Introduction

In 1991 I was teaching German at Dickson College in Canberra.  I kind of fell into it, as I was transferred from Copland College where I had been teaching after  moving from the NSW system in Yass.  We were living in Hackett, right across the road from the school, which was pretty handy.

I was employed as an English teacher but as I had a working knowledge of German I took on a combined Year 11-12 Beginning/Intermediate German class as well. The upside was that I was teaching something that I enjoyed, but the downside was that some of the students were either diplomats' kids or they had German background, so they often knew more than me.  Also I had never visited Germany.  However that worked in my favour at the end of the year, as I was selected to study for two months at the Goethe Institut in Staufen, near Freiburg, Germany.  I was probably the only teacher of German in the ACT at the time who had never actually been to Germany.

I leave Australia

I cannot remember a lot about the lead up to leaving, apart from the day I spent with Neil and Richie in Bondi before my departure from Kingsford Smith International on the 28th November.

Hello London

After the usual long flight I arrived in London at around 7.30am.  It was still dark and I had to go via a cargo office to deliver the manifest I picked up in Sydney from the courier company I travelled for.  To explain, in those days it was advantageous financially for courier companies to use travellers to accompany their goods overseas as part of the baggage allowance.  I did a few trips overseas where I was used by one of these companies and in return I received a discount on my fare.  In this case I apparently had in my possession some material for flight crew uniforms.  You never actually saw the goods but could read the documentation to find out.

When I eventually found the office the woman I spoke to called out to someone something like "You have a pretty one!" Eek, that would freak me out today (not that it would happen) but then I just took it and moved on.

I did not book accommodation in those days, and I just went into the city on the Heathrow bus and found a cheap hotel near Victoria Station.

Being a Tourist

As I arrived so early in the day I decided not to waste time but to get out and explore the city. The only photos I have are from Harrods and Madame Tussauds, but I would have discovered much more,  historical London being relatively easy to get around and not too big.  I eventually crashed into bed at 5.30pm.

Off to Oostende

After deciding on a day trip to Oxford on the bus, I spent my second and last night at the Stanley Hotel before taking the train down to Dover the next day. The idea was to get the Jetfoil over to Oostende in Belgium - the second leg of my trip down to Staufen.

However British Rail let me down when we arrived in Dover.  There was a problem with the track and even though we could see the terminal we weren't allowed off the train to catch the boat.  Eventually we made it into the station and I ended up sitting in a sparsely furnished cafe, waiting for the next crossing.  If I had J K Rowling's talent I could have written Harry Potter.

Luckily the crossing is very quick (90 minutes) and I ended up in Belgium in time to find a Youth Hostel for the night.  There was no-one around and I was the only resident that night, which was kind of eerie.

Koln-Freiburg-Staufen in a Day

After checking out of the Youth Hostel I found the train station and got my Eurail Flexipass stamped for the first time.  I then travelled first class down to Koln, taking in the beautiful sights along the Rhine.  From there I changed to a train to Freiburg, and finally a funny little train to Staufen, arriving around 7pm.  I was then directed to the Goethe Institut where I was going to be studying for the next two months.  When I walked in the door I was greeted by a cool Spanish guy by the name of Oscar, who then informed me that I had to sit a test!  I thought I already had my level assessed back in Oz, but anyway I did it again.  Upon completion of that Oscar drove me to where I would be staying.  I was under the impression that I would be staying in the accommodation at the institut but apparently they preferred to put the really young students there and farmed the rest of us out.

The family whose house I was staying under (in the basement) seemed nice, although their English was not as good as some, so I really had to drag out my German knowledge at times.

My Course Begins

The next morning I took my first proper look at Staufen, and liked what I saw.  I made my way up to the institut and met the other participants.  We were from various countries, including other Australians, and ranged in age from eighteen to middle aged.  I wasn't the oldest there, but I probably would be today.

The timetable below was given to us, and as you can see it was fairly full, which was good.  We still had time to go off and do our own thing over Christmas.

All classes were conducted totally in German, so by the end of the day those of us who spoke English as a first language were happy to do so!

Staufen

One of the first things we did outside of the classroom was to open bank accounts in Staufen  They gave us all 1000 marks as spending money.  In 1991 that was equivalent to $A1000.

We also bought phone cards (no mobiles in those days).

The weather was crisp but with beautiful blue skies, which made Staufen (population 7000) even prettier. It is situated at the foot of the Black Forest, so offers picturesque walks, and has a castle on a hill surrounded by vineyards.

My Class

Too much water has passed under the bridge for me to remember all of the individuals'names from my class, but at a guess I would say there were around twenty, five of whom were from Australia.  Needless to say we did tend to hang out together, even though we were encouraged to mix out of hours.  There were also people from England, Canada, the US, Portugal, Eastern Europe and North Africa.

Getting Around

It did not take long for us to start venturing further afield than the local pub in Staufen, going often on the funny little train to nearby Freiburg.  It was a big university city of around 200,000 people, and had an amazing cathedral with a huge spire which we climbed inside of once.  The cathedral also had unusual mediaeval sculptures on display.

We also went on the Institut bus to Heidelberg for a day, and later on to Stuttgart.

At night time if we weren't watching MTV in the residence at the Institut we would drive with someone who had a car to various night clubs and bars around the area.  I also had a bicycle which the family had loaned me, and I used that to get to class and to the gym up the road.