Aufwiedersehen, Pet!

So, finally I have got myself as organised as I can possibly be, and this thing is ACTUALLY happening!

After finding multiple possible places to live, it finally worked out on the third one! So I now have an apartment exactly where I need to be, with easy access to transport, work and, most amazingly, a church!

I have now been in contact with my schools and got myself organised with what materials I need to take. I must admit, having only been scheduled to teach 13 lessons a week I am wondering what on earth I will do with all my spare time! I think this year will involve a lot of travelling, coffee shops and running (to burn off the amount of food I will have had time to eat...).

So, the nerves have started to settle and I'm so excited for what adventures these next 10 months will hold. Being in 'real' Europe will be such a treat, and being able to travel affordably is so exciting!

So, nearly time for part 1 of my adventure to start... Watch this space!

Tschuess!

Mein Gehirn tut weh...

Okay, so, back to updating this thing. Where do I begin?

I've just come back from a wonderfully relaxing 2 weeks in the Bahamas and Florida with my family. It was sunny, fun and incredibly relaxing. I thought I felt fully okay about the concept of moving abroad for the year...then I got home to an avalanche of emails asking me to print this, sign this, ask this, apply for this...
So, I guess I'm back to not quite knowing how I feel right now. One minute I'm so excited to go, I'm completely care-free, not worried about finding a place to live there and then, and fully assured that it will 'all work out in the end'. Five minutes later, there I am again on wggesucht, Donau Universitaet, google, anything which might give me hope that, somewhere, anywhere, in Austria has a room where I can live for 9 months. It won't even matter if I commute for an hour or so, I tell myself - when getting in to work for 7.45am is clearly going to be an issue even if I live next door... Then the calm comes again, and I wake up the next morning feeling sick with anxiety. So, with regards to accommodation, I think it's safe to say I'm a little on the nervous side...

Other than that, things are looking pretty good! I have had contact with a church who are asking around about accommodation for me, and a student group who have invited me to meet weekly with them for socials and prayer meetings. I've got visitors lined up for the entire year, I think this may be the only thing that is helping me keep my head above water right now. I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of paper-work, legal documents and general-life-worries. How do I open a bank account when my German can barely order me a Schnitzel, what about phones, I can't explain what I'm looking for in a contract in the o2 shop here! I hear so many great things about years abroad though, if everyone else can do it...it can't be that hard, right?

Then there's my main mentor, who hasn't replied to the initial email I sent 6 weeks ago - surely that isn't TOO uncommon though...I hope.

On the bright side, my thoughts on travelling are the same. I can't wait to just get out and explore the world. I'll be independent and earning for the first time, none of this living-on-student-loans rubbish. I will genuinely have money, and places to see, and I'm unbelievably excited for it!

Other than this, there isn't very much to report on. For the time being I'm working my way through child protection training, and watching Austrian news to try and remind myself what German actually sounds like. Oh goodness me, this is actually happening... less than 4 weeks to go!

Dirndls and Edelweiss?

Wow, so much has happened since I last updated this blog! It's difficult to know where to start when your head is a whirlwhind of paper-work, application forms, financial support forms, certificates of employment, emails, languages, teaching materials, flights, train tickets etc etc etc! So, I finally found out that I will be teaching in the most beautiful little town just outside of Vienna, called Krems an der Donau! I've been placed with pupils doing their Matura (A levels), aged up to 18 years. It's incredibly exciting to think that I'll be starting work in a couple of months! When British Council first assigned me my Bundesland I was disappointed that it wasn't my first choice. However, after being placed in such a cute little town I have fully forgiven them - I couldn't have chosen better myself!

The next step I took to building myself a (temporary) home out there is that I began my hunt for churches, and have found a couple which I'd like to try out. I'm almost more excited for that than I am to be teaching English! Having a church family where I am living is one of the most important things to me, they provide a support network and will encourage and help me, both spiritually and emotionally. God has provided me with the most amazing answer to prayer with regards to churches, but more on that as it progresses - I can hardly believe it myself!

Having nowhere to live yet is perhaps the most difficult thing of all. How can you possibly prepare yourself to go when you don't know where you'll be, or who you'll be with? However, I don't feel I need to worry - I'm trusting God with that one. Today I finally booked my flights, and will be spending 2 weeks getting settled before my induction course starts in Graz. I'm so blessed to have this opportunity to travel, regardless of how scary it currently seems!

Cultural assimilation is one of the aims of this year. Having never travelled to Austria, my knowledge is a little limited! Of course we all think of The Sound of Music, Dirndls and Coffee, right? But, what is the REAL Austria like? I'm spending every free minute I have researching every aspect of life in Austria - usually to very little avail! I guess I'll just have to wait for that one, too!

The reality of this experience is just starting to sink in. Leaving your family, friends and home comforts for a whole year to live in another country is a difficult thing to do. I don't know yet how it will feel, or how I will cope. I'm sure there will be a few tears nearer the time, but right now I'm trying to make the most of all the opportunities I get to visit friends and spend time with family.

I'll update the blog as more things happen - although now it just seems like a waiting game as my CRB check is processed and I wait to hear back about financial supports!

Adieu, Adieu, to you and you and you!

A Huge Leap in to Adulthood

The time has finally come where I have to act as an adult, take a huge leap, and move abroad. I still feel like I am about 16 in my mind, but shortly I will turn 20... and shortly after this, I will be moving to Austria. The
thought terrifies, thrills and numbs me in equal quantities. However, I am sure this is going to be the adventure of a lifetime; something which I will one day share with my children, grandchildren and so on! So, I believe I need to make the most of this opportunity which I am privileged to have. I never thought I would be capable of speaking another language, or responsible enough to help educate children of another country - but somehow, this amazing opportunity has fallen in to my lap. I can either run from it, or seize it. I choose the latter.

Around the world people grow up without an education, without a job, living in poor conditions and struggling for money and food. I have been blessed enough to be simply given a paid job, fortunate enough to help educate others and have the freedom to travel as I wish, why would I let this pass me by?! So, I invite you to come along with me as I share each moment (the good and the bad!) of this exciting adventure.

Waiting to hear where in Austria I have been placed is almost painful. Applications were submitted in October, and here I am in June...just waiting. I have googled every possible town I can think of in the region, and researched schools, education systems, sights and history, but nothing will feel quite real until I get the email confirming where I have been placed. Patience is one of my weaknesses, and it's certainly not an easy thing to lack in such a situation as this!

The one thing I have been able to look in to, however, is where in Europe I would like to visit over the coming year. Yes, the UK is part of Europe...but we aren't linked by land, and so travel there is often expensive. I mean, we don't even use the same plug sockets - how European are we really?! So, I have composed a list of places I would like to visit (some a little vaguer than others), and I am challenging myself to visit at least 5 of these over the year. If you are sitting comfortably, here goes:

1. Bergen (Norway)
2. The Black Forest
3. Bratislava (Slovakia)
4. Bucharest
5. Cologne
6. Copenhagen (Denmark)
7. Duesseldorf
8. Florence
9. Frankfurt
10. Hamburg
11. Lake Bled (Slovenia)
12. Liechtenstein
13. Milan
14. Munich
15. Paris
16. Pisa
17. Prague
18. Salzburg
19. Schloss Neuschwanstein
20. Sicily
21. Stockholm
22. Verona
23. Venice
24. Vienna
25. Zurich

And breathe. So, as you can see it's a pretty big list, and visiting all of them would be impossible. However, picking and choosing which to do may be a hard decision to make. Here is where you come in - let me know if any of these would be a definite, or simply a waste of time, energy and money. Either way it would be great to know! I'll fill you in as I go along and share my biggest adventure yet with you.

Happy Weekend!