Year Abroad is here. The adventure which once seemed so far away has arrived. I'm feeling all the emotions ever created in this really sudden run up to the start.
I guess I should tell you where I'm going... Well first of all this summer I'm off to Dutch-speaking Belgium to au pair for a bilingual Dutch/French-speaking family. From what I've seen the family seem lovely, the kids seem adorable and the house and area look beautiful! I'm so excited to be their au pair, it's such a wonderful opportunity and I can't wait to meet them, but the dual language thing scares me. Considering I study three languages I should be okay at switching from one to the other, but using them almost side-by-side seems like a bit of a challenge! Also I'm scared of being lonely, how do you go about meeting people? I've spent my entire life in the education system where you kind of have in-built friends, so suddenly being launched into a situation without that network is a tad unsettling... And on top of that, as a Christian having the strong support of my church family has always been really important to me, and living with two Christians who challenge and encourage me in following Christ this past year has been such a huge blessing that I don't know what I'll do without them!
After my two months in Belgium I have a bit of a break and some breathing room in England before going off to Köln in Germany for a Teaching English as a Foreign Language course. Then it's time to head down south to Baden-Württemburg to start work as language teaching assistant in a school! I'll be there until the end of February when I'll move to France where I'm hoping to find a job to do with media/journalism/publicity. Ooh la la!
Anyway that's all of my year abroad ramblings for now, if anyone who reads this has any great tips on living abroad etc, please pass them my way! I will be forever indebted to you!
