Hi everyone, nice to meet you. I'm Ida from Germany and currently an intern at Peartree until April.
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| Ida in Pontypridd |
I actually study for my master’s degree back in Germany in a fantastic little town called Tübingen that lies on the river Neckar. Tübingen is a typical southern-German town with many historic buildings, parks, a small stream weaving through the town centre, and one of the oldest universities (it was founded in 1477). It is a very green place to live (literally as well as politically)!
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| Picture of Tuebingen amm nacker in Germany |
Tübingen is wonderful, however, I grew up in a village with many more interesting stories to tell. We have an annual village festival in summer, many flea-markets all year round, and the incomparable Alemannic “Fasnet” – our regional carnival celebrations. Fasnet is the time of year between the 11th of November, from 11:11am, and Ash Wednesday, when people get increasingly crazier wearing masks and having parades through different villages. These fools sometimes throw candy, although more often they are dressed as scary witches and or animals trying to take you hostage for a ways and frightening you. My village’s costumes are a miller and his wife. He just wants to give you a scratchy souvenir of the day with chaff down your back and in your hair, while she throws out delicious pretzels to the crowd.
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| Picture of Millemer Narren (traditional fool costume of Muehlheim in Germany) |
Perhaps you already know about my other favorite southern-German tradition, the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market). Just imagine standing outside in the cold with a hot cup of mulled wine in your hands while listening to carolers between stalls of hand-made goods. Admittedly, dry ginger bread looks better as a ginger bread house than it tastes in your mouth (not so when it’s covered in chocolate though).
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| A ginger bread house (Lebkuchenhaus) |
As you may have noticed, I love my country, and especially the area where I grew up. Nonetheless, I enjoy traveling at least as much as spending time at home. My personal winner of travel destinations so far is – surprise – Wales! Not only is Cardiff a beautiful city with many gorgeous places to chill out, it also always surprises me with its great range of international restaurants. Cooking is another hobby of mine, so I’m always on the lookout for something new to taste and attempt to copy in my kitchen. I spent one year living in Birmingham, where I learned to love Indian food. Did you know that the famous Chicken Tikka Masala was probably invented in Birmingham?
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Ida with freshly baked cookies.
(I wonder if she can bring something to school as well) |
My other passion is languages. My friends used to say I had an unfair advantage, but then they took advantage of my knowledge in school – I grew up with German and English, so I was a living dictionary in their hands. I also learned and am learning other languages; I enjoy being able to converse with people in their own language, and languages also help me better understand other cultures. As they say, languages open the door to a bigger world.
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| Ida after running the Nos Galan run in Mountain Ash on New Year's Eve |
When I have time, I also like to read a lot. I like running outside and go to the gym when it rains. While I’m here in the UK, I am taking part in some organized runs, too. I participated in the St. David’s Day 10k run in Cardiff and will do another run in Leeds. Although I could never win these races, I like taking part in the challenge of completing them.
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| Ida at Barry Island |
I hope you know a little bit more about me now. Last, if you are interested in the boring version of myself, you can visit my website: https://homepage.uni-tuebingen.de/student/ida.sanders/index.html . Or if you’re at Peartree, just ask me if I left any question unanswered. Keep learning languages ;-)
See you soon!
Ida
Peartree Languages is a language school located in Cardiff.
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