Plans for October

I started my other blog to write about translating and all the things around it. I write in German, because I want to tell stories about school and my general experiences, so that people in a similar situation (either thinking about majoring in translating or already doing it or, you know, whoever is interested in it) may have a helpful resource.

I hoped that maybe I would find a blog like that, but I found none. I did find several blogs by translators or the like, but that’s different. I wanted a blog about what it’s like to learn all these things, so I could have an idea of what is expecting me. Either way, I took the opportunity and created my new blog, which naturally, isn’t solely about translating and language and school. I am not the kind of gal who keeps things purely informational. I have fun with my blog and I hope other people will, too.

That’s that.

I don’t, however, want my non-German-speaking blog-readers to be uninformed about what the plans are right now.

The plans are: Jamie goes back to school in October. I can major1 in Literature Translating at the University of Düsseldorf. It’s supposed to take four years and three months, but that’s just what they say, so I guess it might take a bit longer. I will take courses in English, French and German, and (hopefully) learn how to translate literature from English and French into German.

This is the only University in Germany offering to major in Literature Translating and I’m glad it’s close enough by, so we won’t have to move or anything. I will just have to get used to longer train rides again.

So, these are the plans. Shiny, are they not? It of course will depend on how my husband’s job is going. Right now all seems pretty well. A friend of ours is designing a website for him – probably as we speak, he already has held trainings for some major companies (Microsoft, anyone?) and apparently is a genius at what he does. I am so amazed with the feedback he gets I can’t get over it. I constantly tell him how proud I am.

Of course I will try to find a well-enough-paid job, too, but if possible I want to keep it at only a few hours a week, because I don’t feel I have any time to dawdle. I want to do this, but I also want to do this as fast as possible. If everything goes as planned I might have my degree when I’m 30, which is no problem at all. But somewhere between that and 35 it would start to be a problem, considering we want a family and all.

Now, I will have to decide what to do with my old job, where to find a new one and a lot of other things. There’s not a lot I want to cut back on other than amazon expenses and food (maybe). Let’s hope my husband continues to bring in money. I also wonder if I should catch up on PHP and become a kick-ass blog expert, so I can earn a bit of money designing other people’s blogs. Or something. Right now I love the whole freelance idea. Working from my computer whenever I want to. In my pajamas preferably. Listening to music. Fact is I believe that I can concentrate a lot better with my music playing. But try to explain that to my boss.


1I think the term major is not actually right in this context, but considering all the differences of the German and the US college system, it’s the best I can come up with.