GERMANY
Shalom y'all.
I'm in Bitburg tonight purely because Neuerburg made a special effort to have absolutely nothing going on. Like, less than usual.
For those of you like Dora who make links between names and places a couple of months after the general public (sorry Dora), Bitburg is indeed the home of Bitburger beer. There's even a big statue with "Bierstadt" on it, just so nobody forgets.
So it turns out that the pesky oral exams that the last-year students are doing at the moment conveniently made today and tomorrow free days. The thing that I find weird is that oral exams here aren't limited to language related subjects. I mean, today was geography, biology and chemistry. What's up with that?
But, this invariably means more free days, so this weekend I'll be hitting up Cologne again to go to what I'm told is a very good club which will soon be shutting down. Pictures should follow.
I also got my first 100 euro note today; they're green. And apparently 100's still count as legal tender, unlike England. This was because I drew out quite a lot of money to do important things like paying the rent. I had that mafia don feeling I sometimes get when I go to see the landlady in her little office and I'm peeling 50 euro notes out of a rolled wad of cash. Good feeling.
I've just realised I worked three hours this week. Three. Last week I worked about five. Eight hours in one fortnight, for which I receive about 400 euros.
Last year, during our pre-departure lectures, lots of the current 4th years, as well as a fair few lecturers and British Council staff were raving to the very specific tune of "Your year abroad will be one of the best of your life so far".
I don't know if I should feel bad about having a feeling of underwhelming guilt. I really believe I've done my best at the 'embrace the culture completely' thing; there's not a lot of choice where I live. But at the same time, I occasionally think about the full scope of what I've done, and will continue to do this year .. and I wonder just what it was exactly they were expecting to make this year qualify as 'best year of life' material, and whether I've missed something along the way.
I can't think of any specific aspects as such, but within the realm of having jack-all responsibility and getting paid for it abroad, they were spot on.
They surely can't have meant that?
Shalom y'all.
I'm in Bitburg tonight purely because Neuerburg made a special effort to have absolutely nothing going on. Like, less than usual.
For those of you like Dora who make links between names and places a couple of months after the general public (sorry Dora), Bitburg is indeed the home of Bitburger beer. There's even a big statue with "Bierstadt" on it, just so nobody forgets.
So it turns out that the pesky oral exams that the last-year students are doing at the moment conveniently made today and tomorrow free days. The thing that I find weird is that oral exams here aren't limited to language related subjects. I mean, today was geography, biology and chemistry. What's up with that?
But, this invariably means more free days, so this weekend I'll be hitting up Cologne again to go to what I'm told is a very good club which will soon be shutting down. Pictures should follow.
I also got my first 100 euro note today; they're green. And apparently 100's still count as legal tender, unlike England. This was because I drew out quite a lot of money to do important things like paying the rent. I had that mafia don feeling I sometimes get when I go to see the landlady in her little office and I'm peeling 50 euro notes out of a rolled wad of cash. Good feeling.
I've just realised I worked three hours this week. Three. Last week I worked about five. Eight hours in one fortnight, for which I receive about 400 euros.
Last year, during our pre-departure lectures, lots of the current 4th years, as well as a fair few lecturers and British Council staff were raving to the very specific tune of "Your year abroad will be one of the best of your life so far".
I don't know if I should feel bad about having a feeling of underwhelming guilt. I really believe I've done my best at the 'embrace the culture completely' thing; there's not a lot of choice where I live. But at the same time, I occasionally think about the full scope of what I've done, and will continue to do this year .. and I wonder just what it was exactly they were expecting to make this year qualify as 'best year of life' material, and whether I've missed something along the way.
I can't think of any specific aspects as such, but within the realm of having jack-all responsibility and getting paid for it abroad, they were spot on.
They surely can't have meant that?
