Leeds to Mannheim

Frohe Fest

It’s nearly time to go home for Christmas which means saying goodbye to some of the amazing people I have met this semester. This week’s been a mix of emotions with excitement at yet more Christmas markets, stress for exams and sadness at saying bye to these people who have gone from being strangers to some of my closest friends in less than four months.

Since my first exam was Saturday and there were no goodbyes until Monday, my week started off quite well! Last Wednesday, after a day of revision, I set off to meet Cecily, Rachel and Salim at a café in Mannheim’s big shopping centre. It was 18:30 so I thought we were going for tea, but they had chosen a place that only served drinks. However, when we asked about drinks, they seemed to have sold out of nearly everything, so we moved to a different café and I was able to have a focaccia! It was really nice seeing them as I have only met Salim a few times, but he is absolutely lovely. Afterwards, we explored the Christmas markets and ate waffles.

Thursday daytime was more revision for my first two Saturday exams. However, that evening about twenty of us met at Tara’s for Secret Santa. This was amazing to have so many of us together in one place, singing along to Christmas music and opening each other’s gifts. We opened the gifts one by one and guessed who each person’s Secret Santa was. Everyone had put so much thought into the gifts, it was incredible. I had given Lizzie a guardian angel keepsake, a notebook and some chocolate and Derek bought me seven different cookie cutters and a loaf tin!

My trip to Cologne Christmas markets was Friday with Derek. We arrived around lunchtime and went to explore the city first for anything we may have missed last time we were there. It wasn’t long before we were both hungry though, so we headed into the first market for some lunch. We both tried raclette which was delicious, and Derek also had ‘meat on a stick’ which to me sounded very suspicious. Since we were now in a market we decided to start exploring. The first was absolutely huge with an ice-skating rink in the middle with a separate section for people to play a mix between curling and bowls! There were a lot of food stalls as well as lots of little gifts. This Christmas market went immediately through into the next which was full of antiques and handmade gifts including the chance to either buy a newspaper or a playboy from the day you were born. We didn’t buy either as they were in German.

We weren’t entirely sure where the next markets would be, we just knew that there were more, so we set off in search. After a brief pause for Derek to buy some old coins we headed off down the river. There we found a third Christmas market in front of the Schokolade Museum. This one sold a lot of sweet things, as expected, as well as more homemade gifts and cards. After walking around those stalls, we set off to find Neustadt. This trip took us through some very random parts of the city but eventually we made it. At first we still couldn’t find the next Christmas market, but we did find an English Shop. The shop had everything I have missed while being here; from Cadbury’s chocolate to Weetabix, mini rolls to Bisto gravy powder! However, they were all at least three times the price with the gravy powder costing 9 euros!!!

After a brief stop in the English shop where Derek, the Canadian, bought some Schweppes ginger beer, we wandered through the Neustadt to find the fourth market. Eventually we reached it. This was much smaller than the others but was once again filled with food and a few gift stalls. Derek decided to buy some Dutch pancakes called Poffertjes and let me try one. They were delicious! We weren’t in that market for long though as well still had one more to find before tea.

After a lot more walking, we discovered that the final Christmas Market was actually exactly where we had started and we had somehow just missed it. In Cologne, the train station is right next to the Dom (Cathedral) and the final (and biggest, most beautiful) Weihnachtsmarkt was right there! It was actually very difficult to see all of this market because there was no clear path round; there were stalls absolutely everywhere selling beautiful jewellery, Christmas decorations, sweets, nuts and Gluhwein. The cathedral was also right next to it so the view was stunning. This was my favourite market of the day but by this point it was starting to rain, our legs were aching, and we were running out of time! We decided to have a quick trip to look inside the Cathedral again (and sit down) before going for tea.

We went for tea at one of the restaurants along the river. By this point it was pouring it down with rain, so we opted to sit inside. The Germans at these restaurants still proceeded to stay seated in the rain so we were the only ones in the restaurant. It was a really nice Italian place with relatively cheap specials. I had the first lasagne that I have eaten in four months and it was amazing. After eating it was unfortunately time to go home so we quickly explored the train station before getting on our train.

On Saturday I had my first two exams. One of them was the worst exam I have ever had to do but I knew that would be the case before I went in. It also sounded like the Germans taking it agreed with me, so I felt less bad about it. The other one was fine though and at least they are both out the way. After my second exam, I met Sam, Mitch and Raina and we got a tram to Bad Durkheim to visit their Christmas market. This was only small but was one of the cutest I’ve been to; there were all sorts of trinkets being sold and it seemed like the whole community, including the pre-school had come together to make it. There was also a live band playing a mix of Christmas songs and English chart songs, so we stood round a fire and sang along. In order to save money, I’d taken a wrap to eat but I did buy a Nutella crepe as a reward for finishing my first exams and it was delicious. The whole atmosphere at this market was incredible and it was quite sad when we had to leave to get the tram back.

My final big Christmas market trip of the year was on Sunday. This time eleven of us set off to Stuttgart, the capital of Baden Württemberg (the state Mannheim is in). The weather wasn’t great, but I’d been waiting to go to Stuttgart for the past two weeks and was fully prepared. This was by far the biggest all in one Christmas market I have seen. It went on for miles and for a while seemed never-ending. For lunch I had Poutine which I have always wanted to try (but is essentially cheesy chips and gravy) and we all ate while sat on a bench facing the ice-skating rink. Then we set off to explore. It is quite difficult to keep track of 11 people in a massive market, but we just about managed it and all found each other again in the end. This market had a lot of stalls selling wallets, belts and cooking stuff. I knew every time someone had found a stall of the latter as there were suddenly a group shouting ‘Aimee’ until I came to look at the silicone baking moulds! One of my favourite parts of this particular market was that the windows of the building next to it had been made into a giant advent calendar. There was also a street performer making massive bubbles and we all joined the little kids to watch and pop them.

After all the excitement of the Christmas markets, the stress and sadness kicked in on Monday. I met Elena for lunch at Café Vienna and this was the first goodbye I had to say. Lunch was delicious and, since she is my main cake partner, we grabbed some cake on the way back and ate it around my kitchen table. Unfortunately, I had all my revision, so she couldn’t stay long. We said goodbye before she went but I’m hoping to go to Italy soon to see her again. That night she wrote a beautiful Instagram post about me that made me cry but she did promise I could visit her!

Fortunately, after that there have been no further goodbyes, but I will be saying it an awful lot tomorrow night as I fly home Friday morning and most of my closest friends aren’t coming back next semester. Yesterday, I spent a few hours going around the Christmas market with Sam and we both ate the Poffertjes like Derek had in Cologne. She is also upset about leaving but we had a nice time exploring together for the last time. My last exams are this afternoon and tomorrow, so I have to go finish revising. It’s very strange to think the next blog I write will be from England..