Tuesday, June 19, 2007

So here it is finally, my very last year abroad post! I have been back for a couple of weeks now, getting used to life back in England.

My last few days in Belgium were pretty cool, and it was very sad to leave. Helping out with oral exams at school was very tiring but very interesting. It was great to be giving exams rather than taking them! Some were a bit stressful if the student was really stressed, but others were actually quite fun. One guy gave me a lesson in the history of America and he was hilarious, had me in hysterics!

I got my tour of the European parliament, there wasn't a lot to see to be honest but it was still cool to see. It is extrememly hard to find though, we walked around for ages trying to find the building, you wouldn't have trouble like that in London. We spent the rest of the day in Brussels going to random places on the metro which was fun! We found a Birmingham street!

My leaving party was a success in the end, it was lots of fun. Not that many people came but my housemate had invited people too so there was a good number. It was a lovely evening weather wise so we sat out all night until it got light again! I got to bed about 6 and had a couple of hours sleep before getting up for church! We played one song with out little band, it went well and I really enjoyed playing. After church I had a final sunday lunch with the pastor and his family, very yummy as always! They bought me presents, so sweet!

The last evening was a bit sad, packing everything up and my room being all bare. And then there was the nightmare journey back! 19 hours travelling in total, that is the last time I take the coach! But still, I made it in the end.

Although I am going back to Belgium for couple of days this week and for a month in the summer, here ends my year abroad blog, as officially my year abroad has ended. It has been a brilliant year, can't belive how quickly it has flown. Going away for a year was always something I knew I had to do but it seemed miles off and I could never imagine actually doing it. So it's crazy that it's now gone. I have learnt an awful lot over the last 9 months, my french has improved lots which means I succeeded I guess, but I've also learnt plenty of other things. I've learnt to be independent and do things on my own, before I went I was terrified about going to a foreign country where I knew no-one, and making a life for myself there, but looking back I think I rose to the challenge pretty well. There have been some hard times but I managed to deal with all the problems. I found somewhere to live, made lots of friends, involved myself in a church, and mostly managed to fill my endless free time. I made an effort to meet local people and actually speak french as much as possible, and now I have lots of contacts and people to go back and visit, which is great! Believe it or not I actually learnt to make decisions this year! Having to deal with problems in a foreign language has given me loads of confidence, suddenly things in english seem really easy now! I've greatly enjoyed the oppurtunity of being able to travel and visit lots of different places over the year, I feel very happy with the amount of new places I've seen. So all in all, it's been a fantastic year!

Ok that's enough reviewing, I shall go back to posting on my other blog now: www.wenamedthemonkeyjaaack.blogspot.com if anyone is interested.
Thanks for reading everyone!

Bisous

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