wrote some more for the portsmouth blogpost

src/routes/blog/2026/0128.md

@@ -2,30 +2,54 @@
     import ImageSubtitle from "$lib/image-subtitle.svelte";
 </script>
 
-Recently, I finished a nearly four-month abroad semester in Portsmouth, UK.
-
-I'm basically using this blogpost as an excuse to ramble about my experiences in more detail. I have to write a report about my experience as part of the ERASMUS program which funded most of the trip, but they aim for at least 3 pages and my first draft exceeds that by nearly 200%...
+Recently, I finished a nearly four-month abroad semester in Portsmouth, UK. I wanted to ramble on about my experiences in more detail. While I already have to write a report about my experience as part of the ERASMUS program which funded most of the trip, they aim for 'at least 3 pages' and my first draft exceeded that by nearly 200%...
 
 ![](clouds.webp)
 ![](gunwharf.webp)
 
+## The Trip
+
+My trip to Portsmouth went surprisingly well. German trains are usually known for their delays, but both the EC towards Cologne as well as the ICE to Brussels were pretty much perfectly on time.
+
+Taking the Eurostar was a weird experience. Having to go through security checks is strange, both because the UK *should* still be in the EU (it was such a strange and honestly pretty terrible decision to leave) and because I was boarding a *train*, not a plane. The checks were quite quick though, just a scan of the luggage, then a passport check, and then it's off to the waiting area. You're only allowed to board the train about 20 minutes before departure, but you must arrive to the security checks at least 30 minutes ahead – 90 minutes are recommended, and it's honestly probably a good decision to come earlier. The waiting area did not have *nearly* enough seats for everyone, but it was fine.
+
+For my trip, I bought an Interrail ticket. They have tickets specifically for ERASMUS students that allow you 4 or 6 days of travel within 6 months instead of just one, but you're only allowed one outbound and one inbound trip to your home country. The ticket is great because it gives you complete freedom over which trains to use **except** the Eurostar, as you *must* book a seat in advance. Those cost 32€. The good thing is that you have a safe seat. It's important to book somewhat early (2 weeks prior is probably fine) and manually pick a seat, as the system can place you on a window-side seat with no view.
+
+The Eurostar trip was quite pleasant. Less pleasant was the ride from London St. Pancras to London Waterloo, for which I took the Northern tube line. I needed to switch branches, so I had to take the tube the opposite way to Euston before switching over to another train headed towards Waterloo. Kind of annoying, but it didn't take overly long.
+
+The last train of the day was the Southwestern to Portsmouth. The ride was fine, though crowded (it departs from London, after all), though I dislike how a lot of British trains have a 3+2 seat layout; within a single row, there are 3 seats on one side, and two more on the other. Since the trains aren't any bigger than they are in Germany, the seats have to be narrower, and the walkway between them is smaller as well. If you have someone sitting right next to you, both of you will be very cramped, even if you're slim. It's an all-around uncomfortable experience.
+
+So, my train rides were fine, right. Everything went well. Except the very last part of my trip. After 12 hours of train travel, I was preparing to take the number 13 bus that runs to Langstone campus. This bus, however, departed mere minutes before I arrived. At least partially at fault were probably the ticket gates (that the UK likes to place at a lot of train stations (despite the fact that staff does check tickets on board)) as well as the bridge that was awkwardly fenced off and required a longer walk as the ticket gates were obviously retrofitted.
+
+What did I do after missing the bus? I walked. As the 13 runs hourly, it didn't make sense to wait. Given how that walk went though, I kinda wish I had waited. For the entire 40-ish minute walk, during which I of course had to carry my heavy luggage, I had to bear the UK's terrible infrastructure. Sidewalks that were crooked and constantly pulled my rolling luggage towards the street as well as traffic lights that effectively penalised walking by delaying on-foot traffic made the trip quite miserable. No lie, I was already regretting the abroad semester by this point, and I hadn't even made it to my flat yet.
+
 ## Student Housing
 
-I lived in Langstone West. The housing was decently nice, but the first impressions were quite awful.
+I lived in Langstone West. The housing was decently nice, but the first impressions were quite bad.
 
-After having to walk for about 40 minutes with my heavy luggage after 12 hours of train travel because the only bus I could take (the 13) runs hourly and departed shortly before I arrived in Portsmouth, I was greeted by a dilapidated campus. Green patches were interrupted by uneven foundations that have seemingly been rotting away for years. An array of shipping containers blocked the view to the north end of the campus. Worst of all was the tall-standing building, the *Barnard Tower*, which looked as if it had been abandoned for a decade. I was mentally preparing for the tower to be my home for the next few months until a student apparently working as a security guard approached me and let me know that the student halls were actually further north. She visibly struggled to find the words to explain how to get to these halls when I could quite literally see them from where I was standing, so that encounter was a bit weird.
+I was first greeted by a rather dilapidated campus. Green patches were interrupted by uneven foundations that have seemingly been rotting away for years. An array of shipping containers blocked the view to the north end of the campus. Worst of all was the tall-standing building, the *Barnard Tower*, which looked as if it had been abandoned for a decade. I was mentally preparing for the tower to be my home for the next few months until someone let me know that the student halls were actually further north on the property.
 
 ![View at the Langstone campus site from the north end.](langstone.webp)
 
-When I arrived, I met another security officer sitting at the reception who led me to my room. He showed me the door, but the literal second I turned my back on him as I tried pushing my luggage into the room, he left. This felt super unfriendly and was even more surprising as the actual reception staff was nothing like this. They were genuinely so nice and understanding and forthcoming about everything you mentioned to them. They greeted you when you passed them, they were up for chitchat, they were just super friendly. Nothing like that security guard.
+When I arrived, I met a security officer at the reception who handed me my keys and led me to my room. Weirdly, the literal second I turned my back on him as I tried pushing my luggage into my room, he left. This felt pretty unfriendly and was quite surprising considering the actual reception staff was nothing like this. They were genuinely so nice and understanding and forthcoming about everything you mentioned to them. They greeted you when you passed them, they were up for chitchat, they were just super friendly. One time, our microwave broke, and they literally handed us a new one on the spot. Never had issues with them.
 
-The accommodation was the second-cheapest available (cheapest with individual bathrooms), so I was worried what would await me, but to my surprise, the flats were actually quite nice. We had a big kitchen available with two ovens, two fridges, two sinks, a big stovetop and a lounge area with a TV. The rooms were decent too – pretty small (around 10m²) but you had everything you needed for the short stay. The walls were not very insulating, which I felt especially near the end of my stay as the night temperatures dropped near freezing and the cold crept into my room overnight. But the heaters were good; electric ones that you could set to a specific temperature in degrees and even program so that it would turn on and off at specific times.
+The accommodation was the second-cheapest available (cheapest with individual bathrooms), so I was worried what would await me, but to my surprise, the flats were actually pretty nice. We had a big kitchen with two ovens, two fridges, two sinks, a big stovetop and a lounge area with a TV. The rooms were decent too – pretty small (around 10m²) but you had everything you needed for the short stay. The walls were not very insulating, which was quite noticeable in winter when the nightly temperatures dropped near freezing and the cold crept into the rooms overnight. The electric heaters were good though; you could tune them by the degree and even program them so that they would turn on and off at specific times.
 
-Something that I found odd during my stay and especially once I returned to my flat in Germany: I felt as if the rooms were made for... children? Hear me out: the rooms were not just small, the furniture seemed to be sized for a child as well. The chair was much smaller than my IKEA Markus (which, when I first sat in it after my abroad semester felt as if it hugged me); the desk is set very low and crossing my legs beneath it was near-impossible (often cut off my blood flow because of it); the mirror in the bathroom hung lower; the shower was smaller; even the ceiling hung lower than at home! Part of me thinks – and this might be a hot take – that UK students are not just younger, but also less mature when they first start at university.
+Something that I found odd during my stay and especially once I returned to my flat in Germany was how the room inventory seemed fit for smaller people. The chair was much smaller than my IKEA Markus (which, when I first sat in it after my abroad semester felt as if it hugged me); the desk is set very low and crossing my legs beneath it was near-impossible (often cut off my blood flow because of it); the mirror in the bathroom hung lower; the shower was smaller; even the ceiling hung lower than at home!
 
-UK students are just turning 18 when they start at university, fresh out of college. Their parents drive them all to their student flats on move-in day (an actual set date). Some of the parents show their kids how to do their laundry and how to cook. They're really just learning how to live on their own. What I found the most odd, however, was that the student flats aren't really the UK students' homes, they're just temporary residences. UK students seemingly use every chance they have to return home – not just long holiday periods such as over Christmas, but also the lecture-free week and even extended weekends. It's like they're... less independent.
+## The Environment
 
-Contrast this to my situation in Germany. The flat I live in is also a student flat, which means I have a maximum allowed residency period, but aside from that, it's basically just a regular flat. I pay my rent monthly, I have all my own facilities (kitchen, bathroom), I speak to the caretakers if there's any issue... it's just a regular flat. It's also my permanent residency, and it says this on my ID too – it's mandatory to report a change in residency, and a student flat absolutely counts as such in Germany. In fact, you're only allowed to rent a student flat if you also make it your permanent residency.
+Living at Langstone was a mixed experience.
+
+The most impactful negative aspect was that there were no supermarkets nearby. A Premier store was at the southern end of the campus, but it's a really tiny one, and Premier isn't exactly a place where you can go to do your shopping – in my mind, it's just a shop for alcohol and snacks that for some reason also sells household items and vegetables. The next Co-Op was a 16-minute walk away; Lidl, Tesco, Aldi were almost half an hour away on foot.
+
+I also think that there wasn't a lot to do at Langstone? There was nothing noteworthy nearby. Milton Common was the nearest thing to a park, and aside from that, all you had was residential area. Both the university as well as Commercial Road and Gunwharf Quays (meaning virtually all shops) were on the far end of the island.
+
+However, a 20-minute walk brings you to Eastney beach – a great spot for when you need a quiet spot outdoors that offers a pretty view at the Solent with the Isle of Wight on the other side. It's a rocky beach (pebbles instead of sand). In fact, all along Portsea Island's perimeter you had some very nice beaches; South Parade Pier was quite nice with the Rock and Rose Gardens nearby, and the waterfront area at Gunwharf Quays was quite pretty too. The beaches are currently being renewed; Portsmouth is reinforcing its sea defences, and while doing that, they're going a step further by redeveloping waterfront areas. It's quite nice and well worth the visits.
+
+If you want to party and don't mind noise, you may want to look for another accommodation though, as Langstone itself was quite a serene place. It's a quiet place where you can really live a stress-free life. At least that's the experience I had, and I quite liked that.
+
+## The City
 
 ![](portsdownhill_dark.webp)
 ![](portsdownhill.webp)

src/routes/blog/posts.ts

@@ -16,13 +16,13 @@ export interface BlogPostDetails {
 }
 
 export const posts = new Map<string, BlogPostDetails>([
-	// ["2026/0128", {
-	// 	date: "2026-01-05",
-	// 	time: "13:00",
-	// 	banner: "",
-	// 	title: "Portsmouth Postmortem",
-	// 	description: "",
-	// }],
+	["2026/0128", {
+		date: "2026-01-05",
+		time: "13:00",
+		banner: "langstone.webp",
+		title: "Portsmouth Postmortem",
+		description: "",
+	}],
 	["2026/0129", {
 		date: "2026-01-29",
 		time: "16:42",