In this post, I want to tell you a bit about the famous Oktoberfest which takes place every year in Germany, and my first week at uni, which was definitely full of emotions..
So last week me, Lee and some of our new friends had the chance to go to the Oktoberfest in Berlin, and it was soooo good!! Oktoberfest is basically a fun fair- a bit like Goosefair in Nottingham, which is free of entry. There is lots of rides, German traditional food such as Bratwurst and lots of other fun things for kids and older people. However there is also a big tent, where the actual Oktoberfest takes place. We only had to pay like 5 euros to enter it. The tent consists of big tables & chairs, lots of alcohol- especially BEER and a big stage where they play music. It was such a good laugh. This place reminded me so much of Bierkeller in Nottingham. Everyone just dances on tables, wears all these traditional Bavarian clothes and has so much fun. It was definitely one of the best things I have ever experienced. Only thing I would recommend to anyone that wants to see it, is definitely wear comfortable shoes. Mainly because if you're gonna dance on the table/chairs, then there is a huge possibility that you might fall over. I have seen so many people slipping from their tables, mainly because most of them have beer spilled all over them. It was crazy. One lady fell over and everyone started screaming. I felt so sorry for her. And was so proud of myself for actually wearing comfortable shoes+clothes for a change. But I can tell you one thing for sure, Germans definitely know how to party in the October season, so it's definitely worth experiencing at some point in your life :) . !!!!
So after such a fun weekend, my first proper week at uni has officially began, and it didn't go as well as I thought it would. In my first seminar on Monday morning, I walked out crying my eyes out because I did not understand a word from it. It was so bad. And the constant fear that someone is going to ask me something and I won't know what to say, or that the lecturer is going to ask me a question in front of the whole class, made it 10x worse. I've been feeling like that throughout the whole week, and although it's a bit better now, I'm still struggling to understand everything that the teachers are saying. Another thing which put me off some of the modules, was definitely when they said we have to do a presentation at the end. In pretty much all of my seminars there are only German students there, and I can't imagine doing a presentation in German in front of the whole class. I think I would die of embarrassment. So I already had to drop some of them.. I would much rather write huge essays or do like 10 exams in a row than give a presentation to native German speakers. I've never been a fan of speaking in front of huge crowds, never mind in another language that I can barely speak. So that was a bit annoying, that I had to drop these subjects, because they do seem quite interesting.
On top of that, I haven't been really getting much help from anyone. I still don't really know how it all works with the points that I'm getting, and it's so annoying that every time I ask someone for help, they're not really giving me straight answers. I have so many documents that I need to fill in, but at the minute I don't actually know where I even need to start from. There is just a lack of organisation within the uni. It's a good uni, but everything is a bit of a mess at the minute. Times like these actually make me miss Trent so much!, getting constant reminders from the teachers on what I need to do or fill in!! It's completely opposite here.
The seminars and lectures are quite similar here like in the UK. I prefer lectures because it's so much easier to understand the content. And instead of me focusing on the language barrier, I actually feel like I'm learning something new. Seminars are the worst. I mean the teachers are pretty much talking most of the time, but because I'm in a smaller class full of German students, there is always more chance that one of them or even the teacher might ask me a question. And at the minute I think that's like my worst fear ever. I know I should probably start speaking to some of these students, it would be soo good for my language, but it's so hard at the minute. Especially when I can see most of them have their own group of friends, and I don't really want to annoy them. Or make them feel uncomfortable, because my language is nowhere near as good. I've picked some Politics, History and Germanistik modules. At the minute the Politics modules are the most interesting ones. But that could change with time. I've got a feeling that there is something wrong with my timetable, so as soon as I can sort that out and settle into the uni lifestyle, it should be all good.
On Friday, I was just so glad to finish uni and have the weekend to myself. It's all been a bit too much. I think it's good for me in the long term- all these changes, but it's all just a bit crazy at the minute. I feel exactly the same way I felt when I moved to England, and I wanted to understand everything and everyone so badly, but it took me a while to actually learn the language properly. I feel like I'm going through the same thing at the minute. I know I shouldn't stress so much because everything takes time and patience. But it's so hard when you're constantly trying to be perfect at everything you're doing, and all of a sudden you're stuck in a foreign country. It's so crazy! I just hope that this week at uni is going to be a lot better :( I'm glad I've managed to make some friends with the Erasmus students, as it makes me feel lots better to know that I'm not the only one going through this. It's a shame though that there are not so many Erasmus students in my lectures. :(
The main focus for this week is definitely speaking to the right people, that can actually offer me some help with the lectures, and not being so scared to go into uni. I doubt that's going to happen knowing me, but I need to try!!
On Saturday I went to Berlin to see an old friend Julia, from my exchange that I did 3 years ago while I was at college, and it was so nice to see a familiar face. And on top of that I went to Berlin for a change. Alexanderplatz was busy as always. I was actually planning to do some shopping but there was so many people everywhere, I gave up on this idea. On Sunday, I had a proper relaxing day with Lee, however we also went for a walk to a beautiful park called - Babelsberg Park. It was so nice. Potsdam has so many beautiful parks, but this one so far is my favourite one!! If you go up the hill you get a nice view of the whole city, which will be shown in the pictures below :) I've already made a list of so many things that I want to see before I leave Germany, as Potsdam has so much to offer. The only thing that worries me is the weather at the minute. Last week was so warm, we went to a lake near Charlottenhof and I was wearing my shorts and it was still hot. Today I had to wear my winter coat for the first time. So I've got a feeling this winter is going to be very cold and full of snow or huge climate changes. But that won't stop me from exploring the whole city. ;) As soon as Lee starts his new job, I'm going to do a lot of exploring. I just hope that the weather is not going to get so bad to a point where I can't leave the house, because it will be so cold. But at the same time, I would love to see a proper snow this year. The past few years in England, the winter has been pretty much the same. It will snow for a couple of hours, then everything will melt. So I hope I will get to see some of it this year. :) Not for too long though :p
Thanks for reading my post, MR x
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