19th July 2012
So I’ve decided to start up a blog. Mainly because I’m
useless at keeping a diary, and I figured something like this would be useful
for when I’ve actually got something exciting / interesting to say. Also,
because in just under 6 short weeks, I’m off on my year abroad for 9 months,
and I wanted a record of my travels.
So the countdown to the 26th August is well and
truly underway. This time in 38 (ish) days, I shall be getting ready to head
off to Deutschland. The flight is booked, I’m slowly composing a list as long
as my arm of things I need to sort beforehand, and I’m struggling to determine
whether I’m more excited or terrified.
It feels like I’ve been preparing for this for aaages.
Possibly because the details about where you’re going are drip-fed to you in
small doses. So in April / May time I
found out that I’m going to one of Germany’s Bundeslände called Hessen, which
is located right in the heart of Germany, around Frankfurt. I was really lucky,
as this was my first choice region, as it’s quite easily accessible, reasonably
close to the French boarder, and I also have a friend and old exchange partner
who lives there. Couldn’t ask for anything better really!
I think I was one of the first people from my group of
friends to hear about my specific town and school, so I’ve had a lot of time to
get myself organised. (Whether or not I’ve actually taken advantage of this
time is negotiable, but oh well!) I’m off to a small town in the south of the
region called Bensheim, and shall be working in the Karl Kübel Schule for the
duration of my time there.
The school looks amazing! It’s very modern-looking, and I’m
told has approx. 2500 students. 2500?! That’s almost double the size of my
secondary school, and I thought that was huge. What’s worse is that when I
first arrive I won’t have a clue where I’m going, so am inevitably going to get
lost amongst the throngs of students who will all be taller than me –
even the youngest ones. Oh dear!
But the list of information you receive doesn’t stop with
your school. Oh, no. There’s accommodation find, people to get in touch with,
and an induction weekend that all language assistants in Germany will be
attending at some point. I’m not even out there yet, and I’m already
discovering that a huge part of next year will be learning to ‘go with the
flow.’ Sadly this is a skill I have yet to master, although I’m improving. I
have lots of questions requiring lots of answers, and what I’ve learnt to
appreciate already, without even having boarded a plane, is that all my queries
and questions won’t (and some can’t) be answered straight away. Everything will
fall into place, I’m sure. I just need to have a bit of faith.
Also what helps is that my mentor for next year, a really,
really lovely teacher at the school seems almost as enthusiastic to meet me as
I am to get to Germany. so for now, at least, the confusion about whether
terror or excitement is the prevailing emotion, the one thing I am sure about
is that I just can’t wait to get there.
