Rostock diary
Day 1, November 13th
We arrived in Rostock after a two hour trip with the ferry from Denmark. When we got off the ferry, our little group split up in two. Katja went with her boss, and Patrick and I went with Nele. She showed us the area surrounding the hostel we would stay at. Jellyfish Hostel is pretty nice for a hostel, and I’m glad I have my own room. Tomorrow we will be shown where we are going to spend our internships. It’s going to be exciting.
Day 2, November 14th
Today we had breakfast with Nele, before she showed us our workplaces. We visited Patrick’s first, since he had to start before I did. Then we went to my spot, Galeria Kaufhof, which is pretty impressive. I was introduced to my colleagues, and began my day in the toy department. Great people to work with, even though we may have a bit of a language barrier, we still manage. After work I went looking around the city and bought myself some dinner, as well as some extra stuff in good old Netto. Still weird to find it here in Germany. But that is all for now, see you tomorrow.
Day 3, November 15
I have slowly gotten into a morning routine. I get up, get ready, eat my breakfast, and then I’m off. This time I asked if there is a place you must go, when visiting Rostock. The beach is apparently a pretty spectacular place to visit. I also got to help organize the shelves in the storage area. Also, a funny fact, our Lego/Playmobil storage room smells like roasted nuts, and I have no idea why.
Day 4, November 16
This was a pretty slow day. But i got to meet some new people at work. Galeria Kaufhof also hires young people to help with the wares. This was also the first time I went to a place called Cap, which is a storechain that offers work to people with minor handicaps. Very impressive I must say. Since we are close to the weekend, I have started scouting for interesting locations to visit. There is a place called Rathaus, with great deals on drinks, a casino near my workplace, and a place called Berlin Pub.
Day 5, November 17
So, it finally happened, this was the day it came crumbling down. Turns out being able to understand 30% German and being able to speak 2%, is going to lead to all sorts of trouble. My boss thinks I am avoiding her, which I am not. But she wants me to speak to her, though that is going to be slightly problematic because of me being able to speak the aforementioned 2%. It also seems people think I am a loner who does not want to talk to them. During all this, I found out that my school has given me some homework to do, and that the higher ups apparently have a checklist, which will determine whether i have done a good job, or a terrible one. I will say one thing, even though it may make me sound unprofessional: Shit.
That is all for now, we will see how it will go tomorrow, since I managed to lose my homework as well, so now I will not be able to work on it. Life is pretty awesome sometimes.
Day 6, November 18
So, Friday did not exactly start out the way I had hoped. At around 3:00am, a group of people came running up the stairs, while playing loud music. Luckily, it stopped after about 50 minutes. At work I managed to have somewhat of a conversation with my supervisor. And when work was over I headed back to the hostel, where Patrick and I deciced to check out the German nightlife. You can meet some very friendly people, if you decide to visit the small unknown places in town.
Day 7, November 19
Saturday was my “off” day, where I was happy to spend my day, going about at my own leisure. It was also time to wash my clothes, which proved a bit problematic since there is no drier at the hostel, but I still managed to get it done. Around noon, Patrick and I went out to buy dinner at Netto, as well as some other things, and then I spent some much needed time alone, in my room.
Day 8, November 20
Not much to write about. Sunday means all businesses are practically closed, so I mainly stayed at the hostel all day, taking care of my room.
Day 9, November 21
This Monday the Christmas market, or Weinachtmarkt, began. When work was over, the town was lit up with ornaments, rides, and stalls. You can really feel Christmas in the city.
Day 10, November 22
This was the day I suddenly began missing two things, strange things: Actual yoghurt and proper cheese. Yoghurt is very different here in Germany, it is apparently sold in jars? And cheese is pretty hard to come by, unless you want pre-sliced cheese, which is not the same at all.
Day 11, November 23
Over halfway through the week, and I am trying to plan a sightseeing route for the weekend. I want to take some pictures of Rostock, so everybody can see how big and interesting it is. Other than that, nothing much, except for me doing the laundry and such. I managed to save some money, by using the shower as a place to wash my clothes, and it was less troublesome than using the washer downstairs. Lucky.
Day 12, November 24
This Thursday was a bit rough. The elevator at work stopped working, well, one of them stopped working. But that is pretty troublesome when four three floors need to bring merchandise up from the groundfloor. They were fixed after a couple hours, but it seems like this is something that happens quite often, not a surprise since they move huge amounts of goods and people everyday, with very few brakes. Following the trend, when I got home to the hostel, the piping had apparently caused trouble for some time, but it was fixed 20 minutes after I came back. Talk about uncanny luck. Also, a small observation I have made; people here in Rostock will ride their bike everywhere. On the sidewalk seems to be pretty popular, though I can not understand why, when there is perfectly good bike lane.
Day 12, November 25
This was Black Friday, the day every new retail employee is tested, and I survived just fine. There were a few issues communicating, but everyone have been so understanding when I told them about my “linguistic challenges” with the german language. Side note; people seem to suffer complete logistical meltdowns during a holiday such as this, there were signs, magazines, and many other indicators of what was on sale.
Yet I was completely surprised by the sheer amount of people who forgot how to read on this one day. Anyways, that was all, now it is time to enjoy the weekend.
Day 13, November 26
Saturday was the day I went out and looked around Rostock. I visited a few markets and took some photos of them, which have been uploaded to my facebook profile, and as a little bonus, managed to find 10 euro.
Jackpot.
Day 14, November 27
Today was purely meant for resting, besides, every place is closed down on a sunday. Just ironed my clothes for tomorrow and that should be it. Already the last week, these days went by fast.
Day 15, November 28
Just another Monday. Nothing really happened.
Day 16, November 29
We went on a trip around Rostock today. Saw some of the the old buildings, ate at a restaurant named Block House, and generally just spend some quality time before we all go home. Later, Katja, Patrick, and I went out on our own, just so we could hangout. It was pretty nice.
Day 17, November 30
End of the month, and you can really feel it. There are people constantly looking for gifts in our department, and there has been an increased number of danes in Rostock as well. Anyway, tomorrow is the last day at work as well as the last day in the hostel. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed soon.
Day 18, December 1
This was the last day of my internship in Galeria Kaufhof. Work was the same like any other day, except Nele Schröder showed up after noon, and we had a meeting with some of the admins of the store. It seems to have gone well, 30 minutes before my shift was over, I was given a gift filled with chocolate, Rostock related souvenirs, and an expensive coffee mug. Before going, I also went out to enjoy some hot chocolate and some small cakes called Mutzen, with a colleague named Jens. It was a good day, but it will be nice to come home to Denmark tomorrow.