Volleyball

Guten Morgen Dear Reader!

Yesterday, I attempted to learn to play Volleyball - a sport which appears to be taught in every country apart from the UK and Ireland. Suffice to say that my team with a Brit and an Irish, as well as being made up of 5 girls and only 1 boy, managed to successfully lose all 6 games out of a total of 6. However, we definitely had the best team spirit out there despite adversity!

Volleyball is relatively painful - the idea is to keep the ball in the air, by propelling it upwards using your palms and lower arms. Bare in mind that this ball is going at a rate of knots from the sky and everyone runs towards it with mad lust in their eyes, the sport becomes fairly scary quite quickly - especially for the more athletically and co-ordination-ly challenged, such as myself.

Yet, as the games continued, I feel I did improve. I very nearly managed to actually serve a ball over the net (it went in it, but quite high up - the first attempt almost hit someone on one of the neighbouring courts) and at one point actually managed to successfully hit the ball over the net itself in full play. Unfortunately my team were so busy being shocked that I had achieved something vaguely like sporting prowess, that we managed to forget that you have to keep the volley going!

Luckily I appear to have come out of the experience relatively unscathed - though my right hand is suffering from having tried to enthusiastically hit the ball single-handed! I'd like to try beach volleyball next in the sunshine, though probably without the skimpy outfit...

Imperia

Servus Dear Reader!

Last Thursday I went to visit Imperia with a new German friend of mine from München (Munich), who is also new to Konstanz. We ventured over to the harbour to find this mysterious being and were greeted by a 9metre high, 18 tonne, revolving stone statue of a prostitute – this is Imperia. She is the first thing that people see when they come to Konstanz by boat and, much to the annoyance of the locals (seriously, they had riots about her), has become a recognisable symbol of the town.

Imperia comes from a Balzac novel about the time of the Council of Konstanz. For those who do not know (and I didn’t either until the International Office told me), for a few years prior 1417 there were three different popes, all claiming to be the real pope. As a result the Catholic world was in chaos, and so in 1417, a council was formed to elect the new real pope. This took place in Konstanz, in what is now known as the Konzilgebäude, but was originally a warehouse for corn and one of the largest buildings in the whole of Germany at this time. As it turns out, the cardinals did not elect any of the three possible popes, and instead opted to vote in Pope Martin V.

According to the Imperia story, Imperia was so beautiful that all the men fell in love with her instantly, including Pope Martin V and the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund (who I believe was king in this area). In this way, Imperia could control the entire area, and this is why the pope and king are both depicted as naked sitting in Imperia’s hands. Every time she spins she looks towards the Konzilgebäude and then out to the Bodensee, and she has been turning once every 3-4minutes since 1993.

Meersburg Photos

To get to the Altes Schloss and the main Altstadt from the habour, you have to go up a massive hill! This is the view from the bottom of the hill:

This is a picture of the wonderful view you get from the castle - in the far distance is Konstanz. As you can see it was extremely sunny!!

Afterwards we headed to the Wine Festival. Here is a picture of the brass band, who were the main attraction (alongside the wine of course!)

Wein und Wurst - What a Wonderful Weekend

Guten Abend Dear Reader!

On Sunday, I visited the town of Meersburg, literally translated meaning castle (Burg) of the sea (Meer). It is located on the other side of the Bodensee, and is only a short ferry ride away from Konstanz. The town is built on the side of a steep vineyard, from which local wine is produced and celebrated at the annual wine festival (more about that in a bit).

I visited the Altes Schloss (Old Castle) which is the oldest inhabited castle in Germany, dating from 628AD, and overlooks the Bodensee from its position right on the edge of the hill. There are a couple of interesting features inside this moated and turreted castle, for example, a well that has been constructed inside its own room, so the water supply could not be cut off; and an escape route leading from the depths of the castle down to the lake's edge. Out of the windows, overlooking the lake and a small bit of the more modern town, are truly breathtaking views. I cannot describe how stunning it looked in the glorious sunshine, with the colours all vibrant and the lake glistening. For those who know Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, a famous German poet-ess (1797-1848), this is the placed where she lived and died; her bedroom and study have been preserved, much to the joy of her fans.

After the castle, I went to the 37. Bodensee Weinfest Meersburg 2011, in the pedestrianised Altstadt (old town). The wine festival takes place once a year for three days, and the wine is all produced from the vineyards surrounding the Bodensee. In the main square, tables were laid out looking over the main stages, from which a huge brass band dressed all in Lederhose and Dirndls, were playing. Around the side of this all, stood all the various wine stalls; and it was in this setting (a wonderfully stereotypical image), that I had my first Wurst (sausage) within Germany. After munching our way through Bratwurst mit Kartoffelsalat (potato salad - German style, so had a surprising amount of vinegar in it), we walked further into town onto one of the side streets. Here we managed to commandeer a table from which we could observe the wandering brass quintet, dressed in Tracht (traditional dress) of course; made friends with Germans and bought one of the celebratory wine glasses. For those who are not aware, it is traditional in Germany for events to have their own cups with the place, date, name and sometimes decoration - for Weinfest, this will be wine glasses and for Weihnachtsmarkte (Christmas Markets), this is mugs. Almost every stall within the market will use the celebratory cups, and each time you buy a drink you pay a Pfand (deposit), which is returned when/if you bring the cup back to the stall. If not, you are free to keep it - as I plan to do for this year to build up my collection of celebratory German event cups...

The Bodensee-Schweizer Oktoberfest starts on Friday, as well as the real Oktoberfest in München (Münich). No doubt I'll end up at least at one of them if not both, but stay tuned to find out which and when. Tschüs!

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.

Wilkommen in Konstanz

Hallo Dear Reader!

Ich bin jetzt im Deutschland :)

Konstanz is stunning, especially in the beautiful sunshine we are having at the moment. The lake, Bodensee (Lake Constance in English), reaches right out beyond sight until it meets the sky in the same wonderful blue. Parts of the town are very old, as the Allies would not risk bombing so close to Switzerland, and the centre is quite small. It is like living in a holiday resort, surrounded by tourists, and chirping of cicadas in the evening. I think I will be happy here and am starting to get over my nerves for speaking German to German people.

I arrived in Konstanz on Friday evening and have moved into my new home: one of the student halls, not far from the Universitaet Konstanz. Outside my front door, it is even possible to see all the way to university - 15minute walking in a straight line. My flatmates are all physics students and all seem very nice. They are also all German, so my language skills are already being tested. They are a bit stressed at the moment as they have exams coming up; our breakfast this morning turned into a science lesson, featuring the workings of a microwave!

Yesterday I began settling in properly. My family and I went to buy crockery, which was a slightly bizarre experience, as one shop sold knives but no forks, while another sold forks but no knives! We went for a drive outside the centre of Konstanz and found a nice park to walk in - we didn't realise such an innocent looking path would lead to a nudist beach...luckily I managed to avoid any frontal viewing, as my sister marched us away at full speed, wondering what sort of place I was coming to!

Last night I went on a Kneipentour (Pub Crawl) with some of the other international students. We started in a beer garden right on the habour called Hafenhalle, which was just stunning. They also seem to do food there, so I hope I'll get a chance to sample some of the local cuisine in the coming weeks while the weather is good. There were various stag nights out that evening as well, which seem much more tame than in the UK. One set had the groom strip down to his lederhosen, stand on his head, and have the young ladies of our group write upon his body. Another group had the groom in a large chicken hat come to our table and ask if he could cut the tag from one of our bras...One of the American girls in the group offered and the groom staggered off happily to his waiting group of stags.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the year brings now - I start language classes tomorrow. Wish me viel Glueck and lots of luck!

Diversion to a Far Off Land

Halò Dear Reader, Ciamar a tha thu/sibh?

Again it seems that I have managed to lose my way to Germany and have instead headed northwards to the Scottish border. Fear not, dear friends, my compass has not gone wrong, as I have gone to Gretna Green for my Aunt and Uncle’s renewal of their vows for their pearl wedding anniversary (30 years), in the traditional anvil ceremony at the Old Blacksmith’s Shop.

For those who don’t know, Gretna Green is one of the first villages inside Scotland, and for this reason was a popular destination for young couples eloping to get married many years ago. In England, the law stated that the couple must either have their parents’ consent or be over 21 years of age, and had to be married in Parish Churches (with exceptions granted for Quakers and Jews). Yet, under Scottish law, the couple could marry without consent at the age of 16 and it was only the solemn promise that was needed to make the marriage legally binding, wherever it was held. Blacksmiths, as well as inn keepers, were called to witness and perform these marriages; so many in Gretna Green would wed couples as a secondary occupation, known as the anvil priesthood. Our destination, the Old Blacksmith’s Shop, is one of the oldest “marriage rooms” in Gretna Green, having performed marriages since 1754. On one occasion, it is believed that the anvil priest here returned home after a funeral to find eight couples waiting on his doorstep wanting to be wed. Anvil priests were said to work ‘doctors hours’, a reference to the fact that it was once possible to be wed at any time, day or night.

The ceremony is fairly simple; the anvil priest would ask the couple if they wished to be wed and they would make their vows to each other. The anvil priest would then strike the anvil with a hammer, declaring the couple to have been forged together, and they were wed. The ceremony was quick, so as not to disturb the blacksmith’s work too much, and also because the bride’s parents would usually be in hot pursuit – trying desperately to prevent the marriage from occurring. Even today, the ceremonies were performed in quick succession; within 5-10 minutes of our party leaving the room, the happy couple led by a traditional Scottish piper, the next wedding had already been ushered in. For those partnerships that did not have sufficient time to have the ceremony performed, they would be put into bed together; and the parents would be persuaded that they had arrived too late and the children had been married – only for the ceremony to be hastily performed later on. The only way to end these marriages was through an Act of Parliament annulling the marriage.

Following the ceremony, we went on to Dumfries, to have a traditional Scottish meal in The Globe pub, which was known to be Burns’ Howff (favourite haunt). The landlady, with a veritable Bodleian of Burns knowledge in her head, provided us with entertainment, including the traditional haggis ceremony, in which the haggis is piped into the room and Burns’ poem, Ode to a Haggis, is performed. Burns is said to have written this poem addressing the haggis after being informed that he would have to eat haggis with the servants, rather than feast upon French ragou upstairs with the gentry he had been entertaining.

Returning back to the castellated tower (having been assured that it was not simply a castle, as I had presumed wrongly it seems), and the bride and groom held court. We played table top versions of Highland Games and I was initiated into the Confrerie de Sabredour. Not a secret society as you might have thought, but instead a society of Sabreurs, who specialise in the art of Sabrage – chopping the corks off the top of champagne bottles using a sabre. I am pleased to say that my official first sabrage was successful, with not a drop of champagne spilt; my sister was also successful, and in her usual flamboyant style, achieved an arc of champagne to fly speedily across the room.

And so dear reader, I must now venture to the new life, which has been so nervously anticipated and excitedly awaited…

HALLO DEUTSCHLAND – ICH KOMME GLEICH!