Halfway Done and Not Ready to Leave
I just made it through midterms. My Art and Dictatorship Exam went well, and my German exam was pretty good. I am finding my listening comprehension to be a repeating difficulty. There are many words I still do not know, so it makes it difficult to understand. I talk much more German with my host now, but I only see her for an hour or two each day, so there is not much time to talk. So far, I think my experience in Germany has been great. In the beginning, there were a lot of ups and downs, but I think I have found a good place here. I miss MLC a lot, but I’m trying to really focus on and appreciate my time here. I feel a weird mixture of my time here is going slow, but it is also going really fast. I only have 62 days left, and I feel like I still have so much to learn. I have been focusing on being intentional about putting myself outside my comfort zone so that I can learn as much as possible. This is easy to do, though, because of the language barrier. I had many goals about improving my German and working on my faith while I am in Berlin. I think I have learned to be patient with myself. It takes time to improve in learning a language. It also takes a lot of faith to stand firm when you are put into an environment where you are different from others. My faith has definitely grown substantially since arriving here. I have been able to go to a church here, and I really like it. I’m sad that I won’t be able to go to it this Sunday, because I am on a class trip to Köln (Cologne), Germany. I have become friends with a Ukrainian refugee and her children, who go to the same church. I read the Bible on the way to school every day, and sometimes on the way back too. The 45-minute commute has made this incredibly easy.
In the second half of my time here, I want to speak more German with my friends. We all have varying levels of German, but I think it would be fun, and we would all get practice. I have also decided that I will go through some of the German materials I have from an online book from my German classes at MLC. So far, we have mostly just talked about grammar topics, I know, and I want to keep moving forward. I also want to ask more questions. By nature, I really like to listen to others talk, but as long as I’m here, and I have native Germans around me, I should take this opportunity to ask as many questions as I can.
While I’ve been here, I have definitely improved my confidence to speak German. I don’t think I’ll fully realize how much I’ve improved until I come back to my German classes at MLC. I have definitely become comfortable with parts of German culture. The most notable one would be the kind of community view of life in contrast to the focus on individuality in the U.S. It is really nice to be in a place where there is a lot of care for others around you. I also love the diversity of different cultures here. Most people here can speak three languages with varying proficiency, and knowing Spanish has made me feel like I fit in even more. Something that has surprised me is how attached I am becoming to Germany. I definitely do not want this opportunity to be the last time I am here. I am writing this on my class trip to another area of Germany, and I am really excited to be outside of Berlin. I hope to come back to Germany one day, and hopefully, next time, I won’t be alone!
Image 1: This is some friends going to an opera.
Image 2: This is the water that makes Museum Island.
Image 3: This picture is of my friends and I at Tempelhof Park, continuing to work on our slack lining.
