I know Mondays are normally reserved for my Movie Monday posts, but I have something a little different on my mind this week…

Namely that, this time last year I had just begun my German adventure and was on the induction course in Altenberg meeting the people that were to become some of my best friends in the course of my year abroad.

Although I’m certain that my business with Germany is by no means done, I can’t help but feel a little sad and nostalgic. So much has changed since I left for Dortmund, from some personal situations to my sewing and to my career aspirations. I actually have a plan for when I’m done with University now, whereas I didn’t have a bloody clue where I was going with my life this time last year! I’ve met the most amazing people, and I can’t wait to visit them in their respective locations.

Not to mention that this blog was pretty much in its infancy back then! I feel like it represents me much more accurately as a person now, and I’m more at ease with writing it than I ever was back then.

So tonight, as I chill out to watch The Shawshank Redemption for next week’s Movie Monday, I’ll be wearing my I <3 U Dortmund t-shirt – which you can buy here (for those who don’t know, the U is the old brewery in Dortmund which has become the symbol of the city) – and reminiscing about those good old German days. I’m actually wearing it with a skirt I made in preparation for Self Stitched September! Please excuse my heavily bruised legs, it’s been a crazy few weeks at  training!

Speaking of Dortmund, please do go check out my article about it over at Third Year Abroad!

I think any girl will recognise that feeling of dread when they approach a checkout after a mad shopping spree in their favourite clothing store. Just pick up what you want, don’t bother to check the price tag, and leave the cringing for that moment you see the total and hand over your credit card.

The best bit about second hand shops is that this feeling evaporates when your total is tallied up to a pittance of what you would normally pay in your standard high-street retailer.

“That will be two pounds and a button please!” BRILLIANT. (That quote from my friend Cat pretty much sums up the entire feeling)

So, today I went in hunt of second hand stores in Dortmund. Armed with directions courtesy of Google maps, my warmest coat and Winston (my iPod shuffle), I set off in search of the elusive Gebrauchtwarenladen dealing with Kleidung rather than Möbel.

I seem to have found far more in the way of second-hand furniture shops than clothing shops in my general wanderings around Dortmund – Germans love their second-hand furniture because when they move flats, unlike with student accommodation in the U.K, they tend to take all their furniture with them, or sell it all to the next person moving in. In my case I’m renting a room while someone is away, so I didn’t need to buy any furniture.

My mission was, on the most part, successful! The snow did not help matters. I think I was in serious danger of losing some toes.

I did find a lot of things I hadn’t meant to go looking for, such as the Volkshochschule, or Community College, where I’ll be starting my sewing classes this week!

The first place I went into was dire – picture it; completely empty save for the rails of clothing and the two shop workers sitting at the checkout just watching you the entire time while you shrink away from the ridiculously priced items… seriously, they had a jersey top for 12 Euros. It wasn’t vintage, it wasn’t anything special, in fact, it was the type of item you could get at Primark for £2. So I left that place pretty sharpish.

The next place was much, much better. You could tell that it was well-known by locals due to there being a few people in there already, and they also offered an ironing service. This was where I got most of my goodies today!

Just what I needed to be honest, a good old chunky scarf! We’re Bierbiking again this weekend, and I think I’ll sorely need this scarf! I’m thinking of sewing the ends together to make it into a Snood, if only to say, hey look, I own a Snood, isn’t that a silly word?

  The headscarf (I’ve decided it’s a headscarf anyway) was a mere 50 cent, while the bag, a similar sort would fetch at at least 15 Euros, and that’s if you were shopping in H&M, was only 3.50 Euros. I love the shape and the contrast diamond shaped black on the opening.

This one’s a definite refashion! Not normally a big fan of velvet, but this doesn’t look too tacky and, naturally as it’s floral, I love the pattern! The silhouette and length are what I’m hoping to change.

Just love the waistband on this one. It needs a good old chop at the hem, and that’s about it! Although, one thing left me completely baffled with this one – the pockets are sewn up! Initially, I thought that they must be fake pockets, but no, they’re real, usable pockets! So why have they been sewn up? I’m unpicking those stitches pronto…The belt was also a steal – I have far too many waistbelts, but I think I’ve just decided that there’s no such thing as too many waistbelts!

All in all, I’m pretty happy about my first haul – it all came to 16 Euros in the end, not too shabby! I might just take the Wardrobe Refashion pledge after all.

Nashorn (n) – Rhinoceros

Fun fact : Nashorn is a lot easier to spell than Rhinocerous.

When walking around Dortmund, you’ll see these winged rhinoceroses everywhere, ( in Berlin you’ll see a similar thing but with bears!) normally decorated by a sponsor – this one is by Sanara Fachschule! According to http://www.do-rhino.de:

The winged rhino is the heraldic animal of Dortmund’s concert house, the Westphalian Philharmonic.

Due to its extraordinarily sensitive ear, the rhino is able to hear infrasonic sounds over long distances, whereas humans can only detect these sounds as vibrations. The rhino is able to move each of its ears independently thus catching sounds in a radius of 360º.

According to the website there are 100 artistically designed winged rhinoceroses in Dortmund – I’d love to have found them all before the year is up!  Contrary to popular belief, the winged rhino is not the official emblem of Dortmund (as the bear is in Berlin) – that’s the eagle – but it has become an unofficial emblem of sorts to the locals.

Well, Suite023 was. It was ridiculously tiny and packed to the brim! My first German club experience, awwwh. Naturally it was with members of TEAM FABELHAFT (the group of friends made at Altenberg… the fabelhaft thing is a loooong story) and it was aceee.

They played tunes from the 90s all night – as a consequence, it was clearly obvious to everyone in the room that we were from the U.K, being the ones who ate a grape (jizzed in our pants) when the Backstreet Boys/Spice Girls/Insert 90s band here came on and also being the only ones knowing the dance to Saturday Night. Some pretty epic moves were thrown by all! But whenever a German song came on, our dancing became muted, almost confused, while the Germans went nuts. So yeah, fairly transparent.

I assumed that not a great deal would be that different. Well. Upon entrance we got given this card, and I was warned not to lose it because I’d get charged the maximum if I did… the maximum for what? Well, turns out instead of paying for your drinks on the go, the bartenders mark on the card how much you spent, and then you pay you drinks and entry costs at the end of the night. Not sure if this is the way it’s done in every club in Germany, but nevertheless, it was bloody well weird! Plus it led to some extreme spending, thankfully not on my part as I wasn’t fussed on many of the drinks, because you forget that you need to pay at the end.

This is why pre-drinking is a good idea kids! We pre-drunk at my apartment while playing some choons on my laptop, albeit with crappy speakers. Can you guess which power ballad we’re singing here?

Ah yes, the age old classic, Jizz in Your Pants. 

Pretty ace weekend all round. Was great that Beef could make it, even if she and Emily had to spend the night on my highly comfortable laminate floor with an itchy picnic blanket. So bequem…

Then Gravy came on Saturday (yes, I know, Beef and Gravy, ironically it was coincidental and yet works so well…) and came out with some classic drunken quotes, and I believe her and Beef made up a song. So, good times!

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!