Muenchen :)

So I've slacked on the blog front and have already been here four days (I think?!) without posting anything.

I guess I'll start at the beginning, with the scary flight! We were doing really well time wise, we'd taken off on time and everything, then it came to the landing. We were maybe a minute or two from touching down on the runway and we suddenly rev back up and back up into the sky we go. So I get a bit confused. Next thing the captain comes on with an announcement...there's something wrong with the flaps on the wings and they were going to repair the problem and try again. At this point I'm thinking "great, the first time I travel on my own on a plane and something breaks". We have to go around at least three more times before we eventually landed, during which time I'd become convinced that we were going to run out of fuel and drop out of the sky.

I manage to find my way to the airport bus station to get the shuttle bus to the welcome meeting (though I had to be shown to the bus because I just couldn't find it so was stood there looking like a bit of a lemon). After all the official stuff at the meeting I go to my room and find a perfectly nice bedroom, small kitchenette type thing and then a rather gross bathroom, which I will be attempting to clean again once I've finished writing this. I seem to have drawn the short straw as everyone else's bathroom seems clean enough.

The course itself is pretty good...I'm actually really enjoying it. The German isn't as hard as I thought it would be and I'm in group 13 out of 15. It was harder at first because I hadn't spoken German in so long but I'm getting more used to it and a couple of nights ago I even dreamt half in German...I woke up so confused!

I've met some really nice people too...my classmates are all really nice and I've made friends with some nice English people (maybe not the best thing for speaking German but its helped me so much to settle in). We do speak German if there are other people with us though. We went to the Englisher Garten today but I don't think we went far enough in to see the main part (its absolutely massive and spans from our accomodation to the university, which is six stops away on the U-Bahn). Might have to explore it again from the other side.

We went on a coach tour around the city the other day and went to the Nymphenburger Schloss, which looked beautiful but we didn't stay long enough to go in so I'd like to go there someday, maybe one of the Saturdays or Sundays we have free. We also went along the posh street and saw all the designer stores (Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Prada etc).

It's almost time to go down to the student bar for tea (it's pizza night!) so I'm gunna dash.

Bis spaeter!

Pre-departure madness!

Like a few other people that I know I have decided to create a blog for people to follow my adventures while I'm abroad. There are so many people that I want to stay in touch with while I'm away and I guess a blog reaches everyone at once, making my life so much easier!

So I arrived back in Leeds on Saturday, and I am still only about 75% unpacked! I thought that this month would be an easy month of relaxation and meeting up with friends but I couldn't have been more wrong! There is just so much to do before jetting off across Europe! The only accommodation that I can be certain of is that for when I am in Munich, meaning I will be effectively homeless when I arrive in Lyon...something which is constantly in the back of my mind and which worries me so much! So many people have said to expect that, and that I should look for accommodation when I get there, but it scares me that I have only 9 days' turn around between arriving back from Germany and starting at Lyon 3 University!

On a positive note, however, I found out today that I will be going on holiday to Lanzarote, so at least that is some motivation to get as much done as possible! I can't wait to be lazing around a pool with a good book topping up the tan...or in my case getting more freckly! It'll be nice to spend that extra time with my family before going away too.

Not sure I have much more to say here, so keep your eyes peeled for updates and bye for now! :)