The First Chapter(s)

Prequel: The Last Alaskan Weeks

My last two weeks in Alaska were crazy. In Juneau, it was my last week of work and also move-in week, so many students came back to UAS. I met so many new people and then had to say goodbye. It was also sad to be reunited with all my friends in Juneau just to turn around and have to leave. That was what made leaving Juneau hard: seeing how easily I fell back into routine with friends and the familiarity I was leaving. I could just see how fun and comfortable staying in Juneau would be.  After leaving Juneau, I returned to Palmer for a week. I’m so glad I had some time to rest and just be with my family and some friends before leaving to Germany. I had time to take care of little things, like duplicating every single document I thought I could possibly need a copy of. I spent my last night in Alaska playing bingo (for the first time ever) with my mom and two of my best friends. It was actually very fun, and I literally wouldn’t have rather spent that last night any other way.

Before I knew it, I was saying goodbye to my family and my Palmer friends. I always hate leaving Palmer; since I left for college in August 2012, I think I’ve been home for a grand total of about 3 interspersed weeks. I never feel like I have enough time there. I was sad to go and I really hate saying goodbye to my mom (I know, I’m such a child... but what can I say? I love my mom) but I was also very, very excited of course! I boarded my plane to Frankfurt and looked forward to the adventure ahead.

Chapter One: Hanover

Well, first I should back up and say I made it to Frankfurt. There is nothing exciting about a 5-hour layover after not sleeping for an entire 20 hour flight. I watched 4 movies on the plane but somehow didn’t sleep. After my 5-hour layover (including a surprise gate change featuring yours truly, in which I then had to hike LITERALLY to the other side of the airport) I finally boarded my plane to Hanover, where I would spend the next couple of days with Felix and his family, whom many of you probably know from Palmer or his time in Juneau this summer. It was such a relief to see a familiar face. 

I spent four days in Hanover, mostly resting and hanging out with Felix and meeting some of his friends. On my second night there, we actually went to an American restaurant and had burgers, so I didn’t feel too out of place. I visited Hanover over Christmas break as well, but it looked very different in the late summer/early August weather! It was really beautiful when we went to the city, the lake was shining in the sunlight and there were actually people kayaking and sailing on it! Last time I’d been to Hanover, I’d seen the city by night and there had been a Christmas market with hot wine booths, so to see it by day was very different. Felix and I visited the old town hall on my second-to-last-day there. It was so strange for me to see such an old building with modern technology all around it. In the town hall, Felix showed me the models of the city of Hanover. There were four of them, each representing a different time period. The model of the city after World War II was very striking after comparing it to the other models (the city was destroyed). We had just visited a church in Hanover that had been bombed during the war but was never rebuilt to serve as a reminder of sorts, so I can only imagine what the entire city looked like. Felix explained that much of Hanover’s layout hasn’t changed, so the layout of some of the streets you walk today is the same that was walked hundreds of years ago.

The time in Hanover was wonderful, but eventually I had to step out on my own to continue the journey to Bielefeld.

Chapter 2: Bielefeld, the City That Doesn’t Exist

A small piece of background information about Bielefeld, the city I’m studying in: it doesn’t exist. Er, it does, but according to most Germans, it doesn’t. The city of Bielefeld is something of a joke in Germany, kind of how Americans refer to Area 51. Bielefeld is often joked about as a “government conspiracy” or a place where they hide alien spacecraft. The joke is a real thing, it has a name: “The Bielefeld Conspiracy”. Look it up! It's funny. The joke is that, well, the city of Bielefeld’s existence is a conspiracy! There are 3 questions to ask "Do you know anybody from Bielefeld?", "Have you ever been to Bielefeld?" and "Do you know anybody who has ever been to Bielefeld?"and the answer is uaually always no…if you answer “yes” to any of these questions, you’re just part of the conspiracy! Apparently, the city council in Bielefeld actually had to release a statement saying that the city is real, but the timing was poor as the statement wasreleased on April Fool’s Day. So many people thought it was funny that I was going to Bielefeld.

Needless to say, Bielefeld definitely exists. 

My first day here was exhausting. I made it to Bielefeld without much incident, although I must say: public transportation scares me. I had only ridden a train a couple of times before, and the thought of being alone on one gives me anxiety. This is something I really hope to overcome and one of my goals of studying abroad is learning how to use public transportation such as metros, trains, and buses.  I had contacted an ISEP student who goes to the university through the ISEP Facebook group, and she SO kindly had offered to meet me at the main train station in Bielefeld and take me to the university. I was so, so thankful that she met me there because, like I said, using public transportation alone makes me scared and anxious. We then took the metro to the university stop, which is right by the university.

My first impression of the university: huge.  And that it most likely could actually hide an alien spacecraft.

Obviously, it is very different than UAS. It is a huge, silver building that looks more like a mall or an airport than a university. While it is intimidating, it is also pretty convenient: everything is in the same building at the university. The main hall has a cafeteria and multiple places to eat, a bank of ATMs, a bakery, a post office…like I said, it’s like a mall/airport. There’s a swimming pool at the far end too, which seemed funny to me, just to have a swimming pool right in the university. Right now it’s relatively “empty” because the semester hasn’t started, but there are still more people than at UAS. The university is huge because all the faculties are in the same building. This is unusual for universities here, because a campus can actually be spread out through different buildings all over a town.

So there I was, in this enormous building dragging my 47-pound suitcase (no seriously, dragging…one of the wheels became very un-rounded in Hanover and rolling it was now out of the question). Anne, the former ISEP student, helped me find the International office, where I did paperwork and housing contract stuff. I felt disgusting meeting my coordinator and all these important people while dripping sweat from hauling that suitcase around, but hey, they probably just figured I was from Alaska and we all live in cabins without running water anyways. Anne gave me a fantastic tour of the university!

Afterwards, Anne showed me the way as I dragged that suitcase on another walk to the student dorms, which are actually very close to the university! My apartment is on the third floor, so I was murderously glaring at the spiral-y stone staircase and envisioning my chiropractic trauma when another exchange student appeared and offered to carry it up for me! I was very thankful but also sad for him and his back.

My apartment is a flat shared with 4 other international students. We share a kitchen and 2 bathrooms (or actually, 4…they split the shower from the toilet here).  I really like my room, we each have our own sink and mirror in our rooms so that makes getting ready and sharing common bathrooms easy.  As I mentioned, I live with four other international student. I actually have not met a single ISEP student here, everyone is with ERASMUS, a European exchange student program. If I could spell my flatmates’ names, I would write them… but I can’t.  But I CAN tell you the important things: I’m living with a girl from Japan, a girl from Italy, a guy from Spain, and a guy from Finland. And then there’s me! So we are a very international flat, haha.

I barely had time to drop my stuff off in my room and change out of my sweaty clothes before going to a welcome café for international students. We met the international office team and had some tea/coffee and cookies. All of us international students gathered in a circle and they had us say our name, where we were from, what we study, and something that makes us unique. Surprisingly, I am the ONLY one from the U.S! And definitely the only one from Alaska. There are people from all over Europe but nobody was from the U.S. There may be more coming later but so far, everyone I’ve met is from Europe, except a couple people from Mexico and Canada. Of course, lots of people asked me about Alaska and how I ended up in Bielefeld. Some complimented me on my English (“Did you learn it in school?”) and were surprised to hear that English is spoken as a first language of many in Alaska. Some asked me which part of Alaska I was from (“Are you from the French part of the English-speaking part?) but I told them that was Canada. Someone asked what kind of currency we use (obviously I told them that rocks and moose teeth serve as our currency). All in all, every time I say I’m from Alaska, I’m met with a surprised look and questions. Some people don’t know my name yet but just say “Oh, you, from Alaska!”

After the welcome café I went to the city with some other students and their mentors. There is an old part and a new part of the city. We were in the new part, but I caught glimpses of the old part and from what I saw, I think it must be pretty. My main mission was to buy the toiletries I hadn’t brought with me, which was actually kind of fun because there are stores completely devoted just to things like hair and skin stuff. I was really surprised though! Some brands that are so cheap and common in America are expensive and “newer” here, and vice versa! Also, there is no stick deodorant…

The day was long and exhausting, but not over yet! I have a student mentor here, Ozan, who is here as a resource and helper for me. He had to work during the café so I hadn’t met him yet. I met with him at 9, it was nice to meet him and talk with him for a bit. I was invited to a party about a million times, but I was so exhausted from my long day, basically sleepwalking, that I returned to my flat, unpacked, and went to bed. I was in bed at 10, excited for our first day of orientation at 9 am the next morning.

Today, Friday the 13^th, was our first day of orientation. In the morning, we had basic “welcome” presentations and registered as students. The process seems to take a while, and I won’t have my ID until next week (which is a real bummer since it gives me free transportation on the metros etc…conquering my fear will have to come next week. Also, my apartment’s wi-fi doesn’t work until next week so I have to be AT the university to use any internet, which isn’t so bad, just inconvenient). We had a short tour of the university (my tour with Anne was much more in-depth, but they’ll do more over the next weeks). I ate lunch with another international student, a guy from France whose English was practically perfect, after we figured out the cafeteria. I had asked if they accepted debit cards and NONE of the staff knew what I was saying, one of them just handed me his phone with Google Translate pulled up. I met up with one of the students I seem to always be around, a girl from Italy. All of us international students took a German language test to find out which class we’d be in. For this first month, all we’re doing is our language classes and tours of the city sights. The “real” semester starts in October. Some people were nervous for this test, but I already knew I would be in the very beginner’s class, A1. I knew this as soon as I was at my Condor gate at the Anchorage airport and couldn’t understand anything around me. I had a German book I was going through this summer, so I can catch simple phrases and some words, but other than that I have no knowledge of German. I’m glad to be in the lowest level so that I can learn everything from the bottom up!

Right now, it’s Friday evening and suggestions for the night have been thrown at me all day! It is only my second day here, even though yesterday seemed to be a week long. I’m legitimately sore from dragging that suitcase. Although it’s been busy the last 2 days here and in Hanover, it’s been fun and exciting! This weekend we have some tours and I’m excited to get to know my fellow international students better!