The End

Sitting here surrounded by my suitcases is a surreal feeling. After about ten months of living and studying abroad, the time has come to go home and to get back to reality.

I have been very slack with writing posts during my time in Germany. However, this is indicative of the amazing time I have had. This year abroad has been filled with lots of ups and downs but I will be leaving Heidelberg today with a big smile on my face and an enormous sense of pride.

Since my last post I travelled to Vienna to visit Kat, my BAErrito, who I met in Valencia. Vienna was amazing, but she’s even better. I can’t wait to see her in a week at a mini Valencia reunion! Even if she is limping a little bit.

After Vienna I had to simmer down with my travelling seeing as money doesn’t grow on trees and life in Germany appears to be a very expensive endeavour. However, it wasn’t long until I got to go to Munich, Nuremberg and Neuschwanstein with my Mum and Steve. Their visits have been a major highlight of both of my placements and I am so grateful for their love.

Due to the fact that I have been so bad with keeping my blog updated it would be hard to list everything I have done in Germany in a similar way to I did in Spain.

However, a generic day would include a lounge by the Neckar, coffee and cake in the Mensa and a bottle of wine from Lidl. The mundane is what I’ll miss the most. Heidelberg is a stunning place. Yet it is also a very small place and it is easy to run out of things to do. We have spent a lot of time at the pool- weather depending, but all in all, there has been a lot of sitting and a whole lot of nothing. Something which I will sorely miss come final year.

There are so many unique characters here and I will miss them all dearly. But we are lucky we all live in the UK and will surely see each other soon.

I think finishing my year abroad is one of the strangest emotions to date. A mixture of sadness, excitement, pride and fear. But if I go away with anything from this experience it will be the friendships I have made and the lessons I have learnt about myself. I still have a long way to go, but I can honestly say that this year abroad has made me a better person and I hope that it continues to do so. My Spanish and German skills have made less of a notable improvement, however, the opportunity to live in both countries and immerse myself in new cultures is something I’ll never forget. And I’m sure I will notice the difference in my language level when I go back to Cardiff in September.

I am very excited to get home for the summer and to be reunited with lots of my best friends (especially you Ellie ;)).

Year Abroad: Completed it mate.

Chloe xoxo