Hello! Or perhaps that should be 'hola'. Or even 'привет'.
I'm Sian (not that I'm flattering myself to think that anyone who's reading this won't already know that, but apparently the beginning is a very good place to start) and in 4 days time I will be about to embark upon my Year Abroad.
That's right - I'm one of these ludicrously fortunate people for whom a year of travelling, adventure and exploration is not only encouraged but is actually deemed compulsory by my university. To be bluntly honest with you, I'm not feeling all that fortunate right at this moment. I know it sounds hideously ungrateful but the thought of packing my life into a suitcase, waving goodbye to my friends and famalam and flying off into the unknown isn't filling me joy. I'm bricking it.
Firstly, there's the thought of everything I'm set to miss out on in Durham next year - formals, fancy dress, the plays, the aftershows, duvets and movies, dancing, college brunch... the whole shebang. Secondly, there's more than a few people who I struggle to go a few weeks (nay, days) without seeing so a year apart is sure to prove somewhat challenging. And thirdly (and here's where I'm going to make a big confession) ...I'm not a particularly organised person. I've actually been described as cataclysmically disorganised. It's slightly improved in recent years but when I was a wee teenager exasperated shouts of "you're such an effing space cadet" would occur on a daily basis in our house. Disorganised people plus mountains of paperwork and forms and things to sign and things to research etc etc etc is a deadly combination. Cue: chaos.
Right then, here's what I know - on Monday, I'm flying to Spain. I'm spending a month with one of my Mums oldest friends Sheryl in Figueres, just outside Barcelona. There will be an opportunity to be involved in a Church community there and to basically get stuck in to whatever opportunity presents itself. It's also a great chance to practice Catalan (and judging by my exam marks last year, I bloody well need it). At the end of September I'll move on to Gijón on the North coast to begin an 8 month placement working as a language assistant through the British Council. On a whim, I recently decided it'd be best to stay with a host family so after extensive online research (otherwise known as ten minutes worth of manic googling) I found a family who seemed darned near perfect. I got a really good gut feeling about it - and if you can't trust your gut who can you trust? - so a few email exchanges and a deposit payment later and, hey presto, I have accommodation sorted. That's one small step for Sian, one giant leap for... um... actually... I don't really know where I'm going with that one. But you get the idea.
Beyond these very small nuggets of information I'm pretty much just as clueless as you in terms of what this coming year holds. And don't even get me started on Russia. Just don't.
So there we have it - a disorganised space cadet, prone to the odd bout of histrionics, setting off into the relatively unknown to forge something that vaguely resembles a real proper grown up life for no less than a year. What on earth could go wrong? Tune in next time to find out...
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