An unusual series of events involving cat ears

 

I went to Frankfurt today with one of my Taiwanese friends to buy a costume for the Halloween party tomorrow. Like most girls my age I didn’t want to go totally scary, so I settled for something a bit more cute/sexy: a black cat.

So I bought myself some cat ears from Claire’s Accessories and then went off to some other shops to find some black clothes. In the meanwhile I managed to lose my friend. I searched for her for about 10mins in Zara but she was nowhere to be found. I rang her, no answer. So I decided to carry on shopping. A few stores down I found a black skirt and went to try it on in the changing rooms. It looked good, tried on the cat ears with it, still looked good, took of the skirt, got changed and went to pay for the skirt.

Have you noticed yet?

So i pay for the skirt, I leave the shop, try to phone my friend, still no answer. I walk down the busy shopping street and get stopped by two girls around the ages of 18-20. “Where did you buy those?” they say. “Huh? Sorry?” I answer. Then one of the girls pulls something off of my head. I assume its my hairband that I was wearing that day…it was the cat ears with the label still on!

I could have died of embarrassment there and then.

To my surprise the girls were really nice. One of them took the label off for me and asked where the shop was and how much they were. They then asked me where I was from and we exchanged mobile numbers. We talked for about 15mins and they were really keen on meeting up again. They want to improve their English and would love to help me improve my German. Its crazy but I guess you could say that cat ears are a real icebreaker in Germany.

It’s starting to look like Autumn

 

I came home to my woodland surrounded room this afternoon to be shocked by the explosion of orange, red and brown glaring at me from my window. With the severely cold weather we’ve been having in Germany lately, I was expecting Germany to just miss out Autumn and go straight into a freezing cold winter. But finally here it is, the evidence staring straight at me as I write this facing my window. Autumn/Fall/Herbst is here.

   I’m not usually such a big fan of Autumn, to be honest it’s my least favourite season, but I think this view has really won me over. I can only think of one word to use to describe it: Wunderschön!

My German haircut

 

It took a lot of bravery and self persuasion but I went and got my first haircut in Germany. I went to a little hairdressing salon called hair killers on my friend’s recommendation. The salon was a little unconventional. You needed to take a ticket and wait your turn, rather than book an appointment. I was lucky to only need to wait 10mins, my friend had to wait over an hour last week. I was really nervous about getting it done because I could of easily ended up agreeing to getting my hair shaved off with my lack of hairdressing vocabulary. Luckily my hair is nice. She didn’t cut it exactly how I asked her too, its shorter and has more layers, but it was much cheaper than a cut in the UK which sets me back £22, in Marburg it was just €13.

I really enjoyed just walking into the salon and getting my haircut then and there. I’m quite impatient so having to wait weeks to get my haircut, when my fringe is already poking me in the eyes, really gets on my nerves.

Overall a fairly successful day.   

Procrastination

 

I’m attempting to write my first ever essay in Ger,man. The title is “Was ist für mich Geschichte und Geschichtswissenschaft” (What does history and the study of history mean to me>?"). It’s not going very well at all, hence why I am blogging about it rather than writing the actual essay. The essay only needs to be one to two side of A4, but I’m really struggling to write an academic piece of writing in German. I have a new found respect for all of those international students who come to university in the UK and manage to succeed. You guys are truly inspirational. 

Orientation

Orientation seems a life time ago now, but I think it is important to blog about it for my own memory’s sake and also to inform others of the procedures.
Orientation in Marburg was a 4 day event from Wednesday 1st Sept-Saturday 4th. I arrived in Marburg on the first day of Orientation. The program started from 9am in the Milchbar (which is in the general mensa and administrative building. I arrived at 9.30 and found myself waiting in an hour long queue just to sign in and pay the 30€ participation fee. Everyone was given a 5€ breakfast voucher to use at the Bistro downstairs although many people, including myself, refused to leave the queue and thus missed out on a free breakfast.

• Tip: Bring something to eat and drink in anticipation of the lange Schlange

When I finally arrived at the sign in desk, a copy of my passport was made and I was handed a white orientation folder with my name on it. Next to my name was a group number (I was in group 1). I was guided to group 1’s table where I sat with a few others and was guided through the filling out of some forms.
I remember not really understanding what I was exactly filling out (it later turned out to be forms for a months bus pass and forms to declare residency),but all I did know was that everyone else were able to fill out the address section except me. This really worried me because as far as I was aware we were not going to find out where we were living until today, yet no one had told me where I was living but had obviously told the others. Thus I started to doubt whether or not I had actually applied for somewhere to live and what the hell I was going to do if I hadn’t. What I didn’t know at the time was that a lot of people in my group , mostly from Taiwan and Japan, were in a different program and have arrived a week before thus they had received their keys 7 days prior to orientation.

• Tip: Because of all the forms make sure you always have a pen, your passport, passport photos and plenty of cash.

I finally received my keys and then was taken in a mini bus to my accommodation.
The form filling and 5€ breakfast vouchers were everyday features of the program as was evening entertainment. The first night we were taken to a bar, the second was a party in the student run “club”  Schwarzweiss. On the Friday night one of our two group tutors took us to a sports bar to watch the football, Germany v Belgium. Saturday night was an even bigger party at Schwarzweiss to wrap everything up. Every group had to cook some food to take along and then lots of cheap alcohol was consumed. It was basically the highlight of the program.
Although the program isn’t necessary I would recommend it to people because a. it makes life a lot easier having people there to guide you through all of the painstaking processes that a new international student needs to go through, and b. it is a great way to make friends fast. The groups were very well mixed in terms of nationalities and programs of study. Without the program I most certainly wouldn’t have made the friendships that I have here in Marburg.

 

Being ill in Germany

Yes, I was right I am ill again. I thought I would take this opportunity to explain how I deal with being ill in Germany and a give a bit of advice to those who are worrying about what to do if they fall ill.

There is nothing worse than having a cold during your year abroad, especially when you are still trying to settle in. As you know this is the first week of the semester so I really need to be on top form. Therefore I need to do my best to control my temperature, sore throat and lethargy.

Here you can see my 4 essential items for combating the dreaded C word in Germany.

Item number 1 is “Müller Fructiv” Juice. When you are ill it is obviously very important to pack your body full of vitamins, and this is a delicious way to do it. I am a huge fan of these drinks and they are one of my top finds in Germany. The juice comes in many equally tantalising flavours (this one happens to be limited edition strawberry, lime and watermelon). The juice is pretty easy to find in supermarkets and is also sold in our university Bistro. What I love about it is that it tastes great and gives me an energy boost but also it is cheaper than other bottled drinks because the bottle doesn’t come with a Pfand (a deposit added onto the price to persuade you to recycle your bottle, something that I always forget to do!).  

Number 2 is a bottle of water. Fatigue, temperature and headaches are all symptoms of dehydration so I always make sure I have a bottle of water close by. Bottles of water are not so cheap here because of the Pfand so I mostly drink tap water. A lot of bottled water in Germany is fizzy, which I cannot stand so if I am going to buy a bottle of water I have to double check that its stilled. This is just a personal preference. :-)

Number 3 is a woolly scarf. I know that this probably sound like something that your grandma would suggest but the last time I was ill here (all of two weeks ago) I really noticed how much wearing a scarf helps. I just wrap it around my neck and instantly feel less cold and it regulates my body temperature. Also if you have a sore throat keeping your neck warm helps to stimulate blood flow and speeds up the heeling process.

Number 4 are some throat “sweets” I bought from the Apotheke last time I had a cold. I really recommend to anyone who is ill in Germany, whether it is a cold, tooth ache, vomiting etc to visit the Apotheke and to ask for advice. For anyone who has visited Germany before you will know just how easy it is to find an Apotheke. This is because Germans prefer to use them than go to the doctor (they don’t have the luxury of the NHS like us Brits). The woman behind the counter (a charming Chinese lady) was very helpful and friendly. I simply said “Hallo, mein Hals tut weh und ich habe keine Ahnung über welche Halspastille, die ich kaufe söllte” (Hi, my throat hurts and I haven’t got a clue which throat sweets to buy). She happily went behind the counter and got me a packet of “Dorithricin Halstabletten”. She then explained to me how often to use them and what they do. There tablets are great. I took one every 3 hours as I was told, and the next morning my throat was fine. They work by numbing the pain and then clearing up the infection. My throat didn’t feel as numb as it does when I use throat lozenges at home, but they were a lot more pleasant to suck on. These tablets are mints not lozenges so there is no strong taste and they leave you feeling confident that you don’t have the ill person breath.    

I realise that my 4 tips will not cure the common cold nor will they work on everyone but they sure have made my day more comfortable.

Keyboard Issues

I'm in the university library at the moment, after my second day of classes (which went well thank you) and I am having serious issues getting my head around this German keyboard. I feel ridiciously incompetent. I keep typing "z" instead of "y" because the Germans use a Qwertz keyboard rather than a Qwerty, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to use the "@" key (I've had to resort to copying and pasting it from an email address I found on the university website.

Oh wow the stupid computer has finally realised that I am typing in English and not German. The red swiggly lines were really starting to annoy me.

Also I don't feel too good today. I don't know whether it's down to another night of insufficient sleep or whether I am coming down with something. I'm praying that it's the former. My mum wants me to search for a Pension in Marburg for her and my siblings to stay in when they come and visit in December and I really am not in the mood to do it. But I can't really complain because it's not as if she can do it herself since she can't speak a word of German. At least I have a free day to look forward to tomorrow and most likely a lie in.