June 1, 2011. What always sticks out to me the most is going to the airport upon my departure. I realize that sounds cheesy, but it is what it is. My parents, best friend and boyfriend (at the time) all rode the 45 minute trip to Charlotte-Douglas airport with me. I can remember the nerves and butterflies like it was yesterday. I had never ridden an airplane alone before, and I was so terrified that I would somehow end up in Russia.... or even Yemen. Who knows? Luckily, the goodbye's weren't too dramatic; actually, come to think of it, I don't even remember if there were any tears at all. I obviously survived the 9 hour plane trip to Munich, and looking back I feel foolish for being so nervous.
For any of you that have never been to China Grove, NC or have never even heard of China Grove, NC, let me give you a brief summary. There are no more than 3,553 inhabitants living in good ole' China Grove. Aside from a few restaurants, gas stations and schools, it doesn't offer much of anything. Where I'm getting at is that the only public transportation I had ever used was the school bus that stopped directly in front of my house. So, when I was forced to use the many subway's, buses, and trams that Munich had to offer, I was in a state of shock, to put it lightly. My sister wrote down exactly what subway I had to use, where exactly I had to switch trains, which platforms I needed to be on, etc.. Without her, I thought (at the time) I would, again, end up in Russia... or Yemen. Once again, looking back, I feel foolish for being so nervous about using the public transportation; especially when I noticed 6-year-old's riding it alone with no issue. Thankfully, the angst and discomfort that I felt upon using public transportation quickly faded away after a few weeks of practice.
I have to write about the school that I attended in Munich because it was such a great experience that I will never forget. I went to a school called 'BWS Germanligua'. It was a school that was focused on teaching foreigners how to speak German while showing them the culture at the same time. We had trips, pub-outings, sight-seeing tours, etc. At this point my German was still very poor. I was at an A1 level, and my conversational skills went as far as 'Guten Tag! Ich bin Amanda. Uhhhh, Sprechen Sie Englisch??" Luckily, English is an international language and most people that I came in contact could speak English quite well. The best friend I made in Munich was a guy named Jaime from Australia. We spent nearly everyday together, drinking beer, eating Bratwurst, and discussing the differences between Australian-English and American-English. My first night of getting hammered was, naturally, at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich. It was Michael's (a schoolmate) last day in Germany and he wanted to go out with a bang before returning to the States. Needless to say, being an 18-year-old girl that went from being underage in her home country to suddenly being of age didn't work to my favor as much as I had thought. Sure, I drank at home plenty. But there was something about being in public looking at the waiter and ordering beer for myself, being in a "foreign" country by myself, and living in my own apartment that made me feel like I could handle more alcohol than my 130-pound body could actually handle. I won't tell you how much I drank, but I will tell you that the night ended with Jaime taking me home, me throwing up in the subway station and strangers constantly asking us if we were okay, to me stripping in front of my new friend because I couldn't stand the feeling of throw up on my shirt anymore. Thankfully, Jaime was a gentleman (and not a murderer, whew) and left me there to sleep with a glass on my nightstand. I will never forget the hangover that I experienced the following morning. The pounding in my head lasted the entire day.
I was fortunate enough to be able to go to Zugspitze (the tallest mountain in Germany). It's a big tourist spot and one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in my life thus far in person. Jaime and I took a day trip there. Now, if there's something anyone needs to know about Jaime before traveling with him, it's that he falls asleep on an hourly basis. I'm not sure if it was the German air, the German beer, or all the walking we did, but I always had to nudge him awake. The trip to Zugspitze was no different. Every single time I turned to look at him, he was sleeping with his mouth open on the train. Luckily for me, the sights were amazing enough that I didn't need an Australian accent to keep me occupied. Once we arrived on the mountain, I was blown away. It's not something that one can describe through words or pictures, but rather has to experience it for them-self.
There are quite a few of things I learned in Munich. I learned which beers were my favorite, which food I liked the best here, how to order food in German, how to direct myself with the subway, the best places to visit in Munich, how to go grocery shopping for myself, how to keep cool when there's no air conditioning, how to live without a cell phone... how to actually USE a pay phone, how to deposit bottles back for 'pfand,' (I'm going to stop and explain this for any of my friends that don't understand what that means. In Germany, recycling is key. They sort their trash like robots. I, personally, find this is a necessary and awesome thing that America should adapt, but it definitely took some getting used to. For most drinks that you buy, you actually have to pay a little extra for the bottle itself. But once you're done drinking it, there are machines in nearly all grocery stores that have little devices in which you enter the bottle(s) and then receive your money back that you paid for it. In turn, assuring the bottles get recycled properly, and you getting your money back.)
I moved from my own apartment to a shared-students setting 2 weeks in. I had 5 roommates. I didn't speak with any of them very much because I was still very shy at this point and the majority of them didn't speak English. My roommate was a girl from the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. We didn't speak much because of the language situation, but we did smoke together often. Ahh, smoking.... bringing foreigners together. I was used to sharing rooms with people because as a child, my brother and I had shared a room, and I lived in the same room with my ex-boyfriend for over a year. So, that wasn't much of an issue for me.
Looking back, I wish I would have made more of an attempt to speak to her, but I was still very shy at this point. Nonetheless, I did enjoy my time there. The people that lived there were very friendly, and I probably looked like a bitch since I never spoke a word. Oh well, you live and you learn, right?
I have to add in here that I honestly have no idea what I would have done if I didn't have my sister's help throughout this entire transition. For those of you that don't know, she lives in Hannover, which is about a 5-hour train(ICE) ride from Munich. We only saw each other on the weekends, but she kept me sane when I felt like I wanted to give up and go home. My first day at my own apartment I called her crying my eyes out, and she kept me from falling apart. She kept my spirits high and I am forever grateful for her.
My last day in Munich consisted of about 20 schoolmates going to an Italian pub to watch Italy kick Germany's ass in the Euro-cup. I was very disappointed and frankly, pissed, because I was rooting for Germany, but hey, we still have next year. After a few drinks, all of us went out to hit the town. We drank some more beer and the pub then searched for a club. Unfortunately, we had some issues because one of the guys that was with us didn't have a proper form of identification, so we all ended up walking around Munich instead. I ended up getting home around 4 am, and then having to be at the airport to pick my parents and little brother up at 8 am. I made it and can't explain the wonderful feeling I had upon seeing them. I was able to show them around Munich and impress them with my knowledge and impress them with my huge improvement in the German language (both of my parents are fluent in German).
We stayed the night in Munich, drinking beers, eating ice-cream, and catching up until we were on the way to go visit my sister in Hannover.
This was nearly 8 months ago, and I have to say that I am a complete different person than I was when experiencing this. I truly wish I would have started a blog while experiencing this versus me having to think back, because it's just not the same. Nonetheless, I will continue to try my hardest to express my feelings while going through this transition.
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