I got bad news yesterday, the room which I was going to look at in Mannheim has already been rented to someone else, so I am back at square one in terms of finding somewhere to live. I’m worried too, because I don’t have much time to find somewhere else and then view it, as my week-long trip to Germany starts on July 28th. I’ve just got to keep trying to find somewhere on the websites I’ve been given and hope something crops up.

I’m excited about my trip to London, I’m off in about an hour. It’s my first time travelling alone and my first time in a youth hostel, so I just hope everything goes okay. It’ll be good practice for my trip to Germany the week after in any case.

I’ll update you in regards to my Comenius assistantship and what was said at the pre-departure briefing next week,
Sarah.

I’ve had some good news today! I now have a room to view in Mannheim, so I shall be off to Germany around about the 30th July. I’m really scared because this will be my first time travelling and staying somewhere on my own, I’ll hopefully be fine though. The room is located in Mannheim’s Innenstadt just like I wanted, and is a 15 minute walk from work. I just hope I find it suitable, because if I do my accommodation is sorted, and that means I can relax a little. Flights are unfortunately now pretty expensive, and I’ll be staying in the Youth Hostel whilst I’m over there as it will help cut down costs. (Note: If you are a British student you should join the Scottish Youth Hostel Association, as their student membership is free, unlike the England and Wales Association who will charge you.)

My trip to London next week is still unplanned, and I still don’t know the location of the meeting. A friend is planning to travel to London with me, so once she confirms her plans haven’t changed I’ll start to get things organised and I’ll also email the British Council tomorrow to find out the details.

So, as you can see, I have a lot of trip organising to be getting on with, and it makes me happy, because although I haven’t done it on my own (until now), I do love travelling.

Sarah.

I haven’t got much news to give you but I’ll start with the good news first: I’ve agreed the dates of my Comenius Assistantship (March 14th – June 14th, providing the dates are approved by the British and Spanish national agencies) and I’m pretty pleased with them. They mean I now have a whole two weeks to move from Germany to Spain, and I’m hoping that will allow me some time to come back home between my two placements.

Now onto the bad news, I didn’t send any emails about the potential flatshares until last Thursday, so I’ve only heard back from one of them, my favourite. It turns out that the owner of the room wants somebody to be there every month from August until March, and since I can only stay until February, she doesn’t want me to rent the room. It’s a shame, I was only one month short of what she wanted and it looked like it would be a convenient place for me to live. I’ll just have to hope something good comes from one of the other four. I’m a little nervous though, it might be a little too late to find somewhere to live. I’m applying for a Youth Hostel Association card tomorrow ready for my trip to London, as there’s a meeting for the Comenius assistants there on July 20th. I guess if worst comes to worst I can always live in the Youth Hostel in Mannheim for a few days until I find somewhere, I really hope that doesn’t turn out to be the case though!

I also wish I knew where this meeting was being held. I’ve been waiting to find out the location before I find accommodation, and now it’s all ended up very last minute. (Although from what little I know of London as long as I find somewhere to stay which is near a tube station I should be able to get almost anywhere.)

I hope my next post is altogether more positive,
Sarah.

It’s just over two months until I start my first work placement on September 1st in Mannheim. I’m going to be an Intern for a translation company, and although I’m mostly going to be doing admin work, rather than any actual translating, I’m still excited to see how the company works.

I’ve been looking for flats today and I’ve been using a site which Uni recommended to me through the German Residence Abroad page on Blackboard. So far it’s proven quite useful, I have a list of five flats I want to go to look at in Mannheim’s Innenstadt, one of which, my favourite, is only a 6 minute walk away from work (according to Google Maps.)

It’s quite late now, so I’m going to email each of the contacts tomorrow. Part of me wishes we’d gotten more help in finding accommodation from University, I would have made this summer a lot easier and a lot less stressful, but when I think about it I realise that all this is good practice for the future, and that is what this year abroad is all about, getting experience and growing as a person.

I also need to email back my Comenius assistantship tutor, as we’re currently in the process of arranging the dates for my assistantship. Before I got emailed my host school’s application by the British Council, and I now know that the latest possible end date for the assistantship is 30th June 2011. I obviously want my assistantship to last as long as possible, so it is just a case of seeing what is convenient for the school. I think I’m going to suggest 7th March 2011 as my start date, since it’s the first Monday in March, and it will give me plenty of time to move from Germany to Spain.

I hope to bring more updates with my next entry, in one week’s time,
Sarah.