Here Comes The Sun...

If you were not aware of the jet stream before, you’d have had to have been living in a cave or in the process of hibernation to ignore the ‘’Summer’’ it has brought the UK in 2012. Living in Swansea, apparently the UK’s wettest city, you become quite accustomed to the rain; I often carry both an umbrella and sunglasses in my bag as you never know which you’ll need. This summer however, has been an entire deluge of the stuff. Many counties went from drought to flood in mere moments. Mother Nature was obviously making up the balance from the dry winter period we had...

For someone planning their year abroad however, this rain has been quite useful. Unwilling to go out and get drenched, it’s provided lots of time for administrative tasks and what a lot of them there have been. French university applications, Spanish university applications, French accommodation applications, Erasmus grant applications, Provisional learning agreements and travel arrangements, to name but a few. Luckily, I (and probably others) would describe myself as fairly organised with a strictly organised file of pre-departure sections (Cardiff, Chambéry & Valencia), Another with forms to be completed and returned to Cardiff upon arrival at each destination and another with forms to be completed when I return next summer, plus a section of miscellaneous items such as travel itineraries and such. Pretty much everything that I have needed to do has been done. Yesterday I received my insurance policy from Cardiff and so now I can look into additional cover for whatever it doesn’t cover me for, I have a list of things to buy before I go and I have the task of somehow packing my life away into a suitcase or two, hence my choosing of the Eurostar so I am not restricted by weight limits. On top of this blog and Adopt A Class, I’m also making a video diary/blog for the University for future year abroad-ers and so need to make a start with that too.

Due to my nature of organisation at all times, I like things to be done swiftly and promptly but I’ve been told to have patience with the French bureaucracy system as organisation can sometimes be a little lacking. I’ve already had some frustrating moments, mainly with email correspondence with my accommodation. I send an email which includes a question, but the reply from France doesn’t really contain an answer, so I rephrase in my reply yet an answer isn’t really sent back. I then resorted to sending quite a frank email. No ‘Bonjour’ to start, no ‘Cordialement’ to end but simply stating my question, with no other words which may lead to confusion as to what the question is which finally brought success. Perhaps I just need to be a bit more blunt..

In the last few days, the sun has finally come out. In fact, it has been boiling, hence my burnt skin today and so a day indoors organising more Year Abroad-related things is on the cards. Yesterday I walked into the Gower, an AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.. echoes of A Level Geography!) to the west of Swansea and on a day like yesterday, it really was beautiful. This led me to think of how I’m going off around Europe exploring when I’ve only visited a small percentage of the UK. Sometimes you just become accustomed to what you have on your doorstep and I am sure a student from Chambéry and Valencia replacing me at Cardiff

in September will see as much beauty in the Gower as I will see in the French mountains or the old town of Valencia.

My trusty countdown clock states 36 days and 13 hours until departure day. After 9 years of French study and 7 years of Spanish, there’s not long to go at all.