The German cold and its consequences

Source

Dear friends or as the Germans say Lieb Freunden, today I am going to tell you about how the climate and the sun are affecting me.

Let's start talking about the temperatures of this German city in the North of the country.

I don't know if you know that here in Hildesheim it can drop to temperatures of -20ºC, luckily I have not experienced it yet and I hope I will not... Now it is around -3ºC, compared with my home in Seville it is cold but not as cold as the last two days have been, where we found ourselves at -11ºC... that is too little temperature. I am accustomed to a temperature of 50ºC in summer but in winter we have never reached temperatures as low as minus eleven centigrade. ..at best we have arrived at minus three but I think that the cold in Seville is more humid than what we have here. Anyway, I will continue talking about the German cold. The temperature remains constant during the day, yesterday, for example, it was -7ºC both during the morning and during the afternoon because the sky is cloudy so the sun cannot warm up the air. I had not seen my little sun until about a week ago and I missed him (normal...In Seville a day where we don't see the sun is rare... )but luckily I can see it this Friday and Saturday, it is hiding again today. However, the temperatures have increased a little, we have gone from -11ºC up to -3, better than nothing... The low temperatures are not affecting my social life. I am still going out with my friends to party despite the fact that I have to walk home through the streets of my city in the cold to my residence, which is located a little outside Hildesheim. But as I have previously said, the cold here is dry so the only thing you should do is wrap up warm. Luckily I am going to give you some more advice so that you don't get cold if you are going to come to German turf, whether visiting or doing an Erasmus (that is to say, it is not as cold here as it is in Finland, so this advice will not be valid for other countries in the North of Europe).

To combat the cold I usually wear leotards under my trousers (my friend uses thermal trousers, the bad thing is that indoors it is really hot, but if you go to the bathroom you can always take them off and continue partying). For the torso, I recommend putting on a short sleeve or French top (for when you are in the pub, bar or club) put a woolen jumper on top, or some other warm fabric (in Primark you will find a large variety and they are very cheap), also a good coat (the one that I use is for the snow). If possible your scarf should be able to cover your nose because it is so cold. A hat or a hood on your jacket and some gloves. In terms of gloves, in my opinion, leather gloves are not as warm as woollen ones, I have been able to check here. Even so, I recommend that you do not take your hands out of your pockets, although if you are practising sports in the snow I suppose that the gloves that they use for doing said sports will be better prepared for the cold than your classic woollen gloves.

After I arrived back from Christmas holidays I went running in a forest that is behind my residency. Yes, dear friends, I went running although the temperature was below 0 degrees. You may think that I am crazy but running in the snow is healthy, or this is what my German friends have said anyway. What is certain is that I don't have a hard time going out for a run, it's more I like it and it is something that I hated in school. The teacher never looked when I stopped running (I am sure that they have done it more than once). Anyway, like I was saying, I went out running for 25 or 40 minutes, naturally, on the first few occasions it was only 15 minutes since it had been almost three years since I had done sports. One week I went for 25 minutes and one day I dared to run over sloped land and after doing this route I did the last week over a very flat terrain, I then started running for 40 mins. However, I want to increase the duration a little at a time, it's no use wearing myself out one day and not doing anything the next. Besides that clarity also influences my decision because as I run in a forest there is no artificial light and here we run out of natural light at about 6 in the evening... So if you go out around 5 in the afternoon until around 5:30 you are hardly going to be able to see anything in the forest and it can be a little scary running in the dark through a forest when hardly anyone is about at this time. I try to run every day during the week, although there is always a day where it gets too late and I can't go out running. Today, for example, I could not go out because I have a cold... and until I am better I am not going to go running as I don't want to get worse and I prefer to get better on my own rather than having to go to hospital and miss classes. I am already in the final semester! Since I have started running I am doing better in my daily life, I feel more active and agile. Even if it is only 25 minutes, if you do it every day, in two weeks you will feel better and better in yourself. Now I am aiming to be able to run for an hour and I keep increasing it gradually since I want to take part in a marathon in my city in September. I recommend to those who do not do sports that you buy some tracksuit bottoms, some running trainers and I encourage you to join this healthy activity. That being said, don't start by wanting to run for 30 minutes, add a little at a time; consistency and patience are the two best allies. Go for it!

In comparison to Seville, Hildesheim has very few hours of light. The sun comes up here at around 7:30 and it sets at around 17:30. People have told me that in summer it comes up at 4 in the morning... I don't have a blind in my room here so when the sun starts coming up early I will tell you about the lovely experience... but for now I have few hours of sun and I thought that it would take me some time to get used to it but although it seems unusual, I have done it very quickly. I still find it weird that the sun goes down when I am eating dinner but I am still eating on Spanish time (I make dinner at 20:30 or 21:00 but this also the hour that I eat dinner in Spain, so I have not changed my eating habits).

You could say that living here is positively affecting my daily life. I eat a lot more vegetables, I practise sports and my room is very organised. Although, if I do not see the sun for a while I enter a type of depression and I keep listening to ballads and songs that depress me more. However, what is certain is that it is good when you can see the snow out your window, everything is white and ambient music and calming songs make you think about the life that you have lived and your future. Some days you need a 'you' day, a day where you don't have to do anything and you can chill in your room reflecting on your decisions and looking at how you are going to change your life, whether you like the path you have taken or not, etc. After this, when you return to the sun, you will be happy with what you have done and you will be more motivated to make new decisions and even motivate yourself more to study. In my case, this is what happens to me but not much because my student habits have changed a little, with respect to those I had in Spain. Although I have to say that I have improved a tad: I do more homework here than in Seville but I think this is due to the fact that here they set me more homework, because I always finish doing it the day before like I usually do on Spanish grounds... Please, don't be like me and take your homework to the day. Luckily, today I have a cold and I have nothing better to do than to do my homework. I think that I am going to make myself do the work that I have to submit before March and I won't be able to do as of next week because of exams... and as it is snowing today and it is still cold, I don't think that I can do anything outside. Also, it is Sunday and all the shops are closed.

Well, there you have it, good luck with exams as I know you have lots more than me... here is some courage... there are only a few weeks left and then you can enjoy a well-earned rest.

And as I know that right now you need to laugh for a while after so much studying, I will leave you with a joke in German (for those who do not know German I will try to explain as best I can so you can laugh as I did when I read it) :

"Mäuse trinken keinen Alkohol, sie haben Angst vor dem Kater"

For those who do not know German: Kater means cat and hangover, so the joke would be this:

Rats don't drink alcohol through fear of 'hangovers/cats'.

I hope that you all like it!

Greetings from Germany.

Photo gallery