Fun in Deutschland.

One of the best and worst things about working at an internationally recognised and rather large research institute is that people come and go all the time for periods ranging for 1 up to 6 months or more. On one hand, this is great because it means that you get to meet new people all of the time and learn about different cultures because people come here from all over the world. But on the other hand, it is also terrible because it feels like you are constantly on your best "getting to know you" behaviour. I was really lucky for the first 8 months that I was here because I had pre-existing friends from Australia here with me - Martina for the first couple of months and then Anna for 6 months. Another downside of this constant coming and going of people is that it also makes it a little difficult to make friends with the people who have been here long term...they have seen so many people come and go and have developed friendships that then have to end, that it can be difficult to get through the barriers that they have put up. I´ve given up trying with some people and now just accept that they have their pre-existing group of friends without room for one more...it´s their loss!!


I was lucky to have Anna here for so long. Anna and I had lots of fun exploring the local area in her 6 months...we would just hang out and watch telly or movies, or go on little explorations in the local area. One time in Autumn we took my camera and tripod into the nearby forest and spent ages taking self timer portraits of ourselves frolicking in the leaves...the pictures were so funny that we had tears of laughter and Anna threatened to pee her pants at one stage from laughing so much....these are the kinds of silly things that you can do only with people that you know well!

But then other things are more fun to do in groups with everyone enjoying the same first time experiences. In November I organised a group outing to the nearby Brocken (the highest peak in the Harz mountains) for a weekend of fun in the snow. It was myself and 4 others - Anna, Guru and Manish (2 Indian guys) and Rosanna (a Brazilian) - none of whom had ever seen snow before! We caught a steam train up the highest mountain (the Brocken), hung out at the top for a few hours and then caught the train back down.
It was awesome, the snow was knee deep and blanketed everything, it was absolutely freezing (well...minus 5 degrees) with howling winds and driving snow at times. But there was a restaurant up there so we would go out in the cold and frolick a bit, make a snowman, take some photos or go for a walk, then we would head into the restaurant to thaw out and then back out into the elements. This was a great experience to have with a bunch of Auslanders and bonded us together (perhaps froze us together), that being said...I am the only one of the 5 of us that is still here.