Leeds to Mannheim

Hallo!

This week I flew back to Mannheim from the UK which was one of the worst airport experiences I’ve had. I also had an exam and a coursework deadline which has left me stuck in my apartment most of the week. However, there has been some time to see friends, eat cake and even skype with Sam!

I flew back on Tuesday and, after an annoying experience at Manchester security and a delayed flight, arrived in Frankfurt in the evening. For some reason the skyline between terminals wasn’t running at Frankfurt so I had to get on a shuttle bus which meant I arrived at the train station just as the train to Mannheim pulled away. I tried to buy a ticket for the next train on my phone and it wouldn’t let me so I double-checked I could pay on the train and got the next one coming. This led to another bad experience as the conductor wouldn’t take any of my debit cards and I didn’t have enough in cash. Fortunately, I was able to use the app to buy a ticket for a different train so in the end he settled with that.

I was glad I got back at a relatively good time as I had an interview first thing Wednesday morning for a job at Leeds University when I go back in September. I’m not sure how the interview went but it started off badly as my internet connection was awful, so Skype didn’t work and we had to resort to a Whatsapp call. Once the interview ended, I met up with my coursework team and practically finished the work which is in for next Thursday though so at least that was successful. I then spent the next two days revising for my exam Friday lunchtime.

The exam was okay but not what I expected. As part of the lectures we had a guest talk from Burger King which was really interesting and, I assumed, was just there to show us how to apply the marketing knowledge to real world scenarios. Unfortunately, the lecturer thought differently and 1/6 of the exam were about Burger King specific ad campaigns but I think I remembered enough to wing those marks. Once the exam was over, I went with Eeva and Paisley to Le Coffee for lunch. We all had focaccias which were delicious and definitely helped me get over the nightmare few days I’d had. I also got to collect a competition prize from the Campus shop on Friday as I won an Instagram giveaway which includes a bum bag, reusable coffee cup and a voucher for a vegetarian restaurant.

After catching up on some work, on Saturday I met Derek at a currywurst restaurant. We ate our currywursts while he told me about his Easter travel in Poland and the UK. He had done so much but also has considerably more money than most people, so I don’t blame him! Once we had eaten there we moved on to a bakery for some German cake. Derek had a strawberry cake and I had a cherry streusel. In the evening Sam called from the US and we spoke for over 2-hours about what we have both been up to. I can’t believe it’s been nearly six months since we were last together! I’m hoping that she will be in Berlin when I go at the end of the month.

On Sunday I decided I needed a walk so after a bit more work I met with Derek and Eeva to take pictures around Mannheim. We walked from Jungbusch, where they both live, past the Neckar, over multiple bridges, by the Wasserturm and finished two hours later at the Schloss. It was so good to be out since I’d basically been shut in my room for half the week! After our walk we decided to go to Vapiano’s for tea. This is an Italian restaurant chain which works on a card system so you get a card when you arrive, go to the counter you want to order from and your order goes on the card then at the end you pay based on what you’ve used the card for. I had a pesto pizza which was really nice, but I realised later that Italian food is all I’ll be eating next weekend!

After spending all of Monday morning finishing writing up my lecture notes (so I have a lot less work to do the next few weeks), I went to uni for my first lecture. This was a guest lecture in my e-business class and was really interesting, especially as it seemed to relate directly to what I expect to do in my graduate job. In between classes I met Cecily for vegan cake and a catch up in her favourite café. I had a delicious vegan brownie and it was lovely to hear all about her trips over Easter. In my grammar class we played a game like “I went to the shop and I bought…” but with German comparison adjectives. We had to go around the room saying “… is older than … who is taller than … etc.” and try and remember what everyone before us had said. Unfortunately, I don’t think that will be on the exam.

Monday evening was the final Stammtisch of the semester so the last one that I would have chance to go to. This is a mini party held every Monday night in the café opposite the university and is mainly for international students. I missed Zumba to go to it because I expected it to be really good, however there were not that many people there at all and barely anyone danced so I didn’t stay that long! It seems a bit too early in the semester to be having the farewell party as we still have over a month left.

Yesterday was mainly a day of uni lectures and tutoring. As I had missed Monday Zumba though, I decided to try another exercise class. Me and Antoniya went to a stretch and tone class in a school gym just across from the main University building. There weren’t many people there and I was worried about not being able to do half the things and people noticing. However, we stayed at the back and it was nowhere near as bad as I expected; some of the stretches were actually quite relaxing!

This morning I went to a café with Eeva and Cecily for breakfast. The café describes itself as an “Anti-café” as rather than paying for what you have you pay by hour! We only stayed for the hour as Cecily and Eeva needed to get to uni but it was plenty of time to try different things and have a nice chat. I had a chamomile tea, lemon biscuit, cherry streusel and focaccia. It was also all vegan so they could try it all without a problem!

For the rest of the day I’ll be tutoring, handing in my coursework and then packing ready for my weekend in Italy with Derek!