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\u2019re dumbing down their vocab and talking slowly for me, but that’s fine with me. It\u2019s hard enough already. However, I already can feel it getting easier to listen to German and recognize the words. I don\u2019t talk to them a lot yet, but I try using what I can. They\u2019re 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\u2019t understand what we\u2019re studying or why we\u2019re studying to be a pastor. Even the college, religion aside, is so different from what I\u2019m 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\u2019m 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\u2019t want to waste a single minute of it. To do that, I\u2019ve 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\u2019ve 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\u2019t 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\u2019t be enough. I\u2019m 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\u2019ve hit the 500-word limit, that\u2019s all for now. As the Germans say, \u201cbis sp\u00e4t!\u201d.
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