October 2011

So I've been quite busy this weekend. Last Thursday I decided to go with my housemates to Copenhagen for the weekend, and so, incredibly last minute, we booked a hotel for Saturday night and overnight coaches for Friday and Sunday night. After my all day class ended on Friday I came home for a few hours and then took the train to Hamburg to catch the coach to Copenhagen - after a 2 hour delay in Hamburg we finally left and after crossing the Baltic Sea by ferry, we arrived in the Danish capital. As the hotel was booked for Saturday night we could not check in until 3pm, meaning when we arrived at 7am we had 8 hours to amuse ourselves. Being Kevin, I of cause printed off maps of the city and circling the main sites of interest, so we knew what to see and where it was, all in a single day. I was therefore dubbed "Marta" by the rest of the group, as for the Hamburg trip, Marta, who had arranged it all was the Erasmus equivalent of a tour guide.

We started off the day by changing our money into Danish Kroner, where you get roughly 8.5 for £1. We then walked past the famous Tivioli Gardens, which were unfortunately shut for the next 2 weeks, and then to the Central square, up the main shopping street, to all 3 Royal palaces (the later of which had Royal Guards parading),to Kastellet (the best preserved fort in Europe) and then to Denmark's most famous landmark - The Little Mermaid. Afterwards we went for lunch in the Nyhavn (a 17th Century port) and then to check into the hotel. In the evening half of our group went to the White Sensation in the Parken stadium, whilst I went to sleep and the other two group members went clubbing in the city.

On Sunday we took the train from Copenhagen to Malmö, across the Ø̈resund bridge to Sweden. I had again produced a map with all the sites, and so we went to the central square, the castle and to the beach, where the famous city tower - the Turning Torso - can be seen. Unfortunately, as it was October and pretty foggy, the Öresund bridge could not been seen from this location.

After seeing the city of Malmö (and buying some Plopp), we went back over the bridge to Denmark and in the 6 hours we had left before our coach arrived, we went to visit Christiania - an Anarchist Commune, which is independent of the Danish government, where soft drugs are legal and violence and theft are not tolerated - an interesting experience.

At 11:30 last night, we got on the coach for our return journey, and after stopping in Hamburg to catch the train, we then arrived back in Bremen at 7:30 this morning. Luckily I had no class today!

Back in Bremen, on Thursday there was an accident at the Freimarkt. One of the pods on a twister ride came off and injured 6 people. However as far as I am aware, no one was killed. The Freimarkt came to an end yesterday after two weeks, and now Bremen will be pretty quiet for four weeks, until the Christmas Markets begin! Though my life is too exciting for a month with nothing happening! Which is why in two weeks time I will spend the weekend in Berlin!

Hope you are all having as much fun as me (or at least trying to)!
Kevin.

So it's been well over a week since I last informed you of the goings on here...(which is surprisingly a long time!) So what's been happening? Well on Tuesday I had my first proper lectures (5 in total) so I had to get up at 7am, and they were due to last on and off until 7:30pm..Being the first Tuesday lectures I was attending, they were new subjects for me. I tuned up at the room and sat down..and then in walks this Chinese lecturer who starts speaking Chinese and writing it - after waiting to see this wasn't some kind of German joke, I realised I was clearly in the wrong lecture so I went down to check the board with room changes and there is NOWHERE that says where the class is....So I checked the notes again and there is no where that the correct rooms are written...So I sat about in the canteen waiting for my lecture afterwards...When I turned up the lecturer (who was supposed to give me 2 lectures that day) was away this week, and so I had no classes either.

I therefore decided I would go shopping in the city and hope that at least my German lecture in the evening was on. So I found a music shop and managed to get myself two albums from Cassandra Steen and Monrose, making my day feel slightly better! I then went home as waited until the evening for my final class, and the Welcome Evening that night. Luckily the class was on, and it was good (My personal highlight being the jealousy my lecturer has with me having 'einhundert prozent perfekt Englisch'). After the class ended we had a welcome evening arranged for us from the Bremen Erasmus network, where I met lots of people I had so far missed from the two and a half weeks I was here, including some Venezuelans, even more Spanish (I swear there are more Spanish here than Germans) and the most exciting of all...a Georgian!

Then yesterday was the opening of the 976th Annual Freimarkt...which is the oldest fayre in Germany and the largest in the North of the country. It lasts two weeks and starts with a firework display which is what I went to last night. Its a general type of fayre, like the carnivals we have back home, but much much bigger. There's many large rides, games and lots of food on sale, all very German. Afterwards I went with some other Erasmus students to a club, where on Fridays we get free entry, and free drinks until midnight, where let's just say I got carried away after 6½ Bacardis. Best of all, it cost me absolutely nothing last night. RESULT. Hope all is going well for you guys!

Kevin.

So today I went to my first lectures in Germany. I had registered for courses about 2 hours after it opened on Tuesday - but already by that time I had missed the first lectures for 2 modules, and so I went today for the second lectures for them - Sustainable Development and Introduction to Tourism (the later being a first year subject).

When I arrived I found that lectures were in full swing - the Germans all knew each other and they had already completed some work. Me and the other English girl felt so left out. However once they learned we were foreign students they were all very welcoming and the class itself wasn't so bad - The lecturer even made some funny jokes.

So all in all it seems good so far (just wait until I go to the modules aimed at the final year students!)

Yesterday I had a free day so I took the tram for about 45 minutes and went to the new "Waterfront" Shopping centre where they have a Primark and some stationery shops amongst other things - Luckily I managed to get almost everything I needed (clothes, folders, envelopes, stamps etc.). So today after lectures finished I went into the city centre to see what shops they had there. Some of you (no names required) will be pleased to know that I have found the German equivalent to Poundland - "Euroshop".

So all in all it's been a pretty good few days - even if the weather has become more Autumn like now

Kevin.