"You've changed your tune!"

Well well well.
I can't really remember my last post so let's start afresh, shall we?

I think I'm finally getting used to this Year Abroad being full of ups and down. I'm learning to enjoy the ups and to endure the downs. After a few weeks of stressful organisation here, I've finally found courses that I like and that I can potentially pass. That is, with a little help. This help comes in the form of Conny!
I met Conny in my first seminar for Pop Culture of the 90's last week. Since then, neither of us has really shut up ;) She's introducing me to British Drama's such as the BBC adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, and she's encouraged me to read some classic literature such as Jane Eyre and Pride & Prejudice. So far, my German isn't being tested but I'm learning a lot about my own country and culture ;)

This means that I finally have someone that I can eventually speak German (properly) with and someone to show me the places in Kassel; where to eat and not to eat for example. When I first got here, I didn't know anybody and I wasn't sure if and when I would. So I spent far too much time sat alone in my room watching Disney, which was fine of course, but now I have someone to watch with! I'm still waiting for our Disney marathon to commence but I don't think it'll be too long ;) 

So upon reflection, I have 5 weeks of learning and stressing and dinners in K10 with Conny and concerts and sleepover and movie marathons and whatnot. And then I have a week here with Joel :) A place to ourselves and I think it's really nice that he get's to share this with me. Then of course, Papa comes out here and I know how much he loved Kassel last time, and now I get to show him around where I actually study and all the places I go. The true test will be when my darling Aimz comes out. She came out with me for my first few days and she'll be here for my last few. It's up to her to judge the difference in me! Let's hope there'll be one!

Between now and then, I really want to get to know Kassel and see as much as possible and do as much as possible. I also want to really do well in my courses and get something out of studying here. Of course, I also want to get through my ever-growing to do list being set by Conny :P films that I have to see, music I have to listen to, Youtube clips I have to watch! 

Guess I better get crackin'
So much to do, so little time! 

So much time, so little to do

This isn't a very cheery post coming up so if you're expecting sunshine and rainbows, you should probably leave this page now.

Well, Kassel is pretty, there's lots of shops to look around and there's a Lidl around the corner so I'm pretty much sorted. Uni is across the road and I'm finally finding courses. However, this semester is probably going to be really rubbish. I can sense it.

I have no wish to travel around Germany while I'm here. The places I want to go are so far away or they cost too much to get to and I don't really fancy going by myself. Our university travel pass includes a handful of cities or towns nearby for us to go and visit and I've looked at some of them online and they look like tiny little places that most people only see when they pull in for petrol or something.

I don't really leave my flat. At all. I go across the road to uni and then I come back. I go round the corner to Lidl and I come back. I clean my flat god knows how many times a day and I'm now taking to exercising and dieting as a way of feeling some sort of control while I'm stuck out here.

I hope that my courses are a little intense, or at least that I have loads of work. There's only so many times I can clean my cooker without using it! I have 83 days to go and in my spare time, I made myself a funky little calendar to help me count down the days. I just hope I get something out of these 83 days. I hope my German will get better and that I'll actually learn something I can use later in life, even if it's only on a pub quiz or something ridiculous. 

I can't believe how different these two terms are. Last term, I was surrounded by friends. So many people that I wanted to spend time with and who I loved spending time with. And here, I have a cactus called Marvin who's not very fluent in English, let alone German. I miss being surrounded by friends. They make me who I am and they bring me out of my shell, out of my comfort zone and push me to do new things and be a better person. 

99 days until I shall be holidaying with the most amazing best friend a girl could ask for! That's what is getting me through. Venice 2013! This will all be a distant memory and I can really enjoy myself and be ridiculously care-free and let my hair down before going back to Cardiff and settling down. I want to sort my life out; my career and what path I'm going to take for the rest of my life. I can start looking at moving out, and somewhere I'm going to stay longer than a few months. I can start living life properly; working, earning money, starting a family, going on family holidays and getting a dog and a house with a white picket fence and all the other idyllic things I yearn for.

Only 83 days stand in my way. Let's have them, then!

And the winner is... Schweinhaxe!

Where on earth do I start?

Well, Aim came out with me to Kassel and helped me with all the Ikea runs and sorting my apartment out. On the Friday, we managed to squeeze in a bit of fun and spent the day going up to the Herkules. It was amazing in the snow and the ice - the pictures are amazing and are all on Facebook - please have a look at them! They're amazing! We took so many daring ones! Considering everywhere was iced up, we still walked on a frozen lake and climbed frozen waterfalls. Absolute magic! :D

Der Teufelsbruck

The frozen lake

And today, we started our Orientation Week. I wasn't sure what to expect as I knew any kind of orientation would be an improvement from Parma. We went in, had a welcome from the Vice President of the University and all the heads of various organisations within the uni and also a police officer who later took us on a safety tour of the university. Me and the new people I met were wetting ourselves throughout the talk but did learn many things about safety in Kassel. We learnt where the prostitute areas are and we learnt what to do if a dog looks you in the eyes! Yes. All the key safety features! In all seriousness, Kassel University is patrolled by security guards - how cool is that? 

Diagonale

 Anyway, we did an activity to get to know each other. I was in a group with a guy from China, a girl from Austria, a guy from Iran and a guy from Azerbaijan. We got extra points for the most multicultural group too! We had a quiz to answer but the quiz sent us all over the campus to find things out and gather stamps and such. We also got extra points for an inventive group name, and we chose Schweinhaxe which is a traditional Bavarian dish of pork shoulder. We were wandering around the campus joking that we'd be first place and when we came to hand in our answers, we raced another group across campus leaping bike racks and allsorts. We were determined to win and we did! As a reward, we got thermos flasks! They will come in useful for tomorrow's trip to the Herkules but I've gotta say, not the most useful tool as we're here for the Summer semester....

Our prize

To conclude, day one of O-Woche has been mighty successful and I'm loving Erasmus here in Kassel. I spoke nothing but German the entire day and even failed at speaking Italian when I met one. There's gotta be a happy medium somewhere - lets hope I find it before I go job hunting, eh? Tomorrow, me and the rest of the Schweinhaxe team will join everyone in visiting the Herkules and I've got everything crossed for another epic day!
For now, Tschuess! :D 

Ankunft in Kassel!

Hey guys! I've arrived in Germany! Well, to tell the truth, I arrived yesterday but after an epic journey, I discovered I had no internet! Fabulous. So, let's start this from the beginning.
We got up at 6am, travelled across London to Heathrow and boarded the plane. The journey this end was quite simple to. We got to Kassel earlier than expected but that's where the journey really began! We had to wait ages for a bus so we decided, despite the fact we had two heavy suitcases and backpacks, that we would walk across the city to the campus where I would find my house. I knew my house was number 28, so after walking way past the right street and over several bridges, we realised our mistake and found the right road. We struggled to find the building and I didn't think to take the number of the person who would let me in, so we decided to sit outside and wait for him to look out of his curtain and see us. Meanwhile, I was ringing back and forth to Britain to get Joel to connect me and the man with the keys, who is named Marvin (a very German name, there) so he would come and find us! Hence this picture!

THE WRONG HOUSE

After much deliberating and freezing to death, Aim decided it would be a good idea to ask a dear old man in a chip shop if he could help us. He was really informative and helpful and told us that the place we were looking for was a lot further along the road. So we wandered and we found it and got in finally. Marvin gave me my keys, helped with a bit of local info and checked the apartment over. Upon leaving, he told me that we were neighbourinos and he lived directly beneath me. Yay! At this point, we were starving and so found the nearest Lidl and filled the trolley. The unhelpful woman at the till threw all out items down the chute thing and even when I spilled all my coins on the floor, she still looked at me as if I was totally incompetent. Brilliant first impression, people of Kassel!
So we came home to dine. With only one chair, we both decided to kneel and eat in a Japanese manner for our very British dinner. It filled a hole and was actually really nice. 

Yummy grub!

We spent the night decorating my apartment and making it my own. I now have pictures everywhere and all my stuff has its own place. I feel settled in already! We had a rather uncomfortable night with both of us in the single as I didn't have enough bedding and the floor is cold and hard (see, i'm a good host!) but today we hit Ikea and sorted out all the problems! This is step one of our purchases! 

IKEA

We've explored the city a bit today but we're going up to visit the Herkules tomorrow. Hopefully, it'll be nice and sunny as we're hiking a bloody mountain! My room is almost perfect, I'm just lacking fairy lights and i'll be sorted! Here's me outside my front door! 

My door - with a welcome mat!

Guess whose side is the bed is whose?

Anyway, it's dinner time and chill time. Cooked dinner and Moulin Rouge! See you kids tomorrow ;) 

Pre-Germany Update

Sorry for the wait guys, I've actually been pretty busy recently. I've been working quite a lot as always but I finally managed to get a bit of time off. 

So here's what I got up to!

I went to Coventry for a weekend to see my family and it had been snowing. I had never seen that much snow in Coventry and I spent 14 years of my life there! It was quite good fun though. Me, Joel and my Dad went for a walk in the snow and got cold but had a right laugh. My Dad likes a challenge and I said in passing, "I'd love to just run and face plant in that massive pile of snow!". So my Dad did. Absolute legend, that man is! So we went home and had cups of tea to warm up and defrost and then me and Joel went into the back garden and built a snowman called Danny and a snowdog called March - what do you think? (see below)

We finally got to see my Grandma in hospital on the Monday night before we left. She wasn't expecting to see us so it was really nice for her. Thankfully she's at home now and resting and will hopefully be back on her feet in no time.

I also finally managed to spend time with my sister and the kids. I spent Easter Sunday with them, we had Easter hats and they showed me all their Easter eggs. I stayed for Sunday dinner and we danced and played around and it was really nice. I then went home and had yet another Sunday dinner with Joel and his family. Vicar of Dibley style! It was really nice actually - cram in as much British food as possible!

I stayed overnight at Jen's house which was lovely as I hadn't seen her since last summer. We chatted for ages over coffee and did a little bit of shopping and then went home for pizza and Disney films. It was a nice catch up but unfortunately we didn't get any pictures! Maybe next time, eh?
On the Saturday, I came back from seeing Jen and met Joel in town. He took me to the same spot where he asked me out and he gave me a ring. Calm down, y'all, it's just a promise ring. It was really sweet and really romantic! There's no wedding bells any time soon but now is the time we're thinking about settling down and sorting our lives out - it's all very exciting but a little bit scary.

So now you find me in the bachelorette pad belonging to Aim and we're about to have curry and watching some comedy. Bet y'all jealous, eh? Tomorrow we will have a very exciting day of conquering London and being tourists for another day before we both fly out to Germany. As always, I'm mega nervous and hormonal about it but lucky Aim gets to help me out ;)

Watch this space for our amazing week of crazy antics!