As you guys can read on my page 'My trips to Spain' I like to do language courses in foreign countries. I have been to Spain three times to learn Spanish and right now I have Spanish classes at my university. So I hope my Spanish will improve even more. But, because I have Spanish classes right now, I don't wanna go to Spain again to learn the language. I'd rather go to another country to learn a new language or pick up an old one. That's why I am thinking about going to Germany. I have had German classes at my high school for about four years, but it's three years ago that I spoke it for the last time.

 

As I realised during the first weeks of my study, languages are really important. So, I want to expand my knowledge as much as possible. As I said, I have some experiences with learning German and I would like to learn it again. Or should I say, more. Right now it is just a rough idea, but I have been looking around on the internet for some possibilities. I am thinking about doing a course and hiring a studio, so I have all the space to myself and I can do what I want. This week I hope to decide what I am going to do, but for now I don't have more information to share with you, so I will keep you updated.

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Thursday 16 January, 2020

And the trip is booked! The last couple of days I have been waiting for the confirmation of my trip. Today I got the call that I will be spending this summer in Hamburg to learn German for three weeks! Immediately after that I booked a room to stay in for those three weeks. I decided not to stay in a student home or a guest family because I like the freedom of choosing when and where I want to go. I booked a room with a shared bathroom. The room is actually meant for two people so I am sure I have enough space to stay and live.

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I will leave the third of August, a few days after my stay in New York, and I will leave on Saturday the 22th of August. I think I am going by train but I have nothing booked yet. What I am already doing is looking at the activities I can participate in when I am there. I also need to make sure I have places where I can eat as I don't have a fridge, kitchen or other space to cook.

 

The school that I will be attending is only 1,5 km away, a 15-minute walk, so that's great! I am already thinking about the things I want to do when I am there. Of course, I will share my experience with you guys over here! You can see pictures taken on my Instagram!

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Sunday 2 August, 2020

After a long drive of approximately five hours I have arrived in Hamburg. From 5 PM I could check in, so around that time I went there and dropped my luggage off. The struggle of my stay in the guest house that I am in is that I have a shower, toilet and a sink, but I do not have a kitchen. So for every meal I need to go out to eat or by something in the store. For the first night I didn't have enough time to go find a supermarket so I ate at a restuarant in the same street as the guest house.

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My first week

This first week was tougher than I expected. The coronavirus measurements are a bit more extreme here in Germany than in The Netherlands. So everywhere I go I have to think about wearing a mask and going to a restaurant isn't as easy as it would be without the virus. Having to find a place to eat for every meal, is quit hard. For most restaurant I have to make a reservation or have the luck that there's a free spot. 

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In school it's going decent, or actually better than I would have thought. I am taking classes at level A2 but I am close to level B1. I hope I can end the course with level B1 so I can actually show that I have improved. My class is really nice. We are with five people in total, all from different countries. At home I am trying to study as much vocabulary as possible and at school I get a lot of grammar.

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I have been walking through the Altstadt and I have also been to the first stadium, the one from FC St. Pauli. It's a truly cultural club with a passionate fanbase.

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Here some pictures of this week!

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In the first weekend I went to the Volksparkstadium, the home of Hamburger SV. I got a tour through the stadium and went to the shop. I decided to rent a bike and cycle there. It was approximately 45 minutes by bike.

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Week 2

During the second week I visited a lot of sightseeings and studied German, of course. The class mostly stayed the same, just like the teachers I had. I learned a lot of grammar at school but I definitely had to study the vocabulary at home, otherwise it would have been to hard to do the classes. I have a hard time understanding all the different forms there are in German grammar.

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Some of the sightseeings I visited were the St. Michelschurch, Platen un Bomen, Elbphilharmony and the Hamburg City Hall. The Hamburg City Hall is something I saw quiet a lot because I was walking past it everyday on my way to school. It is located in the Altstadt, near the central station of Hamburg and the Binnenalster (lake). On the Rathausmarkt square, in front of the Hamburg City Hall, are places to eat and a shop with some souvenirs.

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In the second week I decided that I also wanted to go to Bremen for a weekend. So on Saturday, early in the morning, I took the train to Bremen. It was roughly an hour by train. Once I arrived in Bremen, the first thing I went to was the stadium of Werder Bremen. I had booked a tour and wanted to visit the store. As the club didn't do open stadium tours I got a private stadium tour, in German, which was quite challenging while I am still far from fluent in German. Most of the things I understood, but some questions I had to ask in English. For the rest of day I walked around the city and did some shopping. In the evening I went to the hotel that I had booked. I slept in the Ibis Budget Bremen City Center, a hotel with perfect location and a great view on the central station.

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On Sunday I went sightseeing in Bremen. I went to the Marktplatz and the Bremen Town Hall. Close to the Marktplatz was the Cathedral. Nearby I saw a tourist train that guided tourists around the city. That looked interesting so I decided to buy a ticket and half an hour later I sat in the little train. The trip took approximately 50 minutes and we drove to all the places that were just a bit too far to walk. In the evening I ate something at a restaurant and took the train home after.

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Week 3

In my last week in Hamburg I took it a bit easier. I had already seen a lot and had to go to school as well. The weather was also not as good as the two weeks before, it rained two days and it was a bit colder. I bought some last souvenirs, made some more pictures and enjoyed the city. On Thursday I already started packing a bit while I had to leave early in the upcoming weekend. I booked my traintickets so I didn't have to do that on the last day. On Friday I said goodbye to my classmates and thanked the teachers. On the way to my room I decided to buy a Thank You-card for my host as well, as she cleaned the room daily and always made sure everything was alright.

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On Saturday I left the room at 8 o'clock, bought some breakfast and went to the trainstation. At 8:46 the train to Osnabrück left. It was a trip of almost 3 hours and at Osnabrück I had to take the train to Hengelo. Once I was back in the Netherlands the train had a little delay, but I had enough time to get home. From Hengelo I only needed to take the train to Utrecht and then the bus to Maarssen. Overall it took me 7 hours to go from Hamburg to Maarssen, which was alright. Thank you for reading my blog about my stay in Hamburg and I hope you visit my website again soon!