Berlin Bound
In just a few days, I’ll be boarding a plane to Berlin, and it still doesn’t feel real. This is something I’ve looked forward to for so long, and now it’s just a few days away…
Right now, floor space in my room is nonexistent. Piles of clothes, a suitcase, and way too many things I think I need to bring take up all of the space in my room and my brain. What does one pack for a semester abroad?
I’ve wanted to study abroad for a while, and Berlin always stood out to me. It’s a city with so much history and culture, but also a place that feels alive and creative. From the food to the art and music scene, it’s the kind of place that seems like it has something new to discover around every corner. That’s what makes me so excited to spend a semester there.
At the same time, I know it won’t all be easy. Here at home, I know my routines. I set the same alarm every morning, know how to get to class without even thinking, and who to text when I need to hang out. In Berlin, all of that will be different. I’ll have to figure out the train system, order food in German, and adjust to living in a place I’ve never been before. That’s a little scary, but I think that’s also the point.
One of the biggest reasons I chose to study abroad is to challenge myself. I want to step out of what’s comfortable and see how I grow. I want to explore new places, try new foods, and experience as much as possible. I want to meet as many new people as I can and gain some new friends. I know I’ll miss home sometimes, and I know there will be moments where I feel out of place. But I’m hoping those moments will teach me just as much as the fun ones.
I’ve been thinking about some goals for myself while I’m abroad. I’d love to improve my German, and become a better communicator. I want to meet new people and build friendships that I couldn’t have had if I stayed here. And I want to take time to slow down and notice little things like how a street feels in the morning, or what makes Berlin different from anywhere else I’ve been.
Right now, though, I’m still writing this from my room, excited, ready, and happy. I’m still packing, still saying my goodbyes, and still imagining what it will all be like. I hope that as I write my last blog for this study abroad experience that I’ll be able to look back on this post and see how far I’ve come. Soon enough, I’ll actually be there, writing from Berlin instead of about it. But for now, I’m just grateful for the chance to go and excited to see what’s waiting for me on the other side of the flight.
Tschüss!
My First Blog
Hi, my name is Paul Wagner, and I am about to embark on a long trip to the European continent. My home base will be in Berlin, and I will be staying with a lovely host family. I think I will really be able to learn a lot from living with these German people in everyday life. Attila and Elvira are the names of the people willing to take me in for a couple of months. But I am also planning on doing some traveling outside of Germany as well to countries like France, Italy, and Switzerland. It will be interesting to see the difference between Germany and these other countries, which are right next door. While I am there, I will also be taking classes at the university. Most of my coursework will be German language instruction. So I am hoping that between that and speaking in German with my host family and being immersed in the language, I will become relatively proficient by the end. I am also taking two other courses that are taught in English. This will be a very different experience from American college, and I think that I will learn many things outside of the classroom, as I explore and go to museums and see sites with thousands of years of history. I have some goals that I hope to achieve through this program. I want to be able to have full and meaningful conversations in German with a German speaking person and I think this will be achievable through hard work in the classroom and dedication outside of it. My other goal is to regularly speak to strangers. This takes more initiative and courage on my part to deliberately go out and speak to strangers in German. I want to achieve these goals but even if I don’t, I know I will learn something from this time that I spend there. And I think that it will be more formative than my other travels because I will be living and spending time with the people there. I really hope that I do go out and actually speak with the people though. I don’t think there are many ways in which my experience will be failure. And I am currently receiving great encouragement from three guys sitting next to me at the airport who shared their study abroad experiences in Europe a couple years ago. They also think that just being there and being able to travel is such a great opportunity. I am really excited to go and a little sad to not be at home and with many familiar faces, but luckily for me two other students from MLC are coming with me who I know quite well so I will not be all alone. They will also help me achieve my goals while I am through encouragement and mutual struggle. And I am most excited to be able to see so many new places with them and share great memories that will last a lifetime.
Livingstone was a great explorer. I, too, will be exploring. – Paul Wagner
Prep Time is Over: Adventure Awaits!
Honestly, I can’t believe that my semester abroad is finally here! I feel like I’ve been telling people for two years how I’m going to go on this huge adventure, but it’s been so long that it was starting to feel like I would never actually go. In preparation for my time abroad, and in relation to my majors, I took three summer classes this year. I’ve never had a more stressful summer! However, I’m really proud of myself for working through this so that I can go on this adventure. I feel like this experience will be something that I will never regret and may never have the opportunity to do something like this again.
Now, I am three shifts of my summer job and one night of packing away from going on a journey that will truly change me. I don’t know how to pack my life into a suitcase and a backpack, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out. I look forward to everything that I’m going to learn, including German (hopefully), and I’m excited to get to know new people that God will place in my life.
At this point, it doesn’t feel real, but I’m not nervous anymore. Looking back at my original goals and expectations list, I see a lot of fears. Fears that I will miss my family, fears that my friend group may change drastically while I’m gone, and many other fears. I recognize that those were my fears, but I don’t share them anymore. My family is one call away, and they’re coming to visit me in October! My friends will be there for me and I’m so excited to see them when I get to school in January.
I also see that I wanted to spend a lot of this time working on myself, and I do. I want to focus on becoming a more positive person in situations that I can’t control. And I think I will. Already, texting with my host family has made me feel so much better. I can’t wait to meet them and make connections halfway across the world. This is my time to make decisions for myself, to see God‘s creation, and find out that I am capable of growth!
I wrote on that goals and expectation sheet that I am my own worst enemy. This is true, but only if I wish to stay that way. I also think that I can be my own support and find strength in that. I have confidence that I will do well and that confidence is what will make me succeed.
So, in this post, I’m going to make new goals for myself. I want to try my host Family‘s vegetarian food and enjoy it. I want to get coffee on a busy street in Berlin and just listen to all the voices. I want to see the history of Germany and what really happened that made it into what it is today. I want to make it to Paris and London and Italy. I want to see God‘s beauty every day and thank him for this amazing opportunity. I want to make friends with people my age that I feel encouraged to keep ties with once I leave.
I now recognize the magnitude of the opportunity that lies before me and can’t wait to face every situation head on.
Here’s one last pic of all my wonderful cousins and I until I see them again when I return!
Home for Christmas
I cannot believe I am done with my study abroad semester and will be flying home next weekend! It feels so unreal. It was September just yesterday and the 15 weeks ahead of me felt like a massive monster of uncertainty and nerves. I am beyond blessed to have had time here and I am more than excited to see how I can use what I learned from my experiences in my life back home.
What am I most proud of? Myself! Just for doing this, to be honest. For deciding to do something big and following through with it. I was terrified to come alone and meet new people and be in a strange place, but I will never ever regret coming. I have met some amazing faces that I plan to keep in touch with, and learned so much about Greek culture and my own culture. I have so many pictures, little mementos, and memories to share for the rest of my life.
If I could change anything about the experience it would have been my mind set in the first half of the semester. When I first got here, it took me a few weeks to settle in, and I have always been a planner so I was constantly looking ahead and looking ahead and counting down until the second half, or a trip, or the end. But now that I am here, I wish I had tried to be a little more in the moment than I was. I did take time to enjoy every bit of it, but I could have enjoyed even more if I had let go a little more in the beginning. It’s ok though!
There is so much I could incorporate into my life back home, and I’m honestly interested to see how much this experience does affect me because right now I can’t tell, but I have a feeling I will once I get back. I would like to incorporate getting out of my comfort zone more in my life back home. I realize this might be a little hard on the MLC campus, but I think in things like my lessons and in my goals for myself I can be more ambitious because this taught me that I can do big and scary things, and that it will turn out ok! I will also be incorporating some of the food;) because I cannot just say goodbye to the amazing dishes here. So I have some recipes to bring back and tell my friends and family about. I’m excited for everyone to try them!!
I am grateful for every part of this experience. For the people who got me here and the people who supported my adventurous yet slightly delusional ideas while I’ve been here. I’m so very thankful for my new friends and roommates. It’s not very often as we grow up that we get the opportunity to make new, close friends, and God gave me an entire apartment filled with these kinds of girls. I am of course also thankful for my faith while on this trip. Getting the opportunity to see Greece from the standpoint of one of God’s created looking at more of His creation and his people but in a different place was…so amazing I don’t have words to describe it. The things I got to see, evidence from the Bible and just walking in places I’d only ever heard about was the answer to some prayers I didn’t know I prayed.
That being said, God’s hand has been all over my experience here. I’ve been safe, I’ve gotten the opportunity to evangelize to people who have never heard of Jesus before or who had heard but were curious to know more from my point of view and culture, which is something I’ve never experienced before. And it wasn’t even hard! I seemed to have all the words for what I wanted to say, which, as someone who can be very inarticulate sometimes, was pretty amazing to realize after the fact. My roommates were probably the most unexpected blessing. I did not honestly think much about the girls I’d be living with before I arrived, nor how my faith life would look without my friends at MLC, but God of course already had that taken care of! Quite a few of my roommates believed in Jesus and were part of churches back home, so to get to talk about my beliefs with them and get song suggestions or even prayers was very welcome when things would get a little lonely.
If I could give any advice to future study abroad students it would be to go on trips with your new friends. The trips and little excursions I did with my friends were some of my favorite memories. Even when we didn’t know each other that well, we planned some little things and it not only helps you to bond and create connections but also helps you try new things so much more. Some of the silly crazy things I tried and experienced would not have happened if I had been alone. Along those same lines, I would say make an effort to make friends with people from the other culture in your classes and at school. Some of my Greek friends are thee funniest people I’ve ever met and they can tell me so much about myself that I didn’t know simply because they observe me from the standpoint of another culture. They also give great recommendations of things to do, see, or try. So…make friends!!! I truly believe your relationships while away make all the difference. It helps with homesickness too:)
In conclusion for my last blog (crying!!) I have a few more pictures from some recent adventures!
Differences between living in Athens vs. the U.S: big and small:)
Choosing what to write about this week was very exciting. And it just so happened that the day before this, some of my roommates and I were having fun chatting and making a list of some of the things we missed about life in the U.S and some of the other goofy or serious differences we have noticed throughout the semester. I have decided to share some of these differences with you guys!
I’ll start with some of the silly things.
- One of the first things we all noticed when we arrived and were attempting to move in while being seriously jet-lagged was that there is no such thing as fitted sheets here. You know the ones with the cinched corners that always make you feel like you’re trying to put a shower cap on a refrigerator when trying to make your bed? Yeah, they don’t have those here! A blessing you would think, but no! What we wouldn’t give for a fitted sheet. You have to tuck a regular sheet on the mattress and let me tell you, it comes untucked almost every night.
- Another silly difference is the use of sidewalks. And roads for that matter. We were informed when we got here that pedestrians have no rights. And it’s true! Walking outside is sometimes a war-zone. You have to act confident and just move and hope that cars don’t hit you because they will not slow down or stop even if you’re there first. Also, people park wherever they want to. On the sidewalk? Yep. In the middle of an intersection? Believe it or not, yes. In front of you while you’re walking….yes that too. You get used to it. It’s a little comical. Another thing to look out for while walking on the sidewalk is other foot traffic. Greeks don’t move over for you. If you are on the sidewalk and they are on the sidewalk, they will run you over if you do not move. The same goes for the Greek pigeons. These pigeons have Greek attitudes and they also will not move for you. The trickiest is when you are trapped by a Greek pedestrian on one side, and a Greek pigeon on the other…then you have to choose between getting mowed down by a person or stepping on a pigeon. Choose wisely. (it’s a harder decision than you would think!)
- Ah! This is a big one. You cannot flush toilet paper here. Ancient pipes? I’m not really sure. But in the dorms, in public, at school, anywhere…no flushing allowed. It’s a little gross. One of my favorite Christmas presents will be American toilets. No joke!
- Next is a theory that my roommates and I came up with early in our time here. It was stifling hot when we arrived and all throughout September, October, and most of November, you would be drenched in sweat immediately after you stepped outside. But not the Greeks! I do not remember seeing any sweaty Greeks. It was very confusing. Especially since we all looked like we hopped in a lake. So the theory we came up with, tied to another observation, was this: Greeks exclusively drink only coffee (this was an observation. Exaggerated a bit.) No water whatsoever. So they are in a state of perpetual dehydration which is why they don’t sweat. They have nothing to sweat! We figured this is also why there are no public drinking fountains and approximately 2 total public restrooms. (All an exaggeration of course hehe:) But it seemed accurate.
- Next up. The accordion child. Yes, the instrument. There is ALWAYS a child with an accordion on the metro. With a little cup for coins. It’s very impressive in all honesty. I can barely play the piano.
Moving on to some differences concerning college age Greeks to American college age kids!
- Restrooms on campus are seemingly just for chatting, and doing makeup.
- Everyone is always talking on the phone. In between classes, waiting in Iine for lunch, eating lunch…it always seems very important too. Hmmm.
- There’s more PDA here…they really don’t care haha! Very awkward.
- They dress WELL. No backpacks…Prada purses, designer sunglasses, slacks…all name brand things. I wear jeans a lot and feel like I’m from a farm.
- They come to class and leave class whenever they so please with just their phone, a coffee, and a pack of cigarettes!
And lastly just some other differences!
- Daylight savings time ends a week earlier and the clocks move back at 4am instead of 2am. (Also no one told us when this happened so that was a confusing day hah!)
- All businesses except for a few restaurant are closed on Sundays.
- Lots of power outages.
- Sometimes the Metro just stops and the lights turn off for a few terrifying minutes. But then everything is fine again.
- Random American businesses: TGI Fridays, KFC, Cinnabon…it’s a little bit weird not knowing any of the names of restaurants and stores and then a random TGI Fridays pops up.
Our list is much longer, but those are few of the bigger differences that I have gathered with my roommates while on this adventure! Some things I miss about home, and some things I’ll definitely miss about being here as the end of my trip gets closer and closer:) I’m very thankful for every second of it so far.
Here are some pictures from my latest adventures! Including a Friendsgiving that my apartment put together:)
