Goals and Expectations

I’ve been in Berlin for 3 days and my understanding of Berlin and Germany has changed so much already. Things I thought I knew are completely wrong and I’ve had to face things that I never would have thought of. In terms of expectations for the semester, most of mine have been upended, but I still have a few. One is to get a LOT better at German. My host family, Dorlies and Hermann, have been talking to me almost entirely in German. I think that they’re dumbing down their vocab and talking slowly for me, but that’s fine with me. It’s hard enough already. However, I already can feel it getting easier to listen to German and recognize the words. I don’t talk to them a lot yet, but I try using what I can. They’re very nice about correcting it. Another thing I expect is to really broaden my view of the world. So much about this is different from MLC. Just about no one besides me and Josiah are Christian. Some people are hostile to Christianity. Most people don’t understand what we’re studying or why we’re studying to be a pastor. Even the college, religion aside, is so different from what I’m used to. The campuses are spread out all over Berlin and thousands of people go to school there. Going to a big college is going to be a very different experience.
I’m here for 16 weeks, which seems like a long time. But seeing how fast the time goes, you realize how short a time it is. I don’t want to waste a single minute of it. To do that, I’ve set a couple goals for myself. One is to do something every single day. The most class I have is 5.5 hours a day, and public transit makes it easy to get around in my free time. My list of things to do in Berlin is growing every day. This is my first time living in a big city and the amount of opportunities is almost overwhelming. I want to see as much of my new home as possible. Another goal is to get better at German. I know I will, just by virtue of taking classes. But living in a German city, my opportunities are so much more than just classes. I’ve already started ordering in German when I can. However, I want to get more confident in speaking German to strangers. I also want to be able to have in-depth conversations with my host families, instead of being a passive observer. My other goal is really to immerse myself in the city. I don’t want to be a tourist here. Instead, I want to feel like I live in Berlin. Some things planned, like operas and soccer matches in town, should be good for that. Other things, like living with a host family and going to school here, will also help. But that won’t be enough. I’m going to try and really get out in the city and try some things that I would normally never try, like food and events.
Since I’ve hit the 500-word limit, that’s all for now. As the Germans say, “bis spät!”.