Tuesday 8 January 2013

Frankfurt Hahn...not actually in Frankfurt!!



As I said last time, my friends Beth and Ruth were coming to visit from England and as they had never been to Germany before then I felt that it was my responsibility to show off my new home as best as I could. That started with a stock up of all the necessary items... food, wine, sweets and more wine. I knew I'd done a good job when the cashier asked if she could come to whatever party I was throwing. As they were getting in quite early and Frankfurt Hahn is about 2 hours away from Frankfurt (wish I'd known that before I booked my flight home) I had to leave at about 5am to meet them. Now I seem to have really bad luck with travel and today was no exception. The timetable had changed for weekends so the coach I had planned to get from Frankfurt to Frankfurt Hahn wasn't coming for another hour and a half so I was going to be a bit late picking them up from the airport. Didn't help that as all 3 of us were exhausted, there was a bit of a misunderstanding on the phone and they got on a coach from the airport to Frankfurt as I was on the coach to pick them up. Probably should've been annoyed but I'd already paid for a return and it did mean an extra 2 hours sleep. After finally meeting them in Frankfurt (in Mcdonalds of all places), we set off back to Würzburg on a double decker train (mainly because I just wanted to show how great Germany is). 

Double decker trains...making you think you have a chance of avoiding the conductor!
After getting back to mine, it was time to relax after spending way too long travelling. They got me Yorkshire Tea, which is of equal value to gold for an Erasmus student. Even though I have a coffee machine, you can't beat a proper cup of tea! Once we'd eaten, it was time for wine and Scrubs which lead to us making our own Scrubs drinking game! The rules are pretty easy so will probably be playing this game a lot in the future. Overall it was a pretty chilled night as we were all a bit tired and it was great to just see each other and catch up. I might not see them as much as my uni friends but it's great that not a thing changes when we're together and that's how it should be with any friends. You're obviously not gonna speak to each other as much when you go to different unis (or move abroad in my case) but once you do see each other, its exactly how it was before and you realise how lucky you are to have friends like that. Anyway, cringey moment over and as we were heading to Nuremburg for the Xmas markets in the morning, we decided an 
early night was probably for the best. 
Best presents ever!!!
Only way I'll get 2 girls in my bed...












As expected, we overslept but still made it to Nuremburg with plenty of time to enjoy the markets. I'd heard a lot about the market there so I was curious to see the difference between their one and the one in Würzburg. Safe to say Nuremburg won hands down. Was so much bigger as well as more diverse but still keeping to tradition. I'd been to Nuremburg plenty of times before but never during Xmas and the change is incredible. They really don't hold back for Xmas but there's still a really traditional feel to it. 

If you don't need it, chances are they sell it
Once it got dark and the lights came on then it really felt like Christmas. The girls got the souvenirs they wanted and tried Bratwurst and Gluhwein for the first time...I don't think they were disappointed. We heard some carols and just wandered around soaking in the atmosphere. If you haven't been to German Xmas Market then I highly recommend it. You don't even need to speak German as they're used to tourists. It's Christmas without any of the commercial crap...no coca cola truck but I think one pulls up every so often...there really is no escape! The Nuremburg market is known as one of the best, if not the best and I can see why. Set up in the perfect spot and so much on offer that there is definitely something for everyone.

One of the churches we popped into whilst wandering
It's beginning to look a lot like Xmas

Once we'd seen everything and got back to mine, it was time to chill...well they chilled while I made dinner. Not that I minded, I'd be trying new recipes for a while so was good to get some feedback and it was very nice feedback so I was happy. I decided to take Monday off classes (well it's not often your friends come all the way from England to see you) and we went for a wander around Würzburg. We stopped off for Kaffee und Kuchen (although I was the only one who got cake) in the Residenz and then ended up at the Xmas market in town. You'd have thought we'd have got bored after yesterday but no chance. I found a stall that sold spiced apple and cinnamon punch and the girls tried their first Currywurst...can't come to Germany and not have Currywurst!! We had dinner and drinks in a Mexican bar and I was really annoyed I didn't discover this place sooner as it was so cheap for what you got. Crazy to think this was their last night here, time really does fly when you're having fun. Before they left, we had to stop off to a pub for a litre of authentic German beer. After a while of teaching Ruth how to order a beer, I ended up doing it which was probably the safer option. Their reaction was the same as everyone's who tries German beer for the first time...they loved it...and Beth doesn't even like beer!

NOM!!!

Tuesday came and it was time to say goodbye. It wasn't too bad as I knew I was gonna be seeing them both for New Years but still doesn't make it any easier. It was a great few days and I hope they had as much fun as I did. It was only after they left that I realised I was gonna be going home for the first time in 3 months. It was strange how what I felt then was similar to what I felt before I came to Germany even though this time, I knew exactly where I was gonna be and who I was gonna be with but I was still a bit nervous. To this day I still don't know why but even though I didn't know what to expect upon my arrival, one thing was certain...I couldn't wait!!





Berlin: The place where you never insult pineapples


So as I said last time, I was spending the weekend (or the weekend before last) in Berlin and in typical Chandru fashion, I'd only sorted out travel and accommodation about 2 days in advance. It turns out Rob, who I was staying with knew I was coming to Berlin before I'd even told him so was already expecting me to ask him for a space on his sofa. Having already scrounged one of the spare bed in his hotel rooms during Oktoberfest I did kinda feel bad as I already owed him big time but I have offered him free accommodation, should he ever decide to leave the amazing city of Berlin to come check out Würzburg (it could happen). Failing that, the best I could do was leave behind 40 cents for rent/beer money.

Anyway, back to the trip itself and you'd think being a complete fail and only booking travel to the other side of Germany 2 days in advance would cost me a fortune as it most likely would in any other place. However, thanks to Mitfahrgelegenheit.de, it only cost me 25 Euros each way. To put things into perspective the distance from here to Berlin is a bit further than travelling from London to Newcastle, a journey I know far too well. I'm not sure if I've explained the site before but it's basically an online car pooling site where people say when and where they're travelling to and from and how many places they have in their car for people who are interested in travelling with them and this way, the driver can save costs on fuel and the passenger gets a much better deal as it is often far cheaper than the train, especially the ICE (Inter City Express). It makes so much sense but it would never catch on in England. Could you imagine offering a space in your car to complete strangers? You just wouldn't...whether it's due to fear of who you may be letting in your car or fear of what you may be branded as for letting strangers into your car there is no way you would do it. Obviously you can't trust a complete stranger but there appears to be a mutual understanding over here of doing each other a favour and that seems to be enough for both driver and passengers. For me, I just saw it as the best way to get to Berlin and depending on the other people, an amazing opportunity to practice my German.


 Nach Berlin bitte!!!

Ok I'll stop waffling now. I got into Berlin on Friday evening right on time which is pretty impressive considering there'd been an accident on the road earlier. Met up with Rob and then went back to his. He thought he'd try mess with me a bit and warn me about the trek from the station to his place when it turned out to be right next to the exit. Not sure why it was funny but it's jokes like that that I've really missed. I still maintain that British humour is the best...might sound biased but its true. There's just far more depth to it. It is quite exclusive though...don't think you can truly understand it unless you're British or really know Britain well. Anyway, after the 'trek' to Rob's, I dumped my stuff at his and then we met up with Kat (also from Warwick) and her cousin Simon. If you keep up to date with German news (which I'm sure you all do) then you'll probably know that Kat and Rob had a brief cameo on the German news the day before when they were interviewing people by the Brandenburg Tor and Kat's tiger hat gained worldwide (close enough) recognition and Rob was 'standing there grinning like an idiot' (his words, not mine). I would share a link but I think they'd kill me! I really do go off on tangents a lot! I'll be good now...I swear. After we met them, we went out for dinner but the 2 places we intended to go to were either full or had massive queues so ended up going to this German place nearby. I was very tempted to get the XXL Schnitzel but it was just far too expensive...maybe next time. Plus the main reason we were there was for the beer anywhere. Now there's a lot of people I know back home who don't like beer but when they try German beer they always change their mind. It's nicer, stronger and cheaper...what more could you want?? We ended up going back to Rob's for a few more drinks which was probably a bad idea, especially for Rob's table. He thought that instead of asking Simon to move or me to change the song, he'd do it himself by stepping on the corner of his table. Needless to say that didn't end well and in true British style, the timing couldn't have been better as this was very soon after Rob's flatmate had texted him asking us to be a bit quieter.

Definitely getting this next time!

The next day proved to be a bit quieter and safer for the surrounding furniture. The day started like any other, watching a 10 minute parody trailer for the film “Enter name and link here” Definitely worth a watch. Afterwards, I met up with Kat, Simon, Kef, Ellen and Gen (all on my course) to check out the Berlin Xmas markets where we saw a flying Santa in his sleigh. We stopped for crepes and this is where the discussion about toppings came up and I discovered how strongly the girls felt about pineapple Never expected so much backlash just for saying it didn't belong on pizza! They laughed at the kitchen jokes but drew the line at pineapple apparently! We didn't stay too long as it was freezing! Think the warmest it got that day was -1 so I'n gonna end up wearing shorts and shades when I get back home! After a quick stop in a cafe to warm up, we went to Ellen's for pre-drinks. Wine for the girls and a crate of beer for the guys. After getting fairly tipsy and our best attempts of dancing to Gangnam Style (Thanks Ellen for taking pictures!!) we headed off to a club in Friedrichstraße. Now last time I was in Berlin, my 2 nights out involved me dressing up as a lobster (sadly this was the better night) and me fracturing my nose after falling off my seat on the bus (not a 4th floor window despite what some may say). However this night was a lot more drama free although there was a slight cause for concern when we didn't realise Rob had to take a very drunk Kat home and me and Simon were stuck without a place to stay. We were a bit too drunk to really care and we managed to get through to them just as we got to Charlottenburg at around 6am.

Oppa Gangnam Style!!!


The next day started with a double decker sausage and bacon sandwich...not many better ways to start the day! Had to say my goodbyes at this point which are never fun but it was so great to catch up with everyone and a weekend in Berlin reminded me why I'd put it down as my first choice. It's such an amazing city and so cheap for a capital. It was quite funny to hear what some of the locals had to say about Würzburg. One hadn't even heard of it and another guy said that Bavarian's don't speak proper German and that they sometimes struggle to understand them which made me feel a lot better. I think the best way to explain it is to say I've been stuck in the Newcastle or Liverpool of Germany but luckily I've had plenty of experience with the Geordie, Scouse and now Bavarian accent so I think I'm getting by just fine. The trip back was a lot more eventful as there was another student from my uni travelling with us and I got to speak loads of German with her.

Probably what most Germans think of Bavaria


The next week went by relatively quickly as I was getting the place ready for my first visitors from England. Beth and Ruth, who I went to school with are coming for a few days and I can't wait!

Bis später

Friday 7 December 2012

I'll be home for Christmas :)

:D

That's right...after nearly 2 months of panic, angry phone calls and a severe dent to my bank account, I've finally got a new passport and any worries about not making it back home in time for Xmas are now long gone. I was told it would take around 4 weeks to get here so there was a part of me that was expecting it to be touch and go until a day or two before my flight which would've been eventful but a nightmare for my blood pressure. Luckily it got here in just under 2 weeks...one day after my 21st birthday so maybe they decided to send it to me early as a present. Probably not but I'm going with it anyway. Oh yeah I'm 21 now! It's no different really, it just means I can drink in America! It was a fairly chilled day as I only had translation in the morning where I got given...a graded assignment to do...woo :/ Well apart from that little setback, it was a really nice day. Spoke to a lot of friends and family and even got a happy birthday from my 2 year old nephew! I think I got more cards than I did last year which was a surprise (maybe I should go abroad more often). Just wanted to say a massive thank you for the birthday messages and to everyone who sent cards/presents :)

I didn't really have a great deal planned for the day but the Christmas Markets were opening in town so I thought it'd be worth to check it out. This was something I'd been wanting to see in person for a while, especially after hearing so much about how amazing the German Christmas Markets are. They didn't  disappoint, even if the weather was not on our side it was great to see just how much was on offer and will definitely be visiting again soon. Will be mentioning more on Xmas Markets next time after I've been to the one in Nürnberg as that is of the most famous markets in Germany.

So as you could imagine with my birthday and passport getting here in the space of 24 hours, (oh and my Erasmus Grant as well) I was in an insanely good mood which probably wasn't a good idea especially when amazon is only a few clicks away. Needless to say I may have been fairly generous with Xmas presents this year as well as a new DSLR for me...well I'm allowed to treat myself right?? Plus I can get much better pictures than using a fairly useless Ipod camera so it's partly for your benefit as well...honest! Anyway, after realising I'd spent far too much money it was back to the real world of uni. Needless to say, that got boring very quickly so after speaking to Louise (who'd visited about a month ago) and finding out how she'd managed to send me a card without me giving her my address (thanks Emily!!) I decided to visit her neck of the woods, otherwise known as Lauf an der Pegnitz. Never heard of it?...yeah me neither until this year but it's a pretty small town near Nürnberg and when I say it looks like they could've filmed 'The Grinch' there I'm really not exaggerating. Hands down, the most Christmassy looking town I've ever seen!

Schnee!!!


I don't have many pictures of the town as the conditions weren't too great (conditions being fog and that my hands were freezing) but will get some next time when I have my camera (see I told you it was for your benefit as well) As for the trip itself, I ended up bumping into Caroline, Mae and Debbie at the who were heading into Nürnberg for Caroline's birthday so what I was expecting to be a quiet journey on my own ended up with half the carriage in hysterics and one German guy saying to Caroline that 'she was better than TV!' To say she was a bit excited was an understatement! After changing at Nürnberg it wasn't long before I was in Lauf and after lunch at Louise's, (sausage and veg pasta bake...sehr nom!) we went for a wander and she showed me around the town and the view from the forest. 


We were fairly mature and only threw the occasional snowball at each other! Even though it hadn't been that long since we'd seen each other, it's always nice to catch up and see how your friends are doing...especially when they're not at uni as it seems to be a completely different lifestyle for teaching assistants but as long as you're enjoying it then who cares! After a quick wander round the Lauf Xmas Market and Kaffee und Kuchen (standard) we went to the Advent service. Now I'm really not religious at all but we always had an Advent service at school and as religion seems to play a more important role in German culture I was curious to see how it was done over here. Didn't get off to a good start as we turned up late and had everyone stare at us after I may have shut the door a bit too loud! Despite that, I'm glad I went...it hasn't changed my views but with all the craziness that's been going on in the past few weeks, the peaceful scenery was a nice change (even if it was just for an hour) All in all, it was an amazing day out and will hopefully see each other in a week or two. When you're sent to a foreign country for a year and you've got some really good friends who are only 2 hours away (3 when the bloody train back is late) then you'd be stupid not to make the effort to go so them when you can. 

Louise loving life...despite the cold!

NOM!!!


This week has gone by really quickly although I could probably say that for the last 2 months. Strange to think it's only 2 weeks till I'm back in England and in a strange way, the feelings I have to going back home are almost similar to what I felt before I moved here. Even though I know exactly where I'm going to be and pretty much who I'm going to see over the holidays, I still don't know what to expect but. In a way I'm almost glad that it's like that because if I could predict any of it then that's half the fun gone already! Anyway, before all of that I've got a weekend in Berlin to enjoy :)

Bis später

Sunday 25 November 2012

8 Foot Road Signs and 'Zeit zur Sache'

Just thought I'd put this in as it was Maha's birthday yesterday and would've obviously loved to have been back in Leam for it.


So here we are 2 months in and I think I can finally say I feel at home here. In my Intercultural Relations class, we looked at the 5 stages of Culture Shock and after speaking to a few other Erasmus students, I'd say it's a pretty accurate model. It starts off with the 'honeymoon' period at the start where everything's going at million miles per hour, you're getting to know your new city, see the sights, make new friends etc and it's all really exciting. However, like with most things going at such a fast pace, it eventually has to slow down and during this re-integration phase, everything begins to catch up with you and you became exhausted, lose all motivation and start rejecting your new culture, branding it as inferior compared to what you're used to at home. There might be moments where you want nothing more than to pack up and leave but this reaction is completely normal and probably something that you need to experience before you can start to feel at home abroad. It's easy to slip in between phases but once you've experienced this low once, it's usually so much easier to deal with the next time round.

Now I'm not saying this is what every person on a Year Abroad (YA) goes through. It's dumb to assume that every person goes through the same thing but there are usually certain phases that people tend to go through at some point during their (YA). For me, the honeymoon phase came to very abrupt halt after my passport got nicked. Before I came here, I assumed that after 9 years being away from home, I wouldn't get homesick at all but once the option to go back was taken away from me, then I definitely started to really miss England. Even during lectures or nights out, I would still have that concern in the back of my mind, wondering if I was gonna be able to make it back in time and it definitely didn't make settling in any easier. However, I finally sent everything off last Friday and as I've been charged for it, I'm assuming there weren't any problems with the paperwork and the new passport should be here in about 3 weeks. Although the waiting game can still be frustrating, it was a massive weight off my shoulders knowing that I've done all that I can and the only thing to do was to finally start enjoying life over here.

Fingers crossed it gets here in time

Although I didn't really choose the best way to start celebrating. After running around like a headless chicken making sure everything was filled out properly and sent off as well deciding what to send Maha for her birthday, I decided to spend most of Saturday in bed just to catch up on some sleep. Went to a Mexican restaurant with Katie for dinner on Sunday and the standout highlight had to be the waiter dousing our plate of chicken wings with tequila before setting alight right in front of us. (Emily Thompson, that's how you cook with tequila) Kinda tempted to go back again just so I can get a picture. We spent the majority of the time talking in German which was much needed as I haven't been speaking anywhere near as much German as I should be. It's so easy to slip into English, not just with native speakers, but with other Erasmus students as they tend to find it easier than German. I've been asked a few times if I think my German has improved which is a pretty tough question because I'm pretty sure it has, but it's a very tough thing to measure. Definitely need to start making more effort though and I've arranged to meet up with a German girl once a week so we can both practice our English and German but after speaking to her on facebook a few times, her English, like with every German person, is far better than my Deutsch so this should be interesting.

I should probably mention why I chose '8 Foot Road Signs and Zeit zur Sache' as the title. Well, as mentioned in the last entry, we had a discussion about love songs and their potential alternative meanings in my last translation class but today our tutor decided to take it a bit further by making us translate a song from 'Flight of the Conchords'. The song in question was called 'Business Time' and if you haven't heard it then here it is...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU. After the initial laughs, we found it was actually quite challenging, as it was pretty hard to translate it in a way that doesn't get rid of the meaning. Think we ended up going for 'Zeit zur Sache' which I think translates to 'time to get down to business'. Definitely keeping hold of that piece of work. Later that night, we were meant to go this event that had been hyped up a lot but ended up going to a different club as the queue was barely moving (Nobody queues as well as the British). Still ended up having a really good night and unsurprisingly, I spent far too much money, couldn't pay for a taxi and ended up walking roughly 2 and a half miles home at 5am but not before deciding that halfway through, I had to bring this home with me.

Definitely the strangest thing I've woken up to...


Yes that is a giant road sign that I found on the way and yes I did carry it a mile uphill plus up 4 floors as it wouldn't fit in the lift. Don't worry, I am fully aware that I am a muppet for ever thinking this was a good idea and I'm still struggling to find a way to justify doing this. Until I decide what to do with it, it'll make a very nice ornament in the corner of my room.

Anyway, dinner's finally ready but thought I'd leave you with this little gem that I thought illustrates German efficiency at its finest.

Why not?


Bis später


Tuesday 13 November 2012

Love Songs...Cute or Creepy?

First of all, thanks to everyone who's been reading so far...wasn't expecting this many people to (including one person from Saudi Arabia whose identity I will probably never find out.

View from the castle when there's no fog


Anyway back to Germany and despite the extra hours, the work's not too bad...bar the one presentation that I had to do on emotions. Not exactly my specialist subject but I think it went well enough. My teacher did say in the lesson before that she'd never heard cockney german before so I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult...most likely the latter. That basically cancelled out the comment from a girl in my Intercultural Relations class who said I sound really sophisticated. She's clearly never visited Ilford!!! Apart from the comments on my accent and hearing my name pronounced in several different ways, few of which have been right, there aren't too many differences between classes here and back home. The only significant one that comes to mind is that my translation tutor actually knows what he's doing and anyone who had the 'joys' of Mary Sage last year will know that's a huge upgrade. Our last lesson was quite a strange one. He started explaining the importance of pragmatics before randomly coming out with "So... Love Songs...cute or creepy?" followed by a discussion of love songs that could be interpreted as creepy. Examples included 'Every Breath You Take' and 'Hey There Delilah'...lyrics that would probably result in a restraining order if I said them to girl!! The rest of the lesson was spent translating the song 'As Long as You Love Me' by the Backstreet Boys with half the class trying to keep the cute original meaning and the other half trying to make it as creepy as possible. You can guess which option I went for.  Here's the link if you're fancy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNBvrHp_QZU.

Awwwwww

Maybe not!! 


Onto the more fun stuff and the dreaded trip to the barbers was finally made and the result was...interesting. Turns out 'nicht zu kurz' translates to lets get rid of most of your hair! Slowly starting to like it though as it pretty much stays in the same place all day long.
Not very short apparently, might have to steal that hat for winter...sorry Kathryn!


I did meet some really interesting people whilst waiting and had a really long chat with a Libyan guy who wasn't much older than me but had been through so much. He'd lost his brother during the Libyan Civil War after both were part of the forces attempting to oust Gaddafi's government and he had to flee to Germany this year for his own safety. I'd studied Libya a bit last year in my International Relations seminar but there's a massive difference between what you hear on the news and in classes compared to a personal account of events from someone who experienced it all on a daily basis. You couldn't not respect the guy because soon soon after this he was laughing and joking with us and the staff about Germany, England and everything really.

During the weekend, I was fortunate to have my first visitors of the year. Louise, who's teaching in Lauf an der Pegnitz, Gemma and Kathryn, who are both at uni in Bayreuth, and Kathryn and Kathryn (surprisingly that didn't get confusing at all) who are also teaching in Bavaria came to visit for the day. Sadly the weather was not on our side and it rained for the majority of the day so my day of playing tour guide did not get off to a good start. Think that all changed once they realised Würzburg has a Woolworth (sadly not quite the samw as there's no Pick n Mix) and we ended up going there twice. Took them up to the Marienburg Fortress but the view was a bit ruined by the fog...was still a fun walk though. After seeing the Hofgarten and the Residenz it was off to what most of us were really there for...Kaffee und Kuchen natürlich. Despite Kathryn's (Harrop) suggestions that it was going to be my treat, (no chance) the place ended up being really cheap which none of us expected due to how posh it looked. It was highly recommended by Louise to bring a date here...well we'll see how that goes. Even if the weather was crap, it was so great to see them again and catch up on life abroad so far. Will definitely be visiting them in the very near future as I still haven't left the town except for Oktoberfest and need to start travelling more.

You're meant to see part of the city in the backdrop but the weather had other ideas


So about 7 weeks in and life is becoming more and more similar to England...work is constantly getting put off, (I've got a translation due in tomorrow) Skype has been a saviour at times and surprisingly reliable (most of the time) and sorting out accommodation is becoming a right bitch...about the same as last year then.

Bis später.

Sunday 28 October 2012

German punctuality...biggest myth ever!!!



Crazy to think it's already been a month since i got here. Time's really flown by and after all the chaos that happened a few weeks ago, everything's stopped going at a million miles per hour and I think I've finally got used to life abroad. Quick update on the passport situation...I got my countersignature sorted but still waiting on my birth certificate to get here before i can send everything off to the UK Embassy in Duesseldorf.

Back to this week and uni finally started. I have 20 hours a week which is about double what I had last year (I'm sure this was meant to be a doss year) and almost half of that is on Monday. However it beats sitting in my flat for most of the day with the sound of my neighbour's awful choices in music coming through the wall. It wasn't too bad until one direction came on and then it became war. Luckily, Hendrix is a lot louder than a bunch of prepubescent boys! Anyway, back to uni and the classes have gone a lot better than i thought. I got really confused after my Intercultural Relations seminar when everyone started knocking on the desk at the end of the class but I later found out that was the pupils way of acknowledging a good lecture/seminar. That class was probably the most interesting of the lot but the first piece of homework was to write 10 pages on your life from when you were born till your 8th birthday. Luckily it can be done in your native language but its definitely up there with the weirdest piece of work I've ever been set. I've started learning Italian as well which has gone pretty well so far and is quite entertaining as the teacher can't really speak much German so the classes are a weird hybrid of Italian, German and English, which is still easier to understand than a lecture on Nazi foreign policy. Trying to keep up in a lecture room full of background noises just leads to headache but at least the lecturer said Erasmus students could do the exam at home...that's one module passed already thanks to google and wikipedia!

Like at Warwick, the bus to uni resembles a train from India which is why I'm lucky that all the classes I picked bar one are within walking distance. To make matters worse, unlike in England where the unwritten rule is to let people off before getting on the bus/train...over here it just turns into a huge stampede the second the door opens so being polite won't get you anywhere in Germany. If you want something, you take it! The same goes for queuing which definitely doesn't exist over here. The contrast of reputations with Brits labelled as 'too polite' and the Germans branded as 'very direct' becomes very blatant and if I was going to adapt to life over here then I'd have to stop being my usual polite, charming self...as you can guess, that didn't take very long! My favourite memory of Germans not mincing theirs words was during the registration for the Sprachkurs (german language course) which took place the day after an online test to determine what level the people who did not take the test in September were at. During the registration, one guy who was struggling with his german a bit whilst trying to sort his classes out. The woman he was talking to, instead of saying, maybe you'd feel more comfortable in an easier class (what a British teacher would've said) instead decides to shout fairly loudly, "Well it's clear that you got very lucky in the test yesterday!" in a room full of about 20-25 people. Gotta love the Germans!


The scene I often face when trying to get off the bus

One thing I've had to get used to over here is how serious the Germans take their recycling. For those of you who don't know, they have this system where if you buy a drink, you can return the empty bottles and get some of the money back (Pfand) It's not much but it's not uncommon to see someone having a quick rummage through a bin looking for a bottle that someone's thrown away. You're actually more likely to get evils for throwing a bottle away than bin raiding.
Wonder how much I'll get back from all this!


This system has even made its way into clubs...you receive a token with your drink and you get a Euro back when you return the glass with the token. The last thing on anyone's mind when they're on a night out is recycling so for me the best idea was to just down all my drinks at the bar so there's no chance of losing the glass or the token. Started to have second thoughts about this plan when me and this German guy I met ordered 4 Jägerbombs, 4 rum and cokes and 2 tequilas between us. I still managed to win 10 Euros at pool that night and it ended up my best night out so far, all topped off by meeting a postman doing the early shift who pointed me in the right direction to get home.

Early shifts seem to be a pretty common thing in Germany. Everything important such as the International Office is always shut by noon and despite there being a long gap between classes...teachers still manage to show up late. Trains are no better and after spending many frustrating years dealing with British public transport, I was expecting a year without hearing about delays or replacement services. Instead every train has been at least 5-10 minutes late and the tram on Thursday turned a 45 minute journey into an almost 2 hour trip. I'm not too sure where the stereotype of Germans always being punctual and efficient came from but think it needs to be corrected pretty soon. Saying that, they've still got the strongest economy in Europe so maybe working for 4 hours a day is the way forward. I'm sure people back home wouldn't mind that!

The highlight of the week was something I've not done much of (for good reason) but you can't go to a karaoke bar and not sing! After my translation class, one of the German girls, Emily told me she was part of the English Drama Group and asked if I'd be interesting in joining as it would be a good way to improve my german. Figured it couldn't hurt and went along to the first meeting and after a few drinks I found out they'd booked a table in a karaoke bar nearby. After hearing some 'interesting' german songs and some really bad song choices (why on earth would you sing Coldplay at karaoke?!) it was my turn. Now for those of you who've been unfortunate enough to hear me sing, you'll know that me and karaoke should be kept very far away from each other but after enough dutch courage I figured I might as well give it a go. Ended up singing Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry (complete with air guitar solo where i was joined by some of the other guys) Doubt I'll be going back there anytime soon but it was definitely an entertaining night!

So after a month, it's safe to say I'm definitely happy with my choice to come to Wuerzburg. I don't even need Google Maps anymore to navigate my way around town (blatantly jinxed it now) and the first week of uni was pretty straightforward. Got the last few things for my flat sorted (toaster and coffee machine) and now I'm thinking I need to start seeing the rest of Germany. Not sure where I'll go first but I've got some friends in other parts of Bayern so may have to bug them pretty soon. Before that I need to learn all the relevant vocab for getting a haircut in Germany...something I've put off for a while purely out of fear for what the end result may be! Hoping it all goes smoothly.

Bis später.


Typical german dinner with a very different presentation!

Sunday 14 October 2012

The night is darkest before the dawn


After settling in and getting to see more of the town, boredom started to kicked in but after my loan came in, I found the perfect way to solve that. It was time to head on over to Oktoberfest with Rob (from Warwick) and see what the biggest beer festival in the world had to offer. Despite the train to Munich being ridiculously early, I still had to sit on the floor as people from all over Germany had travelled all night dressed in their lederhosen and dirndls and many with bottles and kegs of beer...Seriously, it's Oktoberfest...why would you need to pre-drink?! This is the point where I realised I'm probably gonna have to up my game significantly if I was gonna keep up with the Germans.

First impressions were pretty much what i expected but I was not expecting so many fairground rides at a beer fest. Just the idea of a load of crazy tourists attempting a roller-coaster after several litres of beer...well nothing sounds good about that! We bumped into Andrew, Jess (from our course) and Katie, who was also on her year abroad teaching so we had a couple of drinks in one of the pubs as there was no chance of getting into a tent at this time. In the end, me and Rob decided it would be better to call it a night fairly early so we could be up bright and early in time to get into a tent on Sunday. Now i hadn't really planned this whole trip through (no surprises there) and wasn't sure how long I was gonna be in Munich for, so therefore I hadn't booked anywhere to stay. Luckily Rob's room which was meant to be for 4 didn't have anyone else there for the night so I ended up with a nice comfy bed for free (too bad that was the extent of my luck). The plan worked as we got into a tent without having to queue and spent the majority of the day drinking several Maße of beer, eating traditional german food, leg wrestling crazy Austrians and just loving life. Oktoberfest really did not fail to disappoint and is something I'd definitely recommend to anyone. Even if you don't like beer, I can guarantee you that the beer here is so much better than anything else you'd have tried and the atmosphere is phenomenal!  
Everything is bigger at Oktoberfest!

I think I'm in heaven :D




Sadly things went seriously downhill from there. On the way back I had my bag stolen whilst I was waiting for my train at Munich. To make matters worse, it had my wallet and passport inside it! Now at this time I had several things going through my head but if i didn't get on this train I'd have had to have waited even longer at the station and having spent 3 hours there getting nowhere, that was the last thing i wanted to do so i got on the train hoping I'd be able to explain my case to the conductor. No chance! Germans really don't fuck about with their public transport...even if you've been robbed and you're a foreigner trying to get home at half 4 in the morning then they'll still have no problems calling the police on you and throwing you off at Nuremburg station. I tried explaining what had happened to the police but they just assumed I was a drunken tourist and even though I'd sobered up by this point, the breathalyser certainly didn't do me any favours. By this point, all i wanted to do was get back to my flat, crawl into bed and never wake up again. Here I was stuck in a foreign country with no way out, a non-functioning phone, no ID and looking at potentially spending a night in a police station...this was definitely not what i signed up for! Fortunately one of the officers took pity on me purely because i was from England and could speak "sehr gut Deutsch" (his words not mine) and i was allowed to leave. After more failed explanations to conductors and hopping on various trains, I finally arrived back to my flat, 12 hours after i left Oktoberfest!! I knew there would be a mountain of paperwork to sort out but at this stage the only thing on my mind was sleep. 

The next day included filing a report at the local police station who were a lot more helpful than the ones from the previous night, calling the local UK embassy to try and sort out a new passport and explain to the uni what had happened and hope it would still be possible to register without any ID. Luckily it was but still haven't managed to sort out a timetable yet and uni technically starts tomorrow so that should be fun. As far as the passport situation goes...I'm still waiting on my birth certificate to get here so I can send the forms off and finally get this issue resolved. Hoping to have it here before my 21st as it'll take about a month to process...can't think of many better birthday presents than a way to get home for Christmas. Despite all this, I have no regrets going to Oktoberfest as it was an awesome experience but for anyone who does go, never travel back alone late because you get all sorts of people there and anything could happen.

A few days later and it reached the stage where there was nothing more I could do but wait on replies which albeit unbelievably frustrating, gave me the chance to get out a bit and meet a few more people which was kinda the whole point of this year. So after what has been one of the most stressful weeks of my life, it's time for uni...not really sure what to expect here but things can only get better! 

Bis später