Rem Prepares to Travel (German/Mandarin)

[Rem]

Oh God, Chinese! I hope you're ready for years of mental anguish and toil !
I live there, and something just makes me not want to learn the language
Good luck!!!!!!!

lol ty, I welcome the challenge.

I've found Mandarin very interesting and fun to learn so far.

[Rem]

Slowly but surely, I'm counting down the days.


German
Because I know that some of my classes will inevitably involve talking about politics and world affairs (which I've never been too keen on talking about) I'm listening to short news broadcasts in German. These tend to be about 3 to 5 minutes on only one topic, so it's pretty easy to follow and not too overwhelming. I'm also picking up a lot of new vocabulary which is good.


Mandarin

I've almost finished my catch up of book 2 of the New Practical Chinese Reader. One more week and I'll be looking at starting book 3.


Czech

I can pronounce the ř sound! Ok, so I can't do it consistently and most of the time I'm still getting it wrong, so I still need a lot of practise to get the hang of it properly, but I did it! A small victory for me on my Czech journey.


Other

I have some credits left on italki, so I'm tempted to use some of them to get some speaking practise in.

My new study 'trick'
I've taken to laying out my language resources for the day on my bed. This means that, at the very least, I have to move them before I want to go to sleep at night. It helps me to avoid slacking off because I end up thinking to myself "you got this book out, you've physically picked it up and now that you're holding it in your hands you're just going to put it away again without even looking at it?" "I don't think so!"

[Rem]

There's only one month to go before I head to Germany and I'm officially entering the 'panic zone'.

It's making it very difficult for me to study because I'm almost shutting down whenever I see German (or Mandarin for that matter). It's like there's this weird mental block whenever I try to sit down and work on something.

I still want to study but I just can't seem to decide what I want to focus on, so I'm spending more time thinking about what I could/should be doing than actually doing anything.

**takes a deep breath**

Maybe I just need to step back a bit and stop putting so much pressure on myself?

[Rem]

There are now only 3 weeks left before I go to Germany and I feel like everything's prepared EXCEPT FOR ME!

I just can't seem to bring myself to study at the moment either. Every time I try it's a reminder of how close to the date it's getting and I just start getting nervous all over again.

I've been seeing updates on social media about how much fun the people I know who went last year have had and how they don't want it to end, so that's making me feel a little better.

I'm also really glad now that I signed up for a summer course because it will give me an extra month to settle in and get used to the idea of being away before I have to start University.

[Rem]

I have to take an online placement test before starting my summer course. I've never taken one before so I'm not sure what to expect, although I'd imagine it's something like a multiple choice or fill the gaps kind of exercise. I still have time before I go, so I'm tempted to put it off for a little while (especially as I haven't really been able to focus properly on any of my languages recently).

Taking the placement test isn't really a big deal in itself, it's just to determine which class/level I'm put into. The real problem is that I just don't like tests, so the procrastinator inside of me will probably win out for a while before I finally have to bite the bullet and do it.

[Rem]

Another update.

I know my posts in this thread are a little mundane and a bit 'nothing to report' in nature but I'm still trying to get into the habit of making posts regularly (or at least semi-regularly) so that I'm already used to it when I need to keep track of what I'm doing over my year abroad.

Ok, so...2 WEEKS TO GO until I head out to Germany!!!

I've taken the placement test for the summer course and the results pretty much tallied with my tutors' assessment which is good (B1/B2).

I'll have to take another German language assessment at the beginning of my actual year abroad as part of my Erasmus agreement (the summer course is something separate) and then one more at the end of the semester to show much I have (hopefully) progressed.

I've started doing things like making a list of things to pack and planning my route from the airport to the University when I arrive. I'm thinking that I'll probably end up taking a taxi which will be more expensive than the tram/train but less stressful than trying to find out where everything is and how it works (especially while carrying my luggage around with me).

I think I've gone way beyond nervous now, but I'm also really looking forward to it. Seeing the fun that others have had on their year abroad has made me feel a lot better about going although part of me still can't actually believe that I'm really doing this.

[Rem]

Less than a week to go!!!

This week I'll be packing, going over my paperwork and trying to make sure that I haven't forgotten anything important. Being a newbie at this travelling lark I can't help but be worried that I'll miss something somewhere along the line. If you can think of anything that I might have overlooked please mention it here (I need all the help I can get).

I'm travelling on a UK passport so I don't need a visa to enter Germany (I will obviously need to apply for a visa for the China portion of my trip, but I don't need to worry about that right now). I've printed off a spare copy of my boarding pass and I've also photocopied the info page of my passport to take with me just in case the worst happens and I lose my passport. I've checked the luggage guidelines on the website of the company that I'm flying with to make sure that what I'm taking is allowed and fits the weight/size limits. I'm probably taking far more than I actually need to, but I'd rather take something and not need it than leave something behind, get there and think..."Oops!"

Hopefully the airport will be easy to navigate. I'm not sure what the boarding procedures are but I've already checked in online so that should save me some time. I'm planning to get to the airport at least 2 hours before my flight time anyway so, if there are delays, I should still be ok. *fingers crossed*

The language geek in me is eyeing up all my courses, books and CD's for other languages and wondering how many of them I'll be able to squeeze in even though I know the majority of my time will be spent learning German and exploring my surroundings (there's always time to squeeze in some extra study time though, right? ). I have a plain CD/DVD holder so that I don't have to worry about the original cases taking up all the space.

As for transport; I've pretty much decided to get a taxi from the airport when I arrive. It will mean I'm far less likely to get lost on the way and I wont have to struggle with my bags on public transport.

I'll probably need to use my phone with the UK sim on my first day (and pay the stupid fees for it ) but, after that, I'm going to look at getting a local sim with data (thanks again to the people on this forum who helped me and gave advice on that ). I've put my chargers with my phone/laptop so that I remember to take them and I've bought a couple of plug adaptors as well.

I'm still not sure if I'm completely prepared for this little adventure but I'm certainly going to give it my best shot! Bring on the travelling!

[Elenia]

Good luck! I think you'll be fine. I was completely unprepared for my year abroad (I didn't book my flight until the night before leaving, and I wasn't even sure if I had accommodation before I arrived. I did, but they needed lots of documents that I didn't have!) But everything still went fine.

[tiia]

When I went abroad I had everything planned weeks beforehand, but well, I'm good at making chaotic plans.
I suggest you to take a small amount of toilet paper with you. When you arrive in an empty flat you might need it immediately.
In case you arrive on Sunday, be prepared that all normal shops are closed, except for gas stations, shops at airports or train stations, bakeries, and very few smaller shops. (In Berlin they call them "Spätis".) In case you arrive on Saturday, think of buying enough food for Sunday.

Did you ever mention to what place/region you're heading?

[Elenia]

In case you arrive on Sunday, be prepared that all normal shops are closed, except for gas stations, shops at airports or train stations, bakeries, and very few smaller shops. (In Berlin they call them "Spätis".) In case you arrive on Saturday, think of buying enough food for Sunday.

Excellent advice! I wish that someone told me this before I got to France (where it would seem the situation is even more dire). It took me a good few weeks to figure out.