GERMANY – A DREAM COMES TRUE

During my final days in my Bachelor studies, I was so frustrated to end my studies and concentrate on earning money for few years. I got into a decent job which obviously did not pay me well but was handy for the time being. I adored the way I was able to handle the pressure situation that arose there and the challenges that rose every day. However, after only about 6 months of work life, I had my first feeling of quitting my job and getting back to what I did best, and that was, to study. It is not like I know everything I study or that, I desire to study everything. But one thing is certain and that is that study is my comfort zone and University or college is a place where I think I belong. So, I had this deep desire of studying again and this time for a master course. After surviving two jobs and two massive COVID-19 waves, my plan of studying my masters finally came into fruition.

Every step along the way came with a lot of frustration as I knew it was going to be a long and patient journey. Nevertheless, I realized my potential, that when I want something so bad, I pretty much make my way to it. Obviously, it comes with a lot of sacrifice and hard work along the way. But I would say, it was also luck which played its part nicely. I want to stay grounded for now. They say that this is not the destination, rather the start of a new journey.

So, on 7^th April of the year 2022, I landed in Frankfurt at 7 PM. It looked like it was around 5 PM though with bright sunshine falling on my eyes as I landed. It was only the second time I was travelling by air. The only other time I did it was the year before when I travelled to Gurgaon for the first time for work purposes. It was a chilly night with the temperature hovering below 10 degrees. I didn’t realize it till late night when I had to take a train and I was stuck at the train station with 2 girls whom I had known just a few days back and who were going to travel with me further to Stralsund. As we boarded the train together with a lot of luggage and not knowing that it was a unique train, the roller coaster ride had just begun. We somehow, got to know that we boarded the right train but not the right compartment. To make things clear, in Germany, there are just compartments you can board and sit wherever there is place. So, now, the train was travelling to two different destinations. One of them being Berlin and other being, Hamburg. How does one train travel in two different directions at the same time? We had the same doubt. Finally, I met an officer, who spoke a little bit of English and I got the information that the train was going to split in two different directions after 3 or so hours of travel. At this point, we had already boarded the train with a lot of luggage and were in the part of the train which was travelling to Hamburg. But we had to go to Berlin. So, now what? Thankfully, compartments in trains are interconnected and so now, in 3 hours we had to travel in the train from the section which travelled to Hamburg to the section which travelled to Berlin. Now, if I have one bag with me, I can just walk my way to the other section by changing compartments. But how do you do it, when you have more than 10 big bags with 3 people to carry in a foreign country you have just landed in? I swear the next few hours were crazy as we shifted our luggage piece by piece from one compartment to the other and then to the other and again. At 4 in the morning, we finally wrapped up shifting our luggage. Remember, that my travel journey began at 7 AM IST in the morning of 7^th April. So, with the time difference, it was already more that 24 hours since I had left my home and was constantly travelling as German Standard time was 3 and a half hours behind IST at that point. We reached Berlin and then add a few more hours, and we reached Stralsund. All along the way, we huffed and puffed but were relieved to finally reach where we intended to.

Fast forward to today, Germany has been nice. The weather, as they say, in Summers is pleasant and the Sun stays out for more than 15 hours in a day. I have travelled to Berlin twice already to meet my dear friend and to enjoy the gorgeous night life that the city possesses. I travelled to Hamburg to explore the international culture of Germany and, to Rostock to take in the beach vibes. I have faced a few cultural shocks in the few months I have been here, none greater than seeing fully nude people taking a bath at the beach and tanning their skins under the clear weather. Also, I wish to get into one of the kinky night clubs of Berlin one day and just explore my sexuality a little bit. I get to know now that it is very hard to make friends with the Germans as they don’t speak English as much and, prefer to stay private in their lifestyle. They remain indoors in their rooms very much and do stuff like watching TV or gaming rather than conversing with their neighbors. I also got to know from a local that Germans in the Northern part are very much reserved and once you travel the Southern part, there are more international cities like Munich and Frankfurt where you can find more people to interact with and make friends. Anyways, with a large Indian diaspora, I already have people who I can rely on and be friends with at this time. I have joined a small organization within the University which plans events to bring together the International and German students for a barbeque or bonfire or just games. We plan events every week and it is fun to be part of that group as I get to know so many local people and know their culture in and out. I also have a student buddy, who is a local student here and we have got along really well. I looked-for part-time job opportunities in the technical domain but all of them require a decent level of language skills. So, for the time being, I worked at an Ice Cream making company for a month or so.

I realize that a part of their culture is to cook food or to host a barbeque. Two of the biggest challenges, that I knew I had to face before coming to Germany are learning the German Language as soon as possible and cooking food. So far, I have upgraded my life skill of cooking decent food for myself and sometimes for others and working towards improving my language skills. There is a bit of casual racism among people here as you get uncomfortable stares from unknown people whenever you are traveling by a bus or train. I am not sure, but it may be also out of curiosity. Nevertheless, it is a part and parcel of being a person of color in a western country. I now realize that this is not just a study program that I am going to attend for the 2 years. It is trying to make sure I enjoy the culture and get to know as many people as possible and have new experiences. I never knew that traveling can be one of my hobbies. Today, I just yearn to travel to different places whenever I have the opportunity. The challenge is now, to balance my studies, my hobbies, and my work. I look forward to a lot of new experiences in the coming weeks and months and wish to tick a lot more boxes in my bucket list. For the time being though, I listen to “All I need is your loooooooove tonight”. Cheers!