Well, I leave for Deutschland on Saturday! I will fly to Phoenix, layover for about 2 hours, fly to Philadelphia, layover for about 2 more hours and then I'm on my way to Frankfurt. It'll be quite a long day but it'll all be worth it to be able to go back to Germany! I never would've guessed that I would get the opportunity to go visit again. Kyle isn't going with me on this one though. He gets to go with me in Spring 2013 on the student trip I'm doing...and that one will be almost free, if not, completely free! That will be exciting too--2 trips for me to Germany in a span of a year? Wow! Looks like this German teaching position is opening up some awesomely huge doors this year. I never would've imagined it. I'm beyond fortunate and I thank my husband for being so supportive of this trip coming up. He was the first one to tell me, "You have to do it." So...I agreed. Not much convincing needed really. The only thing I really have to pay for is the plane ticket and that was a tad bit pricey but it's always pricey to leave the country. And in actuality, the price isn't bad considering I had about 3 weeks to book it.
The reason I'm going this time? I'm taking some seminar classes to help improve my German language skills and rebuild confidence in the target language. I applied for this program way back in late September and was turned down then due to so many applicants but I didn't realize that there was the possibility of spots opening up, much less, a few weeks BEFORE the program started! What's going to happen once I get to Germany? Not sure, all I know is that I have to catch a train from Frankfurt to Freiburg and once I get to Freiburg, I have to get to a guest house, which from what I understand, are dormitories where I will be staying for the 2 weeks. I'm a little anxious of the unknown but my colleague, Jamie, has reassured me that it's a totally awesome experience and they really take care of you. I will get a travel cost allowance while I'm there and some meals are provided. Also, we will go on an excursion the following weekend. Don't know where we'll go but I'm sure it'll be amazing wherever we go! I'm just so pumped to be able to go back and refresh my language skills and regain the confidence that I have lost over the years since not speaking as much German as I had when I was teaching full time.
After the seminar is done, I will head over to the southeastern part of the country to Erlangen, where my host family from 2005 lives and I will visit them for a couple of days. I haven't seen them in 7 years!! It'll be so great to get to see them again because when will be my next chance to see them? The 2013 trip won't provide a chance because we'll be on a structured schedule and won't be able to stray too much, plus having to watch kiddos too.
Anyway, during the trip, I will have my Ipad with me and I will be updating on Facebook probably most days--unfortunately, I won't be able to upload pictures onto the Ipad onto the blog but I will write updates on here of what all happens. If for some reason, I don't have much time for that, I PROMISE to have a nice, long update once I get back home. :)
Hope everyone is doing well and I will stay in touch.
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