Well, I'm back.
Thanks very much for all the congratulations - it's lovely to know that so many people were rooting for me - I think it made a real difference.
Since the test day I went back to the UK for a few days, and then my Dad and one of my sisters came over to Brussels, and I've been playing host and having a bit of a holiday with them.
They're off back to the UK today - and so my post-test life is about to begin in earnest.
It's strange, you know. I've been working solidly for the last two years to get to exactly this point. But I didn't really think about what would happen once I got here - not for a moment. It all feels a bit like having lost the script; having to make it up as I go along.
The main uncertainty is work. I was lucky enough to pass my test with three languages, so I'm on the standard freelance recruitment list, but working conditions are changing fast in the European institutions at the moment. With ten new countries joining in a month's time, the linguistic balance of power is tipping very heavily in favour of English and to a lesser extent the other 'big' languages, possibly meaning more meetings being held in English only.
Nobody really knows how things are going to pan out over the coming couple of years - or indeed if there'll be much of a market for freelancers like me in the long run.
With that in mind, I'm dusting off my Polish and going for that as the next one to add to my working languages - hopefully by 2006. That way I can hopefully still keep myself useful - and in work!
Posted by Eurodan at March 26, 2004 11:16 AMYou had a script to lose? Lucky bastard!
As long as you remember that the main reason you have got this far is a combination of enormous talent and a lot of hard work, and that luck and encouragement are minor players, you won't have any trouble finding work, come what may.
At the very least you could do a considerably better job than the interpreters I hear from time to time on TV :-)
Posted by: Shyboy at March 26, 2004 12:50 PM