Das Abenteuer geht weiter [the adventure continues]

Yes, it's true: I'm going back to Germany.

My inner German child is pumped. 

If you have had any contact with me over the past few months, I'm sure this is old news to you, but I'll get everyone who stumbles upon this blog up to speed. After spending five months in Germany through a partner university exchange back in 2011 (http://paulgoestogermany.blogspot.com/), I have longed for the day when I would return. Last September I sought to fulfill my dream of returning by applying for a Fulbright grant to teach English in Germany. It was a loooooong waiting game. After being interviewed in October by a panel of professors at the University of Montana and finding out in January that I was recommended by the American Fulbright Commission, it wasn't until April that Fulbright notified me that I had indeed been awarded the grant. Just as much of a relief, however, is that my fiancée Alice was also awarded a spot in the program.

After a couple more months of waiting, Alice and I were relieved to find out that we had been placed in the neighboring northern German states of Niedersachsen [Lower Saxony] and Schleswig-Holstein. By the time July came around, we knew our specific location assignments... Alice is living and working in the town of Oldenburg near Bremen, and I will be about 3 hours away on the Baltic Coast. After a pretty painless housing search, I found an apartment in Kiel, a city of almost 240,00. However, I will commuting 40 miles to work in the smaller town of Schleswig.

Kiel (where I'm living)

With my friend Edda and her boyfriend Fidi in Kiel in 2011

Schleswig (where I'm working)

I will have so much more to say about my new home once I arrive and settle in. I'll also be able to elaborate more about my job, how I'm filling my free time (We are only allowed to work 12 hours a week!) and whatever else I undertake. I have one week left in the States, and I am checking off item after item on my to-do list. I'll be posting again soon, but for now I'm checking "first blog post"off the list.