Leeds to Mannheim

Guten Tag!

Another late post but I’m going to blame the fact I flew home on Wednesday! This will also be my last post, at least for a while as I’ll have nothing to write about for the next few weeks now that my study abroad has come to an end. As it was my last week, despite exams, I managed to keep myself very busy, eating at different places and spending as much time as I could with the amazing people I’ve met.

Last Wednesday, after writing my last blog and revising quite a lot, I met Cecily, Eeva and Cecily’s friend, Sam, at Alte Feuerwache. This was sweet as it was the first place I met everyone when we arrived. We ate food there which was considerable better than the first meal I had had back in August. They are now a mainly vegetarian café, so I had a veggie burger and it was by far the best I’ve ever had. Afterwards we went into the concert hall inside and watched a jazz performance by some local students which was incredible.

The following day I revised again and finally got to burrito baby to use the voucher that I won in the Instagram competition. Absolutely massive burrito in hand, I met Paisley for some more revision then went home to cook all the pasta I had left ready to meet a few people by the river for a picnic. The picnic was lovely, but most people had just brought food for themselves which meant hardly any of my pasta was eaten!

On Friday I had my first exam of exam season at 8:30- even earlier than school exams! It seemed to go well though and afterwards Paisley and I had time to deregister from Mannheim before celebrating the exam being over in Le Coffee with Rachel, Lizzie, Kathrin, Eeva and Cecily. The breakfast at Le Coffee was also a time to say goodbye to Rachel who was leaving the following day. Unfortunately, though, Paisley and I still had one more exam to go so after saying goodbye we had to leave to start the next lot of revision.

Since we had made a good start on revision, we decided to go to a street food festival on Saturday. There were two, one at the SAP arena in Mannheim and one just across the river in Ludwigshafen. You can easily walk to Ludwigshafen from our area of Mannheim, but we would have needed a tram to get to SAP so we chose Ludwigshafen. After getting a bit lost, we arrived and checked the event page to find out whereabouts the festival was. It was at this point that we learned that Ludwigshafen is quite big; the festival was 5 miles from where we were. Instead of going there we decided to give up and eat our lunch in the food court of the Rhein Galerie shopping centre. This wasn’t a bad choice as we could still all get what we wanted, and we got to watch a school perform different songs on the ground floor of the shopping centre.

After a morning of revising on the Sunday, I met Cecily, Maryann and Eeva for lunch. We went to a poke bowl place as none of us had ever had poke bowls, they were vegan, and Cecily has a huge crush on the owner. Poke bowls are interesting as they are mainly a lot of rice with veg and toppings. They were lovely though and Cecily was right, the owner is very attractive. After a couple of hours there I met Paisley for some final revision in Starbucks. The revision session went well so I decided to try not to worry and watch Netflix for the rest of the night.

The exam was at 8:30 again but at least that meant it was done quickly and it went well. I met Paisley briefly afterwards to get some Erasmus stuff sorted then finished packing and cleaning at home. There was about an hour of panic when I thought I had lost my purse, went to Starbucks and all the lost and found places at the university only to get back to the flat and find it had fallen into the hidden pocket of my backpack. At least I know the hidden pockets are good though!

Once Cecily’s exam had also finished, I met her outside the University, and we went to get milkshakes from her favourite café- Eis Eis Baby. We sat by the Wasserturm with Reuben topping up our tans before heading off to get ready for our evening celebrations.

In the evening we all met at Azteca for Mexican food (I had a chimichanga) then we moved on to the rooftop bar at Radisson Blu. The rooftop bar was nice, but drinks were very expensive, so I didn’t get anything. The men working there were also quite rude, so we only stayed while people finished their drinks and then moved on. We sat by the Wasserturm again for a few hours as despite being late it was still around 25 degrees! When it got too dark and we were being bitten too much we headed for an inside bar. I’m not sure what was wrong with the waiters and waitresses of Mannheim that evening, but the service was again very rude, and they brought the wrong drinks then got mad with us for their own mistake. It was still a lovely night getting to spend time all together though.

On my last day, I sorted everything first thing and then met Cecily to donate some of my clothes and then sit in Paradeplatz and chat. We then met everyone else for coffee at L3 and I had my last Brezel of the exchange. As it was around 32 degrees, we decided we shouldn’t stay entirely inside so we wandered around Mannheim for a bit, went in some of the shops that we had walked past but not visited in the last year and had ice cream. We then all went back to cool down and get ready for my last night.

For tea we went to a heavy metal themed American restaurant. The food was lovely, and I don’t think it’s that well-known, so we had the whole place to ourselves. Thankfully tonight the waiter was much kinder too, so we all gave him big tips. Once we were full, we moved to the Schloss for a photoshoot as we all wanted photos for our final Mannheim posts. Reuben turned up on one of the local rent-a-bikes and we all realised we hadn’t ridden a bike for ages so took it in turns riding it around the courtyard. We then sat by the Rhein for a few hours, watching the sunset and chatting before saying an emotional goodbye.

On my final morning, Cecily, Paisley and Eeva met me at Le Coffee for one final breakfast. I spent my last 6 euros on some American pancakes so I wouldn’t be hungry at the airport and we reminisced about Mannheim together. They then all walked me to my bus, and we cried together for a good 15 minutes before it was time to go. Fortunately, Cecily and Paisley are from the UK though so I’m hoping to see them very soon and I have big plans to go and meet Eeva next year!

Once home, Ian picked me up and we went straight to a carvery with my family for a welcome home meal. I’ve then spent most of the rest of the week unpacking and sorting out different bits and pieces that needed to be done when I arrived home. This included a German test that shows my reading and listening abilities have gone from a B1 to a C1 which I am very proud of. The highlight of my time at home so far however was yesterday when I took Mum to Leeds to see Grease the musical, we had a fantastic day together shopping and eating too much!

Although I am happy to be back with my family and can’t wait to see Jordan again, I am very sad to have left behind Mannheim and all the amazing friends I have made there. I cannot wait to start traveling soon and see them all again!

Auf Wiedersehen

Hey!

This week’s blog will cover the last two weeks as I flew home last Tuesday to surprise my Mum for her birthday and never got chance to finish the blog. The week before I left was quite busy and included saying goodbye to three of my friends who have now left Mannheim for good: Max, Derek and Natalie. This last week has been spent entirely at home but in between seeing family and revising I also managed a trip to Parklife festival in Manchester.

The first thing I did after writing my last blog was meet Derek for the last time with just us two. We went to a barbecue restaurant called Die Fette Wutz which I was really looking forward to as I haven’t had American style food since I arrived. It was good but quite expensive and you had to order your meat in grams which confused me. I was going to have ribs but didn’t know how many 100g’s were in half a rack and you couldn’t order chips so it would have literally just been a plate of ribs. Instead I had a pulled pork sandwich and BBQ beans which worked out cheaper and seemed more like a proper meal. Afterwards we went for a walk through Mannheim and had ice cream before meeting Eeva for a free showing of Mamma Mia 2 at the uni.

The following day, after a morning of revision, I met Eeva and we went for a walk down the river Neckar. We ended up walking really far as we decided to keep walking until we found a bridge so we could walk back down the other side. We had both forgotten to bring a drink though and it was really warm so on the way back we also stopped for an ice cream. At night I went to the cinema with Eeva and Derek to see Rocketman. It’s a good film but not as good as Bohemian Rhapsody.

In between revision I decided to do some baking to use up the flour and sugar I have here. I made brownies ready for the barbecue I planned for Sunday and then caramel dumplings for myself as I had just enough flour and still far too much sugar. There was a hob incident with the dumplings though as I went to put them in microwave dishes and accidentally placed one of the dishes on a hob that had only just been turned off. The dish melted and the caramel leaked out all over the cooker top leaving a huge mess! To try and get over this, I went for a walk with Antoniya in the afternoon. We went through some of the shops and managed to just about see the whole Quadrate. I had my third ice cream of the week as well, this time rice pudding flavour!

By the weekend it was far too hot, so I stayed in most of the days, revising and trying to cool down. Me and Cecily went to buy a disposable barbecue on the Saturday and then sat at Eis Eis baby for vegan ice cream (recurring theme of the week). As it was evening by this point it was just about cool enough to sit outside so we sat in Paradeplatz and chatted about her week as she had just got back from visiting Annie in Cadiz.

On the Sunday we had the barbecue. We were originally planning to do it by the Neckar on the grass but there was a change of plan and we ended up by a canal in Jungbusch. This was fine as there was seating but there wasn’t much shade and it was 32 degrees. Me and Paisley were in charge of cooking and it got quite stressful as we cooked everything but then barely anyone ate it. At one point we thought we didn’t have enough sausages, so Reuben spent 10 euros at a petrol station buying more only for no one to eat the fresh ones. It was nice to all spend time together though.

Last Monday I had my very last lecture at Mannheim, a revision lecture for e-business, and then Paisley, Cecily, Eeva and I went to the TV tower so we could see Mannheim from above. We walked there as it was a lovely day, and once we were there the views were great. We watched a thunderstorm come in which was really interesting from in the sky. However, we had not factored this in when we left and me and Cecily ended up walking for 30 minutes in torrential rain wearing only shorts, t-shirts and sandals!

In the evening we all went to Enchilada for a meal as that was the last time, I would see Derek, Max and Natalie. Since the restaurant was called Enchilada, I decided that was what I would have to eat, and they were very tasty but not actually what enchiladas are normally like. We spent a few hours there then a few of us sat outside a pub to talk a bit more and say goodbye properly.

Nearly the whole of last Tuesday was spent travelling. I was worried that something wouldn’t be on time, but everything was fine up until Manchester airport. My luggage took too long to come and despite running from terminal 3 to the train station I arrived on the platform just as my train pulled away. Fortunately, that was my best-case train so I had a plan B but it didn’t arrive for another hour. That train was then on time up until Sheffield when it just decided not to move for 20-minutes. I finally arrived at Cosmos in Doncaster about 20 minutes after my family and managed to (sort of) surprise mum. I’m glad I chose Cosmo’s as I was very hungry and could get food straight away! It was also lovely to see everyone again.

The last week has been spent mainly at home. I did quite a lot of revision during the day whilst people were out and got to go out for a few meals with Mum and Nanna. On Sunday I went to Parklife in Manchester with Celine and Rebecca. As soon as we arrived in Manchester it chucked it down, despite the forecast suggesting no rain all day, so we had lunch then went to buy those two coats from Primark. We arrived at the festival around 3 and went straight to see Mabel. It proceeded to switch between heavy rain and sun for the rest of the afternoon which meant we were wet, cold and often squashed between loads of other people in the only stages that were under cover. The music was also not what I expected as I’d only really gone to see George Ezra headlining and didn’t know that it was a techno/alternative festival. Overall though, despite the rain, soggy expensive food and too many people around me taking drugs it was an alright day.

When I got back to Scunthorpe the following morning Nanna took me out for breakfast and then we walked Archie together. Once nanna had left, me and Archie spent the full day cuddling (and with difficulty due to dog on knee, I finished writing my revision notes) then I tutored in the evening. I have now finished tutoring all my tutees for this exam season!

Yesterday I flew back, ready to take my final exams and say bye to people. Cecily’s friend came in on the same flight, so I got to meet Cecily at the airport and travel back with her and her friend Sam which was lovely. This week will be full of revision and exams but also plenty of meals out, partly because I want to try all the restaurants I’ve missed, partly to see people and partly because I can’t be bothered to buy groceries!

Hallo

This week was another busy one including my last big trip before exams and a few social things! I assume the next few weeks will be quieter as everyone gets into revision but there will be a few plans so we can say goodbye to each other before we finish the year!

On Wednesday I had brunch at Le Coffee, possibly my favourite café in Mannheim, with Kathrin. I had a Bircher muesli bowl, which was delicious, followed by a brownie and we talked about her plans to come and visit everyone after we leave. Afterwards, I went to unit to see the international office accommodation people about my contract as I’m having landlord problems and needed to know if I could just leave (I can).

In the afternoon I met Cecily and Eeva for lunch at a place called Barburrito. This is the third time we had tried to go there and the third visit we have made there and the third time it hasn’t been open! It’s not opens on Monday’s and it’s not open between 3 and 5 (unfortunately the only times we were all free to eat). So instead we went to a vegan kebab place and all had kebab wraps made from a vegan paste thing instead of meat. They were good but the guy put so much mint in them that some bites tasted a bit like toothpaste! We decided we also fancied dessert so went to Cecily’s favourite vegan café, Eis Baby and had crumbles.

In the evening, Paisley, Hepzibah and I had booked to attend a preview screening of Aladdin. It was classed as a lady’s night, so we all got free prosecco, as me and Hepzibah don’t drink, Paisley kindly offered to have all of them. Before the film a local dance school did a performance as an advertisement which was exciting. The film itself was also really good!

Thursday was mainly spent packing, cleaning and revising as my train to Berlin was in the evening. It was a lovely day though, so I went to meet Cecily and Paisley and we sat by the Wasserturm for a few hours. The train itself was a nightmare. After a 30-minute delay my first train arrived but this then stopped randomly for another 20 minutes then decided not to go all the way to Frankfurt so everyone on it had to change trains. I finally got to Frankfurt in time for the last train of the day to Berlin and only got to Berlin at 1am. Fortunately, Blanca (one of the girls I met in Prague) came to meet me at the station still and took me to hers.

Friday was better. We got up and went to a book shop that also served breakfast bagels. Although I was tempted by the bagels, they were quite expensive, and the shop also had pastries which were cheaper. I tried a cheese Danish which was nice, kind of like a randomly shaped cheesecake! Once we had eaten, we looked around the book shop then spent some time around the Berlin Wall, looking at the artwork on the East side.

We then took the underground to the main tourist area and saw the main sights such as the Fernsehturm, Brandenburger Tor, the Reichstag and Museum Island. We stopped to share a currywurst as well as Blanca suggested that Berlin had the best ones. The Brandenburger Tor was the best as there was a Fridays for Future demonstration going on and I think it’s cool that I got to see such a big peaceful protest in the capital city. The Reichstag was also great as I hadn’t seen it the last time, I was in Berlin but unfortunately to go inside you must book in advance and I didn’t know this. Once we had seen all the main tourist things we walked back along the river towards Blanca’s university as she had a class. On the way we stopped at the ice cream shop she works at for a small scoop and it was incredible!

Then I had a few hours on my own to explore. I didn’t want to go too far away from the University as I was meeting Blanca there again, so I walked down the main shopping street towards checkpoint Charlie and spent some time there. I also visited the concert hall where Blanca works. Most of my time, however, was spent in the DDR museum. Everything about the Cold war and East and West Germany interests me so this was great place to visit. It was an interactive exhibition with all sorts of artefacts to touch and read about and even a real Trabant (the cars they drove in East Germany) and a model flat.

Once Blanca had finished her class, we went to get Döner (another thing which is apparently better in Berlin) and then sat in a park to eat it. In the evening we picked up my stuff from her flat and got the S-Bahn to Pankau where Sarah (the other girl from Prague) lives. We spent the evening on her balcony chatting and eating watermelon and the vegan cake I made for them.

I had Saturday to myself so after a quick breakfast in Sarah’s flat I went off to find the Jewish museum. Unfortunately, it was closed for refurbishment though, so I continued walking into the centre to find something else and even ended up passing the hostel I stayed in when I was in Berlin for my summer school. Eventually I arrived at the Deutsch Technikmuseum and, after walking all the way around it trying to find the entrance, decided to go in. The museum was great. There were loads of exhibitions which meant it passed a lot of time and most were incredibly interesting such as one on the evolution of computers since the 1920s and another on how fireworks are made.

By the time I had finished at the museum it was lunchtime, so I went to find Markthalle 9, a place recommended by Blanca. It was a market hall filled with street food and I settled on an American stall doing beef brisket plates. I had a wander round looking for dessert too but didn’t find anything I fancied! Instead of dessert I took the underground to Tempelhof to see the site of an old airport, also recommended by Blanca. However, there was a formula E event going on so you couldn’t get close to see anything. Since this seemed pointless, I decided to head back to the centre and find a café then plan what to do next but for some reason I just couldn’t find anywhere.

Google stepped in and instead of food I decided to head to Spree Park, an abandoned amusement park which seemed exciting. However, after a train and a 40-minute walk I discovered that you are not allowed in (or anywhere near Spree Park) and all I could see was the top of a big wheel. Treptower Park which I walked through to get there was quite nice though. By this point I decided I had seen everything I wanted to (that was open or existent) and started heading back to see Sarah. On the way I found a famous donner place that sold vegetable kebabs, so I stopped there for my tea. Sarah was babysitting that night, so I joined her for a bit, and we watched some Netflix before I went back to hers to sleep.

On Sunday, Sarah took me to Mauerpark. We first went for breakfast and after walking around for about an hour looking for a place, we finally settled on an eco-friendly café. I had a chia bircher muesli and she had a hummus bagel. After eating we went to the flee market at the park and explored all the stalls. We bought a bag of power balls to share and ate them while sitting on the hill. Apparently Mauerpark is where most Berliners go on a sunny Sunday and there is even karaoke held in the afternoon! There was a dance show going on while we were there which was really entertaining.

Sarah also wanted to show me a market at Friedrichshain, so we spent most of the afternoon there. It was a pretty cool market, lined with different artwork and clubs which a lot of influencers go to apparently. We found a vegan bake sale, and both bought a piece of cake there. By this point it wasn’t that long till my train, so we quickly found somewhere to eat (a vegan Indian restaurant) and then got the S Bahn to the station. Fortunately, this time all the trains were on time and I was home by 10pm.

On Monday I spent the morning revising and most of the afternoon in class. I did however meet Eeva and Cecily for lunch again at another vegan kebab place but this time I had a falafel wrap instead! One of my classes was the final German grammar lesson and I found out I passed my exam (and did better than last time). I finished the day with two-hours of Zumba again to try and burn off my weekend food.

Tuesday was also 50% revision as well as having to attend my second to last lecture. In the evening though I went to Kathrin’s house for a crepe party. Max made the crepes from his own French recipe and they were delicious. I finished the day trying to reduce the calories in a stretch class.

The rest of the week will be more revision with a few meals out and hopefully a BBQ on Sunday as some people start leaving next week!

Moin

This week has nearly been all about Cecily’s birthday with a meal on Thursday and hamburg to celebrate all weekend. I’ve also got another exam done (two to go) and finished all but 2 of my classes!

Last Wednesday afternoon I met Kathrin for cake at a café of her choosing- Café Rosterei. She chose the café for the atmosphere but certainly not the prices with a slice of, not particularly good, cake costing just under 5 euros! We had a nice chat though and it was fun to hear about what had happened at the club since I left before they went. It also sounds like a good job I didn’t go because everyone was very drunk! In the afternoon, I caught up with Cecily in the Paradeplatz as it was such a beautiful day and we thought it would be nice to just sit in the sun. We talked for so long that I was nearly late to the Insight even I was attending in the evening where we ate Wurst and Brezeln.

Thursday was Cecily’s birthday, so I made her a vegan cake when I first got up and then tutored while it was cooling. Before the meal, Eeva arrived with skittles and gold leaf and we decorated the cake ready to take with us. The meal was lovely, we went to Kombuse again and it was sweet because it’s quite a small place and there were only a few of us there. We hid the cake from Cecily and once we were finished eating, we took her to the side of the river and sang to her. She was so excited, and it was the perfect afternoon to sit outside and eat cake.

It was finally time for hamburg on Friday and after a five-hour journey, some of which was spent sat on the floor outside the train toilets, we arrived! The boys had taken an overnight bus as it was cheaper and Eeva had taken a much earlier train, so she was already there. By the time we got there, everyone was very hungry so the first thing we did, after a few pictures of the incredible Rathaus, was find a restaurant. We ended up at one called ALEX which was the only place in Germany I’ve seen that reminds me of a British chain- it was a bit like Wetherspoon’s but posher and more expensive. Most of us had a curry.

Once we had eaten, we thought we should look around a bit until it was time to check-in to the Airbnb. We started by exploring two churches, guided by Reuben who has a huge book with information about all the main cities in Germany. We then ended up In the Scientology church which was less of a church and more just an interactive exhibition about Scientology. The exhibition was more normal than I expected but we think they missed out all the weird bits! We watched videos on their take on raising children and drugs but it’s basically just common sense. They even gave us a guide to happiness through common sense which says things like don’t do anything illegal; don’t kill anyone; and don’t do harmful drugs- all very helpful advice!

We finished our quick tour with a trip to the Chile house which is a building that’s designed to look a bit like a boat. It didn’t entirely make sense as it didn’t look like a boat but I appreciate what they were trying to do... The arches are shaped like the bottom of a boat and the walls are in the same style as the sides of an older boat like a pirate ship.

The Airbnb was incredible. It was one apartment for us all but had a beautiful lounge, fully equipped kitchen and bathroom and two huge bedrooms. We were all tired but still wanted to see hamburg, so we rested there watching German TV for an hour before setting off again! This time we went to see the river and the big concert hall- Elbphilharmonie. We got to go to a viewing point on the concert hall and could see across the rivers, some of the views were more impressive than others though as there was a huge building right next to the concert house blocking everything on one side! By this point everyone was hungry again, so we set off to find somewhere to eat. Cecily and I didn’t want another big meal, so we sat with the others while they ate at an Irish pub and then went to the supermarket for a wrap on the way back. At night we played some games and then went to bed, exhausted from travelling and exploring.

As we had a kitchen, we made breakfast and ate together in the Airbnb on Saturday morning. We had toast, baguette, cheese, ham, salami and biscuits! The boys didn’t get up till quite late though, so we didn’t end up leaving the apartment till just before 12. The first thing we did in hamburg centre was walk along the river to a church that was burned down in World War 2 bombings- St Nikolai. It looked very similar to the Koln Dom so must have been very beautiful before. You could pay to take a lift to the top and see views of hamburg. I thought these views were better than those from the day before at the concert hall!

We walked back towards the main part of the city and ended up at a café with the same name as the one I had visited with Kathrin earlier in the week! It was a nicer café and incredibly busy (and the cake was cheaper). However, the cake I had was bad but that’s probably my fault for being greedy and buying cake I didn’t really need! We considered going to Miniature Wunderland but it’s quite expensive and had a 60-minute wait so instead we walked to another viewpoint in the city, took a few photos, and then headed towards the botanical gardens. We decided to walk there which meant we could see the views all along the river and walk from other parks on the way. We stopped in front of a huge statue of Otto von Bismarck which was interesting as I have been learning about him in my German history class. The park with the Botanical Gardens was beautiful, one of the nicest parks I’ve ever seen! However, by the time we arrived we didn’t have time to go in the gardens as we needed to eat before heading to Eurovision!

We got a bus from the park to St. Paulius where the Eurovision stage was going to be and where all the restaurants are. Once there we split into groups as the boys wanted fish and we wanted a good vegan place for Cecily. We ended up at a vegan burger place called Happen Pappen and had really incredible vegan burgers that tasted like meat. I think the people working there must have been having a stressful day though as they were quite rude to us. The boys ended up at a restaurant 2 buildings down from us and said it was the best seafood they had ever had!

Once we were all full, we headed to the Eurovision area of hamburg! We got into the second section which was the nearest you could get without paying. At first, we were stood by the back but Eeva and Alex dragged us all forward and we ended up at the very front with a great view. It was fun being there with so many other people watching but I thought the actual Eurovision was a bit disappointing. We had done a sweepstakes and I ended up with San Marino as my country, so there was no way I was going to win, but I cheered them on relentlessly and thought their performance was pretty good! My favourite was Spain, but they barely got any points. It was also quite funny to be watching in a German crowd when the words “sorry, 0 points from the public vote” was read out for Germany’s performance. They all took it quite well!

Despite being exhausted, we all got up early on Sunday morning to have breakfast and clean up before check-out time. We then headed straight to see Mark, a friend of Alex who had come to the Eurovision party with us, who was letting us put our backpacks in his room. After dropping off our stuff he started to show us round. First, he took us to a fish market as everyone wanted to try Fischbrötchen. I went for a fish Frikadelle one which was effectively just a fish cake in bread, but the boys were a bit more adventurous with herring and raw onion! We then went on one of the cities ferry taxis and got to stand on the top deck as it sailed across the river Elbe.

Once the ship arrived by the U-boat museum we left, partly as Mark said there was nothing further on and partly because Reuben really wanted to see the museum. It wasn’t too expensive, so we all decided to go in. It was an old Soviet U-boat that had been left in the condition it was used for people to explore. It was quite interesting but there wasn’t a lot of information about things inside. My favourite bit was climbing/ swinging, through each doorway!

With a few hours left before our train we decided to walk to Reeperbahn which is the red-light district of hamburg. Obviously, this was mid-afternoon so there was nothing going on, but it was interesting anyway! It ended at the Eurovision stage, so we decided to take the underground back to the main centre of the city by the Rathaus. Reuben really wanted to visit café Paris, so we stopped there for a quick drink before going inside the Rathaus. Despite being beautiful from the outside, I didn’t think the inside was that impressive. There was a lovely fountain in the courtyard though! We walked back out through a peaceful protest on climate change and helping refugees before heading for some tea.

The last thing we did in hamburg was eat! We went to the Europa Platz, which is a big shopping centre and sat at the top in the food court. There was so much choice that everyone kept asking if I was okay! I ended up having a falafel, halloumi and aubergine wrap with sweet potato chips which was amazing. We sat and rested for a while and then got ice creams to eat on the way to collect our things.

As we had arrived back from hamburg quite late, I was hoping to relax a bit on Monday morning. I had to tutor but I thought that would be all until lunchtime. However, my washing machine, which was ‘fixed’ on Thursday will now not work at all, so I ended up walking to Eva’s and back twice to get my washing done! My tutee didn’t show up either but that meant I had chance to revise for my afternoon German grammar exam. After a lecture and some more revision I went to the exam and it was nowhere near as bad as I expected. I definitely didn’t get everything, but I know at least some that were correct. In the evening I went to both hours of Zumba. The first part was hard but doing the normal Zumba class just feels so easy afterwards, so it was fun.

Yesterday I had my full day of lessons, tutoring and stretch class again. My final German history class was quite emotional as I’ve had that teacher for 3 classes while I’ve been here, and we finished by watching a video from the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I’ve got a really busy day of socialising today again before heading off to Berlin for the weekend tomorrow. I’m very excited!

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!