Making A Home

Guten Tag Dear Reader!

I have now been in Konstanz for just over a week and have been attending a German language course at the university. It has been a lot of fun learning about the Bodensee from my teacher (in German, of course) and also meeting her son, who came in to talk to us about being a Jugendliche (teenager) in Konstanz. I also realised just how little of the grammar rules I actually remember!

In the afternoons we have been dealing with various orientation and a lot of administrative exercises, as there are so many forms to fill out and formalities to go through. Luckily though, we have had plenty of evenings to do stuff in.

Most of my new friends here are international and (usually) English speaking - so hopefully we'll be having plenty of adventures and journeys across the German speaking world. For those who think this is cheating, we have been expanding the group outwards and meeting lots of German students as well, who have been making us practice our German speaking skills! We've been trying out cooking ourselves as well - much to the surprise of our respective parents.

We live all over Konstanz, so I've been visiting other student accommodations - not just my own. It's given me plenty of opportunities get to know the town as well as the bus system, although, unfortunately, the buses stop really early, so I have spent at least four evenings this week trudging back home in the dark and getting progressively more lost. I can now find you a very beautiful gravestone or a sex shop, depending on what you desire! However, fear not, Konstanz is very safe and it feels very secure walking home - even at past midnight.

On Friday, we went out to a club called Kantine, which is literally is in the middle of nowhere. It is interesting to see that in German clubs everyone wears normal clothes without any dressing up, as well as Kantine also having a Wurst (sausage) stand. It was a lot of fun and felt far more manageable than an English club, as there was an outside area, which was much less claustrophobic.

Yesterday we went on a historic tour around Konstanz - walking around the harbour, the Altstadt (old town) and the minster. Yet, rather than bore you with lots of history and no photos, I will wait until I revisit to tell you about it all.

Today I'm off to Meersburg, which is over the other side of the Bodensee. I'll be seeing the city and the castle (making sure not to forget my camera this time), and possibly visiting the annual Meersburg wine festival as well. Will post again soon, but until then, Auf Wiedersehen.