Hallewood

When you think of Germany, one of the first things to come to mind is beer. I may not be visiting Oktoberfest in Munich this year, but I've been doing my best to make up for that here in Halle. This might be a small city but what I've seen of its bar and clubbing scene so far has been pretty great! I think the huge university here probably has something to do with it.

Last Friday my flatmate Sebastian took me to what he described as an "underground club". I have no idea what I was expecting, really, but where I ended up reminded me a lot of my trips to Berlin. A yard with a bonfire and a caravan selling food, and inside two rooms playing great electronic type music, a laid-back crowd, and equal amounts of beer and Club Mate* being drunk. We met a friendly Bavarian, Elias, so I did get a bit of an Oktoberfest experience - also thanks to the Bavarian dinner my mentor teacher and her husband made me that night!

*For the uninitiated, Club Mate is a fairly disgusting, highly caffeinated drink popular here. Ross Anne described it as "like if you use a cigarette as a teabag" and I think she was pretty spot on. The cola is ok though.

On the way to the Marktplatz

Another night I went to the Hallesches Brauhaus with my buddy from the uni, Franzi, and some of her friends. It was all very German, with waitresses in traditional clothing and local beer on the menu. I've also been to Cafe Nöö, a great little cafe/bar by the river that served delicious chicken wings, and La Bim, in an abandoned building and full of football tables. I think I might have disappointed everyone a little with my very poor performance - I am not even a table athlete, it would seem - but I was happy enough to just soak up the atmosphere with yet another kind of beer, this time Astra from Hamburg.

I've had a really busy weekend because three of my wonderful friends came to visit me! Lara was the first to arrive on Thursday, with Emma appearing at dinner time (cue terribly greasy takeaway food) and Ross Anne just after midnight. We had a little party in the flat for Emma's 20th, with GDR Sekt and beer flowing. My flatmates joined in too, as well as Lara's friend Cindy who studies here, and it was lovely to sit in the kitchen with everyone just chatting away! Emma, I hope we made your birthday as awesome as it could have been at home!

Happy birthday, Emma!

We went exploring on Friday, walking from my flat to the Marktplatz and then into the Kleine Ulrichstrasse, Halle's "Kneipemeile" or bar strip (not an ideal translation, as Kleine Ulli is definitely classier than that phrase would imply!). We had lunch at an Italian restaurant and discovered that eating outdoors in late September is not a fantastic idea. Wasps divebombing towards our faces did not make for a very relaxed meal, especially for me with my phobia. Then Cindy showed us a great little cafe where we got delicious waffles! I need to go back ASAP, it was a lovely little place and I can't think of a better way to get a sugar rush than with these waffles. At night we met David, a language assistant from the US also working here who it was great to get to know - you were so much fun, David! We went to a lovely cafe on Kleine Ulrichstrasse (natürlich!) and talked nonsense all night until the sassy waiter told us it was last orders.

Hi Lara!

Yesterday we tried to find somewhere to have lunch and once again ended up on Kleine Ulrichstrasse, in an Irish style pub. Then we hit Moritzburg castle where there was a flea market in the moat, with DJs, vegan cakes, and personalised canvas totes on sale. I bought one with a cat, obviously. In the much more commercialised Woolworths (it's not dead!) we found Ross Anne a dirndl - she is living in Bavaria, after all - which we had a lot of fun modelling back in the flat with our beers and taco kit! We narrowed down our clubbing options to three and ended up in Schorre, round the corner from my flat. Approaching the entrance, we quickly realised we were the youngest people there, and decided to cure our trepidation with spirits. It ended up being a pretty fun night, as we danced to all the choonz from 2007 or so as well as Das Geht Ab. Schorre isn't quite my scene but if I'm ever in the flat on a Saturday night drinking with someone and we want to go out dancing, I think we could make worse choices!

Emma and Ross Anne modelling for my fashunn blog.

I had a four hour nap today which sums up how I feel after such a busy, wonderful weekend. I could sleep forever. But alas, I have to plan a lesson on British schools and tomorrow I have to get up at six. It's only a three day week though, thanks to the Day of German Unity on Thursday, so I'll definitely be making some plans for the weekend to come! I also promise to take more photos with my camera rather than my phone from now on as I'm not loving the quality. Tschüssi!