It's been hectic, the past few weeks after having so many visitors coming over to see us. Also, I still can't really get over the fact that next week is Christmas Eve, and it's been 3 months now, since I've moved to Germany. It's crazy to think that I've been here so long now, and not even been back in UK once. I do admit though, after having so many of my family coming over, I'm really starting to miss home. Especially my mum's food! I'm a bit gutted that this year I'm not going to spend Christmas at home, as I'm actually going to Poland with Lee, and we will be spending New Years Eve there as well. Like in a way it's exciting to think that for the first time in 11 years, I'm going to be spending Christmas in Poland. It's been so long now since I've had the chance to do that, but I wish my family- as in my parents and sister could be there as well.
At the end of November, my dad came over to see me for 2 days, and it was so nice to catch up with him. After he arrived, we went over to my University campus and walked along the path to the Park Sansoucci. I could see he was impressed with Potsdam and all the historical buildings. He's a bit like me in a way that he enjoys History and exploring new historical places, so a trip to Potsdam was definitely something he most likely enjoyed. After walking around Park Sansoucci (which is very big) for hours, we drove to the Potsdam Christmas Market, and drank plenty of gluhweine's. I mean you know it's Christmas, when everyone's out drinking it, but I never realised how strong they actually are, especially when you mix them with amaretto. The day after, we went to Berlin, and saw everything that I probably have already seen before. 2 days after my dad has left, my sister came over to see me and on the day when they was leaving my mum and Paul came over. Don't get me wrong, I was so pleased to see all of them. But you can imagine what it's like when someone comes over to Berlin for the first time. They obviously want to see Reichstag, Berlin Wall and all of that, which is understandable. That's what I wanted to see when I first came here, but after having so many visitors I feel like I've seen all of this so many times now. I actually have a regular route now, where I took every single person that has came over to visit us. I think that was the only thing that was a bit draining, but I'm so glad that we've had people coming over and making the effort to see us. It actually made me realise, how much I've missed every single one of them, and I know for sure, that I will be planning a trip to UK soon. I'm thinking probably March, or around Easter time, as I've got like a whole month off. It's a bit strange, I don't think I've ever had that much time off in England, but here in Germany, you start your lectures a bit later, like towards the end of October and you finish your first semester at the start of February. You then have your exams, and from the end of Feb until the end of March, you're basically off from uni. I thought it was so strange, but hey I suppose at least I'll get some time off. I did however, sign up for an intensive course in February, where I'll be doing German every single day for like 4 hours, which hopefully will benefit me and keep me busy.
When my family was over, I think I went to every single ( or at least most) Christmas Markets in Berlin. The one I would probably say I have enjoyed so far the most is Alexanderplatz. It's so nice and so busy! They also have a cabin, where you can sit inside and drink/ or eat. It was lovely to be there with my mum and Paul. I've always thought that the Christmas market in Nottingham was amazing, but after seeing so many of them here in Berlin, I don't think I can even compare it. You can literally find anything here, plenty of German food such as dried fruits-nuts, sausages, amazing Music, many attractions for the kids such as slides, warm clothing- (they actually had pretty cool hats) and an amazing atmosphere. You literally cannot describe it in words! It looks so good, especially at night when all the Christmas lights are shining. I'm so glad I got to experience it this year. I don't think I'll have another chance to experience something like that anywhere, unless I decide to come back to Germany next December. It's probably one of my favourite things here in Germany.
In terms of uni, I do feel like the past few weeks have been a bit stressful purely for the fact that I've had so many people coming over and keeping up with all the work, was a bit of a nightmare. But I'm glad I'm not completely behind with everything. This week I went to one of my Germanistik seminars and the teacher was trying to show us different examples of presentations and posters- basically which ones were worth a good grade/which ones weren't, so I sat next to this girl and started discussing with her what were the positive/negative points about some of the examples that he was giving us, and I'm not going to lie, I was dreading it. I still feel a bit anxious about speaking in my lessons, but I just thought I'll go for it, and the girl actually turned out to be really nice and understanding. We spoke for a bit after, she was telling me a bit about where she's originally from- Stuttgart, and I was telling her about UK. It was nice to have someone to talk to, that doesn't give you evils every time they hear your accent. I don't think I have problem with that so much at uni, but it's mainly the older generations in a shop for example/or anywhere else.
On Wednesday, I woke up in the morning feeling so scared as I knew this was the day when I was suppose to give my presentation in my Grundkurs class. And although this is one of these classes, where the teacher mixes English and German, and most students are English speakers, I was still dreading it. I don't like to give presentations in English, never mind in German. But I actually think it went pretty well. The teacher seemed to be impressed with all the students that was giving the presentation and I felt like I had a weight lifted off my shoulders. It was the first time I did this here in Germany, so I do feel a bit more confident with it. I don't think I would be able to do it in any of my German speaking classes yet though, Maybe one day :)
Overall, I think everyone at uni and around here is slowly preparing for Christmas. It actually snowed here already, not as heavy though as I thought it would, or as much as in other cities in Germany. But I do hope, I'll get to see some snow at Christmas Eve again.
Thanks for reading my post, MR x
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