Immersion

So when I got here, I didn't really realize how different Germany would be from Canada and America. I kindof figured, heck, my family is German, I know German, and Europeans are a lot like Canadians and Americans. A lot of Canadians and Americans have a European family background. So how different can it be? Sure they have cooler architecture, but shouldn't I still be able to step out the door and grab a burger if I want? They have burgers in Europe, don't they? NO!! Well yes, they have McDonalds and Burger King, but come on, who wants McDonalds and Burger King when you can have B.Good or Tasty Burger or Fulton Market Burger Co. or any one of the other hundreds of delicious burger joints in North America? So I assumed that I'd be able to do this here too. But not exactly. There's more differences than I could've even imagined! I learned something new today: in order to get the full experience of study abroad, you've really got to do all you can to immerse yourself in the culture.

One example that I've encountered of this is how I think of my money. I can't keep thinking of money in Dollars, I've got to think of money in Euros. I would look at prices and be like, wow! That's cheap! Wait... it's in Euros... and I'd frantically try to convert the currency in my head to see how much I was spending in my own currency. But then Christian, a fellow study abroader, said to me, "Just see your money as Euros and spend money according to how many Euros you have" and I realized, he's totally right! I'm not in Canada, I'm not in America, I'm in Germany, so I've got to make some adjustments. This same concept also applies to time. Instead of trying to figure out, ok, 13:00 is 1:00pm, 21:56 is almost 10:00pm, I've got to think, it's 21:56, it's 13:00. They're adjustments, but I've realized, If I don't try to see my world in the eyes of a German right now, I won't get the full abroad experience! I've got to become German while here! That's a pretty hard, but exciting thing to attempt to do.

The party scene here is pretty crazy. The German culture, and I'd stretch that to most of Europe as well, is to start dinner maybe around 20:00 - 20:30 (8 - 8:30pm), and dine until maybe 22:00 or even 23:00. Then they might go out to a pub to grab a beer, because who's going to be at the club at 23:00? No one. Only when it reaches about midnight is it kosher to start heading to the club. Then they dance pretty much the entire night away, and sometimes even have breakfast with the people they went out with the night before. My collegues and I (except Tasha, our little night owl) have had a couple issues with this, because clubs and parties in Canada and America usually start winding down around 2am, for the most part. But not here. So usually around 2am we get tired and have to leave, while everyone else in the club is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I'm not a huge partier in general, but I wanted to get a feel for the culture down here. It's pretty interesting. One of the best things about German clubs is when a German song comes on, and EVERYONE sings along, except us, who are like, uhhh... YEY!! haha.We went to an I <3 80's night at one of the clubs that often has live music called JazzHaus Freiburg, and it was so much fun! Jammed out to the best of the 80's, including some of my FAVES, Upside Down by Diana Ross, Conga by Gloria Estefan, multiple Michael Jackson songs and some awesome hair metal songs. It was a really fun to. ime.
So my conclusion: Immersion is key!

Bis bald alle!

<3 hannah ;)