… the not-so-tough cry down the phone to their family and friends. Yeah, none of this British stiff-upper-lip bollocks for me, I’ll break right down when I get in a pickle.
In fairness to me, it’s not just homesickness that’s making me feel rubbish - the day after I posted my last blog was one of the worst days I have ever experienced. It started off OK, I went to Uni-Einschreibung which though logistically annoying in every way didn’t actually go wrong. I was , however, informed by the girl on the desk that she could tell instantly that I wasn’t German because I was wearing tights and a mini skirt. Apparently such garb is a bit risqué for the Germans. Whatever.
So mildly annoyed I may have been, but I wasn’t upset. However, then it all began to go tits up. For whatever reason, I forgot that you have to stamp your ticket before you get on the S-Bahn in Germany in order to validate it. And because I forgot, the inspector was obviously on my tram and obviously asked to see my ticket. Bam, on the spot 40Euro fine. Now, I think through a combination of stress, confusion and homesickness I was in a bit of a state of emotional unbalance, because I nearly burst into tears right there on the tram. However, I held it together, coughed up the cash and blundered my way to the internet café in which I have until recent times been practically living in. It was here that thing number two went wrong, because I discovered I couldn’t, as I had previously thought, pay money from my Natwest account into my shiny new Sparkasse one. Big problem, as my rent goes out from my Sparkasse account before my wages go into it. In short, I considered myself financially f**ked. It was round about here that Ruth phoned and my emotional stability collapsed. I held in the tears long enough to get back to my cell-like bedroom in the Studentenwohnheim and then proceeded to ball down the phone to her about how Germany was horrible and I wanted to go home. Ruth, your-deity-of-choice bless her*, is a level-headed soul and succeeded in calming me down with sensible words and loveliness.
I still, however, had a semi-financial crisis to fix. And, as always when I find myself in this situation, I resorted to my one hundred percent fail-safe plan: I phoned my Dad. Dad then donned his Super-Dad cape, ordered me down to Sparkasse to get some financial details and basically sorted everything out. I now have the means to pay my rent and everything in that sector is OK again. Phew!
Because I’d had such an abysmal morning, I decided to cheer myself up by taking a trip to the happiest place on earth: Ikea. It needed to be done, I had no sheets, no lighting, no mirror, no curtains, no hangers, no pots and pans, no anything, pretty much. But bad things come in threes, don’t they, and Sod’s Law not to be put off his course for my emotional destruction ensured I ended up getting the bus in the wrong direction. I had to sit for 45 minutes going round the loop before finally getting back on course.
Fortunately, the combination of Ikea and making my room look like someone actually lives in it had the desired effect. I’ve got rugs on the floor and photos on the wall and sheets on my bed, though I still need curtains and a main light (NB for people coming to Deutschland in the future – fully furnished doesn’t necessarily mean the same here as at home. Lighting and curtains are mostly considered your responsibility). Saturday picked up my mood even more; Handy-purchase went without hitch, unless you count the man in E-Plus trying to sell me a handset for over 90Euro, and my flatmate has rigged me up to his wireless until I sort my own internet so that I don’t have to pootle down to the internet café every time I need to check my emails. I did enjoy making friends with the guy who works there (we had a nice chat about crummy British weather – it would have been like being at home if we hadn’t have been speaking German) but I must admit it’s nice to be able to check Facebook in my PJs again. In addition, I start work tomorrow, something which is bound to keep me busy and stop me dwelling in self-pity, and I even have stuff to look forward to, like the zoo next weekend.
I think my goal this week is to try and stop being homesick. I need to start making the most of this opportunity and enjoying it. After all, I’m here for a while. It seems silly to waste it…
-------------------------------
*I’m atheist, saying “God bless ” feels wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment