Next Monday will be the beginning of my fourth week in Berlin, and, while I still think I need to adjust to the city more, I have been able to settle in. During the past three weeks, I have learned to navigate public transportation and grocery stores (and find peanut butter in the city– which is certainly not as common as it is in the United States), and started settling in to my class schedule. In order to help myself feel more comfortable navigating a new city and new experiences, I have tried to keep an open mind and use some strategies to take advantage of some of the resources available to me.
While doing the readings, I was very interested in Paige’s strategies for “Being a Visitor,” and “Making the Most of Homestays and Host Families” (Paige 84-89). In the few weeks I’ve been in Berlin so far, I have definitely found myself using my host family as a resource to improve my German skills and learn more about culture in Berlin. Although I was prepared for some differences in the living arrangements from the United States, I have still encountered some confusion, but luckily my host mother has always been very willing to explain differences, such as how the process for doing laundry is different. I specifically appreciated Paige’s advice to give the homestay some time. For the first week here, I struggled a lot with trying to figure out what my place in the home was, and trying to not get in the way of my host family. While these are still some things I struggle with on occasion, it definitely got easier as the days went on, and I am glad that I allowed myself the time to get used to the homestay a bit more.
In addition, throughout my time in Berlin, I would like to make use of Paige’s strategies for Making Friends and Keeping a Journal (Paige 78-80, 119-123). I think it will be important to my experience to develop friendships with Berliners, both to have a chance to improve my language skills, as well as to feel more comfortable in the city. In addition, I have often thought about keeping a journal, but am not able to continue doing so for very long. I look forward to implementing some of Paige’s strategies for alternative journaling throughout the next few months to see if I would be able to keep it up. Overall, I think all of Paige’s strategies were useful, even if I could not think of a way I would use them to improve my experience, because they all give ways to improve my intercultural understanding and think about what my interactions and experiences may mean to others.
I also think that Wagner’s description of an analytical notebook is very relevant to this blog. Wagner discussed the analytical notebook as a way to deal with culture shock when navigating a foreign country (Wagner 41). For me, I expect this blog will function similarly. I will be writing about my experiences with new and unexpected things, and trying to analyze how my experiences relate to the differences between society and culture in the United States and Germany. In addition, by focusing on my new experiences, I will also analyze my reaction to those experiences. Wagner says that the purpose of an analytical notebook is to question why you reacted to an experience the way you did (Wagner 46). I think that doing this will further allow me to adjust to cultural differences. I am also interested in seeing how my experiences will change while I am in Germany, and if my responses to certain events or cultural differences change over time, as my understanding of them changes. While I will not necessarily write about all of my experiences on this blog, I do hope to keep a journal, and see how my opinions change over time.
Living with a host family, I have been able to have many interactions with Germans. My host mother speaks to me in German most of the time, and it always makes me feel accomplished when I am able to understand what she is saying, as well as know the right way to respond to her. However, she is also very forgiving of mistakes I make with the language, and she is always willing to repeat herself in English to make sure that I have understood her. She seems really dedicated to helping me learn, and it has helped me to become more confident with my German language skills. On the other hand, a lot of Berliners I have interacted with, such as at grocery stores or restaurants, are less understanding of my mistakes. If they notice me struggling with my German they will automatically switch to English, and I cannot convince them to speak in German with me. This is frustrating sometimes, because it can feel like they have no confidence in my skills, and it also prevents me from practicing.
One of the most interesting language experiences has been with my service learning site. I connected with an organization called Moabit Hilft, which was founded a few years ago, and helps people navigate legal issues, learn English and German, and do anything else they may need to become settled in Berlin. When I first volunteered, it was really interesting, because the other volunteers all spoke different languages, with people speaking different levels of English, German, Arabic, French, and Persian. While it is sometimes difficult to communicate with each other because not everyone knows the same languages, it also led to some interesting conversations when we did try to communicate with each other.
Throughout my time in Berlin, I am excited to have the chance to work more with Moabit Hilft, and get to know the other volunteers, as well as the people who come to ask for help. On my first visit, I thought it was a very interesting environment, but I’m hoping that I am able to get more used to it as I spend more time there. The building was interesting because it was always very busy, and full of people interacting. For me, at first, this was very overwhelming, because there were a lot of people and a lot to do. However, for the other volunteers, even though there was a lot of work to be done, it was mostly a very happy and relaxed environment, and it really felt like a community. Even though I have only been there for a few hours so far, I already feel like the other volunteers are already accepting me as part of their community. I think this is very different to American attitudes towards community, where people must know each other for awhile and share similarities in order to form a community. As part of this community aspect, I was invited to eat dinner with the other volunteers. All of the volunteers sat at a table together to share a group meal that had been cooked by one of the other volunteers, and everyone spoke to each other while eating. I think that this feature of their schedule really encourages building a community, because it allows people to get to know each other and share in an experience. I think that as I spend more time working at Moabit Hilft, and sharing meals with them, I will get to know the other volunteers more, and that will help me to feel more like I am a part of their community.
As I continue to study in Berlin, I have tried to set a few goals that I hope to work to achieve during my time here. The first goal is academic; I want to make sure that I continue to focus on my schoolwork even while navigating a new environment. Second, I want to improve my language skills, and my confidence in my language skills. My hope is that, as I get more confident in my ability to speak German, fewer Berliners will try to speak to me in English, and I will be able to practice even more. Third, I want to develop friendships, both in my classes, as well as at my service learning site. I think that developing friendships will allow me to feel more comfortable in Berlin, and particularly friendships at my service learning site will allow me to practice my German more in different situations. As my time in Berlin continues, I hope to be able to adhere to these goals, as well as possibly find some new goals to achieve.
Works Cited
Paige, R. Michael. “Strategies for Social Relations” in Maximizing Study Abroad. 79-89, 113-123.
Wagner, Kenneth. “Antidotes to Culture Shock: The Analytical Notebook” 40-58.
Growing in Germany 