a total of more than GBP 1,070) out in one go, without sending me a letter informing me of payments amounts and dates. I therefore decided to cancel the direct debit, and informed the university, that I am still in the process of applying for my student loan (which I still haven't heard from - all I know is they're assessing it) and I will therefore not make payments, until I have heard back from Student Finance.

Up until today, I still haven't received a letter about tuition fee payments, or an official response to my complaint. But I will count awarding me this bursary towards it - after all, why else would they all of a sudden send money my way?

Flood alerts have been issued for Carlisle and the county of Cumbria today, as the heavy rains, that have been hitting us since Monday, continue.

The Stoneyholme Golf Course is already under water, and warnings have been issued for all three of Carlisle's rivers: Eden, Petteril and Caldew. Rickerby Park, (above) is a swamp, but the cycle path and road were still passable today. The picture shows river Eden (top right corner shows its usual width) and Rickerby Park seen from the Eden Bridge on Scotland Road, looking towards Brampton.

After the severe floods of 2005, flood gates and flood warning systems have been installed along the shores of the rivers. Flood alerts have been issued to mostly residential areas in the vicinities of the rivers, including my street. Although we are right on the edge of the flood warning area, our house DID get flooded in 2005! And our daily route to university leads across Rickerby Park. Check the Environment Agency for a bigger map and advice!

The purple area has been issued with flood warnings. The red line shows the daily route to and from university through the flood zone.

The rains are expected to continue until the weekend with up to 100mm of rain in low-lying areas and 200mm on the Cumbrian fells, and a 112kmh-storm has been forecast as well. Residents are advised to keep emergency packs (including battery powered radios, torches, candles, matches and wellies) as well as to keep their pets indoors. Cars should be moved to higher ground and leaves removed from drains around houses.

The flood warnings cover Cumbria, Dumfries & Galloway, as well as party of Yorkshire and Lancashire. North Wales has also been hit by floods. The main West Coast railway line had delays between Penrith and Oxenholme (Lake District) due to the rising water levels.

According to the News & Star, "Floodwatch" warning are in place for:
Middle River Eden
Rivers Lowther and Eamont
Lower River Eden
Rivers Caldew and Petteril
Rivers Wampool and Ellen
Upper River Eden
Rivers Kent and Bela
Rivers Duddon, Crake & Mill Beck
Rivers Cocker, Marron and Derwent
Rivers Brathay, Rothay and Winster
Upper River Derwent, Stonethwaite Beck and Derwent Water
Rivers Greta, St Johns Beck and Bassenthwaite Lake
Rivers Esk and Irthing
Rivers Ehen, Calder, Irt & Esk, as well as Keswick Campsite.

Farmers with grazing livestock on the banks of the rivers, especially Eden and Derwent, should move the animals. Rickerby Park, usually a public pasture for sheep and cattle has been sheepless and cattleless for days.

The town of Appleby (which lies on the river Eden) was already flooded by 2pm today.

Although the water level of the Eden levelled at around 3pm today, it is expected that the worst is to come overnight.

For some reason the joked proposal of getting an inflatable raft doesn't seem so funny now. We might well need it to get to university, which is located on the other side of Eden. Let's just hope we won't need sandbags!!

We are finally putting the finishing touches on the 53rd edition of our university paper "The Informer."

It is the last Informer that we third year journalism students will work on. It is weird, in a way. But then again: We only have two Informers per year, the other two issues are a "Words by the Water" magazine and a magazine we can choose ourselves.

But with all of us now focussing on dissertations and final projects, the second year's now have to replace us as sub-editors, page designers and proof-readers.

Production days are always mental, and I am glad, this was our last one!

Earlier this year, I wrote a post about a journalism competition called "Duden Open".
In Round One, all you have to do is answer a multiple-choice general knowledge quiz. I gave it a go, and just had word that I passed Round One, and can proceed to Round Two!!

I will have to write an article about the Football World Cup 2010 in South Africa, but it doesn't need to be about sports. I could also look at it from a historical, economical, cultural etc. angle, as long as I show creativity!

My deadline is 31st December, so wish me luck!!!

PS.: Feel free to leave article suggestions ;)

News about the new travel arrangements and the opening of the border spread like a fire across both sides of the divide. Mario Ständer was working the late shift when he heard the news. “I planned to take my chance and flee into the West right after clocking off. At that time, all I knew was that those willing to leave could do so – but never return.” However, his mate refused to drive him to the border. “Fortunately, the borders stayed upon, and I eventually made it into the West”, he says.



Bernadette Hartmann was living in Lucerne, Switzerland, when the Berlin Wall fell. “Back then, although I knew something big was happening, it was too far away, in a different country, to really concern me. But now that I live in Germany, I can grasp just how big it was and how good it was for Germany to reunite.”


However, this sentiment is not shared by everyone. “Reuniting with the East only cost the West a lot of money, and we’re still spending more. They should have made the Wall 10m higher, if you ask me”, says one of Marion Kaufmann’s neighbours, who wishes to remain anonymous.


But on the 20th anniversary of the Wall’s demise, especially Berlin is celebrating with thousands of Germans gathering in front of the Brandenburg Gate. A flash-mob had been organised to form a chain of people along the former route of the Wall throughout Berlin. And Moritz van Dülmen spent one and a half years recreating pieces of the Wall out of Styrofoam for a city-wide Domino campaign. “We wanted people to really comprehend what happened back then”, 38-year-old initiator van Dülmen says. “Like a domino-effect, the opening of the Wall changed the world. And that is what we want to show by toppling these 1000 domino pieces that represent the wall over a length of 1,5 km along the former border between Reichstagufer and Potsdamer Platz.”




German Chancellor Angela Merkel was joined by former Polish president Lech Walesa and former leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev for the celebrations and a walk across the bridge at Bornholmer Strasse. The checkpoint Bornholmer Strasse was the first to open in 1989 and Merkel, who herself was a citizen of the GDR, thanked Gorbachev for ultimately making a German re-unification possible.


But Berlin resident Karima Wenner says that you can still tell East and West apart – at least in the capital. “The way they talk about each other and still use stereotypes is very apparent.” However, 23-year-old Karima claims that you can even see and feel it in Berlin’s entire cityscape. “The eastern part of Berlin has this trendy vibe to it, even more so than West Berlin. Sub cultures thrive there, probably because they had a lot to catch up on. And they still have events and spontaneous street festivals everywhere, that make the East a really cool place to be.” And then there are the Plattenbausiedlungen”, of course, the high-rise blocks of flats that still dominate East Berlin’s landscape.

If you're in your final year at university, you probably stress out about having to write a dissertation just as much as I am at the moment.

Because I have no clue, really, how to actually produce said epic of 10,000 words, I tried to get a little help and inspiration from books. Three books, to be exact. Joan Bolker's "Writing your dissertation in 15 minutes a day" seemed like a good idea, but didn't really help me. Swetnam's "Writing your dissertation" is better and would have been my favourite, if I hadn't found this: "Excellent Dissertations" by Peter Levin!

Honestly, for writing my dissertation, Levin's book is rapidly turning into my bible! Written in a personal style, constantly addressing the reader and explaining everything in simple language, this book makes you feel like you've got your personal tutor sitting right next to you! It has definitely helped me already,to sort out a timescale for my dissertation, as well as organising my thoughts and outlining a draft contents list!

As a former lecturer at London School of Economics, Dr. Peter Levin has seen thousands of students attempting their dissertations and given advice to them to see them through. The chapters are short and don't contain any "academic speak". I can only recommend this book! Trust me, it will help you realise that a good dissertation is achievable!