Summary of my Year in Verden (Aller)

My 18 months in Verden are slowly drawing to a close and as they are doing so, I´m starting to emotionally prepare my departure. The lease on my apartment is up at the end of June, which is also when the school year is over, and  I´m experiencing everything with a sharpened sense of awareness, not taking anything here for granted because I don´t have it much longer.
The strolls along the river are especially beautiful right now when it´s getting warmer and the feeling of summer is in the air. I love the evening walks to enjoy the sunset, the first stars and the chirring of crickets bouncing over the water. I´ve become friends with a cat that lives there and when she´s there I´ll sit with her and pet her.
At the same time, there are a few things that I will not miss, like my landlord´s cleaning lady´s obsessive door-looking (it is VERY annoying when you go out of the house and you have to unlock and lock THREE doors within three metres, especially when you´re going in and out of the house five times a day. Those doors are definitely my pet-peeve here) and also the constant cawing of the daws (ravens, only with bluer feathers) that nest in the trees behind my house. They are So ANnOYiNG. When I´m home, I usually even leave the windows closed now because they are just getting on my nerves so much. If I lived here permanently, I would have to find a way to get rid of those. I don´t know how my neighbours do it.

All in all, I really, really loved my 1,5 years here. I love Verden and I love the friendships that formed and deepend while I was here. It was the perfect place for me to come and heal after five years of Berlin big city stress and the end of a relationship. Living in a little modernized old house, with the river just down the street and the city center just down the other street, the view of the cathedral in view from my work desk, great cycling trails around... I am so happy that destiny brought me here (for your teacher training you don´t get to choose your school, or your seminar district. So it actually was destiny, which I like. I like this kind of ok-so-this-is-it-now-let´s-make-the-best-of-it).

Here´s a best-of video I made for my one-year anniversary here: 

And here are some more I took this year: 

They are all pretty wintery but somehow I haven´t taken many summer photos this year yet. 

In addition to my love for this cute little town, I was super lucky with both my school (very friendly pupils) and my seminar instructors which is why I loved my teaching time here, too. I´ve learned so much and I really enjoy the interaction with the students. It´s fun and there are always new challenges (I like being challenged). You have responsibilites, but still you are your own boss. In the afternoons, it´s up to you how you organize your time and work. It´s like being self-employed but still getting all the social security and being able to socialize in the mornings.

That being said, it´s not guaranteed I´ll love being a teacher just as much when I´m a) working full time and b) with different students/colleagues at a different school.




Regardless of how much I love(d) it here, it doesn´t mean I´m ready to stay and settle down. I´m ready for the next adventure in a new town. My plan A is to find a nice school down South to be with the man I like. I know it sounds crazy for some who are more rooted in their region/county than I am, but it feels right to me. Don´t get me wrong, I enjoyed the advantages of living close to my family and the North is home for me, but that´s not a reason to settle down here yet. I want the next chapter of my life to be another adventure, and staying here wouldn´t be one. It would feel like settling down too early, like a compromise. I´m just missing that last sparkle, that extra something, that would make me want to stay. This only explains my feelings poorly but maybe it gives you an idea.






That´s about all I wanted to say right now. It´s quite a short post, but I just wanted to let you know what´s the haps right now ;) Also, even if it´s a bit early, I want to thank the people who made my life here so much better :) I greatly appreciate your friendship and I will always value this truly wonderful time here!

And now everybody go back to enjoying the sun!