Christmas Time in Heidelberg

Hello loyal readers!

So the Christmas season has officially hit Heidelberg! The Christmas markets are abundant, the Gluhwein is flowing and even some snow has graced us with its presence! This is definitely the best time to visit Germany (despite the cold!).

So now I will catch you up on some of my activities since I last posted.  Well last weekend I went up "Philosophen Weg" with the beautiful Miss Sophie Baker. This is the mountain which overlooks Heidelberg and apparently back in the olden days, this is where intellectuals went to gain some inspiration. Despite a few lovely few hours walk with great company, I came to no life changing epiphanies except that my legs would really hurt the next day. We got some great pictures of Heidelberg and towards the top we came across an old Nazi amphitheatre where they apparantly "didn't" hold any rallies. My judgement on that is still out but it still was very impressive. What was more impressive was a couple working out by running up and down the stairs repeatedly.....whilst Sophie and I stuffed our faces with some bakery goods. :)

Last week, I also went up to Frankfurt to visit my old Dad, who was there on a HP conference. I booked a coach to go up to Frankfurt and back on the Tuesday night. When I arrived at the coach, the driver said in German "You must be picking someone up if you're coming back tonight?" "No, I am visiting my father who is there for work..... and because I'm a student, I cannot resist a free hot meal!" I was then treated to a lovely meal with Big Dave, complete with amazing dessert.

Now on to the Christmas markets. Christmas or "Weihnachten" is a huge deal in Germany. They go all out, no expenses spared. If you have the chance to come Germany over this time, you have to get some Gluhwein. It is similar to mulled wine back home but a lot tastier.....and more alcoholic. I've been trying to avoid the Christmas market for a while because it is near impossible to not end up spending ridiculous amounts of money on all the good food, drink and possible Christmas presents.




At Univeristaetsplatz, one of the main squares in Heidelberg, there is a Christmas shop which is open all year round...and it is incredible. Its like Santa's Grotto on steroids. I have never seen so many Christmas decorations in my whole life but they quite expensive and incredibly fragile. However when you enter this maze of baubles and 50 euro tinsle, you get this weird feeling. I'm not talking about Christmas joy or anything like that, I'm talking about fear. Let me explain. Remember when you were a kid and you and your family went to a family friends/ family members house who obviously didn't have kids? All the cool things you just want to touch and look at, but you've been warned by your mum "not to touch anything or you'll break it"...... thats exactly how I felt in this shop. Incredibly aware of the lonely 5 euro note in my wallet which wouldn't even cover a ceramic sheep on the 300 euro Nativity set. Terrifying.  However if you do get a chance, it is a must-do in Heidelberg. Even if you feel like a bull in a china shop.

The last thing to mention is the snow. Snow is definitely my favourite weather. To the point where I got so excited on Saturday night, I went for a walk at 4am just to walk in the snow. One thing I have noticed though is how the Germans are so efficient when it comes to snow. It snowed about 1-2cm on Saturday night and by the time I had finished my lovely winter stroll about 4.45am, there were already trucks on the road de-icing. The Germans definitely live up to their efficient reputation here. If the UK had had this much snow, all the schools would have been cancelled, cars abandoned in the roads, supermarkets ransacked and people preparing for the Armageddon.







Well thats all I can think of so far. Enjoy the pictures!






Andy C

 

More Heidelberg Fun Facts

Hello everyone!


After my rather soppy post I felt I should once again go back to my roots and talk about some things that I have noticed whilst living in Germany. I have been here for over two months now and I still can't figure this place out:

1) As I expressed previously, Germans love some meat. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack. elevensies; you name a meal and I'm sure there is a meat involved. However, what I have noticed is that meat that can be purchased really cheaply like chicken or beef mince is incredibly expensive here. I'm talking nearly 9 euros for two small chicken breasts. However things like salami and huge sausages are a dime a dozen. Maybe Germans only prefer phallic shaped meats? I'm sure Freud would have a few things to say about that......

2) Germans all carry plastic bags around with them everywhere. Just in case.  Germany is at the forefront of European recycling and my housemate even said that being eco-friendly makes people a lot cooler here. I think it is admirable but some people take it a bit far. Take for example last week when I had a bit of a cold. I was waiting at the bus stop and by getting my phone out, I dropped a tissue on the floor without noticing. I was then pounced on by a very stern Miss Trunchball-esque woman who started berating me about littering. When I explained it was an accident and put the tissue in the bin, she replied " Es ist niemal ein Zufall". Which translates to "It is never an accident." Terrifying to say the least.

3) "Clubbing" in Germany is bizarre. I have deduced that young british people have a stereotype of being "easy" and "overtly sexual" across Europe and when you look at the likes of Ibiza, the Greek islands and so on, its not suprising. Back home you can't escape the myriad of tonsil tennis when clubbing, but in Germany it is the exact opposite. Public displays of affection seem to not exist. Maybe it is due to a conservative upbringing or maybe us Brits really are just too promiscuous but German clubbing (in Heidelberg anyway) is very PG-13. Very family friendly.

4) Having been here two months I still can't figure out what sort of town Heidelberg is. Is it a university town? a place where people retire? A tourist trap? Well from the varied range of people here, I still can't tell. There are lots of students, old people, young couples with families, homeless people, street performers and even a few select celebrities. Well I'm not implying that Brangelina have moved down the road but a few home grown treasures. Such as the infamous "Clapping Man" who without fail, goes down the main high street every day and goes in to every shop and restaurant. He doesn't say a word but merely stands there and claps. He continues to do this until someone else claps and then proceeds to the next establishment. Legend. Another favourite Heidelberg resident of mine is the woman who carries a giant sunflower everywhere whilst wearing the same huge bottle green trenchcoat and a polka-dotted bike helmet. This ensemble may not be on the catwalk in the near future, but she receives a thumbs up for consistency. One point though: she's never been seen with a bike. She may be called crazy but wasn't every visionary and true genius called crazy at some point? :) I'm expecting this particular look to make the history books one day.

Right thats all I can think of right now so Auf Wiedersehen for now.

Andy C

Birthday Celebrations.

Hello everyone! Once again sorry for the sporadic nature of these posts. I've been without a laptop for a few weeks so now that I have one again its time to start divulging the events of my amazingly exciting life.... well maybe not that gripping but you are reading this so maybe.....

Anyway, as many of you will know I celebrated my 21st birthday in good old Heidelberg and althought I was expecting a good night out, I was not prepared for the amount of suprises I had! I will also take this opportunity to thank so many people for really making this one of my best birthdays even though I am away from my loved ones!

So before my birthday began I had some nice Nottingham visitors who travelled from all across Germany to visit Heidelberg and celebrate me becoming an "official adult". So a big shout out to Matt York, Alex Marchbank, Hannah Garside and Katie"KCM" Maloney. I hope you all enjoyed Heidelberg and from the disgusting hangovers we suffered, I'm sure you all had a good night as well.

Then to all the Heidelbergers who came out for my birthday! It was an incredible night out and having been plied with drinks all night even a double tequila shot which was about half a pint (thanks for that Tara!) I throughly enjoyed my night and was in great company!

My next thanks has to be all the people who sent me birthday cards and presents in the post. Due to the slow nature of the German postal system, I managed to prolong my birthday for a good week by still receiving cards, birthday skype sessions and a special care packages from Miss Grace "Crazy Cat Lady" Storr, Christiana "Stavdog" Stavrou and Sophia "Booby" Beeby.  And of course a birthday couldn't go a miss without a special Birthday audio message from Mr Munnery. It really meant a lot to get all of this from people and im sure we will celebrate truly when I return for Xmas!

NOW for the biggest suprise of them all. On the weekend, Mumsy and Papa were planning to visit me in Heidelberg for the weekend which I was incredibly excited for. As I round the corner to the bus stop where they were dropped off, I get my biggest suprise: My whole family had come to suprise me! Mum, Dad, Dan, Sinead, Mike, Lucy, Auntie Mo and even Granny "G's" Mary! This then led to a lovely night out with the family, showing the highlights of Heidelberg, a great meal where we tried out the local cuisine ( my brave future sister-in-law had something called "wild boar". Germans = OBSESSED WITH MEAT), and exposing to Heidelberg's legendary Unterstrasse. Although only here for one day, I was incredibly thankful and had the best birthday weekend I could ask for!


Sorry for the slightly soppy post but it had to be done! Next post will have to be about Halloween or the lack of it in Heidelberg!

Andy C

OKTOBERFEST

Hello everyone!

Once again apologies for the lateness and sporadic nature of my posts but have been enjoying my last week of freedom before lectures begin! It has been pointed out to me that a lot of my blogs seem to be about the bars I am going to and how intoxicated I was. Well this isn't any different :).

Anyway: Oktoberfest.

I can't truly describe how amazing an experience it was. There really is nothing like it and I'd recommend it to everyone. Although a bit on the expensive side, it was completely worth it. We went on the last Saturday of Oktoberfest hoping that it wouldn't be too busy. Oh how we were mistaken. It was a nice sunny day and it seemed the whole of Germany and its friend turned up to Oktoberfest that day. I mean hundreds of thousands of people. Easy. There were around 20 big beer tents which could fit about 10,000 people in each one. Plus all the rides and stalls and food vendors. Mixing German's love of food and beer. Hence thousands of people.

We arrived at around 1pm on the Saturday and decided to just start queueing for a beer tent as soon as we could. As Brits, we were expecting nice orderly queues with barriers and meeting friendly strangers whilst moaning about how our feet hurt. Thats what we do. But oh no. There was not an  ounce of order or decorum. Very unbritish I must say. It was a crazy free-for-all, pack in like sardines until you can't tell if its your friend accidently touching your bum, or the creepy Brazilian man behind you.

However after over 3 hours of painful cattle herding, we finally managed to get to have a table and order some beers. After that waiting, we were all gagging for a drink and the Stein really hit the spot.( A Stein is the big two pint or a litre beer glass. By that point I didn't care how much was in it, as long as it was beer. ) After inhaling our first drinks, we decided to take it a bit slower. Well slower probably isnt the right word. Less rapid is proabably more appriopriate. The next few hours consisted of drinking, singing and general merriment. And of course an Oktoberfest isn't complete without a plate of Wurst. These things are huge. They make even the biggest Adonis feel emasculated.

After several hazy hours and copious amounts of beer, we decided to have a look around and go on some fair rides. Even now, I can't see how that is a good decision but at the time it made perfect sense. Huge amounts of beer and strong G-forces. What could go wrong?

Luckily Miss Sophie Baker took on the role of "Oktoberfest Mum" and advised us that maybe the Ferris Wheel was more suitable to our levels of intoxication. So after this we traipsed back to our hostel and agreed to get up extra early to make sure we got in to a beer tent the next morning.

Well. All I can say is I felt like death warmed up. And probably looked worse. However, we managed to get to a beer tent and spent the rest of the day curing our hangovers with some Bavarian folk music and of course; more beer.

It was an incredible weekend with great people and if you have the chance to go, do. It is the sort of thing that you don't know what you are missing out on until you go. And now I'm already considering missing a week of lectures next year to go to Munich again!

(Disclaimer - If you are from Nottingham Univerisity, please ignore that last sentence. I will be missing that week of lectures due to a prior family commitment. Education rocks. Beer is rubbish.)

Right now here are some pictures. Hit me up with some comments and I hope you enjoy.

Andy C

Heidelberger Herbst

Hello everyone!

I thought it was time to write another blog since so much has happened! I've now finished my course and luckily I passed so thats 8 credits in the bag already! Yesterday on the last saturday of September, there was a festival called "Heidelberger Herbst" or Heidelberg Autumn in English. We were told by our teacher that it was a big flea market down the high street and that it can sometimes get busy.

Well we were in for a shock. It was HUGE. Hundreds of stalls with food and drink and to be honest, a lot of touristy rubbish but it was still amazing. Really great atmosphere but this may have been due to the fact that people were drinking from 10am onwards. Besides all the touristy crap, there were some rather odd trinkets one could purchase. For example, the picture below. Yes, they are penis shaped bottle openers. In various sizes. If your birthday is coming up soon, watch out! One might be coming your way soon (no crudeness intended!).

The night however was even crazier. Throughout the day there had been music and dance acts, mostly children acts who you smiled politely at whilst they tried their hardest to murder some Beatles classics. The night was a whole other deal. There were thousands of people all around the Altstadt going to the various squares to see loads of different acts. It had a real Glastonbury feel to it with the disgusting portaloos and the dancing crowds. Beer was flowing and everyone was loving it. There was even an ice cream shop that had opened its doors to a DJ and created a huge party on the high street. Whilst still selling icecream. Genius.

We saw one band called "The Wright Stuff" who were unbelievable. I'd definitely recommend them. Great vocalists, very talented musicians and up for a laugh. The band who followed them however were definitely on the strange side to say the least. I cant remember their name at all but they were two men, identical twins, who I can only describe as what I'd expect One Direction to look like in 20 years. Still the same crazy hair but time has taken its toll. This is not the most disturbing thing though. They seemed very close. Now I mean really close. Even for twin brothers. They decided to share a microphone and kept staring in to each others eyes for way too long. Hence we christened them: "Twincest" .

Well if anyone gets the chance, I'd recommend coming to Heidelberger Herbst. All the music and bands are free, the drink is relatively cheap, the food is delicious and its a great warm up for Oktoberfest. Oh didn't I mention that? I'm going to Oktoberfest next weekend during my two weeks off from lectures. I hope everyone has a nice week at work/ uni and works hard! :) Sorry about that I just had to rub it in! Will update next week when I'm hungover in bed!

Over and out

Andy C

p.s and yes I'm going to try and get some lederhosen. Here are just a few pictures.  

Best 90s night. EVER.

Hello!

Last night the Erasmus students hit up one of the big "clubs" in Heidelberg which was offering a 90's night. Whilst we all had low expectations, we all had predrinks and made our way over there. What we did not expect was how AWESOME it truly was. One of the best nights in Germany yet. The music was just tune after tune after tune. I'm talking about all the classics like Blink 182, Aqua, The Spice Girls, Vengaboys, Green Day, Macarena, the list goes on and on. If any of you know me personally, then you know that I was in my element. :)

I did make a funny observation about Germans and clubbing last night. In the UK, if you don't have any money for drinks but still want to get drunk, you normally go minesweeping (Munners) where you in effect steal unattended drinks and drink them yourselves, preferably without the person noticing. However in Germany, because they are big time recycling eager beavers, for every bottle or glass you return to the bar, you get 1 Euro. So if you are in Halle02, the club we were at last night and you have no money, just find any empty bottle and run to the bar, your night is already paid for!

I must now apologise for not mentioning my beautiful co-star Abigail "Mannheim" Packer who has been my solid rock since being here. Also I did steal my awesome German joke from her so all credit must be given where it is due!

Much love

Andy C

Heidelberg 1.0

Hello readers!

I've been in Heidelberg for over a week now so I feel I should actually start blogging again! Especially since some friends back home were afraid I was going to be eaten by cannabalistic Germans. Anyway, :

Heidelberg is such an amazing place. It's right beside the river and the Altstadt (Old City) is full of cobbled stones and old buildings. Although this may not appeal to most students don't fret. There are tons of bars and pubs with incredibly cheap alcohol and probably some of the best beer I've tasted in my life. Heaven.

So a few observations I've made so far about Germany since I've moved here:

1)  It doesnt matter how many times you ask for it whether in German or English, you will always get Sparkling water instead of still water. And apparently drinking tap water is taboo. Even though I'm not exactly filling my water bottle out of the toilet, its still better not to mention drinking tap water. Otherwise cue the disgusted looks.

2) Drinking alcohol on public transport whatever time of day is completely acceptable. Cracking open beers on the bus was a bit daunting for my Croydon upbringing, normally used to just downing it before getting in to any mode of transport so this was a novelty to me. Also having a  60 year old woman downing what I can only assume was straight whisky at 11am was a bit of an eye opener but no one batted an eyelid. Whereas my tap water confession made me a pariah on the 31 bus.

3) Everyone here rides bikes. I mean everyone. And no there isnt a specific cycle lane or cycle free zones, they just go anywhere and everywhere and if youre walking in the way, well to them, you are just collateral damage. Or Roadkill.

4) Germans aren't as efficient as we make them out to be. Yes you could practically set your clock by the public transport but in reality, even though bureaucracy and paperwork are their "Gott in Himmel", I've had to struggle to get most things organised here. Getting a phone was hectic. Opening a bank account was worse and even 10 days in, I'm still waiting to here back from my "Hausmeister", the Cavendish Warden to you from Notts Uni for my apartment block. He says "I'll be round in an hour". 4 hours later he says that he will arrange another appointment with me....and I'm still waiting.

5) Although my friends may have joked about how I'll fit in great because I look slightly Aryan, I was not prepared for how many people, Germans and Brits alike mistake me for a German. Not that I have anything against Germans or looking like one but the fact that I look German and my German skills are a bit rusty gives off the impression that I am German, but just a moron.

6) Being drunk does improve your foreign language skills. Trust me I've had lots of practice this week.

7) If you are a vegetarian, don't even bother living in Germany. They have whole aisles dedicated to meat and some pretty questionable ones at that. Meat is their life.

And whilst on the topic of German meats: German jokes are the Wurst.

I apologise for the standard of that joke but I couldn't resist. Well I hope you enjoy this and I'll keep updating you on whats going on in Deutschland.  Also thanks for people who actually read this! I apparently have a lot of Russian readers who are being routed here from a Russian porn site. Sorry lads.

Andy C

Brazil Visas?

Hello everyone! Another pretty self explanatory title. I'm going away to study in Brazil in about 6 months and I dont know whether I need a visa or not! My uni is being very uncooperative and I'm not finding anything useful on the internet. I'm going to the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte for their first semester so also if anyone knows any definite dates for that, I would be very grateful if you left a comment!

Whilst the Year Abroad Office has been incredibly helpful before, in this instance I'm getting nothing from the SPLAS department! (Thats Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies for all you non-linguists! Yer quite a mouthful :P) Emailed again and again and had no response so hopefully there is someone out there who can fill me in and hopefully I can sort it out before I head off to Germany in 2 weeks! Scary stuff!

Well if you are out there, Helpful Brazilian Studing Person, I would love for you to get in contact.

Laters

Andy C

xx

So those jabs hurt....

The title is pretty self explanatory. If you are going to South America and need to get your jabs done be warned: they hurt like a bitch.

Don't get me wrong when you actually get the jabs, doesn't really hurt that much, barely a scratch. As long as you don't look, they're not too bad at all. However, getting 4 jabs across 2 arms.........the next day kills. Muscles felt absolutely destroyed the next day! Not ideal for a single man :P I kid, I kid. But seriously.....not good. haha oh well at least I'll be safe from all those diseases when I go to Brazil. Except if I get rabies.....or malaria. So pretty much I'll be avoiding animals like the plague....so that I don't catch it!

Not a very interesting entry I know, but filling the void until I can actually do exciting things on my Year Abroad. Watch this space!

Andy C

Jabs for Brazil.......painful or not?

Anyone had jabs for going to Brazil? I'm getting a whole array of nasty diseases jabbed in to me today. Not sure how everyone else feels about them but I don't like the thought of bits of Tetanus, Typhoid, Hepatitus A and some casual Yellow Fever going around my body! If I have some adverse reaction and end up with wings or something, I'm not going to be a happy bunny.

Well I'll let you know how it goes!

Andy C

xx

3 weeks to go.....so unprepared.

Hello everyone out there!

My name is Andy and this is my first blog. I'm a langauges student at Nottingham Uni (representing UoN on my travels), studying German, Spanish and Portuguese and in 3 weeks today I'll be jetting off to Germany to start my year abroad.......and I'm bricking it. I'm going to Heidelberg University for 6 months, then to Universidade Federal de Mina Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil for a semester followed by a summer working in Spain (although nothing planned yet so if anyone has a job out there for me let me know!)

Now that I've stopped my summer job, I now have the time to relax, go out with my friends and really think about going to Germany......shit. I have done no German all summer, got nothing packed, not chosen my modules....it's all going a bit tits up haha. Well maybe not that bad but still I am not prepared at all to live in another country...at all. 

Anyway this is just an intro blog so will let you all know how it's going and hopefully you'll find it interesting.  Hit me up with some comments if you like.

Thanks

Andy

(p.s if anyone goes or is going to Heidelberg Uni please explain how their modules system works? Geniuinely want to know if I can study English History as well as Star Trek Studies......and no that last one isn't a joke!)