Counting Down the Final Weeks
I can’t believe how fast time has passed — there are only two weeks left now! Realizing that made me much more active in exploring the area and trying to do as many things as possible before driving back to Berlin.
Work is still going well. I guess I’m actually pretty good at what I’m doing, because my boss here has asked me multiple times if I would consider staying and working here instead of returning to Germany. To be honest, the projects here are genuinely interesting, but spending another two or three years learning the language and settling into a completely new country would also be quite challenging.
Still… maybe someday I really will end up somewhere along the Mediterranean coast.
Getting Used to Life in France
I’ve been in France for more than a month now, and the funny part is that even though I still don’t speak French, communication is somehow getting easier. Whether it’s my colleagues chatting with each other or everyday situations like grocery shopping, I can usually pick up a few keywords and rely on body language to understand what’s going on.
This week has been busy once again. Even though I’ve been here for less than two weeks, I’m already working on three different projects. I’m responsible for the user interface on all of them, and I also contribute to improving the user experience to make workflows more efficient.
My first week was a bit more relaxed than expected, because it was mostly about paperwork and administration.
On Monday I was welcomed by Anna from ALFMED. She is friendly and very helpful and showed me my accommodation, which is right next to the agency. She gave me a brief introduction to the city and the area, including the city centre, public transport, and, since I came here by car, also some information about parking.
My journey already began on 22 March.
To make the 1,700 km, 16‑hour drive easier, I decided to turn it into a road trip and stop in a few different cities along the way.
