I love Berlin. I love living in Berlin, I love the people, architecture, city structure, the German language, food, everything. I have been very fortunate to travel to many places while I have been studying abroad, but every time I find myself more excited to go back home to Schöneberg. I have been to Vienna, Prague, Lucerne, Zurich, Budapest, Brussels, London, Paris, Switzerland, Leipzig, Dresden, Munich, and will soon be going to Beirut and Warsaw. In each of these places I have seen beautiful buildings, eaten new food, drunk new beer, walked along the river, met new people, and experienced the culture. With each new experience I accidentally and almost immediately compare it to my experiences in Berlin.
After each of my travels I reflect on what I have done, what I have gained, and how I feel after being to a new country. As I have already talked about in my blogs, I had a lot of trouble adjusting to Leipzig. I went to boarding school 6 hours away from home for high school, my college is also 6 hours away from home, I have traveled to Europe twice before, all without homesickness. Yet, for some reason, I could not get used to the idea of being stuck in Leipzig with no way of escape.
In my first weekend in Leipzig, Thayer, also a student at HWS, and I decided to travel to Vienna. I knew this would only be great for me. After tumultuous travels on a Flixbus from Leipzig to Berlin Tegel and a quick flight to Vienna, I knew that when I was back in Leipzig it would feel like home, and it did. While I still had many spells of homesickness throughout my time in Leipzig, traveling to Vienna changed my outlook on my situation. Vienna brought me new friends, a new life long friendship, my first missed airplane, my first time in a hostel, the best Chai latte of my life, and a love for the German language.
My first solo trip was a weekend between my Leipzig and Berlin programs where I decided to go to Munich. With ALL of my luggage that held ALL of my belongings, I made it to my hostel. In Munich I used my German. While Bavarian German is very different than the central German I have been learning in class, I got by. In Leipzig I solidified what I already learned at HWS and was able to actually apply it in real life situations. German and Germany became fun, exciting, and I quickly realized that I was going to miss it.
When I finally got to Berlin and met my host family I knew I was about to have the best possible experience. My host mother is a musician and music teacher, my host dad is a professor of Architecture at the University of Cairo, and my host 18 year old host brother is also a musician. Music always fills our beautiful apartment and it truly feels like home. After exploring a lot of the city with my new friends in our first week, it became obvious that I was always meant to live in Berlin. Germany really does feel like home.
A few weeks into Berlin I went to London to visit friends. In Berlin Schönefeld airport I heard English everywhere and I was so confused... Who were these losers speaking English? (As though I do not only speak English when with other students in my program...) When I landed in Stansted airport and went through customs, I walked up to the customs desk and said, "Hallo!" The kind, elderly man responded "Hi! Where are you coming from?" and I tried to responded but I froze. I genuinely forgot how to speak English for a second. This is especially funny since I only have a very basic understanding of German and am nowhere near fluency. After he stamped my passport I said, "Danke schön! Tschüssi!" to which he said, "Uhh bye!"... Was I okay? When speaking my native language I switched to German because it felt more natural... I barely even know German! But, all throughout my weekend in London this kept happening to me. When someone was in the way, instead of saying "Excuse me," I said 'Entschuldigung" every time, guaranteed. It was pretty funny. The same thing happened when I traveled to Brussels and Paris. I fully knew that these people either spoke French or English, but instead of speaking our common language, English, I spoke German.
In every city and country I have visited I have fallen in love. (Except Prague. Why do I not like Prague? It feels like a fake Disneyland with no magic, they have insane pride in their beer which is the worst beer I have ever had, and they don't speak German. Probably not great reasons, but, besides the point.) While I love experiencing these new places, I really do love Berlin and Germany in general. I do not regret any of my travels (even Prague), but I do wish I spent more time traveling around Germany. Berlin feels as though it is all mine, but also everyone else's. While the city and country has its own issues regarding freedoms, I truly feel as if when walking down the street, everyone is equal because no one cares. Everyone is truly themselves and is not afraid of judgement.
When I go back home to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, am I going to accidentally speak German? Probably. Is my small town going to be enough compared to Berlin? Probably not, so, don't worry Deutschland, I'll be back.
The poem below is a series of tercet's, each about experiences and experiences with language in different cities and how I was feeling about them, or why I went to them. While I appreciate every city I have been to and am so grateful to have traveled as extensively as I have, for me, everything leads back to Berlin. The photo behind the text is the street next to my apartment in Schöneberg. It was a beautiful fall day and one side of the road had green trees while the other side was orange and full of fall. I thought it was beautiful to see the contrast of summer and fall. The colors reminded me of the contrast of home and Berlin. Or really, anywhere and Berlin. Both are beautiful and invoke different emotions and nostalgia, and while different, both are rooted within me.
Thanks for reading!
