My time in Osnabrück officially ended with my recent arrival
in London. I experienced quite the culture shock simply sitting by my gate in
Frankfurt airport. It was easy to identify who the Germans were and who the
English were just by looking at them. The difference continued to develop as I
arrived in country and was berated by a UK Customs official who wanted to know
everything and anything. He needed to know what I studied, where I studied, how
much money I had, how much my plane ticket cost, who I was staying with, where
she lived, dates, times, numbers…he wanted to know everything! It wouldn’t have
been so painful if he wasn’t so rude. Thus, I entered the country with a “bad
taste in my mouth.” This was the exact moment when I started to miss Germany!
I cannot believe my time in Germany is over. I am proud to
say that I have completely fallen in love with the country and its culture. The
thing that I will miss most is the people! Germans are a special breed and my
experiences with the face time partners are unforgettable. After spending countless
nights and five hours rowing a boat on the Hase River (Team Schnitzel), I have
made long-lasting friendships. What is so different with these friendships is
that they are based on intellectual conversations. This is why I find Germans
so refreshing. Germans aren’t afraid to debate and discuss touchy subjects. I
discussed the issues of national pride, politics, and gender roles all within
1.5 weeks of meeting these people. I
loved every minute of it! In the U.S., I have similar conversations with my
close friends but I have never experienced such a conversation with a random
group of people at a party or a bar.
In addition to the people, I will also miss the lifestyle.
My experience in Osnabrück is a bit biased because I was on a vacation and the
weather was unusually beautiful towards the end. However, I like the use of
public transportation, their way of recycling, their food, their beer, and
their bike lanes etc. Germans tend to live in the moment and have a more
relaxed lifestyle whereas in America everything is fast-paced. This experience has reminded me to enjoy my day
and not let the American lifestyle bamboozle me!
As they say, all good things must come to an end. I fully
enjoyed my time in Germany and already cannot wait to visit again. I am even
thinking about living there in the future. For the next two weeks I will be
wandering around the UK with a friend of mine from the USF field hockey team. I
cannot wait to see what the UK has in store!
~tschüss
Deutschland and hello UK!
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