I'm spending 11 months in Paderborn, Germany. I don't know how good of a picture this is, but the red arrow is where I am. If I stay for a full school year and take required courses here and at ISU, at the end of my 4 (or 5) years of college I can get a "transfer degree." From what I understand, I'll have a Bachelor's degree from both ISU and Universitat Paderborn. How amazing would that be?
I finally have Internet access. There's no wifi so I can't use my phone, but I'm grateful for cable access on my laptop! There is a 10-foot radius of space in the mall that has truly free wifi (most you need to register for), so I was checking in that way for a while.
So where do I start? I've been in Germany for about 48 hours now, but I feel like I've lived here a month. There's a lot to do before school starts: bank account, residence visa, student ID, registration. It's more than the average student who goes abroad has to do, because a) I'm staying 2 semesters instead of one, and staying more than 9 months has different requirements, and b) because I'm seeking a degree from here.
How am I doing? Everyone already knows that I was super nervous about leaving home. Actually, I'm doing extremely well, and trust me, no one is more surprised than I am. I expected to be a mess when I got here, but I'm doing very well. I'm sure the adrenaline will wear off eventually, but for the time being I'm happy and excited for the future.
The reason I'm doing to well is mostly thanks to my German buddy. Her name is Jessi and she is amazing. She made me feel so much better about coming and she's really taking good care of me. She bought me this welcome present full of everything a girl needs in a foreign land.
It's a mug that says "The prettiest women come from Paderborn" (in German), along with some Kinder chocolate and a postcard with a sweet message on it. She's actually the most welcoming person ever. Last year she studied in Sweden and got no help of any kind, and she says she wants to do a better job of making me feel welcome than Sweden did.
So where am I living? I have an university-owned apartment in a complex called Vogeliusweg. There's two floors with a shared kitchen and bath for four of us. It's set up like this: When you walk in the front door, on the right is the full bathroom and a "guest bathroom" (just a toilet). Directly in front of you is my bedroom and Chrissi's. On the left is stairs that lead up to the kitchen, a little living area, and Lisa's and Nora's bedrooms.
This is what my room looks like:
It's really spacious! I'm a little uncomfortable living on the first floor, especially since the curtain that's supposed to cover the window is broken, but I'm sure I'll adjust.
I'm living with three German girls, which is totally unexpected. I assumed I'd be with other foreign exchange students. One of the guys who did this program last year said his roommates were all Indian exchange students. One of the students from ISU also has 2 Indian roommates, so maybe a lot of Indian men come to Germany? Anyway, I love it so far. Lisa and Nora are fluent in English and are eager to practice their English with me, while Chrissi is not. The first thing she said to me was that she doesn't speak English (she said it in German, obviously). So I'm practicing my German language skills right now, which is exactly what I wanted. I'm hoping to make the switch to all of us speaking only German by the time school starts in a month. Fluency by the time I leave is my goal.
So I couldn't really keep this post brief, but thanks for hanging in there if you read it all! More next time!
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