My Year Abroad in 100 Photos

So here I am, back in Blighty for the foreseeable future. Instead of doing the clichéd lengthy report on the immensity of this past year and all it has meant for me, I decided to portray my experiences via the medium of photographs. Here are 100 pictures that represent specific points along my journey, people who have made an impact on me and memories I will never forget.

Here Comes the Sun! leaving party and flag to sign

Liebes Deutschland

Dear Germany,

I came to you as a very tanned, slightly apprehensive, rather French-sounding English person, full of expectations. And you did not let me down. Thank you for proving and shattering stereotypes; showing me the fun of travelling; the joys (and grievances) of teaching; the beauty of friendship, and making me into 'one of yours'.

I will miss your wonderful array of herbal tea; your fabulous Brötchen (and bread as a whole), and your amazing knack of making a night out last several days, even if that is just the repercussions of having left the house at 10 in the evening and not coming back until 6 in the morning (the club, incidentally, not even having closed yet). I'll miss your people's keenness for sporty activity, thus rendering the question ' Do you play sport?' useless, and replacing it with 'What kind of sport do you do?' (ahem, volleyball). I'll also miss their penchant for travelling ridiculous distances for a holiday, even if it's just for the weekend and half the time will be spent on the road getting there and back (it's just good to get away, you know?). On a similar note, I'll miss their incorrigible interest for different cultures and languages, and just how much they love to demonstrate this, even if it does make practising German a little difficult at times!

Some things I won't miss, however, are getting up at six in the morning to go to work while it's still dark; your people's seeming obsession with sparkling water (Tap water is fine. No, honestly!); the permanent lateness of your trains, particularly when you want to get somewhere important/have a connection to catch (Note: after my journey back home was punctuated by having one train come late, one being cancelled at the last minute and one bus just not bother to turn up at all, I stand by this point. German public transport, you suck!). I'll not miss your people's inability to form a queue (letting the person that was there first go to the new till in the supermarket? Just not the done thing. And letting people off the train before you plough on with all your suitcases/prams/children in tow? Not a chance!), and their terrible Europop/Club music mix that is all there is to be heard on the radio all day long (actually, I might miss that a bit. Just the Europop part. And only sometimes).

All in all, I've learnt a ridiculous amount during these six months that I've been here, not least a rather hefty amount of German! I've also developed my sense of organisation, my directness, and my general knowledge of the world as we know it (so far, so German). Also my guitar-playing skills, a nice addition to the group, if not as predictable as the others!

Let me finish with one final thing that I will miss about your wonderful country. Your lovely people and their fabulous sense of occasion, which I have had the luck to experience often of late, in saying my goodbyes to the various friends and acquaintances I have managed to gather in my short time here. I will be forever grateful that they decided to take me in, welcome me and call me friend (or even family, in some cases). To leave that behind will be hard. But there is one things you can be sure of:

I will be back!

All my love,
Natalie

What a week.

The birthday week has been and gone, and I am now 21... All right, Enough of the rhymes. But what a week it has been! I'll run you quickly through the itinerary:

Thursday: Arrival of my friend from home to stay for a long weekend. Flight due to arrive late in the evening, so we stay over at another friend's as the trains don't run late enough for us to make it all the way home...
Friday: Party time! A day of prep., then a rather lovely evening with various assistant friends, church friends and family, including a game or two of Jungle Speed, several attempts at doing clap press-ups and wall-bar chin-ups (not all entirely successful), along with a nice round of 5, 6, 7, 8 to finish off. Good work, guys!
Saturday: Day of recovery. Also made it to the Witch-Hunter Mayor's House (a local sight), and cooked pancakes for dinner with everyone round. Stayed up late enough to see my actual birthday in, with a rather hushed (but obviously wonderfully melodious) version of 'Happy Birhday'. Lovely!
Sunday: My 21st!!! A slow-moving start (due to the late night), but soon it was all go - I had a beautiful table of presents waiting for me in the main house (complete with 21 candles), then we went for a meal at a local Italian restaurant (yup, no changes there) and afterwards decided to explore the castle next-door. A good idea, although the walk afterwards perhaps wasn't - sleet on your birthday is never fun, but especially not when you're in the middle of the countryside with one umbrella between three people. Ah well, we were all back in the warm and dry soon enough (thanks to a very kind someone who agreed to pick us up!).
Monday: No school due to open day, woo! A bit of exploration further afield, namely the nearby town Detmold. We managed to meet up with one of my colleagues and I have now seen the local monument that everyone has been telling me about since I got here in September. Some things do take some time!
Tues: Bit of a more chilled-out day (still off school though, some people get all the luck =p). Slept in late then made muffins, sadly after that it was time to say goodbye to my dear British friend and send her off back to the land of pasties, fish and chips and other such delicacies. Came back home and had a lovely night in with my Lemgo buddy and a copy of 500 Days of Summer (what a film!).

All in all, this week(end) has made me very thankful for the life I've been able to build here, and the friends I've been blessed to make. I'm feeling good about life as a 21-year-old (we'll see how long that lasts!).
P.s. Did I mention that several people mistook me for a German person this weekend? That could have something to do with my massive feeling of happiness right now!

Time is speeding up.

I know it has been almost a month since I last posted, but there is a reason for that. Basically, I've been very busy! Time seems to be speeding up and I have a feeling it's not going to stop until I fly off at the end of February. Things are going better than ever - coming back to a place always seems to make you appreciate it more. I've been doing all sorts of fun things with our amazing group of assistants, and also actually spending time with German people, who are no longer just some sort of language-practising device but actual people that I'm getting to know and becoming friends with. This is such a nice feeling, I want to appreciate it all the more while I can.

Some of the things that I've been experiencing lately in the lovely Lipperland:

Snowwwww!!! Plus the ridiculously freezing temperatures that come with it. Minus 10, anyone?

Frühstück am Sonntag - a very German breakfast with my church friends, consisting of many, many bread rolls, jam, spreads, OJ, coffee, and the ever present (but oh so unnecessary) ham and cheese (really? at breakfast?)

Making my host family the typically English meal of beans on toast the other day - they loved it! I tried to tell them it was a cheat's way out of cooking dinner, but they were massively impressed nonetheless. Well, what can you do? Obviously I'm just massively gifted in the beans-on-toast area. That is a gift not to be scoffed at.

And some not so much in Lippe:

I went on a choir trip, with the school (no jokes) - was pretty good, actually! Lots of snow and singing, and a bit of socialising in there too. Some interesting stories that came out of that one (I definitely know the students better now than I did before)...

Weekend trip to Dresden (in the East, on the border to the Czech Republic) - a really amazing place, and very cool to be able to compare what used to be East Germany with the Western side, where I'm living now. My conclusion: more friendly and more alternative. But that could just be Dresden. Anyway, I liked it! Except the part where we had to sleep on the night train and missed our stop by an hour because we overslept. Not good.

Finally, the pièce de résistance... a surprise birthday party for my Scottish friend! I don't know who looked more awkward, her standing there being rather befuddled by our sudden appearance or us trying to sing Happy Birthday in the street. Anyway, it was great fun and we eventually got to see this little town and Scottish pub she's always talking about! Schön.

Also, as you may be able to tell, I am getting rather Germanised in my speech and thinking (Denglisch is definitely the way forward). As fantastic as this is, it could cause minor problems when I go to Spain in a month's time (basically, no one will understand me). For this reason, I would really appreciate prayer in order to prepare me for the coming change and that God would provide me with the strength (and vocab!) to get by, particularly at the beginning.

Next time I write, I shall be one year older (21 on Sunday!!). I'll be sure to let you know how it feels. Until then - tschüss!

Weihnachten, Weihnachten.

Weihnachten (ie. Christmas) is going to be the topic of this week's post, and well it should be! As I may have mentioned, the Germans do Christmas in a BIG way - none of this waiting-for-the-week-before business, as soon as gets wintry (and I'm talking the middle of November here), these guys start preparing the way for a good bit of Christmas cheer. It started subtly, with a few lights in the town centre, then developed into displays in all the shops, then the candles that began appearing everywhere (and I mean everywhere!), then came the Christmas trees on the lamp posts (see last post). Now we've got the whole shebang, with Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmärkten) on every corner and ice rinks being all the rage. It even snowed the other day!

I have, of course, been throwing myself into this Christmas spirit whole-heartedly. I was lucky enough   to receive a hand-made advent calendar from Oma, with a little present to unwrap each morning - only for family members, apparently - what a privilege! Then, there was St. Nikolaustag on the 6th of December - St Nic decides to pop over a bit earlier in Germany- got to get round everyone, I suppose - and not only that, but he uses shoes instead of stockings to leave his gifts in. So, I was woken up very early on Wednesday morning to go and check out the rather lovely pile of presents waiting in my old walking boot - lucky I didn't get coal really, they definitely weren't polished up to German standards! This weekend was the big event -Kläschen - Lemgo's answer to a Christmas fair, and the social highlight of the year for many locals, apparently! Now I'm trying to make it to as many Christmas Markets as possible, to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy a bit of Glühwein, Bratwurst and gebrannte Mandeln (caramelised almonds) - mmm, lecker!

This ridiculously extended Christmas period is rather charming, particularly as it gives the impression that it's the Christmas holidays from about the 1st week of December. The only problem with that being, of course, when you still have to go to work! And there is the worry that, after all this Christmas activity, that one would just get rather tired of the Yuletide fever - but, after all's said and done, I'll have to admit, I'm a massive fan. Looking forward to the next Weihnachtsmarkt!

p.s. I almost forgot - we brought a bit of the British Christmas spirit along and made mince pies the other day! Photos are to be seen on Facebook (as they are of all the other events - feel free to peruse =])

The Germans take Christmas very seriously...

...which is great, and I intend to profit from it wholeheartedly! Expect more about this in the next few weeks =]

N.b.: My host family have already started the Christmas baking - they made about 100 biscuits the other day and there's still more to come!

The Trials of a Traveller

My goodness, it has been a while since I last posted. There are two main reasons for this: one, life has not drastically changed in the past few weeks, and two, I have not been at home very often! Since Heidelberg I have been variably in Dortmund, Amsterdam (woo!), Paderborn, Aachen, Düsseldorf and Essen. Not a bad list, I find!

This is all very exciting and I've been learning such a lot and meeting amazing people along the way. Sometimes I feel like I'm in an adventure story (you know, discovering new nations and such like), only without the massive sail boats and fisherman's beards and scurvy... you know what I mean. The only thing about adventure stories is that there's always a moment where the hero is finding things tough and has a short moment of doubt before normally receiving some kind of magical inspiration and continuing on to save the day in spectacular fashion. This is about where I am at the moment. I mean, I'm not about to throw in the towel (far from it!), but I am feeling some sort of travel weariness - the constant upheaval, not being at home (and yes, I do consider my flat in Lemgo home now too), and not being able to have those heart-warming little chats over coffee with old friends.

But, things are not so bad! God has been good to me in blessing me with great friends here, a good church, a loving family (at home in the UK and here in Germany), and a rather exciting life to lead (I mean, I'm going to Paris next weekend! Who can complain about that?). So, all in all, nicht schlecht, as the Germans would say. I would appreciate prayer though, if you can spare a moment - for me and the others on their years abroad who are sometimes finding things a bit much =]

So, until next time - much, much love,
Nat xxx

p.s. Oh, I did forget one slightly drastic thing that happened within the past two weeks - I had my hair cut off! OK, so not entirely, but there's a fair chunk of it gone - I like it! Feel free to Facebook stalk if you wish to see the Frisör in its full glory...

Normality...(or not)

Having read Hannah Garside's latest, along with a couple of other year abroad blogs, it seems that now is the point at which life overseas is starting to feel like normality for many of us. This 'normality' has several distinct effects - principally, that many things which seemed alien to us at the beginning are now becoming as second nature  - for example:

Being able to pay separately at restaurants/cafés - a very useful little device that means the waiter/waitress does all those awkward little sums that you inevitably get wrong anyway and never have the right change for...

Deciding who to say 'du' to and who to say 'Sie' to - the tricky concept of, basically, who to be polite to (Sie) or not (du). If you're someone's friend you don't have to be polite (no Sies there), but if they're older than you you probably do, but if they're a bit more modern they might ask you to 'duz' them (pronounced 'doots' - yes, really) and might be a little bit offended that you were so polite to them (makes them feel old). Ok, I'll be honest, I haven't quite got this one down yet.

Being waited on in pubs - I do love this one, just an excuse to be lazy really. I'm sure I'm going to forget to go up to the bar at all when I go back to the UK.

...and finally riding a bike on the right hand side of the road, while having cars and even pedestrians stop for you, who aren't angry when you ring your bell to tell them to get out of the way!

However, there are still some things I'll never understand: namely, always opening the window (bad air apparently), even when it's freezing cold outside and you're required to put your jacket on to counter to rush of cold air that blasts into the room when you do so!

Also wearing jeans to go out. I am currently undecided on this matter - it does make things a heck of a lot easier to prepare (spontaneous clubbing plans can occur within half an hour of their conception), but where are the party dresses? I do actually like getting dressed up every once in a while!

Having to pay to go to the toilet. Not in the house (obviously!), but in public toilets there's always a charge of 50 cents, which you have to put in a little machine (like a ticket barrier) before it will let you through. Madness!

The sum total of all this German-ness is that I am actually starting to forget English words! It took me ten minutes yesterday to think of the word for 'tug-of-war', and I gave up trying to work out what 'meringue' was in the end and had to look it up. Not that these are particularly important words (you  never know!), but this is distinctly worrying - I'm hoping it doesn't go further, otherwise I'll get to the end of the year and not even be able to remember my own name. Helga, anyone?

p.s. There's a great list of Germanisms that someone else made on their year abroad a couple of years ago - pretty factually correct, if not exactly scientifically observed.... Have a peek: http://www.uberlin.co.uk/what-i-know-about-germans/

Heidelberg!

Busy Times!

Life has suddenly got rather busy! What with going back to school, two family visits and the never-ending appearance of more activities (e.g. a dance class that said it was going to be ballroom but ended up being rather more hip-hop - don't think I'll be heading back there again!), I am definitely keeping myself occupied. Several particular highlights:

Watching my cousins with my host family all picking apples together off the trees in the back garden - with a special long-length apple-picker, no less (amazing!).

Having a French-speaking session in my new favourite café, Moccaklatsch in Bielefeld, with other assistants in the area (some of them French, some not) - and then getting very confused when we had to speak to the waiter in German!

Coming back from a day out with my sister at night, only to discover that my usually-quiet town had a late-night shopping event going on and the whole high street was lit up with candles, with the smell of Glühwein in the air (that Christmas feeling is starting already).

Going round and enjoying live music in several pubs in Lemgo with my sister and several friends last night - a lovely, chilled-out evening (with some 70s rock to end the night well!).

I am starting to become rather fond of my lovely little German town =]

Half-Term Holidays

The last two weeks have been school holidays (yes, two whole weeks for autumn half term!), and school holidays means travels! I have several colleagues who went for the rather adventurous destinations of Rio and New York, but I went for the slightly closer but no less worthy German cities: Berlin and Heidelberg. It's been a mad couple of weeks, and one to make me realise how ridiculously lucky I am to be doing this year abroad, assistantship, degree and all it entails!

My impressions of Berlin: constantly changing scenery thanks to the never-ending re-building of the city that's going on; never-ending nightlife thanks to the 24-hour clubs that stay open all weekend (we didn't stay that long, thankfully!); and the ever-changing faces of the people we had to share a room with in the youth hostel (some more welcome than others...).

Heidelberg was a little different - a beautiful old city right in the middle of Germany with a ridiculous amount of students!

I have thoroughly enjoyed these last couple of weeks seeing friends, meeting new ones and having adventures. It was only at one point, as I was (mildly) stranded in the middle of Heidelberg at night with nowhere to sleep and no way of getting back home that I began to appreciate the distance between myself and home. With a world full of so many people, I am truly grateful for those God-given relationships that fill my life and give it warmth. Life is precious!

p.s. I found somewhere to stay and a way of getting back home (eventually!). Thanks Abbii!

Revelations

Having survived a week full of perils, possibilities and (im)practicalities, I have had a few minor revelations. Nothing new, just old chestnuts God had to put back on my heart. Story of the week has to be the tale of the Semesterticket:

So, the concept of the Semesterticket is simple - a card that will let me get around the whole of my (not unsubstantial) region for free! However, the actual getting of the Semesterticket was rather more complicated than that. Firstly, I had to enrol myself at the local Uni. So far so good. Then, I had to wait around for a bill from the University so that I could pay my tuition fees and become an official student there. First bump in the road - I had no money to pay with because I hadn't got paid yet. This was sorted out by some very kind people at my school, who decided that me having no money was not actually very nice, and proceeded to lend me some from the school funds (thanks guys!). So, all moneyed-up, I could then pay my tuition fees and get the card, right? Not so fast. Admittedly, the next problem was partly my fault, but that doesn't make it any less stressful - I went to the bank to pay in and transfer this money, and the next morning when I looked - I couldn't find my bank card! Stress and panic ensued, particularly as the next day was a bank holiday so I couldn't go back and ask if I'd left my card at the bank until the next day (which I had). Forgetful, me? Never! Anyway, so, next step down, I decided to ring the Uni to see if I could pick up my Semesterticket in person, as this would (hopefully) speed up the process a little. After several failed attempts (which included me blurting out all my problems to a rather bemused civilian - wrong number - oops!), I managed to get through and talk to the international student office. As it transpires, the ticket comes in three parts, one of which is the student card, one of which a sticker to stick on the student card, and one a separate paper card, which is… the Semesterticket! I'm sure they do this on purpose. So, I headed off to the Uni to pick up my student card. Got sent back because they wouldn't let me have it without a passport (apparently driving licences aren't good enough here). A few days later I managed to go and pick up my card (with the right ID this time!), but I still had to wait for the other two parts of the card to come through the post, which I am still waiting on. Oh, Germany!

After all this, I have come to realise that, despite the amazing wealth of possibilities out there, there are still some things that are out of human control (or at least mine!). This is actually quite a relief. Despite the power we have as the great human race (can you tell I've been watching Doctor Who?), some things are just beyond our control. Some people call this chance - I think it goes deeper than that.

A quick Bible verse that sums up my thoughts:

'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'

Choices, choices.

Week three of my German adventure (already!!), and things are starting to get philosophical again. I have been thinking (I have quite a lot of thinking time at the minute), and at this point in my life I have come to the conclusion that never before have I been presented with so many choices. The thing about being on your own in another country, in another culture, with a lot of free time, means that you are very much in charge of your own life, and have to make decisions accordingly. Having never been much of a decision-maker (ask my parents!), I am finding this rather new - but exciting! I'm now realising the power that comes with decision-making, and at the moment I have the opportunity to really use this time to do something interesting. But this also requires a fair amount of energy - I often underestimate the effort it takes to always organise your own activities (especially in another language), and the temptation is often to stay at home, wrapped-up warm with my duvet and hot-water bottle (and possibly some Kuchen alongside...). Hey ho. It's a good challenge, and one I'll take on with pleasure. We'll see what comes out in half a year's time!

Lemgo City!

First lesson.

A quick anecdote:

My first lesson - and what a disaster! It was actually a cover lesson, so all I had to do was say hi (in English), and put a film on for the class to watch. Simple, right? Not quite as smooth as all that! First, all was well - we set it up, I pressed play, the laptop was working, the projector was projecting, the speakers were... speaking. Then it all went a little stir crazy. The projector decided it was too hot and turned itself off. The laptop decided it was too tired and went back to sleep. The speakers, thankfully, were still performing, but unfortunately, due to the tired laptop, they were beeping quite loudly every 5 seconds or so. And I had a class of about 30 students sitting in front of me, expecting me to do something about it! I took the situation in hand and decided that, instead of making myself look stupid and faffing about with overheated projectors and what like, I was going to do something I knew how to do - talk! In an English class, that's a pretty legit. way of passing the time. So, we had a nice chat about Uni life and UK pubs (apparently one o' clock is shockingly early for closing time). And then a very helpful student came back with a new projector and new laptop and very kindly fixed everything for me! Good times. Phew, first lesson managed! What an experience!

Eine interessante Woche.

How has life continued? Hmm, hard to pinpoint exactly what has changed, but things are definitely different to how they were last week. Things develop at a slower pace here than they did in France - I have to keep reminding myself 'Relax! You're here for six months!'. One thing that I have noticed: I can now manage getting up at 6 in the morning much better than before! I'm pretty sure I'll never get used to it, but I can bear it now a little more. Another thing - it's strange, to be starting from scratch again in yet another foreign country, but a lot of things have stayed with me (the accent, for example - see last post!). My attitude towards people and situations as well - I know now that if there's an opportunity that presents itself, grab it! And that sometimes you have to go out and make your own luck - otherwise I would be tempted to just sit at home and watch TV (although we have started watching Doctor Who together - but I count that as intercultural education, don't you?). All in all, things are getting there. But it is tiring to always make your own way - so prayer for energy, courage and strength (as always) - beginnings are hard, but I see many opportunities on the horizon!

p.s. One of these is to start playing volleyball - I have totally joined a volleyball group and plan to be amazing by the time February comes around! Unfortunately, at the moment my play leaves much to be desired...

Das Leben beginnt.

So, week number two in Germany! And, quite aside from all the Buttermilch, Gurken and Bratwurst that I've been trying out (some more successfully than others), this week has been one of new experiences and settling in to my life here in fair Deutschland. I have now spent a week at my new school, successfully been introduced to about half of the teachers (and promptly forgotten all their names again), been on a tour of my town and even got a bike (a necessity for anyone who wants to be truly German)! Although here I am anything but truly German - I speak English at school in lessons, I spend time with language assistants from Britain, Ireland, America, France and Spain and apparently I now talk German with a French accent! All that time spent trying not to sound British in France and now I just can't help sounding French... gah! I have also been invited to several local activities by some of my colleagues - a very busy schedule at present but I think it is a good way to begin.

Life is gradually taking shape.

Deutschland, Deutschland

As you may have guessed, I am now in Germany! It's been a while since I last wrote because so much has been going on, I hope you can forgive me for not having the time to write when I had three days in the UK to sort out everything I needed to go on the the next country (which I didn't quite manage, you won't be surprised to hear). I was trying to count how many different beds I've slept in in the past three weeks, and I think the count is somewhere up to 6, at least. Thank goodness things are starting to calm down a bit!

So, a quick summary of my life so far:

In the UK I spent a lovely few days with my family and friends, celebrating various occasions and even managing a cheeky trip to the Olympic Stadium for the Paralympic Games, which was a great experience. I even started to feel a bit normal again - however, that didn't last very long! I was soon whisked off to the airport on a flight to Cologne to start with an introductory course in Altenberg for my new job as an English language assistant in a German secondary school. Great few days there getting to know all the other assistants in the area - there's a lot of us (and from all over the world!) - and generally preparing ourselves for what is to come. Then we were all schlepped back to Cologne, and I made the journey over to my new home town for the next six months, Lemgo (feel free to look it up - not even German people know where it is…). I am here with what seems to be the loveliest German family in the world (others may argue but I'm sure they can't be far off), and gradually adjusting myself to life the German way. Judging by what everyone asks me, what seems to be important here is sport, religion, work/education, and bikes! Oh, and coffee and cakes (Kaffee und Kuchen), which I have taken as my new motto. No wonder sport is so important when the cakes here are so good! So, all is well for the minute - we'll see how things go in the next week or so. For all who wish it, I am now Skype connected and you are also welcome to visit, whenever you have the urge! Just let me know =]

Till next time.

Much love,

Nat xxx

In Limbo-Land

Music - C2C - Down the Road.

So, here we are! I'm on the ferry with my family, soon to return the not-so-distant shores of my homeland, adding another few precious hours to my travel total of 21 hours in transit this past week. And I do feel a little like a cargo shipment at the minute. Not in a negative way -  this in-between time has really been a chance to clear my head and sort my thoughts out (and boy, did they need sorting!) - but I do feel a little displaced. I'm sure this is pretty normal for someone who has spent two months living the lifestyle of a crazy, French children's entertainer and then suddenly finds herself in the midst of her very British (and very lovely!) family. I'm even having difficulty getting random French phrases out of my head - worrying… Having expected a slight return to normal life at this point in the proceedings, and having not really got it, I have come to the realisation that I, in fact, no longer have a normal life! This fact is both exciting and rather worrying, but in any case is sure to continue, as I head off to Germany on Monday to start my latest adventure. Slight feelings of anticipation, but mostly just wanting to get there and begin all over again. And it will be completely different again, of that I am sure. Please pray that I manage to get everything organised in this (very!) short time that I have to sort myself out. Your support is invaluable to someone who is feeling a little rootless <3 xxx

Leaving...

I am sitting here on my bed, in the midst of chaos - a very full-looking suitcase by my side; a gradually dwindling 'to do' list and a certain nervous feeling that I just can't seem to shake. The reason? I'm moving to France tomorrow! This moment has been a long time coming, in fact many years, as I am a student about to embark on the year abroad that I have been looking forward to since before I came to Uni. Now that it is here, however, everything is a little too real. I am now coming to appreciate the beauty that is in friendship, comfort and homeliness - and how lucky I am to enjoy all three in abundance. However, the show must go on, and a great one it will be too! This year I will be heading to France, Germany and Spain on my travels, and I hope to encounter many fantastic things along the way. This blog is here to document my journey - from la France to Deutschland to España, from hot to middling to cold, from my present self to the person I'll be in 12 months' time (or so). As a Christian, I know that things will change, but I also know that God will be by my side, and that He is powerful and awesome and just pretty amazing really. Also, He has a plan, which is rather handy when you have none! For this, I put this next year into His hands - and I know He will not let me down. In the words of Steven Curtis Chapman, 'Bring It On'!

p.s. If you don't know who Steven Curtis Chapman is, look him up. A brilliant artist, and well worth a listen.