Before coming to Berlin, I was terrified; not having a ton of international travel experience, I was not sure what exactly to expect. Was I going to be able to find my way? Would I be able to speak to people? How the heck was I going to survive?
The first day, I had to keep reminding myself that I was on the other side of the world.
Right away, I felt welcome and almost like I had lived here before. I’ll admit, ordering food in German is a little bit intimidating, but it feels awesome when the cashier doesn’t have to speak English for you. Overall, Berlin has very quickly become like home for me.
This may sound strange, but there is much more greenery than I expected. When I think of cities, I typically think of al buildings and maybe one park. But in Berlin, there seems to be trees and plants everywhere! When we were on top of the Berliner Dom, you could see rows and rows of trees!
Another, more serious, thing that surprised me were the amount of buildings that have bullet holes on the outsides. There are very few places in the United States that are just part of cities where you can still see physical effects of wars, so it was crazy to realize that we are currently in a relatively recent war zone and to actually see physical evidence of that.
I did not expect to like public transportation. I thought that I would be intimidated by the bus and train, and that I would not know how to get anywhere. However, relatively quickly, I figured out how to survive public transportation, and now, I love it. It is so much fun to hop on a bus and go wherever I need or want to go! Prior to this trip, I had a conversation with a European exchange student about her experience in the US. When I asked her what was most different from the US and Poland (where she was from), she mentioned the lack of freedom in public transportation. Since I had never lived in a place with public transportation, I never even thought about it like that. However, after being in Berlin for a week, I can start to understand why she was so shocked when she got to the US.
The first week in Berlin was a little bit overwhelming, but overwhelming in a good way. I have already loved it more than I thought that I would, so I am extremely excited for everything else that I still get to experience. Bring on the next five weeks!