Tschüsseldorf Germany, and a Zwicka-ciao-ciao to boot
As of Wednesday, I have eight days left in Germany since I fly out early next Friday. Time has flown by, and so much has changed since I came here fifteen weeks ago. So now it’s time to look back at the semester.
This semester, I’ve had a lot of successes and things that I’m proud of. Going into the semester, one of my goals was to do things and make the most of my time constantly. While I discovered that you need time to rest, I feel like I made the most of my time. I feel like I got a good feel for Berlin and did a fair amount of traveling outside Berlin too. I’m also proud of my German. While I’m sure I could have done better in improving it, I definitely have noticed feeling more comfortable speaking it, and I can comprehend a lot more than before.
On the other hand, there are some things I wish I had done differently. I have some distant relatives who live in Germany, and I didn’t end up seeing them, which would have been cool. I also think it would have been good to foster more of a relationship with my host family than I did. It might have also been good to involve myself in the community more. These are definitely “regrets” that I can learn from.
And I plan on implementing the things I have learned immediately. I’ve learned and experienced a lot of things this semester, which makes me think about how I can apply these to my normal life. One big focus this semester was trying to push myself outside of my comfort zone. While some of these things were negative experiences (eating moldy cheese, having drunk old men talk to you while watching a soccer game, getting hit by a car), most of them were actually enjoyable. I want to be able to be more adventurous and push myself out of my comfort zone when I go back home. I also plan on continuing to learn German because that’s something I’ve enjoyed and want to get better at. I also want to get to know more people. I’ve met so many people from vastly different backgrounds from myself. It has been super different from what I’m used to, and I want to know more people and understand them better.
After such a great experience, there’s plenty to be grateful for. For one thing, I’m grateful for having Josiah to study abroad with. While I’m sure I could have studied abroad alone, it would have been a lot harder. Studying abroad with a friend made transitioning a lot easier, and we also pushed each other to be doing and seeing things constantly. I’m also grateful that we had an ELFK church in Teltow to worship in and access to online service when we couldn’t be present in church. I’m also super grateful for all the people that helped me prepare for this semester, like my parents, friends, and faculty, especially Mrs. Kassuelke.
A lot of things I’m grateful for weren’t very surprising. I was pretty sure Josiah wasn’t going to back out and pretty sure that my parents would help me prepare for a semester abroad (although most of my dad’s advice consisted of stories about when HE went to Europe). But there were some things that were pretty surprising. In our class, we were asked where we saw God’s hand or unexpected blessing, and at first, I couldn’t think of anything. But the more I thought about it, the more I saw them everywhere. For example, the fact that there was always salt and pepper to add at least a bit of flavor to those German foods, or that all the times I skipped fares on public transit, I didn’t get caught. I’m kidding, of course! Sometimes I couldn’t find the salt and pepper. But there were also some more serious ones too. For one thing, through a combination of weird coincidences, we had friends scattered all over Germany who we got a lot closer to and who were just good people to have around us. At the beginning of the semester, I wouldn’t have thought that I would end up hanging out with one of my old RA’s from high school, a former classmate of my sisters, an ex-classmate from college, or the son of a German pastor. But by the end of the semester, I would call all of these people good friends, and I am so glad they were here. Another thing that at first I wasn’t happy about was housing. At first, Josiah and I were planning on being in the same host family. During the summer, we found out we were getting split up. As the semester went on, however, it became clear that this arrangement gave us space to have our own experiences and just space in general. I’m very grateful that what at first seemed bad turned out to be a blessing.
I would recommend studying abroad to everyone. It’s been such an amazing experience. And to anyone who does want to study abroad, I definitely have some advice. For starters, Germans do not have Milk Duds. No matter how vending machines you check, no matter how many stores you search, you just won’t find them. You just have to accept that this is part of another culture and that you’re going to have to wait 16(!) weeks until you can taste that caramel chocolate goodness. This may be hard, but if you’re in Europe, it is doable. Not always enjoyable, but doable. Another thing, perhaps a bit more pressing, is just to get engaged with people who live there. It was super fun to be a tourist, but I remember the people I met and talked to most. It made everything feel more real. Another thing would be to push yourself. For myself, at least, I figured that if I was going to be here for 16 weeks, I would go as hard as I could for 16 weeks and then rest in America. I can think of very few experiences and things we did that I wish we hadn’t done (Chief among them? Trying the McQuesedilla at a European McDonald’s. It tasted like someone put Cheez Whiz in a tortilla). Another thing would be to learn the language, no matter where you go. Even when we traveled to a non German speaking country, we always tried to say little phrases like “Merci”, “Grazi”, or “tato česká slova je jistě zábavné říkat”. People always like to see an effort, even if it is (as it was mostly for me) a very messy effort. My last piece of advice would be to have fun with it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and you can’t do it all, so have fun with what you can and use the time to enjoy yourself and learn more about the world.
It’s been an amazing semester and experience, but I’m ready to go back. It’s time to see my family and friends again and live in a country that has Taco Bells and Pop-Tarts. Even though I’m ready to go back to MLC and my normal life again, I know that I’ll never forget this amazing experience, and I don’t regret a second of it.
Gott sei Dank,
David Rutschow
Heidelberg Undisputed
This past weekend I had the privilege of taking part in a famed European WELS retreat in the city of Heidelberg which is where, as many of my faithful readers probably already know, Luther had the even more famed disputation. Regardless of how many disputations were held in Heidelberg, the WELS retreat was an undisputed success. A conglomeration of believers from across Germany and beyond joined together for a weekend of fellowship and worship. With representation from both the WELS and ELFK (Evangelisch-Lutherische Freikirche) the small Jugendherberge in which we stayed was full of familiar faces. The Balge siblings, Phil and Martha, were able to attend and provided some much-needed familiarity in this long stretch of being away from not only America but MLC. Included in those familiar faces was LPS Grad, Ella Brandt, and Logan and Louisa Pankow, who have become good friends in this short time in Germany. Among these familiar faces, however, were strewn several WELS connections. The WELS connections were soon forgotten, however, as we were all able to connect over the weekend through a series of icebreakers the first evening which had a strange amount of references to a “certain college in smalltown Minnesota which shall not be named”. Fellowship like this is something that was something I had never thought would be missed so dearly after an extended period of time in a foreign country. I learned many things over the weekend, but first and foremost I learned that fellowship is a necessary nourishment for the Christian. The opportunity to exchange stories and forge new memories with a uniquely familiar group of people in an unfamiliar place is something I know that I will cherish for a long time.
However, it was not only Christian fellowship that bonded all of us together. The sect of younger folk who attended the conference was able to spend the day together in Heidelberg, which provided the unique opportunity to exchange our struggles, triumphs, and experiences in a country that was relatively new to all of us (except for Louisa ;). Despite each of our unique situations, we all had similar experiences. Each of us had a different story to tell, but a similar outlook on our time here. Phil, au pairing for the year/Martha, attending University in Mainz/ Ella, taking the year off/ and Logan and Louisa, attending the Seminary in Leipzig and going to nursing school, respectively, each had different experiences and yet similar conclusions as David and I. It is crazy that all of us were products of Lutheran High Schools and somehow found our way to Germany through different avenues. If you had told me a year ago, that I would be at a café in Heidelberg lauding over the German public transportation system as compared to other European countries with that particular group of people, I would not have believed you. Studying abroad has offered so much more than I had expected it to. My expectations consisted of European travel and German language learning, but now I know there is so much more to studying abroad than that. Connecting with people so accurately in a foreign country has been a major surprise for me in my journeys.
Not only in Heidelberg has the connecting been surprising. While discussing over the dinner table at my host family, with members at the ELFK church in Berlin, or even with other students in the program, there is a sense of comradery. There certainly is a great support system here in Germany through the connections that I have been blessed to make. Friendships and memories have been forged, especially with regard to the conference in Heidelberg, and that is undisputed.
