Money, Markets and Marek

Where to start, where to start... In order to keep this post relatively short, I'm going to skip about a week of my life from the middle of November. Don't worry you haven't missed much, it was a week much like the rest.

We'll start with how I'm getting on at Westwing. The short answer would be very well, but i'm not going to be resting on my laurels. Last week I had my 3-month meeting with my boss in which he assessed my performance over the first few months and also, more importantly, how much of my bonus I'd be getting. It turns out my contract is very different (in a good way) to other interns at the company, due to the fact that I signed it when the company was sitting pretty. Not that I'm complaining. My bonus was set at 80%, with most people in the firm performing between 60% and 70%. I won't divulge the exact amount, but it's safe to say that my trip to South America next summer is looking more and more realistic (Warrick, buck your ideas up boyo!). Most excitingly at work, we've finally made our move up to the 4th floor of the office to a much cosier and quieter room at the end of a corridor. Hopefully this will mean we'll be disturbed less! It's also allowed me to move myself so that I don't have my back to the majority of the room, something which I am very pleased about. As of today, our boss is on holiday until NEXT YEAR. The next few weeks are going to be hella tricky with no safety net but it's a challenge I'm looking forward to.

Lebkuchenlikör at the Nuremburg markets

This nicely links into my next topic. Friends! Slowly but surely I'm beginning to infiltrate already formed friendship groups and I have met a lot of very nice people. It was very naive and foolish of me at the start of my year abroad to think I'd be able to make only german friends. Since i've dropped that it's been a lot easier. At work there's the HR girls, french Alice and french Chloe and german Stefan and I even went out with the HR girls last week to a bizarre party held on the 14th floor of the building oppposite our work. The room was basically a bridge between the two towers and swayed whenever people jumped around. Which was always. Not so good when you're drunk!
Outside of work my social life is picking up at last! Friends from football, friends of friends and friends from the internet are beginning to fill my time more and more and i'm loving it. I've been invited to 3 Christmas parties next week and am going out twice this weekend, - i've not done that since I was in Leeds!

Last weekend Hannah was here and we had an incredibly Christmassy time. Whereas her last trip was sunny everyday, this time it was the polar opposite - literally. Snow felll sporadically for the entire weekend. On the Friday we visited Nuremberg and inadvertently arrived on the first day of the christmas markets; cue crowds beyond belief filling the streets, desperate to see teh Christkindengl. Luckily, once the 'opening ceremony' was over the numbers dropped massively and we were able to enjoy the markets at our leisure. It was a beautiful city and even the 3 hour train journey home couldn't dampen our spirits (much). We spent saturday in Haus der Kunst, an art museum on the edge of the englischer Garten before heading to 'the best burger restaurant in Munich'. It's a very bold claim but one that I have to agree with. It was expensive but I didn't let it detract from the experience (see above re bonuses). My mexican double cheeseburger and potato wedges with a Becks was an absolute delight and I'll be back there before the month is out - especially seeing as how it's open until 6am on saturday and sunday mornings for no obvious reason!

Sunday saw us visit the Munich christmas markets where we bought postcards and retired to Starbucks in order to write them and get warm. A brief visit from the effervescent Marcus and the weekend was over, much much earlier than Hannah or I wanted. After a slight mix up over which station her train platform we said what was probably the hardest goodbye since we've been in our respective countries. Christmas can not come quickly enough.

BURGERZ

In housing news Marek has returned to the house and we have spoken about whether I can move out. The current position is that I can move out whenever but would lose my deposit which is not an option I want to consider. However, a new possibility has potentially come to light. As long as I can find someone to live in my room for the remainder of my contract I can move out AND keep my deposit whenever I like! This is certainly good news but it involves a lot of legwork on my behalf to find a suitable tenant. There may yet be a silver lining to this housing situation...

A quick apology

My posts are getting more and more sporadic and the reasoning is thus - i do as much as I possibly can to ensure i'm out of the house as often as possible. This then limits the amount of time I have to write about my wild and wonderful adventures.

I will try to update in the next day or so, I promise. Until then, here's a photo of me being hassled by passersby at the Nuremberg Christmas Markets last weekend.

(Adopted) Debut goal for Thorpe

Since touching down back in Munich from Verona two weeks ago my life has been pretty much non-stop. It's also been a fortnight of firsts - my first bonus at work, my first football match and my first german friend! I have seen James Bond (auf Deutsch) and I have also been to 3 gigs in three days.

So, to the most important thing, the football. After a lacklustre debut last week where I was unable to assert myself due to the class of the team I took to the field day today treating the match as my 'adopted' debut. The first thing I have to mention about playing football in Germany is the hilarious level of seriousness involved - it's champions league level. Before the match can begin both teams must run out onto the pitch behind the referee, line up in the middle of the pitch and wave to the crowd, usually numbering around 10 people in total. After a quick round of handshakes the match can finally get underway. It takes approximately half a minute until the first opponent has theatrically thrown themselves on the ground, grasping their face as if they've just been shot. Miraculously, after a quick glance to see if the free kick has been given they're absolutely fine again. It's ridiculous.
My adopted debut was a local derby against FC Fürstenried, the team we share a training field with. It was also an important 6 pointer in the fight to stave off relegation. Any sort of worries or concerns we may have had though were quickly sorted out when we realised just how terrible the opponents were - our keeper was not tested once and he even managed an assist! 6-0 at half time and the game was over, we just needed to keep our heads and try to keep a clean sheet. The second half started in much the same fashion and after a bit of lax defending yours truly was bearing down on goal just the keeper to beat. Having not scored for a year and a half I was a bit rusty and got my angles slightly wrong, my shot rebounding off the post. Luckily it landed at the feet of our striker Vinny who selflessly squared it, allowing me my first goal in a Rovers shirt! Hardly the most important I'll score but it felt good all the same! The game wound down from here, ending at 7-0 and after we had all showered we relaxed with a beer and watched the first team playing against the Italians. Sundays are great.


Earlier in the week I attended my 2nd concert since being in Munich, Dry the River at Atomic Cafe. I then attended my 3rd (Beach House) and then my fourth(Purity Ring)! I won't go into too much detail as I wrote reviews for the first 2 gigs here: http://thegoodreview.co.uk/2012/11/dry-the-river-munich/ and here:http://thegoodreview.co.uk/2012/11/beach-house-hansa-39-munich-2/. It also allowed me to make a german friend! Arguably the most important thing of the week.

Unfortunately though, it hasn't been all gravy this week, as I found out from my landlord that I wouldn't be able to move out until at least the middle of January which is highly, highly frustrating, especially as I'd already found a nice place to move into on December 1st. The annoying thing is that he's not in the country at the moment, so I can't discuss anything with him until he returns at the start of December. Every other aspect of my life though is currently giving me hope that I can enjoy my time here, and with the arrival of the Christmas markets next weekend (criminally early) long may the festivities continue!

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene

After 2 months of hard grafting (ish) it was about time I gave myself a well deserved rest and that is what I did last weekend, when I took the trip by plane to see Hannah in Verona. All Saints Day (not named after the famous nineties girl group or the clothes shop) is celebrated in Germany with a public holiday, giving me the perfect chance to extend my trip to last from Thursday to Monday. 

Thursday + Friday -  Sun, Sights and Swimwear

Arriving at around 2pm, I got off the bus from the airport to see a beaming Hannah waiting for me wrapped up in her winter warmth (even thought Verona feels tropical in comparison to Munich). Thursday was spent relaxing and talking as we’d both had rather heavy nights the night before! Dinner out at a typically Italian restaurant overlooking the Amphitheatre and then we got an early night. Friday was forecasted sunshine so we headed out into the city. After taking in the rather underwhelming sight of Juliet’s famous balcony, we decided to look for higher ground in order to get a great view of the city. We headed up to where the old city walls can still be seen and got a fantastic panoramic of the city and surrounding areas, whilst taking in the last of the Indian summer.

A quick change and we were out to an all-inclusive pool party just outside of town. I assumed this would be a scummy affair, with middle aged men stood waist deep in lukewarm water, leering at any girl who went anywhere near. As such I didn’t bother to take swimwear with me – who wants to be carrying around wet clothes in a club? Instead it turned out that this was an ACTUAL pool with a bar and DJ booth. Swimwear was listed as optional so was the split about 50-50? No. We were virtually the only people there not in swimwear. The night never really picked up from here and we ended up waiting around outside for a bus for about 2 hours.

Saturday was a slow day with one particular highlight – ice cream. A smorgasbord of flavours was available on every street corner but Hannah took me to a particular favourite where the ice cream had bits in. Not just small bits, but full hazelnuts and wafers! Truly great.

Sunday - Oh Sun, Sun! Wherefore art thou Sun?

Sunday saw the rain arrive but we didn’t let it dampen our spirits. Giardino Giusti is a beautiful, classically Italian garden in the heart of Verona. Hidden behind huge walls, the garden is designed in tiers so that a more of the city can be seen the further up you travel – very clever. I wanted to do one last bit of sightseeing before I left so we made our way to the Amphitheatre. What we hadn’t realised was that it only costs 1€ every first Sunday of the month – which it was! I had a highly enjoyable time pretending I was a fighter, a punter and also doing the classic thumbs down pose as Caesar. 

A thoroughly enjoyable weekend all-round until my 4am Monday morning journey to the airport by a very overpriced taxi followed by a full day at work. It’s going to take rather a while to fit back into the Munich lifestyle again.

Post- Parent Blues

Munich life hasn't been normal for a very long time now. Welcome visits from family and Hannah have left me with no free time and the time has just flown. For the past 2 weekends Ma and Pa Thorpe have been in Munich and were joined my Matty for the second weekend, which was (obviously) greeted with a great deal of hostility from the landlord, as he was to be staying at mine for the first night.

Weekend 1 - Sightseeing & Shopping

The boobs of the Frauenkirchen

To quote a massively overused phrase my parents' visit was a tale of 2 halves. The first weekend was filled with glorious sunshine giving us a great opportunity to get out in the city and visit many of the attraction which I haven't yet managed to see (or haven't wanted to pay for)! This included a trip up to the top of the Rathaus, with it's panoramic views which allowed me to pick out every landmark and give a brief history of my very brief knowledge of Munich! This was followed by a trip inside the recently christened 'boob church' or Frauenkirchen to you or I (my parents are quite childish). Saturday saw us sampling the shops of Munich, as my football boots which had been with me the for best part of 6 years finally gave up the ghost and fell apart - somewhat conveniently. With the sun beating down in felt a shame to take the U-Bahn around town so instead we ended up walking everywhere. By the time we made it to the alte Pinakothek my Mum and I were well and truly done for and in no way up for walking round a gallery. Instead, we parted ways with Dad and found ourselves a comfy, sunny spot against the Pinakothek and had a little snooze. For what it's worth the Pinakothek is apparently very impressive inside too.

To say I ate well would be an understatement. My mum's '2 meals a day' holiday meal meant that by dinner time my Dad and I were ravenous and ready to try the many delicacies of Bavaria. From Würsts, to Wienerschnitzel via Spätzle, we ate everything - washing it all down with a few Weißbier. Monday came all too quickly and after a delicious greek meal (also huge) the rents parted ways and headed off to Garmisch to take rural Bavaria before returning the next weekend.

Weekend 2 - The Young Pretender Arrives

After weeks of mithering Mum and Dad were able to convince Matt that a free holiday to Munich wasn't a bad thing. The objective was simple - I was to pick Matty up from the S Bahn stop near work and 'look after him' until the whole fam were together the next day. Everything ran incredibly smoothly (lucky, as Matt's phone had run out of battery) and after a quick dinner and change we headed out to meet my friends at a bar for a few drinks. As I had taken the day off work tomorrow there was no need to keep tabs on my drinks and a couple soon turned in rather a lot. Big mention must go to Marcus, who was able to keep up with us AND get up for work at 7am the next morning. Friday was filled mainly with sleeping but we did manage to take in BMW Welt before heading to football and then meeting up with the parents at the hostel.

The second weekend was mainly overshadowed by our trip to Dachau concentration camp on the Saturday. The temperature had dropped considerably since the last weekend and was hovering around zero - with rumours of snow. After a 45 minute walk from the station to the 'KZ Gedenkstätte' we purchased our audio tours and headed into the camp.

It's difficult to get a feel for the magnitude of the atrocities that happened here but the tour and museum paints a pretty gruesome picture which made me wonder how anybody could live in the area now, knowing what happened there less than a century ago. A short video showed us images of piles of bodies and gave us first person accounts of people held at the camp but still I couldn't grasp the terror of the place. We walked through where the prisoners used to stay, through the roll call yard and to the crematorium. This is where it finally hit me. Standing in a room with 2 furnaces which you know have burnt countless human corpses is hard to deal with but as I walked through to the 'waiting room', a windowless room where the bodies were piled up, I felt a terror creep over me and I just had to get out of there. I felt dirty afterwards and had a sour taste in my mouth. My Mum was equally as horror struck and we left the camp soon after.

On the corner of Manchester Platz

Sunday was a relaxed day as 'the boys' visited Manchester Platz - a memorial to the tragic air disaster involving members of the Manchester United team back in 1958.

The snow was enticing us outside but the bitter cold was doing its best to keep us inside. We managed a quick trip around the englischer Garten before the fam collected their bags and headed to the airport.

The train ride back from the airport found me wishing myself back to England, to a warm, rural Pub with a blazing fire and Northerners. It's a feeling that's stuck with me for the past two days and one that I hope will pass soon otherwise it's going to be bloody hard for me to return to Munich after a Christmas back home.

No, I'm not dead.

I can only give my sincerest apologies for my complete lack of updates in the past few weeks. No, I have not been in the Amazon rainforest and no I have not been stranded in the mountains with no means of contact. I have in fact, just been incredibly busy. Boring I know. Just to show how sorry I am, here is a photo of me trying to recreate the pose of a red statue of an asian man. I hope that helps.


Anyhoo, so what has been keeping me busy for the past few weeks? In short, EVERYTHING. The three people who were fired from work have now left meaning there is half the staff with double the workload. On Mondays I'm lucky if I have a day shorter the 10 hours. Not including lunch break. This has been quite good though, as I feel I'm slowly beginning to work up more responsibility in the firm. I am now in charge of the dailz running of the business, which would be relatively straightforward had people not started finding mistakes in every report that were they before I even started! Sod's law really, as I'm having to build some reports from scratch again. On top of this we are trying to introduce our biggest and most important report yet (I won't bore you with the details) but this has hit many stumbling blocks meaning even longer hours. I barely have time to even attempt to make friends at work!

Outside of work I have also been extremely pushed for time. I've had uni work to complete, a shop to do, a haircut to get amongst various visits and social activities! This has also been good though, because it's left me very little time to think about how much I dislike where I'm currently living. I've decided that I owe it to myself to try and find somewhere else to live, with young people ONLY. If I don't I think I would probably feel like I'd wasted one of the most valuable experiences of my life. I'm not prepared to do that just yet.

In other news, I've finally joined a football team - Munich Irish Rovers! As you can probably tell, it's not a native German team so I won't actually be able to practice my German at any point but they seem to be like a nice bunch of lads which I feel is much more important. They train twice a week with matches on Sundays and boy do they work you hard. My first training session happened to be 'fitness night' and I can honestly say I've never been worked so hard in my life. I could barely walk for the next four days! I've just got back from training tonight actually, where I scored the greatest goal of my career to the awe of my teammates. I hope there's plenty more where that came from! The only downside is that it's about 40 minutes away from where I live  so it takes up an entire evening when I go but one lad lives relatively close to where I do and drives his softtop BMW training each week. I think we're gonna become good friends.

My german friend count is depressingly still at zero but I think (hope) that I am making inroads on a few fronts. I've decided to use a music website to see who else is going to the same gigs I've got lined up in the next month or so and then try to talk to them. This has yielded 2 potential results! All I've got to do is build it up to the point where it won't be too awkward to ask if they want to go for a drink somewhere. It's probably a slow burner but it's a start.

Last weekend my parents were in town and we spent a great weekend together. Matty flies out tomorrow and Ma and Pa return to Munich on Friday so I will give a full report of their visit once they've flown back to England. I also saw The Vaccines at BMW Welt last Saturday - I wrote a review of it for my cousin's website here http://thegoodreview.co.uk/2012/10/the-vaccines-bmw-world-munich/

So that's my life up-to-date! Once I get into the middle of November things should begin to settle down again and I should be able to update more frequently and move my life forward. Everything is just too hectic at the moment to do that! I leave you now to go and collapse into bed, before this all starts over again tomorrow.

Hannah's Trip across the border

Friday was not a very productive day. I was well aware of the fact that an hour after I clocked off for the weekend I would be standing at Hauptbahnhof waiting for Hannah to arrive on her 5 1/2 hour train from Verona. Ten minutes later than expected, the presumably italian train rolled into the station (german trains are too ruthlessly efficient to run late). A quick bag drop off and we were back in town for a stroll and meal on what was an unusually mild Munich night.

Having balked at the prices of relatively standard looking restaurants in the posh district, we headed to Marienplatz and found JUST what we were looking for - an over-the-top, typically german eaterie. As we walked in and up the stairs we were greeted by the sounds of an Accordion and a hearty rendition of "Ein Prosit". After we placed our orders (Wiener Schnitzel and Schweinehaxe) we were able to sit back and enjoy our surroundings. Songs were sung, dances were danced and beers were clinked - it was like being at Oktoberfest all over again! Well fed (and well tired!) we took the U-Bahn back to Michaelibad and collapsed into bed.

A lazy morning was had on Sunday before I showed Hannah the sights. Munich was on fine form this weekend, with the sun beaming down and the city buzzing with activity. Ander Art Festival was taking place in Odeonsplatz and we were able to sit in the sunshine, drink a Radler (beer and lemonade, Hannah's still not convinced on beer) and listen to some live music from Sadie Walker, which two not-so-young ladies seemed to be loving, as they were throwing shapes that i'd never attempt even in my most drunk state!

 

 A quick stop off at the ridiculous Michael Jackson memorial which has to be seen to believe and we were off to Oktoberfest. What with it being the last weekend of a festival that brought in 6.9 million visitors last year we weren't very hopeful about getting in anywhere. We weren't wrong.

Having decided on the Nymphenburg Zelt (the queue was the shortest) we stood and watched the bouncer hand-pick members of the queue who were allowed in. Obviously we were seething at first and thought the guy was a sexist pervert, but this was until we realised he was only letting people in who were wearing Lederhosen and Dirndls! A quick flash of my dashing outfit and we were in. We soaked up the atmosphere as much as we could before deciding we'd prefer a drink elsewhere and closer to home.

With over 2000 tonnes of sand, Beach 38 was something Hannah needed to experience. We sat and enjoyed the warmth for a while, wondering why such a exciting bar was so empty on a saturday night.

Sunday was a day of reckoning. An early rise was followed by a stress-filled few hours full of hope, dispair, and utter bewilderment. All our toil and trouble paid off though as we finally managed to guarantee ourselves 2 tickets to the biggest show of next year - Glastonbury!

Nothing else happened on Sunday.

Hannah's train back to Verona was at 7:30am which meant an obscenely early wake up call. Not cool. We got to the train station with plenty of time and thought we'd be able to say a heartfelt goodbye. Unfortunately a stony-hearted station mistress had decided this wasn't to be, nothing more than a quick hug and a kiss and Hannah was back on her way home.
A thoroughly enjoyable weekend all round and one which I hope can be repeated again when I travel to Verona at the start of November!

Only in Germany

Went to the local park yesterday to read my book. I was greeted by this old fella going nuts to some music!

What a terrible day

Wow. Today started with a hastily scheduled meeting for everybody who works in Business Intelligence, Finance, Marketing and IT. This meeting was to discuss the future aims of the company and how they could improve their standing in the 4th quarter after a poor 3rd quarter. It began with an in depth overview of the new action plan which can be summarised into 2 point - increase gross margin, reduce costs. It soon dawned on us why we were in this meeting - we were the costs that were going to be cut. We were told to go back to our departments and work for the rest of the day as if nothing had happened, and that we would be called for later in the day for individual meetings where we would find out if we still had a job or not.

Naturally this was met with utter bewilderment and the day dragged by very slowly with very few of the primary functions of the company running smoothly. I for one felt I was a prime candidate for the chop - I was merely an intern, had only recently started and didn't have a great deal of responsibility. The time came when our department were to be called in for our make or break meetings. Silence fell across the room.

First up was Bastian, the man who I had been shadowing and supporting since my very first day and who provided integral analysis to the entire company. Ten minutes past before he returned. With tears in his eyes he picked up his jacket and left. He'd been fired. This partially calmed me, as I thought I may be in line to inherit his job and that I might be safe.

Next up was Luc a new recruit from Holland whose birthday it was today. He has integrated into the company very quickly and had lots of important tasks regarding the highest people in the company. This did not save him. Another relatively new recruit, Jonathon, was also fired, but he seemed the least bothered of any of them, claiming he already has other jobs in the pipeline. At this point it was 3 out of 3 that had been fired. It didn't look good.

Our boss, who was also sitting in on the meetings, came into the office to call the next 'victim' forward. However, the bad news stopped here, and the remaining 4 people in the department would still have a job come tomorrow. In the space of an hour our department was practically halved in size and for those remaining, the responsibilities doubled.

Huge cutbacks were happening in all departments to the point where the entire Marketing department no longer exists. From a firm of around 800 this morning we are now down to somewhere in the region of 500-600.

The boss called it a day and we all finished early. To say I was relieved would be an understatement and I now look forward to playing an integral role with many responsibilities in what is a very exciting start up company.

Phew!

Oktoberfest

As many of you may know, yesterday was the beginning of Oktoberfest, one of the biggest drink festivals the world over. What many of you may not have known is the ridiculous time you need to get there on opening day to secure a table. Giving ourselves a semi lie-in we made our way to Theresienwiese at half past 8. The site was already a hive of activity, with thousands of people wandering round in Lederhosen and Dirndl. Even at this hour there were people who had gone too hard too soon and were having to be propped up by friends - an ominous sign.

After a short queue we managed to get into the Hofbräuhaus tent, the largest on the site, and met up with our friend Izzy and her friend Katie. These two had been particularly eager and had arrived at 7. They were still only able to get a standing table. So there we were at 9am in an enormous tent waiting for it all to kick off. Beer was not to be served until 12pm when the mayor was to take part in the time-honoured tradition of tapping the first keg of beer. As his cries of 'O' zapft!' rang out, the room erupted and the party began.

Our small group was intended to be a lot larger but events conspired somewhat unfortunately. Katie's 3 friends from Erlangen were supposed to get the train down with her at 5am that morning but had overslept and had to shell out for new tickets. When they finally arrived on site at around 9 30 they were desperate to get in and meet up with us. However, the wooden decking surrounding the tent was particularly slippy and one of them fell quite badly, breaking his arm and needing to be taken to hospital. He's being kept there until thursday as he needs a plate put in his arm. Not a great start. Our other friend Hattie had overslept so only got to the tent at 9 45, by which point the queues were huge and they'd stopped letting people in. After 2 and a half hours waiting she was about to call it a day when we overheard a few people who had sneaked in the back way. 10 minutes later and she was in, sipping on her first stein of Oktoberfest beer.

Songs were sung, beers were drunk friends were made but seeing as how we'd been there since 9am a few of us were ready to leave around 5pm. It had already been a long day. Izzy, Katie and I headed off towards Odeonsplatz to Vappiano's, a restaurant we'd been highly recommended but which was bloody hard to find. At this point I'd've been happy with a Maccies but we persevered and boy was it worth it. Still slightly drunk, the diavolo pizza that i had was to die for and it filled me up good and proper. By this point is was 9pm and definitely time to head home, I jumped on the U-Bahn and made my way back to Michaelibad, safe in the knowledge that I'd enjoyed my time at Oktoberfest without making a fool of myself or breaking my arm. That's got to be a good thing right?

World Exclusive

    For my third weekend in Munich I found myself speaking almost exclusively in English. Friday night saw the usual suspects (Marcus, Greggers and I) found ourselves at the world-renowned Löwenbräukeller awaiting the arrival of some new friends.
    A friend of a friend of a friend had put Marcus in touch with some other brits abroad and we were more than happy to meet up! We spent our night making fools of ourselves in front of Izzy and Hattie, too many Steins, not enough time. A drunken goodbye was said and we all stumbled our separate ways home.
    Awakening to the sound of my housemate's 2 crying kids at 7am was not ideal. This was my day off, I wanted a lie in! I tried my best but sleep would not return so I got up, got dressed and met Marcus and Greggers in town for some serious Lederhosen shopping. We were all pretty unwilling to part with 100€ for something with a limited usage period but we felt it was a must have. And now we all do have. Bring on Oktoberfest!
    The evening saw the three amigos together again at my house, where I cooked them a ("delicious") meal before heading to the swimming pool from which my district gets its name. Michaelibad is great. We went down the slide (obviously), we went in the steam room (obviously) and we did a few lengths in the normal pool. But the majority of our time was spent outside in the heated whirlpool. I feel that place may get some serious use from me in the next 9 months - lush!
   Sunday began with a bollocking from the landlord. Apparently, having friends around is fine, but COOKING FOR THEM?! what the hell was I thinking. He also didn't like that there was a few specks of oil on the hob and ordered me to immediately remove them. Somewhat coincidentally it was also my turn to clean the house. This is a top to bottom clean which is scrutinised by Marek every step of the way. It includes: hoovering, mopping, wiping, cleaning, brushing and emptying to name but a few. Gah. Football then followed shortly after as I headed to the englischer Garten (again) to meet up with a few friends I'd met the thursday before. A lot of fun was had and I actually spoke some german! Hopefully it'll become a regular thing and - whisper it- maybe i'll make some friends!

Watch this space.

More Photos

Living area and kitchen this time! there's even a piano!

It's been a while

 It's been rather a long time since my last post and a smorgasbord of things have occurred. Firstly, I'VE FOUND A HOUSE! It's within walking distance of work and right next to a swimming pool. I'm going to be a buff ting by next year i think. This is the most important thing to happen in my life and here are some juicy, juicy pictures.

Once Greggers had help me transport my bags from his to mine (i stayed at his at the weekend, sleeping on a sun lounger) I was left to do all the generic moving in things like signing a contract, unpacking my bags etc. Although unlike in Leeds there was no rush from my new housemates to see the 'Newbie'. In fact, i've been here for two nights now and said no more than 5 words to each of them. Hmm. It's an odd set up, in which the landlord lives on the top floor and his son is one of the other 3 tenants. I'm yet to be convince whether they're friend material.

Having unpacked my bags I made my way down to the swimming pool 2 minutes down the road and was pleasantly surprised to find that late night swimming costs only 2€! I did a brisk 50 lengths before hobbling home and getting into bed. Last night was the first night I've slept alone in a room for around 6 weeks and the whole experience was rather peculiar. Refreshed and raring to go I got up at 7 and was able to walk into work, a mere 40 minutes away, where I spent the day creating a Powerpoint presentation (yes, people still do those) on Excel for dummies.

My next mission was to the Lidl just down the road as I had no food to eat in the house. After inquiring with a number of locals I made my way there and did as authentic a german shop as I could do. Meaning lots of sausages and weird bread. As I approached the till I remembered something Marcus had said a few days back - "they don't accept VISA in Lidl... fucking melts". I looked into my wallet to see only a 5€ note a few coins. Definitely not enough.

Obviously I attempted it anyway but this merely resulted in embarrassing me as I had to leave the store with my trolley on one side. Another friendly local was able to tell me where the nearest cash machine was, but unlike England, these are not on every corner. In fact the closest one was two bus stops away! I ran. It was raining and I ran. My legs still aching from swimming the night before, I felt like Forrest Gump before his legs miraculously (and somewhat suspiciously) fixed themselves. I made it back to the store minutes before closing time and could finally take my purchases home.

But this was not to be the end of the saga. Oh no. When I arrived back home I dug into my pocket in search of my door key, whick was handily on a lanyard to keep it safe... it was nowhere to be found. I spent over an hour trawling the streets, looking like a low-life whenever I stooped over to check under a car. Nothing.

As of yet I'm yet to hear just how expensive this little error will be, but all will be revealed soon.

Table Dance Boobs

After the end of what was a very long and busy week I find myself sat in the basement with a beer and strawberries listening to a crap dj playing to an empty room while watching the football. After a week I feel I'm really starting to get used to life here (munich, not the hostel).  I now know what my responsibilities at work are going to be for the forseeable future and I have found a perfect flat! Whether or not I'll get it is a different matter.

Located on the banks of the Isar, the flat that I viewed on thursday was a small one but arguably the best suited to me. The people who live there at the moment are my age and I got on really well with them for the short time I was there. The area is beautiful and it's set back from most of the hustle and bustle of Munich, whilst still being quite central. Oh, and it's next to THE BLOODY ZOO! Apparently when it's really quiet you can hear the animals from the balcony. Too cool. I find out on sunday whether I get that, so fingers crossed!

As far as work goes I think it's going to change me as a person. Most noticeably in the eyesight department. 90% of the stadd in my department need glasses and I can see why. I've spent the last two days scrutinising data in an Excel spreadsheet. It's undoubtedly going  to give me a great CV, with new skills (SQL, time management, etc) but it's only been a week and I already don't think it's a career path I want to follow!

Anyways, with no plans this evening I decide to go on an aimless stroll around the city, just as the sun was going down. Boy did I see some sights. First off was the sight of Oktoberfest 2012. I knew the germans were big into their drinking but the sheer size of the park is a sight to behold. I think it's very likely that I'll remember nothing of the next few weekends! Just one street away and I inadvertently wandered into the red light district, not before I'd been past the MENSA headquarters obviously. One that caught my eye was the hilariously titled 'Table Dance Boobs'. Germans certainly do not mince their words.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Marcus and Greggers as the three Amigos attempt to locate cheap Lederhosen. Check back tomorrow to see the results! 

Nathy, don't be hasty

My german needs vast improvement. I understood nothing again today in the office and it's beginning to get to me. I'm fine when (trying to) socialise but I just don't understand any of the technical vocabulary!

I've still not done anything worthwhile as I still have 50+ videos to watch on SQL before I'm ready. I wish they'd just told me in summer I was going to be using it so I could practice! I think I should have a few jobs to do tomorrow, reports to send, etc as I was shown how to do them today. Then once I learn SQL properly it can all kick off. I asked the boss today what I was actually going to be doing and he said it was mostly analysis of data, which means lots of spreadsheets and lots of graphs, but that's fine by me.

The best thing about work is that there is unlimited free drinks all day. Whenever you fancy you can just go and get a 2L bottle of water, fanta, spezi or even beer! I daren't go for that just yet, but maybe I'll have a bad day at some point.

Because I spend most of the day with headphones on I missed when all of the department went for lunch together. I ended up sitting with a few people I'd spoken to briefly the day before but they left me on my own soon after, to return to work. Gah, it'll get better. I've decided tomorrow is the day where I try to be talkative but I don't know how likely that is.


On the house search front, I've had many people who want me to transfer money before I see the flat (obvs not real) but not many real leads. I've got one viewing on thursday at a house which is NEXT TO THE BLOODY ZOO. I hope i get it but they seem to be doing it as an interview process so I'm nervous!

Tonigh i'm going for dinner with Marcus and Greggers, who arrived today, to catch up and hopefully have something good to eat for a change!

Working 10 til 7, what a way to make a living

I did it! I had my first day and am still alive! After a somewhat restless night sleep I got up nice and early to give me plenty of time to get to Westwing. After a 20 minute wait at the Hauptbahnhof (unheard of) i made my way to Leuchtenbergring and into Dingolfingerstraße 2, Westwing's head office. A trip up to the fifth floor found me in a meeting room with the 20+ people who were also starting today, either as interns or full time. The introduction was made a great deal easier by the fact that is was conducted totally in english because some people at the company cannot speak german! Losers.

After a tour of the office (which is now spread on 3 floors) we went for another 'team-dinner', where I ended up sitting opposite one of the founders of Westwing. Luckily, i'd been able to steer clear of the people who didn't speak german and conducted the rest of my day in german! I didn't find it that difficult during lunch even though it was really noisy but that might've been because every other person in the company is a complete babe! I've never seen such a good looking group of people!

In the afternoon we all went our separate ways and began in our various departments. When I came to Westwing for my interview there were only 3 people in the department but the growth of this company is astounding - there are now 10 of us! I don't know what it was about the people in my deparment but I barely understood a word for the rest of the day :/ luckily I was able to hide myself away with some video tutorials on SQL which I need to learn - currently there are 62 remaining which isn't ideal!

The workplace seems really relaxed and I think I'll settle in quickly. My colleages are nice and I think there may be some future friends there! The work seems doable and best of all, the guy who was rude to me last week no longer works there - success!

House search still hasn't moved on but - dare i say it - i'm beginning to settle in!

Better late than never!

Saturday was an odd day. After going far too hard on friday night, Marcus and I awoke to realise we were supposed to be meeting the one and only Simon Falk at the Hauptbahnhof in 10 minutes time! Once we'd found him we spent the day walking around Marienplatz and checking out the various weird shops. We had a late lunch and ended up eating in an Afghan Restaurant! There's a first time for everything and it was delicious!

We walked around for a bit more before leaving Simon for the afternoon. This was not the last we would see of him. After a nap, some dinner and a few games of table football we headed out to meet a man called Nick Bauer who Marcus was buying a bike off. It was love at first sight and Marcus now can't stop talking about it!

We then walked/cycled to the University where we met Simon and some ex-Leeds Uni students who are now living in Munich. It was happy hour so we got plenty of cheap cocktails in before heading to a club in the middle of nowhere. We must have been walking around for about half an hour not really knowing where to go. - so little german efficiency! In the meantime we met a battered old man on the U Bahn who even the germans were struggling to understand. Obviously we beatboxed and he rapped over the top, it's the natural thing to do! Eventually we made it to the club, apparently there was a big night on which meant you could get into any club in the area with your wristband which was pretty cool. It was very much like an english club and i had perhaps one too many drinks but we live and learn eh?

Great night and will be nice to meet up with that group again, especially seeing as how they can help us out with anything!

Seeking Asylum at the British Consulate

Arguably our most productive day since arriving in Munich today we accomplished... a few things. An early start saw us at the Hauptbahnhof for 9am where we were STILL unable to get a student travel card.

Our next stop was the British Consulate. Having spent all week in various queues we went to get some real help and found it in the form of Chris Dowers. What a man. He was able to give us all the information and forms we needed to get us properly sorted over the next few weeks.

Confident and full of new knowledge, we strutted our way back to Puccistraße where we had originally registered with the town only to find we were in the wrong place again! Tax cards are given at the Finanzamt, duh!

Upon arrival we found we can't apply for a card for another two weeks. Damn. However, I NOW HAVE A GERMAN SIM CARD. This makes me almost officially german right? I've also been able to get myself another house viewing for next saturday having spoken to one of the 2 students currently living there. I just want some friends!

Things are hopefully looking up, i just need somewhere to stay for the next week or so!

Marcus and I have set up rival blogs and unfortunately he's currently winning, despite my best efforts. He's since become an 'expert' and is posting on every social media site known to man! This is not how our first friday in Munich should be going!

7 Steps to Student Success in Munich 2012

Having just moved to Munich, my friend Marcus and I (both Auslandsjahrstudenten) decided to create a check-list of things that you need to do once you arrive. We hope you find our tips both detailed and useful. Our step-by-step guide is ideal for anyone going to live, work or study in Munich (and indeed Germany) this year.

IMPORTANT - be sure to carry your passport with you at all times. If you fail to adhere to this and are stopped by a Police Officer (Polizeibeamter) then you are liable to be arrested.


1: At the airport

Follow signs to the S-Bahn. The logo is easy to recognise - it is a green circle with a white S in the centre. Before you take the escalator down to the platform, ensure that you have purchased a ticket from the ticket desk. The best value ticket you can buy is the Streifenkarte for 12€. Which should last for a few days.



2: Anmeldung (registration):

Within the first few days of arriving you must register your presence with the City authorities. In Munich this can be done at the Kreisverwaltungsreferat. The nearest Tube station is Poccistraße which can be found on the blue/red U6/U3 line. Take your passport with you. At the end of this process you will be given a Anmeldebestätigung. Congratulations you are now officially a citizen of Munich!



3: Bank account

Setting up a bank account in Germany is very easy. As long as you have a permanent address and Passport you will be able to open an account. We recommend Deutsche Bank as it gives you free cash withdrawals in over 30 countries. They also have a free student account (Das Junge Konto).



4: Mobile phone

Telekom (T-Mobile) and Vodafone are the two biggest phone companies, but look around for deals. To set up a monthly contract you need to have a bank account, but "Prepaid" (Pay as You Go) accounts can be set up in store in a matter of minutes.



5: Registration at LMU - Ludwig-Maximilians Universität Immatrikulationsbescheinigung

Take the U-Bahn to the conveniently named stop Universität on the U6/U3 line. When you exit at ground level you will see two fountains either side of Ludwigstraße. The main University building is the building with arches directly behind the fountain, on the opposite side to the Englischer Garten. 

Once in the building follow the corridor to your left. At the end of this corridor you will find the Studentenkanzlerei where you can go to ask questions and advice. However, as an Erasmus student your first stop is left before the Studentenkanzlerei, follow this corridor with lockers to the end where you will see a small library straigh ahead. Continue straight through into the next building where you will see many different rooms. Go up the stairs to your right and you should find a spiral staircase on the first floor. Proceed up this spiral staircase for the Erasmus office. Here they will give you all the advice you need regarding LMU.

6: Student Travel pass

The transport system in Munich is run by MVV (Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund) as opposed to Deutsche Bahn. To get a travel pass for the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, Metro etc with a student discount you will need to following:

• If working, bring a copy of your Praktikumsvertrag (work contract) stamped by your University and employer

• If studying just bring a copy of your Immatrikulationsbescheinigung (Student registration certificate)

• Passport-style photo (35X45mm)

• Ausweis (Passport)

• Anmeldebestätigung (registration certificate: see 2)

• Mietvertrag (copy of your rental agreement)

7: Lohnsteuerkarte (Income Tax card):
Two weeks after you have registered with the city you will receive a tax number. At which point you will be able to register and get a Lohnsteuerkarte (Income tax card). This is done at the Finanzamt (nearest station Hackerbrücke - S1-8) NOT at the Kreisverwaltungsreferat. 


If you are struggling with any aspects of your life in Munich the best advice is to visit your nearest Consulate. The British Consulate is located at Möhlstraße 5, 81675 München. The nearest U-Bahn stop is Prinzregentenplatz accessible from the green U4 line. They are very helpful and have answers to everything!

Good Luck and enjoy your stay in München!

Today has been scary

As above. Another day and still no responses from the people I have emailed about accommodation. I decided today to take the radical route and phone ACTUAL GERMANS to see if I could get a viewing. First one, nicest room i've ever seen - success! An hour later and i was in the suburbs of Munich standing outside a typical bavarian pub. Unfortunately, the roommates were a 40+ couple and a Malaysian lad whose German is as good as mine. It's not exactly the best way for me to improve my german.

Great room, weird people. Today then consisted of moping and feeling sorry for myself. I've read a bit of my finance book and rang a few more people but have had no success. SOMEBODY LOVE MEH. tonight i'll get all my work things sorted and then tomorrow we have a big day ahead of us. We've tried our best to do it alone but tomorrow we call in reinforments - THE BRITISH EMBASSY. help us!

Interesting Day

After a lazy morning of feeling crap because nobody wants to reply to me, Marcus and I went on a Schreibwarengeschäfte Jagd (stationary shop hunt)! I've bought myself a german diary, a german finance book on how to get rich and a miniature german-italian dictionary which will help me in two ways! It certainly made us feel good (although i felt good for considerably less than marcus!)

Then we attempted to register at the uni again TO NO AVAIL. having eventually found the right department we found it was closed on wednesday, a wasted journey.

The main excitement for the day was saved until the evening. Having got an email from my boss i headed off towards the Ostbahnhof for a "Team-Dinner" at what must be the coolest bar in Munich - 2000 tonnes of sand including NINE beach volleyball courts. Anyways, i sat next to a very rude future colleague who didn't oince speak to me and had his back towards me for the entire meal. Pfft. However the guy opposite, Andy, is 41 (the oldest of the team) and has a sister who lives in Oxford. His favourite band? Radiohead. His favourite football team? Man Utd. If only he was 20 years younger we'd be bezzies!

I didn't end up speaking that much german but it was good to begin listening to their accents and when I did speak they seemed to understand. Alles gut. I had no idea how young Westwing is - FIRST BIRTHDAY TOMORROW. ridiculous. the department has trebled in size since I was last here. Ridiculous.

Tomorrow we should be able to get registered with the uni. as for the WG search, still fruitless.

Speak soon!

Nath

First day complete!

Weirdly enough I had an uncharacteristically early start, getting up at 8! This meant I was able to spend a few hours finding suitable shared accommodation before lunch. I have now applied for 22 viewings and need to wait for the landlords to reply to me. Hopefully i'll get enough to have a choice of places.
We did a Lidl shop (Marcus and I) before lunch as there is a fridge, oven, hob etc in the room so we can have pasta for tea every night and ham and cheese baguettes every lunch! I'm soon going to tire of that.

After lunch we walked to Marienplatz through the main shopping area (where there were FIVE H&Ms) to find the registration office. After some german communicating we located it and officially became citizens! (above)

We then went to the Uni to try and cheekily register (you get cheap railcards and gym usage). Then we went to the englischer Garten which is THE BEST park in the world! there's a man made river which is basically a rapids ride, loads of people just lie they are float downstream! at the very start it's so strong that people are able to surf on it!

It's been a good day but hopefully we'll speak more and more german over the next few days before work starts.

I'm ACTUALLY here

It's hard to believe that I'm in Munich now for my year abroad. I've had my sights set on this since high school and it always seemed like a distant dream. Arrived last night and it was incredibly good to see a face I knew in Marcus. We went straight out for a few pints and spent the whole night catching up. in english. Hopefully today i will speak more german because I'm really scared about that aspect of this year. It feels as if I've forgotten all of my vocabulary and I just have no confidence in the language. I'm also scared about finding somewhere to live. It seems like a really difficult thing to do and I only have one week. I just want to skip forward a few weeks when I'm settled and getting on with the year. I think I'll be nervous until then.

On with the House search!

Nath