I promised myself that I'd come back to Germany and dive right back into the 'living and breathing' but unfortunately it didn't really go that way. As excited as I was to see my friends I genuinely didn't want to come back, spent the first week feeling very homesick and trying very hard to look like I was glad to be back to the tea
chers at school.
After being back for about a week I found myself in a really difficult place......a place which involved me getting my feelings seriously hurt. What followed was basically a week of continuous tears, phone calls to the uk and some seriously intense homesickness.
Needless to say I wasn't in the best state of my life, but I do have some of the most amazing family and friends, who have all been there for me whenever I've needed them and also given me the strength not to run home and stay there, which was very tempting for a while.
Of course there have been some pretty epic nights out along the way,
one of which spent in Duesseldorf at a seriously tacky and so-typically-German-it-hurt nightclub called 'Anton's Bierkoenig'. The night was basically spent dancing to horrendous German music such as 'das geht ab' and being inappropriate. After planning to all leave for Dortmund together, everyone left in pairs and it ended up being me and Ciaran on the very grim 3:20am train back. Wouldn't have been so bad, had Ciaran not basically passed out after about a minute and a half. I also never imagined that I'd be showing my ticket to Deutsche Bahn employees at 4am, but I suppose that's Germans for you. After watching him turn off his alarm and go back to sleep at Bochum Hbf I had to shake Ciaran pretty violently to wake him up once we got to Dortmund, and even then he didn't believe we were there. I'm not sure either of us has ever been so pleased to see an open Mcdonald's as we were when we walked out of the train station though.
This weekend has definitely been the most grim for me so far.
On Friday I decided to be very irresponsible and enjoy a few cocktails in Dortmund with the guys. Emily had some friends visiting so we were all really looking forward to meeting them and finally going to a nightclub in Dortmund where wearing heels was appropriate. Had t
o have a bit of a cheese when the barman told me that his colleague had made a mistake and made me a margherita instead of a cosmopolitan, so I could have it for nothing. The drink itself was disgusting, but I had to drink it since it was free :). Having barely eaten for the entire week, I found that my alcohol tolerance was somewhat affected and ended up in a rather bad state.
Saturday was our night of Cologne Bierbike action. We must have all seriously lost our minds choosing to go out in the freezing temperatures for a couple of hours to drink cold beer. Truth is, was feeling far too grim to drink anything, and only managed to get through 2 glasses of Koelsch while the guys
around me were drinking at lightning speed.
It was really good banter, but maybe not the most pleasant experience I've ever had. I'm somehow covered in bruises and not sure how I managed to get them, and it's actually surprising how difficult it is to pedal that thing :).
Once bierbike was over and done with we all went off to a nightclub called 'Bootshaus' which was right on the other side of Cologne, and possibly the most bizarre club I've ever been to. It's also worth a mention that we came back to the hostel afterwards to find Nana, who had spent the previous 4 hours sitting in Mcdonald's. Banter.
Since I've been back I've also been trying to connect more to the teachers at school. I'm constantly getting into trouble for being too shy and not asking people for things, because apparently it's really not normal in this country to feel like it's cheeky to bother someone when they're busy or just ask them outright if you can join in on whatever they do in their spare time. I do think it's a bit awkward to just strut up to someone and be like 'erm, can you entertain me this weekend please?' but apparently people aren't going to offer.
I did spend the day with Herr Taeger (German teacher) and his family last week, the intention of which was to show me what a typical day in German family life is like. Not the most exciting thing, but it was really nice to spend some time speaking German and he also has a really cute three year old daughter, Smilla. She was pretty grumpy with me at first, but once she realised I wasn't trying to steal her toys we had a lot of fun playing with her train set and reading about a ballerina of some sort. I'm actually starting to think I'm better with kids than I thought, even if I couldn't exactly understand her all of the time :).
As for my new year's resolutions. I like to think that they're going quite well.
I've kept up with my plan of going to the gym at least 3 times a week and have discovered that I actually really enjoy doing all the aerobics classes, even if I don't enjoy lifting weights. I've also been having a go on the power plate, which may be the most random piece of exercise equipment in the world. I never thought standing on a plate that vibrates for 45 seconds would be such hard work.
But, as it stands I'm 10lbs lighter than I was when I got back and I'm really feeling better about myself.
I'm off to Birmingham in a couple of weeks to see Imogen Heap in concert and also to see some of my friends for a crazy night out or two.....so so looking forward to it. I'm also so excited that Rus and Elle are making their way down to do it with me too. The plan is definitely to have an epic time, and probably also to annoy those who have the displeasure of working while I'm there :).
Definitely feeling like the living and breathing year abroad 2010 has begun, and I actually can't believe we only have 4 months left. We've actually been here longer than we've got left. Time really does fly......not lying, absolutely terrified at the thought of having to go back to Birmingham, but at least it's still quite far away..........
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