8 Months Of Erasmus...And 1 To Go

That title is a bit misleading. I'm actually finishing my year abroad three weeks on Friday so that's definitely less than a month! It's also technically nine months since I moved to Bologna, I'm just not counting March since I spent nearly all of that month in the UK. All in all a very dodgy title. Apologies.

I've been thinking about how in three weeks on Friday I'll be back in the UK (and probably spending the day curled up with the dogs on the sofa, drinking a real cup of tea and considering a trip to Tesco just to marvel at all the British things I've missed this year (this week it's the humble British biscuit that I'm craving)) and how my Erasmus experience will officially be coming to an end. Which, although I'm really excited about coming home, is actually a bit of a weird thought.

Jena

Bologna

I mean, I've spent nearly a year away from the UK (including my six weeks of au pairing last summer). While I would not say that I am so used to life on the continent that going back to Bangor for my final year is going to be the end of the world, I think it's going to be a little odd adjusting back into normal British student life.

Though to be truthful in most ways I don't think there will be any adjustments to make. I'm looking forward to my fourth year house, going back to PhotoSoc, having lectures with people I know and actually like (certainly in the German department, everyone seems to have gotten a lot closer to each other over this past year), and just getting on with all the things I've wanted to do in Bangor (or just in life in general) since I moved there nearly three years ago. In some ways (and I think a lot of other language students will feel this way too) it's like I'm waiting to start my real life again, like I'm just waiting here for a bit and then I get to go home and get on with things.

It's not because of where I am now - sometimes (as those who I've complained to will now) Jena can be so boring that I want to tear my hair out, but other times it's really good.
It could just be because in many ways it's been a very long year, with ups and downs and I think I'm just ready to come home now!

That's not to say I've not had good times because of Jena. The uni itself I really like. And I like the area I live in because it's surrounded by the countryside and that's quite nice. 

Fuchsturm, Jena

And while here I don't have as many friends here as I did in Bologna, I'm lucky enough to have three good friends from Bangor studying in nearby Leipzig who I've seen pretty regularly! Not to mention my other lovely Brit friend, who I went with to Prague last month - a trip which we booked after knowing each other for about two weeks (and that I forgot to write about, I know).

Cospudener See at Leipzig

Prague!

 So, three and a half weeks left. What am I planning on doing?

Well on Thursday I'm SUPER excited to be meeting my boyfriend in Stuttgart for the weekend (mostly I'll just be excited to get off the bus I'm taking there after a SIX HOUR JOURNEY), then I'm briefly zipping off to Berlin (for the first time ever!!) to meet an old friend from Bangor and see the one and only Modest Mouse! Then it's back to Jena for the last two weeks, which will be two weeks of packing, exams, hopefully one last visit from the Leipzig lot, eating as much schnitzel as humanly possible and once more taking advantage of the €2 margarita offer that's on nightly in a Mexican restaurant in town.

Fingers crossed I'll be actually writing about said adventures...

Bis später x