Just in case...

Just in case anyone is still looking at this blog, I thought I would post some new pictures... Summer is coming again to Sydney. I'm counting down the weeks til uni is over forever! Then I have an awesome summer planned with some trips and lots of overseas visitors before my working life begins!

Just trying to make my overseas friends jealous

I'm here

For all those who are concerned, we made it home alright and I am loving being back! I'm getting a bit desperate to speak some German, but other than that, my family and Luke and my friends are all here... And oh my goodness I understand everything. It's incredible. Even the little kids speak Australian. Have had a few close calls trying to hand over the wrong amount of coins (they look different!) and also forgot to buy a train ticket the other day because I thought I could buy one off the conductor. I finally got back in the car too and drove the whole way to Hornsby (about 3km) on the left hand side of the road. Oh yeah!!

Arhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I'm leaving in the morning!!!!

Things I can't wait to leave behind in Tubingen: Cigarette smoke, horrible weather, my teeny-tiny bedroom, the fact I have no freezer or microwave, people pushing and shoving in queues and on public transport, the euro which is draining my bank account, my 90cm-wide bed, having cultural or language misunderstandings at least once a day.

Things I might kinda miss about the place: All my friends - especially the ones I have caught up with especially over the last week, the history and the cobblestones (I don't wear stilettos anyway, and the ice is gone now, so they're no danger to me or my footwear!) the Neckar river flowing really fast and muddy because all the snow has melted, DC++, cheap chocolate, Germanwings flying out of Stuttgart to all European destinations, having an 8-minute bus to uni leaving from my bus stop.

Things I can't wait to get home to: Apart from of course my family, boyfriend and friends - Summer fruits, my (our) car, the sun (that's easy to say but i REALLY, REALLY miss it), Aussie meat, Sydney's bars, restaurants and RSLs, our beaches and national parks on the coast...

See y'all next week!

Our last weekend in Tübingen

I get home on Sunday. We're all in absolute denial that the year has really come to an end. But I can't wait to go home... I miss home so very much!

The party

Kate and her flatmates had a party on Friday night, which was also Jo and Jeremy's last night on the Continent before heading over to start their London adventure. It was an awesome night (nothing to do with that €12 bottle of Smirnoff) and I enjoyed being able to party one last time with all my mates over here. Us girls are flying home together but I will really miss my Italian and Polish and German friends who are staying in Europe. Not to mention all my Aussie friends who are leaving the country in droves to go live in England!


Me with Susie and Cath - all flying home together


Me with Kate - also flying this weekend


Konrad (Polish) and Jo (Aussie) - both staying in Europe! :(

The Fasnet parade

Then as if to give us a real German send-off, today there was the Tübingen Fasnetsumzug (carnivale parade), traditionally an opportunity for people to indulge in vices before the start of Lent!



In this region in southern Germany (as well as lots of other regions in Germany), each town has its own unique costume - such as a witch or a pig outfit - complete with a wooden carved mask. They're really intricate and very expensive! And on Sundays during the Fasnet season (also known as "the 5th season of the year" or "the crazy season"), keen beans from each town who own these costumes travel to all the other towns to take part in whichever parade is on that weekend.



Typically the costumed people in the parade will go through the town smearing paint on peoples' faces, setting off fireworks, pulling or messing up girls' hair, drinking and singing. In the picture you can see a poor girl being carried away by an overenthusiastic witch.

This is definitely not normal behaviour for the usually very well behaved Germans! Today in the parade, one group of witches gathered in a circle around one of their witches, and used their broomsticks to lift the one in the middle about 6 metres into the air!

Ahh Germany... You never really can know what to expect! (...get me outta here!)

Berlin Oddities

Palast der Republik - This asbestos-contaminated building probably won't be around much longer. Considered very ugly and communist, many want to pull it down but it's been surrounded by scaffolding for a few years now. Not sure what happened to the grand plan to replace it with a copy of the imperial palace that it replaced in the first place.


Our curtained-off 'separet' in the Orient Lounge with Sarah. Love that Turkish food.


Apparently these fish will defrost when the lake turns to water again, and swim on their merry way...!


Jeremy, Jo and me standing on top of something we really should be swimming in. This entirely frozen lake on the outskirts of Berlin stretches for kilometres! Our toes went completely numb after a Sunday afternoon stroll across it!

Around my place

Just some pics from my room, our kitchen, my friends and my flatmates. Roll the mouse over the picture to see the captions and click to see the full size version.

Jo & Jeremy told me to write this

Jo and Jeremy are the best house guests ever. They are very clean and tidy, chip in for everything, and wash up very well. They are looking for accommodation on people's floors all over Europe... Any offers leave us a comment!