Endlich da

My first two weeks in Germany have been pretty crazy. I feel like I've barely stopped for a second! There's been so much for me to do and see, and as I write this lying in bed contemplating making french toast, I'm delighted to finally be able to just relax for a bit.

I haven't had a proper chance to settle in in Halle yet, as last Sunday meant a train journey across Germany for training week near Cologne. Sitting on a train isn't my favourite way to spend five and a half hours, though I have a feeling it's something I'll be getting used to this year. When I finally got to stretch my legs I found Ross Anne and Emma in a coffee shop abusing the WiFi and we traipsed to our hotel for the night. Evening meant McDonalds (ouch), cocktails and Koelsch (yum) as well as talking absolute nonsense til the early hours with our bottles of beer. Needless to say it was a painful coach trip to Maria in der Aue the next day.

At Cologne Cathedral with Ross Anne.

Induction week was pretty intense, despite the constant food breaks. We were all paired up with roommates who were going to be working near us, and I found myself sharing with the fabulous Eliza who will be living just north of Halle. Our little working groups were also area-based and I have to say, us Sachsen-Anhalt ladies are pretty fabulous. I also got to meet a few people who will be based in Leipzig, which is pretty great as they're only half an hour away, and another girl from Glasgow, Emma, who is living in Jena! There was so much information to take on board it got a little overwhelming and tiring, despite the PAD's best efforts. We also had to prepare mock classes, with the others in the groups acting like the pupils, which was very nerve racking, especially when we realised a beautiful Bavarian would be assessing us. But we had fun making the others play charades and acting like primary school kids learning the colours in English!

Naturally we all found our way to the bar every night which made for some great fun, as well as some ill-advised hangovers. The last night was especially great, I found myself at a room party paired up with an Irish guy trying to teach the Gay Gordons to uninterested English people. The coach trip back to Cologne wasn't so much fun, but a traditional lunch in a brewery type restaurant helped a lot! I'm not sure what I made of Cologne. It was very modern, and I felt a little guilty complaining about how ugly it is when I realised that was the Brits' fault! I think if I visit again, I'll need someone who lives there to show me where and how to have fun.

Glasgow girls in the bar!

This week has been my first in the school, which has been interesting to say the least. I'm teaching in the Realschule classes and as English is a compulsory subject, naturally some of the kids aren't so interested. Can't blame them - I felt the same about maths! Hopefully I can do a Sister Act 2 and make them super enthusiastic by the end of the year! It's very strange being back in a school atmosphere, especially as it's one I don't feel particularly comfortable in. But I think I'll get used to it and it's nice being in the staffroom for a change, even if some of the teachers have mistaken me for one of their senior pupils!

I'll be back soon with another post about my recent "cultural" (read: alcoholic) experiences, as well as my ill-fated attempts at emulating the Germans and riding my bike. Bis dann! x

Six weeks to go!

Everything's starting to come together for me now in terms of preparation for the year abroad, both emotionally and in organisation. First of all, I officially have a flat! I'll be living in Halle's Südliche Innenstadt, which I've been assured by my mentor teacher is a nice and cheap area, with two other students. One studies primary teaching so I'm hoping she can give me some tips for work, and the other wrote me an adorable moving-in poem on facebook. For €221 a month, all bills included, I couldn't be happier - I can't wait to move in!

I've also got all my travel booked. Glasgow to Berlin, Berlin to Halle. Probably with many tears in my eyes. Then a few days later, Halle to Cologne to stay in a lovely hotel for the night with Emma before our induction week in the countryside! I can see these being the first of many adventures with Deutsche Bahn... time to buy a BahnCard, maybe!

I'm starting to feel totally ready to go now. I've been working a lot the past few weeks, and every time it gets me down, I remember that my last shift there is in just over a fortnight and my flight to Germany and a new life there is just over a month away! I've no doubt I'll be hiding in the toilets at Glasgow Airport the morning I leave, soggy faced and puffy eyed, terrified of stepping on the plane. And then when I do manage to compose myself, losing it again when the plane takes off. The amount of responsibility and independence I'll have over there is going to be very new to a girl who still lives with her parents. I can't quite believe they're going to let me teach kids. It's daunting. But it's incredibly exciting too.

I don't know anyone in Halle, besides people I've skyped on my flathunt who offered to take me out for drinks when I arrive (!) and my mentor teacher. I haven't met any of them face to face, so naturally I'm quite anxious that I'll arrive, nobody will like me, and it'll be a lonely year. But I've been better recently at telling myself I'm actually ok. I've been standing up for myself more, not wasting time on people who make me feel bad, and remembering how I felt about starting uni and making friends there. My friends are fabulous so I must be doing well, and there's no reason the same shouldn't happen in Germany! This might be a clean sheet, but I'll always be some version of Lauren. And maybe that'll work out just fine.

I'm ready for something new. I love Glasgow and I'll miss it, but I've lived here my whole life and I want to go exploring. I'm 20. There's nothing to keep me here for now. What could be more new than moving to a city I've never even visited before? And if I do get a bit lonely, my friends will only be a train ride away, going through the same stuff. I think we're all going to do great.

Hunting for a Home.

Sometimes I like to be organised. When I have little control over something, I want to throw myself into the things I can change and make sure I do a good job. When it comes to the year abroad, I can do little at the moment besides post forms away, book my flight and train journeys (done, oh my god), and search for a place to live. So in between working a lot in the shop and doing some work experience at a local paper, I've been consumed by finding the perfect Wohngemeinschaft ("living community", a German flatshare) to set myself up in for the year.

Everything I've read on my new favourite website Third Year Abroad and what I've heard from previous Year Abroad-ers at uni has pointed to WG-Gesucht as being the best place to find a flatshare. The university in Halle did send me a link to their residential services but I don't want to go into halls in Germany. I'm too scared of living with loads of other international students - probably a lot of fun, but not fantastic for my German skills as I think I'd be tempted to just speak English all the time. And I definitely don't want (and probably can't afford) a flat to myself. All of the WGs on WG-Gesucht seem to follow the same template: washing machine in the bathroom, and the flatmates like to cook together but also have time to themselves sometimes. Sounds ideal. I'm in.

I actually found the perfect flat very quickly, but it fell through! The room was huge and bright, the flatmates seemed awesome, there were two balconies... what more could I really want? I even started making a Pinterest board of how I was going to make it my own and looked up the best bus routes to Ikea Leipzig (though I hinted to my mentor teacher first, in case I could coerce her into taking me in the car). The flatmates chose me, I was over the moon, and I sent all my forms to the letting agency straight away like a good little slave to bureaucracy, only to receive an email over a week later saying that the owner doesn't want to let me the room. Oh. OK. My would-have-been flatmates were fantastic and tried to do all they could to help, but the new owner of the building won't play along. So it's back to WG-Gesucht and stressing out!

What I will say, though, is that I've found everyone really friendly so far! One girl who I replied to a little too late said that she would put me in touch with a friend of hers who needs a flatmate, and offered to meet up with me when I get to Halle! And a friend of my girl Lara has also passed along the details of someone she knows who has a furnished room to let. Maybe contacts are the way?

Hopefully I'll be back soon with better flat-related news! And despite my lack of success so far, I'm still really excited to move out of my parents' house for the first time. I might be terrified of the year ahead of me, but despite my general uselessness (can't cook, can't fix things, can't do much really) I couldn't feel more ready for this aspect.