Still high on vodka energy combo from last night, and feeling quite odd, I am sat in my room, which I am slowly packing (very slowly and without enthusiasm), awaiting the arrival of my Mum in under an hour, to come and help me sort my life out and take me home on Monday.
Last night me, Glen and his friends Alex and Matthew may have accidentally gone to some kind of gangsta club night, which we thought was a gay night. Apparently in Germany, there is a fine line between gay and gangsta. We didn't realise straight away, rather we just thought the music was a bit of an odd choice. There was a brief dubstep interlude, which me and Glen enjoyed; the sound of dubstep instantaneously turns me into a dickhead. I wouldn't like to see a video of me doing my little dubstep dance. It's also a well-known fact that the more you listen to dubstep, dance to dubstep and talk about dubstep, the more of a dickhead you become.
My year abroad is hard to summarise. It feels odd that this is my last entry in Germany (as I assume it will be, since the next two days are gonna be super busy...did I just say super? That is definitely more like something Glen would say...8 months in Bochum have taken their toll. I also now meow at people without even noticing I'm doing it, swear a lot more than I used to and use incorrect grammar on purpose. I may not have become German, but I have definitely become more like Glennchen).
I did a lot of travelling, as I hoped I would. I've seen a lot of Deutschland. München, Münster, Aachen, Köln (all the time), Düsseldorf (for that nice compulsory holiday), Dresden, Berlin again, Frankfurt, Mainz...I'm sure there's been more places. Not to mention Amsterdam, Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna and Madrid. I'm struggling to recall everywhere I've been, and that's awesome. I might have spent all the money I earned in this job, but I spent it well as far as I'm concerned, seeing things I wanted to see and doing things I wanted to do. We'll ignore the percentage that undoubtably went on clothes I don't need and booze I shouldn't have drunk.
My German...is better. I had hoped it would magically improve more, whereas it actually proved quite difficult to improve. I could have tried harder, but life is already hard, and though I did put in some effort, there's only so much German I can fit in my brain at any one time. And if I'm honest, I am not a hard worker. I like to chill and I like to have fun. I knew from the start that I was not going to spend my year memorising vocabulary, reading newspapers, having political debates and revising grammar. If I didn't do those things in the UK, there was no reason I was likely to do it abroad, with lots of fun and exciting distractions.
My work ethic, I think might actually have changed though. I am definitely buzzing for fourth year, and not just because I get to move into a house where I will permanently have this face to entertain me:
("that face": copyright Alex de Mare, 2010)
but also because I'm quite looking forward to studying again. I never thought I'd miss it, but it seems I actually really like being a student, I like exercising my brain and I don't really want a proper job just yet. Not that this year has been a good example of a 'proper' job, but you know what I mean.
I think all things considered, this year has helped me in my on-going quest to become a proper person, rather than a stroppy emotional teen. I've learnt how much I love to have my friends around me, but also how well I can manage by myself. People told me this would be the best year of my life; and I would say, yeah, it has been amazing. But I hope next year can compete too. I hope my life doesn't ever stop being this much fun, though I hope it will become less stressful and less emotionally challenging. I hope the friends I have now will be my friends for a very long time, and I hope I never forget all the good and bad times, not to mention all the German I learnt, during my "Year Abroad". But then, I guess that's what my blog is for.
Maybe expect another entry once I'm back in the UK, though I only have two days there before me and Sophie go to Corfu, Italy and Barcelona. I be this excited the whole time, Sophie be this drunk the whole time. But less blonde.
I think all things considered, this year has helped me in my on-going quest to become a proper person, rather than a stroppy emotional teen. I've learnt how much I love to have my friends around me, but also how well I can manage by myself. People told me this would be the best year of my life; and I would say, yeah, it has been amazing. But I hope next year can compete too. I hope my life doesn't ever stop being this much fun, though I hope it will become less stressful and less emotionally challenging. I hope the friends I have now will be my friends for a very long time, and I hope I never forget all the good and bad times, not to mention all the German I learnt, during my "Year Abroad". But then, I guess that's what my blog is for.
Maybe expect another entry once I'm back in the UK, though I only have two days there before me and Sophie go to Corfu, Italy and Barcelona. I be this excited the whole time, Sophie be this drunk the whole time. But less blonde.
Dora.
xxx
