After being asleep for almost the entire Half Term so far, I think I should wake up now and let you know that I am still alive.
To be honest, I have really looked forward these holidays because the first term of this school year has been quite exhausting sometimes, but after all it was an interesting time. I think that I have finally arrived in England, both emotionally as well as in regard to the language, and I hope that I can enjoy the next term without being afraid of any language barriers anymore. So let me tell you about my personal highlights in October ...
At the beginning of this month, I finally got to know the horses of my host family. Their names are Tilly and Tiny and I have already ridden Tiny for a few times. She is a really lovely and (generally) well-behaved horse, although she got quite cheeky the first times that I went for a ride with her.
Last Saturday evening, Rosie, Laura and I went for a walk through the woods with the horses and the dogs. I really enjoyed this walk because the forest seemed very calm and peaceful and even a few wild deer crossed our path. It was great to be in the fresh air and in then the end we returned home when it was already dark and cold outside. Back home, Laura brought her ferrets into the kitchen which ran around our feet while we had dinner. Afterwards, we sat on the sofa with the ferrets and watched a documentary and the news. So all in all, it was an extraordinary Saturday evening.
On the last Thursday before Half Term, a few girls from school, their friend from another school and I went to the Chocolate Café in Canterbury. They have told me about this place before and promised that the food there is addictive. At first I thought that they would totally exaggerate, but take a look at these photos ...
It does not look bad, does it? ;)
By the way, we were a multicultural tea party: two girls were from England, two other girls from Italy and two girls including me from Germany.
Four girls from this After School Tea Party and I spent a day in Folkstone last Tuesday. We were lucky because it was a sunny day and so we had a good time there. We walked along the beach and the Harbour Arm, went to the town centre and had lunch there (which turned out to be a little bit frustrating because we waited for almost ONE HOUR until our lunch was finally served; additionally, I expected a bigger portion for the amount of money that I paid, so I was still hungry afterwards and went to a bakery to get a sandwich).
I also phoned my friend from Germany on this day which was quite funny because she spoke German and I tried to talk in English to her. This conversation reminded me of a day when two other native German speakers from school and I tried to help a boy with his German essay. At some point, I got so confused by permanently switching from one language into the other that I suddenly started to talk in German to him. His face literally asked “What the hell is she talking about???” when I realized that my brain is overtaxed with handling two languages at the same time. So I hope that you still have sympathy for me writing my articles in English because after every conversation or text that I write in German, it is quite difficult for me to get back to English.
By the way, may I introduce my new walking partner to you?
Dot, probably one of the loveliest old dogs that I got to know so far. Sometimes it rather feels as if she is taking me for a walk instead of me going for a walk with her, but regardless of the question who is in charge of who, we seem to be a good team.
The last thing I would like to talk about today is that I have moments every now and then when I kind of stop being in the present for a minute and think “Wow, a year ago you wouldn’t have been able to imagine that you will be HERE, at exactly this place in England RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT”. No matter if I do something exciting like riding at this particular moment or something unspectacular like being on the bus, there are these sudden moments of “realization”. Sometimes it gives me a good feeling to know that all the effort that I put into my wish of going abroad was worth it, but there are also days when I become sad because I am afraid that my exchange year will go past much too quickly. This does not get better if I think of former exchange students who often say that their stay abroad was over in now to no time. However, I decided to not become stressed or afraid of missing out anything because this would probably keep me from enjoying my stay abroad. Perhaps, this is one of my main goals during my exchange year: Trying to live more in the present instead of worrying about the things that I cannot change anymore or being scared of the things that I might do wrong in the future. I do not know if telling you this was necessary, but I felt like getting rid of these thoughts.
Have a lovely time and see you soon,
Sandra
