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

Salamanca 2014 - Introduction

This Sunday I am going to Salamanca, Spain as part of my degree with my course mates. We will be staying with a Spanish family and learning Spanish in a school there from 9am-1pm every day for two weeks. I am excited about the trip, and I know it will be fantastic for my Spanish, however it is also very scary because I've only been learning it for a year!

My university booked the flights for us and organised the accommodation, however we were then told we had to book a bus from Madrid Airport to Salamanca and would then be taking a taxi to our family. We have to make our own way to the airport as well. So the first hurdle was booking the bus through a Spanish website - WordReference was very helpful! I eventually got this sorted, and then we received another email to say that we had to book the bus for a later time than originally planned and from a set terminal - our lecturer then redid our bookings for those of us who had the wrong bus, thankfully! Next was getting to Gatwick. I am going by train as I live quite a long way from London, and I booked my train tickets well in advance. However I checked the timings again more recently and the train I was booked on to no longer existed! I had to get in touch with the train company and luckily I was able to get the train closest to the original one in time as I had booked an off-peak ticket - phew!

Thinking I'd sorted all the travel arrangements, we then discovered that we had only been booked onto the flight with hand luggage, despite being away for two weeks. We had to get in touch with a man from the company in charge of our trip and pay separately for hold luggage. Finally having sorted this only a week ago, all I have left to worry about is getting a taxi or walking to my family's home - but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

I've also made a list of all the important information and documents I need to take with me; health and travel insurance, travel information and confirmation, passport, family address and information and maps of the area. It's scary having to think about all of these things - I just hope I get there safely and don't get ill while I'm out there!

Map of Salamanca

While I am in Salamanca, I will hopefully have lots of free time to explore the city and surrounding area after our mornings in the school. I would like to visit the University of Salamanca, the Cathedrals and the parks and river. We are just over two hours from Madrid as well, and on the border with Portugal, so there may be some opportunity to explore further afield as well!

The family I am staying with is a mother and her daughter who is a similar age to me. I am staying on my own with the family, while others on the trip are in pairs, so I'm quite nervous but I know it will be good for my Spanish and I hope that I will be able to bond with the family well. Plus, I will see my course mates every day at the school. I am going to take a present for the family to thank them for having me, and I have been brainstorming about what I might take. I want to give them something typically British, so my ideas are shortbread biscuits, teabags, English sweets or an English book/film. I haven't decided yet!

Having just had quite a long summer holiday, I haven't used my Spanish very much, so this week I am trying to swat up on some vocab before I go! I am trying to watch Spanish YouTube videos and read short Spanish texts online as preparation, but I know it's still going to be hard!

Overall, the weather looks pretty good for the trip...

...and I'm pretty excited for that! The next few days will be frantic summer clothes shopping, packing and making sure I have everything I need for going! I'm nervous about the challenge but so excited for the opportunity to explore Spain for the first time, improve my language and bond with a Spanish family and my class mates.


Thanks for reading!

Laura