Schönes Hamburg!

Unglaublich! Its the start of May and Hamburg has revealed a totally new side of itself – a sunny and pleasantly more bustling side. The weather here is renowned as being constantly rainy, similar to Manchesters reputation back in England. However things have all changed and for the past couple of weeks now we have seen nothing but sun sun and more sun!

There is plenty happening here too, tonight I am going to the Fettes Brot gig (the band whose lyrics I posted in the previous Blog) at the open air theatre in hamburg Stadtpark and Hamburg harbour is currently celebrating its birthday which has scenes reminiscent of an extremely busy HH Dom. Yesterday even I decided to make Feierabend at 3:30 and sit in Stadtpark absorbing some UV rays before meeting up with a few work colleagues and trekking around the harbour and Reeperbahn looking for a suitable location to have a few beers.

However in spite of all this sun and events going on in Hamburg I have a lot lined up which involves me travelling away from die schönste Stadt Deutschlands. Tomorrow I will be sightseeing in Kopenhagen, June I shall be touring Baden-Württemberg and ending up in Basel for a short period during euro 2008 and at the end of June I will be at Hurricane music festival for 3 days. On top of all this I have received invites to spend a few days in Greifswald and to also make a return visit to Munich!!

By such lovely weather theres not much that is more delightful than to sit out on the balcony or outside Cocktrail with a nice cold alcoholic drink. A couple of weeks ago a colleague of mine kindly invited me round to her house for dinner as she has an english husband. The genius yorkshireman that he was gave me a large bottle of english cider with the promise of a few more the next time I go round and so I immensly anticipate the optimal opportunity to sit in the sun with a cold cider. mmm.

The only trouble with such marvellous weather is the fact that I have to sit in an office for 8 hours a day where I have an amazing view of the sunny outside!

 

Hamburg Calling

The Text to the song “Hamburg Calling” by Fettes Brot, based on “London Calling” by The Clash

Hamburg Calling – Am Wasser gebaut! Der Krieg hat begonnen und der Kampf hört nicht auf. Hamburg Calling – Auch der Untergrund! Kommt raus ihr kleinen Penner, alle Mädels und Jungs. Hamburg Calling – Schaut uns nicht an! Wegen uns ist deutscher Hip Hop nicht Pleite gegangen. Hamburg Calling – Nein wir ham kein Bling Bling! Außer den goldenen Dingen für die Hits, die wir bringen.

Die Eiszeit wird kommen, die Sonne ist am brennen. Die Umwelt ist verpestet, die Felder überschwemmt. Maschinen verstummen, nichts hält uns mehr hier. Hamburg geht unter und wir Fahren die Elbe runter!

Hamburg Calling – Eben noch zwei Millionen! Vergiss es Alter, hier kann keiner mehr wohnen. Hamburg Calling – Von Zombies zerfetzt! Aber verdammt noch mal, was machst du bitte jetzt? Hamburg Calling – Ich wills nicht beschrein! Aber während wir hier reden, pennst du dauernd ein. Hamburg Calling – Leute seid ihr bereit? Habt ihr uns verstanden? Dann sagt allen Bescheid!

Die Eiszeit wird kommen, die Sonne ist am brennen. Die Umwelt ist verpestet, die Felder überschwemmt. Maschinen verstummen, nichts hält uns mehr hier. Hamburg geht unter und wir Fahren die Elbe runter!

Von „http://web355.xps8.microserver.de/soean/dewiki/index.php/Hamburg_Calling“

Start of 2008

I have recently returned to the fair city of Hamburg after my christmas holidays and it pretty much is the halfway point to my Praktikum here, so I best write another entry!

Admittedly, I was sad to leave Birmingham after having such a good time over Christmas, but now I feel settled once again and have renewed my love for Hamburg!

 This side of the year it would appear that everybody on their year abroad gets their act together and starts visiting more places and doing more interesting things – including me! I cannot complain, last year i did go to Oktoberfest and Nürnbergs Christkindlemarkt – but this year I have already had Russell stay at mine, Nicola and Diana are staying here this weekend and hopefully other people are coming to die schönste Stadt Deutschlands too! I mayself have already visited Rostock (no match for HH) have today booked a holiday to Denmark and intend to go to Bremen next weekend!

 Volkshochschule

I have registered for C1 Stufe 1 Kurs at the Hamburger Volkshochschule. I’ve heard its boring and the average age there is 50 – but bollocks to it, I need to practice my German, particularly my Grammar! Course starts 12th feb so watch this space….

 euroShell

Since being back i’ve most definately been thrown in at the deep end. One of the Road Admins is ill for 6 weeks after undergoing surgery so I have taken over her job position in effect. Mornings I do her job and afternoons I do my own job – its definately a lot of work but its good for racking up the Überstunden and getting German practice in. I have to answer the phone a lot – speaking to both customers and colleagues, as well as constantly using the various Shell applications and so forth. Today has been a nightmare day – I’ve been alone since 7:30 seems as Detlev and Jasmin both arent there to deal with Maut issues…..I know nothing about Maut! I’ve answered the phone about 10 times, had 2 pissed off customers so now its 4pm and ive decided to set my status as away and write on here!

Weihnachten im Hamburg

Weihnachten in Hamburg is amazing! Simple as.

In my opinion the German festive period is superior than that back in England! For a start the attitude appears to be less so americanised and commercial.. Christmas in Germany seems to revolve more around celebration and tradition as opposed to our culture of purchase purchase purchase and do nothing until christmas day itself.

Saying this though, we have adopted some of the German greatness ourselves, especially in cities like Manchester and Birmingham which boast to house the biggest German christmas market outside of Germany. These markets are however nothing in comparison to those actually in Germanyt, although the Birmingham christmas market has recently expanded and become more popular:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7140044.stm

Hamburg has fantastic christmas markets spread throughout the city.

There are markets at Rathaus, Monckebergestrasse, Gaensemarkt, Roedingsmarkt, Jungfernstieg, Bergedorf and a couple of other locations. You can already imagine that all of these surely must mean that the number of stalls dwarfs the Birmingham christmas Market. The Market in front of the Rathaus i believe is the best and most popular – although for food Jungfernstieg tops it just about. Products range from wooden figures to cristal ornaments and from nutcrackers to heisse Mandeln. And of course Gluehwein.

Gluehwein is heavenly, especially on a cold winters evening when the markets are lit up and at their prettiest. Heidelbeer Gluehwein i find far more tastier than the normal stuff and the glasses they come in are adoreable and must be stolen!

I love christmas in Germany

Th odd/funny things about Hamburg so far…

Fischmarkt

the U-Bahn station “Schlump”

the U-Bahn station “Alte Wöhr”

The annoying child voices who say the station names on the U-Bahn

Some traffic lights just switch themselves off at night

Post boxes are hard to find

“Spunk” brand chewing gum

Penny-people in Pennymarkt

Dodgy tramps who look in every bin to find things to pfand

Everyone smokes

“Funky Pussy Club” – its a club, not a strip joint

The pole dancer at the beach Doll House

The prostitutes and their bum-bags

Everybody is either a hardcore HSV fan or a hardcore St.Pauli fan, yet they never fight.

The man who looks like a down-and-out and who sits outside Lidl asking people for money, then at the end of his “shift” gets in the back of a car

People love to practice their English with you

There are more bikes than people

Without sounding racist; none of the black people here can speak German very well

There is no train to the airport

 There isnt enough Hamburgers in Hamburg

Where is the REAL cheese? 

There are more people who take stuff OUT of bins than people who put stuff IN the bins

The most attractive girl here is English

Fischmarkt

Fischmarkt is officially the best thing ever! It is such a shock to go theree for the first time! It is only open between 5am and 9am of a Sunday morning and yes it does sell more than fish!

We usually end up going there direct after a night out on the Reeperbahn so obv I am still drunk when I get there, which heightens my feeling of Fischmarkt-ecstasy I guess. It is always so busy and we always wonder why Germans like to get up at 4am on a Sunday for such a thing??

There are rows and rows of market stalls across the harbourfront at Landungsbrücken selling everything from Hamburg jumpers to Matjes Brötchen and eventually you get to the Markthalle and the Pilgrimage is over.

Inside it is nice and warm and there is a live band playing old-school music (even so early as 5am) and there are always people dancing and enjoying themselves. There is also a Tchibo stall selling delicious hot chocolate and you can buy possibly the best fish and chips in the whole of Hamburg in the Markthalle – its the perfect breakfast and hangover prevention tool!

 I love Fischmarkt.

4 months in and I finally decide to write something…

Well I have been in Hamburg 4 months now and this is my first entry. Poor effort i know.

Things are going really well here, I have met some really nice people, both German and English as well as being reunited with my old exchange partner and her friends. It is also great to see my old flame again – HH.

 I shall ATTEMPT to summarise everything that has happened in the past 120 days or so here so here goes:

 First thing I want to say is how great everyone at euroShell (the place where I am doing my internship here) are! Here is an example of just how great they are.. Before i arrived here on July 1st I had signed to take over the apartment of the previous interns on September 1st – which consequently meant that I had nowhere to live for the first 2 months. However Jasna from the Personal department went out of her way to find somewhere for me and I had two apartments in a posh part of town for the first two months! The first apartment was literaly a penthouse suite. It was HUGE with a massive living room complete with desk, tv and sofa and then I had a master bedroom with a king sized bed and 4 wardrobes, my own kitchen completely kitted out and a bathroom with bath AND shower! The best thing about it was that Shell was paying for the rent! Which amounted to 1200 euros for the month :s The second apartment was slightly smaller and round the corner from the penthouse one – the difference being that the bedroom and living room were combined, however it was still a swish place and again I didnt have to pay for it!   

For the remaining 10 months I have left here in Hamburg I am sharing a 2 bedroomed apartment with a girl called Hayley Sleigh on Flotowstraße in Barmbek-Süd. It is a really nice apartment, with balcony, nice kitchen and the bedrooms are of generous size – I would estimate 19 square metres each, as the whole apartment measures 58 square metres. We had some problems at the start – mainly with the internet connection. Story is, the internet refused to function and one friday night I was on the phone to the customer service Centre for 4 hours complaining in German and trying different things to get the connection to work all to no avail. Eventually they agreed to send us new equipment for free which arrived just 3 days later and now the internet works fiiine! The apartment also gets painted afresh every 3 years and luckily this year was the year for it so it looks nice and new now! Also last weekend we went to Ikea in Moorfleet so I have been able to pimp up my bedroom!

Enough about accomodation, now on to work!  The internship is really good and I am definately enjoying it! My colleagues are well nice and are always willing to help and talk to me. It is also very relaxed here – I am writing this atm at work and nobody is batting an eyelid! Since I have been here I have been working on a project to create a new version of the euroShell Deutschland website which is enjoyable as well as productive and challenging. No opening letters or making tea for me thankyouverymuch!

Finally I shall mention all the fantastic people i’ve met since being here then call it a day for this entry! There is a large number of english students here at Hamburg also on their year abroad and an especially large contingent from Leeds. To be honest a few people from Leeds uni who are here I have never really spoken to that much before but now we do and they are all really nice people! Also everyone from all other different universities as well – in fact EVERYONE here are really great people and I am very glad to have met them! Final year of uni should be fun now! :p

Untill the next time – in Hamburg sagt man Tschüß!