Nicht alles perfekt!

Fellow readers,

It has been two weeks since I started my study abroad experience and though it's not a long time, I already feel like I'm in a roller coaster. I'm constantly thinking that days are not long enough to do everything that I want and need to do. Every night I go to sleep extremely exhausted and there hasn't been a night in which I can go to sleep before midnight. I'm no stranger to sleep deprivation. Sleepless nights have been part of my life in the U.S. as well. However, back home, I didn't sleep because I was swamped with homework and studying for upcoming exams. Here in Heidelberg, is different. Life is just a big party! There is always something fun going on. The University of Heidelberg has different student organizations that plan out activities for the students. Whether it is an excursion to a different city, tours of Heidelberg, concerts, carnivals, or a pub crawl night. Throughout these two weeks that I've been here, I've visited other near by cities: Mannheim (Germany),Saarbrücken (Germany) and Metz (France). I have been to the famous castle in Heidelberg. I've gone shopping, and I've attended different parties. Also, I would like to say the new friendships I'm making are what makes this experience even better. The activities I attend wouldn't be the same without my new friends. They are so much fun to be around! We have class together and we plan different adventures.When we are all together we are extremely loud and often we have people staring at us. Pretty sure the Germans around Heidelberg know who we are and where we come from. The loud Americans. I'm normally not a loud type of person, but when we are all together, we are just laughing, telling stories about our lives and having a great time. We walk in mobs and we tend to laugh a lot. It's great! The friendships I'm making are definitely something I'm grateful for.

Life in Heidelberg is so much different from my life back in the U.S. Back home, I used to have a routine and my days were planned. However, for the passed 2 weeks, I haven't really have a day planned out. Here, I can't seem to create a routine. I'm not complaining about my life and all the fun activities I've been involved in, but I would love to have plans and actually follow them. Sooner or later, I hope to find a routine that suits my wants and needs. I do however, want to let you all understand and imagine what I'm going through. I will do my best to describe what I have experienced so far and what mosts days consist of. First of all, I'm not just in Germany to have fun. I do have responsibilities as a student, but right now, the summer semester hasn't started. For this reason, I am able to take a German course that will conclude at the end of this month. The summer semester will begin April 13th. and I will be taking 3/4 classes in French that will fulfill the requirements needed for my French major. So, for right now, German is all I hear, learn, and study. The German course I take is from 9am-12:30pm with a lunch break of 30 mins. I have two professors who are extremely knowledgeable. They each have a different style of teaching BUT they only speak German to the class. 80% of class time there's a confused expression planted on my face. When both of my professors can tell that I can't understand the mumble jumble coming out of their mouths as words, they finally have some sympathy and translate to English. How's that going? Eh...it's challenging. Pronunciation, grammar rules, extensive vocabulary...it's way too much to learn in just one month. It helps that I can actually practice German whenever I'm at a public place. Though I'm not a fluent speaker and I doubt I will become one during my stay here; I'm doing what I can.

Although I've been here less than a month, I can already tell you what I dislike about the city I live in. As I said in my previous post, the administration at the school, helps the students in several ways. However, the student must also struggle without help and figure out their own class schedule. The way the education system is structured is confusing. Recently, I attended an orientation that explained how students sign up for courses and let me tell you, it's not easy and way different to what I'm used to! Besides the fact that mostly everything is in German and I can't understand it, I have to personally talk to the people in the department where I want to have classes. I'm used to signing up for classes through an online system, reading about the classes provided and the professors. Here, I can't sign up for classes online. I don't create my schedule before the semester starts. In order to be in a class, I have to either e-mail the professor, attend the first class of the course or take an exam to be eligible. Also, the school's administration has nothing to do with the faculty. Ohh but that's not all that's different, a student here can be a full time student without taking many classes. There's no limit as to how many classes a student wants to take. But it's up to the student to be able to pass those classes. It's frustrating to not have a person guide you step by step. I'm not sure if it's a culture thing, but back at home (the US) I feel like my professors and administration care about my struggles and always ready to help with any issues. I definitely miss Illinois College and the way every person that I've met there has reached out to help.

On a much happier note, the public transportation here is way nicer than the one back in Chicago. The buses and trams are bigger and cleaner. However, on weekends and late at nights, buses and routes change. I learned that it is always good to have a map with me. It is really easy to take the public transportation here and be in a different city in matters of minutes/hours. I definitely love that about Europe. Makes the exploring so much easier and convenient. Another aspect that I also love about Germany is the food. Germans are big on pastries, desserts, sandwiches with different types of cheese and bread, pretzels, coffee, and tea. Personally, I'm obsess with Turkish Kebabs. These are known as fast food restaurants here. I do enjoy eating all these new food, however, I already have withdrawals and miss my mom's food. As you can tell, I have already experienced frustrating moments. I've had moments when I'm just annoyed because I can't understand what people are saying around me. But, I just remind myself that I haven't been here long and that I need to relax and enjoy my learning experience. Being optimistic is key right? :) Sure, I'm having fun, sure I made new friends, sure I love traveling and exploring new places! But wait, there really is no place like home. & life is hard when you have to readjust to a whole new system and life style.

Living in the moment!

I made it! I'm alive! I'm living in Heidelberg, Germany....funny, I still can't fully grasp reality. However, the ordeal of moving to a different country is REAL. I have experienced some tough, and busy days. There were so many things to get done to finally feel at peace and ease. Don't get me wrong, I have had great experiences so far as well.

Let me explain why I haven't updated my social medias as much and how my life has changed drastically in matter of 3 days.I am going to be extremely clear and explain with detailed everything that I've been through and I'll start with the not-so-happy moments. You don't have to sit and read the Karina aventuras (Karina's adventures in Spanish) but if you want to laugh a little and imagine what I'm going through, then sit back, read and enjoy!Let me start with how my suitcase broke as soon as I arrived at O'hare international airport (in Chicago). Apparently, I do not have good luck with luggage. You will figure this out later on through out this long post. Anyway....so my suitcase broke right? but I did not freak right away because my mom was there and she kind of fixed it. My mom always finds ways to make my life easier and to make everything work out. After checking in my bags and after saying my good-byes to the people I love the most, I was on my own! For some reason, I felt real confident because I went through security fast and easy. I also found the gate where I would depart right away and after 30 mins, I was already on my way to Europe!I arrived to Heidelberg on Monday at 1pm. I was actually supposed to be here at 10am but one of my connecting flights was delayed by two hours. This is when things started to get...not pleasant! On Sunday morning and afternoon I walked around a mile and a half throughout airports (JFK in NY and Moscow) to get to my designated departure gates. Let me just add I did not travel light (my fault, I know) but a girl needs her stuff. So I definitely had a workout walking that much with 2 bags each around 30 lbs. I'm small, and short and 30 lbs is quite a bit for me to carry. I did it anyway and as of right now my arms are still sore. Ha! Anyway, during the flights, I met people who were real nice to me and took care of me like if I was their daughter. It's probably because they thought I was way younger than 21 years old. I felt protected throughout each one of my flights. Also, let me add the food I received on each plane ride, was delightful. I enjoyed every bite!...usually I hear people complaining about the food. I am a picky person but the food was good to me and it did not make me feel sick. After finally making it to Frankfurt in Germany, I went to pick my luggage...and guess what?! My luggage was still in Moscow, Russia (where I took my connecting flight) I started freaking out. Because I had everything planned out already. I had paid for an agency to pick me up and drive me to Heidelberg. I had to be in Heidelberg before 5pm to register and do paper work. So I decided to have my luggage be deliver to me in Heidelberg once I knew where I would be living. The airline agreed and said to give them a call. So again, I was back on track with my plans. The ride from Frankfurt to Heidelberg was about a 30-40 mins. It was quite the experience. As some of you may know, there is NO SPEED LIMIT. Cars where flying by! All of them! I was scared but I also thought that was pretty cool. Something interesting I saw throughout the ride, was a lot of graffiti on bridges. I thought only kids in America liked to vandalize the city but maybe kids/teenagers all around the world want to make and leave their own mark like that.


Okay so, the driver helped me find the place where I was supposed to register and once I finished paper work and pay all the fees and rent I needed to pay, the supervisors gave me my room key, address and directions on how to get there. & yes guys, I was left alone to find my way to the new place that would be my home. A-L-O-N-E. No one helping me find the right bus or train. No one helping me read German. So yes, I was annoyed. But I knew it would happen. I was warned that faculty and staff in Germany help you, but not fully. You must find your way to things and places you need. Of course I made mistakes on my way to my new residence. For example, I got off at the wrong bus stop, I did not purchase a train ticket when I was supposed to (because I did not know how and where to get it). BUT I made it to the building. The building reminds me of Pixley Hall back at IC. It's old, and each student has a room, the people in my floor share the bathrooms and the kitchen. Fun fact though, there are boys living in my floor. & yes, their shower is also the girls shower. WEIRD! I have been dealing with that, but I can tell you all that I do not like it. Long story short, the dorm I live by is alright, I met the man who takes care of the building. He speaks little english. However, he speaks a lot of French, so we communicated through Frenglish. There are many students living here from all over the world. The second day here, I met a girl from Spain. She needed help communicating with the owner. I helped her with her English because she spoke Spanish better. She was real nice! Although she's 20 years old, she knew a lot about maps and how to move from one place to another. She helped me get to the building and location where we both needed to take a German placement test. Paula (Spain girl) knows more German than me. I am in level -1 and she's more advanced. For this reason, I don't see her as often. Buuuut heyyyy! I'm not the only one knowing 0% German. I met other fellow students (American exchange students, like me). We have all gotten to know each other, and thankfully two other girls live in the same building as I do. We have been hanging out and exploring Heidelberg. These students are from all over the US, some from Oklahoma, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Indiana, New Mexico, and California. Everyone is real nice and friendly. We definitely are here to learn German and just have a good time. For this reason, I have not been fully active on my social media game. I also have my German class, which is actually fun. I have been laughing a lot. All the people I'm meeting are great! Their personalities are different but I liked them all. In addition to fun times around Heidelberg, paper work still needs to be done. For example, I found out how hard it is to get a cell phone here! I need one to be connected with other students and to just help me whenever I need to call someone. I have to open a bank account, register with the city and buy necessary items (grocery shopping). Today was a great day because after 3 days, I finally have ALL my belongings! My luggage arrived today and I can wear my nice/clean clothes :D


For now, all I have to do is my German Level 1 homework, and get ready for another day. I can't explain all of these feelings being here. I'm just amazed by everything. Everything is so much different from the US. There are stores and restaurants that I recognize, but my life is not the same. I do not hear English all the time. I hear German conversations, I live in small but big city. I take the train and bus to school, I eat at different places. I don't drink normal water or milk. I drink tea because that's what they give at school! I am a little shy with people who I'm getting to know. But I am giving everyone a chance to get to know me. It's just crazy how fast everything is happening. All I can say is that I'm living in the very moment and I hardly have time to explain, post, and talk to the whole world about it. I'm just so into it. I'm just happy to be here :)