Very slowly becoming German

Week 2 has been better since I have more of a routine, I know more people and i've ventured around Rostock -  though my German is still very basic!


Wednesday (Mittwoch) 1st Feb - I went to German lessons again which was pretty uneventful and slightly boring since I learnt about objects which are not very useful in conversation like.. bike (fahrred), picture (bild), curtain (vorhang).

In the evening I went with my host father to my first Rotary meeting in Warnemunde, which right on the Baltic sea. We got there a little early and he showed me the beach THAT HAD SNOW ON IT!! Only in Germany would it snow in a place which is meant to be hot and not frozen. The meeting started at 6pm and went on until about 7.30pm, longest hour and half of my life! I gave a little introduction, with only 2 sentences of German and the rest in English,  in front of the room full of about 30 Rotarians and presented them with my Australia Rotary banner.

 After the meeting my father and Roy's father had to stay back for another important meeting so we walked around Warnemunde to pass time and then waited in the hotel, they took forever! Roy told me all about Euro tour which made me very very excited for my travels :)


Thursday (Donnerstag) 2 Feb - Today I offically became a German citizen! I went to the immigration office in Rostock and they allowed me to live here :) haha. In about 2 weeks i'll have my German ID, it's legitimate now! The realisation of one year hit me today.. I thought about 2012 and how fun it'll be and then realised i'll be back in Aus in 2013 that seems so far away.


Friday (Freitag) 3 Feb - It snowed again today!! I woke up and found 15cm of snow (schnee) everywhere!!! Pretty fun, I could even make a snowman on my balcony.. so much snow, even the bird's house was covered!

Saturday (Samstag) 4 Feb - Today Roy and I ventured around Rostock shopping and having a blast. We pretty much walked into very shop in the main street and I bought about 3 bags full of goodies including my German loves (sexy German boot heels) and our "surprise pack" - like a lucky dip bag - from a tween jewelry shop. 

After about 3 hours of intense walking and shopping we headed to Roy's in Warnemunde by tram, train and bus. We had pizza with Roy's host brother, Luca, and talked about his exchange to Australia when he was 16, he's now 20. I found out that Luca's family is my next host family, which is very exciting as they seem lovely! After dinner Roy and I were left to run wild, we turned German music full blast, opened our "surprise bag" which contained tacky tattoos, nail polish, a beanie, hair clips, lip gloss and a multicoloured pen - pretty fun?, and we shared somme vodka oranges. At about 10pm we left to go out for my first German clubbing experience at Stubnitz, a club on a boat in Rostock harbour.

After a small trek, and a few near stacks on the frozen ground, we made it to Stubnitz. It smelled disgusting!! a mix of cigarettes, sweat and pot.. yuck. Though the venue was so cool, it was an old ship with 2 dance floor areas and a bar. It wasn't as crowded as I'd hoped and it was lacking an amazing atmosphere but the Stubnitz was fun ripping up the dance floor with Roy, and I met a new friend Johann, a German guy who's English is almost as good as mine. We instantly became friends and we have planned to go out again soon to a better German club.

Around 2am we decided to start the trek home since no trains we functioning and it would take forever to get to Roy's especially in the cold. Our broken English didn't really assist our travels home as rude German bus drivers didn't help us.. so we walked in the almost -20 degree weather  (so a German cripple told us, we didn't believe him until walking more than 3kms) to a bus stop outside Rostock station. After an agonizingly cold bus trip we were walking again. By 4.30am we made it safely to Roy's and checked if we had frost bite before falling into a deep sleep.

Sunday (Sonntag) 5 Feb - At around 11am we were alive again, having a nice breakfast and then heading home to Roggentin - I just missed the train so I had to wait an hour.. yay for German trains and waiting in -20 degree weather. Once at home I was exhausted yet I had to be happy and cheerful as at 3pm the family came over and we had a warm lunch together, soup and pudding. In the early evening I decided to spare myself and let the family continue talking to each other without translating in English and headed to my room where I practically died  and fell asleep reading my kindle.


Monday (Montag) 6 Feb - My last week of German lesson, horray! Only 4 more days :) once at home I had heaps of motivation to learn and advance in my German, so I made a little wall full of German words on my wall - pretty intense. In the evening I had pasta with my host dad and watched my first Bundesliga game here :)