Three weeks to go!

Hi everyone!

The count down begins!

My flights are all booked - on Sunday 20th September I'll be flying from London Gatwick to Vienna, and travelling on to Linz by train. Three weeks and counting! Now that I've booked my travel it all suddenly feels real and very soon, which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time! Especially when a lot of my course mates have already left or are leaving in the next few days to start their new adventures!

I'm hoping my accommodation is also pretty much sorted. I am going to view an apartment the day after I arrive in Linz. It's in the Hauptplatz, owned by a 28 year old lady called Charlotte who seems lovely from the emails we've exchanged over the past week. She's renting out a room in her flat, and it seems to be perfect for me, so I am hoping to pay a small deposit in the next few days to secure it, but want to view it before I move in to ensure everything is as I expected. I will most likely be staying in a hostel for the Sunday and Monday evening, and, all being well, will move in on the Tuesday! Once I get out there and have moved into accommodation, I will post pictures on here, but from what I've seen so far, it's a lovely flat and I can imagine myself being happy there. Plus, she has a cat - what more could I want?

There are a few things left to do, for example changing my English phone contract onto pay-as-you-go for the year, but mostly the remaining things to do will have to wait until I get there. I may have to set up a bank account in Linz, as my bank doesn't have a branch over there, but I will have to research this more. And I will also need to look at getting an Austrian SIM card for my phone so that I can use it out there as well.

All the big things are pretty much there now, it's just the little things remaining. But the main thing is reading through all the information I've been given about my placement, talking more with the school about my role and the logistics of it all, and most importantly swatting up on my German!

I am starting to get excited now, especially with my accommodation coming together - I think that was something that was stressing me out quite a bit, so it's good to have a bit more of a plan to go on.

I plan to post another blog post once I have arrived in Linz and have settled in a bit, which will hopefully include pictures and descriptions of where I will be living. But for now, this post is just to let you know my plans and how all the preparation is going for my year abroad! Now I need to start thinking about packing.........!

Liebe Grüße

Laura