Herr Mike in Deutschland

I have literally just landed from my trip to Switzerland which was awesome, though a business trip we he had a lot of fun as well. Zurich is an amzing city, really classy.
I will tell you all about in detail as soon as I am able, I am well tired after late nights and early starts and I think a sleepy post would not suffice for such a cool place.
For now, a couple of pics, just to prove I was there.

This is my 100th Blog Post!! 100 messages since I arrived in Germany and still going strong! Only seems like yesterday that I got here, unbelievable how fast the time has gone by.

It hasn't always been easy out here but I have met some amazing people, had great times and of course I'm getting some invaluable work experience.

Other than being my centenary post this is a most unremarkable entry though I will get the pictures from Saturday's party up soon. It was wild.

Also of note I am off to Zurich on Wed with work, should be interesting, and at €185 a night the accomodation shouldn't be too shabby! Thanks uncle von Siemens!!

This week I have 'Mulldienst' which is rubbish. Literally.

It is my turn for a two week stint of emptying the bins on our floor. Actually I was supposed to start doing it on Monday but only found out today when I cursed the idiot who had neglected the overflowing kitchen waste. A quick check of the rota to find out who I should chastise revealed I needed to give myself a telling off.

And bins in Germany are complicated. There are in total 6 different refuse recepticles on our floor, which was most confusing when I arrived. The two for general plastic type stuff (I'm still not entirely sure) are emptied by the cleaners which is rather nice of them.

I am left with the responsibility of emptying the 'paper', 'cans', 'glass' and 'Bio-Mull' (Composty vegetable stuff) bins. I don't mind doing my turn but taking a bucket of rotting veg in the lift to the aromatic Bio Mull skip is not my idea of a great time.

Had a good Freitag (Friday) yesterday, amazed by how quickly the weekend has arrived once more.

Had to get up at 6.30 to get to the physio for 8.00; what better way to start the day than with a gruelling session of hopping up and down on my bad knee. Seems to be helping though, if my knee gets back to strength it will all be worthwhile.

in the evening I went with Nell to a little house party with a few of our bulgarian friends which was cool. Still astounded by the amount of vodka they can drink, apparently people from that area of the world have a special enzyme which enables them to process the stuff better.

Tonight I am off to an 'Exams-Feier' in Nuremberg, a big party where groups of friends celebrate finishing their degrees. Beate, a girl who I work with, and about 19 of her friends have organised the night, it's €15 for a ticket and then all drinks are free! Awesome!
As Bee works in the Siemens press office they have sponsored the event which is pretty cool. Very much looking forward to it, will put some pics up tomorrow.

Ich wuensche alle ein schoenes Wochenende x

Just a quick post before I run out to the pub quiz, I want to say many congratulations to my good friends Carrie-Ann and Andy who have just had a little baby!! I am afraid I don't know any details but I believe they have a bouncing baby boy.

All the best to the three of you, I look forward to seeing the little devil over xmas!

My predecessor Nell is over at the moment to visit everyone, it's good to see her again. Of course I have to be nice to her as she is the one to chose me for this amazing experience!

We met up in the Wohnheim Keller Bar for the birthday party of Ivan, a cool Bulgarian guy who lives here at the Wohnheim.
There were lots of Bulgarians there and man can they party, they drink vodka like water and get a bit mental. Have a look at the pics, something tells me Ivan ain't getting his damage deposit back!

This Saturday I went with a few of the guys to a little place called 'Hof' in Northern Bavaria, not far from the Czech border. Markus, the guy who looks after the Keller Bar here at the Wohnheim originally hails from this sleepy place and promised to show me REAL Germany.


The match is famed for its alteractions between rival fan factions and though there were a few heated words exchanged outside the ground after the game it was obvious that no punches would be thrown. The police with guns was probably an incentive to stay behaved.

Hof itself was not impressive and in fact a little depressing. There is a very high unemployment rate there and many of the young people have moved away in search of work. The houses were mostly tower blocks and the streets away from the ground were deadly quiet. There is obviously very little money there - have a look at the TV the 'Hi-Tec' shop was sing.



Before we left Markus showed me Hof's most famous attraction: a run down brothel.

Not a place I will be rushing back to in the future, but nevertheless a good experience.

Ich habe eine Erkaltung! The Mike has a cold. Most uncool. Germany has actually warmed up in the past few days though for some reason, having survived a frosty spell I know feel blurgh.

Anyway, enough moaning, I should be fine for the weekend when my predecessor Nell will be over to visit and I need to be fit and ready to partay.

Not had an interesting week to be honest, has flown by though. It was confirmed today that I will be heading to Switzerland at the end of the month to discuss some new virtual reality marketing tools which sound pretty cool. Looking forward to that!

Though I am away from Britain I have not forgotten Remembrance Day. This year it is particularly poignant with me now living in Germany.

It is very surreal to think that the people of this nation who have been so welcoming to me were our great enemies in the past.

Though it is important never to forget the brave men and women who lost their lives in the two great conflicts of the 20th century, wartime Germany and modern Germany should not be linked in any way.

I think the people here will always be ashamed of what happened under Hitler's rule but for me it is time for them to move on, this is now a land which its inhabitants can be proud of.

'A weekend of taking it easy': Der Mike is doing nothing exciting this weekend, and loving every minute of it. Having just about recovered from last weekend's antics I am enjoying chilling out, doing a bit of shopping and learning some deutsch.

I'm gonna head round to my good pal Matt's in a bit to play a bit of Playstation, watch some Match of the Day DVDs that my good parents sent over and listen to Blackburn beat Manchester United over the world wide web.

We are also gonna make our own 'drei im Weckla' (three mini sausages in a butty) which are the food of choice at German football grounds. Alas Germany does not seem to have discovered 'Pie' as yet, which is most weird as they love meat and they love pastry. Perhaps I could suggest it to my local baker, who knows, I may even be hailed as some kind of culinary hero! I'll let you know.

My second trip to see the Bundesliga in two days took me to the Mecca of German football on Wednesday - the brand new Allianz Arena, home to the notorious Bayern Munich (and the less notorious 1860 Munich). It is normally impossible to get a ticket to see FC Bayern play but as it was a midweek game against lowly Hannover there were some tickets left. Matt's colleague Christian, a hardcore Bayern fan, drove us to Munich for the match which took just over two hours. His tiny Fiesta wasn't the most comfortable vehicle in the world but all cramp was forgotten when we got our first site of the stadium.

The outside of the arena lights up in either blue or red depending on who is playing and on the night of our visit the Munich sky with it's fluorescent red glow, indicating that FC Bayern were the hosts.

Inside the ground was even more breathtaking. As we stepped into the arena on the third tier the pitch opened up below us and the noise of 68,000 people filled our ears. It was a bit special.

Unfortunately the game was not anywhere near as captivating as its surroundings as both teams had very few chances. Even from up in the gods near the back of the stadium the view was awesome and as I and fellow FCN fan Matt I watched with glee as our fierce rivals Munich suffered a shock 1-0 defeat (much to Christian's disbelief).

On Tuesday night a few of us went to watch an evening game at the Franken Stadion as FCN faced league leaders Werder Bremen, by far the best team in Germany at the moment.

They fielded a host of international stars including two time World Cup top scorer Miroslav Klose.
It was not Klose but another German international who opened the scoring for Bremen, Torsten Frings cooly curling his shot just inside the post against the run of play.

FCN were the better team for the entire game but couldn't finish their chances. The away team showed the mark of true champions, winning even when they're playing badly, as Diego (pictured) scored an absolute gem of a free kick in the 70th minute. Despite scoring a penalty late on Nuremberg never looked like getting anything from the game after that, just lacking the class that Bremen demonstrated in the final third.

Labels: FCN

At long last I can regail you all with my recent escapades, the highlight of which being of course my 21st birthday weekend.
To make it super special 3 of my oldest buddies, Chris, Parso and Dave, came to visit. It was a brilliant surprise to see Dave's curly locks appear through the arrivals door at Nuremberg airport as he has sent me an email only 2 days previously informing
me that he would unfortunately not be able to make it, the swine! It was really cool to see them all again and catch up. We went straight from the airport into Nuremberg where we saw a few of the sights before we sat down to enjoy some Bavarian Bier.


The boys and I enjoyed a typical German feast of bratwurst and sauer kraut at the famous 'Bratwursthauesler', washed down with a couple of mugs of 'Doppelbock Bier'. Absolutely lethal.
We staggered to a few more bars in the city centre before heading to a rather posh hotel where Dave and I randomly ordered Carp (the fish of the season) which was very boney.
We then headed back to Erlangen where Dave and I had another pint before we hit the hay for round two!

The Saturday was my birthday and I got loads of cool gifts and a lot of money from my very generous and very lovely family members (many thanks!). After a breakfast in Wheelers we had a look around Erlangen and went to the sports centre where we shot some pool and had a couple of games of bowling.
In the evening we met up with some of the other guys to have a meal in a cool little spaghetti restaraunt, it was awesome to have my old and new friends there to celebrate. Christian came down for the night from Wurzburg which was cool. After that a few of us went to the newest club in Erlangen 'Hoersaal' where we had a few shots of Jaegermeister to limber up before getting on the dance floor to bust a few moves.

I was most sad to see the boys off at the airport after an unforgettable weekend (actually with the amount of beer they bought me I am surprised I remember any of it) and I really hope they can make it back out here again before I come home.

Dear All,

I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who send me cards and gifts for my 21st, it's nice to know that I haven't been totally forgotten about out here!

3 of my oldest and best friends, Chris, Parso and Dave came over to celebrate with me this weekend and we had a brilliant time, in fact I am still recovering.

I will post a proper account of the weekend and some pics very soon so keep an eye out,

thanks once again,

Mike x

Today is the day of souls in Germany, a day to remember loved ones who have passed on to better places.

As a result I have the day off and am using it to tidy my little abode in anticipation of the visit of Chris and Parso for my birthday. I also have to write a report for uni and do some German homework so it is not a day of total laziness for me.

Last night was a good night, we went to a Halloween party in Wheelers and then to a student party in what was a large labyrinth like basement; hot and cramped but fun nonetheless. The pics are of Matt 'Uncle Fester' Lake, Ben 'The Grinch' Wheeler and an undead Miguel. Superb.