When I got on the plane to Frankfurt, I had begun to hear mumbles of German around me. People on the plane, flight attendants, the speakers overhead and that’s when my nerves really started to kick in. How was I going to manage this new place in a language I barely speak? How was I going to do anything? When I got to my seat, there was a lady sitting where I was assigned and while trying to get her attention, I realized she spoke not German nor English but Italian, and only Italian. For some reason that comforted me. There weren’t just two types of people where I was going; one’s who spoke English and one’s who spoke German. There was going to be everything in between. And although this didn’t make me feel better about not being able to communicate to people I was going to meet there in their mother tongue, it made me feel less alone. And the journey from that flight to where I sit two weeks later has been just this; demolishing the feelings of loneliness in ways I couldn’t have even imaged by discovering how many different languages we can use to connect.
During the first few days I felt as though I had my head down, frantically trying to get all the things done I had planned out so meticulously before arriving. I needed to get myself to my room and not get fined on the bus for misunderstanding the tickets while getting there. I needed pots and pans and towels and a pillow. And I needed to keep remembering to occasionally eat food, which was difficult as I was so nervous ordering anything from anyone. I spent my first trip to the grocery store slowly google translating everything and trying to understand how to get a cart without setting off alarms (which I did several times). But during all this surprisingly controlled panic I begun to realize that I was indeed getting by, and not just this but I was getting by without saying anything at all. I didn’t need to ask people to speak in English, I didn’t need to panic every time someone started speaking to me, I just began depending on other signals and body language to communicate. And perhaps I was of course missing things, but it was amazing how much I could achieve in silence. And how far a smile could get me. And how German words and pronunciations had begun buzzing around in my head before I had learned to say a single sentence.
Yet, as I eased out of survival mode, I realized I hadn’t even been thinking about all the people near me who were also trying to wrap their head around where they were. I did not even realize the number of international students who were to share my language course in the days to follow, how many also spoke little to no German, and how easy their kindness was. When I started meeting more people than I could keep track of at event after event put on by the International Student Organization I started hearing and feeling languages everywhere. Everyone with their own accent, their own outlook on the beginning of the experience and the occasional feelings of confusion but excitement. I listened to people laugh as they rattled off in Serbian, quickly jump in between German and English and even show each other the physical greetings of their home country. Yet through all these differences, we all kept laughing about the same jokes and dancing to the same music, and I felt a strong companionship around me that was very unique. Everyone was ready to explore, and explore we did. My favorites from the last two weeks have been a hike to the mountain top K?nigstuhl above the castle in Heidelberg. An afternoon spent walking around the Altstadt (old town) eating cake and listening to live piano music. Laughing with our German teacher at the fact that our pronunciation is still horrendous. A night of karaoke and dancing, and a sporadic day trip to Strasbourg, France. But beyond seeing and being in a place that touches my very soul, it has been the people that have made the last two weeks empty of loneliness. And it has been the languages I have found; kindness, music, a game of cards, a pint of beer and laughter which seems to be what really connects us all.
Tschüss!