Autumn days.

I would love to say that I've had a really exciting past few days but in truth nothing much has happened. The furthest I have been from my flat is Hildesheim, and that was to return my library books! It took me a couple of days to recover from the Scandinavian extravaganza, and since then I've been sorting out my German life. There are always emails to send and forms to complete, all of which I wanted out of the way before the school term starts again.

Bad Salzdetfurth is looking particularly pretty at the moment. Autumn is here, bringing with it bright blue skies and turning leaves.

I've felt a long way from home this week, more so than any other time since arriving. October is birthday month for many of the most important people in my life and it's been a strange time to be away. Although there have been moments when I just want to get on a plane back to London, they are just that. Moments. I'm happy here. I'm happy that I get this year to explore a country that I love and a language that I love (despite its grammar). So I don't really want to go back to England after all. For now Bad Salzdetfurth is home.

So we do it like the Titanic.

Yes, that's exactly what you want to hear before getting on a ferry... clearly the alarmingly cheerful DB officer was not into history or films. In any case, this was the instruction Katherine and I were given as we waited for a replacement bus service to take us to the ferry to Denmark, having been told to leave our ICE train. It's a long story.

Lucy and Katherine's short (no pun intended) trip to Scandinavia was a wonderful lesson in spontaneity. We set off from Bad Salzdetfurth Solebad at 10:12 with a change of clothes, a train ticket to Hannover and hope. We had no accommodation booked, no further train tickets and no useable currency. But this didn't worry us too much. Perhaps the 45 minute delay for the Hildesheim to Hannover train was a warning that the next five days were not going to be simple. If it was, we ignored it, taking a different route to Hannover and then the ICE (super duper fast train) to Hamburg. The next stage was to buy a ticket to København/Copenhagen. The heavy police presence on our platform was slightly disconcerting, but the first section of the journey passed without complication. Nearing the coast, our happiness was interrupted by German border security. They proceeded to interrogate us (genuinely the most appropriate word). Somehow they found us an unusual pair of travellers: one English student living in Germany and one Irish student living in the Netherlands, going to Denmark and Sweden for five days. Maybe they had a point. We eventually managed to convince them that we weren't involved in drugs trafficking.

A few minutes later there was an announcement, informing us that there had been an incident on the track/involving a truck (we never established which). Either way, we were told to leave our high speed train in the buzzing village of Großenbrode (deserted) and wait for a bus to take us to a ferry. Katherine and I were so Irish/English that we didn't push our way onto the first bus, instead attempting to queue. Idiotic. Our politeness was rewarded with a long wait for the second bus, so long that the track/truck incident was resolved and we instead got a different train to the ferry port. At the port we are told to get on the next ICE train (the one that set off 2 hours later) to board the ferry. This was all a bit of a shock, we hadn't really realised that a ferry would be involved at all! After a windy 45 minute ferry, with very heavy doors (definitely gerbil proof), we arrived in Denmark. So we hopped back onto the second ICE, which celebrated reaching Denmark by going at 158km/h.

We arrived in Copenhagen just after eight in the evening, still without accommodation and useable money. By this point tourist information was closed so we also had no idea where we were going. We left the station, panicked and went back inside again and rashly booked a train to Sweden (the normal response to confusion). Our second attempt at leaving the station was more successful, and we managed to book ourselves a hotel for the night. The room was tiny but the location (right next to Tivoli Garden) was brilliant. We had a lovely evening, wandering round the Tivoli area and eating Chinese takeaway in the station.

Copenhagen // Nyhavn // The Little Mermaid // Rosenborg Castle // Danish Danish pastry

The next morning we obtained Danish Kroner, drank dubious tea and began our quest to see as much of Copenhagen as possible. Starting with the statue of the Little Mermaid, we worked our way though seeing the Amalienborg Palace (including the changing of the guard), Rosenborg Castle and the longest shopping street in Europe, only stopping for Danish Danish pastries (no, not a typo, just excitement at eating Danish pastries in Denmark!). The obligatory trip to the souvenir shop was completed, free hot chocolate was obtained and of course we climbed a tower. This one (The Round Tower) was very straightforward to climb with a spiral ramp up to the top. The love of towers continued as we walked to every tower we could see (too many to name). We also ended up in a delightful covered market... lots of free tasters (especially useful when food is so expensive).

As it was getting dark we went into Tivoli. Absolutely incredible. It was all decorated for Halloween and looked amazing, undoubtedly worth the 95 DKK entry fee.

Tivoli Garden

Our time in Copenhagen was almost over and we headed back to the station once more, ready for a night train to Sweden! There's no direct train from Copenhagen to Stockholm, so instead we got a normal train to Lund (in Sweden) and then changed to the night train. Lund was absolutely freezing. I cannot explain how cold it was waiting on the platform for the night train. Anyway, we got the train which unsurprisingly wasn't comfy at all (my neck might recover, Katherine's shoulders probably won't). Sleep or no sleep, we arrived in Stockholm central station at 6:17, walked outside and then back in again (it's becoming a habit). We got our Swedish Krona, ate muffins and waited in the warmth for a while. At the first hint of light we bravely headed outside to watch sunrise in Stockholm which was simply breathtaking. It certainly made up for the temperature and lack of sleep.

Once it was light we set to work seeing as much as possible in Stockholm. Gamla Stan, the palace, the city hall, you name it we saw it. And there was plenty of time for sitting by the waterfront and watching the world go by. Rather than climbing a tower we walked across a very high bridge near Slussen for panoramic views of the city. All this time, we had also been trying to find accommodation for the night. Unfortunately, as we sat outside the city hall watching sunset, we still didn't have any. And thus began the last ditch attempt to find somewhere to sleep. Walking round for over an hour, asking in every place we saw got us nowhere so we formulated a plan.

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Lucy and Katherine's foolproof plan for doing an all nighter in a very cold city.

1. Stay in the main station until it closes (until 00:45).

2. Go to Burger King under the premise of wanting coke and chips. Consume painfully slowly (01:00 - 03:00).

3. Go to McDonalds and repeat the process with different food (03:00 - 05:00).

4. Return to the station as it opens and stay until just before sunrise (05:00 - 07:00).

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Incredibly the plan worked beautifully. Whilst not ideal, the night was strangely enjoyable (being a Saturday night there were plenty of people around). We rewarded ourselves with coffee and Kanelbulle (Swedish Danish pastries) for breakfast and then went outside to watch sunrise over the waterfront (just as beautiful second time round). Our final morning in Scandinavia was spent wandering through the city, in my case taking hundreds of photos.

Stockholm Palace // city hall // Gamla Stan // Stockholm // the waterfront

At midday we headed back to the station to buy food for the journey home. As usual, everything apart from bread and pastries was extortionate so it was an uninspired selection. At 13:45 we set off from Stockholm bus station and began the mere 16 hour journey back to Hamburg. It's clearly not the most popular route (three other passengers) but at least it was quiet. The advantage to having not slept since Denmark (apart from 20 minutes in a coffee shop in Katherine's case) was that it was very easy to sleep on the coach.

The first interruption came in the form of a slightly confusing ferry from Sweden to Denmark (Helsingborg to Helsingor). Confusing because we had assumed we'd be doing the Malmö to Copenhagen bridge. The second ferry from Denmark to Germany (Rødbyhavn to Puttgarden) was at the wonderful time of 2am. Urgh. We eventually made it to Hamburg, had yet another failed attempt at procuring normal tea and just made Katherine's train back from Utrecht (and yes she made her lecture)! I decided to fight the exhaustion and cunningly bought a Niedersachsen train ticket, providing me with free transport around Hamburg as well as being my ticket back to Bad Salzdetfurth.

Although I walked to the Rathaus [town hall] from that point on I travelled by U-Bahn [underground]. Hamburg was on a completely different scale to the other German cities I have visited since arriving and I ended up being very relieved I could use the underground. After four hours of visiting numerous churches, St. Pauli, the harbour and shopping streets I began the journey home. The highlight of the exploring was the St. Nikolai church which had been destroyed in World War II with the exception of the tower, which now stands as a poignant monument against war.

And that is the story of the short trip to Scandinavia. In five days I spent 38 hours travelling on a combination of trains, ferries and a bus. In four nights I spent one in a bed, one on a train, one in a station/fast food outlet and one on a bus. But I did get to see two fascinating and spectacular cities. It was absolutely brilliant.

Ikea, mining and a medieval revival.

As promised, this is the blog post for last week. At least it was delayed for a good reason: I was in Goslar with my parents! Back to the beginning...

Goslar market square

The school week was really short (only Monday and Tuesday) because there was a teacher training day on Wednesday, a bank holiday on Thursday and no point in having school on the Friday right before the Herbstferien (Autumn holidays). Yes, when you start school in the middle of August you're ready for a holiday by early October. The small section of school that occurred was wonderfully uneventful.  That's about it!

1 October. A brilliant day. I moved flat! Although I was fond of my other flat, it had some quirks and my new one is amazing. It is still close to the school, but wins by being able to provide fully operational heating and internet. I think I can cope with eight months here. The new internet situation was even good enough to Skype in to Hazel's birthday evening back at university. It might not have been the clearest call ever and the time delay was interesting but it was so lovely to see everyone. I definintely gave some weird answers to questions that had never been asked and couldn't tell who was who but I officially love Skype. This makes it sound like I miss university (which I do) but given the choice of Bad Salzdetfurth or Canley it's an easy decision. BAD SALZDETFURTH!

To celebrate the new flat and start of school holidays I headed into Hannover to get myself a few decorations. As usual, I woke up obscenely early so had plenty of time to shop before I met Katy and Meadbh for the afternoon (which included helping Meadbh move flat). Meadbh and I headed back to Badse to a wonderful dinner of spaghetti bolognese with pombears, followed by watching the Great British Bakeoff.

Ready to move flat // Pombears and spagbol // Ikea Hannover

Now to the aforementioned parents. As you can imagine I was pretty excited to see them (which definitely had nothing to do with the quantities of Yorkshire Tea they were transporting to me). We spent the first day sorting out my new flat, including a trip to Ikea. Doing my first ever visit to Ikea in Germany might not have been the best plan ever. I was completely confused, but remembered something about picking up loads of pencils and set off. It took us two loops of the store to work out what we needed and where we were going, but after about four hours and a portion of meatballs each everything was fine. Although I did end up running through the store in the opposite direction to the arrows on my quest for some drawers. Don't worry, I received plenty of glares. The trauma/fun was worth it though, as you will see if I get round to doing another flat tour.

For the weekend we headed to Goslar, a town on the edge of the Harz Mountains and featured in Heinrich Heine's Die Harzreise. Rather than drive directly to Goslar, we stopped in various places en-route.

- Zellerfeld. A pretty mining town with a mining museum. Obviously we were unable to leave without a rock or two... something to add to my salt collection!

- Clausthal. The next town along. Home of excellent coffee and cake and the largest wooden church in Germany called Marktkirche zum Heiligen Geist (which was beautiful).

- Altenau.

Goslar certainly made an impression. The cloud was right down over the town, swirling round the sqaures and narrow streets of slate-clad houses. It was an eerie place, with people disappearing into the mist and the infrequent street lamps completely failing to illuminate the town. The sound of church bells from invisible churches filled the streets, producing a atmosphere and presence unlike anywhere I've ever been. Walking into the main square, a collection of tents and people in medieval dress was visible thanks to flaming torches. All of a sudden the connection between Goslar and witchcraft seemed more logical...

To explain the medieval-ness, we visited Goslar during the Kaisermarkt weekend, which google informs me is one of the cultural highlights of the town. I have no idea why this celebration featured camping medieval-style in the main square... only in Germany?!

Goslar building style // Town fountain // Clausthal church // Goslar // Rammelsberg // The mine

During our weekend in Goslar, the parents and I wanted to see as much of the area as possible (especially bits difficult to access by train).

- Hahnenklee. A very unusual church called the Stabkirche.

- Lautenthal. Another mining town.

- Bad Grund.

- Bad Harzberg. A more 'normal' town without the timber and slate building found everywhere else we visited.

- Brocken (attempted). I had no idea that there was no car access to anywhere near the Brocken mountain and the weather wasn't good enough to walk... a trip for another day.

- Schierke.

- Braunlage.

Goslar itself was the biggest and nicest of the places we visited. The historic centre is extensive, with countless stunning buildings. They are made of a combination of timber (usually painted and carved) and slate tiles. Some of the tiles are shaped to form intricate patterns such as eagles, or to curve round windows. A visit to the Kaiserpfalz [imperial palace] confirmed that Goslar could do grand and imposing too. The compulsory tower climb was found at the Marktkirche [Market Church] with the added entertainment of a bell that struck every 15 minutes. Safe to say it was a swift ascent and descent! The architecture of the town as a whole was incredible.

Goslar from the Marktkirche North Tower.

It would have been a travesty to go to the Harz and not visit a mine, so we decided to visit Rammelsberg, a mine just outside of Goslar, which primarily produces copper, lead and zinc. The first section of tour was to recent mining (1950s and 1960s), showing how increasing mechanisation changed mining. The second section was to an older area of mine, which used an enormous water wheel to generate enough power to transport ore to the surface. The bits of tour which I understood were interesting, but I enjoyed walking through the mine (the journey in a transportation wagon less so). My mining-related vocabulary is definitely improving!

I also left Niedersachsen for the first time since arriving... so it was for about an hour into neighbouring Sachsen-Anhalt. This did however involve crossing from former-West to former-East Germany, the border of which was marked by a monument and road sign.

All in all, it's been a hectic week (and two days). I could easily write so much more about my time in the Harz but I think that's getting a bit excessive...

Sunday is delayed until Tuesday.

Unfortunately (not for me) I'm away travelling this weekend. Please check back on Tuesday for tales of moving flat, Ikea and medieval Goslar...

The last tea bag.

It's been an up and down sort of week, what with Reubs going home, running out of tea bags and the realisation that I'm not going back to Warwick this year. I never thought that I'd miss uni but I'm strangely envious of everyone moving back to Canley ready for another year together. The other low point was going to make myself a cup of tea and discovering that I'd run out of tea bags. I bravely tried the generic Teakasse black tea but it is disgusting. I miss England!

School was pretty quiet this week as classes 6 and 9 were away on a school trip.

- 5a. Good lesson, lots to do and stayed for second lesson.

- 7d. Final lesson before the class test, attempting to construct sports poetry...

- 7a. More sports, more posters, more presentations.

- 5c. A couple of incidents (9th formers bursting into the classroom due to one of the 5c-ers annoying them, another 5c-er crying because she wasn't getting enough attention) but otherwise fine.

- 5b. Loving 5th form this week. Helped Martin take a cover lesson which was a fun way to end the school week.

Due to having a visitor I actually went somewhere other than Rewe during the school week. Firstly the Kabusturm, another random tower in the middle of the woods. I still don't understand why these constructions exist but there is a good view from the top.

View from Kabusturm // Kabusturm // Somewhere between Badse and Wesseln

I also had my first ever Currywurst (how I got this far without trying one is beyond me, inadequate German student) in Hildesheim and it was amazing. Literally amazing. Will be going back there. Wednesday was Hannover day. After a wander to the Rathaus and some last minute Milka buying I deposited Reubs and a suitcase on the train to the airport. I had a brief Primark raid, chat with Meadbh and made the second to last train home... success.

For my exciting exploring Friday I went to Wolfenbüttel, not a particularly big place but known at the home of Jägermeister. Unsurprisingly I wanted to visit the Jägermeister factory (on Jägermeisterstraße) and was offered the wonderfully early 9am tour (you have to book in advance). I only had to leave the house at 6am,  enjoying a dark, misty and freezing cold walk to the station. The level of dedication was well worth it as the factory tour was amazing.

The basic mixture for all the Jägermeister in the world is made at that one factory in Wolfenbüttel! The tour started with the ingredients: 56 herbs and spices are used to make Jägermeister, of which we saw 25 and 4 are top secret (to the point that they are stored behind frosted glass in the factory). Next stop was the labs, where all the ingredients are analysed as well as the Jägermeister mixture at various stages of production. Apparently 383 quality control checks are carried out! We also saw the maceration tanks, oak barrels for maturation (the biggest containing over 22 000 litres of Jägermeister), and the bottling process. It was very impressive. My knowledge of Jägermeister production is now comparable to my knowledge of salt (alarmingly high). For example, 98 shots of Jägermeister are drunk per second worldwide. The tour itself was completely free and at the end we were given a present of a small bottle of Jägermeister and two shot glasses to thank us for visiting! Incredible.

Already loving Wolfenbüttel I set off into the town centre, full of the standard timber-framed buildings. The Herzog Ernst August Bibliothek [library] is apparently world famous so I went there to admire the floor to ceiling leather-bound books and the library-associated (and logically named) Lessinghaus [Lessing House], a house that Lessing lived in. It had been made into a mini museum, so I've now seen a handwritten copy of Emilia Galotti. Wahoo.

Stadtmarkt // Historic town centre // Herzogliches Schloss // Side street // Hauptkirche Beatae Mariae Virginis

Wolfenbüttel town centre was lovely. It had a nice market place (like all towns here), a nice Rathaus (like all towns here) and some nice churches (like all towns here). There was also a Jägermeister shop where you could buy items from bikinis to toasters.

Stadtmarkt

On Saturday I went for an 'Anna walk'. For the uneducated, an 'Anna walk' is a walk where you don't follow a route or even take a map, instead wandering wherever you feel like. My walk took me (a very indirect route) to Wesseln, the next village along the valley. Along the valley because I wasn't in the mood for a hill.

The week finished with Konzert in the Kurpark. Brass bands seem to be a German obsession, and able to play anything from Flashdance to a Toto medley (Africa was surprisingly effective). Worryingly there was also a sing-along schlager setion... something about a Fischerin von Bodensee... No idea on the others. Despite all this the highlight of the week has to be Niedersachsen winning the Bundesvision Song Contest 2013.

The blog post that almost didn't make it.

A day late thanks to the atrocious internet but we made it in the end...

Another week is over. Although I really like my school I'm still not feeling particularly useful. I'd expected to be sitting and observing for the first couple of weeks but this is week three and there have still been lessons in which I haven't said a word. I'm not saying I want to take a lesson (or even lead activities) but I can cope with reading out vocabulary and answering questions. There is no point in me sitting in a class and listening to Luca, Ellie, Adam and Berry (the characters in their English textbooks) discussing a trip to the beach. Martin was also away for a couple of days which caused a bit of a kerfuffle.

St. Martini Kirche from the Altrathaus

- 5a. Very slow start due to planner checks, homework checks, etc. I really enjoyed listening to Luca, Ellie, Adam and Berry discussing something.

- 9b. The cover teacher thought I was a student (apparently I look 16. I got asked for ID as well last week) and no amount of explaining would change his mind. I was told to sit with the class, join a group and do an A to Z of Australia poster. Fortunately my group was lovely (even giving me a thank you pressie at the end!) and the cover teacher sort-of apologised at the end... it seems that suggesting 'quokka' for 'Q' was enough to prove my Englishness.

- 6d. Not needed so got sent home.

- 7d. More sports but still good. At the end I managed to remember everyone in the class' names... wahoo!

- 7a. Complete fail of a class. There was no cover work and the cover teacher didn't turn up. After waiting ten minutes I went someone to the staffroom to get a teacher. Not ideal really.

- 9f. New class. Not exactly the hardest group of students but they were friendly (even if they'd only talk in German).

- 5c. Uninterested in English. Shockingly Jens hitting the glockenspiel didn't restore control.

- 6b. Another new class. I had been switched out of the less than successful 7abc and this was my replacement. I took a small group out of the class and we had a lovely time identifying verbs in the simple past. So much better.

- 6c. I got to write loads of sample sentences on the blackboard and the students were actually asking me questions. Success.

- 5d. More problems with cover teachers meant I got left alone with the class for half the lesson which was going fine until someone started crying. My ability to comfort in German is limited.

As routine dictates I went into Hildesheim after school on Thursday. This got off to a great start with an out of order ticket machine, so I did the unthinkable and got onto a train in Germany without a ticket. I went to the library but wasn't allowed to borrow anything because I forgot to bring my proof of address certificate. Oh German bureaucracy.

For my new city of the week I went to Braunschweig/Brunswick, the city of Henry the Lion. It didn't do well on first impressions, with a 2km walk from the station to the city centre, past many 'lovely' buildings (including a youth drug rehabilitation centre). I got very confused, walking round in circles in the Aegidienviertel. The actual city was nice (once I made it) with lots of modern shopping in old buildings. This was epitomised in the Residenzschloss [residential palace], the majority of which is now a shopping centre. Interesting. There were a couple of reconstructed rooms in the palace which I was thoroughly confused by and I got glared at for standing less than a meter from the elaborately set dining table. Hmph.

Burgplatz // Alte Waage // Rathaus // Residenzschloss

On a walk into the centre of Braunschweig I saw the Rathaus [city hall] which was very pretty but hosting so sort of wedding expo. The whole Burgplatz area with the Burg Dankwarderode castle, Dom St. Blasii cathedral and of course the Braunschweiger Löwe (lion statue). After all, no self-respecting 'city of the lion' would be complete without a lion statue. Next I headed to the Altstadtmarkt and the Altstadtrathaus which had been made into a little city history museum. There were lots of maps and documents showing the history of Braunschweig and it was an interesting place to hide from the rain. Finally I went to the Old New Town, home of a church, Wollmarkt Alte Waage and the Liberei (so plenty of half timbered buildings). Other things seen at some point (effective exploring) include the Staatstheatre and Happy Rizzi Haus.

Braunschweig was a city which tried really hard to feel like a big place but was actually not. I kept putting the map away, wandering for ten minutes, panicking and thinking I was lost then turning around and being next to a church which I had originally thought was too far away to walk to. This wasn't entirely surprising given the number of churches. St. Martini Kirche, St. Ulrici Bruedern Kirche, St. Andreas Kirche, St. Magni Kirche, St. Aegidien Kirche and St. Petri Kirche. And the cathedral. So on first impressions Braunschweig wasn't amazing but it did improve. 

Bad Salzdetfurth // Presents from England // Bad Salzdetfurth

I headed into Hannover on Saturday to meet my next visitor, contending with a train that completely overshot the platform and had to reverse (standard DB Bahn). Due to the suitcase situation, Reubs and I headed straight to Badse and then back out into Hildesheim (lovely Niedersachsen ticket) and had a wander, schnitzel and ice cream. Hildesheim was slightly chaotic with politcal party members everywhere in a final push for votes and some sort of disaster had happened on a side street. A disaster that required multiple fire engines, police cars and the wonderful Katastrophenschutz. The weekend ended in usual style with Kaffee and Konzert in the Kurpark... ahh, Badse!

Just follow the music.

I cannot believe that it is nearly three weeks since I moved to Germany. The time has gone so much faster than I thought it would, which must mean that I like it here. School is seeming strangely familiar. I know where most of the classrooms are, I have my place in the staffroom and I have teachers that I talk to during breaks. When I walk down the corridors students say 'Hi Miss Wilkinson' and they wave at me when they get on the bus to go home. However, I have no idea what the students are called. Well maybe one or two. And there seems to be a Stine [steen-ah], Nele [nay-luh] and Leon [lay-on] in every class. Ah well, they are still confused by my name so it's even.

Hameln // Marktkirche St. Nicolai //  Me and Katherine // Market Square // Old town // Bürgerhus

- 5a. Same as last week but this time happily learning about animals. The proud moment of being asked what Bartagame is in English and knowing the answer. Bearded dragon. Win.

- 9b. Again, same as last week. Not very enthusiastic about anything.

- 6b. A class with a bad reputation but were actually really good. The lesson was more like what I expected to be doing as a language assistant, as I took groups of seven out of the class to practice a dialogue, changing group every 15 minutes. The first group started talking amongst themselves, discussing how much they wanted the lesson to be over. I let them continue for a couple of minutes then said "ich kenne Deutsch" [I know German]. Hah. More priceless reactions. Now they all think I'm super cool for pranking them. One of the girls even came up to me at the end of class and gave me a keyring! So, it seems their reputation is worse than the reality.

- 7d. So much talking about sports. But we got to 61 on FizzBuzz so that was a success!

- 7a. Yet more sports but otherwise good.

- 7abc. Awful. My first lesson with this class and they had no questions for me at all. This is a lower ability class and their English is limited. I'm not entirely sure what the point in me attending their lessons is, as they know their English is poor but are not remotely interested in improving it. Even worse, the teacher thinks I am also a teacher so wants me to take the lesson next week... I think I've got some explaining to do.

- 5c. There wasn't much for me to do this week but it's a lovely class. They are the most talkative and happily chat to me in both English and German. Pretending that I don't understand something usually results in them attempting to translate it into English for me so it's good practice too. For some reason one of the students brought real chinchilla fur into school and they all love it. No idea.

- 6c. Not in school today, something about a research project in the woods.

- 5d. Also not in school, not sure why.

Other highlights of the working week included putting my name label on my letter box (and feeling like a proper German) and watching The Great British Bakeoff. The internet went a bit crazy and actually worked, so I downloaded a VPN program (means I can connect to a UK network, pretend that my laptop is in the UK and therefore access iPlayer!). There was only one thing to do: make myself a cup of tea, whack out the Dairy Milk and enjoy. It sounds like such a small thing but it made my day.

With all Thursday lessons cancelled I headed into Hildesheim for the afternoon (and evening as Katherine's train journey didn't go quite to plan). I went to the library and registered for a library card, so sat reading until Katherine arrived.

Despite having a visitor I wanted to continue with my plan to visit a different city every week so on Friday we got ourselves a Niedersachsen ticket and headed off to Hameln/Hamelin. Yes it is a real place, and yes it is completely obsessed with (and defined by) the Pied Piper. Literally everything was Pied Piper themed and the selection of rat shaped items was vast. There were glass rats, mirror rats, cuddly rats, bottle-opener rats, giant statue rats, cobblestone rats and bread rats. Seriously, bread rats in multiple bakeries.

Bread rats // Cobblestone rat // Bridge rat // Mirror rats

Hameln itself was a very pretty place, full of narrow cobbled streets and old timber buildings, so we had a lovely time exploring the historic city centre. During our wander we went into the Münster St. Bonifatius, a very impressive building from the outside but less so from the inside. There was however a sign for the tower climb. The door was unlocked for us and we set off up the spiral staircase, which progressed to wooden stairs and walkways with doors to open, until eventually we arrived at a the bottom of a wooden ladder. At the top of the ladder was a closed trapdoor. Not to worry, we had been warned before climbing the tower that the trapdoor to the top might be closed. Eeek. So up I went, unbolted the trapdoor and clambered out onto the top to be greeted by a stunning view of Hameln and far beyond. It might not have been the safest ascent ever but it was incredible.

Hameln // The trapdoor

Safely back on the ground, we encountered the Pied Piper. I will concede that he wasn't the actual Pied Piper but he was dressed up, playing a whistle and leading people through the streets of Hameln. The obvious choice was to follow the music/Pied Piper on what we thought was a free walking tour (in German of course). Later we discovered that is was actually a private group tour costing 130€. Oops. But we can still say that we followed the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Next stop was the glass blowing works in which we were the only visitors (that just keeps on happening). The glass blowing demonstration was amazing and really interesting, although the jokes were definitely lost on us. We headed back to Badse, stopping in Hildesheim for a schnitzel (my first since arriving here!) in a restaurant on the market square, the name of which I somehow translated as Bone-Fang-Tusk.

At this point you'd think that the day had been eventful enough, but Bad Salzdetfurth had other ideas. On the walk from the station we heard music and decided to follow it. In most places this would have led us to a house party, but here the source of the noise was a concert in the town centre. The band were best described as a 'Fleetwood Mac' tribute but were actually quite good. Katherine unleashed her A-level German and successfully ordered drinks that weren't beer and we stayed for the remainder of the concert. Of course, we didn't question the CDU umbrellas, assuming it was some sort of fundraiser. We were proved wrong when Ute Bertram (the local CDU candidate) hopped up on stage at the end and asked us all to vote for her in the upcoming election. Ah. I did gain some CDU gummy bears though.

The weekend was uneventful, beginning with the Saturday morning shop for roast dinner ingredients (upsettingly minus parsnips). We did very little, staying in Badse, eating and watching 30 über Nacht [13 going on 30]. On Sunday I went to Konzert in the Kurpark as usual then headed home to prepare for the 6am start.

My house, in the middle of my street.

It's time for a special edition blog post. Quite a few people have asked me where I'm living in Germany, whether it's with one of the teachers, in a WG, in my own flat or in a cardboard box under a bridge somewhere. The answer is my own flat, which is actually the bottom floor of my landlady's house. The location is good: close to school and to the station. It is a bit strange living by myself but I'm getting used to it and it's nice to have a little bit of Germany that is mine.

Room 1: Lounge

This is my lounge which came complete with TV and 'interesting' paintings. Some of the items on the shelving unit are mine (the cards, millions of train timetables and rubber duck) but most of it was there when I arrived. There's an excessive number of places to sit but at least I have a choice! And the stuff on the ceiling that looks like wood is actually plastic. Nice.

Room 2: Bedroom

So, my bedroom. I don't know why it has three beds but it does. I've tried to make it feel like home by having various photos and things dotted around the room. The wardrobe is massive; I'm only using a quarter of it! The guard penguin is protecting my wonderfully rectangular pillow (the one to the right was my original pillow).

Rooms 3 & 4: Kitchen and Bathroom

My kitchen is little (no free work surface) but came fully equipped which makes up for it. There's everything you could possibly want apart from an oven tray. Why there is an egg boiler but not an oven tray I do not understand. But I went to the 1€ shop, bought a tray and now everything is fine.

Finally, the bathroom (complete with a little stool so I can reach the window). It's a fairly standard bathroom but special mention goes to the shower which is really good. And yes there is a toilet, I just couldn't fit it in the photo.

Well, that's it. Tour complete. It might not be the most modern flat in the world but I quite like it and feel at home here. It will be strange to move out in a couple of weeks time.

Was?! Ist dass die Engländer?!

Yes I am the English one, and although you don't know it I can understand everything you are saying. My first week working as an Enlglish Language Assistant at IGS Bad Salzdetfurth is over and and it went well!

IGS Bad Salzdetfurth main entrance

On Monday morning I arrived in school at half 7 ready for my very first lesson: sports and hobbies with 5a. Some of their ideas were a little… unusual, for example 'jumping from towers' but I'm here to try to help them speak English, not to question their hobbies! Despite their interesting choice of hobbies, the class was lovely and the lesson went much faster than I'd expected it to. At the moment I am in the Hospitationsphase, so observing lessons rather than actively teaching. I have obviously been answering questions and speaking both German and English but I'm not expected to lead any activities yet. The second (and final) class of the day was 9b, the oldest year group. They were far more reluctant to talk but hopefully in time they will get used to having me around and realise that I'm not going to insult their grammar!

Having only attended two classes I was free for the rest of the day (my Monday third class starts next week) so decided to be brave and head into the town centre and visit the Einwohnermeldeamt and the bank. The Einwohnermeldeamt is where you officially register your residence in the town, in my case located in the Rathaus [town hall]. My British passport caused great confusion for not saying my previous address and for generally being in English, but eventually it was accepted. Further confusion ensued when I tried to say I was single. Apparently in Germany a wedding ring is worn on the right hand not the left, so the ring on my righthand fourth finger (a present) here means that I'm married. Well that explains why I've been asked so many times whether it's difficult being away from my partner or if he came to Germany with me! Successfully registered as living in Bad Salzdetfurth I set off to the Sparkasse (my nearest bank) to open a bank account. I had no idea that I'd need an appointment, so happily wandered in and asked to open an account. Ah, so naïve. I was taken pity on by the very helpful and very tall (we're talking crouching to go under his office doorway) assistant called Torsten, who explained that we could start setting up my account then and finish it off another day. The next hour was one of the most confusing hours of my life. I left feeling completely bewildered and had to have a sit down and a cup of tea to recover. Basically, Torsten was super duper inquisitive about why I was in Germany, so questions about my bank account were interspersed with questions about my life choices, which was lovely but exhausting. I had no idea how much paperwork would be required… a small tree's worth it transpires. Seriously, they give you a folder to take it home in. Somehow I made it to the end of the 'beloved German bureaucracy' paperwork (everything here requires a lot of paperwork) and am now the holder of a Girokonto with Sparkasse Hildesheim. Interestingly I wasn't even offered a credit card with my account! Anyway, the bank is hopefully sorted and I have a meeting in two weeks time to make sure that everything is okay. Yay.

The rest of the school week was fine, and apart from Tuesday fifth which was cancelled went as planned. Oh, and the teacher who questioned why as a student I was in the staffroom and what I had done to get sent out of my lesson. Awkward.

- 7d. Brilliant. They are old enough to know some English but not old enough to care about making grammatical errors. And the teacher and I decided to pretend I spoke no German at all, then five minutes before the end of the lesson he asked one of the girls to ask me a question in German. I responded in German. She then asked another question and I responded. Only then did the penny drop and she realised I'd spoken German!
- 7a. Less talkative but still really good.
- 8abc. Cancelled due to teacher illness so I stayed with 8a and watched them do presentations about their favourite sport. Really wish that they would learn to say dates properly, it would change the overall sounds of their English so much.
- 5c. Really enjoyed. The students sat in a circle and interrogated me on everything from favourite foods to countries. The prize for my favourite question goes to "So can you really say as much in English as we can in German". Erm yes and I think in English too. Mind blown. A particularly lovely (or stupid) student asked how my English was so good if I was born in Germany! I voluntarily stayed for the next lesson to help with pronunciation and rhyming words, partly because I was enjoying myself and partly because there's not a lot to do in the afternoons/evenings.

- 6c. Unbothered. Ended up just writing vocabulary on the blackboard.
- 5d. Difficult topic (favourite things) so they weren't that enthusiastic. They still think I don't know any German. It's a very weird feeling sitting in a class and hearing people talk about you because they think you can't understand them.

I celebrated the end of the working week by getting the train to Hildesheim and climbing the tower of the St Andreas Church. I didn't appreciate just how many steps there would be, most of which were a spiral staircase but the last few were practically a ladder! The view was well worth the climb as the visibility was really good so I could see the edge of Hildesheim and surrounding hills, as well as the Harz and Hannover in the distance.

View from Andreaskirche // Hildesheim Market Square // Inside Andreaskirche // Another view

Afterwards I decided to sort out my internet once and for all. For anyone who I have yet to complain about the internet to, it is terrible. Exceedingly unpredictable and frequently non-existent. Therefore I thought a usb-internet-stick-thing would be a good plan. Half an hour later I was standing crying in the middle of the Vodafone shop. To summarise (I'd rather not relive the experience by typing it) I've learnt that you cannot take a sim card back to a shop, but if you simultaneously cry and explain in broken German that all you want to do is talk to your family it is possible to get substantial discount on the adaptor to make the sim usable. To be fair, without the surfstick I wouldn't be blogging now! I cheered myself up with potato wedges from Nordsee and went home to watch Der Teufel trägt Prada [The Devil Wears Prada] and eat marzipan potatoes.

My body clock is completely broken after four days of German school, so I ended up on the half 8 train to Hannover on Friday. I had heard lots about the city so was looking forward to visiting it. I arrived just before 10 at a very impressive looking Hauptbahnhof and bumped into Meadbh (my roommate from the Köln course) on her way to school. After trying to find the historic city and failing (Hannover is such a confusing place) I went into a couple of gallerias on a map finding mission. I didn't find a map but I did find a Lindt chocolatier putting the filling in Lindor chocolates and then handing them out as tasters. From this point I knew it was going to be a good day! Eventually I found a pathetically small map in tourist information, so set off exploring the opera, the Kröpke, the Old Town Hall, the Market Church, another Church and the historic city centre in general. As usual there were loads of building works and road works which detracted slightly from the charm of the historic city. It was still pretty (in parts) but nothing like I expected it to be! After a few hours as a lone explorer I was joined by Meadbh who is living in Hannover and commuting to her school near Lehrte. We went to Jim Block for a burger lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering round Hannover. It was so nice to be exploring with someone rather than being by myself so much of the time. We returned to the Lindor-providing galleria only to find some sort of musical interlude in the middle of the shop floor. Next was a fashion show of Oktoberfest fashion on the escalators. Thank you Germany for yet another bizarre experience: a parade of lederhosen and dirndls to a remix of ABBA's SOS meets Edelweiss (with people casually continuing shopping around the commotion).

Marktkirche // Old Town Hall // Hauptbahnhof // Historic City // Galleria Fashion Show

The aim was then to meet Katy, another language assistant living in Hannover, for cocktails before I got the train back to Badse. However, Meadbh and I got a little lost (like I said, Hannover is really confusing) and ended up walking through a very sleazy red light district, complete with men throwing stones at us (they missed)! We did make it to the cocktail bar which was back in the centre and shared a litre for 10€ (and then got given free mini Cosmopolitans). It was reassuring to have a catch up and made me wish I lived closer than a 16,50€ train away. At the end of a lovely day I went home on the last train back to Badse, arriving just as the church bells were striking 10.

Saturday was pretty uneventful. I went to Bodenburg, the village at the end of the Lammetalbahn (my train line) which was one of the least exciting places I have ever been to. I went for a walk in the Schlosspark and down the main street but the village was almost deserted. I saw more churches than people. Therefore the visit to Bodenburg was shorter than intended but it satisfied a curiosity. On the way home I went to Rewe for my pre-Sunday shopping trip and bought schnitzel! I had wondered why meat here was so expensive… it turns out that the price on the shelf label is per kilogram and that the meat is a similar price to home. Ahh.

Bodenburg Schlosspark // Bodenburg // Kurpark // Kuchen

On Sunday morning I was happily sitting in my flat (writing my blog incidentally) when I heard a marching band. The obvious response was to grab my camera and run outside to take a photo. However, my plan didn't quite work out as Doro (my landlady) was part of the procession and invited me to join them! I was introduced to the Bürgerkönig and Bürgerkönigin and asked to walk behind them in the procession, along with the uniformed members of the Schützengesellschaft Salzdetfurth. Infront of the Bürgerkönig and Bürgerkönigin there was a marching band and flag bearer, and of course there was a tractor at the end of the procession. We marched through the main street of Badse, straight across the crossroads ignoring the traffic lights (all the cars pulled over to let us through) until we reached the Blockhaus. I also went to what I'm going to refer to from now on as Konzert in the Kurpark. This week was a performance by Burgstemmen brass band, with a lovely selection including Pirates of the Caribbean, Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat and a Neil Diamond medley. The compulsory cake was consumed and all was well.

Behind bad luck comes good luck

It's Sunday which means it's time for a blog post. Not just because Germany is closed on a Sunday...

Hildesheim market square // Kurwerk // Rosenstock // Kuchen // Adolf Stoffregen Turm // Stadtmuseum // Gospel and Jazz festival

Sooo, on Friday I went for an explore in Badse. I wanted to find out for myself where everything is and more importantly how long it takes to walk there. There is a tourist information office at the far end of the main street so I bravely wandered in and got myself a couple of Badse maps, a Hildesheim map and a couple of train timetables. More on the trains another day as they deserve a post of their own. The main shopping area is the opposite side of town to where I live but only a 20 minute walk or so (longer when carrying potatoes). My proudest purchase is definitely the beautifully rectangular polyester pillow. You people in Britain appreciate those pillows because here they are hard to come by. I lucked out and found a solitary specimen for 5€ in a 1€ store! And it sounds awful but yes I prefer it to the square, puffy, goose down one!

I went to Hildesheim, the closest 'big place' for the afternoon. First task was to buy a German sim card for my phone. This was a big ask as phone shops confuse me in English, let alone German but it had to be done. Success. I am now a vodafone.de user with 100 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited internet for 15€ per month. And I even got a compliment on my German! To reward myself I bought ice cream and sat in the market square listening to the jazz band... so civilised. My inner tourist then demanded some sight seeing so I went to a couple of churches, decided it was too late to climb the tower of the St Andreas Church and ended up at the cathedral. The cathedral was undergoing major repair works (as they always seem to be when I visit) but for the huge fee of 0.30€ you could visit the Rosenstock. This was the ground floor of the building which (from what I understood) had been protected from the World War II bombing raids, including a rose bush (more like a tree) which was planted in 815 when the cathedral was built! I have no idea how they managed to protect a tree from the fire which engulfed the upper floors of the building but it was nice to see that something survived! I've just done a bit of research (read: looked at wikipedia) which says that a bombing raid on 22 March 1945 specifically targeted Hildesheim and destroyed 75% of buildings in the city, including nearly the entire historical city centre. Well that would explain why there is such a mixture of building styles and ongoing repair work...

Saturday set off with a walk to Rewe [rew-way/ru-wuh/I don't know how you say it], my closest supermarket, to get enough food to survive the dreaded German Sunday. For those of you unfamiliar with this phenomenon, everything is closed on Sundays. If you run out of food you don't eat. Anyway, my dictionary and I had a lovely time with me trying to look up words without anyone noticing that I was wandering round a supermarket with a dictionary. The highlight of the trip was going to the cheese counter and asking for "Englische Käse, vielleicht Cheddar oder so?" [any English cheese, perhaps cheddar?] prompting the sales assistant to reach into a drawer behind the counter and produce a block of cheddar. It seems they are too embarrassed to put it out on the counter with all the other cheeses! After that triumph I got through the checkout at top speed with minimal talking to the assistant so blended in quite nicely.

In the evening I got the train to Hildesheim Ost to meet M., S. and some of their friends for a meal. I went a little early so I could get to know M. and S. before everyone else got there and before the cooking started. The food was amazing (and pretty spicy) and I had a lovely evening attempting to talk but mostly listening. I was happy with how much I could understand, ranging from discussing dogs and moving house to the upcoming elections! It was a bit frustrating not being able to say anything but that will improve with time (it had better!). By the way, today's post title was from my fortune cookie (it was a Chinese meal) and I thought it would be something good to remember over the next few weeks. We finished up the evening with a game of 'Bluff' auf Deutsch before I had to get the last train home. Defo possible to have a wild night out and get the last train home at 22:42 on a Saturday. Everyone loves the Lammetalbahn [Lamb Valley Railway]! The evening was lovely and I'm feeling lucky to have been placed at IGS Bad Salzdetfurth with such an enthusiastic mentor. Although I still can't believe that out of all places to go they decided that the Scottish Highlands would be an amazing destination...

From the top of the Adolf Stoffregen Turm

Along came the aforementioned German Sunday and it was actually brilliant! I headed off with my map (which turned out to be rubbish) and went for a walk in the woods feeling like a true German (albeit without the hiking poles!). Eventually I worked out a reasonable route and headed out of Badse towards the Adolf Stoffregen Turm, a bit to the North so hopefully providing a nice view of the town. I was a little unsure of the tower but climbed it anyway and it sort of gave me the view I was after. I'm sure it was very safe but I was quite pleased to be back on the ground! The walk was shorter than expected so I decided to go to the town museum.

Ahh the town museum, or officially ‘Stadthistorisches Sole-, Salz- und Kali-Bergbau-Museum’ (this place seems to specialise in long place names). I should have taken the -erm- restricted opening times as a warning (Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, 14:00 to 17:00) but continued anyway. It turned out that I was the first visitor of the day so ended up with a private tour of the museum, courtesy of an 80 year old former salt miner. Obviously everything was in German so I was struggling to understand the descriptions of boreholes and mine shafts etc yet look super enthusiastic. He and his colleague told me I had to sign the visitors book... awkwardly I got to write the first ever entry in the book... I have never eaten so much salt in my life. Every time we encountered an unusual looking block of salt my tour guide said “noch Salz, guck mal” [still salt, see] and proceeded to try it. The only accepted response seemed to be for me to try the salt too. I was then shown upstairs to the rest of the exhibition which hadn’t been unlocked yet! The guided tour continued through rooms of all the minerals found whilst mining, how the salt is purified and gifts of salt from other salt mines. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any stranger the tour guide asked me to pick up blocks of minerals. They were clearly labelled ‘do not touch’ but I was allowed to, with the tour guide delighting in the fact that, no, I couldn’t pick up a piece of iron and halite twice the size of my head! Despite the bizarreness of the museum visit, I have to say, it was interesting and my tour guide and his friend were amazing.

After a piece of Apfel und Eierlikör Kuche to recover from the experience I went for a leisurely walk through the Kurpark, past the Kurwerke (a way of removing impurities from the salty water, by running the water through twigs - it’s embarrassing how much I now know about salt). This plan went out of the window when I found myself in the middle of the ‘Bad Salzdetfurth Gospel and Swing Festival’. There were choirs from all the neighbouring villages and a large audience so I stayed a while (aka it seemed rude to just leave). Some of the choirs/songs were really good, others not so much... ‘can you feel the love tonight’ (The Lion King) will never be the same. Think ‘carn you fweell ze luff tonahht’. Mind, my German is appalling so I’ll stop with the pronunciation analysis.

Ah. My landlady has just given me a stool because she has noticed that I haven’t shut the bathroom window yet and thinks it’s because I’m too short to reach it. I’ve forgiven her because she has also brought me cheesecake.

To conclude, Sunday was brilliant, bizarre and I’m slightly excited to see what happens next Sunday!