Initial Reflections on Germany

After spending a little over 1 week here, I have already fallen in love with Berlin. This city has exceeded my expectations in so many ways. I was sorta expecting Berlin to be more like New York City… super tall buildings, people everywhere, taxis honking their horns, and trash all over the ground. Thankfully, Berlin is 1,000,000 times better than NYC (yes, 1 million times). The buildings here are so beautiful, colorful, clean, and fun to look at. 

Even Berlin itself is such a clean city.  I’m still so shocked at the number of people who ride their bikes everywhere. I feel like there are almost as many bikes on the street as there are cars. Speaking of bikes, on most sidewalks here, there is a bike lane, and more than a few times I have forgotten that you cannot walk in the bike lane for the danger of being run over by the bikers, who Prof P estimates are moving at 100mph!!! The Germans are “Schneller” than us Americans.

Another new experience for me is the public transportation. I’m from a small town in eastern Michigan where we just drive our cars everywhere. I was worried before coming on this trip that I would get totally lost at the stations and get on a wrong bus/train and somehow end up in Belgium (which is lovely this time of the year). Fortunately for me, it is so easy to navigate the city. The maps are really easy to interpret and there are often more than one bus or train heading to the same place, so if I miss a bus, I can just hop on the next one!

One thing that I did not expect here was the lack of water. I’m pretty sure it would be easier to find a needle in a haystack than to find free water in Germany. I have not yet seen a drinking fountain anywhere, and you have to pay about 2 Euro everytime you want water. The food here is pretty decent too! I am a really picky eater, but I can still find something that I like to eat at every meal. Döners, a Turkish sandwich, are really popular in our group.

One thing from home that I miss the most is probably a typical breakfast. Here we eat rolls with jelly and Nutella, which is good, but it’s getting old. I just want some pancakes and eggs at this point. If I could bring back something to the states, it would probably be the Apfelschorle, which is just sparkling apple juice but it tastes really good.

All of us are meshing together and I’m getting to meet and know people that I wouldn’t normally talk to. Us 4 girls are also managing to stay somewhat sane surrounded by 25 boys. I’m enjoying the euchre tournaments, homework circles, and everyday shenanigans. All in all, I am so excited to spend the rest of my time here!!!

 

One thought on “Initial Reflections on Germany”

  1. Delaney, I LOVED reading your update and seeing your pictures. Thanks for sharing your experience!

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