,,Bereisen Sie Deutschland und bleiben Sie hier"

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Oh je, I'm here.

It's really odd, because I thought this 'moving to another country, leaving friends and family and starting a new life alone' business would resemble the plot of a Hollywood film, but it has all seemed quite undramatic. I imagined tears, poignant goodbyes with whispered words in my ear like 'I won't forget you', as the credits rolled up and I drove away with 'We'll Meet Again' playing over the whole scene. In reality, it was a lot less emotional. On Friday evening, it was like I suddenly thought, 'I am moving to Germany tomorrow, I had better pack my things.' I did this, went to bed, woke up the next day and left. I have read other people's blogs/experiences about going on their Year Abroad, and they all seem to start with things like 'I woke up today, jumped out of bed, ready to start my new life'. When I woke up that morning, I remember thinking 'I don't know which towel to use this morning, cos I don't want to get one wet that I am taking with me'. Talk about an underwhelming experience.

Anyway, after some touching goodbyes to Mum, Dad and little Rod, I hit the road, ready for the 13 hour car journey ahead. The night before, I had downloaded Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on audiobook, so Stephen Fry kept me company on my journey to the Eurotunnel and through France. I decided to go through France, rather than through France, Belgium and Luxembourg on my way to Germany, because I didn't want too many twists and turns on the complicated drive- big mistake. Every 30 minutes I seemed to reach another péage (toll), which required me to wind down the passenger side window, climb across the chair and deposit another few Euros. I twice hit my head on the rear view mirror and the handbrake got alarming close to my rear-end on the odd occasion. Also, funny story, at one point I slowed down to stop at a péage and didn't realise how loud my audiobook was playing. As I was leaning halfway out the window, the story got to a point where Harry was recalling a memory, and Stephen Fry put on this ghostly voice and started shouting "Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it keeps its brain". I noticed the people in the car to the right of me look across, so I snatched the ticket out the machine and floored it, leaving Stephen Fry's sinister message ringing in their ears

Driving on the French motorway was very pleasant. Every 5 miles there seemed to be a rest-stop set in these beautiful forest settings with clean toilet facilities and lazy little French lorry drivers smoking and talking. When I finally crossed the border into Germany, the motorway was not so pleasant. Many of you may know that the Autobahnen in Germany have no speed limits, so whilst I was thinking I was going fast at 80 mph, I had vehicles to the left of me going around 140 mph with no signs of slowing down. I'm not just meaning sports cars going at this speed, but builders in Transit vans and the like; it was an experience.

When I arrived in Reutlingen, I met my supervisor from the school and we went to find my new home. We reached the house, which was in complete darkness with not a soul in sight. Unfortunately, I texted the wrong number when I was meant to tell my German house mate that I was arriving, so there was no-one there when we arrived at the house. Herr. V showed me around the area where I live whilst waiting to gain entry to my house, and it is a lot like France really, with a few pharmacies and bakeries; so I feel at home here. He also showed me the school where I am going to work, and the campus is really big for a school of 500 students. I don't know, maybe they're all obese kids of something.



After the tour, I got to go in my new house, and it really is pretty nice. I have a large room on the ground floor next to the kitchen. I didn't realise that I was meant to bring things with me, so I don't have any curtains and I came without a duvet. My room may lack these essentials, but I do have a large working fireplace and a pot plant. My house mate is really kind though, and he helped me cook dinner (which was embarrassingly a ready meal, but he doesn't have a microwave, so I had to reboil the pre-microwaved vegetables and stuff) and he gave me a spare duvet that he has. He also cooked me breakfast this morning (I realise this sounds like he is grooming me), and I met his children at lunchtime. He has three children, a sixteen year old, a four year old and a two year old, and they are all great. The little boy has been saying various German words for "poo" all day, so my German vocabulary has lengthened in this vital area. I also accidentally called his 16 year old daughter the name of his ex-wife, but apart from that, things are going well.



Unfortunately, like France, Germany shuns Sunday trading, so I will have to wait until tomorrow to buy my bits and pieces. I wish there was a "big Tesco" or something like what you would find at King's Lynn Hardwick in Reutlingen, because I need food, curtains, bedding and a phone contract and don't know if I can get it all from one place. I need a Hagrid-like figure, so I can carry my list around town with me and say "can we buy all this in Reutlingen?" and the Hagrid-like figure will say, "if you know where to go", and I will go into a German pub and find all my heart's desires.

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Comments

[mike]

Big shops are in Betzingen. Real, Aldi, Saturn. Go by bus.