1 month down, 10 to go...

And what have I learnt so far? 

Well I will have you know, quite a lot of things actually. 

Firstly I would like to say that my English is totally f***ed up, but I take this as a positive. Having 3 languages in my head and constantly switching between two has now taken it's toll. I am left most of the time...speechless or rather, wordless. Of course, most of the time it turns me into a bumbling wreck, but there are some (one at most) moments throughout the day when I feel genuinely chuffed that I, let's say, remembered the word 'abheben' (to withdraw cash) or 'schapps' which means shots (yes, the drinking kind). 

Secondly, I can now say I have more patience, in life in general. The whole road situation that I mentioned last week has contributed to this in many ways. E.g waiting for the little green man. Oh yes, it seems like I only ever want to cross the road in Marburg at really inconvenient times, i.e. when the red man is showing. Meaning, I have to wait for at least 2 mins on the side of the road for the fluorescent green gentleman to show his innocent yet smug face, as if he is saying "Yes Amy, you can cross now. I hope I didn't hold up your day too much (when in fact that was my whole aim all along)". But I'm not bitter about this at all.

Thirdly, my carbon footprint has definitely decreased since being in Germany. I mean, I did think this would happen as soon as I took one step onto Germany's well tossed soil anyway because it's known for being one of the most energy efficient nations in the world - FACT. But nevertheless, I either walk, bus, or train it. And I feel great! I mean obviously I don't feel that great when I'm on a packed, delayed, sweaty train from Frankfurt to Marburg on a Saturday evening (last night's escapades) but most of the time* the Offis or public transport are good. 

*It's SO BAD. Like really bad. Always delayed buses and trains, and Deutsche Bahn is worse than National Express/Rail put together. Rant over.

Lastly, I like to think that I have become more polite. I mean I say please and thank you about 20 times a day in Germany so I get points for that, right? But seriously though, it's common courtesy in Germany to say Bitte which means please after someone says Danke or thank you, to you. Equally if you are handing over money, it's right that you should say Bitte as you hand it over. Crazy I know, but they are a very polite here.

I am massively tired tonight and I have an exam tomorrow so bear with if most of what I have said tonight doesn't make much sense, or if you were expecting a massive de-brief on my week.I'm sorry! It's been MENTAL, but in a good way. To sum up in 5 words (because I love doing this and feel it gets to the point) HEIDELBERG, AUFLAUF, VINEYARD, WIESBADEN and APOTHEKEMUSEUM. Okay so that was technically 6 words, but the last one was definitely a highlight! (if you read last weeks blog you would know why, if you haven't then just ignore).

XXX