After traveling with IES to numerous places around Barcelona, I thought it would be a cool idea to visit other parts of Europe. I wanted to see what it was like in other countries myself. This past weekend, my friends and I went on our first trip out of Spain to Amsterdam, Netherlands and Brussels, Belgium.
When I first heard this quote by J.R.R. Tolkein, I wasn't really sure what it meant. I have always had an avid enthusiasm for traveling, but up until now the majority of my trips were organized with family, friends or non-profit organizations. While by no means is this bad, it just provides you with a different perspective. So when I applied for this program back in December, I became excited to start a new chapter in my life-one where I was in charge of what I did, where I went and who I went with.
Isn't it the responsible thing to do to start with a quote from the Hobbit and end with a quote from the Hobbit? Indeed, Gandalf makes a valuable point. Everytime you walk out of your home, you are becoming more vulnerable. You expose yourself to scrutiny, disappointment, and failure. But you also may encounter adventure, success, and the greatest people you may ever meet. It is truly remarkable that just six months ago I was too nervous to go to a movie by myself. Seriously.
The culture shock began on the plane- much earlier than I expected. Though the flight attendants spoke fluent English, they first assumed that I was an Italian- something that became the theme of the day and has continued since. In the train station person after person asked me for directions in rapid, slurred Italian- much too advanced for my 101 level knowledge base. I responded with what I can only imagine was a deer-in-the-headlights facial expression and the words, “Uhh? No?”
So I’ve officially been here for 4 full days and I already feel like I’ve been here for weeks (besides the whole “still don’t know how to get anywhere” thing). I arrived Thursday morning and got to my apartment around early afternoon. We live in Funenpark, which is basically a large complex of buildings that houses everyone from students like us, to full families. My roommate and I share a one room apartment with two beds, two desks, a bathroom, and a mini kitchen area. All in all, it’s a pretty nice place.
So it has been quite an eventful week, having just arrived in Berlin! This post is going to give a brief outline of the highlights of week one broken down by day. Expect a follow up soon of things that I like and things that I despise in Germany!
Tuesday:
Bonjour again from Paris! After my first full week here, I can definitely say that one of my favorite parts of study abroad so far has been the experience to travel to places outside Paris on the weekend.
June is here and we are in shock. It seems as if it was just a week ago I wrote my first blog saying, “T minus 48 days until start my adventure in Buenos Aires”, and now I’m saying T minus 20 days until we are headed back to our previous lives in the United States. I’m not going to get nostalgic just yet because I still have 3 weeks to do that, but anyway I digress.
Honestly, I am so excited for this experience. I've always wanted to study abroad and with my older brother always pushing for it to happen, I'm just glad my parents got on board. They were a little wary at first, but eventually loosened up to the idea when my brother and I told them about all the new experiences and all the things I could learn from being in a new environment. So it's really thanks to him that I get to go.