Word of the Day 30/11/10

Today’s word of the day: der Zusammenbruch

Direct translation: Together Break  

English translation: Breakdown / collapse

Example: der Zusammenbruch der Bank Lehman Brothers

~ I’m sure this will come in handy academically ~

ROC Race of Champions Sunday 28th November 2010 [Edit:Now including Video]

It’s been a few days now since I went to watch ROC in Dusseldorf and now that I finally have a few minutes spare I thought I’d recap on what was an amazing event.
Doors opened at the Esprit arena at exactly 12 o'clock, there was a fenced off area just through the gates where you queued for less than minute and could have a look at some of the cars. Inside the arena had a quick look around for any stalls selling merchandise, there were a few ROC stalls and people giving out VW flags and Nürburgring key chain straps. We sat down about 12.30 and watched Vettel’s world championship winning car doing a test run of the circuit. (I’m not entirely sure if it was Vettel or someone else in the car. From the helmet I think no, but I could be wrong). The car was a little too big and much too fast for the track and he did crash into the wall a few times. Bless him.
There were a few “exhibitions” before the race itself began. This included a rather mediocre cheerleading display from the ROC Grid girls, who may I add

must of been freezing. As well as an impressive Red Bull motorbike stunt show. I’m not a big fan of motorbikes, I think they are very very dangerous, and I was very scared watching them flying through the air but I actually did enjoy it. 
The first race was Heikki Kovalainen against Sebastien Loeb. Loeb won but seconds, if not even that, after the cars crossed the finish line Kovalainen crashed into the barrier and took a considerable amount of the track with him. He didn’t race again after than that, although no reason was given. I found out today though that his Beifahrer (passenger) was his girlfriend and that she had to be taken to hospital to be treated for concussion, so I’m pretty sure that’s the reason. Nevertheless it was a shame, because I was quite looking forward to seeing him race a bit more.
While the track was being mended stunt driver Terry Grant kept us entertained with some “donuts”. This video will explain more:

The rest of the races were not AS dramatic. Although over high points was the race with Schumacher (I don’t remember who he was racing) but the other guy gave up and drove into the exit halfway through the race. The audience were confused, the stewards were confused, Schumacher was confused. Another race full of high excitement was the quarter final of Schumacher versus Vettel. It was very close. Vettel was leading on lap one, then Schumacher, then it was neck and neck and they final lap..YES! Vettel beat the 7 time world champion. Unfortunately this was followed by a very low point, as Vettel was unexpectedly knocked out of the semi final by Filipe Albuquerque (who went on to win ROC, beating Sebastien Loeb) The whole arena went silent as Albuquerque crossed the line ahead of our hero Vettel. I can’t even begin to explain how big Vettel is here in Germany at the moment. He is the national icon of the moment. The country worships him. But fair play to the Germans, they didn’t boo the Portuguese driver, instead they gave him a well deserved round of applause. 
So what was my favourite part? Without a doubt it was during the break when Vettel came out in his F1 car. This time there was no crashing or getting the car stuck. He drove like a pro and it not only looked amazing, it sounded fantastic. I’m not going to lie, I found it a little bit arousing. (*^-_^*) However Sebastian, as an asthmatic, I did not really appreciate the blanket of dust that you whipped up into the air. But I’ll forgive you this once. :)

So yes, it lived up to my expectations, if not more. I would recommend anyone who has a chance to go in the future to do so. Even if you are not a big motorsport fan, it is a really good day out and you really do get to see the drivers and cars up close. I’ll leave you guys with a pic of Vettel and Schumi each. ☆

I

Walking in a winter wonderland

It hasn’t stopped snowing all day here in Marburg, and the rest of Hessen for that matter. The temperature is going to plummet in the following days and we will be in for more and more of the white stuff. In the mean time I’d like to share a photo I took today during my emergency shopping trip to Frankfurt.  

Word of the Day 29/11/10

Today’s word of the day: der/die Seelenverwandte

Direct translation: Soul relative  

English translation: Soul mate

Example: Endlich, nach einer langen Suche, habe ich meinen Seelenverwandte gefunden

~ Romantic ♥ ~

Where did all the snow come from?

I came back from Düsseldorf just a few hours ago and was welcomed home by a blanket of snow on the ground.This was definitely a surprise and I did feel a little disorientated. I leave Marburg, no snow, come back, a fair bit of snow. Interesting.

More snow is forecast and I have yet to buy myself a sensible pair of boots. Scheiße a better hop on a train to Frankfurt asap for some emergency shopping. 

Marburg b(u)y night, Christmas is on it’s way

Today Marburg hosted an event called “Marburg b(u)y night”. The event is marks the start of the Christmas season, with the opening of the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market), shopping until Midnight and the illumination of the town.

The night started with a fire dance performance. Then all of the children were invited to press the “big red button” and bam on came the lights.

Some of the lights were really creative, and it was a lot of fun trailing around the town trying to find them.

 

My favourite had to be the Luftballoon (Balloons) in front of the Mensa.

Although this is by far my favourite photo of the night. Here you can see the Christmas lights in the trees, the yellowy orange Pfarrkirche and a blue Schloss (castle). On my bus journey I saw the Schloss change from blue to pink to white to yellow to green. Wunderschön ☆

This was my first time in an echte deutsche Weihnachtsmarkt and although Marburg’s is very small it already knocked the socks off of the ones in England.

We ate Bratwurst and drank Glühwein.We admired the little hands and crafts stalls and I ate some Zuckerwatte (see word of the day 26/11/10), which was very messy and sticky.

And to top it all off there was snow!!!! Yes I wandered around a German Christmas market whilst beautiful snow flakes fell elegantly from the starry sky. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆I couldn’t have asked for a better night ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Word of the Day 26/11/10

Today’s word of the day: die Zuckerwatte

Direct translation: Sugar wool   

English translation: Candy floss/ cotton candy

Example: Zuckerwatte ist immer so klebrig

~ yummy ~

The Pound is getting Stronger, finally.

 

I just logged onto caxtonfxcard.com to top up my card before I go away this weekend and to my surprise the conversion rate is 1.1610, this is the highest it has been since I’ve been here. I’d been so disheartened previously with the pathetic 1.09 conversion rates but finally it’s on the up. Of course it is nowhere near as strong as it was a few years ago when our pound was basically worth 1.5€, but as long as doesn’t go down then I’m happy.

Do Americans have the right to have a day off on Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers out there, which according to my Stats there are a lot of you out there (whoo I love Stats!). Now I am aware that what I’m about to say is pretty controversial and you may not agree but please if that’s the case then leave me a little comment, nicely explaining why you think that my opinion is wrong.
So the hot topic of the week has been should Americans take Thanksgiving off? In America thanksgiving is a national holiday so there is no class or work. I'm aware that a few of the Americans here did not go to class today.
 I understand that Thanksgiving is important to Americans but I have to stress that it is a national holiday. It is not an international holiday nor is it a religious holiday, taking Thanksgiving off in a foreign country is like me taking the day of Prince William’s and Kate Middleton’s wedding off (it’s going to be a national holiday I hear). I just wouldn’t do it. Maybe my British way of thinking is not attuned to American patriotism.
For me it conjures up the question, if Americans are taking Thanksgiving off, then do they not get a day off during German national holidays? If the answer is no, then it looks like the Americans are being a tad greedy, but of course its going to be no because you cannot go to university if the university is not open. 
Please do not get me wrong, I’m not trying to pi ck on Americans. I’d feel the same way whether it was us British trying to take a day off or even people from Timbuktu. I understand that where we come from is important, and I’m all for celebrating Thanksgiving in Germany (there are a lot of Thanksgiving dinners here tonight) but to take the day off of school, I just don’t understand it.

Word of the Day 25/11/10

Today’s word of the day: Macht’s gut

Direct translation: Do it well  

English translation: Bye, take care, see ya (use with friends)

~ More of a phrase of the day than word of the day.~

Wirtschafterin wo sind Sieeeeeeeeee!?!?!

My Sebastian Vettel “Weltmeister” t-shirt arrived on Monday while I was at University. Instead of taking it to the post office for me to collect the post man decided to give it to the Wirtschafterin. The Wirtschafterin is a mixture of an a warden and a cleaner. She is only on sight from 9-13 everyday week day. I had a class to go to Tuesday morning so I wasn’t able to pick it up, and yesterday I needed to go to the Stadtbüro so although I had a quick look out for her and I didn’t manage to catch her.
So today is my first real attempt at finding her and it is impossible! She is nowhere to be found. And to make matters worse there is a sign down stairs saying that she will not be here tomorrow (Friday), that means today is my only chance to collect my t-shirt in time for Race of Champions on Sunday.
I’m not impressed. Seriously where are you woman!!!!

Word of the Day 23/11/10

Today’s word of the day: zuckersüß

Direct translation: Sugar sweet  

English translation: sickily sweet

Example: Ihre neue Hundchen ist Zuckersüß.

~ finally an adjective, I’m so sick of nouns~

Intergrating with German Students, my struggle continues.

I think it's fair to say that one of the aims of the year abroad is to have contact with the natives. It's the undoubtedly the best way to improve your language and cultural understanding and the contacts you make could come in very useful in the future.
Now I know that I am not the only one who has been having trouble making friends, or even speaking to, my German classmates. In fact 95% of the people I speak to have told me that they are experiencing the same problem. However as I am fast approaching the halfway point of my Year Abroad in Germany, I really feel that I need to step up my game and get some German friends.
I decided that the best bet was to tackle the people in my one and only seminar. Seminars are smaller and the people do enjoy a good chat as we wait outside the classroom. I have an American friend in the Seminar, we are the only foreigners, and I do notice that we segregate ourselves from the group by waiting at the otherside of the corridor and speaking English (something that I HATE). So I asked my friend today if we could stand with the group and maybe try to get to know them. "No" she said.
I could have gone and talked to the Germans by myself, but I didn't. I regret it and I hope that next week I'll be stronger, more independent and do what I want to do. I have a week to prepare myself and fingers crossed I'm successful because I'm really running out of time. 

A few German graffiti fails (Warning explicit language)

One thing that annoys me about Germany, so German readers, is the amount of graffiti. I don’t know whether Germans do graffiti more than the British or whether its that the Germans are not so anal about it and thus do not clean it off. One example is the mass of graffiti on the interior and exterior walls of the university. If someone defaced my university at home there would be a university-wide uproar, but here it really seems to be the norm.
As I;m faced with Graffiti on a daily basis, I do get to find some very funny graffiti fails. From poor attempts to write in English to very weird messages. I thought I’d share a very small selection of them with you.

Ihr B*****s seid nur hohl und sonst nix? Peace out Pigw****s?
  (You B*****s are only hollow and nothing else. Peace out Pigwhores) What???? What does that even mean. And that the heck is a Pigw****????

 

F**** here
Now this is either someone who hates this part of Munich or permission to have public sex

 

 

I kill all the white people, Guns don’t kill people, eh eh, I kill with guns
I found this one today on the desk in the lecture theatre, unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me. Either someone is very angry with the world, or they are just trying to show off their English skills. My favourite part has to be the “eh, eh”. I makes me thing that the writer is some type of gangster rapper wannabe. Also it reminds me a bit of the Goldie Lookin’ Chain song “Guns dob’t kill people, rappers do”.

 

Fat ass pizza
 Although this isn’t graffiti in the sense that it is written or painted, it is defacing by sticking stickers on public property and most importantly it is funny. I love pizza but the words FAT ASS PIZZA doesn’t attract me in the slightest. Can F.A. Pizza really taste nice?

Sebastian Vettel’s homecoming

One of the biggest news stories to hit Germany, and particularly Hessen, was the long awaited homecoming of Formula 1 Weltmeister Sebastian Vettel.
As a huge Vettel fan, I must admit that, I was waiting in anticipation for the news that he was coming home. Vettel’s home town Heppenheim is in the same state as Marburg, Heppenheim, so not only was it not too far to travel to, it is also free for me to travel there with my Semesterticket.
I read in the early hours of the morning on Sunday 22nd November that he was finally going to make an appearance in Heppenheim at 14.30 that day. I had been waiting for a week to hear that news and didn’t think twice about going. (Even more shocking is that I went alone! Me, the former most unindependent girl in the world!)
I assumed it would just be some type of town hall ceremony, but I was wrong. I arrived at the Europaplatz in Heppenheim at about 12.10 and although there were not too many people there, I was only 8 rows back from the front, I could tell this was definitely bigger than a town hall ceremony. For a start the Europaplatz was a large flat area of land and erected on this land were numerous Redbull beverage tents, a TV reporters area, an ice cream stand (yes they were giving out free ice creams on a freezing winter’s day) and a bus that had been converted into a stage. On stage was a radio DJ from FFH who was blasting night club-esque party tunes from some very large speakers. Yes, it resembled more of a concert or festival than a homecoming.
I must have come at the right time because within half an hour of my arrival I could no longer see the end of the mass of Vettel fans. A lot people were wearing replicas of his famous Red bull beanie hat, or some other Redbull merchandise. As I was still waiting for my Vettel World Champion t-shirt to arrive in the post (it came today) I opted for wearing all blue.
After two hours and five minutes of dancing and putting our “Vettelfingers” in the airn the announcement of made that Vettel was here and was ready come out, 15 minutes before he was actually scheduled. Personally this was a shock to me, since its usually a perk for a celebrities to turn up on time, let alone early. He came on stage to a chorus of “SE-BAST-IAN! SE-BAST-IAN!”, something that we have been practicing with the DJ for the past two hours. Now I’ve read in the UK press about Vettel’s arrogance, but the young man who was stood up on stage was not only humble but in awe of everything. He didn’t shout or scream “YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” like some egoistic rockstar, he just looked out at us and took it all in. In fact the first thing he did when he came on stage was take a photo of us on his mobile so that he could remember the moment for ever. The presenter assumed that it would be going on his facebook page or some website for people to download but Vettel modestly replied that it was for himself, as a keepsake on his mobile and that maybe he’ll print it out and keep it in his bedroom.
He was on stage being interviewed for a while and a German comedian, who is supposidly a friend and big fan of Vettel, joined him. Now I must admit that I had no idea who Bülent Ceylan. was, but with the creaming reception that he got, I can tell that everyone else certainly did. They had a bit of a joke, it was sweet. There was also a present giving ceremony. Vettel signed the the not so infamous “Vettelheim, Heppenheim” street sign and then he left the stage to be interview for the TV and Radio. The interviews took literally five minutes and then he came into the crowd and signed autographs and were able, well kind of, to take closer photos of him. Because of the sheer quantity of people there it was unrealistic that everyone would be able to get their stuff signed so he threw signed postcards into the audience. I managed to catch one :D    
The venue emptied pretty quickly after Vettel left. I saw a few kids crying because they hadn’t managed to get to meet the world champion. I got back to Marburg at 8pm and saw one of my friend’s briefly in the train station. “Where have you been?” she asked. “Heppenheim!” I proudly proclaimed. “Are you being serious? I was watching that on TV”. “Yep”, I replied, “I was there” :) 

Word of the Day 22/11/10

Today’s word of the day: der Schüttelfrost

Direct translation: Shivering frost,  

English translation: a violent shivering fit/ the chills

Example: Sebastian Vettel ist ein hessischer Bub.

~ I though this was appropriate because of the ridiculously cold temperature today ~

Word of the Day 21/11/10

Today’s word of the day: der Bub

A word used in hessen dialect

English translation: boy, lad

Example: Sebastian Vettel ist ein hessischer Bub.

~ Vettel taught me this word :) ~

Pfand ist toll, I love Pfand.

 

On Monday 20th October I posted about “being ill in Germany”, where I gave a very very brief description of Pfand

http://survivingayearabroadineurope.blogspot.com/2010/10/being-ill-in-germany.html

In it I admitted that I had never actually received my Pfand back because I’d never given the bottles back.

Well today that all changed.

I forgot to buy some parcel tape today when I was in town, so I had to quickly get the bus to REWE at about 18.30 this evening. I checked my purse and realised that I didn’t have enough money. Then it hit me. I had a huge pile of bottles in my wardrobe, surely they’d be worth something right? Damn right! Those babies were worth €2.50. The parcel tape came to €2.99, but I had enough to cover that.

How does it work, you ask?

Basically the Pfand machine in REWE (it’s probably different in each supermarket) was in the actual shop by the drinks isle. You don’t need to press any buttons, you just put the bottle on the conveyer belt in the hole in the wall and when it disappears put in another bottle and another. You don’t need to remove the cap or lid, but you may need to blow the bottle up because if it is not round enough the machine will reject it. When you are finished you press a little green button and it prints you a voucher. You then use the voucher to pay for your shopping. BUT REMEMBER your voucher needs to be scanned before the shopping is scanned. 

Recycling really pays in Germany :D

Word of the Day 19/11/10

Today’s word of the day: die Milchstraße

Direct translation: The milk road/street

English translation: The Milkyway

Example: Die Erde ist ein kleiner Planet, der in der Milchstraße liegt.

~What a cute little astronomical  word~

Join in the fun and change your profile pic to a childhood cartoon character.

I log into my facebook and for the first 5 minutes I was a little confused. I was scrolling down the news page and there were a few people who I did not recognise. Has someone hacked onto my account and added random people?
Then I looked properly and realised that a bunch of my friends her in Germany had changed their profile pictures to cartoon characters.I managed to find this link and all of a sudden it is all a lot clearer.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=720747906#!/event.php?eid=145032082210622
The aim is for the whole facebook community to change their profile pictures to any childhood character until the 30th November. As I already said, the only people on my friends list who have changed their profile picture are either German or living in Germany. Thus I’m guessing that this phenomenon hasn’t reached the UK yet.
It’s great fun and I think it’d be really cool if it does go global, so please change your profile picture and share the message with your friends.

~Until it hits the UK: When in Germany, do as the Germans do ☆

Word of the Day 18/11/10

Today’s word of the day: die Klagewelle

Direct translation: Complaint wave

English translation: a flood of lawsuits

Example: Die Verletzung des Urheberrechts führt zu Klagewelle.

~A law themed word of the day. ~

Finally discovered the wonders of “Stats” but sad at “I hate my year abroad” searches.

I’ve been blogging for a few months now, but I’ve only just discovered that you can view your stats on your Blogger dashboard. Its amazing to see how many views my blog has been getting, plus where the viewers are coming from and how they found my blog. As it stands my blog has been viewed in 10 different countries, the top 3 being the UK, Germany and USA. My most viewed post is “Schokolade, Bitte”, which I just find hilarious.It is, in my opinion. my most pointless post to date, yet it is the most popular. I’ll try to post more pointless ones more often.
I hate my year abroad
I was having a look at where my traffic comes from and the most googled phrase that people use when they find my blog is “I hate my year abroad”. I found this really sad. I don’t know whether the people who are on google and actually on their year abroad and unhappy, or whether they are preparing for their YA and preparing themselves for the worst. Either way, i would like to say that I am there for anyone who is having difficulties or is worried about next year. At times I get really down, I’m sure a few of my past posts will show that, but please don’t let that spoil your time away. No matter how hard it is, whether you still haven’t found a permanent place to stay, you’ve ran out of money, you’ve lost your passport. just think of what you are getting out of this. Whenever I’m sad I remind myself of how much I’ve achieved since I’ve arrived. The life skills that I’m learning, how I’m becoming less dependent on others. Hell, I’ve learnt that eating alone in Mcdonalds is nowhere near as embarrassing as I thought it was. So please, don’t let the down days get to you. Year abroads are challenging, but don’t hate it, take on the challenge and learn to appreciate the good things, no matter how small or unimportant they seem. 

~☆~ Smile through the hard times, cherish every moment of happiness~☆~ 

Word of the Day 17/11/10

Today’s word of the day: der Frust

English translation: Frustration
Example: Während ich das Fußballspiel angeschaut, hatte ich viel Frust.

~True story. ~

Guess whose got a ticket to see Germany vs. Italy football match (plus why I’m a little annoyed)

I bought tickets to see my first ever football game today :D  I was sat in the library, daydreaming of Sebastian Vettel when my American friend came up to me and asked me if I had checked my Facebook profile yet? I hadn’t. I turns out she has posted about an hour before a comment, in which she told me about the up and coming Germany vs. Italy game in Dortmund and that WE MUST GO. I love watching the football here in Germany so I was equally as excited about going.


The tickets were only €35 and are really close to the pitch. We are only 5 rows back. There are four of us going and as it is on the 9th February I think it will be a good way to end my time here in Germany as the following week I will be departing for Italy. I really want it to be as memorable as possible so I’m going to save up some money and buy myself a Germany football shirt so I can be a really Germany supporter.


So why am I annoyed? Well in our excitement my friend hurriedly booked us four tickets coming to €148 (including the postage and booking fee) but the website wouldn’t accept her Visa. I came to the rescue with my Caxton card, although I needed to load it first with my last bit of money left in my English account (I’m running a little low on funds at the moment as I am waiting in long anticipation for my Erasmus grant). She promised she and the other girls would pay me straight back. Well we booked the tickets, high fived each other and then “AHHHHHH!”. We booked seats in the Away fan area! We were going to be sat with the Italian supporters!!! She saying “don’t worry about it, you can sell them, let’s just buy some more”. All I could think was that it was easy for her to say, she wasn’t the one who had just wasted €148 that she really could have done with. I'm not really mad at her though. I'm mad at myself. It was my money so it was my responsibility to double check. 


Well we’ve bought some more tickets, obviously, using one of the other girls’ card and fingers crossed we should be able to sell the tickets but until then I have a nice hole in my purse where the money should be.
Despite all that it’s been a good day and I’m very very very excited to see Schweinsteiger, Özil, Müller, Lahm, Poldolski and co. With two of the greatest teams in the world head to head, It’s bound to be a good game.

Word of the Day 16/11/10

Today’s word of the day: das Unterhaus

Direct translation: The under house

English translation: House of Commons

 

~I’m too tired to think of an example. ~

The effects of nudity on little children

 

I was in the local Kaufhaus (department store) today, buying some stationary and folders, when I witnessed something very funny. Basically as anyone who has been to continental Europe will know, nudity and sex can be found anywhere. The latest items to be covered in half naked women (and men for that matter) are advent calendars. Now I find this weird mainly because I always see advent calendars as being something that is geared towards children not grown men. Anyway I’m walking past the sexed up chocolate and a little boy, probably about 7 years old, pulled on his mum’s sleeve and says “Mama, I want one of those”. “Whaaaaaaaat!” she says. “I want one of those too” says the older brother. The mother was not impressed but I thought it was hilarious.

Word of the Day 15/11/10

Today’s word of the day: die Nachwelt

Direct translation: The after world

English translation: Posterity/ The people who will live in the future

Example: Wir mussen immer nach den Auswirkingen unserer Entscheidungen auf die Nachwelt denken.

~A bit of a pompous word, I know ~

Sebastian Vettel is world champion, motorsport history is made for Germany.

 

Today was a very exciting day today in the world of motorsport. 23 year old German Sebastian Vettel not only became Formula one world champion for the first time in his short career, but also became the youngest Formula one world champion in the history of the sport.

So why am I blogging about this?

Reason number 1.

I feel really privileged to be in Germany while this is happening. Me and my friend went down to a bar to watch the race and I loved being able to support Vettel along side Germans who really appreciated the win. I was really soaking up some German culture whilst watching the race. Also it was amazing watching him being interviewed in his mother tongue. I’d never heard him speak German before. 

Reason number 2

A pretty simple answer really; I like formula one. Its exciting, its unpredictable (especially this season). I really love Vettel, but being British I do normally back Hamilton, who I like equally as much, over the German. Yet being in Germany I felt I should be German and support Vettel. I knew that it was only a matter of time before he became world champion but I really thought that he would have it snatched away from him by Alonso. The last few laps were so tense. There was nail biting, gasping, eye closing. I was ecstatic about the result. 

Reason number 3

Me and my friend are going to watch the “Race of Champions” in Dusseldorf (www.raceofchampions.com) at the end of the month and Vettel is going to be there (along with Michael Schumacher). I’m over the moon that I’m going to be watching the “Formula one World Champion” up close. I’m so excited. That weekend is going to be immense. 

Word of the Day 14/11/10

Today’s word of the day: der Boxenstopp

English translation: Pit stop

(die Box – Pit (in motorsport))

Example: Vettel soll nochmal einen Boxenstopp einlegen.

~Formula 1 inspired word of the day to celebrate an epic triumph :D ~

The boundaries of nationality and ethnicity

Anyone who has observed the behaviour of international students at university will have noticed and probably made a remark about how they stick to “their own kind”. You see the Chinese students all eating together at lunch, in your Tuesday morning lecture the back row is full of Italians, on the way home you walk behind a group of Turkish students. We always say, me and my friends, that they should branch out and mix with other people. They are here to receive a cultural experience, not to hang on to their own.
I know that this is very judgemental of us. I now understand how comforting it is to hang on close to those people and things that are familiar to you. Nonetheless I pride myself in the diverse group of friends I have accumulated here in Marburg. I have friends from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Italy, England and America. I thoroughly enjoy the mix of familiar and new, however having such a diverse group of friends has been leading me to feeling a little left out lately. Although I take this as a complement, I am really one of a few, and in some cases the only, “westerner” who hangs out with the Asian students. They spend a lot of time together, they cook together, shop together, travel together, and although I get invited every now and then, there are a lot of things with I do not get invited to. I guess it is understandable. When all the Japanese students are together having a meal, for example, they can easily communicate in Japanese, but if I’m there, then it is all a little more effort because they either need to speak German or translate for me. Even so, sometimes I feel like I’m not really part of their group. I’m just a good friend. If that makes sense?
I find that my “diverse group of friends” and my like for splitting my time between the groups has a toll on my relationship with the English students. Sometimes I miss out on a lot of fun things with them, and I get a little depressed at all of their inside jokes that I missed out on. 
I’m not trying to make this into a sob story. Really I love all of my friends, and I do spend a lot of time with them. I just wish that I could spend a bit more time with some of them. But as my mum says, you shouldn’t wait around for an invitation, you should just invite them. :)

Word of the Day 13/11/10

Today’s word of the day: rätselhaft

English translation: Mysterious

Example: die rätselhafte Verschwindung der Keksdose!.

~I would have never guessed that this meant mysterious~

Kölle Alaaf: celebrating the first day of “Karneval” in Köln

 

One of my favourite things about being an Erasmus student in Germany is spontaneous travel. Tuesday lunch time one of my friend’s suggested going to Cologne (Köln) soon. Just over 36 hours later we arrived.

The 11th of November, at 11.11am is the start of Karneval, a celebration period which runs up until Easter. The most famous Karneval parties take play in Cologne. It is definitely something that we cannot miss out on, and since I’m not going to be here for the climax on Karneval (I’ll be in Italy then) I at least had the chance to celebrate the opening.

So we go the train last night. What luck we had. We needed to take three trains. The first one ran fine. We had an hours stop over in Giessen, we got a bite to eat, everything was fine. But then our second train was late coming into the station. The train was late by 15 minutes and our next stop over was only 10 minutes. We were travelling on the last trains of the night, so there was no alternative transport. Luckily we were able to persuade the lovely staff at Deutsche Bahn to hold our final train for us until we arrived. If they hadn’t then we would have been stuck in a place called Siegen for at least 5 hours.

Karneval was amazing. We quickly realised how underdressed we were, pretty much as soon as we left the hostel. We managed to buy a few Red and White accessories (the colours of Cologne) to help us fit into the crowd. People take dressing up for Karneval VERY SERIOUSLY! Check out a few of the costumes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The event itself was like a big outside concert. There was a main stage, lots of food stands serving German food (of course) and Kölsch Beer. Our favourite song is called “Viva Colonia”. We are determined to learn the lyrics and use it as our own little theme song.

There was such an amazing atmosphere and I’m really glad we went. I suggest to anyone who has the chance to go to Karneval in Cologne to go. I’m really jealous that I’m going to miss the biggest festivities, but I’ve heard that Venice also has an equally famous Karneval party so I will hopefully check that one out. 

Word of the Day 11/11/10

Today’s word of the day: die Schnecke

English translation: Snail

Example: Scheiße! Ich habe eine Schnecke zerquetscht!.

~A Schnecke is also a delicious type of cake, similar to a cinnamon whirl ~

 

Lost my kitchen virginity two months into my stay

 

I know this is lame but it’s the god’s honest truth, on Monday 8th November 2010, on my 64 day of being in Germany, I cooked my first meal in the kitchen. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to do it, I cook pretty much everyday in the UK, but here I feel really uncomfortable being in the kitchen. It might have something to do with people being so private, there is always a weird vibe when two of us meet in the hallway, bathroom or kitchen, so the less time I spend in there the less chance that I have of bumping into someone. Don’t get me wrong it’s not that I don’t want to make friends with them, it’s just that I’m shy and most of them were here long before I moved in so at times (especially at the beginning) I feel like I’m intruding on their space.

All of this really just proves that I’m a silly little girl, but at least I’m making progress.

So here is my “creation”, not very amazing, nor very appealing to the eye, but its all I had to work with; I really need to go shopping.

Where have all the socks gone!!!

 

When I packed my suitcase back on the 30th August I packed just over 2 weeks worth of socks. The reason for this was that I did not know when I would have time/ be bothered to do my washing during my first days in Germany. 2 months later I’m down to 7 pairs of socks! Where have they gone! I know the common culprit are the washing machine and/or tumble dryer, but seriously where are they! Tomorrow I’m off to C&A to buy some more, I can’t deal with having to wash my clothes every week just because I’ve ran out of socks.

Word of the Day 09/11/10

 Today’s word of the day: Pfützen hüpfen

Direct translation: to puddle hop

English translation: to jump over puddles

Example: Guck mal, eine Pfütze! hüpf hüpf hüpf! Deine Mutter wäre so sauer, wenn du deine neue Schuhe ruinierst.

~It sounds so poetic, it’s as if the words were made for each other~

Word of the Day 08/11/10

 Today’s word of the day: der Glückspilz

Direct translation: Lucky Mushroom

English translation: Lucky Beggar, Lucky devil

Example: Meine Schwester ist ein Glückspilz, gestern hat sie ein neues Auto gewonnen.

~I can’t wait to call someone a lucky MUSHROOM!~

Booked tickets home and new layout

 

After 6 attempts I finally managed to book my tickets home for Christmas. Deutsche Bahn has an amazing deal at the moment where you can travel by train from any German main station to London St Pancras from €49. I left mine a little too late and have ended up paying €69 but still its cheaper than flying.Another reason why I chose not to fly is that I really want to take lost of Christmas presents home with me, so this way I don’t need to worry about the weight or taking too many bags. I’m pretty excited about taking the train through Belgium, France and the Eurotunnel, I’ve never done it before and now I feel like a proper traveller.

My friend went home yesterday evening so i was bored (and a little depressed) and decided to try a new layout. Any good? Also I’ve decided that I’m going to include a word of the day post (hopefully EVERYDAY) as a way to motivate me to actually learn some vocabulary. I’ll try and keep it interesting.

Off to uni now, wish me luck ☆

Accommodation in Germany, plus pics of my room

 

After living in Germany for two months I finally took some photos of my bedroom. I detested my room and halls when I first moved in, but after a few months of decorating the place, I am now quite proud of my little hovel.

Welcome to my room ^^

The room is rather spacious. It was a bit too big because I do not have much furniture to make proper us of the space. The room only came with the bed, table and desk. The table is hiding under my pink table cloth. I bought a lot of pink accessories for the room to bring a bit of colour to the drab white and brown decor. (The ugly picnic basketesque blanket came with the room. It may not be nice to look at, but it is warm.)

My room looks much lighter in photos than it actually is. There is no ceiling lamp, only the desk lamp and a small light above the head of the bed. There are a multitude of shelves in my room, but they are quite bare, as I didn’t bring many books with me. The room did not come with a mirror so I purchased this full length mirror for €9 in the local Einkaufzentrum, Bargain. You’ll notice the washing line that travels from my bed to the window. I have a lot of clothes that cannot be tumble dried, and I didn’t fancy leaving my delicates down stairs in the laundry room for anyone and everyone to see, so my friend suggested this to me. Its both practical and interesting to look at.

   My bedroom is split into two rooms. At the other side of the hideous wooden wall stands a sink, and a walk in wardrobe. The door between this space and the bedroom (the one with the poster of a telephone box) can be used as either the door to the bedroom “chamber” or the door to the wardrobe. I prefer the former because firstly the sink area smells quite damp but also because my main bedroom door (between the sink area and the hall way) does not block noise to or from my room…to cut a long story short I like my privacy.

So there is my room. I hope you enjoyed it :) Now time for a few questions.

Why did I choose to live in student accommodation?

I chose to live in a Studentenwohnheim primarily because it was the easiest option. I was guaranteed university accommodation. I understand that it is not the best for my language skills, as most students who live here are international (although some of my friends were lucky to end up with German neighbours), nor for my social skills, since people are very private and do not socialise with other people on their floor; something that is very different to the UK. (Although I must admit I’m starting to enjoy the solitude). For these two, living in a WG would be better. A WG or Wohngemeinschaft is a type of large flat where people, as the name suggests, live together. To live in a WG, you need to be interviewed and picked by the people who are already living in the flat. Rooms are very competitive, so my advice to anyone who doesn’t want to be the typical international student to start searching way in advance and to be prepared for many rejections.

How are the living standards?

 The accommodation is basic. Unbelievably basic. I and many of my friends cried when we first moved in, because it does resemble a prison cell. There is a shared kitchen, two shared toilets and two shared showers. In the kitchen we have an oven (many of my friends do not have one!), a stove, sink, one fridge and one fridge freezer. There are two tables to sit at. We each have our own small cupboard with a key; until recently my cupboard was bare. We have a Wirtschaftlerin take care of the cleaning of the shared spaces so cleanliness if not really an issue. We can also go to her on a Friday morning to get a fresh change of bed sheets.

---I’m very proud of my room now. I feel very much at home in it. Although it was hard to handle living here at first, I have learnt to adapt myself to a more basic and simple way of life. Do I wish the halls came with an internet connection, of course, do I wish I wasn’t situated in a wood full of giant spiders, damn right, but alas that is life.--

Remember remember the 5th of November

 

Remember, Remember the 5th of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see now reason why gunpowder, treason

Should ever be forgot.

 

Today is the 5th of November, Guy Fawkes night, up and down England tonight and last/next weekend there will be beautiful firework displays, fairgrounds and bonfires. People will come together each holding a sparkler in a frozen gloves hand, the other hand holds and umbrella because it is raining, as it always does in England.

I don’t usually make too much of a fuss of Guy Fawkes night but I have to admit that I am really missing it here. I travel a lot at night here, and the sky is eerily quiet for the end of October, beginning of November. I keep expecting to hear a whooshing, screeching sound somewhere in the distance, and then I search of ages trying to pin point the firework’s location. I miss that sudden burst of excitement when you finally see the firework lighting up the night sky.

I miss fireworks and bonfires and the Guy Fawkes rhyme. But with the absence of an English tradition, comes a uniquely German tradition. I may not have my firework night but in just a few weeks time I will be able to visit many, equally beautiful Christmas Markets.

~☆~ Every cloud has a silver lining ~☆~

Eating out is cheap…but how do boys eat so much and stay so skinny

 

One of the biggest perks of living in Marburg is that eating out is very very günstig (cheap/good value for money). In most places a substantial main meal can cost less than €5. The reason is probably because most places to eat are restaurant bars, so they make most of their money from drinks rather than the food. Drinks are NOT cheap, unless you only drink beer. Since Germany is the land of beer, I guess it is fair that it is cheaper to drink than in the UK, but it is robbery when I have to pay over €3 for a coke when my friend has a much larger quantity of beer for more than half the price! Despite the food being cheap, you still receive a very large meal. Me and my American friend learnt this on our first of many Sunday evening eat-out sessions, where we assumed that a €4.90 pizza would be tiny and thus bought a €2 portion of chips to share as a starter. We finished the chips but ended up leaving most of our pizzas.  

Tonight me and my male friend, who is visiting me at the moment, went out for dinner. We ended up with FOUR plates between us. The waitresses originally only gave us half of what we had ordered because they did not believe that me and him (the skinny little thing he is) could possibly have also ordered a huge plate of nachos and equally gigantic plate of chips. It was true, and all though we struggled, we were adamant to finish all four plates just to see the looks of shock on the staff’s faces. I do have to admit that it was mostly him who was victorious in this battle, as I only managed to eat about a 1/6. How he ate it all, I have no idea. I wasn’t surprised that he did, as I’ve seen him put away a whole KFC family bucket before, but to look at him you’d never know. I hate men, especially Asian men. How dare you keep all of these eternally skinny genes to yourselves. Please share them with us women.

(From bottom left going round anti-clockwise: Chips with mayo and ketchup, salad, Chicken curry with rice and more salad, nachos with cheese and salsa.)

I hate delays

 

Last week one of my friends surprised me by buying plane and train tickets to come and visit me in Marburg. He was due to fly in yesterday at around 8pm, then he was going to catch a train from Cologne to  Frankfurt (yep he took the cheaper but longer option as I did 2 months back) and I would meet him at Frankfurt so we could travel back to Marburg together. I should have been meeting him in Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof at 00.17 on Wednesday morning, but instead I ended up meeting him at Marburg Hauptbahnhof at 7.50 this morning. Why? Because his plane was delayed by 4 hours! This resulted in him missing not only his train, but all of the trains running from Cologne to Frankfurt on Tuesday night. I wasn’t happy. He wasn’t happy. I’ve lost 7 precious hours with him. Our day today was wasted because he needed to sleep. I’m so angry, but grateful that he is here. We managed to go and have a nice dinner, we had Auflauf (a German version of pasta/potato bake) and now he has crashed out on my bed. He looked very cute when he sleeps.

Schokolade bitte

 

Today marked the start of the third week of lessons. I’m starting to get into the routine a bit more, although this morning was a bit of nightmare. I did not want to wake up! I guess I’m still recovering from Saturday night.

Today I really really wanted some chocolate.So I went down to REWE and bought myself this beast! 300g of Alpenmilch goodness for less than €1.50. I do think I deserve it after studying nonstop from 13.30-18.30.