How easy or difficult did you find adapting to the culture?

In terms of adapting to the culture, I do not think this was particularly difficult. Germany and England are very similar. The major differences are arbitrary. You quickly learn to do food shopping on Saturday as all shops are closed on Sunday. You also learn to close your windows on Saturday nights because German church bells go off the decibel scale. There really isn't much to adapt to, but lots to embrace. Germany has a fantastic festival culture, with warm and friendly locals, with 'Masse Bier' and .5l glasses of wine to lubricate the conversation. I have not encountered German family culture, but I will be going to a German friends home to meet her family which I am very excited for. I would go sooner but I would like to learn some more German before I go!

I have found moving to Germany much harder than I ever expected. I cant help but feel like I have a cloud of bad luck following me in this city. After I was attacked early on, all I wanted to do was start running and not look back, fortunately as I am flat footed I’m prone to blisters so this wasn’t a real option. I bought a bike because I thought I’d make much better time on my escape, but then that was stolen, so I guess I’m going to have live here after all. Although I think I am still under the cloud the people that I have met and the quality of the modules more than out weighs the bad luck. Although Mannheim would never make it into the Most Beautiful Places in German 1000 list, the surrounding area is beautiful, and it is not difficult to escape every once in a while, and I have had to rely on this so that my brain hasn't popped. It has been difficult here, but it would have been no fun if it was easy... and my confidence probably needed moving down a notch too. 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da life goes on.'.