My flight from Florence to Germany departs
in 10 hours. I meant to write my first entry while I was in America before I
departed for Italy, but I never got around to it and now here we are. It’s been
18 days since I landed here and I feel like it has prepared me a lot for
Germany. It’s a bit unfair because I got a miniature study abroad experience
and have more insight writing this entry now than I would have had 3 weeks ago.
Here is what I’ve experienced and how I expect Germany to be different.
Before coming, and still today, I
have been extremely apprehensive that something will happen to my family. I
have a lot of sick family members and I’ve been praying that I make it home to
them in June. That has remained constant, but many other worries have changed.
I thought Italy was going to be unorganized and I wouldn’t make any friends
because the group of 14 was made of entirely girls that I didn’t know and none
of them were my major either. I thought I wouldn’t know any Italian and I
thought I wouldn’t need to do too much schoolwork.
All incorrect! And delightfully so.
I made great friends with the girls. Maybe not each one, but I enjoyed them all
despite all our differences in interests and personalities. Was there as much drama
as you might expect? Absolutely! But it was easy to squash and going through
the same struggles and exhaustion from such busy days made us feel connected. The
few Duolingo exercises I had done months before were triggered in my brain when
I heard Italian spoken all around me and it was easy to pick up since many
words are similar to Spanish, which was exciting. I never once had an issue
getting around or speaking to a local. I didn’t think I had to actually read
the textbook much, but that was wrong. However, I was appreciative of that. I
signed up for Italy not because Italy was a place I craved to go, but because
the course was intriguing. I learned so much and it was satisfying. The other
girls took a more negative view on the intensity, but thats okay. Maybe they
will look back and realize it was a good thing.
In our Health
and Safety meetings for study abroad, we were shown a diagram about the ‘Study
Abroad Rollercoaster’ that depicted a student’s emotions during the program. First
was the honeymoon phase, then frustration, then acclimation. The advisors said
that the shorter programs may never get to the frustration phase since the honeymoon
lasts a few weeks. I expected frustration in Germany, but not Italy. I was wrong
about that, too. Italy has been an absolute dream- but not perfect. As I prepare
for Germany, I know a bit more about how things work in Europe. I’m used to excessive
walking, to public transportation, to communication, payment methods, customer service,
safety, etc. (Especially after getting my wallet stolen here!) I’ve also
learned that we are so spoiled in America when it comes to all of those things!
In Germany,
however, I expect to spend much less on food and far more on travelling. I
expect more free time. I expect communication with locals (at least in German)
to be far more difficult- I have no prior knowledge of German or anything near
it in the way that I did for Italian. Although it’s a bit of a shame that Italy
has desensitized me from being out of America before I get to Germany (lessening
the excitement and mystery a bit), I’m sure there are still so many surprises
left in store.
I miss
Dr. Pepper. I miss Gumby’s. I miss clothing dryers and good apartment heating. I
miss hearing English in coffee shops. I miss being able to glance at signs and
know what they mean without needing to decode them. I miss having phone service.
But I’ll be fine. Auf Weidersehen.
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