Leaving on a jet plane

I should have written more on this blog before leaving, but other things had to come first this past week: packing my suitcases, spending time with friends and family, and just taking in life and slowing down a little.

I leave Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky's airport tomorrow a little after 4 pm. I will arrive in Germany at 10 am (4 am EST) on Tuesday. Because of all the numerous emotions that have been washing over me this past week, I felt almost emotionless today. It was as if I couldn't sort all of them out at once, so they just became nothing. Although, as I was packing tonight, I felt a huge wave of anxiety crash into me that I had to quickly step away from before it consumed me. I could feel panic rising as I looked at my bed that had papers, books, bags, etc. scattered around it and my desk that was full of paper. Things to remember and to do overtook my brain. But I also felt excitement, and I reminded myself that going to a foreign country and living there for an extended amount of time has been a dream for me.

My night will come to a close with this post and a quick scan over my list of things to do tomorrow. These next ten months will be full of great opportunities, and I can't wait to take them and make the most of them!

Impending Departure

As the summer is coming to a close and my time before I leave for Germany is less than two weeks, I find myself with a mixture of emotions and thoughts. This, I presume, is pretty normal for anyone in my situation. Many co-workers and friends have been asking me if I'm ready to leave, how I feel about it, etc. Mostly I tell them I am excited but also nervous. And a little more stressed out than before with the two or three To-Do lists I have scattered around my wooden desk and the reminders of things to do that are constantly rolling around in my head, coming to the forefront of my thoughts a few times a day.

But I confidently tell everyone that everything will be fine and this experience will be amazing. The new life I begin in Germany will be a huge adjustment, but I think I'm ready for it. I studied abroad in Regensburg, Germany for three months my junior year in college and I loved it; I didn't want to come home, and I have felt a great desire to return ever since. Thankfully, my first week and a half in Germany will be mostly spent traveling with my boyfriend, which includes visiting distant relatives that still live in Austria. So hopefully my initial travels will help with my adjustment before I have to start teaching.

Sometimes I feel this time in Germany is just one way I am putting off finding a "real" job with a "real" salary. But I hope this experience will make me more marketable, therefore,helping me find a solid job in the American workforce. I anticipate my communication skills to strengthen and also my skills in negotiating and learning to work with people from other cultures, who have differences in lifestyles and ideas about the work environment. I'm hoping for the best!

Introduction

When I tell people that I received a Fulbright Grant to teach English in Germany, I tend to get questions about what the Grant really is...Fulbright grants are provided by the U.S. Department of State. The Fulbright Program includes a number of different grants and was founded in 1946. My grant is for an English Teaching Assistantship. The Program was named after Senator J. William Fulbright. Senator Fulbright said this about the Fulbright Program: "Fostering leadership, learning and empathy between cultures was and remains the purpose of the international scholarship program." To find more info on the Fulbright Program click here.

Through this grant, I'm going to be living in Altdorf, Germany, a smaller town a little outside of the city Nuremberg (Nürnberg). Altdorf is in southern Germany and in the state of Bavaria (Bayern). The photo above is Nürnberg's cathedral. I took this photo when I was studying in Germany in 2008.

This opportunity is, as cliché as it sounds, truly a dream come true for me. I have a passion for other cultures and foreign languages. That is why I am very excited to be teaching German students English and deepening my knowledge of the German people and their language.

This blog is for my own records, but it is more importantly for my friends and family to keep updated on my time in Germany, and I'll be hopefully presenting it to students and faculty of my former high school and college when I return to the United States next July. I am still working on some the blog's layout,etc. so it is a work in progress.

Right now I'm home in West Harrison, Indiana. I've been juggling a few part-time jobs this summer and visiting with my friends and family, and, of course, preparing for Germany. Now I only have three weeks until I leave for Germany on August 30th. Now down to business with packing and saying goodbyes...