Good Afternoon (Germany time) my lovely readers. I know its been a bit since I wrote; I have been going through the chaos of in-processing and getting settled for the last two weeks. I cannot believe it has already been almost two weeks in Germany, yet at the same time my brain feels like it has been longer. There were a few bumps in the road with housing, but I signed for a lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in Wittlich finally, and I am so excited to move in next week and really start to feel like I’m getting settled.
Germany is as amazing as it always has been, and the area that I live in known as the Eifel region is especially gorgeous. Picture beautiful rolling hills in every shade of green imaginable, with the beginnings of fall colors in the trees. Truly gorgeous. I have been pleasantly surprised to find that my German skills are still hanging in there, better than I expected. It really does come back quickly. I have been conducting all of my apartment searching in German and ordering auf Deutsch at restaurants is like second nature.
I feel infinitely more prepared this go around than I did when I first got to Heidelberg in 2018. That being said, this time I am really struck by my “aloneness”. In Heidelberg, I had all my friends from the University of Denver who were studying abroad with me, so I had a built in support system. Here, I don’t quite have that friend group yet, and I notice I am much more hesitant to do things alone. I’m forcing myself to get out of the house and explore so I get comfortable, but its been a really interesting experience where I feel much more set up for success this time around, but socially a little insecure. Especially because making friends as an adult is hard, LOL. But, I have some plans to meet people. I’m going to try to find a church community, I’m gonna sign up for a bunch of trips and force myself to be social on them, I’m going to go to events on base, and I even signed up for Bumble BFF, which is like a friend-finding version of a dating app haha. I’m willing to try anything at this point.
Once I move into my apartment next week I will post pictures (the view from my balcony is AMAZING) and as I get more settled, I will continue to update everyone on my adventures. In just like 5 weeks, Christmas markets start! Super excited for those. Love and miss you all, and can’t wait to have visitors!
Travels in Germany 