It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It’s been a few weeks of crazy here, hence my now too familiar silence! I’ve been working and playing hard in equal measure.

My group presentation was a bit stressful to organise. There was a bit of confusion about where exactly we should be meeting. In hindsight, agreeing to meet at ‘Uni-Café’ was a bad idea, as some people ended up going to the café actually called ‘Uni-Café’ and the others went to the café in the uni. Definitely a face palm moment. We only managed to all meet up together the day before the presentation, but it seemed to work out ok. I was happy enough with how the presentation went, though it’s hard to tell when it’s in another language!

There was then a week of way too much work and not feeling too well, though thankfully I’ve pretty much recovered apart from my usual shoulder problems. I’m off to see a doctor later today about that, which should test the limits of my German!

Since my presentation I’ve also met a lot of new people, which of course means lots of adventures to new places. Freiburg is an amazing place to live, if purely for the reason that it’s close to so many other places. This week I have been to Europa Park, Strasbourg and Stuttgart. Not bad huh?

Europa Park was awesome. Although I was a little disappointed that some of the rides were closed I have no regrets about going during the winter season. Sure it was freezing, but the atmosphere was indescribably perfect with all the beautifully extravagant Christmas decorations, and best of all, there were no queues! I think the longest we waited to get on a ride was 10 minutes. We went round the whole park, and still had time to go on Blue Fire 4 times. We could probably have gone at least twice more but decided it was time for a Glühwein (mulled wine) instead.

On Saturday I had choir practise all afternoon, as we have a concert next week. The guys made us lunch during the break and after we all headed to the Christmas market in Strasbourg, which is the oldest in France I believe. It is clearly a very popular one to visit. It took us a very chaotic hour to find a parking space, during which we attempted to follow the French rules of driving – i.e. no rules, which involved crossing many a tram track without warning of whether or not there was a tram coming, circling the same square at least 6 times, and losing someone who jumped out of the car and almost got into a fight with some French people. At least the market was nice. Though I think we spent more time looking at one big Christmas tree, while waiting for the others, than we did actually looking at the market. Compared to the German markets there was also a significant lack of food stalls, which to be honest, is the main reason I like to go there! The company is what really made it a fun experience. On our way back to the cars, we wanted to go to an Irish bar to warm up. The Germans joked that I should instinctually know where to find one. I did : P

Well….truthfully I just remembered from the last time I was there, on the European Studies trip last Easter. But they didn’t need to know that!

 I think I will try and get involved in more groups after Christmas, because it really does help to make you feel more at home and to meet more German people. It is all too easy here to just befriend other international students and speak English all the time, which is a shame, as there are few better opportunities to improve your language skills.

Yesterday, myself and 8 others went to Stuttgart for the Christmas markets. We started with the traditional German market in the city centre, and somehow managed to spend 3 hours there. We came across many curious sights such as the Schwäbisch singing moose head, creepy puppets, and what can only be described as fruit condoms. We ended up hiding out in a Finnish tepee, drinking Gloggi beside a campfire. Afterwards we hopped on the S-Bahn to Esslingen, which is an older part of Stuttgart, for the medieval Christmas market. This is definitely my favourite one. When I lived in Stuttgart I think I went there at least 4 times. Evening is the best time to go as the combination of flaming torches and people dressed in costume, lends to the illusion of having stepped back in time. After purchasing some ye olde style falafel, and potion-like bottles of absinth, we made a quick stop off for some Christmassy flavoured hot chocolate on the way back to the train.

This week I’m going to the double-feature premier of the Hobbit J Though I only realised after my flatmate booked the tickets that it will be the German version, so it will be interesting to see how much I understand. Good thing I’ve read the book! On Friday there’s talk of possibly going skiing. Then on Saturday it’s the concert in the afternoon and a huge birthday party in my flat in the evening. Looks like I’m in for another exciting week!