I have arrived!

Guten Abend!

I have arrived! And after quite a full weekend, I’m now sat watching a bit of TV – a programme that seems to be a cross between Come Dine With Me and Four In A Bed. The theme tune is Safe and Sound which made me really excited.

Anyway, yeah, Frankfurt!

I arrived on Thursday afternoon, and all I can say is that it went extremely smoothly. The flight was fine (apart from the snoring man behind me), my suitcases appeared as soon as I got to the luggage pick-up area, and Dan, my colleague, met me to help me with me things to my flat. The airport itself was like a maze and it took us a good 10 minutes to get out, partly due to the mass amount of people there. We took an S-Bahn to the train station and then a tram to my flat. Though we did have a bit of a panic with the key trying to turn it in the door (luckily my housemates told me that’s supposed to happen – I was worried I’d broken it before even stepping foot in the flat!), before I knew it I was stood in the flat with all my things, officially moved in!

Dan left and I did my unpacking and what not. I also had a trip to the supermarket because I wanted to go for a walk anyway and thought I might as well go explore (Kati, the girl whose room I’m renting for two months, drew me a little map with everything that’s nearby so I knew where to go – thank you!). Then I spent the rest of the night eating pizza and chilling in the kitchen, drinking my Yorkshire tea I brought, admiring the view out of the window – so many big buildings! My housemates, Antonia and Hannes, are away at the moment, but Antonia returns in a week or so, and Hannes is back from South America in about 2 weeks. So I’m looking forward to finally meeting them when they get back!

Friday and Saturday were basically big exploration days. On Friday, I did all administrative stuff, like signing up as a citizen (and I was given a book about Frankfurt!) and finance tax stuff. I then just walked around – aiming for things that looked nice from afar. And Saturday I pretty much did the same thing! So I’ll put some photos at the bottom of this post which I took on both days.

Yesterday evening I went for a meal with Dan, his girlfriend, his sister who was visiting and two of his friends. We went to a restaurant called ‘Urban Kitchen’ right near the train station, and it was fantastic! I was surprised at the variety of food they offered – from burger and pizza to sushi and curry! I went for an “Alpenburger” with cheese and bacon, and with the burger and chips came the really tasty mayonnaise which took me back to Jim Burger in Hannover! Echt lecker!

After that we went to the MainFest – a big festival, typically German, along the river Main. There were beer gardens, food stalls and games where you can win things. Dan’s sister decided to buy some raffle tickets and she ended up (after taking the ‘Risiko’) with 60 DM (the points were Deutsche Mark which was quite cool) with a minion, a donkey teddy and a huge teddy bear holding a heart saying ‘I love you’… quite a win! After that, Dan, his friends and I went to Sachsenhausen’ to some bars. And let’s just say I’d been drinking Apfelwein which is perhaps a little more stronger than cider though it tastes similar. Maybe it was the vodka, maybe it was the Jägerbombs, but yeah… It was a rememberable first night out in Frankfurt. I have therefore spent the whole day today at home curled up on the sofa. It was a really enjoyable night though and it was nice to have a bit of human contact after a day and a bit.

And tomorrow is my first day at work with Diesterweg. I’m really excited to get started (I now don’t have to be at work until 11…!) and meet all my colleagues. I’ve been told tomorrow is just going to be an introduction day and it’ll kick off properly on Tuesday. So, wish me luck!

Here are some photos I took on my exploration days. I’m surprised how many nice buildings there are dotted around the city!