The Power of Language

This is my first article written from Germany. I arrived in Berlin yesterday and am proud to say that I have pretty much gotten the hang of these different keyboards (like the z and y being in opposite places) and of the S-bahn train system, and some of the U-bahn underground. At least I know how to get to my language class!

Today was the first day of class, and I am so happy to have signed up for this!! Yesterday was a REALLY difficult day for me; everything turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be–except for the whole customs thing. There was pretty much none at the airport, which was awesome!! It turned out that my landlady speaks very little English–only a phrase here and there. So it became extremely tiring trying to make myself understood. There were so many questions I needed to ask her about living in Berlin, but I could not get answers because even when I did ask, she could not understand. Additionally, the apartment does not have Internet access, which is SO frustrating to me because I was counting on using the web in the evening to talk to my family on Skype, research psymberin in preparation for labwork, write blog posts, and just keep myself entertained. But unfortunately not!

So instead I found an internet cafe (which is where I am now). But today I discovered there is wireless connection at the did school, so perhaps I won’t have to pay for Internet anymore! =D

And the other two main disappointments I have found are that my landlady smokes (while I do not)–I try to prop the window open as much as possible, but the apartment is so small sometimes I think I am suffocating and my clothes will smell!–and so far I have not had any luck finding a piano!! Very sad–I think I’m going through withdrawal–definitely will continue to look and hope to find one soon. I’m so surprised; I thought pianos were everywhere in Germany!

Yesterday I felt so lonely and even homesick because I had no one to talk to because I could not make myself understandable much to the landlady (though she is very nice!). I called home rather frequently despite the high international costs and even wondered whether or not it was a mistake to come to Germany without a working knowledge of the language.

Today was a much better day! All the other DAAD students in my language class are very friendly, and some are in similar situations as I am with the host family language situation. We all hung out as a group today, which was lots of fun. We got to see Berlin on a gorgeous sunny day, bought lunch from a vendor cart–tomorrow I will try that döner!–bought cheap pre-paid cell phones to communicate with in Germany, and visited a biergarten (of which there are plenty!). After today, I feel much better about being in this country. It just feels so good to commiserate with others about feeling lost, and I never realized before now just how much I need communication with other humans. I lapped it up today like a starving dog. =P So much better than yesterday’s lonely-fest!

I took some pictures today, intending to upload them on this blog, but I haven’t yet figured out how to upload them on this site, and since I’m running short of time right now on this pay-as-you-go internet cafe (and I am starving!!! no dinner yet!), I must apologize again for the lack of pictures this time–promise to make up for it next time (perhaps with free wireless access!) with oodles of pix!

In conclusion, I will say that I have discovered how important language is–how not being able to speak a language can effectively isolate you and make you feel so terribly lonely while finding others who speak your language can make you feel so friendly and close. I’d always heard of this phenomenon before, but this is definitely the first time actually experiencing it firsthand. So I hope to learn a good deal of German in the next two weeks in the hopes of avoiding future occurrences of that earlier loneliness!

I would close with a cute phrase in German, but so far all I know how to say is “my name is…”, “I live in…”, “I study…”, etc. But I guess for now as a sort of appetizer,

Guten Abend! Auf Wiedersehen!