You Can Call Me El

Hello again, and welcome to this post, which I am writing from my sick bed. Yep that's right, I am STILL ILL and seemingly only getting progressively more snotty as the days go by, rather than regaining health, as I'd hoped would be the case. Fortunately, a small amount of quite justified emotional manipulation allowed me to not be in school until 12.00 today (Message: "dear headteacher, I'd very happy to come to your lesson at 8am but if you don't need me I'd love to stay at home because I'm still a bit unwell"; Instantaneous reply: "Stay at home!!! Get well soon!!"). So that was a huge help. A surprising amount happened in the week since last I posted, which may lead to the conclusion that all these resolutions to do more  have had some sort of effect. On Friday evening we went to the opera, on Beth's excellent suggestion and, in fact, organisation. It turns out that Beth may be the catalyst for my new productivity, and by cataly...

Germans have a reputation for being incredibly efficient. Everyone knows that, right? My German lecturer told us last year that 'German punctuality' means being there five minutes before the agreed time. Their transport system is fantastic. They are just so organised. OR ARE THEY?????!! I'll give you a clue: the answer is no, no they are not all like that. Perhaps I was misled by the amazing efficiency of a certain German lecturer in Manchester (hi Wiebke!!! Oh wait she'll never read this), but I really expected them all to live up to the stereotypes. Some are true of course, for example, they love their bureaucracy. I must have signed about fifty forms since coming here. However, sadly the efficiency thing is less true, and this is especially noticeable with transport. The trains are often delayed, as are the long-distance buses, and while this perhaps should be expected and is certainly no worse than the UK, it was still somewhat disappointing. The trams, on the oth...