1st May - Adventures of Bristol Linguists.

I'm sitting in a train station in Leipzig full of drunk natives and weary travellers waiting for our delayed train to Berlin. Wait, not, it's not even delayed, the train we booked a ticket for doesn't actually exist, which means our hideously, eye-popping early start (5:30!) was completely in vain.

Lucy is pacing up and down the platform, partly trying to find a magazine stand and partly rehearsing her angry train-woman spiel for when the ticket officer realises we don't have the right tickets for the next to train to the capital. I'm remaining optimistic although it wouldn't feel out of character for me to either dunk my face into this cheap, bitter station coffee or run around the station breathing imaginary fire into the faces of drunkards and the people with the annoying dogs. Outwardly a polite english language student, inside an angry dragon.

5 mins later...

Lucy just told me that this train spiel is going to be a test of her German and my acting skills. She just leaned across the table excitedly with the line 'Oh my, your eyes leak. YES, you HAVE to cry'.

In all seriousness, this trip has been an ecclectic mix of awkward situations that have required an exhaustive use of Lucy's big, fat school dictionary. Including the time, when, after forgetting my pin, Sparkasse swallowed my card in the midde of Wittenberg. Terrifying.

Overall, nothing will ever phase us again. We are no longer fearful or apprehensive about our year abroad. We know we can jabber our way out in our undergraduate Deutsch whilst fluttering our wide, sleep-deprived eyes, or we'll just cry, or maybe just hide in the loo, or maybe God will be gracious and no one will check our tickets. OHHHHH I JUST WANT TO GET HOME.

2 mins later...

Quote Lucy: 'If they tell me to get off this train, I'm going to pull my pants down and pee' (desperate times call for desperate measures clearly)

2o mins later...

(after the train man had accepted our train-tickets without questioning us - thank you Jesus!)

Lucy: 'Oh, and I so wanted a chance to use the subjunctive'