I haven’t got any news to document really so far this month, it’s been pretty quiet. On the one hand it’s been really nice to just be in Heidelberg and be settled, because I think that with being on an Erasmus year there is definitely a bit of pressure to always be going to new places and trying new things and “making the most” of the experience. It’s great to do that and I’ve been to some amazing places, but at the same time it’s quite exhausting. Now that I’ve scaled back on my excursions a bit (now I’ve got my last lot of loan I’ve realised I need to budget to get me through until August!) it’s another aspect of the year abroad to really just live in the town that you’ve gone to. And with a few of my friends in America finishing their time abroad, it’s made me appreciate Heidelberg even more now that I’m increasingly aware that I’ll have to leave in the not too distant future.
At the same time, I’ve been more homesick than I’ve ever been before this month. I’m really happy about this in some respects because I’ve lasted without feeling properly bad about being away from home until May, so that’s a really long time! But I think that because my friends are now starting to finish their years abroad and are heading home, whilst I will be here until the 10th August, it feels a very long time to be away and that’s made me miss home quite a bit. But my Nan is visiting me tomorrow for a few days, so hopefully that will perk me back up again!
So what I did want to share with you in this post was some of my favourite German words. Me and my German friend were discussing how German is very literal in its translations, and also just has some excellent terms/phrases which we don’t have in English, and we made a list:
Literal translations:
- Sparklers= wonder candles (Wunderkerze)
- Bicycle= wire donkey (Drahtesel)
- Nipple= breast wart (Brustwarze)
and the well known German favourite, Sauerkraut, literally translated means angry cabbage!
Words that we don’t have an equivalent for:
- Kummerspeck= grief bacon: excess weight gained from emotional over eating (this is just so good, it’s my favourite!)
- Spiegelglatt= slippery as a mirror
- Treulose Tomate= a friend who hasn’t contacted you in a while/ someone who is unreliable
- Schadenfreude= the pleasure derived from someone else’s pain
- Pudelwohl= as happy as a poodle/ to be content
- Fremdschamen= being embarrassed for someone who should be ashamed but isn’t
Even though my German is beyond terrible (I know the niceties and numbers and a range of foods, and that’s the extent of my knowledge- shameful!) I really love aspects of the language, and hopefully you can see why!
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thank you! I am studying BA English and History and this has been a huge help! I have already gotten in touch with the coordinator and it looks like if all goes to plan I will be spending my third year studying at Humboldt University of Berlin!
Thank you for year help and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog posts!
Adam Smith
Oh brilliant! Well good luck with your exams and I hope everything works out for you, glad I could help 🙂 Best, Viki
Hi there,
I’m a first year student at Leicester hoping to spend my third year abroad with ERASMUS (hoping also to go to Germany), and I was just wondering if there were any specific grades you had to obtain by the end of your FIRST year before you could be allowed to study abroad (I understand that in some courses a grade of at least a 2:1 is required by the end of your SECOND year).
Thank You
Adam Smith
Hey 🙂 Which subject are you studying? As far as I’m aware there aren’t any requirements for first year, although you’re right that for some subjects e.g. American Studies you need a 2.1 by the end of second year. Just that 40% pass!
Basically what happened with me (I study English) was I booked an appointment to see the Erasmus Co-ordinator for my department, and she literally asked me where I wanted to go, I told her, she said there was a space, and gave it to me! But I know that for other subjects the process isn’t as easy as that. But I booked my meeting to see the co-ordinator around this time actually, so I’d definitely consider booking an appointment just to have a talk with them, and that way you can make sure there aren’t any specifics you need to get in your first year etc. Here is a list of co-ordinators for the departments: http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/international/overseas-exchange/outgoing/departments-contacts/departments so just drop them an email. I hope this helps, Viki