First week of classes

It's the things that you don't think of that are often the most challenging. I finally got my hair cut - turns out the Germans don't use a grade system but rather ask for it in millimetres. I decided to take a punt and ask for a 6 millimetre shave back and sides and to my relief it turned out fine. Being unable to find the equivalent of a barbers (maybe they don't exist in Germany) I had to settle for a hairdressers and for the first time in my life had my hair washed by a hairdresser. Kind of feels like a massage actually which was nice.

I went to an International Food Party in my halls which was fantastic. Food from all over the world; I teamed up with a couple of English folk and all we could think to make were scones or Victoria sponge, which if you think about it are kind of the same thing (flour, butter, sugar, cream, jam...). Finding self-raising flour in Lidl proved problematic and even Vida's excellent idea of looking up a German recipe for scones proved unsuccessful, with the recipe only stating its requirement of 'Mehl' (flour), which was rather unhelpful. We gambled and just picked a type; it worked out fine. The scones went down a treat (phew) and we enjoyed lots of other interesting things from China, Italy, Canada, Turkey, Australia...

I started my classes this week, which was a mixed bag, shall we say. My first was beginner's Spanish, which is taught in German by a Spaniard with a thick Spanish accent. No problem for the Germans, but I found it really hard to understand him, so much so that I preferred it when he spoke Spanish because at least then we were all in the same boat. Spanish seems fun though, I'm looking forward to practising with my friends in Southampton who study it already :)

Wednesday I had my French grammar and translation class. I put that in the past tense because that will be the only time I attend this one. Stupidly I'd not realised that the translation would be German to French. My heart sunk when I looked through the German sentences we were going to translate together in the class. It sunk again when I found out I was the only non-native German or French speaker in the room. The most frustrating thing was that the level of French was fine, but it was understanding the written German that was the source of my downfall. How can you begin to translate a sentence into French if you don't understand what you're translating? Luckily I'd picked more modules than I needed so I bade this class Adieu.

Thursday was better, thankfully. This is my busiest day with three two hour classes. The first was French speaking/comprehension which I was worried about after Wednesday's debacle. The class takes place in a language lab and we put on these big headphones and are then paired randomly with someone in the class to chat with. This seems a bit strange and unnecessary to me, surely you could just chat to the person next to you or move round the room? It became even more unnecessary when I was paired with the girl sat next to me, but we continued to use our headphones to communicate with each other from two feet away. The whole class went well, though, and despite the fact that the majority of the class was German this didn't pose much of a problem as the lesson was held in French. Also, if you're wondering, yes the Germans are amazing at French as well as English. When a German learns a language, he or she masters it.

The next two classes (both German) also went well: the first was a placement exam to make sure we were put in the correct groups. Then I had my class called 'Gesellschaft, Geschichte und Kultur' (Society, History and Culture) which I was looking forward to because it's my only module that is nothing to do with language. The title is very broad and it looks as though we are going to be covering a very broad syllabus, including National Socialism, the DDR, immigration, terrorism, religion and politics.

One rucksack, five cities, seven days

After having been in Freiburg for six weeks and still awaiting the start of lectures, I thought now would be as good of opportunity as any to go InterRailing. After buying a 'Global Pass' (which is an interesting use of adjective seeing as it is only Europe-wide, and therefore by definition not global) Gemma and I worked out a route that would be feasible to do in just 7 days. Within those seven days we could travel for five. After much deliberation we decided to visit Austria, Croatia and Slovenia. The best way to do this thing via Munich.

Munich

Munich was the only one of the five cities that I'd visited before, but after a very successful first visit I was definitely keen on going there again. We arrived by coach (not wanting to use up our first travel day) and made our way to Jaeger's hostel which is near the station. The first time I went to Munich I stayed in a four star hotel that we got on the cheap by booking months in advance; this time we were budgeting ourselves to around €20 per night. Jaeger's wasn't the nicest of hostels, but as we were to find out the hostels got comparatively better the less expensive the city. 

In the morning we went on a free walking tour of the city which I absolutely loved. It was run by an Aussie guy with sunglasses and a backwards beret who claimed it was love that brought him to Munich - the love of history, the love of the city and the love for a local girl. As he emphasised throughout the tour, Bavarians don't do much to avoid their stereotype of beer guzzlers. He even said about half the answers to his questions would be 'beer', or 'liquid gold' as he called it. Much of the tour was Middle Ages history but a lot was, as you'd expect, about Munich's 'darkest hour' and the rise of the Nazis. There's a square called Odeonplatz which is near where the Beer Hall Putsch took place. The Nazis forced people to walk down that street and perform the Nazi salute. If they were caught going down the side alley to avoid it, they could be killed, and many were. To mark this small form of resistance there is a small path of gold cobbles on the ground, which was a beautifully simple monument to those who died as resistors. 

Munich's beautiful town hall

I was a little hesitant to return to Munich because I loved it so much the first time I went there and I thought it would be hard for it to live up to its great reputation in my head. I visited the city in 2012 with Jack and Adam and really loved the Olympic Park, the Allianz Arena, the incredible Rathaus and of course the Hofbräuhaus (which as the tour guide Scott informed us was frequented by Hitler, Mozart and Lenin, amongst others). This visit was equally enjoyable, however. What I really love about Munich is its multi-faceted identity: Oktoberfest, BMW, Bayern Munich, the disastrous Olympics of 1972, the 'home' of the Nazis, the capital of Bavaria. 

I left the great city, and it bade me farewell in the form of a bird pooing on my hand just as I left the hostel. Auf Wiedersehen indeed. 

Salzburg

The 'City of Music' is only two hours away from Munich, so we arrived early evening and we went for a stroll around the old town before it got dark. Salzburg, like many other European cities, was built on a large river with a castle overlooking the city from its highest point. It was too late to go up the castle so we wandered through the labyrinthine cobbled streets which were home to a ridiculous number of Mozart gift shops - everything you can imagine from umbrellas to chocolates to tea towels. The city is clearly very proud of its most famous inhabitant and rightly so. Its beauty also doesn't disappoint - not only does the city boast picturesque architecture, but it is also surrounded by the large mountain ranges that characterise Austria's landscape.

Salzburg skyline

That evening we had a beer in the bar in the hostel before bed. Our hostel was called Yoho and had wooden panelled walls, which despite having never set foot in Austria prior to that day, I thought of as very Austrian indeed. The barman was English - and before he served us he was having a long conversation with someone in Spanish. In fact, the guy working at reception in the hostel in Munich was also English; he'd just graduated from Bath in French and German and spent his year abroad in Munich and seeing as he loved it so much he decided to go back. It reminds me of a comment a tutor made to me in Freiburg: "You're English, but you can speak German?" Yes we do exist! 

The next day we took the funicular up to the castle. We took a headset each to listen to the audio guide, and were taken into many different rooms of the castle by a member of staff. He looked bored, which I've learnt is quite common amongst people working at tourist attractions, but what was more interesting is that he carried around a large padlocked briefcase. I never did find out what was in it. Probably something top secret like his lunch or something. 

Graz

Of the five cities Graz was definitely the one I knew the least about, and it was really only chosen because it provides a nice link up between Salzburg and Zagreb/Ljubljana. Apparently it's Austria's second largest city after Vienna, and although it was by no means a bad place to visit it lacked the historical intrigue of Munich or the beauty of Salzburg. Again we arrived early evening and we headed out from our hostel, JUFA, and found a locals' bar a few streets away. The most noticeable thing was the price difference here. We'd been spending a lot of time in expensive, touristy cities and getting a full meal for €5 was appreciated! We found that the people in Austria could understand our attempt at Hochdeutsch but we couldn't reciprocate, finding it very difficult to understand their Austrian accent/dialect. 

The plan for the next morning was to head to the Altstadt (old town), which seems to be a pretty standard yet successful way of visiting German/Austrian cities. We picked up a leaflet and walked around the sights, including a church that we actually missed the first time round because it was enclosed within the normal street buildings; when we did go in, we found a nice little church with - strangely enough - modern art on the walls. The whole place was deserted. Not even the Chinese tourists had found this one. Later on we hiked up to the top of Schlossberg which gave a magnificent view of the city. There wasn't much in the way of a 'Schloss', but there were nice seating areas and a large clock tower. 

Upon walking back into the city we found that we still had a few hours to kill before our train to Zagreb, so I had a quick look through the guide and found a museum that looked interesting (well the outside architecture did, at least). The exhibit itself neither I nor Gemma could understand. It was by Karl Neubacher, a 'media artist'. If anyone knows anything about his work please enlighten me, because I hadn't the foggiest what he was trying to depict. The gift shop was good though.

Zagreb

Neither Gemma nor I had ever taken a train across a border before and it was an interesting experience for both of us. After three hours on the train from Graz, we entered Croatia. Our train came to a halt in the border station and all the lights went out. About ten border police came onto our carriage (bearing in mind there were only two of us onboard) and asked for our passports. They were checked, in torchlight, extremely thoroughly and after an unfriendly exchange they moved on. Lights still off, we could see a man checking under the train for illegal immigrants. As Gemma put it, "Jeez, why would you want illegal entry into Croatia? I only want a cheap beer and a shot glass." 

It turns out they're super strict about entry into and out of the Schengen area. We met a guy from Australia outside the station who had been essentially interrogated in a Slovenian police station because his 90 day visa had expired. Somehow he'd made it into Croatia and his plan was to follow us to our hostel and get a bed there for the night. He'd been travelling for four months starting in Japan. That's real travelling!

We arrived at the hostel at about half past eleven and decided to try and find a bar for a quick drink. After walking straight past the bar we were looking for and going the whole way round the block, we eventually sat down and the waiter told us in broken English that they were closing in ten minutes, advising me to have a small beer instead of a large one because I wouldn't finish it by midnight. Despite this, he and his colleague proceeded to serve the other customers drinks and even food (did they just not want us to stay beyond midnight?)

The night in MyWay hostel was, as I found very common in hostels, made worse by the very loud snoring of one of the guys in my room. It's strange that people can snore more loudly than you or I could even impersonate. It was also really stormy outside, and this continued until about lunchtime. We did venture out late morning, not wanting to waste out time in a new country. Our day was mostly just a walking tour around the city with a map we picked up from the tourist office. This can be a good way to get to know a city. We looked at the museum options, but the Musem of Mushrooms didn't really interest us (as much as I love mushrooms).

Ljubljana

Maybe my favourite place ever. We couldn't turn down the opportunity to stay in the 'Hippest Hostel in the World', Hostel Celica, which for one hundred years was a prison for political prisoners until Slovenia gained independence in 1991. The building was occupied by squatting artists who protested against the demolition of the building. One room has a window created by the hole that was left by a wrecking ball when the building was about to be demolished. Every room has an individual artist's interpretation (my personal favourite was one created to look like an eye with a circular suspended bed); the corridors are sloped to give a Mediterranean street feel; every room has a main door and a metal cage 'prison' door. There's even a meditation room that welcomes people of whatever faith. The buildings surrounding the hostel were also abandoned after Slovenia separated from Yugoslavia. They are covered in paintings, graffiti and random figures and symbols of all different colours. It's home to alternative bars and clubs by night:

We went on a guided tour of the town, led by a smily and enthusiastic guide called Yannis. He showed us around the market, the cathedral and the main squares while teaching us about Slovenia's interesting history. Ljubljana has lots of quirky shops, interesting and varied bridges and an eclectic mixture of old and new architecture. The restaurants and bars are all along the river which gets lively in the evening. The main thing I liked about Ljubljana was its uniqueness. It's totally different to the usual European city. Having such a recent history of radical change makes it a brilliant place to visit; its identity is still being shaped: it was the first former Soviet state to adopt the Euro and is now fully integrated into the Schengen area. It is also unlike other capitals because it feels small and compact; Yannis referred to it as a 'village' and we even bumped into the city's mayor on our walk round the centre, who naturally Yannis knew personally. The mayor made the old centre pedestrianised so he gets a thumbs up in my book. 

The Mayor of Ljubljana, telling us he'd just won his fourth election

Other interesting things that happened were that I tried raw milk (maybe not that interesting for you but I've always wanted to try this substance that has caused much debate and is even illegal in some countries). The verdict: I couldn't really taste the difference. I also found it impossible to buy a normal black coffee, so when I asked if the lady would add hot water to my espresso she looked at me as if I'd asked her to spit in it. 'But it won't be coffee, it will be water,' she told me. Thanks for the tip.