As I sit here to type this, I am exhausted, but happily so. I've now been in Berlin for nearly three full days and at the end of each day, I find myself drained and ready to go to sleep as soon as I get home (wait - that might actually be me even when I'm not in Germany).
It’s been one week. Somehow, I’ve only been back in the United States for one week. How could that possibly be possible. It feels like it’s been months. There are things I love about it, and things I hate. Reverse culture shock is real, people. The benefits are obvious things like getting to see my friends and having my car back in my driveway. I’m not living at home (because of an internship) but at least now I’m on the same continent as my family.
When a song gets stuck in your head, it usually has words to it. That is, the song is catchy and it probably has a smooth-sounding rhythm, but really what makes the song stick in your mind is its words, its lyrics.
I arrived in Geneva, Switzerland with my mother to stay with good family friends for a couple of days before the program started. We spent a day exploring the old castle of Gruyere and the Cathedral in Lausanne before taking the train back to Geneva. It was wet and rainy, but extremely fascinating. Though I know very little about architecture, I can still appreciate it. I loved Geneva. I found the history interesting and the transportation easily accessible.
This video covers the flight to Japan and the first day at Narita.
Weeks I’ve been in Berlin: 2
As of today, I’ve officially been in Freiburg for two weeks, and I think we’re finally starting to get into some sort of routine. There are even moments when I forget the fact that I’m in Germany and this is completely crazy! One of my biggest concerns going into this was what the classes would be like, so I thought I’d dedicate a post to the makeup of a typical school day.
We are our own worst critics. We let our fears stop us from achieving the things we dream about at night. Packing up a suitcase and traveling across the world can be daunting.
Let me let you in on a secret: We are all scared.
I’m a planner and when things don’t go as I expect, I tend to go a little crazy. But that’s the beautiful thing about travel; things will never go as planned and you must learn to be flexible.
