Germany Update

I’ve been in Germany just over a month. So far, it’s been more of an adjustment than I thought it would be. I’ve experienced more homesickness than  anticipated: I’ve realized I’m a lot closer to my family than I thought. I never thought it’d be so hard to spend so much time without seeing them, but it’s also made the friendships I’ve made so far in Germany be that much more important to me. It’s thanks to them that I’ve been able to get through feelings of homesickness and feel as though I’ve settled in more. One of my favorite parts of being here is all of the people whom I’ve met. I’ve encountered so many people from all over, not just Germany. Participating in the Startkurs Program not only helped me get settled in, but also allowed me to make a solid group of other international friends from all over the world.

When I first arrived in Germany, I was exhausted. I’d been planning my day of arrival for months, ever since I’d bought the plane ticket, but a lot of that planning had to be altered due to some last minute weather delays that led me to miss my connection and have to find a hotel to stay in overnight. As stressful as it was, I had to be flexible for things to turn out as they should, even if it meant I settled into my WG (a German student apartment) a day later than anticipated. Ever since then, I’ve realized that’s exactly what is necessary to success when living in a foreign country: flexibility.

Flexibility is essential, I’ve discovered, even in the country Americans renown for its efficiency. One of the quickest lessons I learned is that bureaucracy, no matter what country it’s in, will always be a headache. One of the biggest differences between the bureaucracy in Germany and America is that there is a lot more aspects of it that take place in person. As someone who’s relatively new to this whole being an adult thing, learning how to deal with some bureaucracy that’s a lot more elaborate (especially as a foreigner) than I’d have to deal with in America took a lot of learning, but I did it! Having a lot of patience (and time) can make the new bureaucracy be more manageable.

In my day to day life I haven’t noticed too many noticeable differences, but primarily smaller differences. These everyday differences have seemed to fade away as  I’ve grown more used to them. For instance, Germans take their waste management a lot more seriously than any Americans I’ve seen. Not only is there general trash, recycling, and (if you’re lucky in America) compost, there’s also a lot of separation of recycled items (glass, paper, etc.) and the infamous Gelber Sack (yellow bag) for all packaging. This seemed entirely overwhelming and amusing at first, but after a few weeks of separating my garbage, its become second nature.

The supermarket is another place where there are lot of smaller differences. For instance, when using a shopping cart, one has to put in a €0,50, €1, or €2 coin to remove it from the cart collector. This money is returned when you put the cart back where it originated. Another noticeable difference is that in the supermarket, one has to weigh their own vegetables and then collect a printed sticker for the cashier to scan. This is one difference I really like because I think it makes the checkout lines a lot shorter.

I look forward to exploring Germany more and learning more about the differences between American and German culture.