A Year Abroad and How It Didn't Really End

It has been quite some time since the last time I published something here. In fact, it has been more than two years, which is a pretty considerable amount of time passed.

My time in England ended and so - I thought - did the purpose of this blog in general. Fact however remains that once you have lived abroad for a while your life is not quite the same as it was before any more. After some time of reflecting on those changes and on the time in England, you always get back to the question, what did you learn and how did it shape your life. For me, what has changed rather drastically is the interaction with people from abroad. A lot of people from abroad come to study in Germany and it is sometimes rather difficult for them to meet locals. Before I went to Bath I was not aware of international students too much and I have to admit that I did not really care very much either. I didn't notice them too much and it always seemed like they wanted to keep to themselves. A mistake that's not easily forgiven, since essentially this behaviour is what shapes the way people will think about this country and especially the students here. After coming back, my circle of friends has changed dramatically. Whether it's all for the good or not is not to be discussed here, however I do want to stress how vital it is to take every chance to meet people from foreign countries.

Spring and a Friendly Visitor

Last week was probably the best week of all my year. Saying this might upset people sharing great experiences with me a little bit in the first place and yet I am making this drastic statement. Why? Simply because the sun was shining. The difference is enormous and the fun you can get from lying around the lake and enjoying the sun after what has been 5 months without really seeing the sun can be quite depressing. I am not the guy to become depressed quickly, in fact I have not become depressed at all but seeing the sun made me yet a bit happier. Work has been laid to rest for a couple of hours each day and all the sorrows carried away by warm sunrays hitting the face and body of everyone. I would've never imagined writing about a simple thing like a sunny day before but England and a tough winter in general makes you realize the sun with all its power.

Yet last week was great for an entirely different reason. Anna Lena went to visit me for the weekend and what a weekend it turned out to be! On Friday we celebrated Dan's birthday by going to Happy Hour (Beer for £ 1.50) followed by going to a casino and a club in Bristol. Cheers to "All on 17" and the people I went with, it was a great night. Coming home at 4:30 can only be topped by waking up at 8:30 again and going to do some sight seeing. So this is what we did! I will skip telling you about the part of the day I spent realizing just how stupid I am (reading Anna Lena's project makes me feel exceptionally dumb). Due to being tired and having a lot to talk about, we spent the evening at home.

Sunday started like you would want it to start. Waking up feeling perfectly awake and ready to so something amazing. For Anna Lena and me this meant going to Chris' place to eat lunch. Cheers for all the good food (Fajita's and Schnitzel) and for this great game of football in Victoria's Park, and if you think this is not a good end, I agree with you but I am off to meet friends for a coffee and I cannot make them wait any longer.

German and a proper fun ending will follow soon - I hope.
See you all!

St. Patrick's in Ireland

Realizing the great opportunity at hand, we decided to go to Dublin for Paddy's. Looking forward to this trip to Dublin and Galway I didn't even mind waking up at 3:20 in the morning to go to the airport and after wasting most of the morning due to being tired and lazy, we had a great guided walking tour around Dublin's most important monuments (including more than one pub). It was fantastic and for free. Truth be told, I forgot half of what our amazing guide said already but nevertheless it was very informative and enjoyable. After walking around the city a little bit longer and some great Irish dancing lessons, the night finished in a great hostel with pasta and a very talkative room mate (hope she doesn't read this). Awake as I was the next day, the Guinness tour in the morning was cancelled and we prepared ourselves for the national patron to arrive. The massive amount of people to see the parade was sheer overwhelming, however I could not see a lot. I hope the pictures tell you roughly what it was like.

German Writing and the Fun of Translating

As my English skills reach skyrockets, people started losing track of what I was writing. Therefore and because I miss the language, my next big blog entry will be dedicated to the German language and my family. Which of cause could cause an uproar with the non-German readers. Thanks to me being a "nice guy", Bea's words not mine, I will therefore avoid this and write in English as well. Of cause this means that people who have a general understanding of both languages will laugh at either my poor English translation or my poor German. I want to stress that I am fully aware of this and only here to entertain you.

It's been a long long time...

I hate to do this but the last few weeks left me no choice but to start my new post with an apology. I wasn't able to write for quite some time and I really regret not taking the time. My holidays in Germany where the best two weeks I've ever spend in Germany which is not so much about the quality of the week as it is about how great it is to see friends, parents and siblings again after not seeing them for such a long time. Strange as it may seem, while feeling at home and absolutely happy, I missed Bath and the people around. In fact I thought more about Bath and the upcoming 2nd term then about things to do in Germany. Nevertheless my weeks were packed with events, parties, meeting people and of cause: Christmas. Oh what a wonderful time of the year. My flight got cancelled and I was scared of the idea to not spend Christmas with my family but in England. Luckily I found my way back to France by train and ferry where my parents - perfect as they have always been picked me up and drove me safely home. A true Christmas miracle if I may say so and seeing that this is my blog: I may.

Last week in England

The last few days or even weeks were really silent around me and I have to apologize for that. It was not that I did not want to write nor was it because I did not have anything to write about; on the contrary, so much was going on that I had troubles finding some spare seconds.

My London trip is long gone yet you did not hear from it which is not so bad seeing that London is a city everyone should visit and everyone has heard a lot about it already. Needless to say going there with my good international friends was even better. The week after that, I visited Anna Lena in Coventry. We were really indecisive about what language we should speak and spoke a funny mixture of German and English. After going clubbing on Friday night, Anna Lena and I went to the Christmas market in Birmingham because, and I quote, "Coventry is a bit ugly". The Christmas market was fun, the university of Warwick in Coventry was big - just big - and obviously I had to miss my train and return an hour late. I do not know what it is with me and trains....

Chapter 23: Sooooo Cold!

I cannot believe I will be able to give you two posts in one day, but that is happening and yes, if you have not read the first, do that now, and keep this one for later.

If you have already read the last post, you will find yourself prepared to go on a short journey to Wales with me. The plan was: 

• Getting up on the Saturday, getting a train to Newport and another train to Abergavenny.
• Enjoy a fun day there, sleep at a small hotel, get up in the morning and get a train to Cardiff.
• Haste through Cardiff, take a lot of pictures, and take a train home in the late evening.

Carols, Mulled wine and crêpes

Starting my blog with a post about Thursday seems a little weird to me, but it was such a busy week, that I could have posted every day on it's own. So Thursday arrived, and I'll jump ahead right to when the plot begins. Marian, my English teacher, invited our group to see a Christmas concert of the Primary Schools of Bath in the Abbey. It was beautiful, and full of true Christmas spirit. In fact, one group managed to put on a performance, that even for grown ups would be difficult. After the Concert, we went to the Christmas market to drink a mulled wine, and walk around the town, which was lit in so beautiful colours. Again, since my descriptive style is no where near good, let me show you:

House Guests and How to Talk to British People

So here I am again, totally tired and yet still awake. Why should I be sleeping, it's only half eight. Which, by the way is 8:30 and not 7:30 as it would be in German. So why am I so tired? Good question, and I do not really have an answer to that. But let's go through it in chronological order. Sunday after I finished writing I spent the rest of the day doing nothing, in the evening Dan's brother Jase and his friend Paul came by to stay over this week, and Paul's brother came for a short visit on Sonday as well. We played poker, and drank some beers. On Monday I got up quite early, in order to do some work before my lectures, but the state of which we've left the kitchen on Sunday, and the fact that the landlady was about to come by in the afternoon left me no choice but to spend two hours of cleaning the kitchen. The landlady came, and checked if we would not leave the house in a total mess, that really confused my quite a bit, I cannot imagine something like that happening in Germany, but maybe I am totally wrong there. So I went to uni without having anything done for the week yet. I came home at 7 and was just looking forward to go asleep, when Dan convinced me to join him, Jase, Paul and Anton for a pint of beer, naturally I was up for that, and so we went to a pub that served beer for a pound a pint, which is a ridiculously good offer. So we've had quite a few. I had a great time talking to Jase, Paul and Dan. Wait, not with Anton? No, because they did not let him in because he didn't have his passport with him, and the ID was noch accepted as proof of age. Weird, and really annoying.

Bristol at Night and a Tea afterwards

Last week went rather slow for me, I did not really do much for university, but what I did was decent work. On Wednesday, I had great fun at my English classes again, and I suppose for meeting people, those English classes were by far the best choice. I had to write an Essay for my Cambridge class, and I was quite satisfied with the result. Hardly any mistakes, and Marian, my teacher, really liked my humorous humour. Needless to say, for me as a rather terrible student of all languages, I was quite proud of that fact. It was great fun again, but I was really tired afterwards, and yet I had to wait for another hour for me second English lecture of the day. In that time, I enjoyed talking to some students, one of whom will be more important later on, so I will introduce her now.

Sitting in the Library

I'm just bored, so I've decided to write some things. Today I really wanted to go to UoB, well, I had to since I had to finish up with my bank account set up. What an adventure. First a good twenty minute walk down to the bus stop. At least I caught an early bus, then a thirty minute drive to University, seems like the fast Buses only drive during semester, but I don't really mind that. We drove through the entire city centre, just like the red buses the day before yesterday, which was kind of good, since I've seen the connection between my home, the city and the university finally. Not that I'd say I wouldn't still go all the wrong way sometimes. Setting up my bank account was as easy as ever, German banks should do it the same way and not the "if the form is not complete, we cannot help you" kind of way. But that isn't that important I guess. I have an account finally, and I am really happy about it. Also it is about time, since I am stuck in England with about twenty five pounds now, and I really do not want to pick money from my master card.

Finally, my last post from Germany

For the last time for at least four months, there's going to be a post from Germany. Well, not so much a post but a postie ;)

Tonight I will be heading to Calais, then take the ferry to Dover and after a short break there, I will drive the last few miles to Bath. Most of my room is in brown boxes right now, which is kind of sad to see. I had to get rid of so many things I thought I would keep forever (e.g. my small collection of whisky bottles). Of cause you can say "it's only for a year", "you'll be back", "nothing's gonna change in this short time" of stuff like that, but that's not exactly true, everyone knows that.

I tried really hard to write down everything I want to take to Bath, and all the things I have to do once I am there, but I am sure I have missed something, hopefully nothing to important. I'm always thinking "remember to pack your ID", "remember you need British money" (which in fact I do not have yet), "remember to pack your charger" the list continues infinitely.

It's going to be a long drive for me and my dad, especially for my dad, because he has to work today.

So, yeah, that's about it from Germany, I'm giving over to myself in England (very soon)

Good Bye!

Oh, yeah, and I've installed Skype (ID: chris.in.bath) feel free to add me.

It's getting serious

I am only 11 days away from departure. But it is getting harder each day. I guess you only realize what you have when your about to lose it. Don't get me wrong, I am really really excited to go to Bath, and live there, but it's hard to leave my dear friends, and my family behind for nearly one whole year. The last week was amazing. First my short trip to Hamburg with a friend was legendary, the following day just wonderful, die days followed by that where superb, and I guess I am losing myself in adjectives..

I would like to take at least some of you with me, but that won't work.

Still, let's go back to some interesting news: Most of my room is in brown boxes already, but I have no Idea where my bed and my sofa should go. I wrote a list of things to do and things to pack for England, and it has gotten huge. I bought a nice Senseo, so at least I'll have coffee in Bath, that'll be good. I met a friend yesterday who is going to the UK for studies as well. We talked about problems that might occur and things we should not forget. It is a good thing to know, she's in England with me, even if she is 110 miles away.

I am hoping for lots of visits from you all, and you can take that as an serious invite.

For the next few days, I have to install Skype, especially on my mom's Laptop, and that's about it. Minor tasks like packing, clearing out my room, finishing with all the bureaucratic stuff and so on will be done shortly before departure. I am just hoping not to forget anything important in Germany, but anyone who knows me knows I will. 

I'll try to see you all one last time, stay tuned for more information on my farewell party and especially for my first post from the United Kingdom, of cause.