To do list.

Here, I made a list of all stuff that I want to do:

Short-term

1. Go to Copenhagen (I've actually been intending to go for well over a year, so close, but so far)
2. Get used to my German keyboard and not get the Z and Y mixed up everz time
3. Throw Summer Birthday Barbecue Bonanza in our garden and make ALL THE FOOD
4. Find new hobby to occupy spare time (paragliding is looking appealing)
5. Summer project: sew surfboard bag for Boyfriend's birthday present (material is bought, friend with sewing machine is ready, I just need thread and a free weekend)
6. Book flights for Xmas & NYE getaway

Long-term

1. Get blog up and running, like post, y'know, REGULARLY and not just write draft after draft that never see the light of day.
2. Complete Translation Diploma
3. Do more travelling around the globe
4. Figure out if I/we want to stay in Hamburg and if not, where?

Gestation period.

Oh look. I have a blog. Okay, I need to actually write in it.

I have now been in Germany for almost nine months. If I had just got pregnant when I moved, I would be having a baby right now. A few things have happened in this time, but not as much as one might expect.

One thing about this blog which I suppose I only ought to confirm here and now that I plan to be honest when writing. As honest as possible. I read countless blogs, many of which are written by lovely, amazing people who are travelling or have moved abroad or who have fascinating lives and stuff to tell. I am none of these things, and I have found life abroad really, really hard work.

I previously lived abroad: I spent a year in Dresden during my undergraduate degree as an exchange student at the university. If I had kept a blog back then it would fall into the above category of "people abroad having fun and showing off about it*". I had a blast in Dresden (PUN INTENDED) and have so many very fond memories of my Erasmus time there. Here I am now in Hamburg, miserable, lonely, and slowly losing all self-esteem**.

*I am simply jealous. Please carry on having fun.
**Sounds a bit dramatic when I reread this back.

The two most important things:

• I moved in with Boyfriend. We live in a top-floor, beautiful flat with a balcony and sloping ceilings. Oh, and leaking windows. We've been filling it up with stuff and now we're about ready to move. Living together is awesome though.
• I started working full-time in my first post-graduate career. It's both great and soul-destroying at the same time.

I said I was going to be honest. The main source of my depressed feelings has been my lack of a social life. I have simply found it incredibly difficult to meet people and make friends. At first I didn't worry and thought "these things take time". Now, it's been 9 months and I only know a very small handful of people in this massive city, and only really at an acquaintance-level. Everyone says "ooh get out there and meet people". Out where? Am I meant to wander the streets hoping to bump into a new BFF? Please, tell me where to go and I will run there so fast your neck will snap like in a cartoon.

In other fairly significant events, I broke both my wrists in April and experienced first-hand (har har) the German medical system, including surgery and a full 3 day hospital stay. All was fine, really. But if there is one thing I have learnt from all this, it's that when you enter the waiting room at the doctors, you are expected to greet the whole room with a loud "Good morning!" and if you do not do this, you are given the most evil glares I have ever encountered.

Introductions.

I have started this blog because I thought it might be interesting to document this part of my life. I'm moving nämlich to Hamburg, Germany, in the summer of 2012. Bonus points if you laughed at the blog's title, which is a highly witty and subtle reference to the popular song by The Jam, Town Called Malice. (The title may change if I can think of something better, suggestions welcome).

Why am I moving to Hamburg? Well, there's a few reasons...

Firstly, I studied German (and French) at university and at some point which I can no longer remember I decided that I wanted to become a translator and do that for at least a while. Maybe forever, but who knows.

Secondly, I spent one year living in Germany (Dresden) as part of my degree and I quite liked it, once I got used to certain things like how everything is shut on Sundays and the ridiculous amount of paperwork Germans insist on. Germany has wonderful bakeries, near-perfect public transport, and a fairly successful economy. There is quite a high demand for English native-speakers within Germany in this line of work, and Hamburg is ideal because it's a large city with massive international links.

And the third reason is that during my time in Dresden, I fell in love. I was bound to returning to the UK to complete the final year of my degree, but I knew that from July 2012 onwards I would be free to go wherever and do whatever I please. We talked and talked and somehow came to the conclusion that Hamburg would be the place for us.

He is already there, with a flat and a job and a car, and during this last year we have made countless Ryanair and Easyjet trips to see each other; filling the weeks inbetween those precious visits with Skype. At the start of 2012 I began to apply for jobs in Hamburg and in April, after various interviews, I was offered work at a translation agency, starting August 2012. Now, I need to book my one-way flight, Boyfriend and I will look for our own flat, I'll start working and earn some experience (and money, which after four years of being a student is much welcomed), I'll get my German up to a fluent standard, and, well, I suppose I'll start to live. I plan to study part-time to gain a specialist qualification in Translation, and part of the agreement with Boyfriend is that I'll try out surfing. Fun times ahead!

Zusammenfassung auf Deutsch: ich freue mich darauf; mal gucken.