Frankfurt and Rotweinfest

Another week has just flown by already! I feel like I am hardly at school as this week about 4 or 5 of my classes got cancelled so I wasn't really there all week and then this week we have holidays from 11am Wednesday onwards so really only one day of school for me this week!

Italy Holiday Planning

Probably the most exciting thing that happened this week was Maddie and I finalised our trip to Italy - leaving this Saturday 5th Oct! We fly into Rome then spend a few days there, then we head to Pisa, Florence and Milan few days in each place then take a overnight train to Dijon in France and have a few days there then head to Nancy (also in France) then lastly Luxembourgh. We finish our trip in Saarbruecken where a few of the other Assistants are to visit them and come back to school for Monday 21st October! So I might not be able to post while I'm away,  but will put a big post up when I return!

Frankfurt

I was lucky enough to go to Frankfurt twice this weekend, on Friday with school and then again on Saturday with Maddie for some shopping!

Friday

As I was with the school we had to do something educational in Frankfurt, so we first went to the communication museum, which was pretty boring for me except the building was really cool with this glass dome right in the middle. 

History of Po

This is all the logos from Deutsche Post , which is their postal service.

The Zoo!

Next we went to the zoo! Its not a very big zoo, and it was a little dated, a lot of the animals looked quite sad actually, but there were some cute ones like the baby monkeys and meercats! 

Saturday

We headed into Frankfurt in the morning and first explored the shopping street then sat down for a Bratwurst

Bratwurst!

This is the opera house in Frankfurt! This guy took our photo for us and got all pro and actually lay on the ground to get us in with the whole building. 

We then went exploring and found this cute little platz (square) with all the old style buildings and the Dom (church)

Platz - Frankfurt

Random allyway - Frankfurt

Dom - Frankfurt

Dom - Frankfurt

                       Spagettieis

Then it was time for Spagettieis! This is really my favourite German dish, it is vanilla ice cream made to look like spaghetti with strawberry sauce (the tomato bit) and white chocolate (the cheese). Its simple but delicious you can also get it in a chocolate version and also others look like lasagne or chips and steak.

Frankfurt - Random pretty window

There are so many random pretty things everywhere like this window with a small garden consuming it!

Then we headed back to the shops and there was this one shop which was amazing but also insane called primark. It was two floors of clothes, shoes and accessories which were really cheap, but there were also a billion and one people in this shop. You had to be quite aggressive to just move around as it was just a mosh-pit of people and clothes and these shopping bags you were given to shop with. Nevertheless I manages to buy a few goodies including these slippers:

New slippers from Primark

After our adventure into Frankfurt we were exhausted but still managed to head out into the nightlife of Mainz, we started at my flat with a bottle of Federweisser (young wine) and then headed out to some of the bars in Schillerplatz. The last place we ended up was Novum - which had 5euro cocktails so we choose the most expensive on the menu and got it for 5euro which was a long island iced tea! Then we also got free shots as the barman split hot water on me. Bonus!

Saturday night with Long Island Iced Teas!

Sunday - Rotweinfest

On Sunday we ventured to a near by town called Ingelheim which was having a  Rotweinfest (Red Wine Festival), we were lucky the weather was so nice as we had to walk about 20minutes from the train station up this slight hill. This was the entrance to the festival:

Entrance - Rotweinfest

Castle at Rotweinfest

The American Assistants and I with our Rotfederweisser

Wine Stall at Rotweinfest

The Festival was actually held in the ruins of an old castle. There were stalls from a lot of different wine makers in the region and also food stalls with delicious food like bratwurst, chips, garlic breads, pretzels and strawberries on a stick covered in chocolate! (I had one of those - delicious!!)

I went with some of the America assistants to the festival so it was cool to meet some new people who were doing the same thing as me. One of them actually lives just down the road from me.

The wine we were drinking was red young wine, so its just the grape juice and yeast and is just starting to ferment, which makes it sweeter than ordinary wine. It also comes in white. We had a bottle of both.

First Official Week at School and Center Parcs!

I had my first full week at school this week, although you cant really call it a full week being only 12 hours. I also got my timetable for the rest of the year - Mondays and Fridays off! Woooo.
The school I am at is a wirtschaftsschule which is a school for people who didn't do well at normal school, but still want to get educated or do a more practical education. So my school is very business orientated with economics, accounting, business studies etc. I sat in on a 'accounting' class this week as well, which was taught in German and English which was interesting.

My school (I didnt take this picture - its from their website) 

This week I also started planning a trip to Italy with Maddie (the Australian also living in Mainz!!), so in the October holidays (5th - 21st) we head off to Rome then make our way back through Pisa, Florence and Milan.

The weekend! - Center Parcs

So Nadin's sister works at this resort sort of place and they needed some 'test people' to try out the new houses that have just been built so we got to stay in this amazing VIP House for the weekend! It was amazing! 5 Bedrooms, 4 Bathrooms and Indoor Spa and Sauna!

Sauna, my Bedroom and Indoor Spa!

There was also a huge complex that contained a few restaurants, mini golf, bowling ally and a swimming pool with hydro-slides! Just in front of this was the 'beach' although we were at a lake, and you had to pay to enter. We were lucky and received a free weekend pass to the pool and the beach, although we only went to the pool as it was too cold for the beach.

The beach 

Swan pedal boats!!

Nadin's whole family was also there, so on the saturday night we had a BBQ and played some German drinking games.

Drinking game - that has no end!

Evelyn and I 

Playing the never ending drinking game

Dirndl

These are Nadin's cousins from Bavaria - they are wearing the traditional Dirndl. They don;t just wear it for Oktoberfest, but for all special occasions like weddings, family gathering etc.

On the way home!

On the way home we stopped at this small theme park (reaaally small!) and went on a luge sort of thing! You sat in the cart and you were transported up the hill 1.8km then you got to ride down! There was no steering, only brakes!

Going up! and that wasn't the top

Looking down.

Me at the end!

It was a big weekend! I was very tired last night, couldn't even be bothered cooking tea so I ventured out to the closest restaurant which was a Greek one and they did takeaways so I had a Greek feast in bed! Now a new week has started, and I have already been busy today going to IKEA which was an hour bus ride and purchased some goodies for my room, spent way to much! I'll put some pictures up this week of my room and flat!

The first week (12.09.13 - 15.09.13)

This week has been the busiest week and it feels like I have been here for such a long time already.

The conference – Monday to Thursday 

On Monday I caught the train to Köln with Jessica where we were to meet everyone to go to the conference. We thought that it would be just the New Zealand Assistants, but no there was like 120 of us from New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK. (Mostly from the UK). 

Der Dom (Church) in  Köln 

The wall of “Love Padlocks” on display on the Hohenzollernbrücke bridge in Cologne, Germany. 40,000 padlocks hang on the bridge to date - each inscribed, painted, or otherwise decorated by the couple that hung it. The couples come to publicly honor their love and to symbolize the everlasting nature of their love. Then the key is dropped over the edge, tumbling far below into the eternal waters of the river Rhine.

Maria an der aue

We were taken by bus to Maria an der aue, which is this conference centre about 30km from Köln, sort of in the mountains. It was really pretty! We were all assigned rooms with people who would be living near us. I got roomed with the (only) Australian – Maddie, who is also living in Mainz. The next few days we spent learning how to plan a class lesson and then practising this. Every meal was a buffet style, so we were well fed! Everyone was so friendly and I met a lot of awesome people.

The view from the Terrace - Maria an der aue

Thursday

We had to get up super early and were bussed back to Köln, where we were left to catch the train home.  That evening I went with my flatmate Nadin to a rock climbing centre. It was a lot of fun, but hurts your hands and feet (the shoes must be super tight and a bit smaller for better grip). We will go once a week! 

My Schultuete

Friday

This was my first day at school! Nadin was so kind and walked me there and helped me find the right office. I had to fill out a lot of forms and then I was shown around and then the English teacher who will be in charge of me also showed me around and introduced me to some of the teachers. Then I was allowed to go home. I start again on Monday at 8.45am and will just sit in on some English classes before I get a set timetable.  

In Germany it is a tradition that on the first day of school you receive a 'Schultuete' It is filled with lollies and stuff you need for school like pens and a lunchbox etc. So Nadin made me one for my first day of school

I also bought a new bike! It cost €20! Such a bargain.

My bike!

I also joined a gym (the same one Nadin goes to) and we went there in the evening and took a TRX class.

Saturday

I spent the morning with Maddie exploring Mainz a little bit more and we had lunch at this Thai place (I know we should be eating German food!), then we decided that we would go to Italy for the upcoming school holidays in October.

Thai Food

Sunday

Everything is closed on Sundays in Germany, so there isn’t much to do. Nadin had to go into work for a few hours, so I changed the inner tube in my bike wheel and then went to the gym. In the evening we went to Nadin’s friend’s house for dinner. Nadin is such a good cook, she makes everything from scratch – including the vegetable stock for our risotto and soup. We had zucchini and tomato soup with olive bread to start, pumpkin risotto for tea and then apple cake for dessert. Everything was soooo yum! 

Apple Cake

Im here!

Well after a 30 hour flight, then a train ride, bus ride, walk through a park and up four flights of stairs with over 40kg of luggage, I finally made it to my new home. I live in a flat with another German girl called Nadin, who was kind enough to pick me up from the airport and drag my luggage home with me. We went on a small walk into town yesterday, which is only about 7 minutes from my house.

Theatre - Mainz

Pretzel 

Allyway on the way home

Altstadt - Old Part of Town in Mainz

Nadin and I just down from our flat.