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My Plans
So, it’s 12 days and 15 hours until I leave the shores of Great Britain to go travelling for the first time in my life, going somewhere with a completely different culture and a different style of living to the one I’m used to.
Most people reading this will probably know me quite well, however for those who are unsure, or who haven’t seen me in ages then this is me:
I’m currently at Durham University studying Modern Languages, focusing on Arabic and Spanish. This year is my 3rd year and my chance to go abroad and actually practise speaking these languages and making sure I can get by with them.
I really can’t wait to go abroad to my first stop which will be Damascus in Syria. I’m going to the university there to study Arabic until April, so I should be able to get fully immersed in the language and the culture by that time! If not I’ve probably failed the whole point of the year abroad.
I’m slightly nervous about the first stop, mainly because the culture is so different and it’s the language I’m least confident with, but we’ll have to wait and see how I get on and see how I fit in. Hopefully there isn’t too much of a culture gap.
However, I can really say I’m looking forward to it immensely. Not only is it such an awesome experience where I can see a different side of the world and explore it for myself, but it’s also what I’ve been waiting for in my course: a chance to actually get out and speak the language and use it in a practical sense. The last two years at university have been great, but I have too short an attention span to sit in a classroom and learn vocabulary; I just want to get out there and actually learn to speak the language as I go along.
It will be a sad time for me though as I’ll obviously be leaving my family and friends behind for the longest period I’ve ever been without them. Though hopefully they’ll come visit me out in the wild, but hopefully this’ll help me keep in touch with them and let them know I’m still alive.
Damascus does look awesome though: check out this site to see the price comparison between the UK and Syria: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=Syria&displayCurrency=GBP
I can’t wait! I really want to go travelling around the whole Middle East though and see places like Petra and the like, but I’ll have the whole of Christmas for that!
I really don’t wanna make this into some self absorbing blog where I go on and on about the amazing things I’ve learnt about life or that sort of rubbish; just somewhere that people can enjoy and check out the stuff I’ve been doing and see how I’ve been getting on.
Anyway, that should be enough for now. I’ll let people know how preparation is going nearer the time.
Speak soon!
Dom
