Year Abroad, Part Five: Christmas Markets

One of the few things I've loved about Germany is all the Christmas markets I visited through December. So I thought, rather than boring you all with how I'm doing at uni, I'd focus on the positive and write my next (long overdue) year abroad post about the Weihnachtmärkte!

Year Abroad, Part Four: Welcome Week

I’ve been in Germany for about a month now and classes still haven’t started. Yes, Tübingen University starts late, and I arrived earlier than I probably needed to. But I’ve not had nothing to do. I have a book to write (still not finished, but this draft is getting there!), and of course there’s cooking, cleaning, sorting out the last bits of paperwork (which seem to take the longest… Never mind this “your year abroad is the best year of your life!” stuff; I swear all I’ve done on mine so far is get stressed over admin). And last week (12th - 15th October) there was also welcome week!

Year Abroad, Part Three: My First Week

It feels far longer than a week that I've been in Germany. Technically, I have: my parents and I arrived last Wednesday, so it's only really that I've been Germany on my own for a week. But that isn't what I meant. Saying that it's only a week since I said goodbye to my parents just feels wrong. Surely it can't have been so recently?

I've spent my first week alone in Germany working on my book, exploring Tübingen (pictures below!), going for jogs (admittedly only two), having awkward conversations with flatmates I barely know in the kitchen, setting up a German bank account, handing in forms, and Skyping numerous people, numerous times. I definitely feel like I'm settling in; like I'm getting to know my surroundings and life here is a little more normal.

Year Abroad, Part Two: Travel, Arrival and Settling In

So. I'm in Germany. My parents have just left; I'm here to stay now. What a weird thought that is.

Today is Saturday. We set off at perhaps twenty to three on Wednesday afternoon, and reached the Euro Tunnel in plenty of time - only for it to be delayed. After waiting there for a couple of hours, we finally got to France and had soon found our Ibis Budget hotel. It was clean and comfortable enough, but I didn't sleep well. Not because I was nervous, though - I was determinedly not thinking about where we were going. Apparently I just wasn't tired enough once my head hit the pillow, and once I did manage to sleep, I was woken twice during the night.

We set off again at about six AM French time, and I napped (badly) through France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Once in Germany, though, I decided to stay awake despite still being tired: I wanted to see where we were going. At that point, I was quite excited. But the closer we got to Tübingen, the more nervous I got. What if I didn't like it? What if it wasn't a nice town? And did I really want to go away on a year abroad anyway? (The answer to that was no, I didn't.) I just wanted for us to keep on driving, as if we were just going on a trip through Europe, not dropping me off on my year abroad.

Year Abroad, Part One: Preparation

Since I got back from my family holiday in Italy, I haven't been writing as much as I'd have liked. I've been busy. But not in the usual way. My year abroad has come around rather fast and I've suddenly realised there's quite a lot I still have to do to prepare for it.

I'm spending my year abroad studying, in Tübingen, Germany. I leave in two days.