Last week in Germany

This is my last week in Germany. Its been a tough but absolutely worthwhile experience. I made a brief list of things I will and won’t miss.

Things I won’t miss

Living in a dorm/sharing a bathroom and kitchen with about 10 other people: this wouldn’t be so bad if there weren’t only two toilets and two showers for all of us. And don’t get me started on dirty dishes! It gives me the heeby-jeebies just thinking about it.

Not being able to interact with people as easily: it gets old after a couple of weeks of going to lunch with your colleagues and not being able to contribute to the conversation because they’re speaking a different language.

Sitting at a computer for 6 hours a day doing research: I probably sit at a computer for this same amount of time during school but it just seems so much longer when its 6 consecutive hours.

German keyboards: What is up with them!?!? The z and y are switched, the parentheses are in totally different places, and there are symbols on here that I don’t even know how they would be used.

Things I will miss

Public transportation: I get a decent amount of time on the bus during school but its different here. I obviously don’t have a car so I either have to walk everywhere or take the bus or subway. I’m only looking forward to driving in my car again so I can sing loudly and horribly and not worry about anyone hearing.

Cafes: There are so many types of cafes around the city. I haven’t been to a bad once since I came off that plane.

The buildings: I don’t know if it’s the country or I am just now become more aware of buildings, but there are some crazy-awesome structures throughout the city. Also, the architecture seems simpler and cleaner than what I’m used to seeing.

Fashion: Pretty much everybody has a sense of style here. When I wear a nice t-shirt and jeans, I feel like I’m walking around in my pajamas. That’s how awesome the fashion is here.

I have learned from my internship in multiple ways. I have done research and made case studies on metropolitan regions all over the world and have seen that they are all trying to achieve the same goals: live more sustainably. Not just environmentally but socially and economically too. I have also enjoyed participating in the operations of a German research facility. I think it’s interesting and valuable to know how research is performed in other settings and hopefully what I’ve learning will be used in the future. I am even going to go down the cheese-y road (wouldn’t that be awesome if that was a real thing!? A road made from cheese? Probably would get messy on a hot day though. Or would just a really good day to make nachos. Where was I?…o yea) and say I have grown from this experience. It’s an amazing feeling to know that I can live in a foreign country for 3 months with minimal knowledge of the language or not really know anybody. I’m not saying it wasn’t difficult or that I wasn’t lonely at times but I survived and will always have that.

For who ever is reading this: if you ever want to study or work abroad, I would love to help or give advice if you want it. I had a few people to talk to before I came and they helped where they could so I would like to return the favor and do so for other people.

I am very excited to go home and see my family, friends, and puppies. I am a little nervous about the transition back to American culture which is funny because I’m American gosh darn it! (said with a Texas accent) Thinking about driving everywhere is kind of weird after having to depend on the subway and bus system for the past 13 weeks. But I’m sure everything will be dandy, hopefully as dandy as Yankee Doodle :D

Keep it green!

Brianne