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!
Saturday, 15 October 2011
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...
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