The six month anniversary

Today is a very special day: it is six months since I moved to Germany. The time has gone so so fast, but I think I'm making the most of it.

Some things haven't changed. There are still students who don't believe I am English. I am still the height of the average German 11 year old. And I still don't want to be a teacher (ooooh controversial). It might seem strange that I chose to work as a language assistant despite not wanting to be a teacher. I maintain that the only thing worse than standing up in front of a class and speaking is standing up in front of a class and speaking in their language, not your own. But it gets easier. And fortunately most of my students are absolutely lovely which makes it worthwhile. If this year doesn't make me more confident what will?!

But lots of things have changed. I have discovered just how much I love Germany. I know that I want to live here after university, for at least a couple of years. I feel completely at home in Bad Salzdetfurth, and have begun to realise how much I will miss it when I leave in three months. I am happy, settled and 'me' here. It feels like home in a way that Warwick never did.

The travel has been ridiculous. I've done an all-nighter in Sweden, booked a flight to an unknown destination and turned up to far too many countries without the right currency! I have gone from being a very organised traveller to happily bunging a jumper, purse and passport in a rucksack and going. I have the freedom to go where I want and be who I want.

I can understand why people say the year abroad is the best thing ever. No you can't share it with your family and friends from 'back home' but you can have an amazing time being you. For once I have time and money and am making the most of it. I am more independent than ever but appreciate my favourite people more than ever. I look forward Skyping home and having a chat over a cup of tea. In the surreal world that I currently live in I need a reminder that normality continues. And I look forward to writing my blog. It continually amazes me that people are interested in my life so thank you, all of you.

I have had so many wonderful experiences in the last few months and I cannot wait to live the next few.

The unexpected carnival

What is the world coming to: I actually spent an entire week in Germany?! Monday to Thursday was school as usual which is still fine most of the time. Friday was wonderfully lazy, exactly what I needed after waking up at 6 for the previous four days (no amount of time spent in Germany will convince me that 6 is a reasonable time to get up). In the evening I went to the English speaking group in Hildesheim. I am fully aware that this is not the right way to go about improving my German but it is perfect for guilt free, complicated English. I enjoy being able to speak English as I want to speak it, rather than thinking about whether the language is too complex. I have to leave early (loving the 21:38 last train home on a Friday night) but it's good fun.

On Saturday I dragged myself to Bremen. I was so so tempted to stay at home but a quick flick through my diary revealed that I only have four unallocated weekends before leaving Bad Salzdetfurth, thus motivating me to go out and about. Once in Bremen I followed the crowds of people from the station to the main square, where we were greeted by an oversized cat on a cherry-picker. The square was packed with people listening to this most knowledgable of cats as she discussed the concept of 'Heimat'. Some of the people were people that looked like people, but others were people who looked like parrots or boats or ferris wheels. The penny dropped. I had just found Bremen Karnival.

To be precise I had found the very beginning of the parade, where each group was introduced before setting off around the city centre. So I found myself some stairs to stand on (short person problems) and watched. I think I have mentioned before that Germany does bizarre worryingly convincingly.

Eventually I'd had enough of watching the parade (aka. my toes were numb) so I went for my city explore. I'd already found the main square, with its spectacular Rathaus [town hall, but Rathaus is a much better word] and St. Petri Cathedral so headed towards the river. There was another church but little else to note so I headed towards Böttcherstraße. This is an impressive art nouveau street, with plenty of cafes, shops and a museum. It was a lovely place for a wander, something which I had not expected from Bremen!

Rathaus & Dom // Böttcherstraße // Bremen

It was then time to go back to the station, with a brief stop at the city moat on the way. There was a windmill but after last week I couldn't face taking another photo of a windmill!

Bremen was nothing like I expected. For some reason I thought it would be industrial and not exactly beautiful but I was pleasantly surprised. The main square in particular was lovely, but there were plenty of pretty buildings dotted around. Although the carnival was a shock I had wanted to go to carnival here so that's one thing to tick off the lift. All in all, Bremen was worth dragging myself out of bed for!

Moments of Awesomeness

There are moments when you realise how awesome it is to be able to speak two languages*.

I was reminded of this on the train last week. An English-speaking man wanted to plug his laptop in but couldn't find the socket. The English-speakers behind him couldn't help. However, a German guy (who had worked out what was going on as English-speaking man was waving around the laptop cable and looking confused) explained where it was in German. But this only made English-speaking man more confused as he couldn't speak German... This is where I came in: the person who could translate German guy's advice and tell English-speaking man where the socket was. It sounds ridiculous but it was one of those moments that made me proud to be able to speak more than one language. It is when you realise that you are getting somewhere with German.

These moments of awesomeness happen in the most innocuous of settings. I've translated things in coffee shops and train stations, hotels and museums. No the language required isn't demanding but that's not the point. The point is that I can actually do it.

*When I say speak two languages I mean it in a loose sense and I definitely do not class myself as anything close to fluent. My German falls in the categories of 'can usually get the point across' and 'work in progress'.

The very windy land of windmills

The week of the new timetable! This is my final timetable of the year so I got more of a say in which classes I'd like to be in. I requested more classes with the younger students which is exactly what I got, as well as Fridays off so the travel can continue.

Talking of travel, after school on Thursday I headed off for the weekend. Despite having spent many of my weekends in the last few months travelling around Europe with Katherine, I had never actually been to visit her in Utrecht. A mere six hours later I was in Utrecht Centraal. There was only one incident on the journey, and for once it had absolutely nothing to do with the beloved DB Bahn. Basically, I convinced myself that I had left the hob on in my flat and it was going to burn the building down. This was 10 minutes before getting the train from Hannover Hbf to Amersfoort, so not the best timing in the world. Fortunately I managed to contact my landlady who checked my flat... unsurprisingly I had not left the hob on. Panic over.

I was met in Utrecht by Katherine and Emma (Katherine's uni friend) for a relaxed evening featuring genius tea courtesy of Julia's, a takeaway pasta place in the main station. You simply choose your pasta, choose your sauce, watch it getting cooked and then it is given to you in a box with one of those fun plastic forks that looks like a metal fork. Like I said, genius.

Utrecht

The following day was Valentine's Day. How to celebrate? Hmm, how about stroopwafel for breakfast and maybe a day trip to Amsterdam?! The Netherlands is a fairly compact country, so it only took about half an hour to get from Utrecht to Amsterdam. We obviously began with a wander into the centre, down the main shopping street and to the square with the Royal Palace. There really is a lot of water! There are canals everywhere with bridges and bikes and building that are tilting so far forward it's amazing they are still standing.

In amongst all these buildings is the Anne Frank House. As it sounds, the Anne Frank House is the hiding place where Anne Frank wrote her diary during World War II. It has since been made into a museum as a reminder of Anne Frank the other occupants of the secret annexe, the helpers and all others like them. We had to queue for about 45 minutes to get in, but once inside the queuing is forgotten. It is absolutely fascinating. As someone who has read Anne Frank's diary numerous times it was amazing to walk round the 263 Prinsengracht. You begin with the warehouse, offices and storeroom, from which Otto Frank (Anne's father) ran his companies. The people in the warehouse knew nothing of the inhabitants of the secret annexe, but the office staff were the helpers. Next you walk through the doorway which was concealed by the bookcase (the actual bookcase is still there!) and into the annexe. Although there is no furniture there are still signs of Anne and the other inhabitants of the secret annexe: pictures of film stars and artwork stuck on a bedroom wall, lines on the wall marking how much Anne and Margot (Anne's older sister) grew whilst living in the annexe and Otto's map marking the advance of the Allies.

The feeling of walking from room to room in the secret annexe is indescribable. But inevitably you continue into a room documenting how it all went wrong. How the eight people in hiding were found and arrested by the Nazis, how they were taken to a transit camp and then onto various concentration camps.

Perhaps the highlight of the museum is the diary itself. A red-checked diary kept by a thirteen year old girl. It looks so ordinary, that it's hard to believe that this is the actual diary, the one that has been translated into dozens of languages, read by millions of people all over the world and symbolises Nazi atrocities during World War II.

If you ever get the chance, go to the Anne Frank House.

After a carefully chosen lunch we saw a very different side to Amsterdam. Whenever you go to a capital city you want to see the most famous things there, which in Amsterdam happens to include the Red Light District. From an architectural point of view it is one of the oldest and prettiest areas of the city; you just have ignore the signage and window displays. Oh and the smell of weed.

At this point the weather (which had been rubbish to begin with) went downhill. We managed a visit to the Old Amsterdam Cheese Shop where I shamelessly had tried loads of tasters, but gave up and went home. The upside was that we spent the evening in central Utrecht which I'd seen little of so far, enjoying pasta and cocktails.

Amsterdam

With Emma safely on her bus back to Prague (!!!), Katherine and I headed to downtown Utrecht to see the sights. It might not be a big place but it is very pretty. There are cobbled streets, flowers, canals and bikes everywhere. On the topic of bikes: I'm not a big fan. They are absolutely terrifying and people carry such stupid things on them. An ironing board for example. Or there are the couples cycling along holding hands... it is just me who sees that as dangerous?!

Back to Utrecht, where I had a lovely guided tour by Katherine so saw the Dom and Dom Cathedral (which used to be attached), some university buildings and ate supposedly the best chips in the Netherlands (to be fair they were good). Then it was back on the train for a trip to Zaanse Schans, a town which is basically a microcosm of the Netherlands. It might be close geographically to Amsterdam but that's where the similarities end.

Het Jonge Schapp (saw mill), De Zoeker (oil mill), De Kat (dye mill), De gekroonde Poelenburg (saw mill)

Zaanse Schans is a well-preserved traditional Dutch village. It was once the most industrial area of the Netherlands, with over 1000 windmills. Now there are only thirteen. Unsurprisingly it was an amazingly windy place, and with water on either side of the paths it was amazing we didn't fall in! The windmills were certainly working. We wen't inside 'De Kat', a dye mill, and the blades were turning so fast that the whole windmill was shaking. The visit was 'at your own risk' and we realised why once we started climbing up the wooden stairs inside the windmill. A combination of high winds and ladder-like stairs meant you had to hold on tight. There were three levels, including a particularly precarious balcony area. Eeeek.

Zaanse Schans

Our exploration continued with a visit to the cheese farm for more tasters, and then a clog museum. I can confirm that clogs are very uncomfortable, and gave Katherine a splinter. Our 'chocolate box' Dutch village even smelt like cocoa! On the way home we stopped in at Amsterdam (because we could) as the weather was so much better than the previous day. Another reason to love Amsterdam: we found Dairy Milk there!

Sunday was home-day. Back for another week of school.

The Mystery Flight

This story begins the evening after BratPest, when Lucy and Katherine encounter the 'mystery flight' option on the Germanwings website. Germanwings is a budget German airline. A mystery flight is what it sounds like: you pay for the flight before you find out the destination. And so Lucy and Katherine clicked 'confirm'. An agonising wait for the page to load followed... where were they flying to?!

Four days later we were on a flight to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Surreal doesn't quite cover it. We travelled from Bad Salzdetfurth to Köln the previous day as our flight was at stupid-o'clock in the morning. When we landed it looked like we were still in the air. It was cloudy and snowy and foggy and generally not ideal. But by the time we had sorted out our Kuna supply (like hakuna matata - 1 Kuna is about 11p), found a map and worked out how to get the bus to the city centre the weather had drastically improved. At 8 °C it was positively tropical.

After the walk from the bus station to the main square we were in need of cake. As it happens we found the most amazing cafe ever. Amazing enough for us to go five times in 48 hours. There were macarons in flavours from blueberry to mint chocolate, dozens of cakes and hot chocolate that was just like chocolate custard in both flavour and consistency. But the most popular dish seemed to be chestnut puree with cream on top. In fact there's a bit of a chestnut obsession going on. So if you ever go, watch out for 'Kesten'! Have I mentioned that it was cheap too?! The only slight issue was the language barrier. We had to earn our right to eat macarons by pointing, smiling and nodding until we were understood. It was clearly worth it as we visited as many times as we could.

Zagreb is split into the Upper Town and the Lower Town. Possibly because the Upper Town is literally much higher up. To get from one to the other you can either use the funicular or walk one of the very steep paths. The Upper Town is home to the palaces, St. Mark's Square (and St. Mark's Church). The first time we went there was a protest thing outside the church but our second visit was far more successful.

The catchily named 'Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary' is the big cathedral right in the centre of the city. The two spires can be seen from pretty much everywhere (including the airport). Close to the cathedral is Dolac Market, which the internet informs me, is the biggest open air market in Croatia. There was the largest selection of salad leaves I have seen in my life. There are numerous markets though, including those for flowers (in Flowers Square) and an antiques market.

Dolac Market // Ilica // St. Mark's Church // Upper Town // Jelačić Square // Zagreb Cathedral

The Zagreb Eye. I imagined it to be a little like the London Eye. It is nothing like the London Eye. It is effectively a viewing platform at the top of an office block. Your ticket is valid all day so you can admire the city in daytime and nighttime. From the top you could see the mountains surrounding Zagreb by day, and the main shopping street at night. Typically, our night viewing was also a business event which we had to sneak through... We did laugh at all the jokes which we definitely understood...

In between the eating and sightseeing (the National Theatre, Tkalčićeva, the list goes on) we actually went to a museum. The Museum of Broken Relationships. It has won prizes for innovativity (is that even a word?!) and was definitely unlike any other museum I've visited. The layout is simple: a series of personal objects, each accompanied by a description of the failed relationship. The story varies from a couple of words to multiple paragraphs. A truly bizarre museum, slightly depressing but weirdly interesting. Unique.

Our whirlwind visit ended in Ban Jelačić Square: the centre of Zagreb. It is full of people and tram intersections. And an excellent place to eat macarons and watch the world go by.

To conclude: Germanwings made an excellent choice when it sent us to Zagreb. It was such a fun city, it's hard to explain but something about it just felt nice. It feels like a modern capital city but it hasn't forgotten its past. Opposite a brand new shopping centre there is a 'row' of dilapidated single level buildings with crumbling brickwork and missing roof tiles. There are signs that 'Westernisation' hasn't been entirely successful, escalators blocked by concrete. There is still a hint of former Yugoslavia about it but that makes it all the more interesting. It feels like a city in transition, with glass office blocks and bars alongside markets and very cheap food. I definitely recommend it.

Ode to my toes II

As the title suggests, this is a continuation of the previous post. We are catching up with Lucy and Katherine after they have re-arrived in Budapest. They have already found their apartment, eaten and said hello to the Chain Bridge.

***

Chain Bridge

Budapest is apparently known as the 'city of the baths'. I had no idea about this reputation until I was searching for the top things to do in Budapest. Anyway, apparently no visit is complete without a visit to the Turkish baths. There are various sets dotted around the city, but we settled on the Rudas Baths. Some days are men only, some women only but the weekends are mixed. The major advantage of mixed (in my book anyway) is that clothing is compulsory. Must be the Brit in me. So Katherine and I headed over the Danube to the Rudas for a wild Saturday night. Slightly apprehensive, we walked into the first bathing area. It was a swimming pool. A little bit nicer than Leatherhead Leisure Centre but nothing special. We walked a lap of the pool, then upstairs for a lap of the pool terrace, trying every door we passed (and ended up in a couple of offices in the process). Nothing. What was so great about this? During our casual swim we noticed various people coming and going (mostly going) through the set of double doors leading to the cafe. Crazy people, going to the cafe in swimsuits. Is that really appropriate?! A good while later curiosity overcame our reluctance to walk through the cafe wearing not enough for our liking. We found the proper baths on the other side of the cafe.

It was like stepping back in time. The air was thick with steam, the buzz of indiscernible conversation spiralling high into the domed ceiling. Beneath the dome, a central octagonal pool filled with people, features blurred by steam and dim lighting. Footprints on terracotta tiles betray the movement of bathers from one pool another, from the toe-burningly warm to the numbingly cold. Incense spills out of the sauna, flooding the room. The intoxicating atmosphere only disturbed by the cries of bathers as they tip buckets of icy water over themselves.

That is the best way I can describe it, but it does not do it justice. I actually felt like a Roman. We left the baths at 1:30 am and were warm all the way home... it must be magic.

Buda Castle // Chain Bridge // Matthias Church // Parliament

The day of the MetroCard24. One ticket, 24 hours and a lot of sights to see:
1. Széchenyi Baths. A massive set of baths. Very impressive but looked more commercialised than the Rudas Baths.
2. Heroes' Square. To honour great Hungarian leaders.
3. Parliament Square. Unfortunately the entire square was a building site. You could walk into part of the square and see the bullet holes in the buildings, left as a reminder of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956.
4. Chain Bridge. A bridge connecting Buda to Pest.
5. Buda Castle. A castle unlike any I have ever seen. The castle is free to enter but can only be reached by a steep climb up icy paths. But it was well worth it for the view.

In the evening Katherine and I decided to cook. This did not go well, mostly because the instructions were provided in a lovely selection of languages: Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Slovak. Great. The attempt was not entirely successful so we ate potatoes. Just potatoes.

Predictably the final morning was the sunny morning. We managed to squidge in a quick trip to the Danube before beginning the journey home. The airport was ... interesting... Something about buying chips just as the gate was closing, then hiding them through passport control and boarding... the usual.

Ode to my toes

This is the first half of the Budapest and Bratislava adventure. The rest will be written in a couple of days because I will be late for school if I don't stop now.

***

Last week was short even by current standards. The school half-year officially finished after third lesson on Wednesday. The pupils have been given their reports and the teachers yet a whole two days of Winterferien to recover. My half-year finished with cake for breakfast (organised by a class for their teachers birthday) and going to a maths prizegiving... not too bad really.

I then set off to Dortmund. This should not have been a difficult journey, but the train from Bad Salzdetfurth was 35 minutes late. I couldn't even feel my feet when the train finally arrived. To make matters worse, I had missed my connection so only just made it to the bus to Dortmund. But I did it. A couple of hours later I met Matt (a friend from uni) who took me on a mini tour of Dortmund. It is not the most beautiful or extensive German city, known for its football team and not much else. In any case, it was lovely to have a catchup.

The following day I met Katherine in Dortmund Hbf. Yes this is the same Katherine that I went to Denmark, Sweden and Belgium with. Unsurprisingly the plan for the weekend was not to stay in Germany.

A few hours later we landed in... BUDAPEST. Landed. We got all carried away and went by plane... WizzAir is defo my new favourite airline. We even got the opportunity to show-off our newfound skills at queuing German style, managing to push to the front of the queue so we could sit next to each other on the plane. Our first impression of Budapest was something along the lines of unexpectedly snowy. We also had a slightly concerning conversation in the airport when arranging transfer to our accommodation (we had just shown him our address):
Minibus-organiser-man: "Are you sure, there's nothing there unless you're staying on a boat or something".
Lucy-and-Katherine: "We're staying on a boat".
Oh. Sounds really hopeful huh?!

The boat-hotel or botel was alarmingly boat like. It rocked and everything. We made the most of our riverside (or should that be river) location and went for a wander over Margit híd/Margaret Bridge as darkness fell. The view over towards Parliament was stunning. We also made the most of actually being able to afford things here. Tea was at a rather nice restaurant that would have have cost an absolute fortune in the UK. Here is was about £5.

Parliament

We exited Budapest as swiftly as we had entered it. The next morning we located the station and got a train to Bratislava. Hungarian 'scenery' and Slovakian 'scenery' are very similar, but Slovakia looks more devoid of life. The country is actually a large, brown field. Worryingly, 5 minutes from the CAPITAL CITY there was still no sign of civilisation. Fortunately Bratislava did exist, as we found out by leaving the main station, panicking and going back inside. The Slovak stills were distinctly lacking and it was cold. The first impression was something along the lines of "&%*& what have we done?!" The walk to the hostel didn't improve this much. A little on the bleak side of life. After wandering in a circle we found the hostel and life improved.

Backpack-less, we headed towards the old town, through St. Michael's Gate, which was actually lovely. A world away from the rest of the city. And we found an amazing coffee shop. Admittedly there were quite a few amazing-looking coffee shops but we only actually went to one. The hot chocolate was the thickest hot chocolate ever, literally like drinking melted chocolate. Sitting at the table next door was 'us' in 15 years time. And we had cake.

The main square was not instantly recognisable as a main square, more a square. Still, it had a couple of pretty buildings and a (frozen) fountain. As darkness fell we wondered what to do next. Sensibly we settled on climbing up the icy path towards the icy castle. Genius. It was unclear whether we were allowed in the castle but no one stopped up (probably because they were scared to fall over on the ice). Bratislava looks rather nice in the dark. A backhanded compliment, but a compliment nonetheless. And completely true. The descent was even worse but we survived.

Tea was found in a really cute cafe. But the menu was only in Slovak. As previously mentioned, Slovak is not our strongpoint. Miraculously successful.

Bratislava was cold. Very cold. Little did we know it was about to get a whole lot colder. We took a walk down to the Danube, and saw this:

Given the disappointing lack of tower climbing on the trip so far, it was a must. The first set of stairs to the tower entrance were icy and slipping would have resulted in a dip in the Danube. The other set of stairs were less icy and less likely to result in a swim. The tower climb was back on track. An elevator took us most of the way up, where we were informed that there were bars on either side up the stairs. So we climbed the stairs, daydreaming of a classy bar with stunning city views. What we in fact discovered at the top of the stairs was a platform. There were railings on both sides. Not the bars we imagined, but bars to cling onto for dear life.

To be fair, the view was impressive and worth the 'excitement'. It was cold.

Upon our descent, Bratislava felt positively tropical. It really must have been cold up the tower. The quest for the Blue Church. It was genuinely a quest, through what may have been a less beautiful area of Brat'. The Blue Church deserved its name. It was indeed very blue. The outside was blue, the windows were blue, the pews were blue... In a desperate bid to not turn as blue as the church we went to McDonalds and regained feeling in fingers/toes/shins/thighs/arms/face/etc.

Our final Bratislavian destination was the Presidential Palace. If ever you get to choose a presidential palace to live in, don't go for Bratislava. It was desolate.

Bratislava is well worth a visit. The old town is lovely but not extensive, but it is a varied city. In one view you can capture the history: the old town, the Eastern Bloc, the modern European capital city.

Back to Buda.

Thank You!

Exciting news! Remember that blog awards thing that I went on and on about? Weeell, I have made it in to the top ten! No, this is not a joke. And yes more than ten blogs entered the competition. So it is time to say thank you to everyone who voted. It was such a shock (might have made me jump around the room... not lying, Katherine can vouch for me on that one). Now to decide whether to go to the awards ceremony...

I am aware that I have not written anything in over a week. Disaster. But it was with good reason. Katherine (of Scandinavian extravaganza fame) and I went to Budapest and Bratislava for an extended weekend. As you do. I promise to write about it soon! Now I'm off to do some serious photo editing...