Hello my lovely readers! (Or maybe I should say "Hallo!")
I do apologise for the lack of updates lately. My life has been ridiculously hectic for the last few weeks, so I haven't had a chance to write my Blog! I was planning to do a countdown to departure and everything, but oh well! I suppose it's the thought that counts! Due to my cyberspace absence, I have ludicrous amounts to fill you in on and therefore this post may be a bit longer than usual, but I'll try and cut it down as much as I can!
As you may have guessed from the title, I am now in Trier, Germany! But before I get into all of that, I should probably tell you a bit about the build up to it!
I'll start with my emailing the school back at the beginning of June. There is no other way to put this: I was terrified. Terrified of making a mistake and terrified of giving a bad impression. So I sought help from a friend at Uni and sent my email off. For the next few days, I jumped every time my Blackberry pinged and told me that I had received an email. It was absolute torture! Finally after a couple of weeks, I got a reply email from the school secretary, telling me that I should get in touch with the English department and giving me their contact details... Which didn't work! Nightmare! So I told her that they hadn't worked and she said that she would make sure that they got in touch with me... Which they didn't! For those of you who know me well, you can imagine my panic. Thankfully, I finally heard from them three weeks before I was due to leave, by which time I had already sorted out accommodation etc. myself. I found a lovely three bedroom flat in the middle of town with two other girls, which I went to view on a trip to Trier with my Dad. I'm so glad I looked before I agreed though, because two of my other viewings were absolute dives (and that is putting it nicely.)
By the time the end of August arrived, I was ridiculously nervous yet extremely excited. It seemed to have come round so quickly! I left London Stanstead for Köln on 27th August as I had a training course in Altenberg (a small town outside Köln). Much to my relief, an old school friend was going to the same course, so we met each other at Stanstead, which seemed to relax us both. When we got off the plane, we ended up meeting with a few other English Language Assistants heading to the same course, so we all ended up going to Köln together, which was really nice! We were pretty early so were sitting on the steps of Köln Cathedral for ages before the coaches came to pick us up. By this time, there were loads of us waiting, which for some reason really surprised me! I didn't expect there to be that many of us, bearing in mind there is more than one training course! Nevertheless, everyone was really friendly and it was a great opportunity to practice our teaching skills. I also met a few people going to Trier, which was really reassuring.
On Thursday, the coach took us from Altenberg back to Köln Hbf, where we were let loose to go to our various destinations. My Dad came to pick me up with my stuff and, much to my surprise, my Mum came along too! (She was supposed to be working but she took a couple of days holiday at the last minute.) Once we got to Trier, we went straight to my new flat where one of my new flatmates, Steffi, was waiting for me. She is so lovely and helped my parents and I to move all of my stuff in. After having dinner and going food shopping with my parents, Steffi showed me around a bit of the town and the "Palastgarten", which is gorgeous.
The next day (yesterday) I went furniture shopping with my parents as I don't actually have a bed at the moment! I'm sleeping on a mattress on the floor, which, although very comfy and allows me to roll right out of bed in the mornings, is not exactly ideal! Unfortunately, I have to wait a few weeks for it to be delivered, but I'm not that fussed to be honest. I also got myself a German SIM card for my mobile phone. It was a bit of a trial getting it though, as the guy in the shop spoke at about a million miles per hour and didn't slow down, even though I asked him loads of times! At least it is better than trying to speak German and being spoken back to in English. This has happened to me quite a few times now and it is so frustrating.
Now I'm up to date! Today my parents headed back to England. To take my mind off it, I went into town to explore and meet a couple of the girls that I met in Altenberg. We had a lovely afternoon chilling in a cafe and then wandering round the shops. It amused me no end that random guys on stilts and dressed as Romans were walking past us every few minutes, due to the "Brot und Spiele" festival that is currently taking place in Trier. I was also amused by a Dirndl and Lederhosen fashion show taking place in a department store and a WHOLE aisle of picked vegetables in the supermarket. It doesn't take much to amuse me, I know, but who really needs a whole aisle of pickled vegetables?! The sheer scale of it was just shocking and clearly hardly anyone buys them because most of the jars had gathered dust on the shelves! Sometimes the Germans are a mystery to me. A mystery that I aim to solve!
Anyway, I shall wrap it up there. I'm really tired and my bed is calling!
Thanks for reading!
Bel xxx
P.S. Just reading this back, I would like to apologise for the extensive use of commas. But I'm not going to change it now because I'm tired. I will try to do better next time, but do not get your hopes up.
P.P.S. PHOTOS TO FOLLOW!
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