7 hour train journeys are really not that bad. This is possibly becuase I had built it up in my mind that it was going to be the most boring thing ever, and I'd made sure I was equipped with a variety of things to do, and loads of food (which I rationed myself to one item of food per hour), but I was pleasantly surprised that the time passed quite quickly. Of course, I was still glad to get off the train when we eventually did get to Köln, and I wouldn't recommend a 7 hour train journey every weekend, but all in all, it wasn't too bad.
In fact, the train journey was one of the least stressful things of the whole day. After getting to Köln, I had to get a U-Bahn and a tram. I got the right place, and got on, but as I was standing by the on-board ticket machine, waiting for the person using it to be finished, I was approached by a conductor asking to see my ticket. I didn't have one, so I had to get off the train, and basically tell her my lifestory- I provided evidence of my passport, my registration in Stralsund, told her about why I was in Germany, what I was doing, that I had joined the college, and so on and so forth. I also had to explain that I had only just got on the train and I was waiting next to the ticket machine, which must have provided great entertainment, as I was using my broken German, and doing the actions of 'getting on the train', just to make sure she understood. Luckily, she decided not to charge me a €40 fine (for which I was very grateful) but it was very scary.
The conductor advised me to buy my ticket before getting on the tram next time, to avoid such a situation, so I went to the ticket machine at the station, but I didn't have enough small change to buy the ticket. There was an option to pay with a card though, so I tried doing that. However, it kept not working. I tried three different ticket machines, and they kept getting to various levels of being finished, but malfunctioning at the last moment. I didn't even have a €5 note on me, so I couldn't ask if people had enough change to exchange that. All the shops and drinks kiosks at the station were closed, so I couldn't buy anything and get change. I was seriously getting worried I would be stuck in the station all night. I had to start asking people if they maybe had 60 cents, but that didn't bring any luck. Finally, a girl took pity on me, and even though she didn't have any change, she said I could wait with her till her friend came, who might have change, or be able to take me with her. I can only assume they have some kind of multi-person ticket, (which I've seen in other areas of Germany,) as I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but I was glad to be out of the station, and then finally off the tram without incident.
Then, I had to get to the hostel. The instructions did not make much sense, or the road names were not clear enough, or something, but I ended up wandering around Köln at night, asking if people knew where I should go. Eventually I got back on track, and I was so happy to see the hostel. (Though even there, the woman thought I had a reservation for two people, and I had to explain that wasn't the case- but I was proud that I told her I could speak German and carried on talking in German, even when she started speaking in English).
At least I got a lot of 'Excuse me, can you help me?' vocabulary practice...
The hostel itself was nice, there were five other people in my room, three of them were taking part in the Köln marathon the next day, one of them was pretty quiet, and the other one came in late, after the rest of us had all gone to bed. They were all gone next morning, and I made the most of the breakfast bufffet, then went out to see what Köln had to offer.
I kept meeting the marathon, and then I'd stand and watch and offer support for a while (at least until there was enough of a gap to cross the track). Köln made a better impression on me in daylight, when I wasn't panicky and lost. I didn't have much of a plan, so I just wandered around, saw the Rhein, the bridge decorated by padlocks -couples write their names/anniversaries/ love messages and attach them to the bridge, and it looks very nice and shiny- the Dom, and other sights.
I met up with Georgina, a language assistant from Meck-Pomm, who was also in Köln a bit early before the training course. We continued wandering around, took a few pictures, watched more of the marathon, and then went for food. I felt a bit bad for coming all the way to Germany and eating in a Pizza Hut, but the training course promised a week of traditional German food, about which I'd heard mixed reports, so I didn't feel too guilty.
After eating, we headed back to our respective hostels, but met up the next day to do more sightseeing. We set off to the chocolate museum, only to find out that it was shut on Mondays. Very disappointing. Even worse, we went to the tourism office, and found out that Monday was the day most museums were shut. The perfume museum (the birthplace of the original Eau de Cologne) was the only museum that was open, and after we eventually found it, organised a time for a tour-it was very small, and apparently it was too full when we arrived- killed time in a nearby cafe, and then returned, it was actually quite interesting, though the guide woman went a bit over the top when she sprayed us with an example of the perfume.
After the museum, we headed to the train station, to meet all the other language assistants on the training course, and it was quite exciting to find a massive group of English people, and talk to them.
I'll leave it there now, with us waiting at the station for the training course, as this has gone on quite a while...
Lot of love to everyone
xoxo
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