I'm here!

Hi! Well, I have arrived in Plauen all safe and sound! I’ve done quite a lot in the past few days, so apologies in advance for the long post! Everything seems to be going well so far! My flatmate is lovely, the WG is really nice and my room is much bigger than it looked in the pictures!

My Room

The journey here was reaalllyyy long! I left Anglesey at 3.30 am and didn’t actually get to Plauen until 7pm. My 15 hour journey didn’t come without it’s problems! After landing in Berlin-Tegel airport and collecting my luggage, I needed to find my way to the Hauptbahnhof. I already knew that I would have to take a bus, and had allowed myself enough time to get lost! So after following the signs (which told me to turn left) and then asking two staff members in the airport (who told me to turn right!) I still couldn’t find a single bus! After a whole hour of aimlessly walking around Tegel, I decided to give up and took a taxi instead! I still managed to arrive at the Hauptbahnhof with 2 hours to spare before I needed to get my first train. When I eventually got on the train, I quickly learnt that there was nowhere for me to sit with all of my luggage, so I had to stand next to the smelly toilet for the whole 2 and bit hours from Berlin to Dresden. I was not very impressed!! I did, however, manage to read ¾ of my book, and I did get a seat for the remaining 2 hours on my second train, so it wasn’t all bad!

Stefanie and her friend came to pick me up from the train station and Stefanie’s friend (who’s name I have already forgotten!) carried my 25Kg suitcase up the 6 flights of stairs to my flat- for which I am very grateful! I did however find out that my box, that was picked up more than a week ago, has not arrived. :( It’s not a huge problem as Stefanie has borrowed me a duvet, but I really do want a cup of tea (teabags are in the box!) and can’t seem to find normal black tea anywhere in the supermarkets! I spoke to a nice woman at Parcel2Go last night, and she said she has resent my contact details to UPS and requested urgent delivery. If it’s not here tomorrow, they will be getting an angry email!

I have spent the past couple of days exploring Plauen and getting things sorted. The town is really pretty and has loads of interesting historical info dotted about. Everything’s really close too, which is a huge bonus! My school is 5mins round the corner, and the Innenstadt is about a 15 min walk (20 on the way back-uphill!) I’ve managed to buy a German sim card, which the man in the shop said would work in my British iPhone, but doesn’t, so I will have to buy a German phone tomorrow. I also registered with the Einwohnermeldeamt this morning and set up my German bank account this afternoon :) The man in the bank was really friendly and showed a genuine interest in what I was doing here, which was nice!

The Rathaus

I think that’s it for now! I still have a few things to sort out, like buying more furniture for my room and meeting my mentor at the school at some point this week, but otherwise I’ve settled in fairly well. I am missing my family a little but thank god for Skype!

Bis Bald! :)

Only 4 days to go!!

Eeek! There’s only a few days left before I leave for Germany. Although the summer feels like it’s dragged, I can’t believe that the time for my year abroad has come around so quick! I am still very excited, but also feeling very very nervous.

I think that I have sorted most of the important stuff by now (well, I hope that I have, anyway!). I’ve already sent out a box of my stuff by courier seeing as I can only take 23kg on the plane, so fingers crossed, that’s going to get there safely before my arrival. I’ve also bought a bed (as my room is unfurnished), which has already been delivered. There was a slight issue in that the delivery company didn’t assemble it, despite me paying for the service; however, my housemate has been an absolute star! Before I even knew the bed had been delivered, she’d spoken to the company, arranged a refund and has offered to build the bed herself! She's also going to come and meet me at the station on Sunday night, so I won't have to find the flat on my own in the dark! I am very very grateful to her! :) Now all I need to do is pack…!

My box all packed and ready to go!

A week after my arrival in Plauen, I will have to leave again to attend the compulsory 3 day course at Altenberg, near Cologne. Because of the 7 hour train journey, I’m going to leave on the Sunday and stay with my friend from uni, Phil, who is doing his year abroad in Cologne. It’ll definitely be nice to see a familiar face! I’ve had mixed reviews about the course in Altenberg, so I’m going to have to wait and see how it goes!  

I’m feeling a real mix of emotions at the moment. I’m feeling really sad to be leaving friends and family, but on the other hand, really excited at the prospect of (hopefully!) making new, German friends! I’m also feeling really nervous and occasionally quite sick at the though of leaving! But I am really really looking forward to it all (honest!) and I’m hoping that as soon as I land, all the fear will disappear! I'm really excited to meet my housemate and the staff and pupils at the school, see where I'll be living for the year and just generally exploring Germany! :) 

I'm going to be spending the rest of my week visiting friends and family and, at some point, packing my suitcase. (Although, knowing me, that's something that I will leave until Saturday night!) I will keep you updated with what I am doing, and hopefully, I'll have lots of exciting things to tell you :)