Christmas Markets and plenty of visitors

Hello everyone!

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

What I like about Germany the most

Gute Nacht!

A few weeks ago, I have wrote a post about missing England, and what really gets on my nerves about living here. Although I could go on and on about the stuff that really annoy me, this week, after being here for a while now, I wanted to tell you all about the exciting and good stuff, and why I genuinely like living here. Hopefully this post will make you want to move to another country, or move to Potsdam if you're planning to do a year abroad placement. :)

So after having a really good weekend, while Lee's parents and his sister were over here, exploring pretty much everything that you could possibly think of in Berlin, and actually driving to Poland again on Sunday, (only for 1 day though), my Monday seminar could not start any worse than it has. I don't particularly like this seminar, or this module in general, as it's all about German and lexical structures, that I have never seen in my life before. It's not really something that interests me, but seen as it was already too late to change my modules, and after going through this experience of changing my timetable so much, I didn't really want any more hassle, and I just left it. Maybe it wasn't the brightest idea, but anyway, I thought I'm just going to do it. It's only 1 module out of 6 that I have to put up with. On Tuesdays we have a lecture for it, and Mondays are the seminar lessons. Half way through the seminar, the teacher was going on about these grammatical structures, so I was trying to pay attention. Still didn't get anywhere, but as he was explaining something and the whole class was quiet, my biggest fear has actually became a reality. Someone has asked me a question in GERMAN! and I could just feel my heart beating so fast. I had no idea what this guy was saying to me, so like an idiot I thought it would be a good idea to just smile and sit there. You can imagine what this guy is thinking- is she okay?? But anyway, he asked me the same question again, even though I was hoping he would just not say anything else after. In my seminars, I do try to talk to some people but when
I have no idea what on earth is going on, the best solution for me is just to stay quiet, and hope that soon I will be able to pick it up. After he's repeated himself, I just mumbled something in English then said 'i don't know- in German' instead of just saying like a normal person, sorry I don't understand you, I'm not from around here. But the pressure was just so high. I wanted to understand him so badly, and say it perfectly, that it all just got a bit too much. I could feel my face going red. I don't really get shy as much as I use to when I was younger, but that was one of these moments, where I literally just wanted to be gone far from that place, and we still had another hour to go. I could feel this guy staring at me throughout the whole lesson. I bet he was thinking what on earth is wrong with that girl #awkward. But I don't know what it is about me sometimes. I just wish I could speak fluently in German, so I never have to go through these situations again. Below there is a picture of some of my notes, from this seminar. I have never done anything like that in my whole life, so it is a bit confusing at the minute.

The next  few days at uni, actually turned out to be better than the seminar on Monday. Tuesdays are always busy, as I start my first lecture at 10 am and finish my last one at 18pm. It's a very busy day, but I like to be busy and have something to do. Even if I don't understand half of the stuff that are said to me, it's nice to get out the house and actually do something.I feel like all of these lectures are definitely going to help me improve my language. However, I do actually miss having work and deadlines that I'm going to be graded for. I never thought I would say this, and I don't think none of you will, until you move to another country and there is no real pressure that if you fail this one thing, you might not be able to get onto another stage. Weird to say it or even think about it, but I think the stress of failing, makes me so motivated to actually get things done. And for the first time ever, I don't feel like I have any stress at uni. Other than the language barrier. Which is why, I have started making lots of detailed notes, from all of my lectures. I know what you're all thinking 'girl you're in another country, you should go out and enjoy yourself' but I've always liked education, and learning something new. It makes me feel like I'm doing something, so I'm trying my best to do well in everything. And hopefully end this year, with a decent grade :)

Wednesday morning, after my Politics lecture, I went to my favourite lesson with Herr Poesl, and like always I've had a great time learning some new Deutsch. In this lesson, for the first time I felt like I finally found myself, and this place is my new home. At first we had to talk in pairs about what we did in school & after, what we think of Potsdam so far, and what we found most problematic & enjoying about this experience. I sat next to this lovely guy from China, and after having a short conversation with him, he turns around and says 'omg how long have you been doing German, you're so good' After hearing this, I was so happy. He genuinely made my day. It's such a nice feeling, when someone can actually see how hard you've been working, and can see some improvements. Up until this moment I thought my German was still the same, as 2 months ago or even 6 months ago, but in that moment, I knew that I could do this! And that I'm getting better at it! Sorry. I don't want to sound a bit stuck up, but I'm genuinely so happy in moments like that, I can't keep the excitement to myself lol :D And if you are thinking about doing a year abroad, I'm telling you now, your language will improve! And you're going to be great! Moments like that make me so thankful, that I've actually decided to do a year abroad placement.

Anyway, I've gone off the topic a little bit, but now I want to let you all know about some of the things that I actually really like here in Germany. Maybe this will actually encourage some of you to come here :)

First thing, is definitely the transport system. It is so good here in Potsdam. Not only there's trains, but also buses and trams. Some also use taxis, but they're not as popular as in Nottingham. They all come very often and there's actually quite a lot of them that go to all sorts of different areas. It's not like in Nottingham, where you have to get the bus to town, get off and get on another bus if you're trying to get to another area. It does take a bit longer if you're trying to for example get from Golm or Park Sansoucci to the Hauptbahnhof, on the bus- as it't the last stop, but there is always more alternatives. The trains are really quick as well. So I definitely think you would all be impressed, if you move/ come to Potsdam. What I like the most, is the fact that I live in Golm, which is in the west of Potsdam, and on Tuesday/Wednesday I have lessons in the Griebnitzsee Campus, which is on the other side of Potsdam, and there is a train that actually comes to Golm and goes straight to Griebnitzsee, which means I don't have to get off at the main station. It is soo good!! I normally leave my house at half 9, even though my lessons starts at 10, as it actually goes really quickly as well. It saves me a lot of time, and the hassle of leaving the house earlier. If there was only buses here, I would probably have to leave like 2 hours earlier. So it's definitely nice to have an extra half an hour or so in bed :)

Another thing, which I find very impressing is how the lectures/seminars always start at quarter past, and finish quarter to, even though my timetable says I'm suppose to be there for 2 hours. It's nice to finish a bit earlier, as I do think it's better to have shorter lessons, as long as they happen more often. The only lesson which I do find a bit tiring towards the end, is the Wednesday Grundkurs, as I have to be in the same room for nearly 4 hours, and to be honest with you all I don't think I have ever met anyone that can sit in one desk for so long and concentrate & understand everything that is being said to them, in such a long amount of time. So it's nice to know that I only have to be in the room for an hour and a half, as I do feel like I'm learning something, and it also gives me plenty of time to get from one campus to the other, when I have lessons that are next to each other.

In terms of German parties/the student night outs at Nil (the student bar- you have to go and see it)one thing that really shocked me was the dress code. In England, most girls that I know- not all of them, but a lot of them like to dress up when they go out, wear heels and lots of make up, which I think is nice sometimes, it makes you feel like you're wearing something different and you're more excited for the occasion. However, here in Germany most people just wear jeans, to the student nights out. I thought it was so strange at first, but I like not making too much effort to be honest. I feel like if I did wear a dress, or anything that I would in England, people would probably laugh at me. I suppose it is cold though for dresses. But anyway, I think it's nice, that I don't feel the pressure of impressing others of what I need to wear and how I should look. Just to be clear, I don't know what it's like in Berlin. I haven't had the chance to go anywhere big over there yet, but I'm just stating what I can see so far from being to a few places here in Potsdam :) and so far, I like it. ;) Below, it's a picture of me and some of the people I've met over here, while we went to Nil for a 'Polish night'

In addition to that, I must say that Germans definitely know how to keep their country clean. Just to let you know in case you haven't heard, when you come to Germany for the first time and you're being charged extra every time you buy a beer or a bottle/can of something. Or if you see some citizens picking up bottles from the street. It is not because someone is trying to rip you off, or because these people are trying to clean up after you. It's just the fact that you pay a bit more, but if/ when you bring the bottles back into the shop, after a few days, you get all of your money back. At first I was a bit annoyed with this system, especially right at the start when we came here, as we had no clue, so every time we bought a drink, we would chuck it in the bin. But now it does actually make a lot of sense, why they do that here. The streets are almost always clean, there is no litter or any empty bottles anywhere, as people are more aware of the fact that they are paying extra for these bottles,so they wouldn't just randomly leave it anywhere. It's so nice to know that you are living in a clean environment. Also, when you go into the shop, and you get like 5 euros off you're shopping. It's a weird, but a nice feeling! The only thing that annoys me is the fact you have to pay extra at pubs/ bars for the glass/bottle but I've already mentioned that in my last post.

Last, but not least, as my teacher would say, the architecture, buildings, lakes, parks and the history of this city are phenomenal. If you're a bit like me and you're interested in History, you will definitely have so much fun here. There is always something out here to go and see. Like for example: on Sunday, we was so bored with Lee, we decided to do some more exploring and found this place in the middle of forest/ not so far from Park Sansoucci Park, called the Nordic Tower. You could see this building has been there for centuries, but it was so exciting to find it in the middle of nowhere. After that we ended at Krongut Bornstedt, which was a former royal estate. There was a lake right next to all the tourists attractions, so we stayed there for a bit, to watch the ducks. It was such a good day! After that we went to see an old cemetery behind the church in the same area, as it is known for having very old graves of former- architects, soldiers, professionals and doctors. You could see that the graves were very, very old. Some of these people in them were born in like 1780 something. It was crazy to see it, but it was still something new. Below there is a few pictures from our trip :)

 The Christmas market season has officially began in Germany last night, and it is such a brilliant atmosphere <3 So far I have only been to the Potsdam one which is a lot smaller than the Berlin ones, and I wasn't there for too long, so in my next post I can hopefully show you more pictures, of how beautiful it looks :) Tomorrow, my dad is coming over to see me, on Sunday my sister with Oli and next week my mum with Paul, so I've got quite a lot of things to look forward to. The aim is to see as many Christmas markets as I can!!!

Thank you for reading my post. MR.x