These past two weeks have been the autumn school holidays, so two weeks off! I think one of the bets bits about school were the breaks. Except for when you come to the end of them and you wonder where all that time went… I’m getting that familiar feeling about now as we’ve got to be back in school on Monday!

These past two weeks have been ridiculously full of travelling – I’ve visited Muenster, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Amsterdam and tomorrow I’m going to Bonn and Cologne! Despite Nordrhein-Westfalen not being my first choice when I had to pick the areas I wanted to go to on my Assistantship application, I feel really fortunate that I got placed here. I felt lucky when I found that I’d  been placed in a city, but now that I realise how many great places there are to go to in NRW, I feel luckier still. Mind you, I didn’t spend that much time in NRW last week…

I’ll start where we started the school holidays – over in Muenster! Beef and Gravy are living in the same place now, just 20 minutes drive outside Muenster city centre. I FINALLY bought a camera at their local supermarket, so I can finally take pictures of the places I’ve been! The night out in Muenster was really, really mental. We went to this club called Heaven which was inside of a warehouse on Muenster marina. I got a bit homesick walking towards it, because it reminded me so much of Cardiff Bay!

The next day we got to a little (hungover) exploration of Muenster city centre… I couldn’t believe how pretty Muenster was! Cobbled streets, old timey buildings, old timey font on the signs… It’s definitely a lot prettier than Dortmund is.

Beef told us that Muenster was rebuilt to look like its former self after it was bombed in the war. I found it to be quaint, almost like something out of a storybook (though that was before I visited Heidelberg, but that’s another blog post). It wasn’t all quaint and cute though. Something freaked me out about St. Lambert’s Church in the city centre.

It’s a shame it was such a dull day, I’m sure Muenster is stunning in better weather. Anyhow, looks like your standard church right? Look again.

See the three cages? These are the remains of the Muenster Rebellion – which wikipedia tells me ‘was an attempt by radical Anabaptists to establish a communal theocracy in the German city of Münster.’ Basically, three of the most prominent members of the rebellion were caught, tortured and executed and their remains placed in three cages on the church. As you can see, while the remains aren’t there anymore, the cages still are… how creepy is that??

We only really saw the Old City, had to take shelter in an Italian restaraunt because it started pouring down with rain. We’ll be returning at some point I guess, specially as that’s where Beef and Gravy are living!

I think Things I Miss is probably going to centre mostly on food…

I eat far too much Pickled Onion Monster Munch, so maybe it’s not such a bad thing that they’re not around for me to eat copious amounts of nowadays. BUT THEY TASTE SO GOOOOOOOOD. I’m the type of person who will go to a shop 10 minutes out of my way because I know that they’ll sell the MEGA MONSTER MUNCH instead of those feeble normal ones… but will eat the feeble ones anyway. I miss the times when I’d remember that Iceland sells big bags of them for a pound and I’d just nom away watching something on BBCiplayer (I think that’s another Things I Miss post though…)

In Germany, crisp variety seems to be limited to Paprika and… err well I think Paprika because I haven’t seen many other flavours other than in the Pringle family. Luckily for you who like sour cream and chives Pringles, they’re readily available. Monster Munch? Not so much.

Thankfully, I do quite enjoy the Paprika crisps. They’re not as good as Monster Munch, but they’ll do! I just ate a whole bag. Urgh.

Words cannot describe how much I miss these suckers. Classic student food, the musical fruit, even the Tesco value ones are nom. But in Germany? You can’t really get them. Well that’s not technically true – you can get them in some places few and far between, but at about 2 Euros a tin, it’s gone from student food to a luxury. So I suppose if you’re REALLY craving some cheesy beans on toast, you could just pay the extra…

Cheesy beans on toast tended to be my pre-training meal back in Swansea, so I’m missing out on something nom (something yummy) AND something that is legitimately good energy food (…ok perhaps I should cut out the cheese a little, but still, I spend 2 hours punching pads/people or throwing them/being thrown and last the whole thing and then some if I run 5K beforehand ALL THANKS TO CHEESY BEANS ON TOAST thankyouverymuch)

As for a German replacement? I’m told that their beans tend to be a little different, with meaty corn beef type stuff included. I would imagine it would be a little bit like the beans and sausage variety – which I don’t like. I’ve yet to see them in the Supermarkt, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled, but I doubt I’ll try them unless I’m really really really desperate for cheesy beans on toast. Speaking of cheese, is it wrong that I am really considering spending about 3 euros on some Cathedral Cheddar Cheese?

I’m hungry now.

We saw Bob Geldof in Dortmund!

BOB ‘GIVE US YOUR FOOKING MONEY’ GELDOF!

He was playing in Dortmund city centre as part of an anti-Nazi concert thing – apparently Dortmund has a problem with Nazi demonstrators, something which the population of Dortmund clearly (and understandably!!) has a problem with.

I’m not entirely sure why we were all so excited, none of us were mahoosive Bob fans, but oh boy, we are now. We spent the whole journey to the Rathaus (City Hall, not House of Rats dammit) going on about how we just wanted to hear ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ and talking in funny German voices about how Bob should warten (wait) for us to get there before playing it.

We got there just in time to see Bob start, had a little boogie, got some beer, and boogied while waiting for ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’. We sure showed the locals how to bust a groove. The thing was, our friend was getting the train in from Remmscheid (no, I don’t know where it is either), and it was nearing the time that she was due to arrive and he still hadn’t played it. Big dilemma, and the old ‘oh her train will be late’ is never going to happen in Germany. Never. In the end, two of us went while two stayed, promising to ring if he started playing it. Ten minutes later…

Cue us calling them, shouting ‘RUN!!!! RUN!!!!!’ so that they could get there in time to witness the magic… and just in time, about halfway through the song THEY ARRIVED! It was seriously a magical moment, I can’t really do it justice.

I’m definitely gegen Nazis for the obvious reasons – but also because I don’t reckon fascists would let you dance like loons.

Thanks Bob!

Over a week actually, since I flew to Germany with one kg too many… Right now I’m meant to be going to the Buergersamt to register, but I’ve just made plans to go a bit later!

The induction course at Altenberg was ridiculous amounts of fun, despite early mornings, loads of lesson things and a limited supply of beer at the bar… Not that that mattered, because as much as I have tried to like beer, I don’t, ew. I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much in three days!

I’m not sure I’ve actually said what Altenberg is – the assistants going to Germany have to do an induction course before they go to their respective destinations, and that course is held in Altenberg. It’s basically a course to help you out with teaching, learning how to plan lessons and also to meet assistants in your area so you’re not totally alone! It’s a monastery apparently, but there weren’t any monks, sad times.

Despite having two of my good friends with me going to Altenberg, I felt kinda apprehensive about going. I knew that we had to do some teaching practice in groups, and I worried that I wouldn’t click with anyone etc. etc.

Turns out there was no bloody need to worry – you know that group of people at an event who just can’t seem to stop laughing at the littlest things? Yeaaah, that was us! I won’t go into all the in-jokes here, because no one else bar us will find them funny

As for the course itself… the lessons were tiring mostly because there were so many of them. They could have saved some time with certain things – we had two and a half hours to prep our lessons, which seemed like a really long time in hindsight. On the other hand though, some of the stuff was really helpful, for example having previous assistants (a.k.a Ehemaligen) to tell us about their experiences, even though all bar one were American so certain things concerning Visas wasn’t really applicable to the majority of the U.K based group. If anyone’s reading this and thinking of not going to the course… well, I’d definitely rethink. This is really the best way for you to get to know people in your area. I know the main aim of this year is for me to learn as much German as possible, but it can see it being a really lonely experience if you don’t have people to share it with, and the best people to do that with are those who are going through the same things. The language barrier can often be a difficult hurdle when forming friendships. Not to mention that there are loads of tidbits I know now that I wouldn’t have known had I not gone to Altenberg.

I’m now all moved in in Dortmund! But I’ll save that for another blog post. For now, here’s a picture of me doing something you shouldn’t do in Germany – dance/walk in the cyclist lane.

Pedestrian in the Cyclist lane = fair game.

Bis bald!

So, here’s the long and short of it! I’m in a hostel in Cologne right now after having arrived yesterday with two of my friends from Germany! Not without drama though – the UK leg of our journey was fairly uncomplicated, though one of the girls got caught in a traffic jam. This did lead us to the conclusion that she, in our self-fabricated Top Gear stylee race, was definitely James May. I was Clarkson, despite not being neither tall nor loud enough!

However, if we were starring in a German version of Top Gear, we would have all lost abysmally on a general bad sense of direction and difficulty understanding instructions and directions. Guh. Turns out it’s a lot easier to manoeuvre around Germany’s various modes of transport when you have someone telling you specifically where to go, as was the case when I visited Berlin in sixth form. It didn’t help that we were each lugging a massive suitcase around Cologne’s city centre.

There was typically drama with my suitcase – 20kg was my limit, and I was at 24 when I checked. Oops. Managed to play a little game of switcharoo and got it down to 21kg – 1 kg extra they didn’t;t charge me for, might I add. Moral of the story? Len wins at luggage allowance.

Yesterday was a fun filled day in Cologne, but I’ll update you on that after today’s (hopefully) equally fun filled day! The induction course starts tomorrow. According to a previous student, we’re staying in a monastery where the bells ring at 6.30 am every morning. I’m a heavy sleeper so hopefully I’ll sleep through the first few!

Auf wiedersehen!

For example, new glasses :

So worth the money. My old glasses had lost the nose pads, were wonky and about three years old! I like these ones because they don’t cover my face as much but are still kinda cool. Has to be said, the selection of (affordable non-designer) glasses at Specsavers has improved IMMENSELY since I first had to get glasses.

Something else which is new:

www.elenacresci.co.uk

I have my very own website now! How cool is that? My boyfriend suggested that I get one, reasoning that there isn’t much need for a schnazzy title with a name like mine. Though I wouldn’t mind one.

I’m meant to be packing right now, but I’m still taking my sweet time with that. I’m leaving on Friday, how scary is that?

What’s even scarier is that I have 20kg in which to pack my life, in order to kart it off to Dortmund. It means that I have to leave some of my shoes behind – a terrible fate indeed for us shoeaholics.

I woke up on Saturday with that horrible nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. It comes back intermittently, but I’m trying my best not to feel too nervous about the whole thing. The language barrier is what worries me the most – I know it’ll be hard, but I don’t want it to be a case of me copping out and using English, and thus losing some valuable German practice. I’m living there to become fluent after all, I don’t want it to be a waste.

I think the next update will probably be from the airport or in Germany itself! Ooooh there’s that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach again…

1) I found a place to live in Dortmund! I’m sub-leasing the room of a girl who is going to Wolverhampton until March – I spoke to one of my housemates today, he seemed really cool. They’re all photographers, which should be interesting! After March, I’m staying in this Guesthouse I found, which, if I remember correctly, is on the same street as where I’m going to be living for the first part of the year! So it’s worked out pretty well in the end. Interestingly, my friend received a phonecall from her school the other day and was told by her Betreuungslehrerin that she shouldn’t look online because she will, in all likelihood, get a bad deal. I thought I should mention it if perhaps one day someone were to chance on this blog looking for information about an Assistantship abroad. However, my experience has been really positive – I think it’s pretty much the same as when you look for student accommodation; luck of the draw. You could get a shit landlord or you could get  one who can’t do enough for you, there’s plenty of both types around, so I wouldn’t rule out sites like Wg-Gesucht.

2) Speaking of landlords, still haven’t had my deposit back, grr. My housemates aren’t happy either as they have to pay deposit and rent for their place this year and need that money. I’m going to keep calling him and texting him until he does it.

3) I’m slooowly getting everything done for Germany. EHIC has been ordered, accommodation sorted, cash account from Nationwide (because they’re the only bank who don’t charge for taking money out at a foreign cashpoint)… I still need to sort my contact lenses and some more medical stuff. I also badly need new glasses – mine broke earlier this week, and while they’ve been fixed now, they’re still missing those plastic bits that go by your nose and I think after three years I need a new pair…

4) I’ve been sewing a hell of a lot of stuff. I found this awesome site, Burdastyle, where you can get free and/or cheap patterns that you print off at home. So far I’ve made two dresses, two skirts and there’s a top lying around that’s not really finished. I are ze sewing masterr! I have a profile on there now, which I’ll be updating soon, and I’ll update here with a proper blog post at some point…

However, as I did want to document the Germany year abroad process, this is a bad move on my part as I’ve failed to write about this whole shebang finally getting a move on! Last time I updated, I’d just received a letter about the induction course near Cologne. About a week ago now, I received a big fat scary German letter through the post – after trying to decipher it by myself, I eventually got to the bottom of what it was actually telling me to do with the help of my old German teacher.

So! I know where I’m going, finally! Dortmund, Nordrhein Westfalen is where I shall be spending the next academic year as a Foreign Language Assistant in a Gymnasium. The next step : making the scary phonecall… I had planned on emailing or using good old snail mail, but my German teacher pointed me towards this handy website which details when the schools in each German state break up for their holidays. Mine was closing for the Summer holidays the very next day, so I had to act quick and take the plunge.

My Betreuungslehrerin (the teacher who’ll be looking after me) sounded really really nice, and I think she could tell that I was ridiculously nervous. I didn’t want to just take the easy route and speak English, but I didn’t exactly speak a whole lot of German either – mostly just sentences I’d pre-prepared and an awful lot of ‘ja’. Unfortunately, the school was unable to secure me any accommodation, but I don’t mind too much. The way I look at it, this gives me a chance to make some friends outside of the school, which can only improve my German.

Since then, I’ve been trawling through German accommodation websites, sending emails left right and centre. So far only one bite, but I haven’t emailed them back due to my computer going stupid on me, and wanting to have a few more options before choosing. I really hope I can get this sorted by the end of the month, or I’m a bit screwed.

So there’s a real quick update for you. Things seem to be happening really fast now, will probably be booking my flights to Cologne tonight.

Other than all the German stuff, I’ve been getting all crafty and stuff this past week! Will probably blog more about it later… well, we’ll see how successful it turns out!