I’m writing this rather guiltily, having noticed I’ve only managed to do 4 blogs in 12 weeks. I’ve really enjoyed my summer Semester in Tuebingen and will just tell you about some of the highlights:
Modern art on the Österberg
A friend of mine decided it would be a good idea for a load of us to climb Tuebingen’s massive hill and make giant shapes with our bodies. In principle it sounded random, on the facebook group it looked possible (30 people said they’d come), and in reality it was just about do-able, despite only Fifteen of us turning up. After climb halfway up we set to work. The situation quickly descended into chaos as everyone loudly began trying to move people into positions they considered would most look good from 5 miles away. I wisely decided to obey and sit meekly in the sunshine, laughing at the confusion. It was a brilliant afternoon of wine-fuelled hyperactivity; shrieking at the poo we ended up sitting in, running from various insects, and rolling down the hill, followed by a trip to the pub. The afternoon was so much fun that it felt surreal, and I remember at one point thinking it was too good to be true. Inevitably reality kicked in…
5 hours later, merrily sipping my takeaway Pina-colada (God bless Germany), I stumbled back to my accommodation. I arrived at the giant gate and began fumbling around for my key. Perplexed, I carefully placed my drink on the ground and began a more thorough root around my bag. Panicking, I emptied it onto the pavement and knelt around my belongings, searching through them. I had done it again. I had lost my key. AGAIN. I was in a dark alleyway, desperate for the toilet, at two in the morning with nowhere to sleep for the night.
To be more exact, I was in a dark alleyway, desperate for the toilet, at two in the morning, too drunk to remember about my friend who lives just around the corner. After panicking for about half an hour, dancing around to stay warm and not to wee myself, I remembered this fact and banged on Sarah’s door until she let me in. All ended up not being lost-I’d left my key in the toilet on my corridor- but it was a pretty scary feeling to be on my own in the dark in a foreign country. Even though Tuebingen is a very safe, small town, just because Germany is a “foreign” place everything seemed a lot worse. That’s one piece of advice I can give to people wanting to go on an exchange year; be aware that during your time abroad everything becomes exaggerated, the good times are brilliant, but being away from home makes the bad times worse too.
European Championship
I am a rugby person, having grown up with two brothers playing the sport and therefore also countless crushes on their teammates. Football has always seemed a bit dead as a game in comparison. Despite this, I couldn’t help getting caught up in the football fever that descended on Germany last month, and ended up watching all the games. A deciding factor MAY have been that I wanted to show off my new Germany T-shirt J but nevertheless I cheered as loudly as anyone else, I have to admit it was a lot of fun.
I thought I’d get beaten up by football hooligans if I watched the games in big crowds. In fact, the opposite was true. I met a lot of great people, and the atmosphere was always friendly. All German fans that I spoke to were critical of their own team when they played badly, for instance, something English people who are really into football never seem to be able to do (come on, the referee isn’t ALWAYS a ******). After each game everyone came out onto the streets cheering and singing football songs, meeting at the Nekar Bridge which always got jam-packed with people dancing around to drummers and waving Germany flags around. The bus company didn’t even try to drive though- they just always cancelled busses on days that Germany was playing! Throughout all of this I didn’t see a single fight or person who was dangerously drunk. It was just an amazing carnival atmosphere, and even people wearing the colours of the other teams that played were welcome. It really was an amazing time and I am so glad to have been in Germany during the competition.
