Getting used to a new place is not easy. It takes time to fully get to know a new city or region. When looking back on my first few weeks in Berlin, I remember feeling comfortable, or even bored. I now find myself laughing at the triteness of thinking I had already understood, or even exhausted Berlin. After being here for a month, I can still find new things to do!
Here’s a Typical Day in Berlin for Me:
Berlin in the winter is a dreary place. But, for my fellow Boston dwellers used to a near arctic climate, Berlin is a tropical paradise! Since I have felt myself becoming acclimated and antsy to try new things, my friends and I have taken to long, winding, and unintelligible journeys along the spree: First walking down into Kreuzberg, meeting a new friend along the way, and up back into museum island, zig zagging across the river and imagining the purpose of strange structures or half built buildings, and guessing at the meaning of German words our classes have not prepared us for yet. Then continuing west, following the turns of the river until my hands get so cold I stop for a coffee, then a cake, of course. After this quick stop, we trudge on half-heartedly, commenting of course on how beautiful it is until we hit the Brandenburg gate, and spend a few minutes people-watching.
We walk back up to Museum Island stop, admiring the blue ceiling muttered with fake stars, and laughing at how I believed I had never been to this station before (I had, in fact, visited it nearly 3 times). After this, another foray into Berlin’s diverse food scene at Berlin’s Hacksher Markt’s, followed by another train trip home (3 stops) and a failed attempt at homemade Chinese (somehow the dumplings were both under and overcooked), and a final successful German follow-up meal (trusty bratwurst, pickled cabbage, and hard cheese) supplied by yours truly.
My roommates and I often chat after dinner. We discuss our day, homework, and classes that we do, admittedly, enjoy. We wish each other goodnight (tchüss!) and embark on our own quests for the early evening: laundry, job applications, room organization, German homework, and film watching.
Settling into Berlin
The best part of settling in is feeling more comfortable in your own skin. You once again know exactly how to get to school (take the s3 to the u5 to the X83), and what breakfasts are within reach to prepare in the 5 minutes time you have (cheese and bread, yogurt, chocolate milk), going to school becomes less frantic, and your days more normal, and the city you study in seems to turn more into that city in which you live, even if it’s only temporary.
Maybe there are even some familiar faces, like your favorite barista, or the woman at the laundromat. Even your teacher’s steady presence, cheering on both your academic and personal development, becomes more or less normal. And in turn, hopefully, you give the city all it gave you and more.
You make new friends, you go on new journeys. Hopefully, you try some new food and visit new places. Even better, work on creating a routine; a new school’s sports team, your teacher’s steady reassurance, Sunday night study sessions, or dinner with friends. And you feel comfortable, at last, in a place you only ever wanted to be in because it was the opposite of that: because it was unknown, and full of things to try and nooks left to discover. And that’s a good thing because now you can remember it fondly, and not ideally. You can think of those neighborhoods which you frequented your first week, those authentic currywurst locales which you worshipped, and appreciate them for what they were then, while also appreciating the distance that came between you and them in the time that passed.
You begin to appreciate a new life in the host country with new friends, classes, and adventures. So you keep walking, and trying, and traveling, and tripping and falling and asking for help and giving freely. Because you know now that the only thing you deserve, is to be grateful of others, to help, and to make your own decisions. You learn to be responsible for yourself when abroad. Not just your safety, but your happiness too. You learn that friends don’t just come out of the street, approaching you, knowing already how to make you comfortable and entertaining you in that perfect way. You learn to take time for the things that are still important, your family, friends, hobbies, and nurture them alongside everything else. And you leave, eventually. Happy, and full of more memories than when you came and, hopefully, with more insights that alter the course of your life.
