It started with my bike ride home. I'd spent most of the day at the Biocenter in the southern Munich suburb of Martiensried. After my class was over, I eagerly packed up to go home. Trouble was, the sun was down and the wind was blowing. For my hour long, cold bike ride, I couldn't help but have pleasent thoughts of Penn's nice compact campus.
Then I went out with some friends to a club. We convinced some Germans to come along. Although this should have excited me, I got really upset. The Germans kept insisting on talking to us in English. I got so frustrated that I walked away from the group for a few minutes. Deep breaths, deep breaths...
I'm upset because I've been in Germany for six weeks now, and I'm not thinking in German, not dreaming in German, and not talking to Germans. If I wanted to speak English, I would have stayed in the States.
The Germans have good intentions; I understand that. But when you repeatedly request, "auf Deutsch, bitte!" you'd think that they'd understand. Plus, I feel that my German is good enough to hold a normal, student to student conversation. But when I'm around other Americans who can't keep up, the Germans immediately assume that my German is just as bad.
When I got home, my lack of German friends started bugging me, too. Most Germans have only been here for the past two weeks, so I can't beat myself up too much. Although the Germans I've met are nice, they are just not open. While it took me only about 2 hours of conversation (in a group!) to make a friend from Hungary, I'm going to have to work a lot harder for the Germans.
The Americans here are great, and I'm enjoying my time with them. But seriously, I have American friends that I chose to leave for a year. I need to cut the cord and make a serious effort with the Germans.
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