The First Month:

So the 3^rd of October marked 1 month since I moved to Konstanz.  Its been great fun, with great people, in a great place.  Here are a few of the things I've learned:

• German banks and postal services have their issues (my PIN was due to be sent on the 2^nd).
• If you go into an Irish bar the chances of finding an Irishman are about 200% (they seldom drink alone).
• The induction course was well worth it – I learned a lot (of German and other things) and had far less difficulty with setting up my life than I would have on my own. 
• It probably isn't that you can’t understand his accent – no-one else on the platform at 6am can understand the very drunk man tell you about his 3 day bender either.
• Even Hungarians don’t know the alphabet in Hungarian – it’s just too long.
• Ask Google before you ask Facebook.
• The Bundesliga is more important than the Premier League.  If its an Irish pub, add GAA above Bundesliga.
• You will rest on a Sunday, even if you don’t want to.
• Getting a German keyboard is a good idea (and probably would have been last year but you didn't think of it then).
• It is acceptable for German lecturers to leave you on an island.
• Estonia sounds like a great place to be into organised crime (5 minutes to open a bank account, 10 minutes to set up a business and internet voting, or so I was told).
• The Irish can and will drink you under the table, out of the door, down the street and, if you’re particularly unfortunate, into Switzerland.
• The media doesn't always lie: Germans really do hate bailing out the Greeks.
• Canadians can be generally assumed to be up for the night out/ day trip/ pie in the sky plan.
• Cyclists are like taxis: even if they don’t have right of way they do have right of way.
• There’s no place like home.  The 3^rd of October not only marks one month since I arrived in Germany, Tag der Deutschen Einheit (German Unity Day – the only Federal bank holiday) but also the day I flew home.  A cop out maybe, but its good to be back.