Fiachra Ó Raghallaigh | Staff Blogger
As I sit down to write this, it is exactly a week since the day I arrived in Germany. At 07:00 in the morning I took an Aerlingus flight from Dublin to Frankfurt-am-Main, landing just after 10AM. An hour later I was on a train from Frankfurt Airport to my final destination: Freiburg im Breisgau.
In retrospect, the journey seems quite uneventful. I followed a series of steps that I had rehearsed several times in my head. However, being relatively new to the notion of travelling halfway across Europe with only two large suitcases for company, the trip was a nervous one. Spending half an hour or more sitting on a platform waiting for a train to arrive, with all that you own in that corner the world right next beside you, hardly elicits feelings of security. Furthermore, second class seats on German trains are often overbooked which means that passengers often have to spend hours or more crammed in the narrow gangways between rail carriages.
The driver, a Sri Lankan gentleman, was utterly delighted to learn that I was Irish. I in turn was substantially less delighted when he took my nationality as a license to spend the full 15 minutes of the journey talking about cricket, a sport which I know absolutely nothing about.
Suffice to say that I was relieved to arrive in Freiburg without losing a single piece of baggage. Too tired to figure out the local tram network, I opted to take a taxi to the accommodation office to pick up my apartment key. The driver, a Sri Lankan gentleman, was utterly delighted to learn that I was Irish. I in turn was substantially less delighted when he took my nationality as a license to spend the full 15 minutes of the journey talking about cricket, a sport which I know absolutely nothing about. All I could do was nod my head and agree. He must have felt like the smartest cricket commentator in the world!
At the accommodation office, all I had to do was sign a few documents and collect my key. Just as I emerged from the room to collect my bags, an Athenian girl who was waiting in the queue offered to help me with my cases. I was only too glad to accept, but that random act of kindness nearly threw me off my feet. Would I have made the same offer if it was the other way around? I don’t know. We exchanged phone numbers and Facebook usernames. Only just arrived and already making friends!
My apartment is on the sixth floor of a building, which seemed vaguely terrifying until I discovered the elevator. I share it with three German students – a guy and two girls. I’ve met two of them already, and the girl is supposed to arrive sometime this week. I have a friendly enough relationship with them so far, but my broken German remains a barrier. And there is also the fact that the girl is still taking her summer exams (no, not repeats!) which means that she is always in her bedroom. I’d better remember not to take any subjects with October exams next semester!
My bedroom is quite large – bigger than any I’ve stayed in my entire life, perhaps. There were even bedclothes there upon my arrival – so much for risking a hefty weight charge from Aer Lingus to carry them over! All in all, the only problem I could find with my apartment was the lack of a microwave. But in this life you can’t have everything, and I can cook pretty well without one.
Orientation began a few days after I arrived, and the rest of the week disappeared into a blur of sight seeing, food tasting, beer tasting, International Club parties and the inevitable struggle against German bureaucracy. I came to learn a few things: Firstly, Freiburg is a truly beautiful and magnificent city, one which I would recommend that everyone should visit. It’s doubly recommended for fans of mediaeval architecture and hiking. I won’t bother going into lengthy descriptions – a Google Image Search can do that far better and more effectively. Yet suffice to say that I have never seen a city in the 21st century retain so much of its ancient character.
Too long have I suffered the tough overpriced pork of my local SuperValu in Dublin. My October resolution is to cease sneering at the Germans for their love of Schnitzel.
Secondly, I’ve learned that it takes far more than one week in a country to get an idea of what its food and drink is like. There are so many different regional and local dishes to choose from, and each locality has its own craft brewing tradition. What amazed me the most was that supermarket across the road from me does serve delicious cuts of pork. Too long have I suffered the tough overpriced pork of my local SuperValu in Dublin. My October resolution is to cease sneering at the Germans for their love of Schnitzel.
Thirdly, the stereotype of Irish binge drinking habits may have some truth to it. Freiburg is not lacking party-hards, but I know far more non-drinkers here than I do in Dublin. And when people go out for one pint, it really means one pint – not three. How bizarre.
Fourthly and lastly, when registering for university in Germany, it pays to read the instructions twice. I glanced at them once, and it costme a day I could have spent doing other, better things. Like writing this blog on time. The myth of the German bureuacratic monster has a few grains in truth it it!
Bis nächste Woche!
