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’ll mostly 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, using a website which University recommended to me, and 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, it would have made this summer a lot easier and a lot less stressful, but when I think about it I realise that this is all good practice for the future, and that the whole point of this year abroad is being independent, 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. Earlier I recieved my host school’s application from the British Council via email, 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.