Hallo, Halle!

While I was in Barcelona the email arrived that I'd been waiting for since finding out my Bundesland. Since finding out my application had been accepted. Since applying to go, even. I might have been shaking a bit when I opened it. What if I was going to a little village miles from proper (read: urban) civilisation? With two buses a day and no trains? Where everyone would know everything about everyone else because they all lived on the same street? This was the nightmare that had haunted me for months. But it was not to be! A letter from Saxony-Anhalt's education department revealed I'd actually been placed in a school in Halle an der Saale! To be honest, this was even better than I'd hoped for. I'd been gearing myself up for a medium-sized or small town. And instead I'm going to a university city, still small compared to Glasgow, but full of people my age and bars and shops. Perfect, as my Stevenson scholarship requires me to enrol at a German uni during my assistantship and Halle's Martin Luther University is huge.

I'm so excited to be going to Halle. It looks like a great city, small enough that I won't get lost but bursting with people to get to know. I've already begun looking for flats and they're all gorgeous and CHEAP. I can't believe the price difference between the flats there and what people pay for in the UK. I've had two skype 'dates' with potential flatmates, and I'm currently quite stressed but excited to finally fly the nest and hopefully land on my feet in a lovely flat. Preferably with a balcony, because that is the essence of the year abroad, is it not? Sitting in the sunset with a glass of wine, wondering how many people in Scotland can do the same. Though in my case, the glass will probably be replaced with a bottle of beer.

The school looks good. Quite normal, I suppose. It's a kooperative Gesamtschule, which from what I can figure out is pretty close to a British comprehensive school. It's in the Neustadt area of Halle, separated from the rest of the city by the river Saale, but by the looks of things still very reachable by tram or bus. From what I can figure out, HaNeu (amazing nickname, isn't it) looks a bit like Cumbernauld. Though, as my friend pointed out, perhaps Cumbernauld just looks like socialist East Germany. I'll be teaching kids from 10 to about 17 or 18, I think, and my lovely contact teacher Anka has informed me that the school is holding its first ever Highland Games this year. Interesting.

Is this an ex-Eastern Bloc country or a Scottish new town? You decide...

I'm doing work experience at a local newspaper this week and in every spare moment between jobs all I've been able to think about is Halle. Besides finding a flat, most of the worries I had are gone, and now I just can't wait to get on that plane and see what Germany's all about! I'm so happy for my friends too, as everyone's finally found out where they're going and everyone seems pretty happy! I can't wait to make Deutsche Bahn my best friend and travel around to see them all.

It's going to be a good one, I think!