Month: February 2015

Moin moin!

For those of you who do not know me here is some background information: From 2008 until 2013 I had the pleasure of completing an undergraduate degree in Germanic Studies and Political Science at the University of Victoria and was a former President of the Germanic Studies Course Union. Since completing my studies in Victoria, I have moved to Flensburg, Germany in order to pursue a M.A/ M.Sc. European Studies from the Europa-Universität Flensburg and the Syddansk Universitet. I am currently finishing up my third semester and will soon start writing my masters thesis.

Flensburg is a really cute coastal town of about 90,000 inhabitants, located directly on the border to Denmark. The location of my new home is quite cool as I have the opportunity to speak at least four languages a day (German, Danish, English, and Plattdeutsch) and also have the chance to familiarize myself with all the different cultures of this border region. Just like Victoria, the harbour plays a key role in the identity of the city. Boating, swimming, eating seafood, and just chilling down at the “Hafenspitze” are some of the basic characteristics of a life here in Flensburg.
Check out some pictures I took around town:

Over the course of my graduate studies here in Germany I have had the amazing opportunity to represent Germany at conferences in Armenia, Portugal, and Georgia – despite the fact that I do not have German citizenship. (Actually, here it is good to mention that my Russian language skills that I learned at UVic back in the day have come in handy when visiting the Caucasus, so I am really thankful for that!) So my current studies have thereby really enabled me to discover my research interest areas and also put them into practical use, which is both really fun and exciting!

Right now I am in that awkward phase where the end of my role as a student is on the horizon and I have to start looking for a future career path. So basically my typical days at this point involve researching and writing for my studies, working, and when I’m not eating or sleeping, looking for internships/ jobs.

Anyway, I better get back to writing an essay!

Bis bald/ Vi ses!

Hallo liebe Leute!

In 2 days I will have been here for a month!  Times flies!

So, what to say?

Well, work is good.  It’s easy and I enjoy it and the students like me.  I normally work in smaller groups in my own classroom where I go over questions that will be asked in an oral exam and we practice speaking and listening.

As well, my school offered me a chance to join in on an a project called: COMENIUS Multilateral School Partnership:  
“Different Cultures on European Stage” (http://www.differentcultures.eu/).

In short, it’s a project that focuses on theatre work for improving student spirit of participation, socialization, development of tolerance, teamwork, and positive contribution to the development of personality. The students will improve their artistic skills by acting in the theatre plays, their literature & writing skills by writing the scripts, ICT skills by recording & editing videos and language skills by using English both in writing scripts & performing. The scripts will be written by the students and these plays will be recorded to send to other schools in the region, local authorities, and the Directorate of National Education.

I will be the editor of the plays because it’s in English and I need to correct the grammar, and I get to film short clips for the students.  The best part of all of this is that they are paying for me to go to different countries to film and be the English translator. HOW GREAT IS THAT!

My first trip will (hopefully, since they are arranging it last minute) be in October to Poland, where we will be there for about a week, and as I said, everything is paid!  The flight, accommodation, food, etc.  All I have to do is the stuff that I love, which is filming & editing 🙂

In December I believe there will be a trip to Finland and next year I will be traveling solo to Bulgaria and then to Greece in April. I think there are a couple more trips to Italy and Romania as well, but I cannot remember the exact dates.. I am really stoked.  This is an excellent opportunity to add to my portfolio, get paid and travel for free. I am quite happy 🙂

The school I am teaching at is huge!!!  Over 1300 students.  (Picture of the school).

Everyweek the students also go to a church service which I got to sit in on.  It was kind of cool even though I didn’t understand much.

This is the monastery, where the nuns and priests live.  On the right is where the church is, and this is what it actually looks like.  There is only one nun who is currently teaching students and I think she mostly assists in kindergartners.  She was very nice.  One of the teachers told me she was kind of modern in her teaching methods and even has Facebook, and it is really odd sometimes to have her on Facebook because the Newsfeed would read, “Sister Theresa just scored 100 points in Candy Crush!”

So far life is good here.  My WG roommates are all really wonderful and we speak a mix of English, German, French and Spanish so it really is exercising my brain.  I have already made a couple friends from Paderborn University where I am doing tandem lessons every week.  I somehow am registered as a Ph.D student at the university, so that is kind of cool even though I have no thesis or desire (at the moment) to pursue this sort of thing. I think I will stick with just getting my Masters first.

Other than that, things are going smoothly and I am going to Oktoberfest in three weeks and just bought a really beautiful dirndl, so I am excited for that!  Fingers crossed that Scotland will win their referendum this week, as I plan on heading there for fall holidays that start in two weeks.  I have a friend coming to visit from Romania this weekend (actually Ovidiu’s best friend) so that will be exciting!

Alright, that’s enough writing for now.

Bis dann!