The Cultural Melting Pot I’ve Come to Know

FINALLY, orientation is over.  The past two weeks have been almost unbearable with waking up extremely early, long days of orientation in German, time extended in the tours of the libraries, no scheduled lunch break in between, and confusion with class confliction and what courses are needed while here.  I’m hoping that those are going to be the worse two weeks while in Freiburg and I’m excited to finally get a routine going with a class schedule.  On a lighter note, there was a silver lining in the weeks of unorganized chaos, and it was the group of us international students who bonded during this hard time of settling in.

Hiking the Black Forrest the day before Easter

The international group this year includes students from many different countries such as the USA, Canada, Serbia, Great Britain, Romania, Luxembourg, Greece, and I think that just about covers most of it.  It was extremely intimidating for me at first meeting all of these new people.  I normally like to warm up to new people as opposed to jumping right into a friendship.  Going abroad puts pressure on you to put yourself out there and quick so that you’re able to make new friends or at least have someone to talk to during your stay.  And after these past two weeks, I’m pleased to tell you that I’ve met some pretty kool people.

Taking a stroll after the Easter service

The past week consisted of getting to know all of my new acquaintances through various activities.  The International Group tutors planned brunches for us which was a great way to get to know everyone.  We also did things like hike the black forest, attend the Easter service at the Munster, having group dinners at each other’s flats, and experienced some of the Freiburg nightlife (and by that I mean watch soccer intently at the Irish Pub and scream bloody murder when Dortmund scores).

What I found to be the most fun about spending time with the others from the international group was getting to know each other through cultural differences.  The earliest case of this was the Canadians and the Americans for making fun of each other’s accents and how we speak in general compared to other parts of America and Canada.  Pretty kool, ay?  I Shared common interests with my friend from Great Britain about Doctor Who, Downton Abbey. and Spice Girls.  A Serbian friend’s birthday is coming up this weekend and she wants to make us pancakes even though we insisted that we should be the ones doing things for her on her birthday.  One night we all pitched in to make burritos and cheered on the Serbians because it was their first burritos ever. As we started to grow more comfortable speaking to each other, we would teach each other phrases that were.  I ended up explaining what it meant to “Bust Your Balls.”  It’s an essential phrase that one must know and know one knows it here, well, they do now.  I don’t think the conversations about cultural differences will never end as long as the conversation topics allows for many different perspectives from all over the world.

Group shot in front of the cathedral

Classes are starting up and I’m both ecstatic and horrified at the same  time.  Ecstatic because I haven’t had class since the end of November, nervous because all of my classes are in German and my language isn’t all that spectacular.  I hope to report good news from my first week of class!

Sarah

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