Pre departure excitement

With only a few days left before I embark on my journey to Germany, the pre departure excitement (and nerves) is really starting to hit me. My burning anticipation is at an all time high and no matter how much I try and picture my upcoming ventures I still have no idea what to expect- funnily enough this doesn't scare me...Just makes me more curious and excited...

It feels like i've come along way since I first discovered the NZIIU website and applied for this scholarship. It started off as a thrilling thought in my head and suddenly around August of this year it became my reality. Thinking about this made me realise how fleeting time truly is. The exact reason it's important to grasp at these kinds of opportunities whilst you're young and still learning about the world. 

One of the hardest challenges for me while i'm away will probably be living away from my family for such a long period of time. I've always been incredibly independent but always had the support of my family for me to lean on if I ran into trouble. However, I believe this exchange will be really good for me and will provide me with that extra bit of confidence in myself and in my ability to get things done on my own. 

I've been in contact with my host family a couple of months before departure through Facebook and 'Whatsapp' so I could get to know them and familiarise myself with their lives so i'm not completely thrown in the deep end! I'm very lucky because they're incredibly lovely people and they get along with my family, which was really important for me.

I like to be pretty organised so we bought gifts and souvenirs from NZ well in advance for my host family. It was a little hard deciding what they would like but after getting to know them a bit I believe we chose wisely!

School was very hectic right up to the last day so I hadn't had too much time to practise my German so I think that's something that will pose a challenge for me right of the bat, however I should adjust in a few weeks after being surrounded by the language...Hopefully!

Here is a picture from my farewell dinner I had with my friends in the city a few days ago. We went to one of my favourite restaurants, which i'll dearly miss while i'm away :)

I don't think it will properly hit me yet until i'm on the airplane 40,000 feet up in the air that i'm really going to be away from home for 3 months but if anything i'm so appreciative that I have this incredible opportunity to travel across the world and experience such a beautiful country like Germany- not only as a student but as a writer, a photographer and as an aspiring journalist where I can get first hand experience in this country as opposed to reading it in a book or seeing it through a computer screen...

As the Germans say Aller Anfang ist schwerz!
(all beginnings are hard)

Alisha x