München
A short post today, just to say that I've done it, otherwise if I miss one I'll get used to it and then never post again and my fans will be devastated.
Last weekend I went to Munich for the annual staff-visit! Two lecturers from Manchester come to Germany in January each year, one to Munich and the other to Berlin, to see how all the year-abroaders are getting on, take some notes, and generally report back to the rest of the German department. This year, the Munich visit proved so much more popular than the Berlin one that the lecturer intending to go to Berlin actually didn't go in the end - not one single person wanted to visit the country's fine capital city. This was not down to the lecturer's being hated; on the contrary, most of us have no opinion of him as we have never met him, or even heard of him. I have met Stephen once, and that was in my oral exam at the end of second year. He seemed lovely and friendly, but I couldn't choose Berlin only on those grounds because Eva was coming to Munich! As were the other ten of us who decided to take the opportunity.
I got to Munich at about 3pm on Friday, where I met Sarah and we wandered around until we found the hostel, located usefully near the Hauptbahnhof. Due to the abysmal weather, we took our time before leaving again, as we didn't have to be at the restaurant where we were meeting everyone until 8pm. However, after a long catch up we bravely decided to face the freezing sleet and go into the centre to explore a bit. We sampled the ever wonderful gebrannte Mandeln (almonds roasted in sugar) and I tried Maroni (chestnuts) from a stand for the first time. These were both very sustaining against the cold, but not quite sufficient, so we stopped for a hot chocolate in a cafe after managing to walk for long enough to find both the restaurant for later and the hotel where our meeting the next day was to be held.
The meal in the restaurant was lovely, several factors including noise, slightly odd food, very slow service and difficulty talking to everyone without shouting across the tabel notwithstanding. I tried the aubergine with rice, goats cheese and tomato sauce, against the advice of the waiter. I couldn't imagine how bad that could really be, as I like all of the components, so I went for it anyway, but perhaps I should have listened; it wasn't not nice so much as quite an odd meal. Actually, that's not quite true - the rice was not nice. It was the parboiled stuff that I bought in Germany for the first time, that's weirdly round and bouncy, yet totally tasteless and dry. Would not recommend. The beer was good though, and it was just great catching up with everyone. Sarah and I didn't go for a drink afterwards, as we all only left the restaurant at half past midnight and had to be up for the meeting at 9.30 the next morning.
At this early hour on Saturday morning we were vindicated in our decision; we had been booed at when we announced we were leaving, but we were seemingly the only ones unharmed by the previous night's japes, and smugly hangover-free. In the meeting we all told Eva all about what's been happening, the highs and the lows, and any advice we had for subsequent students. In general, the most helpful thing I took away from the meeting that day was that I need to be a bit less harsh on myself in terms of my German. Most other people seem to be getting as much (or rather, as little) German contact as I am, and they're not beating themselves up over it. Also I have another four months here at least, so essentially I need to Calm Down.
We spent the rest of the day, after saying an emotional goodbye to Eva, being shown around Munich by the enterprising Charlotte, who's been living there for the last few months. We went to the Hofbräuhaus, saw the Frauenkirche and the Residenz, visited Milka Welt (very important, and they sell chocolate eggs in a carton! Like Creme eggs but nice!) and went on the U-Bahn which I found super fun because of the amazingly retro trains (the doors don't open automatically, you have to use a manual handle! Like the ones in Vienna! So cool!!). Also on the U-Bahn there was an oddly hilarious moment involving a small domesticated rodent: as the doors of our train were closing I saw a man walk onto the platform with a guinea pig cradled in the front of his jacket. The funny part was that he was talking tenderly to it, as if to say, "Don't worry buddy, we'll get the next one" or "We'll be home soon". The whole thing was so surreal, adorable and weird that I couldn't stop laughing, and every time we went into an U-Bahn station for the rest of the day I would start thinking about it again and get that weird 'I'm thinking of something funny but you don't know what it is and it won't be funny if I explain it' smile that happens on occasion and only earns you concerned looks from passers-by.
In the evening, Sarah and I went to an all-you-can-eat Asian buffet which looked shady at first glance but was actually brilliant. Sushi, fried rice and noodles, and Thai curry all in one buffet! After eating literally all we could, Sarah headed home, as she had an early train and is a responsible person, and I went on to another hostel to link up with half of the others. After a round of Mafia in the hostel bar, a game with which I had previously been inexperienced, we wandered around for ages before finding a bar in a quiet, backstreet part of Munich. It was definitely worth it in the end, as I had a Caipirinha that was breathtakingly delicious. Despite swearing oaths of hatred to the Irish bar (where the others had gone for a drink the night before) and vowing that we'd rather die a thousand deaths than go back there we ended up in that very same place, where we met the rest of the group, comforted those who were extremely drunk (e.g. David, quelle surprise), and headed home after a final beer. It was snowing quite heavily as we walked back, which was incredibly beautiful and peaceful and never fails to improve my mood by 50% even if I'm already quite happy to begin with.
On Sunday morning I got up especially to have breakfast with Emma and Harry before they left, as I unfortunately hadn't managed to see them much over the weekend. When they went to get their train, I had a few hours to kill before my bus at 11.45, so after packing up my stuff I went on a walk in the snow to a park called Meadow of Therese on Google maps. With no real aim, I wandered around for a while which was very relaxing and lovely, and a nice preparation for what I thought might be an unpleasant journey home. However I am happy to report that I could not have been more wrong! Congratulations to Meinfernbus, that delightful bus company with comfortable seats, confidence-inspiring drivers, and not only wifi, but functioning wifi! I made it back to Chemnitz at about 5.30 with no hitches at all.
The whole experience of being back in Munich was an odd one, as the last time I was there was almost exactly three and a half years ago when we went on a day trip from Bamberg. I recognised so many of the buildings and monuments, despite the fact that last time I was there I paid absolutely no attention to where we were at all, that I spent the whole time in a strange daze of deja-vu. Anyway, as I've said multiple times, it was lovely to see everyone, and it had the added bonus of making me very excited to go back to Manchester in September. And it also allowed me to cool it a bit with my constant self-criticism of my German skills, which can't be a bad thing!
Last weekend I went to Munich for the annual staff-visit! Two lecturers from Manchester come to Germany in January each year, one to Munich and the other to Berlin, to see how all the year-abroaders are getting on, take some notes, and generally report back to the rest of the German department. This year, the Munich visit proved so much more popular than the Berlin one that the lecturer intending to go to Berlin actually didn't go in the end - not one single person wanted to visit the country's fine capital city. This was not down to the lecturer's being hated; on the contrary, most of us have no opinion of him as we have never met him, or even heard of him. I have met Stephen once, and that was in my oral exam at the end of second year. He seemed lovely and friendly, but I couldn't choose Berlin only on those grounds because Eva was coming to Munich! As were the other ten of us who decided to take the opportunity.
I got to Munich at about 3pm on Friday, where I met Sarah and we wandered around until we found the hostel, located usefully near the Hauptbahnhof. Due to the abysmal weather, we took our time before leaving again, as we didn't have to be at the restaurant where we were meeting everyone until 8pm. However, after a long catch up we bravely decided to face the freezing sleet and go into the centre to explore a bit. We sampled the ever wonderful gebrannte Mandeln (almonds roasted in sugar) and I tried Maroni (chestnuts) from a stand for the first time. These were both very sustaining against the cold, but not quite sufficient, so we stopped for a hot chocolate in a cafe after managing to walk for long enough to find both the restaurant for later and the hotel where our meeting the next day was to be held.
The meal in the restaurant was lovely, several factors including noise, slightly odd food, very slow service and difficulty talking to everyone without shouting across the tabel notwithstanding. I tried the aubergine with rice, goats cheese and tomato sauce, against the advice of the waiter. I couldn't imagine how bad that could really be, as I like all of the components, so I went for it anyway, but perhaps I should have listened; it wasn't not nice so much as quite an odd meal. Actually, that's not quite true - the rice was not nice. It was the parboiled stuff that I bought in Germany for the first time, that's weirdly round and bouncy, yet totally tasteless and dry. Would not recommend. The beer was good though, and it was just great catching up with everyone. Sarah and I didn't go for a drink afterwards, as we all only left the restaurant at half past midnight and had to be up for the meeting at 9.30 the next morning.
At this early hour on Saturday morning we were vindicated in our decision; we had been booed at when we announced we were leaving, but we were seemingly the only ones unharmed by the previous night's japes, and smugly hangover-free. In the meeting we all told Eva all about what's been happening, the highs and the lows, and any advice we had for subsequent students. In general, the most helpful thing I took away from the meeting that day was that I need to be a bit less harsh on myself in terms of my German. Most other people seem to be getting as much (or rather, as little) German contact as I am, and they're not beating themselves up over it. Also I have another four months here at least, so essentially I need to Calm Down.
We spent the rest of the day, after saying an emotional goodbye to Eva, being shown around Munich by the enterprising Charlotte, who's been living there for the last few months. We went to the Hofbräuhaus, saw the Frauenkirche and the Residenz, visited Milka Welt (very important, and they sell chocolate eggs in a carton! Like Creme eggs but nice!) and went on the U-Bahn which I found super fun because of the amazingly retro trains (the doors don't open automatically, you have to use a manual handle! Like the ones in Vienna! So cool!!). Also on the U-Bahn there was an oddly hilarious moment involving a small domesticated rodent: as the doors of our train were closing I saw a man walk onto the platform with a guinea pig cradled in the front of his jacket. The funny part was that he was talking tenderly to it, as if to say, "Don't worry buddy, we'll get the next one" or "We'll be home soon". The whole thing was so surreal, adorable and weird that I couldn't stop laughing, and every time we went into an U-Bahn station for the rest of the day I would start thinking about it again and get that weird 'I'm thinking of something funny but you don't know what it is and it won't be funny if I explain it' smile that happens on occasion and only earns you concerned looks from passers-by.
In the evening, Sarah and I went to an all-you-can-eat Asian buffet which looked shady at first glance but was actually brilliant. Sushi, fried rice and noodles, and Thai curry all in one buffet! After eating literally all we could, Sarah headed home, as she had an early train and is a responsible person, and I went on to another hostel to link up with half of the others. After a round of Mafia in the hostel bar, a game with which I had previously been inexperienced, we wandered around for ages before finding a bar in a quiet, backstreet part of Munich. It was definitely worth it in the end, as I had a Caipirinha that was breathtakingly delicious. Despite swearing oaths of hatred to the Irish bar (where the others had gone for a drink the night before) and vowing that we'd rather die a thousand deaths than go back there we ended up in that very same place, where we met the rest of the group, comforted those who were extremely drunk (e.g. David, quelle surprise), and headed home after a final beer. It was snowing quite heavily as we walked back, which was incredibly beautiful and peaceful and never fails to improve my mood by 50% even if I'm already quite happy to begin with.
On Sunday morning I got up especially to have breakfast with Emma and Harry before they left, as I unfortunately hadn't managed to see them much over the weekend. When they went to get their train, I had a few hours to kill before my bus at 11.45, so after packing up my stuff I went on a walk in the snow to a park called Meadow of Therese on Google maps. With no real aim, I wandered around for a while which was very relaxing and lovely, and a nice preparation for what I thought might be an unpleasant journey home. However I am happy to report that I could not have been more wrong! Congratulations to Meinfernbus, that delightful bus company with comfortable seats, confidence-inspiring drivers, and not only wifi, but functioning wifi! I made it back to Chemnitz at about 5.30 with no hitches at all.
The whole experience of being back in Munich was an odd one, as the last time I was there was almost exactly three and a half years ago when we went on a day trip from Bamberg. I recognised so many of the buildings and monuments, despite the fact that last time I was there I paid absolutely no attention to where we were at all, that I spent the whole time in a strange daze of deja-vu. Anyway, as I've said multiple times, it was lovely to see everyone, and it had the added bonus of making me very excited to go back to Manchester in September. And it also allowed me to cool it a bit with my constant self-criticism of my German skills, which can't be a bad thing!
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