Monday, October 29, 2012

Today Is The Day I Got Schooled

Today was the day I got one hell of a lesson in German efficiency.
Now you may not think this is all that efficient but when you come from Ireland, where we have meetings about organizing a meeting, it's pretty damn impressive.

It was decided our apartment needed a cleaning rota. Perfectly reasonable, nothing odd there. So we sat down to discuss what would happen, who would do what etc etc. Still perfectly fine. Then it's mentioned that the entire flat should be cleaned before we implement the rota and BAM. Next thing I know I've half the fridge emptied and the place is in chaos (granted it was the good kind of 'it gets worse before it gets better' kind of chaos but still!)
So now I'm sitting in my lovely clean flat with everything immaculate instead of having the prospect of gutting the place looming over me like it would undoubtedly be like at home and I gotta say there's a lot to be said for just getting stuck in.

Tonight was also the first night I spent an extended period of time with all my German flatmates at once which was lovely. Unfortunately I finally realized how far I have to go with my German. If I was addressed directly I understood every word but anything other than that I was lost, so it was easier to not say much at all while everyone else chatted away.

I have to admit, tonight is the loneliest I've felt in a while.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

So I'm Back In College

So I have just realized that in just over a week I will have been living in Germany for (the majority of) 2 months, which is, by anyone's logic, quite a substantial amount of time.
I have also realized, to my horror, that the ERASMUS programme is conducted for the academic enrichment of the students taking part. I had forgotten this fact until I was (literally) rudely awakened on Monday morning.
I have officially returned to studying, essays and deadlines. Oh happy days.

I kid, I kid. Though I'm not crazy about being back to the books I must admit the modules I've decided to take seem pretty interesting. I'm particularly looking forward to 'The Political System of Germany' and with any look I won't be one of the 20% of failing ERASMUS students that we were informed about within the first 20 minutes of the opening lecture. Sometimes optimism can be a little difficult...
The language course also seen like they'll be worth their weight in gold. Who knows, by the end of this year I might actually be able to speak some German.

Of course for all of you at home the beginning of College only means one thing, Freshers Week. A week of madness, mishaps and general mayhem. Unfortunately this years Freshers Fest was for me incredibly tame to the extent of being non-existent. We attended some introductory lectures and that was pretty much it. From my experience to date there's no Students Union to the extent we have at home which means no clubs societies day. A massive shame considering that's usually where I do my annual stationery shop. We did have a party organized for us for the following Monday but I think all I'll say about that is I did the Irish stereotype proud. Very very proud.

To conclude: Am I happy to be back in College? Yes and no. Am I going to enjoy College in Konstanz? I think so Yes. Am I going to become the responsible student I ought to be? Who knows!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

First Day Of 'Real' College

So I have just returned from my first official day of College.

I will take this opportunity to be honest. Yesterday, the idea of becoming re-acquainted  with my academic life was nothing short of soul shatteringly depressing.
I mean seriously considering running away with the circus depressing.

However studying aside, which tends to happen to me quite often, the Uni itself is amazing. It's quite a bit smaller than home which made up for the fact that trying to find your lecture hall is on par with undertaking a quest through a labyrinth.
The fact that classes are at least 90 minutes will also take a bit of adjusting to. It may just mean that my in-class power naps have been extended.

Oh yeah, the most wonderful part? I've a 4 day week. Jealous much?

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Less Confusion Than Last Time...

Just a quick update, (a very quick update)           

Bank stuff has been sorted. ID card has been received. Modules still have to be selected. Konstanz is awesome.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Unnecessary Confusion

Now don't get me wrong, this post isn't me slamming on the Uni. I understand that there is a lot to deal with behind the scenes. I know that there's plenty going on and an immeasurable number of problems to fix but I would have thought that rule number one would most definitely to be communicate your message clearly and without delay.
I shall explain..

There have been quite a few incidents of unnecessary confusion and stress due to apparent bureaucratic errors.
1. ID Cards: We were informed that our student ID cards would be ready to collect on Tuesday September 25th. They weren't. We were then informed that they would most definitely be ready to collect on the Friday. Again, no joy and 2 weeks later, still nothing. The frustrating part, no ID card = no student number. No student number = no registering for seminars. Granted this isn't the end of the world as there is an whole other semester to register for but plans have been seriously thrown out. It also makes travelling on the bus with a student ticket much more difficult.
2. Banking Errors: This has been the biggest source of stress in  my life for the past 2 weeks. The morning I leave to go home I get a letter stating that my deposit of €500 hadn't been paid. Now that's a worrying thing to hear at the best of times. You can imagine how I took it at 4am after an hours sleep right before I headed back to Ireland for 10 days. Yeah, not well. Cue a barrage of emails and phonecalls and general panic hoping I would actually have a place to come back to. I got a message yesterday stating that everything was in Ordnung. Yay place to live!
However, dear reader in the past week I have had to deal with not 1 banking mishap but two. I was contacted stating that I had not paid the €58 contribution. An issue that has yet to be but will hopefully be resolved. Hopefully.
3.Incorrect Information: Fairly simple I would have thought, tell the students when the term starts. Apparently not. The college website posted that lectures were starting on Monday (yesterday). They weren't. They are infact, as a few extremely disgruntled students who had made the trip to the Uni were informed, beginning next Monday.

I know that these were just mistakes and no one is to blame but my god did it lead to unnecessary stress.
Hopefully next week will be like a Summer's breeze.....I highly doubt it.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The Awesomest Group Ever!

To prove I'm not lying through my teeth about everything.
September Course Group H.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

1 Month Reflections

OK, so I felt this was necessary. I have reached the 1 month milestone and I felt it was time to evaluate my experience.

I don't like to be wrong. I hate being proven wrong and will argue my point until there is a lot of indisputable evidence in front of my face. Any and all of my friends would be willing to testify to this statement. There is however the odd occasion where I am willing, if not happy to concede defeat. This is one of them.

For the best part of the last 2 years I have done everything to avoid the reality of moving to Germany. I just pretended it wasn't going to happen and on the off chance anyone around me brought it up I used my failsafe and burst into tears. Guaranteed to stop any and all attempts at conversation dead. Tuning out at our weekly ERASMUS preparation class was also a pretty regular occurrence. I really think that I still wasn't truly facing the fact that I was heading away when I was actually on the plane.
Of course I got, what I perceived as the standard pep talks from family and friends. I lost count the the amount of times I heard 'you'll have a great time', 'it'll be the best experience of your life' or 'you won't want to come home'. To me it was all rubbish. To me all that was happening was I was leaving my family and friends to spend a year on my own. Something that is a major fear at the best of times.

Well I was wrong. Very very wrong. I have had the most amazing 4 weeks. Obviously I have missed everybody at home and there have been times when I've felt quite homesick but overall everything had been incredible.
The Uni has been more than welcoming taking us through every step in getting settled and preparing for what we'll have to deal with for the year. The September Course itself was worth every cent. It helped me grasp grammatical sections I've been having trouble with for the past 5 years. I can't recommend it highly enough. It was also a major motivator to speak to new people, simply because there was no other choice.
The main reason I love the place so much is because of the people I've met. Mainly people from places that I only hear about when the Eurovision is on. I have met and made friends with people from England. Wales, France, Spain, Costa Rica, Finland, Belgium, Mexico, Russia, Estonia, India and believe it or not Germany. It sometimes feels like we're in a U.N meeting. If the U.N met in an Irish pub.
I've had deep philosophical conversations about nonsense. Gone walking at night with people I've known for a few weeks and had the best laugh, travelled to Munich with people I barely know and the most amazing time. Obviously I've become a bit lax with the whole stranger danger thing.

In short, ERASMUS is amazing. People are crazy. German is hard yet enjoyable. I am having the most amazing time and can't wait to continue.
1 month down. 10 to go.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

A Merry Trip to München

I have been writing, rewriting and editing this post in an attempt to capture what it was like to attend Oktoberfest in Munich pretty much since I got back. I have however come to the conclusion that it would be an impossible feat to do it justice.
It went without a hitch considering it was a relatively spur of the moment decision. We got the 07:20 bus to Munich. It was truly incredible to see the world at that time of the morning, a sight not commonly seen by us student types. Once on board my fellow thirsty companions and I settled in for a 3 and a half hour conversation only interrupted by falling asleep.
Upon arrival we were, for the briefest of moments unsure of where to go, until we saw lots of men in Lederhosen. Following them was probably a safe bet, and sure enough it was as we were greeted by this:




As you can probably guess I knew I was off to a good start....and things got even better when this happened:



In conclusion, Oktoberfest is incredible. I mean completely astounding. The fact that everybody dresses up in small leather pants or long aproned dresses to spend the the day drinking and enjoying a day of general merriment is something that is quite unparallelled as far as I've seen. If any of you ever get the opportunity to go, and I sincerely hope you do, grab it with both hands!
Oh and before you ask I did get suckered into buying one of the many pieces items on sale (exclusively to trap unsuspecting tourists like ourselves):

After our adventures we made our slow (and for me wobbly) way back to the bus. I wish to use this forum to make an apology and issue a thank you. As I tend to wander off on a good day I wish to thank my companions for shouting me back in the right direction, I also wish to apologize to my new friend who had the displeasure of sitting next to me on the bus. Expect apology tea and gingerbread.