When I was a sophomore at UMass, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to study abroad. I was getting lazy and to be honest, the prospect of having an off-campus house for black-light parties was more appealing than going through the process of moving to another country. Plus-they don’t have Keystone, right?
Moving to another country (in my case, Germany) has been so much more fun than I could have imagined. My UMass advisors have been so helpful throughout the entire ordeal, that I wouldn’t even call it an ordeal. It has been more of a processing period. I landed in Frankfurt, moved into my apartment, and by the end of my first night I was in a disko with German girls who have already become some of my best friends. So far, the only “stressful” problem I’ve had was my laptop charger breaking, and I had to go without Facebook for a week (withdrawal pains are no joke).
Despite my smooth move, I’ve had my fair share of language-related struggles. The following are some of my favorite examples:
1. When I don’t totally understand someone, I tend to have a nervous giggle. Normally this works out just fine, but then there are also times when I unknowingly laugh at someone who is about to start crying over her dead dog. I won’t be invited to her next birthday party.
2. I love rap. Lucky for me, so do a lot of Germans! What’s not so lucky is when I innocently start humming along to a song that is about hating Turkish immigrants. Now, I check with my German friends before I put a new rapper on my iPod.
3. Diskos (clubs) in Germany are insane, and drinks are served until 5am! When the techno/dance music is blasting, the floor is full, and everyone is moving to the beat. Unlike Americans, while they are dancing along with the music, they are not grinding. If you grind in a German club, they will assume you are going home with your dance partner. Very. Important. Information.
For these reasons and many more, I wish I had paid more attention in class, back in Amherst. Being in Europe has made me so much more sensitive to my lack of cultural and linguistic flexibility. Here in Freiburg, students learn a language because they want to open their world-view and communicate with people other than their next-door neighbors. At UMass, I studied German because I needed to fulfill graduation requirements.
Regardless of what I do with my life and future career, becoming fluent in German has become one of my goals. My first step was deciding that a European adventure would be more satisfying than just another party on Amity. I’m still in the middle of the second step, which involves a lot of German Sponge-Bob and learning the lyrics to German party music. I’ll keep you updated.
Mary Carmody is a Collegian blogger. She can be reached at [email protected].
