My Year in Colombia in 100 Photos

I have discovered it's really helpful for me (and quite fun too) to go through my photos in any particular year and choose a sort of 'best of' - the photos that, for me, capture the moments, places and people that made that experience what it was. My time in Colombia has been truly unforgettable, so I wanted to commemorate it with this collection - obviously, not absolutely everything is on there, but I've tried to show the essence of life on the Colombo-Caribbean coast, and also the great variety of cultures and climates that this great country has to offer. As the motto of Colombia Tourism goes, 'el riesgo es que te quieras quedar' - the risk is that you'll want to stay.

1. Arrival at Bogotá - grey skies welcome me to the Colombian capital.

A Traveller's Return

Having been prepared for my return to UK culture after an amazing year abroad between France, Germany and Spain, I was fully expecting a few minor re-adjustment issues as I entered back into the country I had been an all-but-stranger from for the last 14 months. What I was not prepared for, however, was the sheer overwhelmingness of everything when I came hurtling back into student life, final year looming and the practicalities of living in a student house, work deadlines and trying to catch up with all those people I'd not seen for over a year all threatening to take over my ever more precious time.

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

That Darned Language Barrier...

So, it turns out I still have many things to learn when it comes to the foreign languages. This week's lessons:

No. 1 - Speaking English sometimes doesn't help. In French, 'footing'  = jogging. Yes, the quite standard English concept of jogging has been dragged through the language barrier and somehow came out as the French noun 'footing'. This is almost up to the standard of the Germans and their 'Wellness Weekend' (Spa Trip), or 'Talkmaster' (TV show host). The creativity of non-native English speakers never ceases to amaze.

Cocktails in Chaponnay - without onions, this time (see 5).

No. 2 - Sounding like a native is difficult. I still can't get my mouth round the difference in pronunciation between 'rue' (road), and 'roue' (wheel). There's not much in it. You give it a try!

Little Highlights

I was about to start this post by saying that nothing much had happened this week, then I looked back over my diary for the past seven days and discovered that there had been some things going on, after all. Life still continues on much the same vein - (very) quiet weekdays, more to do at the weekends - but these little highlights definitely made things a little bit sunnier.

Firstly (in order of importance, anyway), my sister got accepted into Uni! And to her first choice, nonetheless - Manchester, the London of the North (or so they say). This made me very happy, and I'm very much looking forward to visiting her next year. Congrats, Amy! You deserved it.

Secondly, I managed to go and visit my flatmate from last summer, when I was working at Cap Esterel. As far as unexpected international meet-ups go, this one was quite random - not least for her, seeing me suddenly pop up in her home town and demand a tour! It was good, though. It also gave me a great chance to see some different parts of the city, having more or less only been witness to the train station (five times!!) and the airport, on my way to other locations further afield. Vieux Lyon is beautiful.

On that note, so is Fourvière - the location of this rather stunning photo (if I do say so myself). We went there on Friday, as Isabelle - the mother of the family - had a day off, and decided to aid me in my quest to see more than just the transport hubs of Lyon. We walked up a massive hill to the old church, through the 'Parc des Hauteurs' (Park of the Heights, how apt), and then drove down to the Roman Amphitheatre to test out the acoustics - not as good as they were when it was constructed, I fear.

So, yes. A rather pleasant little collection of sunbeams, I feel. Add to that the fact that I just booked flights to go to a wedding in Madrid in September (woopee!), and things are looking fairly radiant. Fabuleux.

Moving Forwards (Playlist)

View from the front passenger seat on my way to work at Betel, Madrid

This playlist is a collection of songs that I have recently come across, have long loved or simply encapsulate a moment for me. For a link to this playlist on Spotify, see: Moving Forwards

Enjoy!

Tom Odell - Grow Old With Me
Ellie Goulding – JOY

Noah And The Whale – There Will Come A Time

Steven Curtis Chapman – All Things New

Alan Pownall – Life Worth Living

Gary Go – Wonderful - Radio Edit

Gaby Moreno – Ave Que Emigra

Oi Va Voi – Wonder

Noah And The Whale – Now Is Exactly The Time

Amaral – No Sabe Donde Va

Simon & Garfunkel – El Condor Pasa/ If I Could

Jack Penate – Everything Is New

Mumm-Ra – She's Got You High

Maroon 5 – She Will Be Loved

Lee Fields & The Expressions – Love Comes And Goes

Mia Diekow – Herz KT Tunstall – Someday Soon

Bombay Bicycle Club – Ivy & Gold

Electric Light Orchestra – Across The Border

Taylor Swift – Everything Has Changed (feat. Ed Sheeran)

Sting – Brand New Day

The Calling – Wherever You Will Go

Jamie Cullum – Gran Torino

Carla Morrison – Me Encanta

Bob Dylan – Things Have Changed

Mumford & Sons – I Will Wait

Steven Curtis Chapman – God Follower

C2C – Down the Road

Muse – Invincible

KT Tunstall – Suddenly I See

The Feeling – Set My World On Fire

Steven Curtis Chapman – Only Getting Started

Ellie Goulding – Anything Could Happen

U2 – Beautiful Day

The Beach Boys – Wouldn't It Be Nice

Muse – Starlight David

Bowie – Let's Dance

Touch Down to Earth

So, finally, a week without crazy international mishaps, cultural cross-border day-trips and random Italian suitors proposing marriage... And what happened? I got bored. Of course I did!

After several weeks of being in transit-mode, I've finally touched down, in this small French village to the south of Lyon, population: 3,000, twenty-somethings: 0 (figures approximated). My job: to spend the day keeping two au pair children adequately amused and spend a couple of hours trying to teach them English as well. Not rocket science. It's no wonder that spending 24/7 in one house and no visible way out started to take its toll by the 3rd day.

http://www.palmerstation.com/history/0515/signpost.html

However, after a chat with a good friend and discussions of the possibility to go and visit someone in Lyon, things started looking up. In fact, after I decided to have a more sunny disposition towards how things were (and adjusted my sleep pattern), things were indeed a lot better. We've managed to get in a daily walk to the boulangerie in town: a small task, but no mean feat, and a time out of the house that does us all good. We also took several trips out in the car this weekend, with me driving, which ended in a solo journey into Lyon and back on Sunday evening! I'm not going to lie, I was a little terrified of going by myself, with the prospect of getting lost and truly having no idea how to get home again. But I had a trusty little SatNav (although in French, bien sûr), and the family phone for use in case of emergencies, and, thankfully, it didn't come to that. I even managed to get in a bit of parallel parking (heck of a lot easier in a Peugeot 206 than a van, I can tell you!), and made it with plenty of time to make it to the church service I had been aiming for, despite a minor deviation en route (turns out SatNavs sometimes aren't as easy to follow as I thought).

So, on the whole, not a terribly exciting week, but one that I can appreciate all the same. With fourth year quickly approaching it's actually rather good to have a bit of preparation time - I've been getting out the Spanish Grammar books, oh the excitement! And with more and more people returning to British shores ('end of year abroad' statuses galore), things are starting to calm down a bit. Perhaps it is time to touch down to earth. Well, until the next trip...

(Really Far) Out of the Comfort Zone / An InterRailing Adventure

Our route (inc. very artfully-drawn aeroplanes for flights home)

This week has been incredible. I've spent the last 9 days interrailing through Europe with one of my language assistant friends from Germany, and we've had some amazing experiences - some mishaps as well, as to be expected - and met some very interesting people (in both senses of the word). It's been an adventure!

I'm currently on the train on the way to Budapest from Prague, having also made it through Vienna and Florence from our starting point in Lyon, France. We also had an impromptu overnight stop in Dijon, which was rather amusing, if nothing else, as we ended up not being able to take the train we wanted to get on overnight to Florence, and so spent the night at a (very bad) karaoke bar with an Australian traveller who was on her way from Barcelona and hadn't slept for for several days... Like I said, rather amusing!

Other incidents include almost missing our train in Florence due to laid-back Italian bus drivers and a lack of tickets on board the vehicle (we had to get off when the ticket inspectors came because we hadn't been able to buy any tickets); and a night-time excursion through Vienna due to missing the last metro by minutes (see a theme here?), and having to take the night bus back to our hostel - much more complicated than you would think (although the bus driver was very helpful this time).

A gorgeous strawberry & elderflower and grapefruit ice-cream I enjoyed in Budapest

Revising this at a later date, I feel I have to add our hostel stay in Budapest, which was easily the weirdest hostel experience I've ever had (and I've been to quite a few hostels this year). Having to wait for our beds to be constructed wasn't the best start, but then we discovered that our only exit was through the bathroom, which was always flooded, often occupied, and also had no locks.... Awkward situation probability = high.

Other experiences, however, were more positive, although some equally strange - being proposed to by a random Italian guy definitely lived up to the national stereotype, although sharing a train carriage with random Austrian and Czech strangers actually turned out to be not as scary as it sounds. We've also journeyed through some incredible scenery, for example the train ride through Austria, full of glimpses of mountain villages and sky-blue lakes - absolutely beautiful.

Thankfully, despite all previous incidences, we've made it safe and sound thus far, and haven't had to sleep in the woods as one of our fellow travellers resorted to doing when she couldn't find her hostel (please, no!!). It's been a great week-and-a-bit, and given me again an appreciation for those things we often take for granted (a bed to sleep in, for example AHEM Dijon). If anything, this trip has shown me that travelling is a great exercise in risk and trust. Out of the comfort zone!

Piecing Things Together

This has been a lovely week. I've been at the seaside, enjoying the benefits of a lovely au pair family with good food, good wine, relaxed moods and the occasional day trip to Spain to go and visit the Dalí Museum - amazing! I even managed to spend a couple of days with my good friend Laura, as she worked for the same family last summer, which was lovely - particularly as she's currently working at a vineyard, and happened to bring us a present (drinkable, of course).

This week has given me the chance to chill out and bit and start piecing things together from what I've learnt during this crazy year abroad: yes, it has been a whole year! I won't do the full report, as it's not over yet - far from it - but having now come almost full-circle, back in France again, things are starting to piece together and take shape for what's to come next year, and perhaps beyond. Ideas about jobs, lifestyle and location are abounding, none quite certain as of yet, but certainly there in bud, ready to blossom and/or fade away. I'm thinking about interpretation, journalism, doing a lot more travelling, and possibly ending up in France... We shall see.

I think perhaps one thing that's lent itself to this momental creative thinking is that through this year I've seen that even the wildest things are possible and the highest of heights touchable when your heart is willing and God gets behind it all. I'm feeling pretty excited, not least because I know that whatever happens, be it amazing or catastrophic, if I'm with God I am certain it will be the best thing.

A Bible verse I was reading the other day sums this up for me:

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
New Living Translation (2007)

On the Road Again

Soundtrack: Down the Road - C2C (again, I know, but it's terribly apt)

Here I am, back on my travels again - never stay in one place for long! Having spent ten days at home in good old England it was time to get on with the last chunk of my Year Abroad, a second summer in France to keep up the art of shoulder-shrugging, refresh my essential knowledge of cheese and wine, and to make sure I haven't forgotten how to pout...

In fact, these past few days I really have been on the road again - after arriving in Lyon to meet my au pair family on Thursday, I barely had time to settle in or even unpack my suitcase before I was told to get packing again as on Friday we were going on holiday to Narbonne, three hours away on the coast! Having made it here, I have to say I'm very glad we made the trip - firstly, we've come to see my friend who worked for the family last year, but also we're in a beautiful chalet, right on the seafront and the view is amazing. Just what the doctor ordered.

With regards to work, the kids (two, aged 10 and 13) are really cute and the parents are very nice and keen to learn English. It's a little bit odd being on a holiday with a family other than my own and I'm never quite sure how much I should help out (when you're living with your employers even going to bed can feel like skimping out sometimes), but they're incredibly chilled out and work is not too challenging at the moment. All in all, things are going pretty well. I foresee a fairly relaxed summer with various exciting interludes (I'm going InterRailing in two weeks!). It's been strange adjusting to life outside of Betel again - so much free time! - but God knows what He's doing.

In a way, it's just back on the wheel of change - new place, new faces, new lifestyle - but now that Fourth Year is getting so close I can feel things slowly gathering momentum. This should be a nice summer to gather my affairs and get myself slowly back into study mode. By the side of the swimming pool, of course...

With love,
Nat xxx

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!

Fellow Brits, friends and acquaintances.

Back on the green shores of the home land! I have spent a rather lovely two weeks in good old England, appreciating being able to eavesdrop on conversations and understand almost 100% of what's being said; talk to people in shops without being terrified I won't understand the response, and, of course, the wonderful art of British queueing! Had also almost forgotten the unavoidable reflex to apologise for everything that happens, even if the situation is completely and utterly not your fault (my friend Megan apologised for having a knife thrown at her in a restaurant. Yes, really).

With only a fortnight in the country, after spending Christmas with the family, I resolved to spend as much time catching up with people as humanly possible. This was made possible by the lack of revision (no Uni exams in January! Woo!), and the rather pleasant amount of money I have gained from actually working abroad, rather than volunteering or such like (we'll see how it is in a few month's time...). It's been rather strange seeing people again, as it's basically been about 6 months since I've been around to talk to, and quite a lot can happen in half a year. With some people, it was a bit weird - the gradual introduction of the  'So, what are you doing now?' question, as people my own age have actually started growing up and getting jobs and things (scary stuff). With others, it's been like I barely went away - we just slipped into the same comfortable conversation that we had before, and will hopefully enjoy for years to come. It's been lovely, and made me really appreciate the importance of being able to see friends and family, particularly as the next time I'll see many of them will be June at the earliest (not even considering what would happen if I decided to move abroad permanently at some point!!). I also feel a bit better about leaving Germany at the end of February (which I know is going to be hard), as I know that some people will always stay my friends, even if I don't see them for a very long time. See you, suckers!

Winter Warmers (Playlist)

After the Christmas period is over, I find it's nice to have a few cosy tracks to keep you warm through the winter months (figuratively, of course):
Laura Marling – Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)
Bon Iver – For Emma
Jamie Cullum – High & Dry (Live From The South Bank Show)
Kate Rusby – I Courted A Sailor
Lucy Rose – Place
Ich, Alexander – Ab und zu nehm' ich ab und zu
Michael Berk – Untitled
Norah Jones – December
Jack Johnson – No Christmas For Me
Noah And The Whale – Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down
Sarah Ellen Hughes – Little Wing
Amy Macdonald – The Road To Home
Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal
Snow Patrol – The Planets Bend Between Us
Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again
Mumford & Sons – Winter Winds
Nat King Cole – Let's Face The Music And Dance
ALESSI'S ARK – THE ROBOT
Sting – The Hounds Of Winter
Gabrielle Aplin – Home
Zaz – J'Aime A Nouveau
Villagers – On a Sunlit Stage
Tunstall, KT – Patience
Bruce Alexander – Weathers
Enjoy xx

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 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.'