I know I haven't posted in AGES but there really wasn't much to say.
So sorry. Again. And sorry for saying sorry too many times. I'll stop now.
So I thought I'd give you all a bit of a heads up as to where I'm at with Year Abroad planning.
I am currently 2 1/2 months away from leaving for Germany, and it's all starting to become very real.
I have sorted the nightmare of contracts now (finally! Phew) and am in the processes of finding a place to stay.
Funnily enough, as I walked down Northumberland Street (the main shopping street in Newcastle) this afternoon, I randomly bumped into a good friend from both my old church and salsa, who very kindly gave me contacts in Berlin from Church plants and a charity called Agapé- so we shall see! I'm confident that there will be somewhere for me to stay whilst I'm out there, it's just finding it that's proving to be problematic.
Bumping into her made me really grateful for the wonderful group of awesome friends that I have been given. It's a bizarre concept, thinking of them all back here, continuing their uni lives without me. I guess that's normal though, and most of them will still be here when I come back anyway so I really have nothing to worry about!! Thank goodness for technology as well... not sure what I'd do without the possibility of skype or facebook chats!
I made some objectives today, so I thought I might share them on here so that those who are interested can check up on how I'm progressing over the year:
My goals are to be able to confidently answer the telephone and have a conversation in German with the person on the other end, to teach German children an english song that they can then remember and confidently sing back to me, and to come back with a good understanding of Berlin's history and cultural scene which I can then explain to someone (in German!).
I also was asked to write about my expectations of the year. In response to the question I wrote:
Well I'm certainly looking forward to those experiences which I'm not expecting! (does that make sense?) I have been told by many people to be realistic- I understand it won't be all fun-and-games- but I know that even when it's not going as well as I would like, I know that I will still come back with an immense satisfaction of how much I have achieved and how I have matured as a person.
In terms of expected challenges, I know that setting up a bank account and phone contract and registering with the Einwohnermeldeamt [the office where you go to register for German Residency etc] could be tricky. However, I know that the more prepared for those situations I am, the better. So I will make sure that I am prepared with photocopies of all documents etc and with any specific vocab I might need before attempting it.
Let the journey commence!!!
Alles liebe,
Louise x
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