I spent a whole academic year as an ERASMUS student in Southampton, but the fall semester and spring semester were a different as they could be. The first semester, I was basically locked up in a student hall with a lot of 18 year old girls. It required a magnetic card to get inside the building and all meals were provided. Without ever having experienced it, I felt like being on a boarding school.

By Christmas I managed to escape from there, and moved across the street to Glen Eyre. Here you only needed to punch in a code to get inside, and all my friends learned that pretty easily and the rest could read it of the panel. It was a lot more fun to live there. The move out of Chamberlain coincided with the arrival of Jan Jacobsen. It is difficult to separate the effects, but I think he had a significantly positive effect on the amount of fun in Southampton.

My best friend in Southampton was another Danish student, Lill Thanning Hansen, who was doing a Master's degree in Southampton. Here we are sitting in the garden of our favourite pub: The Hedgehog. We spent an inordinate amount of time at that pub. vBelow I am inside the Hedgehog with some of the professors from the department. From the left: Jan Jacobsen, (who was a PhD-student at the time), me, Keith Blackburn, Maozu Lu, and Jan Podivinsky.

I don't know how Lill managed to get a Master's degree with distinction, because some of these guys had a habit of waking us up in the middle of the night bringing beer and Chineese take-away. This habit peaked exactly in the middle of the exam period, when they were not very busy, but we poor students were.

Jan and I once visited Keith and his wife in Bakersfield halfway towards London where she was working. Here Keith is ordering Indian take-away. God knows why he is wearing a safety helmet. Maybe because our parties always became a little animated. To the right you se Keith and Jan dancing.

Also in the middle of the exam period, someone organized a cricket match between Master students and faculty. It was quite an interesting game to play - but very boring to watch.

After the game we celebrated the victory (we won one match each, I think) in a pub. From the left: Sian Owen, NN, Andy, Grant Hillier, me, Jan, Sam Dias, NN, my IO teacher, Ray O'Brien, Jan Podivinsky, NN, and Patrick Marsh.

Somehow we all seemed to pass our exams and Fionula held a great graduation party. To the left you see Podo, Keith, Jan, and me. Below you see Andy, Sian, NN, me, Darren, Jan, and Lill.

By the end of the year, my parents came to visit me and to bring me and my things back to Denmark. On my request they brought marinated herrings, snaps, and other Danish delicacies I had missed like crazy. We made a really delicious typically Danish Christmas lunch at Jan Jacobsens house as a farewell party.

From the left you see: Darren, Andy, Keith, me, Sian, Jan, Alan Ingham, and Patrick. In the kitchen below, you see my father, my mother, Jan, me, Fionula, and Sian.