So I’ve been wanting to blog for ages but have been doing too many things, which irritatingly I keep wanting to blog about. It keeps building up and the more stuff I do the more things I want to talk about in my blog and now it’s at the point where I won’t be able to talk about anything in detail and just give an overall view type thing. Hopefully I’ll be able to do more specific posts at a later date. Anyway, now I finally have some time to actually write something I shall give an update into how things are going.
I think I can say I’ve managed to gain a social life comparable to the one I had in Durham which is great. In other words I’m doing something almost every evening and it’s hard to fit everything in. Monday is Sneak Preview night at the local cinema, Tuesday is board games at Mytholon (gaming shop), Wednesday is RPG night (also at Mytholon), Thursday I discovered yesterday is sometimes Horspielabend (radio play evening) at Mytholon and then every other Friday is Vampire Live (a Vampire LARP that I have only played once so far but thought was pretty cool). Finally weekends are often spent visiting different cities or relaxing and most of Sunday can be taken up by the English Speaking Church. So I’m definitely keeping busy!
The days (or at the very least mornings, 12 hours work a week really isn’t a lot) are filled with school, where I’m also getting on well. I have a few commentaries in front of me that I’ll look over and correct bits of this weekend and I’m going to be playing a part in the 11th Grade’s production of ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ that will be performed for the 5th Grade at ‘Fairytale Night’. I also got to wander round a museum this morning because the other school has ‘Project Week’ this week.
There have been many other great things over the past few weeks though: having Hannah to stay and seeing a very obscure but very entertaining film that was in Bavarian or Austrian German, then going to see Ollie in Ellwangen and seeing another film in Bavarian which was rather like a German version of ‘Calendar Girls’ and also discovering that small town life is pretty cool and the comedian Kaya Yanar is hilarious. I do seem to watch a lot of films but then it is my favourite hobby. I even went to the cinema with teachers from the Sportmittelschule and they also took me to a restaurant which was really nice. Then there have been the times I met with people I’ve met at Mytholon, one of whom is studying English so we met for coffee for mutual language practice. There was also a Karaoke night which turned out to be great fun because I wasn’t terrible (according to the song programme we were using) even though I did sing Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up', so effectively Rick Roll’d the party. It was definitely not my choice of song though! (I chose Monty Python’s ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’).
As far as updates go I think this has been fairly inclusive of general things. Hopefully I’ll write again before I go home for Christmas but just in case I don’t, Merry Christmas!
Oh and p.s. for all the British people reading this who care: the weather here is awful at the moment, it’s been windy and raining quite hard all day, I finally have the chance to wear my new boots but my umberella keeps turning inside out. Sigh.
Friday, 16 December 2011
Thursday, 3 November 2011
It's been a while...
Many apologies for the lack of updates recently; there are many things I could blame but a good reason is that perhaps I am now finally starting to feel a bit more settled so there are fewer things to write about. However I did go to Budapest last weekend so I reckon that’s probably worth a mention here.
In a word Budapest is beautiful, I’ve never really felt I could honestly say that about a city before but I really can about Budapest. Even in the grimier backstreets the architecture is still breathtaking and the numerous side streets leading to courtyards enclosed by floor upon floor of businesses and flats where so much is packed into what little space there is are wonderful. Our hostel, the ‘Activity Hostel’, was in one of these blocks and you could tell from going up the stairs that the building was old. The hostel was just one floor with two bedrooms, a kitchen and three bathrooms with the reception where the living room might have been. It was very cosy, very clean and very cheap (less than ten Euros a night!) and I’d definitely recommend it to people. We arrived quite late but by the time we went to bed we’d already booked a wine tasting and found several things that we wanted to see, definitely predicting a packed few days. I’ll probably just present the highlights here.
You can definitely say that Budapest is steeped in history and not just the recent history, which is clearly remembered by many, but also the very early history is rich. We managed to visit both the History of Budapest and the National Hungarian History museums which were very interesting, despite history not being one of my strong points. By far though I think the museums that left the biggest impression on me were the House of Terror and the Ethnography museums. The first is actually situated in the old headquarters of the secret police that operated in Hungary during the communist era. It was incredibly moving and all of the exhibitions were well thought out and engaging as well as interesting. The same could be said of the Ethnography museum which we visited in order to see the World Press Photo exhibition which was a collection of photos taken by photo journalists and submitted for judging to eventually come out with the World Press Photo of the Year. It’s definitely worth googling but with a warning that many of the pictures are disturbing. However the things it shows you about the world are simply incredible. It was definitely worth the four or so Euros that it cost us to get in.
This is another thing that struck me about Budapest, or perhaps Hungary in general, and that is how cheap everything seemed. It was definitely annoying having to divide by 300 every time I wanted to find out what the equivalent in Euros was but once you’ve done that you realise that it isn’t that many Euros after all. The market in particular was wonderfully cheap, with large pieces of cake costing the equivalent of 40 cents and bread rolls for about 10. I may be being too general but it definitely seemed like everything was a lot cheaper over there, we were definitely able to buy a lot of cake and strudel at the market that’s for sure.
The food was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me and I’m very glad that we got to try so many of the national foods. Particularly langos, a deep fried circle of dough smothered in sour cream and cheese (you could have pretty much any topping but that one is traditional apparently). We bought some from a street vendor and they were delicious. Whilst there I even had a very confused conversation with an old man which ended with him dropping a piece of paper in front of me and then leaving. We still haven’t managed to work out what it says and I have no idea what he was trying to tell me, or even for definite what language he was trying to use. Another thing we got to try was pogacsa, a type of Hungarian scone which we first tried at the wine tasting and they were warm and delicious. I was also probably far too happy about the fact that we managed to find a Tesco and I was able to buy a large bag of Tesco Value pogacsa for about one Euro fifty. I just loved the fusion of something so English with something so Hungarian. The final delicious thing I want to mention is the strudel, which although it is found in Austria and Germany I still count as a Hungarian thing as well because after all Austria and Hungary were all one country many years ago. I’d also never had strudel with cabbage or strudel with potato before and believe me both of these options are amazing. Quark is also a wonderful filling and it also formed part of the base of (in my opinion) the most delicious slice of cake out of the ten different types that we tried over the three days. I told you it was cheap cake!
So without a doubt it was a brilliant weekend and Budapest is definitely a city I could go back to. We never got to tour the parliament building for example and there were several museums and famous buildings we never saw that it would have been nice to. However I am pleased that we did manage to see such a huge amount in such a short time, even by simply wandering we happened across interesting things, like the Cave Church or the original foundations of the city by the river or the mini Christmas market.
Thus concludes this overview of our trip, I’d probably be able to write double this amount if I listed everything we did and saw but then you might get bored. I will leave you with the knowledge though that I am still alive and well over here on the continent and, despite the terrible trouble I’m having with my download limit; hope to bring you more blog soon.
Bis dann!
In a word Budapest is beautiful, I’ve never really felt I could honestly say that about a city before but I really can about Budapest. Even in the grimier backstreets the architecture is still breathtaking and the numerous side streets leading to courtyards enclosed by floor upon floor of businesses and flats where so much is packed into what little space there is are wonderful. Our hostel, the ‘Activity Hostel’, was in one of these blocks and you could tell from going up the stairs that the building was old. The hostel was just one floor with two bedrooms, a kitchen and three bathrooms with the reception where the living room might have been. It was very cosy, very clean and very cheap (less than ten Euros a night!) and I’d definitely recommend it to people. We arrived quite late but by the time we went to bed we’d already booked a wine tasting and found several things that we wanted to see, definitely predicting a packed few days. I’ll probably just present the highlights here.
You can definitely say that Budapest is steeped in history and not just the recent history, which is clearly remembered by many, but also the very early history is rich. We managed to visit both the History of Budapest and the National Hungarian History museums which were very interesting, despite history not being one of my strong points. By far though I think the museums that left the biggest impression on me were the House of Terror and the Ethnography museums. The first is actually situated in the old headquarters of the secret police that operated in Hungary during the communist era. It was incredibly moving and all of the exhibitions were well thought out and engaging as well as interesting. The same could be said of the Ethnography museum which we visited in order to see the World Press Photo exhibition which was a collection of photos taken by photo journalists and submitted for judging to eventually come out with the World Press Photo of the Year. It’s definitely worth googling but with a warning that many of the pictures are disturbing. However the things it shows you about the world are simply incredible. It was definitely worth the four or so Euros that it cost us to get in.
This is another thing that struck me about Budapest, or perhaps Hungary in general, and that is how cheap everything seemed. It was definitely annoying having to divide by 300 every time I wanted to find out what the equivalent in Euros was but once you’ve done that you realise that it isn’t that many Euros after all. The market in particular was wonderfully cheap, with large pieces of cake costing the equivalent of 40 cents and bread rolls for about 10. I may be being too general but it definitely seemed like everything was a lot cheaper over there, we were definitely able to buy a lot of cake and strudel at the market that’s for sure.
The food was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me and I’m very glad that we got to try so many of the national foods. Particularly langos, a deep fried circle of dough smothered in sour cream and cheese (you could have pretty much any topping but that one is traditional apparently). We bought some from a street vendor and they were delicious. Whilst there I even had a very confused conversation with an old man which ended with him dropping a piece of paper in front of me and then leaving. We still haven’t managed to work out what it says and I have no idea what he was trying to tell me, or even for definite what language he was trying to use. Another thing we got to try was pogacsa, a type of Hungarian scone which we first tried at the wine tasting and they were warm and delicious. I was also probably far too happy about the fact that we managed to find a Tesco and I was able to buy a large bag of Tesco Value pogacsa for about one Euro fifty. I just loved the fusion of something so English with something so Hungarian. The final delicious thing I want to mention is the strudel, which although it is found in Austria and Germany I still count as a Hungarian thing as well because after all Austria and Hungary were all one country many years ago. I’d also never had strudel with cabbage or strudel with potato before and believe me both of these options are amazing. Quark is also a wonderful filling and it also formed part of the base of (in my opinion) the most delicious slice of cake out of the ten different types that we tried over the three days. I told you it was cheap cake!
So without a doubt it was a brilliant weekend and Budapest is definitely a city I could go back to. We never got to tour the parliament building for example and there were several museums and famous buildings we never saw that it would have been nice to. However I am pleased that we did manage to see such a huge amount in such a short time, even by simply wandering we happened across interesting things, like the Cave Church or the original foundations of the city by the river or the mini Christmas market.
Thus concludes this overview of our trip, I’d probably be able to write double this amount if I listed everything we did and saw but then you might get bored. I will leave you with the knowledge though that I am still alive and well over here on the continent and, despite the terrible trouble I’m having with my download limit; hope to bring you more blog soon.
Bis dann!
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Culture Comparison
I might do this more and more as I discover different things about German culture because I think it's really interesting (and more relevant to the people back home) if I compare aspects of culture with things from back home. It's also part of what I'm meant to be doing out here anyway. Today it shall be a glimpse at youth culture but it's definitely not going to be very deep as I've only been to one club.
The important thing though, is that I have been to a club and have finally met a few more people my own age. This is thanks to my flatmates having some friends over and me walking in from the cinema to find the kitchen filled with people but I still made an effort not to hide in my room and chatted with a few of them. One said that my German was really good and that she could understand everything I was saying which was a good start. They then invited me to come out with them and because of the whole 'wanting to make friends' thing I said yes.
We took a taxi to the TV-Club which was really bizarrely a student club for Tierproduzenten und Veterinaermediziner. I can translate the German (ish)(livestock/animal producers and vets) but still have no idea what it means! However it was very much an average club, very much like any student club I've been in in Durham. This immediately made me smile as I don't think I expected things to be the same and it was nice.
The fun difference was the fact that all drinks were bought with Pfand added. In this club it was one euro, which you got back when you returned the glass. It's just a way of making people return glasses or recycle plastic bottles that you find all over Germany. However in the club it lead to the less drunk people swiping empty glasses from the more drunk people to get a few euros.
The music was also pretty strange, there did seem to be two different rooms with two different styles (one rock and one standard club stuff, don't ask me I don't know music!) but the songs they were playing spanned several decades. I'm not sure if this is like an English club (maybe Klute) but we had something from the top 40 followed by the Spice Girls followed by songs that were even older.
A third difference is the amount of smoking that went on outside the club. This is something I've noticed all over Germany and that I could probably donate a whole blog post to but probably won't. The smoking culture in Germany is much more prevalent and widely accepted than in England. Smoking adverts aren't banned and all over the place you'll see posters or tv or cinema adverts making a certain brand of cigarette look really cool. However somewhere will always be the words, "Rauchen kann toedlich sein" (smoking can be fatal), it just seems strange. There are definitely more people who smoke over here though, or maybe I was just in the wrong club.
The last thing I noticed that was different to student clubs I'm used to, was that this club stayed open way past 2am, which is when the ones in Durham tend to shut. I got home at around 5am after leaving the club at about 4:15 and the party was still going even then. Admittedly the number of people there had fallen drastically but it was still going.
On the whole I'm still of the opinion that clubbing probably isn't for me but I'll do it for a night out and meeting people was good. German clubs and English clubs really are very similar but for the differences mentioned here which is nice. I hope to find many more similarities with England so that I can come home and say, "It's all a lie! The only real difference is language! Let's mix the world up a bit!"
Until next time!
The important thing though, is that I have been to a club and have finally met a few more people my own age. This is thanks to my flatmates having some friends over and me walking in from the cinema to find the kitchen filled with people but I still made an effort not to hide in my room and chatted with a few of them. One said that my German was really good and that she could understand everything I was saying which was a good start. They then invited me to come out with them and because of the whole 'wanting to make friends' thing I said yes.
We took a taxi to the TV-Club which was really bizarrely a student club for Tierproduzenten und Veterinaermediziner. I can translate the German (ish)(livestock/animal producers and vets) but still have no idea what it means! However it was very much an average club, very much like any student club I've been in in Durham. This immediately made me smile as I don't think I expected things to be the same and it was nice.
The fun difference was the fact that all drinks were bought with Pfand added. In this club it was one euro, which you got back when you returned the glass. It's just a way of making people return glasses or recycle plastic bottles that you find all over Germany. However in the club it lead to the less drunk people swiping empty glasses from the more drunk people to get a few euros.
The music was also pretty strange, there did seem to be two different rooms with two different styles (one rock and one standard club stuff, don't ask me I don't know music!) but the songs they were playing spanned several decades. I'm not sure if this is like an English club (maybe Klute) but we had something from the top 40 followed by the Spice Girls followed by songs that were even older.
A third difference is the amount of smoking that went on outside the club. This is something I've noticed all over Germany and that I could probably donate a whole blog post to but probably won't. The smoking culture in Germany is much more prevalent and widely accepted than in England. Smoking adverts aren't banned and all over the place you'll see posters or tv or cinema adverts making a certain brand of cigarette look really cool. However somewhere will always be the words, "Rauchen kann toedlich sein" (smoking can be fatal), it just seems strange. There are definitely more people who smoke over here though, or maybe I was just in the wrong club.
The last thing I noticed that was different to student clubs I'm used to, was that this club stayed open way past 2am, which is when the ones in Durham tend to shut. I got home at around 5am after leaving the club at about 4:15 and the party was still going even then. Admittedly the number of people there had fallen drastically but it was still going.
On the whole I'm still of the opinion that clubbing probably isn't for me but I'll do it for a night out and meeting people was good. German clubs and English clubs really are very similar but for the differences mentioned here which is nice. I hope to find many more similarities with England so that I can come home and say, "It's all a lie! The only real difference is language! Let's mix the world up a bit!"
Until next time!
Monday, 10 October 2011
Fluctuating Moods
I seem to have contracted some form of illness so am not doing great at the moment. This is having an effect on my mood in that one minute I'm up and the next I'm down.
Take today for example. It started off great (despite the really persistant rain), I went into the Sportmittelschule and met two different classes. They were both really keen, seemed to like my presentation of pictures about my life and asked loads of questions. Both asked "How old are you?" and "Do you have a boyfriend?" so they're typical teenagers I guess. After that there was a buffet thing in the staff room because there had been a few teachers with birthdays and I chatted with people and it was nice.
Then I went into town in the continuing rain to try and open a bank account. Already my mood was dipping. I made an appointment and had an hour to kill so did the German thing and went for coffee and cake. A slightly awkward exchange with the waiter where I failed to properly understand that it was table service (but you still had to stand at the counter to order cake, which is probably why I was confused) made me feel foolish and self conscious so mood dropped another point. Eating delicious cake and sitting quietly for a bit brought it back up again, as did a very speedy and successful bank appointment where I managed to open an account in about 15 minutes.
After noticing that 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' was showing in an hour I decided to wander around the shops for a bit and then see that. It was lonely and dull and I wasn't really sure what I was doing. I was then the only person in the entire cinema until three other people showed up five minutes before it started. The film was really good but I think some of the camera shots made me motion sick and combined with current illness and tiredness I came out of the cinema feeling awful.
I dragged myself home and collapsed on my bed feeling pretty sorry for myself but a brief Skype conversation picked me up again so I went to find some food. In the process I ended up talking to my flatmates and we had a proper conversation and then ate food together. They also gave me herbal tea to help my cough/general illness. So now I'm feeling pretty good and less lonely.
I guess the whole point of this post was to say that it's not always roses. I never expected it to be to be honest but today has taught me that I can indeed cope and things will always get better. I will try to remember this in the coming months.
Tschuss!
Take today for example. It started off great (despite the really persistant rain), I went into the Sportmittelschule and met two different classes. They were both really keen, seemed to like my presentation of pictures about my life and asked loads of questions. Both asked "How old are you?" and "Do you have a boyfriend?" so they're typical teenagers I guess. After that there was a buffet thing in the staff room because there had been a few teachers with birthdays and I chatted with people and it was nice.
Then I went into town in the continuing rain to try and open a bank account. Already my mood was dipping. I made an appointment and had an hour to kill so did the German thing and went for coffee and cake. A slightly awkward exchange with the waiter where I failed to properly understand that it was table service (but you still had to stand at the counter to order cake, which is probably why I was confused) made me feel foolish and self conscious so mood dropped another point. Eating delicious cake and sitting quietly for a bit brought it back up again, as did a very speedy and successful bank appointment where I managed to open an account in about 15 minutes.
After noticing that 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' was showing in an hour I decided to wander around the shops for a bit and then see that. It was lonely and dull and I wasn't really sure what I was doing. I was then the only person in the entire cinema until three other people showed up five minutes before it started. The film was really good but I think some of the camera shots made me motion sick and combined with current illness and tiredness I came out of the cinema feeling awful.
I dragged myself home and collapsed on my bed feeling pretty sorry for myself but a brief Skype conversation picked me up again so I went to find some food. In the process I ended up talking to my flatmates and we had a proper conversation and then ate food together. They also gave me herbal tea to help my cough/general illness. So now I'm feeling pretty good and less lonely.
I guess the whole point of this post was to say that it's not always roses. I never expected it to be to be honest but today has taught me that I can indeed cope and things will always get better. I will try to remember this in the coming months.
Tschuss!
Saturday, 8 October 2011
Entdeckungstag (Day of Discovery)
I have no idea if Entdeckungstag is a real word but I like it and when I used it in a sentence with a German person it didn't seem to cause confusion. That's one of the great things about German: you can mix most words together to create new ones. Anyway, a lot seems to have happened in the last two days as I try to come to terms with a new city and work out what there actually is here.
First things first on Friday was to go shopping so that I actually had something to eat in the house. This wasn't all that exciting apart from the fact that I love shopping when I have a definite list of things to buy because there's a much greater feeling of having achieved something at the end. The shop I went to was 'Norma' and it's almost exactly like any of the other German supermarkets that have made their way to England. The most interesting thing I bought were 'Erdnuss Flips' which are like peanutbutter Wotsits. They're pretty strange. The other great thing is that food is pretty cheap over here compared to England so I shouldn't have to worry about overspending.
After that I visited the 'Sportmittel Schule' for the first time to meet all the teachers. The visit only lasted about an hour but everyone was really friendly and they gave me a flower and a 'Zueckertuete' which is a traditional thing that children get when they start school. It was a cone full of sweets and stationery and most exciting of all: a lanyard! I honestly think it's the best thing ever. I know that's pretty sad but I can put my keys on it when I have no pockets and it makes me feel official and business like.
Another thing I did was visit the cinema which is one thing I've found to have intersting differences with English cinema and a topic that I'd potentially like to do my first year abroad essay on. For instance the adverts and trailers are all mixed together and then after an advert for ice cream the lights came on, the curtain closed and they started selling ice cream. Then there were yet more adverts before the film finally started. There is also ample leg room in all seats which allows people to move easily to the seat they've paid for and makes everyone much more comfortable. I saw dubbed 'Johnny English' which was pretty good but there are a couple of actual German films I'd like to see as well which will probably make for a better cinema experience.
I've also spent today exploring the city centre and have decided that Leipzig has too many shops. I checked on my map and saw that I only really covered one grid square but still I think I managed to see a lot. Including two different churches, one of which is the church that Bach went to and is now buried in and the other is the one I will probably go to tomorrow. I think making friends is high up my list of priorities at the moment, so going to the university service tomorrow morning might be a good place to start.
Finally I seem to be generally having good experiences with the actual language side of things. It's still pleasantly surprising to find I can understand a stream of German and am able to reply. Or even better that I can say something in German and not have people reply in English which has so often been the case. Don't get me wrong it's still really scary but with each successive good experience my confidence with German grows.
This seems to have been a rather rambling, listy type blog post so apologies to those who got bored and congratulations if you made it to the end. I'm sure another update will follow as soon as I do something else vaguely interesting or different to my life back in England.
Tschuss!
First things first on Friday was to go shopping so that I actually had something to eat in the house. This wasn't all that exciting apart from the fact that I love shopping when I have a definite list of things to buy because there's a much greater feeling of having achieved something at the end. The shop I went to was 'Norma' and it's almost exactly like any of the other German supermarkets that have made their way to England. The most interesting thing I bought were 'Erdnuss Flips' which are like peanutbutter Wotsits. They're pretty strange. The other great thing is that food is pretty cheap over here compared to England so I shouldn't have to worry about overspending.
After that I visited the 'Sportmittel Schule' for the first time to meet all the teachers. The visit only lasted about an hour but everyone was really friendly and they gave me a flower and a 'Zueckertuete' which is a traditional thing that children get when they start school. It was a cone full of sweets and stationery and most exciting of all: a lanyard! I honestly think it's the best thing ever. I know that's pretty sad but I can put my keys on it when I have no pockets and it makes me feel official and business like.
Another thing I did was visit the cinema which is one thing I've found to have intersting differences with English cinema and a topic that I'd potentially like to do my first year abroad essay on. For instance the adverts and trailers are all mixed together and then after an advert for ice cream the lights came on, the curtain closed and they started selling ice cream. Then there were yet more adverts before the film finally started. There is also ample leg room in all seats which allows people to move easily to the seat they've paid for and makes everyone much more comfortable. I saw dubbed 'Johnny English' which was pretty good but there are a couple of actual German films I'd like to see as well which will probably make for a better cinema experience.
I've also spent today exploring the city centre and have decided that Leipzig has too many shops. I checked on my map and saw that I only really covered one grid square but still I think I managed to see a lot. Including two different churches, one of which is the church that Bach went to and is now buried in and the other is the one I will probably go to tomorrow. I think making friends is high up my list of priorities at the moment, so going to the university service tomorrow morning might be a good place to start.
Finally I seem to be generally having good experiences with the actual language side of things. It's still pleasantly surprising to find I can understand a stream of German and am able to reply. Or even better that I can say something in German and not have people reply in English which has so often been the case. Don't get me wrong it's still really scary but with each successive good experience my confidence with German grows.
This seems to have been a rather rambling, listy type blog post so apologies to those who got bored and congratulations if you made it to the end. I'm sure another update will follow as soon as I do something else vaguely interesting or different to my life back in England.
Tschuss!
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Stereotypes
I have successfully made it to Leipzig! No thanks to trains though which have been late or delayed all day. This is what made me think about stereotypes because I'm sure everyone in England thinks that Germans are very punctual and organised etc.
This is definitely not true! I'm sure that some Germans are punctual and organised, however their trains are no more punctual than ours, they have the same delays and the same excuses coming over the tannoy as you stand waiting frustratedly on the platform (albeit these come through in German and then English and listening to the announcer as he tries to remember the right English words is rather amusing). I will update you on the destruction of more stereotypes as and when I come across them. One of our tutors this week said that apparently Germans think that English people can't cook. I look forward to proving this one very wrong indeed.
So yes, I am here and unpacked and surfing on some random unsecured wireless network I detected on setting up my laptop. If you see someone with my name doing crazy things, I've had my identity stolen (or it's actually me having a wild time here in Leipzig). I have yet to meet my two flatmates but I know that they are both footballers and are currently out at training. Just going on that I don't think they could possibly sound more different from me but I hope we get on well. Further updates will possibly follow tomorrow when I visit one of my schools for the first time.
Bis bald!
This is definitely not true! I'm sure that some Germans are punctual and organised, however their trains are no more punctual than ours, they have the same delays and the same excuses coming over the tannoy as you stand waiting frustratedly on the platform (albeit these come through in German and then English and listening to the announcer as he tries to remember the right English words is rather amusing). I will update you on the destruction of more stereotypes as and when I come across them. One of our tutors this week said that apparently Germans think that English people can't cook. I look forward to proving this one very wrong indeed.
So yes, I am here and unpacked and surfing on some random unsecured wireless network I detected on setting up my laptop. If you see someone with my name doing crazy things, I've had my identity stolen (or it's actually me having a wild time here in Leipzig). I have yet to meet my two flatmates but I know that they are both footballers and are currently out at training. Just going on that I don't think they could possibly sound more different from me but I hope we get on well. Further updates will possibly follow tomorrow when I visit one of my schools for the first time.
Bis bald!
Monday, 3 October 2011
Airports...
I have decided that I don't like airports. With so many people from so many different countries passing through them every day, it seems to me like they no longer contain any part of the culture of the country that they are in. They don't seem to have any part of any culture at all really. They're just transitionary points as a means to an end and on the whole a tad depressing.
The only perk of airports today was arriving in Koeln Bonn and hearing over the tannoy, "Wilkommen zum Bonn, Koeln Bonn." In contrast to disliking airports, German train stations seem wonderful. I may be biased because of the fantastic guy at the desk who clearly and carefully explained (in German) which bits of the form I needed to fill in for my travel card and also which bit was which with my ticket and when my connections were. I got the impression that each person behind the desk would take this much time with each customer to ensure that they got what they needed. Truly impeccable service.
I'm currently at Haus Altenberg, about an hour from Koeln, enjoying a bit of free time before dinner. There are about 60 assistants here for the course before we're sent off to start our placements proper on Thursday.
I don't know if blog posts will be this regular, probably not, but I just wanted to let people know I made it and it's all fine. Things are looking good.
The only perk of airports today was arriving in Koeln Bonn and hearing over the tannoy, "Wilkommen zum Bonn, Koeln Bonn." In contrast to disliking airports, German train stations seem wonderful. I may be biased because of the fantastic guy at the desk who clearly and carefully explained (in German) which bits of the form I needed to fill in for my travel card and also which bit was which with my ticket and when my connections were. I got the impression that each person behind the desk would take this much time with each customer to ensure that they got what they needed. Truly impeccable service.
I'm currently at Haus Altenberg, about an hour from Koeln, enjoying a bit of free time before dinner. There are about 60 assistants here for the course before we're sent off to start our placements proper on Thursday.
I don't know if blog posts will be this regular, probably not, but I just wanted to let people know I made it and it's all fine. Things are looking good.
Saturday, 1 October 2011
A Final Thought on Leaving
I reckon it's pretty hard to write a blog about my last thoughts on leaving England when I've been trying so hard lately to not think about leaving at all. Today was meant to be a day for packing but I avoided getting my case out until the last minute and only moved the pile off clothes from my bed when I realised I might want to sleep at some point.
If I pack it seems to have such an air of finality to it, I will have to go through with this year, until then I'm just saying I'm going I'm not actually doing anything.
Part of me also worries that no one else is finding it this hard. As far as I know I'm one of the last few to actually start their year abroad. Everyone else has been in foreign lands all summer while I stayed behind with my summer job and now it's finally my turn and it's really hard to actually believe.
I have to though, I must power through to the other side where a new culture and many adventures await me. My one consistent thought of the last few days is this: Germany had better be pretty damn awesome to make up for all the stress and anxiety this trip is causing me.
Next post will be from a new land, deep breath, here we go...
If I pack it seems to have such an air of finality to it, I will have to go through with this year, until then I'm just saying I'm going I'm not actually doing anything.
Part of me also worries that no one else is finding it this hard. As far as I know I'm one of the last few to actually start their year abroad. Everyone else has been in foreign lands all summer while I stayed behind with my summer job and now it's finally my turn and it's really hard to actually believe.
I have to though, I must power through to the other side where a new culture and many adventures await me. My one consistent thought of the last few days is this: Germany had better be pretty damn awesome to make up for all the stress and anxiety this trip is causing me.
Next post will be from a new land, deep breath, here we go...
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Small Town Living
So I shall be departing for foreign lands in just over a week and have been thinking today about the eccentricites of England that I will miss. Particularly the eccentricites of small towns, for example the 37th Annual Pumpkin Fair that I visited today.
It's pretty much what it sounds like. There is a biggest pumpkin contest as well as various other giant vegetable competitions, flowers, cakes, stalls, tombolas. This year also featured ferret racing. The mind truly boggles.
However I hardly ever experienced anything like this until I moved to a small town. I'm not saying that large citys can't have events like this, it's just that I noticed a particular type of community feeling that seems to come from holding an event in a town where everybody knows everybody else. It just feels so much smaller and closer and in a way more personal because we all know each other and all have links with most of the groups that are there. I certainly remember the times growing up when I got to enter the Guide competitions that involved doing something creative and then see my work displayed in the pavilion.
It was as I was watching the Morris Dancers though that I really got a sense of the strangeness of small town communities and their events. I think it was because they weren't amazing and although everyone had realised this I was still prepared to watch and clap because of the strange sense of pride in the community that I felt. I did also enjoy wondering what the Portugese family next to me was thinking about the men with sticks and bells occasionally waving hankies around but that's probably another blog.
This is now starting to creep towards being ridiculously patriotic but lately I've become more affectionate towards my small town (and my small country) because I'm going to miss it and all the crazy things that it does. I'm going to find myself in a strange country that has different eccentricites that I won't understand and I find that both saddening and exciting at the same time.
It all goes down on October the 3rd, the countdown has begun!
It's pretty much what it sounds like. There is a biggest pumpkin contest as well as various other giant vegetable competitions, flowers, cakes, stalls, tombolas. This year also featured ferret racing. The mind truly boggles.
However I hardly ever experienced anything like this until I moved to a small town. I'm not saying that large citys can't have events like this, it's just that I noticed a particular type of community feeling that seems to come from holding an event in a town where everybody knows everybody else. It just feels so much smaller and closer and in a way more personal because we all know each other and all have links with most of the groups that are there. I certainly remember the times growing up when I got to enter the Guide competitions that involved doing something creative and then see my work displayed in the pavilion.
It was as I was watching the Morris Dancers though that I really got a sense of the strangeness of small town communities and their events. I think it was because they weren't amazing and although everyone had realised this I was still prepared to watch and clap because of the strange sense of pride in the community that I felt. I did also enjoy wondering what the Portugese family next to me was thinking about the men with sticks and bells occasionally waving hankies around but that's probably another blog.
This is now starting to creep towards being ridiculously patriotic but lately I've become more affectionate towards my small town (and my small country) because I'm going to miss it and all the crazy things that it does. I'm going to find myself in a strange country that has different eccentricites that I won't understand and I find that both saddening and exciting at the same time.
It all goes down on October the 3rd, the countdown has begun!
Sunday, 17 July 2011
A Blog Transformation
Owing to the fact that I'm going to be abroad for most of next year and don't want to faff with multiple blogs I shall be incorporating thoughts with travel stories. I reckon it'll also give me a bigger incentive to actually post things here.
I have also had a thought half formed and drafted for a while now but not really got round to finishing it. I'm sure that'll go up soon along with news of all my 'adventures'.
I'll keep you posted!
I have also had a thought half formed and drafted for a while now but not really got round to finishing it. I'm sure that'll go up soon along with news of all my 'adventures'.
I'll keep you posted!
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