Well, it has been just over 24 hours since arriving in Deutschland (well, when I wrote this it was). This will have been my 4th time to Germany, but there are just some things that I will absolutely have to get used to, regardless of how prepared I was in knowing that it was going to happen. Andy kept talking about the weather being significantly cooler than back home in Omaha. Going from 100 degrees plus humidity for the past couple of weeks straight to a crisp 50 degrees and rainy was quite a shock. I LOVE hot weather (yes, even the humidity), therefore this COLD (in my opinion) weather in the summer is going to take some definite getting used to! With limited suitcase space and poundage for the plane, I don’t know why I even bothered bringing summer clothing. In my mind (being Nebraska born and raised), August means it being brutally hot. I should have left my tank tops and shorts behind and made room for sweaters and jeans.
An obvious difference is language. Andy is putting my one year of basic German to shame after him being here only three months! He is doing so well that he will greet the waitress and she will start talking to us in German. The wide eyed, frightened look on my face must be the give- away that every word that was just spoken flew right over my head. My goal is definitely to start working on my German so that Andy isn’t the only one that can “communicate”.
Another thing that I am gladly going to have to adjust to is walking everywhere! Our car is parked below the grocery store, which is roughly a three minute walk away. This is not bad in the cool weather right now but I am not so sure I will enjoy it when snow is slashing at my face in the winter! But, the cobblestone streets, colorful buildings and cute window shops make the walk more enjoyable and “European” feeling. (Plus, we literally walked across the street to get home last night after a few biers…not a bad deal!)
There are many things that I am going to miss from back home though. Obviously, without a job right now, I have a feeling I am going to be desperately missing friends and family very soon. You can only clean an apartment so much and so often and with the time difference, Facebook is proving to be less of a distraction as I am used to (this may or may not be a bad thing!). Unfortunately, due to Andy’s job provision rules, I am not allowed to get a job on the economy. This is really too bad as I have noticed that Germans seem to have shortened work days and have ridiculous amounts of holidays and leave… now THAT’S the way to work! I also like my water; my tap water. However, that is considered “toilet water” here and my taste buds have not adjusted to the bubbly, carbonated mineral water yet.
There are just so many things to get used to here in Germany. Most of them I am happy to adjust to (not eating ketchup with French fries (ok, maybe this will be a difficult one), no air conditioning, the beautiful scenery, paying to use public bathrooms, gelato and “eis” on every street, Doner Kebabs) but some will simply be quite difficult (no Pandora or Hulu!?) I guess I will survive…
LeAnna Brown
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