fall

I've decided. Autumn is my favourite time of year.

Wait, let me be more specific with that. Autumn in Germany is my favourite time of year. England it kind of sucks, the rain sets in, the leaves get all mushy and squidgy, and the nights are dark.

But in Germany, the trees are beautiful autumn colours. The leaves crunch beneath your feet. And the weather is cold enough to wear a nice winter jacket, but not so cold that you freeze.

I love autumn.

Wanderlust:

beginning

Remember when I blogged a while ago saying my life was just busy. Well, that still remains the same. When I look at my time table of things that are coming up, I almost feel like I’m going to be sick! ...OK, so that’s a huge exaggeration, but no kidding it’s looking like it’s going to be an intense few weeks leading up to Christmas.

I feel a little bit all over the place at the moment. My life so far here has been a bit, erm, bitty! I arrived here back in September, was at school for three week, went away to Switzerland on outreach, came back to school for a week, went away again for a week on outreach, and now here I am, back at school for a mere 4 days before I go away again for a travel weekend. So yeah, it’s been bitty. I’m ready to just be here. In one place. For longer than 3 weeks at a time.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m not settled here, because I am. I have become familiar with this place; I refer to it as home when I’m not here, and I’m getting more comfortable.

Being on outreach two times and being part of a smaller group made me realise that I haven’t yet got to the point here where I’m fully myself. When I was away, I got to know the people I was with so much better, and the ‘real Steph’ came out. I was stupid, I got really giddy at times, I said daft stuff. It’s not that I’m being fake while I’m at school or anything, but when you are around like 103 other people, it takes a while to get to know people enough to truly be yourself around them.

I appreciated the time away with a smaller group to just be me. And to get to know other people well too. We got into some great chat about general life at the Bode, and it was so great to be in an environment where I could just be open with them, and share things that I’m struggling with. And it was so encouraging to here that other people are struggling with the exact same things as me.

I almost feel as though my time here is just beginning now, 7 weeks in. I’m starting to appreciate things here more. I’m starting to be more diligent with my personal quiet times. I’m starting to get to know people a little bit more. I’m starting to be myself more.

More importantly though, I’m starting to fall in love with God again.

14 mins

OK, so the time here is 07:08.I got up early to finish my Old Testament paper before I leave again for English camp. I swear I'm not trying not leave these things until the last minute, I did actually have this paper finished on Thursday, but them realised that I'd missed out like half of the big things that I should have put in it.

Writing this paper to begin with was such a chore; I felt like I was getting nowhere with it. I didn’t know how to start, what to put in the middle, or what conclusion I should put! And every time I sat down to do it, something for more exciting was happening somewhere else. After being away the whole week before, I already felt like I'd missed out on a whole lot. Not necessarily certain things that happened, just more spending time with people. With it being still early on in school, friendships and stuff are still forming. And I honestly felt as though I was missing out on a key time of school. I felt lost for a long time when we came back, I was out of the school routine. And people seemed a lot closer than when I left. Add in a cold, tiredness, and a lot of work to catch up on, and the result was quite a hard first half of the week.

But after I got over my cold, slept up, and sat down with my paper, I suddenly noticed all this things I had missed. It was like a light bulb went off on top of my head. And I couldn’t stop writing. Everything made sense. Normally reading things in the Old Testament just confuses my brain a little bit. But when I got into this paper, I just got it. And I totally could see how it all points towards Jesus in the New Testament.

Anyway, so this week I’m off again to English Camp. Part of me is excited to be going but another part of me just wants to stay here because I still feel like I’ve just got back. But I’m sure it will be an awesome time. Anyway, its not 07:22 and I need to get ready for breakfast and finish packing ... OK, I need to start getting more organised. Last minute packing is never good.

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